At the start of a New Year, almost everybody is thinking of new beginnings, new opportunities and so on.  I remember at school always being pleased to get a brand new notebook and I wanted to make every page perfect.  I'd usually made a mistake and had to cross out before I got to the end of page 1 but it never stopped me hoping for a perfect book one day.  These days my impossible "holy grail" is the perfect first draft!!  (There really is no such thing, honestly, best you can realistically hope for is a great first draft but you will always find something to improve and I would never send anything out on a first draft).

What makes our characters look for new beginnings?  Are they motivated by a change in year or whatever time period you use in your settings?  Is it a question of seeking redemption? (This is always a good story theme, people are fascinated by why a character needs redeeming, I know I am).

Motivations have got to be strong for them to ring true with any reader so we need to be convinced your character is convinced they need redeeming.  (Equally we can know the character is faking it but another character, the one they're trying to fool, does not.  There, we're fascinated to see whether the first character will get away with it or not).  I watched The Naked Truth earlier this evening (starred Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers amongst others).  Fantastic film.  Absolutely had to see if the blackmailing character was going to be brought down or not.  Not a word was out of place in that script.  Highly recommend seeing it.  (Is easily available online).

If a character is putting a tragedy behind them (or trying to), what do they use to help them make a fresh start? For example, do they pick a particular day on which to make that fresh start and what made them choose it? What support do they have?  Do they succeed?  (Or is it a question of moving on while accepting they will never be the same person they once were.  I would be more convinced by that scenario).

Good luck with your new beginnings - with your characters and with your stories overall.  This year should see a new beginning for me as my first flash fiction collection, From Light to Dark and Back Again, is due out (Chapeltown Books), and obviously I'm looking forward to that.  But each new story is a new beginning, each new competition entered is a new beginning so there is plenty of scope.  The great thing with new beginnings is you don't have to wait until 1st January each year to have them!

I don't make New Year resolutions as such.  I used to but didn't tend to stick to them.  My main resolves in life now are to (a) be kind and (b) improve my writing.  The great thing with those two is you can "fall off the wagon" every now and again (everyone does) but you can pick yourself up and start again with them at any time.

What resolutions do your characters make or have forced upon them (and if the latter who does this and why?).  Have resolutions helped shape your characters and, if so, how?  When resolutions are issued by governments, are they generally obeyed?  Who would issue them and what kind of topics would they cover?  All of these could make story ideas in themselves but also help flesh out details when world building.

In the UK, the Queen's New Year Honours List has just been issued and I'm delighted at the knighthood awarded to Andy Murray.  Richly deserved.  (Only a pity Fred Perry didn't get one years ago). (I'm also pleased about the one given to Mo Farah but given tennis is the sport I follow, am particularly thrilled about Sir Andy's news.  I'm also very pleased about Gordon Reid, our wheelchair tennis ace (some pun intended!), being honoured too).

How does your fictional world honour its heroes, charity workers and so on?  Who gives these honours out?  Is the honours system generally respected or ignored? 

Occasionally honours are taken away (particularly knighthoods from those who've gone on to commit offences etc). How does your fictional world treat its honoured heroes who go on to do or say something to cause enormous upset?  Do they take honours away, jail people or both?

How does your general population react to the honours being given out? Can they have a say in the process (we can nominate people in our system)?   Can anyone from any background, if they achieve well enough, aspire to an honour in your fictional setting or is this only for the chosen elite?  If the latter, does anyone fight against this and do they succeed?  Definitely some stories there!

Sadness is a difficult one to tackle in fiction.  You either go for "full-on tragedy" (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet etc) or it is a passing emotion that doesn't really have much of an impact on the character or the reader. 

I think Tolkein got this right in The Lord of the Rings with Frodo after the seemingly happy ending.  Frodo was not the character he had been, what he had been through had caused him great suffering and it was apt he should leave the stage, so to speak, and that it was equally appropriate Sam did not.  It also took a while for Frodo to come to the conclusion he should go.  Yet the real ending of the trilogy is often glossed over - too painful for people to cope with perhaps?  The final fate of the ring being sorted out seems a more natural end to the story, certainly it's a less painful one (unless you're Gollum!).

