Tag: Show not tell

Writing Events

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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. Many thanks to Lynn Clement and Gill James for two images in my Chandlers Ford Today post this week. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady has had a lovely time with friends. Have had some sunshine which was welcome but more rain which wasn’t! Writing going well. Am drafting various things at the moment.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Lady had a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler pal today and has had a fabulous week in that she has “partied” with pals all week! You’ve got to admire the stamina…

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Writing Events as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I look at the benefits for writers of going to events and how I evaluate which ones are the best for me. I also discuss day events and Zoom/online ones. (Am going to one of these later this evening in support of a friend’s book launch so the timing of this is nice).

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Writing Events

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady had a fantastic puppy party with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Cold and drizzly out there but nowhere near as bad as yesterday.

Writing wise, I’ll be discussing Writing Events for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I share what I look for when deciding which events to go to and look at day events and Zoom ones too. Hope you’ll find the post useful. The link goes up tomorrow.

Writing Tip: When I started writing seriously, the thought of networking terrified me. When I realised going to events would mean talking about something I love, writing, with others who love writing too, those fears went. And it got me used to talking about what I do writing wise. What I did do before going to my first ever event was jot a few thoughts on what I could say about what I write. That helped give me more confidence because I knew I had something I could say and then, of course, as you get chatting to other writers, the conversation continues naturally which is wonderful.

18th February – Authors Electric

Despite cold and wet weather, Lady managed to have a great time at the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums, and Charlie, the lovely Toller. I can’t speak for the others but I do know Lady and I weren’t sorry to be indoors again.

Writing wise, it’s my turn on the Authors Electric blog and this time I look at The Shortest Time, an apt title for a flash fiction writer. I look at this from the viewpoint of meeting deadlines for competitions, using smaller pockets of writing time well so I can make better use of longer sessions, and, of course, I give my characters the shortest time possible in the format to resolve their issues. No dithering about what to do here!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am happily drafting a flash piece I hope to submit in the next week or so. Have got the basics okay but it is a question of now fine tuning the piece and I know I need a few days away from the work to be able to see what needs to be done and where. I’ve mentioned before it pays all writers to draft a piece, rest it for a while, and then come back to it so you can see it with fresh eyes.

The advantage for flash fiction writers here is we don’t need such a long break as, say, a novella writer would. But it still pays to put the time aside here. I always find something I could’ve phrased better etc on coming back to the work again. The distance from that initial creative spark is crucial, I think, to pick things up and make the work even better.

 
I like to use my characters to show their location. Often it is by showing you what kind of character they are. For example, if I have a dragon or fairy godmother, it’s a reasonably safe assumption to believe they’re in some sort of magical world. If they’re not, I will show them “on location”, almost inevitably confronting/being confronted by another character (and it will be clear enough where they must be based).

Flash teaches you, I think, to work out what the characters can show the readers. You haven’t got the word count room to spell everything out in any case. I must admit I love it when authors leave me to work things out. All I need is the right clues to be able to do that. The challenge to me as a writer is to plant the right clues so readers can do that with my stories without giving it all away.

I don’t use the weather much in fiction because, for me, it always a background thing. Where the weather has a direct impact on what my characters can do and how, then fine I’d write it in. But I don’t want the weather dominating the story (and when such scenes are badly written, they can be ripe for mockery. Love a laugh etc. Don’t want it to be aimed at my writing though!).

Where it can be useful is in showing more about your character. If I want a character to be struggling against the elements, I will probably show something of the clothing they’re wearing (that is often indicative of prevailing conditions). I may get them to moan about the weather to another character. That is something we an call identify with. I don’t generally need to show you the rain my character is struggling through. I will mention the lightning and rumble of thunder though which makes them start.

As with anything in fiction, it is the telling details which will make something stand out. So think about your reader, as well as your character. What would they expect to see? What would they expect to hear? Do use as many of the senses as you can.

Having a character doing the following makes something more gripping to me.

Mary knew she had to get away from the trees. The thunder was happening more often now and yes, there it was, she saw the first flash of lightning. She pressed on towards the cottage. Once there, everything else could wait including her vital message.

Allison Symes – 18th February 2026.

Hmm… now that does sound much more promising than saying something like It was pouring down!


Fairytales With Bite – Signs of Hope

February 2026 has been just as much of a wash out weather wise as January was but there are more signs of hope in February. The natural world is waking up to the thought of spring being not too far away and I’ve loved being out with the dog, despite the rain, spotting things like snowdrops, early crocuses and much more. Also the evenings, when it isn’t raining, are becoming lighter for longer.

