Tag: Creating characters

Creating Characters, Famous First Lines, and Writing Tips/Exercises

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 the weekend was okay. Stormy weather here – thunder, hail, the works. Perfect weather for staying inside and getting on with the writing though. Even Lady hasn’t been sorry to get back home from her walks the last couple of days or so. Am seeing more signs of spring emerging though which always cheers me.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. I had a great swim but now it’s more than time to be back at the desk again.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out on Saturday. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Looking forward to sharing my blog post, Getting There, on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers tomorrow.

Writing Tip: Flash fiction comes in a great range of word counts and formats up to the 1000 limit. Why not have a go at a one line story? It can be done! Here is one of mine.

Glenda, not having wish granters encroaching on her patch, thank you, and having sealed the genie back in his lamp, grinned as she kicked the wretched object into the sea.
Allison Symes – 28th January 2025

Have fun drafting one-liners like this. Sometimes you could extend them for a longer story. Equally leave them as one-liners and share on posts or via your website as extra reading for your audience (but just bear in mind they will count as being published. I only share here or via my website what I am happy not to share elsewhere).

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. Weather frightful. Caught in hail though thankfully it didn’t last long. Lady did manage to play with her pal Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, so that made the world all right for both of those two.

Very pleased with writing done over the weekend. Have sent a story off for consideration. Picked a story I wrote a while ago which I know could suit a competition. And I did manage to get plenty of blogging done too (to appear at future dates). Also enjoyed Flash Fiction Sunday. Will share my new piece for YouTube shortly over on my book page.  See further down.

Today I’ve completed a survey for the Society of Authors regarding my thoughts over AI. I don’t fill in every writing survey I am sent but this one definitely warranted my attention. They’re emailing all members about this so if your belong to the Society it might pay to look out for this. I saw it as a chance to have my say.

Stormy again here. Took Lady around the park in record time today and even she wasn’t sorry to get back home again. This is about as common as gold dust in these parts – I.e. not at all. Keep safe, everyone.

Looking forward to starting flash fiction Sunday soon. Plus one of my two story competition drafts I have now edited and I hope to submit this later on before turning my attention to the other one. And, yes the gap away did help me spot something which could be strengthened. The break away from a piece of work does pay off.

Busy week coming up but I am looking forward to seeing my local theatre group, The Chameleon Theatre Group, perform Cinderella later this week. That will be fun.

Hope the weekend is going okay.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Adaptations for Chandler’s Ford Today next week, ahead of my going to see an adaptation of Cinderella performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. A review for that will follow. Am looking forward to doing that as the show, I know, will be such fun and I’ll enjoy writing the review because I try to convey something of that fun in the write up.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again soon. I discuss all things related to flash fiction and short stories, share tips, story links and more. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I need to create characters continually for my flash and short stories, though I do sometimes re-use some in linked tales. This is why I find a simple template useful for this. I can then add or take away from that template as I see fit which in itself helps me create characters who are not formulaic.

For example, for one template, I might “ask” my character what would they never want to do (and then almost certainly I would make them face having to do that thing in a story. Great drama).

For another one, I might “ask” what they find funny and what they don’t and again set them in a situation where this comes out and moves the story on. There will be consequences from what they find funny or not. I will make sure of that.

But in writing down the question to “ask” I find I have to answer it and I also get to start hearing my character’s voice in “their” response.

It’s Monday. It’s stormy. There has been hail. There has been a soggy dog walker (me!). Definitely time for a story then Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube -Being Careful Enough.

When you go to so much trouble to make a new life for yourself on your new world, you know you can’t be careful enough. You know there are portals out there designed to drag you straight back to what you consider to be hell. Find out here how Shiraz, who decided to name herself after a grape, fights back against all attempts to drag her “home”.

Writing Thought/Exercise: Why not have something unexpected arrive in the post, yes good old snail mail, to your character? What is it? Why is it unexpected? Is the delivery a welcome one or not?

Earlier this week I had a pleasant surprise arrive on my mat – a certificate from the National Blood people enclosing my “I’m a 75 donor” certificate and badge. Will happily plug them too – if you can give blood, why not do so? Lives are changed by it (and there are story ideas here too. You could tell a tale about the donor or recipient or both.).

Sometimes with a flash piece, I start with a title (often having picked one to work up from my notes. I use pockets of time to brainstorm ideas for titles, opening lines etc. It pays. It also means I know I can always find something I am likely to want to write up). The title often gives me clues as to the kind of character needed to fit it.