This time of year is a strange one too in terms of emotion.  There's all the excitement of Christmas and New Year and yet, for those not part of this because they are alone, devastating loneliness. How do your characters cope with sadness?  How do they cope with loneliness, especially when others around them are celebrating?  What do they do to try to improve matters?  There should be some poignant stories there.

My Christmas customs include having a few days away from writing, catching up with reading, going to the carol services (as many as I can get to, some years it's only one, in other years it will be two or three) and so on.  We also like to put our decorations up early in December and we do leave them up until Twelfth Night.

What customs would your fictional characters keep for special festivals and feast days?  What are these festivals and feast days and why are they celebrated?  Is there anything in common with those we hold on Earth? 

What foods and drinks go with these customs?  If there are sacrifices, what type are they?  What happens to those who don't celebrate?  Do your characters decorate their homes for these special events and if so with what?

If you have a fictional world that knows about other civilisations (including perhaps our own), what does it make of what it observes?

 In the UK, as I type this, it is already Christmas Eve (I tweaked the calendar on this post so it goes back to 23rd December - it's the nearest I'll ever get to time travel!).  I think it fair to say Christmas Eve is a time of expectation.

So what do your characters expect and why?  Do they have special expectations at certain times of year and why do they have these ones in particular? If expectations are not met, how do your characters react?  If expectations are met, do your characters develop more goals and wishes they want to achieve?

If your character is expecting something from another character, what happens when this is a let-down?  Do your characters return favours to each other? Dickens of course wrote about Great Expectations but from a character's viewpoint it doesn't necessarily have to be a great expectation they're waiting for.  Sometimes being let down on the relatively small things in life can cause the bitterest disappointment after all.

So let expectations come into your plots and characters.  A lot can hinge on them.

One of the things I love about the Christmas carols is so many of them are stories in song.  (I have a very soft spot for stories in song anyway and, in particular, love Richard Marx's Hazard  and Squeeze's Up the Junction).

So in your fictional setting, how are stories told?  Would music be used in this way to help get across a story and its message?  What songs does everyone know?  What traditions and/or historical events are they commemorating?  Who writes the stories in song?  Are there official versions to tell and what happens to those who don't want to play ball and will sing/tell the unofficial records?

What stories in song are your characters fond of and why? 

This topic came about as I've had a dramatic weekend given my border collie has been ill (but is thankfully back at home and slowly recovering).  All of this led me to think about what I care about most (amongst other things these would be my faith, my family, my dog, my friends, books and writing) and how what I care about makes me the person I am.

So what your characters care about the most should shape them.  I was also watching earlier this evening some of Patrick Stewart's version of Dickens's marvellous A Christmas Carol.  And prior to Scrooge's encounter with the ghosts (I refuse to believe that could possibly be a plot spoiler - not now surely?!), it is very clear Ebenezer's love of money has made him the grasping, horrible character he was.

So what do  your characters care about the most and why?  Do they need to change their priorities?  How does what they care about make them act (or in some cases refuse to act when others would)?  How do they react to those characters who don't care about the same things (not well would be my initial guess (!) but how does that play out?)?

What really drives your characters is what makes them after all.

To follow on from yesterday's top 5 writing tips, here are my top 5 reading tips.

1. Read widely and well.  See reading as feeding the imagination so the wider the sources the better.  Inspiration can come from anywhere.
   
2. Read non-fiction as well as fiction.  Especially if you want to build your own world. non-fiction features can give direct influence as to how you set your fictional creation up.
   
3. Read contemporary as well as classic.  You get a feel for changes in the use of language (you might need to know this for portraying how your characters speak) and you keep up to date with what is going on in the publishing world.  You can also see how contemporary authors market their work and so on.
   
4. Read short stories as well as novels (and vice versa).  Be open to writing in more than one form - it widens your possibilities.  Writing short for flash and short stories can be good discipline for writing novels funnily enough.  You have to write tightly for the former.  Get into the habit of doing that and you will write your novels tightly (which will be a great aid to pace).
   
5. Listen to audio books/radio dramas and stories.  You can hear how dialogue works, how a story comes across and ask yourself if yours comes across similiarly.
   

