Tag: Outlining characters

What You Need to Know About Character Creation and Shorter Fiction Forms

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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 week. Have had some writing admin to tackle again but now sorted. Lady has had a lovely time with her pals. Looking forward to the Easter celebrations and a long weekend. Have a good Easter break yourself, whether you celebrate or not.

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Double Blog Time!

18th April 2025 – Good Friday – Chandler’s Ford Today

Second blog post from me today. First one below! This time it is my latest for Chandler’s Ford Today. This time I look at What You Need to Know About Character Creation. (Combines well with my Authors Electric post too! It does too. See below).

I look at the positives and negatives of using certain traits (which is something you can expand further depending on which trait you use for your characters). I also look at attitudes, situations, and dialogue, so I hope you will find plenty of useful information here.

Do have fun creating your characters. I think it is the best aspect to storytelling.

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18th April 2025 – Good Friday – Authors Electric
Double blog post today. First up is my latest on Authors Electric. This month I discuss Shorter Fiction Forms.  Second blog above.

One huge advantage to the shorter forms of fiction is they do make you focus on what does matter for your characters, you don’t have the word count room to do otherwise. But that in turn is a good discipline to get used to for writing any fiction. Hope you find it useful.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again so all is well there.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post on What You Need to Know for Character Creation will be up tomorrow. See top post.

It is double blog day for me tomorrow given my Authors Electric post will also be up. That will be on the topic of Short Fiction Forms. See second post!

Looking forward to sharing both of those tomorrow so expect two posts. Has been lovely and busy on the non-fiction front!

 

Hope you have had a good day. Squally weather this morning, better this afternoon. Lady did get to see and have a fabulous time with her Hungarian Vizler friend and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle.

Writing wise, I will be sharing What You Need to Know For Character Creation on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See top post.

Following my scam warning post yesterday, I have since heard a few other writers I know have had similar experiences so clearly there is a spate of these things going on at the moment.

Newsletter coming along nicely. To sign up for this do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

You should see what appears on the screenshot below.

Theme this time will be on playing with genre in flash fiction, which I‘ll be discussing in further depth later this month for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100 words tale, Appearances. Trying to keep up appearances doesn’t always work out. Find out why here.

Hope today has been a good one.

I sometimes decide on what my next flash fiction story will be by picking a topic to write about. This is good practice for competitions with a set theme too. I then look at the kind of characters which could serve that topic well and then start to flesh them out.

The topic has got to grip me (and that goes for the set theme for competitions too) for me to want to write to it, of course. Not every topic does.

But there are plenty of topics (and set theme competitions) to go around to this never worries me. I think you do have to have a keen interest in the topic of theme to be able to do it any justice at all.

Hope the day has been a good one. Just to flag up the submissions window for Friday Flash Fiction is now open again. Have sent in something this afternoon.

Flash fiction is a lovely thing to share on your website, social media etc to flag up the kind of writing you do. It’s a good way to share something of interest to your subscribers for your author newsletter. It’s fun to do too especially if you love creating characters, which has always been my favourite aspect to storytelling.

Create my “people” (not that I always choose humans!), put them in a situation and find out what happens! And although I outline so I know roughly what is going to happen, I deliberately don’t plan out everything. I like to give my characters room to surprise me and they often do. I love that too.

Fairytales with Bite – Endings which Could Be Beginnings

I write this in the run up to Easter 2025 and it led me to think that, as a Christian, I see Good Friday as an ending (the crucifixion of Jesus) which became a new beginning (the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday).

But it also led me to think we can have endings which could be beginnings for our stories too in any genre but I’m focusing on one of my favourite kinds – the fairytale. How?

Simply by remembering there are two sides to every story. What is one character’s happy ever after ending will bring about a change of circumstances for other characters in the story (which they may or may not welcome of course) and those can be interesting avenues to explore further.

The musical Wicked is based on an alternative look at The Wizard of Oz story and people seem to like this!

My first story in print, A Helping Hand (in Alternative Renditions, Bridge House Publishing, 2009) looks at the Cinderella story from the viewpoint of the youngest stepsister. That character had a distinct view on Cinders as you can imagine. The story was great fun to write and I was thrilled for it to be my breakthrough in print.

There is nothing to stop you from (a) taking a character of yours and exploring their story further (it is where prequels can come in for one thing) and/or (b) taking another character from your story and doing something creative with them.

Why not give it a go? Having endings which could be beginnings for new stories is great fun to do. I think it works especially well with fairytales.

This World and Others – Upheavals

Our world is always full of upheavals and is especially this way as I write this in April 2025. But it led me to wonder about the kinds of upheavals your settings might see. Do they make ours look pathetic by comparison or are their upheavals “ a piece of cake” compared with what we have going on here?

What triggers your setting’s overall upheaval? Usually these things start with something small which then build and build. What would be your characters’ involvement in this? Are they the trigger point themselves or do they get caught up in the momentum of events as things build up and then find they can’t escape?

What are the consequences of the upheavals? Does it lead to political or other change or does the upheaval fail and governments crack down harder than ever on any kind of dissent? (This does sound depressingly familiar doesn’t it? The one positive is taking this idea and using it for a story where at least you can decide what the ending will be!).

Also, something positive can come out of things like this. For example, communities torn apart by previous events can come together to fight against a common foe (not necessarily literally though that too is a possibility). Things which needed to be changed are changed and for the better for most. The great thing here is you get to decide what these will be.

