Allison Symes - This World and Others
All images and text on this website are the original works of Allison Symes
  • Home
  • News
  • ANTHOLOGIES
  • Blog - Creating Worlds
  • Chandlers Ford Today - My Blog Posts
  • Alfie Dog - Allison Symes author page
  • Alfie Dog Bites - Fantasy Dinner Party Guests by Allison Symes
  • Bridge House Publishing
  • Cafe Lit Blog - Allison Symes stories
  • Cafe Lit
  • External Link - Ironpress.co.uk
  • External Link - Lulu.com
  • External Link - Shortbread Short Stories
  • Allison Symes - Introduction
  • Allison Symes - Q&A
    • Allison Symes - Q&A Part 2
    • Allison Symes - Q&A Part 3
    • Allison Symes - Q&A Part 4
    • Allison Symes - Q&A Part 5
    • Allison Symes - Q&A Part 6
    • Allison Symes - Q&A Part 7
  • Short Stories
    • Short Stories - 2
    • Short Stories - 3 (Life and Other Fairytales)
  • Novels - The Trouble With Mother
    • The Trouble With Mother - My Dream Cast List
    • The Trouble With Mother - My Dream Cast List 2
    • The Trouble With Mother - My Dream Cast List 3
    • The Trouble With Mother - My Dream Cast List 4
  • Novels - The Cherry Tree
  • FAQ
    • FAQ - 2
    • FAQ - 3
    • FAQ - 4
    • FAQ - 5
    • FAQ - 6
    • FAQ - 7
    • FAQ - 8
    • FAQ - 9
    • FAQ - 10
  • What I Like Best In My Characters - Eileen and Jenny
    • The Fairy Queen and the Chief Witch
    • L'Evallier, Chief Elf and Rodish, Chief Dwarf
    • Hanastrew and Melanbury
    • Stanrock, Whespy and Roherum
  • What I Loathe About My Characters - Brankaresh, the Queen and Eileen
    • What I Loathe About My Characters - Jenny, Derek and Paul
  • What My Characters Would Do As Hobbies
    • What My Characters Would Do As Hobbies - 2
    • What My Characters Would Do As Hobbies - 3
  • Life in the Fairy Kingdom
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 1
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 2
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 3
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 4
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 5
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 6
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 7
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 8
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 9
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 10
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 11 (FNN Schedules)
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 12
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 13
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 14
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 15
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 16
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 17
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 18
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 19
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 20
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 21
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 22
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 23
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 24
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 25
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 26
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 27
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 28
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 29
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 30
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 31
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 32
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 33
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 34
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 35
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 36
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 37
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 38
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 39
    • Life in the Fairy Kingdom - 40
  • What I Like Best About Writing
  • Writing Bug Bears
    • Writing Bug Bears - Part 2
  • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 2
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 3
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 4
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 5
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 6
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 7
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 8
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 9
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 10
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 11
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 12
    • The Joys and Frustrations of Writing - 13
  • My Thoughts on Writing
  • Contact Form
  • FROM LIGHT TO DARK AND BACK AGAIN

HABITS, QUIRKS, STRESSES AND RELAXATION

31/3/2016

0 Comments

 
What do your characters do to relax?  How do they show stress? Do you have any “stiff upper lip” types?  If so, how do they show stress?  The traditional way would be a nervous tic but can you show a unique way for your unique character to reflect their state of mind? (I would also think not just about using language to convey this but non-verbal signs.  Also what non-verbal signs are only spotted by those closest to your specific character?).

Bad habits? What do your characters have?  How did they develop these?  Do they drive a loved one mad?  Who are their loved ones?  How did those relationships develop?  You may well find you don’t need to put all or any of this into your story but as long as you know the answers you will be able to write about and for your characters with confidence, which will show in your stories.

Do your characters have habits or traits they’re not conscious of but which others observe?  Details like that add to your stories.  Eileen has a reputation for eccentricity due to her name change, defection, and she wears separates, not traditional fairy costume, all of which I’ve drip fed into the books but it all backs up her eccentric trait.

Good habits?  Quirks?  Do they agree with their world’s politics?  Have they any ways of showing their views?  What are the consequences?

Your characters’ main attributes should be evident through (a) what they say and (b) what they do.  Having said that great fun can be had with hypocritical characters or those who don’t think they are hypocrites but everyone else around them knows differently!  Eileen, for example, thinks hypocrisy is something that happens to other people!  Do you like your characters?  Can you see good points even in your villains?