Every year, just after Christmas and before New Year, I review my writing year and work out what I would like to achieve in the next 12 months. I find reviewing my "writing performance" like this useful in that it makes me focus on what I would like to achieve.  For example I will look back at a year and think yes, I blogged well and consistently, I could've submitted to more writing competitions, must do better next year,  and so on.

I have a writing diary in which I write down my story submissions and the results of them.  Not only do I keep track this way, it means I know which story say rejected by Competition A I can sent out to Competition B and avoid sending out a story to somewhere that's already turned it down.  It happens.  The trick is to ensure it doesn't happen to you.

The diary is also useful for writing down how I felt at the time when a story did well or otherwise.  When I heard From Light to Dark and Back Again was going to be published by Chapeltown Books, I felt a wonderful sense of excitement (about to fulfil a long held ambition after all), a "can't quite believe it" feeling and so on.  I am still absolutely thrilled about the book coming out but that initial heady feeling has gone because I have had time to get used to the idea this is really happening.  But it is nice to capture those special writing moments on paper before they vanish altogether and, of course, a highly appropriate thing for a writer to want to do.

So review your year and set some goals.  If they don't quite work out do you need to keep trying or were the goal not quite right for you?  But review and revise and write, write, write!

I'm pleased to share a link to Gill James's A Publisher's Perspective blog today.  Gill shares some of the marketing tips gathered at the recent Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit joint book launch.  The writers attending had to write down one tip - mine was the be open to possibilities one.

The writing journey can be a very odd one in that yes, sure, you can end up where you thought you wanted to be but it is equally true it can take you to different places.  I never envisaged being a short story writer when I first started (yet alone write flash fiction and blog regularly), but am so glad I have ended up where I am now.  Yes, I still hope to get my novel out there but I plan to continue to develop the blogging and short story writing as I have "something" here.  I want to see where this particular writing road will take me.  It seems silly, to say the least, not to do so, but I had to be open to the idea of trying this form of writing in the first place.

So be open to the idea of trying new forms of writing.  You never know, you may find at least one "takes off" for you. 

It is also true our characters should be open to possibilities in our stories.  I find closed mind characters boring to read.  To me, there is literally a limit to what they can do.  They're a kind of literary one trick pony.  I want my characters to be more than that.  I want them to grow, expand what they can do and even take me by surprise with what they come out with sometimes.  (That last point is a sure fire way to know your characters really do "live").  This is one reason I'm a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. His characters do expand and develop - Vimes is, I think, the best example of this - so of course you want to read the next book to see how they've developed this time.

Christmas customs, of course, vary from country to country and range from the spiritual to the secular. Customs vary from food and drink to what songs we sing to what we read and watch.

So what customs exist in your fictional world?  Does it acknowledge Christmas or have its own festivals?  What are these festivals based on? 

Does everyone follow these customs?  If not, what do the majority make of those who don't?  Is there true religious (and other) freedom or are people punished for not joining in with what is accepted behaviour?

In a fictional world which links to others, what does your main world make of the customs to the other world it is connected with?  Individually, how do your characters celebrate Christmas and/or other festivals?  Are there customs your world wishes others would abandon or adopt and does it try to force the issue?

Definitely some story ideas there!

I may be a little early for this post but the end of year reviews will soon start appearing in magazines and so on.  One thing I do just after Christmas is give myself an end of year review and look at writing successes, failures and where things "just haven't happened yet".  I don't set any specific targets.  My main goal each year is to build on what has gone the year before. 

I've done nothing much this year on trying to get my novel The Trouble with Mother  out there but hope to rectify this in 2017.  I am thrilled to bits my flash fiction collection, From Light to Dark and Back Again, will  be coming out in the New Year (Chapeltown Books). 

I think one of the nicest things about writing is it is a continual journey.  There are always stories you still want to write, things you think you could do better and so on.  The nice thing about this is you are continually developing skills as a writer and continual development, I believe fervently, is good for your health, mentally and otherwise. 

So having an end of year review I find is like having a writer's MOT.  I establish where I'm at at, where I would like to be in 12 months' time God willing, and look at how I might get to those points.  I've also learned to be open to opportunities.  I never set out to write flash fiction but came into the form accidentally.  I am very pleased to have had that particular accident!!