Sometimes I start with a drafted opening line which then usually inspires ideas for the title and the character to fit it.

It’s not a bad thing I mix things up like this. It is good practice for competitions given some of those give you a set opening line to work with, for one thing. For another, it keeps me on my toes and it means I have more than one way into crafting a new story.

Goodreads Author Blog – Famous First Lines

Famous first lines (such as It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) are often used to show writers how to hook your readers from the start. I like to think of it as hitting the ground running. And it I something I try to do with my flash fiction and short stories.

I know when I’m reading I want that first line to draw me in either by setting up an intriguing setting or a character whom I simply have to know more about. Only one way to do that of course – read on.

Naturally that sets a challenge to me to make sure I’m doing something similar when I’m writing. But then this is why writers do have to be good readers too. You do learn from what you read. Gives us the perfect excuse to get our heads in a book as often as possible – I like this!

Of course the best first line in the world cannot support the whole of the following story on its own – the rest has to be pretty good too – but as a way of drawing readers in, you can’t beat it. People look at book covers, the blurb, and the first line. If they like all of that, they are more likely to buy the book.

And from a reader’s viewpoint, great first lines stay with you.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Next issue due out any moment. Hope to share in next post.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Stories To Remember

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 the classic author photo of author’s books in the box they came in (The Best of CafeLit 13)! Image of me at Swanwick 2019 reading at the Open Prose Mic Night was taken by a Swanwick colleague. We all help each other out this way. Swanwick is a lovely writing community.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Had lovely time with family on Sunday – Lady loved it too. Have since had manic Monday to follow! Am hoping the rest of the week calms down a bit… Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Having a Superpower for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I love writing all my posts here but this one was especially fun to write. More on that a little later on in the week.

BookBrushImage-2024-6-11-20-1630

Facebook – General

Lady got to play with her two best friends again today so again three happy dogs went home! What was sweet yesterday was, having come in to the park and knowing her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal was a little way behind Lady turned around, sat down and wouldn’t move until said chum joined her!

I’ll be sharing Having a Superpower on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Am glad to say I’ll be welcoming back Jennifer C Wilson to CFT to talk about her new book, 31 Days of Writing, the week after that. More on that nearer the time. Always a pleasure to share author interviews here.

Author newsletter out again on 1st July. If you’d like to sign up to hear news, tips, enjoy stories etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter Tip: I’ve found it useful to have a loose theme to base my monthly newsletter on. As well as sharing useful tips on that theme, I can share links to where I’ve written on the topic in more depth on Chandler’s Ford Today. I aim to keep the newsletter “cheery and chatty” but useful and not going on for too long – all those things are key ingredients I think!

 

Manic day today though Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums and they all had a lovely time.

Thought for you: I’ve run late all day today. These things happen to us all. Frustrating, some of it beyond my control etc., but you soldier on right? But what about making this happen to a character of yours? How would they handle it?

You could get a story or two directly from that but also you could use this as an exercise to find out more about your character before deciding what story to put them in. If you knew they tended to panic when things went wrong like this, you could show that in your story. You could also get another character to play on this if they knew what buttons to press here.

448090180_10161945247152053_7808400572301356951_n

On my wall I have various pictures, all of which have connections to family and/or friends/my past. Writing thought for you: what picture would mean the most to your lead character and why? What does this tell you about your character? If your character has no pictures, why is that? Is that a deliberate choice? Are they trying to get away from a past they don’t want to revisit?

Plenty of story ideas there I hope! If you want some more ideas, do check out the random picture generators. I find the landscapes especially useful as I work out who might live in them or who might want to go there for some reason. Story ideas there too!

448092151_907891608017368_3200174101329249721_nHope you have had a good day. It was great to welcome back Jenny Sanders to Chandler’s Ford Today for the last couple of weeks and I hope to have further author interviews later in the month. Next week’s post though is called Having a Superpower. Those who went to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting recently will recognise this as I used it as a prompt for two exercises, one of which was to write a non-fiction piece on the topic. I’ve done so and it will be on CFT on Friday!

I was delighted to receive my order of The Best of CafeLit 13 yesterday. The joy of opening boxes full of books with your work in them doesn’t go away! It was a joy to add the book to my Amazon Author Central and ALCS pages too.

Writing Tip: Every so often look back at some of your older stories, the ones which were turned down, and see if there is something you could do to improve them now. I’ve done this and have had, sometimes, work published this way. But it is worth reviewing your older stories. Even if you can’t use the stories themselves, you may well see now, after time apart from them, why they might have been turned down and you can learn from that. I have.

