Karrinyup Writers Club Inc. 25th Anniversary Writing Competition

Yesterday I attended the Karrinyup Writers Club Inc. 25th Anniversary lunch. It's quite an achievement for a club to last this long with meetings every week except for a brief summer break. The club has helped many writers hone their skills, me among them, and I wish them well for another twenty five years.

As well as delicious food and a book launch, on the menu were the presentation of the judges' reports and readings of some of the prize winning entries from the Karrinyup Writers Club Inc. 25th Anniversary Writing Competition. I was delighted to find the names of so many people I know on the winners list. I'm proud to be among them. Congratulations to all the winners but especially Joanne Mills, the multi talented Pamela Blackburn, Marlene Fulcher and Pat Fletcher.

Poetry Section:

Judge: Shane Macauley

First prize: Kevin Gillam (WA)

Second prize: Joanne Mills (WA)

Third prize: Pamela Blackburn (WA)

Commended: Lorraine White for two poems (NSW), Janeen Samuel (Vic) and Marlene Fulcher (WA)

Short Story Section:

Judge: Maureen Helen

First prize: Pamela Blackburn (WA)

Second prize: Pat Fletcher (WA)

Third prize: Helen Venn (WA)

Aussiecon 4 Appearances

If you've ever wanted to know who the Egoboo group is, you can now see most of us in action at Aussiecon4, and even pop in to a Kaffeeklatsch or two and meet some of our members!

Thursday

1400
Opening Ceremony

1500
Spoiler alert: Reviewing plot-driven fiction without giving the story away
One of the biggest challenges to reviewers and critics is discussing works whose narratives depend on surprising plots or shocking twists without spoiling those plots and twists for the reader. How do we manage to navigate our way around this problem without compromising the rest of the review? Is it even a spoiler to mention there are spoilers?
Ian Mond, Helen Venn, Jenny Blackford, Crisetta MacLeod
Room 216

1600
Magic mean streets: The city as a fantasy location
While some fantasy novels explore vast terrains of forests, mountains and oceans, others  choose to remain within the confines of the city. What is the appeal of the fantasy city, how does it contribute to the tone and plot of the fantasy novel, and how much detail do writers need to develop to make their fantasy cities work? A look at the best - and possibly worst - of fantasy  city design.
Ellen Kushner, Trudi Canavan, Carol Ryles, Jennifer Fallon
Room 210

1600
Motherhood in science fiction and fantasy
How is the theme of motherhood presented in science fiction and fantasy? A look at the best  and worst examples, and an exploration of why this theme can resonate so strongly with writers and readers alike.
Helen Merrick, Marianne de Pierres, Helen Venn, Tansy Rayner Roberts
Room 213

2000
Ditmar Awards

Friday

1300
Foundlings and orphans
The orphaned baby who grows up to become a master wizard. The lonely farmboy who becomes a powerful Jedi. The last son of the planet Krypton, who assumes the mantle of the world's greatest hero. Foundlings and orphans form a common and powerful theme in popular culture and fiction around the world, but why? What is the origin of this storytelling theme, and why does it appeal to writers and audiences so much?
Faye Ringel, Sarah Parker, Delia Sherman, Gillian Polack, Mary Victoria, Mur Lafferty
Room 211

1500
Very short stories: Writing and reading flash fiction
Flash fiction - a short story lasting only a few hundred words - is perhaps the most misunderstood of prose fiction forms, and potentially one of the hardest to write. What are the challenges of writing flash fiction, and what sorts of stories is it best equipped to tell? Is it possible to write a work of flash fiction that could rival lengthier classics in the field? Can you write quality fiction shorter than this panel description? (Which is 88 words long, by the way, including this sentence.)
Martin Livings, Sarah Parker, Jeff Harris, Amanda Pillar
Room 217