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Outlining and Prompts

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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. Looking forward to going to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering in Rugby at the end of the week. Will be good to catch up with folk. Am looking forward to the workshops too. Won’t be long before Flash NANO starts in November either. Have found that great fun to take part in over the last couple of years and am looking forward to being part of it again.

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Taking part in Flash NANO

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Hope you have had a good day and managed to avoid at least some of the rain. Mu gutters were doing their usual splendid impersonation of Niagara Falls at 9 am today! Thankfully it was dry when Lady and I went out and she did get to see her Hungarian Vizler friend, much to the delight of both dogs.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Miriam Drori about her new book, Loyalty and the Learner, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward also to my trip to Rugby on Saturday to join the Association of Christian Writers for their Autumn Gathering. Am hoping the weather will be better!

Writing Tip: I often outline my characters by interviewing them. A couple of pertinent questions gets the ball rolling nicely. Once I know the character well enough, I can write their story up. So I look at what motivates them (and from that, why). I also look at what secrets they might keep and why.

For example if my character is motivated by the need to be discreet, I would probably discover a secret from their past which is so horrendous, discretion has become second nature for them. I can then decide whether to reveal their secret and how they handle the outcome of that or take another route and get them doing something drastic to keep that secret. Either would be a good story to write up.

PROMPTS - I like to mix up the kinds of prompts I use, it encourages more creativity

7th October
A deeply sad day.

Writing wise, I’m working on blogs, editing, judging, as well as flash fiction at the moment. Enjoying it all too. I find writing therapeutic at times in terms of it giving me a creative outlet and I escape for a while into the world I create. Reading helps me escape into worlds other writers create – love that too.

Having said that, I don’t always like what my characters get up to and some of them I definitely wouldn’t want to meet for real, so to speak. It is the way of things but I also take comfort from the fact my characters should have a life of their own, else they would only be cardboard cutouts. Nobody relates to those.

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Drizzly but clearing up here today. Hope your weekend has been a good one.

Busy editing and judging at the moment. Will be enjoying flash fiction Sunday afternoon too today.

Character Creation Tip: It’s not unknown for authors to base their characters on aspects of themselves. Well, you draw on what you know here, right? True but I’d be wary about doing this if writing horror, erotica or even crime! You do want to separate the author from their work!

My approach is to take what I know about human nature/behaviours – and specifically what can result from a trait – and ask myself questions especially the What If one. The What If question is useful for getting an outline/rough idea together. I look at what a character would do and why.

Knowing the why is important for me because I can then write the story up with confidence knowing where it and its characters are going. The why makes motivations understandable (though not necessarily nice).

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Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. I’m looking forward to going to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering next Saturday. Looking forward to catching up with people and enjoying the workshops.

On Chandler’s Ford Today next week, I’ll be chatting to fellow Swanwicker, Miriam Drori, about her new novel, Loyalty and the Learner. Looking forward to sharing that.

Writing Tip: What have I found to be the most useful piece of writing advice I’ve picked up over the years? I’d say it was to write first and to edit later and that’s it’s okay to write a rubbish first draft. Everyone does! Just get those ideas down and then come back to them, after a suitable break away to evaluate them properly and then do the inevitable tidying up work which needs to be done.

The time away from your first draft is vital to be able to judge it properly but I use that time away to go and draft something else. I can then rest that one and come back to the first piece. It means I always have something on the go. I like that.

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Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting in a couple of weeks. Will be looking at how to make the most of Flash NANO, which stars on 1st November, and I’ll be sharing tips on how to make the most of writing prompts. I’m writing on prompts again for Authors Electric this month (due out on 18th October).

I use a wide variety of prompts. It keeps things interesting for me but it also means I’m not fazed when I’m set them by other writers. I know I can produce something. I can polish things up later and only I see the first draft!

I use the prompts directly but I often do put my own twist on them and get yet another idea. So if an opening line prompt says something like He wasn’t amused to get a parking ticket, I would change that to something like The alien wasn’t amused to get a parking ticket. I know I could have fun with that one!

PROMPTS - The advantage of writing to prompts is it gets you used to writing to topics set by someone else, handy for competitions with set themes, and writing events
It’s Monday. Time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Lighting Up. I expect many will identify with this one!

 

There are plenty of flash fiction competitions out there. A quick Google search will bring up loads of them. All of that is good news but do make sure you check out the terms and conditions and you are happy with these.

I never enter competitions which require me to sign away all of my rights (just what is in that for me?! I also may want to do something else with a the story in the future. Signing away my rights means I can’t do that).

I also check the entry fee is proportionate to the prize on offer. I also check out the competition’s website. Usually there are FAQs here which I find it pays to look at. The competition should be easy to find online. If they have a Facebook page, do check out the comments. If you’re not sure about a competition (a) walk away, you have to be comfortable with where you’re sending your work as you want it to reflect well on you and (b) do ask the writing community.

If you’re part of online writing groups do ask around here too. Someone is likely to be able to answer your query. Also the competition organiser should cover a lot of the common queries in their FAQs and, if not, be amenable to you putting a query to them.

Always walk away from those who don’t want to be helpful – you have to query why, right?

462210759_992961259510402_736286537237125836_nOne reason I love writing something for Friday Flash Fiction most weeks is it gets me back to my first introduction, and therefore love of the flash fiction format, the classic 100 word story otherwise known as the drabble.

For flash competitions and markets, unless they want a specific word count, I write to just under the overall limit. I want to make the most of the word count room I have available. So if I have a 250 words limit and my story comes in at 150, I will save it for a competition or market which is looking for word counts of 200 words or fewer.

