Tag: Storytelling

Anniversaries, Celebrations, Nightmare Journeys!

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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. I also took the bookstall display photo from the Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Talking of which….
Had a fabulous time at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event over the weekend, despite a nightmare journey (details below). Was glad to have made it though! I love Zoom. It’s a great tool but there is something special about being able to meet friends and fellow writers in person.
Many thanks to Lynn Clement for the image below taken at the Bridge House Publishing event. Lovely to meet up with her again. I have been her editor. Many thanks also to Paula R.C. Readman for the image of me reading from From Light to Dark and Back Again at the event. So nice to see her again. It has been a few years since we last met in person but then this is the joy of this kind of event.

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Facebook – General

Today is a special day – 36 years to the day since I tied the knot with my other half, who is a rather special gentleman. Will be off out later in the week to celebrate, meal out etc. Funnily enough, it was a sunny December day way back then. Friends who wed the following June had rain all day. One thing you say about the British weather – it is never boring nor can you assume anything.

Writing wise, I have another super author interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today on 15th December. This week’s post will be about Getting the Most out of Themes, which I hope proves useful regardless of what you write.

Nice job later in the week is to narrow down two or three stories I drafted for Flash NANO as there is a competition I want to have a crack at and the deadline is the end of the year. Following my own advice to always take time off an official deadline, I’d like to get my story in this side of Christmas.

Writing Tip: Every so often, just write something for fun. Yes, really. I find it a great perk me up and it often sparks off ideas for other things I do want to see “out there”.

Sometimes I come back to the fun piece and polish it up and submit later. Sometimes I just leave it. But I had fun writing it and it gave my creative writing spark a much needed boost. I think most of us need that kind of boost sometimes.

Especially if you’re tired, and I have found this is often the case at this time of year for some reason (!), just writing something for fun is….well… fun!

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I plan to write in more depth about the Bridge House Publishing celebration event for a just before Christmas Chandler’s Ford Today post (and many thanks to everyone at the event for sharing photos with me and giving permission to use them for that future post!).

Meantime, I was pleased and pleasantly surprised to make a guest appearance along with Debz Brown on Paula R.C. Readman’s blog today. Thank you, Paula. The blog is a great example of the upside of the writer’s life and we all need those!

A Trip to London.

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Weather has warmed up but got wetter here in the south. Does that count as a win? Who knows? Mind you, coming back into a cosy home on returning from walking the dog counts as one of those moments of bliss. Another one is the first sip from a decent cup of tea! It really is a case of the simple pleasures in life.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting the Most out of Themes for Chandler’s Ford Today this coming week plus there will be another super author interview the week after so do look out for these. I am also planning a just before Christmas round up post, appropriately just before the big day and I hope to include a report on the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in that.

Talking of yesterday, it was lovely seeing the selection of books available yesterday. Thought it made a good display. A huge thanks to Gill James without whom none of that would have been possible.

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on The Lost Coin, my story on Friday Flash Fiction. Link here in case you missed it. I side with Gran in this one.
Screenshot 2023-12-01 at 10-11-56 The Lost Coin by Allison Symes

Nightmare journey up to London for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Points failure (can’t be helped), overtime ban (unfortunate), and only four carriages to London Waterloo on the previous train (stupidity).

That train was packed when it got to my stop. So waited for next one an hour later. They put eight carriages on for that. Whoever thought four carriages would ever be enough for the London run needs their head examining! Then had to change at Basingstoke. Next train to London Waterloo packed to the rafters and only five carriages. So was the next one but I was able to get on that one.

It was such a relief to get to the Theodore Bullfrog and fantastic to see everyone. I was so pleased to see people in person I haven’t seen for a while and it was great to catch up with Lynn Clement, whose The City of Stories, I had the privilege of editing.

There was much convivality over lunch followed by readings and publisher news. I hope to write more about this for Chandler’s Ford Today later this month. Picture below gives a taster!

Writing Tip: Use your own experiences of delays, frustrations etc to fill in how your characters would feel, act, react. Get something positive out of this!

Oh and the journey home was much better and I got to chat to a lovely Swanwick friend as well as we travelled back together!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As I mentioned on my author Facebook page, it is my wedding anniversary today. Anniversaries, of all sorts, are great themes for stories. You can think about whether your characters relish the anniversary in question or try to ignore it and why this is the case. There is a story there!

