Tag: Time

Books, Movies, and Music

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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.
Hope you have had a good few days. Nice to see some autumn sunshine emerge. Lady has continued to have riotous times with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal so she is is having a cracking week. Writing wise, am happily busy editing and preparing author interviews to share. Also looking forward to judging flash fiction again soon and the Association of of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later in the month. Plenty going on and with more to come. On a sadder note, another link with my childhood passed away this week.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Books, Movies, and Music for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. This post was inspired by the recent Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame. I look at the links between movie music and books/plays (there were SO many on the chart). Where there wasn’t a link with a book or play, there sometimes was with an author (e.g. Wilde by Debbie Wiseman).

I also look at earworms and suggest a couple of them. You may or may not thank me for that! I also ask if strong stories automatically means strong films.

Hope you enjoy the post and do share your favourite movie themes based on books in the comments box on CFT. There are fewer pictures in the slideshow below because I did share a few YouTube clips in the CFT post itself. Go on. Check out the Pink Panther YouTube clip in the post. The orchestra is having a fabulous time playing this. And it remains the only film series I know of which inspired an equally wonderful cartoon series.

Books, Movies, and Music

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I was sorry to hear of the death of Kenneth Cope today. Had a good innings (he was 93) but I remember him well from that fabulous show, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Entertaining show with a wonderful theme tune. Have shared the link to the latter. See below.

There are certain shows where the theme tune so matches the characters and stories. This was one. Doctor Who is another. (I recall Kenneth Cope from Carry On At Your Convenience too).

My Books, Movies, and Music will be on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. This was a joy to write given it combines several of my favourite things. If I could’ve found a way to mention chocolate in this, I would have had a set of favourite things but alas the chocolate will have to wait for another more suitable post.

11th September
To all who mourn today, I send my deepest condolences.

 

Lady saw her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal again today and the pair of them had a lovely time. Dogs, unlike humans, keep it simple.

Will be discussing Books, Movies, and Music for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that. See above. After that will come the first of two super author interviews. Those will be a great way to wrap up the month.

I love putting questions together for my guests on CFT. It’s a good challenge for me and I hope proves to be so for them! What I aim to do is to ask questions which encourage the author to “open up” with the result being seen as a written, in depth conversation. I think it makes for a good read. More to come on both author interviews nearer the time.

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It’s Friday. It’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Appearances. This will ring a bell for fans of certain cartoons. See the story for more.
Screenshot 2024-09-13 at 10-02-06 Appearances by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

There are many advantages to writing flash fiction but two of the major ones, at least for me, are the way it shows up your wasted words and it encourages you to write tighter, leaner prose. It has led to me asking myself whether I do need a certain phrase or, even if so, can I express it better? Most of the time the answer to that question is yes and so I rewrite.

It also encourages you to think of the right detail to include so your readers can get a good picture of your character and situation in a few words. The right image can add depth to a story.

I ask myself what detail would help do that. What is it a reader would find helpful here? Answering that helps me with focus. Sometimes I use colours, one of the senses, an item of clothing etc. Using those details flags up they matter to the character in some way but it also helps “fix” a picture of the character in a reader’s mind better, I think.

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11th September
To all who find today difficult, I send my deepest sympathies.

 

Flash by its nature has to capture a moment in time but it has to be a significant one for your character. What is it about them and their situation we have to know? What is the point of change by the end of the flash piece?

Less is more could be said to be the flash fiction writer’s anthem but the right telling detail can add depth to even the shortest of stories. So think about what would make your character stand out. Would it be something they wear? Is it their attitude as shown in their thoughts and dialogue?

Why is it this character who is facing Situation X? What do they seek to gain or lose by dealing with that situation? Answer those questions and you’ve got a good outline and be well on the way to a first draft.

Fairytales with Bite – Time

When time crops up in fairytales, it usually is midnight. No other time. Just that one. See Cinderella for more on that.

I’m also very fond of the quote from Terry Pratchett’s magnificent Reaper Man (which I must re-read soon given it does have a harvest theme and it is September as I write this) – The kind of Death who poses against the skyline and gets lit up by lightning flashes doesn’t turn up at five-and-twenty past eleven if he can possibly turn up at midnight.

That wonderful quote shows a great deal about the character of the “real” Discworld Death and the one who was meant to replace him all in just one line. Brilliantly done.