Saturday

1100
Kafeeklatsch: Satima Flavell
Rm 201

1500
Kaffeeklatsch: Sarah Parker
Rm 201

1700
Love hurts: YA Paranormal romance
Why is Paranormal Romance so popular with teens?
Amanda Pillar, Satima Flavell, Crisetta MacLeod, Tehani Wesley (chair)
Saturday 1700 Room 210

2000
Masquerade

Sunday

1000
Kids Programm: Zombie make-up session
I have facepaint. Kids beware! Adults beware! KNEE HIGH ZOMBIES COMING AT YA!
Sarah Parker, John Parker, Chuck McKenzie  
Rm 209

1100
Kids Programme: Surviving the zombie apocalypse
So now we have a lot of zombies, what do we do now?
Sarah Parker, John Parker, Chuck McKenzie 
Rm 209

1300
Fantasy before fantasy, science fiction before science fiction
The Odyssey. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Frankenstein. Gulliver's Travels. Journey to the West. A look at classic works of world literature that, while not written as science fiction and fantasy, have been co-opted in the 20th and 21st centuries by speculative fiction readers and used as inspiration by the writers.
Rani Graff, Carol Ryles, Helen Lowe, Ben Chandler
Sunday 1300 Room 204

1400
Reading: Carol Ryles
Rm 215

1500
Writing your first novel
Suggestions, tips, advice, ideas, opportunities to help all those who would like to write.
Juliet Marillier, Richard Harland, Leanne Hall, Carol Ryles (chair)
Room 204

2000
Hugo Awards Ceremony

Monday

1600
Closing Ceremony

We hope to see every one there! If you see us, please feel free to come over and say hello!

--
Collated by Sarah P

Adjectives, commas and confusion

A friend suggested that a post on comma usage might be a good idea. ‘Easy,’ I thought. ‘I’ll knock one up sometime when I can’t think of anything to blog about.’ So, leaving things until the last minute as usual, I sat down an hour or so ago to throw together a quick Dummies Guide to Commas.

HA! Did I say it would be easy? Silly me.

I started by thinking about the many different uses we have for the humble comma. Its main function, of course is clarity. Commas can remove ambiguity, as in the classic sentence: “The man was not killed, mercifully”. Take away the comma and its meaning might be interpreted quite differently!

Commas are also used to separate items in a list, as in “I need to buy oats, nuts, yogurt and cheese”. This is more complex than it looks. Do we use the Harvard (aka the Oxford) comma or not? Another blog post, that!

Commas are essential to the organisation of complex sentences, and this purpose alone could take up several posts. And they are, of course, placed between adjectives when more than one is used to modify a noun.

This last use of commas got me to thinking about the correct placement of adjectives before a noun, so I thought I could take a swipe at two problems with one blog post by talking about the order of adjectives and when to put commas between them. And that will, I’m sure, be enough discussion on both commas and adjectives to confuse everyone, including me.

The role of adjectives, so the Aussie Style Manual* tells us, is to “describe, define or evaluate an adjacent noun”. However, the Style Manual has put them in the wrong order, as we shall see.

If you are using two or three adjectives, you will, if you have native proficiency in the language, automatically place the evaluative one first, then the descriptive, and finally, the definitive. So we would say “An impressive old oak door”. Try putting those adjectives in any other order, and you will notice at once that the sentence takes on a certain strangeness, as if Santa Claus were suddenly to turn up wearing blue instead of red. It just isn’t right.

Evaluative adjectives are words such as lovely, ugly, charming and fascinating. They imply a value judgement on the part of the writer or speaker. Descriptive adjectives, such as large, hot, old, red and square show how the noun varies from others of its class, while definitive adjectives narrow the field still further by telling us something fixed and possibly unchangeable about an object; for instance, its origin (e.g. “Hungarian athlete”) basic material (“wooden door”) or purpose (“sailing ship”).

Now for the comma part. Sure, you put commas between the adjectives (but not between an adjective and its noun) but only when the adjectives are of the same kind. So you might describe a plant as having “small, hairy, prickly, dark green leaves”. (Note, however, that a string of definitive adjectives does not need commas. More on this below.)