The reason for that is so I can make every possible use of the word count limit I have got. If I’ve got the room for that powerful line which shows something useful about the character it’s going in. Here it is a case of adding depth to the story and character.

No line will ever go in, regardless of word count, if it doesn’t add something useful to the story in some way but if I’ve got some extra room, I see it as a wasted chance if I don’t use it this way.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books With Impact

To an extent, all books have impact. The first impact is on you as the reader making you decide whether you loved the book or not. But when I talk about books with impact, I mean those stories which stay with you long after you’ve read them initially and which you will happily re-read at any time.

For me, this includes The Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, most of the back catalogues of Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett, and the classic fairytales.

What pleases me now is I’m increasingly adding non-fiction to that mix. It makes for an interesting “reading diet” and I would include most of Ben Macintyre’s books in the “will happily re-read” category.

I don’t mind the book format I use either. I mainly read paperbacks and ebooks with hardbacks every so often coming into the mix (but I have to be very sure of the author for those!).

The impact I look for in fiction is entertainment. For non-fiction it is in learning something new to me in a way that entertained me (and I welcome the development of creative non-fiction here because this is one of its strengths).

Screenshot 2024-10-05 at 17-43-41 Allison Symes's Blog - Books With Impact - October 05 2024 09 43 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the September 2023 issue of the magazine which had marketing as its theme. Always a timely topic, that one! I have two pieces in here – Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines. And it really isn’t long to go now before the magazine is back with us again!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Roses, Zebras, and Sherlock Holmes

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Special Note:  Before you ask, I haven’t chosen the post’s title using a random generator, honestly! These are all things which have either occurred in my writing life so far this week or are going to before the next post comes out on Friday. Yes, an interesting week! Mind you, if there is a prize for unusual blog post titles, I think this one is in with a shout…

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. See above for the kind of week I’m having so far!

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I’m looking forward to chatting again with author Ruth Leigh whose The Continued Times of Isabella M Smugge came out on 22nd October. In this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post, Ruth and I will be looking at marketing and the characters Ruth loves and loathes amongst other topics. Link up on Friday.

And talking of marketing, may I say a huge thanks for the views on my latest YouTube story, The Zebra Who Lost Its Stripes. It clearly struck a chord!

This story started life as a title idea which came from the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting I ran last week. I’ve mentioned before about brainstorming titles for writing up into stories later. It means when you have longer at your desk you’ve got something to work on immediately. I do practice what I preach here!


Weather far better today than yesterday but it wasn’t a difficult bar to cross! Lady got to see her best mates today, the lovely Ridgeback and Vizler, so all three dogs well pleased with that.

The Ridgeback’s owner and I were given a bunch of roses on the regular walk back by someone who has these donated as part of a charity collection but this time they had far too many flowers to be able to use so were giving bunches away to people who were walking down their street! We met someone else coming the other way who was also carrying a lovely bunch of roses and who, like us, was smiling broadly at the thought of them!

There is a flash fiction tale in there somewhere, I swear! Talking of which, I chose two of the titles I came up with from last week’s ACW Flash Fiction Group session and written the stories up. I’ll be sharing one of these over on my book page shortly as it is my new YouTube tale. Good fun to do.

And I will be setting the challenge soon for the December issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads. Meanwhile, why not check out the latest fab issue? See link below.


That storm overnight/earlier this morning was quite something. Am so grateful Lady isn’t frightened of thunder and lightning. (She gets annoyed by the louder fireworks rather than becomes frightened of them – again am thankful for that). Week ahead is looking a bit grim – not just weather wise, unfortunately.

I must admit I find writing both a joy to do and therapeutic. There is just something about putting yourself in your character’s shoes and working out how they would act/react that takes me out of myself for a while – and especially with the news being so grim, I find that incredibly helpful.

Many thanks also for the comments coming in on Hope, my latest on Friday Flash Fiction. If you missed it, see the link.

Screenshot 2022-10-21 at 09-23-17 Hope by Allison Symes

Hope today has been okay. Got soaked in two minutes rushing to bring washing in earlier. Hello, autumn, my old friend!

It was fantastic chatting to Ruth Leigh on Chandler’s Ford Today yesterday. Part 2 of her interview will be up next week and we’ll be looking at marketing as part of that. Link up on Friday.

I’m off to The Chameleon Theatre Group next week as well to see their latest production – Sherlock Holmes and The Mystery at Mallen Hall. Sounds fun. Will review in due course. Am looking forward to meeting up with Janet Williams, my lovely CFT editor for this too. Seems like ages since the last “CFT works outing”!

Did I get any ideas from the ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting on Wednesday? Yes and not yet. I’ve got some ideas for titles I’d like to work up into stories and hope to do that soon. Am pressing on with my third book collection as I am nearly there with that and I do want to get that submitted this autumn. And, yes, these things always do take longer than you initially think!

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I mentioned over on my main author page tonight I was delighted to see such a great response to my The Zebra Who Lost Its Stripes story. Am glad you enjoyed it. Brainstorming title ideas for writing up later pays off!

I usually put up a new video on my YouTube channel once a week, unless away or ill, and I got into doing this as I wanted another way to share flash stories.

The idea of doing something visual with them appealed and hence I went to YouTube. I use Book Brush to help me create the videos. All good fun and of course it forms part of my overall marketing as well. New subscribers are always welcome to my channel and you can find this at the link below.

Short videos are easier to share and of course flash is a great form to link into that.

