Tag: Magical Reading

Favourite Supporting Characters, Why I Write, and Secrets

Leave a comment

SOA_Member_rgb

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. Lady and I have spent a lot of time getting drenched. My gutters were giving an excellent impersonation of a decent waterfall on Wednesday! The good news here is Lady dries of quicker than I do and is never worried about having to be towelled down! She sees it as a chance to have a cuddle. My first two dogs hated the “faff” of being towelled down. Thrilled to be back on the radio again this weekend. Details below. Nice way to end the week.

BookBrushImage-2023-9-22-19-4258

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

22nd September 2023 – CFT – second post

Second post today. I am glad to share Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I name some of my favourite supporting characters and look at the vital roles such characters play.
Can you imagine a good novel or film without them? I know I can’t.

Even in the shorter forms of fiction they have a role to play even if they don’t appear in the story itself but are referred to by the lead character. There will be a reason why the lead character mentions them and it will be a good one. Hope you enjoy the post.

Who would you name as our top supporting character? Do send in your nominees via the (CFT) comments box.

Favourite Supporting Characters

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

22nd September 2023 – First Post – Why I Write – Guest Appearance on Jo Fenton’s Blog

Double posting from me today. Am pleased to be on Jo Fenton’s blog today taking about Why I Write. I met Jo at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and I can’t imagine a better subject for a writer to talk about. Many thanks to Jo for hosting me.

Why I Write – Allison Symes

 

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week We’ll be looking at opening and closing lines. These are so important in any form of writing but for flash fiction, they do a lot of heavy lifting because of the brief overall word count. So it is a question of learning how to make the most of these.

Am sharing Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be looking at the vital roles of such characters. Well, can you imagine Holmes without Watson, for example? I know I can’t. Link up tomorrow. See above.

On a plus note, Lady and I have managed to avoid getting a soaking today!

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)Always a joy to talk or write about flash fiction

Have spent a lot of the day getting wet again though it was delightful to see Lady and her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, have an absolute ball in the park this morning before the dreadful weather set in. Let’s just say Noah with his Ark would have felt right at home!

Am thrilled to say my story, The Natural Look, will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s show on Saturday afternoon (23rd September). Will share a link when I have one. Hannah Kate put out a call for autumn themed stories for her Autumn Equinox edition of Hannah’s Bookshelf show on North Manchester FM. Was only too glad to write something and send it in.

I like autumn as a season (despite today’s weather!) so it was apt I wrote an autumn related tale.

380533744_735579228581941_3288891798467797930_n

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Secrets. Find out if Mary Wentworth succeeded in keeping her secret to the very end and what baking like King Alfred (of burnt cakes fame) has to do with it. Hope you enjoy the story (and many thanks to those commenting already on this one).

Screenshot 2023-09-22 at 10-11-14 Secrets by Allison Symes

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week (up tomorrow) is about Favourite Supporting Characters. See above.

For flash fiction, I find a lot of these are referred to by the main character but don’t appear. I have found a supporting character works better for the flash stories which are about 400 to 500 words or so. Mind you, whether the character is the lead of a support, I do have to know why I am writing about them. I have to care enough about them to want to write about them. I have to see their potential. This is why I plan my characters out and that will trigger ideas for stories to put them in.

Character Needs are everything

Am busy getting next author newsletter together. One thing about having these newsletters is they are an excellent reminder of how quickly the year is passing!

Am pleased to say I will be back on the radio on Saturday this week given my autumn related story has been picked by Hannah Kate for her Autumn Equinox special on North Manchester FM. My story is what I call a fairytale with bite so expect a twist and humour. That’s all I’m saying but link to come later.

I’ve also had a couple of rejections in the last few days – all part and parcel of the writing life – but I will revisit these tales and see if I can get them out somewhere else. Nobody wins them all!

380527523_735580868581777_4198308900889221121_n

Fairytales With Bite – Magical Reading

I like to know my characters so plan them out rather than the story itself. When I know my character, I have a good idea of the kind of story which would suit then best.

One way of getting to know your character well enough to write them up is to work out what tastes they would have. What would your magical character like to read, for example? Do they like the fairytales or are they keen to read almost anything but those given this forms part of the “day job” reading?

Is reading encouraged in your magical world? Are there libraries? Are there restrictions on what characters can read and why are these in place? I would suspect that apprentices, for example, are definitely not allowed to read spell books given what happened in Fantasia (Walt Disney). Incidentally, I have never seen that film in full, just clips of it (the famous scenes where things are getting out of hand for poor old Mickey Mouse). The music for it is fantastic (Paul Dukas).

