One of the lovely things about the summer months is the sheer variety of festivals, fetes and fairs to visit.  In the UK the origin of many of these date back centuries.  Others, like writing festivals, are comparatively more recent but they should all be fun! 

In your fictional world, what festivals, fetes and fairs are there?  What are the seasons and are they marked in special ways?  In my Fairy Kingdom, the villages compete to put on the best shows and the Fairy Queen and Eileen (prior to her defection) visited many.  Sometimes that village rivalry is friendly, other times it is not (and has been a lingering source of grudges between places for years), but all of this I hope helps conjure up an image of what the background world of my novel is like.  I hope it helps make that world seem more real and therefore believable.

What details can you give to your fictional world to make that seem real and believable?  What can your readers identify with?  What do the characters in your stories have in the way of cultural events and how do these affect the world you're writing about?

The whole idea of festivals, fetes and fairs was to give people a welcome break from the general drudgery of life.  This was particularly true in medieval times.  So what function does the cultural side of your fictional world have?  Is it to keep the populace quiet (like the Romans did with their "bread and circuses")?  And does anyone see through this and, if so, what do they do about it?  Several story ideas there I think!

I ask who writes the truth as history is my theme for today. See also my Fairytales With Bite website. The Medieval Weekend I visited today was a fascinating insight as to how life used to be lived and gave me a greater appreciation of what we have now.  This includes the fact I can read and write in a way I almost certainly would not have been able to do 600 years ago.  (I have no doubt I would have been born, lived and died as a peasant!).

Historians share their knowledge of the past with us knowing that, yes, they can put their own interpretation on events and so on but they have to share the facts so we can decide if that interpretation is right or not. Accurate records are of enormous importance here so who in your fictional world keeps their records?  Who decides what the public can know and what should be kept hidden (almost certainly "for the greater good")?

Who decides what the truth is as this can vary depending on who writes the history - the winners or the losers?  What historical artefacts/documents are found in your fictional world?  Is there the equivalent of archaelogists?  Have any "awkward" discoveries been destroyed?  Who uncovers the awkward facts and why? 

You, as writer, have to decide, of course, what your world is in terms of how it is run, its population and so on, therefore you write the truth.  You have to know what is going on to write successfully and bring that world to life.  But you don't have to share all of that with your readers.  You can deliberately get your characters to keep things back from other characters (to be found out later, almost inevitably).  You can reveal bits of your world at a time, let your readers discover Character A is suppressing the truth when for a lot of the story or novel, it had seemed Character A was the reliable "witness".  There should be clues that all is not perhaps as it should be with Character A so readers look back and think perhaps they should have guessed.  This is particularly true for the crime genre but I think comes into all forms of story. 

I have not revealed all that my rebellious fairy godmother, Eileen, knows regarding the Chief Witch, only the fact she does know more than she's letting on.  That plants a hint that further revelations may well come later in the story (and one hint can be that Eileen is more than capable of keeping a secret!). 

So think about how you handle your world's/character histories and the impact that can have on your overall story?  The Lord of the Rings is fantastic here with the background knowledge of how the ring of power came into being.  This information adds depth to the story.

In your fictional world, how important is literacy?  Is there widely available education?  What importance is placed on the creative arts and on books in particular?  You can tell a lot about a world/government by the way it reacts/treats writing and writers.  An oppressive one is not going to welcome freedom of thought, yet alone freedom of expressing that thought!

Libraries often feature in fiction (Harry Potter - Hogwarts is the obvious example).  Characters are seen researching, sometimes reading for pleasure and so on.  In my Fairy Kingdom the bigger towns have bigger libraries but even the villages have their own library, albeit on a smaller scale.  Oh and nobody would dream of shutting libraries to save money.  This is how  you can tell I write fantasy!

Which of your characters is heavily into books?  Are they teased or despised for it (incredible as it may sound but not everyone appreciates the value of books!).  What books are banned in your worlds and why?  Can specific people groups only read books that are suitable for them?  Answering these things fills in more knowledge about your world setting and how it works and that will strengthen your story.