Midnight then has a great deal of resonance but for your own characters why not pick a time which has meaning to them? If your character has a reason for loathing or loving a particular time, show that in your story. You can then get them to face having to do something at your chosen time and their attitude towards the time in question will have a bearing on how well or otherwise they do handle that situation. It should increase tension nicely!

There is also the possibility of using Time as a character. Would you show Time as cruel or kind? (Bear in mind the answer to that could depend on the attitude of your other characters. Time might be kind but the characters may have good reason not to see it that way).

What would you get Time to do? Can magic challenge Time or is there always a payback for trying to chat Time? (Someone usually does try as they try to cheat Death in Discworld. Never works but there can be fun stories as we, as readers, watch the characters try and fail!).

Also give some thought as to how time works in your setting. Would it be the same as here or does your setting have a 48 hour day or, come to that, a 4.8 hour day? How would this work? How would your characters manage it (given for them it would be normal)?

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This World and Others – Sense of Place

In your setting is there a sense of place? Can people conjure up what your setting looks like? Can they visualise your characters living in that setting? Do you focus on one place or a whole world?

What can be useful here is deciding on your focus. If you are having stories set in one place, think about whether that place is a city, a village, or what have you. You can then research cities and villages here (and ideally visit some) to get a feel for what would be in these places and then have the fun of inventing the equivalent for your world.

Give some thought as to what your characters would hear, smell, see etc (and what they would consider as “normal” noises, smells etc so they barely notice them but an outsider would do).

If you are using a whole world setting, focus on what a reader needs to know and experience. If your story is mainly set in and around a desert, the reader won’t need to know about riverside villages etc. They will need to know how your characters manage in that desert setting.

But there is plenty of research you can do here which will help to bring a sense of place to your fantastical settings. We do have to base the latter on what we know here and then change things but you know what you are changing and why. You will write from a position of strength/background knowledge then.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the September 2023 edition of the magazine which focuses on the topic of marketing. Always useful that one! I have two articles in here – Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines. And remember the magazine will be back soon!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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When Is A Story Finished?

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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.
Happy New Year to you all! Hope you had a lovely Christmas. And now back on with the writing… it is always a pleasure to come back to it too.

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Facebook – General

Lady and I spent a lot of today getting wet – not great weather here today. Am looking forward to going to The Chameleon Theatre Group’s next production, Pinocchio, later this month. Oh yes I am!

When is a story finished? When the writer is happy with it?

Possibly but for me a more important consideration is to ask myself if my characters have fulfilled the premise of the story so there really is nothing left for them to do or say. Does the ending deliver on the promise of the beginning?

Would I enjoy this story if someone else had written it instead of me? (That’s a good question to ask because you put yourself in the head of your Ideal Reader doing that and so you ask yourself does the twist work? Am I gripped so I have to read to the end?).

Then and only then am I likely to be happy with the tale and consider it ready to go out there, having of course rested my story, edited it, and got rid of the inevitable typo that has somehow escaped my attention until now! There always is one… writer usually sighs heavily at this point!

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend today so that made her happy. She was less impressed with the fireworks though given the weather was dreadful last night, we had fewer of them this time.

I’ll be looking at Diaries and Letters for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Looking forward to sharing that on Friday as it’s a topic I’ve wanted to write about for a while.

It was nice getting back to my “flash fiction Sunday afternoon” writing slot yesterday. Will be sharing my latest YouTube video shortly over on my book page – https://www.facebook.com/fairytaleladyallisonsymes/

 

1st January – New Year’s Day

Happy New Year! I caught a little bit of the London celebrations on social media and loved the tribute to the Queen and the coins changing from the Queen to the King. Thought that was nicely done.

Lady loved the Pet Classics show on Classic FM yesterday. Found it very soothing – as did I. Nice way to end the old year as was getting to catch up with a couple of Swanwick friends on Zoom.

Slowly getting back into my writing routine again though I know it will be a day or two before I am fully up to speed. Mind you, it would help to remember what day of the week it is. I find it comforting to know it isn’t just me for that during this time just after Christmas and now. I did remember to get my author newsletter out today though so that counts as a win!

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31st December 2022 – New Year’s Eve

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 proves to be a blessing and you enjoy lots of good books and stories, old and new. The lovely thing with stories is the vast majority of them are timeless. I look forward to re-readings and finding books new to me.

Author newsletter out tomorrow though I can promise it won’t be on the stroke of midnight. I take the view the New Year can see itself in without me!

