Chandler's Ford Today

fiction

Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

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Image Credits:- Many thanks to Joan Livingston and Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog) for supplying author and book cover pictures and Sarah Holbrook for supplying a further two author shots. Other images were created in Book Brush using their images or Pixabay photos.

It can be a small world. The same applies to the writing one. I’ve followed Joan Livingston (via her Substack) for some time and recently discovered she is a friend of Val Penny, whom I met at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and have interviewed here. Now it is Joan’s turn to be put under the spotlight.

This interview forms part of Joan’s blog tour for her new book in her Isabel Long series, Finding The Source. The blog tour has been organised by Lynsey Adams from the Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

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Flash Fiction Collections

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Image Credits:-  Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images are from Chapeltown Books/Bridge House Publishing.

I make a point of mixing up what I read in terms of genre and type of story. So as well as reading novels, I read novellas and, naturally for me, flash fiction and short story collections.

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Stand Alone Books

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Image Credits:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books.

I love reading stand alone novels. One of my favourites here is The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. The story is complete. There could not be a follow up. But especially in genre fiction, there is a lot of the room for the series novels. Crime and historical fiction seem to me to lead the way there. I will be interviewing an American author shortly who is renowned for her crime series, but I thought for this post I’d take a look at the joys and challenges of writing stand alone books.

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Returning to The Writers’ Summer School Swanwick for 2025

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Image Credits:-
One image created in Book Brush using my photos. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. One image directly from Pixabay. Many thanks also to Penny Blackburn and Joy Wood for supplying author pictures. Also thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me when I ran an editing course at Swanwick in 2024. Other photos of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes.

It is always a pleasure to return to The Hayes, Swanwick, Derbyshire for my big writing event of the year – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I spend a fabulous few days in the company of friends, enjoy making new friends, and learn so much from the courses and workshops on offer. I am immersed in the world of writing and it is a wonderful, tiring, and inspirational experience.

This year, the weather was gloriously sunny. We appreciated the air conditioning in the rooms where the workshops were being held, and there were new additions to the grounds at The Hayes. I do not remember seeing the goats before.

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Author Interview: Introducing Esther Chilton and The Secret Dragon

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Image Credits:- 
Many thanks to Esther Chilton for supplying book cover and author shots. Images from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or images supplied by Esther Chilton.

It is a great privilege and pleasure to welcome Esther Chilton to Chandler’s Ford Today. Esther is a fellow flash fiction writer, a tutor for the Writers’ Bureau, runs workshops and goes to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which, naturally, is where we met. She will be running a course on flash fiction there this year.

But as well as writing for adults, Esther also writes for children in the 5 to 7 years old category. Her new book, The Secret Dragon, comes out on 25th July.

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Breaking Down Why A Story Works

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

Breaking down why a story works may seem a strange thing to do. Surely you just want to read an enjoyable tale and move on to the next one, ideally having a good mix of genres, classic and contemporary works as part of your “reading diet”?

Well, yes, but if you want to write your own stories, it does pay you to work out what it is you love about those you enjoy reading. You will learn a great deal from this, some of which at least you will be able to apply to your own writing.

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Quizzing Your Characters

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

Now I’m fond of a good quiz (Pointless, Mastermind, University Challenge etc) and I always count it as a good day if I get the book/author related questions right. I do feel like I’m a numpty if I don’t!

But I also use quizzing techniques when it comes to creating stories. One way I do this is to quiz potential characters. I want to find out just what it is about them which means I should write their story up. I see it almost like interviewing a potential actor for a role. I must get my cast right. If they don’t fascinate me, they’re unlikely to work their charms on potential readers.

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Why Write Fiction

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

This may be a strange question for a fiction writer to ask but it’s not a bad thing to look into as it ties in closely with why write at all. I believe the creative arts as a whole are worth celebrating and supporting. Fiction writers, though, have the chance to show reflections on humanity’s behaviour all through the medium of entertaining stories.

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Thoughts on Editing

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

Now I’ll put my hands up and admit to being biased about editing. Well, I am an editor so I would be. But my experience wearing a writer’s and editor’s hat (and sometimes both together) is there is no middle ground here. People love it or hate it.

Before becoming an editor, when I found my acceptances were increasing when I put in decent editing work on my own stories, that changed my attitude too. I thought I’d share some thoughts on editing here which I’ve found helpful with my writing. (A lot of them can apply to when I’m editing someone else too).

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Honest and Dishonest Characters

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

It is ironic that, regardless of whether you create honest or dishonest characters or both, you do have to be honest about how you create them. What do I mean by that?