Close up of my copies of CafeLit 13

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash fiction is a joy to share for things like Open Prose Mic Nights. The stories don’t go on for too long and you can mix up the moods of the tales you pick to read out. These nights are great opportunities to show what flash fiction is and can be. I use Zoom to help me rehearse whatever I’m reading. It is handy being able to play a recoding back and hear the stories as an audience would.

Prior to sending any story anywhere it pays to read your work out loud. I’ve mentioned before that what looks good written down doesn’t always read out loud well. So out comes the editing pen! I’ve also discovered character names can sometimes be more tricky to read out loud than I’d thought so again I change them.

I don’t want readers stumbling over anything like that. This kind of thing can put people off when of course I want to draw them into the world of my story and character. So it really does pay to take a bit of extra time here and read your work out loud. The advantage of Zoom is in being able to play your work back again but it the reading out loud bit which really matters here.

448319348_10161947262462053_7757431296356457753_nIt’s Monday. It’s been manic for me. It’s still Monday. Time for my latest on YouTube then. Hope you enjoy A New Start but does Jemma actually get to have the new start she wants? Find out here.

 

Had a lovely time with family today (a 60th birthday do). Lady came with us and loved it but she always does love family events. So many to make a fuss of her of course!

Prepared a lot of my flash writing yesterday. Another advantage to flash writing is I can still get something written and completed (at least as a first draft) when I don’t have a lot of writing time. I’ve learned over time how to use small pockets of time, such as I have tonight, to make my writing life reasonably efficient. I’ve found I have got more written learning to use ten minutes here, ten minutes there etc. It all mounts up.

Writing Tip: Look at what time you have over the course of a week. I do this. It means I know what I’m doing when. It ensures I meet my deadlines for Chandler’s Ford Today etc. I use a desk diary to plan out what I do when. It helps a lot.

448093101_10161943290022053_653931624040777551_n

Good to see the sun back out. One of the fun things about flash fiction writing is, due to its restricted word count, it has to be character led. But you can set those characters in whatever setting you want. I’ve written crime flash, ghost flash, fantasy flash and other kinds of story besides those. I’ve also set flash pieces in the past, in the present day, and well into the future or on an alternative world. All good fun!

What matters for me is finding good ways to create characters. As long as I have ways into creating them, I will have ways into creating stories.

Unless writing for competitions or for sites like Friday Flash Fiction, where I know I am writing to 100 words, I worry about the word count later on. I get the story down first, then edit it later. Sometimes a story simply does work better at 250 words rather than 100 so it just means I may have to find another market for the longer tale.

What matters is getting the character and their story right first.

448144340_10161941032492053_2076972104935066101_n

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories to Remember

I write this blog during the week where we remembered the 80th anniversary of D-Day. There are stories we really should remember, whether they are in book form, or are in the form of personal testimonies, many of which were heard/seen on the media this week from surviving veterans.

I’ve recently read Double Cross by Ben Macintyre. This tells the true stories of the D-Day spies who were used to deceive Hitler. A great read and one I’m happy to recommend. I also recommend the same author’s Operation Mincemeat, which is the true story of “the man who never was”.

The depth of research in books like these is incredible, rightly so, but the purpose of these books is to show the background to the history we know and to shed light on things which, at the time, rightly had to be kept quiet.

I’ve developed a real love for non-fiction books like these in recent years. My only regret is not discovering them sooner! I do like the development in non-fiction using some of the techniques of fiction to get wonderful information across to readers in an entertaining way. History, and factual books generally, do not have to be boring!

Screenshot 2024-06-08 at 17-57-15 Stories to Remember

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter Corner with hashtag, Scrabble tiles, and the blue bird

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

PowerPoint, Writers’ Narrative, and Doing Right

Leave a comment
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. Looking forward to seeing friends and family at the weekend for birthday get together. We all have a fab time. Lady loves (a) seeing everyone, you should see her face when they go home, looks so sad (aaah!); (b) Lady loves playing with a family spaniel, the lovely Lily; and (c) both dogs make excellent hoovers and have a great time there too! Not so much writing over the weekend but I will, to quote the Terminator, be back! Meantime a huge thank you to all who have donated to the Salvation Army through my fundraising post on Facebook.

BookBrushImage-2024-3-22-17-173

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

A huge thank you for the birthday messages coming in today (22nd March). Much appreciated.

