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, as was one photo from the magnificent north-east Scottish coast.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady and I have been out and about and the writing/editing continues to go well so, for differing reasons, we both think we’ve had a good and enjoyable week. Plenty to share further down including thoughts on Story Essentials and useful marketing and character tips.
Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today
Delighted to share Story Essentials on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.
I look at the classic structure of story beginnings, middles, and endings. I also look at the other crucial ingredient to any successful story – interesting characters. I share what I think can help make them be interesting to potential readers. The role of character motivations and attitudes plays a huge role here.
Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.
Hope your Thursday has gone well. Sunshine and showers again. Lady tired out after her exercising today and is currently snoozing as I write this. It’s always good to see a contented dog!
Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Story Essentials on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above. I will discuss story structure (the classic beginning, middle and ending), and look at the vital role characters play. Hope you will find the post useful as it is written with any kind of fiction in mind.
Having a story structure in place may sound boring, you just want to get on and write, right? But I’ve found having one saves me a great deal of time in writing the piece and in editing it later simply because I already know the structure will work.
Marketing Tip: The good news here is marketing doesn’t have to be done all at once. What you can do is focus on the marketing you are going to do and ensure all is well prepared for that.
For example, I know I’ll have plenty of marketing to do when Seeing The Other Side comes out. I’ll be looking at launches, perhaps being a guest on blogs and all of that kind of thing. But I can do this a piece at a time. It takes the pressure off. It means I’ll enjoy every part of the marketing I’m going to do (and I believe you as a writer get so much more from this when you enjoy what you’re doing here).
Also marketing is genuinely always an ongoing thing. I’m always going to want to promote my books and anthologies in some way long after they first came out/are due out.
Hope the day has gone well. Mixed bag weather wise again though as I type this, the sunshine is out again. Lots of lovely walking with Lady today.
Writing wise, I’m looking forward to interviewing Esther Chilton about her latest children’s book, Myths and Magic, on Chandler’s Ford Today later this month. There will be plenty of interest and tips here. Look out for this towards the end of the month.
Character Tip: Characters make or break a story for me so I have to believe in them to care enough about them to find out what happens. This, for me, means I need to understand their motivations for doing what they are, even if I don’t agree with the actions.
I especially love those characters where some of their back story is dropped in, as that can highlight what drives them. I don’t need to know everything though. I just need to know enough.
And how much is enough? That will depend on the length of the story to a certain extent. If it is a flash piece, I won’t need to know nearly as much as I would for a long short story, novella or novel.
For flash work, I like to use character thoughts to show something of their motivations because these also reveal their attitudes at the time too.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Have just had news from an ACW friend about a potential competition so hope to look into that over the next few days or so and see if I can do something with it.
Networking helps writers in so many ways and this is just one of them. Nobody can know every single competition there is available but together we can share news of what we do know – it will indeed be news to someone else.
I’ve made good use of tips like this in the past and I do spread the word about the wonderful CafeLit whenever I can too. They were my introduction to flash fiction. It’s paid off!
I look for ideas for flash fiction stories all of the time. I opt for timeless topics as much as possible too. Right now I’m especially enjoying being out and about with the dog so I suspect at some point I’ll write a piece based around a walk which will be life changing in some way for my lead character.
The ordinary things of life can and do spark story ideas. Most of hate having to do housework yet see it as a necessary evil. So you could give some thought to what your characters would consider natural evils they have to cope with in some way. There could be potential for funny stories here too.
As well as using prompts, random generators, proverbs etc., I sometimes look at old scenic photos of mine and then weave a story around that. What characters could live here? What would they do? What issue do they have to resolve?
I think it’s a question of keeping your mind open to the thought there are plenty of ideas out there. The trick is working out which would best suit you and your style of writing.
I’m looking forward to the release of Seeing The Other Side next month, naturally enough. One reason why is having new material to share at Open Prose Mic Nights, such as the one The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick put on. I did read something from the new book last year and was pleased it went down well.
I like to mix up the moods of the stories I read at these things and the word counts too. So I will read a humorous piece, a grimmer one, a short 50 worder, a 100 worder or two and so on, depending on how much time I’ve been given.
Flash works so well for these things. It also makes it easier to stop on a “high” and top tip here, it is always better to come in at slightly under your allotted time rather than to go over it. Going over it at all is not really that fair on others still to read and it is always best to go out leaving your audience wishing they had heard more. For one thing, they can go and buy your book, can’t they?
Fairytales with Bite – Magical Wilderness
Recently, I’ve had the joy of escaping to a part of the country which can be considered to be Wild Britain – the north-east coast of Scotland. It is a magnificent mix of moorland, mountains, coast, and farmland. Lots of lovely walking done with other half and the dog. A real break from it all.
In your magical world, what areas would be considered to be wild? Is this because of the natural geography, flora and fauna or because the area has untamed magic none of your characters can harness, yet alone control? If the latter, how did the area become magically wild at all? Was there a curse and, if so, what was the story behind it?
Alternatively, are there areas in your magical setting where magic cannot be? If so, how did this happen and has anyone tried to change the status quo here? (Bound to be consequences and interesting stories here from where people tried and failed. Could form the legends in your magical setting’s fictional history).
This World and Others – Calming Areas
I think we all need our areas of calm. For me, this is often in the swimming pool. I can’t get emails or phone calls there! Plus the exercise is beneficial and can help create a sense of calm because it makes me feel better in myself for having done this.
Holidays where I can get away from it all help here too but even in my immediate area, there are physical places, including in my own garden, which are just good places to be.
So thinking about our characters, what calming areas/things to help them would they seek?
Where would they go to get away from things, locally to them or otherwise? What makes these areas special for them and can getting to them for a while be the catalyst they need to resolve the issues they’re facing?
Definite story ideas there.
Mailerlite – allison symes – newsletter sign up
WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK
ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK
AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES