Tag: light and dark

Building A Book Workshop – Author Interview: Gill James

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, as was the photo of Gill James at a Bridge House Publishing event.
For those who celebrate/commemorate, may I wish you a Happy Easter. It is lovely to have the sunny weather to go with it! A busy week again this week. I hope you enjoy a fabulous interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Really great idea here. Check it out below.

BookBrushImage-2023-4-7-20-1515Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am thrilled to welcome back Gill James to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her Build a Book Workshop. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Find out all about it here.

Author Interview: Gill James – Build A Book Workshop

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Another good day for Lady – she got to play with her pal Coco today.

Will be sharing a wonderful interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today soon. We’ll be discussing Build a Book Workshop which is a fabulous idea. More tomorrow. See above.

Don’t forget the April issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is out. Do check it out – it’s a great read and free!

 

Lady had a ball with her best mate, the lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Good time had by both.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Gill James about Build a Book Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today. Interesting premise. Great answers to questions, what’s not to like? Link up on Friday. Again see above and yes I am really excited about this interview. The premise here is a superb one. Do check out the interview.

Talking of questions, don’t forget you can use these to quiz your potential characters, I often do and will also use the random question generators to help me come up with “left field” questions, which can be a great way of truly finding out what your character is made of! They also stop you using the same old questions over and over again.

I will often use questions to give me ideas for themes for stories and again often they make for good titles too. I find they help me dig that big deeper and that in turn benefits my story and characterisation.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Questions make for good themes τσσ. What questions DO bother your characters and why?"

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be on Friday Flash Fiction this week with my story Which Way? Hope you enjoy it. This story was prompted by the throw of a story dice and, aptly, a picture of a dice came up!

Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 09-12-58 Which Way by Allison SymesIf you do get Writing Magazine the last issue had their competition guide in it. Bear in mind a lot of the short story competitions either have categories for flash as well or their word count requirements fall within flash territory. Well worth checking out.

Don’t forget to check out the Ts and Cs of the competitions too (and that should be easily done by going to the competition’s website where you should be able to see these). You can sign up to Writing Magazine on line – their website says you could get access to their archive here, which would include the last edition with the guide, I would have thought!
Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 20-29-10 Writers Online Membership - Writers OnlineEntering competitions is also good practice for writing to deadlines

I was talking about using questions to help me with my fiction writing over on my author page earlier. Of course, because I am coming up with stories and characters all the time for my flash fiction and short stories, I need to ensure I have a constant supply of idea generators.

This is where the random generators are a blessing. It is also why I mix up the type I use frequently. Doing all of that makes me think outside the box more. That in turn helps fuel creativity and I am always all for that! (Story cubes, the old game of bits of paper in a hat with different words, adjectives on etc and then you pick out pieces at random – these all work too).

Also don’t forget the prompts books (and I will admit to bias here given I’ve contributed to some). Talking of which, I am also in The Big Book of Prompts, and many of the writers who regularly contribute to CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing etc are in there too. Why not see what we’ve come up with for ideas and see what you can make of them? Have fun!

 

Fairytales with Bite – Light and Dark

I’m writing this after what seems to have been the dullest, wettest March on record. Even the recent clock change where the clocks went forward did not appear to make much of a difference. And then the sunshine turned up and now we can believe spring has got here after all! Light makes all the difference.

In your setting, what kind of light would be considered natural? Are your characters affected by light levels the way we can be? What would they have in the way of artificial light for the winter season? Does your setting have a long dark period or a long light one? How would that make your characters behave?#

If you live in a setting where there isn’t a lot of natural light for most of the time, behaviour will be different compared to those who have nigh on perpetual natural light. (Those living in the latter can more obviously get out and about that much more easily. Sleep patterns will differ here too. How would that affect your characters?).

Is dark feared or welcomed? How do your characters manage to do the everyday tasks of life when dark is a way of life for them? Is crime more prevalent in a “dark” world?

You can also explore the issues of light and dark for each of your characters too. What would be their light attributes, which their dark etc? That alone could give you a good character outline ahead of writing your story up.

