Tag: remembering

Building On What Has Gone Before

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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 been enjoying the special music being played on Classic FM this week to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Music, like stories, resonates, speaks to the soul, and can conjure up memories.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and play with Coco, the lovely and lively Labradoodle, a fantastic way to end her “working week”! Good time had by all.

Pleased to share Building On What Has Gone Before for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at literally building on what has gone before (and how that may have inspired fiction), as well as taking a look at how writers build on the past, in terms of stories which we love and the authors from the past who have inspired us. I also discuss knowing how to build on what has gone before.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Building On What Has Gone Before

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8th May – VE Day
It was good to join in with the two minute silence at midday today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Classic FM then came back on air with Nimrod from the Enigma Variations (Elgar) and then the always moving Abide with Me (beautifully sung too). I am only two generations away from those who fought in the war in various ways (my grandfathers) and one away from those needing to be evacuated (my parents).

Writing wise, I will be sharing Building On What Has Gone Before on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. I will look at how we all do this in various ways and how specifically writers need to do it. I thought of this topic a while ago – the timing with VE week I think has a peculiar aptness to it, which was something I had not planned. These things happen sometimes in writing. Always nice when it does. Serendipity I think (and that is one of my favourite words too – sounds lovely for something which usually is a lovely thing).

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous author interview on CFT later in May. More details nearer the time. Next month too I hope to get along to an open evening The Chameleons are holding to celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. It is a good chance for them to show what they do and to demonstrate how they need volunteers not just for on the stage but behind it too.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today and had a lovely time. Lady is always buoyed up when she sees any of her pals. Mind you, so am I!

Don’t forget the May issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Its theme is world building, which can be done for the shorter fiction forms like flash fiction. My article is about that very thing! Do check it out.

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Hope to be back on Friday Flash Fiction soon but what I have loved about it is how it has helped me rediscover my love of the classic drabble form of flash fiction (aka the 100 word story). It was the drabble which was my introduction to flash fiction at all when CafeLit issued a 100 word challenge. I am so glad I took the baton up there!

It has led to two books being published by Chapeltown Books, with a third accepted, my writing for Friday Flash Fiction, being able to enter more competitions because I write flash, running flash workshops (including for the Association of Christian Writers) and so much more besides.

As with all flash fiction I write, I sort out who my character will be first, what their story is, and get the first draft down. I worry about the word count later. I start on that by removing my wasted words first and then look at whether I can improve the way I’ve expressed things. The answer to that one is almost always yes, by the way!

8th May – VE Day

Hope the day has been a good one. Has been lovely listening to stories from veterans and their families on the radio today re VE Day. Stories are made up of moments, the important ones.

For flash fiction writers, our challenge is to focus on one vital moment. For the longer flashes (say 750 to 100 words) you might have room for two. But given the story will be showing why these things matter to your characters, you don’t want to dilute the impact these things have on them.

Always nice to meet a keen reader. Did so today and sold copies of my books – nothing to dislike there!

Flash Fiction Tip: Think about how you can get your characters to show the theme in action. If I’m writing about dishonesty, say, I will show my character being dishonest. It gets the point across well and doesn’t use up much of your precious word count.

Plus “seeing” the character doing something or “listening” to what they are saying is by far the best way of getting something across. I want to see characters being dishonest, say, rather than being told they are.

Fairytales with Bite – History in the Magical World

What history is there in your magical setting? Would your characters see our fairytales as history or do they have unrelated history and what would this be? I would expect there to have been some magical battles.

Our own history shows there are always clashes between powers and even more so when someone tries to expand what powers they have. (I don’t believe it is a coincidence so many of our greatest fantasy works mirror the kinds of wars we have had over the centuries. Sadly, we have too much source material to draw on). How did these occur and what was the outcome? What could the outcome have been?

As I write this, we’re thinking about VE Day, the 80th anniversary, and there are a number of special events going on around the country at local and national levels.

Would your magical setting commemorate any of its history or do they try to ignore it?

Has your setting learned the lessons for its historical past or does it keep on repeating the same old mistakes? (This does sound familiar territory, does it not?!).

This World and Others – Archive Keeping

Archive keeping is so important. So much history would be lost without it. How does your setting manage its archives? Are these open to the public to inspect? Who handles the archives and in what forms are they? Written, audio, film etc or a combination?

