Making The Most of an Author Event

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week about Making The Most of an Author Event. (I hope to review The Chameleon Theatre Group’s recent performance of Murder with Ghosts next week).

I share in this post though some thoughts on what you can do as a writer to make the most of events. For readers, see this as a look behind the scenes of the writing life.
https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/making-the-most-of-an-author-event/

More time at Dunnet today. One gloriously happy dog having a riotous time with her ball on the beach now = one shattered dog having a curl up as she waits for dinner. Job well done there then!

Bravest (or most foolhardy, you decide) souls were the ones who went paddle boarding today right on the top coastline of Scotland in temperatures that were invigorating to say the least!

We have actually been fortunate with the weather. Lovely bursts of sunshine with a fantastic sunset tonight. Oh and there are noisy stags outside where we’re staying calling to the hinds. So we’ve been hearing the wildlife as well as seeing it. Have also seen grouse.

Loving watching the extended Lord of the Rings. Am remembering favourite lines and scenes as the film plays. The challenge to us as writers is to ask ourselves what makes our writing memorable?

I’ve mentioned before about the importance of impact on a reader. It will be the lines and scenes that make the reader feel something which will be the most memorable.

Today was spent exploring some of the North-West of Scotland. The mountains are more rugged but the rainbows, which seem to be following us this week(!), were stunning on the hillsides. Lady loved playing at Scourie beach. And there was an inquisitive seal popping up now and again.

Many thanks for all the lovely comments on my posts this week. Glad the pics are going down well though it is hard for any one photo to do justice to the scenery here.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday is Making The Most of an Author Event. I love self-explanatory titles!

This one is apt as I have the Brechin/Angus Book Fest and the Bridge House Publishing celebration events coming up in November and December. Am looking forward to both very much.

Hope the post will prove useful. Link up on Friday.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Almost time to return to Hampshire but we finished our holiday by playing with Lady on Golspie Beach. This was especially nice as the sunset was superb here today and today is Lady’s 5th birthday. We can’t believe where the time has gone either.

Now talking of time, how do I use this in flash fiction? I have used countdowns in stories. I have also written pieces where Time is a character (and usually someone is trying to cheat Time too). I have used a specific time (generated by a random time generator) as the key point in a story.

With my character studies, I usually restrict what my character shares with the reader and having a period of time constraint can work well here.

No one character is going to show you everything. We don’t usually need to know about someone’s babyhood for example so you select the time period in this character’s life we do need to know about for the story to make sense.

Time matters in fiction then! I haven’t even mentioned deadlines yet!😊

It’s amazing how quickly it gets dark in this part of Scotland. It really does seem as if someone has reached out and switched off the light. Change in an instant, almost.

But for characters to change, especially if they’re becoming darker, the reader needs more time to see this change is coming and that the character is capable of that change.

I’ve been watching the extended Lord of the Rings this week and you can see how the ring of power corrupts Gollum from when it first came into his possession to when he lost it and in his later attempts to get it back. Yet he is aware of what it has done to him.Yes, he is a villain. He is also a tragic one. Tragic because he could have turned back to the light and didn’t.

So for our characters then it is important to sow seeds early on indicating to the reader that yes, this character could become like this. What the reader should be keen to find out is if that character does change and what the consequences are.

There are always consequences.

In flash you have less room to do this but it can be done. Get in early with the character point of change and follow through with consequences. Endings need to be appropriate.

Am concentrating on blog posts whilst away this week. Am looking forward to resuming flash fiction writing when home (though it wouldn’t surprise me if I draft some drabbles on the M6 on the way home. Have done this before!).

I suspect the fabulous scenery I’ve seen this week will not make it into my stories directly. But I do use photos to help me picture settings in which I could set characters. I look for ways into telling stories and photos can be so useful here.

Fairytales With Bite – Wishes and Willpower

Where there is magic, there is power.

Where there is power, there is someone wanting to control that power.

Where there are wishes, there should be consequences to those wishes being fulfilled.

Where someone is worthy of having their wishes fulfilled, the consequences will be good ones as a worthy recipient is not going to wish for wrong things.

Where power is wielded by those of good heart, most will benefit. There will be no seeking to control or oppress others etc.