Tag: Word Association

Back At The Theodore Bullfrog With Bridge House Publishing

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Paula Readman and Lynn Clement for certain pictures taken at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Most of the pictures for that Chandler’s Ford Today post and screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady has! Delighted to hear one of my festive flash pieces will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on Saturday 13th December 2025. Will share the link to the broadcast itself next week. Equally thrilled to say three other members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will have their work broadcast here too. Well done, all!

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Am delighted to look back at last weekend’s celebration event with my Chandler’s Ford Today post, Back At The Theodore Bullfrog with Bridge House Publishing.

The post gives a good round-up of events and shares something of the joys of getting together with other authors like this (and also being with a splendid independent publisher).

I also flag up the specific celebrations for the publication of The Best of CafeLit 14 and, more recently, Magi An Anthology.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Back At The Theodore Bullfrog with Bridge House Publishing

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Hope Thursday has gone well. All quiet in the park today so Lady had to put up with just me!

Looking forward to sharing Back at The Theodore Bullfrog with Bridge House Publishing on Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. It was such a fun event, I was bound to write about it. See above.

In other news, I’m glad to share the following link re the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on Saturday 13th December. I also want to add huge congratulations to the other writers taking part in this, especially three of them who are members, with me, of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. I’m very much looking forward to tuning in to hear a great range of festive flash fiction.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf 3 Minute Santas Special, Saturday 13 December, 2-4pm

Hope you have had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal so all well there. Lovely sunny day too, the kind of winter day I like.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Back at the Theodore Bullfrog with Bridge House Publishing on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. Then there will be one more post after that from me (19th December) before I take a Christmas break and resume on CFT in the New Year. Just where has the year gone?!

Had a turn down from a flash competition over the weekend. Will have another look at that story in the New Year and see if I can submit it somewhere else. I have had work published doing that.

Writing Tip: Rejections and not hearing back from competitions do happen to everyone so do take some heart from that when it happens to you (and it is bound to at some point). I do try to see this as a chance to have another look at my stories and find ways of improving them. Normally I can see something and I adjust the story, which is why I think I have then gone on to have the story published somewhere else.

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It’s the last day of the Friday Flash Fiction Christmas Competition and I did manage to send in two stories, one per week, for the two weeks the event ran. It was good fun to take part in this. All of the stories in this have to be 100 words exactly (and trust me it is so easy to come in at 102 words or 98 but for this competition it had to be spot on the 100). Good luck to all taking part.

Word association is a great game. I remember playing it often when I was younger. Little did I realise then it was going to become a great tool for writing prompts for me much later on. The reason it is so useful is the game makes you think of links and those are so useful for outlining characters/potential story ideas.

For example let’s take the word festive and see what can be done with that:-
Festive = Christmas = Scrooge = Muppets = films = The Great Escape = bravery.

Now on the face of it, this is just a list of fun, loosely connected words but if I was to use this for a story, it would be the last word, bravery, I would focus on. I love working with traits. They can tell you so much about a character.

Here, I would want to know who showed bravery and why (and it could be a Christmas set story too or not as I chose). Just from this then, I have the sparks of a potential idea.

Do add word association to your prompt generating toolkit if you don’t use it already. It is useful.

Looking forward to an informal chat and sharing of news and stories with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. We usually do have this kind of session at the year end and it is a lovely way to bring our writing year to a close before we head off to our respective Christmas breaks.

Am a co-judge for a flash competition in the New Year so looking forward to working on that. Naturally I’m looking forward to Seeing The Other Side coming out next year. It is highly likely I will be on both sides of the editing fence again. It’s an interesting experience (and useful to me both as a writer and editor. The view from the other side of the fence can be enlightening to say the least).

Fairytales With Bite – The Fairytale Flip Side

There can be a flip side to much in life so why should the fairytale world be exempt? For all of those fairytale characters who have the benefit of magical help, there are so many others who do not. Mind you, the latter can be fun characters to write about and my first story in print, A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing), was about Cinderella’s youngest step-sister.

I’ve long believed there are disadvantages as well as advantages to any form of power and that goes for magic too. What would happen if magical characters misuse their powers for their own ends? (I know, I know – as if that would happen here! Oh if only!). How could they be stopped?

