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 and some Swanwick photos were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Val Penny for arranging for one photo to be taken and to then send it on, more below.
Had a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I will write about it in more depth for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. Am home again inspired, encouraged, and shattered! Am listening to Classic FM for the first time for a few days and am finding it especially soothing.
Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today
Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as I draft this. So good to catch up with so many writing friends. I keep in contact with many via social media and some via Zoom but you cannot beat getting together in person.
Many thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my two part editing course and/or the Lift Up Your Pens session I led on Sunday morning. I looked at different ways of using numbers in fiction for that. If, however, you would like more on editing, do check out my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week aptly called Never Fear The Editing.
Never Fear The Editing
The week at Swanwick passes so quickly. Many thanks to all who came to my Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge two part course today.
I’ll be discussing more on editing for my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow too. Glad to get together for fellow Association of Christian Writers for a group photo today which was taken on Val Penny’s phone by a staff member of The Hayes.
The ACW contingent at Swanwick 2024
Another wonderful day at Swanwick though I am glad the temperature has cooled somewhat. My Chandler’s Ford Today post will be up again on Friday where I’m talking about Never Fear The Editing. See above.
In something that is no coincidence whatsoever, my editing course at Swanwick is tomorrow and will be on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge.
Had a fabulous time at the third part of Vivien Brown’s Short Story course. I had great fun killing off one of the characters we had to create on Monday as part of the homework exercise that was set. I do believe in killing my fictional darlings!
Then I was off to SpellBound Books and their talk in Pitch to a Publisher. I will be back for Part 2 of this later today. I’ll be finishing the afternoon with a Show Don’t Tell workshop, the topic is always useful.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, it was lovely to answer questions about flash fiction too. I loved advertising flash through the Open Prose Mic Night too. A huge thanks to Penny Blackburn for the photo.
Meantime if you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Stuck?
Reading at Open Prose Mic Night – Swanwick 2024 – many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the pic
Pleased to share how flash fiction writing has helped my editing skills as part of the two section Editing course I ran at Swanwick today. Hope I have persuaded some of the joys of editing too!
Had a wonderful time at the Open Prose Mic Night here at Swanwick last night. I read a selection of pieces from my two books, CafeLit 13, and printed some of my tales out from Friday Flash Fiction to read too. It made for a nice selection and I came in at under the five minutes mark, as is required. (This means it is more likely everyone who would like to read gets a go!).
I was also pleased to be asked for some advice on flash fiction this morning, as well as, later, being complimented on my stories. Thank you to those concerned. Feedback like this is invaluable because most of the time writers are working away on their own of course.
Fairytales with Bite – Where Magic Can Be Found
In your fantasy setting, can magic be found anywhere or is it limited to specific locations? If the latter, is there a geographical reason for that? Does your fantasy setting ever have interaction with non-magical species or worlds? If so, do “your people” hide their skills or use them to dominate others?
Are there those who have seen and experienced the awful side to magic (all forms of power can be abused so that applies here too)? Do they do all they can to fight it? What can they right back with?
If there is “raw” magic in the geography itself, can that be “mined” by anyone? Are there rules governing its use?
Where magic can be found as a theme can be taken in positive or negative directions. So what do your characters make of magic and why? Story ideas there!
This World and Others – Creativity and Collaboration
I’ve not long returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is a fabulous week where delegates find themselves immersed in the world of writing, There is a lot of creativity and collaboration! Many of the workshops and courses, including the one I ran on editing, are interactive in that exercises are set, feedback is given there and then and so on.
So what would be your world’s equivalent of this? Would this kind of creativity and co-operation be confined to what we know as the humanities/creative arts?
Of course here you often see these wonderful attributes in things like engineering, science etc where the great discoveries, engineering achievements and so on can’t possibly be achieved by one person but where a special someone (like Isambard Kingdom Brunel) is needed to kick start the process off. By this I mean they achieve great things but also enable others to do so building on what they have done.
So who would your special characters be here? What have they contributed to your world? What obstacles did they have to overcome? Plenty of story ideas there.
WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK
This time I share the September 2023 issue of the magazine with its focus on marketing, always a timely and useful topic. I talk about Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines for this one.
AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsStuck, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/krhD1zR7iJ As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, I answered questions about flash fiction too. If you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on FFF – Stuck?https://t.co/dOhBBzfYfc pic.twitter.com/7jSmpKfNXt
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 16, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsNever Fear The Editing https://t.co/iBXBtXAK6l Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers' Summer School, Swanwick. Thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my editing course. If you'd like more on editing, check out my CFT post this week called Never Fear The Editing.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 16, 2024
Allison Symes: Collected Works 