Also some characters will commemorate something because it holds meaning for them but what if those closest to them don’t share the same meaning? How would that play out in their relationship? Or have they come to an understanding? There are stories there too.

You can also take anniversaries to be the dates commemorating historical events and this can apply even if you’re writing sci-fi/fantasy. What important dates would your worlds expect their peoples/beings of choice (!) to commemorate and what form of celebration would take place? Stories there too.

Also there is bound to someone who does not go along with the general flow here – who are they? Why are they not joining in?

Happy writing!

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Just to flag up Friday Flash Fiction are running their annual Christmas competition. You can send two 100 word pieces in over two weeks and I’ve sent my first one in. Full details in link. The idea is you send one piece in during this week and another next week (final date is 15th December). It’s good fun. Why not give it a go? They won’t be taking the longer flashes during this period because obviously they’ve got to focus on the competition entries.

And if you’re quick, you’ve still got time to submit something to the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas show as long as your story is in by midnight tonight – 4th December 2023. Her show with the chosen selections will go out on 16th December. Again see the link but you really do only have hours left on this one. This is one problem with doing a round up post after a deadline! I have submitted a story to this show. Will let you know how it does.

Last but not least it is time for a Monday flash fiction tale on YouTube. My latest story here is Never Going Back. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Am looking forward to going to an Advent Carols service later this afternoon. Carols in themselves often summarise the story of the Nativity in not that many words. Flash hymn writing maybe?!

It was great to catch up with many fellow flash fiction writers in yesterday’s Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Bridge House also includes CafeLit, Red Telephone, and Chapeltown Books. Yesterday’s event saw a great crossover of writers present – from the novelists to the short story writers to the flash fiction authors (and many of us do more than one of these).

The short form of story telling is fantastic because it makes you keep coming up with interesting characters. I’ve always loved inventing people so this is a win-win for me. There are opportunities out there with competitions, online magazines, and so on to get your work out there. You do wait a long time for the “pay-off” from a novel! Having said that, the big strength of the novel is being able to show a reader a complete world. For the short forms, writers have to condense that.

Whatever kind of writing you do or love reading, it all leads to fabulous stories. Something to get right into, I think, especially at this darker, wetter time of the year! Curl up with a good book (novel, novella, collection)? Don’t mind if I do!

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Loved the Flash NANO challenge. Probably after Christmas I will take a closer look at these though I’ve got a couple of possible contenders for a competition I need to enter by the year end.

So my focus will be on working out which is the strongest one here, polish that up, and submit it before Christmas. It never pays to leave things to the last minute for this sort of thing. You will miss mistakes if you rush. Have done this myself in the past. Learned from it. Not done this since!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Post Christmas Reading

I know what you’re thinking. Surely it’s a bit early for this blog! Not if you’re like me and you’re already planning your post Christmas read for that lovely period after 25th December until 2nd January.

Normal life has not yet resumed and there is more time to take it a bit easier. For me that means more reading and writing.

I’ve put in my book request list and am looking forward to the nice dilemma of what to read first. It is the only time I don’t stick to my book pile in strict order. Christmas given books are bumped right up the queue!

Am so looking forward to this and I hope your post Christmas read is a joy too.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Review: Book Fair at The Hilt

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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.
Many thanks to Vie Portland, Janet Williams, and Richard Hardie for contributing images to this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post, the rest are from me. Lovely Book Fair, more details below and in my CFT post. (And there will be exciting news about new online magazine, Writers’ Narrative, which will be launched soon, in my next post here and on my Facebook timeline prior to that – lots going on).

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It is with great pleasure I share Review: Book Fair at The Hilt for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Talk about writing (a) what you know and (b) what you love, this post is a fabulous example of that. If you were at the fair, I hope this makes for a good look back at the event. If you missed it, see it as something not to miss next time!

I look at the hard work behind the scenes (some of it anyway) and I was glad to say there was a good contingent representing Chandler’s Ford Today too. Naturally there was plenty of networking going on and it gave every author taking part to spread the word about what they do – that was much appreciated.

And if that was not enough I have exciting news to share about Writers’ Narrative, the new online magazine which will be coming out shortly. I’ll talk more about this tomorrow but this will be something of use to every writer so worth watching out for.

