Geoff Scaplehorn

Back in September 2010, I took part in the 3 Day Novel Contest. The nature of the contest is in the title: in 3 days, I had to write and edit a (not-quite) full-length story.

At the end of the 3 days, my brain hurt so badly that I hopped on a bike and cycled to Birmingham. I have the pictures to prove it.

The challenge was a lot of fun and I was thrilled to be able to complete it, but it did bring home the reality that writing takes time. Despite everything that works in my story, there is a clear need to make a full and thorough edit on the manuscript.

My intention was – and is – to revisit the manuscript and to either cut it down or lengthen it into something more marketable. Life being what it is, I haven’t had either the time or the inclination to do so yet, and the fact that I have restarted my Carnival project means that the editing process won’t happen for a while now.

With this in mind, and because my Comics and Fiction page is looking a little thin at the moment, here is the complete, unedited story I wrote for the 3 Day Novel Contest:

Click here to read Remembering Hannah (unedited)

It’s been a while since I wrote anything on this blog, so I’ll be making up for that soon. Life has been rather rudely getting in the way.

In the meantime, my review of Toy Story 3 is now up and live on Red Eye Review. Don’t bother reading it; just go and see the film. It’s brilliant.

My review of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is now online at Red Eye Review.

As a huge fan of the games, I was nervous about watching the new film. Thankfully, gamers can rejoice: for the first time ever, we have a game-turned-film that isn’t a complete disaster. But is it any good?

Read my review of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

My previous post about writing for the web has been published by Freelance:UK, a website for creative freelancers.

Many thanks to Simon Moore of Moore News Limited for his help with getting it published, and thanks to Freelance:UK for the opportunity.

Wording it well: a guide to writing on the web – Freelance:UK

There’s a lot of bad writing on the web. This always surprises me, because the reality is that writing online is not particularly difficult once you know what you’re doing. The problem is that, if you don’t know what you’re doing, bad writing can destroy any chance your site has of attracting repeat visitors.

In simple terms, there are two types of web writing: page content and articles. Both have their merits and their limitations, but many of the rules for one apply to the other. Keep reading for my advice on how to make your online writing sparkle.

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