Even when magic isn’t misused, what effects would it have on the bodies of the characters? I’ve long thought sustained use of magic must be incredibly draining. Indeed, I can’t see otherwise being the case.

So what would your characters themselves see as the flip side to their magical abilities/their world’s magical abilities? Do your characters have to cope with, say, envying other characters with greater powers than themselves? Would they find ways of developing or, worse still, stealing those powers for themselves? How would they handle powers they’re not used to handling?

Bound to be story ideas there!

This World and Others – Policing

Now given I am sure we can all think of those who misuse their powers in this world, and therefore we must have some kind of policing to try to keep things in order (and protect ourselves as much as possible), how would that work out in your magical setting?

Who would be the police force? Who created them? What are they allowed to do? What are they banned from doing? What would happen to any police authority who misused the powers given to them (and who would have bestowed those in the first place)? What extra magical powers would they need to be able to combat magical crime?

How would policing work and is it with the consent of the people generally?

I do love the Vimes stories in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and if you haven’t checked them out, do as you’ll be in for a treat. Here, the Discworld has magic and magical practitioners in it, but it’s not in the City Watch and Vimes doesn’t like magic. So many interesting tales there.

I think for any successful fantasy world, the writer does have to work out first how things will work broadly at least, which will include who can use magic, what can they do, recognizing crime does get everywhere so there has to be something to combat that.

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Postcards Home and Authors/Story Links

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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 friends from Swanwick for taking some images of me signing books etc at a previous Swanwick. Also thanks to Adrian Symes for taking a photo of me holding Creativity Matters.
Hope you had a good weekend. Had a lovely trip out to see a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester with editing colleagues. Good fun and a fascinating place to visit. Want to go back as I didn’t get to see half of what was there. The Austen exhibition was good too. But oh how tiny the waists were back then!
Meantime back at home, Lady has got to see her two best buddies for the first time in a few days so all is well now. Part 3 of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side came out over the weekend on CafeLit too. Link given below. All go here but in a great way!

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It’s my turn once again on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Postcards Home and set a few exercises for people to try. Hope you have fun with them. I especially hope the ACW Flash Fiction Group gives them a go!

Hope you enjoy the post. This is an apt topic for me as flash fiction has been known by many names, including postcard fiction.

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Lady has had a lovely day. She played with her two best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. All is well in their world!

As promised the other day, I thought I would give a quick reminder now to say I will be quizzing Rosemary Johnson about her new book, Past and Present (Bridge House Publishing) later this week. There is an online book launch via Eventbrite, hosted by Bridge House Publishing, on Friday 1st August from 7.15 pm (UK time). The event will last for an hour. Hope to see you there.

Marketing Tip: Whenever you are sharing information about your latest story or book, think about what is in this for your readers. This is where sharing an odd story or two is handy because it makes perfect sense to say hello, this is what I write, and then share a sample of it. Nobody minds a free sample. If you have an author newsletter, it is a useful thing to include as part of that.

So enjoyed my trip to the Dorset Museum yesterday. Didn’t even see half of what they have there so a return trip is called for. The ticket from the museum lasts for a year so I hope to take full advantage of that. Pleasant run on the train too – and useful writing time of course. Will shortly be getting on with flash fiction Sunday today, naturally.

Writing wise, will have a busy week ahead with plenty going on the blogs front. Plus I will be sending out my author newsletter again on Friday (and taking part in Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present the same day so Friday will be fun but busy).

Also it is almost time for the next edition of Writers’ Narrative so do look out for that too. You won’t be short of reading material this week!

Glad to see it is almost time for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: If you can get to writing events, be they online or in person, a one day thing or longer, try and go. One huge advantage to them is you get to meet other writers. Not only do you make friends, writers share information with each other all of the time.

You never know when (a) that could prove useful to you and (b) what you can share will prove useful to someone else. The writing community is generally a hugely supportive one and it is lovely to be part of it.

Was on my travels today down to Dorchester to visit the Jane Austen exhibition at the Dorset Museum. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at the great author’s links with the coast. I met editing colleagues here from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). A great time was had by all and I plan to write more about the exhibition for Chandler’s Ford Today soon.

