Tag: Mixing Up titles

Writing Magazines, Author Newsletters, and Notebooks

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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 have had a good few days. Will be sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday but I don’t limit myself to five. I regularly use many more different writing exercises, which I also love, but had I written about all of those, I would have a long running series on my hands!
Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing some pals she hasn’t seen for a while, as well as her Hungarian Vizler chum. Back to the drizzly weather here unfortunately.

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Busy day and evening today so am posting early.

Don’t forget the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon. You can subscribe for free at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

What do I love about quality writing magazines?

Well, firstly there is the great advice. Everyone can use those.

Secondly, they remind me I am part of a writing community. Being reminded of that is great especially when you can’t meet other writers in person as often as you’d like. (It’s just one reason I treasure going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, in August).

Thirdly, I do love the author interviews and always learn something useful from them.

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Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see some chums she hasn’t seen for a while and her Hungarian Vizler friend who acts a bit like a mum figure to her.

Have got a busy week ahead of me but it will be fun to go and see Waiting for Gateaux being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company on Thursday. Review will follow in due course on Chandler’s Ford Today. I have CFT to thank for introducing me to the wonderful world of local amateur theatre.

Did get my competition entry off over the weekend so well pleased with that. Will be thinking about drafting more stories soon. I like to have a stock in so when a suitable or open competition comes up, I have something that could be a contender. Suspect this may need to wait until the weekend though.

438681466_10161844752107053_3183887308183743724_nWhen I’m not writing for a specific deadline (whether that’s a post for Chandler’s Ford Today etc or a story competition), I will take some of the ideas I’ve jotted down in my notebook and then start drafting them as potential non-fiction articles. I know I will find a use for these at a later date. It is lovely to have work “ready to go” when an opportunity arises.

I will also draft flash fiction and short stories from my jottings for fiction ideas, even if I don’t have an immediate home for them, because I know there will be competitions later in the year where they could be placed.

For my regular deadlines, weekly or monthly, I try to stay ahead of myself in that I will have a post out there, one ready to put up, and ideas for ones beyond that. I find it pays. I’m never short of things to write up either.

One of the biggest aids to my creativity has been in getting to my desk knowing what I’m going to be writing. Just as with my fictional openings, for my writing overall, I do like to hit the ground running.

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Hope you have had a good day, More sunshine! Yes, Lady and I have made the most of it again. Got the lawn cut. She played with her football.

Am looking forward to sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I evaluate these five, all of which I use regularly. Link up on Friday.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday and going to see the wonderfully named Waiting For Gateaux being performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group on Thursday. Review to follow on CFT in due course but I must say this does sound more fun than Waiting for Godot. A busy week to come then but should be a fun one. (Now if only the news could get better!).

Writing Tip: Every so often I jot down potential ideas for future blog posts for Chandler’s Ford Today, Authors Electric, More than Writers, and ideas for possible articles for Writers’ Narrative. So the jotting down of ideas for future use doesn’t just have to apply to fiction. I find it just as useful for non-fiction.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget my next author newsletter is out on 1st May. Only a week to go, folks! If you’d like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As well as sending out my own newsletter, I subscribe to a number of other author ones too. I enjoy finding out what my favourite writers are getting up to with their books and stories and any tips they share.

Sometimes I will find out about competitions relevant to me I hadn’t known about. No one writer can know it all here. There are loads of writing competitions out there. It pays then to stay in touch with what is going on in the writing world and author newsletters, as well as the writing magazines, are great and fun ways to do this.

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It’s Monday. The rain is back. It is still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is Changing Time. Does Maxran get away with his scheme to make it seem as if he has been on time for once? Find out here and what will happen if he fails. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope to be submitting a flash piece later on today for a competition. I won’t hear back for some time but I like to get entries in well ahead of official deadlines. Also ensures I don’t forget to send entries in – that is so easy to do. It may be old school but paper diaries work! I use one all the time to plan out when I need to submit stories or articles. I find doing that keeps me on track.

So even if you don’t plan out your stories, you may find it pays to plan out your writing time, competition deadlines etc. I also plan out when to have my newsletter drafted by and give myself plenty of time to add in last bits of news etc. That pays too.

Being organised sounds dull (okay it is dull, it is not something to get excited about) but I have found it has made me more productive and I welcome that.

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I like to mix up what I get from my story titles. Sometimes I like to intrigue – see The Terrified Dragon (Tripping the Flash Fantastic). The obvious hook there is why would such a beast be scared and of what? Sometimes though I like to keep a title “open” such as Identity (also TTFF). There the hook is to find out what identity is being referred to and why it matters.

So I give good thought to what I want my titles to do. I also like a good mixture in collections of the specific and open titles. Also helps me get a good mixture of moods of story. I try to keep my titles short (usually) as they’re easier to remember. The majority of mine come in from one to five words though sometimes I have gone over that if I need more words to convey the mood I want to set.

