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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 my lovely CFT editor, Janet Williams, for the shot of me at the 2023 Book Fair. Looking forward to the 2024 one coming up soon! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good few days. The autumn evenings are drawing in rapidly and, yes, the heating has come on. Lady had a great start to her week, getting to play with her two best doggie girlfriends. After recovering from a cold, I was pleased to be back in the swimming pool on Thursday and Friday. Just felt so good to be back in there again.

Writing wise, do look out for a super interview with crime author Miriam Drori next week on Chander’s Ford Today. Later in the month I’m off to see the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Group so a review will follow in due course. And I’ll also be interviewing Debz Hobbs-Wyatt about her new novel so October is going to be busy but fun, just how I like things to be.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Story Inspiring TV and Its Music on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at how books have led to many fabulous TV series with equally wonderful themes for them. So if you enjoy books, TV series, and TV themes, this post is for you!

I look at classic detective series (think about a certain crime Dame’s greatest characters), take a trip to Oxford, and look at how a certain renowned time traveling alien (clue: has two hearts) has inspired so many novels to be written. I also take a peek at sagas and famous children’s TV series based on books.

Much to enjoy here and I hope you enjoy the post. I loved writing it.

Story Inspiring TV and Its Music

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My recent post on Books, Movies, and Music on Chandler’s Ford Today was a joy to write and inspired me to write another in a similar vein. Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing Story Inspiring TV and Its Music. It is amazing how many books have led to super television series. There has also been some wonderful themes to go with them. I’ll be discussing and sharing some of these. If you fancy a trip down Memory Lane, tomorrow’s CFT post is especially for you. See above.

My only regret here was not being able to include one of my all time favourite TV tunes, The Thunderbirds March, given it isn’t based on a book! Lady Penelope was an early heroine of mine and I was sorry to hear recently of the death of David Graham who voiced her sidekick, Parker, amongst many other characters.

However, I have found the following gem on YouTube. Do enjoy. I thought it was wonderful.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady has had a smashing one. She got to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. All three dogs went home tired but happy. They do enjoy seeing each other. It is lovely to see.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Story Inspiring TV and Its Music for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. More writer interviews to come later in the month too.

Many thanks for the congratulations on my competition news yesterday (re my third place award). Much appreciated.

Character Creation Tip: I often start with major traits and then work out what could come from those for my creations. For example, courage could lead to recklessness. I could have two different characters from that thought alone and two different stories.

I find traits useful as they are a powerful source of motivation for a character too and readers understand this. My underlying belief is for any story to work readers must get where a character is coming from. Doesn’t mean the reader has to like the character necessarily.

Confession time: I don’t like all of mine. Indeed, I can think of some I wouldn’t want to meet on a dark night! But that’s fine. For the purpose of the stories they’re in, all I needed was to understand why they are the way they are and then I took things from there.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. It’s the end of the working week for many. Its getting darker earlier on in the evenings. It’s time for a story and I hope this one puts a smile on your face.

See what happens in my latest on Friday Flash Fiction, The Birthday Cake, when a mum, finally decides she is going to fix her lack of food presentational skills, no matter what she has to do to achieve this.

I occasionally write what I call “two-handers” for my flash fiction. This is where I get my narrator specifically addressing another unseen character who is “off stage”.

One of these is my You Never Know (From Light to Dark and Back Again) where I have an irate magical tour guide pointing out the downside of her job to someone who clearly thinks she has an easy, cushy life. Not so! Great fun to write.

The secret with these stories, I think, is to have a strong central character who has a strong premise or idea to share with the unseen character which should lead to a change of attitude on the part of the latter. So even in this kind of story there has to be a point of change or something where it is likely there would be one after the story ends. Readers should be able to see that coming, so to speak.

Here I outlined what my main character would have cause to whinge about at the other character but I wanted them to do it with humour so it didn’t just come across as a rant. My favourite lines from this read, “One further tip to the wise – never eat anything glowing red as it’s unlikely to be healthy. I must thank Snow White for telling me that.”.

Well, in a magical world, that’s wise advice, yes?

But for this story working out my characters first helped me to write the tale. I saw it as laying my foundations here but sometimes it does work best for me when I know the characters first, then I figure out the storyline. Sometimes when I know the storyline, that will give me the characters best placed so suit it. But it helps being open to both approaches here.

Flash fiction has a powerful impact because the form is so short. Knowing this, I can decide what impact I want my stories to have, whether it is to make readers laugh, cry, scream, or what have you.

Depending on what I choose here (and sometimes that choice is confirmed quickly if a competition I’m entering has a set theme which is likely to lead to certain types of character being needed), I can then work out what my character needs to be to be able to produce that impact.

This is where knowing the major traits helps. If I know my character is judgemental, say, I can set them up in situations where that attribute will backfire on them. I could write that as a tragedy or as a humorous story. I like having the choice!

I’ve found with flash it has paid to play to its strengths and having a more powerful impact due to its precision is one of them.

Fairytales with Bite – The Tooth Fairy’s Lament

Hope you enjoy the following. Time and changing attitudes can lead to redundancies in the most unexpected places!

The Tooth Fairy’s Lament
That poet lady who said “I wish I’d looked after me teeth”,
Should see life from the other side of the white enamelled fence.
I’ve no problem with her but I want you all to know my beef.
I’ve no training for other work and it’s not as if I’m dense.

I want pity for a Tooth Fairy with a P45.
In the old days, her well honoured role was a job for her life.
Not now so it seems, I now need to work out how to survive.
I don’t need my life’s work being dumped; I so don’t need the strife.

So why has my respected job gone? Why have I got the sack?
I could say it was due to belief but I wouldn’t be right.
Belief isn’t the problem far from it but it is the lack
Of it which has made my work vanish, my finances so tight.

And don’t get me wrong either, I am all for healthy eating.
Better dental health, not before time, is a great idea too.
But when these things come together, my work takes such a beating.
Now where do I find myself? I’m in the magical dole queue.

Ends
Allison Symes – written 2nd October 2024

This World and Others – The Magical Jobs Nobody Wants to Do

It doesn’t matter which universe you’re in (as a resident or a visitor or someone who does a bit of both), but there will be magical jobs nobody wants to do.

Clearing up after a trainee wizard for instance – goodness knows what you’ll find from what they’ve been experimenting with in their bid to create the best spell ever. All you know is you’re the cleaner and you’re not paid enough but hey there was nothing else and it is a secure post. Oh and you’ve been warned time and again not to use magic to help with the cleaning. Some apprentice did it years ago and there was no end of trouble and you don’t want to happen to you, do you?

Likewise, would you want to be the one who sources ingredients for a witch? You wouldn’t dare get it wrong, would you? It might not be kids in the oven next time.

How about being a proofreader for a new spell book? You know these things have been tested in the field but they are not yet established in your lore. What if you make a mistake here? What if you don’t pick up on mistakes on the manuscript? What would the consequences be?

Scope for humorous stories I think here.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Back to the first issue of Writers’ Narrative this time – the August 2023 edition. In this one I write about Boost Your Writing with Flash Fiction. Talk about write what you know!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Story Inspiring TV and Its Music https://t.co/AEnihTZycV Delighted to share this on CFT this week. I look at how books have led to great TV series with wonderful themes. I look at classic detective and children's shows and more. Hope you enjoy the post. I loved writing it.

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 4, 2024

The Birthday Cake, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/FvzP5IGYf1 It’s Friday. Tale time. See what happens in my latest on Friday Flash Fiction, The Birthday Cake, when a mum decides to fix her lack of food presentational skills, no matter what she has to do. pic.twitter.com/TVNeYeFLAE

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 4, 2024