September, of course, heralds the start of the autumn season, which is one of my favourite times of year.  I love seeing the magnificent colours of the autumn leaves, I like walking through the fallen leaves especially when they're crisp and dry and my spouse and I work our socks off clearing up said leaves from the pavement outside our house.  (It does make for a very good workout!).  But I think it fair to say September represents new beginnings - new season, new terms and so on.

What new beginnings do your characters experience?  Do they seek these or have to make the best of a bad job, so to speak, because said new beginnings are imposed on them?  Are there new beginnings they want to have but so far are eluding them? 

How do the new beginnings change them (and there is bound to be some change)?  (Best example of this is Frodo in The Lord of the Rings.  Completely changed by his new beginning, his adventures).  Do others around them resent the new beginning because they themselves are being left behind (figuratively, not necessarily literally)?

And why do you want your characters to have new beginnings?  How do they advance the plot?  What more do they reveal about the characters that we need to know?

No.  Not a tribute to the band or even to Vivaldi.  But as September rapidly approaches, thoughts turn to autumn (one of my favourite seasons).  I've already seen grey squirrels at work burying food, there seems to be blackberries everywhere and soon there will be a new school/college term.  Good luck to all making a new start be it in education or work.

So how are the seasons marked in your fictional world?  Are they the same as ours in terms of having a season in which the land is barren, another where the land and nature in general comes to life, another where everything is blooming and a final one where everything winds down ready for the barren period again?

Is your fictional world one in which agriculture is important (with therefore more of an awareness of the importance of the seasons)?  What is the climate like?  The general weather patterns per season?  What does your character(s) think of the seasons, which is their favourite and why?

In a magical environment, can the seasons be tampered with to cause havoc (the only reason to do it I think!)?  How does the natural environment of your world react to magic being  used against it?  Can it find its own way to fight back, the same way our natural world has a habit of kicking back against abuses of it?  (For example, deforestation. Yes we strip away the trees without replacing them, then there's a drought, no water is retained in the ground as there are no roots to hold it, the drought is far worse as a result).

What impact does the seasons have on your story and characters?

One lovely thing about putting a post on site is the way I can get to choose the date it appears, either by deliberately scheduling in advance or by clicking on the date, waiting for the calendar icon to come up and choosing what date I want from that. 

I've done so for this post.  I wanted it to appear on 30th August (though in the UK as I type this it is after midnight so initially the date came up as the 31st, correctly of course.  I went into the calendar icon and changed it back - a little bit of time travel and I didn't even leave my desk!).

But it led me to think about how calendars are organised.  Just what system does your fictional world use for days, months, years etc?  Does your fictional world have a time system we would recognise and, if not, on what do they base theirs?  We follow a 24 hour day, which makes sense given we are following the pattern of night and day but of course length of days vary depending on what planet you're on. Where does your fictional world get its major light from, assuming it bases its time system on that?

In the past, calendars have been changed.  In the UK we once lost 11 days because of an adjustment of this kind (and people protested about it too!).  Who ultimately decides the system here and, if that is not part of your story, how does the way time is managed affect your characters as it is bound to do so?  Any creature will get tired so there should be a pattern of activiity and rest, usually based on night and day patterns.

We all code our speech.  It really is just a question of extent.  And, depending on who we're speaking to, will depend how much we code our speech by.  Is someone picking up on us being sarcastic, say, but our use of language is couching this effectively?  Is something we're saying reallly going over their heads?  Equally are we being more diplomatic than we really feel like being because we know someone will be upset if we don't  and the fall out just isn't worth the hassle?

How can your characters exploit coding speech to try to get the advantage?  This is something villains would be especiallly keen to use to further their own ambitions.  My favourite villains are the smart ones, who show they're brain and not just brawn.  The last two Bond films, Skyfall and Sceptre, have kept me engrossed due to this, especially Skyfall.  Coded speech is also useful for conveying messages to those "in the know" without being obvious to others.  And much can be "gathered" by what is not said, as well as by what is.