BookBrushImage-2023-4-7-20-3615

This World and Others – Nature

Light and dark are natural phenomenons of course but in your setting what is the natural world like? Is it comparable with ours? How do your creatures (human like or otherwise) cope with light and dark? What are their natural tendencies? Is there prey and predator, for example, and who would be considered to be the “top of the tree” here?

Have your main creations changed the natural world and, if so, how? Are there benefits to what they’ve done? What are the disadvantages and has your natural setting found a way of fighting back against what it hates? There are stories to be had in climate disasters and their aftermath, for example, but a more positive outcome here would be a tale where your characters learn from their mistakes, put them right, and the natural world responds to that. Redemption stories are always welcome! (If only to cheer us up as readers because there is so much gloom out there. We see natural disasters all the time, yes?).

How broad is your natural world? Is there a range of geographical settings? That directly affects what can live in your setting naturally so what kind of varieties of plant/insect/animal life, do you have here? How do these affect how the others can live?
It pays to take time to work this kind of thing out. Setting can so often act like a character in its own right. Think of The Shire, Mordor, Gondor etc in The Lord of the Rings. Each distinct. Each memorable. Each with their own “natures”.

BookBrushImage-2023-4-7-20-4231

ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter icon

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.

Sherlock Holmes, Old Notebooks, and Flash NANO

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A HUGE thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Group for providing photos from their recent production of Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery at Mallen Hall. Hope all well with you. Some frightful storms in the UK this week, with more to come, but I’ve been out and about to my local amateur theatre’s latest production and have started Flash NANO which I am thoroughly enjoying.

BookBrushImage-2022-11-4-19-136

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post. This week I review Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery at Mallen Hall, which was recently wonderfully performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group.

My format for this review is different this time too – I do it in the form of a recipe! I look at what makes for a good detective story and give you the ingredients, the method, and the results as it refers to this particular show and the performance. Hope you enjoy it. Loved the show. Loved the performance.

Those local to me – if you haven’t been to see The Chameleons in action, do take the chance to do so when you can. You’ll be in for a wonderful evening of entertainment. I’ve shared a heads up for their next show in this post too.

Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery at Mallen Hall

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Pleased Lady got to play with her friend Coco today. Both dogs had a lovely time. Not impressed by the ghastly weather coming in again this evening (though if it does lessen the number of fireworks let off tonight, Lady won’t be that sorry. Incidentally, Classic FM are repeating their soothing music for pets programme, Pet Classics, this weekend. I know I found that soothing last year and I hope some of that rubbed off on Lady. It is worth a try for a nervous pet).

My Chandler’s Ford Today post is up tomorrow and this week I’ll be reviewing Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery at Mallen Hall, which was recently performed by the ever excellent Chameleon Theatre Group. My format for this review is a bit different this time too. Hope you like it. Look forward to sharing the link tomorrow. See above and again thanks to the Chameleons for their photos.

One lovely thing about writing, especially when the weather is pretty grim as it is is for a lot of us at the moment, is it is at least an indoors creative art! I am truly thankful for that!


Hope you have had a good day. Blustery and wet here. Lady though had the time of her life with two of her best friends, the lovely Ridgeback and the equally lovely Labradoodle, in the park this morning. A three way zoomie session ensued – great time had by all.

Will be working on my second prompt for Flash NANO later. Enjoyed writing the first one. My aim here is not to write 50000 words over November, funnily enough. Even if I wrote 30 x 1000 words pieces, I would be well short of that target (though if you took in my blogging etc I would easily exceed it).

What I am aiming for is to write 30 new flash fiction pieces throughout November to “knock into shape” later on. Am also putting finishing touches to my third book and am on course to submit that possibly later this week or next. (I was aiming for autumn with this so am happy with this).

BookBrushImage-2022-11-2-19-5346

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction though it does come with a word of warning. Be ware of writers’ notebooks! If you want to find out why, check out the story, Old Notebooks.

This topic came up as a result of a random theme generator in case you’re wondering why I didn’t go for a writer’s current notebook! Link here (and a big thanks for the great comments already coming in on this one).

