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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good few days. Will be sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday but I don’t limit myself to five. I regularly use many more different writing exercises, which I also love, but had I written about all of those, I would have a long running series on my hands!

Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing some pals she hasn’t seen for a while, as well as her Hungarian Vizler chum. Back to the drizzly weather here unfortunately.

Facebook – General

Busy day and evening today so am posting early.

Don’t forget the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon. You can subscribe for free at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

What do I love about quality writing magazines?

Well, firstly there is the great advice. Everyone can use those.

Secondly, they remind me I am part of a writing community. Being reminded of that is great especially when you can’t meet other writers in person as often as you’d like. (It’s just one reason I treasure going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, in August).

Thirdly, I do love the author interviews and always learn something useful from them.

Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see some chums she hasn’t seen for a while and her Hungarian Vizler friend who acts a bit like a mum figure to her.

Have got a busy week ahead of me but it will be fun to go and see Waiting for Gateaux being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company on Thursday. Review will follow in due course on Chandler’s Ford Today. I have CFT to thank for introducing me to the wonderful world of local amateur theatre.

Did get my competition entry off over the weekend so well pleased with that. Will be thinking about drafting more stories soon. I like to have a stock in so when a suitable or open competition comes up, I have something that could be a contender. Suspect this may need to wait until the weekend though.

When I’m not writing for a specific deadline (whether that’s a post for Chandler’s Ford Today etc or a story competition), I will take some of the ideas I’ve jotted down in my notebook and then start drafting them as potential non-fiction articles. I know I will find a use for these at a later date. It is lovely to have work “ready to go” when an opportunity arises.

I will also draft flash fiction and short stories from my jottings for fiction ideas, even if I don’t have an immediate home for them, because I know there will be competitions later in the year where they could be placed.

For my regular deadlines, weekly or monthly, I try to stay ahead of myself in that I will have a post out there, one ready to put up, and ideas for ones beyond that. I find it pays. I’m never short of things to write up either.

One of the biggest aids to my creativity has been in getting to my desk knowing what I’m going to be writing. Just as with my fictional openings, for my writing overall, I do like to hit the ground running.

Hope you have had a good day, More sunshine! Yes, Lady and I have made the most of it again. Got the lawn cut. She played with her football.

Am looking forward to sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I evaluate these five, all of which I use regularly. Link up on Friday.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday and going to see the wonderfully named Waiting For Gateaux being performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group on Thursday. Review to follow on CFT in due course but I must say this does sound more fun than Waiting for Godot. A busy week to come then but should be a fun one. (Now if only the news could get better!).

Writing Tip: Every so often I jot down potential ideas for future blog posts for Chandler’s Ford Today, Authors Electric, More than Writers, and ideas for possible articles for Writers’ Narrative. So the jotting down of ideas for future use doesn’t just have to apply to fiction. I find it just as useful for non-fiction.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget my next author newsletter is out on 1st May. Only a week to go, folks! If you’d like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As well as sending out my own newsletter, I subscribe to a number of other author ones too. I enjoy finding out what my favourite writers are getting up to with their books and stories and any tips they share.

Sometimes I will find out about competitions relevant to me I hadn’t known about. No one writer can know it all here. There are loads of writing competitions out there. It pays then to stay in touch with what is going on in the writing world and author newsletters, as well as the writing magazines, are great and fun ways to do this.

It’s Monday. The rain is back. It is still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is Changing Time. Does Maxran get away with his scheme to make it seem as if he has been on time for once? Find out here and what will happen if he fails. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope to be submitting a flash piece later on today for a competition. I won’t hear back for some time but I like to get entries in well ahead of official deadlines. Also ensures I don’t forget to send entries in – that is so easy to do. It may be old school but paper diaries work! I use one all the time to plan out when I need to submit stories or articles. I find doing that keeps me on track.

So even if you don’t plan out your stories, you may find it pays to plan out your writing time, competition deadlines etc. I also plan out when to have my newsletter drafted by and give myself plenty of time to add in last bits of news etc. That pays too.

Being organised sounds dull (okay it is dull, it is not something to get excited about) but I have found it has made me more productive and I welcome that.

I like to mix up what I get from my story titles. Sometimes I like to intrigue – see The Terrified Dragon (Tripping the Flash Fantastic). The obvious hook there is why would such a beast be scared and of what? Sometimes though I like to keep a title “open” such as Identity (also TTFF). There the hook is to find out what identity is being referred to and why it matters.

So I give good thought to what I want my titles to do. I also like a good mixture in collections of the specific and open titles. Also helps me get a good mixture of moods of story. I try to keep my titles short (usually) as they’re easier to remember. The majority of mine come in from one to five words though sometimes I have gone over that if I need more words to convey the mood I want to set.

I have a working title for my drafts. I find it helps. I do sometimes change that if a better idea occurs to me as I’m writing the first draft. I’ve learned not to be surprised when that happens and just go with it but having that starting point is useful for giving me to something to work to.

Goodreads Author Blog – The Lure of a Great Book

The lure of a great book, for me, is in its characterisation. I have got to want to find out what happens to them. For non-fiction, the “character” is the narrative voice and that has to grip me enough to make me keep on reading.

I find it is the characters I remember and from there the plot line rather than the other way around. If someone says Sam Vimes to me, I will picture his character in the Discworld books, then favourite lines by him or concerning him, the overall story etc. It is in that order though.

Once a book has got me gripped, that’s it. I’m away. To ensure I do get a good night’s sleep, I limit myself to a chapter or two. That can be difficult at times but I cheer myself up with the thought I will be having more to look forward to the following night.

The characters/narrative voice do have to get under your skin. They stay with you after the book has finished too. Now that is the sign of a great book if ever there was one. If I were to ask you to name your five top characters, I am sure you would have no trouble doing that. The problem would be in limiting it to just five.

This is why I think characters are so important. We get behind them, not the plot. We want them to succeed (and fulfil the plot but without the characters the whole thing falls apart anyway).

For non-fiction I tend to recall the authors/narrative voice but when these work really well, I am definitely going to be getting more books by them.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: The Lure of a Great Book https://t.co/nfsMt8K6aE via @goodreads I share what I look for in a great book, whether it is fiction or non-fiction. And it all boils down to voice, rather than plot. See post for more. pic.twitter.com/kYD2mYuzpw

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 20, 2024

Changing Time https://t.co/WI9jsBxywr via @YouTube It’s Monday. The rain is back. It's still Monday. Time for a tale. My latest on YouTube is Changing Time. Does Maxran get away with trying to make it seem as if he has been on time for once? Find out what will happen if he fails.

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 22, 2024