0 Comments

CREATIVE ARTS IN YOUR FICTIONAL WORLD

30/3/2016

0 Comments

 
How are the creative arts portrayed in your fictional world?  Are they the same creative arts as we have or does your world have its unique art forms?

Can anyone take part in creative arts or is it limited to the privileged few?  (Who are these few and how do they ensure they keep the arts as a closed shop?  Is that due to money alone?).

Does your fictional world "import", "borrow" or otherwise steal good creative ideas from other worlds?  My Fairy Kingdom regularly pinches ideas it likes from Earth despite despising humanity for its warlike and polluting "qualities" (hypocrisy is no crime here!).

Equally are the arts held in contempt because your fictional world thinks science, engineering etc to be far more important?  How does your world treat those who don't toe the official line (which is a good general question to answer also on how your world is governed and its politics)?

Brainstorming questions and answers to them can be a great way of helping you flesh out your fictional world before you start writing about it in earnest.


0 Comments

WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO FIND ON YOUR DOORSTEP...

29/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. The big, bad wolf.  He's unlikely to be coming to your place to sample your vegetarian options.
  2. The Wicked Witch of the West.  (Or the East come to that.  You may worry about what your neighbours might think if someone like this shows up at your place, they'll wonder where you go in your spare time for one thing, but you should be more concerned as to what the witch wants with you.  It is unlikely she's turned up to toast your health).
  3. A talking cat.  I think it fair to say Puss in Boots was not best known for his humility.  Do you really want a wise cracking animal turning up, making you look stupid?
  4. Three Little Pigs.  It means their buildings projects have gone horribly wrong and they want you to bail them out.  They probably won't mention they're being pursued by a hungry wolf.
  5. Rumpelstiltskin.  A bad tempered dwarf who likes getting people to guess at his name and is highly miffed when caught out is not going to be the best of dinner guests.  Best turn away I think.
0 Comments

WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR IN A MAGICAL WORLD...

28/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. This won't hurt a bit.  Some wizard wants to perform some experimental magic on you, they'll always say something like this.  They are lying.  It will hurt - a lot - and will probably be fatal too.
  2. I'm out of spells.  You're on an adventure with a magical guide to help you when you both run into trouble (some sort of monster will almost certainly be involved at this point) and your guide comes out with this.  This kind of statement always comes at a time when magical prowess would be useful for saving lives - including yours.
  3. Do eat this nice, big, red shiny apple.  Refusal will definitely offend and cause another spell to be fired at you.  Yet equally someone encouraging you to eat something (especially if is more shiny than nature intended) has not laced that something with an ingredient to help your health!
  4. If you want to get back to your home world, you've got to do this first.  It will involve fighting something monstrous, magically powerful or both.  They'll be armed to the hilt.  You'll have a stick.  You will be expected to come out with something stunning so you can overcome the magical powerful and/or the monstrous.  Best hope the stick you've got is a stick of dynamite then.
  5. So this is where you live...  You definitely don't want the magically powerful and/or monstrous following you through their dimension into this one.  It always causes trouble.
0 Comments

CHARACTER OR PLOT?

28/3/2016

0 Comments

 
What is most important to you - character or plot?

Both!  I don’t think you can separate these.  It’s like asking whether you need water or oxygen.  A strong character will not only drive a plot, he/she/it can create one (awkward characters create problems for themselves as well as for others) but that person needs to have something to aim for or escape.  A story where there’s no conflict, where there’s nothing to be resolved is no story at all. 

A strong character in a weak plot will stand out but only to show up the plot’s weakness.  A good plot with weak characters will be disappointing.  You need your cast to be able to act the part.  But get the characters and plot right, strong, memorable, and the story should zip along and be a wonderful read.  When reading other authors’ works, I recall their strong characters and their plots.

When thinking about a character, what do you focus on - physical attributes or personality traits - to flesh that character out?

I focus on personality traits.  In Eileen’s case I knew she’d be as awkward as they come, often to her own detriment, but she would also be brave, honourable and prepared to make considerable sacrifices for causes she considers worthy enough.  So being prepared to give up what the Queen considered a privileged lifestyle for a much more humble life on Earth with a mere human male is something someone like Eileen would do without that many qualms. 

I have since fleshed Eileen out physically with chestnut hair, a good figure and great skin.  But I do think the physical attributes are less important (though Eileen has been known to use her physical wiles to help her cause, especially when she was living in the Kingdom).  Had I been stuck for physical attributes, one good idea often repeated in writing circles is to take photos from magazines and so on and “blend” different features from pictures you like to create your heroine. 