A string of adjectives of different types doesn’t need commas, either. “John does enjoy a fine old tawny port” doesn’t need any commas at all, because the three adjectives are all of different classes: fine is evaluative, old is descriptive and tawny in this case refers to an intrinsic quality of the beverage, so it is definitive. (In other cases, such as “tawny hair” we are describing a quality that may or may not be permanent and so falls into the “descriptive” variety.)

Despite the above recommendation, there is actually a movement towards reduced comma use, so you are quite likely to see “small red apples” or “big fat ladies”. When only two adjectives are involved the meaning is usually quite clear, so you can get away without using commas. Sometimes you can even do it with three adjectives. Personal judgement comes into play, and personal judgement is more frequently acceptable in comma usage than in any other form of punctuation.

But back to word order, which is actually even more complex than the above paragraphs suggest. What if we have several adjectives of the same kind? How do we decide what order to put them in? Once again, if you have native proficiency in English, you will put them in a certain order automatically.

But what is that order? Well, it goes like this:

Evaluative
Opinion
For example, a beautiful, enchanting dress.

Descriptive
Value
Size
Temperature
Age
Shape
Colour
For example, a cheap, big, hot, fresh, round, brown bun.

Definitive
Origin
Material or intrinsic quality
Purpose
For example, a Hungarian wooden sailing ship. Note the lack of commas, despite the adjectives all being definitive. Generally, definitive elements in a sentence do not need to be separated by commas. A good rule of thumb is to try placing the word “and” between the words. If it doesn’t make sense with “and”, you don’t need commas. So while you might write “a beautiful and enchanting dress”, you certainly would not write “a Hungarian and wooden and sailing ship”, would you?

And that’s probably enough on commas and adjectives for one post. I’ll blog on other aspects of commas usage another time. In fact, I could probably go on for years, but panic not – I won’t!

*Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, Sixth edition, ©Commonwealth of Australia, 2002. This is the manual upon which most major publishers, government bodies, educational institutions, NGOs and businesses in Australia base their style sheets. Some small presses, for some reason, use the Chicago Manual of Style. I have no idea why.

Of Words

Words are sneaky little things. Just think about it. They simply won't behave. They start out meaning one thing then they switch to the opposite. Think about 'wicked' which still holds its traditional meaning of something bad but which is also used to mean something excellent. Sometimes they move from the vulgar to the acceptable - or, for that matter, from the acceptable to the vulgar. Words with completely different meanings but with a similar sound can be confused: for example look at 'drivel' that is often substituted with 'dribble'. Instead of clarifying a subject such words can become a tool of confusion. If they are too long they contract sometimes into an unrecognisable form e.g. 'I am not' can become 'I ain't or 'I aren't' instead of 'I amn't'. These might not be grammatically correct but they are often heard. Slippery little things words - and sometimes not so little.

For all that, they remain the best means we have of communicating. We talk together and from that ideas develop - all because we use words. They give us pleasure in the form of poetry, songs and fiction - and we play with them too. Subsets of people invent their own variations on language to distinguish themselves. The recent use of 'fully sick' by young people comes to mind. We create new words - sometimes because we need to name a new invention and sometimes because we just want to. We use colloquialisms for many reasons but mainly because we can't be bothered with formal language. We feel the words flow better with a more casual structure but while many of us allow ourselves these usages we do keep words under control in some areas because, while subsets of language - whether they are local usages, jargon, dialects or slang - are perfectly clear to those in that group, they may be unintelligible to outsiders. We need to have a standard language, one which is understandable to us all. It wasn't always this way. Until recently contracts, for example, were couched in jargon that was almost impossible for the average person to understand. Fortunately we've moved away from that to a less formal ( and less confused ) language so instead of confusing most of us, it is in a form that we can all comprehend.