Screenshot 2022-10-25 at 20-56-26 Allison Symes


My latest YouTube flash tale comes from a title I came up with for the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting last week. Hope you enjoy The Zebra Who Lost Its Stripes. Given this has had an amazing reaction (see screenshot above, I was pleasantly stunned!), I make no apology for sharing it twice here! Am so glad it went down well. This is probably the nearest to a children’s story I get.

 

I was talking about titles with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday. What you want is something that lures your reader in – to give them an intriguing premise they have to read the story to find out what happens. I will often brainstorm title ideas when I have small pockets of time and I want to write something.

The joy of this is it gives me something to look through and work up into stories later on when I have more time. I will also brainstorm titles for use for non-fiction topics for my blog on Chandler’s Ford Today, my spots on Authors Electric, More than Writers, and Mom’s Favorite Reads.

Titles are your first advert in many ways and I find I have to have one to get myself started on a piece, fiction or otherwise. It can change – and often does given when I’m drafting something other ideas for titles often pop up. I just make a note of these and compare them with my original thought and then go with the one I like best. Sometimes it does mean sticking with the original but at least I then know it is the best one to use for that piece.

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For my flash pieces, I’m looking for a strong central character to “carry” the plot. In some ways here writing can be a bit like acting. You need the right cast to make it work. This is why I need to know my character really well to make sure they’re up to the work!

I interview my characters. I look for traits and what can come from those (including the flip side to them, there always is a flip side). I also like to know something of their tastes (knowing what their sense of humour is can give good indications of their character type funnily enough. Do they like quirky humour? Are they a bit strait-laced etc?).

Often outlining a character throws up ideas for the stories they would work well in so this, for me, is another reason to outline.

Top Tips

Goodreads Author Blog – The ABC of Books Part 1 – A to M

A = Annuals, often treasured for years. Which was your favourite?

B = Back catalogues – I often don’t pick the first book by an author to read so if I like the book I did read, I have a lot of fun catching up with the others!

C = Characters – where would any book be without them and again name your favourites. I have loads.

D = Dialogue in books mirrors real life speech but can’t ape it exactly as there’d be far too many ahs, ums, stutters etc – not easy and boring to read!

E = Entertainment and enrichment – what good books always do whether they’re fiction or non-fiction.

F = Flash fiction – my genre – fun and stretches across genres too as I’ve written crime flash, ghost flash etc.

G = Great writers of the past still inspire today though I am thankful I don’t need to be as descriptive as Dickens had to be for his readers who could not travel to see the places he wrote about (or have the benefit of film/TV to see them).

H = History – fiction and non- fiction – a wonderful category and can inspire all sorts of fictional works.

I = Intellect and Imagination – reading widely doses so much for both of these.

J = Justice – a major factor in the popularity of crime fiction as justice is usually seen to be done here.

K = Kindle – ebooks have transformed reading by giving us another format. It has also given more writers a voice too.

L = Life – in all its forms and several alien ones – can be found across the whole spectrum of book categories.

M = Mysteries – as well as the obvious crime section, there is the paranormal mystery book, the non-fiction books trying to lift the lid on mysteries and so on.

Part 2 next week but I do know books should be celebrated!

Screenshot 2022-10-22 at 21-05-13 The ABC of Books - Part 1 - A to M


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Favourite Things and Publication News

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Image Credit:  Pixabay and Pexels unless otherwise stated.

PUBLICATION NEWS

As you will see from my posts below, Tripping the Flash Fantastic, my second flash fiction collection, is almost ready to be published by Chapeltown Books. I will share more news when I have it but I can say now that the cover is stunning. I hope to share a book cover reveal in due course. Am I excited? You bet! This week has been very busy in working with the cover designer and ensuring there is nothing further to change to the text but it has been a great few days as you can imagine. I do hope to have a cyberlaunch in due course.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Favourite Things was such a fun post to write but with a title like that, it should be really! I share five favourites in various categories ranging from book genres to dog breeds to TV themes, stopping at favourite meals and drinks along the way.
Do check the post out and send your nominees in via the CFT comments box.
Also check out the fab TV themes I picked, they will bring great memories for many, and it was marvellous hearing them again.

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Gracie, my much missed bearded collie cross (with border collie). Image by Allison Symes

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Mabel, my much missed border collie. Image by Allison Symes.

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Lady, the border collie cross (flat coat retriever and chiahuahua, yes really,the inquisitive and loveable! Image by Allison Symes

Glad to see that the beautifully painted stones around my neck of the woods are still in place. I’ve enjoyed spotting those when out and about with Lady. I’ve no artistry at all when it comes to painting, drawing etc., but I do know what I like when I see it!
My CFT post is all about Favourite Things. I share various categories and pick my five favourites. Link up tomorrow. See what you think and do send comments in. There are also some TV themes from yesteryear as part of this post too and it was fun looking those up and playing them again. Hope you’ll enjoy them too. And with all of the categories I’ve chosen, I could’ve picked a lot more than five!
Incidentally, a good way to outline your characters is to think about what their favourite things are and why “they” would choose them. (By all means use the categories in my CFT post tomorrow to start you off and good luck!).

