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Good news – another of my flash fiction tales, The Art Critic, is now up on the Cafelit website. Anyone who has had a bad review or hated a piece of artwork will sympathize with my heroine in this one. Good fun to write. Hope you enjoy reading it.
I’m outlining ideas for another collection of flash fiction tales and I hope some of these will also end up on Cafelit in the meantime. Many of my stories in From Light to Dark and Back Again started life on Cafelit. A number of Chapeltown Books authors can say the same about their flash stories – and I’m willing to bet we’re all pleased about this!
I loved the old James Garner films, Support Your Local Gunfighter/Sheriff etc. Maybe we should have something called Support Your Cafelit! In all seriousness, online sites like this are an immense help to writers including me. They give us somewhere to put our work, it can (and in this case has) led to publication opportunities, and feedback is also possible via the comments section under each story put on the site.
So give online story websites like Cafelit a try. You may well come across a form of fiction you might like to try writing. Certainly, you’ll like the stories already up there. Happy reading and writing!
Facebook – General
Firstly, as mentioned above, my latest flash fiction piece, The Art Critic, is now up on Cafelit. See http://cafelitcreativecafe.blogspot.co.uk/ but do check out the other wonderful stories on site.
Secondly, I am guest blogging on Amanda Huggins’s Troutie McFish Tales blog tonight. I talk about why I love writing flash fiction and for Chandler’s Ford Today and share some writing tips that have stood me in very good stead.
Thirdly, I’ll be appearing at the Hursley Park Book Fair due to take place in June. I’ll share more details nearer the time but author pics and bios are now up on their website, including for yours truly. See http://www.hursleyparkbookfair.com/authors
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My CFT post this week will be the resumption of my 101 Things to Put into Room 101 series. Yes, I can find 101 things!
I’m using my diary more to plan out what writing work I do when and am finding that useful. It reminds me to block out time for specific tasks for one thing so I am hoping by the year’s end, I will have been more productive than I was in 2017. Not that I was lazy last year, far from it (!), but I’ve been aware for a while I could probably do more than I am and that will need scheduling if I’m going to make it (a) happen and (b) work!
I am making better use of dead time thanks to Evernote and a smartphone. I use time like this to draft out ideas for flash fiction stories and CFT posts. All useful stuff. It’s amazing (though not in a good way) just how easily time slips away and you find you haven’t achieved as much as you thought or would like.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
How can you tell if you have written flash fiction and not just a short story chopped down? Well, like any short story, a flash fiction tale must have a beginning, a middle and an end. Okay, a lot is implied, especially backstory, but everything in your flash tale must move the story onwards to what will seem like the inevitable conclusion (even if is a twist one). If your story does that, then fine!
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
What is the purpose of a story?
To entertain – definitely.
To sometimes convey truths in a more palatable way – yes.
To get a message across – yes.
To set puzzles for readers to solve – think Agatha Christie here especially.
To warn – yes (particularly true for horror I would have thought. If you decide you’re going to tackle Dracula, you’ve got to be prepared for the consequences!).
Flash fiction does all of this but concisely!
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Glad to report The Art Critic, my latest flash fiction piece, is now up on Cafelit. See http://cafelitcreativecafe.blogspot.co.uk/
It was great fun appearing on Amanda Huggins’ Troutie McFish Tales blog. See https://troutiemcfishtales.blogspot.co.uk/…/guest-post-alli… Many thanks, Mandy!
I share why I love writing (and indeed reading) flash fiction and also what I love about writing for Chandler’s Ford Today.
Let the ideas flow and let journeys encourage that! Image via Pixabay
The old method of printing. Image via Pixabay
Books are the keys to knowledge. Image via Pixabay
The To Be Read pile. Image via Pixabay
What new worlds and scenes will books show you? Image via Pixabay
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
What is the best thing about writing flash fiction? I always love that moment when I’ve come up with the “killer” last line that completes the story in such a way I know there couldn’t be an alternative ending.
Sometimes I do come up with a line I think will make a great ending and plot the story back from that. It’s an interesting challenge (and Agatha Christie was known to do it too).
Do last lines sometimes surprise me? Yes. I hope they surprise you too! I will think of a line I realize is better than the one I originally had in mind. For example, with Serving Up a Treat, the last line “He never got to take a second mouthful” not only sums up the story, (and you can get the genre from that line alone), but, taken with the rest of the tale, I realised later there was more than one way of this character meeting their fate. I had not originally plotted that but was glad it came about. (Yes, you will need to rest of the tale to find out!).
Maybe the art of being a better writer is in getting better at recognizing what works well and being open to changing your initial thoughts and ideas for better ones.
Goodreads Author Programme – Blog
What are your top five favourite books? They can be any genre, non-fiction or otherwise etc.
So often my favourite books do depend on my mood. If I want humorous fiction, I will read that. If I want crime, I will turn to that genre.
But I think for me the five that stand out overall are:-
1. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. This book is one of the few novels to ever change my mind about a historical character, in this case Richard III.
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein. The sheer scale of Tolkein’s imagination is amazing and you won’t get a better good-v-evil battle in fiction, I think. Loved the film version too.
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This was my first introduction to the use of irony in fiction and Elizabeth Bennett has long been one of my favourite heroines.
4. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. It was hard to pick just one Discworld novel but I plumped for this one as, for me, it is where Sam Vimes really takes off as a character.
5. The Best of P.G. Wodehouse Am I cheating here by going for a best of collection? Maybe! But I’m not sorry. This wonderful book shows off PGW’s fabulous array of characters.
So what would your choices be? Do you think they would change, say, annually, or be permanent selections?
Allison Symes: Collected Works 