Facebook – General
Does the mood you are in affect what and how you write? My own answer to that is it depends!
If I’m in a flat state of mind but the writing I’m working on has a character in a similar state, then I can use my own mood to help write that piece! (I get something useful out of being in a flat mood! Ironically that knowledge cheers me up so win-win!).
Sometimes I deliberately write opposite to my mood so, again if I feel flat, I try to put myself in the head of a character in a lighter mood and find myself writing light. Again that can be a mood booster for me. Writing can be amazingly therapeutic at times.
What I do know is writing anything is a good “outlet” and later, once in a better frame of mind, I can evaluate any writing done in a flat state and see what I can do with it. But the great thing is I have still written, I still have work to do something with, so my advice would be, if you feel flat and don’t feel like writing, try to write something, even if it is a very short piece. I’ve found many times once I get started, I keep going, and writing takes me to a different, better place. Again, win-win there, I think.
Drafted first flash fiction story that I’ve created using a picture prompt in my new writing diary. 51 challenges remaining then given there’s one such prompt a week! Also enjoying working on my novel again. I want to try to enter more short story competitions (1500 word type) this year too. I like mixing the writing up. Challenges the old brain and that’s never a bad thing.
Third flash fiction volume coming along nicely though I need to group my stories at some point. Am hoping to get along to Winchester Writers’ Festival and, of course, Swanwick Writers’ Summer School later in the year, also the ACW Writers’ Days. I think one of the best things about writing is you never stop learning whether it is how to improve what you do, new places to try to submit work or what have you. That is also a very good thing.
Feed that brain!
Image Credit:Â Many thanks to the Hampshire Writers’ Society for the image of me reading an example of what flash fiction is at their meeting last year.
Having completed a picture prompt generated story yesterday, I see this week’s prompt in my diary has no picture whatsoever! Still will tackle that prompt later in the week I hope.
I’m planning to share a few of my favourite writing tips and why they’re useful on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. You pick up lots of useful tips from conferences, chatting to writer friends etc., but as is the way with these things, some advice will always be more useful to you than anything else. It can be a question of working out what is going to help you most. Anyway, will share the link on Friday.
Made good progress on the novel and short story ideas over the weekend so will resume work on those shortly. A writing session for me is most useful when I know I’ve made progress on work, whether that progress is editing something, adding a line or two to something already down, or writing a whole new flash fiction piece/draft CFT post.
It’s when I feel I haven’t got anywhere that is most discouraging and that’s when encouragement from writer friends is enormously helpful. I still wish my fairy godmother would turn up though and grant me “elastic time” which I could stretch as and when I needed to without any side effects/damage to history etc. You know I’d use it to stretch my writing time!
Image Credit:Â Many thanks to Dawn Kentish Knox for the picture of me reading at the 2018 Bridge House celebration event.
Am looking forward to sharing book offer related news later this week. Will share info and links soon!
Meanwhile, am making progress on a longer term project (non-fiction) I’d been wondering about doing for a while and have finally got around to tackling. I don’t know yet whether I’ll submit this to publishers or self publish but it is good to have both options on the table.
Am also making good progress on my novel too. My writing times are fairly consistent (which helps a LOT) and I’ve learned how to use which sessions for which projects in a way that suits me best.
I suppose the biggest lessons I’ve learned are to make the most of the time you do have AND accept you are in writing for the long haul. Stamina and persistence are key. (Good luck is a useful extra though!). How like life!
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- The one time of year when Time itself is the news. Pixabay image.
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- Making the most of the writing time. Pixabay image
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- The first draft, the second, the tenth? Pixabay image
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- Love writing, love reading, love books. Pixabay image.
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- So true. Pixabay image.
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- Write your piece, leave it for a while before editing. Pixabay image.
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- Notes about your characters can help you portray them more accurately. Not every note has to make it into the story itself. Pixabay image.
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- The joy of writing is you never stop learning. Pixabay image.
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- Generating those ideas. Pixabay image.
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- Shedding some light… Pexels image.
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- Love the bike. Pexels image.