Screenshot 2022-11-04 at 09-26-35 Old Notebooks by Allison Symes

Am enjoying Flash NANO and will be working on the Day 3 prompt a little later on this evening.

Don’t forget if you would like signed copies of my books From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic, just contact me via the website and I will get back to you. (And I am always pleased to see new followers to my website and/or sign ups for my author newsletter too).

One huge advantage to writing flash is you do pare your stories down to the bare essentials. It makes you focus on what really matters to your characters. I’ve found that makes me think more deeply about why something really matters to them. And it is another way to get to know my characters better as a result. This is even more useful if you write linked flashes. (I’ve written more of these for my third collection and found it enjoyable to do. Not got enough to do a whole novella in flash but one day, maybe).

Newsletter advert - share tips etcFOLLOW ME AT WEBSITE imageAllison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections


It isn’t just for my twist stories that I know the ending first. I often know the ending first for my humorous tales. I know the punchline or ending and then figure out how I can get to that point. When I brainstorm one liners, often I will come up with something that would make a great ending or a powerful beginning to a story, So I work out options for both and then go with what I like best.

Also looking at what Character A would make of a situation and then contrasting it with what Character B would make of it can make for a great story idea. (Often good for comedy).

Overall I’ve got to know my starting point whether it’s knowing the ending first, or knowing what this character could be capable of in these circumstances. It’s the way into a story which matters for me. Once I know that way in, away I go.

BookBrushImage-2022-11-2-19-596

Fairytales With Bite – Seasons in Magic

In your fantastic setting, are there seasons in magic? Does one season encourage more use of magic, for example? I could see there being a need for more of it during what we would consider to be the winter months, if only to try and ward the darkness (and whatever may lurk in it) away.

Are there seasons where magical accidents are more likely to happen? That could tie in with the academic year, for example. You would expect beginners to be more clumsy after all. (Also think about who would clear up after such accidents, is there such as thing as Magical Accident Investigators and so on? Stories can come from someone not doing their job properly here or doing it so well they’re a threat to someone else).

Do your magical characters find they have their own seasons in magic when, perhaps at a younger age, there were things they could do magically they cannot now? Do they feel the lack or are they happy not to have so much responsibility?

Conversely, do older characters, with more experience behind them, discover their main season in magic is at this point rather than when they were younger? Are they taking on more powers and responsibilities? Do they resent the younger ones or is it the other way around? Are the younger ones waiting impatiently for someone’s season to end?

Equally could there be those who give fate a helping shove in the back and remove people in their way precisely because they want their season in magic to take off and flourish?

How would you define your character’s season in magic? When they get to a certain level or have clocked off a certain number of years worth of experience?

Can magic interfere with your world’s natural seasons and what would happen to any character who tries to exploit that?

This World and Others – Light and Dark

We think of light and dark in terms of the sun and the moon and also in terms of traits in ourselves. Most of us will acknowledge we are a mixture of light and dark but are your characters so honest? Do you have characters who think they are light but everyone else around them knows full well they’re not? Do you have characters who struggle to control the dark and have they friends/mentors to help them? What is their reward for not giving in to the dark?

What does your world have in the way of natural lighting? Does it have artificial lights, electricity etc? Thinking about seasons again, do they have a long or short light/dark season and what makes your setting have the kind they have?

We know the lack of light can have an affect on physical and/or mental health. Do your characters find the same and, if so, how understanding is their world?

Thinking about your world’s history, what would be considered to be their golden or light periods? What would be their dark ones? Is this accepted by all or do people/other characters query the official versions of events?

BookBrushImage-2022-11-4-19-4844
Twitter Corner (2)

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.

Sayings – Their Uses in Fiction and Non-Fiction

Leave a comment
Image Credit:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Image of Lady and I examining a delivery of Tripping the Flash Fantastic was taken by Adrian Symes. A huge thanks to Fiona Park for taking the wonderful shot of me signing books at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August 2021.
Hope you have had a good week. Looking forward to getting out and about on the train again tomorrow for the Association of Christian Writers’ first Writers’ Day in well over a year in London. Will be so lovely to meet people I haven’t seen in person again for so long.

