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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 since the last post. Weather still all over the place but Lady running all over the place with her closest chums so they’re happy at least!

Am so thrilled to welcome Sophie Neville to Chandler’s Ford Today – she is a very talented actress (best known for Swallows and Amazons), has written many books, and is an award winning scriptwriter as well. This interview is a two parter, with the next stage coming out on 12th April. Don’t miss either parts – there is so much to inspire here.

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Hope you have had a good Friday. Lady and her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal rounded off their “working week” with a superb playing, good zoomies (you stand out of the way!), and who then went home tired and happy. I was happy to dodge the rain. That counts as a win this week.

For Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I am delighted to share Part 1 of a wonderful interview with actress and writer (and much else besides), Sophie Neville, who is best known for her role as Titty in Swallows and Amazons, a classic children’s film. She went on to do much more in front of and behind the camera plus her writing, especially her scripts, has won her awards too.

This week we look at how the different aspects of Sophie’s work have fed into each other, her thoughts on preparing for talks (useful tips shared too), and her involvement with the Wild Otter Trust and much more.

Do enjoy! Part 2 this time next week. Don’t miss!

Author Interview: Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, in Film, and in Writing – Part 1

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Lady has had a super duper week in that she has got to see her friends for most of it! Had a lovely time again earlier today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. It is quite something to see the pair of them running.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I will be sharing Part 1 of a splendid two part interview with the hugely creative and talented Sophie Neville of Swallows and Amazons fame and much else besides. The whole interview is so inspiring to anyone with any interest in the creative life so do look out for it. More tomorrow on this. See above.

Writing Tip: When writing flash fiction, don’t worry about the word count. I know that seems an odd thing to say but focus on getting the story right first. Once you’ve got that sorted, then figure out what the word count should be.

If my draft ends up coming in at, say, 120 words, I will then and only then see if I can genuinely get it down to a 100 word count. Sometimes I can. That’s great. Sometimes I can’t (because it would spoil the story in some way) so in that case I leave it alone and I send it in to a category which is over 100 words instead.

How can I judge what would spoil the story in some way? Simply by asking myself would cuts take away from the characterisation I am trying to show. If it does, I don’t do it.

The star of any flash fiction story is the character. The reader needs to know who they are (in some cases in my stories, what they are too!) so if my cutting takes something away from their enjoyment of the character, that’s when I leave the story alone.

But if I can genuinely cut something to tighten up pace, give my characters a sharper focus, then I will do that.

Hope you have had a good day. Strange weather though thankfully Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again today. Came home tired but happy. She always gets a buzz from being with her chums.

I was talking earlier today about non-fiction books via a Facebook group I am part of and I mentioned I’m currently reading Double Cross by Ben Macintyre, the true stories of the double agents used to fool Hitler. Fascinating reading. Highly recommend. I love the development of non-fiction told in narrative style, as this book is, as it almost seems like a novel (and a page turning one at that). Great way to take in history, I think.

I do sometimes write historical flash fiction though I do use standard modern English for my characters here. Why? Old English is not that easy to read so my one conceit is to allow past characters to talk in a way we would understand now. My historical flash pieces are all based on fact and/or reasonable supposition on the basis of known facts. Fun to do.

By using the flash format for this, I do have to hone in on what really matters to my characters. (And that applies to every other flash piece I write too, regardless of genre. Flash is a great writing discipline for this).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

No story on Friday Flash Fiction this week as they’re closed to submissions at the moment after the Andrew Siderius competition. Many congratulations to the winners and all who where shortlisted. It was great fun to take part. I submitted a story in the 100 words category and then a longer flash (151 to 500 words) over the two weeks the competition was running.

If you need to look at what 100 word stories look like on screen (or the longer up to 500 words category), do check out the website. I’ve found doing this useful in the past because it gives me a visual aid for what to “aim for” when drafting my story.

If I know a 100 word story could be three short paragraphs, I’ve already got a kind of structure in place. First paragraph – set up, meet character, know problem. Second paragraph – things worsen, character has to do something. Third paragraph – Character has done something and this is the resolution. Visual aids like that can be handy at times.

Also check out the wide range of stories on here. You’ll be in for a great read. The link takes you to a page full of useful tips for writing flash fiction. Do check them out.

One great thing about the opening line writing exercise is it challenges you to come up with excellent prose to follow on from it. I find I want to deliver on that cracking opening line and not let it down. So I need a strong character, one I know well and whose reactions and actions make sense based on my portrayal of them.

Do I like all of my own characters? Not necessarily! I can think of some of mine who make my skin crawl but the way I’ve portrayed them, their actions and attitudes would make sense if only to them. I don’t write too many of this kind of character because they’re not my favourite type but sometimes I have an idea for a plot where that kind of character has to be the one to “star” in it for it to make sense.

