Every photograph we take, every show we present, or every song and hymn that we sing, we bring inspiration, creativity and joy to the community. Our artists have taken risks. They have brought us wonder and beauty of nature.
Linking back to last week’s post on Online Workshops I thought I’d take a look at PowerPoint in more detail. I used PowerPoint a lot in the late 1980s/early 1990s and then forgot all about it until Zoom came into my working life.
I don’t know about you but these days I split time into two categories – pre-pandemic and post-same. I recently ran a workshop for the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group on leap years. One thing coming from that was in recalling the last Leap Year Day was 29th February 2020! Much has changed since then, hasn’t it?!
One positive thing to come from the pandemic was the increasing use of video conferencing via Zoom and the like. It made certain events possible. Ironically it has led to paying gigs for me as workshops. I hope that continues!
Every part of a story or article, of whatever length, has its role to play but the most important is the opening line. Unless readers get past that, the rest won’t be read. So what does any opening line need to do to encourage people to keep reading?
The best light works do not lay their themes on with the proverbial trowel. As you read the marvellous prose and get behind those characters, you will pick up the themes almost by osmosis. There is no lecturing. You are left to follow the characters on their journey.
Writers of short form fiction, including flash, need to find reliable, sustainable ways of inventing characters. Stories are character led. We’re writing a lot of stories. So we need to create a lot of characters, especially over the course of say a year.
Does the title of this post sound like a strange combination? It’s not as odd as you might think. I thought this would be a good topic given we have just had St. Valentine’s Day. That saint’s day alone triggers obvious writing themes – love and sacrifice, the latter especially so if you write a non-fiction account of St. Valentine’s life.
I’m a great believer in planning out my writing for various reasons.
It is always a joy to go and see productions staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company. Their pantomimes are always full of laughs and that hasn’t changed for their latest one based on the classic tale of The Sleeping Beauty.
This version of the story was written by Norman Robbins who wrote many pantomimes based on traditional stories. To find out more do check out the website for him. The Chameleons have performed nine of his scripts, the most they’ve put on by any pantomime writer. This includes The Dragon of Wantley, which I reviewed here a couple of years ago.
[Read more…] about Review: The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Sleeping Beauty
By the time this post goes out, Janet and I will have seen the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Group, their annual pantomime. This time they have staged the classic fairytale, Sleeping Beauty.
I hope to share my review next week but thought I would look at the links between the classic fairytales and pantomime. They do seem like a match made in heaven – or at least a match made for the boards.
In the last two years, I’ve set up a monthly author newsletter, using the free Mailchimp plan to do so. As they say, other mailing programs are available (the other hugely popular one is MailerLite though there are others out there).
Given there is always plenty to do as a writer from getting those first drafts down to editing to getting your work out there somehow, and, of course, marketing, why bother with an author newsletter at all?
Writers often mix up their writing formats. It keeps us versatile and is fun. It is fabulous for readers too.
One author who has done this again recently is Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, who is best known for her DCI Hunter Wilson series (also called the Edinburgh Crime Mysteries). Her latest book, Hunter’s Christmas and Other Stories, is Val’s first collection of short stories. It stars her lead character but also others, including characters new to Val herself.
[Read more…] about New Year, New Writing Format for Val Penny
I love creating new characters and stories. The challenge is ongoing to come up with situations and people/other beings of choice which will hopefully grip me first and, later on, readers (hopefully).
But my favourite thing to write is dialogue. I literally put words into my characters’ mouths. That in itself is fun but it is when you get the words exactly right for the kind of character you’ve created, that is a wonderful feeling. It confirms I’ve got my character portrayal right.
First and foremost, may I start by wishing you all a Happy New Year.
How do you approach a new year? I think it is safe to say, given how 2020 turned out, many of us may approach the new time period with some trepidation. I know I do. But if I look at this from writing and reading viewpoints, the outlook is far more sunny!
There are a few things which have become almost like traditions for me in the run up to Christmas. Certainly they are lovely ways of finishing my writing year.
[Read more…] about Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023
It is always lovely to hear of friends’ publication news. I am so pleased to welcome Rosemary Johnson to Chandler’s Ford Today to share something of her writing journey with us, why persistence is such a useful quality in writing, and to tell us more about her book Wodka,or Tea With Milk.
Did you know that anything above fifty years old counts as historical now? That puts me in the historical “bin” for a start but for fiction, this applies to settings. The idea behind this is to take readers out of the events of their lifetime.
Rosemary’s book is set against the backdrop of the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s and is just “outside” the historical fiction category if you follow the 50 years “rule”. Given I remember watching the news about Solidarity, I would have sworn it was long enough ago to count as historical but apparently not quite, again if you follow the 50 years “rule”.
[Read more…] about Introducing Rosemary Johnson – Wodka, or Tea with Milk: The Road to Publication
Themes are the bedrock of any story told in any form (play, flash, novel, novella, short story et al).
Back in February, I had the pleasure of interviewing Richard Hardie about his forthcoming book, Remember, Remember, the third in his Temporal Detective Series.
The series is aimed at Young Adults. I am glad to say that many of us who no longer quality in that category, and have been excluded for some time, also find these books a fantastic and enjoyable read. One of the joys of Young Adult fiction is that it makes an excellent gateway into adult fiction – and that gateway can work both ways!
[Read more…] about Remember, Remember: Author Interview – Richard Hardie
I love editing, almost as much as I love creative writing. There is nothing to beat the initial creative spark and the satisfaction of getting your draft down on screen or paper (though I admit I’ve written directly to screen for some time now). But editing that work, improving it, giving it a much better chance “out there” is also a joy.
As I write a lot of flash fiction and short stories, as well as posts like this, I always need to find ways of coming up with ideas. It is also sensible to have a variety of methods to find ideas because (a) it keeps things interesting for you as the writer and (b) you don’t run the risk of becoming stale.
Why the latter? If you only use one or two methods to trigger ideas, at some point you will find the well you draw from dries up! Your wells of inspiration need to be topped up continually and using different ways to come up with ideas helps with that. Also this approach gives you spare wells! That to my mind is always a good idea in itself. It also keeps you on your creative toes, which is another good thing.
Remembering matters. There are some things we dare not forget. I believe in the truth of the saying those who forget history are destined to relive it. It is an honour and privilege to join in with the Acts of Remembrance for Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. The television and radio coverage is moving (as it should be).