So what would your characters read? Would their reading material help them with their magical gifts of do they read just to switch off after a hard day waving the magic wand about?! Who writes the stories in your setting too and what inspires them? Story ideas here, folks!

(Also I must admit I find little details in a story, such as what a character would read, makes that character and story world more real for me so even if this isn’t part of your main plot, you might like to consider putting in relevant touches such as this to add depth to your story).

BookBrushImage-2023-9-22-20-952

This World and Others – Reference Libraries

What kind of records does your magical setting hold? What would they keep in their reference libraries? I must admit I love historical records and history books so those would be my first port of call in any reference library. What kind of history would your setting record? What would it deliberately not have as a record (and how would people find out about it – someone somewhere always keeps an inconvenient record!)? Have records been altered at a later date and, if so, who by and why?

Is history as a subject appreciated in your setting? What kind of archives would your archivists manage?I love the idea of not just written records but oral ones, film clips, sound clips etc. What would your setting have? How could a particular record make a difference to your character’s life/quest? Information makes a huge difference to the success of a quest (the right kind anyway) and it is not unreasonable to assume ti would have to be stored somewhere.

Are your characters allowed access to things like reference libraries or do they have to find alternative ways of getting to it? Can characters access information at home?

BookBrushImage-2023-9-22-20-2343

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Twitter - phone and blue bird image

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

Writing Joys, Podcast News, and Launches in Lockdown 2

Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Thanks to #RichardHardie, #FrancescaTyer, and #TeresaBassett for supplying images used below too.

A huge thank you to #MaressaMortimer, #FranHill, and #WendyHJones for their images and book cover photos for my Chandler’s Ford Today Launches In Lockdown series this week.

And I am delighted to say I was on Wendy’s The Writing and Marketing Show earlier this week. Will share link further down. I talk about writing regular columns for online magazines.

podcast-4209770_640

 

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today – Launches in Lockdown Part 2

What a busy day it has been as there are two posts on here from me tonight!

For this post, I want to say what a pleasure it has been to write the Launches in Lockdown series for Chandler’s Ford Today. I think if I can make a claim to write a zeitgeist series, this one is it!

Part 2 tonight shares wonderful insights from three authors from the Association of Christian Writers (I’m the Membership Secretary). #MaressaMortimer, #FranHill, and #WendyHJones have all had books out in the very recent past and have plenty of useful tips and thoughts to share in this week’s post.

Hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Next week I’ll be chatting to writers from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School.

Maressa Mortimer.
Maressa’s latest book.
Fran Hill
For me, Fran’s book wins the funniest book title of 2020.
Wendy H Jones, author and podcaster
One of Wendy’s latest books and always relevant to writers!
Launches in Lockdown Part 2

 

Facebook – General – and Association of Christian Writers

It is very much an Association of Christian Writers weekend for me as I am at an online Committee meeting tonight and tomorrow. Much will be said. Much will be done. All thanks to Zoom!

And it is my turn on the ACW More Than Writers blog too. This month, I use my spot to talk about Writing Joys. I can’t stress enough how important it is to love what you write. (Okay you won’t all the time, nobody does, but you should be looking forward to your writing sessions and what you’re working on most of the time. It is that love for the work which drives you and can help keep you going during the tougher writing times which happen to us all).

Inventing characters and their dialogue are major writing joys for me. Pixabay
See things through the eyes of your characters. They may not see themselves as light or dark even though others will. Pixabay
I’ve yet to see the lightbulb appear above my head! Pixabay
Never too old fashioned to use a pen to jot down those ideas. Pixabay
LOVE your writing! Pixabay
Well then…! Pixabay
Beautiful light here but is what lives here light in nature or dark? Pixabay

Delighted to say my interview with Richard Hardie recently on Chandler’s Ford Today is now up on the Authors Reach website (very much with my blessing!). Authors Reach is Richard’s publishing company and I was chatting to him about the challenges he has faced as an author and publisher during the pandemic. The AR link is https://www.authorsreach.co.uk/post/richard-hardie-authors-reach-and-lockdown – well worth another read!

And tomorrow sees Part 2 of my CFT series, Launches in Lockdown, go live. This week I’ll be chatting to three lovely writers from the Association of Christian Writers – #MaressaMortimer, #FranHill, and #WendyHJones. One of them has also come up with the funniest book title of 2020 in my view. You’ll have to wait for the post tomorrow to find out who the author is and whether you agree with me or not! (Trouble with doing a blog round up in reverse date order is you will already have spotted the answer to this one!!).

