Welcome to the May issue of the Bibliofaction Lite Newsletter.

In this Issue

	Welcome...
	Saving the Semicolon
	What the Dickens?
	Writing Contest
	How did you do?

In Other News

Spot the mistake.

There is a grammatical mistake in the following sentence – can you spot what it is?

Neither Adam  nor Andrew are in favour of captial punishment

No prizes for this one – it’s just for fun. Answer at the bottom of the page
 

Pass it on

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Welcome...

...to another edition of Bibliofaction Lite, brought to you by the home of the short story, Bibliofaction.com.

It's bank holiday weekend and the sun is shining (well it is here in my little bit of the South of England - obviously I can't speak for all of you!)  What a  great time to sit back, relax and enjoy a short story.

Bibliofaction is for writers of all levels to publish their work and either improve their skills or offer useful tips to others. It’s a friendly place, and we want to get to know you, so why don’t you tell us your story?

Entering our competition...

... is an excellent way to start and we’ve now announced our deadline - 31 August - so get your entry in. You can find out more in this issue.

Also this month:

• Saving the semicolon
• Digital short stories

Saving the Semicolon

If you're careful with your punctuation you may have seen this already; it’s sure to be of interest. Whoa – stop right there – did you see that? Was it a bird? A plane? No – it was a semicolon! That’s right, I used the semicolon – woo hoo! Ok,  so perhaps it's not something to get too excited about, but over in France it's causing quite a bit of controversy! It seems, as far as punctuation marks go, the semicolon is quite intriguing, and anyone who's anyone has an opinion.

It's mainly causing a storm because there are loads of people who don’t know what it is or how to use it. Did I use it correctly above? Not sure? Well, you’re not alone, and it’s why many writers think we shouldn’t bother with it at all. Last month the Guardian reported on its declining use in France. And, in a world where the most common use of the ‘point-virgule’ is to give a cheeky wink to one’s friends, apparently it’s the fault of the English that this might be the end of the line for the humble mark ;-)
 

What the Dickens?

Over the past couple of months, famous book publisher Penguin have been doing something fun with the short story. Check out their new website wetellstories  It combines modern retellings of classic stories with computer games design to create digital short stories – something quite different to what you’ll see on Bibliofaction, and well worth a look. Stories are told using, among other things, blogs and Google maps! Featured stories have included The 21 Steps by Charles Cumming, and Hard Times by Charles Dickens. If this inspires you, why not take a classic story and rework it yourself? Publish it on Bibliofaction and start a new trend!

Writing Contest

One of the great things about Bibliofaction is going to be our regular writing competitions. These are for ALL, so don’t feel that you have to write like Thomas Hardy to join in the fun!

We’re really excited about the idea for our first competition, which is called “Writing from life” – and it’s open for you to enter now. We want you to tell us your story – tell us about an aspect of your life – it could be a holiday you’ve been on, an experience you’ve had, or just a snapshot from your day. It’s a different take on the short story, and doesn’t even have to be in the first person.

**NEWS FLASH** Short stories don’t have to be fiction, so if you fancy having a go, click here to get more information. Our top prize is a £50 book voucher, so it’s worth having a go while the site is still growing!
 

Click here to enter our competition -  Deadline 31 August 2008, 5pm, and Good Luck!

How did you do?

Earlier in this issue we asked you to spot a grammatical mistake in a given sentence. Did you get it?

The sentence read

Neither Adam nor Andrew are in favour of capital punishment

But, more correctly, it should read:

Neither Adam nor Andrew is in favour of capital punishment

Why? Because despite there being two subjects (Adam and Andrew) mentioned in the  sentence,  they are both singular and the verb and subjects have to agree.