Bad sentence structure: Harmless? I don't think so!

[erastes]

Interview with Nell McAndrew in my local paper:

Q:  What's your most favourite thing to do?
A:   Eating or tickling my son's feet.

!!!!

I've posted an article on Erotic Authors' Association Website -"Straightening the Learning Curve or Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started This Writing Business"  Please have a gander - hopefully it's full of nuts and bolts and useful stuff. Obviously it's a hugely wide subject and there will be other articles on related articles later on - like "Effective Websites" and stuff like that. If you see anything you don't like or want added in, let me know.

If you'd like to submit a "Nuts and Bolts" type of article, please let me know - you don't have to be a member. And if you aren't - why not?

I'm sad to say I've never heard of L'engle. Worth chasing up?

Comments

Re: L'Engle

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Absolutely: she had a grace of language that (from what I know of your work) I think you would admire. Not sure if the subject matter would be your thing, she went from speculative to philosophical and back again, but for an example of the craft, done very well, she's well worth exploring.

Also, you should be able to find all of her stuff in the library to check for free without having to buy anything.

Re: L'Engle

[erastes.livejournal.com]

What a nice thing to say! *blushity*

I'll certainly seek her out, although .. i will have to go to Norwich as The Smallest Library in The World won't have anything!

:)

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, methinx I need to have a nose around there. I need all the advice I can inhale!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

the other articles are very useful!

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

*nod* If you love CS Lewis, I bet you'd enjoy L'Engle. Try the Time novels first: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet (my favorite), Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time.

Her Austin family books are quite beautifully written too, but they're a little too wholesome for my taste. (Though Zach is yummy. I love me some bad(ish) boys.)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'll certainly have a look-see, they sound intriguing. It annoys me when I've completely missed an author that everyone else knows!

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

I loved L'engle. I read A Wrinkle In Time over and over. A Wind in the Door wasn't as good in my opinion, but what is fascinating is the main character's attempt to explain how sight works to a race of beings that does not have vision. She can't do it. "It how things look like." Look? "Yes, their appearance in the light." Appearance? Light?

I'm doing an awful job of it, but it was a memorable passage. The third book is terrific, but I never tried the ones afterwards.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is silly, if they have no conception of light and appearance, they wouldn't have the vocab!

But i'll checkout W.I.Time, at least.

[asphodeline.livejournal.com]

L'Engle is worth trying out, yes. An American friend recommended her and I love her style.

and eating son's feet? ew :(

[erastes.livejournal.com]

so you hadn't heard of her before then?

[asphodeline.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't and was surprised to hear how "big" she was!!

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

I've only read her Wrinkle in Time books, which my mother and I read together when I was in elementary school. I remember really enjoying the relationships between the engaging, imperfect, wonderfully drawn characters, as well as having to learn long scientific words and what they meant.

Definitely worth a look.

Great article, btw. Would you be interested in a nuts-and-bolts article about any of the following?

-Finding/participating in crit groups
-Judicious use of adverbs
-Showing, not telling
-The submissions game

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm glad you liked it! I tried to make it a little more fun to read.

I would love an article on any - or all of those, hun!!!!!

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

Coming up then...will just put on my thinking cap. What sort of word count are we looking for? And do I just email it to you?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

about 500-800 words? But longer if it goes that way, no worries bout that, the articles there are of varying length, and yes, just email it over, I'll put it up with your byline and with links to wherever you want back to you.

[tharain.livejournal.com]

Q: What's your most favourite thing to do?
A: Eating or tickling my son's feet.

I read the answer as "Eating or licking my son's feet." and I thought WHAT?

Wrinkle in Time was SUCH a huge book for me. Definitely get it and read it.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I certainly will, thank hun!

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link, will crosspost!

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

Q: What's your most favourite thing to do?
A: Eating or tickling my son's feet.

Okay, this is where I feel like a weirdo. That makes perfect sense to me if she has a baby son. Eating my son's feet was a favourite activity in his baby days, and still makes him giggle...

Oh dear. I would have thought that that was what she meant and now I feel incredibly stupid.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Nah, I think she meant eating. For an ex model it would be a marvellous freedom!

[ejab62.livejournal.com]

Very, *very* useful.

*Saves*

[clarediva.livejournal.com]

good god, now I'm spamming you! *lol*

Just wanted to say thanks for the article, I just got a contract and am starting out on the publishing trail, so there was *loads* of useful stuff for me to consider. I'm a pretty cautious person naturally, but that's at war with the 'squee' factor of being offered a deal, so I need my feet pulled back on to the ground as much as possible.

I'd become a member of EAA but did I understand the application period is currently closed, will re-open Dec? I'll apply then, happily, and hopefully have things to contribute.

L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time is one of the books that stayed with me since childhood, it was magical and witty and sharp and disturbing and very lyrical to read. I turned the loft upside down recently to find my copy to re-read it, and although I'd mis-remembered parts of it, it was still a joy ^__^

And Norwich?! I used to work up there a lot, my company had branches all over the place. And funnily enough, I'm just about to ask to borrow a friend-of-a-friend's house up there for a weekend to run away from the nightmare of London life and get some writing done before the end of the year *lol*

thanks again
^___^