Do You Keep a Diary or a Journal?
Diaries or Journals have always been a popular thing to keep.
I have kept a diary on and off since I before I was a teenager. If something is bothering me, I tend to want to write it down. This is common practise amongst many – whether it’s to work through an issue or simply to keep a memory of your life at the time of writing. Some write for themselves and others write on a blog for public viewing. My blog tends to be about general thoughts and opinions Continue reading
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Opening Lines
Books
The Top Ten Opening Lines…
I recently found an article from The Guardian from April 2012, about the best opening lines in fiction. The first sentence of a book sells it. It can be the difference between someone buying your book and putting it back on the shelf, or deciding to carry on and finish.
There are many first lines I like, one of my favourites is the line from Pride and Prejudice. It’s one of the most famous ones for sure. Below is the list of the ten from The Guardian. Do you agree? Are there any that aren’t in there that should be?
“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.” This is the classic third-person opening to the 20th-century novel that has shaped modern fiction, pro and anti, for almost a hundred years. As a sentence, it is possibly outdone by the strange and lyrical beginning of Joyce’s final and even more experimental novel, Finnegans Wake: “riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
by Which Fictional Character Would You Be?
Which fictional character would you be?
There are many fictional characters but which one would you want to be?
Being a big reader I meet so many amazing characters. At the end of The Fault in Our Stars, I had fallen in love with Hazel and Augustus. I want to have a drink with Bridget Jones and I want to go to Hogwarts with Harry Potter – no, on second thoughts, I want to be Hermione Granger for a day.
That’s what I love about being a writer. I get to create characters that come alive in my head (it’s like being able to have imaginary friends in adulthood,) even though Carrie, the main character in my current work in progress, won’t shut up.
It has me thinking… Continue reading
by Your Ideal Christmas Guests
We’re less than a week away before all of the festive celebrations begin and we’ll be opening presents, seeing family and friends or nestling down in front of the TV or snuggling with a book. I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to Christmas so much this year. It has got me thinking about (aside from family and friends,) who I would want to have over for Christmas dinner? Ideal dinner guests is one of the questions I like to ask the most as the answers are always so varied.
Mine would be: Tom Hiddleson (as Loki. It would make it interesting.) John Lennon, Queen Elizabeth 1, JK Rowling and Benedict Cumberbatch (as Sherlock.)
Who would you have over for a Christmas Dinner Party?
by Character Vs. Plot
Which one is more important?
It’s one of the decisions you have to make when sitting down to write a novel. Some books are character driven whereas others are moved along by the strong plot. When you read something like Lord of The Flies for example, it’s ultimately the actions of the characters that drive the plot. I am still trying to figure out which one should come first but saying that, my main character is strong-minded so if I had to choose at the moment, I would say character is more important.
Which one do you think is more important when writing a novel? Which one do you tend to focus on more?
by Book Club
