Aaron if the British film industry was to be cast entirely by what the BCG shut in geeks would shag, we'd have some very odd films.

A Room with a view.

Starring Debbie McGee, Julia Swahillia, Nigella Lawson, that fit one who must be legal off Harry Potter and David Tennant.
 

---

The ASDA of satire.

I hate purity, I hate goodness!I don't want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

1984
 

Quote: sootyj @ August 15 2008, 10:47 AM BST

A Room with a view.

Starring Debbie McGee, Julia Swahillia, Nigella Lawson, that fit one who must be legal off Harry Potter and David Tennant.

View original

You missed off Liz Sladen!
 

Quote: Griff @ August 15 2008, 10:32 AM BST

Constantly writing doesn't necessarily equate to improving.

View original

Absolutely - like constantly wanking.

Which reminds me ....
 

Quote: Seefacts @ August 15 2008, 10:47 AM BST

Yeah, but I'd be insulting her as I did it.

View original

Quote: sootyj @ August 15 2008, 10:47 AM BST

Aaron if the British film industry was to be cast entirely by what the BCG shut in geeks would shag, we'd have some very odd films.

View original

But they'd be far more watchable.
 

---

Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
Half man, half Internet, half TV.
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)

 

Quote: Timbo @ August 15 2008, 10:49 AM BST

You missed off Liz Sladen!

View original

Liz Sladen, Helen Mirren, Felicity Kendall and your mum

in Calendar Girls.

Quote: Morrace @ August 15 2008, 10:49 AM BST

Absolutely - like constantly wanking.

Which reminds me ....

View original

Not neccasairly true many sex therapists look at mastrubation as excelent practise exercise for premature ejaculation.

More seriosuly writing, getting it criticised and then working on the feed back builds your skills. You just have to be willing to work and take the critical maulings.

I know in a year my writings changed a lot (it's actually got worse than it was 6 months ago I blame work).

Check out Stephen King On Writing as a very good general guide.

Also there's a biography of his early works that are shitty enough to give any one hope.


Or try Alan Moore's Roscoe Moscow, you'll never believe the same guy wrote Watchmen.

Great writers are not born, they create them selves.
 

---

The ASDA of satire.

I hate purity, I hate goodness!I don't want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

1984
 

Quote: sootyj @ August 15 2008, 10:30 AM BST

No one can do that. It's more of a marathon then a sprint, constantly writing/improving. And superb is an opinion, you can only control the quality not how much it is appreciated.




But a boy band with the potential of genius. In the same way on this site maybe the next Croft and Perry, or Chris Morris.

Just currently writing a jobbing writer wriing nob gags.

View original

Well we know after the event they had the poential of 'genius' - not sure about that - timing was everything, but it was only when they started writing their own stuff that the potential 'genus' you make mention of was made manifest. So they can kick themselves for not signing them up, but on the basis of what they were presented with at the time I don't think they can criticise their own professional sensibilities - whereas those who turned down the Philosophers Stone can. There is no logical reason why it became the enormous success that it did, except of course the Americans turning it into a craze. But it was still a rattling good tale and to be fair, a funny first novel. Not particularly original, not a brilliant example of the genre (see Earthsea trilogy), but a fun story well told with lots of imagination. I think JK was a victim unfortunately of her own success. I wish I had her bad luck!
 

JK Rowling is a great natural writer of effective thrillers.

The first book may not be literature, but it's pacy, funny snd exiting.

What's more it's all of those things whilst be child friendly.

I always figure the mark of a true author is if they can write for kids.
 

---

The ASDA of satire.

I hate purity, I hate goodness!I don't want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

1984
 

Quote: Griff @ August 15 2008, 10:47 AM BST

I actually believe in the system, God help me. Nobody is looking to publish bad stuff. Even the dimmest script reader or publishing assistant can tell whether your prose grips them or whether they laugh at your jokes, and pass it up the food chain for the commissioners to look at. If you write something good, someone, somewhere will notice it eventually.

View original

Yeah, spot on.
 

---

A bit too good.
 

Quote:

I always figure the mark of a true author is if they can write for kids.

I'll look forward to telling Peter Ackroyd, James Ellroy, Iain Banks, George MacDonald Fraser and all the other writers on my bookshelf that they aren't true authors. OK some of those are dead. But anyway.
 

---

"'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'"

 

Quote: Marc P @ August 15 2008, 10:59 AM BST

There is no logical reason why it became the enormous success that it did

View original

There's a perfectly logical resaon. They're fucking ace stories, well told, and with great imagination that makes it feel both plausible, and fantastical. But perhaps you have to be more of my age in order to appreciate it properly.
 

---

Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
Half man, half Internet, half TV.
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)

 

When's that cocktail party Griff? Can I come?
 

You wouldn't enjoy it Marc. Who wants to spend an afternoon with a load of dead authors moaning about their posthumous sales figures.
 

---

"'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'"

 

Yeah but is there cocktails???

The first thing I ever really sold was a chldrens book in verse to Dorling Kindersley called the White Feather Cloak.

Actually the first writing I ever got paid for was a poem called 'The Well Endowed Robot' I got a tenner for it and still have the cheque somewhere.


 

Quote: Aaron @ August 15 2008, 11:08 AM BST

There's a perfectly logical resaon. They're fucking ace stories, well told, and with great imagination that makes it feel both plausible, and fantastical. But perhaps you have to be more of my age in order to appreciate it properly.

View original

Based on the first one, which is the only one I have read, they are a peculiar melange of derivative fantasy and elitist public school novel cosiness, laced with some rather obvious humour. I can understand why they might appeal to kids, but I find their appeal to adults bewildering. And I say this as someone who reads and admires the children's fantasy novels of authors such as Philip Pullman, Ursula Le Guin, Alan Garner, Jenny Nimmo and Philip Reeve,
 

Philip Pullman. Now you're talking. His Dark Materials is the best series of books I've read for years.

And I suspect that many of the people reading JK Rowling hadn't read all those other series you mention (Alan Garner is terrific too, as is Lloyd Alexander if you've ever read him) and so the Potter books didn't seem derivative and unoriginal to them. JKR came along with her particular twist on that genre after a long gap, so the market was ready for new stuff.
 

---

"'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'"