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

Questions to Ask Your Characters

27/9/2019

0 Comments

 
One great thing about this topic is that it is a timeless one! (Bear in mind also if you're writing non-fiction, if you are using a narrative voice, you can treat that voice as a character, so some of these questions at least may also be worth trying). So what to ask then as part of your outline?

  1. What do you really want and why?
  2. What stops you getting what you really want?
  3. Why would your life be complete if you achieve what you want?
  4. How are you going to achieve your objectives?
  5. Have you got other characters to support you and, if so, how reliable are they?
  6. Are you making your life unnecessarily complicated? (Worth asking this one - any complications getting in the way of your character achieving what they want should be those that arise naturally out of the plot. There should be nothing that seems "faked" to increase the tension in the story. The tension should be genuine, the obstacles real and so on. For a non-fictional narrator, a good question to ask instead of this one is are you communicating as clearly as possible (i.e. go for clarity, not gobbledegook, don't make your narration unnecessarily complicated? Are you conveying the facts reasonably? Are you backing the facts up with evidence? What are your sources?).
  7. What has driven you to decide this is what you really want?
  8. What if you're wrong? (How would your character handle that? That could make for a really interesting story).
  9. Are there limits you won't cross (and if so what are these? What is your thinking behind this?).
  10. Are there rules you are prepared to break? What would the consequences be? How are you going to limit your risk (or are you not worried about that? Some characters aren't!).

Now if answering those questions doesn't generate story ideas, I'd be very surprised!

Image Credit:  Pixabay


0 Comments

The Power of Language

20/9/2019

0 Comments

 
My CFT post this week looks at The Power of Language.  I look at this from a variety of angles, including how flash fiction has affected how I use language.  But let's turn to this topic from the viewpoint of our stories and created worlds.

Is your created world one where everyone speaks formally? Is it one where you have to know the right language to use to be able to get anywhere in life and only certain people have that knowledge?

Is the power of language suppressed in any way? For example, does your setting allow for free speech, good access to different literature etc. How are journalists and other writers treated? With respect or are they considered threats? (Sadly, they too often are for real of course).

Where magic comes into your stories, does it have a special language all of its own? Is it widely accessible to beings of all backgrounds or again do only certain people have the knowledge? How are they stopped from controlling everything?

Some story ideas there I think!

Image Credit:  Pixabay. Captions over on CFT.



0 Comments

Creating Something out of Nothing

13/9/2019

0 Comments

 
I was listening to UK based radio station Classic FM earlier this week when it was reported a well known composer still suffered nerves when coming up with a new composition. They were still made nervous by the blank page, despite their many years of successful composition. Ironically, this cheered me up somewhat. It's the same for any creator and I know it's true for me. That touch of nerves before you start writing is the worst bit. Once you get going, you're absolutely okay.

I've learned over time to just get the words down any old how. Editing and polishing happen much later. Nobody writes a perfect draft. Shakespeare didn't. Austen didn't. Dickens didn't. I'm certainly not going to but that's fine! So how can you get over the nervous start bit or, at least, make it not so bad and easier to handle?

I've found having a range of ways to get started on stories or blog posts helpful. I also find having brainstorming sessions every so often useful to jot down ideas and when I am struggling, I can turn to these and find something to inspire me there. My range of ways to get started include:-

1.  Using a random word generator, pick three, and put them into a story. Using random words like this makes me think deeper and if there is no obvious link between the three words, even better. It makes me think again!

2.  Look back over my old blog posts and stories. Often there will a link there I didn't follow up at the time but might prove useful now.

3.  Take a well known saying and use it as a theme or title (sometimes both) for a story or article.

4.  Use a spider diagram or flowchart to flesh out basic ideas. That will soon show if ideas in the back of my head do have some "legs" to them or not. Naturally I go with the ones that do! This is especially useful when used in conjunction with a random word generator.

5.  Look up writing competitions. Sometimes I'll enter said competitions. Sometimes I'll just write up a story to the theme and not submit it deliberately. I will go back to that story at a later date to polish it up further knowing it is not ready for a competition yet but I can still write to the theme. Who knows? The story might end up in an anthology later. Themes come up reasonably often so there will be other competitions the story the might fit.

However you get over the blank page nerves, happy writing and good luck!

Image Credit:  Pixabay
0 Comments

IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE FAVOURITES?

6/9/2019

0 Comments

 
Linking in with my CFT post this week, I thought I'd look at this topic from the viewpoint of our characters and how we create them. So do you have favourite characters of your own making and, if so, should you?

I must admit I can't see how any writer can avoid having favourites amongst their characters. There are bound to be creations we prefer over others, simply for things such as we like Character A's sense of irony, which Character B, noble as they are, simply doesn't have. What DOES matter is that we are scrupulous about how we create our characters.

By this I mean when planning out characters, we should ensure each and every one of them has flaws and virtues. Each and every one of them must have good reasons for acting the way they are. Each and every one of them should feel real to a reader. No cardboard cut-outs here!

You, as the writer, have got to know what makes them all tick. You need to know what drives them, what would frustrate them, what would tempt them away from the path they're supposed to be on, and how they handle weakness in themselves, yet alone in others.

A good sign of a "proper" favourite character is knowing you've created a character that for many reasons you dislike (e.g. you disagree with their attitudes) but have brought them to life in such a way your reader will be intrigued by them and there will be no sign of your antipathy towards them either. Good luck!

Image Credit:  As ever, the images are from the marvellous Pixabay. Captions over on the CFT post.


0 Comments

    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.