Teresa Bassett.
Francesca Tyer
Richard Hardie
Richard’s debut YA book
Richard’s second YA novel.
My two flash collections!

PODCAST NEWS –

WENDY H JONES CHATS TO ALLISON SYMES

Am thrilled to share the link to my interview by Wendy H Jones for her podcast, The Writing and Marketing Show. I talk about writing a regular column (for Chandler’s Ford Today), how I find ideas (and keep coming up with them) and the joys of an online magazine.

With more of us using technology to read (smartphones, I-pads etc), it makes a huge amount of sense to have intelligent, interesting, and entertaining content available for that technology. And online magazines do need writers to provide it. Hope you enjoy. And many thanks, Wendy, for hosting me again. It was such fun to do!

Podcast News:  https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-writing-and-marketing-show/episode/writing-a-newspaper-column-81142120

Screenshot_2021-01-27 The Writing and Marketing Show - Writing a Newspaper Column on Stitcher

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

A huge thanks to everyone for the great responses so far to my CFT series, Launches in Lockdown. Whether you’ve been launching flash fiction collections (as I have) or longer works, I think it is fair to say the last 12 months have been difficult. But social media and Zoom have helped.

And I think this all shows the importance of networking too. Thanks to networking over the last few years, I have a lovely wide range of people to approach for CFT interviews, but it does also mean that same pool can be invited to my launches.

Naturally this is two-way traffic. I get invited to theirs and I go to as many as I can. You learn from what other writers do and they learn from you too. I love the give and take of the writing world here.

I guess also writing flash is excellent practice for writing short, pithy pieces for your online book launches too!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Am thrilled to see a great number of views for my recent story video, Dress Sense. The thought of Red Riding Hood giving the Big Bad Wolf fashion tips has obviously gone down well! Many thanks, everyone. (Oh and I think she’s right by the way – see the link and see what you think!).

Dress Sense Video Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVs_GEWh5To

Tripping The Flash Fantastic is on offer in paperback on Amazon at the moment. Go on, pick up a bargain! See http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent for more.

F = Fun to write
L = Lively character(s)
A = Action immediately
S = Stories great for ending with a twist
H = Heroes/heroines are dropped right in it from the start

F = Finite story length but you do have some choice
I = Imagination intense to make an intense story work
C = Character(s) has/have to grip you immediately.
T = Tension, yes there’s plenty of that and not a lot of space to resolve it.
I = Intensity can vary. Reflective pieces can work well but the character has to be compelling to make that successful.
O = Oh my… what is your flash tale’s ‘oh my’ moment?
N = Narrative take? I often favour first person.

Thought I’d share another story video here – hope you enjoy.

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Reading

What kind of books would your magical characters read? Would they read about uses of magic or do they want to get away from all of that? Well, it would make sense if they did. I know when I read I want to escape the every day world and its cares. In a magical world, the magic is the everyday world and its cares! Same old, same old, and all that!

Having said that, maybe they would want to carry out research and use it to improve their skills.
Some suggestions for possible research reading material then though I accept the titles could do with some work (and abbreviating!):-

Fairies – 10001 Things To Do With Your Wand Not Involving Turning People Into Frogs

Witches – How to Sabotage Fairy Spells So They Produce Useless Things Like Glass Slippers – A Beginner’s Guide.

Wizards – How to Produce the Perfect Smoke Ring Without Appearing to Use Magic To Do It

Elves – How To Be A Right Cobbler (see the story of The Elves and the Shoemaker here).

Dwarves – Gold and How To Find It (always of interest)

Dragons – Wing Technique for the Bigger Flying Animal and How To Get It Right and Surprise Your Prey (and I am assuming dragons are very intelligent creatures who can read, so there!).

And talking of dragons, let’s hear another story from their viewpoint.

 

This World and Others – Education, Education…..Er…. What Does Your Fictional World Consider to be Education?

So what would your created world consider to be a good standard of education? Is it just the ability to read and write? Would there be topics like history, geography, any of the sciences etc? And is the education open to all but only a few?

In an uneducated world (judging by our standards only), how would news be communicated to those who cannot read? Does the lack of an education hold people back or have they not known anything else? Is there any sense of people wanting to improve their situation here?

And if so, what or whom is stopping them and for what purposes? (Usually it is a question of being able to control people who don’t enough to question things but what if the ruler has genuine reasons for fearing what education could do? Are they right? What are those fears? How can those fears be misproved and the ruler shown a good standard of education would be beneficial?).

If there are schools, colleges etc., do they resemble what we have here? What are the differences?

And if education has always been around, how has it progressed or is it progressing during the course of your story?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter Corner

 

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