Have a lovely time if you’re off celebrating. Lady and I will be listening to Pet Classics on Classic FM. Nice soothing music – just the ticket for us!

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I did manage to get a story in for a flash competition ahead of the end of the old year.

In between competitions, as well as writing for Friday Flash Fiction and my YouTube channel, I will draft stories with a reasonably open theme or a topic I know is bound to come up at some point. These drafts are never wasted. I will find a home for them during the next twelve months at some point. It is good to have a stock of stories for this kind of use.

I can and do often go through past stories which didn’t make it to see if there is anything further I can do with them. Sometimes I can then get these out again and find a home for them on a second attempt.

BookBrushImage-2023-1-3-20-3358Glad to be back to writing flash fiction again after the Christmas break. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Another Job. Proof I think delivery people are always needed.

1st January – New Year’s Day

Happy New Year! Hope you managed to get some reading in over Christmas. I’m just getting back into writing again and am looking forward to resuming writing flash later today. Will be good to get tales in for submission again.

Sometimes I know what theme I’m writing to immediately for a story (it’s usually a competition with a set theme). Many times, I don’t and that’s when I’ll use the random generators to help me trigger a theme of interest to me. Hope I can find some new generators to use this year – there are loads out there. (And do remember even with your favourite ones, you can adjust the parameters on many of them so just doing that will trigger even more ideas for you).

Hope you have a fantastic writing year.

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31st December 2022 – New Year’s Eve

Happy New Year! Time often crops up in my flash tales, sometimes as a character too. Given flash is all about a specific moment in time for a character, it is apt time often features as a theme.

What do your characters make of time? Do they adjust to the passing of time well? Definitely story ideas there!

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Goodreads Author Blog – New Books for a New Year

My New Year reading will begin with the books I received at Christmas. I have got off to a good start already but am glad to say I have plenty of reading to do!

In the next year I hope to discover books and authors new to me, as well as enjoy old favourites. It will be fun!

I will continue my reading policy of novels, novellas, ebooks, short story and flash fiction collections, and magazines. Also to enjoy audio books and stories via films. This is the nearest I get to a New Year’s resolution, folks!

Happy New Year!

Screenshot 2022-12-31 at 19-58-04 New Books For A New Year


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 ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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Animals in Fiction

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Geoff Parkes and Penny Blackburn for shots taken of me at Open Prose Mic Nights at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. (Looking forward to being back there again!).
Hope you have had a good week. I think I’ve had the best comment ever on any post I’ve written in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. See further down for more on this.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to share Animals in Fiction, my post for Chandler’s Ford Today for this week. I look at favourite animal characters as well as explore their use in stories. I also look at writing from the viewpoint of an animal, which is something I’ve done from time to time.

And I am thrilled comments are coming in on this one already, including one that I think may well prove to be the best comment I’ve ever had on a CFT post (and possibly on any blog post!). Once you’ve read the post, scroll down and check out what one of my readers’ dogs made of the theme for Jaws! My sympathy is with the dog.

Also, do send in your own comments on the CFT post about your favourite animals in fiction.

Animals in Fiction

 

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Good news – Lady got to see her best buddy briefly today. Latter is much better and the two dogs were delighted to see each other, especially since today is not one of the days they usually meet.

I’ll be sharing my Animals in Fiction post for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing that. I loved animal characters when I was a kid. I have a soft spot for them still (helped no end by being a dog owner I suspect). Give some thought as to the ones you loved in books. Comments are always welcome over on the CFT page – link up tomorrow – would love to hear your thoughts on this topic over on that page then.

I have written stories from the viewpoint of an animal though I mainly focus on humans/humanoids but every so often it is good to turn the tables. I can use animal stories to show what I think they might think of us!


How has Wednesday been? Lady’s had an okay day but she missed her best buddy today (and that’s because her pal isn’t feeling too well, poor thing. Very much keeping everything crossed, paws included, that all is well again soon). It is lovely to watch how dogs make friends with each other.

Talking of friends, how do your characters measure up here? Do they have plenty of them? Or do they believe in quality over quantity? Equally, how good a friend are they to others?

There are plenty of stories where friends come to the rescue but how about writing one where a friend lets someone down and then goes on later to make up for it? Could have a lovely emotional rollercoaster of a story there. Rebuilding trust is difficult though not impossible. How do your characters manage it?