What signs of hope would there be in your magical setting? What role does the natural world have against your main magical background? What signs of spring (or the equivalent season) would your characters like to see? Do they even appreciate these things? Do your magical characters appreciate other flora and fauna which are not used for potions etc?

Signs of hope aren’t just confined to the natural world. For example, if your setting has a dictatorial system of government or a wicked magical character in charge, but your characters are moving against all of that, what signs of hope would they have to encourage them to keep going? How would those signs of hope make a difference to the eventual and hoped for victory?

Hope can spur people on in difficult times. How would that play out in your setting?


This World and Others – The Natural World in a Magical Setting

As with Fairytales with Bite above, the role of the natural world in a magical setting is an interesting one. Yes, it will be the source of ingredients for spells and potions but it can be more than that.

I’m thinking of The Ents in The Lord of the Rings here, where they, representing the natural world as the Shepherds of the Trees, rose up against Saruman to try to overcome his wanton destruction of trees etc. The natural world can rebel against ill treatment (and I would say climate change is a warning from our own planet here. I don’t see how anyone can deny it. There have been major changes and it still befits us to take as good a care of our planet as we can – and that’s as radical as I get though to me it is plain common sense).

So how do your characters treat their natural world? Is it valued? Would your magical characters appreciate their natural world for its beauty, health benefits to walking in it etc? Where would your characters go to in your setting when they wanted to get away with it all?

Also, are any of the animals, plants etc magical in their own right? What advantages are there to this for your setting or characters? What would be the disadvantages? What are the dangers? How would the natural magical world clash or co-operate with the magical characters?

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Trains and Wish Lists for Writers

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Image Credit:  Unless otherwise stated, all images are from Pixabay

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

It was a joy to write about trains for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It is one of my favourite inventions. I share how it has affected my writing (in terms of how I use a train journey and writing events I get to) and share some links to some great places to visit connected with the train. All of this just ahead of my going to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event tomorrow. Naturally I’m travelling by train!

Yes, I did have a train set as a kid, shared with my sister, but you can’t beat going on the real thing and I’ve loved trips on the Fort William to Mallaig line (think Harry Potter) and the Watercress Line amongst others. (The latter has a Permanent Way sign on one of their engineering sheds as a tribute to Terry Pratchett. They also have an old advert for Nosegay tobacco – make of that what you will – see the post for the picture proving it!).

One thing I didn’t mention in the post was I love stories connected to trains too. I’ve always loved Agatha Christie’s 4.50 from Paddington (a Miss Marple story) – and who could forget Murder on the Orient Express? And I’ll always have fond memories of my book signing at my local railway station. That was good fun. (Many thanks to the Three Rivers Rail Community Partnership for their help there and I’m pleased to advertise their Mulled Wine and Mince Pie event coming up on 13th December. See the post for more).

Oh and my favourite Terry Pratchett story? Very hard to say but I do adore Raising Steam.  Captions over on the CFT post, as always, but I will say a big thank you to the Three Rivers Rail Community Partnership for their poster for their Mulled Wine and Mince Pie event.

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Had lovely day in Dorset celebrating wedding anniversary with other half and Lady. Plenty of walking and very fresh air! Hope both prove to be inspiring!

Many thanks to all who read my story Staying In on Cafelit earlier this month..it is nice to know it did very well in the number of reads for the period. Things like this are so encouraging.

If there was a wish list for writers I would include:-

1. Encouragement to always come when most needed.

2. Time to somehow magically expand when the writing is going well and you are on a roll.

3. Inspiration to always come when most needed.

4. Always knowing not only have you found the right publisher before submitting work you have sent them the perfect pitch.

5. Never running out of paper, computer consumables, and good ideas!

And below is Lady having a fab time on West Bay beach!

Lady having a good time at West Bay

Lady having a good time at West Bay in Dorset. Image by Allison Symes.

What dates have special meaning for your characters and why? How do they celebrate key events/mark the more sombre ones? Do they live in an environment where commemorations/celebrations are enforced? If so, what led to that and do they toe the line or rebel? What are their reasons?

Questions like these are useful for fleshing out the characters you want to write about but also their setting (which can often be treated as a character in its own right).

