Arid Lands

19/Aug/2008: Uni study has been all consuming for a while, not that I haven’t been writing bits here and there, but I have to admit to not being as prolific with my writing.  That will change in three weeks when I’m free of study, but it gave me a chance to think about the weather.  The weather is important.  We use it as a setting in writing, and it often sets the tone of our work at some basic level.  We have been in serious drought-like conditions for some time until winter finally came, but it is not often we see a symbol for impending snow on the weather maps here.

 Central Forecast

Tue 05:05 CST

Tuesday Isolated showers south of about Edithburgh to Aldinga. A cool to mild day with moderate northwest winds, freshening about southern coasts later.

Wednesday Fine at first. Isolated showers developing over Kangaroo Island during the afternoon and extending to south of about Minlaton to Adelaide in the evening.

Thursday Scattered showers. Isolated thunderstorms and small hail. Possible snow flurries on the high peaks of the ranges. A cold day, very cold about the ranges. Fresh southwest to south winds, strong about southern coasts.

Friday Scattered showers. The chance of local small hail during the morning. Possible snow flurries on the high peaks of the ranges before sunrise. Cold with moderate to fresh southerly winds easing.

summary	Tue Aug 19	Wed Aug 20	Thu Aug 21	Fri Aug 22	Sat Aug 23	Sun Aug 24	Mon Aug 25
	Mostly sunny	Late shower	Showers	Possible shower	Possible shower	Mostly sunny	Mostly sunny
maximum	15°C	16°C	12°C	12°C	15°C	16°C	16°C
minimum	3°C	4°C	5°C	2°C	2°C	3°C	3°C

It kind of makes me feel like I’m back in Canada again.  Now if it would only fall below zero, then I’d be convinced.  Will keep an eye out on the news for the pictures of snow tipped hills (happens every 5 or so years)

25/May/2008: AntipodeanSF have yet again accepted another FOUR of my short pieces. I’m overt he moon. Nuke is a good guy, and I am happy that he edits less and less of my work each time - I hope that it means I am getting better. So go to AntipodeanSF and have a look in mid June and July - I’ll be there along with a bunch of other stories. I’ll find out soon, when Genesis and It Mattered turn up, but go look for Phone-etics and Critical Mass. You won’t be dissapointed in AntipodeanSF!

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

24/May/2008: David Conyers and his family are good people. I had the opportunity to catch up with them, and I have to say that there is nothing more enjoyable than talking about writing projects, opportunities and swapping stories. I’ve got four of his that I haven’t read before, and its always a pleasure to give his a read. He’s got a couple of mine - and yet I can already hear him say - “read your work out aloud before you hand it up…” aka, this is full of extra words, clumsy sentences, and reading it out would have been a good way to give it a polish. For some reason I am always too eager to get my work out there without that final read - but I’m learning, trust me, it’s sinking in (albeit slowly).

It was a good day, and I’m hoping that we can all have more like it.

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

17/May/2008: This week I caught up with a writing friend, Jessica Petrusma. Jess is a fairly new fantasy writer, and was excited to tell me how she has a novel, Shades of Grey, in with Robert Stevenson at the moment. He is going through it with her, chapter by chapter to get it ready for the market. I’m excited for her, and wish her all the best with her success. It was good to catch up with her, and her group. It’s always fun to be able to talk the craft of writing, to be able to mull over “writery” things.

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

9/May/2008: I was REALLY pleased to see that my first ever entry to Writers Of The Future earned me an Honourable Mention. They even put my name on their site, which was nice and are sending out a certificate. Going to give the piece that did so well, another polish and send it off again. Who knows what will happen to it.

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

9/May/2008: This was a Short Story concept with a bit of a fantasy element. Just an experiment to see what it would do. For an hours worth of work, I was pretty happy with it, and yeah: Its Gone - Sent. Like everything else I’ll let you know when I know something (good).

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

9/May/2008: Today I caught up with one of my mates, Jason Fischer. He’s a good guy, and is quietly getting about his writing. It was great to catch up with him, find out how he’s been in person, and it filled me with even more writing motivation.

He’s got an entry in with Writers Of The Future (WOTF) and I’m hoping that he does really well with it.

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

26/April/2008: Eleven of Australia’s top authors take a guess in 2012. Each story imagines the world as it might be, presenting unique possibilities for the very near future. 118 pages with a forward by Alisa Krasnostien and Ben Payne. Cover, illustrations, design and layout by Cat Sparks.

Writers are: Deborah Biancotti, Martin Livings, Dirk Flinthart, David Conyers, Simon Brown, Lucy Sussex, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Kaaron Warren, Angela Slatter, Ben Peek, and Sean McMullen.

My copy arrived in the post, personally signed by David Conyers - so I had to read his excellent, dark tale first - Soft Viscosity. Dirk Flinthart’s The Last Word, had a nice twist, as did Angela Slatter’s I Love You Like Water. I’m still getting through them all, but it is good to see so many names that I am familiar with put their work into one piece,

If you can get hold of a copy of it, I’d say get one and give it a read.
Well done guys.

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

20/April/2008: Well, only just finished mentioning that I had all but forgotten about this little ditty - Self Fulfilling Prophesy, when Everything’s Related popped up in the AntipodeanSF Issue 119. Here is the link if you want to give it a read.

Everything’s Related

Yes: I Know its ONLY 50 words, but you try and explain the relationship between the atmosphere and volcanism in less?

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com

19/April/2008: Sounds a bit bizzare! I have this story I have been playing with and on Friday I decided to turn it around so that the beginning became the middle and the middle is now the start - a change of POV was required too and I added a new character. It all makes sense and I hope it pays off - but I had to sit there on the train and do a bit of “mind mapping”, make sure that I could tie the beginning into the ending in the right way. So I had seven scenes which I dutifully drew out and linked as the train bumped along the tracks.

Today (is Saturday) so I converted my “map” into those seven high level scenes that followed the flow of the plot. As it turned out I have now got 15 scenes and have written 500 words of ideas, critical elements and events to stitch it all up.

Now all that’s left is to write the story around all those key events and writing triggers. That’s the fun part, that’s where all the creativity kicks in.

I’ll let you know how it progresses as I ponder over a Fantasy short story.

visit David Kernot’s writing tips at www.davidkernot.com