I do love my witty characters though and have a very soft spot for them. I especially love the ones who come up with wonderful one liners. What I need to watch there is to ensure I don’t write those lines just for the sake of it. Any and every line does need to move the character and the story on.

Any and every line has to earn its place in my stories. If there’s any doubt, then that tells me this line isn’t strong enough. Equally it tells me it doesn’t stand out enough to justify staying in the tale so out it comes.

Sometimes I’m inspired by films I like and take the viewpoint of another character for my flash piece. In my Where The Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) I take the viewpoint of the witch from The Wizard of Oz who was unfortunate enough to have a farmhouse land on her. Just what are the odds of that happening, even in a magical world, I wonder! Good fun to do as it is interesting to explore what another character would make of the situation that has happened to them.

When Cinders got married, not all considered this to be good news – the stepmother and her daughters for a start. You can have fun playing with that kind of idea (and indeed I did with my A Helping Hand from Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing), which was my first story in print back in 2009).

I’ve mentioned about using proverbs and sayings for inspiration (and they are fabulous sources) but why not the fairytales too? Whose story hasn’t been told? Who thinks they’ve been treated unfairly? A lot of fun stories could be told here (and I love the way the Shrek films covers this idea too).

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Studying

The best known magical school is, of course, J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts. (Love those books and films). But when it comes to your own stories and settings, how would your characters be educated? Would there be formal education such as Hogwarts or would there something akin to learning from the “elders” of the people in a more traditional, oral manner? Would your characters have access to any education at all? If not, why not?

You can show a great deal about your society by showing who is allowed to be educated and who is not. Equally for your stories where education doesn’t come directly into the plot lines, your characters would still have needed to learn some skills in a magical world so they could survive. Do they ever talk about what they learned and how?

Good teachers have a positive influence on you for life. I recall with great fondness my English teacher, Miss Mackenzie, who introduced me to Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice). I learned irony was a thing in fiction from that one book!

After that, we went on to The Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham), a book I was sure I would hate given it was science fiction. I was wrong. I was pleased to be wrong. Miss Mackenzie gave me an invaluable lesson here in mixing up your reading and not being afraid to try genres new to you, something that remains with me (and I am sure has had a positive influence on my own fiction writing).

So what teachers would have had an influence, good or bad, on your characters and how does that play out in your story? How does your characters’ magical studying, no matter how they did this, affect what they can do in your plot line? When they are in trouble, as all characters will be at some point (!), do the lessons they studied earlier in their lives come to their aid now?

Studying has a life long impact. So it would make sense for that to apply to characters too. It could make a huge difference to whether they survive or not. Story ideas a plenty there, I think!

This World and Others – Discoveries

I’m always pleased to hear of discoveries which will be useful to mankind (medicine perhaps being the obvious one here). I also love to hear of discoveries which are simply amazing. I love seeing the photos from the various space telescopes, for example. The images are amazing (and that in turn gives me a renewed appreciation for the wonders of the human eye, for colour, and for photography).

So think about your characters. Which discoveries do they value and why? Do any of these come to their aid in the course of the story? Development in transport, for example, could make a huge difference as to whether your characters succeed in their quest or not.

What does your fictional world think about science or do they equate their magic with our science? In terms of the ruling powers, do they encourage new discoveries or try to suppress them? Not all would welcome people being able to find out more because that, in turn, could well lead to said people questioning how they are governed, especially if their discoveries are in things like finding out other places have democracy and they themselves do not.

Discoveries can take many forms. Which would your world/characters appreciate? Which would they not want and why? Who is behind making the discoveries and are they on their own here or do they have support?

If the ruling powers support discoveries, is that only for specialized fields such as military applications?
Give some thought too as to which discoveries would turn your fictional world upside down and is that a good thing or a bad one? Not all would see it as good. Not all would see it as bad. What could that split in opinion lead to?

Which discoveries could your fictional world/characters really do with having? Is your setting anywhere near obtaining these?

One single discovery could change so much too. Think about the discovery of pencillin for us. How many lives has that saved? So what would your world’s equivalent of the “game changer” be?

Again, plenty of story ideas there, I think.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Author Interview: Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, in Film, and in Writing – Part 1 https://t.co/TmpInlj1oR Delighted to share a fab interview with actress/writer, Sophie Neville. We look at how aspects of her work have fed into each other, discuss talks, and more.

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 5, 2024

FFF are currently closed to submissions after the Andrew Siderius competition. Congratulations to the winners/shortlisted writers. If you need to see what 100 word stories look like, see the website. It's a great visual aid.https://t.co/g0LE7gTfct pic.twitter.com/ofTr5KpD0w

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 5, 2024