Tag: Kipling’s Honest Serving Men

Brainstorming and Spreading the Word about Flash Fiction

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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.
Hope you had a great weekend. I had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering writing event on Saturday in Rugby. Plan to write more about that and supportive writing groups for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Do look out for it. I’ll be sharing some tips on what to look for if you’re thinking of joining a writing group. Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing her best pals. Always comes home looking so happy when she’s met up with them.

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Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Two happy dogs went home.

Will be sharing a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow advertising the local Book Fair. Do look out for it (and the event itself is this coming Saturday, 19th October. More details in the post tomorrow and if you can come along even better).

Writing Tip: Every so often have a brainstorming session. Jot down ideas for titles, opening/closing lines etc. It’s good fun, a great creative exercise, and later once you’ve reviewed what you’ve come up with, you will find something you can work up later. What’s not to like about that?

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Has been drizzly and murky here but Lady didn’t worry as she got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Good time had by all.

Will be writing about the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering and Supportive Writing Groups for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be sharing useful tips for what to watch out for when you’re thinking of joining a writing group. Link up on Friday. More author interviews to come soon too.

Hectic day today so won’t be getting so much writing done today but Mondays are always like this for me and I more than make up for it during the rest of the week. What I do on Mondays is focus on little “bits and pieces”. I can tick some of those off my writing to do list at least. Makes Mondays a bit better for me!

463270484_999554918851036_116990171191685620_nHad a fabulous time with the Association of Christian Writers yesterday. Will be writing more about that for Chandler’s Ford Today this week but it was just marvellous getting together with people I haven’t seen in person for some time. Regards to all and I hope you all had safe journeys home.

Have spent this afternoon copying over various pieces of writing I managed to get done on the train journeys – did more than I thought. Good use of time that!

Will be back to editing and judging later today, once I’ve written and edited some of my flash pieces.. Am almost there on the story judging and plan to get results back to the writing group this week. It’s a lovely task to do and many thanks to the writing group concerned for inviting me.

Will have some news to share later in the week about my being judged for one of my stories too. I’ve often been on both sides of the editing fence at the same time but this is the first time I’ve been on both sides of the competition judging one!

Screenshot 2024-10-13 at 19-41-28 ACW - The Association of Christian Writers

12th October 2024

Am on my way to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering at Rugby.

Looking forward to seeing everyone, the talk by Paul Kerensa, and the workshops. Will be a long but excellent day. I hope to write about this and the value of supportive writing groups for Chandler’s Ford Today next week.

Have seen dawn rise as I travel. Very nice but also proof the mornings are darker for longer. Will be pitch black when I go home again.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Will be spreading the word about flash fiction at the local Book Fair this coming Saturday 19th October. I’ll be sharing a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post on this tomorrow with more details. But it has been great last weekend and this coming one to be out and about on the book stands once more.

 

It’s Monday. It’s been more hectic than usual for me so I too am glad to take time out for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – The Day Out. What on earth Could Vera have done to make headlines in her home world? Find out by following the link.

 

I was glad to share the benefits of flash fiction yesterday when chatting with various people at the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering. The ACW group leaders who were present invited people to join them to discuss what their group does as the last event of the day.

I waved the flag for the online groups given the Flash Fiction Group could never get together in person, we live hundreds of miles apart, and there are a number of ACW groups like this now which have formed to cover different genres. With Zoom distance isn’t a problem though wifi connections can be at times but that’s tech for you and I found out long ato there is no such thing as the totally perfect system.

One major benefit I was keen to share about flash fiction is it helped me to get my head around the whole idea of show, don’t tell. I have got to get my characters to show you what you need to see because I don’t have the word count room to do otherwise. This is no bad thing though and it has benefited my other writing, even my blogging, because I have learned to write “tight” with no wasted words or anything that could be construed as padding!

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Am on the train today and as I travel I get glimpses of “other lives” especially as I go through the towns. Could any of that inspire flash fiction? Oh yes.

As well as Kipling’s Serving Men of who, what, where, when, how and why coming in handy here, my favourite addition of what if will also help me develop ideas. If you don’t like outlines as such, but need something to get you started on flash or other writing, all of these questions are brilliant places to start. Often I find just a one line answer is enough to trigger the ideas.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Special Book Moments

I’m sure all of us have special book moments when a story just “clicks” with us. I love those moments.

