Tag: The point of fiction

The Point of Fiction

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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 Janet Williams for taking the image of me at the Book Fair.
Glad to say it has cooled down a bit since last week. Lady isn’t sorry about that either. Pleased to say I’m running a flash fiction workshop again on Saturday courtesy of Zoom. Looking forward to that.

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Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler friend today. The latter doesn’t mind. Lady loves it of course. It is a bit like showing off to Mum given the Vizler is older than Lady. But both went home feeling all had been put right with their worlds at least!

There is an Amazon offer on From Light to Dark and Back Again at the moment. See the link for more details.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover recently my short stories have appeared in almost 20 different anthologies (and when the Bridge House Publishing anthology comes out later this year it will be 20!). Yes, they are on my ALCS listing. I add new books to which I’ve contributed to this listing as soon as I can. It’s easy to do and it helps boost the money I receive from ALCS every March. Win-win there and if you are a published writer not on the ALCS system, do look into it.

11th September 2023
To all who mourn those killed or injured in the dreadful events of twenty-two years ago, my deepest sympathies. We will remember them.

Memories, of whatever kind, can make a wonderful theme for stories, whether these are thoughtful pieces or more humorous ones. Think about why your character remembers what they do (or who of course). Why are they recalling this (or them) now? Is it something they have learned to come to terms with, as best as anyone can? Are their memories reliable? What do other characters in the story think?

Memories are something any reader can identify with – we all have our own so will identify with a character recalling theirs. Great empathy can come from stories like this. The world needs much more empathy. Maybe in a way story writers can play their part here.

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Cooler today. Have had some rain so the air is a little fresher. Lady and I are not sorry about that.
I’ll be looking at Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. I will take a close look at opening lines especially. Looking forward to sharing that. Will be running a workshop next Saturday morning too. All good fun!

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Heaven Sent, my most recent story on Friday Flash Fiction. See link in case you missed it.

The 100 word story (also known as a drabble) was my introduction to flash fiction many moons ago and it is lovely returning to writing them regularly for Friday Flash Fiction. Am so enjoying doing this. Screenshot 2023-09-08 at 10-04-53 Heaven Sent by Allison Symes

Another hot day here. This was on 9th September. Weather changed the next day! We’re all staying as cool as possible. Lady got to see her best friend, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, when it was cooler. Both dogs happy about that. Friends matter!

Looking forward to sharing a workshop next Saturday morning. The beauty of Zoom? No travel on hot sticky days! One blessing for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event being in December is that hot sticky days will not be an issue!

I know now my story for a literal festival competition didn’t make the cut but I will take another look at this tale at some point and see what else can be done with it before submitting it elsewhere. Sometimes I find I need to make amendments. Sometimes I don’t.

Having been a competition judge, I know how difficult it can be to produce a short list. So take heart if your story doesn’t do anything in a competition. See it as another opportunity to refresh it and re-submit it. A turn down doesn’t necessarily mean there was anything wrong with your story but taking the chance to have a second look at it may well help you see where you could strengthen it here, strengthen it there. That has been my experience.

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My favourite sort of flash fiction is the drabble – the 100-worder – and it has been fantastic getting back to these for Friday Flash Fiction in particular. But I am also very fond of the sub-500 words kind. It is worth practicing writing to this kind of word count as it is a common format for competitions.

Also easy to share (if you wish) on your website, newsletter etc as they don’t up too much space and are quick and easy to read. I save some of mine for this but also put others towards a future collection. Marketing and a first draft for another book in one go here!

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It has been a hectic Monday (though thankfully cooler than last week. Given I’ve been batch cooking today, I appreciated that!). Definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – One Day My Spell Will Come.

 

One of the things I look for in an opening line (which is something I’ll talk more about for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday) is whether it hooks me enough to make me want to read on. It has to provoke the “have got to find out what happens next” moment.

This can be done via something intriguing about the character, setting up a dilemma which has to be resolved, or even setting a question the story would have to answer by the end. In Being Yourself from Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I start with Jane Stephens suppressed the urge to scream. I would hope that would make people want to read on to find out why!

I do know if I’m not intrigued by an opening line of mine, others won’t be either. It is a great motivator to come up with something good!

 

Occasionally I write a flash piece which could be termed as horror. For me, the best horror isn’t all guts and gore but implied menace. The reader can then imagine what that menace looks like etc and does a grand job of this. I do it too when I watch a suspense film. Sometimes at least what I imagine is going to happen next is more scary than what does happen in the movie!

In my story Pressing the Flesh in From Light to Dark and Back Again, I imply references to Burke and Hare (bodysnatchers) and my character being inspired by that. Yet I do not use anything gory here. To my character their actions make sense and maybe that is the scariest thing of all. Maybe that is where true horror does lie. Certainly we can learn from our own history here when someone believes themselves to be so right they can do anything so go on to do so. You could argue we are seeing it again.

The point of fiction, including horror, is to entertain, helps us escape our cares for a while, but it can also show us something of our human nature. Horror can be brutally honest here. But it doesn’t need to be guts and gore to make us think about what we as a species can be capable of.

After all there are some horrific moments, when you stop and think about it, in the nursery rhymes and fairytales most of us would have grown up with, which most consider would and should act as warnings.
Would still like to know though why Little Red Riding Hood didn’t spot that wasn’t her granny in the dress and cap. Did she honestly think her granny was that hairy? Maybe LRH should have gone and got her eyesight checked at Specsavers! (Other opticians are available, as they say! Probably best known ones here in the UK though).

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

Goodreads Author Blog –

Writing and Reading – The Inseparable Joys

I have long felt writers have two joys in life – writing and reading. Most writers are inspired to write because of the books they have loved reading. Ideas for stories have sparked from what we have read and you develop this urge to write your own. Sometimes that urge can come from reading a “duff” book and wanting to do better. Better though is when an inspried story encourages you to write.

My first venture into print was with a reworked fairytale told from the viewpoint of Cinderella’s youngest step-sister. That came out in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing) in 2009 – my story in there is A Helping Hand.

But without the original faurytale I loved (and still do), I couldn’t have written my tale. We do stand on the shoulders of giants here. We build on what has gone before. And that means we have to read more. Don’t have a problem with that!

What I have found in recent years is that inspiration for stories can come from something I’ve read in non-fiction too. I have welcomed that development as I love reading fiction and non-fiction.

 

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Allison Symes - advertising books and services resized 640At the Book Fair

 

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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.

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

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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.

Write your piece, leave it for a while before editing. Pixabay image.
Write first, edit later. Pixabay.
Let those ideas flow! Image via Pixabay,
The Hayes Conference Centre, home of the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. Image by Allison Symes
Let the creative process flow! Image via Pixabay
Plugging in for new ideas? Pixabay image
Again from Swanwick. Literally a place to reflect! Image via Allison Symes
View from near where I was staying in Scotland. You wouldn’t want to rush away from this. Image by Allison Symes
Is everything black and white in your stories? Image via Pexels
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!

 

 

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

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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