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 all well. Has been so hot here over the last few days. Gosport in Hampshire has recently shattered a heat record. We’re taking Lady out early and then keeping her in. She’s doing well but isn’t keen on this level of heat.
Writing wise, am progressing okay but will find it easier to progress more when the temperature comes down a bit!
Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today
Pleased to share Using Dates in Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.
I look at various ways of using dates in our stories including usages in historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy where the dating system may well be so different to ours, and I ask what dates can mean to our characters too. There will be plenty of ideas to be written up around that last thought alone.
I also look at using dates to create settings, time frames and time/dates as a plot device. I discuss dates for the writer too.
Hope you find the post useful.
Another scorcher of a day, another quiet one for Lady though she is managing well and drinking plenty of water, as are we.
Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Using Dates in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Lots of useful thoughts here which I hope will trigger plenty of story ideas. Link up tomorrow. See above.
Will be hosting another online group for the Association of Christian Writers next week and am looking forward to that. Plus my next author newsletter is due out on the same day, next Wednesday. How can it be almost July already? Mind you, I have great reasons to look forward to next month. More to come when I have it.
Character Tip: You know your character. You know what they’re capable of and why. Now think of something they might say or do which would catch you and readers off guard. This can bring in great twists to your tale and show you even more about your creation.
If you know, for example, your character is scrupulously honest because they were let down big time by continual lies earlier in their life, readers will understand that. But what if your character then does go and lie, especially if this seems to come out of the blue? I would immediately want to look for the reason in the change of behaviour and there will be at least one.
On this example, I would wonder if they were shielding someone else. Also I will go back and look through the story to see if there were any hints something unexpected might come. There usually is something on a second read.
Crime stories do this all of the time but it can work just as well for other forms of fiction. Incidentally the hint can come in a variety of means such as the character admitting they could do anything to protect someone they love or had done so in the past etc etc.
Wow, it’s been so hot. Hope you are all well and taking good care. Lady out early and then home again for the rest of the day. She’s not sorry. Neither are we. Will be the same again tomorrow and probably Friday too.
Writing wise, I’m trying to start my writing sessions earlier than usual because I do find the heat has a direct impact on my concentration levels (and I drink loads of water etc because I should and because it aids concentration). So it is a question of doing what I can and be as comfortable as possible. Let’s just say I’m already looking forward to a swim tomorrow!
Still the good thing with writing flash fiction and short stories is I can write in short stints and still get plenty done.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Today would have been my father’s 89th birthday. Dates and anniversaries can be wonderful things, sad ones, funny and much more.
Funnily enough, I discuss Using Dates in Fiction for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week (see above) but dates/anniversaries are wonderful things to write flash fiction around. They make for a good “peg” to hang the action on.
What, in your story, makes this date/anniversary stand out especially? What has happened to make it more memorable than usual? What does your character make of an anniversary someone else wants to celebrate but they do not?
There are plenty of ways to use dates in stories and, yes, there is such a thing as a random date generator out there. Mind you, the old school way of picking a page at random from your diary and using that date as a focus for your story would also work well!
Hope you’re all keeping well and as cool as possible. Lady managing okay but she loathes this heat and I can’t say I blame her. I heard on the radio earlier that visualising cooler things can help. Hmm… can’t say it’s worked for me so far.
But talking of visualising, when you create your characters do you tend to visualise what they look like? It isn’t the first priority for me. I like to hear them speaking. (I don’t know whether that is because of my life long love of radio coming into play here or whether, back in the day, on the old TV sets you tended to get the sound through first and then the picture). I do get a clearer picture of my characters once I know how they speak though.
This is the joy of the creative process though. Different things work for different writers. It is a question of finding what works for you, I think. (And if one way doesn’t seem to hit your creative spot, then it’s time to try another. You will find what’s right for you writing wise but it can be a question of trial and error).
I don’t tend to use weather much in my flash fiction and short stories. Certainly I’m not planning to write anything about the current heatwave. Not sure there is much of a story in getting my characters to reflect my views – I don’t like this! Mind you, being a dog owner does colour my views here. Both Lady and I much prefer a temperature in the lower twenties.
But you could use the thought of something colouring a character’s views to come up with some interesting story ideas. If a character is kind and generous but won’t be towards another character, there will be reasons (and stories) behind that, for example.
The good thing here is you get to decide what would colour your character’s views (and therefore attitudes and behaviours) and by how much. Can you get a character with a strong opinion which goes against the grain for the other characters in your story to come across as having good reasons to be as they are and even be a sympathetic character?
It would be a good challenge.
Fairytales With Bite – Magical Words
Now I know I’m biased as a writer and editor but I do believe words are magical in and of themselves. When I think about how many stories I’ve loved, and continue to love, I believe I have a good point. Stories are so much part of what makes us human.
But what about our characters who are anything but human? Which stories and/or words would they consider to be magical and why? What impact do these things have on them? How have they shaped them? Would your character’s favourite stories bear any resemblance to those we have here? (It is amazing, for example, just how many variants of the Cinderella story there are and how far in time it goes back too).
Who would have written the stories your characters love? How did they get to be such a special part of your character’s world? Has anyone ever tried to suppress and/or rewrite them to suit their purposes?
Who would be considered to be the overall guardian of your setting’s magical words and stories, how did they get that role, and how good a job do they do? Definite story ideas there.
This World and Others – Literature with Meaning
I believe all literature has at least some meaning. Even the funniest, frothiest of stories have meaning simply because they are great at helping people escape for a while. For me, that is the definition of a good read. I often will not want “serious” reading. I want to be entertained and I see nothing wrong in that.
So when I look for meaning in any story, I am looking for the impact it had on me, for good or bad. I know there are some stories I won’t be reading again because the impact they made on me was I’ve read this once, I don’t need to read it again. Incidentally another definition of a good read for me is wanting to re-read tales.
Anyway, in your setting, especially if it is nothing like our own dear planet, what would your characters see as literature with meaning? Do they read it themselves or only do so when they have to (at school for example)? Is literature readily available to all or only to the select few? If the latter, can literature somehow “escape” by devious means so others can get to see it and, if so, who would be behind that and why are they doing it?
Literature has impact. Not everyone welcomes that here! This could apply easily to other settings. What would be the story of your character who is an author who writes something they know their regime won’t like it? What drives them to do it? Do they get their work out there? Is the impact as expected or not? What would the literature getting out to the masses do to your setting? It could change so much.
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