Tag: Comfort Books

Growing The Seed and Comfort Books

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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, as was one photo from an Association of Christian Writers in person event.
Hope you had a good weekend. Great, family party orientated one here. Fabulous time had by all. Lots of laughs. Lady loves these things and is also shattered. Writing wise, it’s back to the desk and I am looking forward especially to sharing the October issue of Writers’ Narrative. See below for more.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady has – she got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback buddy today.

Looking forward to the October issue of Writers’ Narrative due out at any moment. I always look forward to the magazine coming out but this one is special because its theme is Short Form Fiction, a topic which is close to my writing heart of course.

I am the Featured Author this time and enjoyed a fabulous interview by Wendy H Jones, the magazine’s Editor in Chief. I also wrote a separate article breaking down how one of my published flash pieces works and looking at the influences behind it.

So can’t wait to share this with you. Coming soon, as they say!

Oh and my author newsletter is out again tomorrow too. Busy busy.

It’s a delight to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post, Growing The Seed May Take Longer than Thought.

The idea for this one came from looking at the dates in my hymn book. There is often a considerable gap between the words being written and the music for the hymn being composed. Naturally, as writers, we too can wait for longer than we would care for to see our work be accepted etc.

Hope you find the post encouraging. This phenomenon is nothing new. I find it helpful to know I’m not alone here. And, especially if you are starting out, I hope it helps to know this. I can’t think of any writer I know who has not had setbacks, rejections etc (I’ve had loads) but you press on and learn and improve and keep going. 

 

Had a fabulous time yesterday. Plenty of good company, good food, good drinks, and loads of laughs! But now back to the writing desk.

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Hope to put finishing touches to my next author newsletter either today or tomorrow, ready for it to go out again on Wednesday. Having an author newsletter and/or running a monthly workshop really does show up how quickly the year flies by, or so I’ve found.

Hope to get around to looking at competition material next weekend (as do have some ready already ) but also want to draft some fresh material too. (Keeps me on my toes and I always like to have a “stock” in ready for me to look at when suitable competitions come up). There is at least one more competition I want to have an entry in for this year.

I also hope, before too long, to be drafting my festive flash fiction again (and yes it is almost time to be thinking of that again. I sometimes draft such stories in the summer but more often in the early to mid autumn so I have plenty of time to polish work up before sending it anywhere).

Hosted a family event today so posting at a different time. Am shattered thanks to having a wonderful time but then that’s how a good event should be.

Writing wise, I’ll be getting on with flash fiction Sunday tomorrow and I plan to share Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. To stop that post from being far too long (!), I’ll be focusing on writing here.

Flash Fiction Tip: Always focus on the story rather than the word count. I know that sounds odd for me to say but it does matter to get the story right. I’ve sometimes written what I thought would be a 100 words story only to find it works better at 300 words, say. So I save that story for another market.

For flash, it helps to focus on one character and one important moment for them. It is more direct and can save a lot on your word count.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Good day, less hectic than yesterday, and now time to settle in for an evening’s writing, one of my favourite times of the day.

Flash Fiction Tip: If you’re planning to write a piece which has a twist ending or a humorous punchline, jot that down first and then work out what could lead to it. I find doing this means the twist or humorous punchline comes across more naturally and is more believable to a reader.

I often have ideas for this kind of ending to a story so have found “planning backwards” works a treat here. I have my ending, I know what has immediately led to it, I work out what has led to that and before I know it I am back at the beginning of the story.


It’s another hectic Monday (after a fabulous party weekend). Time to take a little time out and enjoy a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – True Friendship.

Beth feels Mary is a true friend after Beth’s break up with her ex but is Beth being honourable here?

 

I’m delighted to share the latest – and the last – installment of Seeing The Other Side, which is being serialised on CafeLit. I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories serlalised here. Plenty more to come when the book comes out next May. This will be my my biggest flash fiction collection to date and I am so looking forward to seeing it out there. Meantime, do enjoy the last crop of stories for now.

Have hosted a family party today. Great fun. Now, have you given thought to using parties as a backdrop to your flash fiction stories? Is your character at a party for themselves or someone else? How do they feel about being there? Can the party be a moment of change for your character?

Story ideas there, I’d say. Also open to mood here. This kind of tale could be funny or tragic. Or anything in between simply due to how your character feels about being at that party.

Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Books

Often when the weather is gloomy, or the news is grim (and right now both of those things apply), I will turn to what I consider to be my comfort books. It’s when I will often turn to Wodehouse, Pratchett, Austen, knowing I’m going to need something to make me smile.

Ironically, something to make me smile doesn’t preclude serious issues. Pratchett was a master of tackling these with humour in his Discworld series. (Do check out his Raising Steam. It has a strong take on terrorism especially that done in the name of faith).

One of the purposes of reading, for me, is to escape. I’ve never seen any harm in books written for “just entertainment”. Indeed, I feel there is a snobbery about books like this, which would include my own, and naturally I am against that. The important thing is people read. Some of my special memories are associated with books too so there is comfort in them too.

Sometimes that is just what you need.

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Music and Books – Free Book Offer!

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Image Credit:  Unless stated, the images are from Pixabay or Pexels.

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Music and books are going to be great boons during the current situation. They are marvellous comforts anyway but whatever you enjoy on either or both fronts here, I hope you have a wonderful time catching up on what you want to listen to/read.

Talking of which…

Would you like a free book?

Magnetism, a collection of short stories, edited by Gill James may be just the ticket for you here then. Just follow the link below and sign up to Scribblers Books, Books, Books.

Magnetism will not be on sale anywhere and it is a great advert for the kind of stories you will find published by Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, and Chapeltown Books.

Authors included in Magnetism are #RogerNoons, #SallyAngell, #GailAldwin, #AlysonFaye, #PaulaReadman, #DawnKentishKnox, oh and one #AllisonSymes amongst many, many others. There is a lovely variety of styles and stories here. Do check it out.

Keep safe, keep well, God bless, be kind, and have a good read!

What questions do you put to your readers via your characters? Pixabay
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I can’t say I write for therapeutic reasons though there are plenty who do. What I can say is I always feel better in myself once I have written whether it’s 50 words or 500.

I feel even better when I’ve polished a piece of work up and submitted it somewhere. But the act of producing a piece of work and getting it as good as you can make it is so worthwhile in and of itself. Any results such as publication are a marvellous bonus.

Whatever your creative activity of choice is, enjoy. Particularly enjoy the side benefits. Creativity really is good for you.

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Having written a story, I put it aside for a while so I get some distance from it. If I don’t do that, I find I have two responses to a piece of work – what I’ve written is rubbish or is a work of genius (and neither is true! To be fair, I AM trying to work on the latter and will be to the day I put my pen down for the last time I suspect 😆😆!).

I ask myself certain questions when going through a piece and these include:-

1. Is the story making the impact on me I thought it would on a reader? If it doesn’t, it certainly won’t on said reader.

2. Do I HAVE to find out what happens to the character, no matter what? When the answer to that one is yes, that’s a very good sign. Where it isn’t, I need to look at why a character isn’t gripping me the way they ought to be. Tweaks here and there usually put that right. I then put the story aside again for another breathing space and then ask myself this question again. The answer should be yes for sure the second time.

3. Does every word (particularly for flash fiction) HAVE to be in the story? Have any of my infamous wasted words crept in? If so, out they go.

Happy writing and rewriting!

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I have the feeling some of my favourite “comfort reading” books will be making a reappearance on my TBR pile during this very strange time. Still if I can stick to comfort reading instead of comfort eating, I’ll be ahead of the game!

I think it is fair to say we are living in interesting times. I’ll be talking a bit more about that in my CFT post this week AND share some thoughts on story creation for anyone who would like to give it a go but has not yet tried to do so. The whole idea is just to write for fun.

The nice thing about the advent of flash fiction is you need not be put off by the thought of having to write thousands and thousands of words either. You don’t have to unless you want to! And writing IS fun especially when you remember the important thing is to enjoy it. Tidying up a piece of work can come later.

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Flash tales are short but they should pack a good emotional punch for their word count. I like to think of it as illuminating one specific moment in a character’s life. It has to be the single most important thing too, else why write about it?

I love reading flash fiction too of course as its great joy is being able to dip in and out of collections, sample different styles and mood of story, and have a good read in few words.

Whatever you are reading or writing (or both) right now, enjoy!

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Time to use the random phrase gnerator again. On offer tonight the phrase On Cloud Nine. Let’s see what I can do with that then. Hope you enjoy!

