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.
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 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?
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 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.
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.
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.
[Read more…] about A Poem by John Roedel – “In the face of war, I’m so small – yet, love is so big.”
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).
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.
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).
Dialogue is something I love writing though I use it more in short stories (1500 words plus) than in my flash fiction (1000 words maximum).
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.
Is January your favourite time of the year? It isn’t mine. If I had to choose, I would be torn between March and September as I love spring and autumn equally.
Imagine you’re a bystander, just happening to be there, watching the nativity story unfold. Not a convenient passer-by but … an animal. The Christmas story is full of animals, from donkeys and oxen to sheep and camels, so – why not?
Sarah the spider, resident of Mary’s home in Nazareth (note: Mary doesn’t sweep away Sarah’s web because it catches the flies) observes Gabriel and the Annunciation. Daniel the donkey carries Mary and Joseph to the stable in Bethlehem where he also finds rest. Obadiah the ox, who lives in this stable, grudgingly makes room for the interloper and then is present at Jesus’ birth. Lilah the lamb comes with the shepherds, having seen the angel with the amazing news, and Khalid the camel, along with his mates Kanika and Keb, are the transport for the wise men as they follow the star.
There’s plenty of prep work going on I suspect by the time this post goes out. I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. (I’m in the middle of mine with my food shop due next week and baking still to be done but I’ll get there).
It was great to be able to celebrate with Bridge House Publishing twice in one week this year.
On Thursday, 2nd December, there was a Zoom meeting for those who couldn’t get to the in-person event in London on Saturday, 4th December. There was a quiz, a look at the books published by BHP and its imprints this year (including The City of Stories by Lynn Clement, which I edited), and there were readings.
I read Breaking Out, one of my two stories in The Best of CafeLit 10, which is just one of the many books produced this year.
It was lovely to see so many on screen and I loved hearing the stories.
It is my pleasure to welcome back Lynn Clement. Her flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, is out with Chapeltown Books and I had the privilege and pleasure of editing this collection.
Prior to that, I had met Lynn when I was guest speaker at the Hampshire Writers’ Society where I talked about flash fiction, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books, and this, I’m glad to say, inspired Lynn to start submitting work to CafeLit and then a single author collection to Chapeltown Books.
This week, Lynn and I talk about the editing process and why it is never a good idea to use song lyrics in your work.
[Read more…] about Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing
This is a lovely post to write as it is a Local Author News one for debut flash fiction author, Lynn Clement, and me. Why? Because I’ve recently had the joy of editing Lynn’s first flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, which is published through Chapeltown Books. And Lynn is from Hampshire. Definitely local enough!
How did Lynn find out about Chapeltown Books and CafeLit? Quite right – through yours truly.
[Read more…] about Introducing Lynn Clement – The City of Stories
Now this is a timely topic for me as I will be taking part in the Brechin/Angus Book Festival from 19th to 21st November and something rather special is coming up next March which I hope to write about nearer the time.
For the Festival, I’m running a writing workshop on flash fiction. I’m also giving an author talk on the ups and downs of the writing life. I’m looking forward to doing this and hope to share a report on how things went later. There are also events over the weekend I will be taking part in alongside the other authors such as the afternoon tea on the Sunday when people can come and chat to us over tea and cake. (Now there’s a civilised event for you!).