I’ve found it helpful to “see” my heroine in action, doing things, speaking (and getting a good idea of her voice did help give me her class and as a result ideas as to what she’d look like – she’d be unlikely to be a blonde bimbo) and from that other aspects of Eileen’s life, including her looks, fall into place.

Who is your favourite character in your works? Why?

Eileen as she is brave, hardworking, knows the value of true love without being soppy about it (she’s one of the least soppy female characters I can think of), is prepared to make sacrifices for her loved ones and fights evil.  She’s not afraid to stand up to the powerful Fairy Queen, her cousin. 

Eileen is not fazed by wealth or power nor does she seek either for herself particularly - she just wants enough of both to get by and to ensure people don’t go out of their way to give her grief on the very good grounds they’ll get it back with considerable interest.
0 Comments

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CREATING MY CHARACTERS AND WORLDS

23/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Some of the reasons I love fiction writing are:-

1. You set the rules for your fictional world so this gives enormous freedom to explore ideas.  The world and its characters, no matter how bizarre by Earth standards, still have to make sense and there should be good reasons for them being/acting the way they are/do but other than that, away you go!

2.  You can explore different aspects of character via different "stars" of your work. 

3.  You can develop your characters over time and many books.  Sam Vimes in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is a great example of how this works when brilliantly done.  There must be enough scope in your character for that person to want to change bad things, improve good things about them and so on.  Interviewing your characters so you explore their hidden depths can be really helpful here.  It can help you discover just what you do know about them before you write about them.

4.  Creating characters and worlds can help give you blog post ideas too!

5.  You can take what you know of life, people etc and bring those into your stories.  What you don't know can usually be researched. 
0 Comments

DAY TRIPS

23/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Part of my birthday celebrations included a day trip to delightful Dorset.  Great to have good weather for said trip too.  And it's always a pleasure to be out in the countryside.

This led me to think about how easy travel is in fiction.  In my Fairy Kingdom certain species like fairies can fly directly by wing power, others like the witches use broomsticks, others use transporter trees (you step inside the trunk, set co-ordinates and away you go - the tree doesn't move when looking at it from the outside but you do). 

There is also the direct transport spell but that carries the risk you may not rematerialize in the same way and order you disappeared in and many less powerful magical species are understandably wary of using this despite the significant increase in speed this method has when compared with transporter trees.

So how does transport work in your fictional world?  Is transport available for anyone or is it graded?  Do people/beings/magical creatures have holidays or day trips or are the collective noses kept to the grindstone?


0 Comments

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

22/3/2016

0 Comments

 
It's official, I'm now 50!  I had a wonderful get together with friends and family at the weekend.  This is a long standing family tradition.  I was given amongst other things a biro shaped like a quill.  (It looks great and is bliss to write with, having a very nice "flow").  Thanks to all who came and made my celebrations very special and those of my overseas family sending greetings via Facebook etc.

This birthday also marks my 20th anniversary as a writer as it was turning 30 that finally kickstarted me into taking my long held wish to write seriously and actually do something about it.  My Facebook post tonight looks a little at how much has changed in terms of what is available to writers now over that 20 years.

So what family and other traditions exist in your fictional worlds?  Are birthdays celebrated and, if so, how?  Are presents given?  What sort of presents would they be?  I am thinking of the gifts given by the fairy godmothers to Sleeping Beauty at the start of that story so there is a precedent here.  Can gifts backfire?  Are there things that can only be given to royalty/nobility? (I'm not just thinking in terms of cost here but perhaps a particular gift is reserved for their use only).

How much effort do your characters go to when trying to please someone they care for?  On the opposite end of the scale, what gifts would be considered to be acceptable bribes (and what would make those bribes necessary)? 

What celebrations does your fictional society hold and what is the purpose of them?  Is everyone expected to join in? If so, what happens to those who refuse?

I hope these questions trigger some interesting story ideas!

And here's to my next 20 years as a writer...
0 Comments

RELAXATION

22/3/2016

0 Comments

 
What do your characters do to relax and unwind? Do they relax on their own or with family and friends?

What is it that they need to relax from?  Eileen, prior to her defection, liked nothing better, after a hard day beating dragons, than a stiff drink, a long relaxing bath and plenty of sleep.  Jenny, after a hard day arguing with her mother (and it is difficult to win arguments with Eileen), prefers a long relaxing bath and a read of a good book (and in her case often the Good Book too).

