Chandler's Ford Today

creative writing

Book Games

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I’ve mentioned before that I love word games and these can take all manner of forms from Scrabble and Boggle to The Times’ cryptic crossword. (I pass on the latter. If I go for crosswords, it is always the quick kind!).

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I will often unwind after an evening’s writing by playing Scrabble on my phone.

The advantage of using technology to play a board game is it does mean I never have to worry about losing a tile again. It does also mean I can’t lose the Q or the X no matter how much I want to at times. There is always a downside to technology!

Oh and before you ask, I have been known to get miffed when the computer, which effectively is what the smart phone is in many ways, beats me at Scrabble yet again. I am improving though.

Feature Image – Book Games. Pixabay

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Journeying into Non-Fiction Writing – Val Penny

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I recently wrote about Changing Direction here and a good example of another author who has done precisely that is crime writer, Val Penny.

Now that doesn’t mean Val is leaving her (writing) life of crime (!), but she has turned to non-fiction with the recent release of her Let’s Get Published.

Feature Image – Journeying Into Non-Fiction Writing – Val Penny. Image kindly supplied by Val Penny.

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Changing Direction

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One of the things I love most about writing is it keeps you on your toes. There is always something to learn. For my flash fiction, I am always inventing new characters to write about. So the chances of (a) being bored or (b) running out of things to write about are zilch. I like that!

And for non-fiction work, such as my posts here, there are always topics of interest to look into, research, and write about. It is also a joy to share local author news (and a nice bonus when I can include myself!).

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Being stretched mentally, whether you’re writing or what have you, is good for you. It makes you think. You develop much more as a person and I am sure that is one of the unspoken roles of any of the creative arts.

Taking part in any of the creative arts will make you assess where you are, where you might like to head with your chosen form, and so on.

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Books On The Radio – Local Author News – Richard Hardie/Allison Symes

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Books have been on the radio for a long time. Often they are read through with music played to indicate scene breaks. My favourite novel, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, was broadcast like this. (It is repeated every so often on Radio 4 Extra so so listen out for it. It’s a cracking story and the music is wonderful).

And of course books make for good adaptations – the right sound effects and music and no expensive sets or location costs! Radio has many advantages over TV here.

A lovely selection of old radio “sets”. Pixabay. And yes I recall them being called that.

Authors of course welcome the chance to discuss their books. The problem though is it is the big name authors who get on to Radio 4 etc so other writers need to focus on alternatives. With the ready availability of podcasting as well now, there’s another avenue for writers to explore whether they set up their own or are guests on them. Oh and don’t underestimate the hard work that goes into running a podcast or preparing well to be a guest on one!

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Lockdown Effects on Writing

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I must admit the one thing the lockdown has done which I hadn’t expected has been to reduce my reading! You would expect the opposite, would you not?

I’ve found writing to be no problem at all but it is as if my subconscious is saying “you can do one creative activity, Madam, but you’re not doing two”.

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Times

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I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “May you live in interesting times”. This has been linked to the Chinese but there is evidence to suggest it has nothing to do with them at all and it is in fact an English saying.

Hmm…so maybe it’s a case of good old Chinese whispers going on there I think. (Never a game I’ve liked. I’ve never got the point. Misinformation is misinformation and all that. It always struck me as a silly game.).

Whatever the origins of the phrase, it is a great example of irony in action. It sounds like a blessing but it is anything but. The speaker is really wishing you should live in troublesome times and I think it is safe to say we are doing exactly that right now.

What interesting times we live in now
What interesting times we live in now. Pixabay

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How I Feel about the Pandemic

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As I walked briskly in keeping with the exercise requirements of my diet regime, listening to the intoxicating and incessant drumming in Get Ready by Rare Earth, I had an epiphany: I could be dead in a few weeks because of the pandemic.

Karolina Grabowska photo of stars - image via kaboompics

I didn’t panic, but looked up at the sky and everything appeared so very special – the stars, the golden pancake moon darting between clouds, and even the clouds themselves for their amorphous fluffiness. [Read more…] about How I Feel about the Pandemic

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Local Author News: Richard Hardie and Introducing Francesca Tyer

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I’m pleased to share a news update from local author, Richard Hardie, and to introduce new Authors Reach author, Francesca Tyer.

Richard and Francesca have celebrated World Book Day in the best way imaginable – by talking about books and stories to school children. Encourage a love of reading in the young, hopefully that love will stay with them for life. (I know it did for me!) See both links for World Book Day to find out more. . See Richard’s report below.

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Introducing Paula Readman: What Books Mean to Her

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Paula Readman and I have publishers in common. We’ve both been published by Bridge House Publishing and Cafelit. We’ve shared the great joy recently of both of us having two stories in The Best of Cafelit 8 and also a story each in Nativity, the most recent books published by Bridge House. Naturally we are both keen on the independent small presses!

Paula R C Readman
Paula R C Readman – image kindly supplied by her

Paula is going from strength to strength and is starting 2020 off in great style with a recently released novella and a short story collection to come later in the year but more on that in a moment.

