Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today
This week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post is my review of Murdered to Death by Peter Gordon, recently performed by the Chameleon Theatre Group. I look at what you look for in great spoofs and discuss the wonderful Agatha Christie send-ups in this highly enjoyable play, which was brilliantly performed by the Chameleons to a packed house. I hope they put on more spoofs. I have a very soft spot for funny plays (funny books too come to that) and spoofs are a fantastic part of this.
Image Credit:
All images for Murdered to Death kindly supplied to Chandler’s Ford Today by Lionel Elliott and taken by Liz Strevens and Marilyn Dunbar, all of The Chameleon Theatre Group.
Many thanks.
Image Credit: All images below are from Pixabay.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
When is less is more? Certainly in flash fiction. Also on Twitter (I’ve been following the debate on the increase in characters from 140 to 280 and agree that the tighter character limit increases creativity. If you can say something in 140 characters, why on earth would you want to say it in more? There is no point to writing which isn’t necessary to the story!).
Twist endings depend on the less is more principle. In The Truth in From Light to Dark and Back Again the last sentence contains the twist in a total of 10 words (and by my rough tot-up 68 characters including the full stop!). In Serving Up a Treat, the twist was in 8 words (which this time is 39 characters including the full stop).
A guiding principle for me has been to write what needs to be written and get out! (It is in the edit that you work out what does need to be in the story. It can be surprising just how much can be cut too at times).
(From Light to Dark and Back Again can now be found in MIBI Gift Shop in Chandler’s Ford, along with Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords by fellow writer and friend, Richard Hardie. Images below taken by me and many thanks to MIBI. I hope to write a CFT post about how local communities can help their writers and vice versa).
Image Credit:
All images below taken by Allison Symes. Many thanks to MIBI.
Image Credit: All images below are from Pixabay.
Goodreads Author Programme – Blog
What do your book choices reveal about you? Well, for a start, hopefully, that you have excellent taste in books!
Your choices should also reveal you are widely read, with a good selection of non-fiction books, as well as fiction, on your shelves.
Certain titles give themselves away, of course. Having the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook on your shelves points to there being a writer or artist in the household!
Your choices should also reveal which genres are your favourites as these will tend to dominate your bookshelves. (In my case, it’s humorous fantasy and yes I do have a shelf full of Terry Pratchett and Tom Holt’s works).
On the non-fiction front, your choices should reveal what your favourite genre is here (for me, it’s anything historic).
Fairytales With Bite – Priorities
What are your characters’ priorities and why have they chosen them? (Did they get to choose them or did family/tribal expectation force them to “choose” the priorities they have?). What are the priorities for your world’s government(s)? What stops them or individual characters from fulfilling their priorities?
I must admit I sometimes find it difficult to work out my priorities (given all my jobs do actually need to be done!). This is where deadlines (actual and ones you set for yourself) can be useful. They give you something concrete to work towards, can help against procrastination and, I think, help you achieve more in terms of your writing than you would without them.
The biggest but nicest problem I have had this year is giving the right priority to publicizing From Light to Dark and Back Again (including taking part in things like the recent Chandler’s Ford Book Fair) and getting on with my other writing. I know I will get this balance right eventually (experience does show!) but I also know I haven’t got there yet (as I said, experience does show! So does lack of said experience!).
Prioritising writing work isn’t always easy.
This World and Others – Remembering
This weekend has Armistice Day (11/11), which given it is on a Saturday this year is followed by special services throughout the UK (where I’m based) on the nearest Sunday to it. It is a strange thing about us as a species that we need to actively remember especially those things that are the most important. The biggest lesson from history, I think, is the importance to remember and then maybe some of the worst mistakes we’ve made won’t be repeated. At the very least that is a good thing to aim for.
This week has also seen the second anniversary of my mother’s passing and I can’t believe where the time has gone.
On a happier note, as I’m settling in our new rescue dog, Lady, happy memories of my previous dogs, Gracie and Mabel, are flooding back as Lady shows some traits common to them all.
On a writing front, what would your characters choose to actively remember? What are the most important things for them? What does this say about them as characters? What made them choose these things? Do any of these things go against what would be their cultural norm and, if so, what consequences do they face?
Lest We Forget.
Allison Symes: Collected Works 