Dale Furse

Wintery June

2010-06-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Since last post I have been rewriting my NANO 2007 novel - scene by scene. A lot chopped out but also many new words written. Of course, I'll still have to rewrite again but at least, with a much firmer base, the writing should be smoother and quicker.

I'm waiting on my copy of Die a Dry Death by Greta van der Rol and look forward to reading every word. I've already read some and know the quality of writing and research is of the utmost.

Die a Dry Death by Greta van der Rol is available from The Book Depository and includes free shipping to selected countries.

Here's the bit from The Book Depository's page:

Full description for Die a Dry Death

*

June 1629. Laden with treasure and the riches of Europe, the merchantman Batavia, flagship of the Dutch East India Company, sails on her maiden voyage from Amsterdam bound for the East Indies. But thirty miles off the coast of Terra Incognita Australis-the unknown south land-she smashes into an uncharted reef. The survivors-women and children, sailors, soldiers and merchants-are washed ashore on a pair of uninhabited, hostile islands, with little food or fresh water. Desperately seeking help, the ship's officers set out in an open boat to make a two-thousand-mile journey to the nearest trading post. While they are gone, from the struggle for survival on the islands, there emerges a tyrant whose brutal lust for power is even deadlier than the reef which wrecked the Batavia.

More news on The Shed

2010-05-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Shed, was performed on the 22, 23 and 24 April by the talented cast of Townsville Little Theatre and directed by Stella McMahon.

The play was received better than I could have hoped for. Especially considering the major part of Karen was played by an extremely talented actress, Jennine Padgett, who had only received the script a day or two before the first performance. The previous cast member had to withdraw. Yes, she had to have the script in her hands on stage but she handled the obstacle so well, her having to dip into it every once in awhile never took anything from the play.

By the next Saturday, during the Festival of One Act Plays, 1, 2 May, yes – one week later – she knew her lines and again, gave a wonderful performance. So much so in fact, she received Best Performance by a Female Award. What a star!

And, Adjudicator’s Award was won by a male cast member, Haydan Crespan. I am so glad for you Haydan. Great acting and you too are a star.

Mind you, I wouldn’t have been surprised if any of the female cast had received the award and I was disappointed one of the male cast, each one deserving, didn’t receive the Best Performance of a Male Award.

Townsville Little Theatre
presents

The Shed by Dale Furse and Stella McMahon

Director Stella McMahon

Cast
Karen - Jennine Padgett
Joe - Alex Hons
Rick - Louka Lazaredes
Des - Tamaraj Rooker
Sam - Haydan Crespan
Ruth - Victoria Meehan

My admiration and thanks to the amazing cast, director, stage manager and crew of helpers.

One Act Play

2010-03-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

We are excited to finally see the play performed but also a little nervous to see the audience's reaction. Will let you know how it is received if I don't see you there.

Here are the dates.

'The Shed' by Dale Furse and Stella McMahon and directed by Stella McMahon will be performed by Townsville Little Theatre April 22 - 23 - 24 at St Margaret Mary's.

Also May 1 - 2 at The Civic Theatre for the Festival of One Act Plays (FOOAP). Program will announce actual date and time. While being a competition, the festival's participating actors will be competing - not the play.

February 2010 already

2010-02-23T18:39:00.000-08:00

Stella and I have finally cast ‘The Shed’ – a one act play. It will be performed by Townsville Little Theatre cast and crew. I will post the dates soon.

Synopsis:
The Shed is a classic comedy of love and betrayal. A woman is fed up with her husband and contemplates living her own life when a handsome, escaped criminal decides to hide, rest and heal in the family’s shed.

Rehearsals begin Sunday, 28 February. I thought I’d like to only see the play as it is performed for a live audience, so no directing or casting for me. But I was at the auditions and although Stella will direct, I will be on standby to fill in if she can’t make rehearsal for whatever reason.

Stella and I are excited to finally see the play come to life with some extremely talented actors.

Rejections

2009-09-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

I did send out submissions of ‘Ecklar’s Curse’, ‘Progression’, ‘Frightscape’ and ‘Justin and the Grunds’. I have since received a lovely rejection for ‘Justin and the Grunds’. The publisher kindly let me know the editors who saw my work felt that it showed ‘real promise’.