How would your characters go about getting a job in archive keeping? Or are these jobs kept only for the select few the powers that be can rely on to keep certain things quiet?

Would archives in a magical setting “prove” our fairytales to be true? Might not want other beings, such as pesky humans, finding that out.

Could any of your characters use what they find in the archives to change the course of their story, their setting’s history even? If they find something out with potentially damaging consequences to the powers that be, what would they do about it?


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Remembering

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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. It has been a busy week starting with a podcast appearance and ending with a solemn day of remembrance. Hope your week has been a good one. Weather has ranged from stormy to sunshine and sudden rain and back to sunshine again! It is very mild for the time of year too. Writing wise, Flash NANO continues to go well and I will have lots of lovely interviews to share on Chandler’s Ford Today over the next few weeks.

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11th November 2022 – Armistice Day

There could only be one topic for this week’s post on Chandler’s Ford Today and I have called my post Remembering. This is a tribute to the fallen and those who gave up loved ones so we don’t have to and I also look at why remembering is an act of will. It’s a phenomenally important one at that too.

Remembering

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Hope you have had a good day. It’s been a busy week so far but fun. Am looking forward to sharing interviews with some wonderful authors on Chandler’s Ford Today over the next few weeks.

But there could only be one topic for tomorrow’s post – I’ll share the link for Remembering tomorrow. See above.

On the fiction front, you could use the thought of what your characters think important enough to remember as a basis for stories. Why have they chosen to remember what they have and how does that bring them into conflict with others? (And there will be bound to be conflict given people can often remember the same event differently. Characters can do likewise). Also do your characters act on those memories and what are the consequences?

Will be working on the latest Flash NANO prompt shortly. Am so loving these. Got that prompt written up. Am already thinking of future homes for some of these.

9th November 2022 – two posts

FIRST POST

You know you get one of those days where lots is going on – well, today is one of mine. This is the first of two posts from me tonight.

First up, a huge thank you to the lovely #ValPenny for sharing my post about Looking Back at Swanwick 2022 on her website today.

Looking back is an apt topic for me because, not only is my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week about Remembering (linking in with Armistice Day on Friday), today is the seventh anniversary of my mother’s passing. Mum read widely and passed on her love of the written word to me. She did get to see my first short story in print (and my late Dad got to see my first book, From Light to Dark and Back Again, in print – there is a kind of symmetry here).

For the lifelong love of books and stories I’ve inherited from you, thanks Mum!

Screenshot 2022-11-09 at 09-04-41 Looking Back at The Writers’ Summer School at Swanwick 2022 by Allison Symes


9th November 2022

SECOND POST

SECOND post from me tonight and I’d like to say a huge thank you to #WendyHJones for hosting me on her podcast, The Writing and Marketing Show. We discuss Flash NANO, which I’m happily taking part in at the moment. And I always welcome a chance to celebrate the joys of flash fiction writing.

Hope you enjoy the podcast. I loved taking part in this and to my fellow Flash NANO writers, more power to your pens and laptops! I’ll be working on the latest challenge a little later on this evening. Hope all is going well for you.

https://wendyhjones.buzzsprout.com/807761/11656217-flash-nanowrimo

Screenshot 2022-11-10 at 20-07-38 Flash NaNoWriMo - The Writing and Marketing ShowScreenshot 2022-11-10 at 20-07-27 The Writing and Marketing Show

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My latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction is called In The Blink of an Eye. Hope you enjoy it. Find out if my character’s story about an accident rings true for you as she thinks about what she is going to tell the police officer who has come to see her as a result of said “accident”.

Screenshot 2022-11-11 at 08-57-23 In The Blink Of An Eye by Allison Symes

Am starting work on some festive flash fiction (Flash NANO has helped here too!) and have an idea as to where it will go in due course. Festive flash is about the only seasonal writing I do and it is great fun. This kind of quirky humorous fiction, I think, works best when kept short so flash is the ideal form for it.

I hope to so some more for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course too. I usually have a pre-Christmas post on this. It’s a nice way to sign off for a Christmas break too. The nice thing here is you can create these at any time and just save them up for the apt time of year. I have done that in the past. Not had the chance this year. Making up for it now though!