I love plays on words, puns and so on. In English, it is not uncommon for a word to have more than one meaning or to become a slang term and entirely change its meaning over time and sometimes both can occur to that same word.  The word gay is the obvious example - two very different meanings but the same word.  Indeed you can make a good guess at someone's age if they use gay in the sense of "being cheerful,
happy" etc.

So in your fictional world, how does the main language work?  How many languages are there in the setting you've created?  Do the different species all have their own dialects?  Are there words that mean something entirely different depending on who your character is speaking to and how are misunderstandings avoided or put right?  Do any of  your characters deliberately try to exploit misunderstandings in language for their own ends?

Just as we have had tyrants who deliberately use/misuse words/language to come to power/consolidate their grip on power, I would expect this to be reflected in fiction.  How does your tyrannical character(s) use words to help them achieve their aims?  What happens to those who  use words to criticize them?  Are people free to use words in print to produce political leaflets etc or is this all strictly controlled by the ruling party?

Words are vital.  So who controls them in your setting?  If they're not controlled at all, what happens to those who abuse free speech?  If they are controlled, what happens to those who defy that control?  One of my country's most important documents is the Magna Carta.  What important documents exist in your fictional setting and who drew up those important words and why?

Is your fictional world a generally tolerant one?  If not, why not!  (Some great stories could be written around the why not premise).  Does your universe actively seek out worlds beyond itself to communicate with?

How well educated is your populace and what, if anything, does it know about other cultures?  Is there a race/culture your fictional world is hostile to and how did this develop? How does the media combat/inflame prejudices (and are they in the government's pocket)?

I've been listening to the Proms and enjoying some wonderful classical music. What I've found particularly interesting is the number of composers who were inspired by Shakespeare.  The idea of literature feeding the world of music is a fascinating one.  On your fictional worlds, and within the main world in particular, is there appreciation of other spheres of culture like this?  If a more downtrodden group develops a liking for, say, some form of art that is usually the preserve of those higher above them in the pecking order, how does the world react to this?

And with so much horror in the news lately, the appreciation of different cultures is a vitally important one to get right.  Without that appreciation, we run the risk of destroying each other.  How can that be shown in your fiction?

One of the interesting challenges in writing fiction is to write in such a way your reader can picture your world vividly, yet do this without necessarily going into the nuts and bolts of it all.  How much detail is enough so readers can see in their minds' eyes what they need to "see" to get the most out of your writing?

Using the senses is a great way of bringing description to life and, as is the case with most things, less is more.  You don't need huge wads of information, just enough to conjure up the required images.  Taste and smell, I think, are the easiest to bring into stories.  Your characters need to eat after all! 

Hearing is also relatively easy to bring in as, whatever your setting, your characters will need to be aware of what is going on around them.  Hearing is often used as the first indicator danger might be around.  The odd strange noise here, another one there and so on and most readers will identify with how they felt/feel on hearing noises that are out of the ordinary for their situation.  This can be anything from an unexpected dog bark, making someone jump, to the traditional (in film) footstep/creak on the stairs that isn't usual.  (Course in film you get the bonus of incidental music giving a massive clue as to approaching danger and so on).

Vision is the sense all writers bring in almost continually as we are portraying what our characters see but I think probably the most difficult to convey in words is the sense of touch.  Even in romantic fiction (of all temperatures!), get this wrong and it just seems mechanical.  There's a reason the Bad Sex Award in Fiction exists!  If you'll pardon the expression, a light touch with describing anything, including the sense of touch as your characters experience it, is the way to go.

Of course what any writer is trying to do, whether in poetry, fiction or non-fiction, is to write in such a way we successfully put images of our characters, worlds etc into our readers' minds.  Those implanted images will hopefully pave the way to unforgettable stories, characters etc.  Writers work with words so the right word selection is the most direct way to create images.  But the writer needs to feed their own mind to have material to draw on to share with others.  So how can that be done?

I find photos phenomenally helpful in helping me conjure up images, particularly of what my fictional world looks like.  Having got those images in my head, I can then write about them confidently because I know what I am "seeing" internally.

Reading widely across genre, as well as being marvellous entertainment and educational a lot of the time, also helps me discover other writers' characters and worlds.  I can then analyse them as to what I like about them and why and use that knowledge to help me add greater depth to my "people" and my world.

