Allison Symes's Blog, page 36
January 20, 2019
Going Away
Sorry, post a day later this week, as have been away this weekend, but I use opportunities like that to revise what I am reading and what I want to take with me while away. It helps with packing too! I won't take the huge volume of stories which takes up far too much room. I WILL take the Kindle and one of my slimmer paperbacks..
So when you go away what crucial books do you HAVE to take with you?
I was catching up on Peter Ackroyd's The Civil War over the weekend - like his style and this is a period of history I know a bit about but am conscious I ought to know more. Good to get back to this book again.
I usually finish Kindle books before I move on to something else but can sometimes get sidetracked, especially if a friend has a book out I really want to get on and read, but I do catch up in the end. Am always glad to do so too.
So when you go away what crucial books do you HAVE to take with you?
I was catching up on Peter Ackroyd's The Civil War over the weekend - like his style and this is a period of history I know a bit about but am conscious I ought to know more. Good to get back to this book again.
I usually finish Kindle books before I move on to something else but can sometimes get sidetracked, especially if a friend has a book out I really want to get on and read, but I do catch up in the end. Am always glad to do so too.
January 12, 2019
Good Books
What defines a good book for you?
For me a good book is one that fulfils its purpose, whether that is to make me laugh, show me a world I did not know previously, or help me improve my history knowledge etc.
It has to keep me gripped to The End. I have to be eagerly looking forward to reading the next chapter when I read in bed. (And be mightily miffed if the Sandman comes along a bit early and I don't get to read for as long as I'd like).
A good book will have writing that takes my breath away with the joy of how it is put together. P.G. Wodehouse is the master there as far as I'm concerned.
Humorous books have to not only make me laugh out loud, but to keep me smiling until The End. I love books which are obviously funny but which raise smiles by their subtle use of language, puns etc. Again Wodehouse is brilliant here and so was Terry Pratchett.
Crime fiction has to bring out the "I've got to find out what happens next" feeling. And it must deliver on its promise. Historical fiction has to make me feel "yes, it could have been that way" and so on.
Good books I always re-read. Maybe that is the true test of a great read.
For me a good book is one that fulfils its purpose, whether that is to make me laugh, show me a world I did not know previously, or help me improve my history knowledge etc.
It has to keep me gripped to The End. I have to be eagerly looking forward to reading the next chapter when I read in bed. (And be mightily miffed if the Sandman comes along a bit early and I don't get to read for as long as I'd like).
A good book will have writing that takes my breath away with the joy of how it is put together. P.G. Wodehouse is the master there as far as I'm concerned.
Humorous books have to not only make me laugh out loud, but to keep me smiling until The End. I love books which are obviously funny but which raise smiles by their subtle use of language, puns etc. Again Wodehouse is brilliant here and so was Terry Pratchett.
Crime fiction has to bring out the "I've got to find out what happens next" feeling. And it must deliver on its promise. Historical fiction has to make me feel "yes, it could have been that way" and so on.
Good books I always re-read. Maybe that is the true test of a great read.
January 5, 2019
Story Idea Spotting
Do you ever indulge in story idea spotting when reading a favourite novel? I do!
I love looking for what I think are the influences for a writer. To me this adds extra enjoyment to the story and gives me the perfect excuse for re-reading a book. Not that I really need one but never mind.
It's my experience you never find all the influences/links in one read through! Sometimes not in two reads either!
Sometimes I know what the writer's influences are in advance because I've read interviews etc and can then have fun seeing how these play out in what they have produced. Other times I don't know and I get to play detective here.
What I like best is when spotting an influence in a book and it is clear the writer is a fan of another writer I also love. Double whammy!
Reading is fun anyway of course but for me this is extra and I love that.
I love looking for what I think are the influences for a writer. To me this adds extra enjoyment to the story and gives me the perfect excuse for re-reading a book. Not that I really need one but never mind.
It's my experience you never find all the influences/links in one read through! Sometimes not in two reads either!
Sometimes I know what the writer's influences are in advance because I've read interviews etc and can then have fun seeing how these play out in what they have produced. Other times I don't know and I get to play detective here.