Talking of which, a huge thank you for the fabulous comments which have come in on Esther Chilton’s interview yesterday.

Next week’s post will be a review of the play of Notes From A Small Island, which was performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company this week.

Next week will be busy too as the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will be meeting on Wednesday. Plus I’m also looking forward to Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present collection on Friday. Host is Bridge House Publishing via Eventbrite. Will repost the link in next couple of days. Have done so above.

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Lady has had an especially nice day as she got to play with Bear, a wonderful Aussie Shepherd, who is the nearest thing she has ever had to a boyfriend.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow on Zoom. We’ll be looking at the theme of summer. Plenty of good ideas to come from using a season in your writing. For one thing, they make an excellent backdrop.

Flash Tip: When you have a theme to hand for a story, take some time to jot down as many possibilities from it as you can think of. There will be more than you think. Play Word Association here. What you come up with may well generate words to put in a story, even the basic outline of what a character might see or do in your story.

For example with the theme of summer, you could think of things like tennis (story set against that back drop perhaps). You could think of ice cream (lovely old soul looks for a favourite flavour for someone he cares about) and that is just two basic ideas from two words associated with the theme.

Am sure you could come up with many more. Have fun!

It’s Monday. It has been hectic. It’s story time once again but this time I’ve produced something a little different. The program I use to produce my videos was unfortunately down when I needed to use it for my usual weekly tale though I am glad to say it is back up and running again.

Having said that (and given I have other writing commitments today), I took a story, recorded it on Zoom and have uploaded that to YouTube. Hope you enjoy my Work To Rule read by yours truly.


Flash Fiction Sunday is with me again so am looking forward to cracking on with that shortly.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom next week.

And now it’s time for part 3 of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you like the latest selection of tales.

Getting out and about on the train, as I have done today, gives great opportunities for discreet people watching. I have occasionally heard intriguing snippets of conversation I have put my own spin on to create stories. The original speakers would genuinely never know.

This is true for any kind of prompt – it is what you do with it which transforms it into something with exciting story possibilities. The prompt is only ever to get you started, which can often be the difficult bit.

Goodreads Author Blog – Authors and Story Links

By the time I post this, I will have returned from a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at her links with the coast.

Confession time – I was only aware of the one link, that being The Cobb at Lyme Regis. It is a major scene in Austen’s Persuasion. I’ve not read The French Lieutenant’s Woman which I believe also uses The Cobb as a setting.

I do always think of Persuasion whenever I visit Lyme Regis though.

The exhibition was an eye opener, fun, and I am so glad I went. So if a favourite author of yours has an exhibition on, why not check it out? They can be another way of helping you enjoy even more from the books you love. That has to be a good thing!

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Books Which Live On

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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. One image of me holding Creativity Matters and my flash collections was taken by Adrian Symes, as was the photo of me signing copies of Tripping The Flash Fantastic. I was being watched over by a distinctly unimpressed Lady! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Fabulous one here – lovely family party. Good time had by all, including the dogs. Lady was so tired on Saturday night! Pleased to say the second part of the serialisation of Seeing The Other Side is now on CafeLit – link below. Looking forward also to helping a friend with her online book launch on 1st August – details below.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady had a lovely time in the park. Have been very busy, so much so my feet feel like they need a retread! Good to be at the desk writing.

Don’t forget it won’t be long before my next author newsletter will be out. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I share news, tips, discuss a topic, and share story links, including to the partial serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side plus more on my newsletter. Would be good to have you aboard. A huge thanks to all who support me here. It is much appreciated.

Am looking forward to watching The Chameleon Theatre Company perform the stage version of Bill Bryson’s Notes From A Small Island later this week. Should be great fun. I plan to review it for Chandler’s Ford Today at a later date.

Plus I am off to visit a Jane Austen exhibition at the weekend. Plenty going on. Loving it all.

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Hope your week has got off to a good start. Lady got to play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today and saw Tao, who looks as if he could be Lady’s big brother (but isn’t!).