BookBrushImage-2021-10-8-17-626

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s time for my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post and this is on a topic I really should have written up a while ago. Sayings – Their Uses in Fiction and Non-Fiction is one of those themes with my name on it as I do use sayings a lot in my creative writing. I’ve used a number of well known sayings as story titles and even more as themes.

And many of the old sayings could be used for non-fiction work too. I share a few tips here on how to use sayings but so they don’t become cliches, which I hope proves useful. Sayings are well known for a reason but it pays to put your own spin on them so you can get something unique from them for your story or article. That is by far the best way to avoid falling into cliche territory.

And you can change a word in a saying to put your own spin on it. I did this for my Punish the Innocent in From Light to Dark and Back Again. Subverting a well known saying for your own purposes is not only fun, it intrigues the reader. After all, we usually talk about punishing the guilty so, in the example of my story, I would hope a reader would be curious enough to find out why it is innocent in this case.

Best of all, there are loads of well known sayings so they are useful just as a source of ideas to get you started, even if you don’t use them directly. Course you could do both – as I do!

Sayings – Their Uses in Fiction and Non-Fiction

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

I don’t know where the predicted sunny spells ended up today but I do know they didn’t show up in my part of the world. Today has been a classic murky autumn day.

Looking forward to sharing my Chandler’s Ford Today post with you tomorrow. This week I’m talking about Sayings – Their Uses in Fiction and Non-Fiction. I talk about how I use these in my writing and share tips about avoiding these becoming cliches. I also take a look at character sayings. These can be an effective device – many of our well-loved characters have a pet phrase – though I think the secret is not to overuse them.

What aspect of writing do you find the most fun? For me, it is the editing. Yes, really. I know I’ve got a story down. I know what I’m going to do to it will improve it and help its chances “out there”. And when I do get to submit the piece, I know I’m sending in something far better than what I originally drafted – and that is how it should be.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Writing wise, my post on Light and Dark in Flash Fiction is now out (via Mom’s Favorite Reads) and there are some cracking stories based on that theme too. Well done, everyone! (Link takes you directly to the relevant page – see https://moms-favorite-reads.com/2021/10/06/light-and-dark-in-flash-fiction/).

Screenshot 2021-10-06 at 20-01-30 Light and Dark in Flash FictionScreenshot 2021-10-05 at 16-34-08 Amazon co uk Mom's Favorite Reads October 2021

I tend to work on my next post for Mom’s Favorite Reads directly after I finish the last one. I find this a useful technique for everywhere I blog (Authors Electric, Chandler’s Ford Today, More than Writers etc). When I do get odd pockets of time, I will draft future blog posts and work out where to place them later. It is always a good feeling to know there is “material in the bank” good to go when I need it.

I’m also finding Friday Flash Fiction useful here given it encourages you to prepare a story for the next Friday’s magazine directly after the current one has gone live. It is helping me to produce 100-worders more regularly. For my YouTube videos, I set my own deadline and ensure I stick to it. Over the course of a week, I get a balance of fiction and non-fiction writing done.

BookBrushImage-2021-10-8-19-1831

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to share my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy Leaving It Late. Has my character done exactly that? Read the story and find out!Screenshot 2021-10-08 at 16-41-23 Leaving It Late, by Allison Symes

Just to flag up the paperback of Tripping the Flash Fantastic is currently on offer on Amazon. See http://mybook.to/TrippingFlashFantastic for more details. Have also topped up my supply (which is always a nice thing to do).

Looking forward to seeing both of my collections on a book stall once again when I go to the Association of Christian Writers event on Saturday, 9th October. It will be so lovely seeing book stalls again! I love a good browse…

Every so often I will draft promising opening lines or twist endings for writing up into a story later. The great thing with this is when I come back to them if the ideas still grab me, they’re likely to grab a reader too.