BookBrushImage-2022-11-10-20-3052

It was a joy to talk to #WendyHJones about Flash NANO for her podcast, The Writing and Marketing Show. I share what Flash NANO is about, look at the joys and challenges of it, and where it differs from the main NaNoWriMo event. Not least of which is hopefully by the end of November I’ll have 30 more flash fiction stories to polish and work on further – more than I would’ve done. I don’t usually write a flash fiction piece a day – I do write a few over the course of a week. And “hon mentions” go to members of the ACW Flash Fiction Group too for telling me about Flash NANO in the first place.

 

Fairytales with Bite – Memories

This is an apt topic given Friday, 11th November will be Armistice Day/Veterans Day. We cherish memories we rightly dare not forget.

In your fictional setting, what would be your community’s collective memories, the things everyone shares? How are these things remembered? Are there rituals people must follow? (I use the word people loosely here!). On an individual level, what memories does your character cherish or go out of their way to try and forget? What does that say about them? And can memories come back to haunt them?

Perspective is important too. People can be at an event and have differing views of what happened when despite being in the same place and the same time.

I once took part in an interesting writing exercise to prove this point. Fellow writers and I had to recall something that had happened after having just been shown the event in question. This was interesting, We recalled a lot of things in common but by no means everything. There were differences too. Yet all of us could’ve sworn we’d remembered “correctly”.

How could that play out for your characters and how would it affect the actions they then take?

Remembering helps us to be grateful for sacrifices made

This World and Others – Remembrance Ceremonies

The Armistice Day ceremonies are always deeply moving. For those of us in the UK this year’s ceremonies will have an added poignancy given one very familiar figure will not be laying the wreath at The Centoaph in London, as Her Late Majesty the Queen had done for so many years.

In your fictional setting, what is “officially” remembered and why? What ceremonies are used to commemorate these events/people? Does everyone join in with these things and, if so, is that by choice? Where it is, what would happen to those who disagree and refuse to take part?

Are there events in your world’s history which nobody remembers because they don’t want to do so? Where this reflects badly on them, what happens when someone uncovers this and exposes it?

Who leads any ceremonies and are these kept simple or is there a lot of pomp and circumstance? What are the traditions leading to the ceremonies being carried out the way they are? Do other countries (or equivalent) in your setting share the same ceremonies?

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REMEMBERING – AND THE POINT OF FICTION

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I had a friend, now sadly gone, who couldn’t understand the point of fiction. He only read non-fiction and thought the world was too wonderful to want to make things up!

I had some sympathy for that view funnily enough, as I could see what he was getting at, but I did point out that fiction can show truths facts can’t always do. Fiction can show elements of human nature in a better way than just relating a list of what we are capable of.

I also think fiction should encourage empathy. We root for characters we like. Why? Because there is something in them we can identify with or aspire to in ourselves. So does it follow then the more we read, the more we encourage empathy in ourselves? I like to think so.

 

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Very moved by the Remembrance events over the weekend. So many stories we know about, so many still untold (not everyone wants to “open up” about what they went through). So much history recalled – personal, national and international. I was also pleased to see the animals who served in the war (especially horses and dogs) were also remembered at various times over the weekend.

One common theme running through Doctor Who is how one action, no matter how small, can change the history of the individual and, from that, the history of their country, the planet even. Very much a chain reaction.

So when are we planning our characters and stories, look for the pivotal moments that are going to turn everything upside down. What is behind those moments? What makes your characters act and react the way they do (given there is always an opposite reaction to be considered)? Is the motivation of your character strong enough to justify the stance they’re taking?

We dare not forget. Pixabay image.
Memories are fragile especially over time. Pixabay image.
Indeed. Pixabay image.
The Tower of London poppies from a few years ago. Pixabay image.
Photos the old school way. Pixabay image.
Where do your characters like to take time out to reflect and why? Pexels image
Image via Pexels
What journeys are your characters going on? Image via Pixabay
What impact do your stories have on your readers? Image via Pixabay
Poetry conjures up images so beautifully. Image via Pixabay. See Sandra Lyn Gordon’s wonderful poem on Chandler’s Ford Today for another example of great imagery.

Glad to hear one of my favourite radio shows, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, is back on Radio 4. Some fantastic word play here. Got to see the live show a little while back. Good fun. If you get the chance to go, do so. Laugh a minute is not an exaggeration!

I’m very fond of a good pun. (Am also very fond of a dreadful one!). I like playing with the language like this. (This is also why the late great Frank Muir and Denis Norden are much missed. They were fabulous at this).