Sometimes the nicer rejection letters are harder to take than the usual form types. Wouldn’t it be great if all unpublished writers had a crystal ball to see exactly what the publishers, at any given time, wanted to include in their lists?

Never mind. We all know the score, so many writers and so few publishers.

Finally, I have something to blog about

2009-09-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

Please go here and sign the Saving Aussie Books Petition against removing restrictions to Parallel Importation of books into Australia if you disagree with the Productivity Commission's report. You can read the petition before signing.

2009 is going by so fast

2009-03-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd better check in to my own blog. I can't believe how fast 2009 is passing. I have decided to grit my teeth and start sending out submissions. I'll check out some competitions too.

Here is a great competition for anyone who has a completed manuscript. Check out

http://knightagency.blogspot.com/

March 24th post 'Enter TKA's Book In a Nutshell Competition!'

Apparently a writer has to do these things if they ever hope to be published, oh, and write more, of course.

Writing in the tropics

2008-10-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the month of October and already hot.

I still visit the authonomy site regularly and honestly, even if you don’t want to join to read or comment, you can still read the forums – they’re a blast.

Our play ‘The Shed’ is still taking shape but I don’t think we’ll see it performed this year. We’ve all had other projects to keep us busy. Definitely next year. My co-authors and I worked with scenes five and six yesterday and I have to tell you, it is so much fun working with other people.

I’ve just entered the middle section of my wip. I love this part, I can play a bit and follow leads here and there. I don’t mind if I have to back track every now and again.

Spring is here

2008-09-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

There is a new site just out of beta testing.

http://www.authonomy.com

The site is proving very popular. Authors upload their manuscripts and read/rate others.

So, if you like reading, go and check it out and if you have a manuscript around that hasn't found a home, go and upload.

I’ve put one up and if you like it, you might like to tell others about the site and, of course, my submission.

My novel, 'Ecklar’s Curse', is here if you’d like to take a look.

http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=1457

Beautiful August

2008-08-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

August, and I’ve finally decided to plot a novel from start to finish. I have never done this before and while I’m finding the process enjoyable, I can’t wait to start writing the story. Someone said on a forum (I can’t remember which one, I read way too many) the first draft is the writer telling themselves the story. I liked that, but with detailed plotting, I think that is also a writer telling themselves what and whom the story is about, and hopefully, the first draft will/should make much more sense. The only way to find out is do it.

I’m reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss at the moment. I'd been meaning to buy the book for awhile but my kind sister bought it for me; an easy read for anyone who wants to brush up on his or her punctuation skills.

There are Many Ways to Write a Story

2008-07-07T00:06:00.000-07:00

Among my other projects, I am co-writing a one-act play.

The Shed by Dale Furse, Rosa Christian and Stella McMahon.

We hope to have it completed soon and performed by 'Townsville Little Theatre' later in the year. While all three of us have acted and directed previously we have decided not to have any input into the casting or direction whatsoever.

While I am enjoying the co-writing experience, it is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. With three different outlooks, imaginations and senses of humour we find we have to compromise sometimes but the story will be richer because of those differences. However, I think three co-writers are probably better than only two. With two there is no casting vote when a disagreement arises. It will be fun to see what the director and actors do with our play. I can’t wait.

By the way, I was pleasantly surprised to find J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan was one of the books discussed on the ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club hosted by Jennifer Byrne, Tuesday the 1^st of July. Jennifer and her four guests all agreed that the original is an amazing story and everyone should read it again.

A Classic Read

2008-06-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, June already.

I read Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie again and enjoyed the story anew.

I love the language JM Barrie used. Peter is a great character, cocky and lovable at the same time. His voice and personality shone through on every page. J.M. Barrie writes in omniscient POV. These days most would say this is tell and not show but I wasn’t jarred out of the story. In fact, J.M.’s voice added to the adventure. I knew so much more about Peter and the whole cast, because of J.M.’s observations. I still chuckled many times at his crowing and thinking how wonderful he was. A boy that never grows up, Peter Pan could very well be true. I believe in Neverland

I love crows and a poem

2008-05-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

We drove the couple of hours to Charters Towers last weekend, and the crows, as usual, kept my interest. They’re such naughty things. They see a car coming and their expression says, 'Oh, I suppose I have to move out of the way,' and the little blighters hop nonchalantly off the road just far enough not to exhaust themselves, wait for the car to pass then hop back to their meal. On the way home, they seemed especially peeved that our car interrupted their feasts.

