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Category Archives: Analysis
Knowing why we cry
I have been thinking about last week’s finale of Dr Who (or rather the last two weeks, it was a two parter). I know what you’re thinking: a) you sad git and b) what’s that got to do with crying? … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Film and TV scriptwriting, Inspiration, Technique
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Oh, sod off
It is because we don’t have one of these that English is the global language. In the English language, the rules are, as often as not, more honor’d in the breach than the observance.
Memo to fans: let the storyteller tell it
The past week has seen the conclusion of two popular (probably influential, arguably seminal) TV series, the BBC’s Life on Mars/ Ashes to Ashes and ABC’s Lost. Both series dealt with strikingly similar themes (I’ll put them under the broad … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Film and broadcast, Technique
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A short dilemma
A short story is ‘a world seen in a quick glancing light,’ so said Alice Munro. It’s a ‘glance at the miraculous,’ according to Joseph O’Connor (in his introduction to the 1997 Fish Anthology). It allows ‘a glimpse into the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Technique, The hard slog
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Everything you need to know about why “The Phantom Menace” is such a terrible film
(via @JM71 – I love the random stuff that people turn up on Twitter …) I think this is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve seen lately. I take it that most of us have seen “The Phantom Menace”, … Continue reading
Accuracy in writing
Why we need proofreaders – or writers’ circles - using our old whipping horse Dan Brown as an example!
Posted in Analysis, Critique, Technique, The hard slog, Writers in action
3 Comments
5 things that Science Fiction and Fantasy could do without
1. False moral quandaries. The ability of SFF to distort reality and then claim to be addressing real-world issues is rarely raised, but it can lead to false morals being drawn. Say our hero uses a spell to kill all … Continue reading
I’ll be the judge of that
This week saw the adjudication of the annual President’s Competition, one of the four regular competitions open to our members. Back in January during one of the many bouts of freezing weather Nick Cook, VWC President, set the theme as ‘Snow’. The story … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Competitions and festivals
3 Comments
Oh great. Just great.
So what brain dead halfwit thought this would be a good idea? Fantasy author to write ‘new’ Asimov novels
Twitter writes some new rules – for writers
Whichever way you measure it, this has been a good week for Twitter, the social networking site for the clinically concise. First, libel law firm Carter Ruck tried to suppress reporting of Parliamentary discussion about its client, Trafigura, which had … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, State of the media
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