Image Credit: Pixabay/Pexels. Scottish pics and images of Lady, the daft but loveable Border Collie cross, were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Book cover images for The Best of Cafelit 9 and Tripping The Flash Fantastic supplied by my publishers – Bridge House Publishing and Chapeltown Books respectively.
Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today
Pleased to share the link to Part 2 of my Lessons series on CFT. This week I look at lessons learned from the writing life, all of which are useful beyond that.
So over to you. What lessons have you learned from writing and how have you applied these in other areas of life?
Went back to Dunnet Bay. Such a wonderful beach. Lady thinks so too! Walked for miles though it always seems further on sand than it actually is!
Plenty of brisk fresh air. Managed to see buzzards fairly close up (could make out the colouring underneath. Don’t usually get to do that). Also spotted a kestrel, sand pipers, and oyster catchers.
Now drum roll please… Very exciting news on Tripping The Flash Fantastic to come soon but in the meantime, take a peek at this!
Achievement of the week and possibly the year for me – I climbed 600 feet in about a mile exploring the track that runs behind where I’m staying. Yes, it was a very steep track! But see the views below.
Lady bounded up it with no issues at all before going on to have a splendid playtime on Dornoch Beach later in the afternoon. Result? One tired but happy dog!
What would be the perfect day for your characters and why? What would they do to anyone or anything that got in the way of them having that perfect day?
There are story ideas there for a start but also use questions like this for outlining your people. Work out what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Different writers have varying requirements here but what you do need is enough for you to get going on a story with characters who deserve to be written about.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
I’ve learned so much from the writing life as I discuss in this week’s CFT post. The great thing is I know that learning will continue.
My hopes with regard to flash fiction is to continue to develop characters and stories.
Maybe try different genres within flash? Maybe write a novella in flash one day – who knows?
But while I know there is writing to do and things to try within that, I know the buzz of writing won’t diminish. And I love that!😄
Maybe try different genres within flash? Maybe write a novella in flash one day – who knows?
But while I know there is writing to do and things to try within that, I know the buzz of writing won’t diminish. And I love that!😄
Big news is that I can now do a book cover reveal for my second flash fiction collection, Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Will be sharing more news soon on this.
I will be talking about TTFF as part of an author talk with Gill James and Dawn Kentish Knox on 26th September.
More details next week and my CFT post on 18th September will give details on how to register for the FREE Zoom event at the end of the month.
More details next week and my CFT post on 18th September will give details on how to register for the FREE Zoom event at the end of the month.
Am I a happy bunny right now? You bet!
Lovely day back at Dunnet today. One great thing about dog ownership is that our pets break down barriers. I’ve had far more lovely chats with people since owning a dog than before!
Although 2020 has been an awful year, I am so pleased to hear in one week The Best Of Cafelit 9, where I have flash stories included, and Tripping the Flash Fantastic, are “out there”. (Kindle only at moment for TTFF but paperback to follow).
Would still like 2020 to dramatically improve though and I know I’m not alone there.
I love autumn. I love the changing leaf colours. And the heathers on the hills around where I’m staying at the moment are such wonderful colours.
But there is a sense of transition this early in September as we leave summer behind.
Flash fiction is great for demonstrating those senses of transition in your characters.
They go from one state of being to another – that is the story you’re writing after all.
What you need to figure out is which moment of transition is the important one to write up.
They go from one state of being to another – that is the story you’re writing after all.
What you need to figure out is which moment of transition is the important one to write up.
Fairytales With Bite – Favourites
My favourite part of most fairytales when I was a kid was when the fairy godmother etc turned up and you knew somehow from that point, everything was going to work out okay.
My favourite part of a fairytale now is harder to define but I like to see characters contributing to the fairy godmother’s efforts to help them.
I also like to see the villains get their comeuppance.And I know that last like is something I’ll always have!
I also like to see the villains get their comeuppance.And I know that last like is something I’ll always have!
I refer to a lot of my work as fairytales with bite precisely because they are not twee. Nor am I writing to the children’s market (Roald Dahl was the past master there in my view!).
I’ve never liked it when someone dismisses something as “just a fairytale”. There is no just about it. Fairytales are deeper stories than some give them credit for!
This World and Others – Geography
I don’t refer to geography a lot in my flash tales but did use it in my unpublished (as yet!) fantasy novel.
I needed to know something about the landscape my characters inhabit and whether that gets in their way. Also I wanted to look at the differences and similarities with our world.
This is where photos come in handy for sparking ideas. I totally understand why so many fantasy works have a map with them. (I must check out the Discworld one for The Streets of Ankh-Morpork as that is one map which will be fun!☺).
The nice thing now is there are far more avenues of research available now. Archives, libraries, the web etc. I guess the danger now might be you could have so much fun researching, the writing takes a back seat!
So it would pay I think to plan out your research just as much as you would plan out the story itself.
Think about what you need to know, jot down where you think further research might be needed later, and write.
Also make a note of sources of research in case a publisher asks and in case you need to retrace your steps. It happens!
So it would pay I think to plan out your research just as much as you would plan out the story itself.
Think about what you need to know, jot down where you think further research might be needed later, and write.
Also make a note of sources of research in case a publisher asks and in case you need to retrace your steps. It happens!
Allison Symes: Collected Works 