Tag: Magical equipment

My Top Five Writing 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 you have had a good week. I’ve had a busy one with the ACW Flash Fiction Group and a lovely trip to see the latest production from my local excellent amateur theatre company. Review to follow on CFT in due course. All I will say is with the title being Waiting For Gateaux I was expecting some laughs. Lady got to see her friend Coco the other day for the first time in ages and both dogs were very happy to see each other. Dogs are lovely like that.

BookBrushImage-2024-4-26-19-950

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Had a lovely time at Ritchie Hall for Waiting For Gateaux last night. Review to follow for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course.

Meantime, I’m pleased to share My Top Five Writing Exercises as my CFT post this week. If you would like to try writing exercises to help with your story creations etc but don’t know where to start, why not try out the five I list here? I use them all regularly. There are many other exercises available but these are the ones I use most often.

My post also looks at how writing exercises encourage you to think in different ways (and therefore stretch your imagination). I also share further top tips for making the most of writing exercises. Hope you find the post useful.

My Top Five Writing Exercises

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Am off to see Waiting For Gateaux, the latest production to be staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group at Ritchie Hall tonight. Should be fun. Will be reviewing for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. I also get to meet up with my lovely CFT editor at these productions so we do kind of consider these to be a CFT works outing!

Will be sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for CFT tomorrow and evaluating what I find helpful about each of these. There are many more I could have mentioned as I use far more than five but I thought the ones I picked for this post would be useful for any writer to use. See above.

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)

Every so often I receive reviews directly rather than via Amazon etc. Delighted to say one came in for me today for Tripping the Flash Fantastic. A huge thank you to the reviewer concerned.

I like how Allison Symes managed to put together a book of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry that intrigued me here and there. Tripping the Flash Fantastic is also very easy to read through because the stories are short—before long, I found myself already having devoured more stories than I thought I could in a short amount of time. The stories are also creative and while not all stories resonate, it is inspiring and quite original. I like simple books like these. From KO.

I’ve mentioned before all authors appreciate reviews. They help make our books more visible and all writers welcome validation of their work (and we get that from reviews and other feedback from readers of course).

Reviews don’t have to be long either. Nor is there a use by date by which you need to get reviews in by. Yes, they are especially useful shortly after publication but I’ve reviewed books by other authors which I came to years after those books originally came out. You can’t know when someone is going to see your books.

But do review. It doesn’t take long. And it gives the author something to share as part of their marketing via posts like this one, mentions on their website etc.

434471074_864625349010661_4211043881389468222_n

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – Deception. The opening line for this one started life as an exercise I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group which I run once a month on Zoom.

I always have a go at the exercises (I don’t want to miss out on the fun of creating stories from them!) and knew this one had potential. This story, I think, will have resonance for many. Many thanks to those who have already commented on this.

Screenshot 2024-04-26 at 10-12-54 Deception by Allison Symes

One of the delights of going to see a live production, as I will be doing this evening, is watching for those lovely moments which add to the characterisation of the play in question. These will be those “flash moments” which help you understand a character better and can be funny, moving, tragic etc. Mind you I am off to see Waiting For Gateaux so I am expecting humour with a title like that!

Glad to say last night’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom went well last night. I hope everyone gets something positive from the exercises I set. I have a go at these myself after the meeting and I think I can do something with at least two of what I drafted last night. Hope to start drafting something over the weekend when I have more time.

Sometimes for these meetings, I will prepare an answer to an exercise in advance to give an example but I do love joining in with live writing exercises myself. Does wonders for the old brain cells!

I often set and AM set writing exercisesLooking forward to tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Always good to see everyone and we usually draft flash pieces in response to prompts (or have the starts of stories to finish off later) by the end of the evening.

I join in with these exercises and indeed, from the meeting in March, I’ve used a couple of opening lines I drafted then for YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction stories this month. That’s a result as far as I’m concerned.

Pleased to have received a review of Tripping the Flash Fantastic directly (see my author timeline on Facebook for more on that). See above. But I will sneak in another plea for reviews for all authors. Thanks.

I like to mix up how I open my flash tales but the one thing I try to do for all of them is to hit the ground running. I want to engage readers immediately. Sometimes I do that by setting up an interesting premise. Other times I’m showing a character in the middle of something and you have to read on to find what happens.

Sometimes I’m using thoughts, dialogue, or questions. But whatever I use, I always ask myself what is in this for the reader? That matters. Keeping your audience in mind all the time helps with focus. It makes editing easier too. With that question in mind, it is easier to spot what would be useful to a reader and what could be cut.