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Another nice day. I’m shortly going to start the final text checks on Tripping The Flash Fantastic so that will keep me out of mischief for a while.
I was also “on” a hugely enjoyable Zoom creative writing workshop this afternoon which was good fun. Live writing to different challenges and work produced I plan to polish up in the next couple of days. There will be a follow-up Zoom workshop to this one next week so am already looking forward to that.
Good workshops will show you what you can do and then set you the challenge to do it. They’re a great way of stretching your imagination. For example, I wrote a couple of haiku this afternoon. Fun to do, not my normal area of work at all, and will I write some more in due course? I expect so.
I write in notebooks;
I write on laptop and phone;
Edits by red pen!😊😊
Allison Symes – 15th July 2020

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

This week has been a very exciting one as I’ve worked with the cover designer from Chapeltown Books on Tripping the Flash Fantastic. I’ve also checked the text for the final time. So a busy but productive week and a lovely way to go into the weekend.
I hope in due course to post a cover reveal and I plan to hold a cyberlaunch. More details to follow.
This is the lovely side of writing. So much goes on behind the scenes and often for a long time at that. When you get to the point that the book is shortly going to be “out there”, then that’s the exciting and lovely pay off for all that hard work behind the scenes.

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I was at a creative writing workshop via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon. Great fun it was too and I have a few flash fiction pieces from it I will polish up in due course! Now there’s a result.
Okay, I could’ve done without the dog barking an hour into it but she doesn’t like disembodied voices. That’s not going to change any time soon. Even when I’ve been away at events like Swanwick and I call home, I am told she looks at the phone, she can clearly hear my voice, and she backs off from it. (Phone eaten Mum type of scenario in Lady’s head I guess!).
So is Lady an aide to my “muse”? Err…. no. That’s not going to change any time soon either though I have sometimes written dog related flash fiction stories.

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I need stories to make me react in some way, whether I write them or read them. A story that I’m indifferent to is one that has failed for me and it is always a challenge to make sure I don’t write tales that people would be half-hearted about.
This is the biggest reason I think why the characters are the most important element in a story. If I can’t get behind the characters, or see why they are the way they are, then why should I read on?
So when I write stories, I try to ask myself throughout editing, how do my characters make me react? Do they still make me laugh, cry, scream or what have you? Is there anything I can do to “beef up” their portrayal?
Sometimes slipping in an odd extra detail can help make that portrayal more realistic and add depth. But it’s not until I’ve read the story afresh I can see where that odd extra detail might be necessary.
(So for anyone thinking stories just get “bashed out”, they really don’t!).

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Nice day today working with the book cover designer on Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Look forward to revealing more later.
This, of course, is the lovely side to writing where you can see your work almost ready to be out there in the big, bad world. What isn’t seen is the writing, rewriting, editing etc that goes on to get the stories into shape for a collection like this.
It is so true that overnight success usually takes years! Meanwhile a story from From Light to Dark and Back Again to enjoy.

 

Fairytales with Bite – Murphy’s Law

Now we all know Murphy’s Law is no respecter of barriers. Whatever profession you’re in, whichever hobby you enjoy, it will strike at some point. So as to the actual creating of a story, what are the things to look for so you can avoid them?

Naming Characters

For longer works of fiction, it is too easy to give characters names that are too similar to others (for example Stephanie and Stephan. Two different characters but the problem with names that are similar is they can make the characters forgettable or interchangeable, neither of which you want).

I get around this by ensuring each of my characters has a name that starts with a different letter of the alphabet. It’s simple but it works.

Murphy’s Law can kick in here by making you not spot this until after you’ve got your first draft down. (Yes, it can be fixed at that point but it can be frustrating when you’ve got two similar sounding characters. The last thing you want is anything that might cause confusion in a reader or a sense of “what is that character doing here? I don’t see the point of them” reaction).

Outlining –

The query here is how much to do? Will Murphy’s Law strike in that you either outline too much or not enough? How can you judge what is correct for the writing you’re working on?

A rule of thumb I use is have I got enough to get started on the story? Have I got enough to get me to the middle of the story? Have I got enough to be able to conclude the story? You don’t necessarily need to outline everything. You just need enough to get you to the next stage in the story. Think of this as outlining the major markers. Get those right and it will help you get everything else in place.

You just want to stop yourself going off at unproductive tangents and that is where Murphy’s Law will trip you up. Stop the unhelpful tangents and you save yourself valuable time too. Work out what you think you need to know.

Settings –

The trap here again is detail. How much do you need to know before you write the story? What impact will the setting have on your characters? Preparation is the key to beating Murphy’s Law hitting you here.

Again work out what you think you need to know. And bear in mind the setting must have some kind of impact on your characters – they’re either going to love where they are (but it is under threat – which is where your story comes in) or loathe it and want to escape (which is where another type of story can come in).

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This World and Others – Making Space and Characters

Where does making space come into your creation of characters?

I think the best way to answer that is to list what I think a truly great character needs to have. Also, it really does pay to take time out (make space) to think about your characters in advance and plan them out. It doesn’t mean you have to plan everything but you do need to know about your people in enough detail to be able to write about and for them with utter conviction. You need to decide what you need to know first!

I am convinced that when a writer writes with conviction something of that does show through in your writing and readers subconciously pick up on that. I also think they pick up when a character really doesn’t work and I know, for me, when that has happened, it is nearly always due to my not taking the time to flesh my character out properly in the first place.

So a truly great character should:-

Be Memorable – (and that usually means having distinctive traits a reader will love to love or love to hate. Both work but not usually in the same character!).

Be Someone –  Be someone a reader would want to identify with or be happy they’re nothing like them!

Be Put in Situations – Be put in situations a reader has to find out whether the character resolves or not (and how. Failure to resolve something can ironically be a resolution of sorts. For example, a character wants to achieve a goal, they find they can’t do it, but they do achieve something positive they had not done before despite the overall “failure”. Readers will pick up on something being achieved, a positive point of change for the character, and everyone accepts not all endings are happy ones necessarily. Endings do have to be appropriate).