Do your characters have hobbies and if so, which, and how often can they get to enjoy these?  What are considered normal hobbies by your fictional world and which abnormal?  Can anyone access hobbies or are they restricted to those of a certain class?

Nobody can keep going all the time and the same applies to your characters.  A glimpse of what they get up to when they unwind can be useful background material and can show you really do know your characters' likes and dislikes.


0 Comments

WHAT EVERY FICTIONAL WORLD NEEDS

22/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. A breathable atmosphere (but that doesn't mean it has to be oxygen.  What could your creations survive on?).
  2. Enough food and water and the ability to grow or create more in some other way.  (What counts as food in your fictional world?).
  3. Heroes of both/all genders (what genders are there on your fictional world?  If there is more than two, what is the purpose of the others and how did they come into being?).
  4. Villains of both/all genders (same points as for 3 above).
  5. Some kind of government imposing rules (I can't see how you can get much of a story out of total anarchy.  Someone would have to take power out of that anarchy.  There would be a winner ultimately and surely they would want to impose their will on those they defeated).
  6. A history, a geography, something we would equate to science (which would explain how the fictional world works.  Tere would be some physics and chemistry involved in the creation of that world somewhere even if the residents assume it is magic).
  7. Monsters (and yes they can be human.  We often are the best monsters. See Frankenstein for more on this!).
  8. Threats to the world's existence or to that part of the world you are focussing on for your stories.  Those threats could be external (climate change, invasion from another planet etc) or internal (treacherous Chief Wizards wanting to seize power and so on).
  9. Decent drainage.  If we all eat and drink, we all excrete and so must your creations.  How is that dealt with?  (In drip feeding information about your world into your story, there must be some sense of how that world is run and how it keeps going.  Without decent drainage disease would quickly sweep through your world and destroy it).
  10. Housing, some sort of education (for the world to run successfully someone has to be educated well enough to want/be able to run it) and either ways for beings to improve themselves or that ability is deliberately suppressed and your story would then be on whether that suppression could continue.
0 Comments

WRITING AS THERAPY

21/3/2016

0 Comments

 
My latest post on Chandler's Ford Today called Writing as Therapy:  Introducing Chocolate Muffin Publishing discusses writing as therapy and shares links to groups working in this field.  It also introduces a local company who enable people with learning difficulties, dementia and children of all ages and abilities to write their own stories, illustrate them and produce them as books.  The five weeks course finishes with a book signing event for the proud authors to celebrate their achievement.

This led me to think about how the arts could be portrayed in fiction (I've written more on this on my other website, www.fairytaleswithbite.weebly.com). For this post, I'd like to look more at writing in fictional work. 

In my Fairy Kingdom setting, the fairytales are compulsory reading and are frequently acted out.  What form of literature, if any, is important in your fictional world and why?  If there isn't any, why not? Are books easily accessible to all or are they considered dangerous because they encourage people to think and to dream?  If books in your fictional world are controlled, who does this?  How did they establish that control and are there any threats to it?

How are writers treated?  What would be classed as therapy in your fictional world (and why would someone need this therapy?  For example post traumatic stress disorder must surely apply to other worlds where huge life changing events have taken place.  Spoiler alert:  I personally think Frodo in The Lord of the Rings shows something of this right at the very end of the triology as it is made clear he has not fully recovered from all that he has gone through.  Quite rightly too.  After such a fantastic adventure, there would be bound to be a toil taken on the mind/body/both).

So what place does writing and stories have in your fictional world?  At the least, these questions could make for some interesting background material to your world.
0 Comments

VARIATIONS

19/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. Vary your themes for interest. 
  2. Vary the way you share those themes - novels, short stories, radio scripts… 
  3. Vary your style too.  You need a mixture of long and short sentences and paragraphs, which can be used to help pace.
  4. Vary what you read - fiction, non-fiction, in your genre and outside it.  Not only is it more interesting for your reading life, you’ll be influenced by good writing from a variety of sources, which is bound to help your work.
  5. Vary the way everyday items are used.  Could such everyday items we take for granted be misused on another world or even be a threat?  Could these items be turned and used against us?
  6. Vary your writing sessions by having brainstorming sessions every now and again.  If you get stuck with a piece of writing, this is a good way to get going again and who knows what you may come up with for future stories.
  7. Vary the way your characters speak.  Get into their heads as quickly as you can.  Can you sum up their main characteristics in one or two words?   Are your characters different so you can tell them apart? Do their voices sound different so nobody is confused as to who speaks?
  8. Vary how you portray characters. Moments of weakness in a character can be used to strengthen their portrayal.  We all have moments like this - fictional characters should reflect that.  It is then what real and fictional people do after having such moments that can add or make a story.
0 Comments

FESTIVALS AND HOLY DAYS IN FICTIONAL WORLDS

19/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Today, of course, is St. Patrick's Day, which has been celebrated by the Irish all over the world.  And it led me to think what kind of festival and holy days could be celebrated on fictional worlds.