Put it all together and maybe it's a good thing that words are as flexible as they are. We certainly ask a lot of them so it's no wonder that sometimes they try to escape. We may like the idea of a language that is static and unchanging, but would it really be a good thing? As long as we keep that common framework of words and grammar so we can communicate and understand each other, perhaps it's not always a bad thing to let the words out to play sometimes. What do you think?

KSP Speculative Fiction Awards

The winners of the 2010 KSP Speculative Fiction awards will be announced on Sunday, 15th of August 3-5pm at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre, 11 Old York Rd, Greenmount. It promises to be a fun two hours with the awards presentation, readings from the winning entries and judge's report. Special guest, best-selling author Juliet Marillier will also be reading from her latest book and talking about her career as a writer. Afternoon tea will be available for a gold coin donation. So if you're in Perth at the time, you are very welcome to come along and join in.

Open to writers Australia-wide, the KSP SF awards have been held annually since 1998.

Focus : The Muse's Little Helpers

It's the most intoxicating feeling when your writing's 'in the flow'; the story's rocketing along on invisible fuel, your characters are writing themselves effortlessly into and out of sticky situations, there's not a plot-hole in sight and your prose doesn't hit a single log-jam (maybe just the odd twig). Wonderful. Sublime. Then the phone rings. It's time to get dinner. The washing needs doing. That ache in the side of your head starts to intrude. Loved ones outside your storyland need a bit of attention. The budgie cage could do with fresh sand. All that focus dissipates in an instant. Or your own mental or emotional dialogues start to cut into the writing stream, take you off on a thousand diversions. Maybe, since your brain is so inclined, entice you with new stories, a dozen gleaming plot trajectories. Or maybe said brain just got fatigued and opted out of the 'flow' for a while. This is natural, of course. It's Real Life. And the mind's fluctuations. The story will wait for you, patiently or not. But what state will your mind return to it in? What do you do if it won't or can't connect back into all those lovely strands it was unwinding?

I'm sure we all have our own methods of refocussing - and reconnecting - with our stories. I'd like to share with you my favourite helper; music. Not a startling one. I'm sure it's a favourite for many writers, and with good reason. For a start, music is linear - it usually has a beginning, a middle (no matter what genre it belongs to, apart from certain avant-garde forms) and a conclusion, related to the linear nature of stories and the written word. Music and writing aren't the only artforms with a fundamental linearity. Dance, theatre, film all share the same basic 'line' because they exist in time (unlike a painting or other stationary medium where a moment in time is frozen, preserved). But it's not that easy to write while your vision is engaged with something external, unless that is the thing you're writing about! Well, not for me, anyway.

But music can assist the writing process in much more precise ways than that. Music speaks to emotion, or conjures specific emotional or mental states. I find that if I've 'lost my way' with a story, music is the most likely thing to bring me back on track. I used to use this in a general way; by playing music that would either relax (or if I was tired, stimulate) my mind before starting to write. From there, I graduated to playing music that would relate to the type of scene I was writing, using it to 'set the mood', my mood, for the action of that particular scene. Some of those pieces of music have become so ingrained with certain stories or scenes that hearing them will immediately trigger that scene in my mind (just as music can powerfully trigger emotional memories). Massive Attack's 'Silent Spring' (featuring Elizabeth Fraser), for instance, is now inextricably bound up with a wistful scene in the novel currently underway. The delicate Andante from Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No.2 in F Major inspired the emotional atmosphere in a scene where a character in a very fragile state found her internal poise.

Now, I'm 'pre-programming' all my main characters with specific pieces that express their personalities, and which get me straight back into the groove with them if I've been away from them for a while. Looking at my playlist, I see I've looped some songs 140 times. Wow. That's a bit of writing time! My villain has been running on Muse's 'Butterflies and Hurricanes' for some time. It's perfect for him, the intense mood, the escalating, complex structure, even the lyrics, and this song is now so strongly identified with him in my mind that if I play it, I'm right in there with him straight away. If a character is going through a change in their personality, then I find a new piece of music for them that links to that change. It's fun, and enormously helpful.