I occasionally get to give my characters a humorous one liner, which I enjoy doing, but I think it has more impact because I don’t do this all the time. Also the humour has to arise out of the situation I’ve put the characters in and mustn’t feel forced. A reader will spot that a mile off.

But having fun with the language is one of the great joys of writing.

Puns can be visual. Pixabay image.
Transistor radio. Pixabay image
Walking into the words maybe. Pixabay image
Maths joke of the week. Pixabay image.
Puns can be very simple. Pixabay image.
Even Paddington likes a pun. Pixabay image.
So true. Pixabay image.
It always is! Reflecting first helps a lot! Pixabay image
A great new idea makes me smile, as does this image. Pixabay image.

My CFT post this week will look at the art of time management and takes in a quick look at time travel too. More on Friday.

How does time work in your stories? I don’t tend to think of it much as most of my flash fiction is very much in the “here and now”. I’m not sure though whether my using the first person encourages that or if the here and now encourages the use of the first person! Jury out here…

Even those pieces where a character is looking back at a period of life have a kind of bracketed time zone. It can only be for so long. I suppose you could argue I use time as a kind of a frame for my flash fiction and that does work well. As ever, though, be consistent with your use of time throughout the story.

Picking up wriitng tips will help you improve your work. Pixabay image.
The medieval scrivener’s wares. Image by Allison Symes
Wonderful writing desk. Pixabay image
Photos the old school way. Pixabay image.
How does gravity and time work in your settings? Pixabay image.
Let one creative idea spark another. Pixabay image.
All writers have felt this way at times. Pixabay image.
A beautiful woodland walk. Pixabay image
Write first, edit later. Pixabay.
Hope your Christmas books take you to all sorts of wonderful places! Pixabay image
Write your piece, leave it for a while before editing. Pixabay image.

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R = Recalling the debt we owe
E = Engaging with the past so we do not end up re-living it
M = Memories to be treasured and learnt from
E = Elegies and the war poetry of Sassoon and Owen amongst others
M = Men fallen and wounded, numbers too vast to comprehend
B = Bugles and the moving notes of The Last Post
R = Regiments, so many of them “old pals” networks. Reflect an almost forgotten era.
A = Armistice Achieved Eventually.
N = Never again they said. Sadly they were wrong. What can WE do then? Remember, recall, DON’T repeat.
C = Creatures such as the horses that also saw active service, amongst others.
E = Edith Cavell, Nurse, who rightly wanted to help the injured of both sides.

Allison Symes – 10th November 2018

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How do the seasons affect your characters? The reduced amount of sunlight throughout the autumn and winter months is known to affect many people in terms of moods, being more prone to depressive attacks (in terms of quantity and how long each episode lasts). Should our characters reflect this too? I think so.

As well as the general point of acknowledging depression openly, (pretending it doesn’t exist or happen helps nobody), I think it unrealistic to have characters in a “set” state of mind. Their moods are bound to fluctuate, whether it is due to the lack of sunlight, the earlier and longer nights, or the circumstances they’re facing or a combination of that.

When we portray our characters, we must show them honestly for them to have any resonance with our readers. While there isn’t the word count room in flash fiction to show a lot of change of moods (you’d need the longer short stories and novels for that), you CAN give an indication of a character’s usual mood and where/what has changed it.

For example, in my They Don’t Understand, I start with my lead character showing us he has blamed himself for something. As the story progresses, he recalls his life with his wife, and then the ending, the “punch in the gut” end as I like to think of it, shows why he blamed himself at the start. This was one of my longer flash fiction pieces and I needed all the words available here to convey this sense of mood well enough. But without those changes of mood, and the reasons for them, the story simply wouldn’t have impact.

Let the creative process flow! Image via Pixabay
Write your piece, leave it for a while before editing. Pixabay image.
View from near where I was staying in Scotland. You wouldn’t want to rush away from this. Image by Allison Symes
Again from Swanwick. Literally a place to reflect! Image via Allison Symes
Is everything black and white in your stories? Image via Pexels
Plugging in for new ideas? Pixabay image
The Hayes Conference Centre, home of the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. Image by Allison Symes
Write first, edit later. Pixabay.
Let those ideas flow! Image via Pixabay,
I’ve never read a book in these conditions, have you? Pixabay image.