What I like best is when spotting an influence in a book and it is clear the writer is a fan of another writer I also love. Double whammy!
Reading is fun anyway of course but for me this is extra and I love that.
December 29, 2018
And Happy New Year!
Following on from my Merry Christmas post last week, I could hardly call this one anything else!
So with a New Year in mind, what are your reading and/or writing plans for 2019?
I would like to read more flash and short story collections in the next 12 months plus get my own third anthology of stories finished and ready to submit. (Still very much at first draft stage).
I would like to catch up on my To Be Read pile (but I suspect that is an ambition most of us have!). I would like to submit more non-fiction pieces too.
I don't tend to take up reading challenges because I think I would feel so disappointed in myself if I don't manage them. However, I would like to widen my variety of reading (which is reasonably wide as it is but I am conscious there are many genres I haven't tried and I ought to explore. The world of books is meant to be explored!).
Whatever your plans here, good luck! Happy New (reading) Year!
So with a New Year in mind, what are your reading and/or writing plans for 2019?
I would like to read more flash and short story collections in the next 12 months plus get my own third anthology of stories finished and ready to submit. (Still very much at first draft stage).
I would like to catch up on my To Be Read pile (but I suspect that is an ambition most of us have!). I would like to submit more non-fiction pieces too.
I don't tend to take up reading challenges because I think I would feel so disappointed in myself if I don't manage them. However, I would like to widen my variety of reading (which is reasonably wide as it is but I am conscious there are many genres I haven't tried and I ought to explore. The world of books is meant to be explored!).
Whatever your plans here, good luck! Happy New (reading) Year!
December 22, 2018
Merry Christmas!
Hope you have a wonderful time at Christmas and all the best for 2019. I hope you have many fantastic book-related presents under the tree this year. One of my favourite times of Christmas Day is that lovely period when I curl up on the sofa and start "tucking into" my festive reading material!
Have recently enjoyed film versions of some of my favourite stories. Don't think you can beat the Muppets' Christmas Carol. What's not to like about Gonzo recommending reading the book itself right at the end of the film?! I'm not surprised A Christmas Carol has never been out of print since it was first published and it must be Dickens' biggest earner even now.
Have also watched the film version of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. These are two must sees in the countdown to Christmas.
Aim for next year is to try to read more (and to review more too). There's a lot on my Kindle I haven't updated as finished here! (Bet I'm not the only Goodreads fan guilty of that though).
So whether you take in your stories in book form, audio format, film or what have you, enjoy. And here's to looking forward to more reading in 2019.
Have recently enjoyed film versions of some of my favourite stories. Don't think you can beat the Muppets' Christmas Carol. What's not to like about Gonzo recommending reading the book itself right at the end of the film?! I'm not surprised A Christmas Carol has never been out of print since it was first published and it must be Dickens' biggest earner even now.
Have also watched the film version of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. These are two must sees in the countdown to Christmas.
Aim for next year is to try to read more (and to review more too). There's a lot on my Kindle I haven't updated as finished here! (Bet I'm not the only Goodreads fan guilty of that though).
So whether you take in your stories in book form, audio format, film or what have you, enjoy. And here's to looking forward to more reading in 2019.
December 15, 2018
Christmas Wish List
Naturally I'm assuming books are high up on your Christmas wish list. I would like to add to that though the following:-
1. More time to read!
2. More time to re-read old favourites. Does anyone else feel a pang of guilt sometimes when you really want to go back to a novel you've read a few times when you know there are so many other books you really should be getting on with and reading? That you actually want to read but the "clarion call" of the old favourite just can't be resisted.
3. Being able to read "children's" books without feeling guilty or embarrassed. Incidentally I understand the point of more grown up covers for certain books to get around this issue but for me this doesn't really work. I like the original covers far better in the majority of cases and want to stick with those!
4. That all adaptations of stories and books do justice to their source materials. Too many don't!
5. That I can always find a bookmark when I want one. (I either have LOADS when I don't need them or none at all. Don't ask... it is the way it is!).