Proverbs can be a great source of themes and titles for stories but can also be used to conjure up images.  For example, what kind of character would need to be told to "look before you leap"?  The kind of character you're unlikely to put in charge of a fine porcelain collection (unless of course you want the comic effect).

Occasionally things like recipes can trigger images ideas.  These make me think about what people would eat in my creative world and I can then devlop those ideas further. 

There's a lot of truth in the old saying that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder (or single eye if you're a Cyclops!).  So what is classified as being beautiful in your fictional world?  The Shrek series is brilliant in turning standard ideas on their head here but that's also true for classic fairytales like The Ugly Duckling.  I think there has always been an almost revolutionary element to fairytales in that they do show you shouldn't judge by appearances to name one example of the way they can challenge norms.

Assuming your fictional world has more than one species living on it, what does each major grouping see as beautiful and ugly?  What are the major differences here?  The things they have in common?  And what happens to those poor souls who are considered to be outside the norm?  How are they treated?  Can someone be too beautiful/ugly or conversely not beautiful/ugly enough to please their societies?

Incidentally old sayings can be a great source of inspiration for stories from giving you ideas for titles to being the themes for your tales.   As for the beast, there's the obvious place for monsters in fantasy fiction, fairytales and the like but, for me, the worst beasts are the ones that don't look like they are.  The slimy, the snide, the con artists who happily destroy others due to their own greed - those are the real beasts as far as I'm concerned.   And I'm far more likely to come across those than something that is clawed, fanged and not after the vegetarian option in life! 

Whatever kind of beast you do portray (from the obvious monster to the less obvious type), what made them that way?  Were they driven to it by the way they were treated or just out and out evil from the start?  When they come across beauty, do they covet it or try to destroy it?  Who are the real monsters in your stories?

I carry out at least three edits on my stories, and often more for novels.  The first edit is a basic spelling/grammar check.  The second one is to check the structure of the story makes sense and holds together the way it should do.  The third is to check consistency (of character names, place names etc) and to ensure that all characters are necessary to the plot (I cut those who are not).  So a checklist (which is not in any particular order) that might be helpful could include:-

1. Are all of your characters vital to your story?
2. Does your story make sense (no matter how fantastic the setting)?
   
3. Is spelling, grammar, page and paragraph lengths all they should be?
   
4. Is there enough action in the story?
   
5. Is the ending appropriate for the story?  Doesn't have to be a happy ending.
   
6. Have you tied up all loose ends, that all the issues which need to be resolved in the story are resolved?
   
7. Are you consistent with names of characters, places etc?
   

Happy editing!

The Poetic Life:  Sharing the Muse is part 2 of my Chandler's Ford Today interview with successful local poet, Sandra Gordon.  Sandra shares hints and tips which would be useful to many writers (poets and prose) and we discuss the importance of editing, reading and the usefulness of writing festivals amongst other topics.  The interview was a joy to do as Sandra, as with the other writers I've interviewed for CFT, shares insights into how and why they work the way they do. I always find that a fascinating topic as no two writers work in quite the same way.

The nearest I have to a writer in my fairytale novels is Eileen writing her alternative history of fairy royal government (generally unwelcome) and my goblin journalist, Roherum, who does actually write his own, tepid, scripts.  Let's just say I pride myself on my interviews not being anything like the ones he carries out.  His idea of a searching question is to ask the interviewee how long it took them to find the last object they misplaced!  The Queen and her Council love him because they know he is not going to rock the boat.

So do you have writers, journalists etc amongst your characters in your stories?  What role do they play in your fictional world(s)?  News has to spread somehow and I would expect any fictional world to have an artistic side to it (even if it is only referred to in passing.  For me, a world, fictional or otherwise, would not be complete without its books, its writers and so on).

How your characters react to the events in your stories and the other characters around them is, I think, the single most important way of revealing what they are like.  We pick up on non-visual clues and generally we can tell (or suspect) whether someone is covering up how they really feel and that what they say may not necessarily match what their ideal outcome would be.  Fiction should reflect this too.

