Image Credit:
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.
Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.
Hope you have had a good few days. Managed to work in some alliteration for this post (but have no plans to work my way through the alphabet!).
Facebook – General
4th and 5th October
Given Facebook was down for a lot of 4th October (UK), I thought I would just share one extended post today covering 4th and 5th. Am glad all is now back up and running properly though.
4th October
Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play her best buddie, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Their other pal, Coco, a lovely Labradoodle, also turned up so it ended up being a real “puppy party”. A lovely time was had by all but you don’t want to get in the way when the dogs are running! It was nicely timed too as it poured down for most of the afternoon.
As I prepare this post, Facebook is down so I have no idea when I’ll be posting this. Hope everything is sorted out soon.
Also glad to say the October issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now out. I talk about light and dark for my flash fiction column this time and there are some wonderful stories in on the theme. Do check it out. (Also glad to see my two flash collections are in under the section of books by MFR Authors – and there’s a whole range here so if you’re looking for somewhere to start to check new books out, do try here!).
5th October
I guess outages such as the one that happened to Facebook etc yesterday remind us of how dependent we can be on these things. I do like the social aspect to social media. I don’t like the negative sides which turn up but where social media is at its best is where it can encourage, share good news stories, and yes help with writing tips and advice and that kind of thing. Anything which helps encourage creativity basically.
And I do like Facebook and Twitter as both can be useful for sharing flash fiction stories. Twitter is a great place for me to share my Youtube videos as I don’t tend to put much commentary with these. Far better to let the video speak for itself! But I suppose one thing to come from last night is it probably pays to have two social media platforms you are comfortable with using. Okay, there is nothing you can do when both are hit by an event but where, in a lot of cases, it is only one that has been “taken out”, you can at least still use the other.
Well, at least the weather was better today! We all seemed to spend most of last night drying out, dog included.
Looking forward to going to the Association of Christian Writers’ writing event on Saturday. So that will be two trips on the train within three months! (And I’ve already saved what I paid out on my railcard for the two trips had so far – the other one was for Swanwick of course).
I hope to write about the benefits of one day events for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. Watch this space as they say. (This week’s post will be the use of sayings in creative writing. I’ve had several stories published which either use a well known saying as a title or a theme or sometimes both).
All of us were soaked to the skin at differing points today, including the dog, though she fluffs up beautifully when she dries out! Not a good day in Hampshire, that’s for sure.
Delighted to see lovely comments coming in for my Trying Hard on #FridayFlashFiction. Will Sarah finally make things up to her neighbour? Follow the link to find out. It is great fun writing these drabbles again. The 100-worders were how I discovered flash fiction thanks to CafeLit issuing their 100-word challenge.
Looking forward to sharing my next Chandler’s Ford Today post too. I’ll be looking at sayings and their use in creative writing. This is a topic I should’ve written about before really as I use sayings a fair bit for my flash fiction work. Link to come on Friday.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
4th and 5th October
Given the Facebook outage on 4th October (UK), I thought I’d share two posts in one here for 4th and 5th October respectively.
4th October
Facebook is out as I write this so will post as soon as I can. Am glad to share my latest YouTube short story video. Hope you enjoy this one – Satisfying. Does Miskrelda come out tops in the village magical championships or does the old witch still have plenty of tricks to play?
5th October
It does feel unnerving to be offline when you don’t want to be! Glad everything now up and running again on Facebook etc. I know there can be down sides to social media but there are up sides too, especially bringing people together and hopefully sharing a little entertainment too. Hope you enjoy my latest story video, Satisfying.
Flash fiction works well on social media given its limited word count, of course. And sharing stories like this I hope will draw people into my website (https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com) to find out more what I do writing wise and where. Social media is meant to be sociable after all. And sharing stories and books and that kind of thing is one of the most lovely social activities there is. As well as being a writer I am of course a reader and love it when authors share extracts and a little about their writing process. I always learn from this – and it is fun to read.
Can foreshadowing happen in a tight word count as is the requirement for flash fiction? Oh yes. I tend to plant “clues” in the opening line or two so that by the end of the story (often a paragraph or two later), a reader can see how that “clue” mattered. Sometimes foreshadowing can be done by a word or two.
In my Vegetables are Good For You, I use the words “garlic” and “Transylvanian” in the first line. If you’re wondering if vampires come into this somewhere, you’re going to have to read the story to find out (!) but I’ve definitely foreshadowed something here!
As is so often the case for the very short form of fiction, it is a question of picking out the right detail you need a reader to know. You can then work out how to foreshadow this. It is a case of setting things up nicely and ensures your readers don’t feel cheated.
(And it is even more fun when you can foreshadow but still put in a twist at the end, I love doing that. Readers might guess where you’re heading but can’t know until they read the story and you can still surprise them. But when they look back at the story again, they should then see the foreshadowing given does lead logically to the point where you’ve taken them at the end).
Characters learning from their mistakes and going on to do better makes a great theme for stories. I’ve used it for flash tales – Judgement Day and The Past – Ready or Not? from Tripping the Flash Fantastic to name a couple. I tend to show the mistake early on and the rest of the story shows how the character has moved on. And change is what all stories are about.
We read to find out what happens so something must happen! A character who doesn’t learn will only make the same mistakes (and worse) and these can be frustrating to read about. You want to scream at the character “come on, learn from this” so I try to ensure nobody can say that about the characters I come up with.
Goodreads Author Blog – Books on Your Wish List
Do you have a Book Wish List? I have two a year – one for the period leading up to my birthday and the other leading up to Christmas. Family and friends of book lovers should appreciate us really. We are so easy to buy for. Just follow our list(s)!
I try to get a list together for Christmas in November. That’s early enough. I’ve got some thoughts already for books I’d like to be on that list – not that I am surprised by this. I tend to make a mental note throughout the year of “possibles”! (I also refuse to believe I’m the only one who does that). And I like an annual, yes even at my age. (The Friendship Book before you ask).
Ebooks I tend to buy as I want them (and I do use this format for trying out authors new to me). Audio books are something I tend to give as presents to others.
But however you like your books, I hope you have plenty of them on your Wish List. And, best of all, books are so easy to wrap. Okay, you can’t hide what they are (not unless you really go overboard with the wrapping) but seeing a book-shaped present under the Christmas tree is always a great joy for me and has been for more years than I care to recall.
Now, hands up time. I buy books for others. Who has a quick peek before wrapping said gifts up, ensuring that the recipient would never guess of course? Yes, me too, and it usually leads me to adding another book or several to my own Wish List!
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsliked Allison Symes's blog post: Books On Your Wish List https://t.co/iq3LUtQG3d via @goodreads I have two lists a year – one for Christmas and the other for my birthday. I chat about how I go about compiling said lists in this week's Goodreads post.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 2, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAm glad to share my latest YouTube short story video. Hope you enjoy this one – Satisfying. Does Miskrelda come out tops in the village magical championships or does the old witch still have plenty of tricks to play?https://t.co/qTbBGfLW3Y
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 4, 2021
Allison Symes: Collected Works 