438696116_10161848016857053_8407927892528407198_n

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Equipment

In your setting, what exists in the way of magical equipment? Who makes it? Where do they get their “components” and do they have to meet safety standards?

(I’m married to an electronics engineer. Safety standards come into his world a lot and rightly so but I see no reason why they can’t come into a fictional world too. Indeed, a good story idea would be about someone trying to enforce safety standards for the greater good and the struggle they have to get everyone else in their society to accept that point. How many accidents would have to happen before the need for change is recognised and your character is the one to lead the way here?).

Can all of your characters access the magical equipment they need or are these reserved for certain species and/or for those at a certain level of magical ability? Your governing authority could of course control who can gain that magical ability to limit what powers can be used by whom that way but there would be an interesting story in why they are doing this.

Also does magical equipment go wrong? Can it be fixed? Who would carry out repairs and “servicing”? Is there the equivalent of an MOT for a witch’s broom? (If not, why not! Would love to see a queue of witches lining up to get their vehicles through statutory checks. What would happen to any unfortunate service engineer telling an annoyed witch her bristles need replacing? Could see some funny stories coming out here!). How can wands be checked to ensure they are doing what they’re supposed to do? Who cares enough to ensure magical equipment does work properly?

What controls do your governing authority have to ensure shoddy equipment doesn’t make it out into the open? Where has your world come from in terms of equipment development to get to where they are now?

Who has invented the equipment? What was done to improve the original models (almost inevitably improvements would either be necessary or become desirable when technology changes)?

Give some thought too as to how well or otherwise your characters use magical equipment available to them. That could make a huge difference as to whether they complete their “mission” successfully or not. Tools/equipment matter!

BookBrushImage-2024-4-26-19-486

This World and Others – Manufacturers

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite above, who are the manufacturers who make the products your characters will use? (The best known one of course is Ollivander the wand maker from the Harry Potter series but I liked that character. I liked the way it was realised someone had to make the things the main characters need to use).

How do the manufacturers access the ingredients and materials they need? What difficulties do they face here? Do they ever find materials they could always access before become rarer due to reasons of natural disasters/magical wars/other events in your setting or other manufacturers effectively buying up the lot?
Do magical manufacturers trade knowledge and materials with each other? Are there trade bodies? Do governments agree standards manufacturers have to meet and enforce that?

How did manufacturers get into the business? Is it a question of following the family business? How did those businesses begin? What made characters realise their talents lay in making equipment rather than using it directly?

How do they balance selling their equipment to those they would far rather not have these things with being able to survive? (Well, would you want to sell equipment to Sauron or Voldemort but what choice would you give your manufacturers for your own cast of villains here?).

BookBrushImage-2024-4-26-20-321

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Screenshot 2024-03-22 at 15-23-10 Writers' Narrative April 2024Screenshot 2024-03-22 at 15-24-20 Writers' Narrative April 2024

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

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.

Paragraphs and Punctuation In Fiction

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.
Hope you have had a good week. Off to run a workshop in London tomorrow. Submitted a story for a competition I always enter. Finished judging a flash fiction competition and sent results back to the organisers. Has been a reasonably productive week!

BookBrushImage-2022-5-13-19-371

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s that time of the week again. I’m pleased to share Paragraphs and Punctuation In Fiction, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today.

I discuss how both are invaluable aids to clarity in writing which in turn is going to increase your chances of acceptance by a publisher or getting a placing in a competition.

What you don’t want to do here is give them a reason to turn your work down and writing which is clunky thanks to bulky paragraphs and/or unclear punctuation (which can change the meaning of what you want to say) is a sure fire way to ensure your work is turned down.

My post looks at the Oxford comma, why size matters for paragraphs, and why keeping it simple for punctuation does pay off. I also recommend checking out house styles for publishers (and for competitions the guidelines the organizers are asking you to adhere to) and share my thoughts on why I treat writing and editing as two separate creative tasks.

Albeit editing is creative in a different way to writing that first draft but it is still creative. Honest. I find it immensely satisfying seeing how a work improves over various drafts before I finally send my piece out into the big, bad world.

Hope you find the post useful and, as ever, do add your comments in the box – it is always good to hear from people.

Paragraphs and Punctuation in Fiction

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What got you into reading for pleasure? Well, in my case, it was my late mother who read stories out to me and encouraged me to learn to read at a very early age. You do copy by example.

What got me into writing my own stories? Suddenly waking up to the idea after I hit a significant birthday and a life change (the birth of my son) and realizing if I wanted to be a writer, something that had been in the back of my mind for ages, I should get on and do something about it.