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- Now that is some serious shelving! Pexels image.
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- The delights of the open page. Pexels image.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Once I’ve finished a few posts tonight, I’m going to use the picture prompt in my writing diary to draft a new flash fiction piece. The diary has one for every week in the year so that’s potentially 52 new stories to be written!
I do use picture prompts sometimes to trigger stories but tend to use phrases, proverbs, and things like that to get me started on stories. I’ve posted before about mixing up sources for ideas so I will be practising what I preach tonight at least!
We talk about “moments of illumination” – well, flash fiction could be the written version of those! Such moments are always brief and reveal something not known before. Your flash stories should do that too and be to the point.
From the writer’s viewpoint, this is the fun bit as you get to decide what that moment is in your story. For me, it has to be a turning point, whether you “turn” the character or the direction your story is going in to surprise the reader. It is where twist endings come in because you can save the moment of illumination until then.
I often, when reading stories like this, then go back through the tale to look for any clues I may have missed that hinted at the story ending up the way it has. I usually spot something on that look again read and of course I can learn from that and develop the techinique for my own writing.
When I work out ideas for a story, I focus on the lead character and then plan all sorts of havoc either for them to experience or to be the cause of – all good fun! But I do need to know the lead character’s main trait/attitude first – I use this as a “driver” for working out who they are, what they know they are capable of, and so on.
For me, character is everything. The right characters for the right stories make them spark and come to life for the reader. A good character in a weak plot – both end up being disappointing. You get the feeling the character has been “wasted”.
I’ve found it pays to take my time in outlining a character (and this is a feature of Scrivener I adore. On their fiction setting, you have a template you can fill in to help you plot out a character and I’ve used this several times. Scrivener also have one for working out what the setting of the story is and I have used this but the character development one is really useful. I don’t tend to use it for flash fiction but for longer stories where I’ve got 2 or more characters to flesh out).
Once I’ve got my character, I’m generally well away into writing the story. While editing is always necessary, outlining at the start does stop you going off at an irrelevant tangent and has saved me considerable time.
Will have book offer related news later this week so stay tuned! Links and info up when I have them.
What are the difficulties of writing flash fiction?
1. It is so easy to overwrite and be well over the word count limit. Okay a very good edit will take care of that but the story still has to flow, make sense, and impact on readers, once that editing is done. There’s the real challenge, I think.
2. Knowing where and when to stop! (Having said that, if the idea is a strong one and you can continue it so you end up with a standard length short story, do so. You just enter that piece for standard length short story competitions and markets instead!).
3. Getting people to take the form seriously, though this situation is improving!
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- The writing journey can be a long one so setting goals along the way makes sense. Pixabay image
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- Photos are vital to help preserve memories. Pixabay image.
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- Love the great outdoors and use it to fire ideas for your stories and posts. Pixabay image.
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- Getting away from it all by train. Pixabay image.
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- My desk is NOT this tidy. Pexels image.
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- A truly beautiful diary. Image via Pixabay
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- The tools of the scrivener’s trade. Image by Allison Symes
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- What decisions will your characters make? Image via Pixabay.
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- Fiction can take you anywhere. Image via Pixabay.
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- Fiction should show you new ways of looking at the world. Image via Pixabay.
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- What every writer needs. Image via Pexels.
Goodreads Author Blog – Story Idea Spotting
Do you ever indulge in story idea spotting when reading a favourite novel? I do!
I love looking for what I think are the influences for a writer. To me this adds extra enjoyment to the story and gives me the perfect excuse for re-reading a book. Not that I really need one but never mind.
It’s my experience you never find all the influences/links in one read through! Sometimes not in two reads either!
Sometimes I know what the writer’s influences are in advance because I’ve read interviews etc and can then have fun seeing how these play out in what they have produced. Other times I don’t know and I get to play detective here.
What I like best is when spotting an influence in a book and it is clear the writer is a fan of another writer I also love. Double whammy!
Reading is fun anyway of course but for me this is extra and I love that.
Allison Symes: Collected Works 