Tag: notebooks

Caring for Characters

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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, as was the photo of a frog. Find out below why I needed one!
Hope you have had a good few days. The heavy rains have stopped but we now have strong gale force winds! Lady has got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal so all is well in her world. Am busy working on what will be author interviews for Chandler’s Ford Today (to go live a little later on in the year). I love the behind the scenes work on these. I’ve always loved research especially when it comes to writers and their works.

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Hope you have had a good day. Enjoyed my swim earlier. I did think when I took up swimming seriously I would use the time in the pool to think about stories, blogs, work out ideas etc. Not a bit of it! I do find my mind goes blank so when I come out I feel refreshed physically and mentally. Maybe that is the point of swimming!

Having said that, I do get ideas at odd times. I just write them down as soon as I can. It can’t always be immediately. I am thankful though I am never woken up by potential ideas. I’d be too grumpy for having woken up early for anything I then wrote down to make any sense!

I do have notebooks/post it notes all over the place. It pays. I’ve been known to email myself with ideas too. Smart phones are handy there. I wish I could train my brain to come up with ideas at times which are convenient to me but I suspect most writers wish for that.

Ideas, the spark for writing competitions, image via Pixabay

Not a bad start to the working week though we have had gale force winds in my part of the world today. Not that this stopped Lady having a riotous time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal today. Dogs like to keep things simple!

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again on Friday. How are we nearly at March already? If you’d like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

The joy of author newsletters (and I subscribe to several) is finding out what is going on writing wise with your favourite authors and I always learn from the tips shared. I hope folk learn from the tips I share in mine. The goal is always to improve our own writing and newsletters are a great way to share useful information like this.

I chose to send out a newsletter once monthly

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Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Weather up and down though Lady got to see Coco again today. Both dogs pleased with that.

Reading Tip: I like to mix up reading novels and short story/flash collections. I also like to mix up moods of both kinds of book. I feel doing this immerses me in a wonderful world of books. Also I don’t want grim/dark all the time. Neither do I want light frothy fare all the time. Life is a mixture of things so I like my reading to reflect this. Taking this forward….

Writing Tip: I also like to mix up the mood of my flash and short stories. So, yes, there are darker ones but I make sure there are also plenty of lighter ones. I know what I like to read in terms of mood and try to reflect that in what I produce. Again I think it is a reasonably accurate reflection of life. I want my writing to move people and to entertain.

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Lady got to see her pal, Coco, today and the dogs had a good run around before the heavens opened.

Will be looking at Light Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Hard to believe we’ll be into March for that one. Still it does mean spring is getting ever closer, always a good thing! I’ll be looking at what I think light writing actually is and share my thoughts on it. I will say now though I don’t think it should be underrated. Link up on Friday.

I occasionally look up the random theme generators. Sometimes these trigger ideas for stories, occasionally for blog posts. I did so for this post but had to smile. The theme that came up? Well, I doubt if I’ll be writing on the theme of vampires for Chandler’s Ford Today or Writers’ Narrative any time soon!

Logically I could do so. I would look at the history of vampire stories etc., but it is not a topic I’m especially keen on and that is the reason why I wouldn’t do it. You do have to like the topic you’re writing about, I think.

For stories, you do need to care for the characters, even if you do want to see them fail and for me the sign of a “good” villain is where you don’t want them to win but have a sneaking sorrow they didn’t. Top notch villain here? The Sheriff of Nottingham as played by the much missed Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

And I guess I have got a post out of vampires – this one!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

What do I look for first and foremost in a flash fiction piece, whether I’ve written it or not? Impact is the simple answer. I want the story, whether it is six words, fifty words, or the full one thousand allowed in flash, to make me react, whether it is to make me laugh, cry, wince, or feel fear. (The theme for Jaws is excellent for the latter incidentally. Have never watched the film. Have no wish to do so. The music is scary enough but it is brilliant – also has made me react!).

For stories, I absolutely have to care about the lead character. If not, why read on to find out what happens to them? (Oh and I know they needed a bigger boat for Jaws. Assume they got one!).

sharks

Understanding where the characters come from can lead to understanding ourselves

It’s Monday. The rain has stopped. There are gale force winds where I am and it’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy Stranger in Town, my latest on my YouTube channel. Moral of this one: be nice. Find out why here.

I like to mix up the way I open a story of whatever length. I do this to keep things interesting for me and hope it will prove to do the same for readers. Sometimes I will give you a scene setting first line. Sometimes I ask a question (which you know the story will have to answer). At other times, I use dialogue or internal thoughts.