I mean you create a character who is fully rounded, where readers can see why they are the way they are, even if they disagree with them, and your characters are not set up as cardboard cutouts. They have to seem real and believable, an honest creation if you like.

But you can have fun with honest and dishonest characters and naturally literature abounds with both kinds.

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What You Need to Know About Character Creation

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Image Credit:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

As I write a lot of flash fiction and short stories, I need to create a lot of characters. I do re-use some but not many compared to the numbers I’ve created in total. My characters often have one story in them, though occasionally one may play a “bit part” role in another tale.

For me, any good story of whatever length is all about what happens and, specifically, what happens to the lead character. I must know what happens to them. I must care about what happens too, even if they’re a villain and I am hoping their evil plans will fail. I also need to know whose story it is.

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Writers and Stationery – A Match Made In Heaven

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Image from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick was taken by me, Allison Symes. Two images directly from Pixabay.

With apologies to the late Jane Austen, I will start by saying it is a truth universally acknowledged that writers have two obsessions, okay three if you count chocolate, but what are the other two?

  1. Books – our own and those we love reading.
  2. Stationery items – pens, notebooks, items for the computer, but especially the first two.

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What Makes A Story Work

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Image Credits:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images

You take in what makes a story work subconsciously. Even as a child, when I read the classic fairytales, I knew on the third time of something occurring, there would be a different result leading to the happy ever after ending. I had no idea that was the Rule of Three in action. I just knew if this didn’t happen, there was something wrong with the story. I also knew early on I had to want to find out what happened to the characters so there had to be something interesting about them to grab my attention (and just as importantly keep my attention going).

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Author Interview: Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Joy Wood for supplying author shots, book cover pictures, and photos of her at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Screenshots and other images from Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. Other images created in Book Brush using photos supplied by Joy. Some images are directly from Pixabay.

It is a pleasure to welcome fellow Swanwicker, Joy Wood, to Chandler’s Ford Today. I met Joy at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and we often “cross paths” via Facebook. Say what you like about social media, and many do (!), but when used properly, it is a fabulous way to keep in contact with your writing colleagues.

Joy and I celebrate publications at Swanwick

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The Benefits of Writing Exercises

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

I’m regularly on both sides of the writing exercise equation as I do them often and set them too. I run a monthly flash fiction group on Zoom for the Association of Christian Writers which is great fun and I set exercises as part of the topic for the evening.

I also have been to many workshops and courses and continue to do so (especially The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which I’m looking forward to going to again this year). Inevitably writing exercises are set in these things.

There is a huge variety of writing exercises to try. I’ve developed some firm favourites which I often use to inspire ideas for stories I submit to places such as Friday Flash Fiction, where I have a 100 word story published most weeks.

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Author Interview: Introducing Gemma Owen-Kendall

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog and Gemma Owen-Kendall for supplying author and book cover pics including from her launch for Red Daisy at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Other images created in Book Brush using images from Lynsey, Gemma or Pixabay. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos of the grounds from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

As you know, one of my highlights of my writing year is to go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick held at The Hayes in Derbyshire in August. As well as enjoying the fabulous workshops and courses (and having had the privilege of leading some there too), the other biggest joy is in getting to meet other authors.

Why? Because it is so liberating to share the joy of creative writing with others who “get it”. There is no need to explain why you write here. We just do and we share many tips and tales of our writing lives with each other during this event.

In 2024, Gemma Owen-Kendall got to launch her debut novel, Red Daisy, published by SpellBound Books, at The Writers’ Summer School in their wonderful Book Room.

Many congratulations, Gemma, on this and welcome to Chandler’s Ford Today. It is always a joy and privilege to discuss writing journeys with other authors here but before I put some questions to Gemma, please find below her author bio and a blurb for Red Daisy. This interview is part of a book blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

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BOOK FAIR AT THE HILT – SATURDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2024

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Vie Portland for providing the poster for the Book Fair. One image created in Book Brush using the poster.

BOOK FAIR AT THE HILT 2024

 

I’m delighted to say the Book Fair is back at The Hilt, Chandler’s Ford, this Saturday 19th October from 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm.

Entry is free, there will be a wide range of books available from our talented local authors, so do come along. You could even start your Christmas book buying early, assuming you haven’t already of course!

There will be talks from some of the authors too.

Come and say hello and hopefully go home with books, knowing your seasonal present list has now had some items ticked off it!

See you there.

Allison Symes

At the Book Fair in 2023 – hopefully see you at this year’s one on 19th October 2024.
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Catching Up with Ruth Leigh – The Further Adventures of Isabella M Smugge

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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.

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Random Generators

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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.

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Questions and Answers In Writing

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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.

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