Well, I was using it as a kind of ironic alternative to ‘bloody hell’ - it’s a very useful word that can express mild surprise, ranging through to defusing a confrontation.

Your problem is that there are so many levels going on in the way we use language in Britain. There are regional, cultural, generational variations quite separate from the national accents and local dialects. There are those (including myself) who would use either 'gosh!' or 'fucking hell!' in the same context, depending on who they’re talking to.

I’m afraid it’s a minefield… Post your story. We’ll have a good laugh… then sort it for you…

Dee

Just wanted to know why they'd ask for breakdown of the novel scene-by-scene. If you're already on the course and already have a synopsis - why the detailed description? Sounds a bit mad to me. Are they planning on adapting your novel for the screen perhaps? Keep us updated

Luke

I’m not actually on the course yet, Luke. It’s part of a writers’ holiday week in Wales in July, so it will be taking place over five days. The idea of this advance work is so that the tutor can get an idea of the plot and do some preparatory work herself.

Reading between the lines, the other reason is to ensure that we are serious about novel-writing and that ‘the serious writer gains the maximum benefit’. In other words, they don’t want anyone signing up for it – and thereby using up a valuable space – just on a whim.

And that’s fine by me. I’m looking forward to it enormously… but this advance work is still boring the crap out of me!

Dee

Interesting Dee,
What have your experiences of creative writing courses been like - good, bad or ugly?

Luke

I haven’t had much experience of them, Luke. The best one was, surprisingly, a little local weekly evening class. We were given a theme each week and had to bring back a short story. It was great for stimulating ideas but folded after one term due to lack of interest.

I tried another one but the tutor wanted us to spend a whole term working on the BBC End of Story competition – despite the fact that the closing date had long passed. He announced on the first night that the only form of writing he wasn’t going to cover was novel-writing… “because none of us want to do that, do we?” !!!
I gave up after four weeks – and I’m surprised I lasted that long.

Dee

why do you haveto do a scene by scene? what's the purpose?

I se you've answered this! but I still don't see the point of it.

what course is this and with whom?

Jai, it's the advanced novelist course at Caerleon.

http://www.moltengold.com/caerleon/thisyear.htm

Dee

Just thought you might like to know how I feel, now that I’ve finished the summary.

I’ve reduced 88,600 words to 132 lines on a spreadsheet. I haven’t enjoyed doing it. I’ve felt like a naughty kid being kept in after school for extra work. But, now that it’s finished, I’m pretty pleased with the result.

It shows me that there’s no cohesion to what I’ve written so far, that all I have are a series of scenes loosely connected by a single thread. And, as it’s a very rough first draft, that’s OK. I know I have months of work to do on this novel.

However, now that I have this summary, I can see what a useful tool it will be. I can spot gaps and weak points, highlight connections and threads, identify imbalances.

So, after all the whingeing, I have to say I’m glad I’ve done it… and yes, I can recommend it.

Dee