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share Dodging by Numbers, my new story on Friday Flash Fiction. I used a random number generator to come up with the number 766 and you can find out how I worked that into a flash fiction piece here. Hope you enjoy it.

The more observant may have noticed I used the same number for my YouTube story this week, Lucky Number.

You know how coincidences don’t really work in fiction, right?

You know you have to plant clues for the readers so when your event happens they know it was within the realms of possibilities for your character so don’t feel cheated, right?

So the wise author never ever uses coincidences because they know they won’t be believed by a reader, right?

Well, there was no coincidence here either!).

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Screenshot 2022-01-14 at 19-00-29 Dodging by Numbers, by Allison Symes

 

I have a “stock” of stories for reading out at Open Prose Mic Nights. Flash fiction works brilliantly for this as you can’t go on for too long – and everyone likes that!

Naturally I mix up the mood of the flash tales I read out. I like to start and finish with an amusing piece and have something darker and/or more reflective in the middle section. And I do practice reading the stories out loud first at home. (For one thing I have found knowing I’ve done that helps steady the old nerves a bit!)

Delighted to say I’ll be giving a Zoom talk on flash fiction again soon. Always happy to spread the word about what a wonderful format it is!

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I must admit I do a lot of my reading in bed – it’s a wonderful way to unwind. But we all get stressful days when perhaps it is more of an effort to read. This is where I do turn to flash fiction and short story collections. I am still reading wonderfully crafted stories. I’m just going for the shorter form. I also deliberately read collections in between novels. I like to mix up what I read in terms of author, genre, and length of story too.

Writing flash fiction gives me a great opportunity to mix up what I write too in terms of word count, genre I write in (as I’ve written crime flash, historical flash, fantasy flash etc). And it is such fun to do especially if you like creating people as I do. I’ve found flash has helped me to develop my show and not tell technique as well (which can of course be applied to any length of fiction).

Writing short is also marvellous practice in preparing material for blogs, advertising, blurbs etc.

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Fairytales With Bite – Time

How is time measured in your fictional world? Does it have the same divisions? I’ve used time in my flash fiction stories (and in one crime story I had 1a clock as a murder weapon!).

Do you use Time as a character? I’m drafting a story with this in mind and am showing Time as a character who cannot be cheated. The fun here is in showing how another character tries to be the one who will finally achieve that. There is always someone who will try to do that which has not been done before and you could make that a comedy story or a tragedy.

What impact does time have on your characters? Are they ruled by the clock or other time measuring device? How does time affect the way in which they live? In your fictional world, is there anyone who can control time and how do they do this? I would expect there to be a heavy price to pay for that ability (with great power should go a sense of great responsibility and, if not, misusing the ability to control time should have consequences. Note I said should there!).

How does time affect what your characters can do and when? Do different characters appear at differing times of the day/week/year etc? Why do they only come out at certain times?

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This World and Others – Reacting to Time

How does your world measure time? Does it worry about keeping “tabs” on time? Or do your characters just go with the flow? Do your characters age, as we understand the term? If they get to one age and then stop at that point until, presumably, they die, why does time stop for them?

Time, of course, has a big impact on us all and governs so much – everything from when we get up to making the most of natural daylight before having to go inside for the night. We can’t keep going for 24/7 – sleep has to happen. Time tires and ages us. But when we are having a lovely time of it, don’t we want those times to last for ever?

Now think about your characters. What are their attitudes here? How do they react to time? Do they see it as kindly or as a cruel thing (and age would probably have a role here in how your characters respond to that)?

With time of course there comes the point when it has to stop. We’re mortal after all. How do your mortal characters handle this knowledge? Do they make the most of the time allotted to them?

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How Has Your Summer Been?

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Image Credit:  As ever, Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

ADVANCE NEWS:  Delighted to say I’ll be sharing a platform via Zoom with Gill James of Bridge House Publishing and, fellow flash fiction writer, Dawn Kentish Knox on Saturday 26th September 2020 between 3 and 4 pm UK time. More details further down and I will flag it up again nearer the time. We’ll be talking about the writing life and our books and working with a publisher so plenty to enjoy. Tickets for the event are FREE but you do need to register. Link also below.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

My post for CFT this week is called How Has Your Summer Been?

This could’ve been a short post – two words ending in “awful”. 😄It’s not, honest!

I look back at the summer and share highlights including my video for the Waterloo Arts Festival in July, which includes part of my winning story, Books and the Barbarians.Hope you enjoy.

