Difference between revisions of "Dot Dash"

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(Created page with "'''Dot Dash''' was my entry for Salt Publishing's Scott Prize in 2011. The Scott Prize ran from 2010 to 2013 with four winners in 2010, three in 2011, two in 2012 and one in 2...")
 
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'''Dot Dash''' was my entry for Salt Publishing's Scott Prize in 2011. The Scott Prize ran from 2010 to 2013 with four winners in 2010, three in 2011, two in 2012 and one in 2013. I was one of the winners in 2011.
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'''Dot Dash''' was my entry for Salt Publishing's Scott Prize in 2010/11. The Scott Prize ran from 2009/10 to 2012/13 with four winners in 2009/10, three in 2010/11, two in 2011/12 and one in 2012/13. I first entered in 2009/10, with a collection entitled ''Hidden Shallows and Other Stories'', which failed even to make the shortlist. In retrospect, this was hardly surprising, as it essentially consisted of every story I'd ever written, with hardly anything thrown out.
  
I'd previously entered a much weaker collection, entitled ''Hidden Shallows'', in 2010, and it failed even to make the shortlist. This isn't surprising, as it was missing several of the strongest stories from ''Dot Dash'':
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Fortunately, by the time the next year's deadline came around, I had several stronger stories to add (specifically, [[rZr and Napoleon]], [[How I Became a New Man and What Good It Did Me]], [[Advice re Elephants]] and [[The Last Words of Emanuel Prettyjohn]]), as well all but one of the very short stories (or [[dots]]). Crucially, I'd also come up with the structural gimmick of alternating [[dots]] and [[dashes]], which then gave the book its title - or at least something close to it, because my submission was actually given the spectacularly pretentious designation ''dot (.) dash (-)''. Fortunately, this was changed to the more prosaic, but way more practical ''Dot Dash'' in time for publication.

Revision as of 15:25, 13 June 2014

Dot Dash was my entry for Salt Publishing's Scott Prize in 2010/11. The Scott Prize ran from 2009/10 to 2012/13 with four winners in 2009/10, three in 2010/11, two in 2011/12 and one in 2012/13. I first entered in 2009/10, with a collection entitled Hidden Shallows and Other Stories, which failed even to make the shortlist. In retrospect, this was hardly surprising, as it essentially consisted of every story I'd ever written, with hardly anything thrown out.

Fortunately, by the time the next year's deadline came around, I had several stronger stories to add (specifically, rZr and Napoleon, How I Became a New Man and What Good It Did Me, Advice re Elephants and The Last Words of Emanuel Prettyjohn), as well all but one of the very short stories (or dots). Crucially, I'd also come up with the structural gimmick of alternating dots and dashes, which then gave the book its title - or at least something close to it, because my submission was actually given the spectacularly pretentious designation dot (.) dash (-). Fortunately, this was changed to the more prosaic, but way more practical Dot Dash in time for publication.