Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today
Looking forward to the Hursley Park Book Fair over the weekend (though sadly I can only be there on the Saturday). I hope I can get to listen to a couple of the other talks during the day too.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
I plan to read a few of my stories as part of my talk on flash fiction at the Hursley Park Book Fair tomorrow, 23rd June. (The event is on 24th as well but sadly I can’t make it for both days). Good opportunity to spread the word about what flash fiction is all about.
As with my longer fiction, I draft a flash piece first, give it an initial edit, and then leave it for a while before looking at it again. In the meantime, of course, I am writing more flash fiction and non-fiction posts. This generally means I always have something to write or to edit.
When I use Evernote, I tend to just write and have fun being creative. I tend to edit this work once I’m back at my desk again. I’ve found this method works best for me but the most important thing, I think, is to see the creative writing and editing of same as two separate tasks. I never try to write and edit at the same time, else I hamper myself. I need a bit of gap to be able to judge objectively if something is working or not.
Fairytales with Bite – What Classifies a Fairytale as a Fairytale?
This is not a definitive list but what I think classifies a fairytale to be called a fairytale. Comments welcome!
1. Magic is involved. This can be at a high level (Cinderella’s transformation – clothes, coach etc) to low level (a little magic is used to help a character succeed at something. This is taken to its logical conclusion in Fantasia though there the character also needed to know how to stop but that’s another story!).
2. There has to be a transformation of fortune. Usually from being downtrodden to the happy ever after, but sometimes, such as in The Little Mermaid, the transformation can be seen not to have been what the character really wanted. Or it failed to achieve what it is was meant to achieve. However, the transformation of fortune has still happened.
3. Generally, the good guys either win or fail heroically but leave the banner to someone else. Always true. I would describe a story where the villain won as a a nightmare, rather than a fairytale. Why? Because with the villain winning, you can kiss goodbye to hope. That villain will impose their will on their subjects say with nothing and nobody to stop them. I fail to see the story in that. Re the latter, remember in The Lord of the Rings, there had been a previous attempt to defeat Sauron once and for all. That failed but it paved the way for the story to follow.
4. Inanimate objects should be treated with caution. This can include things like the Portals in the Harry Potter series, any shiny red apple, talking mirrors, and swords/rings etc that seem keen to be reunited with their former owners. These always cause trouble but it is a major element of a fairytale.
5. Expect the unexpected and/or what is unknown in our world to be known here. This is especially true for the existence of magical creatures, universes far far away, and so on.
This World and Others – World Building Issues
Some issues relating to world building can include:-
1. Not giving enough information for your reader to be able to picture the world in their own minds. As with flash fiction, it is the telling detail that matters here. Your story should ensure it has everything in it the reader will need to know.
2. Not making the world attractive enough for the reader to care what happens to it. The details you give them have to matter. The readers need to see what is appealing about World X always doing this or that on their equivalent of a Tuesday, to name one example. They also need to see why it matters. In this case, would the world collapse if the tradition changed?
3. Not having the right balance of character types. You do need a decent villain. You also need a hero/heroine with the right “can do it” attitude. Yet if you just have the good guys, there is literally nothing for the good guys to fight.
Allison Symes: Collected Works 