I am a Crow
by
Dale Furse

I am a crow,
I like to eat squashed snakes.
I am a crow,
But I prefer lizard bakes.

Here is a car,
Cars are my best friends.
Ah - a lizard,
Oh, see how he bends.

Cars speed by fast,
I wait for a break.
Now hop, hop, hop,
Oh, for goodness sake.

Look there and now,
How I do love lizards.
With all those cars,
There are no more gizzards!

Ecklar's Curse

2008-05-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

I thought you might like to read Tom’s Letter of Recommendation for Ecklar’s Curse, which is the first novel of a YA trilogy. The second is Ecklar’s Secret, and the third, Ecklar’s Home. For once, I like the titles.

Tom Flood is a Miles Franklin Award novelist. He heads up Flood Manuscripts and is an assessor, editor, mentor and all round nice bloke.

Letter of Recommendation

Dale Furse has a way with whimsy – and whingeing. ‘Ecklar’s Curse’, the first in her fantasy sci-fi blend on the regenesis of the Ecklarain, gets that almost-teen, monster-in-the-box, innocently arrogant, self-interrogative masochism down so well you can smell the sticky lollies in her hero’s jeans pocket.

Ali may only be nearly-thirteen, but she can sprout huge purple gossamer wings, scything talons for feet, swim like a fish, talk to the animals and, if she can get her hands on you, she can read your mind. Oh yeah, and she kicks butt like Lara Croft. Well, she will – if she ever gets through puberty.

‘Ecklar’s Curse’ is the most engaging teen crossover novel I’ve read in quite a while. I love this book; its lightness, its deft disguising of weightier themes, its three muddled musketeers, characters you can bite and an imagination just fervid enough, just familiar enough, just clunky enough for the overheated demographic.

Sci-fi with trainer wheels? Dale Furse is definitely flying interstellar and ‘Ecklar’s Curse’ will be the new must-have in the teen titan library.

Signed
Tom Flood Senior Assessor

A Productive Month

2008-05-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

I know I’m slow, but I do have an excuse.

I have written a few more children's stories. Also, after cutting, who knows how many thousands of words, and rewriting many more, I have finished my second rewrite of Beyond the Wall. Although I have mountains (only a slight exaggeration) of notes, I am ecstatic to have begun the third draft. It’s all good fun. I’ll post a blurb soon and hopefully, a stupendous title.

I truly have to work on that; I know the first thing that draws me to a book is the title.

How about you? What attracts you to a book?

Beta Listeners

2008-03-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

‘Billy’s First Day Out’ a PB, has made its debut.

A group of twelve, three and four year-olds, enjoyed a reading of ‘Billy’s First Day Out’ the other day. Testing a PB without pictures is a little more difficult than any other story. The one thing the children wanted to know is, ‘Where are the pictures?’

Once that was sorted, they listened to the story. Some even wanted to take the manuscript home with them.

I would definitely encourage any writer to find a test group for their stories.

Wow, a week already?

2008-03-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a whole week since I started this blog and I haven't submitted anything to anybody. I guess that’s why, I can’t tell you where to find my next published piece.

I am in the process of rewriting Beyond the Wall. I can’t stand the title, but it has to stay until I can think of something phenomenal. It’s NaNoWriMo’s fault that it even exists. I wrote it last November, over 50k in 30 days. I was over the moon that I’d managed to pass the word count, but what a mess I have to sort out. No planning went into the story. No plot, not even an outline. I just sat and wrote 1600 or so words every day. I think the story has merit though and worth the work.

Any new, or used, authors out there might want to look at this site:

http://www.skivemagazine.com/

Short Story Competition 2008 info will be available March 5 on the site.

Blogger newbie

2008-02-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

I've finally set up a blog.

I have a couple of novels, I’m looking at for other authors. Honestly, I think critiquing is harder than writing. Thankfully, they’re both great reads.

A great site for writers of any genre is Forward Motion. I joined in January this year, and have had some honest and helpful critiques of my work. I’ll put a link here when I figure out how.