I recall studying Pride and Prejudice at school and remember loving it so much I read it again immediately at home. My mum loved Jane Austen and this novel remains a comfort read of mine. I had an excellent English teacher (Miss Mackenzie) who brought to life for me the fabulous use of irony in this book.

As for Terry Pratchett, my first Discworld novel was Jingo. Loved the cover and blurb. Hooked by the end of page one! Naturally had to read the rest of the series after that.

As for The Lord of The Rings I was intrigued by the hobbies and Gandalf from the start so naturally kept reading.

Books are so special anyway but are even more so when they give you fabulous memories too.

Screenshot 2024-10-15 at 20-03-28 Allison Symes's Blog - Special Book Moments - October 12 2024 00 01 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the December 2023 edition of the magazine which looked at Finishing Strong, always an apt title for an end of year issue. I looked at Finishing Strong in the Short Fiction Forms and shared a separate piece under the Writing Group of the Month section about the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group which I lead monthly. Much to enjoy in this issue and it really won’t be long now before the magazine is back!

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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A Good Writing Week

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Facebook – General

Do you read or write (or both) outdoors? I don’t write outside. I much prefer being at a desk for that (and right now it is beautifully cool in the study so added reason to stay in! It also means I can turn up the volume when Beethoven’s 5th comes on and I avoid annoying the neighbours so win-win).

I read outdoors sometimes, there’s nothing to beat relaxing in a nice recliner with a book in hand unless it’s doing that, knowing you’ve got a long cold drink besides you too!

I cope with colder weather better than hot (as does Lady naturally). How do your characters react to their environment and weather conditions? Do they cope with anything that can be thrown at them weather wise or do they curl up at the sight of anything more than a fine drizzle?! If you’re writing fantasy or anything other worldly, what would be standard weather conditions in your setting? How does it impact on your characters?

Hopefully you’ll find some ways to deepen your characterisation answering questions like that.

Most writers will know how this feels… Pixabay
Books are so special. Pixabay
Stories link us. Pixabay.
What we all need… Pixabay
Pixabay image.
All great ideas for writing but you still need to “apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair” (P.G.Wodehouse). Pixabay image.
A writer’s life. Pixabay,
Whatever you write, enjoy it! Pixabay image

A good writing week is when I can look back and see:-

1. CFT post written, images sourced, and appears on the Friday. (Only times it hasn’t appeared have been either because I’ve been away or ill and once there was a technical issue, which meant I had to post a day late).

2. Progress made on my projects, especially the novel.

3. I have either submitted work to competitions/markets or am drafting work to be sent in the near future.

4. My WordPress website round-ups have appeared on the Tuesday and Friday. I enjoy preparing these as they look like a mini magazine. I hope you enjoy them too!

It has been a good week! Do I get bored? No! Do I wish I had more writing time? Always.

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Asking questions is a great way to generate story ideas. The classic one is “What If?” of course, but Kipling’s honest serving men of What and Why and When and How and Where and Who are invaluable for outlining a story of any length.

For example:-

What are the stakes for your lead character?

Why have they got to go for the goal you’ve set?

When do they have to achieve their goal by? (The shorter the time frame the better as it means more pressure for your character).

How will they achieve their objective?

Where does your character live and what bearing does the setting have on their trying to achieve their goal?

Who opposes them and who helps?

You can adjust the above questions to suit your needs, of course, but answering these will give you an outline you can add to or change as you require.

 

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Thrilled to announce my humorous fairytale, What Goes Around, will be in the Bridge House anthology, Nativity, later this year. You can rely on me to share the link as and when I can!

Many congratulations to all of the 24 authors in the latest Bridge House book and a particular shout out to #AlysonRhodes, #PaulaRCReadman, #DawnKnox, #LindaFlynn, and #JamesBates.

I can’t wait to read all of your stories. They will be a wonderful ecletic mix!

Image below taken at a previous Bridge House event (and supplied by Paula Readman, who is on the right. Dawn Knox is in the middle).

It has been a busy few weeks with news of stories in The Best of Cafelit 8 and Transforming Being. I like weeks like this!

