Chandler's Ford Today

stories

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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Stories in Troubled Times

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Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One photo taken by me, Allison Symes, at an Association of Christian Writers event.

Do you read more or less fiction when the news is grim? Are you conscious you’re doing so? I know I deliberately listen to more classical music, write more, read more. All of these are good to focus on, so unlike the news. I recall there was always a funny or warm hearted story at the end of the main news bulletin. Do those still exist? I haven’t come across them recently.

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What I Look For In A Good Story

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

Everyone has their own tastes in books and stories, of course. The publishing and literary world would not be so interesting and extensive if we all read the same thing. Genres would disappear and creative imagination would be limited to whatever it was we all read. But there are elements in books and stories which cross all genres. These are the things I look out for whenever I read any kind of story, regardless of its word count.

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To Outline or Not To Outline

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

Writers can fall into two categories – the planners and the pantsers. One lot plan out their writing while the other prefer to write “by the seat of their pants” so to speak. They get to their desk and just write.

But you can be both. Some writers will want to plan out, say, a novel, but don’t worry about doing this for their shorter forms of writing. I do both too. How does this work?

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Purposes of Reading

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Image Credit:  Most images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos though one is directly from Pixabay. One photo of me signing at Swanwick was taken by a Swanwick colleague on my phone.

It is lovely when themes flow well together! Purposes of Reading was a natural follow on topic from Purposes of Creative Writing last week.

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Kindness and Killing in Fiction

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My topic this time for the In Fiction series is a study in contrasts.

Kindness and killing feature heavily in fiction, the latter particularly in the crime and horror genres. Kindness turns up in the classic fairytales and in fantasy and will often be those moments in a story when our hero/heroine has to rely on someone else to help them through a difficult time. It is that break, that help, which enables them to go on and successfully complete their quest etc.

This acts as a reminder to us that no man is an island, we all need help and kindness at times, and that kindness can reinvigorate us. Fiction should reflect that.

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Human Behaviour In Fiction

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

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).

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Character Types in Fiction

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images direct from Pixabay.

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.

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Merry Christmas!

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

Have a lovely Christmas, everyone. I thought I’d share some festive flash fiction for this post.

 

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The Animals’ Christmas

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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.

The Animals' Christmas - by Aileen Urquhart (Author), Emma Repetti (Illustrator)
The Animals’ Christmas – by Aileen Urquhart (Author), Emma Repetti (Illustrator)
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Understanding

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Image Credit:  All images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

One of the great roles of reading is it can encourage empathy, especially if your first choice for a good read is fictional.

Think about your favourite books (with their excellent covers, of course – see my recent series on those!).

Think about their characters. There will be characters you love to hate, or those you want to see overcome their difficulties and so on. What was it about those characters that made you feel that way (and a well portrayed character will make you feel something)?

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Story Types

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What kind of stories do you like? I hope the sky is the limit here!

I read a wide range of stories and owe a huge debt to my late mother for encouraging my love of reading at an early age. I wasn’t to know how much that gift of the love of reading (and I do see it as a gift) was going to stand me in good stead for my writing.

Feature Image – Story Types. Image created in Book Brush using Pixabay picture.

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Murphy’s Law For Readers

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I thought a lighthearted piece would probably be timely. Last year, I wrote a piece about Murphy’s Law for Writers so I thought I would take the topic again and look at it from a reader’s viewpoint.

So how could Murphy’s Law apply to readers then? As follows, I think, but send in your suggestions via the comments box. Some of what follows will be for when we resume normal life again but the general principles apply.

So how could Murphy’s Law affect readers? Pixabay

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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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What Makes A Good Story

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How do you decide something is a good story? Do you judge that by the genre or by the quality of the characters?

For me, the latter is by far the most important criterion. Really good characters stay with you long after you’ve finished reading or listening to the story.

Like the look of this as a reading place
Like the look of this as a reading place. 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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Experimenting with Words and Form

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One great thing about playing Scrabble is it does increase your vocabulary. It’s amazing just how many three and two letter words there are. I play on a mobile app so there are no worries about losing any of the tiles either!

Mind, there have been times many years ago when I’ve played the traditional board game when I would happily have stuffed the Q, X, V, and Z somewhere I could guarantee they’d not be seen again but that’s another story! I’m less hostile to the Q now I know you don’t always need the U to go with it. [Read more…] about Experimenting with Words and Form

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Reading Journeys

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I’ve talked about my writing journey before but how about the reading one? Do you remember which book you first read by yourself or the one that was always read to you as a child because it was your favourite?

I can’t remember what was the first book I read myself though it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a picture book. Once you pick up a few words, going through a picture book to find those words for yourself because you can now read them, is special. This is yet another reason why a well produced picture book is important in a child’s reading development. They build confidence in reading and with that comes the wish to read other things. A child that lacks confidence in reading will be reluctant to try something they don’t already know. [Read more…] about Reading Journeys

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