Authors Electric

  Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. I didn’t start out writing in the short fiction forms. I began by seeing if I could write a novel. I did. It went through numerous rewrites, had professional editing twice, and was longlisted in a Debut Novel competition. It remains unpublished. I became tired of the rejections  so I turned my attention to the shorter fiction forms.  It took a long time for my stories to become publishable but I wasn’t surprised. I’d been reading plenty of sensible writing advice and still do. You are warned learning to get your work up to publication standard does take time. I saw this as fair game (and again still do). I did find quickly one advantage to writing short stories was I could get far more written in the time it took me to write my novel, edited, reworked, edited again etc. I was also able to get feedback on the short stories which I used to help me improve.  That eventually led to my first story in...

Image Credits:-  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Photo of The Hayes, Swanwick and screenshot were taken by me, Allison Symes. I’ve just returned from a major highlight of my writing year, having spent six days at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in lovely Derbyshire, immersed in the wonderful world of writing. I’ve learned so much from the courses, caught up with many friends whom I only see online for the rest of the year, and I was glad to be running a two part course.    My course was on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge . I wear both hats and will be judging again soon. Seeing how something is done and why is invaluable, which was my approach for this course.  The great joy of writing events is being with like-minded people who understand your drive to write, who know what it is to have to handle rejections as well as acceptances, and to not have to explain why you write. You just do. So do they.    I’ve been g...

  I have a confession. Sometimes I change my mind. Not about big things: I still think Brexit a terrible idea, I still think marrying my husband was a great one, but on smaller issues I like to try things out. I like to try a new idea for fit, challenge it then move on.  My hair is a case in point. I have a lot of ideas about it - most of them terrible. At one time or another I have tried out most cuts, hairstyles and colours: waist length to super short crop, curly perms, root perms and ringlets, bobs, shags, page boys, the Purdy, the Farah Fawcett flick, the Jennifer Aniston layered thing, even (whisper it) a mullet. (Thankfully, most photographic evidence has been lost.) I've been several shades of  blonde, red, brown, grey and latterly lilac.  I've never been tempted by cosmetic surgery but hair grows back, most mistakes can be fixed. So, finally, I come to my point: my approach to hair is very much my approach to editing. You can mess up a lot in writing, but yo...

How does a writer get an idea for a story? I’ve read several blogs where authors got annoyed when asked this question. I don’t get annoyed, but it does make me think. It’s not an easy question to answer.  The old maxim “Write what you know” comes to mind, but what does this really mean? Does it mean the author has lived his or her characters’ lives?  I’ve written erotic fiction, psychological suspense, and mystery, and though a lot of who I am has shaped my female characters, I have certainly not lived their lives. The protagonists have been strong women who have loved deeply, travelled the world, had sex with men—sometimes multiple men at the same time.  My characters are much more interesting than I am, and that’s how I want them to be.  You can infer what you like, but I believe fiction should be more than just thinly veiled reflections of authors’ lives. As writers, we should not limit ourselves to what we know.  I can assure you I have not experienced every...

I was sent this email recently: Dear Susan, I am a 17 year old student and I have just started my Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). I found your contact details through the website " contactanauthor.com " and would really appreciate if you could  spend a small amount of your time to offer me some advice. ...I want to learn the appropriate techniques to effectively tell a story, to make a meaningful piece of writing... I understand that you may be very busy but it would mean a great deal to me if you would be able to give me some response about how to tackle writing a short story... I really feel that communicating with a professional writer will allow me to improve the way that I go about tackling this project. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this email, I hope to hear back from you. 'J'  I wrote 'J' this answer: Please don’t think I’m brushing you off when I simply say: Get some collections of short storie...