Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today
My latest CFT post shares news of a very special cookbook written by Barbara Large MBE. Barbara was the founder of the Winchester Writers’ Festival (as it is now known) and her book is raising funds for the Nick Jonas Ward at the Royal County Hospital, Winchester.
Barbara shares her thoughts on the joys and challenges of writing this book, as does Anne Wan, who through imprint North Oak Press, published the book. There is also a delicious recipe to try!
Barbara Large and Anne Wan at the launch of Anne’s book. Image kindly supplied by Anne Wan
Anne Wan and I enjoying a cup of tea as I interview her for Chandler’s Ford Today a while ago. Image taken on Anne’s phone by the cafe staff!
When Writing Magazine comes in, I flick through and see if I know anyone who has written in to the letters page or the Members’ News section. I’m glad to say there usually is someone I know in either section in most editions!
Going to writing courses, conferences etc., is the best way I know of for networking with other writers and connections build up over time. Though a week at Swanwick Writers’ Summer School speeds that process up a LOT!
Talking of connections, how do your characters build up their relationships with other characters? What kind of networking exists in the world you’ve created? Often it is a case of showing Character A has this relationship (of whatever nature) with Character B but can you hint at how it all kicked off? Is there a solid basis to how your characters interact with each other? There should be…!
My CFT post this week will share news of a charity cookbook called Scrumptious Recipes Shared with a Pampered Patient, written by Barbara Large, MBE, who founded the Winchester Writers’ Festival (formerly the Winchester Writing Conference). More details and the link on Friday.
I look forward to sharing thoughts on the recent Bridge House/Chapeltown/Cafelit celebrations the week after. As ever, can hardly believe how the year has raced by. Many thanks to Dawn Kentish Knox for the pic of me reading some of my more recent stories from Cafelit and also from From Light to Dark and Back Again.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Have fun mixing up the settings you use for your stories too. Some of mine are set in a magical or fantasy world but others are very much here on Earth.
My Time for Tea is set with the opening showing an old man arranging the tea things as he is expecting his adult children to visit. But this is no ordinary tea party.
And I guess that is the point of this post. The setting may be ordinary but it is what you do with it that will turn your story into something special.
A random word generator can be fun to play around with sometimes. Having a look at one tonight, and having set the first and last letters I wanted, my haul was “bloody”, “biography”, “biology”, and “beneficiary”. Hmm… definite possibilities there.
DANGEROUS WORDS
The biography of my long dead great-aunt whom I cared for, well it was well over a decade in the end, was a revelation, a bloody one at that. No wonder she didn’t want this coming out during her lifetime and I’m heartily wishing I hadn’t been sent this book. Someone wanted me to have it but who and why? And why send it now?Frankly, I’m not sure what I want to do with this. The logical thing would be to burn the wretched book but how many copies were produced? How could I find out without revealing what I know? And whoever sent this to me is expecting some sort of reaction I guess. There’s nothing to stop them sending me other copies either is there? Have they gone to the police? Well let them… I’ve done nothing wrong except be a beneficiary to a sick old lady whose family abandoned her. Except I now know why they dumped her. Has one of them finally decided I ought to know? Or are they going to try to take my inheritance from me?
What did I find out? That my aunt knew quite a bit about biology as it turns out and where exactly to stick the knife. She wasn’t always crippled with arthritis! Said knife ended up right in the backs of anyone to whom she was a beneficiary. Collected quite a sum in the end – well over £500 K. People have been killed for less than that. What I can’t figure is how she got away with it. All I know is I’m keeping that money and I am getting out of here NOW.
Ends.
Allison Symes – 6th December 2018
See a random word generator as another way to conjure up ideas for you to play with. You don’t have to use all the words that come up – a lot will depend on how much of a challenge you feel up to tackling! But have fun with this and hopefully you’ll get some stories down as a result.
Ideas for flash fiction stories can come from many sources (and I’ve used advertising slogans, scenes from films, well known phrases, and sometimes puns – e.g. my Raising the Stakes. Yes it IS a vampire story but told from the viewpoint of…. well no spoilers here!).
Mix up your sources of ideas from time to time. Never use just one source. You want to have a nice wide “net” to scour for story ideas. Don’t forget pictures either. They can be a great starting point for a story. What could you do with the images below for instance?
Above all have fun with your writing. It does show through!
Fairytales With Bite – Editing Your Story
Some of the ways I edit a story are:-
1. To put it aside for a while. Sounds odd I know but you need to put some distance between you as the writer of the piece before you can become you, the editor of that piece. You are too close to the work to be objective about it just after you’ve written it. You’re either going to think it is the best or worst thing ever written (there seems to be no happy medium here!) so remind yourself, you will look at the piece when it will seem like new to you again. Then and only then can you judge it properly. Assuming you have done that:-
2. Read work out loud. This is great for literally hearing whether your dialogue works as well as you think it does. If you stumble over words or phrases, so will your reader. I’ve sometimes recorded a story (using Audacity) and played it back. You get to listen to it as a listener would then.
3. Do a basic edit first. I start by getting rid of my known wasted words, repetitions, and go through for spelling and grammatical errors. You will need to do this again at least once more once you’ve got a final draft but I have found it useful to use this to get me into “editor mode” and to get started on the whole business!
4. Look at whether the structure makes sense. Are there gaps the reader can’t follow? Where you have hinted at something happening in the story, did you follow through on it later?
5. Do all of your characters have a vital role in the story? If not, can you get rid of some or amalgamate them into one person?
6. Do all of the plot lines tie up and make sense? Have you shown a point of change in the characters? Have you ensured the story reaches a logical conclusion (which doesn’t need to be a happy one)?
Good luck!
This World and Others – Crucial Characterisation
Characterisation is always crucial, of course, but pointers I have found really useful include:-
1. Ensure there is something about your characters that your readers can identify with. They don’t necessarily have to agree with your characters but should be able to see why your characters are acting as they are. Part of the challenge of a story is to get your readers to wonder whether they would have done the same as your characters and, if not, why not and what would they have done!
2. The goal should be an understandable one. From the character’s viewpoint, naturally, it has to be a life or death matter. It should be something they are prepared to risk all for. It should be something they can’t refuse to do.
3. Characters should be memorable. Doesn’t matter if they’re heroes or villains, the crucial point is your characters should stay in the minds of your readers long after they’ve finished your story.
Allison Symes: Collected Works 