It can be difficult sometimes working out if an idea really is as good as you thought it was when you first came up with it. Time away from it for a while will help you assess it properly. I also find if the idea still grabs me (most of the time this is the case), I am then fired up, keen to get that draft down, and away I go. You don’t lose your enthusiasm for a really good idea. Time away from it, if anything, increases your enthusiasm because you know deep down this will work.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

I like picking open themes for my blog posts (such as for Mom’s Favorite Reads) and flash fiction tales. I like having “manoeuvre room”. It is also more likely I will be able to come up with a twist that surprises the reader but is compatible with my story and character having an open theme. More interpretations (and therefore more twists) become possible with an open theme.

But I do need time then to work out which would be the best option to use and I use spider diagrams to help me here. I’ve found taking the time to work out the best options saves me so much time later. I find I come up with different ideas and the first couple I can instantly dismiss (too samey, seen it before etc).

I then find I have a couple of promising ideas and I then ask a series of “what if” questions. That usually shows me out of two possible ideas, which is the most likely to engage the reader. If I’m engaged with it, someone else will be.

I also look at why something has engaged me and as long as it is something to do with the character portrayal, I go with it. I say that because any story is depending on strongly portrayed characters who appeal to the reader in different ways. As long as there is the likelihood this character will appeal because… then I’m likely to write them and their story up. (The reason because can vary as different readers take different things from characters but as long as there is at least one good reason a reader would want to read this character’s story, then I go with it).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fairytales with Bite – Light and Dark

Now this is a popular theme for me given the title of my debut flash fiction collection (From Light to Dark and Back Again). The title came about as I realised my two preferences for stories inevitably contrasted with each other. I love humorous/light stories. I like a well crafted darker tale too. And, with few exceptions, most characters are a mixture of light and dark.

Most readers like to read about flawed characters because we know we too are flawed. Most readers are bored by the “goody two shoes” with no spirit to them. Most readers are horrified by those who are just pure evil with no prospect of redemption. (Redemption or the possibility of it is a wonderful theme for stories).

So how will you show light and dark in your characters? What dark aspects do your “good” characters have to show they are well rounded, so a reader can identify with them precisely because they’re not perfect? What lighter aspects do your villains have to show they are nor caricatures?

For your setting, how does light and dark work in a physical sense but also what would be these be politically? Is there such a thing as a good government in your world? What would your characters see as being light and dark and would that agree with what we would consider such things should be? Not every world has the same values after all.

Never assume a character’s mood is the same as their author’s one! Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay photo.
Beautiful light here but is what lives here light in nature or dark? Pixabay
See things through the eyes of your characters. They may not see themselves as light or dark even though others will. Pixabay

 

This World and Others – Generation and Regeneration

Now I’m a Doctor Who fan of longstanding so the idea of regeneration is not new or one I’m fazed by. In your fictional settings, do you have characters who can regenerate? How does your world generate its food, power supplies, anything it needs for the world to function properly?

Generation and regeneration can be reflected in agriculture. How does your world grow food? How does it generate seeds? How can it ensure crops can keep being grown?

If your setting is an old one, has it had periods where it has to re-generate or re-invent itself or face obliteration? How did it rise to the challenge here?

What are relationships like between the differing generations? Do the great ideas only come from one section of your society? And where there is pollution how can your setting “start again” and build a world where there is onoing regeneration?

BookBrushImage-2021-10-8-19-4855

Twitter icon

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

Light and Dark

Leave a comment

Facebook – and Chandler’s Ford Today

My latest CFT post is called The Light Fantastic and looks at light and dark in terms of fiction, mood, and vision (including photography). I look at how fantastic light is but why we also need darkness – and this is true for fiction writing too. Hope you enjoy.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Had a lovely evening at the Dovetail Centre watching A Christmas Carol performed by the MDG Players. Review to follow on CFT on Friday week.

A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite stories and Dickens is one of the few authors to add something to the Christmas tradition. (The others include Christina Rossetti with In the Bleak Midwinter, Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander with Once in Royal David’s City etc, Charles Wesley with Hark the Herald Angels Sing etc and Clement Clark Moore with The Night before Christmas). Favourite version of Dickens’ classic for me is The Muppet one though!

