Chandler's Ford Today

am writing

Top Flash Fiction Writing Tips and the Benefits

By Leave a Comment

Image Credits:- Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for taking the images of me at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick 2024. Many thanks to Gill James for taking the image of me reading at the 2023 Bridge House Publishing Celebration event (and it was a cold day!).

As some of you will know, I discovered flash fiction by accident. It is easily the happiest writing accident I have ever had/am likely to have and I’m grateful for it. Two published books later with a third accepted – well, it’s the kind of accident any writer would welcome.

CafeLit, with whom I’d been published for a while, issued a 100 word challenge and I gave it a go, discovered the form is addictive and I’ve not looked back.

[Read more…] about Top Flash Fiction Writing Tips and the Benefits

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Behind The Curtain with Anita D Hunt

By Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Lynsey Adams for supplying book cover, blog tour, and author pics. Many thanks to Anita D Hunt for supplying images from Cornwall relating to Behind The Curtain. Images of Anita from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, were taken by Keith Hinchy. Other Swanwick images were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the screenshot of Anita’s fascinating memory workbooks. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images with some directly from Pixabay.

It is with great pleasure I welcome debut novelist and fellow Swanwicker, Anita D Hunt, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Anita’s novel, Behind the Curtain, is a domestic noir published by SpellBound Books.

The novel was launched at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick following its release in paperback on 2nd August. Anita had the joy of signing copies in the Book Room, almost literally hot off the press.

[Read more…] about Behind The Curtain with Anita D Hunt

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Catching Up with Ruth Leigh – The Further Adventures of Isabella M Smugge

By Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Ruth Leigh for supplying author pic and book cover images. Images from the British Christian Writing Conference were kindly supplied by Social Shapes. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes. Other images were created in Book Brush using Pixabay images and/or book cover shots from Ruth. Some images are directly from Pixabay.

I’m pleased to welcome back Ruth Leigh to Chandler’s Ford Today. Ruth and I are members of the Association of Christian Writers. Last time we talked, Ruth had three books out in her funny and touching Isabella M Smugge series.

Today, 20th September 2024, will see the release of her fourth novel featuring her heroine – The Further Adventures of Isabella M Smugge. Congratulations, Ruth. Little beats the buzz of being published.

[Read more…] about Catching Up with Ruth Leigh – The Further Adventures of Isabella M Smugge

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Story Judging

By Leave a Comment

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images

Later this month, I’ll have the great joy of judging a flash fiction competition for a Scottish writing group (all done via the wonders of email). I enjoy judging and have learned much from the process of doing so in that it has helped me to improve my own work for judging by someone else.

[Read more…] about Story Judging

Tags: , , , , ,

Random Generators

By Leave a Comment

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

I often use a wide variety of random generators because I need various ways to trigger ideas for characters and stories. Having these different ways of being able to create tales is useful. Mixing up what I use is also good for keeping me on my creative toes!

I see random generators as the modern equivalent of story cubes (I use those too!). I also use books of prompts (and have contributed to some), proverbs and well known sayings (sometimes I subvert these to generate even more tales) but, by far, the method I use most often is the random generator.

[Read more…] about Random Generators

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Swanwick 2024

By Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Jen Wilson, Penny Blackburn, Val Penny, Keith Hinchy, and June Webber for images from Swanwick. Other images from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, were taken by yours truly, Allison Symes. Other images created in Book Brush using my photos.

When this post goes out, I will be back home, having recently enjoyed another lovely week at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is based at The Hayes, Derbyshire. This week sees me immersed in the world of writing, which is just one of many reasons I adore going. It is also the place from where the only German prisoner of war from World War Two successfully escaped and fled back to Germany.

On the writing front, delegates are free to choose which courses and workshops they go to and there is a wide range of topics to choose from too. There is something to suit everyone, no matter where they are at in their writing journeys.

There are four part and two part courses to choose from, as well as the one hour workshops, plus I find I always learn something useful, as well as enjoying being entertained, by the after dinner guest speakers, who are all renowned in their fields.

[Read more…] about Swanwick 2024

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Making the Most of a Writing Event

By Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots and photos from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to Julia Patterson for taking the image of me leading my editing workshop at the 2023 Swanwick.

I’m shortly off on my travels again to a major highlight of my writing year, The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in lovely Derbyshire. I meet up with friends I only see online for the rest of the year (though that is wonderful).

Indeed, one writer I plan to be catching up at Swanwick is Val Penny, author of the DI Hunter Wilson series, whom I’ll be interviewing here again next week. I hope to write more about Swanwick for a later post here but I am running a two part course called Editing as a Writer, Editing as a Competition Judge, which I’m looking forward to presenting.

I thought it might be useful to share some tips as to how to make the most of any writing event you might go to, whether it is a week long residential one like Swanwick, or a single day event. (I am hoping to get to another of those soon too run by the Association of Christian Writers).

[Read more…] about Making the Most of a Writing Event

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Writing Fitness

By Leave a Comment

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

One disadvantage to the writing life is it is a sedentary one. I compensate by walking the dog and swimming, though not at the same time! As well as being aware of the need to compensate for a stationary job, there are other ways in which writers need to think about their fitness. This post outlines some of those.

[Read more…] about Writing Fitness

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Having a Superpower

By Leave a Comment

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

I run a monthly Zoom workshop on flash fiction writing for the Association of Christian Writers. It is great fun to do and the online aspect helps so much as the members live several hundreds of miles apart so we could never get together in person.

I usually set a monthly theme and then set exercises based on that. Sometimes I will prepare an answer to an exercise to show as an example but most of the time I will write on the night of the meeting with the other members.

[Read more…] about Having a Superpower

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Decisions

By Leave a Comment

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

Every story focuses on a decision. At some point a character has to choose whether or not to act on a situation they’re facing. What they decide to do has immense consequences for that story.

[Read more…] about Decisions

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Journeys

By Leave a Comment

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

By the time this goes live on Chandler’s Ford Today, I shall be packing up after a lovely holiday in Scotland with my husband and Lady and preparing to have a long journey home again. So with that in mind, I thought I would look at journeys in writing.

[Read more…] about Journeys

Tags: , , , , , ,

Questions and Answers In Writing

By Leave a Comment

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

Questions are something I often use in my writing. For my non-fiction work, they often act as an underlying theme. I have been known to use them as titles too. For fiction, again I use them for titles and themes. In this case though I am getting my character(s) to answer the question. In my non-fiction work I’m answering it through the conclusion I come to at the end but I show my “workings” along the way.

[Read more…] about Questions and Answers In Writing

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

My Top Five Writing Exercises

By Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…] about My Top Five Writing Exercises

Tags: , , ,

History – Fact and Fiction

By Leave a Comment

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).

[Read more…] about History – Fact and Fiction

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Questions and Answers for Characters

By Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…] about Questions and Answers for Characters

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

PowerPoint

By 2 Comments

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.

[Read more…] about PowerPoint

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Online Workshops

By Leave a Comment

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!

[Read more…] about Online Workshops

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Task of the Opening Lines

By Leave a Comment

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?

[Read more…] about The Task of the Opening Lines

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Light Writing

By Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…] about Light Writing

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ways Into Creating Characters

By Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…] about Ways Into Creating Characters

Tags: , , , , ,