Who would they commemorate and why?  Are such celebrations held by all or are there those opposed to the festivals (and if so, why?)?  What would be holy to your fictional world? 

Would your world's government make it compulsory to celebrate the festivals or would they try and ban them?  What is the history behind the festivals and why your fictional world adopted them?  Is there trouble at these celebrations (alcohol induced or not) or do they always go well?  Are celebrations like this a highlight of your fictional world's year or do people groan when it is time to get the bunting and other decorations out again?

There must be several story ideas here!

0 Comments

INTERVIEWS

18/3/2016

0 Comments

 
I love reading writer interviews as I learn a lot from them.  One great joy of writing for Chandler's Ford Today is I have now started carrying out interviews with other writers myself.  Today (15th March 2016) I carried out an interview with someone involved in a very worthwhile creative writing project and I hope to give more details of this later as this will appear on CFT in due course.

But this reminded me another writing tip I've found useful in working out just how well I know my own characters is to interview them.  Take questions typically put to people in interviews and let your characters answer them.  For example, the "what inspired you to do what you did/become as you are?" can be adapted whether you're interviewing a heroine, a villain (can often be the same character depending on whose perspective you're writing from!) or rebellious fairy godmother (Eileen - and in her case the answer is "I hated magical power abuses and still do so of course I was going to challenge the status quo.").

Interviewing characters this way is a good way of finding out (a) just how well you know them and so are able to write about them and (b) just how strong or otherwise those characters are.  A weak character may be appropriate for your story.  Equally this may mean you need to develop them further but an interview will show this up.  Your characters should be able to "answer" the questions you  put to them.  And of course your character interviews could make interesting background reading on your website/blog for fans of your stories. 

And I've found interviewing characters is a lot of fun.  I've found out more than I thought and have found it encouraging to realise my characters do have depth to them.  The amount of depth varies but it is appropriate to the character.  So it should be with yours.
0 Comments

PERSPECTIVES

17/3/2016

0 Comments

 
An interesting angle to take when writing (and indeed reading) stories is examining the perspective of those characters involved in the tales.  For example a village that has been rescued from a dragon attack is going to be grateful for that rescue.  The village that the rescuers rode through, trampling everything in their way, on route to carry out this rescue will not be so appreciative.

For every hero, there should be a coward somewhere.  Their perspective generally is going to be to save their own skin so what are they prepared to do to achieve that?  Would they betray others to a dragon or other monster on the grounds it lets them off (and given these creatures are unlikely to keep their word how does the coward react when he/she/it realises they are still endangered?).  What happens when someone else discovers the betrayal?

In my stories, a common complaint from my witches is that the fairytales are written from only one perspective - that of the fairies - so no wonder the witches get a bad press.  My first published story, A Helping Hand in Bridge House Publishing's Alternative Renditions, looks at the Cinderella story from the angle of the younger ugly sister.  Could you come up with stories that would be better if you took a character and their perspective different from the one you may originally have intended to use?  Equally could you write a follow up story looking at events from the perspective of the villain.  There could be some interesting material here.


Picture
0 Comments

IMAGERY, INFORMATION AND IDEAS

15/3/2016

0 Comments

 
I sometimes use photos I've taken as an aide to showing what my fictional Fairy Kingdom looks like in terms of terrain and so on.  Alternatively I've used my photos only as a starting point and then develop how my Fairy Kingdom would be different from anything I know on Earth.

I use my knowledge of flora and fauna to start me off with the magical world's equivalent and then research what I don't know to work out how magical creatures could be different.  It's not just a question of a dragon being able to breath fire or knowing they like meat! 

One of my dragons in The Trouble With Mother strikes Eileen as being different because it doesn't rush to attack her or Hanastrew. (Most dragons would take the chance to kill anything that might threaten them or would make a tasty meal and in this case both of those things would apply). So sometimes knowing what would be unusual behaviour for an animal can be useful in storytelling.