Paula Readman, Dawn Kentish Knox and Allison Symes and books - with kind permission from Paula Readman

Paula Readman, Dawn Kentish Knox and I celebrate where our stories have appeared! Many thanks to Paula Readman for the picture.!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am currently listening to the theme from The Incredibles on Classic FM (well I was at the time I wrote this on Facebook!). Loved the film and the music is so appropriate for it. A really good film score always stands out and hooks the watcher into the movie.

Favourite film theme? Hmm… Love The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, no surprises there. Favourite John Williams’ piece is Raiders March (though Schindler’s List is so moving). Very hard to pick out an outright favourite.

For flash fiction writing, it is the title that has to be our big hook in for readers. The title has to be appropriate and to serve the story well, just as film music must serve its movie well. So it is worth taking extra time to get it right but it’s absolutely fine to start off with something and replace it later. I often do that when a better idea occurs as I’m writing the story.

 

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Flash fiction, due to its word count restriction, works best with one character, possibly two (and there I would say that would work better with the longer forms of flash). You are looking for your character to have the strongest impact possible on the reader and having too many characters in such a short space dilutes the effect.

It’s another reason why I use first person a lot. I can get into the head of that character and they can reveal other characters for me/the reader. A good example of this is my Calling the Doctor where my character knows she is dying but it is not until the end she reveals who her doctor is. I don’t need to bring the doctor into the story at all. Do have a look at the book trailer as this is the story I chose to use on this and you’ll see why!

 

This made me smile! Pixabay image.
Escape with a good book. Image via Pixabay.
Could this picture inspire stories? Good fiction will take you out of the world for a while. Image via Pixabay.
Love this image! Image via Pixabay
FLTDBA for sale in the Swanwick Book Room. Image by Allison Symes
Books are fabulous, whatever the format. Image via Pixabay.
So true. Pixabay.
Charging up for new ideas, maybe? Pixabay image.
Stories are magical and inspire other stories. Image via Pixabay.
Well, let’s do so by writing lots of stories! Image via Pixabay.
Indeed! Pixabay image.
Online writing -v- on a line writing! Image via Pixabay

Flash fiction may be short, sorry it IS short, but it still takes time to edit and ensure the words you’ve chosen are exactly the right ones to make the maximum impact on a reader.

I usually get a first draft down pretty quickly. What takes the time is re-reading (often several times) and realising this phrase here could be sharpened up if I change one word here. Equally I need to look for those phrases where if I were to cut, something of the flow of the story would be lost. I always judge whether something should stay in on its impact on me (and therefore hopefully readers) and never just on the word count alone.

I see the word count as a guide. If something works better at 200 words rather than 100, then fine, the tale stays at 200! I’ll submit it for a different competition or market. You CAN over-edit. Mixing up what you write in terms of word count is not a bad thing to do anyway and gives you plenty of practice at writing across the range flash fiction offers. Nothing to lose there then!

Like being able to store so many books! Image via Pexels
Books have their own sense of time and space. Image via Pixabay.
The art of the flash (fiction). Image via Pixabay
A truly beautiful diary. Image via Pixabay
Whenever and whatever you read, enjoy. Image via Pixabay.
So true. Pixabay.
Well…? Pixabay
Generating the writing ideas. Image via Pixabay.
Being lost in the world of your story. Pixabay image
What worlds can you explore in flash fiction? Pixabay

Good news on the story front as my humorous fairytale What Goes Around is due to be published in the Bridge House Nativity anthology later this year.

It is wonderful when acceptances come in but behind them is a lot of hard work, even more rejections to get stories up to standards where they are in real contention for publication etc.

Even when that is the case, you cannot know whether your Story A or someone else’s Story B will fit the theme of the chosen anthology better.

So if a story is turned down somewhere, look at it again. Is there another market/anthology it could fit? All story writing is useful experience. What you learn as you write a tale (even if it is never published) is what you build on for the next story etc. You do learn, over time, to judge that a story of yours would suit Market X over Market Y. You learn to tailor your submissions too. That increases your chances of acceptance. Note I said increases!

There are no guarantees in writing and I guess that IS guaranteed!