Flash fiction isn’t a new idea, far from it. The name of it might be but the concept isn’t. Aesop’s Fables would count as flash fiction as would many of Jesus’s parables in the New Testament. (Many come in at under 100 words!). (The longer story of the Good Samaritan is a great example of the Rule of Three in action too!). Truly, there is nothing new under the sun!

Having said that, the challenge for flash fiction writers now, as with any story writer, is to come up with strong characters and engaging ideas which grip your reader so much they HAVE to read your story through. I call it the “do I have to read this and read it NOW?” test. If the answer to that is a resounding “yes”, you are definitely on to something!

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What are your favourite times for writing? I find late afternoon into the evening works best for me. With most of the day’s cares behind me, I can focus on writing something I love and relish every moment of it.

I’ve found the biggest thing about having a regular writing “slot” is it conditions you to accept this is the time you will write so you settle down and get on with it (never a bad thing that!).

I try to mix up what I write during the week as a whole. I focus on my CFT post first, then get on with the flash fiction and other, longer term, projects I’ve got in mind. Keeps the imagination busy!

 

 

Ebooks and print – both have their own frustrations when it comes to publishing. Image via Pixabay
See! It is a good idea, weather permitting! Image via Pexels
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
What wonderful worlds we can creat! Image via Pixabay.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Unless in a thunder storm or high winds, this is a good idea! Image via Pexels
The fantastical should still be grounded in reality (even if you create some of that reality too). Pixabay image.
Books are the keys to knowledge. Image via Pixabay
Let the ideas flow and let journeys encourage that! Image via Pixabay
Get those ideas coming! Pixabay image
Hopefully the Book Fair will encourage even more reading! Image via Pexels
The perfect place to reflect and take stock. Pixabay image.

Goodreads Author Blog – Remembering

I write this on the eve of Remembrance Sunday/Armistice Day 2018 when all thoughts turn to remembering those who sacrificed so much.

This is where the war poetry of Sassoon and Owen amongst others hits home. This is where historical writing – fiction AND non-fiction, can truly show what life would have been like in the trenches (and make us devoutly thankful we’ll never face anything like that).

The testimonies and local history records should be treasured. Reading others’ experiences and thoughts should encourage empathy in us (and I think is one of the truly great things about fiction generally).

There are so many stories – someone local to me has found out the stories of those on our War Memorial. Imagine that happening up and down the UK. Every single person recalled and their story told.

Fiction is wonderful and should reflect the human condition but the sheer brutal facts of non-fiction around things like the World Wars should never be forgotten. We owe a huge debt to those who wrote things down so we have those written records. We dare not forget (else be destined to re-live) and writers play a crucial role here.

 

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Reviews and Remembering

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It was a delightful and very moving experience to watch the Chameleons’ production of Blackadder Goes Forth last week. My review for CFT this week shares some wonderful pictures from the set (and many thanks to Stuart Wineberg and the Chameleons for kind permission to use these). The production was a sell out run and I am not at all surprised.

The way the very famous final scene was carried out on stage worked so well too. For more, see the post.

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Looking forward to sharing my review of the Chameleons’s most recent production, Blackadder Goes Forth, later in the week. Found a particularly nice Youtube clip to go with it which fits in beautifully. It is always nice to uncover gems to go with posts like that.

Remembering is a fundamental part of being human (which is why Alzheimer’s is the tragedy it is). It should feature in your fiction too. What makes your character the way they are? What do they remember that they fight against or go with? Do they join in with their society’s collective memories or would they be what we would know as a revisionist?

What ceremonies are special on the world you’ve set up and what memories have led to these ceremonies taking place at all? Is everyone expected to join in or is it only for the privileged few?

My latest Chandler’s Ford Today post. Image via Pixabay
Great characters = great books. Image via Pixabay.
Great characters will engross you. You will lose time reading their stories. Image via Pixabay.
Poetry conjures up images so beautifully. Image via Pixabay. See Sandra Lyn Gordon’s wonderful poem on Chandler’s Ford Today for another example of great imagery.