Are your characters astute enough to pick up on things like this or do they learn to do so, having had bad experiences of being taken by surprise here?  Can your good guys used coded speech to turn the tables on those who've used it against them?  If they can, the tension within your story will rocket and that can only be a good thing.

I refer to my to do list briefly on my Facebook Author page tonight.  I like having one of these as I will work my way through it eventually and it is a good fail safe against ever being bored with writing. If one idea doesn't quite work out, having seen it again in the cold light of day, there's always another to try. And I can't think of a better test to see if an idea really is a "goer" than to put it aside for a while and come back to it. 

But it has to be written down of course to be able to do that.  I can only retain ideas in my head for so long!  I don't go with the wake up at 5 am with a scorching idea and scribble it down there and then school of thought.  This is partly for the very good reason I seldom wake up at 5 am!  It is also partly because anything I should write down then, when I am definitely not at my best, is highly unlikely to make any sense later! (I don't tend to make much sense at all until I've woken up properly!).  No, I've found it better to keep a list as part of my evening writing tasks and then regularly review and update it.

How do your characters organise "their" lives?  All characters have their own agendas after all but do any of them actually keep a journal or note of their priorities?  I've found if I write a to-do item down, I am far more likely to actually achieve it.  Do your characters find the same thing?  What happens if their to do list is found by someone?  And is a character with a written plan more of a threat than another without one?  (I think yes because whatever it is they're planning, they've already taken the time to think it out in great detail!).

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade as the saying goes, but can your characters do that?  If so how successful are they at it?!  Or does it all go horribly flat? How do your characters handle the dramas in their lives?  This, of course, is where their real traits are shown up for what they are.  I've sometimes tested a character by throwing them into an invented crisis long before I write about them "properly" so I know for sure how they will react to crisis.  I've found it to be a useful exercise.

Of course the other question here is who threw the lemons at your characters in the first place (other than you as author of course!).  What was the motivation behind another character causing significant problems?  Does your character's main trait help them get out of a situation or make it worse? 

My rebellious fairy godmother, Eileen, is stubborn, brave, honest and honourable.  This does not make her popular with certain other characters because they know she can't be corrupted (well not easily anyway).  But it also means that situations Eileen finds herself in are worse than they might be because she is such a stubborn soul.  (It's one reason why I love writing about her, she can almost create her own dramas (!) and I would like to try and get her into some short stories at some point).

Of course characters, like lemons, can become sour.  What triggers that?  Could it be prevented but the character chose not to (and if so, why did they act like that?). 

My Chandler's Ford Today post, which is part 2 of my review of a recently held Medieval Weekend, is now up on site.   A look back into how life was lived back then was enough for me when it comes to time travelling.  I would almost certainly have been a peasant back then so reading and writing would've been out.  Hmm... best off where I am I think.

If time travel is a feature on the worlds you write about, how far back can your characters go?  Can your characters deliberately choose to extend the era in which they're officially allowed to go?  What rules must they stick to before transporting themselves anywhere?  And what happened when it goes wrong (it's bound to at some point, yes?).

What counts as our medevial times for your newly created world/town?  How far developed is your fictional world?  Are the press in your world leading lights or a pain in the neck or both?

 It is possible to work so hard to fulfil a dream, to have so many knock backs and rejections en route, that when success does finally come, it can be hard to believe it!  Only thing to do there is to give yourself time to believe it.  I'm in that happy situation right now as my first flash fiction collection has been accepted by an independent publisher here in the UK.  (And it is likely my short story collection will appear next year too.  In the meantime I will have two further short stories out in anthologies by the end of the year.).

So how do your characters react when their dreams (or some of them) come true?  What were their dreams and why did they have these particular ones?  What got in their way?  How did they overcome any feelings of despair when success seemed far away?  And do those characters around them react to them in quite the same way as they had before?  Do they suppress any envy because they care enough about Character A to still want them to enjoy their success?

Sometimes a dream coming true can be the very worst thing that could happen to a character in terms of them becoming arrogant and so on.  Who or what brings them back down to earth again? 