Reviewing the summer, as I have done for Chandler’s Ford Today this week, is the kind of fun post I like to write every now and then. It is a good opportunity to look back and recall the positives as well as acknowledge the negatives.

This summer has been the strangest one I’ve known (and hope I’m likely to know. I do fervently hope next year is much closer to normal than where we are now.

I know people talk about the new normal and there will be that, but I also believe in the truth of the saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”. I want what was good from pre-lockdown to come back/remain and my post reflects this.

 

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EVENT NEWS – 26TH SEPTEMBER 2020

ADVANCE NEWS and bonus post from yours truly.

I’ll be taking part in a special Zoom event on September 26th from 3 to 4 pm (UK time) with Gill James (Bridge House Publishing, Chapeltown Books, Cafelit) and Dawn Kentish Knox, fellow flash fiction writer.

Link for FREE tickets below and the blurb for the event also.

Eventbrite link for Bridge House Publishing event on 26th September 2020.

Some of our writers will read from their work and tell us about their life as a writer. We shall give some insight into the publishing process. There will be free gifts for all attendees.

(Dawn is in the middle of the top picture when you click on the link and her The Great War is such a moving example of what flash fiction can do and be. Always happy to recommend that!).

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Boy, did the heavens open at about 5 pm. So glad I didn’t go out with the dog until 6 pm! Still plenty of idiots not allowing for flooding on the road etc and driving without a thought for anyone else. Mind, I guess they’d do that anyway regardless of what the weather is. Keep well, drive safe, and avoid the huge puddles, everyone!

I’ve TWO CFT posts to share with you this week. My usual spot tomorrow night is my review of the summer (and there are good points, honest! I also get to share my Waterloo Arts Festival video so if you would like to hear an extract from my winning story, Books and the Barbarians, you can do so!).

Meanwhile, I do have a stories page on my website so if you fancy a quick read do pop over (see link below). I hope to add more stories to this page in due course. One lovely thing about flash fiction is it can make a great advert for the other writing you do and it is easy to share.

My second CFT post is a Local Author Post with YA author, Richard Hardie (Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords). He has special news to share and that post will go out on Saturday.

Also on Saturday will be my spot for the Association of Christian Writers’ blog page, More than Writers. I’ll be looking at Creating Characters which I hope you’ll find useful. I look forward to sharing that.

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Above my desk I have a framed print which reads “Don’t give up on your dreams”. I’ve found that very encouraging and no doubt will continue to do so, but if I could add a modifier to it, I would put in something like “it’s perfectly okay to change your dreams if you need to!”.

I say that because I changed direction with my writing to focus on flash fiction (and I am so pleased I did that!).

Just because one dream doesn’t work out quite as you thought, that’s no reason to think ANY dream of yours is bound to fail.

I have unpublished work that I hope at one point might see the light of day somewhere (especially after work on it!) but I will not fret much if it doesn’t happen. (I would like to say I wouldn’t fret at all but writers always have something that niggles a bit and it is usually an unpublished MSS they would like to do something with! It can haunt you…).

Why? Because my dream was to be a writer and then to be a published one. I hadn’t anticipated it would be in short form fiction but that’s fine and it came as a pleasant surprise.

I would say it was more important to be open to trying new forms of writing as you may well discover an avenue that you hadn’t known existed and who knows where that might take you?

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

F = Fun to write and read.
L = Length of story may be short but the impact is powerful.
A = Adjectives are made redundant as you find better choices of word to suit your word count limit! (This is a good thing. Makes you think about word choice more).
S = Story. It is all about the story. Something has to happen that a reader wants to find out about.
H = Hero/heroine – oh yes. But the number of characters in a flash tale are limited. You have to focus on one or two at most AND the most important point.

F = Fabulous settings and worlds are possible.
I = Imagination can be set free. The limits of flash fiction encourage you to think outside the box more. Just where can you set your characters? Anywhere, actually!
C = Characters. They are your stars. Flash fiction has to be character led, even if that character is “just” your narrator. Monologues can be effective flash fiction pieces.
T = Time. The time frame in a flash tale has to be limited but having a framework, I’ve always found, encourages creativity. Just what can you do inside that frame?
I = Intensity. Flash focuses sharply. You are looking at one/two characters and what happens to them in a short span. So a flash tale is intense and can pack a powerful punch emotionally precisely because of its short word count.
O = Originality. I’ve found writing flash encourages this. You learn to think differently. What can I get my character to be/to do in this short space? What reaction do I want to trigger in a reader and how can the character act in such a way so that happens? Your character can be in any point in time and space, can be any species you care to invent etc. There’s a lot of potential for originality there!
N = Nothing new under the sun? Maybe. The very short form of story writing has been around for a long time. Think about Aesop’s Fables, Jesus’s parables in the Bible etc. We just call it flash fiction now. So what can you do with your flash fiction writing? Have fun with it. Explore what YOU can bring to the table here.