Review: Book Fair at The Hilt

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Nice to be back in the swimming pool today (making the most of the quiet before the six weeks summer holidays!). Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie and Coco, a lovely Labradoodle. All three dogs were so pleased to see each other.

As well as being on Amazon, I‘m pleased to say you can find me on Waterstones, Hive, Bookshop.org, and, naturally, the Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop (which covers the books from Bridge House Publishing/CafeLit/Chapeltown Books). If you ever come across somewhere which says the books are out of stock, panic not! This simply means the book is a print on demand one (and is not really in stock as such) but it doesn’t take long for the online bookshop to get these in.

I’ve ordered my own books from Hive and Bookshop, as well as directly from Bridgetown, and received them quickly. You can also contact me directly via my website (https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com) as well. There are plenty of options here – I like that as a reader, as well as from a writer’s perspective.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again today. Both dogs happy. It’s lovely to see friendships like that.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing my review of the Book Fair on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on Friday. See above. Got some feedback sent off to the organisers yesterday too as they are keen to have feedback. It helps with planning for future events.

Feedback is useful elsewhere too. I appreciate the feedback given on Friday Flash Fiction. It is always useful to know what others make of your stories (even though that can be nerve wracking too). It is how you can learn though what works, what clearly didn’t work quite so well and so on. (Reviews are helpful here too)

When I give feedback, I explain what my thinking is behind it. I’ve been grateful for this myself when I’ve been on the receiving end. Again, you can learn a lot from this. You can see how others read your works. They may well pick up on things (good and bad) which didn’t occur to you.

Sometimes you are in for a nice surprise here.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It is a soggy end of the week so definitely time for a new story then. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – The Neighbours. This story was loosely inspired by the long running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine and the marvellous female characters in that.

Oh and I will have exciting news to share about forthcoming new online magazine Writers’ Narrative to share tomorrow. Watch this space, as they say. More details in my post next week here.

Screenshot 2023-07-14 at 10-10-17 The Neighbours by Allison Symes


Flash has a powerful impact due to its brevity and this can be used brilliantly for humorous stories. Who doesn’t love a punchline ending? It is also good for twist in the tale stories.

But it can also work well for thoughtful pieces. A character shares something of their life with a reader. They don’t want to go on too much. They want to show what matters. And this can have what I call the “punch in the gut” effect on a reader when done well.

Stories of all lengths encourage empathy as we understand the characters we’re reading about. Flash can be used to bring about that empathy in fewer words!

May be an image of text that says "Reading can encourage empathy as we follow what characters do and say."A major benefit of writing flash fiction for me has been to improve my focus. I have to ask do I really need this in my story? If there is any doubt, the answer is no! Out the words come along with the usual wasted words of mine I can’t help writing but which I know need to be surgically removed. Still at least that gets my editing off to a good start.

We all have wasted words/pet phrases. It does help to be aware of them. It helps even more to recognise that well over 95% of the time, these things don’t add anything useful to your story so out they come.

Maybe it is a form of comfort writing, I don’t know. What matters though is getting your work done and then improving it. So if that means having to write my wasted words and then take them out again that’s fine by me. I know this method works!

May be an image of text that says "Knowing when to cut and when to leave well alone takes time to develop."

Fairytales with Bite – Storytelling

We all love stories but do your characters? Do they value certain types of story or are they the more practical type who can’t see the use of books etc? I understand there are some folk out there like that for real. Never understood them but there you go.

But you could well end up having characters who have the same view and set them against someone who does treasure books and stories? What conflicts could that lead to? If their quest relies on a story to help them fulfil it, how does the negative one handle that? How would they react when old legends are proven true and has a direct impact on the success of their mission? Do they change their outlook?

Also give some thought as to how storytelling is done? Is your setting based on an oral tradition or is literacy widespread? Are stories confined to the printed age or is there technology, as we would understand the term, and what is this and how is it used? Can everyone have the benefit?

What stories do your characters like? What stories are forbidden in your setting and why? Inevitably there will be someone trying to read something they shouldn’t. What is this? What are the consequences? There are always consequences! What seems like a harmless story to one characters is anything but to another and that could make for an interesting story in itself.