First up tonight, I discuss PowerPoint for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. It is an odd thing to have something come back into use after a period away from using it. Usually something is superceded. PowerPoint is the rare exception to the rule here.

With the advent of Zoom, PowerPoint has come back into its own and I use it frequently. I share thoughts and tips on making the best of it and hope you find the post useful. (Combined with Zoom, it makes for an excellent way of presenting presentations).

PowerPoint

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Secondly up tonight, I am delighted to say the April edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Just in time for the perfect weekend read, I’d say!

The theme this time is editing and my piece is called Editing – Do You Love It or Loathe It?

There is a great deal of excellent advice on what can be a thorny topic in this month’s magazine. Do check it out.

Lady got to see just her Hungarian Vizler chum today, both had a lovely time. Bluebells out on our regular walk back home. Lovely to see them (my garden ones always come up later).

I’m discussing the joys of PowerPoint for Chandler’s Ford Today this week and will be sharing useful tips. The advent of Zoom for writing workshops has brought PowerPoint back into my regular usage again. I use it at least once a month. I find it handy especially for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group I lead. Will be using it again at next week’s meeting!

PowerPoint is a good match up for online work but appropriate too. It encourages you to keep to the point. There’s nothing for a flash fiction writer to dislike there, is there?!

Link up tomorrow. See above.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Nice to see some spring weather. Got warm! (First time since last autumn!). Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals – all three had a fabulous time. Not going to get much writing done today as off to a meeting this evening but this kind of thing happens and it is where my planning out how to use the available writing time pays off. So have a few small jobs to do which I can tick off my list. Back to longer pieces of work when I have more time tomorrow.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting next week. Will be looking at Endings and Beginnings (and yes deliberately that way around as I thought it apt as the meeting will be so close to the Easter weekend. Good Friday is an ending. Easter Sunday is a new beginning. Naturally I will be looking at crafting good endings and beginnings for flash fiction).

Writing Tip: Have a range of writing tasks to do. It’s fun. It helps you make the most of available writing time. On busy days, you will still feel like you have written something useful for the excellent reason you have! Also pockets of time mount up if you see them over a longer time period.

431485367_10161788630397053_6533434440570337060_n

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be on Friday Flash Fiction with my 100 words tale, Doing Right. This is my first entry for the Andrew Siderius competition FFF are running for the next couple of weeks.

My story next time will have to be eligible for the longer flash word count section. No comments on any of the stories at the moment either for obvious reasons. Comments return after the competition is over. Good luck to all who are taking part.

Screenshot 2024-03-22 at 09-55-13 Blog PostsI’ve always liked creating characters. It’s my favourite part of storytelling. I like to know who my “stars” are going to be. Flash fiction writing means I am creating characters all the time and the more you do this, the easier it becomes to find ways into creating characters. I’ll be looking at this more for a future Chandler’s Ford Today post.

Flash makes you focus. The word count limit means you have to work out how to make the best use of it. I’ve found characters leading the way into the “action” of the story helps keep the word count down because they won’t waffle on. They will want to get straight on and do what has to be done to get the story resolved. Also readers can be taken straight into the characters’ mind sets and the tale feels more immediate because of that, I feel.

It helps to know what you like and loathe about character portrayal. You will know what you want to achieve and what you want to avoid. This is where reading widely is a must I think for writers, regardless of story length. You do find out likes and dislikes.

433603785_10161790366532053_7822517670405261763_nWhen I have small amounts of time in which to write (and today is one of them!), a good writing exercise to try is just to jot down titles, opening lines, closing lines etc. You can then come back to these when you have more time. The time away will give you the break you need to evaluate these ideas properly and which ones are worth your writing up and which ones are not.

For titles, I like to keep things open. I like to be able to take titles in more than one direction so I can then decide which mood I’d like to go for.

For example, my story Bypassing The System (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I could take in several ways by working out which system, who is doing the bypassing, and are they doing this for criminal or more honourable intentions. Not going to say which way I went on this one but I do like to have manoeuvre room with my titles. I find it triggers even more ideas. That I always welcome!

433622774_10161788631767053_55951516757130329_n

Fairytales with Bite – Birthdays and Other Celebrations

This is a timely post as this will go out on my birthday. Looking forward to seeing friends and family soon too.

In fiction, my favourite birthday celebration is that of Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. Say what you like about Gandalf, he knew how to do fireworks! Also hobbits know how to throw a good party.