I have a working title for my drafts. I find it helps. I do sometimes change that if a better idea occurs to me as I’m writing the first draft. I’ve learned not to be surprised when that happens and just go with it but having that starting point is useful for giving me to something to work to.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Lure of a Great Book

The lure of a great book, for me, is in its characterisation. I have got to want to find out what happens to them. For non-fiction, the “character” is the narrative voice and that has to grip me enough to make me keep on reading.

I find it is the characters I remember and from there the plot line rather than the other way around. If someone says Sam Vimes to me, I will picture his character in the Discworld books, then favourite lines by him or concerning him, the overall story etc. It is in that order though.

Once a book has got me gripped, that’s it. I’m away. To ensure I do get a good night’s sleep, I limit myself to a chapter or two. That can be difficult at times but I cheer myself up with the thought I will be having more to look forward to the following night.

The characters/narrative voice do have to get under your skin. They stay with you after the book has finished too. Now that is the sign of a great book if ever there was one. If I were to ask you to name your five top characters, I am sure you would have no trouble doing that. The problem would be in limiting it to just five.

This is why I think characters are so important. We get behind them, not the plot. We want them to succeed (and fulfil the plot but without the characters the whole thing falls apart anyway).

For non-fiction I tend to recall the authors/narrative voice but when these work really well, I am definitely going to be getting more books by them.

Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 19-49-59 The Lure of a Great Book

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Music and Books – Free Book Offer!

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Image Credit:  Unless stated, the images are from Pixabay or Pexels.

Facebook – General

Music and books are going to be great boons during the current situation. They are marvellous comforts anyway but whatever you enjoy on either or both fronts here, I hope you have a wonderful time catching up on what you want to listen to/read.

Talking of which…

Would you like a free book?

Magnetism, a collection of short stories, edited by Gill James may be just the ticket for you here then. Just follow the link below and sign up to Scribblers Books, Books, Books.

Magnetism will not be on sale anywhere and it is a great advert for the kind of stories you will find published by Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, and Chapeltown Books.

Authors included in Magnetism are #RogerNoons, #SallyAngell, #GailAldwin, #AlysonFaye, #PaulaReadman, #DawnKentishKnox, oh and one #AllisonSymes amongst many, many others. There is a lovely variety of styles and stories here. Do check it out.

Keep safe, keep well, God bless, be kind, and have a good read!

What questions do you put to your readers via your characters? Pixabay
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Image thanks to Paula Readman

I can’t say I write for therapeutic reasons though there are plenty who do. What I can say is I always feel better in myself once I have written whether it’s 50 words or 500.

I feel even better when I’ve polished a piece of work up and submitted it somewhere. But the act of producing a piece of work and getting it as good as you can make it is so worthwhile in and of itself. Any results such as publication are a marvellous bonus.

Whatever your creative activity of choice is, enjoy. Particularly enjoy the side benefits. Creativity really is good for you.

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Having written a story, I put it aside for a while so I get some distance from it. If I don’t do that, I find I have two responses to a piece of work – what I’ve written is rubbish or is a work of genius (and neither is true! To be fair, I AM trying to work on the latter and will be to the day I put my pen down for the last time I suspect 😆😆!).

I ask myself certain questions when going through a piece and these include:-

1. Is the story making the impact on me I thought it would on a reader? If it doesn’t, it certainly won’t on said reader.

2. Do I HAVE to find out what happens to the character, no matter what? When the answer to that one is yes, that’s a very good sign. Where it isn’t, I need to look at why a character isn’t gripping me the way they ought to be. Tweaks here and there usually put that right. I then put the story aside again for another breathing space and then ask myself this question again. The answer should be yes for sure the second time.

3. Does every word (particularly for flash fiction) HAVE to be in the story? Have any of my infamous wasted words crept in? If so, out they go.

Happy writing and rewriting!

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I have the feeling some of my favourite “comfort reading” books will be making a reappearance on my TBR pile during this very strange time. Still if I can stick to comfort reading instead of comfort eating, I’ll be ahead of the game!

I think it is fair to say we are living in interesting times. I’ll be talking a bit more about that in my CFT post this week AND share some thoughts on story creation for anyone who would like to give it a go but has not yet tried to do so. The whole idea is just to write for fun.

The nice thing about the advent of flash fiction is you need not be put off by the thought of having to write thousands and thousands of words either. You don’t have to unless you want to! And writing IS fun especially when you remember the important thing is to enjoy it. Tidying up a piece of work can come later.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash tales are short but they should pack a good emotional punch for their word count. I like to think of it as illuminating one specific moment in a character’s life. It has to be the single most important thing too, else why write about it?

