Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "tripping-the-flash-fantastic"
Titles - What Is It About Them That You Like Most?
What is it about a book title that encourages you to look inside the book itself?
I like titles (of stories, books or what have you) to give me some idea of the mood of the story and, where possible, its genre too.
My next flash fiction book will be called Tripping the Flash Fantastic which I think manages to do both. From Light to Dark and Back Again, my first flash collection, was specifically chosen to reflect the mood of the stories and the range of moods for the collection as a whole.
I like titles that sum up the book’s contents well. You can’t misunderstand The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection can you?! (Fabulous book too. Conan Doyle was a genius and I’m sure we owe the concept of the flawed detective to him. Certainly he can take the credit for popularising it at least. Holmes’ drug addiction would still be controversial now. As an aside, I wonder if that is why Conan Doyle chose that, believing drug use would never be uncontroversial. Just a thought).
For my flash fiction stories, especially for those competitions and markets where the title is included in the word count, I like to keep titles short. I’m also fond of alliteration every now and again. Well, let’s face it Pride and Prejudice is a much more memorable title than Jane Austen’s first idea, First Impressions. (To be fair that would’ve worked. It’s not a bad title. It is a question, I think, of working out what is better for your work and she certainly did that).
Some of my favourite book titles include:-
The Lord of The Rings. Doesn’t that make you want to find out who the Lord is and why the Rings matter?
Interesting Times (Pratchett). Again, doesn’t that make you want to discover what the interesting times are and who they are happening to?
Murder on the Orient Express. My favourite Christie novel for many reasons but the title is an instant attention grabber.
It is the book title that makes me want to read the book’s blurb and, from there, the opening paragraph or two.
Yes, a good cover will catch my eye and it is important but if the title intrigues me, then even if the cover isn’t as good as it could be, I’ll try the book.
I like titles (of stories, books or what have you) to give me some idea of the mood of the story and, where possible, its genre too.
My next flash fiction book will be called Tripping the Flash Fantastic which I think manages to do both. From Light to Dark and Back Again, my first flash collection, was specifically chosen to reflect the mood of the stories and the range of moods for the collection as a whole.
I like titles that sum up the book’s contents well. You can’t misunderstand The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection can you?! (Fabulous book too. Conan Doyle was a genius and I’m sure we owe the concept of the flawed detective to him. Certainly he can take the credit for popularising it at least. Holmes’ drug addiction would still be controversial now. As an aside, I wonder if that is why Conan Doyle chose that, believing drug use would never be uncontroversial. Just a thought).
For my flash fiction stories, especially for those competitions and markets where the title is included in the word count, I like to keep titles short. I’m also fond of alliteration every now and again. Well, let’s face it Pride and Prejudice is a much more memorable title than Jane Austen’s first idea, First Impressions. (To be fair that would’ve worked. It’s not a bad title. It is a question, I think, of working out what is better for your work and she certainly did that).
Some of my favourite book titles include:-
The Lord of The Rings. Doesn’t that make you want to find out who the Lord is and why the Rings matter?
Interesting Times (Pratchett). Again, doesn’t that make you want to discover what the interesting times are and who they are happening to?
Murder on the Orient Express. My favourite Christie novel for many reasons but the title is an instant attention grabber.
It is the book title that makes me want to read the book’s blurb and, from there, the opening paragraph or two.
Yes, a good cover will catch my eye and it is important but if the title intrigues me, then even if the cover isn’t as good as it could be, I’ll try the book.
Reading Aloud
I had the great joy of reading two stories from my new book, Tripping the Flash Fantastic, today. I chose The Pink Rose and Enough Is Enough. One is a moving tribute to someone special to me and the other is a wry tale about someone who changes her life and gets her own back on those who humilated her.
I love listening to stories and it was great to hear stories from Dawn Knox and Gill James too at this online event.
