Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Waiting For Gateaux

May 3, 2024Leave a comment

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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.

A huge thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Group for permission to use their splendid photos on my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Also thank you to Katrina Lush from my Slimming World group for permission to use her very funny photo as part of that post. See the post itself for more!

Hope you have had a good few days. Weather all over the place again with sunshine, rain, thunder, strong winds etc. Have enjoyed a lovely Zoom meeting this week. I am part of another Association of Christian Writers genre group which meets on Zoom and it is always great to get together and chat. Online meetings work so well.

Looking forward to a break away next week. I will post as and when possible and yes the dog is coming. Lady always has a fabulous time when we’re away – lots of lovely walking in glorious scenery. Looking forward to that.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day and you are all set for a nice Bank Holiday weekend (as it is for the UK).

Pleased to finally share my review of Waiting For Gateaux recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. As ever it was a joy to see the show and it is another joy to write about the show for Chandler’s Ford Today. Hope you enjoy the post. Lots of local links on this one, which is lovely. Two of my worlds kind of collided here – find out which in the post, link below.

Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Waiting For Gateaux

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Lady had a bonus today – she got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum today. Both dogs happy to see each other unexpectedly like that.

Will be sharing my review of Waiting For Gateaux performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Already looking forward to their next show in July which will be another comic one. If ever there was a time you could do with a laugh on stage, I suspect this is it given the news continues to be so grim.

I am part of another ACW genre group based around science fiction and fantasy and we were discussing on Zoom last night utopian works as opposed to dystopian ones amongst other things. I can see the point of dystopian fiction. I don’t read much of it. If I do want grim, I will tune into the news!

Generally I like my fiction to entertain and help me escape the world for a bit, regardless of the genre I’m reading. I definitely don’t want unremitting grim. Can get that for real elsewhere, thank you. I also don’t write grim fiction for the same reason. I want to finish my book, whether it is non-fiction or fiction, having had a pleasant time reading it!

Hope you have had a good day. Hard to believe it’s May already. May is one of my favourite months. Lots of colours and better weather (fingers crossed for the latter!).

Author newsletter went out earlier today. See screenshot for a taster. If you would like to sign up do head over to https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to all who have subscribed since the last edition and a huge hello to all of my subscribers. Many thanks for the support.

The theme for the May newsletter was writing exercises, something I adore and use a lot. I like to mix up the kinds I use too. Keeps me on my toes and I end up producing more stories than I might otherwise have done. Nothing to dislike about that!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s the end of the working week for many and a Bank Holiday weekend for the UK. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Hiding Place. My character wonders what could possibly go wrong after they come up with a good idea but are they right to think this? See for yourself via the link.

Have drafted a poetic flash which I hope to look at over the weekend. Whenever I write these, I sort out what the story is first. Then I work out if it Is suitable for telling in poetic form. Then and only then do I worry about rhyme (I like rhyme in poetry. I also like free verse but I know what I prefer here).

Once I’ve got these basics sorted, I will record myself reading this out loud on Zoom and play it back so I can hear how it sounds. I often do this with prose fiction but I find it even more important to do when writing in a poetic form. I can hear what works and what doesn’t. Then out comes the editing pen again. Then I re-record and play it back again until I am happy with it. I have found doing this pays.

I do find this kind of flash works best when kept short. My current draft comes in about 200 words but I suspect it will end up at about the 150/175 words mark when done.

Amazon still has From Light to Dark and Back Again on offer as a paperback. See the link for more details. I don’t know how long they will hold the book at this price. Also do bear in mind you can contact me via my website if you’re interested in having signed copies of either of my flash collections or the anthologies I’ve contributed to over the years. Both of my flash collections are also available as ebooks.

When not working on flash fiction, I am writing various pieces for Writers’ Narrative, Chandler’s Ford Today and so on. My monthly blog pieces do tend to come in at the 500 words mark so would count as flash non-fiction. Most of my CFT and WN articles are 1000 words so are right at the upper limit here too. All good fun to do (and I hope useful to readers).

Fairytales with Bite – Changing

Often in fairytales an arrogant character is transformed into something else for a while to teach them a lesson and to learn the value of love. The best known example of that is The Beauty and the Beast, of course.

But in your stories do your magical characters go straight for that or do they try something else on a proud person first before using the transformation option. Also give some thought to your transformed characters. Could any of them prefer to stay in their new “look” and why would that be? Are they granted their wish to stay in the form they’ve become?

When it comes to being changed back again, how do your characters readjust? Do any remnants of their transformed self stay with them for a while? I would hope other characters in your stories realise it is best to change what is wrong (and indeed to recognise what is wrong in the first place) without having to become another creature altogether – it would be quicker and less traumatic I would have thought.