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)
I’m not arguing with this one! Image via Pixabay.
Planning your work. Image via Pixabay.
What ever writer needs. Image via Pixabay
Connections to what you read and what you write. What are yours? Image via Pixabay.
Flash fiction, by its nature, has to take one look at a situation to be a story but you can get quite a bit into that “one look”. Image via Pixabay.
Preparing a talk or a flash fiction story perhaps. Image via Pixabay.
Honest feedback is the only kind worth having. Image via Pixabay.
What impact do your stories have on your readers? Image via Pixabay
Use personal reviews to help you generate character and story outlines. Image via Pixabay.
Let the writing flow and if music can help it along even better! Image via Pixabay

 

Association of Christian Writers – More than Writers –

Legacies in Writing

Do you ever think about what your writing legacy is and, as importantly, should you?

I was recently at the Winchester Writers’ Festival and at the end of the Saturday courses, there was a lovely celebration held in the University of Winchester’s chapel for the late Barbara Large, MBE, who founded the event.

Not only was that a direct support to writers across all genres, she always found time to speak to writers of all levels, when she must have had a million and one things to do. She is remembered with much love, as you can imagine.

Easier said than done but encouraging others in their writing journey benefits them and you. Pixabay

None of us can ever know where our writing journey is going to take us when we first start. As with any road, there will be cul-de-sacs, the literary equivalent of potholes tripping us up, what we thought was a helpful road sign taking us in the wrong direction with our work and so on. (I’m not aware of any literary traffic wardens though!).

The writing journey is not always straightforward.  Pixabay

So we go into the writing life with our eyes wide open and seek to encourage other writers along the way as we ourselves receive encouragement from them.  We all know the heartaches of rejections after all, but we also know publication is possible. We also know writing for your own pleasure is as valid a thing to do but I also believe we can all leave a positive legacy behind. I think it is part of our calling as writers.

None of this can come all at once but are so worth striving for. Pixabay

The writing legacy we should leave then can be summed up as follows.

1.  Aim to write to the highest standard you can manage.

Improvement is always possible. It is always desirable too. Accept your first draft will not be great. My favourite quote on this comes from Terry Pratchett who saw first drafts as “you telling yourself the story”.

It’s then a question of extracting the gold from the dross – and there will be dross and more than you’d like. Shakespeare and Dickens faced the same. We will not be exempt!

Equally true for your writing but looking for continued improvement IS good to aim for.  Pixabay

2.  Be proud of your work. Ensure you enjoy it.

You are your first audience. Once published, you will want to keep on producing work to be “out there”. You must be able to enjoy what you write over and over again. Do mix up what you write.

I love writing short stories and blog posts as well as flash fiction, but whether you write one type of material or loads, you must enjoy it all.  That enjoyment comes through in what you write. Prose the writer has loved writing has an energy all of its own. I believe readers pick up on that instinctively.

It’s a pity we can’t award ourselves these every so often for our writing but look back and see how far you’ve come. Hopefully you will find encouragement there.  Pixabay.

3.  For you to be able to look back and see how your work has improved.

Working at the craft takes time. There are no shortcuts.

Determination to keep going is important too. Stamina is needed.  Pixabay

 

This has always struck me as sensible advice but the writing journey will have its ups and downs. The ride is rarely a straightforward and smooth one but it does help to know that!  Pixabay.

Writing challenges and stretches me and is so much fun.  It is also hard work. The two go together. Wherever your writing journey takes you, enjoy the ride!

Goodreads Author Blog – Changing Books

Which books stay with you as firm favourites throughout and which only last for a specific period in your life?

I wouldn’t give you a thank you for the old Peter and Jane books again (!) but would probably still enjoy the Famous Five.

The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia, along with the classic fairytales, will always be favourites.

But the joy of reading is discovering new genres and authors. It has only been comparatively recently I’ve discovered the joys of non-fiction reading. It wasn’t as if I was particularly against it, I just hadn’t tried any.

Now it’s a regular part of my reading routine. (I like the Ben Macintyre books especially. Loved Agent Zigzag in particular). The best non-fiction uses great fictional storytelling techniques and should keep you as gripped as an epic novel.

Which books from your reading past would you change now? Which would you change them for?

Sometimes the books come to you! Pixabay
Books are their own world. Pixabay
Gollum from LOTR. More sinned against than sinning? Pixabay image.
Well…? Pixabay
So true. Pixabay.
Love reading in both formats! Pixabay image.
Ah, the bliss of reading! Pixabay image.
Gladstone’s Library. Pixabay image.