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 week so far. Mixed bag weather wise. Hope you enjoy the three line flash fiction story I share below based on love (given it was St. Valentine’s Day this week, it had to be the theme, yes?). The very short flashes are great fun to do. One or two lines then conclusion. To the point and often good for a smile or two. Give them a try. They make for a great writing exercise too.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Writing Themes and Saints’ Days. I look at how you can develop topics to write about from the latter for fiction and non-fiction.

Odd sounding topics can be great for encouraging you to think laterally and to come up with ideas for stories, blog posts etc., you would not have thought of otherwise. In the case of the saints I refer to in the post, you can also look at using the flowers associated with them for further ideas.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Writing Themes and Saints’ Days

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Flash fiction is great for turning the tables on characters. You have to deliver on the twist quickly and the impact is immediate. Over the course of a novel, you have longer to see a twist might be coming. You may guess what the twist might be. I have to say this is one of my favourite things about crime novels. I am always looking out for twists and turns and have great fun finding out whether my guesses were right or not.

But in a flash story you don’t have the time to ponder for long on whether your guess was right or not. In my story The Terrified Dragon from Tripping the Flash Fantastic, the idea here is to entice the reader in to find out why such a beast is terrified. Fear is not what you would usually associate with them – you would expect them to be the cause of the fear!

So do I deliver on the why terrified bit here? Oh yes and then I flip things around with the reaction of those who find said terrified dragon. The reaction, particularly from one, is not what you would expect. Great fun to do. Done in a couple of hundred words or so too.

There always has to be a good reason for the twist though. I work that out first and then what can lead to the twist happening so everything happens organically within the story. Nothing is coincidental.

Hope you have had a good day. Happy St. Valentine’s Day if you celebrate (though I like the thought of celebrating love in general and that could and should include all). I’ve used the theme of saints’ days to help inspire my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I’ll be talking about Writing Themes and Saints’ Days. See above.

I hope you will find some of the thoughts and tips I share here will act as writing prompts. Also I share ideas as to what you can write about linked to saints’ days, including non-fiction. Link up on Friday.
In the meantime here is an “instant” flash fiction love story for you.

Home Time
She couldn’t wait for him to get home so she could lick him all over. She was a black border collie. She believed in love.
Ends.
Allison Symes – 14th February 2024
Hope that made you smile. Lady, naturally, was the inspiration for this one.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with Wrong Turn. Many thanks to those who have already commented on this one. Find out what lies in store for Alice when confronted by a group of middle-aged, scowling ladies.

Repetition can be used to good effect in flash fiction. This may seem odd. You only have so many words, why would I want to repeat one (other than the little words we all repeat)? I do this from time to time to set up a rhythm. This is where flash can have some links with poetry – words chosen for deliberate effect and the use of repetition to strengthen said effect.

In Watching Myself from From Light to Dark and Back Again I start with the lines Experiments happen. Experiments go wrong. In five words, two sentences, I have set up the scene for you. The task then is to find out what experiment went wrong and what the consequences were but that is for the rest of the story to unravel. But starting two sentences with the same word gives a strong emphasis I wanted to kick start this tale and to keep readers reading on.

St. Valentine’s Day is about love of course and it is a major theme for stories. But bear in mind it is a huge theme and can be broken down into various categories. Love doesn’t just have to be about the romantic kind.

For big themes, I like to split things down in to sub-categories. Love, for example, can be broken down into romance, the love between friends, love for pets and the love they show their owners, the love for parents for children and vice versa (especially when dealing with older parents and the adult children have to give more support).

For any theme, I do know I have to care about the characters I’m creating to be able to write their stories up at all so this is another reason why I outline them so I can find out if I do care enough. If I don’t a reader is unlikely to do so.

Fairytales With Bite – Love in the Magical World

I am writing this on St. Valentine’s Day so there could only be one topic. Love comes in many forms and, logically, that must apply to the magical world too. So how do your magical beings find love? Are what we would think of as marriages set up, and everyone is expected to go along with this, or are your characters able to make their own choices? Is your world encouraging of relationships between different types of magical being or are they expected to stick to their own kind only?

Is love appreciated in your setting or is it just tolerated because the powers that be accept there has to be a way of reproducing more fairy godmothers etc? What would happen if anyone defied cultural expectations here? Would that defiance be punished? Would it lead to a loss of magical powers and/or exile? Love can come at a price sometimes. How could your magical characters reflect that?

Fairy godmothers, especially, intervene to help the course of love along – see Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella etc for more on that – but what if they come across a client they don’t want to help, a client perhaps not worthy of that help? What would they do? Would their love for practicing their craft “properly” overcome any reluctance to do what would be expected of them? If they are prepared to be defiant, what would happen, if say, the equivalent of Cinders did not go to the ball?

Interesting story ideas there I think.

This World and Others – Relationships

They say love makes the world go around but does it do so for your fictional world? Linking with Fairytales with Bite above, what kind of relationships in your settings are (a) expected, (b) approved of, and (c) forbidden on pain of death?

In the case of (c), why are these relationships forbidden? Does the populace accept this or is there a hidden world, away from the prying eyes of your authority figures, where these relationships do happen? I would expect there to be some restrictions on relationships between magical and non-magical beings here on the grounds these could prove to be grossly unfair to the latter (how would they fight back when needed, for a start?).

Give some thought as to the kind of relationships your characters have. Which are the most important to them and why? Remember love doesn’t just include romantic love. The love of friends is a major theme (and for me Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings is the ultimate example of this. Mind you, I do love the way friendship develops through the book between Gimli and Legolas, some of which is so funny).

As with any relationship, there will be ups and downs. How do your characters handle these? Could you get funny/sad stories here?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Wrong Turn, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/FXanTZEtGC Glad to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with Wrong Turn. Many thanks to those who have already commented. Find out what lies in store for Alice when confronted by a group of middle-aged, scowling ladies. pic.twitter.com/A1Hiz2PeXw

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 16, 2024

Writing Themes and Saints' Days https://t.co/XRoHQiupKz I look at how you can develop topics to write about from saints' days for fiction/non-fiction. Odd topics are great for lateral thinking, leading to ideas for stories, blogs etc., you would not have thought of otherwise.

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 16, 2024