Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share a topic on Chandler’s Ford Today, which is close to my writing and reading heart – Fairytales and Their Impact.

I have so many reasons to love fairytales. One of them is being given the two volume set of The Readers’ Digest Collection of Fairytales which collates so many of the original stories. My late Dad gave me this and I still have them, though one of the volumes does have a spine with a lot of tape on it!

Another reason is, naturally, my first story in print was A Helping Hand in the 2009 anthology Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing) which was another look at the Cinderella tale but this time from the viewpoint of the younger stepsister.

My post considers the impact of fairytales on writing craft because they can teach writers so much including the use of the Three Act Structure, clear character definition, only giving you what you need to know, no sentimentality (good and evil are both shown for what they are) and so much more.

Hope you find the post useful.

Fairytales and Their Impact

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Quiet day in the park today with Lady but that may have been useful as I suspect she is still tired from our super day out yesterday. I know I am and even more so after my swim today though it was lovely to chat to regulars there.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Fairytales and Their Impact for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow on a topic close to my heart. See above.

Delighted to have booked my tickets for (a) Hannah Ruth Retallick’s launch of her latest flash fiction collection, Falling Woman, which is later this month and (b) my place at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event in December. It’s always great fun.

Had a lovely day out with other half and Lady in Dorset. Good weather, great walking and a smashing lunch at a very dog friendly cafe. Good time had by us all. Lady made some fans there too!

Did us good which led me to think about what would your characters do when they felt the need to take time out? Where would they visit? Why are these places special to them?

Food for story thought there.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Have had one of those days when I may as well have put a revolving door on the front door. Likewise for other half. Won’t be sorry to have a quieter weekend.

Loved listening to the Classic FM concert which was staged at the Royal Albert Hall recently. The broadcast went out earlier this week and it was sublime especially listening to Sir Willard White.

Good music can transport you to other worlds. And great stories, including flash ones, can do the same. Maybe this is why I find having classical music on while writing such a help then.

I haven’t used music as a story theme though I did have the great joy of editing a music themed flash fiction collection for Chapeltown Books, which was a joy to do.

Maybe I should give some thought to what kind of music my characters would like at some point because I can see that triggering some story ideas. You can never have too many of them!

Thrilled to discover another review on Amazon for Seeing The Other Side. Many thanks to the reviewers (and those who reviewed the book on its blog tour. I hope to create some graphics for those reviews and share them later. Am looking forward to this as it is both creativity and marketing – that at least is fun!).

Reviews mean so much to an author and they don’t have to be long either so if you can help writer friends this way, I know they’ll appreciate it. I know I do!

Also looking forward to my online launch for Seeing The Other Side in November. If you want to book tickets, they’re free, do check out the link below. Will share this again later on and via my newsletter. Hope to see you there.

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Had a special trip out today which was lovely. Full of those moments of observation which might inspire story ideas later. I usually take a few photos because you can’t recall everything. I just use these as an aide memoire.

What would your characters want to remember from their trips out? What would they be keen to forget?

Story ideas there too.

Fairytales With Bite – Day Trips

Do your characters ever take time out for day trips? Where would they go? Would your setting have a tourist industry as such?

If your setting is a magical one, are your characters allowed to use their normal powers when on down time? Or can they only use self defence ones or anything which helps them survive outside of their usual environment?

If they visit non-magical locations, do they hide their true nature? What would happen if they didn’t? I’d expect chaos and misunderstanding. Not everyone would welcome magical beings to their world, especially if there had been previous problems.

Story ideas there and I think good potential for funny ones too.

This World and Others – Getting Away

Do your characters find it easy to get away from it all? What methods would they use to get away?

For those who can fly, can they just literally take off or do they have to register what we’d know as a flight plan? How would your setting avoid chaos in their skies, especially at peak times?
Would your setting have public transport as we know it? If so is this powered magically or not? What kind of magical species would operate these systems? Are any banned from doing so?

There could be story ideas here as well as from your characters getting away.