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I’ve written a mixture of story moods and word count lengths for Tripping the Flash Fantastic, as I did with From Light to Dark and Back Again.

For TTFF though I’ve written a flash story in diary form for the first time, which was great fun to do, though it does come in at the upper limit for flash. It was good to experiment though and I do love the characters in this particular tale, especially the feisty Rose – and that’s all I can say for now!

I loved putting the collection together for Chapeltown Books. I like a mixture of moods in what I read so it is only natural that should be reflected in what I write.

 

 

Flash fiction might be stories in miniature but they still need to have a proper beginning, middle, and ending. A successful flash fiction story leaves the reader feeling as if no more could be said.

I like to think of flash fiction as precision writing as you need to select words carefully to make the most of the available word count but it does help with any other writing you do.

The habit of selecting words carefully carries over and that is so useful. So often the first choice of word is not necessarily the best one for what you are trying to say. It’s natural to reach for the “obvious” when something with more depth is what is needed to make your story become something special.

That doesn’t mean writing purple prose though. Clarity is everything. Think specifics.

For example:-

Harriet wore a coat that belonged to her grandmother. Granny always said a woman ought to have an outfit or something to match.

Not a lot of info there. Match what exactly?

How about:-

Harriet wore a red coat that belonged to her grandmother. Granny always said a woman ought to have an outfit or something to match.

Better. Have got a little more detail here and we now know Granny clearly liked bright colours and matching accessories. No subdued shades either. That may well reveal something about Granny and Harriet.

Better still:-

Harriet wore a scarlet coat that belonged to her grandmother. Granny always said a scarlet woman ought to have an outfit or something to match.
Allison Symes – 26th August 2020

Now that’s better! (And doesn’t Granny sound an interesting character!).

 

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Fairytales With Bite –

Which Fairytale Character Should You Be Wary Of?

I know, I know. Look out for the witch in the big, black pointed hat with a wand aimed at you. Yes, you should watch for her. But also look out for the disgruntled fairy godmother with a penchant for spinning wheels and very sharp needles.

Generally though I’d look out for the quiet characters in fairytales. They’re either going to end up as the unexpected hero/heroine or are a remarkably sneaky villain. And always look out for anyone who has a reason to get revenge because you just know they’re going to do so.

I’d also watch out for anyone who says they can do a little magic. Why? Because they’re either lying through their teeth and are experts OR they’re telling the truth and could kill everyone with their incompetence. (Think The Sorcerer’s Apprentice here).

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This World and Others – Time

How is time going to work on the fictional world you set up? Will it be the same as we have here or can it run backwards? Or does it run faster or slower than here? What are the impacts on the characters of all of this?

Think about how time is measured. Are your characters’ lives dictated by time (and by implication mortality)? If any of your characters are not worried about time, why is that? Are they immortal and what are the downsides to that? (There will be some and do see Doctor Who’s The Five Doctors for more on that. An excellent storyline!).

Is anyone able to control time? Anyone who could do that would hold a great deal of power so what would they do with that?

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All About Time

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

My latest CFT post looks at time management (and oh I would love to be better at that!) and at time travel. Naturally a certain Doctor makes an appearance in the post and I also look at if time travel were to become possible, where would you go and why? What would you do while there? Comments as ever welcome on the CFT page.

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I discuss the art of time management and time travel in this week’s CFT post. (I suppose thinking about it further, you could say one of the earliest forms of time management in the UK was when the railways standardised time for us all).

On the assumption time travel ever becomes possible (and I’m not counting the gags that say something like travelling on XXX railway makes you feel as if you’ve gone back to the 1860s!), where would go and why?

Thinking heads on. Link goes up tomorrow. Comments welcome in the CFT comments box when post goes live. (If you’re really keen it goes live at just after midnight but you may have to wait to get a reply from me! Unlike Cinderella, I know where I’m going to be at midnight and it won’t be at my keyboard… ah the joys of middle age!).