Currently, I'm taking temporary leave from the set of all-consuming novels to finish a short story. The first thing I've done is to find music for the new story. It had to be music never used for the novels, or it would link me back to them, shift the focus away. So the story now has a defining 'song' of its own; when I hear it, I'm immediately present to the new story (this works best, naturally, if you really like the piece of music too!). And I know when I go back to the novels, their 'soundtracks' will be waiting there to help me get back in touch with them. All great food for the muse!

HorrorScope: Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival (July)

This month's Australian Spec Fic Carnivale is up! Talie has done an excellent job of organizing and collecting this month's links.

HorrorScope: Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival (July)

World Science Fiction Convention

We Egobooers are excited about Australia’s biggest SF event for a decade. For the first time since 1999, the World Science Fiction Convention is to be held in Australia!

From September 2-6, Melbourne will be awash with visitors from interstate and overseas, who will flood to the Melbourne Convention Centre to network, attend panels, talk, drink, play dressups and generally have and all round Good Time. There will be many noteworthy guests, including Guests of Honour Kim Stanley Robinson, Shaun Tan and Robin Johnson.

Kim Stanley Robinson from America, author of twenty books, has won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for his internationally bestselling novels. His work incorporates themes of ecology, environmentalism and social justice. In his Martian trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars), the terraforming and colonization of Mars provide an exploration of sustainability, ethics, corporate greed, and the value of scientific pursuit.

Shaun Tan, an Australian writer and artist, is the author of five books and is an award winning illustrator. His numerous awards include the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. His illustrations have been included in a number of exhibitions around the world, and he was a concept artist for the hit movies Horton Hears a Who and Pixar's Hugo-winning WALL-E.

Robin Johnson has worked tirelessly for many years to promote and organize science fiction conventions in Australia. He was chairperson of the 33rd Worldcon in 1975, the first Worldcon to be held in Melbourne. He has three times been co-chair for the Australian National Science Fiction Convention. In 2007, he was the winner of the Big Heart Award, the highest honour the science fiction community gives to one of its own.

Other guests of note will include Alan Baxter, Gregory Benford, Jenny Blackford, Russell Blackford, Trudi Canavan, Bill Congreve, Alison Croggon, Jack Dann, Ellen Datlow, Marianne de Pierres, Cory Doctorow, Kate Elliott, Jennifer Fallon, Dirk Flinthart, Bernadette Foley, Kate Forsyth, Dave Freer, Pamela Freeman, Laura E. Goodin, Tim Holman, Robert Hood, Ian Irvine, Trent Jamieson, Deborah Kalin, Ellen Kushner, Glenda Larke, Martin Livings, Juliet Marillier, George RR Martin, Sean McMullen, China Miéville, Karen Miller, Lara Morgan, Nicole Murphy, Garth Nix, Andrew Porter, Michael Pryor, Alastair Reynolds, Lezli Robyn, John Scalzi, Joel Shepherd, Robert Silverberg, Stephanie Smith, Cat Sparks, Jonathan Strahan, Charles Stross, Lucy Sussex, Kaaron Warren, Kim Wilkins and Sean Williams and many others.

These guests and many other authors, editors and agents from Australia and overseas will be featured on panels encompassing an array of topics drawn from the areas of young adult literature, science fiction, fantasy, horror, academic papers, TV shows, science, ecology, and other genre-related topics. Some items will feature more direct contact with industry professionals, such as kaffeeklatsches (small group gatherings with authors for a coffee and a chat), author readings, and signings.

It’s going to be fabulous. Go check it out at http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/

Writing Groups.

