Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Is there such a thing as original fiction? Hmm… you may think that’s an odd question for me to ask and the answer to that must be “yes”.
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Names In Fiction
Image Credits: Most images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Some directly from Pixabay. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books.
Names are as important in fiction as they are to us in life. Names give us a sense of who we are. They are a major part of our identity and names can reveal so much about ourselves.
Names can indicate someone’s likely social class, whether they’re traditionalists or not, and something of their family background too. Writers can play on that to help add depth to their characterisation. Names can also indicate the genre of a book. Well, you’re not going to find the likes of Frodo Baggins turn up in a Jane Austen novel, are you?
Living without a kitchen
The Chippy household has been without a kitchen this week. Don’t worry, no disaster had occurred. This is a planned kitchenless experience; we are having a new kitchen fitted.
This gave me an excuse to revert to my scouting days (of which there were few) and bring the camp kitchen into use. It’s been great fun. It’s like camping but without the discomfort of having to sleep in a tent. [Read more…] about Living without a kitchen
Making Characters Real In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
It is the irony of all fiction writing that, while everyone knows the stories are made up, people want characters they can believe.
These characters must be true to life so a story writer’s job is to make their characters seem real enough that, if the situation could happen in reality, these would be the characters who would also exist in reality.
Laughter in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Laughter is one of the great joys of life and it has a huge range. This is reflected in fiction too. There are the laugh out loud stories, those wonderful moments of irony, slapstick, the great one-liners and so on. What matters in stories is that humour arises naturally out of the characters and the situations the writer has put them in (and often the greater the height from which the author has dropped their characters in it, the better).
Forcing humour never works. Something is funny or not, as the case may be. When I interviewed Fran Hill and Ruth Leigh on this topic, their insights showed how difficult writing writing humour can be though both ladies manage it magnificently despite writing in different genres. Fran writes memoir with humour. Ruth writes women’s fiction with humour.
At The Scottish Association of Writers Conference
Image Credits:-
Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books/Bridge House Publishing. Photos from the Scottish Association of Writers Conference taken by me, Allison Symes.
I’ve recently returned from the Scottish Association of Writers (SAW) conference, which was held at the Westerwood Hotel, Cumbernauld from 18th to 20th March 2022.
How come a Hampshire based lass ended up here? Two reasons really:-
1. I am a member of History Writers, an online group only meeting once a month on Zoom. This group is affiliated to SAW. I gave a talk to them this month on historical flash fiction. I have written some historically based pieces, hope to do more, and have a general interest in history anyway.
2. Wendy H Jones! I know Wendy thanks to the Association of Christian Writers and she is president of SAW. She also set up the History Writers group. Now I’ve mentioned the importance of networking as you make wonderful writing friends and opportunities can arise too. Let nobody say I don’t take my own advice!
Wendy invited me to judge one of SAW’S competitions – the Margaret McConnell Woman’s Short Story – and to run a flash fiction workshop. I was only too pleased to accept.
[Read more…] about At The Scottish Association of Writers Conference
Spring is here, spring is here. Life is skittles and life is Beer
The spring is sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdy is
The bird is on the wing
Don’t be absurd
Everyone knows the wing is on the bird
We’ve been in meteorological spring since the beginning of the month and today, 20th March, is pretty close to non-meteorological spring (which probably has a better name). And the weekend’s weather has also been spring-like too, for the first time this year.
What better time to visit Hillier Gardens at Ampfield and see the flowers starting to emerge from their winter’s sleep.
Here are a few photos from today’s wander. I’m not a botanist so some of my descriptions may be a little haphazard. Sorry, Wellie. [Read more…] about Spring is here, spring is here. Life is skittles and life is Beer
Journeys in Fiction
Image Credits: Some images directly from Pixabay. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos and one photo from Allison Symes.
This post is timely because by the time this goes out I will be up in Scotland again for the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference. I’m running a flash fiction workshop there and have judged one of their competitions (the Margaret McConnell Woman’s Short Story).
I hope to interrupt my In Fiction series to report back on how things went soon. And yes I loved the train journey (Waterloo, King’s Cross, Edinburgh, Croy) – the scenery on much of the route is amazing. It’s the second time I’ve been up to Scotland in the last few months as I was at the Brechin and Angus Book Festival back in November.
Imagery In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images supplied by Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.
They say that a picture is a thousand words but don’t discount those words. For one thing, one thousand words is a flash fiction story! An artist paints with oils, watercolours etc., whereas a writer paints with words. And those words can make a powerful impact on readers.
By inventing characters readers can identify with, we can use those characters to convey deep truths in what we get them to say and how we get them to act. We can also use those characters as representations. Allegorical tales are the classical example of this.
A Poem by John Roedel – “In the face of war, I’m so small – yet, love is so big.”
Recently a friend shared this poem by John Roedel. What an incredible poem. It moves me so deeply.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, I hope this poem gives you hope and comfort.
In the face of war, we feel helpless. We can’t do many things. Yet we can love. We can become a force of peace in the world. Thank you John Roedel for this beautiful, eloquent poem.