Working out what could threaten the landscape in your fictional world can be an interesting avenue.  I've used magical wars to make the land barren in places on the grounds nothing can stand having too much magic go through it in one go, which I think is a fair enough conclusion.  This gives me history to my fictional world (which to date I've only touched on lightly but I hope to come back to this in future books).  It also gives me an "ecological" aspect to my fiction and a reason why Eileen doesn't use magic unless she has to (and that most responsible magical beings would take the same view, not wanting to cause further damage and recognising the harm that has been done).




0 Comments

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT WRITING

13/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  • Coming up with a story that works!  Reading something you’ve written and, without arrogance, thinking yes this is good.  Taking yourself into a different world (this is especially nice when the real world is giving you a hard time).  Inventing characters and as you write about them sensing them coming to life, taking on their own personalities and knowing these characters are unique to you.

  • Developing ideas as you write which either improve the story you’re working on or give you scope for more stories to follow on with.  The sense of achievement when you have completed a piece of work, which is only better when said work is published.  Getting your name in print for your creative piece of work.  Discovering you really can produce something publishable!

  • Knowing I’m creating something unique.  Taking myself out of this world for a while, particularly helpful when going through a bad patch.  Writing is therapy.  When someone tells you they like what you’ve written.  When you’re asked for advice because you’re a writer as it’s always nice to be recognized as such by someone!

  • All would-be writers are told to read a lot in genre and out of it so one major benefit of writing is getting to do a lot of reading and being able to claim you need to do it as part of your professional development!  As a result of reading more, discovering new authors’ work to enjoy and as a result finding your own stories are inspired by a wide range of genres and styles, which will bring your work to (a) life and (b) keep it going for the long term.  You work your reading and writing muscles here.
0 Comments

TOP TIPS

12/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. Always take out what you can from your stories without losing the sense of them.  It’ll make your writing tighter and quicken the pace. Less is always more.
  2. Get into your characters’ heads as quickly as you can.  Can you sum up their main characteristic in one or two words?  Can you sum up your story in a line or two?  Are your characters different so you can tell them apart? Do their voices sound different so nobody is confused as to who speaks?
  3. Moments of weakness in a character can be used to strengthen their portrayal.  We all have moments like this - fictional characters should reflect that.  It is then what real and fictional people do after having such moments that can add or make a story.
  4. Rejected stories can always be reworked and resubmitted elsewhere.
  5. Are you enjoying your writing because if you don’t nobody will?  Are you committed to writing regardless of whether you get published or not?  Are you willing to write, rewrite and keep doing so until your story is right?
  6. Can you answer questions about the world and characters you’ve created?  Can you imagine them living on after the novel/short story you’ve written?  Do they seem as real to you as the real world out there?  No.  It’s not a sign of insanity but a sign you’ve thought your world out properly.
  7. Does your society have rules?  The answer should be yes.  Even a society seemingly based on anarchy will have someone in control of it all.  Do your rules work?  What happens when these are broken?
0 Comments

GOING BACK IN TIME WHILE STAYING IN THE PRESENTI 

11/3/2016

0 Comments

 
I know, I know.  It's a clever trick if you can do it!  But I have discovered that I can time travel to a certain extent every time I go to see a Shakespeare play in one of my local venues that show National Theatre Live productions.

The recent production of As You Like It  is the subject of my current Chandler's Ford Today post where I review the play and share some of its history.  But for this blog I wanted to share how, despite the modern set design (the Forest of Arden was made out of office furniture, yes really!) the language of Shakespeare remains timeless.  And it is that language which reminds you of how old these plays are and how well they've survived and been adapted over the centuries since their first performance.

It is thanks to actor friends of Shakespeare we have the plays in written form at all thanks to their compiling the First Folio.  My late mother was always a huge fan of the Bard of Avon and I've come to the plays relatively late in life (though she'd be pleased I'd been converted at all!). In researching my CFT post, I was quite pleased to discover the master playwright was worried about others copying his work and putting on inferior productions.  Copyright infringement fears really are nothing new!

Shakespeare is one of those writers who've added words to the language.  I've found with As You Like It and Hamlet that most of the Elizabethan language is clear and those sections which are not are brought to life and meaning by (a) the context and (b) the actors.  So the setting of the plays, the dress of the actors and so on  can be as modern as the producer wants but as long as they don't tamper with the Bard's wonderful language, it works. The stories are strong and he was a great believer in the sub-plot!  He also wrote more comedies than any other type of play so presumably knew what his audience wanted.  There are lessons for modern writers there I think... 