So if I could pass on any one tip at this time of year, it would be to give yourself a writing "check over" and review.  It has been my experience in writing things down and planning what I might do to achieve things, I am more likely to actually achieve them (or something better).  Hope you find this might prove to be the case for you too.

I find writing to a deadline (be it an official one or one I impose on myself) very helpful.  Why?

1. Focus.  A deadline makes me focus.  I plan my writing so I know I am doing the final edit a good few days ahead of that deadline.  So therefore I must do other edits and the actual writing even further back than that.  Planning my writing helps me make the most of the creative time I've got.
   
2. Discipline.  Every competition has a deadline so practicing writing to one, whether you are entering a competition or not, is very good discipline.  I've found I quickly got used to doing this and now it's second nature.
   
3. Freeing up other writing time.  Because I have to plan my writing (see 1 above), I find I write more.  Okay confession time, my big weakness is social media, especially Facebook.  I've not yet got to the point of needing to put a blocker on but know it's an option if I do need it.  Generally though I write more now than I ever used to because I plan out what I write and I set myself deadlines for almost everything.  I blog on my websites daily (illness and holidays excepting), I set myself a new Chandler's Ford Today post to write each week and so on.
   
4. Letting Go.  Particularly true for competition writing, this advantage means you have  to let a piece of work go and test the market with it if you want to go in for the competition.  You do have to be in it to have a chance of winning it after all.  It is easy to hang on to a piece and say to yourself I'll just give it more one review etc but having to meet a deadline stops that.  You do have to get the work out there.  It is the point of writing it after all.
   
5. Getting ready to be a professional writer.  All professional writers have to work to a deadline to meet their objectives, publishers' requirements and so on.  Writing to a deadline now gets you into the habit of doing it in the happy hope that one day you too will be a professional writer and this habit is now permanent.  It stands you in good stead.
   

My Chandler's Ford Today post tonight looks at my favourite film themes (well ten of them anyway!).  A really good film score conveys the mood of the movie, will conjure up scenes from it just by you hearing the opening notes, and is good enough to be an excellent piece of music in its own right.  Music generally can be great for creating imagery not easily put into words.  Music can be "felt" and, while good prose and poetry can also have that effect, it is generally easier for the notes of a tune to stay in the memory.  A piece of prose or poetry has to be phenomenally well known to do this - the war poets are classic examples. 

So how does music create imagery in your fictional world?  In the magical realm, songs and music are phenomenally important.  After all, Cinderella wouldn't have a ball to go to without the music.  How is music treated in your fictional world?  Can anyone listen to it/play it?  What are the important songs to your characters and why?  Is any type of music banned and, if so, what and why?

I think of the opening notes of the original Star Wars music and am immediately conveyed to a world far, far away.  What does music do for your characters?

I love reading author interviews.  I learn a great deal from why someone was inspired to write, what their writing routine is, what writing books they'd recommend and so on.  Sometimes I can adapt an interview  question when i want to interview my characters to delve deeper into what makes them tick.

I was interviewed as part of Bridge House Publishing's Baubles anthology blog spot and I share the link.  There is also an extract from my story, Helping Out, which is about a fairy and a witch teaming up to avoid the dangerous plotting of their respective bosses.  It was huge fun to write.  The idea behind Baubles was to write bright, sparkly type stories and there is a nice mixture in this book.

There are 24 stories in the book so there will be 24 extracts -  hmm... coming out near Christmas, this sounds like a book-like Advent Calendar! 

Anyway hope you enjoy the extract.

Every writer has books they wouldn't be without.  Some of mine are:-

1. On Writing - Stephen King.  Brilliant book (and part autobiography too).
   
2. The Oxford Concise Dictionary and Thesaurus.  Like having the two features combined in one book.  Never, ever rely on a computer spellchecker alone.
   
3. Story - Robert McKee.  Useful across all fiction writing types though especially aimed at scripts.
   
4. How Not to Write a Novel - Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark.  Hilarious writing guide.  (Usually these books aren't funny at all but this one is brilliant both for its humour and advice).
   
5. Wannabe a Writer?/Wannabe a Writer We've Heard Of? - Jane Wenham Jones.  Very funny and full of really useful hints and tips.
   

