ha ha ha.

i hope this affects my dreams.

should have been a toy or a WWF character.

i was a grade 4 teacher, but i taught maths. don’t hate me.

I must admit, that my first MS suffered from the year 5isms. All of them! We all learn from our mistakes, however.

I am so glad you bought this up, it’s got me thinking about my own writing style.

Cheers,

EJ.

And that, boys and girls, is what we call a simile, a particularly effective one I must say .

My late and much lamented Grade 5 teacher taught me little in the ways of creative writing, beyond indulging my fondness for the bizarre. The odd relationship I now have with creative writing classes started at university, where I discovered that a seminar room full of Literature-with-a-capital-L snobs is not a fun place for an aspiring author of occult-laced crime fiction to be.

Everything I know about the workings of my chosen genre I picked up from reading widely within and beyond it, going to weekend writing workshops at the WEA and (most importantly) hanging out with other people who have similar goals.

I should also mention the influence of a book by the name of Grimoire, which reminded me at my lowest point that it *can* be done and I could do it too. Sometimes the best lessons are learned outside the classroom.

Check.

The night was soft, she was beautiful.
The night was soft; she was beautiful.

I think the first one is more effective although officially “wrong”.That semi-colon really ruins the mood of the second version: a bit like spinach between the teeth of the person you were thinking of kissing. I always adapt my level of adherence to the “roolz” depending on who my audience is, and THAT is the cornerstone of effective writing.

K