Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of a day out in Dorset.

Delighted to have publication news to share and I hope you find my Character Creation post for Chandler’s Ford Today especially useful. Also spent today (17th February) out and about with better half and Lady. Lovely time had by all. (Weather not bad for time of year – overcast but dry and mild. Got to blow a few cobwebs away!).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today – Character Creation. I share thoughts on identifying with your characters, ask if outlining stifles creativity, and discuss why a good knowledge of human nature is crucial for successful character creation. Hope you find the post useful.

Character Creation

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Publication News: Am thrilled to be back on CafeLit with a story which started life as something I wrote as part of the Flash NANO challenge I took part in last November. Now CafeLit like authors to nominate a drink to be associated with their story. I didn’t have any problems with this one. It had to be cinnamon tea for my tale, Cinnamon Comforts. Hope you enjoy it. (I highly recommend cinnamon tea by the way – lovely!).
Looking forward to sharing some thoughts on Character Creation for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. One thing about writing flash fiction is you get to create characters a lot but as inventing people and other beings is my favourite aspect to storytelling, this is not a problem!

I find in getting to know my characters story ideas suggest themselves. It is a case of seeing that this kind of character would work best in this kind of story. I love it even more when I hear my characters “speak” before I put a word of dialogue down on my screen. If ever I needed confirmation this character has come to life, then this is it. And if my characters seem real to me, they will do so for a reader too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you enjoy my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – The Right Call. See if my character did do that!

Hope you’ve had a good day. I’ll be chatting about Character Creation for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see further up) and share a few thoughts on this. I get to create a lot of characters for my flash pieces though I have sometimes used the same character in more than one tale. Characters, for me are the driving force behind any story, regardless of length. If I’m not interested in them and what happens to them, it is highly unlikely I’ll be reading much of the story!

I use the random generators a lot to help trigger story ideas though I was recently given a set of story cubes. I’m going to see what I can come up with using those. One thing I can see immediately is that, as well as using using all of those cubes, I could just use some of them and get more stories that way too.

Equally I could just pick one and use what is on that for an idea. I like options though I do find parameters increase my creativity. There is something about limitations which makes you think more creatively and that is a good thing.

Fairytales with Bite – Kindness

The fairytale world values kindness (see how often the kind are rewarded with magical gifts/help etc) but the world itself often isn’t kind at all. How do your characters navigate that? How do they continue to be kind when maybe it would not be in their best interests to do so, yet they want to remain true to themselves?

Which characters deliberately “arm themselves “ with spells/magical equipment that can nullify the evil effects of others? See Sleeping Beauty for more on this. That fairy godmother was prepared and ready to deal with the evil one. This interests me as it shows shrewdness and a willingness to recognize evil and the need to thwart it as much as possible. That fairy godmother was worldly wise enough to see its failings and willing enough to confront what was wrong. She was no “twee fairy”!

I like to see kind characters having the benefit of others being kind to them (such as in Cinderella where the fairy godmother helps Cinders because she is kind). At the end of the story, I want to see kind characters win through but also using other qualities to help them do that. I don’t want passive, kind characters having others do all of the work for them here. They do have to earn their reward in my eyes.

This World and Others – Ethics

Does your fictional world have any kind of ethics as we would know them? What is the driving force behind your world’s political system? Are there ethics the ordinary folk are expected to follow and those higher up can do as they please? Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen that!

How did your setting develop these ethics – through religion or tradition founded another way? Has your setting abandoned ethics for any reason and, if so, why? Equally has it adopted any form other worlds, say? Why did they decide to do this and which ethics did they adopt? What guidelines are given to the ruled over by their rulers? How easy or otherwise it is for ordinary folk to challenge ethics they disagree with?

Does your world’s media have any influence on what ethic should be followed/ignored?

What would be the consequences for a character who deliberately goes against what is accepted in their world? They say “follow the money” when it comes to looking for suspects for crime cases and I’ve not doubt there is a lot of truth in that. But you could say “follow the ethics” as well to see if your characters have a well hidden nicer side to their nature.

You could also follow the ethics to see who is saying one thing but doing another. We’ve all seen that before too!

ALLISON SYMES – AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL LINK

CafeLitMagazine: Cinnamon Comforts by Allison Symes, cinnamon tea, https://t.co/xt0ZDFz3mx Thrilled to be on CafeLit with a story I wrote during Flash NANO. CafeLit like authors to nominate a drink to link to their tale. For my Cinnamon Comforts, it could only be cinnamon tea! pic.twitter.com/59lFWClfoF

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 16, 2023

Hope you enjoy my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – The Right Call. See if my character did do that!https://t.co/5alzRUrxU4 pic.twitter.com/qopL7B0pln

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 17, 2023

Character Creation https://t.co/NmzK4UhiOT Pleased to share my post for CFT – Character Creation. I share thoughts on identifying with characters, ask if outlining stifles creativity, and discuss why a good knowledge of human nature is crucial for successful character creation.

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 17, 2023

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