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Edgy and entertaining insights from the dangerously-talented writers in the Colony…explore at your pleasure

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Business Speak

John Duffy

The Brother has a view on modern verbiage ++ Now, c’mere ’til I tell you this. I’m all ears. What is it? The brother has…

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What Makes Great Writing?

Claire Gallagher

We All Have Our Own Opinions Of course we do! Life would be very boring if we didn’t. But there are elements to story that…

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The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack

Michael James Treacy

Come pull up a chair, pray sit you down. I’ll tell you a tale of London Town. A story to thrill and I won’t hold…

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Multiple Points-of-View

Claire Gallagher

Say What? Writing a novel with more than one point-of-view can be tricky. How can you juggle different personalities and motivations – and somehow use…

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The Cat Blog

Pamela Jo Keeley

    There’s something about cats. Yes, in January  I burst my eardrum trying to cure the ear mite infection I caught from our two….

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Ghost Writing

Claire Gallagher

Sorry! I’ve been a tad disingenuous with this title because I’m not referring to the act of writing on behalf of others, but rather the…

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Where did all the stories go?

Jake Joy

The last few weeks, I have been replaying a video game from my distant past. An old favourite by the name of Final Fantasy VII….

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Posing for the Bulgarian

Michael James Treacy

“Do you still see the Bulgarian?” The question tumbled out. “Yes.” Her reply was instant, instinctive, intuitive. “His name is Krasimir.” “Sorry.” He stuttered his…

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Over achievers

Tracey Montague

Over achievers rarely herald from untroubled upbringings. Being born to a mother with low confidence in her own abilities wouldn’t have been so bad, had…

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Not the Typical (Ugly) American Tourist (I hope).

James Charles

Ciao. Getting ready for our two-week trip to Northern Italy. Northern Italy you say. What about the rest of Italy? Well, in due course. A…

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Everything is Writing

Robinne Weiss

“Aren’t you supposed to be writing?” I shove the nagging question away. The computer will still be there when I return to it, cursor blinking…

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Unreliable Narrators (Spoiler Alert!)

Claire Gallagher

An Issue of Trust I’ll admit, novels with an unreliable narrator are not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love them. You start off thinking…

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How the Koreans are bossing a trope

Bev Dalton

Mention the word Trope to us writers and we’ll recoil. Add the word Cliche and you’ll see us running for the hills. These two five-letter…

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Unlikeable Characters

Claire Gallagher

Save the Cat? My three psychological novels have unlikeable point-of-view characters. Without balance, they can appear two-dimensional – and I’ve discovered that achieving that balance…

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I am made of regret, but not of sadness

Jason Locke

I am made of regret, but not of sadness. During my brief and somewhat misguided youth, I spent my money and spoke my mind. I…

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Making Sense of Chaos

Lyse Beck

A writer friend of mine and I have exchanged writerly encouragement to each other for many years. The most frequent reminder we bounce back and…

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Postcards from Earth

Su Toulson

Dear Grandpoppypops Wish you were here? Look at the size of the stamps now! So much larger than the penny black you showed me from…

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A Bowl o’ Stew

John Duffy

Flann O’Brien’s much-loved character – The Brother – transported to the 21st century. What would he make of contemporary trends and fads? This episode imagines…

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Writing Distractions. Oh my!

James Charles

This is my first post on this forum, so I wanted to do something short and light. What types of distractions interrupt you when you’re…

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Children Singing

Michael James Treacy

Freestyle Haiku Sequence… . hugging her dolly… a make-believe mummy loving her baba . celebrating his first stand-up wee… a big boy now . running…

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