But all are designed to hook the reader in and get them to keep reading until the end of the story. I’ll be talking about this in more depth for a future Chandler’s Ford Today post, but the opening line is so important when you consider if people don’t get past that, they’re not reading any further. No pressure then!

424975042_837174928422370_5819201919355738451_nMany thanks for the comments coming in on Facing the Frog, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Good fun to write.

Not quite an alliterative title but almost there! I try not to use these too often as I think it can look gimmicky but every now and again they can have a great effect.

For this story, I came up with the title first, knowing someone was going to be at the rough end of a spell against them, but I wanted a character who was determined to just cope with the temporary curse as best as they could. They would face up to being a frog for a bit. You can find out how they did at the link.

Let’s just say I came up with a character who is even more slippery than I first envisaged and I wouldn’t trust them either in frog or human form!

Image of frog below taken by me a while back!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Non-Fiction and Fiction – Where Worlds Combine

I love reading history, fiction and non-fiction. Just sometimes the worlds cross. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is one of my favourite books and is the only novel to have made me change my opinion about a historical figure – Richard III. The fictional story of Tey’s Inspector Alan Grant is woven with history beautifully but it is still fiction.

I’ve read Philippa Langley’s books on her search for Richard III’s remains and, her current book, The Princes in the Tower. I am sure Josephine Tey would’ve loved both of them.

But in this case it was a fictional work which got me interested in the actual history here. Fiction has led into greater non-fiction interest here and this is a good thing.

I love it when different types of book feed into each other. Fiction and non-fiction are equally wonderful things.

Screenshot 2024-02-24 at 17-19-40 Non-Fiction and Fiction - Where Worlds Combine

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Keeping Busy, Desk Tidying, and Publication News

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Image Credit:  Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Desk Tidying:  The fact I’ve put this as part of the title for this post should indicate how often I do tidy my desk! (Halley’s Comet comes around more often… – well, okay, maybe not, but I give it a run for its money!).

Allison Symes - Published Works

Yours truly and some of my collected works! Image by Adrian Symes

Facebook – General

Has tipped it down here in soggy Hampshire for a lot of the day. Not that Lady minds. She gets wet. Her owners dry her off. Why should she worry? (Is currently curled up on the sofa, dozing).

Many thanks for the great comments and response to part 1 of my new CFT series, The Writing Game – and What to Watch For. I look forward to sharing the other two posts in due course. I’ve also got some super interviews coming up too in August so much to look forward to there.

My main work this week has been the old blogging and that’s fine. I get weeks like that. So I simply redress the balance and I hope next week to focus more on the flash fiction.

Am also feeling a bit chuffed. Better half has added some wonderful protective material to my writing desk and it looks really good. Plus side of that: it forced me to tidy up said desk!

I am not one of life’s workers who always has a neat desk! I know where everything is and why it is there though but I can be accused of having a clutter habit!. Surprise, surprise NOT, I am surrounded by books, pens, and notebooks! But I can see the surface of my desk tonight so feel as if I am on a roll!😆😆

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Busy day working on editing but a productive one. Am making good progress on the remaining parts of my new CFT series. Then I will have some fab interviews to share. So all go but in a very good way.

One thing I’d like to try and do more of is schedule Facebook and Twitter posts. I’ve tended to save doing this for when I know I’m going to be away but it is a useful tool and I think I can make better use of it.

I sometimes write tweets for the Association of Christian Writers (hence learning to schedule said things) and I know I can use that scheduling ability for other things. It’s a question of sitting down and actually doing so though. Isn’t that so often the way of it?!

But one thing has happened throughout my writing journey to date and I know it will continue to happen. That is, I pick up useful things to apply to my writing such as scheduling more, get on and use them, and then wonder how I ever did without them!😊

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Another soggy day in Hampshire, not that Lady minded. She needed all of two seconds to “unarrange” the sofa on coming in in from her late walk before deciding it was time to stop and get on with the important business of the evening – having a doze. Item 1 on the Agenda duly ticked…

I have now submitted for consideration some of the pieces I wrote as part of the Zoom writing workshop I attended over the last week or so. If accepted, they will be showcased so am keeping fingers crossed about that.

It is a fact I’ve got used to that I get good ideas for stories, CFT posts etc., when I’m busily doing something else. So I just pause, jot those ideas down, and then resume what I was doing.