There is plenty of room in fiction for the hypocrites to cause trouble for your lead characters but there should be some insight somewhere as to why they are doing this.  Your lead characters may not know but there should be something for readers to pick up that yes, character X is doing this because...  The great thing is it does not have to be something major.  The worst grievances often start off by something very minor festering and not being dealt with properly.  Indeed that could prove to be your lead character's worst mistake, the trigger for the problems they then have to deal with during your story.

What is also fascinating about character reactions is the vast variety available!  Introverts will react differently to extroverts and so on.  The important thing is knowing how each and every one of your characters would react given Situation Z and why they would do so.  You will then write convincingly.  Your knowledge of your characters will be picked up on by those reading your stories.  It has to be convincing and only real knowledge will enable you to write convincingly.  I don't think that can be faked.  And real stories always have truth behind them, no matter how fantastic a setting they take place in,  because the characters have truth.

I love travelling and getting out and about.  I've used most major forms of transport - train, bus, coach, walking, cycling (a long time ago!), have used ferries and hovercraft and on one notable occasion I rode a horse.  But I haven't flown.  It hasn't been a case of deliberate avoidance, more that the opportunity hasn't arisen.  And that's despite living less than 10 miles from an airport!

In your fictional world, is travelling encouraged to "broaden the mind" or is it viewed with suspicion? Can anyone travel or are only the rich allowed to do so?  What form does your world's transportation take and is it accessible to all? 

Does your world have any belief in or acceptance of any other universe/world?  Does it attempt to communicate?  Are those permitted to travel allowed to share their experiences?  What happens to those who defy any restrictions on travel (and I would find it hard to imagine someone not defying these rules)?

Travelling can be fun but is it easy to do in your fictional world and what are the consequences of it?

If you've planned a series of books featuring your characters/world you've created, have you figured out where to go next?  What you don't want is to effectively keep writing the same book.  Each book in a series must be able to stand alone, as if you hadn't written anything else.  Each book should be unique and gripping.  Not much to ask then!

The question "where next?" is even more relevant for those who write single books.  (Or even if you write a series but plan to use different characters as the "leads".  The Discworld series by the late much missed Terry Pratchett is a good example of this)?.

Thinking of literally where, is the physical place where your characters were born, live etc of relevance to the way your character thinks and acts?  How best to describe your world is worth taking your time over as you want to plant the "right" impressions in your readers' minds.

Judging your characters, from the writer's viewpoint, is assessing whether they're coming across on the page the way you meant them to do so.  Sometimes a surprise here is nice.  There is more to the character than you originally thought (and maybe this is where you need to look at whether you are doing enough with that character and have you assigned them the right role in your story).

Sometimes a surprise here is not nice.  The well meaning kindly character you thought you'd written you realise comes across as a patronising hypocrite on the second reading.  This is why it is vital to put stories of any length away for a while before editing so you really do come back to them with fresh eyes.  I also ask myself how would any readers see this character?  Would they support them or hate them and are those the effects I want to create? 

I have in mind when I write My Ideal Reader and find this helpful for keeping me on track.  Yes, you should write the stories you want to read, but you should also write for those you think would love to read your tales.

Visiting strange worlds, cities or what have you has its attractions and dangers but warning signs it may be time to get out fast include:-

1. The populace greets you with a sullen silence.  This never bodes well.
2. Where the map says "here be dragons", don't laugh.  The cartographer knew what they were saying.
   
3. If the populace tries to send you in the direction of "here be dragons" it is definitely time to rethink your travel plans.
   
4. When you are invited to lie down on a stone slab and only then are you told about the regular sacrifice of nosey strangers.
   
5. The weather becomes icy with no signs of change or Christmas.  You are either in Narnia (look for Aslan) or in the realm of the Snow Queen (just get out of there).
   
6. You are "invited" to go on a quest.  Refusal means death.  Going on the quest means probable death.
   
7. You discover the planet you're visiting is in range of a Death Star.
   
8. You discover the main residents of the world you're visiting are Daleks.
   
9. You discover the main residents of the next world you're visiting are Cybermen.
   
10. You find the world you're on has time running backwards.  This will drive you round the bend.  Best get back to a normal planet with time running the right way round.
    

As I type this I'm just finishing listening to one of the Proms concerts put on by the BBC.  I regularly listen to the Last Night of the Proms but, this year for once, I've finally got around to listening to more of the concerts.  Am having a lovely time listening to the wonderful music as I write.