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Zooming Around and Cyberlaunch Tips

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Image Credit:  Pixabay and Pexels as usual, unless otherwise stated. Many thanks.

Special Note:  Today, 8th May 2020 is the 75th anniversary of VE Day. My parents and grandparents, who lived through this, are sadly gone, but to all who gave up so much so that we could live, thank you. You are not forgotten. Nor should you ever be.

My parents were evacuated, my father more than once as many East End families came back to London before having to leave again due to the doodlebugs.

My grandparents? One served in the Forces before being invalided out and then working as an ARP warden. He saw things as an ARP warden nobody should have to see. My maternal grandfather was in a reserved occupation – he worked in munitions and was often bombed out.

There is much to be thankful for despite our current difficulties.

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I hope this week’s CFT post, Zooming Around and Cyberlaunch Tips, proves particularly useful. I share my thoughts about Zoom. I go on to share hints and thoughts about having a cyberlaunch. I discuss what I found useful when I had mine for From Light to Dark and Back Again and what I learned from this.

Naturally in the fullness of time I’m looking forward to having another one for Tripping the Flash Fantastic!

What I do know though is preparation is key! And a cyberlaunch should be fun for you as author/host. That fun will be picked up on by those attending your launch.

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I hope the tips on cyberlaunches in my latest CFT post, Zooming Around and Cyberlaunch Tips, prove useful. The good thing about holding events like these is you will always learn something from them in what worked well, what you could have done better and so on. Those you take with you to your next event!

Going to other cyberlaunches, as well as being great fun and supportive of other writers, also provides good opportunities to learn.

I held a raffle when I had mine for From Light to Dark and Back Again. I used a random number generator and allocated a number to every visitor. When it came to doing the draw for a prize, I simply put in the range of numbers from smallest to largest and picked out the winners that way.

That wonderful tip was something I picked up from a cyberlaunch I went to (and I’m sorry I have forgotten whose that was but I will say a big thank you now as it did prove useful and I am sure it will again!).

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Allison Symes and some of her published works. Image by Adrian Symes
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Good support at 8 pm for the Clap for Carers though Lady decided not to use her vocal talents this week. I’m sure she’ll make up for it another time…

Am absolutely thrilled to say I am one of the winners of the Waterloo Arts Festival’s Writing Competition. Many congratulations to all of the other winners who are:-

Mehreen Ahmed: Dolly
Gail Aldwin: The Price of Firewood
Christopher Bowles: Chroma
Maxin Churchman: Pulling Together
Jeanne Davies: Utopian Dream
Jo Dearden: A Small Clay Vase
Linda Flynn: Fishing in Troubled Waters
Anne Forrest: Number Twenty-seven
Dawn Knox: Rising from the Ashes
Roz Lyn: Circle Time
Paula R C Readman: Cobalt Blues
Hannah Retallick: Bookclub for the Elderly
Theresa Sainsbury: Transforming Teenagers
Allison Symes: Books and Barbarians

I will miss enormously NOT going up to London for the Festival, meeting up with my fellow writers for a very convivial pub lunch etc, but there will be online events so I will look forward to those.

What with the news of two of my stories being in Cafelit 9 later this year, it has been quite a week! This is the lovely side of writing of course. What doesn’t get seen is the work that goes into those stories over weeks, writing them, honing them, sending them off, and then waiting to hear.

This is why I like to have something I’m about to send off, another competition in mind to have a go at, and something I’m resting ready for editing after a suitable time break away from it. Over the course of a year, it means I’ve submitted a number of stories. Some will be accepted, some won’t but even there I can revisit the tales and try them out again with another market/competiton. I’ve had work published doing that.

Now on to the next story, which is almost ready for submitting!

 

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Another reason for outlining my characters is I want to be able to see the world through their eyes and until I know certain things about them I can’t do that. What their attitudes are is, to me, far more important than knowing what they look like.

I know some writers need to know the physical appearance of their characters first and then work out what else they need to know from there.

But what matters here is finding the starting point that works for you, whichever way around it happens to be!

It took me a while to work out which way WAS the best route for me to take. But all that practice in writing early on, though the results were never published, has paid off now. I know what works for me and I go with that.

Where variety comes in is how I approach writing the story. Sometimes I start with the end line and work backwards. Sometimes I use the more conventional start to end approach.

Practically always, I find I need to change the beginning of a story. It is usually only once I’ve got the first draft down I can figure out the best start is at, say, paragraph three, and the opening two are either not needed at all or I can salvage useful bits of information and drip feed them into the tale later. I know I often have to work my way into the “real” story and that’s fine. The dressing to help me do that never stays in the final tale you hopefully get to see!

All great ideas for writing but you still need to “apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair” (P.G.Wodehouse). Pixabay image.
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Not exactly a selfier but… Pixabay
Read widely to inspire these. Pixabay
Another gorgeous library. I love pics like this.

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Another way to mix up how you approach writing flash fiction is to take a closing line from a story of yours and then use it as the opening or a title to a completely new story. I’ve not done this YET but I have in my draft third book used the same characters in more than one story AND have someone else refer to them in yet another tale.

A little while ago I had a series of linked flashes on Cafelit which was prompted by an exercise in the Prompts book by Gill James and that was good fun to do. See link!

As you know, I like to mix up the mood of the stories I write plus I like to write in different genres too. My overall favourite will always, I think, be what I call my fairytales with bite (aimed at an older audience, usually with humour and/or with a twist). But I have enjoyed writing historical flash fiction and hope to do more of this too.