0 Comments

THE ADVANTAGES OF VISITING A FICTIONAL WORLD

11/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. You will get to see fantastic sights - everything from the wildlife to species of humanoid like beings that you would never find on Earth.
  2. You are likely to come across magic and see it being used to make life better for the world's inhabitants.
  3. You will learn about completely different cultures and be able to compare them with what we find on our home planet.
  4. The natural world is likely to be as beautiful as Earth at worst and significantly better at best.
  5. You may pick up ideas for improving things on Earth.  For example, what cures for diseases does the fictional world have?  Could they be developed for real?
  6. There will be a wider range of food and drink on your fictional world.  Unlike Alice, do watch out for those products asking you to eat them.  Watch what the inhabitants eat and drink and copy them.
0 Comments

FIVE WRITING TIPS

9/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. Show your characters’ moods well and how they change.  After all we’re not in one state of mind all the time so neither should they be.  Moods affect actions affect consequences and plot!  Show your characters learning from their experiences - what not to do again for example - and where appropriate where a character refuses to learn.  Look at why they have that refusal - is it just stubbornness or are they afraid of change?  Have they good reasons to be afraid?
  2. What calms your characters when agitated? What cheers them? What depresses them?  What do they get angry about?  How well do you know them!!!  Whilst I don’t think you can separate character from plot, both are essential for a good story, a good plot with a weak character will fail as will a good character with not “enough to do” or in the wrong storyline for them.  You can only know what story line is right by knowing them well enough.
  3. What effect do you want your short stories to have?  Short stories are a snapshot in time so what do you want that shot to show?  What lingering impression do you want to leave your readers with?  Do your short stories grab you?  If not, they won’t do so for anyone else!  Keep writing.  If you can only do ten minutes a day, do that.  It mounts up over a year.
  4. Check out competitions before submitting to them.  There are con artists out there.  The Writers'' and Artists' Yearbook and even Companies House can be used to find out background information.  Also check out social media.  People who have been caught out often want to warn others.  And Jonathan Clifford's anti-vanity advice is very good - see http://www.vanitypublishing.info/
  5. Drop your characters in it at every opportunity.  Give them hell.  It does wonders for a story.  There’ll be no wondering about whether there’s enough tension in the tale again!
0 Comments

MORE TIPS I'VE FOUND USEFUL

8/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. Read your work out loud.  Possibly put it on tape.  It helps you “hear” your dialogue.  If you “trip” over your words, your readers will too.  You don’t realise until you speak the words.
  2. Have a go at the reputable story competitions (a writing magazine will alert you to these).  If you win you have something to put on your writing CV.
  3. If you write in a genre, look up the relevant genre websites.  There’ll be at least one!!!
  4. Back up your work regularly, back up your work regularly, back up your work regularly and, did I mention it, back up your work regularly!  I’ve lost work due to a power cut but because I backed up earlier that evening I limited what I lost.  I put the novels on the hard disk and a memory stick.
  5. Enjoy writing.  If you can’t get fun out of it, nobody who reads your work will either.  You give away more than you realise when you write.  Falseness will show.
  6. I prefer to write my novel in longhand first.  It doesn’t seem like writing to me if there isn’t a pen and paper involved somewhere! I use the typing up of the MSS as my first edit. Others can write a novel directly to screen.  Whatever method you choose, be prepared to edit and edit and edit.  I like this process.  I swear I “feel” my MSS becoming tighter, better as the “flabby” writing is discarded nor do I feel ashamed of writing “flabby” to begin with - I think you need to get things out of your system.  Besides what seemed a good idea can suddenly show up as not so good after all but only once you’ve got it down on paper.
  7. I can guarantee if you copy-edit only on screen, you’ll miss typos.  There must be an unwritten law that says you must edit on paper to get it right!
  8. To write well, read well. How else can you know what you want to write or what you don’t want to do?  And you do pick up on story construction, dialogue, narrative technique as you read another author’s work - it is an unconscious thing but it is something all writers need.  We all build on what has gone before
  9. Jot down ideas as you have them otherwise you will forget.  Every so often have a brainstorming session to generate ideas and to see what you can come out with and then expand on.  Can you put some of your characters from a novel into short stories for mini adventures of their own?
  10. Care about your characters.  Make what they’re achieving realistic and something your readers will sympathize with.  There’s got to be empathy there.  Even a chilling villain has to have some trait, some wish  your readers can identify with.
0 Comments

