Tag: books

The world's most beautiful library perhaps? Image via Pixabay.

A MUSICAL NIGHT

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

Tonight’s post is called A Peek Into My Writing World and also links into the second half of my Chandler’s Ford Today post by the same name that is up on site today. The title of the post gives a good description of the contents (as it should!) but I mention in it that as I typed it I was listening to one of my musical highlights of the year, The Last Night of the Proms.  I wonder what role music could play in fiction and whether it could act as a kind of code too.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

Tonight’s post is called Favourite Music and I look at what kind of music characters could like and whether is a direct reflection on their personality or not. I also talk about whether music could be suppressed by an austere government given almost anything can be expressed by music (and the arts in general come to that).

FACEBOOK PAGE

I discuss the Proms again and link to my Chandler’s Ford Today post as well here tonight.

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CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY

The second half of my post for CFT this week is called A Peek Into My Writing World and I share why I have artificial roses on my writing desk, who I owe my love of stories to and the importance of never giving up.  Rework your stories, test them regularly in the market but never ever give up.  I mention this as my flash fiction book acceptance had made me look back into just how long I’d seriously been writing for publication – and it is at least 10 to 15 years.  Can’t be more specific than that as I changed direction from novels to short stories (though I still hope to get my novels published one day).

 

The best advice for any writer. Image via Pixabay.

The best advice for any writer. Image via Pixabay.

 

 

 

GLORIOUS BOOKS AND STORY FORMATS

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

I discuss my favourite fairytale and collection of fairytales in my blog post called Books, Glorious Books (and they so are!).  Working out what you like to read most can be a great aid to working out what you most want to write.  Sometimes it can help you work out what you love to read but don’t feel “strong” enough to write.  For example, I love crime stories.  I’ve written a few short pieces but know I couldn’t make crime the main category in which I write.  I also briefly discuss the inspiration we get from books and ask if what drives your writing is strong enough to sustain a novel or if it would be better for a short story.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

I discuss story formats in tonight’s post and stress the important thing is getting the story across effectively to people.  The actual format in which that can be done varies of course.  I’ve been inspired to read an author thanks to watching a great film adaptation of some of their work.  Other times I’ve read the book and found the film a wonderfully enjoyable way of enjoying the story a second time!

FACEBOOK PAGE

I discuss story formats again here and wonder what film adapters would do without books!  I think the creative industries would grind to a halt without books – so more power to the book writers then!

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Some of the anthologies my work has appeared in - image by me.

Some of the anthologies my work has appeared in – image by me.

 

 

Some of the books my stories have appeared in - image taken by me.

UNWELCOME GUESTS AND TIME TELLING

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WEBSITES

The title of this post shows there’s quite a mix tonight!   On my Fairytales with Bite website, I discuss the Unwelcome Guest and what makes them unwelcome.   I’m not naming any names as to who or what might have inspired me to write this post!

On This World and Others I discuss calendars and how time is organised on your fictional world.  Is it how we know it – based on a 24 hour day following the patterns of night and day – or something completely different, as the saying goes?

FACEBOOK

On my Facebook page, I look at an old Chandler’s Ford Today post I wrote called My Desert Island Books.  See the link below but I base this on the Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs, and you can name 8 books you would have to have with you on a remote island.  No smuggling in of a Kindle or other device so you could take in more.  As with the show you can have Shakespeare and the Bible.  I will add in, being a generous sort, the complete works of Dickens and, in my view, our finest funny writer ever, P. G. Wodehouse.  So now what would you choose for bookish company if you were stuck on said island for a while?

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