Prompts 2020

Image by Gill James

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and Publication News! (Yes, it’s been a good week!)

It will be lovely having another story in the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition ebook anthology during the summer. It will be the third year in a row I will have had a story in there. This year’s theme was Transforming Communities and my story is called Books and Barbarians. I’ll leave you to wonder about that one for the time being!

Every writer had to write to a 1000 word count maximum and all on the same theme. The other ebooks from the Waterloo Arts Festival (publisher: Bridge House Publishing) are a fantastic mix of styles and moods.  Here is the link to Transforming Being. The first in the series was called To Be…To Become.

The books prove, to me at least, that each writer has their own voice and, as a result, we really are not in competition with each other. Do check the books out. Available you know where….

 

Transforming Being. Image by Bridge House Publishing.
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What do characters in a flash fiction story need to have? For me this would include:-

1. A strong voice. They have to be distinctive and intrigue a reader enough to want to follow their story.

2. An intriguing personality (though it doesn’t necessarily have to be a nice one!).

I also need to feel at the end of the story that no other character could have/should have been the lead.

When writing the story, I want to be fascinated enough by the character to WANT to write about them. I usually know fairly quickly when outlining thoughts for a story/character that yes, this is going to work because…

I sometimes know that the character will work if I beef them up a bit here and here… (and that’s nearly always a sign I needed to do a bit more outlining at the beginning to get the character right but that can be and is fixed).

And talking of which, I have a character in a draft story that definitely needs my attention!

Happy writing!

 

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Fairytales with Bite – What is Your Favourite Fairytale?

I would list my favourite fairytales as:-

Cinderella

Snow White

The Little Mermaid

The Ugly Duckling

Puss In Boots

Toy Story series!

Shrek series

Be fair, I didn’t say they had to be just books now!

Common themes here:-

  1.  Wrong being righted.
  2.  Not judging by appearances.
  3.  Animals being smarter than humans – okay just the cat in this instance but be fair, what a cat!
  4.  Evil being thwarted.

All great individual themes for stories of your own there! And yes, you can still write fairytales with animals in them. It never did Roald Dahl any harm!

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This World and Others – Interaction

When you set up your created world, are you getting it to engage with other worlds or is it just one universe you are concerned with? The advantage of having at least one other world in your set up is the possibility of conflict between World A and World B, which can lead to some great stories. The disadvantage is you have at least two worlds to think about and plan for fully before you start writing.

Having said that, bear in mind, as with The Lord of The Rings, you can have one complete world and within it varying countries/regions. Here you will need to give careful thought to what these have in common and what the differences are. Who lives where and why? Do they get on with the other regions and if not, why not? How are they governed? Do different governing styles lead to conflict and what are the results?

Also think of interaction at a local level. Local officials can often have more sway over people’s lives because they are dealing with said local officials all the time. The people may never  have dealings with the overall government so what are the local officials like? What actions of officials might lead people to rebel? Again, think consequences and happy writing!

Maps have a long history. Pixabay.
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Twists, Trailers, and Judging Your Own Work

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Lovely night out at a local pub/restaurant. Good opportunities for people watching! (You never know when something said or what someone wears will strike you as a good idea for your own characters).

Have earned my first royalties on my published works, many thanks to #GillJames and Chapeltown Books for such hard work here. Glad to say will need to put in an order for From Light to Dark and Back Again before too long.

Have confirmed I will be going to a big Book Fair later in the year. More details later but am looking forward to this.

 

 

Books should keep you gripped and that is down to the characters. Image via Pixabay
The writer’s basic toolkit – image via Pixabay
The joy of writing. Image via Pixabay.
What ever writer needs. Image via Pixabay

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Book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAllison.Symes.FairytaleLady%2Fvideos%2F1236887723080871%2F&show_text=0&width=560

I’ve put up the book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again on my main writing page as I was thinking of my choices in this year’s Hall of Fame that Classic FM put on at the Easter weekend.

Danse Macabre by Saint Saens was one of them. I came across it when I watched the TV series Jonathan Creek but it struck me as being the perfect piece for my book trailer. Quirky music for quirky fiction!

I nearly always do have classical on when writing. It relaxes me and I write better when in a good state of mind. It also has the huge advantage of using up zero calories (sadly, the odd glass of prosecco and bar of chocolate cannot claim that! Sighs…. there really is some fantasy that is unlikely to be realised!😁).

 

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Why do I like twist ending stories so much? For one thing, I like guessing at the ending. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m not.

A really good twist tale will make me admire the way it was set up and carried out (even if I did guess the outcome). An even better one not only surprises me with the way it turns out, but makes me go back through the story to look for the clues I clearly missed in the first place. I then berate myself for having missed them!

A stunning library. Image via Pixabay
A beautiful home for lovely books. Image via Pixabay.
A huge but lovely library. Image via Pexels
Library shelf. Image via Pexels
Simple but effective storage! Image via Pexels
Wonderful books. Image via Pexels
Let the creative process flow! Image via Pixabay

 

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When do you know your story, of whatever length, has really “taken off”? For me, it is when the characters come to life. You know (though almost certainly won’t say in the story) what they have for breakfast, what their major traits are, and what they’d be like in a fight – just to name a few random examples!

I find outlining a character before I write “for” them really helpful (and this is one reason I love Scrivener. The character and setting outlines in the fiction – short story option are amazing. The great thing is you can adapt them with anything you feel you want to jot down before you write the story itself).