Event News:  Am delighted to say I’ll be quizzing dear friend and former ACW colleague, Rosemary Johnson, about her new book, Past and Present, which has recently been published by Bridge House Publishing. She will be holding an online book launch via Eventbrite, hosted by Bridge House Publishing, on Friday 1st August from 7.15 pm (UK time). The event will last for an hour.

Do check out the link to find out more – the event is free. Rosemary will also be sharing extracts from her book so if you love stories, especially those of a historical ilk, do come and join us on 1st August. And you can put questions to the author herself too. Hope to see you there.

Lovely family party yesterday. Weather okay in the end (and thankfully cooler thanks to the rain in the morning). Lady enjoyed playing the role of doggy host to Lily and Teddy. Lady was absolutely shattered at the end – caught her out for the count in our passageway. She also slept really well last night but I suspect those of us with two legs, as well as those with the four, all did!

In writing news, I will have news of an event I am helping with for a friend’s book launch in the next day or so. Launch itself will be on 1st August. See above.

Serialisation News:  And I am pleased to share the second part of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side (due out on May 2026). Hope you enjoy the selection in the link.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Other half had his birthday yesterday. Family do today. Great fun. Wonderful seeing everyone. Knackering? You bet but isn’t that the sign of a good party?

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming fellow Swanwicker and flash fiction writer, Esther Chilton, to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her new book, The Secret Dragon. Looking forward to sharing that. The book is aimed at 5-7 year olds and I can tell you now the blurb and extract she shares with me for the post makes me almost wish I was that age range again! More nearer the time.

Sometimes things occur which you hadn’t thought about but it has a special resonance. Yesterday, 18th July, I shared my Authors Electric post about Jane Austen. Her birthday is commemorated later this year (December) but 18th July is the anniversary of her death in Winchester. I hadn’t picked up on that. Always good to re-read her works though. You don’t need a special event for that.

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Hope the day has been a good one. Have a couple of competitions (flash ones) in mind to start drafting for at the weekend (or at least I hope to get to do that. Do have plenty of time for the deadlines which helps).

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Will be looking at the topic of summer for that. The seasons can throw up plenty of ideas for stories.

Also do consider using the game of Word Association to help trigger prompts, which in turn can trigger story ideas.

It’s Monday. It has been an especially hectic one, at least for me. All I know is it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on You Tube – Prompts.

Which three prompts could Shirley pick out to cause any concern to Barry, someone who has never understood her wish to write? Find out here.

 

Hope all well with you. Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly after a lively and fabulous weekend.

The second part of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side is now out on CafeLit. See the link (though it is over on my author page here too).

One of the nice things about having a book accepted is getting to read your stories again after a gap apart from them. I hope to take part in the Open Prose Mic night at Swanwick again this year so hope to share some of my new material from this book there too. 
Did manage to get my competition story off during the week, the one I mentioned last weekend. Have another competition to have a crack at – a lovely 750 words one. Plus there is another one which links with a book festival where I can go up to 1000 words.

I sometimes have a look at my past Flash NANO stories and polish those up for competitions. They’ve had long enough to rest up before I use them. I can usually spot things I can strengthen them so I do. When I draft those tales for the event in November each year, I do have this idea in mind. I’ve found it useful.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books Which Live On

Books which live on is an apt topic for me at the moment as I’ve just written about Jane Austen for another blog I contribute to monthly and it was a lovely, enjoyable thing to do. Her books will live on and have lived on long after her because she creates such memorable characters and situations. That, I think, is the secret to any good story.

Yes, sure, styles of storytelling do change over the years. We don’t need descriptions in the way Dickens wrote them because we have our own references to helps us picture things. His readers would not have had those things – being in the film, radio and TV age does make a difference, as does universal education. But we can still understand his characters and what motivates them. I do feel it is the characters which are the important connection in any story.

Any book which does that should live on. I think the classic books can give us insights as to how life was lived back then so they can be educational in that respect. I don’t want stories dismissed just because they’re old or not read for that reason. (Same applies to the authors!).


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On Characters and Being a “Proper” Writer

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

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What I look for in a great character:-

1. I totally understand why they’re acting the way they are. It doesn’t mean I have to approve though!

2. You can see how they got into the situation they’ve got to overcome and are keen to see if/how they get out of it again. You believe the character has the potential to get out of it and it’s a case of seeing whether you were right about that or not.