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This World and Others – The Value of Books

Books to me represent entertainment, education, and inspiration. They represent literacy obviously, but also my freedom to read. Not everyone has that. I also treasure favourite books and stories of course.

Which books and stories would your characters treasure? Which can they not abide at any cost? Are books available to all? Who controls the overall reading list? What does their taste in books say about them?

How does your world value books, assuming they do? Are books a recent development or has your setting had these wonderful things for centuries? Are there set books everyone is expected to read? If so, which would these be and why? Did they develop importance immediately on publication or has this happened over time?

Then there’s monetary value. Some books are worth a lot simply due to their rarity or important historical factors behind them? Would your setting value books like that? Are there book exchanges, auctions of books etc? What would your characters be prepared to do to get a book of immense value to them?

And books can contain secrets? Again what would a character do to get hold of a book which means everything to them from that angle? I could see murder being committed there! Certainly there are story ideas here. Happy writing!

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
As well as selling my books, I was selling books I've contributed to - those went well too

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Tried and Tested – and Book Offers!

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A very busy night tonight and a special post about book offers too and I will start with those I think!  Also included this week is a link to my guest spot on crime writer Val Penny’s wonderful Book Review blog.  Many thanks to her for hosting me.

BOOK OFFERS!  ONE WEEK ONLY.  ENDS 18TH JANUARY 2019

Book news! I’m Bridge House Publishing/Chapeltown’s author of the week and there are free books up for grabs AND special offers on others. What’s not to like?

I’ve had the great pleasure of being published by BHP/CB in various anthologies as well as with From Light To Dark and Back Again. These form the basis of the package below.

BOOK PACKAGE: There are SIX, count them SIX, publications where I have work on offer for £4.00, all as mobi-files. This includes To Be…To Become (the Waterloo Festival competition, anthology), Baubles (BH anthology), The Best of Cafelit 4, 5 AND 6 and From Light to Dark and Back Again, my first flash fiction collection.

And for those of you who would like print paperbacks there’s an offer for you too.

PAPERBACK OFFER: My first published story was A Helping Hand in Bridge House Publishing’s Alternative Renditions. That isn’t available on Kindle BUT is in paperback and that along with From Light to Dark and Back Again is on offer at a mere £7.00 for the two!

FREE BOOKS! BUT YOU HAVE TO BE QUICK.

I’m giving away one signed copy of:-

From Light to Dark and Back Again AND
Alternative Renditions OR
Baubles OR
One of the Best of Cafelit books I’m in.

First come, first served, naturally. Also one book per customer.

If you’re interested email my lovely editor, Gill James, at editor@bridgehousepublishing.co.uk with your contact details. Also let her know which of the books you would like and Gill and I will take things from there. I’m looking forward to getting some books off in the post next week!

So two lucky people can be in for a free read! What are you waiting for? Gill is waiting to hear from you!

All of the above books are available on Amazon.

And if you would like to try some of my work out first, head over to Cafelit at http://cafelitcreativecafe.blogspot.com/…/l…/Allison%20Symes

Do check out the other wonderful stories here. You’re in for a great read, I promise.

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Busy night tonight but fun! Hope you saw the book offer posts earlier. Meanwhile back to CFT and I’m glad to share my Tried and Tested Writing Tips this week. Hope you find it useful.

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Will be a busy day tomorrow. As well as my usual CFT post (all about tried and tested writing tips), I’m Bridge House Publishing/Chapeltown Books author of the week and will have news of book offers so stay tuned.

Re my CFT post: I’ve picked those tips I use most often and go into detail as to why they are useful.

Absolutely delighted to have been guest blogger on Val Penny‘s Book Reviews blog. Many thanks to her – it’s been a good week writing wise when it comes to getting the word out there!

And talking of words, the ones I’ve found most helpful are the ones that encourage when all that seem to come in are rejections etc. This is why you need writing friends. We know what it is like – both the joys and the down sides. It is a roller coaster ride but nobody says you have to be alone on the thing!

The first draft, the second, the tenth? Pixabay image
Unless in a thunder storm or high winds, this is a good idea! Image via Pexels
Books invite you into their world. Image via Pixabay.
Good advice. Image via Pixabay.
All writers have felt this way at times. Pixabay image.
Even in the heart of a city, books can provide escapism. Image via Pixabay.
What will this be for your writing journey? Pixabay image
Val Penny’s latest work is a great read. Image kindly supplied by Val Penny
And which is the right way?! Pixabay image.
See! It is a good idea, weather permitting! Image via Pexels
Val Penny’s book cover for her debut novel, more to come soon. Image kindly supplied by Val Penny.