For my flash tales, I prepare a brief outline (appropriately!) but I just need to know what my character is really like. Sometimes “awkward but brave” is enough to get me started on a character.

 

Great characters will engross you. You will lose time reading their stories. Image via Pixabay.
Where will your characters take you? Image via Pixabay
Even in the heart of a city, books can provide escapism. Image via Pixabay.
The wonderful world of writing should include non-fiction, which benefits from creative techniques too. Image via Pixabay.
Well, let’s do so by writing lots of stories! Image via Pixabay.

 

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Flash fiction takes at least as much crafting as any other type of story because of the need to get the story across in as few words as possible. There is a balance to be struck here between the needs of the writer getting their story down and the editor ensuring the story comes in at the right word count.

I’ve found that it never pays to do the two writing tasks together. I get the story down and worry about editing later.

Fiction is strengthened when backed by fact. Image via Pixabay
The perfect way to relax. All writers love to read. Image via Pixabay.
Big screen, little screen, LOTS of stories on either! Image via Pixabay
What ever writer needs. Image via Pixabay
Time flies when reading or writing. Image via Pixabay
Preparing a talk or a flash fiction story perhaps. Image via Pixabay.
Escape with a good book. Image via Pixabay.
Let your stories have impact. Image via Pixabay

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I’ve talked about classical music on my main writing page tonight and why I used Danse Macabre for my book trailer theme for From Light to Dark and Back Again.

Do I have music in my mind when I write my stories? No, but I can often think along the lines that Character X would be a huge fan of rock or Character Y would love opera and so on. Thinking about what a character’s tastes would be is a great way of helping you to bring them to life on the page and, from a reader viewpoint, a very easy way to tell characters apart.

Classical music. Image via Pixabay.
Hard at work. Image via Pixabay
A grand night out. Image via Pixabay
The string section (or part of it anyway!). Image via Pixabay
Setting the mood with music. Image via Pixabay

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Sometimes you’re not always the best judge of your own work, but it is always good to know you are not alone here.

Spoiler alert!

I’ve been listening to Classic FM’s Hall of Fame and the 1812 Overture is the new No.1. Listening to it now in fact. Love the piece. Its composer,Tchaikovsky, however thought it had no artistic merit. Well, how wrong can you be? Quite a bit as it turns out!

I’ve found when looking through my stories, I’ve got to allow some time to pass between writing them and editing. I’ve got to come back to the pieces as if I’d not seen them before. It’s the only way I know to be objective about what I’ve written.

And it’s nice to know sometimes you can be wrong about your own work when you’re negative about it and others like it!

Classic music can make a classic filmMusic, whether writing it or playing it or both, is just one form of creativity - image via PixabayWriting, whether it is fiction or otherwise, is a wonderful way to create something new - image via Pixabayonce-upon-a-time-via PixabayOne joy of blogging is ease of publication via Pixabay

 

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Flash fiction can be great for brief character sketches which give you a glimpse into that character’s life. My Pen Portrait is an example of this. What I’ve revealed in this tells you all you need to know about my heroine, Mary. The final line also shows something of her nature.

So what would you convey in a flash fiction piece like this given you haven’t the room for backstory as such? Just enough information to tell you what you need to know (in Pen Portrait you need to know what Mary’s job is) and leave enough “space” for your readers to fill in the gaps. In Pen Portrait, Mary has found a way of avoiding causing embarrassment to one of her neighbours but I don’t tell you why this is important to her. That’s for you to figure out!

Even in the heart of a city, books can provide escapism. Image via Pixabay.
Great reading desk. Image via Pixabay.
The old method of printing. Image via Pixabay
Some very strange creatures are in books. Image via Pixabay
Nobody gets their ideas right first go. Image via Pixabay.
A blank page can take you anywhere in writing. Image via Pixabay.
I’m not arguing with this one! Image via Pixabay.

Goodreads Author Programme – Blog

I love listening to classical music as I write my flash fiction. So what has this got to do with books and stories generally?

Firstly, I find classical music relaxes me and so I write more easily. Secondly a great piece of music can help you envisage the world you create. If it is vivid for you, as it should be, it will be vivid for your reader.

Reading, however, whether it is my work or not, is carried out in silence. I don’t want music distracting me. Besides, my main reading time is just before I sleep! Definitely not time for something like the 1812 Overture (much as I love that!).

Music can convey so much. There have been some truly amazing film scores which can enhance the original story. I’m particularly thinking of the score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy here. Fabulous and fantastic story. The music for the film version reflected those aspects well, I thought.

Sometimes I can hear a piece of music and it will make me immediately think of a story. I hear Danse Macabre by Saint Saens and think of the stories in my From Light to Dark and Back Again as this great piece was used for my book trailer. I hear a Bond theme and I think of the film first but without the books by Fleming in the first place, there would be no movies.

It is quite nice to think that a creative work such a book leads to a film and in turn leads to wonderful music being created for that. What can the stories we read and write to lead to ultimately, I wonder? Well, it should be fun trying to find out!

The world of the imagination should play a role in your stories. I can’t imagine any world without some form of the arts. Image via Pixabay.
Where almost all stories spring from these days. Image via Pixabay.
A truly beautiful library but do the books in it meet my criteria for what makes a good story. I would hope so! Image via Pixabay.
Now here’s a statue that I like! Image via Pixabay
I write fairytales with bite. Image via Pixabay
The most important advice of all when it comes to books whether you are just reading them or trying to write your own as well. Image via Pixabay.
Story ideas often still start life on paper – image via Pixabay
Well, what is it then? Image via Pixabay.