3. I love characters who come out with great one-liners but only as long as they arise naturally out of the situation and the character. It must never feel forced.

4. They stay with you in your imagination long after you’ve finished reading the story!

Examples of great characters for me:-

1. Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy

2. Jeeves and Wooster

3. Sam Vimes and Lady Sybil Ramkin – Discworld

4. Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee

5. Aslan – Narnia

6. Ebenezer Scrooge (though I prefer him AFTER the visitations! Am very fond of the Muppet Christmas Carol. Thought that was the best Muppet film too).

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I’m delighted to share Part 3 of Peter Russell’s local history series on The Hutments for Chandler’s Ford Today. If you have any memories to share of a part of the community that has now gone, do comment via the comments box. I know Peter would be pleased to hear from you.

Feature Image - Hook Road Hutments and My Family

It has been a good writing week. There has been plenty of progress on the novel. I’m enjoying it ! (That HAS to be a good sign, right? 😊😉).

Short story and flash fiction submitted. Am fleshing out another standard length short story for a competition and have got another “resting” for me to have a look at again, hopefully later this week.

Almost done on next week’s CFT post too. Continuing to add to my website and working on a non-fiction project.

So, no, I’m never short of things to do but that’s how I like things to be!

I’ll be talking about progress and success and how to judge them in the CFT post for Friday.

Am really looking forward to the Bridge House celebration event. Not far away now. It’s a great chance to catch up with friends and to make new ones!

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Word association can be a great way of triggering words to use in a story. You can play the standard way by setting a word and then finding others to link to it – e.g. play, toys, games etc.

Equally you can play the I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue version where there should be no connection at all to the chosen start word – e.g. play, universe, green.

Whichever version you go for, I suggest setting a limit of how many words you are going to use – I find that helps me focus. But of course you can raise or lower that limit for future stories.

 

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How do you know if you’re a “proper” writer?

1. You scorn the very idea you have too many notebooks.
2. You develop a thing for collecting nice pens too, some of which you will actually use.
3. You dread power cuts as they always seem to happen in the middle of a writing session.
4. You have the great joy of having a number of books written by friends on your shelves.
5. You are even more thrilled when your works are on the same shelves!
6. You can’t wait to tell everyone your latest publication news.
7. You open the latest copy of Writing Magazine and look for people you know in the letters page and the Subscribers’ sections in particular.
8. You feel a little miffed when you come across an issue when there isn’t someone you know in it. (It’s a kind of something’s not quite right with the world feeling).
9. Launches, especially online ones, are a regular part of your life and you love them all.
10. Your TBR and TBW piles never diminish but that’s the way you like them.
11. There is no such thing as having too many books. What you CAN have is not enough shelving.
12. You just feel SO at home in book shops and libraries.

Okay, guilty as charged on all those. How about you?

 

Plenty to choose from here. Pixabay
Lost in a good book.
Looks a nice cosy set up to me.
This is lovely too!
Always good advice. Pixabay
What we all need… Pixabay
Books are their own world. Pixabay
The writing life. Pixabay
Well… Pixabay
Another gorgeous library. I love pics like this.

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I always consider impact to be the most important aspect to my flash fiction writing, but do you go about creating the impact you want to achieve?

Some of it is out of your hands. You may write a funny story but a reader doesn’t find it amusing – this is why humorous writing is so hard to do. It is subjective after all but what can you do to level the playing field a bit?

Having decided what the impact of my story is going to be, I look at what would make ME feel that impact. For example, if the tale is going to be a sad one, what would trigger that feeling of sadness in me?

Then it’s a question of picking the most appropriate trigger for your story. I prefer to go for understated emotional impact too. A story that tips overs into melodrama can put people off. I know it would do so for me. But sadness that is shown through the character without laying it on with a trowel will always make me want to read more if only to find out if the character “overcomes” the sadness or is beginning the process of adapting to the sitution by the end of the story.

For example if your story is about a fairy godmother rapidly approaching retirement and she really doesn’t want to retire, you could take that in a humorous or sad direction. So decide what you want it to be first.

If funny, what would make you laugh? Would setting your character into a ridiculous situation do it or are you better off having a wise cracking character who comes out with tremendous one liners?

