The Humour Club discussion

Authors!
Here's the place to post any new writing you want us to know about - short stories, poems, ideas you're struggling with...

We're here to provide commentary, suggestions and maybe even editorial advice.

Original comment by Linda B.D. - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...

Linda wrote:Hi, I'm not sure where this should go. This is a short list of things that are true. Yes, true & they did happen to me. Well worth the read! Laugh for the day. https://www.goodreads.com/story/list/...

This looks like a bit of a cross-over with the blog thread, for my blog posts that are flash fiction! Like this one, an astonishing tale of the derring-do of corgis and garden gnomes:
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2014/12...

Anyone want to comment, then?


She sits in between the here and now,
In between the was and is
Safe in her mirror’d mansion mind
She regards in turn
What maybe - and what may not be
From East to West
Through North and South
Observing each in turn she turns again
She sits between the here and now

Will wrote: "Anyone want to comment, then?


She sits in between the here and now,
In between the was and is
Safe in her mirror’d mansion mind
She regards in turn
What maybe - and what may not be
From East to ..."

Love it!

*Blushes*

And I'm thinking she is the teen daughter :D

Really, that is nice. I can't think of anything I'd change. Unless you want to throw in a troll and a couple of drunken dwarfs.

Actually it's my last date, so perhaps the drunken dwarfs are inappropriate.

Will wrote: "Anyone want to comment, then?


She sits in between the here and now,
In between the was and is
Safe in her mirror’d mansion mind
She regards in turn
What maybe - and what may not be
From East to ..."

That's great! :)

Will wrote: "Actually it's my last date, so perhaps the drunken dwarfs are inappropriate."

If it was the last date, doesn't seem like it matters if you introduce some drunken dwarfs.

Thanks, Sonia.
Rebecca, I said it was the last: I should have said the latest. But as she can't seem to make her mind up, the experience inspired that piece.

I didn't tell her that tonight when I performed it at a Poetry night, though...

Will wrote: "Thanks, Sonia.
Rebecca, I said it was the last: I should have said the latest. But as she can't seem to make her mind up, the experience inspired that piece.

I didn't tell her that tonight when I..."

Well, good luck with the poetry and the date. ;)

Yes--good luck, Will!

Luck? I did rather mess it up! And then her best mate's ex came over to offer some support...

As they say, if it's going to go wrong!

Bummer! Better luck next time.

Always remember, everything is good fodder for the next book or poem you're writing.

I know that Lisa!

I have a teenager...

Just curious - is anybody racing to get a writing project finished by 1/1?

I've got an unofficial Nano project on the go. 34K out of 50K done so far.

I'm doing a Nano--I've passed 51,000 words, which is about 5/8 of a novel, and want to finish the draft before Xmas.

I've also gotten sidetracked on a larger-than-intended last-minute revision of the book I thought was nearly ready for release. Sigh.

Awesome NaNoing. I think this will be the first year since I started in 2008 that I might not finish due to family issues. Sad, but can't be helped. Good luck to all those doing NaNoWriMo.

Sadly I've been sidetracked by having to look after a friend who's had surgery. But I'm over 38K now and know where I'm going...

An interesting thread has quasi-started in Introduce Yourselves. For you book writers out there, who works on multiple book projects simultaneously?

I'll have to check that out. Started doing my NaNo novel, but then had this short story idea, so in the middle of my novel a few hundred of those words are short stories. I've done that a couple of times in the past as well.

Will wrote: "Sadly I've been sidetracked by having to look after a friend who's had surgery. But I'm over 38K now and know where I'm going..."

And it's 38k more words that you didn't have before November. I stopped about 26K, but I just have to be positive about what got done.

I've hit 42K after the weekend. As I didn't actually register for nano I've no issues about 'failure', just I do like to produce a first draft in a month for each novel if i can before returning to it a bit later to rewrite

I don't think "failure" should be applied when anyone gets any writing done. That's my big beef with NaNoWriMo. That whole word-count thing. I get it that some people work well under pressure or if they have a specific goal looming over their heads. But to feel as if you failed because you didn't hit a certain number of words when you're telling a tale that's never been told before, well, it just seems as if you're not being nice to yourself. And we've enough people on the planet trying to be not nice. Celebrate whatever you started and keep going!