I’ve never followed the advice to keep a notebook by the bed to write down any interesting dreams etc because once I am asleep, that’s it. It really does take the trumpet of doom or our alarm clock to wake me up.

I don’t dream much at all and, on the rare occasions I do, everything is disjointed. Trust me, if I wrote any of that down, you would wonder what I’d been drinking the night before! I’d wonder too!😆😆

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Belated Publication News – Cafelit – Strangers In the Night

The last few days have been particularly busy but I must admit it’s now confession time: I forgot to share my latest story on Cafelit, Strangers In the Night, which went up a few days ago. Oops! Still the great thing with online magazines is they generally don’t have a read by date!

And if you want to know what happened when Robbie the vampire met a monster who believes good manners are SO important, do check out my Strangers In The Night story.

Hope you enjoy. It was great fun to write!😊

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Could a flash fiction story be told in haiku and still have a proper beginning, middle and end? Let’s have a go!

1. The fish thief ran off
But in hot pursuit was the
Dog after the cat.

2. The happy ever
After could wait, she believed.
Breaking glass slippers.

Allison Symes – 25th July 2020

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

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The benefits of writing to a set word count don’t just apply to flash fiction. I’ve found that writing “tight” has paid off with my blogging and longer short story writing. Writing flash has developed my “AWW” detector no end!

AWW Detector? What’s that?

Simple: Allison’s Wasted Words Detector.

We all have wasted words. Mine are very, actually, and that. Sometimes I can justify the that. Less often I can justify the actually. (A character will sometimes actually speak like that!). I’ve never been able to justify the use of very.

But you do get better at knowing what can come out immediately on the first edit. I’ve found getting this done helps me get back into the stories quicker, spot other things to be tightened up, and away I go.

So it does pay to know what your wasted words or pet phrases are. You can ensure then if there is a case for using them, you know what it is and you’re not just putting them in because you always write those things.

I’ve not yet found a way of stopping myself writing these things in the first draft so have given up trying. I accept I’m going to do it. I know those words won’t make it further than the first draft so that’s okay (and I can justify that that!!).

Oh and several cases of that bit the dust before I hit send on this post!😆😆

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Monday. Hmm… Busy. Expect yours was too. Do you find writing more difficult on days like these?

I always find writing a pleasure and a way to relax, funnily enough, though Monday is the one day when my word count is significantly less than the rest of the week. I’ve learned over time not to worry about it. Just write what I can, enjoy doing it, and edit it later! All that needs to be cut WILL come out in the edit!

The thought of writing though at the end of a busy day spurs me on to get to the end of that business though so writing helps me that way too.

And Monday is often the day when I will focus on draft blog posts and flash fiction pieces for use later on. So Monday has its uses then!

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The one thing you can guarantee about any New Year is not all of the 12 months will go as smoothly as we would like - Pixabay

I was a bit cross with myself for forgetting to share my latest Cafelit story, Strangers In the Night, earlier than this, but these things happen!

If you’re wondering about the drink assigned to the story, Cafelit ask for writers to come up with something they think they will suit their tale. Given I’ve got a vampire in this one (called Robbie), I thought Bloody Mary was an appropriate drink to use for this. Hope you enjoy.

http://cafelitcreativecafe.blogspot.com/…/strangers-on-nigh…

Ideas, ideas, ideas! Pixabay.
Good questions for writers to ask themselves.
Flash! Pixabay

Goodreads Author Blog – Intriguing Titles

What kind of book titles grab your attention? For me, they’ve got to intrigue.

For example, Josephine Tey’s marvellous historical detective novel The Daughter of Time grabbed my attention because it made me wonder how that could apply to a story. I found out of course!

As for Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I had to find out who was the proud one and who was guilty of prejudice. I found that out too!

I like open titles too which can set a mood in any direction. A good example of that is The Lord of the Rings. Yes, really. Why? Because I had to find out who the lord was and whether they were good, evil, or something in between. The title itself does not reveal that. You also have to find out why the rings matter so another good hook there.

When I’m writing my own stories, I have to have a title as a “peg” to work to but I often find I come up with better thoughts after I’ve got that first draft down.

That’s fine. I simply change the title to the better one but do find I have something to help me get started.

Titles matter. They are a great advert for a book. I would argue they’re the first great advert for a book. If the title doesn’t grab me, I’m not going to even look at the blurb. Again lessons for all writers including me there.

Whatever you’re reading, enjoy. And I hope it has a super title!

Heaven for a book lover. Pixabay
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels.com
Well… Pixabay