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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 12, 2011 17:17:17 GMT
Finished the first draft.
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degsy
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Post by degsy on Sept 17, 2011 20:33:14 GMT
I'm at 3000 words tonight. Its a 'prequel' to one of the minor MRJ stories. Worried that I'm being too verbose and trying to slavishly pastiche James's style.
E.g. found myself deleting the word 'teenage' from the draft as the OED says it wasn't in use before 1941!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 18, 2011 14:55:50 GMT
It's tough stuff isn't it - finding a balance
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 19, 2011 13:07:58 GMT
Finally sent it in. Toughy  |
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Post by David Kartos on Oct 28, 2011 14:18:29 GMT
I'm at 3000 words tonight. Its a 'prequel' to one of the minor MRJ stories. Worried that I'm being too verbose and trying to slavishly pastiche James's style. E.g. found myself deleting the word 'teenage' from the draft as the OED says it wasn't in use before 1941! Hmm, how did one describe overbearing and over emotional young people in those days then ?  |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 2, 2011 11:38:04 GMT
I'm at 3000 words tonight. Its a 'prequel' to one of the minor MRJ stories. Worried that I'm being too verbose and trying to slavishly pastiche James's style. E.g. found myself deleting the word 'teenage' from the draft as the OED says it wasn't in use before 1941! Hmm, how did one describe overbearing and over emotional young people in those days then ? There were no teenagers then - only children who suddenly grew up at twenty one and became callow young men. |
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degsy
New Member
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Post by degsy on Nov 9, 2011 21:13:36 GMT
I was intrigued (and horrified at the same time) when I discovered that the concept of 'having a childhood' was mostly an invention of the Victorian middle-classes.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 21, 2011 4:55:55 GMT
Later generations extended childhood to around 26...  |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 28, 2011 21:33:29 GMT
Finally sent it in. Toughy I'm finally getting on with mine. Nothing like leaving it till the last minute to concentrate the mind, eh? Not that I've left it late deliberately, just other things in life finding a tendency to get in the way. That and not being able to choose between a number of ideas - two sequels and a prequel. I finally settled on a sequel - not the sequel I had in mind when I initially suggested the idea that led to the competition (and I should probably add that I have no involvement in judging or even knowing what the entries are, so my efforts will be as rigourously judged as any others). I'm also trying to avoid consciously attempting to emulate MRJ's style, but as I tend to write in a sort of faux-Edwardian manner anyway, it's going to happen whether I like it or not. Good luck Craig and Degsy, and anyone else who's entered the comp. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 28, 2011 21:55:03 GMT
Finally sent it in. Toughy I'm finally getting on with mine. Nothing like leaving it till the last minute to concentrate the mind, eh? Not that I've left it late deliberately, just other things in life finding a tendency to get in the way. That and not being able to choose between a number of ideas - two sequels and a prequel. I finally settled on a sequel - not the sequel I had in mind when I initially suggested the idea that led to the competition (and I should probably add that I have no involvement in judging or even knowing what the entries are, so my efforts will be as rigourously judged as any others). I'm also trying to avoid consciously attempting to emulate MRJ's style, but as I tend to write in a sort of faux-Edwardian manner anyway, it's going to happen whether I like it or not. Good luck Craig and Degsy, and anyone else who's entered the comp. Good luck to you and the others. Looking forward to seeing the stories really. |
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degsy
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Post by degsy on Jan 13, 2012 18:47:37 GMT
I've just heard from Rosemary Pardoe that the winner of the G&S competition is Christopher Harman's "Quis Es Iste?". The runners-up (and the list of big-name authors is impressive - so much kudos to CH) are hopefully to be collected in an anthology form by Sarob Press sometime in the Autumn.
I was rather gobsmacked to see that my story "Of Three Girls" made the cut! ;D
"Alberic de Mauléon" by Helen Grant ("Canon Alberic's Scrap-book")
"Anningley Hall, Early Morning" by Rick Kennett ("The Mezzotint")
"The Mezzotaint" by John Llewellyn Probert ("The Mezzotint")
"Quis est Iste" by Christopher Harman ("Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad")
"The Guardian" by Jacqueline Simpson ("The Treasure of Abbot Thomas")
"Between Four Yews" by Reggie Oliver ("A School Story")
"The Mirror of Don Ferrante" by Louis Marvick ("Casting the Runes")
"Fire Companions" by Mark Valentine ("Two Doctors")
"Of Three Girls and of Their Talk" by Derek John ("Wailing Well")
"The Gift" by C.E. Ward ("The Experiment")
"Malice" by David A. Sutton ("The Malice of Inanimate Objects")
"Glamour of Madness" by Peter Bell ("A Vignette")
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Jan 16, 2012 19:57:46 GMT
I was rather gobsmacked to see that my story "Of Three Girls" made the cut! ;D Congratulations on getting your story into 'The Ghosts and Scholars Book of Shadows', degsy! Rosemary tells me that the quality of the entries was of a very high standard and it was a difficult competition to judge. Also that many very good stories didn't make the list because there were lots of entries around certain MRJ originals. My own main entry was way too long (a bit over 13,000 words). But I may still have my own good news about that in the near future... |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Jan 20, 2012 17:40:33 GMT
My own main entry was way too long (a bit over 13,000 words). But I may still have my own good news about that in the near future... And, as this is the near future, and as I've said elsewhere, I'm delighted to report that Haunted Library - Rosemary Pardoe's publishing company, which releases The Ghosts & Scholars M.R. James Newsletter - will later this year be publishing their first booklet of original fiction in 15 years, possibly to coincide with The Ghost & Scholars Book of Shadows... ... and it's by me! ;D ;D ;D I'd always been saddened by the fact that G&S had ceased being a fiction based publication before I'd even discovered it, as it would have been a real honour to have had a story appear there. So to the prospect of having my own Haunted Library booklet is an unbelievable delight. The title, which is shared with the main story, is to be Ex Libris: Lufford - which gives away which story this is a sequel to. The second story is If You Don't Come to Me, I'll Come to You, and there's a section of 'extra material' tying in with the main story, entitled A Lufford Legacy?The main story was written for the competition, and, as I said, it was way too long for the book, so it was Ro's suggestion that I write up one of the other ideas I'd considered so the stories could be published together. An unbelievable delight, as I say - and an utter joy to be helping celebrate the life and works of one of my favourite authors of all time on his 150th anniversary! |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jan 20, 2012 19:41:38 GMT
Excellent and congratulations all round. Tempered by the sad news that I didn't make the grade -  |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Jan 20, 2012 22:08:00 GMT
Thanks, Craig. Though I'm sad that your story didn't make it, as I've yet to see a story by you that didn't impress me greatly. Would love to read it some day.
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