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My Top Five Writing Exercises

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Image Credits:   Images were created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

I love writing exercises as I’ve shared before in previous posts (see Related Posts below). Writing exercises encourage lateral thinking. I’ve had far more story ideas thanks to using these.

You can get used to thinking in certain ways for your next idea (especially for short form writing where you need to constantly invent things) so it can be easy to become “bored” or to run out of inspiration. You don’t want it to be a case of same old, same old here.

So mixing up how you approach writing stories is a good idea. It keeps you on your creative toes as well which is never a bad thing.

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History – Fact and Fiction

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Image Credits:- 
Images created via Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images directly from Pixabay. My book cover image from Chapeltown Books.

Earlier this month, I had the great pleasure and privilege of presenting to an online history group a PowerPoint on Josephine Tey (author of The Daughter of Time) and Philippa Langley (co-author, with Michael Jones, of The Search for Richard III: The King’s Grave, and, more recently, The Princes in the Tower, where she is sole author).

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Author Interview – Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, In Film, and In Writing – Part 2

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Sophie Neville for supplying book and author pics. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos or are images supplied by Sophie Neville or are from Pixabay directly or are from the CFT archives. Screenshot taken by me, Allison Symes. Images from Sophie Neville’s website are used with her express and kind permission. Thank you, Sophie.

It’s a joy to welcome back Sophie Neville to Chandler’s Ford Today. If anyone could be said to have a life immersed in creativity, it is Sophie Neville. She has starred in films (best known role was Titty in Swallows and Amazons which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year); she has been on television in front of and behind the camera; she is an artist with many exhibitions to her name; and she is an award winning script writer.

That is only a brief summary! Do check out her news, YouTube and social media links, all of which are at the bottom of this interview.

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Author Interview: Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, in Film, and in Writing – Part 1

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Sophie Neville for supplying book and author pics. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos or are from Pixabay directly. Images from Sophie Neville’s website are used with her express and kind permission. Thank you, Sophie.

It is a huge pleasure to welcome fellow member of the Association of Christian Writers, Sophie Neville, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Sophie is best known for her role as Titty in Swallows and Amazons, that well loved children’s film classic. She went on to appear in The Two Ronnies, Doctor Who, Animal Magic, Songs of Praise, Crossroads, and Nationwide, and these are just a few of her TV and film credits. For a full listing do visit her website.

I remember Swallows and Amazons and The Two Ronnies in particular. I loved their Charley Farley and Piggy Malone, in which Sophie appeared. For full details of Sophie’s extensive TV and film work, do check out the link.

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Questions and Answers for Characters

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images

As I write a lot of stories, I have to find ways to continually invent characters. One useful way of doing this is to outline my characters (rather than the plot) as by knowing more about them, I can figure out what trouble I can land them in – such fun! Plots come from that. Outlines don’t have to be long. It is a question of working out what you need to know. That will vary from writer to writer.

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The Treasure of Easter! By Canon Paul Hardingham

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Author: Canon Paul Hardingham

It’s amazing what treasure can be unearthed with metal detectors! In this season of Easter, let’s rediscover the greatest unburied treasure of the Resurrection.

The Apostle Peter reminds us that God ‘has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.’ (1 Peter 1: 3,4). What does he say about this treasure?

resurrection-image by geralt via pixabay

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PowerPoint

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

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.

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Online Workshops

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

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!

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The Task of the Opening Lines

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

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?

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Our Roman Road

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Recently I was at the public consultation for review of the proposed new development at Velmore Farm. While looking at the maps, I noticed that the site of a Roman road runs through the new development. So, when I was sending in my views on the new development (please ensure no flooding / make provision for GPs and dentists / how can the roads cope with the extra traffic?), I also asked if this historic road could somehow be conserved. There may not be much to be seen now, but I felt it was important it was at least signposted and not built upon.

So what was this road? Where did it go? [Read more…] about Our Roman Road

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Light Writing

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

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.

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Ways Into Creating Characters

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

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.

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Writing Themes and Saints’ Days

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Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One image directly from Pixabay.

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.

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Planning Out Your Writing

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

I’m a great believer in planning out my writing for various reasons.

  • Planning out what I write when means I don’t miss deadlines. This is vital for posts such as this but also for short story and flash fiction competitions.

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Review: The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Sleeping Beauty

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Image Credits: Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. A huge thank you to The Chameleons for kind permission to use their photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

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.

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Fairytales and Pantomime

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Thought you would want to know, given the topic for this week’s post, that the font used in my Book Brush pictures is actually called Aladin! How apt! (Yes, US spelling here).

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.

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Newsletter Tips

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

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?

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New Year, New Writing Format for Val Penny

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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.

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The Joys of Writing Dialogue

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

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.

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Approaching A New Year

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Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshot of December 2023 Writers’ Narrative magazine taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Images of me at the Book Fair at The Hilt taken by Richard Hardie – thanks, Richard. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for the photo of me at my editing workshop in Swanwick in August 2023.

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!

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