So let's look at music in fiction.  In  my stories, it doesn't crop up often (well to date it hasn't anyway) but it could be one of those topics that help you flesh out your created world in your own mind.  The more  you know your world and your characters, the more convincing you will be when you write about them.  So what do your characters like in the way of music?  What form does music take in your fictional world?  Is it similar to what we have on Earth (classical, pop, rock etc) or is it in a form we don't know?

Is it a question the music doesn't feature in the stories but does help your characters relax so you can refer to it in passing?  Can you use the type of music  your characters like as a code?  My rebellious fairy godmother, Eileen, loves It's My Life by Billy Joel.  Her daughter, Jenny, loves It's My Life by Bon Jon Jovi - there's a world of difference between the two songs despite the shared title!  My characters' tastes here tell you something about the two characters immediately which, of course, is the idea.

Shakespeare wrote about "music being the food of love".  Maybe it should be one source for helping writers develop their characters!

In your fictional world(s), what form(s) do the arts take?  Are they accessible to all or just for the enjoyment of the rich/powerful?

Are the arts as we know them on Earth or has your world(s) developed its own?  Are the arts taught in schools or are they treated as a hobby to be indulged in outside of normal educational activities?  (What are those on your world by the way?).

Are the arts respected or treated with contempt (usually because they are not so obviously practical as, say, engineering and the sciences)?   Does your world(s) import art from other universes (my Fairy Queen likes photography and, frankly, has lifted the entire idea from our world)? 

Who are your artists?  Would your reader recognize their type?  What is the background of your artists?  And how do the majority of the populations (the "ordinary") relate to the arts?

Thinking about the future is something that some people do their utmost to avoid.  Equally there are others, who know life will often be difficult and uncertain, but who plan everything (or almost anyway!) to the nth degree. 

So what category do your characters fall into?  For the planners, do their plans work out as they thought they would or did they need to improvise?  For those who do not plan, do they get themselves in a situation where they wish they had?

And what happens when something catastrophic happens that would and does hit everybody?  Does the society you write about work together to resolve this or does life fall apart for people?  Does the government(s) you write about plan well?  (Relevant question for the UK as we're all asking if our government did plan and concluding... well...)

Does your world learn from its past and how has it planned its future to avoid the worst of the mistakes made previously ever happening again? 

The old song was quite right - it is a wonderful world especially if you look at it from the wonder of nature perspective.  Earth looks wonderful from space, of course, but all of us will have favourite areas we like to visit or favourite countries and so on.  So what do your characters like about the world they live in/on?  What do they dislike?  Where do they like to visit and why?  And how does your fictional planet look both from its position in space and to neighbouring planets?

What is the natural world like?  Who cares for the flora and fauna?  In my Fairy Kingdom Fresdian (later to be known as Rose) is the wildlife expert, out in all weathers, exploring the natural world.  She is considered to be an eccentric (or at least she is in polite circles.  The sprites tend to refer to her in much ruder terms).  The friendlier witches are experts in herbal medicine and generally share this knowledge (their reward is to gain some favours from the fairy government, including protection from the Chief Witch who dislikes them.  She feels witches should use their knowledge and powers for their own uses only and she would destroy any plant not useful to a spell).

Just how wonderful is your fictional world and why?  Do your characters appreciate this?

Two things come from this title when it relates to writing.

Firstly, sayings/proverbs like this can be a great trigger for stories in that, yes, you can use them as titles, but I find them more effective as themes.  The great thing is many of them can be used for either comedy or drama (or both!).

Secondly, and this is borne out in other areas of life, particularly sport, practice does make perfect.  You can't reasonably expect to make progress without putting the hard graft and time in and accepting the fact it will take time to improve and build on where you are currently as a writer.  I am a tennis fan and was thrilled by all the British successes over the final weekend of Wimbledon but I am in no doubt each and every one from Andy Murray downwards would have spent years getting to where they are now.  Just as there are no shortcuts here, there are no shortcuts in writing either.