Am delighted to share the link to the great blog from crime writer Val Penny. The fact that I am her guest on it tonight is not at all coincidental!

Many thanks, Val, for the invite. The questions were great fun to answer. Val and I met at Swanwick Writers’ Summer School (or more accurately just outside Derby Railway Station just ahead of us both going to Swanwick!) and we’ve been great friends ever since.

It is also lovely being on the receiving end of questions too!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’m due to be Bridge House Publishing/Chapeltown Books author of the week. News of book offers tomorrow.

Getting the balance right between writing new material, revising and improving material that has not yet found a home, and marketing has never been easy to get right. Has there ever been a writer who doesn’t feel there is always something they could be doing better in any of these departments? I don’t think so!

One advantage to flash fiction of course is it can be a great way of getting work done and “out there” while working on longer projects. (And if said work is published, you’re building up your writing CV too).

Is the truth welcome in your fictional world? How does your community react to it?. Image via Pixabay.
The magical world of the imagination. Image via Pixabay
Connections to what you read and what you write. What are yours? Image via Pixabay.
Honest feedback is the only kind worth having. Image via Pixabay.
Another way of publishing…. Image via Pixabay
The building blocks of putting a story together. Pixabay image.
What are your characters’ favourite memories and why? Image via Pixabay
What wonderful worlds we can creat! Image via Pixabay.
Use personal reviews to help you generate characters and story outlines. Image via Pixabay.
Good advice – and it applies to our characters too. Image via Pixabay
Some very strange creatures are in books. Image via Pixabay
The magic of stories. Image via Pixabay

What questions would you put to your characters to get the best out of them before you write their story?

One of my favourites here is “what drives you?” I use it to dig deep into a character because there will be an answer that is something nobody would mind revealing – the public face, if you like.

However, it is the answer the character (and we as individuals) try to keep to ourselves that is the really interesting one to work with! It can also reveal things about our characters that make us realise we can do so much more with them. It IS worth digging that bit deeper to get to these points.

Your stories will be deeper and have more impact as a result – even the shortest of flash fiction stories will benefit. If I know my character thinks they’re capable of, say, robbery, but I dig deeper and find in certain situations, they could kill, guess which story I’m going with!

You DO want to dump your characters right in the mire and put them under as much stress as possible and really see what they’re made of. Let the drama play out. Have fun with this, I do! (Oh and nobody said writers have to be nice to their characters, often it’s the opposite in fact!).

 

Stepping into another world.. Pixbay
The classic start for fairytales. Pixabay image.
A good photo shows light at its best. Pixabay image.
Taking time to look back and then look ahead is a good thing. Pixabay image.
The writing journey can be a long one so setting goals along the way makes sense. Pixabay image
What worlds will new books show you? Pixabay
There is something almost mystical here. Pixabay image.
As I write now. Pixabay image.
Hope your Christmas books take you to all sorts of wonderful places! Pixabay image
Charging up for new ideas, maybe? Pixabay image.
Books have their own sense of time and space. Image via Pixabay.
Books are fabulous, whatever the format. Image via Pixabay.

Many thanks to #ValPenny for hosting me on her Book Reviews blog. It was great fun answering the questions.

Questions like these are really useful for making you evaluate why you write and whether the “how” could be improved. (The answer is almost certainly “yes” to that by the way!).

Indeed! Pixabay image.
This made me smile! Pixabay image.
Alas, too late for me! Image via Pixabay
Picking up wriitng tips will help you improve your work. Pixabay image.
Love this image! Image via Pixabay
Generating the writing ideas. Image via Pixabay.
The ever useful post-it note. Image via Pixabay.
Online writing -v- on a line writing! Image via Pixabay
Writing Likes and Dislikes. Pixabay image.
A good writing group will help you discover this. Pixabay image.
Always good advice. Image via Pixabay.

Fairytales with Bite – Storytelling

Storytelling is one of our oldest traditions of course. You can understand the appeal of fairytales especially when it comes to the oral storytelling tradition. A simple plot, a structure that works, a clear goodie and baddie, and a happy ever after ending. Perfect way to end the day!