Even without transformation spells, characters do need to change during the course of your story. Something has happened. It changes them. They face a problem. They deal with it. They are changed by what they have had to do here. Most of the time that leads to a positive outcome but not always.

I admire the way it is acknowledged in The Lord of the Rings Frodo Baggins was so changed by what he went through he was not going to be able to stay in The Shire and it was best he went with the elves. It was absolutely the right outcome for him and his character portrayal backs that up.

So give some thought about what changing does to your characters – physically in the case of magical tales but even more importantly to their overall state of being. Are they happier/better off for the change or has the change, unavoidable as it was, left them with scars they have to find ways of living with?

This World and Others – Making Things Happen

Who and/or what makes things happen in your setting? What would be the driving forces in your world? Would it be politics, as we know it here, or something like creative agencies driving this?

If you have a world dominated by engineers, scientists, inventors etc., that world is bound to be driven by what they come up with. Also does your world welcome their inventions? Are the inventions generally for the greater good? Have any of them gone horribly wrong?

Making things happen is often a good thing. I welcome discoveries in science (medicine especially) because I can see the potential for making lives better for people. But not everyone welcomes new discoveries. For one thing, it means old ones are superseded. Could someone resent that and try to stop the new invention/inventor? What would they be prepared to do here? Could easily see crime stories emerging from that. Making things happen could mean stopping other new things happening at all!

Who would make things happen in the various settings in your world – the political scene, the arts sector, the sports world etc? If your world doesn’t get on with other worlds around it, is there anyone prepared to try to make things happen to improve that? Do their efforts pay off?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Hiding Place, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/PEDm6brage It’s the end of the working week for many and a Bank Holiday weekend for the UK. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Hiding Place. pic.twitter.com/WgE9K1Uc0F
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 3, 2024

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Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Waiting For Gateaux https://t.co/DjVc1HJp2v Pleased to share my review of Waiting For Gateaux performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. It was a joy to see the show. It is another joy to write about the show for CFT. Hope you like the post.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 3, 2024

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Paragraphs and Punctuation In Fiction

May 13, 2022Leave a comment

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.

Hope you have had a good week. Off to run a workshop in London tomorrow. Submitted a story for a competition I always enter. Finished judging a flash fiction competition and sent results back to the organisers. Has been a reasonably productive week!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s that time of the week again. I’m pleased to share Paragraphs and Punctuation In Fiction, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today.

I discuss how both are invaluable aids to clarity in writing which in turn is going to increase your chances of acceptance by a publisher or getting a placing in a competition.

What you don’t want to do here is give them a reason to turn your work down and writing which is clunky thanks to bulky paragraphs and/or unclear punctuation (which can change the meaning of what you want to say) is a sure fire way to ensure your work is turned down.

My post looks at the Oxford comma, why size matters for paragraphs, and why keeping it simple for punctuation does pay off. I also recommend checking out house styles for publishers (and for competitions the guidelines the organizers are asking you to adhere to) and share my thoughts on why I treat writing and editing as two separate creative tasks.

Albeit editing is creative in a different way to writing that first draft but it is still creative. Honest. I find it immensely satisfying seeing how a work improves over various drafts before I finally send my piece out into the big, bad world.

Hope you find the post useful and, as ever, do add your comments in the box – it is always good to hear from people.

Paragraphs and Punctuation in Fiction

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What got you into reading for pleasure? Well, in my case, it was my late mother who read stories out to me and encouraged me to learn to read at a very early age. You do copy by example.

What got me into writing my own stories? Suddenly waking up to the idea after I hit a significant birthday and a life change (the birth of my son) and realizing if I wanted to be a writer, something that had been in the back of my mind for ages, I should get on and do something about it.

I wrote just to prove to myself I could do it but it was some time later before I went on to try and be published. I suspect lack of confidence was an issue there, but by then the writing bug had got me well and truly hooked and I wasn’t going to let rejections etc stand in the way, which helped against the lack of confidence dilemma!

For me, stories are all about the characters. I have to find out what happens to them. I have to care about the outcome. And that remains an enjoyable challenge for me as I write my stories, as well as giving me immense delight when I read stories by other writers where I am rooting for their “people” all the way through. I use the word “people” loosely there. After all, I was cheering on rabbits in Watership Down!

Changeable day weather wise. Lady and her pals were not that impressed by it. Their owners were even less impressed. At least the dogs were running around! (Before you ask, there’s no chance of me doing that. Walk yes; run out of the question!).

