Allison Symes's Blog, page 43
October 13, 2017
The Joys of Non-Fiction
Much as I love reading a wide range of fiction, I must admit it has been my tastes in non-fiction that have expanded in recent years.
I am reading more history now than before and loving it. Ironically perhaps, reading more straight history, so to speak, has made me appreciate historical fiction more.
I think it makes it easier to see or guess at the depth of research a historical fiction author has to do to be able to set the scenes of their "world" properly and to carry their readers with them. Get one historical detail wrong and that whole world could crash.
This is the big advantage of fiction, of course. You can and do totally make it up! But set a story in a known historical setting or with known historical people, then the details must be authentic.
I like the fact that non-fiction has been, in recent years, using more of the techniques in fiction to catch readers' imaginations. Non-fiction should never be a deadly dull list of dates and facts.
Good non-fiction opens up the world it is written about and makes it real to the reader. This is very similar to a fiction writer portraying characters the ready can really identify with. Catching the imagination is vital whatever genre you write in then.
I am reading more history now than before and loving it. Ironically perhaps, reading more straight history, so to speak, has made me appreciate historical fiction more.
I think it makes it easier to see or guess at the depth of research a historical fiction author has to do to be able to set the scenes of their "world" properly and to carry their readers with them. Get one historical detail wrong and that whole world could crash.
This is the big advantage of fiction, of course. You can and do totally make it up! But set a story in a known historical setting or with known historical people, then the details must be authentic.
I like the fact that non-fiction has been, in recent years, using more of the techniques in fiction to catch readers' imaginations. Non-fiction should never be a deadly dull list of dates and facts.
Good non-fiction opens up the world it is written about and makes it real to the reader. This is very similar to a fiction writer portraying characters the ready can really identify with. Catching the imagination is vital whatever genre you write in then.
October 7, 2017
What Do You Read?
I love reading fiction and non-fiction. I love the worlds of totally made up stories and hard facts. What I read then depends on my mood.
I am really fond of history so historical fiction and non-fiction has a very big thumbs up from me. I've enjoyed a few of the Ben McIntyre books, especially Operation Mincemeat.
To flip the coin over, I love fantasy and adore the Discworld novels of the much missed Terry Pratchett.
Is it good to mix up your reading? I think so. I see reading as feeding my mind so I want to nourish it well from a good variety of sources. Ideas for writers spark from all manner of places so the more open you are (and this includes in what you read), the better.
And now back to writing and reading!
I am really fond of history so historical fiction and non-fiction has a very big thumbs up from me. I've enjoyed a few of the Ben McIntyre books, especially Operation Mincemeat.
To flip the coin over, I love fantasy and adore the Discworld novels of the much missed Terry Pratchett.
Is it good to mix up your reading? I think so. I see reading as feeding my mind so I want to nourish it well from a good variety of sources. Ideas for writers spark from all manner of places so the more open you are (and this includes in what you read), the better.
And now back to writing and reading!
September 28, 2017
Goodreads Ask The Author - Allison Symes saying hello!
I've just finished creating my author profile on Goodreads and had a lot of fun answering the six questions posed on the Ask The Author page.
I do enjoy Author Q&As and would welcome questions about flash fiction and/or From Light to Dark and Back Again, my first collection of very short tales.
When not writing flash fiction, I blog for online magazine, Chandler's Ford Today (often on writing related matters). I also blog regularly for More Than Writers, the Association of Christian Writers' blog.
I've recently interviewed other writers on CFT talking about the joys and woes of writing historical fiction and children's writing amongst others. I am fascinated by why writers write as they do. I hope to interview a writer of ghost stories and crime fiction before too long.
I fell into flash fiction as a kind of happy accident. I had submitted short stories to online magazine Cafelit when I came across their 100-word challenge.
I discovered I loved writing these stories and quickly became addicted. So when Chapeltown Books were looking for single author collections of flash fiction, I knew I had to submit what I had written. Much to my delight, they published me (and I hope of course they will do so again!). I am working on my follow-up flash fiction collection and am loving writing it.
I have recently become part of a local writers' group which goes to events/holds their own so we can promote each other's work. This has been good fun so far and I'm looking forward to our Book Fair at the end of October 2017.
I do enjoy Author Q&As and would welcome questions about flash fiction and/or From Light to Dark and Back Again, my first collection of very short tales.
When not writing flash fiction, I blog for online magazine, Chandler's Ford Today (often on writing related matters). I also blog regularly for More Than Writers, the Association of Christian Writers' blog.
I've recently interviewed other writers on CFT talking about the joys and woes of writing historical fiction and children's writing amongst others. I am fascinated by why writers write as they do. I hope to interview a writer of ghost stories and crime fiction before too long.
I fell into flash fiction as a kind of happy accident. I had submitted short stories to online magazine Cafelit when I came across their 100-word challenge.
I discovered I loved writing these stories and quickly became addicted. So when Chapeltown Books were looking for single author collections of flash fiction, I knew I had to submit what I had written. Much to my delight, they published me (and I hope of course they will do so again!). I am working on my follow-up flash fiction collection and am loving writing it.
I have recently become part of a local writers' group which goes to events/holds their own so we can promote each other's work. This has been good fun so far and I'm looking forward to our Book Fair at the end of October 2017.