WHAT I LIKE TO SEE IN MAGICAL WORLDS

8/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  1. It has to be a world which I can identify with to some extent.  Ideally this would be through characters (I understand their motivations whether it be for good or evil) and the geography and/or history of the world.  There should be echoes with Earth I can spot.  It helps me to see where the author is coming from.
  2. I then want to see what is unique about that world, the things that don't echo with Earth and where I can see the author's imagination hard at work.
  3. I want good conflicts of interests between characters and for their world to have a bearing on this.  Conflicts in a magical world carry more danger than in a non-magical world for the simple reason magic can be used to settle scores.
  4. I also want to see how magic is limited to possibly prevent the world being destroyed or a particular species being wiped out.  If magic is not limited, then the story will automatically become a story of whoever is the most powerful will always win and for me there's not much of a tale in that.  How do the magical underdogs survive?  There are stories in that.
  5. I want to see the disadvantages of magic - not just as in 4 above - but that magical species know they can cancel each other out or get revenge in other ways so they have to find alternative solutions to their problems.  What are these solutions?  Do they work?  Does anyone magically cheat to undermine those solutions?  There are lots of story ideas in those questions.
  6. By the time I've read the story I either have fallen in love with the world and its characters and would love to visit or I adore the adventure but know the place is so dangerous I'm glad it's confined to the pages of a book!
0 Comments

STORY FORMATS

7/3/2016

0 Comments

 
It is perhaps tempting to think that differing story formats are a relatively new phenomenon.  That is we can publish in traditional magazines, novellas, books or publish electronically on Kindle or on online story magazines.  That choices are because of our technology, current and emerging, now.

My current Chandler's Ford Today post called Producing a Legend:  Sir Bevis of Hampton has shown me this is not the case!  Sir Bevis was a mythical and medieval blockbuster hero, whose stories were hugely popular in those times.  And one of the ways of getting these across to people was via tapestry!  Henry V was known to "read" Sir Bevis's adventures via tapestries. 

It's hard to imagine a more beautiful way of reading a story! Though of course the downside was tapestries were very much a status symbol so the audience for this kind of story telling necessarily was limited.  The oral tradition of story telling, prior to the invention of print, would have been the main way of getting stories across to the "peasants".  I strongly suspect I would never been allowed anywhere near a tapestry had I lived in those times! 

Am I glad of more accessible ways of enjoying stories these days?  You bet!
0 Comments

WHAT HAPPENS IN YOUR STORY?

6/3/2016

0 Comments

 
What happens in your story? 

Can you sum up your story quickly, ideally in one easy to read sentence? 

How would you write your blurb? 

Do you know whose story your tale belongs to (and therefore are you writing it from the right point of view)? 

Show your characters’ thought processes. We readers need to know the way your characters think (or at least to think we know, villains of course seek to deceive).  We need to be able to gauge your characters, get a feel for them so to speak so we can identify with them and therefore keep reading. 

Do your characters grab your attention?  If they don’t, they won’t be grabbing anyone else’s!

Outlines

Outlines are a great way to work out what will happen in your story before you write it.  I should say  my outlines are not set in stone.  Nor should yours be. 

Often I’ve outlined a short story to realize as I was writing it the outline would be more suitable for a tale of over 3000 words, way too long for most competitions.  In a sense I’ve not been sorry about this as it makes me re-evaluate my outline and story and make it sharper, tighter, bring it down to the bare bones as most short stories are around the 1500 to 2000 word mark so they have to be to the point. 

Equally if the longer tale grips me, I look for those competitions which allow for a higher word count and enter the story that.  Occasionally the story of this length becomes a good outline for a novel.  So keep your mind open to the possibilities.  Never be afraid to edit. Never be afraid to change your mind as to where your idea and outline (and eventually the written story) are best suited.

But the biggest advantage of an outline is you can work out ideas first rather than start writing a tale and find you run out of steam.  I also don’t allow myself too long to do the outline.  A couple of sessions to work it out and then I get writing…  Outlines are there to help you write the tale, not to help you procrastinate (and there are so many fascinating writing blogs and books that can keep you away from what you should be doing - writing!).
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    I'm Allison Symes and write fairytales with bite, especially novels and short stories.

    Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    Writing Worlds

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.