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Tag Archives: writing

The Good Rejection

29 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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good rejection, rejection, small publishers, writing

rejThey tell you there are rejections, and then there are rejections. They tell you that publishers, at first, just plain reject you, and then one day they start rejecting you but. And that’s a sign: you are about to make it.

Yes, well.

I won’t say it can’t happen, but let me tell you a small cautionary tale.

Back in the day, when I was young and naïve, I sent Out There a novel. Out There was a local small publisher, and the novel was a mammoth, 250k word historical – and the first volume in a trilogy…

You won’t be surprised to hear that the answer was “No, thanks”, but it was a qualified “No, thanks”. Why, the Small Publisher even had me over for a cup of coffee and a good chat. Remarkable novel, he said – just impossibly huge for such a small house… Why not try something shorter? Continue reading →

And a second draft

08 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

historical novel, second draft, writing

55327_girl-writing_lg-1There I was, sitting on my first draft, and on three months’ worth of notes – sticky or otherwise – and more than a little stuck with a sense of neither being ready nor knowing too well what to do next…

Well, actually, next I began by gathering all my notes and going through them with some consistency – because it seemed like a good idea – and this proved… interesting.

On the one hand, I put together a few reasoned lists of changes to be made – and this was good. On the other hand, perhaps it was a mistake to go back to the notes from very early days, when I was trying to sort out narrative modes… I found myself grappling with the same dilemmas again, and questioning just about every choice I’d made. It wasn’t exactly cheerful work… Continue reading →

Seers and Storytellers

09 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Scribbling

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Kipling Year, Many Inventions, Poetry, Rudyard Kipling, storytelling, writing

inkwellThe Finest Story in the World has to be one of my favourite Kipling stories. It certainly was one of the first I read, many years ago, in a more than decent Italian translation, back when I still believed Kipling was just the man of the Jungle Books and Kim. Let us say that this particular short story, taken from Many Inventions, was a relevant step towards discovery. Continue reading →

All the way there

04 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Scribbling

≈ 2 Comments

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Charles Dickens, Death and Mr. Pickwick, Farrar, Robert Seymour (illustrator), Stephen Jarvis, Straus and Giroux, The Pickwick Papers, writing

Death-and-Mr.-Pickwick-by-Stephen-JarvisHow do we come to write what we write? It’s a different question from “why”. It’s not so much a matter of reasons and motives, as of the road that lead to a particular book (or play, or story…) meant as a set of thematic, narrative and stylistic choices.

Each piece of work has its own How – long or short, a more or less disparate collection of influences, memories, circumstances, findings, likes, dislikes, long-chewed ideas and sudden epiphanies… Continue reading →

A Word Treasure

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling, Things

≈ 2 Comments

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the Guardian, the New Yorker, word choice, words, writing

Cloud 2M. pointed my nose toward this article on the Guardian, in which a bunch of writers were asked to share their favourite words.

A lovely idea, I think: writers are wordsmiths by trade, with an ingrained love of words (often bordering on obsession, if the writers I know, including myself, are anything to go by…), and their choices are bound to be interesting. Continue reading →

History & Stories

11 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by la Clarina in History, Stories

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Historical fiction, History, Rudyard Kipling, writing

HistoryIt strikes me that this particular piece of K-wisdom is a near-perfect motto for this blog…

And it’s not unlikely I’ll adopt it as such.

Incidentally, it goes very well with Kipling’s two books of “history” stories, and his other occasional foray into historical fiction. There are not many – just enough to make me wish he had written more.

Also, this would make a nice answer to the unavoidable question of Why Historical Fiction…

Were you ever asked? And what did you say?

Clara, the Dithering Scribbler

09 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

first draft, historical novel, narrative choices, writing

writerIt’s becoming clear that my novel doesn’t proceed as smoothly as I hoped – at least, not since I hit the 45000-words mark.

After that there was London, and after London there was a snag, and after the snag there was Easter, with a bunch of relatives and guests descending on us, and after Easter… Continue reading →

The Discovery of Rebecca

12 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Stories, Theatre

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

characters, Ivanhoe, Lady Rowena, Rebecca of York, stage adaptation, Walter Scott, writing

IvanhoeI was eleven when I wrote my first stage adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (a much abridged children’s translation), and even pestered a bunch of classmates into staging it. Yes, I know, I know…  Continue reading →

And as Mr. Kipling says…

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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elephants, Rudyard Kipling, storytelling, writing

ashesandsnowOne of my favourite pieces of K-wisdom – to be kept in mind to stave off a temptation to obsess over the proper rules of storytelling.

Because It Isn’t There

05 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

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crime drama, mysteries, police procedurals, storytelling, Thomas Berger, writing

lansbury-as-miss-marple-reading-up-on-poisonsThere is this very sweet elderly lady I’ve known all my life. She’s past eighty, unmarried, very busy with gardening, embroidery and good deeds. And she is a voracious reader – with a taste, it turns out, for crime stories, mysteries and thrillers. Oh, and police procedurals on the telly. The gorier they are, the better Miss M. likes them. Continue reading →

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