I have a soft spot for quizzes and word games. I’m sure a lot of writers do. Words are our stock in trade after all. Games like this help increase vocabulary and they can be good for maintaining a reasonable level of mental capacity.
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Zest In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
I thought this would be a nice cheery way to end my In Fiction series. What do I mean by zest in fiction?
Your Lead Character In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Your lead character is the star of your story. Their actions are a result of needing something (to fulfil a quest is one example) but there are obstacles. This includes other characters who are not there to make life easy. Cause and consequence; conflict and resolution – these are the foundations of any story. Your lead character drives the action.
(E)xcellence in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Cheating a bit here, are we, Allison? Maybe!
I knew X would be a tricky letter for an alphabetical series on fiction! Options were X-Ray Vision and Other Specialist Skills in Fiction. Or X-Rated in Fiction. The latter was out. Not to my taste. Not my field. Not for a family friendly online magazine! I think X-Ray vision is cheating as it limits the genres I can talk about! Just how often will X-ray vision crop up in our stories?
So (e)xcellence in fiction it is and I hope you send comments in about what you think counts as this in your book (pun intended!). Is it the plots. the characters, or the author’s style?
Writing Techniques in Fiction
Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images directly from Pixabay.
Now this topic could easily fill a book or several so this post can only be a brief overview. I focus on a few things which I have found so useful.
Verbs and Verbosity in Fiction
Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Screenshot taken by me, Allison Symes.
Now you might think one of these has an obvious place in any kind of creative writing and the other definitely not.
On the face of it, quite right too. Ironically, though there can be a place for some judicially placed verbosity but more on that shortly.
Verbs are, of course, part of the writer’s creative toolbox, along with the various component parts of our language. I use them to trigger story ideas. How?
Platinum Jubilee Flower Festival at St Martin in the Wood Church
Did you go and see the Platinum Jubilee Flower Festival at St Martin in the Wood Church last week? I’m glad I did. I went there at the weekend and was amazed by the talent in our parish. Members from the parish church have taken such a lot of effort to create a memorable, beautiful week, and have spread joy in the community.
Roy Lancaster and his wife Sue officially opened the event on the 21st of June.
Underlining in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
What do I mean about underlining in fiction?
Simply it’s how to emphasize a point to a reader without repeating yourself. It will be as the reader looks back at the story they will realise certain points were emphasized without them being aware of it. Otherwise known as planting information!
The Rule of Three In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
The Rule of Three is a classic in all fiction. It is one of the basic building blocks for successful story writing. It’s not new. Think about Jesus talking about the parable of The Good Samaritan. Two people walk by on the other side from the poor robbed man. The third one, the Samaritan, not only stops but helps the victim.
Travelling Workshops
Image Credits: Some images via Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Others directly from Pixabay. All other photos taken by me, Allison Symes, from the Scottish Association of Writers’ conference, the London Jesuit Centre and the Association of Christian Writers Golden Jubilee weekend.
It has been a busy year to date and we’re only up to June. Earlier in the year I was at the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference where I ran my flash fiction workshop. I also judged their Margaret McConnell Woman’s Short Story competition.
I’ve been on my travels again recently (and am enjoying getting good use out of my railcard once again. I am the woman who bought a new railcard two weeks ahead of the first national lockdown in 2020 in good time for going exactly nowhere – oops!).
Settings and Simplicity in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Setting often act like characters. Many stories wouldn’t work without their settings. It is as true for The Lord of the Rings and the Discworld series, as it is for Wuthering Heights and A Christmas Carol. Can you imagine the latter happening outside of London, for example? Writers can exploit settings to get more from their tales/characters.
Reading, Rhythms, and Resolutions in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Now there’s an interesting combination of topics for the letter R in my In Fiction series.
[Read more…] about Reading, Rhythms, and Resolutions in Fiction
Questions In Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
I use questions a lot in my storytelling and, to a certain extent, for blogs like this. How? Well, it is appropriate I set a question to start this piece!
Paragraphs and Punctuation in Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One photo directly from Pixabay.
Paragraphs and punctuation may not be the most immediate things to spring to mind for the letter P in my In Fiction series but they have important roles to play in creative writing.
Originality in Fiction
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”.
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?
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.
Not the film review slot
I watched the 2019 David Copperfield film recently, having bought the DVD because it was on offer in Tesco. It highlighted, or so the trailers had had me believe, the humour of Dickens’ work. Yes, there is humour in Dickens, it’s not all over-long descriptions and no pictures.
The cast looked promising (Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Paul Whitehouse) and it was directed by Armando Iannucci. What could possibly go wrong? [Read more…] about Not the film review slot
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.
Favourite Places
On a recent trip through the Midlands recently, I managed to slip in a long-promised visit to Burton Dassett Country Park, just of the M40 between Banbury and Warwick.
This was a popular venue for family outings when I was a child, but I’ve not been there for about 50 years. It is still as wonderful as I remember. The hills aren’t particularly high or steep – nothing is in that area – but on a clear day they give fantastic views in all directions.
