Dark Angels Note 126
Dearest Friends—
Welcome back to our weekly Friday Note.
Observing
This week we’re celebrating the birthday of C. S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis 29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), a British writer whose works include The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy. During his life, he wrote more than thirty books. His career included positions as a Fellow and English Literature Tutor at Oxford, and then a position at Cambridge as Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. His work appealed to a wide audience and included children’s novels and science fiction as well as linguistic studies.
“You can make anything by writing.”― C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia has seen many adaptations for film and TV. The latest planned is a Narnia Universe after Netflix acquired the rights to all seven books.
Reading“He frequently emphasized that one’s writing should be simple, clear, concrete, and jargon-free.”Read more about Lewis’s principles of writing: “The Sound and Savor” of Words: Lewis on the Art of Writing. In June 1956, he replied to a young fan with some excellent advice about the use of adjectives. Read the letter on Letters of Note.
Writing
Write for the ear as well as the eye was something Lewis recommended. So, try this: Take a recent piece of writing and read it aloud. Record it on a voice note and listen again.Can you tune in to the ‘sound and savor’ of the language you’ve used? What improvements could you make?
Sharing
Our friends at 26 have an update about a wonderful new project:26 Places in Cornwall/26 Tylerow yn Kernow is a journey through 26 Cornish places and their rich and resonant names.Several Dark Angels are lending their writing and editing support to the collection of 26 sestudes and would love your help to bring the book to life.Find out more about their Crowdfunder here. Keep sending us your poems, writings, links and writerly whatnots that you’d like to share with the wider Dark Angels family.
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Diary
Weekly Tuesday Gatherings
For December, we have a few adjustments to the schedule for the weekly gatherings. Dec 6: 7pm as normal. Dec 13: no gathering. Dec 20: 7pm as normal – eve of Winter Solstice. Join us for a reflective hour of reading, writing and communing led by Neil Baker. Everyone is welcome; in fact, invite a friend along. We meet at 7pm UK time. To join us, click here on the night. There’s no need to register in advance and we’ll be using the same link every week from now on.
Be well, keep reading, keep writing and know that we’re always here.
From everyone at Dark Angels