Talking of stories, I am thrilled my Doubting the Obvious is on Paragraph Planet. 75 words including the title is a good challenge! Work to come in next few days on Cafelit too.

DOUBTING THE OBVIOUS Jemma knew monsters existed, the monsters knew they existed, so why did everyone else scoff at the idea and end up eaten by the things? They weren’t getting her that way. Jemma was prepared. She had her dart gun. She had a fire roaring in the forest clearing. Everyone knew monsters were attracted to the warmth. It meant food. An hour later one monster discovered that was true. Jemma was barbecuing him.

Allison Symes – Published on Paragraph Planet 22nd November 2018

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Really loved seeing the moon rising through the trees tonight, both at home, and on a late walk with better half and Lady. Lady has to have a clip on light to her collar, otherwise you really wouldn’t see her, so she goes around lighting up the world like a little Christmas tree. She’s not impressed by this – but I am! And it means I can see my dog!

I was impressed with the amount of light the moon was giving on the walk tonight. Absolutely beautiful. My theme for CFT this week funnily enough is light and dark in terms of mood, fiction, and vision (in every sense). It’s too easy to take too much for granted and the way the brain processes light is one of them.

As for light writing, I have a 75 word piece coming up online tomorrow. More details then but I will say my heroine isn’t afraid of the monsters in the dark! Mind you, most of my heroes/heroines aren’t but then that’s how I like my characters!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Light and dark is the theme for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Very appropriate given my book’s title! Do you enjoy writing and/or reading the lighter stories in a collection for do your prefer your tales on the dark side?

I love both of course. Much depends on my mood as to which I prefer at any one time. What I do know is the 100-word story is ideal for where I want to make an impact and also the simpler the theme the better. More likely to “deliver” on the promise of the theme set.

What galaxy is your world set in? Pixabay image
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)
Does your dialogue make a powerful impact on the reader? Pexels image
Stories can take you to fantastic places. Pixabay image.
Where do your characters like to take time out to reflect and why? Pexels image
Nobody gets their ideas right first go. Image via Pixabay.
Is travelling in time a good idea? Where would you go if you could? Pixabay image
Use personal reviews to help you generate character and story outlines. Image via Pixabay.
No matter how strange your characters or setting, there must still be identifiable elements for a reader. Pixabay image
Grow as a writer? Grow your reading! Image via Pixabay
How does gravity and time work in your settings? Pixabay image.
Love this clock. Pixabay image.
Flash fiction for impact. Image via Pixabay

Contrasts are often used in fiction as they are a great way to generate conflict between characters or between a character and their situation. I’m reminded of magnets here – contrasts can either attract or repel!

Contrasts can also be internal within a character especially on things they would like to do and things they are actually able to achieve. (There can be some great comedy out of that scenario too! Think of all the comedy characters who’ve clearly thought more of themselves than they should have done and how they always fall flat on their face – in the famous Del Boy falling through the bar scene in Only Fools and Horses, that was quite literally too!).

There can be be the obvious contrast between light and dark between two characters or within one character. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde resonates as a story precisely because we can all identify with a character’s struggles to be “good”.

If your story grips you, all sense of time will go! Image via Pixabay.
Lovely and treasured book collection here. Image via Pexels
Or get away from it all in one book. Pixabay image.
Edit, edit, edit! Pixabay image.
Diary keeping as I recall it but I skipped the gingham! Image via Pixabay
Lost in a world of books. Pixabay image.
Clarity and constructive criticism are always useful. Pixabay image.
I try NOT to chain down my creativity! Pexels image.
Your blog, your topic, your theme – just be sensible on copyright and libel issues. Image via Pixabay.
A good writing group will help you discover this. Pixabay image.

Looking forward to sharing latest flash fiction story to be published online tomorrow. I will say it is a 75-word one so that will give fellow flash fiction writers a big clue as to where it is appearing! More tomorrow.

