QM: Blog

I've been writing a story now for a while but never gave any thought to publishing it here or anywhere else for that matter.
It's called Magician and it's about our world where some people can do magic, live amongst us, but for obvious reasons don't advertise the fact that they can (organised religion)
It's up to chapter 26 now, but is very slow going as I tend to leave it for a while before going back to it.
I am considering publishing it here, but only possibly the first three chapters as I keep rewriting it as later chapters keep throwing up necessary edits in the early ones.
If anyone's interested, let me know and I'll start the process, but after the first three over the next three months it'll be down to once a month at the most frequent as there are at least another 20 chapters left to write.

One of the things I like to do is play with words, as an artist uses brushes to paint a scene on canvas, I try to use words to paint a scene in peoples minds, to try and involve them in the characters.
The success, or otherwise is for you to judge, not me, some stories seem more popular than others though again the why of it or the reasons for the votes remains somewhat obscure, certainly the highest ranking story 'Geek' is a personal favourite of mine, though it's not the story that I had the most fun writing which was 'Emma' closely followed by 'A New Approach'
Yet there are some words I'm not comfortable with and do not use them in certain contexts. I never use 'cunt' as a description of the female sexual organs. This is mostly to do with my upbringing where the 'c' word is grossly offensive to the ladies in my life and is only used as a term of extreme abuse when aimed at males who do not abide by the rules of civilised behaviour.
Yet being an avid reader (of all types of work, not just erotica) it's not for me to judge a story or the author by his/her use of the word, a good story simply being that, a good story. Same with grammar and spelling, meaning is everything, if I can understand it and enjoy it, then the breaking of the rules isn't a major issue with me.
Still, at last I've come to use a proofreader and editor and he (Spin) has at least opened my eyes to some of the flaws in my tales and has offered to re-edit all my stories over the coming months.
Anyway I'll end this random scribbling for now and get back to writing another tale...
Wherever it may take me.

QM

I'd like to take the time to thank those who commented on my stories via email. I can assure you it's much appreciated even or perhaps especially so the critical ones. I have been writing now for several years but still think of myself as serving an apprenticeship of sorts and have much to learn, criticism helps there, both negative and positive.
As for the stories themselves, well mostly they are about cheating and getting away with it, sometimes involving family members, sometimes not. That's not to say I approve of cheating, just that I believe it goes on and that those caught are only the tip of the iceberg so to speak. That's one of the reasons why I don't write revenge stories, nor about people being caught, though I know some people prefer stories where infidelity does not prosper.
All my stories are set with UK protagonists, as I'm based in the UK I find it easier to relate stories from places and people I know. This occasionally puts across the odd bit of slang or colloquialisms in the way the story is presented, words like Mum instead of Mom simply because in the UK we don't use Mom and it doesn't quite sound right to our ears as it trips off the tongue. If I were to be writing a story about German protagonists I'd use Mutti or perhaps Oma, it all adds colour (not color) to the tale and lets you into a an illusion created by words where the people are real to the extent of being placed where they are in the tale.
None of my tales are true, but they all contain elements of truth and I believe the mind or imagination is the best place to play around in, there's less chance of someone getting hurt. That said, there's nothing better than real life and grasping an opportunity when one comes along.
Just never forget the Rules as given by Dave in 'A new beginning'
Rule 1) Don't get caught.
Rule 2) If in any doubt about any situation, refer to Rule 1)
Just remember these are only stories meant to entertain, never presume they are true or that I condone what's going on. Simply enjoy or if not, let me know why and I'll try to improve on the next one.

QM