There is something so soothing, I think, in being read to like this. And, of course, from a writer's viewpoint, you get to hear the rhythm of dialogue from other people's stories and you can of course learn from that for your own work.
I loved being read to when I was a kid and later, on becoming a mum, loved reading to my son. The first novel I read to him was Kenneth Graeme's The Wind in the Willows. Yes, it went down very well with all of us!
Do you remember which book you cherished having read to you when you were a kid? Equally, what was your favourite book to read out loud to your children?
I see storytime like this (and this afternoon's event was kind of like a storytime for adults I thought) as so important. In our current situation with the pandemic, the joy of stories and books and being read to cannot be lauded loud enough I feel.
I love listening to stories and it was great to hear stories from Dawn Knox and Gill James too at this online event.
There is something so soothing, I think, in being read to like this. And, of course, from a writer's viewpoint, you get to hear the rhythm of dialogue from other people's stories and you can of course learn from that for your own work.
I loved being read to when I was a kid and later, on becoming a mum, loved reading to my son. The first novel I read to him was Kenneth Graeme's The Wind in the Willows. Yes, it went down very well with all of us!
Do you remember which book you cherished having read to you when you were a kid? Equally, what was your favourite book to read out loud to your children?
I see storytime like this (and this afternoon's event was kind of like a storytime for adults I thought) as so important. In our current situation with the pandemic, the joy of stories and books and being read to cannot be lauded loud enough I feel.
Book Covers
I’ve been thinking about book covers a lot in the last few months.
That’s partly due to the release of my own new book, Tripping The Flash Fantastic, but the book cover is the first thing that draws a potential reader.
If they like the cover, they’ll look at the blurb. If they like the blurb, they’ll probably look at the first few paragraphs and then hopefully buy the book. I’ve done this so often myself.
So what is a great book cover? For me, it has to be relevant to the book. It has to be open to different interpretations (so you have to open the book and see which one would be the right one). It has to be attractive, memorable etc.
A tall order? Perhaps but it is so worth getting it right.
I don’t know about you but an ill-thought out book cover puts me off from wanting to find out more about the book itself and that would be a shame.
We really do judge a book by its cover!
That’s partly due to the release of my own new book, Tripping The Flash Fantastic, but the book cover is the first thing that draws a potential reader.
If they like the cover, they’ll look at the blurb. If they like the blurb, they’ll probably look at the first few paragraphs and then hopefully buy the book. I’ve done this so often myself.
So what is a great book cover? For me, it has to be relevant to the book. It has to be open to different interpretations (so you have to open the book and see which one would be the right one). It has to be attractive, memorable etc.
A tall order? Perhaps but it is so worth getting it right.
I don’t know about you but an ill-thought out book cover puts me off from wanting to find out more about the book itself and that would be a shame.
We really do judge a book by its cover!
Short Form Collections
I read a number of short form collections because (a) I love them and (b) I’ve contributed to many of them in my time and still do, the most recent being the hot-off-the-presses The Best of CafeLit 13.
Also my flash fiction collections, From Light To Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic, come into this category too.
Short stories are fantastic for dipping into. They’re also great for helping me make up my mind what longer form work I want to read next.
I also like to ensure I have a good reading diet by reading novels, short stories, flash, magazines, ebooks etc. I’ve never seen the point of limiting yourself to just reading in one category!
But the advantage of the short form, flash or standard length short story, is in giving a reader an impact that much more quickly. For twist in the tail stories, you get to the twist more quickly too. I like that.
Also my flash fiction collections, From Light To Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic, come into this category too.
Short stories are fantastic for dipping into. They’re also great for helping me make up my mind what longer form work I want to read next.
I also like to ensure I have a good reading diet by reading novels, short stories, flash, magazines, ebooks etc. I’ve never seen the point of limiting yourself to just reading in one category!
But the advantage of the short form, flash or standard length short story, is in giving a reader an impact that much more quickly. For twist in the tail stories, you get to the twist more quickly too. I like that.