I wrote just to prove to myself I could do it but it was some time later before I went on to try and be published. I suspect lack of confidence was an issue there, but by then the writing bug had got me well and truly hooked and I wasn’t going to let rejections etc stand in the way, which helped against the lack of confidence dilemma!

For me, stories are all about the characters. I have to find out what happens to them. I have to care about the outcome. And that remains an enjoyable challenge for me as I write my stories, as well as giving me immense delight when I read stories by other writers where I am rooting for their “people” all the way through. I use the word “people” loosely there. After all, I was cheering on rabbits in Watership Down!

280503986_10160367595712053_5670134207705471563_n-1

Changeable day weather wise. Lady and her pals were not that impressed by it. Their owners were even less impressed. At least the dogs were running around! (Before you ask, there’s no chance of me doing that. Walk yes; run out of the question!).

Will be sharing my Paragraphs and Punctuation In Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. I’ll be looking at this from the viewpoint of a writer but also from the viewpoint of a competition judge – me! I judge flash fiction and short story competitions every so often and am currently judging for Nottingham Writers’ Club. I also judged the Margaret McConnell Woman’s Short Story competition for the Scottish Association of Writers earlier this year. So I hope you will find the tips in my CFT post handy as both of these things can help make or break a story for being placed. Will explain more on that in my post.

Image on the right is one I took at the SAW conference earlier this year. They have a very impressive range of trophies for their competitions!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. Hope you have had a good week. I’m glad to say my story, Creation, is now on Friday Flash Fiction and I think any creative type will identify with my lead character in this one. Hope you enjoy the story.

Screenshot 2022-05-13 at 09-12-04 Creation by Allison Symes


Am currently judging a flash competition for the Nottingham Writers’ Club, which is a great pleasure to do. Does judging other people’s work make me think about what I do with my stories and why? Oh yes and that’s a very good thing.

It means I can take a more detached view of my own work for a start but I can also think about why a story works for me and apply that to what I’m writing. What will my readers make of this? Will my readers pick up on what I want them to pick up and so on?

The best tip I’ve ever had was (and continues to be) to put my work aside for a while before evaluating it. It does need that distance of time to help you to read the piece as a reader (or editor or judge) would do. That in turn opens your eyes to potential faults but you then have time to correct those.


Out in my garden at the moment is a laburnum in flower. Looks stunning. So what, you may think?

Well, this tree is an old one, it has lost major branches over the years, and every time there is a storm, we expect it to come crashing down. But it carries on and is a visual lesson in resilience and not giving up, I think. Now there’s an obvious parallel to the writing life in that but why not also think about this from a character viewpoint?

What kind of character could you create that battles on regardless and “blooms” again despite everyone around them having good reason to think they can’t? I think there could be some interesting story ideas from that.

BookBrushImage-2022-5-11-19-5717

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Equipment

What springs to mind when you think of magical equipment? Wands? Crystal balls? Potions (and the ingredients for them)? Fair enough. These are the classic tools which spring up in countless fairytales. But I was wondering whether the magical world had its equivalent of Microsoft and they were always bringing out magical upgrades and so on. Perhaps someone’s wand wasn’t “healthy enough” to take Wand 11 Version 8.9 and so on.

What would your characters make of having to upgrade regularly? Would they be suspicious of the manufacturers doing this trying to make even greater profits? Would they make do with their old equipment for as long as possible? (I resisted switching to Windows 8 when that came out as I heard nothing but bad things about it from various sources. I basically wore my PC out still using Windows 7 and switched PCs only when Windows 10 was out).

Also how many magical equipment manufacturers exist in your created world? Is there a monopoly? Can old equipment be recycled or can people still find a use for it? Does said equipment ever let your characters down at awkward moments and, if so, are the consequences tragic or even humorous? Some story ideas there I think!

BookBrushImage-2022-5-13-20-534

This World and Others – Engagement

How does your created world engage with (a) other worlds near it or (b) with different species within its own confines? Is engagement a positive thing or are your people suspicious of it?

How would national characteristics come into play? If one part of your world was aggressive, how would that impact on the rest of your created world and what would their reaction be? How would they engage with the aggressor to try and persuade them to stop?

Now there are obvious parallels with the war in Ukraine (and indeed with many wars throughout our history) but this is where knowing how we engage with others can make you think about how you would do this for your fictional people and worlds. Are they better than us? Are they worse?

Comparisons with what we know here to what could be in what you are drafting are useful. They give you a place to start as you world build. They can also be useful “echoes” for readers who recognize certain traits are what we do or are based on what we do/have done.

Even the most fantastical world has to have something readers can identify with – they need to engage with what you have come up with – so basing your concept on what we know here helps with that.

BookBrushImage-2022-5-13-20-2054

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.