Will be sharing my Paragraphs and Punctuation In Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. I’ll be looking at this from the viewpoint of a writer but also from the viewpoint of a competition judge – me! I judge flash fiction and short story competitions every so often and am currently judging for Nottingham Writers’ Club. I also judged the Margaret McConnell Woman’s Short Story competition for the Scottish Association of Writers earlier this year. So I hope you will find the tips in my CFT post handy as both of these things can help make or break a story for being placed. Will explain more on that in my post.

Image on the right is one I took at the SAW conference earlier this year. They have a very impressive range of trophies for their competitions!

The SAW competition trophies are fabulous

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. Hope you have had a good week. I’m glad to say my story, Creation, is now on Friday Flash Fiction and I think any creative type will identify with my lead character in this one. Hope you enjoy the story.

Am currently judging a flash competition for the Nottingham Writers’ Club, which is a great pleasure to do. Does judging other people’s work make me think about what I do with my stories and why? Oh yes and that’s a very good thing.

It means I can take a more detached view of my own work for a start but I can also think about why a story works for me and apply that to what I’m writing. What will my readers make of this? Will my readers pick up on what I want them to pick up and so on?

The best tip I’ve ever had was (and continues to be) to put my work aside for a while before evaluating it. It does need that distance of time to help you to read the piece as a reader (or editor or judge) would do. That in turn opens your eyes to potential faults but you then have time to correct those.

Screenshot 2022-05-12 at 19-47-51 Nottingham Writers' Club welcomes everyone who loves to write

Screenshot 2022-05-08 at 20-51-02 National Flash Fiction Competition 2022 - Nottingham Writers' Club

Screenshot 2022-05-08 at 20-51-45 National Flash Fiction Competition 2022 - Nottingham Writers' Club

Out in my garden at the moment is a laburnum in flower. Looks stunning. So what, you may think?

Well, this tree is an old one, it has lost major branches over the years, and every time there is a storm, we expect it to come crashing down. But it carries on and is a visual lesson in resilience and not giving up, I think. Now there’s an obvious parallel to the writing life in that but why not also think about this from a character viewpoint?

What kind of character could you create that battles on regardless and “blooms” again despite everyone around them having good reason to think they can’t? I think there could be some interesting story ideas from that.

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Equipment

What springs to mind when you think of magical equipment? Wands? Crystal balls? Potions (and the ingredients for them)? Fair enough. These are the classic tools which spring up in countless fairytales. But I was wondering whether the magical world had its equivalent of Microsoft and they were always bringing out magical upgrades and so on. Perhaps someone’s wand wasn’t “healthy enough” to take Wand 11 Version 8.9 and so on.

What would your characters make of having to upgrade regularly? Would they be suspicious of the manufacturers doing this trying to make even greater profits? Would they make do with their old equipment for as long as possible? (I resisted switching to Windows 8 when that came out as I heard nothing but bad things about it from various sources. I basically wore my PC out still using Windows 7 and switched PCs only when Windows 10 was out).

Also how many magical equipment manufacturers exist in your created world? Is there a monopoly? Can old equipment be recycled or can people still find a use for it? Does said equipment ever let your characters down at awkward moments and, if so, are the consequences tragic or even humorous? Some story ideas there I think!

This World and Others – Engagement

How does your created world engage with (a) other worlds near it or (b) with different species within its own confines? Is engagement a positive thing or are your people suspicious of it?

How would national characteristics come into play? If one part of your world was aggressive, how would that impact on the rest of your created world and what would their reaction be? How would they engage with the aggressor to try and persuade them to stop?

Now there are obvious parallels with the war in Ukraine (and indeed with many wars throughout our history) but this is where knowing how we engage with others can make you think about how you would do this for your fictional people and worlds. Are they better than us? Are they worse?

Comparisons with what we know here to what could be in what you are drafting are useful. They give you a place to start as you world build. They can also be useful “echoes” for readers who recognize certain traits are what we do or are based on what we do/have done.

Even the most fantastical world has to have something readers can identify with – they need to engage with what you have come up with – so basing your concept on what we know here helps with that.

Paragraphs and Punctuation in Fiction https://t.co/VxxQttW4BK I look at the Oxford comma, why size matters for paragraphs, and why keeping punctuation simple pays off. I discuss checking out publisher house styles and why I treat writing and editing as separate creative tasks.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 13, 2022

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Creation, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/noMhKoOowi It's Friday – time for a tale! Hope you have had a good week. My story, Creation, is now on Friday Flash Fiction. Any creative type will identify with my lead character here. Hope you enjoy the story. pic.twitter.com/9QmXYSS2Wn
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 13, 2022

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FAVOURITE BOOKS AND READING OUT LOUD

November 26, 2017Leave a comment

Facebook – General

What is your favourite book and why? What I read depends on my mood when I’m reading so I can’t possibly have one overall favourite. I’ve chosen below one from each major character when an author has several in their canon. A good way of squeezing more books in!