For your own characters, and the settings in which you’ve placed them, are birthdays marked in any way? Are celebrations only saved for “official” events and is everyone expected to take part in those, whether they like it or not?

If private celebrations do happen, are they similar to what we would have or are parties etc literally not of this world and what forms would they take? What would the food and drink be like?

Who would your characters invite to events? Who would they leave out? Bear in mind that can have consequences. See Sleeping Beauty for more on that one.

Could you use a celebration event as the trigger for a story? If you use a birthday here, what would happen to your character(s) between one celebration and the next?

BookBrushImage-2024-3-22-19-1150

This World and Others – Public Gatherings

Following on from Fairytales with Bite, does your setting allow for public gatherings? Are these strictly regulated or not? Who administers such regulations? What forms do public gatherings take?

Also give some thought as to what events those in power would want there to be public gatherings for. What would be the history behind these? How to the authorities persuade folk to to? Does anyone resist that?

Are there public events which are not celebrated or remembered but which should be and are kept suppressed by the authorities because they fear public reaction to them? What would happen if someone broke the mould here?

Give some thought too as to how public gatherings are organised. Is there a police force overseeing everything? What would happen if things went wrong? What would cause a public gathering to go wrong? Who would be behind it and what are they trying to do?

Story ideas here for sure!

BookBrushImage-2024-3-22-19-1939

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter Corner with hashtag, Scrabble tiles, and the blue bird

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Creating Characters

Leave a comment

Image Credit:  Pixabay/Pexels unless stated. Also a big thank you to Richard Hardie for the images supplied for my second CFT post which appeared over the weekend, more below.

Facebook – General – bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post

A busy week on CFT for me this time. My second post this week shares news from YA author, Richard Hardie, about his link with Doctor Who. All very exciting and a feather in the cap for Richard. Well done! Check out the post for more details.

Facebook – Association of Christian Writers –

More Than Writers blog spot – Creating Characters

It’s my turn on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers.

I talk about Creating Characters and share hints and tips, including a list of questions that will help you outline your “people”.

Hope you find it useful. (And many thanks to those who have commented on this. Much appreciated).

A good TV or film adaptation of a book only works if the images shown roughly coincide with the images I had from reading the text. The Inspector Morse series did this, as did the Poirot and Miss Marple series (with David Suchet and Joan Hickson). Film wise, I thought Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings had it spot on.

Are there any books you would like to see made into series or films? Which ones and why? Are there adaptations that haven’t worked for you? (I couldn’t get on with the Marple series. For me, Joan HIckson was perfect in the role and that was that).

When it comes to writing my stories, I put myself in my character’s shoes and see the world their way. I don’t always like my characters by the way! (Oh and a big thanks for a tremendous response to my ACW post on More Than Writers yesterday which was all about Creating Characters. Glad it was useful).

What I have found is you DO have to inhabit your character’s space so you can write about them/for them effectively.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One very tired Lady on the sofa tonight. Had a great big play with several pals, including her “boyfriend”, a lovely Collie gent, and her best pal, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. I should imagine they’re pretty shattered as well!

Enjolyed listening to the Movie Music Hall of Fame on Classic FM today. I was right about the top two and pleased about them too. Must remember to find out where the Pink Panther theme came in (and there’s an earworm for anyone of a certain age!).

I usually write with classical music on as I find it helps me relax and when I relax, I’m more productive with the writing. Other things I have to have on my desk are my dictionary, my Scrivener for Dummies guide, my publisher guides (Writers and Artists and Mslexia) and plenty of pens (I know! I’m using a laptop, what do I need pens for? I guess I just like to see them around!).

I don’t have any rituals before writing. I just open my laptop and get on with it but I do like to see the accoutrements on my desk. I suppose it’s a case of Allison going into her comfort zone sort of thing.

And now I am IN my comfort zone, time to get on with more writing then!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I can’t say a particular writer made me pick up my pen and start writing. I’ve loved books and stories for as long as I can recall. I loved writing stories in English lessons at school (and I’ll be talking a bit more about that in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week).

But it took me a long time to figure out I really ought to get around and write seriously. It took two major life events to wake me up here! My only serious regret with writing is NOT starting a lot sooner than I did.

But it is wonderful to say that all of the writers whose books are on my shelves (and the electronic one too!) have added to my love of stories and storytelling. For that I will always be grateful. And then there’s the joy of discovering new writers too.

