Saturday 23 February 2019

How a random thought can give birth to a series. And there's music, too!

Many writers will tell you tales of how long their first book was in the making. Let's face it, writing anything between 70-120k words is not undertaken lightly, if occasionally wantonly, depending on the genre into which your magnum opus falls.

My first book began as a 'what-if?' idea during the inaugural concert of the 1978 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester. Sandra Browne was singing the part of The Angel in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius. I was part of the chorus, this was my first Three Choirs and inclusion was by invitation only.

The Dream is a fairly regular fixture of Three Choirs and, being by local boy made good, Edward Elgar, it is very special. So special as far as Worcester is concerned that The Elgar Memorial Window is situated close to the pillar Elgar used to lean on to hear the final organ voluntary on Sunday mornings - being a Catholic, he didn't worship in the cathedral.

And this brings us to a very sticky point among musicians and music lovers. Should the 'G' of Gerontius be hard or soft. I know from my reading that Elgar himself always used the hard 'G'. Further research confirms that the hard 'G' was favoured by Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult among other notable musicians. Hard 'G' it is, then.

But I digress. The book that was eventually, after a gestation period of 30 years, published by Legend Press in 2008, is Dearly Ransomed Soul and provides the first outing for Georgia Pattison. I used the what-if? idea, although for the digital version published in 2016, I changed the identity of the killer, just to add a bit of spice for the reader. 

The full version of how my nosy early-music soprano came into being is here: https://authorapriltaylor.blogspot.com

You can find out more about April Taylor here:

Saturday 16 February 2019

#Writing and #Editing Tips

Members of Hornsea Writers hold a wealth of information on their individual websites. Last week we turned a spotlight on Stuart Aken and his Resources page which, among other goodies, holds a constantly updated Competitions List.

This week we highlight a wealth of blogposts - 32 in all - from Linda Acaster. Thankfully, she's created an Index Page for easy navigation. Within it can be found:
  • 16 posts on Writing Prompts, including discussions on each aspect;
  •   3 posts on Research: Is it always necessary? Using a "bible", and using character sheets for continuity purposes;
  •   8 posts on what to look for during different types of Edits, including Structural, Content, Line edits and the use of beta readers;
  •   5 posts on writers' mis-uses which can seriously annoy a reader - Don't Mess With The Reader - including Openings, Sense of Place, Categories of Characters, Seeding Information, and Plagiarism.

As well as her Historical, Fantasy and Horror novels, Linda Acaster also has Reading A Writer's Mind: Exploring Short Fiction - First Thought To Finished Story  which, as might be guessed, does what it says on its cover. Jump to HERE for the buy links and to read an excerpt.

Saturday 9 February 2019

Creative #Writing #Contests Submissions Feb-Oct 2019

Members of Hornsea Writers hold a wealth of information on their individual websites. 

Multi-genre writer Stuart Aken is prolific in his reach, from sharing his love of photography to his inquisitive nature. He runs a series on Discovering The Write Word, currently at #57, and where else could you find lists of 6,500+ female, male, and non-gender names from around the globe? Check out his Resources page.

His list of on-going competitions for writers encompasses everything from poetry to flash fiction to short stories to novellas and novels. Those free to enter are handily marked in red. The list is currently seven pages in length, so there will be something to catch everyone's eye. Check out the list HERE or follow the link from his Resources page.


Blood Red Dust is the first of his Generation Mars trilogy. Read about it HERE.

Saturday 2 February 2019

Never seeing the sun again?


Most of the new publications that spring up on this blog are works of fiction, but not all. In amongst the science-fiction, the historical drama, the fantasy, the horror and the crime, a few non-fiction works creep in.



The latest is from Hornsea Writer, Penny Grubb, who is an academic currently working at Hull University’s Faculty of Health Sciences. Her textbook, Preparing for Higher Education Study, does what it says on the tin, like all textbooks should.

If it were a book about scuba diving, you would read it to avoid becoming disorientated in deep water and never seeing the sun again. To unpack that metaphor, CLICK HERE for a more detailed blog on the subject.