Great characters = great books. Image via Pixabay.
Stories can take you to fantastic places. Pixabay image.
Have never understood the point of the clock changes twice a year. Can’t we just stick to one? Image via Pixabay.
Love that clock. Pexels image.
It always is! Reflecting first helps a lot! Pixabay image
We dare not forget. Pixabay image.
Books and a cup of tea = lovely! Pexels image.
Memories are fragile especially over time. Pixabay image.
My writing desk is nowhere near as elegant as this one. Pixabay image.
Great characters will engross you. You will lose time reading their stories. Image via Pixabay.
Beautiful pens. Pexels image.
Be open to change. Pixabay image.
Love this clock. Pixabay image.

One good thing about the dark nights coming in earlier is it does encourage reading and writing!

I don’t need much of an excuse to curl up with a good book or get on with various writing projects as it is but the lighter evenings during the summer months can make me feel a bit guilty about not getting more gardening done etc. Note the “a bit”. Easy enough to squash so I can get on with reading and writing! I just wish I could stop feeling the slightly guilty feeling at all!

I often prefer lighter reading and writing during the darker months too. Contrast in mood perhaps? Whatever, it’s definitely time to get on with some writing once again!

A good writing group will help you discover this. Pixabay image.
Lost in a world of books. Pixabay image.
Great way to relax. Now where are those biscuits? Image via Pixabay
Let the creativity spill out. PIxabay image.
Gorgeous covers. Image via Pexels.
The love of writing must equal the love of reading. Pixabay image.
Signing books for a friend. Image by Adrian Symes
A good read means you ARE in a world of your own. Pixabay image
Books are a fantastic form of escapism. Image via Pixabay
Great characters = great books. Image via Pixabay.
Lovely and treasured book collection here. Image via Pexels
Back cover of FLTDBA. Image by Allison Symes
Chapeltown Books have a distinctive central image in a frame such as with mine. Image by Allison Symes
My reading at the local railway station. Image by Janet Williams

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I often use lightning flashes in my photos for posts like this, given I think they reflect accurately how a flash fiction story illuminates and impacts on the reader. Very briefly and then over, but you don’t forget the impact.

A short story (say 1500 words+) to me is like shining a torch around – more light for a greater period of time but the impact can be diluted.

Sometimes you want that – you want the story as a whole to impact on your reader and you can only know if it‘s done that by reading and re-reading the whole thing.

The novel is like having a great big light on constantly. When you switch it off (stop reading it), that’s when you think about the impact it has made on you. Or that is how it has always seemed to be to me. I didn’t really appreciate the greatness of The Lord of the Rings until I’d finished reading it. You then take a mental step back and realise the huge scale of the trilogy.

Flash fiction makes you focus on the little details but the great thing with that is you can take this and use it to sharpen your longer works of fiction. No dull bits ever, thank you! The sections that are necessary to link the action should still carry the reader with them. The reader should be as keen to read those sections as they are the main scenes. Flash makes you tighten up your writing and this is enormously useful for ensuring your longer stories flow as they should.

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Time is the theme of my CFT post this week (time management and time travel. If the latter ever becomes possible, you will have to be really good at the former to make said travelling work well for you!). I’ve used time as a theme for a few of my flash fiction pieces – Telling the Time (there’s a clue somewhere here!) and Time Waits for No Man (likewise!).

My main use of time though for flash fiction is deciding on when I’m setting the story. Am I going to tell it as it “happens” to the character or will I get the character to look back on an event? I use both regularly and usually it is clear which would work better. So much depends on the character A reflective type would be best suited to looking back at something that had happened (which I do in They Don’t Understand). An active “go get them” kind would probably be better off telling the story AS it happens, implying the passing of time as we go through the events with them.

Books are fabulous, whatever the format. Image via Pixabay.
The first draft, the second, the tenth? Pixabay image
I write fairytales with bite as flash fiction and short stories in particular. Image via Pixabay.
Love writing, love reading, love books. Pixabay image.
Flash fiction, by its nature, has to take one look at a situation to be a story but you can get quite a bit into that “one look”. Image via Pixabay.
This, for me, would be a magical place to be. Image via Pixabay
From Light to Dark and Back Again. Image taken by Allison Symes
This statue reminds me of myself when I was a lot younger. Okay I wasn’t made of stone (I’m still not!) but I did always have my head in a book. (And do so as often as I can now!). Image via Pixabay.
So true. Pixabay image.
Whenever and whatever you read, enjoy. Image via Pixabay.
Says it all really but reading your work to yourself will show up where dialogue is weak. Image via Pixabay.
The delights of the open page. Pexels image.