I recently went to a meeting of the face to face writing group I joined fifteen years ago. This group is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, quite an achievement since they meet during the day once a week for eleven months of the year. I have been less regular in my attendance lately for reasons beyond my control and I regret that. This group took me in as very much a beginner and I doubt I would be the writer I am today without them. They gently taught, encouraged and sometimes, when it was needed, pushed me. They shared my joys and disappointments. Actually I think they were as excited over my first competition win as I was. They critiqued my work honestly, fairly and kindly. I owe them a great deal.

I'm describing this experience because to have such a group behind you is invaluable to a writer. Writing is an isolating business. Most of the time it's just you and your computer. You sit there writing away at something that is in your head demanding to be told and it's hard to know whether you have it right or it's just a pile of rubbish. You fall in love with a piece of writing and can't bear to let it go or you think everything you've written is dull and stupid. The truth is you really can't judge your own work objectively because you are too close to it. That piece you've fallen in love with may be completely extraneous to your story and the dull bit might only need to be tightened but you can't see that. You need fresh, impartial eyes on it - not your mother, your best friend or someone who doesn't read anything but the newspaper comics. You need a critiquer.

The group I mentioned above is not the only critique group I have belonged to but they were the first - and they are the standard by which I judge all others. I feel blessed that the two groups I now belong to are just as generous, knowledgeable and supportive.

Although I prefer to belong to a group I have gotten to know well, there are other options including several online critiquing groups in the genre. Among them are Online Writers Workshop and Critters. Although I have no personal experience of either I have heard good reports about both. Apart from peer critiquing they offer a variety of information on useful resources for writers and are run by experienced writers and editors - and, of course, there's always the chance that you might be discovered by a publisher who is taking an interest in what is being put up for critiquing.

4F Day! Four Questions for Friday

Thank goodness it's Friday again! Here's some light entertainment to help you get through the until lunchtime. After lunch, you're on your own!

Helen Venn

1) Which author's style is similar to yours?
I don't think I have a style that is similar to any one writer. It's  more a mixture with my learning from everyone whose work I've ever read. I guess I'd describe my style as tending to the lyrical probably because I also write poetry and love to play with language.

2) Which author do you wish your style is similar to?
I've been influenced by a lot of different writers and they all have  elements of style I'd like to be as good at. Immediately springing to mind are Patricia A McKillip, Jennifer Fallon, C. J. Cherryh, Margo Lanagan, Stephen King, Glenda Larke and Peter S. Beagle but there are so many more that this is by no means a definitive list.

3) Who would you like to be?
I'm quite happy being myself, thank you, but better health would be a
bonus.

4) Who would you like to download the brain of?
Assuming I could still keep my own brain (I'm quite fond of it) and  they didn't have to be writers, there are a lot of interesting people out there. Among the women - and in no particular order - Dame Julian, Elizabeth 1 and Jane Austen for starters. The men - again in no special order - Mark Twain, John Donne, Rousseau, the writers of the  King James version of the Bible, Gerard Manley Hopkins and yes, Shakespeare. That's only a sample though. Think of all those other amazing artists, scientists and philosophers, each with so much knowledge, stretching back to the beginning of time.

Carol Ryles

1) Which author's style is similar to yours?
I think I'm a mixture of a whole lot of different styles. I suppose if  I listed all the books I'd ever read, you could say I was a bit of this and a bit of that.

2) Which author do you wish your style is similar to?
Not sure if I'd wish for that. Though of course, I do not believe I  could be totally unique either.  So to this I am going to answer I would like to be a mixture of all my favourites -- those I listed in the previous 4F Questions.

3) Who would you like to be?
Now that's one of those questions that should be prefaced with: "be  careful what you wish for" or "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know." If I could change into someone else, it probably wouldn't be someone real. Probably someone fictional who has lots of adventures and a seemingly impossible goal that, after lots of
twists and turns, she eventually achieves. When I try and think of  exactly who, I'm thinking "Not her, because of xyz" and not him, because of abc", so maybe, for me, the answer for who I would like to be is unanswerable. I would prefer not to start out knowing who I am, because the pleasure is in the discovery. Once I have everything I
need, I would no longer have any goals. I'd probably want to be  someone else again.