I've dragged myself up to the big climax, and come to a halt for a week whilst i decide of I really am going to use the plot twist I've thought up.

Will wrote: "I've dragged myself up to the big climax, and come to a halt for a week whilst i decide of I really am going to use the plot twist I've thought up."

So would that make for a delayed climax? I think they've created pills for that.

Ha ha! Good one Lisa!

Will-
Good luck with that Quandry
Best wishes from André

Will wrote: "I've dragged myself up to the big climax, and come to a halt for a week whilst i decide of I really am going to use the plot twist I've thought up."

Ha! I've written myself up to the point where I have to decide who the murderer really is...and I just don't know. I'm going to take a break and write my family Xmas letter.

Going to use the plot twist. If I can make it believable, it will be great.

if I can't it will be rubbish. Oh well.

Will wrote: "Going to use the plot twist. If I can make it believable, it will be great.

if I can't it will be rubbish. Oh well."

Sounds a lot like what I'm doing right now. Either writing a grand ending or a pile of horse dung.

Mostly gave up on words for the family letter, and am using pictures instead.

Rebecca wrote: "Will wrote: "Going to use the plot twist. If I can make it believable, it will be great.

if I can't it will be rubbish. Oh well."

Sounds a lot like what I'm doing right now. Either writing a gran..."

Pictures? Hopefully not like my (not)famous stick figures...

Brenda--pictures as in photos, mostly taken by my rather talented spouse :)

Nice! I hope you're pleased with the end result.

I like it. It was a nice way to summarize 4 years without either boring the audience to tears, reading like a laundry list, or sounding like a total brag (let the photos do our bragging for us, you know!).

"boring the audience to tears" - love that! My usual approach is to bore people into a quiet stupor.

I like to make sure the audience has plenty of alcohol first. That way I can always blame the stupor on dipsomania.

I'm with Joel. Free drinks means the audience will be there, and tolerant...they just may not buy or remember anything.

Jilly wrote: "I'm with Joel. Free drinks means the audience will be there, and tolerant...they just may not buy or remember anything."

True - but they'll think you're the Best. Host. Ever. The positive karma always circles back around :-)

I think I see what you're getting at, Brenda...

...but I'd probably REALLY get it if you bought me a drink.

I thought I would beat Will Once to the punch and share a link I discovered while lurking his threads.

The following is an analysis of what many authors label as horrible but has garnered a huge following. Fifty Shades of Grey

http://writerunboxed.com/2013/08/06/f...

This is an excellent post, and worth looking at.

You get some keen insight on the parts of this novel that work. Maybe something you can incorporate into your own books.

Jilly wrote: "I think I see what you're getting at, Brenda...

...but I'd probably REALLY get it if you bought me a drink."

LOL! I'll see what I can do :-)

Brenda wrote: ""boring the audience to tears" - love that! My usual approach is to bore people into a quiet stupor."

I think that must be an old regional expression. I picked it up from my mom and grandma.

Rebecca, we must have grown up in the same region, I know that one, too!

Jilly wrote: "Rebecca, we must have grown up in the same region, I know that one, too!"

With this sort of thing, I find it's less about where I grew up, than where my mother and her mother grew up. Which, come to think of it, is pretty much all the same place (Washington State).

I've just figured out where the book I'm working on is going to go. No big deal to those who plan that sort of thing out in advance. But I tend just to start writing and see where it takes me, so having a path to an eventual conclusion is a big thing.
Jilly and Brenda, fetch hither the potent potables!

*grabs a bottle of bourbon in each hand*

ONWARD!

Women 101: A Father's Guide to His Son

My first three novels were mysteries and my latest novel "The Back Nine" was about golf (but mostly about life after fifty). For my next novel, I'm tackling the humour category and have posted the first chapter on my blog.

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

I'm looking for feedback on whether you find it funny (or not). I'm also a little concerned that some people might find it offensive because it plays on some old stereotypes. Let me know what you think.