Funny day today. Saw my sister go off to NZ (holiday and catching up with family). Not been to Heathrow for years. Last time was when our parents went over there. Mum and Dad went over at exactly the right time. It wasn’t long after their return that Alzheimer’s became “openly apparent” in Mum. Had they delayed at all, they would not have been able to go. The decisions we make…

What decisions do your characters make that turn out to be pivotal? They don’t necessarily need to be “obvious”. Something as simple as deciding to take a journey at a particular time as opposed to a later or earlier time could make all the difference to your story outcome but you will need to show why and how. Plenty of possibilities for drama and conflict there (especially if your lead is arguing with others as to the best way and time to go about their “mission”).

Fiction can take you anywhere. Image via Pixabay.
Books are wonderful. Pixabay image.
Generating the writing ideas. Image via Pixabay.
A good book will illuminate some truth. Image via Pexels
What will this be for your writing journey? Pixabay image
All writers feel this way sometimes. Pixabay image.
Series novels contribute so much to the wonderful world of books. Pixabay image.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about journeys today (my sister is off to NZ as I type this), but of course every story is a journey in and of itself, regardless of its length. You have a character, something happens (the moment of crucial change) and then there’s the outcome (not necessarily a happy or good one).

The main difference with flash fiction of course it that this tends to be a short, sharp journey and there’s no hanging around for the outcome!

A truly beautiful diary. Image via Pixabay
Let the creativity spill out. PIxabay image.
Books are wonderful. Pixabay image.
Hope your Christmas books take you to all sorts of wonderful places! Pixabay image
Nobody gets their ideas right first go. Image via Pixabay.
Old diaries can be fascinating but it is where cut and paste really was just that. Image via Pixabay.
Or get away from it all in one book. Pixabay image.
Notebook to hand ready for those story ideas. Image via Pexels.
Books are the keys to knowledge. Image via Pixabay
I’ve never read a book in these conditions, have you? Pixabay image.
Very old school writing. Image via Pixabay.

I sometimes write pieces where a character reflects on their life. My They Don’t Understand is a good example of this. Not an action story as such but one where, hopefully, the characterisation grips you and you have to find out how the character did in the end.

Naturally there has to be something special about the character to get you to keep on reading. Often it is their voice that is compelling. Know how your character would think, act, and therefore speak. It will make a huge difference to how you write them.

The writing necessities! Pixabay image.
Which number draft is this? Pixabay image
The Writing Life. Pixabay image.
It always is! Reflecting first helps a lot! Pixabay image
Good reading – and writing to be done – here. Pixabay image.
Always a good idea! Pixabay image.
How they USED to put pictures into books! Image via Pixabay.
Some of the books I’ve appeared in and FLTDBA of course. Image by Allison Symes

I sometimes write pieces where a character reflects on their life. My They Don’t Understand is a good example of this. Not an action story as such but one where, hopefully, the characterisation grips you and you have to find out how the character did in the end.

Naturally there has to be something special about the character to get you to keep on reading. Often it is their voice that is compelling. Know how your character would think, act, and therefore speak. It will make a huge difference to how you write them.

 

The scrivener’s tools – image by Allison Symes
Books are fabulous, whatever the format. Image via Pixabay.
How does gravity and time work in your settings? Pixabay image.
I recall using a manual typewriter and manually copying and pasting. Pixabay image.
A clean sheet can lead to some fascinating characters and stories. Image via Pixabay
Is it Time for a Change for the dragon in my story on Cafelit? Image via Pixabay
A great new idea makes me smile, as does this image. Pixabay image.
Books have their own sense of time and space. Image via Pixabay.
Plugging in for new ideas? Pixabay image
Generating the writing ideas. Image via Pixabay.
Fiction is strengthened when backed by fact. Image via Pixabay

Thoughts for starting to write flash fiction:-

1. Pick out or invent a title and see what story ideas can come from that. Ideally try not to go with your first idea, as usually that is a way in to finding deeper, better ones to work with!

2. Know who your lead character is going to be and what their chief characteristic is. Very useful way to get started!

3. Don’t worry about the word count limitations at this stage. Write the story. Edit it. Read it out loud. Edit it again. Then see what its word count length should be. Some stories really do work better at 100 words, others at 500. The great thing is there are markets for both!

4. Keep the idea simple. Don’t try to be too clever. You want the reader to identify with your characters and for the idea to be a plausible one (no matter how fantastic the setting of the story). Being too clever will just tie the story (and you!) up in knots and won’t do anything for a potential reader.