As for listing what fiction books I wouldn't be without...  well that would take me to Doomsday!

I'm delighted to say one of my recent posts on this site, Story Structure,  has been shared with my blessing by Valerie Penny who has a wonderful book review website. 

I met Valerie at Swanwick earlier this year and am flattered she wanted to share this post as she reviews some prestigious books on her website.  If you want a well written review to guide you as to what you might read next, have a look at Valerie's website.  There are also other posts sharing writing advice and so on.

As for guest blogging, it is a great way to support other writers and for them to support you.  The other great way, of course, is to review books and stories though I know Amazon, for one, have tightened up the rules here.  I can understand why (they want to make sure reviews are genuine) but obey the rules and you can still review. 

There's also nothing to stop you reviewing on Goodreads, your own website etc etc.  The great thing about helping other writers like this is it brings variety to your website and when your site is shared (and it will be, my experience has been most writers are very generous when sharing and are always keen to return the favour), others wiill discover what you write.

Guest blogging can, of course, also be good practice for future blog tours and the sharing of links helps all writers.  I've come across many a great site because I've read a guest blog on a site and can see why that writer was invited to do so.  I, of course, then go and investigate that guest writer's writing in more detail.  So happy blogging - and guest blogging!




One thing that came out of the joint book launch/celebration event Bridge House Publishing and Cafelit held today was that writers were to share marketing tips with each other.  This was useful.  My suggestions were:-

1. Be open to possibilities.  I fell into flash fiction by accident (I had a piece that was too short to do anything with, Cafelit let it be known they were after very short stories, I sent it in, it was accepted but none of this was planned by me).  
   
2. Enter reputable writing competitions and build up a writing CV.  The idea is to show an agent/publisher others thought you worthy of publication.  It also shows commitment on your part.
   

Other suggestions by me (we were only supposed to share one tip, I sneaked in two!):-

1. Don't be afraid of marketing.  See it as talking about your books, stories, writing, all topics you love.  Okay you don't want to bore everyone but you should be keen about what you do.  
   
2. Be glad for other writers.  Why?  Because we are not rivals.  Give 10 writers the same theme and word count and there will be 10 different stories.  We are all promoting literacy and books in general as well.  And we are all in the same boat, especially those of us who would still like to get a novel out there, get an agent or what have you.
   
3. Social media is phenomenally useful for spreading the word but use it wisely.  Talk about your work while talking about other relevant things.  For example, I hope, when I know when my flash fiction collection will be out, to write about the thrill of that and then go on to discuss more about flash and give tips.  Also I'll be able to sign myself off as Allison Symes, Author of.......................  and I can add that to blog posts etc which are not directly about my book.  Marketing can be subtle (and the best kind always is).
   

One of the nicest things in a writer's life is when events begin to happen giving you what I call a "high day".  A low day of course is when all the rejections come in, as they do, but it is lovely when positive things happen to help balance that out.

 My list of positive events (and in no particular order, given they are all important to me) include:-

• First print publication - A Helping Hand in Bridge House Publishing's Alternative Renditions
  
• First online publication - Cafelit
  
• Setting up this website and also my Fairytales with Bite one
  
• Setting up my Facebook page (and later author page).
  
• Finally getting the hang of Twitter!
  
• Setting up my Word Press summary of what I'm writing where blog.
  
• Going to my first writing conference (on the Isle of Wight many years ago).
  
• Going to Swanwick Summer School for the first time (this year)
  
• Being asked to judge a short story competition (and being asked back again!  Many thanks, Southampton Writers' Circle).
  
• Seeing my "news" appear in a national magazine - Writing Magazine Members' News pages.  (And I must write to them again soon).
  
• Being shortlisted in a national short story competition - Writing Magazine
  
• Having my first blog post appear on an outside source - Chandler's Ford Today
  

When all that seems to come in are rejections (or you find you're not listed for a competition - as happened to me today), it is nice to remind yourself there are positives.  And for those starting out, the positives will come if you don't give up, get feedback on your work so you know what is working and what is not, and you submit regularly to suitable markets.  Good luck.  I love my high days.  They give me a real boost.  I hope yours do too (or will do so in the future).