Writers are generally good at keeping the faith because, by accepting you're in for the long haul when it comes to getting your work out there, it makes rejections easier to take.  It is also more readily accepted now that it does take a while to get your work up to publishable standard and so on.  You really do learn from your mistakes but need to make them in the first place to be able to do so and that whole process takes time.

So how do your characters keep the faith when faced with seemingly unbeatable obstacles?  What is it in their character that gives them the grit to keep going? How are your characters encouraged and supported?  What motivates their friends to do this - genuine goodwill or have they got agendas of their own? 

I've sometimes, when testing out a character, imagined them faced with this or that crisis and worked out how they would react.  The test has succeeded when I can answer the point immediately.  Character X would definitely react in this way because....  Not all of these pieces have made it into my stories but, for me, I need to know a character's dominant trait.  And sometimes that only really comes out when said character faces crisis moments.  Once I know for certain what that trait is, I'm up and running with that character and the story.

I can't imagine a world without books.  Nor do I wish to be able to!  Books are such a wonderful source of entertainment, education, enlightenment and other good things beginning with e that I find it difficult to over state their importance.

So what role do books play in your fictional world?  Is everyone literate?  Is reading encouraged?  Are there certain books which are not allowed to be read except by the privileged few and, if so, why and what books are these?

What other forms of literature exist in your setting?  Papers? Magazines?  Both?  Are editors and writers generally free to write as they want to or are they all under the shadow of an oppressive government?  How are any restrictions beaten?  And for those willing to co-operate with an oppressive government, show why.  Is it just about money?  Do they betray those writers who won't co-operate?

What does the general populace think about books and reading?  Have a  attitudes changed, for better or worse, over the past 50 years?  And are books easy to obtain?  Is the average wage enough to ensure most people can buy books if they wish to do so?

I think after asking all those questions, it is time to stop taking books and the literacy rate for granted.  I would love to see our world in such a state that all get a good education, regardless of gender, background etc.  Likewise I would like to see 100% literacy worldwide.  I hope and pray for success for all those trying to achieve these things.

Today, 22nd August 2016, is not a great anniversary for supporters of Richard III given it is the day of the Battle of Bosworth.  This has to be one of the most undervalued battles in English history given, had the result gone the other way, so much history would not  have happened.  No Tudors, no Reformation, no Elizabeth I, no Armada and so on. 

One of my early Chandler's Ford Today posts reviews one of my favourite novels, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.  It is one of the few works of fiction to make me change my mind about something, in this case someone - Richard III.

But anniversaries, good or bad, are important to someone so which do you use in your fiction?  Renowned historical events or have you invented your own history for your world and use dates from that?  On a personal note anything from wedding anniversaries to birthdays will matter to someone and there have been countless stories about forgotten dates.  How can you make something new out of that?

Of course there are two sides to every anniversary.  Those against Richard III will welcome today's anniversary after all.  How can you reflect this in your stories?  Perspective is everything after all so whose do you use and why?

Every writer is aware these days of the need to have an online presence and to be comfortable with using social media to "get their name out there".  For this reason I've set up a Word Press blog tonight called Allison Symes:  Collected Works which will link excerpts from my website posts, Facebook author items and Chandler's Ford Today posts.  The new blog will also share author news.  The reason for the excerpts is hopefully people will then visit the sites where the original posts are. 

So what form does the media take in your fictional world?  Is there such a thing as social media?  Who controls it?  What form does the creative arts take in your setting where you might have characters who will want to promote their works?

What kind of characters run the media you've invented for your stories?  How did they get to do this?  Are there regulatory bodies ensuring the media have to act fairly?  And what do the "ordinary people" make of the media?  Do they generally trust it or are they suspicious of it?  What has led them to taking the views they have?

Food for thought there I think!

I think we can all be guilty of wishing life away at times.  This thought occurred to me when reviewing my Chandler's Ford Today post from yesterday.  At the end of this, I threw out the question as to which historical period people would like to visit/live in if time travel were possible.  One interesting response was there was too much choice.  And yes there is!

