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

Writing

22/9/2013

0 Comments

 
What is the best form of fiction - short story or novel?
Books could literally be written on this and it wouldn’t surprise me if they had been.  I ask why choose!  Both are wonderful forms.  Both have classic examples.  Both are entertaining, make you think, invent other worlds and stretch your mind.  Both should have memorable characters and incidents. 

The big advantage of the novel of course is you can have a lot more of those than you can in a short story.  Yet the short story’s big advantage is that having to focus on fewer characters and incidents makes it a more intense tale.  It all depends on whether you fancy a long or short literary “drink”! 

For short stories, I generally prefer the word count to be under 5,000 (and ideally for me to be between 1000 and 2500, I like my short fiction to be literally short and sharp!).  I also like a well crafted piece of flash fiction.  I admit though the novel in many ways can be “easier” to do - you have the space in which to expand your ideas and cut backs can always be done later.


How many drafts do you write?
It depends on what I’m writing.  For a novel I usually do at least 4 drafts (get the story down, first copy edit as I type it up, then an edit to make sure story makes sense and then a final look over to make sure I haven’t missed anything). 

For short stories I tend to write to screen, print out, edit on paper, put in my amendments, print it out and read it through.  If it’s good enough I then send, if I find I’ve missed something I do another edit on screen.  Scripts I tend to do at least three drafts usually to get it down to the right kind of length for a radio comedy slot.


Do you outline or “wing it”?
I used to wing it even with the novels.  Looking back I think I must’ve been nuts.  I outline for almost everything now, even flash fiction (though the outline is suitably shorter!).  I find for short stories I need to rough out an idea before I can start.  With the novels I don’t plot out everything but the main points I need to reach.


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    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.