I must admit one of my favourite writing sessions is when I have got “the bit between the teeth” and I draft lots ot flash fiction stories of differing word counts. I edit later and eventually submit them to different places. All good fun.

Another thing I love about flash is when I know I won’t have a lot of time for writing, there is always enough to draft a story or two here, even if they are just of the one line variety. Sometimes I expand those stories out when I DO have more time. Sometimes I leave them as they are (and I must try and submit some of these to the 25-word competitions, they’d be ideal for that).

When is your writing time? Pixabay image
Plenty to enjoy here! Image via Pixabay
Books invite you into their world. Image via Pixabay
Fiction is strengthened when backed by fact. Image via Pixabay
Escape with a good book. Image via Pixabay.
Reviews can have global reach. Most impact I think can often be local to the writer.
Fantasy may look at other worlds but often reflects on our own. Time is different too. Music can interpret worlds too. Think of classic film scores like that for The Lord of the Rings. Image via Pixabay.
Some of the strongest ideas have a simple theme. See A Christmas Carol as a classic example. Image via Pixabay.
Stories reflect all sorts of moods. There is a story to suit everyone out there! Image via Pixabay.
I write fairytales with bite as flash fiction and short stories in particular. Image via Pixabay.
There’s still a place for writing directly to paper. Free writing can really help you become more creative as you allow any “barriers” to go. Let your subsconscious work! Image via Pixabay

Fairytales with Bite – Light and Dark

The Light Fantastic is my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post and looks at light and dark from the perspectives of vision (including photography), mood and fiction.  Light and dark are crucial to fiction.  If there is no dark in a story, there is no conflict, there is no drama, nothing happens for better or worse, and any potential tale here collapses.

Fairytales are full of the contrasts between light and dark in the way they portray their characters.  Fairytales are often grim and perhaps the antidote here has been what has become the “happy ever after” ending.  Light and dark have to be in the right proportions.  All darkness is just oppressive.  All light would be blinding.

Look at the light and dark qualities of your characters.  Are they in balance?  What weakness in your character really lets them down?  What virtue really makes them?  How did they develop these things?  Do they actively try to fight the weakness?

It isn’t always appropriate for a story to end happily of course but the finish must be appropriate.  I like to see stories end on a note of hope even if the finish is a sadder one.

What ever writer needs. Image via Pixabay
Let your stories have impact. Image via Pixabay
Big screen, little screen, LOTS of stories on either! Image via Pixabay
Preparing a talk or a flash fiction story perhaps. Image via Pixabay.
Says it all really and applies to non-fiction equally as fiction. Image via Pixabay.
Fairies are definitely not twee and you do not want to come across one that has had a bad day due to Murphy’s Law affecting her. She will take it out on someone. Image via Pixabay.
One way through to the magical world but is it all sunshine and flowers? I doubt it! Image via Pixabay
One of my favourite book images. They really are magical. Transportation into other worlds and around this one in a few hundred pages. Brilliant! Image via Pixabay.
I loved the long, light evenings in the Far North of Scotland. Image by me.
You can almost feel the mood from this picture. Image via Pixabay.
Lovely late autumn day at Hiltingbury Lakes.

This World and Others – Pointers for World Building

Some useful pointers for world building include:-

1.  Ensure there is some sense of how your world is run.  We may not need to know how it is done, we need to know it IS done, and your fictional world isn’t in a state of anarchy.

2.  Ensure your characters know what they need to know at a local level.  For example, if there are rules in the region of XYZ citizens can’t go out after a certain time at night, your characters need to know this.  Breaking such a rule could, of course, be a major part of your plot here.  If so, ensure your characters know the consequences of breaking the rules and what they are facing in doing so.  It all helps increase the tension!

3.  Your characters will, presumably, need to eat, sleep, find shelter etc so again there should be some sense of how your characters do this as they have their adventures.  Things don’t “just happen”!

4.  I like to see a general picture of how the different species interact with each other, including whether there could be any Romeo and Juliet situations where two “people” from rival backgrounds fall for each other.

5.  What is expected OF your characters by the world in which you’ve placed them?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.