I strongly suspect that when people talk about regressing to past lives (which I don't agree with, we are all unique), they always go for the famous/glamorous historical figures.  I've yet to come across someone who claims they were once a peasant!  And in that I think there is a certain amount of wish fulfilment.  To be as glamorous as Cleopatra, as powerful as Elizabeth I and so on - there's nothing to wish for in being a peasant other than to stop being one!

So what do your characters wish for and why?  In a magical setting, what wishes can't be granted and why?  What is the equivalent of a peasant in your created world and is there any sign of improved conditions for them?  (I am certain I would've been a peasant and, knowing what I do now, would've hated being illiterate).

If your world allows time travel, how does it work and does it take its toll on those using it?  (I think there should be a toll, likewise using up too much magical energy drains those using magic.  Whatever the resource, there has to be a price paid somewhere for using it). 

Tonight's Chandler's Ford Today post, Would You Like a Medieval Life?, continues with my Road to Agincourt inspired articles.  The answer, for me by the way, is a definite "no" but the weekend did give a good indication of what life was like for most people back then.

All of that led me to thinking about what is important to your family/species etc?  What part of their national/local history would they defend to the death and why?  What artefacts are priceless?  Which are everyday?

For you as the writer, what is the single most important aspect of your characters' natures?  What defines them?  What is the single most important thing they want and why? 

Plenty to be thinking about there!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Even in a fantasical world, there has to be some structure to time and how the days, weeks, months and years are organised.  And as a result there will have to be something equating to the working week.  Of course there will be those who do not have to work for a living (there always are!) but the vast majority will need to do something to bring income in for their families.  So how do they do this? What jobs are there in your created world? 

How do people find work?  Are certain jobs only open to those from the right background?  Who decides what the right background is and how did that come about?  Can people/beings/whatever defy that ruling and what are the consequences, if so? What counts as meaningful work in your world?  Equally what is menial and
why?  Are there jobs that nobody would consider doing and how do these get filled?

Could your stories be set against a working background?  Fantasy for me works best when, ironically, there is some reality in it.  This is one reason why I love Terry Pratchett's Discworld.  The characters themselves do not consider they are fantastical.  They are just human, dwarf, goblin etc.  How do your characters see themselves and is their judgement here sound?  What could you do with a character that doesn't see themselves as  stubborn, say, when all else around them do?  I must admit I love writing Eileen as a hypocrite.  They really don't see themselves as others do.  The rules get broken.  There are always consequences.  Result?  Lots of drama and tension in the story!

Time for some alliteration in the title!  Achievement and ambition can be the same of course but so often they are not.  And stories in all sorts of genres can be invented playing around with this.  The failure to match ambition to achievement can be the source of tragedy, humour, crime and so on.

Then there are those characters who are high achievers.  I'd be surprised if their success doesn't trigger resentment.  Again this could be for comic effect but I can see tragedy emerging. What about those who are used to success but fail this time?

And as for those lower down in the chain (i.e.  those with ambitions but no chance of meeting them), how do they react when it seems that everyone else is getting the luck and there seems to be nothing left for them?

Naturally these things are all a great test of character in themselves as well. The only thing for any writer to beware is to watch you don't unwittingly reveal more of yourself in the way you write characters!

One thing that has helped me in my writing development has been to accept I am playing the long game.  That having "instant results" is not a prerequisite of being a successful writer.  After all it takes time to build up writing credits, to establish a web presence and so on. 

Accepting the fact I am in this for the long haul has taken the pressure off me.  I'm not one of those writers who say by the time I'm 50 I want to have achieved this or that.  Just as well really given I turned 50 earlier this year! 

Yes, it is good to set goals but are those writers who do set specific ones lining themselves up for disappointment should these things not happen as they thought?  I would have thought in the vast majority of cases, things won't happen exactly as anticipated, life being what it is at times.

