Happy Corner

Relax and chat about anything not covered elsewhere.
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Atho55
Posts: 637
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Home of Triumph Motorcycles

Very apt that this thread suddenly appears today.

Despite drinking enough booze to fill an oil tanker I have miraculously reached the the legal age to be a "grumpy old git" today, 65. Enjoy yourselves as I will....
Anbell
Posts: 2005
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:31 am

Happy Birthday!

I too was happy to see this thread today!
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Kafkaesque
Posts: 886
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2017 10:20 am

Last night I put the final touches on my first, serious, attempt at writing a novel. One last read-through and I'm off to the publisher races (no such thing as needing an agent before going to publishers here in Denmark).

No matter the outcome from here, there's a very different happy corner feeling to it, compared to the momentary/incremental world of trading, in finishing something that's been months and months in the making.
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Kai
Posts: 6092
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:21 pm

Derek27 wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 4:22 am
Time to take a day off trading. :D
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Why Derek?!? It looks kind of chilly outside :?

And the trend on it looks like it's taking the turn for the worse!!! :o
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Derek27
Posts: 23477
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Atho55 wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 9:25 am
Very apt that this thread suddenly appears today.

Despite drinking enough booze to fill an oil tanker I have miraculously reached the the legal age to be a "grumpy old git" today, 65. Enjoy yourselves as I will....
Happy birthday Atho55. I can't even remember how old I was when I became a grumpy old git. :)
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Kai
Posts: 6092
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:21 pm

Atho55 wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 9:25 am
Very apt that this thread suddenly appears today.

Despite drinking enough booze to fill an oil tanker I have miraculously reached the the legal age to be a "grumpy old git" today, 65. Enjoy yourselves as I will....
Happy birthday Altho. Don't see any signs of grumpiness yet, in fact your posts don't look a day older than 55! And I'm not just saying that because of your username :)

Yeah, it's just a damn shame that the UK weather looks so grim judging by Derek's screenshot, eh, if only there was a very sunny Mediterranean country where you could go and properly celebrate this special occasion. That is such a bummer, there's probably just no way there is such a place with very affordable prices and extremely low Covid case count at this time of year.

Well, actually, on second thought, when I think about it, I do hear that Croatia is lovely this time of year. But I bet they probably don't even have everything half off.
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Derek27
Posts: 23477
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

How warm is it in Croatia? 23°C isn't a hot summer's day but it's good for late spring, with unbroken sunshine.
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Kai
Posts: 6092
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:21 pm

Derek27 wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 5:53 pm
How warm is it in Croatia? 23°C isn't a hot summer's day but it's good for late spring, with unbroken sunshine.
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Feels quite a bit higher than the graphs suggest tbh.

Oh and congrats to Kaf with his novel :)
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Derek27
Posts: 23477
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Yes, good luck with your novel Kaf. That explains your excellent literacy skills. :)
CallumPerry
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 5:12 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

I too have started a novel. Truthfully, it was started last summer and I just have many pieces at the moment but it is on my list and will be done in the next couple of years I am certain. For that reason, I would very much love to give it a read if it's something you're keen to share? What's it about?
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Kafkaesque
Posts: 886
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2017 10:20 am

Kai wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 5:58 pm
Oh and congrats to Kaf with his novel :)
Derek27 wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 6:54 pm
Yes, good luck with your novel Kaf. That explains your excellent literacy skills. :)
Cheers fellas :)
CallumPerry wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 10:57 pm
I too have started a novel. Truthfully, it was started last summer and I just have many pieces at the moment but it is on my list and will be done in the next couple of years I am certain. For that reason, I would very much love to give it a read if it's something you're keen to share? What's it about?
Unless you're a language savant, there's going to be an issue :lol: It's written in Danish ;) I actually considered writting it in English. By the end I lost count of how many times, I'd thought of a word in English and for the life of me couldn't recall what it's called in Danish!!! I read all my books, bar Danish authors, in English which will likely be the reason (along with places like this). In the end though, needing to get a British agent while being based in Denmark seemed a needless hassle.

My one basic advice, for what's it's worth from an unpublished author, is do just bloody do it. My impression is most aspiring authors, more than anything else, get stuck by feeling they don't necessarily have a story to tell, or further down the line that they don't a clear enough idea in their head of where it's heading. Most authors with broad success create the story as they write, as I understand it. I do as well and I'll give you a few examples.

My story is about someone who's had his wife kidnapped, and he's then forced into a variety of situations to get her safely back. Told in first person and present tense. Which I really shouldn't be messing around with, especially together, but let's leave that be. Simultaneously, I'm telling two stories in the past tense of the two loves of his lives. One where it's a local girl and everything is smooth sailing, and another where it's a muslim second generation immigrant girl, where both families disapproves; strongly. Without revealing who is the, now kidnapped, wife. Anyway, I started with him laying on the grass thinking, taking it from there. This feels like Texas. Texas it is. Once that played out, he's off to Italy, which I, again, decided as a destination at the moment of writing it. As he's standing at the airport trying to book a ticket, I realize that there's no direct flights from Dallas to Bergamo. Where's the layover? Let's take him to London. Let's give him 24 hours. What's he going to do? See an old mate. How's the mate interesting? Let's say he grew up in Zimbabwe. He's got some crazy stories about elephants, which the main character didn't care about back in the day, but now seems awfully important, because I've made crazy elephants - through my love of Dali, as my avatar suggests - a key part throughout. If you read a lot and have a bit of flair for storytelling, then things tend come together and loop around quite naturally.

If you've got parts, you're partly there and that's further than most :D Best of luck with it
Trader Pat
Posts: 4327
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:50 pm

Kafkaesque wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 12:09 am
My one basic advice, for what's it's worth from an unpublished author, is do just bloody do it.
Good advice for a lot of things in life :)
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Derek27
Posts: 23477
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Up early, beers chilled, and the flipping sky's full of clouds!!
Trader Pat
Posts: 4327
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:50 pm

Derek27 wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 1:03 pm
Up early, beers chilled, and the flipping sky's full of clouds!!
Thats where clouds live Derek :D
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Kai
Posts: 6092
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:21 pm

Derek27 wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 1:03 pm
Up early, beers chilled, and the flipping sky's full of clouds!!
This ain't the rant thread, cheer up Derek. Happy thoughts only :)
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