Think about what you would like to read here as if the story was being written by someone else. I’ve found this to be really useful and hope you do too.

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Have you tried writing a piece of flash fiction to, say, 25 words, and then separately, writing it out to, say, 250 words?

It’s all perfectly legitimate but there will be different markets and competitions for the two stories.

I sometimes do this as a writing exercise (it’s a good way to get into a session of writing).

Not all stories or characters will be capable of being expanded. If the impact you are seeking to make on a reader is over and done with in 25 words then leave it at that. Never ever pad out a tale.

But if you CAN expand the story because the character is capable of so much more (and that’s the key way to judge whether a story IS capable of being expanded), explore what else you can do with that character and then you can either submit the two stories to two DIFFERENT places or pick the one you like the best and just submit that.

My smartphone has not yet managed this! Pixabay image.
Ideas, ideas, ideas! Pixabay.
Set goals for the short, medium and long terms. Pixabay image
Love reading in both formats! Pixabay image.
Pixabay
I read some of my flash fiction from FLTDBA and Cafelit. Image by Dawn Kentish Knox
Barbara Large has done so much to support and encourage writers for many years. Pixabay image.
Ah! The joy of the edit! Pixabay.

I like my titles to give a flavour of what is to come in the story without giving away too much. I like the title to lead people into wanting to read the rest. Of course, the challenge for me is to make sure I deliver on that promising title!

I occasionally use questions as story titles but prefer the statement, though I try to keep this as open as possible. Most of my titles could be taken in a humorous or serious direction.

I’ve mentioned before I have to have a title to work to as I draft my story but I am more than happy to change it if something better comes along as I am writing. It does sometimes and it is best to go with the flow here. Again, as with the story itself, I am looking for the likely impact of the title on the reader. The stronger impact title always wins.

 

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Do you ever think of music to suit your flash fiction stories?

The main time I have was coming up with ideas for the music for the book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again. I plumped for Saint-Saens Danse Macabre – quirky music to suit quirky fiction.

One of the things I love about music (and especially classical) is that, like flash fiction, there is something to suit every mood. I’m not going to be at any risk of running out of ideas for suitable musical themes any time soon either!

I’ve not yet used a piece of music to influence a story idea but may well give it a go and see what happens. The potential is there!

I’ve never read a book in these conditions, have you? Pixabay image.
Let your writing sparkle. Image via Pexels.
A great new idea makes me smile, as does this image. Pixabay image.
So true. Pixabay image.
Words have power, whether funny or tragic. Pixabay image.
Another gorgeous library. I love pics like this.
Good reading – and writing to be done – here. Pixabay image.
Whenever and whatever you read, enjoy. Image via Pixabay.
Online writing -v- on a line writing! Image via Pixabay
What worlds will emerge from your writing? Pixabay image
Words are the power source of so much creativity. Pixabay iamge.
Fiction can take you anywhere. Image via Pixabay.
Image taken by Adrian Symes
Notes about your characters can help you portray them more accurately. Not every note has to make it into the story itself. Pixabay image.
Books are fabulous, whatever the format. Image via Pixabay.
Something I’ve yet to see happen! Pixabay image.

Goodreads Author Blog – Juggling the TBR Pile

I must admit I couldn’t physically juggle my TBR pile. There would be an almighty crash and some inventive language on my part, I think, if I tried that.

I love reading a mixture of fiction across many genres, non-fiction, short stories, novels, articles etc. I also like to mix up reading on the Kindle with reading “real” books but I also want to put magazine reading into the overall mixture too.

Over the course of a week, I try to cover most of those bases. I’m currently reading historical fiction, true crime, short stories, flash fiction, and my own novel (on Kindle. I’m reading it as a reader would. It has been illuminating!).

Over the course of a week, I have been thoroughly entertained too!

And yes I have a TBR pile on my Kindle too. One of the reasons I don’t put a Kindle app on my phone is so I don’t have a TBR pile on there as well.

It is true – too many books, too little time!

Still I’ll press on and have a fab time doing so.

Happy reading!

