Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "linked-flash-fiction"
Characters and Development
One of the things I love about reading series novels is you can see how characters develop over time.
The master on this for me was Sir Terry Pratchett with his Discworld novels. The development of Sam Vimes is magnificent.
Start with Guards! Guards! and work your way through to Raising Steam. Men at Arms is an excellent police procedural as well as a funny fantasy and I think it is where you see Vimes come into his own so much more.
Now for short stories and flash fiction this kind of development is harder to do because you literally have far less of a word count to do this in but it is possible.
You can have linked flash fiction/short stories where the same character turns up in more than one story, for example.
Each flash piece/short story must stand alone but when you read the two more more together you should be able to see how the character has developed, whether it is for good or not.
The advantage to the novel is you can see how the character develops over the course of one novel. A lot can and does happen over one book and even more in a series.
But whatever type of fiction you go for, it should be the characters who grab you and make you keep on reading. I know they do for me. I want to see how they develop and change even if I don’t always agree with how they do so.
The master on this for me was Sir Terry Pratchett with his Discworld novels. The development of Sam Vimes is magnificent.
Start with Guards! Guards! and work your way through to Raising Steam. Men at Arms is an excellent police procedural as well as a funny fantasy and I think it is where you see Vimes come into his own so much more.
Now for short stories and flash fiction this kind of development is harder to do because you literally have far less of a word count to do this in but it is possible.
You can have linked flash fiction/short stories where the same character turns up in more than one story, for example.
Each flash piece/short story must stand alone but when you read the two more more together you should be able to see how the character has developed, whether it is for good or not.
The advantage to the novel is you can see how the character develops over the course of one novel. A lot can and does happen over one book and even more in a series.
But whatever type of fiction you go for, it should be the characters who grab you and make you keep on reading. I know they do for me. I want to see how they develop and change even if I don’t always agree with how they do so.
Series Books -v- Stand Alones
Do your prefer series books or stand alones? I love both, naturally and can see the merits in both.
Sometimes a story can only be told in one book - The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a great example of that. Nothing can be added.
But I do love series books, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the major characters develop over time. Indeed, you can follow a whole life story for them within the overall plots of the individual books.
Sam Vimes is the best example here as you see him go from being a drunk copper to becoming a heroic copper who marries the fabulous Lady Sybil Ramkin (what she doesn’t know about dragons isn’t worth knowing) and then on to being a Duke, still being heroic and never losing sight of himself.
He’s not one for whom fame would get to his head. Love all of that. And you get to see that slowly revealed over many novels.
This kind of thing I think is the best feature of series books and is why crime series tend to do so well. You follow the results of the individual case plus you catch up on what the lead characters have done/are doing. Plenty to like there.
In my field, short fiction, you obviously get to have lots of stand alone stories but you can have series ones too. I write linked flash fiction sometimes where a character will turn up in more than one tale yet each story is its own complete tale. Fun to do and a good challenge.
Am glad to say I will have a new book out next year (more details nearer the time) and I have had fun with linked flash in that. Looking forward to saying more about this later. But you can have series and stand alones in short stories and flash fiction too.
Sometimes a story can only be told in one book - The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a great example of that. Nothing can be added.
But I do love series books, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the major characters develop over time. Indeed, you can follow a whole life story for them within the overall plots of the individual books.
Sam Vimes is the best example here as you see him go from being a drunk copper to becoming a heroic copper who marries the fabulous Lady Sybil Ramkin (what she doesn’t know about dragons isn’t worth knowing) and then on to being a Duke, still being heroic and never losing sight of himself.
He’s not one for whom fame would get to his head. Love all of that. And you get to see that slowly revealed over many novels.
This kind of thing I think is the best feature of series books and is why crime series tend to do so well. You follow the results of the individual case plus you catch up on what the lead characters have done/are doing. Plenty to like there.
In my field, short fiction, you obviously get to have lots of stand alone stories but you can have series ones too. I write linked flash fiction sometimes where a character will turn up in more than one tale yet each story is its own complete tale. Fun to do and a good challenge.
Am glad to say I will have a new book out next year (more details nearer the time) and I have had fun with linked flash in that. Looking forward to saying more about this later. But you can have series and stand alones in short stories and flash fiction too.