In flash fiction, I have to hint at a setting but for standard short stories (1500 words +), there is more room for manoeuvre. I’ve found that the telling details (often only a line or two) are the ones that create the greatest impression of the world you’re trying to convey and so have the biggest impact on a reader.

 

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’m looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event tomorrow and enjoying hearing fellow writers read their creations. I love being read to – doesn’t happen often enough (though this is where audio books are brilliant).

I’m planning to read some of my flash fiction stories too and this is where my favourite type – the 100 worders – come into their own. Short and with a sting in the tale. What’s not to like?! Looking forward to sharing new material and an old favourite or two.

I hope to write further stories on the train. I usually get a couple drafted, along with blog posts etc.

And one of the best ways of showing someone what flash fiction is simply to read them an example!

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What do you like your characters to be? I like mine to show spirit, whether or not that stance is justified! I also have a very soft spot for the older hero/heroine.

All of that is fine but I have to watch out I don’t just write characters who are all like that.

It can be a challenge to write about characters I dislike. The even bigger challenge is ensuring I do that so a reader would never know!

It can be really satisfying though when a character you don’t particularly like wins you round by the end of the story you’ve put them in.

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All fiction writers are given the advice to show, not tell in their stories. It’s even more crucial for flash fiction writers to do so. We have to imply so much and leave readers to fill in the gaps (which is just one very good reason why I love reading and writing flash. I’ve always loved filling in the gaps – and yes I was a huge dot to dot fan for much the same reason when I was a kid! I HAVE to fill the gaps in!).

All we can show you is this brief moment in a character’s life and its impact on them. You should be able to see the point of every flash fiction story and why this moment is important to that character. I’m particularly fond of those stories which leave me wondering at the end whether I would have made the same choices as the character. A story that encourages you to think is a very good thing indeed.

 

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Fairytales with Bite – A to Z of Fairytale “Rules” – Part 3

O = Obscure Origins. Fairytales love their lead characters to have humble beginnings. Many a hero has sprung from there. So never despite anyone coming from such a background. In the fairytale world, they usually go on to greatness.

P = Poverty. This is often an underlying theme. Look at Cinderella. She was made to live in poverty. The fairytale world generally looks kindly on such and will go out of its way to help. Good news if you are that person. Less good news if you’re the one forcing the character to live like this in the first place. There is a comeuppance in most fairytales and you will face it.

Q = Queens. Don’t always get a good press in the fairytale world. Just ask Snow White’s stepmother. Alternatively, there are those such as Sleeping Beauty’s mother, who struggles for a long time to conceive (there is a whole story there which would resonate), gives birth to the heroine, but is not even named (which I think is a great shame).

R = Royalty in general. There is a right royal mixed bag here. The fairytale world is full of princes who aggravate magical beings (Beauty and the Beast), kings who send their three sons out on missions (and it will always be the youngest one who succeeds), and those who try to prevent a bad spell from ever being activated by burning all the spinning wheels in the kingdom. Nice try that but the king concerned should have guessed it only needed one to escape that particular edict and for story purposes that was bound to happen, wasn’t it? Even kings are bound by the rules of story in the fairytale world.

S = Story. There has to be a beginning, a middle and, a lot of the time, a happy ending though The Little Mermaid and The Little Match Girl are notable exceptions to the latter. But it is also true in the fairytale world that the hero/heroine will overcome all obstacles in their way, sometimes with magical assistance. The story is usually a test of character for that hero/heroine and they have to pass it.

T = Time. Most fairytale stories play out over a relatively short period of time (Sleeping Beauty notwithstanding!). What always begs the question for me is why did Cinderella’s fairy godmother turn up so late to help her goddaughter, who clearly needed help much sooner?!

Final section next time.

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This World and Others – Visiting Fictional Worlds

A recent question which came up on my Goodreads page was which fictional worlds would you visit if you could and why? Well, my choice was Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings, as I’ve always loved its portrayal and the films just confirmed what I had already imagined this glorious place would be like. I also liked the hobbit holes and fancy one myself as they look lovely and cosy. Mind you, I’m under 5′ tall so I would probably fit in quite well! I must admit though I’d happily give Mordor a miss.

My second choice would be Narnia from The Chronicles of Narnia, though I would ensure I wrapped up well (see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for why!). I wouldn’t mind visiting Harry Potter’s Hogwarts either. I like the look of the school grounds! (And to tie in beautifully for this week, I would love to get to Hogwarts on their train!).

So where would you go if you could and why?

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