Comments on: The successful novelist – flash fiction story

By: John

John — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 07:45:03 +0000

Thank you for your comments to Joe and David – and to all the other Friday Fictioneers who visited and liked or commented. Much appreciated. It’s nearly time for the new week now!

By: Joe Owens

Joe Owens — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:46:11 +0000

My favorite part is “The middle-aged couple holding hands like teenagers – married, but not to one another. Here together, a stolen holiday.” Stealing time from their spouses! Very nice.

By: David Stewart

David Stewart — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 00:28:32 +0000

I like this story and it’s so true: the only way to write authentically about people is to watch people.

By: TheSupercargo

TheSupercargo — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:56:35 +0000

In reply to Dawn. Absolutely. The ability to round out believeable characters is essential. Of course there’s always more than that – plot, description, action and all the rest, but for me a satisfactory story (though not perhaps a piece of short flash fiction) has to have a recognisable person at its heart – or it has no heart.

By: TheSupercargo

TheSupercargo — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:55:27 +0000

In reply to janet. Thanks Janet, likewise. Six hour drives would certainly give you time to think. Some of my most creative thinking seems to go on when I’m swimming. The problem is always holding on to good thoughts long enough so I can make a note of them after. I’m the guy in the men’s changing rooms hunched over his smartphone feverishly keying in words. No chicken scrawl, but the spelling is sometimes a challenge to interpret later!

By: TheSupercargo

TheSupercargo — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:52:39 +0000

In reply to Kent Bonham. Well, that and actually getting words down in the right order on paper (or screen) I suppose. :-)

By: John

John — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:58:40 +0000

Thanks, Russell. People travelling are a great source for storybuilding. All honour to airports, but I used better to enjoy my annual trips home to England from Sweden by boat and train. Before the low-price air travel journeys were more of an adventure. Especially on the ferries you saw people – couples, families, groups – interacting with one another in other ways than (nowadays) at airports.
Oh dear, I seem to be getting to claiming “things were better in the old days”. Better stop! 🙂

By: John

John — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:48:42 +0000

Thank you Björn. I've recently taken to street photography (pictures over on my other site at GBG365). It calls for a bit of nerve, but I've been able to take some really nice photos and it seems to help train the eye by helping one observe people more closely. Not quite the same thing as our palace guard here, of course, but it's all grist to the writer's mill. :)

By: John

John — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:39:34 +0000

Thanks Trudy, glad you liked the story. The blog is powered by WordPress and the theme is Runo - a theme for writers made by Leena Lahti (LaLa) from Finland. I'm very happy with it. It's particularly good for poetry as it makes it easy to insert spaces into lines. But I also like the open, clear appearance. Wanting to keep the look of the theme as far as possible, I've chosen to illustrate posts with my doodles, which I save as transparent png files so the ruled lines of the background show through. I believe I've seen one other Friday Fictioneer using the same theme.

By: John

John — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:26:25 +0000

In reply to Sandra Crook. Thanks, Sandra. People-watching is a very rewarding activity. Sitting and watching people is a pleasure and lately I find myself doing it more often through the lense of a camera.