4) Who would you like to download the brain of?
So long as I could keep my own brain as well, I think it would be neat  to download the memories of one of the first ever homo sapiens sapiens. I'd like to see if there really was an Eve, whether she was mitochondrial Eve or whatever. I'd like to know how it felt to be part of a new species, learning new skills in an old world, telling new  stories perhaps?  Or maybe changing old stories that didn't quite fit any more?  I'd like to see how those old stories began, what they were about and whether they were filled with ideas from our non-homo sapiens sapiens ancestors. I'd like to see how different those stories were from the stories we now consider to be the world's first. How  would it feel living in a world that still felt all shiny and new and seemingly endless and impossible, where the things we now take for granted were totally inexplicable? I wouldn't want to be stuck in that situation, but to know how we all started. That would useful, I think.

Sarah Parker

1) Which author's style is similar to yours?
I got told once my style was similar to earl Anne Mccaffrey and Lois Mcmaster Bujold, so as you can imagine it made my YEAR.

2) Which author do you wish your style is similar to?
No one. I don't think anything is polished enough to have a definitive style. I'm working on that right now though.

3) Who would you like to be?
Me! I'm pretty darn happy thanks! Although... Sarah Genge has some rather awesome short stories floating around right now. And Kij Johnson certainly seems to be able to write opening lines that grab your attention.

4) Who would you like to download the brain of?
I've been crushing on Carl Sagan for a few months now, so I'll pick him. I was going to say Asimov, but apparently Asimov said that Sagan was one of only two minds more brilliant than his. I'd also love to check out Nora Robert's brain.

Joanna Fay

1) Which author's style is similar to yours?
My style is probably poetic more than anything else, and stylistically reflects a number of lyrical writers. I enjoy subtleties of syntax and word imagery in both poetry and prose and have unconsciously absorbed a fair dose of 'aestheticism'. My current project is learning how to balance that aesthetic with character, action, tension and the demands of plot, which has meant getting handy with the pruning shears and taking a hard look at where and when to pare back the prose and tighten it up. Still learning.

2) Which author do you wish your style is similar to?
Much as there are many authors I like, it's hard to think of any one I particularly want to emulate. My own reading tastes have changed over time, and it follows that my writing tastes (and therefore style) will change too.

3) Who would you like to be?
I'm quite happy being me...although a slightly healthier me would be nice. I guess I could handle being Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice or, come to think of it, Virginia Woolf's Orlando would be pretty interesting, starting out male and ending up female, with a lifetime spanning several centuries. I'd love to be one of my own characters (of the winged variety) for the thrill of flight, except that such horrible things keep on happening to them. Most offputting.

4) Who would you like to download the brain of?
Ah, but there have been many admirable brains! How could I choose just one? I think I'd want a whole stack of brains, to make the most of all the different types of gifts. Given my metaphysical leanings, I might end up opting for someone like Deepak Chopra or Karl Sagan, David Bohm or Stephanie Dowrick, for her insight into human nature coupled with her outstanding, forgiving compassion. People I've read and admired. There are so, so many. I feel really inspired just thinking about them!

Satima Flavell

1) Which author's style is similar to yours?
Well, one person did say my work was a bit like Jennifer Fallon's, only not as good...

2) Which author do you wish your style is similar to?
William Shakespeare. Sadly, fantasy written in blank verse doesn't seem to be selling terribly well at the moment.

3) Who would you like to be?
Me, only luckier, younger, more talented, and better looking.

4) Who would you like to download the brain of?
Can I have Shakespeare's? He isn't using it any more. I'll like Ursula K. LeGuin's, too, only she's still using hers.

You!

1) Which author's style is similar to yours?

2) Which author do you wish your style is similar to?

3) Who would you like to be?

4) Who would you like to download the brain of?


--
Sarah