Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today
Many thanks again to Jennifer C Wilson, Val Penny, #AnneWan, Wendy Jones, and Richard Hardie for their further insights into the joys and challenges of writing series fiction. Amongst tonight’s topics is how to ensure each book in a series works as a stand-alone, given our series writers can never know which book a reader will actually start with. It isn’t necessarily book 1!
What five things do I like to see in a character? Ideally they have all of the traits I list below but as long as a character has the majority of them, I’m likely to enjoy spending time in the company of that character as I read their story.
1. Courage.
2. Sense of Humour.
3. Loyalty.
4. They, at the very least, respect books; at best they have their own library!
5. Kindness.
Does that rule out the villains? No! Even villains can be kind to their pet cat, have a decent library etc.
Looking at that list, it’s what I like to see in myself and, before you ask, I’m working on the personal library bit! (It’s nowhere near as grand as the one in the pictures below though!).
One of the things I love about going to writing conferences is that I always learn something pertinent to what I write. And it is not always an obvious link.
I’m off to the Association of Christian Writers’ Day on Saturday, the topic is Writing for Children and Young Adults, which is not directly what I do, but I just know I will pick up useful tips that I can apply directly.
And you never know – looking at what other writers do can help you re-examine whether you are working in the best way you can. It may also inspire a new direction of writing too! What I do know is it will be fun finding out if it does or not and what useful tips I’ll bring home with me.
The great thing with writing is you never stop learning how to improve what you do and that is so good for your brain!
(And networking is always fun!).
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
A = Alliteration. Can be useful for titles in flash fiction (though I don’t use it much) but as with any story, it can grab the attention and help set the mood. Best not overused I think. You want each title to set the tone for what it is to come and a variety of methods for doing that is best. Keeps it fresh for you as the writer too.
B = Backstory. Not a lot of room for that in flash fiction! Best to hint at it through one or two vital details the reader has to know and leave it at that.
C = Character. The kingpin of fiction I think. Get the character right and the plot will come from them. Know your character inside and out – I find it useful to know their chief trait (and I piece together a mental picture of what they are like from there). Find the appropriate starting point for you but it is worth taking the time to know your character well before you start. Your writing will flow better because you write with that knowledge. It does come through in what you write.
As ever, am planning to write flash fiction on the train journey to and from London on Saturday as I head off to a writing day run by the Association of Christian Writers. It’s amazing what you can get done on a smartphone with no interruptions! (Daren’t do this on the Tube though. Always worried I’ll miss my stop! I do think the Tube is a wonderful invention and you never get cold down there either…).
I also sometimes draft non-fiction articles and future blog posts when out and about. I just need a long enough train journey to draft a novel now. 😉😁Hmm….
When planning your story (you do, yes?), I find it useful to work out what the obvious ideas might be from a title I’ve thought of, and then work out what could come from those. I don’t plump for the first ideas that come to me. I try to make myself dig that bit deeper to come up with something that fits the theme, makes sense, but is also different precisely because I haven’t gone for the obvious ideas!
Spider diagrams or flowcharts can be useful here. I find I must have a title to kick start the process with, even if I do end up changing it for something better later. It is always a tad annoying that a better title idea crops up when you are writing the story and NOT before you get started, but that is one of those quirks of writing!
Picture of me reading was taken by the lovely #DawnKentishKnox at last year’s Bridge House event. Am very much looking forward to this year’s one too!
Gill James talks with Dawn Knox and I at a networking event held by Bridge House Publishing last December. Am glad to report Dawn will also be in the Waterloo Festival Anthology. Image from Paula Readman and thanks to her for permission to use it.
Paula Readman, Dawn Knox and I at the recent Bridge House celebration event. Many thanks to Paula for the image. Also Paula is another winning entry for the Waterloo Festival.
Dawn Kentish Knox, fellow flash fiction writer, reads some work from her excellent book, The Great War. Image by Allison Symes
I read three stories from From Light to Dark and Back Again. Many thanks to Dawn Kentish Knox for the picture!
Book Buying News!
From Light to Dark and Back Again is available from The Book Depository. Delivery time on the paperback is 1 to 3 business days. As ever, reviews are always welcome in the usual places. The great thing is reviews do not need to be long but they all help the writer, even the indifferent ones!
Fairytales with Bite – Flash Fiction and Fairytales
Flash fiction is an ideal vehicle for fairytales. Why? Because the best fairytales set up their world quickly, have a definite conclusion, and often pack a powerful punch. Flash fiction does this too so to my mind flash and fairytales are a match made in writing heaven.
Flash fiction has to be character led due to its limited word count but you can set that character wherever and whenever you wish. A few telling details can set up a magical world quickly. For example from my George Changes His Mind (in From Light to Dark and Back Again), I set up a magical world with the opening line “He refused to kill the dragon.” The telling detail there is in one word – dragon! The story goes on to show what happens and that is the important bit of the story after all. I don’t need to use thousands of words setting up the magical world in which this is set. This is not crucial to this story. What matters is it IS in a magical world and what George goes on to do or not do.
A lot of my stories are either reflections of a fairytale world or set in it and they are great fun to write but I always focus on what the lead character is like. That is the crucial point of any story I think but in flash where every word must work hard to earn its place to stay there, it is even more so.
This World and Others – Stand Alone
Part 2 of my CFT mini series on The Joys and Challenges of Writing Series Novels looks at, amongst other topics, how to ensure a book stands alone given no series novelist can know at which point a reader will discover their writing. It is highly unlikely to be book 1. Indeed I’ve discovered series at the mid point! Many thanks again to my marvellous panellists – Jennifer C Wilson, Val Penny, Anne Wan, Wendy H Jones, and Richard Hardie – for some great insights. Very happy to recommend their books to you too. Great reads one and all albeit for different audiences!
It is true that every writer stands alone, even those that collaborate as they have to go off to write “their bits” before coming back and swapping notes with the other one(s) in the project. We have to judge whether our work is strong enough to submit and, if there is a choice of places to submit to, which is the best one. We have to judge whether we have edited a piece enough or if it still needs work. The call is with us and we are going to get it wrong. The joy, of course, is when we get it right and a piece is published.
This is where meeting other writers, whether at conferences, online, at courses etc., is invaluable. There is nobody like another writer to know exactly how it feels when you’re struggling to get the words out or who knows the joy of the words pouring out and work going well. You do have to share this sometimes for the sake of your own sanity!
I learned a long time ago no writer is a competitor to me. I write as I write. I cannot write as you would. We all bring our unique perspectives to what we write – and that is the great thing about it!
Allison Symes: Collected Works 