I can’t make the
world be peaceful
I can’t stall tanks
from roaring down streets
I can’t prevent children
from having to hide in bunkers
I can’t convince the news to
stop turning war into a video game
I can’t silence the sound of bombs
tearing neighborhoods apart
I can’t transform a guided missile
into a bouquet of flowers
I can’t make a warmonger
have an ounce of empathy
[Read more…] about A Poem by John Roedel – “In the face of war, I’m so small – yet, love is so big.”
Human Behaviour In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
One aspect of fiction, whatever its genre or length, is it does reflect on our behaviour. It isn’t flattering either, most of the time. The classic fairytales, for example, call evil out for what it is and the kind of evil shown in them (such as cruelty to step children) is something we see only far too often for real.
Stories tell us what we know. Even in the most fantastical of settings, there will be something we can identify with (otherwise, why would we read such things?).
And human behaviour is the direct reason for any story. We use stories to try to make sense of the world we know (and perhaps more than ever in crisis times such as the one we’re going through now with the situation in Ukraine).
Geography in Fiction
Geography may seem unglamorous but it plays a major role in many great stories. The Lord of the Rings would not work without its geography of The Shire, Rohan, Gondor and, of course, Mordor. (I’ve always loved the map at the start of the book too).
Wuthering Heights wouldn’t be the same without its geography and The Hound of the Baskervilles would not work nearly so well if the story wasn’t set in a bleak setting (to intensify the mystery as to what the hound is given it’s easier to hide something monstrous on a moor!).
Frameworks in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images directly from Pixabay.
The definition of framework is an essential supporting structure of a building, vehicle, or object. Well, that can be extended out to include stories. They need a structure to make them work.
Reducing Waste – local zero-waste shops
Has it ever crossed your mind that a lot of waste is not needed? Well, obviously it’s not needed; that’s why it’s waste! I don’t mean that. What I mean is that it wasn’t really needed in the first place.
Take tea for example. Loose or bags. It comes in a carton, but when we get it home from the supermarket, we pour it into a caddy and throw the carton away. It’s served its purpose; it is of no more use to us. It doesn’t even have cards for us to collect any more.
Or liquid soap – and other cleaning products. When empty, we replace with a new bottle, and throw the old one away. OK, we’re careful to put it in the recycling bin, but that still uses energy. And you can’t recycle the trigger mechanism.
Wouldn’t it be so much better if we could just refill our tea caddies and soap dispensers, and cut out the unnecessary packaging? [Read more…] about Reducing Waste – local zero-waste shops
parkrun rewards for persistence
Almost 7 years since my first parkrun (though parkrun was suspended for 70 weeks of that time), I have recently completed my 250th parkrun. That’s 250 Saturdays, plus a few Christmas Days and New Year’s Days, that I’ve got up early enough to run 5km at 09:00 am.
That’s some persistence – and a milestone. But a milestone that is easy to achieve. All you have to do is keep going back. [Read more…] about parkrun rewards for persistence
Endings in Fiction
Image Credit: Most images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos though some are direct from Pixabay.
A story of whatever length has to have an opening which hooks the reader in but the closing line must deliver on the promise of the set-up at the start of the tale. Weak endings leave a reader feeling cheated (aka the “why did I bother reading that” scenario and no writer wants that).
Character Types in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images direct from Pixabay.
I’m sure this topic could go on for several weeks but I thought a whistlestop tour of some of the major character types you’re likely to come across would be fun.
Best Friends in Fiction
Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Best friends, often otherwise known as sidekicks, have an invaluable role to play in fiction. They shore up, sometimes literally, the lead character who is struggling with their task. The most famous example of this is Sam Gamgee from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings who did carry both Frodo Baggins and the Ring of Power for a while as the story progressed.
Best friends are there for moral support too and to be a sounding ground for the lead character. Well, we all need someone to sound off with at times, right? And characters in stories reflect us and our behaviour and attitudes (for good and ill), so this aspect is important.
Gnomadic Restoration
I’ve been doing my own version of The Repair Shop this week.
Many years ago, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, a neighbour gave us two unpainted concrete gnomes. Despite my mother’s protestations, my father cleaned them up, gave them a lick of paint, and found a home for them in the garden. They became part of the family. We even named them after the neighbours (affectionally, I hasten to add). One of the signs of spring was “the time to get the gnomes out of shed”.
So, fast forward half a century, and one of the gnomes is now in my safe keeping. The other, alas, suffered a tragic and fatal encounter with a patio several years ago.
Although my father carefully repainted them every year or two, I have never done so. The gnome was beginning to look a little shabby. [Read more…] about Gnomadic Restoration
Animals in Fiction
Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books.
Some of my favourite childhood books involved animals. Think about Timmy from The Famous Five by Enid Blyton. I suspect he was the most intelligent of the lot of them.
I am an asthmatic, it was worse when I was a child and there was no question then of being able to have a dog of my own. But I could read about them and loved doing so. Ironically now I have no problems with having a dog as a companion and I still love reading. Neither do I mind animal characters as long as they are realistically portrayed.