Hope you have a book and story filled Christmas. The joy of the winter months is WANTING to stay indoors and curl up with a good book!
1. More time to read!
2. More time to re-read old favourites. Does anyone else feel a pang of guilt sometimes when you really want to go back to a novel you've read a few times when you know there are so many other books you really should be getting on with and reading? That you actually want to read but the "clarion call" of the old favourite just can't be resisted.
3. Being able to read "children's" books without feeling guilty or embarrassed. Incidentally I understand the point of more grown up covers for certain books to get around this issue but for me this doesn't really work. I like the original covers far better in the majority of cases and want to stick with those!
4. That all adaptations of stories and books do justice to their source materials. Too many don't!
5. That I can always find a bookmark when I want one. (I either have LOADS when I don't need them or none at all. Don't ask... it is the way it is!).
Hope you have a book and story filled Christmas. The joy of the winter months is WANTING to stay indoors and curl up with a good book!
December 8, 2018
Finding the Time to Read
Finding the time to read is one of the most important things any would-be writer should do. We need to read widely and well to feed our own imaginations, to work out how we would portray characters and so on.
Like, I suspect, the majority of people, I save my reading time for when I'm in bed, which works fine. It took me a while to figure out that if I do actually want to read, I need to go to bed before my system tells me it wants to get on and sleep, thank you very much! But now I've finally figured that out, I relish my quality reading time.
I am planning additional periods of Christmas reading time though. I want to block out times when I do nothing but read. The thought of that is bliss! After all I carve out times for creative writing and stick to those and lo and behold I get creative writing done! The same principle must apply to carving out reading time. I'll give it a go anyway.
I do find I have moods where I just want to read books. Other times I just want to read magazines. But I think the best gift anyone can give a reader is the time in which to indulge their love of books!
Like, I suspect, the majority of people, I save my reading time for when I'm in bed, which works fine. It took me a while to figure out that if I do actually want to read, I need to go to bed before my system tells me it wants to get on and sleep, thank you very much! But now I've finally figured that out, I relish my quality reading time.
I am planning additional periods of Christmas reading time though. I want to block out times when I do nothing but read. The thought of that is bliss! After all I carve out times for creative writing and stick to those and lo and behold I get creative writing done! The same principle must apply to carving out reading time. I'll give it a go anyway.
I do find I have moods where I just want to read books. Other times I just want to read magazines. But I think the best gift anyone can give a reader is the time in which to indulge their love of books!
December 1, 2018
Being Read To
When was the last time you were read to as an adult?
For me, that was this afternoon - 1st December 2018 - but more on that in a moment.
I have, as I hope you have, many fond memories of being read to as a child. It instilled a life long love of books in me at a very early age. Thanks to Beatrix Potter, I learned the meaning of the word "soporific" early on too! Good books can do wonders for your vocabulary.
This afternoon I was at the Bridge House/Cafelit/Chapeltown Books celebration event. My favourite time was listening to published works being read out by fellow authors (and I read some too). Let's just say there are some characters I heard about today I am so glad I can never meet in life. One in particular had a penchant for getting away with... well to say more would give the plot away! Oh and I wouldn't want to meet all of MY characters either!
But it was such a joy just sitting back and listening. I love audio books but there is nothing to beat hearing an author read out their own work. Dickens was definitely on to something there! I don't know quite what it is but, even in a tale that has you gripped to the edge of your seat, there is something soothing in being read to.
For me, that was this afternoon - 1st December 2018 - but more on that in a moment.
I have, as I hope you have, many fond memories of being read to as a child. It instilled a life long love of books in me at a very early age. Thanks to Beatrix Potter, I learned the meaning of the word "soporific" early on too! Good books can do wonders for your vocabulary.
This afternoon I was at the Bridge House/Cafelit/Chapeltown Books celebration event. My favourite time was listening to published works being read out by fellow authors (and I read some too). Let's just say there are some characters I heard about today I am so glad I can never meet in life. One in particular had a penchant for getting away with... well to say more would give the plot away! Oh and I wouldn't want to meet all of MY characters either!
