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Writers News (December issue)

JennyJenny
edited November 2006 in - WM and WN

Comments

  • JennyJenny
    Re: "Driving Lessons", the winner of the Road Rage competition.

    This is a good story, but in the first paragraph the writer has said:

    "By now he'd run halfway across the field ........ Even from this distance she could see that tears were streaming down his face."

    If an area is described as a field it must be a fair size. Would anyone have eyesight so good they could tell that someone halfway across was crying? I don't think there was any mention of the narrator having binoculars!
  • JennyJenny
    I recently clicked on a link to an amateur writer's internet diary. Although the spelling was OK there were so many very basic mistakes in grammar and punctuation I couldn't be bothered to carry on reading.
  • CarolCarol
    Grammar and spelling do seem to be the weak areas with many writers. None of us are perfect all the time, but you do see some horrors that seem to have been ignored in favour of potential.
    Considering there is (almost) non-existent proof-reading done by publishers, is it any wonder we pick things up.
    Are we pedants?
  • Island GirlIsland Girl
    Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to read the winning story yet but my guess is the judges possibly chose to overlook that minor detail because of the quality of the rest of the story. You've read it - what do you think?

    Pedantic? Moi? Possibly, but in reality those sort of things are a HUGE irritant to me too. Everyone in my family tells me (nicely) I'm a nerd (I'm the only one who reads). They're not illiterate, just bewildered by the fact that I get so worked up about poor spelling & grammar etc. There is a national real estate company in this country that continues to annoy me by mispelling common words such as "you're".  eg: Your going to fall in love with this house when you see it.  Grrrrrr.  I could get a full-time job just correcting their brochures! Surely they must know SOMEONE able to spell that could edit those things before they get printed and shipped all over the countryside?
  • AnyankaAnyanka
    Very very big tears? Cartoon-style fountains?

    I've only just subscribed and haven't got the December issue; however, I had a similar beef with a poem in the November WM.  It described a red kite as having 'marble eyes of amber gold'. The rest of the poem was quite evocative and atmospheric, but that line really spoilt it for me.
  • CarolCarol
    Actually one of my sons will correct people who say things that are grammatically incorrect.
    I tut tut over misplaced apostrophes, so I'm probably on the way to pedant status. So join the club.
  • AnyankaAnyanka
    Apostrophe's! Arg'hh.

    I just about managed to restrain myself from storming into a local sandwich bar which has the words
    Panini's
    Ciabatta's
    Sandwich's
    stencilled onto its window. Perhaps I'll go back in the middle of a moonless night, armed with a razorblade or some paint a la Lynne Truss...
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    Just to be even more pedantic ... panini is, of course, a plural so doesn't need an 's'.
  • JennyJenny
    Estate agents have a whole lexicon of dopey expressions - eg "this house boasts ...".

    I picture the house proudly announcing, with its nose (well, chimney!) snootily stuck in the air, "I've got four big bedrooms and two bathrooms, I have. And you haven't. So there!"
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    I always liked 'deceptively spacious'. Pokey but looked big or big but looked pokey?
  • JennyJenny
    An estate agent once sent us details of a house and in the photograph the background looked like a cloudy sky.
    When we went to view the house we found that what was actually behind it was a very tall block of flats. The estate agent had airbrushed it out, presumably thinking we wouldn't notice it when we went round there!
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    Actually, I have more complaints about solicitors than I do about estate agents. At least you knew you had to be wary of the latters' claims. You assume solicitors are reasonably intelligent/responsible, but I realized my error very quickly. It's difficult to have a moan about them - you're always worried they'll sue you!
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    Spelling my name right would have been a start.
  • JayceeJaycee
    One estate agent's advertising board which I liked was describing a "two story" house.  As it was an old house, I thought it possibly was the site of more than two stories.
  • JennyJenny
    You can't trust people whose personal financial situation improves the longer you are involved with them.
  • Tessa TangentTessa Tangent
    Especially when you worked with them for years -an ex-legal secretary speaks....
  • JanJan
    An estate agent is only another human being but their society indoctrinates them to become the obnoxious half-wits we all recognise.

    With you JayMandal,
    A solicitor can make most bizarre mistakes and still succeed in charging US for the mistake. I have enough experiences to write the proverbial book. Dare I risk the repercussions?
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    Bizarre is right. There can't be many people who've ended up paying rent and repaying the mortgage on the same property at the same time.
  • KangarooKangaroo
    Island Girl, which real estate company is it?
  • Island GirlIsland Girl
    It's LJ Hooker, Kangaroo.
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    I thought that was the name of a TV series.
  • CarolCarol
    That was T J Hooker.
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