Content is indeed king. Image via Pixabay.
Whenever and whatever you read, enjoy. Image via Pixabay.
A house full of books. Pixabay image.
Let the creativity spill out. PIxabay image.
Lost in time, thanks to a good book. Pexels image.
So many places to share your blog. Image via Pixabay,
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Love this clock. Pixabay image.
Lost in a good book. Image via Pixabay.

Fairytales with Bite – Character Dialogue

Character dialogue has to sound natural when a reader comes to it, whether they read it aloud or not and whether they read a print or ebook or listen to the story on audio first. Often character dialogue is a “tidied up” version of what we say in life with few hesitations (best used sparingly in writing. It looks gimmicky and is “tiring” to read.).

I’ve found reading work out loud (sometimes recording it and playing it back) is a great way of checking to see if my dialogue is up to scratch. If I stumble over my words, a reader will too as out with the old editing pen again! It is wise to use accented speech sparingly. You want to give a sense of what a character’s accent is. You don’t need to use an accent for each and every word they say. Again, that is tiring to read, especially in a longer work.

You need your characters to speak in different styles so readers can easily tell them apart during “conversational pieces”. Sometimes this can be done by the choice of words a character uses. Sometimes it can be that Character A always speaks in short, sharp sentences, while Character B takes their time in getting to the point!

I love getting my characters to “chat” even if sometimes it is to themselves via their own internal thoughts. This is where you and, later, a reader can find out so much about them.

What populates your fictional world? Pixabay image
How does gravity and time work in your settings? Pixabay image.
Making the most of the writing time. Pixabay image
Hope your Christmas books take you to all sorts of wonderful places! Pixabay image
I’ve never read a book in these conditions, have you? Pixabay image.
Just how fantastic is your setting? Pixabay image.
Or get away from it all in one book. Pixabay image.
How is your world governed? Is it done well? Pixabay image.
What world will you conjure up for us in your stories? Pixabay image.
What wonderful worlds we can creat! Image via Pixabay.

This World and Others – Packing a Punch With Your Writing

This topic has come about as a direct result of my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week, which was a review of the Chameleon Theatre Company’s recent production of Blackadder Goes Forth.  This last series in the Blackadder canon is by far the best of them and with humour and irony conveyed the horror of life in the trenches in World War One.  Blackadder would have been mad NOT to have tried any means possible to get out of there.  The writing is excellent and the tragedy of what happens is beautifully portrayed.  How?

A lot of the writing is understated.  Blackadder’s final “good luck, everyone” is said calmly and without emotion as the men are about to go over the top.  There is a wealth of emotion behind those three words.  Anyone watching knows those men are about to go to their deaths and that they know it too.  So you don’t need lots of words to make a powerful impact on your reader.  There is a lot to be said about quiet courage (as shown by Blackadder funnily enough).  Think about then what impact you want your readers to experience, then look at the best way of achieving that.

Humour can achieve a great deal here as can quiet acceptance of what is about to happen.  Raging against the unfairness of it all can engender some sympathy but I’ve found a better approach is for characters to fight the odds as much as they can and if they lose, it is clear from the story it is NOT because of anything they’ve said or done.  It is for your reader to conclude that it is unfair on the character, rather than have the character do it (as you run the risk that the character may come across as being whinging).

 

 

Looking into the past... Image via Pixabay

PRIORITIES, REMEMBERING, AND A REVIEW

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

This week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post is my review of Murdered to Death by Peter Gordon, recently performed by the Chameleon Theatre Group. I look at what you look for in great spoofs and discuss the wonderful Agatha Christie send-ups in this highly enjoyable play, which was brilliantly performed by the Chameleons to a packed house. I hope they put on more spoofs. I have a very soft spot for funny plays (funny books too come to that) and spoofs are a fantastic part of this.

Image Credit:

All images for Murdered to Death kindly supplied to Chandler’s Ford Today by Lionel Elliott and taken by Liz Strevens and Marilyn Dunbar, all of The Chameleon Theatre Group.

Many thanks.

Image Credit:  All images below are from Pixabay.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

When is less is more? Certainly in flash fiction. Also on Twitter (I’ve been following the debate on the increase in characters from 140 to 280 and agree that the tighter character limit increases creativity. If you can say something in 140 characters, why on earth would you want to say it in more? There is no point to writing which isn’t necessary to the story!).