Now, of course, we expect our characters to be more nuanced. There is no such thing as the perfect hero. Villains have to have good (and understandable) reasons for acting the way they are (and that can include the fact they simply enjoy being evil. To them, that is reason enough!).

What I love about stories is that there is no one perfect format. I love books in all their forms but totally understand why audiobooks work for some, whereas the print format doesn’t. Our focus as writers is to come up with stories that can work in several formats. Our focus is to entertain. I’ve never understood why some look down on escapism. The world is sad and bad enough to make a wish to escape understandable. After all why did our cavemen ancestors tell stories? To remember what was important. To bring the community closer together. To escape the cares of their day and the ones to come for a while.

So as a writer then I want my characters to appeal to readers. I also want to drop my characters right in it whenever I can. I want my books to engage people. It’s a good thing to aim for: to improve your storytelling as much as possible. You discover better ways of expressing things, learn what works and what doesn’t. Enjoy your storytelling and relish every moment of it.

 

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This World and Others – Tried and Tested

My latest CFT post is Tried and Tested Writing Tips, which I hope you find useful.

How are your characters tried and tested?  Do they pass the tests you set them?  In almost any story you can think of, it is only when the characters are put right through the emotional wringer, do you see what they are capable of and where their limits are.  That is also where sidekick characters are useful – to help see your leads through to the bitter end and to get them through that “about to give it all up” moment.

Testing doesn’t need to to be overly dramatic either.  It can be as simple as a character having their patience tested by a relative who is trying to goad them (deliberately or otherwise, it’s not always consciously done).  Your character is very patient to begin with, then they become slightly less patient as time and the goading continues, and so on before they snap or do something they would not ordinarily have done.  Your character may be aware of this process so what do they do to try and fight it?  To not give in to that urge to snap no matter what the provocation?

Think about what would stress your characters out.  Think about their coping mechanisms.  What would happen if they failed or weren’t available when needed?

Have fun finding out!

Love this library. Mine is somewhat smaller than this! Image via Pixabay.
Escaping with a good book is a fantastic idea. Image via Pixabay.
I write fairytales with bite as flash fiction and short stories in particular. Image via Pixabay.
Where good ideas start… but good ideas need refining and editing, Image via Pixabay
Well, what IS your story? Image via PixabayImage via Pixabay.
The wonderful world of stories… Image via Pixabay.
Books are magical – image via Pixabay
Such a familiar look. Image via Pixabay.
Stories reflect all sorts of moods. There is a story to suit everyone out there! Image via Pixabay.
Books are wonderful – whether in print or electronic, whether as audio stories or told by a storyteller. Image via Pixabay.
Never give up, work hard, be disciplined… all valuable traits for success, whether you’re a tennis player, a writer or a character in a story! Image via Pixabay.
Writing the first drafts! Image via Pixabay.
Says it all really. Image via Pixabay. And am glad to say my poorly border collie, Mabel, has very much been showing this spirit.

THE VALUE OF FAIRYTALES

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

A topic very close to my heart is the subject of tonight’s post.  The Value of Fairytales looks at why I think fairytales matter.  Some of the reasons include the themes they tackle are timeless (wrongs being righted, never judge by appearances etc), they are often the first thing children read and can be the gateway to a lifetime of other stories and books, and they can often be a source of wonderful social commentary (The Little Match Girl).  Why do you value fairytales?

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

Storytelling looks ahead to the Chandler’s Ford Today post I’m currently preparing for this week and asks about storytelling in your fictional world.  Who are the storytellers?  Are they respected or treated with suspicion because they are literate and the population at large isn’t?   I also talk about reading your own stories out loud and why this is such a good idea.  And then there are those characters who tell tall stories.  Do any of your characters do this?  How do other characters react to it?

FACEBOOK PAGE

I’ve been seeing the bats out and about again locally.  I like bats.  Misunderstood creatures but very useful and their “radar” is so clever.  Definitely not glamorous things but I love non-glamorous, quirky creatures, whether they’re wildlife, characters or people!

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Where all stories start, regardless of technology - the blank page. Image via Pixabay.

Where all stories start, regardless of technology – the blank page. Image via Pixabay.