If I could invent things I would invent:-

1. Elastic time so I never run out of time to read or write.
2. Calorie free chocolate.
3. Calorie free prosecco.
4. A stamina “topper-upper” for those times you could really do with it!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I don’t know about you but I find it unsettling it is 8.30 pm in August in the UK and it is pitch black out there! (Not due to the weather either). The seasons are definitely shifting. Talk about going from light to dark!

I’ve mentioned before that one of my favourite writing exercises is writing to a set opening line. The ones that work best for me are the ones that can be taken in more than one direction. For example:-

1. The door remained locked despite her efforts.
2. He was on time, as the note insisted, but nobody was about.
3. The fairy godmother was on early shift.

Now all three opening lines here have comic as well as dramatic possibilities. (The door could remain locked because it took her a while to realise she was using the wrong key. He might be on time but what if he turned up at the wrong place and forgot to check? As for the fairy godmother, what could she expect to have to do on early shift that she might not face later on in the day? Definitely scope for humour there and that would almost certainly be the way I’d take these story ideas).

I find it useful to jot down initial ideas from an opening line and then go for the one that is a little way down my list. That is the idea which is not likely to be the obvious one and could well be open to my putting a twist on it, which I always love doing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One of my favourite stories in my new book, Tripping the Flash Fantastic, involves a librarian and a snake. Can’t say more than that at the moment but it was great fun to write! By all means, let your mind boggle at the thought of that!

But then that is the fun of fiction. You can write in any genre, any time period, and the impossible isn’t so much in things like fantasy, magical realism etc.

Whatever you write, it is important to enjoy it. I mentioned to a friend and fellow author (the lovely #ValPenny) that you have to enjoy what you write, especially if it is a book, because you’ll be promoting said book for a long time.

You as the writer have got to be able to live with what you’ve written and enjoy living with it too! That’s an aspect to the writing life which isn’t often considered I think.

But commitment to what you write shows up here and not just in the hard work it needs to get those stories written in the first place.

Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com
Photo by Peter Olexa on Pexels.com

Writing is good for you as it stretches you and develops your imagination. It is also good fun experimenting with different forms of writing and discovering where your strengths are. But even when you’ve found the style of writing that suits you best, writing should still keep pushing you.

Pushing you to keep on producing good work.

Pushing you to discover new markets/competitions for your work.

Pushing you to get better at editing your work and polishing it as well as you can to give it its best possible chance out there in the big, bad world.

Pushing you to develop new skills including but definitely not limited to reading your work to an audience, making the most of technology to produce items that can help you market your work more effectively, and so on.

What writing doesn’t do is allow you to rest on your laurels and that’s a great thing. Why? Because you want to keep on developing. The writing journey should be as much fun as possible. Different things come up along that journey, things you would not have expected when starting out, and by developing you will be ready to tackle those things and have more strings to add to your bow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Am looking forward to taking part in the Zoom session with #GillJames and #DawnKentishKnox on 26th September. I hope to be reading a story or two, including one from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. You did hear it here first!

I will share the link to the event later in September. You do need to register but the event is free. I’ll also be flagging it up via Chandler’s Ford Today in due course.

Flash is great for reading aloud at events etc. It doesn’t take too long to read. It makes an immediate impact and the “deeper” stories resonate with you and linger long in the memory afterwards. Nothing to dislike there!

And I’ve said before it is a good idea to read your work out loud so you can hear how it flows, whether the dialogue etc comes across as smoothly as you’d like etc. If you trip over your words, a reader almost certainly will. Again with flash, this doesn’t take long. I’ve spotted things I’ve needed to change many a time doing this.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Goodreads Author Blog  – Book Dilemmas

What book dilemmas, I hear you ask?

Well, there is the obvious one of which book you are going to read next from your naturally huge TBR pile.

I refuse to believe that doesn’t give you pause for thought from time to time! (I get a little annoyed with myself for doing this. I realise the half hour I spent deciding what I’ll read next could have been spent on reading!).

Then there is the dilemma of whether you’ll reduce the TBR paperback pile or the one on your Kindle.

Then there is the dilemma of whether you’ll read short stories or another novel or non-fiction.

There is no one right answer to how you answer these.

I find I read a load of things on my Kindle for a while, then switch back to paperbacks for a bit, and that’s fine with me.

I just need to stop wasting half hours every now and again making up my mind and just get on with what matters – the reading!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing – and Multiple Projects

Leave a comment

Image Credit:  As ever, unless otherwise stated, the images are from the marvellous Pixabay

Facebook – General

Full of cold at the moment. Not a happy bunny though booking my place for this year’s Swanwick Writers’ Summer School HAS cheered me up no end!

