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Re: THREE HUNDRED WORD WRITING CHALLENGE #3 — Read First Post!! This Challenge Entry is disqualified due to it being flagged up, independently, by several other members, as a thinly veiled attack upon another member of Chronicles. We aim to uphold a good standard of conduct in the forums. We...

This is my last critique for a while. All the usual provisos: these are my opinions after reading through; you may disagree. I think this has the makings of something interesting. The problem for me isn't the writing (though there are some conflicting sentences, and too much revisiting the...

Re: Discussion October SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE As always, I'm only going to comment on stories I thought I understood. This isn't a reflection on the quality of those I omit. Perpetual Man I thought this was great. The increasingly frantic tone fits perfectly with the subject...

I think my problem is essentially that I can write grammatically. I have written a great deal of material of various kinds. I read a great deal. Whilst I have not had a formal education in grammar, I am far from illiterate. It isn't difficult for me to produce "correct" material (I admit, I had...

Great to hear. It's unfortunate that we disagree: those people who hold your views won't enjoy my style at all. I like it as as it is, and I think one is cursed to produce writing of the form one enjoys. If I like one option better than another, how can I polish my script by selecting the...

I think my point was that each new usage is always attacked. How do new usages come about if no-one attempts them? The French Academy was a formal attempt to halt the language's development, as I understand it - but Strunk & White could be considered its replacement in some ways in English...

Which is how we get back to my point about dictionaries. Precisely this. If you're working from the dictionary definition then that example is indeed impossible and meaningless. How can a castle be like a lizard? But, for me anyway, "reptilian" there has the overtones from its normal usage in...

Re: Improving our Challenge Stories -- READ FIRST POST This is brilliant HareBrain. I wouldn't have written it that way, but I like your version better than mine. It's much clearer. Naming would have got me much further forward, you're right. (Though Maureen?! I think you were somewhat...

Really interesting to see the responses. I guess I was more provocative than I meant to be. Long day here and I'm still winding down! So I apologise if I came across as confrontational, though I'd stand by what I said. There's a really funny sequence about the harking back to old forms...

I spotted in the Critiques section that comma splices, something I'd never even heard of, are flagged up as serious grammar errors. (They don't teach grammar in school any longer, at least they didn't in mine.) I was quite taken aback. It got me thinking about grammar and vocabulary more...

Re: Improving our Challenge Stories -- READ FIRST POST Nice way of putting it! I hadn't considered that aspect, I wish now I had worked it in somehow (and managed to show the beast was running the show!). Ah see. The two people talking are the announcer and the stage manager, who are...

I agree with The Judge. I find it very helpful to re-read, and make minor edits to, my current novel before continuing to work on it. Depending upon how much material you have, it can help a lot to ground you again in that world, story and style. If you only have a little written down though you...

Re: Improving our Challenge Stories -- READ FIRST POST Made my day that someone did! Thanks! Thanks for explaining how you saw it. It was definitely less successful than I hoped, but really useful to see all the ambiguities that I missed coming out. I can see that. I was trying to...

Re: Discussion October SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE Thanks for the review!

Re: Improving our Challenge Stories -- READ FIRST POST Interesting. I thought the acrobat's clumsiness would tie the drinking to him, and the thundering of the canvas would tie it to the tearing. I have problems with this sometimes, which are made much worse by word counting, trying to get...

Re: Improving our Challenge Stories -- READ FIRST POST I just made up the kraal beast; I was thinking of the ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal from the Hitchhiker's Guide I guess (too many words, and too much baggage associated with that beast specifically though). I just wanted something...

Re: Improving our Challenge Stories -- READ FIRST POST I just discovered this thread. Maybe too late to ask... did anyone understand my entry at all? It was: So here's what I meant. I asked myself: what if the special exhibit was really ("behind the scenes") the creature running the show...

There are quite a few negatives here, but also some positives. I think much of the dialogue reads well. I think some of the description is very good. There is definite awkwardness in places. I struggled most with two things: they way you introduce background, and the way the characters act. For...

Re: Discussion October SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE Once again, I'm only going to cover those stories I thought I understood. This isn't a reflection on the quality of the ones I don't mention. Hex Really interesting: nightmare (and ultimately suicide?) as salvation? A warning or...

Everyone sees these things differently. But my views (at the moment of writing) are below. 
 The second sentence has some problems for me. Which point of view is this written from? How do they identify the object which has just barrelled through a wall in (presumably, given how walls usually...