Twist endings depend on the less is more principle. In The Truth in From Light to Dark and Back Again the last sentence contains the twist in a total of 10 words (and by my rough tot-up 68 characters including the full stop!). In Serving Up a Treat, the twist was in 8 words (which this time is 39 characters including the full stop).

A guiding principle for me has been to write what needs to be written and get out! (It is in the edit that you work out what does need to be in the story. It can be surprising just how much can be cut too at times).

(From Light to Dark and Back Again can now be found in MIBI Gift Shop in Chandler’s Ford, along with Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords by fellow writer and friend, Richard Hardie. Images below taken by me and many thanks to MIBI. I hope to write a CFT post about how local communities can help their writers and vice versa).

Image Credit:

All images below taken by Allison Symes.  Many thanks to MIBI.

Books should be a pleasure always. Image by Allison Symes
My book is on sale in local outlets, including MIBI Gift Shop. Image by me.
My book on sale in a local gift shop. Image taken by Allison Symes

Image Credit:  All images below are from Pixabay.

Goodreads Author Programme – Blog

What do your book choices reveal about you? Well, for a start, hopefully, that you have excellent taste in books!

Your choices should also reveal you are widely read, with a good selection of non-fiction books, as well as fiction, on your shelves.

Certain titles give themselves away, of course. Having the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook on your shelves points to there being a writer or artist in the household!

Your choices should also reveal which genres are your favourites as these will tend to dominate your bookshelves. (In my case, it’s humorous fantasy and yes I do have a shelf full of Terry Pratchett and Tom Holt’s works).

On the non-fiction front, your choices should reveal what your favourite genre is here (for me, it’s anything historic).

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Fairytales With Bite – Priorities

What are your characters’ priorities and why have they chosen them?  (Did they get to choose them or did family/tribal expectation force them to “choose” the priorities they have?).  What are the priorities for your world’s government(s)?  What stops them or individual characters from fulfilling their priorities?

I must admit I sometimes find it difficult to work out my priorities (given all my jobs do actually need to be done!).  This is where deadlines (actual and ones you set for yourself) can be useful.  They give you something concrete to work towards, can help against procrastination and, I think, help you achieve more in terms of your writing than you would without them.

The biggest but nicest problem I have had this year is giving the right priority to publicizing From Light to Dark and Back Again (including taking part in things like the recent Chandler’s Ford Book Fair) and getting on with my other writing.  I know I will get this balance right eventually (experience does show!) but I also know I haven’t got there yet (as I said, experience does show!  So does lack of said experience!).

Writing directly to screen

Prioritising writing work isn’t always easy.

This World and Others – Remembering

This weekend has Armistice Day (11/11), which given it is on a Saturday this year is followed by special services throughout the UK (where I’m based) on the nearest Sunday to it.  It is a strange thing about us as a species that we need to actively remember especially those things that are the most important.  The biggest lesson from history, I think, is the importance to remember and then maybe some of the worst mistakes we’ve made won’t be repeated.  At the very least that is a good thing to aim for.

This week has also seen the second anniversary of my mother’s passing and I can’t believe where the time has gone.

On a happier note, as I’m settling in our new rescue dog, Lady, happy memories of my previous dogs, Gracie and Mabel, are flooding back as Lady shows some traits common to them all.

On a writing front, what would your characters choose to actively remember?  What are the most important things for them?  What does this say about them as characters?  What made them choose these things?  Do any of these things go against what would be their cultural norm and, if so, what consequences do they face?

Looking into the past... Image via Pixabay

Lest We Forget.

 

A TIME TO REMEMBER, A TIME TO FORGET

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ANNOUNCEMENT

Just to say that for the next week or so, posts to all of my websites will be spasmodic.  I’m arranging my late father’s funeral at the moment.  Amongst many things I will miss is his support especially of my short story writing.  He had to have a copy of any book my stories were in and I am so glad he got to see From Light to Dark and Back Again.  It has meant my late mum got to see my first published short story and my dad has seen my first published book.  Am also posting spasmodically on Facebook at the moment.  I’m also taking a short break from Chandler’s Ford Today though I hope to be back later in June with author interviews etc.

FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

I’m starting an occasional new series here – the A to Z of writing tips! I kick off with A to E.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

A Time to Remember, A Time to Forget looks at what your characters would remember/deliberately choose to “forget”.

I hope to get back to normal daily postings after 9th June.

Worlds, real and imaginery, are found in books - image via Pixabay