Also looking forward to the next edition of Writing Magazine because I love turning to the letters page, the subscribers’ news etc and see how many friends have got a mention in there! It’s nice to see the numbers going up!

Writing wise, I’m focusing on non-fiction at the moment though I have got short stories “brewing” ready for me to look at them again with a fresh eye. I find the time away from stories really useful, as when I do go back to them, I will see their strengths and weaknesses with an unjaundiced eye, but I hope to get back to these sometime next week. One I want to submit within the next couple of weeks.

Writing takes you away from the world for a bit. Just a pity it can’t get rid of the sniffles as well…

 

Reflections. Image by Allison Symes
Part of the Main House. Image by Allison Symes
Our stock in trade… Pixabay
Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for taking this shot of me at the Swanwick Prose Open Mic night.
Good questions for writers to ask themselves.

The advantages of having more than one project on the go:-

1. You never get bored.
2. If you get stuck on one thing, work on the other. Ideas for resolving the problem(s) on the first will come to you while you work on something else. One of the chief Murphy’s Laws for Writers, I think. I do know that this has always been the case for me.
3. You can work on smaller projects and see (hopefully) submission successes while still working away on a longer project you know will take longer to place even when you’ve finished writing and editing it.
4. You can try different kinds of writing and see what you like best.
5. When work has been submitted, you’ve always got something else to work on.

I’ll look at the disadvantages tomorrow.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Following on from yesterday’s post, now it’s time to look at the disadvantages of having more than one project on the go.

1. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed. (My advice here is to plan things out as much as you can. When you know you haven’t got much writing time, use what you’ve got to get little pieces done. It makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something – you have! – and the great thing is you can polish these pieces up and submit them later. Also remember if you only have time for say a writing exercise or two, do them because you will get some useful material from them for later, which could feed directly into the projects you’re working on. Likewise, if you can only write a page or two for one of your projects, get it done. Those pages or two mount up over time.).

2. You can feel torn as to which project you should be working on. (It can help to set yourself deadlines here but be realistic. If you’re working on a novel, and say a collection of short stories or flash fiction, it simply IS going to take you longer to complete both but that’s okay. Work out when you would like to get these projects done by in an ideal world, then add time on given it isn’t an ideal world (!), and work to that timetable. Also accept life will get in the way sometimes so don’t beat yourself up if that happens. It does happen to everybody including those who do only work on one project at a time).

3. I can’t help but sneak in another advantage here in that I’m working on big projects which I know will take ages to complete but that’s okay. Meanwhile I’m getting short pieces written and out and building up publication credits etc. All of that will add to my writing CV when I am ready to submit the big projects later.

But deciding what works for you writing wise, and what YOU feel you can sustain long term, whether you work on one or more projects at a time, is key here. Key to getting things done. Key to you being happy with your output. Good luck!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

W = When you get to invent worlds and people for fiction or present interesting information for non-fiction.
R = Really get to understand why characters are the way they are and, for non-fiction, discovering more about your topic.
I = Imagination fires up and triggers more story ideas and, for non-fiction, imagination helps you see connections that can trigger further blog posts, articles etc.
T = Time – there’s never enough!
I = Insist on carving out writing time for yourself, whether it’s for a short period or longer; you will feel better in yourself for having that time and others will benefit from your having the benefit of the writing buzz for a while too.
N = Never running out of ideas to work up as stories or blogs or articles.
G = Genre – plenty to choose from; there’s bound to be at least one to suit you.

Just some of the many things I love about writing!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My two favourite kinds of flash fiction stories are those which end on a punchline and make me laugh, or where the twist is so good, the ending take my breath away. Neither are easy to write but are so worthwhile to do. They’re the stories you remember the longest.

I’ve found when writing funny tales, it pays to start with the punchline and then work out what could lead to that coming out “naturally” from the character. It is far more convincing doing it that way. You don’t want the punchline to seem like it is a set-up.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One of the joys of flash fiction is the word count limit means having to leave the reader to infer things.

Now I have always loved “filling in the gaps” in novels and the longer short stories where I’ve become attached to the characters. You know the kind of thing – wondering what other adventures they might have had after the main story is over. On those grounds, I understand fan fiction, though I don’t write it. Nor have any plans to do so.

