Tag: combining writing exercises

Triggering Writing Ideas

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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. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me at an editing workshop for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady has got to play with pals, get a soaking with yours truly, play with pals again, get another soaking – yes, one of those weeks. Pleased to say the editing workshop for the lovely people at Medway Mermaids went very well. Always enjoy running these workshops and it is good to know they are useful.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Post 2 of 2 from me tonight. Post 1 below. It’s a fact of life you can have days where there is lots going on and other days where there is nothing! Having said that, it is always fabulous to have plenty of news and posts to share.

Am pleased to share Triggering Writing Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s proved to be an apt topic given I talk on Gill James’ blog this week (see below for more) about how I took her theme of gifted for the Bridge House Publishing anthology of the same name and used it for my story in there. An idea was definitely triggered by someone else setting the theme. (This is another advantage to taking part in Flash NANO too).

Hope you enjoy the CFT post and find it useful.

Triggering Writing Ideas

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Bonus Post

Post 1 of 2 from me tonight. Many thanks to Gill James for hosting me on her blog to talk about my contribution, Desperately Seeking Talent, in the Bridge House Publishing anthology, Gifted, which is out and would make a great present for someone. Find out what I love about the short story form as well and why I took the theme of gifted the way I did with my tale. Link to blog here.

Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 10-06-01 Allison Symes talks to me today about her involvement in our Gifted anthology

My sport of choice is swimming. I go regularly and you get to spot other regulars there and start chatting usually as you come out of the pool. (One good thing about it being cold today was it did encourage me to get something of a move on in said pool!). Anyway, one of those regulars complimented me about being consistent and disciplined about my swimming. I find I have to be otherwise it would be too easy not to go, especially during the winter months.

But it occurred to me the need to be consistent is a good thing for writers too. It doesn’t matter what your routine is – writing daily, writing every other day or what have you. It is the regular turning up at your desk to get on and write which matters. It is the regularity of writing which will build up your stories, novels etc. I’ve found this to be the case and know I have submitted far more pieces than I might otherwise have done simply by being consistent. It’s an underrated quality I think.

And if you want some inspiration, I’ll be talking about Triggering Writing Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Great run around by both of them and a massive zoomies session to finish with. Lady came over and “flumped” down in front of me as if to say, ‘Mum, I’m done!’. Takes a lot to do that to a collie!

I’ll be looking at Triggering Writing Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at some of the methods I use here and hope the post will prove to be useful. See above.

Don’t forget the November issue of Writers’ Narrative is out. The theme is on Writing Novels this time and you can find the magazine at the link below. A perfect free read packed full of fabulous advice and interviews.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Maisie. Does Maisie the dog know better than her owner as the world falls apart around them? Find out here. I hope you enjoy the tale and a big thank you for the comments already coming in on this one.
Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 10-04-57 Maisie by Allison SymesGlad to report Hannah Kate is having her Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM again this year. Full details via link here. Do give it a go. It’s great fun.

Top Tip: When you’ve got your story ready, do record yourself on Zoom and play it back to yourself. You will pick up on things like characters stumbling over dialogue etc but also get your timing right. The stories need to be a maximum of three minutes long and I’ve found it so useful to use Zoom here as that will give you an exact timing.

Good luck! Yes, I’ll be having a go again at this myself this year and am looking forward to tackling Day 16 of Flash NANO later today.

Screenshot 2023-11-16 at 16-59-30 🎅 3 Minute Santas 2023 is Open for Submissions! 🎅

Looking forward to having a crack at today’s Flash NANO challenge later on. I have to cut something already drafted in half. I’ve done this kind of exercise before. It’s a great discipline and takes longer than you think too. This time I have to add a specified object in. That will be fun. The object in question, well let’s just say I’m going to have to find a legitimate way of working it in! It wasn’t an “obvious” object but I did work the thing into my story legitimately.

I have used objects in stories before as one kind of exercise and cut a story in half as another but this will be the first time I’ve combined these two.

If I had to nominate a favourite writing exercise, it is the opening line one. Why? Because I can work out what possibilities could come from what has been set and a character to suit it.

I then go for what I like best. It is always the one that has the most impact on me whether it makes me laugh or cry or what have you. I figure if I react like that, readers will too. It is always a good sign when you remember the impact a story has on you.

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Fairytales with Bite – Laughter

In your magical world, is there much in the way of laughter? Do magical students give their teachers many a laugh when getting things wrong as they develop their skills? And that’s just to name one example. I can easily visualise this happening. (The Harry Potter series touches on this too, especially with Ron Weasley and his wand held together with Spellotape).

Does your setting encourage its inhabitants to laugh? Are communities made up of a wide mix of species type or do the different magical types not mix at all? Where folk really don’t get on, the latter is probably the best solution, but a better one is where they do mix and they live and laugh together.

Equally is this something your characters do get on with even though the powers that be may not entirely approve?

Laughter can be a great bridge builder and comedy the source of that laughter so how does this play out in your setting? Laughter can bring about understanding.

Is there one species type that is better at producing laughter than the others? Is this a talent or is it a case everyone else laughs at them and how do they handle that? Laughter makers can also be bridge builders. How could this be put to good effect in your stories?

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This World and Others – Sources of Information

We live in an age where sources of information have never been so readily available. If you don’t know where to find something of this nature, a quick search of the internet is likely to throw up ideas as to where you can find out what you need to know. Plus there are always the reference libraries and museums often have their own libraries. I’ve spent time at a lovely steam railway exhibition looking at their displays and then having a good read in their archives.

So in your world setting, what sources of information exist? Is there an equivalent of the web? Are there papers, media etc and do these operate freely or are they limited in what they can share with the general populace?

Also how well educated are your characters because that will make a huge difference to what they can access even if there are no other restrictions? Who publishes papers and periodicals and where do they get their information from?

Think back to the history of your setting as well. What does everyone “know” (or more accurately think they know) about it? What information in archives backs this up or challenges the accepted view (hence it was archived and kept out of sight!)?

What information would your characters need to make to fulfil their stories?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

WN publicity shot - November 23 mag

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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