The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon

The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon
Shortlisted for The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Prize

Friday 22 February 2008

Structure, setting and submissions

This week marked a return to the Writing workshop after a 2 week absence.

This week we spoke of setting and structure and the type of language used to achieve the desired effect in writing. We spoke of the importance of dialog and how versatile well-written dialog can be.

Our exercise this week was to construct a scene, using dialog effectively, between Sisyphus and his wife as she brings him his lunch. Sisyphus was the Greek king who was doomed for all eternity to roll a massive boulder up a hill. It was a fun exercise and I encourage you to try it for yourself. My effort is over in my writing notebook that you can link to here.

While you're at the notebook have a look around (the notebook can be accessed just to the left and above ). One of the stories has been submitted to the Missouri Review for consideration. The same story has been submitted to the New Quarterly, as well.

Loremaster has been seeing some slow editing over the past weeks, but I anticipate a flurry of motion in the next little while. My goal for submission is to have the manuscript in the mail no later than March 15th. I have been putting together a new beginning for my novella, The Platinum Ticket, as part its evolution in becoming a full length novel. So far all the work has been in my head, but it will find paper while I'm cleaning up Loremaster. Patriot hasn't seen any revision yet, but that will come with time.

All this writing and a new job search on the horizon. Exciting!