But where a story has real emotional impact, I find that impact is stronger precisely because the writer has not had the space to spell it all out. I can and do work that out for myself – and love doing so. The challenge for me as the writer is working out what a reader must know to be able to fill in the gaps successfully for themselves.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One of the things I love best about flash fiction is creating characters. I always like to look at what a character’s main trait is as that can be very useful for dropping them right in the mire from a great height should I wish to do so!

For example, if I have a character who believes they are brave, I could then put them in a situation where they have to prove they are (or discover they really are not! The latter especially could have comic potential).

It is when I nail down the main trait(s), I start to have a feel for the character’s voice. Someone who thinks they’re brave is likely to be boastful (well, they’ve got to tell someone else haven’t they? It”s no good thinking you’re brave if you can’t show off about it!). That in turn gives me ideas on how they are likely to speak and the kind of language they are likely to use.

There are many different ways in to character creation but I do like this one.

Can’t beat the notebook and pen for quick notes. Image via Pixabay,
Where stories emerge these days… Image via Pixabay
What is your story? Image via Pixabay
Flash fiction for impact. Image via Pixabay
I could spend many a happy hour here – the library at Prague. Image via Pixabay.
Let the writing flow and if music can help it along even better! Image via Pixabay
A clean sheet can lead to some fascinating characters and stories. Image via Pixabay
Where good ideas start… but good ideas need refining and editing, Image via Pixabay
I write fairytales with bite as flash fiction and short stories in particular. Image via Pixabay.
There can be reality behind fairytales. Image via Pixabay (and image used as part of book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again)
Have notebook. Will jot down ideas for how to drop my characters right in it and work out how they get out of it again. Image via Pixabay.
This, for me, would be a magical place to be. Image via Pixabay
What writing triggers will help you create your new worlds? Image via Pixabay
Big screen, little screen, LOTS of stories on either! Image via Pixabay
Stories are magical and inspire other stories. Image via Pixabay.

Creating a Flash Fiction Story

INGREDIENTS

A strong character you can identify with and want to write about (readers will identify with them and will want to read their tale).

An idea as to what impact you want your story to have on a reader. This will affect the story mood and how you craft it.

Simmering in the back of your mind, an idea of which competition/publisher you will submit the work to and, of course, already know what their submission requirements/deadlines are.

METHOD

1. Get the story drafted. (To paraphrase P.G. Wodehouse, it’s time to apply seat of pants to seat of chair).

2. Put aside a for a while and start drafting another!

3. Come back to your original story, read it through (and where possible out loud too so you can literally hear how dialogue etc sounds), and then edit.

4. When you’re happy with the story THEN worry about the word count. Check to ensure there are no wasted words in your tale (cut out things like very, actually etc).

5. Once done, if your story has a strong impact at 250 words but it would be weakened if you tried to get it down to 100, then leave it at 250 and submit it to a suitable competition/market.

6. Apply steps 2 to 6 to the second story!

Have fun!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Goodreads Author Programme – First Books

Do you remember the first books you read or had read to you?

I can’t honestly say I do though the Reader’s Digest Collection of Classic Fairytales does rank very highly in this list. I still have this two volume set, though the spines are “taped up” thanks to years of use!

The illustrations in these books are lovely and I spent many a happy hour poring over them as a kid. The stories are the originals from Grimm, Perrault, Andersen etc.

I do remember collecting the Famous Five series. Southern TV, as it was then in our ITV region, had adapted the series and paperbacks were reissued to link in with this. Have no idea what happened to those books. Do know they’re not with me now. I recall going to our local newsagent to buy the paperbacks (in the days when you did have independent newsagents!).

The first books I chose for my home after getting married came to me via the old Odhams collections. You paid a subscription and received one new book every month. I collected Agatha Christie novels (and collections of short stories), which I still have.

What is important though is those first books were never last books!!

I try NOT to chain down my creativity! Pexels image.
Would love to get lost in here for a while. Pixabay image.
Another gorgeous library. I love pics like this.
Well… Pixabay
Or get away from it all in one book. Pixabay image.
Lovely library but my favourite spot for reading is either in bed or sitting in a comfy chair with drink to hand. Pixabay
I doubt if they’d let you put your feet up with a good book in here. Pixabay
Good reading – and writing to be done – here. Pixabay image.
This is lovely too!
I know I have lots of stories and books in my head but I didn’t mean it literally! Pixabay
A lovely sight this, always. Pixabay
Lovely books. Pexels image.
Trinity College, Dublin. Pixabay image. Seriously impressive!
Books are so special. Pixabay
Books, books, glorious books…. Pixabay