I’ve also deliberately chosen books from deceased authors. I love a wide range of contemporary writers too but thought for this post I’d take a look back at some of the books that have developed my love of reading (and ad a result my love for writing too).

Historical Fiction – The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Agatha Christie Novel – Murder on the Orient Express (Poirot)/The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence)/Nemesis (Miss Marple).

Terry Pratchett Discworld Series – Men At Arms (Vimes Series)/ Raising Steam (Moist von Lipvig)/Maskerade (Witches series)/Reaper Man (Death series)/Interesting Times (Rincewind/Wizards series).

P.G. Wodehouse – The Code of the Woosters (Jeeves and Wooster)/Heavy Weather (Blandings)/Uncle Fred in the Springtime (Uncle Fred)/Cocktail Time (for its send-up of what banning a book achieves – as relevant now as when PGW wrote it!).

“Letters” books – PGW’s “A Life in Letters” is a fantastic read. Also love the Evelyn Waugh letters. Kenneth Williams wrote some great letters too.

“Diaries” books – Kenneth Williams’ one is very sad in places but is also brutally honest. Such a shame he underestimated his skills in comedy and I don’t think truly realised how loved he was, especially for his Just a Minute appearances.

Playwright – Shakespeare, naturally.

Charles Dickens Novel – A Christmas Carol

Jane Austen Novel – Pride and Prejudice

Poem/Hymn – the words to Abide With Me (and I also love If by Rudyard Kipling).

Children’s Series – The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

So what would you choose?

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

The best way of showing people what flash fiction is? Read some tales to them! Great way also to improve public reading skills. Lovely thing with reading flash fiction out loud is, by its nature, it doesn’t take long and so people are more inclined to listen! It is my fervent hope that those who won’t read or feel they don’t have time to will discover flash fiction as it is a form that gives bite-sized reads for those in a hurry! (From my point of view as a writer, it keeps people reading, I hope).

My own love of reading (and as a result of that for writing too) came directly from being read to as a child. I then went on to read my own choice of books (such freedom to choose what I wanted! I love my late mother’s collection but show me a decent bookshop and I can spend hours in there if allowed to do so. Note to self: Don’t spend too long at Foyles at Waterloo or you will miss the train home from the Bridge House/Cafelit/Chapeltown event next weekend!).

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READING FOR PLEASURE AND QUICK TIPS

May 7, 2017Leave a comment

FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

Reading for Pleasure shares reasons why doing this is one of the most important things any writer can do to improve what they do. (I think it is the most important thing). Reading opens your mind to other worlds and so on. What do your characters read for pleasure? What books and stories would they choose? Use that to explore more about them.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

I share three Quick Tips which I hope you find useful. I discuss reading your work out loud (and why it matters). I also discuss marketing and not panicking about it – if you have a book out, you will be marketing it in different ways (without driving everyone nuts!) not just in the short term but in the long term too. I also discuss the need to find the right balance between marketing, getting on with your writing commitments and finding time to write new work. This last one I am struggling with at the moment but I know I will find the right key eventually. When I do I’ll stick with it!

CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY

I didn’t get time to blog much yesterday but my current article for Chandler’s Ford Today is a review of A Comedy Trio staged by the Chameleon Theatre Group. This consisted of three short but very funny plays, all of which I found entertaining and were excellent character studies too. I also enjoyed playing “spot the reference” in some of them. One of the plays in particular had a distinct nod to the Rocky Horror Picture Show! Another had me sympathising with not just a hostage victim but the hostage taker too and yet it was funny. Really well done by the Chameleons and some excellent writing.

FACEBOOK PAGE – GENERAL

Yesterday, Friday 5th May it was about my Chandler’s Ford Today post. Today I discuss the joys of the Kindle and why I always seem to forget to take it with me when travelling because I’m too busy enjoying reading from it the night before and consequently leave it behind! Oh, the joys of human fallibility!

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FACEBOOK PAGE – PUBLICITY NEWS

I’m in Writing Magazine this month in the Members’ News Page plugging both From Light to Dark and Back Again and Baubles, the Bridge House Publishing anthology for 2016. My short story, Helping Out, is in there. The piece looks good and thanks go to friend and fellow Swanwick devotee, Jennifer C. Wilson (author of the excellent Kindred Spirits historical ghost fiction – it’s a great mix, go and have a look!) for sharing the page all over FB!!