ON CLOUD NINE BY ALLISON SYMES
Well it is where I’ve been parked. Don’t ask me why it wasn’t Cloud 8 or 7 or what have you. Here I am sitting on Cloud 9 waiting for instructions.

I was told Cloud Nine is where trainee fairies go before being let loose on an alien world of their choice to do what good they can.

I was also told it was where they put trainee fairies our government thinks are clumsy clots and where they’re trying to limit the damage.

Of course they don’t tell the likes of me anything so goodness knows what the true story is – that fake news stuff gets everywhere I tell you.

I do feel daft sitting here twiddling with the star at the end of my magic wand. I’m itching to get out there somewhere to do something.

Ah! My trainer has just turned up. Tells me my itch to get out there to do something is the problem. Apparently I caused a mass over-production of pumpkins around Cinderella’s garden. Well, where is the problem? She needed plenty to choose from, didn’t she?

Apparently that’s not the point. The girl only needed the one. And there’s a limit to how much pumpkin pie anyone can eat.

Well that’s me told.

My offer to make the spares vanish was hastily turned down.

My trainer tells me they’re sending me to Earth. I’m to wave my magic wand where I see fit. Hmm… that sounds good and fun. I ask what I’m to do specifically.

I’m told to inspire a love of reading, writing and general creativity.

That sounds good but I thought the humans did that already.

Not enough, I’m told. They still fight and squabble. They need more creativity apparently.

Well that’s me set up for a good job for some time then.

It will be a lot better than sitting here on Cloud Nine. Wish me luck.

ENDS
Allison Symes – 22nd March 2020

Have as good a week as possible, folks.

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What do I look for in a character that will make me want to follow their story no matter what? (This applies to whatever type of story I read and/or write but for flash fiction, all of this has to be condensed of course). I look for:-

1. A character that intrigues me. They’re showing an attitude I like and I have to find out how things work out for them OR conversely I’ve got to find out where they’re coming from to have the attitude they do have. (Whether I still agree with their attitude is another matter but if they come out with good reasons for it, then that grips me and makes me keep reading too. And that is the key, isn’t it? How DO you keep a reader reading?).

2. Humorous characters. I ADORE characters with a sense of irony especially when it is directed at themselves.

3. A character with courage and determination.

4. A character who mucks things up big time but redeems themselves. (Can’t we all identify with that one?!)

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I mix up how I come up with titles as well as the flash fiction stories themselves. I often use one word titles. I sometimes use alliterative titles (for example Telling The Time in From Light to Dark and Back Again). As you know I sometimes use proverbs/well known sayings as either titles or themes (occasionally both).

But whatever type of title I use, it has to be a suitable “peg” to hang my story from. Occasionally I change a title as a better idea comes to me when I’m writing the first draft but this doesn’t happen often. I’m usually happy with what I had planned initially. I hope that means I’m getting better at what would work for a piece. I have learned to trust my gut instinct more over the years and it doesn’t usually let me down. This is where the writer’s voice comes in. You have to learn to recognise your own and trust it!

 

Characters no matter what their world should resonate with readers. Image via Pixabay
A clean sheet can lead to some fascinating characters and stories. Image via Pixabay
What is unforgettable about your story? Pixabay image.
The lights fantastic. Pixabay image.
Always a good idea this!
Great characters escape from great books! Pixabay image.
Books should keep you gripped and that is down to the characters. Image via Pixabay

Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Books

When times are tough, or your own situation is going through a difficult patch, what books do you turn to for some comfort and cheer?

Do you look to escape for a while via the printed word or does that aspect not matter as long as you’re reading?

I tend to turn to humour and this is where the wonderful books of P.G. Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett in particular come to the fore for me.

All of their work is capable of withstanding multiple re-readings and I usually pick up on gags, in-jokes etc., that I missed before. (I just do! I also don’t believe I’m alone in that).

After humour, I turn to crime – reading wise that is! I adore Agatha Christie but I enjoy contemporary crime too. (See Wendy H Jones and Val Penny for more on these, especially if you like your stories set in Scotland).

After crime I turn to history and that can be a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. I’ve enjoyed Jennifer C. Wilson’s Kindred Spirits series here as that combines a very different take on history with ghost stories.

By this stage, I’m usually looking for some non-fiction to get my reading “teeth” into and then I’m back to the funny works again.

Above all, I have a fabulous time doing all of this!

Whatever you read, especially now, enjoy. Take care, keep well, be kind, and God bless.

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