I love reading flash fiction too of course as its great joy is being able to dip in and out of collections, sample different styles and mood of story, and have a good read in few words.

Whatever you are reading or writing (or both) right now, enjoy!

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Time to use the random phrase gnerator again. On offer tonight the phrase On Cloud Nine. Let’s see what I can do with that then. Hope you enjoy!

ON CLOUD NINE BY ALLISON SYMES
Well it is where I’ve been parked. Don’t ask me why it wasn’t Cloud 8 or 7 or what have you. Here I am sitting on Cloud 9 waiting for instructions.

I was told Cloud Nine is where trainee fairies go before being let loose on an alien world of their choice to do what good they can.

I was also told it was where they put trainee fairies our government thinks are clumsy clots and where they’re trying to limit the damage.

Of course they don’t tell the likes of me anything so goodness knows what the true story is – that fake news stuff gets everywhere I tell you.

I do feel daft sitting here twiddling with the star at the end of my magic wand. I’m itching to get out there somewhere to do something.

Ah! My trainer has just turned up. Tells me my itch to get out there to do something is the problem. Apparently I caused a mass over-production of pumpkins around Cinderella’s garden. Well, where is the problem? She needed plenty to choose from, didn’t she?

Apparently that’s not the point. The girl only needed the one. And there’s a limit to how much pumpkin pie anyone can eat.

Well that’s me told.

My offer to make the spares vanish was hastily turned down.

My trainer tells me they’re sending me to Earth. I’m to wave my magic wand where I see fit. Hmm… that sounds good and fun. I ask what I’m to do specifically.

I’m told to inspire a love of reading, writing and general creativity.

That sounds good but I thought the humans did that already.

Not enough, I’m told. They still fight and squabble. They need more creativity apparently.

Well that’s me set up for a good job for some time then.

It will be a lot better than sitting here on Cloud Nine. Wish me luck.

ENDS
Allison Symes – 22nd March 2020

Have as good a week as possible, folks.

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What do I look for in a character that will make me want to follow their story no matter what? (This applies to whatever type of story I read and/or write but for flash fiction, all of this has to be condensed of course). I look for:-

1. A character that intrigues me. They’re showing an attitude I like and I have to find out how things work out for them OR conversely I’ve got to find out where they’re coming from to have the attitude they do have. (Whether I still agree with their attitude is another matter but if they come out with good reasons for it, then that grips me and makes me keep reading too. And that is the key, isn’t it? How DO you keep a reader reading?).

2. Humorous characters. I ADORE characters with a sense of irony especially when it is directed at themselves.

3. A character with courage and determination.

4. A character who mucks things up big time but redeems themselves. (Can’t we all identify with that one?!)

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I mix up how I come up with titles as well as the flash fiction stories themselves. I often use one word titles. I sometimes use alliterative titles (for example Telling The Time in From Light to Dark and Back Again). As you know I sometimes use proverbs/well known sayings as either titles or themes (occasionally both).

But whatever type of title I use, it has to be a suitable “peg” to hang my story from. Occasionally I change a title as a better idea comes to me when I’m writing the first draft but this doesn’t happen often. I’m usually happy with what I had planned initially. I hope that means I’m getting better at what would work for a piece. I have learned to trust my gut instinct more over the years and it doesn’t usually let me down. This is where the writer’s voice comes in. You have to learn to recognise your own and trust it!

 

Books should keep you gripped and that is down to the characters. Image via Pixabay
Characters no matter what their world should resonate with readers. Image via Pixabay
Great characters escape from great books! Pixabay image.
Always a good idea this!
The lights fantastic. Pixabay image.
A clean sheet can lead to some fascinating characters and stories. Image via Pixabay
What is unforgettable about your story? Pixabay image.

Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Books

When times are tough, or your own situation is going through a difficult patch, what books do you turn to for some comfort and cheer?

Do you look to escape for a while via the printed word or does that aspect not matter as long as you’re reading?

I tend to turn to humour and this is where the wonderful books of P.G. Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett in particular come to the fore for me.

All of their work is capable of withstanding multiple re-readings and I usually pick up on gags, in-jokes etc., that I missed before. (I just do! I also don’t believe I’m alone in that).

After humour, I turn to crime – reading wise that is! I adore Agatha Christie but I enjoy contemporary crime too. (See Wendy H Jones and Val Penny for more on these, especially if you like your stories set in Scotland).

After crime I turn to history and that can be a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. I’ve enjoyed Jennifer C. Wilson’s Kindred Spirits series here as that combines a very different take on history with ghost stories.

By this stage, I’m usually looking for some non-fiction to get my reading “teeth” into and then I’m back to the funny works again.

Above all, I have a fabulous time doing all of this!

Whatever you read, especially now, enjoy. Take care, keep well, be kind, and God bless.

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