Books should show you other worlds. Image via Pixabay.
Books invite you into their world. Image via Pixabay.
I don’t understand those who dislike books, in whatever format. Image via Pixabay.
Even in the heart of a city, books can provide escapism. Image via Pixabay.
Books are wonderful. Pixabay image.
Where will your reading take you? Pixabay image.
Flash fiction should sparkle! Image via Pixabay.
Lost in a world of books. Pixabay image.
A beautiful home for lovely books. Image via Pixabay.
A stunning library. Image via Pixabay
Nice selection of books here! Image via Pixabay
The To Be Read pile. Image via Pixabay

 

 

 

 

 

Working Out What Works

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

My CFT post this week is Story Analysis – Why Bother? I doubt if there’s an English Literature student who HASN’T thought that at some point!

I look at why story analysis benefits writers, how I do this with flash fiction (yes, it can be done), and look at differing types of analysis.

For example, you can look at whether your story works in terms of structure. You can look at whether the sentence length is appropriate given your type of story. You can look to see if your tale is following the Three Act structure.

Story analysis is a useful tool. Hope you enjoy.

Image Credit:  Pixabay

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What do you most enjoy writing – dialogue or description?

I must admit I adore writing dialogue but I have to watch I don’t overdo this. Mind, writing flash fiction with its tight word count helps a lot there!

I can understand the appeal of writing plays given dialogue has to be a prominent part of them.

When I’ve finished a standard length short story (1500 words or so), one of my editing processes is to ensure the balance of dialogue to description is (a) right and (b) specifically right for that story. Some of my longer tales genuinely need a lot of dialogue. The rule is to cut out anything which doesn’t move the story onwards in some way.

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My CFT post this week looks at story analysis and discusses why it is worth doing by writers (both for their own work and on their own favourite authors). I also look at whether you can over-analyse and share how I analyse my flash fiction (yes, it can be done!). Link up on Friday.

Making progress on the novel, an idea I have for a non-fiction book, and, of course, I’m drafting flash fiction too. Hope to get some of that edited and submitted soon. Never short of things to work on but that’s how I like it!

Pixabay image.
Great characters escape from great books! Pixabay image.
A great new idea makes me smile, as does this image. Pixabay image.
It always is! Reflecting first helps a lot! Pixabay image
Plugging in for new ideas? Pixabay image
And have fun! Pixabay image.
A book worm’s idea of heaven and picture books will be in here! Pixabay image
A writer’s life. Pixabay,
Walking through a landscape like this is a joy. Pixabay image.
Indeed! Pixabay image.
Glorious autumn. Time to take stock briefly and then move on. Pixabay image.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As part of my CFT post on Story Analysis this week, I look at how I do this for flash fiction. It can be done!

The most important part of any story though, regardless of its length, is getting that idea out of your head and down on to paper or screen though!

I use story analysis to review my stories thoroughly once the first draft and basic edit (typos and grammatical errors – there is always at least one!) are done.

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One of my favourite word games used to be Word Association. (These days it’s Scrabble on the phone, though the ads are annoying! I’ve also just got into Countdown as an app. No. Have not yet made a 9 letter word. I’m working on it!).

I still use Word Association sometimes as a brainstorming exercise. It can be a great way to find links (and as a result story ideas). Be prepared to dig deep though. Your first reactions to a word will be to come up with the obvious links. It’ll be what comes after you’ve used all those up that will be interesting.

For example:-

Bell = ring = clanger = Jo drops a clanger. Who is Jo? What was the clanger? What were the consequences?

Hmm…

You get the idea. Have fun and play with words like this. It will boost ideas and since when has that been a bad thing?!

Writer at work. Image via Pixabay.
Sometimes the words flow, other times they don’t! Pixabay
Thinking your writing through is always a good idea. Pixabay image.
Let the writing flow and if music can help it along even better! Image via Pixabay
Creating great characters. Image via Pexels.
Love that clock. Pexels image.
Imagination feeding the lightbulb moment. Pixabay
Love the bike. Pexels image.
Beautiful pens. Pexels image.
Always good advice. Pixabay
Despite technology, you still can’t beat the trusted notebook and pen. Image via Pexels

What writing task do you dread doing most?

