Chapter Two: At 6.30pm

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Comments

  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    All this thinking and talking about the church clock and its chiming helped me come up with a way of bettering my chapter. I do hope that it will come out nice and crisp, just like a church bell!
    /:)
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    And going with the TIME theme we have for this chapter two, when do YOU find the time to write? For me time always seems to be elusive somehow, especially the time needed to sit down and do the actual writing process. Thinking about a plot is much easier, but finding QUIET time to sit and write...
    :((
    I remember reading about a writer once, he would actually finalize every little detail oh a chapter in his mind, before even sitting down to write. And when he would sit down, he would write the entire chapter in one go. He wrote historical novels, lots of detail and descriptions...
    #:-S
    Oh, what a clever chap!!

    Good luck everyone!
    ~O)
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa

    image
    What a beautiful church!!
  • LL88LL88 Sofiya, Bulgaria
    And going with the TIME theme we have for this chapter two, when do YOU find the time to write? For me time always seems to be elusive somehow, especially the time needed to sit down and do the actual writing process. Thinking about a plot is much easier, but finding QUIET time to sit and write...
    :((
    I remember reading about a writer once, he would actually finalize every little detail oh a chapter in his mind, before even sitting down to write. And when he would sit down, he would write the entire chapter in one go. He wrote historical novels, lots of detail and descriptions...
    #:-S
    Oh, what a clever chap!!

    Good luck everyone!
    ~O)
    I am usually doing the same, in one degree or another. I have a clear idea about the whole plot (I do not like adding new key points in time) and just have to add the accessories while writing. For some scenes, I picture them clearly in my mind and it is always a pleasure to try to depict them with words so that everyone can get as close vision as mine when reading. But I am not a (professional) writer, I was even weaker at literature than maths in scool. However, I have always been having that many ideas for different plots and thanks to Agatha Christie namely, I got a try in writing some things (before that, I have tried only once, but after reading her novels for the first time, I had more goes).
    As for the time I have - I really need to feel that strange thing in my stomach, which urges me to sit down and write. I can even do it at the end of a work day, or at any time during the weekends.

    And I just got an idea for the method of the murder! Thank you, Pat, your words helped me evolve my initial idea, which I got for a church bell (at the beginning I read "church clock", but imagined "church bell", and later I let my idea go, but now I can adjust it suitably and conveniently for the clock).
    Oh, well, my pleasure! Funny how a little phrase can help clear an idea!

    That is what I also like in Christie's books. Some statement of someone makes the detective get the connection they were trying to find between the different aspects of the events. :) This means the author had a clear idea and knows what is doing from beginning to end (opposed to TV shows nowadays, which I believe can never be adapted into nice book versions, because creators simply do not have an idea for the end itself before it comes).
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    I've submitted my entry for Chapter Two!
    :)
    Brief revealed is 6 December... oh, that's like a century from today!!!
    8->
    Good luck everyone and happy waiting...
    ~O)
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    Anyone else has submitted an entry for chapter two?

    ;;)
  • LL88LL88 Sofiya, Bulgaria
    Anyone else has submitted an entry for chapter two?

    ;;)
    I have not. I wrote something, but after I read chapter one again, I did not like it and decided to skip this time, due to some discrepancies. Personally, for me it is more important that I like myself what I wrote and then give others the chance to like it or not. :D I am also sorry that I did not go to the church after knowing what chapter one promised us for the future. The atmosphere in the church and the people there would have definitely given me the best ideas.
    I wish good luck to everyone who participated. \:D/
  • TuppenceTuppence City of London, United Kingdom
    We've had some fantastic entries - very interesting (and varied) ways to develop the story further. We may even decide to announce the brief for Chapter 3 a little early - watch this space!
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    Tuppence said:
    We've had some fantastic entries - very interesting (and varied) ways to develop the story further. We may even decide to announce the brief for Chapter 3 a little early - watch this space!

    ;;)
  • TuppenceTuppence City of London, United Kingdom
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    well done, Nia!
    =D>
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    Have to say, to me this Chapter Two paints a beautiful black & white 40's style movie scene.
  • GKCfanGKCfan Wisconsin, United States
    edited November 2013
    The link didn't work for me, but I found the new chapter at http://www.agathachristie.com/write-your-own-christie/take-part-this-month/.  Congratulations, Nia!  Were there any runners-up this month?  If so, congratulations to them as well!  If the brief is announced early, it'll help to have some extra time to write.
  • Congratulations Nia

  • If the members reading this want me to walk over and speak to the person that manages the clock to find out how it operates and give some feed back, I am happy to do so. Just let me know.
    This is very tempting, Dr.Sheppard. If you have some spare time, could you possibly find out if it will be relatively easy for any person to adjust the number of chimes without having to change the hands on the clock / the time shown on the clock? let's say have six chimes at half past?
    Thank you so very much for your time!!
    :)

    I've had some great fun in the last few days, exploring three local churches and finding out about the bells, clocks and chimes.  Firstly, I think we should remember that the story we are all writing should be based in the 1950's, so things would have been different to what is currently in operation. 

     Most of today's church clocks are operated by an electronic timing system, sending a pulse to the clock hands  every minute. So, no pendulum, but just like a central heating switch, easy to manipulate and change! In the towns the larger churches sound out the quarter, half and three-quarters of the hour and have done so for many years. So, it would be possible to change the time and chimes if someone wanted to.

     Before the electric mechanism was in place, the church clock was controlled by a swinging pendulum; any adjustment would be managed by adding additional weight to the pendulum, to make it go quicker or slower. The turning of the clocks cogs trigger the bells on the hour and the chimes at the quarter, half and three-quarters of the hour. Deselecting the pin that triggers the chimes, turning the cog to a new position, and putting the pin back in place would be easy and hence the chimes could be out of sync. For cogs, think of a wrist watch but much bigger - ¾ of a metre – and just as many.

     Hope that helps.

  • LL88LL88 Sofiya, Bulgaria
    Congratulations to Nia! I can say a great job was done - the English is so rich (for me it is - when I write in English, I use fewer different words and I am seeing this as a drawback for me now :( ), the details are wonderful, and the time in the story is interesting. I had few ideas how to proceed - to start at 6:30, to end at 6:30 or to have it in between. But I can see Nia did it excellent!
  • Pat_septemberPat_september Gauteng, South Africa
    Thank you very much Dr.Sheppard!! Thank you for clarifying this and for finding out about church bells and clocks! 
    :bz
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