And, in any case, sometimes the writing journey can literally take you down avenues you did not expect.  I never thought I would write non-fiction but love blogging for Chandler's Ford Today.  It is important to keep an open eye and mind to spot potential opportunities and not be so fixated on achieving Goal X, you miss completely the chance to achieve something special with Opportunity Y.

This is all true for our characters as well.  Are they so fixated on an ambition they lose sight of other things/people that could have been useful/important to them?  Does the plot turn on such missed chances?  How do the ambitious affect those around them?  Equally those who do take  unexpected chances, what successes do they have with these? 

I like being able to adjust the calendar settings on my blogs/websites so posts can appear on the day(s) I'd like them to appear.  It's the nearest I'll get to time travel (or want to get, come to that!).  But going back in time has all sorts of implications for your stories.

Firstly, there is obviously the time travel genre of story you might be writing in and, here, I'd ask have you explained how time travel works in your fictional world?  Can everyone do this or is it limited to the privileged few?  What happens when things go wrong?

Secondly, the era of your stories - what has made you chose this?  How has the "past" you don't write about in your story influence the behaviour of your characters and the way the society they're in is run?  I find it useful to know why the society is run the way it is.  I don't put all of these details into my story (not directly relevant) but I use what I need to and the rest influences the way I write the other characters. 

Is Time on your world the same as we have it here?  If not, what has made you choose the system you are using?  Do your stories show the downsides and advantages of this system?  And how do your characters age and die - as we do in a linear way or not?

And talking of time, it is time for me to get on with my other writing!

One of my favourite sessions at the recent Swanwick Summer School was the Lyrical Challenge where several songs were played and then analysed for story, mood, characters and so on.  We then had to produce a story or poem based on one of the songs played.  Fascinating stuff (and we all had a great sing!).  You don't really appreciate just how dark Hotel California is until you study the lyrics.  (The one line "but you can never leave" is what gets to me, you don't need monsters for a piece to be creepy).

I chose Space Oddiity to base my story on and took part of the lyric "but there is nothing I can do" as a repeat line in what I produced.  I plan to work on this story and, once as happy with it as I can ever get with a piece of writing, find a suitable market for it.  The session was fun (as indeed all creative sessions should be).  Let's just say if they run this session again next year, I'm planning to go - yes, already!

I've always loved songs that tell stories and some of my favourites include:-

• Richard Marx - The River (misfit in a small town is accused of girlfriend's disappearance, she is presumed dead.  Cheery little ditty as you can imagine but it is phenomenally well done).
  
• Squeeze - Up the Junction.  (Great slice of life ballad).
  
• Squeeze - Cool for Cats (Yes, I love Squeeze and this song never fails to make me smile with its cast of characters).
  
• The Carpenters - Goodbye to Love.  (As well as having a truly great guitar solo, there is a story behind why the character is singing these lyrics).
  

So yes I will be looking much more closely at songs for inspiration.  I found it was the mood of Space Oddiity as well as the theme of heroic tragedy that inspired my story and I know just that alone is enough to inspire more fiction.  What I love about fiction writing is all sorts of things can inspire ideas and then it's a question of picking the strongest and running with it.  The crucial thing is to be ready to spot the ideas all around you.

My latest Chandler's Ford Today post, Following the King:  On the Great Ships Trail, looks at real life historical artefacts (the wreck of a medieval ship in the River Hamble). 

What counts for historical artefacts in your fictional world and what relevance do they have to your main characters?  Certain stories (Indiana Jones being the obvious example) are full of/based around historical artefacts but in others (The Lord of the Rings) the object is phenomenally important but the real story is the quest.  (Okay without the artefact there is no quest but you usually find out more about the characters on the quest and, for me, this is where the real story is to be found).

Historical artefacts can be good or evil magically then, they can also be the cause of war, maybe they can be used to bring peace too.  Can they be faked?  Medieval times were full of saints' relics in Britain and forgery would have been rife (not everybody can have St.  So and So's thigh bone or whatever and it was not uncommon for more than one church to claim to have the same object!).

