Have received some amazing feedback on my work since I posted it on the blog, so this has led to some redrafting and giving myself time to reflect upon the stage I'm at. It has been so useful to have a mirror held up to my flaws so that I can keep a check on any habits that may weaken the dynamism of my prose.

It is also useful to understand the aspects of writing you do well, so that you learn more about why something is better for a reader, and when it doesn't work on the page. All useful, useful stuff.

I found that I had a tendency to under-write the details of the physical world and use rather underwhelming verbs at times, I learned too, that I had a bit of a flare for summary.

The advice was good, solid, technical advice, and it felt like just the  kind of advice I had been looking for, as someone who has hardly written any prose at this point. 

Also discovered a new writer Elena Ferrante. I recently finished The Days of Abandonment. It really struck me because the arc of the character was purely based on psychology, the thoughts of the character and how this generated both a sense of mental deterioration, and danger, in the real world situation of the book, I really felt how the character was on the verge of imploding from the inside out. Fascinating stuff!  Why not check this really cool interview with her here for The Paris Review?

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6370/art-of-fiction-no-228-elena-ferrante