I learned a long time ago if someone makes something look easy, that same someone will have worked very hard for years to get to that point. This is true for Paula and she’ll share more about this too.

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The Long and The Short of It – Reading

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The major joys of reading are:-

1. There is at least one form to suit everyone – short fiction, long, or anything in between, and non-fiction with its infinite variety of forms from the essay to the book.

2. There is at least one genre to suit everyone – fantasy, non-fiction (think of the wealth of topics in this alone!), historical, crime etc.

3. Reading is one of the forms of escapism I love most; the other is music. Even when reading non-fiction, you are escaping the cares of the world temporarily to find out what you need to know or to improve your knowledge of the topic you’re reading.

The worlds conjured up by short stories or the longer forms of fiction can be incredibly well depicted
The worlds conjured up by short stories or the longer forms of fiction can be incredibly well depicted. Pixabay

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Numbers Into Writing Will Go

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Numbers in writing? What role do they play? In maths, obviously, but writing?

What possible role could they play in fiction, say? Surely there it is about the prose, how well the characters are created etc. Numbers turn up all over the place in writing.

Numbers into Writing Will Go
Numbers into Writing Will Go – Pixabay

Incidentally, the inspiration for the title comes from an old phrase hammered into me when I was learning  division many moons ago at school. I had to look for numbers that “would go” into another number – e.g.  2 into 4 will go (twice!) and say 2 into 5 will go (twice but with 1 left over). Anyone else remember that style of teaching?

On to the use of numbers in fiction then…

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Friends and Traditions

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This is the time of year when many traditions are upheld, of course, but I think the best involve getting together with friends to celebrate something you have in common.

For me, this winning combination works so well with the Bridge House Celebration Event held this year at St. John’s Church, Waterloo, in London on Saturday, 7th December 2019.

St John's in Waterloo was a beautiful venue
St John’s in Waterloo is a huge church. The Waterloo Arts Festival was held here in June. The Bridge House event in December was held in a downstairs room. Extremely handy place to get to from the station!

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Progress and Success and How to Judge Them

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My Oxford Compact dictionary defines progress as forward movement, advance, development, improvement and almost everyone seeks it in many areas of life. Despite the straightforward definition, it can be hard to define if you’ve achieved progress. Not everything can be measured… Even when it can be, progress can genuinely be slow. What matters overall is that there is some!

As for success, the dictionary defines it as accomplishment of aim, favourable outcome, attainment of wealth/fame etc.

Shakespeare contributed many words to the dictionary though he didn't know it at the time - Pixabay
The dictionary definitions of progress and success do not indicate how quickly these things come, if they come at all. Pixabay

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Why I Love History

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I set a word count for my CFT posts. For this one it was vital. Why? Because I can go on at length about this topic!

Many an author loves history because history IS a story (of a nation, of individuals who changed a nation’s fate etc) and it can come into their stories too.

I also believe there is truth in the phrase if a nation forgets its history, it is destined to re-live it. I can think of several episodes in British history which are best kept to the pages of a history book!

And, of course, it is why we have Remembrance/Armistice Day. It is important to remember. We should learn the lessons of history. Sadly we so often don’t. But that’s not history’s fault. It is ours.

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When Authors Talk… by Allison Symes

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Author events are fun but they all have one thing in common – the writer always wonders if anyone will show up! The relief when people do is enormous.

So if you know writers and they are putting on events, do go along. Never underestimate the value of much appreciated morale boosting support here. (The other simple way of supporting writers is to review their books on the usual sites. The nice thing with this is the review doesn’t have to be a long one).

Warning - poems, blogs, stories, novels, all writing alike benefits from good editing - image via Pixabay
Writers at work! Pixabay

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Meanings

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By the time this post goes live, Janet and I will have seen The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production, My Husband’s Nuts. Review to follow next week.

The use and meaning of language adapts and evolves all the time of course. I can think of a few different meanings for the word nuts, as I’m sure you can… The word husband cames from the old Norse phrase house and owner (and it is thought such men were more attractive partners and over time the word husband came to mean married man, but it is not how it begun). [Read more…] about Meanings

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What Books Mean To Me – Part 3

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Thank you to my guests in this series, especially for answering my first question. I can’t think of any writer who would willingly just save one book!

I conclude with contributions from Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit colleagues, discover what two fine Scottish crime writers would save if push came to shove (that’s an apt expression given what they write!), and will finally answer the questions myself. [Read more…] about What Books Mean To Me – Part 3

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What Books Mean To Me – Part 1

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Any writer will say to write well, you must read well (and widely). Every writer I know is as happy to talk about the latest great book they’ve read as well as what they’re working on. Why would you write if you didn’t love books and stories in the first place? There are two sides to this coin.

Image Credit:  A big thanks to my guests for supplying photos. Unless otherwise stated, the book and library pictures come, as always, from those magnificent people at Pixabay.

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