What do I look for in an opening line for flash fiction? I don’t necessarily need to know who the lead character is funnily enough, but I DO need to know the setting, the attitude of the narrator (especially if this is a first person piece), and some indication of what the problem is. That problem and how it is overcome IS the story of course.

Something about the narrator/lead character has got to intrigue me enough to make me want to read on. A great piece of flash fiction will make you ponder whether YOU would have acted in the same way as the character you’ve just read about!

Let your stories have impact. Image via Pixabay
Fiction or not, books are the gateways to other worlds. Image via Pixabay.
Poets stand and stare and then write down. Image via Pixabay.
I don’t understand those who dislike books, in whatever format. Image via Pixabay.
Good advice. Image via Pixabay.
It can take a lot of self-belief to be able to call yourself this at times. Image via Pixabay
What ever writer needs. Image via Pixabay
Love this library. Mine is somewhat smaller than this! Image via Pixabay.
I could spend many a happy hour here – the library at Prague. Image via Pixabay.
Big screen, little screen, LOTS of stories on either! Image via Pixabay
The magic of stories. Image via Pixabay

Fairytales with Bite – Favourite Times

What are your characters’ favourite times? Curling up with a good book? Lazing in the bath? Going for a good walk with the dog?

Use questions like this to help you establish your character. The answers may not appear in your story but knowing something about the character before you start writing about them will be enormously helpful. You don’t need to know each and every little detail. What you want is enough information that you can write clearly for them, knowing how they would react to a situation and why. The reader will pick up on the fact you really do know your character (even if they do this subconciously, in many ways it is better if they do pick up on this that way) and the writing will flow better as a result.

Of course, working out what your characters’ favourite times will tell you so much about them. Do they curl up with a good book because they can’t face what is their real life? Why can’t they face it? Dig deep. Maybe you will surprise yourself with what your characters show you about themselves. Use that.

Outline the characters and away you go! Image via Pixabay
There was always something magical about having a blank page to write to. Image via Pixabay.
Write first, edit later. Pixabay.
How is your fantastic world governed? Pixabay image
Words have power, whether funny or tragic. Pixabay image.
Very old school writing. Pixabay image.
Walking into the words maybe. Pixabay image
Plugging in for new ideas? Pixabay image
The perfect place to reflect and take stock. Pixabay image.
All writers feel this way sometimes. Pixabay image.
Words are the power source of so much creativity. Pixabay iamge.
Assemble your characters, assemble your world. Image via Pixabay
Characters no matter what their world should resonate with readers. Image via Pixabay

This World and Others – Time

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week talks about time management and time travel.  Guess which one I want to get better at!  Joking aside, this led me to think about how we use time in stories.

A lot of my flash fiction stories are set within a very short time period (appropriately) and are written in the first person, precisely because I want to achieve a sense of “immediacy”.  For other pieces I have the lead character looking back at their lives and being reflective so the time within stories like that is longer, “stretched” if you like, and the pace of the story is slower.  What grabs you with those kinds of tale is the character – something about them intrigues you enough to make you want to find out more.

Time in itself can make a useful theme for stories (too little of it, too much of it etc) but I’ve found it helpful to think about the kind of story I want to tell and then work out what the best time frame for that tale would be.  In my Pressing the Flesh the opening line is “It was 3 am”.  The impact of that is to make you wonder (a) why the time is important and (b) to assume the character concerned is unlikely to be up to any good at that time of night.  (Quite right too – see my From Light to Dark and Back Again for the whole story!).

Magical lands. Image via Pixabay.
Reach for those ideas. Pixabay image.
The way to the magical realm perhaps? Image via Pixabay.
Enjoying writing the follow up to FLTDBA. Image by Allison Symes
The Writing Life. Pixabay image.
Preparing a talk or a flash fiction story perhaps. Image via Pixabay.
Creative writing takes many forms, including blogging. Image via Pixabay.
Where many a first draft starts life. Old technology still has its uses! Image via Pixabay.
The magical world of the imagination. Image via Pixabay
The perfect way to unwind. Image via Pixabay.
What wonderful worlds we can creat! Image via Pixabay.
Notebooks old and new – image via Pixabay. Ideas have to be jotted down somewhere!