Who looks after the historical artefacts and just what are they prepared to do to defend them?  Why are these items treasured the way they are?  Definitely some story ideas there!

Is travel easy on your fictional world?  Is it available for all or only the rich?  Is magic involved?  

In my Fairy Kingdom, any use of magic drains energy from the user and all fairies have to top up regularly from the Queen’s Fountain of Youth (the witches make their own arrangements!).  So devices or machines that can be used to carry out a task often are used so magic is saved for when there is no alternative.

For instance, broomsticks are used for travel.  Where the witches do use magic is to make the things more comfortable to ride!  Wizards use magic to speed up the devices they use (and not just for travel).  So the idea of travelling light in my fictional setting is to limit the use of magic and therefore limit the amount of energy used up.

How do your characters travel light?  If there are travel restrictions dependent on what class you come from, how do they get around these or exploit them if they are one of the “entitled”?  Also what dangers do your travellers face?  Can they use light as a weapon to defend themselves with if necessary (and yes I am thinking of the light sabre here!).  

Every world, fictional or otherwise,  has some sort of justice system since all will have criminal and other behaviours which go against that world’s laws.  So what form does your justice system take?  Is it liberal or hardline?  Does it have the death penalty or is imprisonment the severest form of punishment?

Has the justice system been reformed in any way or is the system used the one that has always been in place in your fictional world?  Are there judges?  Are there juries?  How do lawyers carry out their business here?

Are there rights of appeal?  How are miscarriages of justice handled (if they are acknowledged at all)? Or is your fictional world the place where the pilllory and the stocks are still used?

Cinderella  is probably the best known example of this in the fairy world scheme of things.   But who in your stories is the character that “carries it”, who gets the jobs done, no matter how unpleasant?  Do any of  your characters crack under the strain of it all?  

How do your characters learn and do they find adjusting their ideas an easy thing to do or not? What are the consequences for those characters who refuse to adapt?  And when your hero/heroine can finally throw off everything that hindered them in the past, how do they adjust to their new situation?

What happens to those left behind when the heroine no longer carries the job?  Are there attempts to stop the hero/heroine moving on with their lives?

I love swimming.  It’s great exercise and I find it helpful in unwinding, in clearing my mind as I swim, and sometimes I can think through story/article ideas too.  (That doesn’t happen as often as you might think given I lane swim and it is quite important to keep a good look out for other swimmers!  You’re not popular if you “drift”!).

I’ve always had an affinity with water.  I love the Lake District and the Scottish lochs and there is a very nice body of water near me with dog walks, wooded walks etc with it.  I also  love looking at the sea on a long beach walk.  I’ve sometimes seen seals off the Scottish coast but it’s the sense of eternity (of the sea going on and on on and on) that I find peaceful and relaxing.

Witches of course are notorious for not liking to cross water but what about your other characters, fairy tale or otherwise?  How do they relate to water?  Do they indulge in water sports or is swimming left strictly to the merpeople?(!).  Populations need water supplies to be able to survive so how does your fictional universe arrange this?  Do people gather their own water as sadly so many people in the developing world still have to do or is plumbing as developed as our own or better?

Do water borne diseases exist here ? If water is not the fluid needed for survival on your world, what is?  And what will your world do to ensure it has the supplies it needs?

Your created world has to have a history.  It may not come directly into your story (though I would very surprised if none of it did).  That history will affect how you write your stories and characters.  You need to know why your characters are the way that they are.  

Who are the legends in your created world (for good or evil)?  Are they the current generation or do those from centuries back still exude influence (for good or evil) on the way things are done and the people doing them today?  In my Fairy Kingdom, I make the Queen’s and Eileen’s mutual great-granny someone who was their realm’s worst monarch and her behaviour is continuing to have ramifications despite her being long dead. I refer to this character but it is not her story I’m telling.  (Though I suspect I shall at some point!).

And are your legends all they are cracked up to be anyway?  Does anyone challenge the traditional legends?