But it was such a joy just sitting back and listening. I love audio books but there is nothing to beat hearing an author read out their own work. Dickens was definitely on to something there! I don't know quite what it is but, even in a tale that has you gripped to the edge of your seat, there is something soothing in being read to.
November 24, 2018
Impact of Writing
The impact of writing on the world in general cannot be underestimated.
As well as the Bible, Shakespeare, Dickens etc., all of which have contributed so much to our language and whose stories have been the inspiration for so many others, there are things like the Domesday Book and Magna Carta.
Historical documents which colour so much else in life and law. Nobody could have foreseen at the time of writing just how much impact these would have (though there would have been many hopes about the Magna Carta. Not least that King John was hoping to get rid of it again as soon as he possibly could! An early recognition of dangerous writing perhaps?).
What makes us love our favourite books and stories the way we do? It is also down to impact. The impact of them stays with us. We want to be like the heroic lead characters perhaps. We feel fear for the characters we love as they face dangers. We feel relief, joy etc when our favourites survive.
So do writers' play with their readers' emotions then? Yes but it is always best done subtly. The reader has to be willing to go along with the writer here. The writer has to deliver on the promise of his/her opening lines. We have got to be able to identify with those in the story to want to find out whether they make it through to the end or not.
So the impact of writing is everything then. As readers then we need to decide what impact we want to experience.
As well as the Bible, Shakespeare, Dickens etc., all of which have contributed so much to our language and whose stories have been the inspiration for so many others, there are things like the Domesday Book and Magna Carta.
Historical documents which colour so much else in life and law. Nobody could have foreseen at the time of writing just how much impact these would have (though there would have been many hopes about the Magna Carta. Not least that King John was hoping to get rid of it again as soon as he possibly could! An early recognition of dangerous writing perhaps?).
What makes us love our favourite books and stories the way we do? It is also down to impact. The impact of them stays with us. We want to be like the heroic lead characters perhaps. We feel fear for the characters we love as they face dangers. We feel relief, joy etc when our favourites survive.
So do writers' play with their readers' emotions then? Yes but it is always best done subtly. The reader has to be willing to go along with the writer here. The writer has to deliver on the promise of his/her opening lines. We have got to be able to identify with those in the story to want to find out whether they make it through to the end or not.
So the impact of writing is everything then. As readers then we need to decide what impact we want to experience.
November 17, 2018
Mixing It Up
I like to mix up what I read in terms of genre and word count. I love (and write) flash fiction, likewise short stories, but there are times when nothing but a full length novel will do. There is no way Tolkein could have done justice to The Lord of the Rings in three short stories!!
Having said that, I am still stunned they managed to get three films out of The Hobbit, given it was only one book. Hey ho...
The correct word count for any story, of course, is when no more can be said and when to remove anything would be to the detriment of the tale in some way.
I think as a reader of too many years to count, you do develop an instinctive feeling for when a writer has got the word count right. I want to feel at the end of a story disappointed it has come to an end, but at the same time, know within myself, there really was no more to be said. Naturally that's a challenge to me for my own writing but this is a good thing. It keeps me on my toes!
One of the things I love about creative writing is one of the best tips any writer has to improve their skills is to read widely and across the genres, including non-fiction. You do learn by absorbing what others have done before you. Absolutely no problem with that, then, and bring it on!
Having said that, I am still stunned they managed to get three films out of The Hobbit, given it was only one book. Hey ho...
The correct word count for any story, of course, is when no more can be said and when to remove anything would be to the detriment of the tale in some way.
I think as a reader of too many years to count, you do develop an instinctive feeling for when a writer has got the word count right. I want to feel at the end of a story disappointed it has come to an end, but at the same time, know within myself, there really was no more to be said. Naturally that's a challenge to me for my own writing but this is a good thing. It keeps me on my toes!
One of the things I love about creative writing is one of the best tips any writer has to improve their skills is to read widely and across the genres, including non-fiction. You do learn by absorbing what others have done before you. Absolutely no problem with that, then, and bring it on!