I found rejections easier to accept on realising (a) everyone gets them, (b) there really is nothing personal about them, (c) receiving these is part of every writer's "apprenticeship".  On accepting that, it is easier to come to terms with the fact that you've got to take the long view when it comes to publishing.

Am delighted to say my short story, Helping Out, will be in the Bridge House anthology, Baubles, later this year.  Without giving too much away, I will mention the story is about a relationship between two magical species that are usually at odds.  I've always had a soft spot for stories involving characters who won't go along with traditional prejudices or who have those prejudices challenged and realise and accept they have been wrong.

How do your characters overcome divisions in their society/personal relationships or is it a case they try but fail?  (Romeo and Juliet is the classic example of that.  Saw the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company production of this which was streamed live by National Theatre Live.  Wonderful story, great performances).

If your fictional world is at war, with others or with itself, what are the causes?  Does anyone try to make peace?  Are peace efforts "multiplied" by support from within the population and how does the government(s) react(s) to this?

Who are the troublemakers stirring up divisions/multiplying problems in your fictional world?  What is done about them?  Or does their troublemaking start an unstoppable chain of events and how does that chain impact on your world?

Every world, country, family has its scandals (even if they are in the distant past).  In my Fairy Kingdom, the scandalous behaviour of previous fairy royals impacts heavily on the current Queen and Eileen, who want no comparison to their mutual great-grandmother. 

So what scandals affect the world/characters you've created?  If the scandal is current, and your lead character is behind it, what has led them to behave like this?  What is the impact on others?  Does the lead character get their comeuppance?

What are the political scandals and how did they arise?  Does your world's media report them or are the scandals suppressed?  And those damaged by such scandals, how do they limit that damage?   Or does it change their character completely and therefore their actions?

Plenty to think about there!

Historical links are important to individuals and to society as they forge where we come from.  My current Chandler's Ford Today post is about Becoming a Heritage Guide and is linked to my recent posts about the Battle of Agincourt.  Hampshire has several links to this. 

So what historical links does your fictional world commemorate/prefer to forget and why?  What stories does it tell the truth on and which does it cover up?  What happens to those who don't "buy into" the official historical line?  Does the society you've created treat history as important or is it just saved for the tourist industry?

What links do your characters have to historical events?  Are there special ceremonies to commemorate specific events?  Are historians free to write up their own thoughts on the past or are they expected to toe the government line?

History also has a habit of coming back to haunt people so how is this portrayed in what you write?  And what do the people/characters concerned do to try to stop/overcome this?

Knowing when to let go can be tricky for both the author and their characters.  I judge what really is the ending of my story by getting to the poiint and then stopping - well there's nothing else to say, is there?

What you want to leave your reader feeling is a cross between (a) wanting to read more and (b) being glad you haven't because any extra will have killed off the moment that this really was the end of the story.

As for characters knowing when to let go, this will involve them working out if they have achieved their goal (or as close to it as possible), whether there is anything to be gained by continuing their "quest" or whether they have had enough of it and decide to give up.  The latter can be a goal in itself in a way because realising you are never going to achieve what you thought can make you re-evaluate what you want to achieve.   Sometimes that is the point of the story!

A lot, of course, depends on just how important the characters' "wants" are.  If in a life or death situation, they are unlikely to want to let go at all until any danger has passed.  Also just how determined are your characters or are they easily swayed?

Some favourite books could include:-

1. Jack's Handy Guide to Becoming a Giant Killer.  Not popular in the giant community.
   
2. I Spy (with My Eye in the Middle of My Forehead).  This is popular with the giants though.
   
3. Grandma's Perfect Picnic Basket.  Goes down well with grandchildren and big bad wolves alike.
   
4. Building Materials:  A User's Guide.  This is compulsory reading in the little pigs leading independent lives community.
   
5. Yellow Brick Roads:  All You Need to Watch Out For.  A book Dorothy wish she'd had on her adventures.  You generally don't expect to come across cowardly lions.
   
6. Jewellery Times:  Signs of A Cursed Ring.  Frodo would at least have had some warning had he read this.
   
7. How to Spot a Fairy Godmother.  They don't always look "obvious".  This book is for the complete novice to the magical world.
   
8. Wizards and Witches:  What You Need to Know.  This volume is almost a government health warning