I suppose if I’ve got one, it is the line by line edit for typos and grammatical errors. The thing that keeps me going there is the thought that all of this will vastly improve my story or book.

I think of this task as a bit like dusting. Nobody will notice when you have done it but when you haven’t, that’s another matter! (I loathe dusting… no surprises there).

It helps to focus on getting your MSS as near perfection as it is possible for us mere mortals to do. In a way you don’t want people to notice it. Your work should read seamlessly and well. If it is any small comfort, I learned a long time ago that something which appears to be an easy read is the same something the author slogged their guts over to achieve that. It’s also taken them a long time to get to that level of experience to know it needs doing, IS worth doing etc!

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Fairytales With Bite – Working Out How Things Work

My CFT post Story Analysis – Why Bother? looks at why story analysis works and why it is useful for writers.  But how do your characters work out if things are working the way they should be?

Usually your characters take a while to work out when things are going wrong (and this is particularly true if someone is a traitor to a group of characters.  It takes time to figure out something is not right and then deduce who the guilty party is).

I suppose it is a reflection of human nature that characters often have to realise something is wrong (as opposed to knowing things are going well).  But therein lies the drama and conflict and without all of that, there is no story.

Interesting lines of thought to follow for stories are when characters are put in situation where they are in a different culture and have to adjust their thinking.  How easy is it for them to do that?  Do they manage to blend in with their new surroundings or do they stick out?

But there you have a character who has to got to work out how things work in their new environment.  Also work out what the consequences are for if/when your character gets this wrong.  Is the new situation they’re in welcoming to strangers or not?  Increase the tensions and the pressures on your characters to get this right to ratchett up the stakes the character has to “play for” to achieve whatever goal has been set as the story aim.

Is your reading journey a bright one? Pixabay image.
The basic equipment! Pixabay
Creating great characters does mean hard work. Image via Pexels.
Love what you write. Image via Pixabay.
Love reading in both formats! Pixabay image.
Very true.. Pixabay image.
Barbara Large has done so much to support and encourage writers for many years. Pixabay image.
Would Dickens have loved technology like this? Image via Pixabay
Strong clear words help your descriptions hit home. Pixabay image.
Always good advice this. Image via Pexels
Generating the writing ideas. Image via Pixabay.
Yes, but is there fake sincerity going on here? Image via Pixabay.
Books have their own sense of time and space. Image via Pixabay.

This World and Others –

My Favourite Things About Stories

Where do I start with this one?  Well, here goes:-

1.  Stories take you into another world.  Sometimes that world is this one but we see it in a light we’ve not considered before.

2.  Stories show you a wide range of characters, some of whom you’ll love.  Others you’ll love to hate of course but all of them draw  you in and make you feel something!

3.  Stories, when they convey messages/morals, do this subtly.  The writers rightly don’t want to lose their audiences by preaching.  Subtlety generally works better in any case.  It is better that the reader works out what the message/moral is and have their own lightbulb moment. The message hits home all the better for the reader working it out for themselves.

4.  Stories entertain.  In what is a mad world, the escapism element shouldn’t be despised.

5.  Stories can show you different aspects of history and culture from around the world.  (I find it fascinating how so many of our beloved fairytales go back such as long time and there are many cultures which have very similar versions to the ones we know).

The familiar sight of the writing desk, regardless of genre! Image via Pixabay.
Where good ideas start… but good ideas need refining and editing, Image via Pixabay
No room for gobbledygook here. Image via Pixabay.
What writing can give you. Pixabay
The tools of the medieval writer’s trade
The joy of books. Image via Pixabay.
Have notebook. Will jot down ideas for how to drop my characters right in it and work out how they get out of it again. Image via Pixabay.
Learn a lot from author interviews be they in print or online. Image via Pixabay.
A closer look at what a medieval scribe worked with. This image comes from Part 1 of my Medieval Weekend review which was up on Chandler’s Ford Today last Friday.
Is the truth welcome in your fictional world? How does your community react to it?. Image via Pixabay.
Connections to what you read and what you write. What are yours? Image via Pixabay.
What all writers need (harmony within yourself to overcome the fear and write anyway). Pixabay.
Aiming for more “magic” from my stories this year! Image via Pixabay.