1. What gave me the idea for Helping Out, my Baubles story?
I love all fairy tales but have a very soft
spot indeed for humorous ones. I liked
the idea of two magical beings, meant to be rivals, a fairy and a witch,
teaming up to combat their respective bosses’ scheming. After all in extremis people often do unite against a common foe so why
shouldn’t that happen in the fairy tale world?
I also liked the idea of how our view of fairies (”good”) is challenged
by how my narrator witch sees them. “If
anyone’s told you fairies are gracious, forget it.” I was also inspired by a
comment I came across once that in Parliament it is very common for MPs to be
good friends with those who sit opposite them in the House of Commons/Lords and
it is because they are not rivals for
jobs. Their own colleagues are, of
course. So I thought I would apply that
idea to this story and see where it took me.
I loved writing it.
2. How would I describe my normal style of writing?
I
describe my writing as “fairytales with bite”.
I love reading and writing quirky fiction. I am inspired by Jane Austen (for irony),
Wodehouse (general humour) and Pratchett (for proving a fictional, fantastical
world can be very funny). I love writing
short stories (including flash fiction).
I like to get inside my characters’ heads as quickly as possible. When I feel I know them well enough, that’s
when the story (and the fun) starts!
3. Have you published other material?
Yes. Bridge House have published me before - A Helping Hand in their Alternative Renditions anthology. It was my first ever print publication and
will always have a very special place in my heart for that reason. I have also been published, online and in
print, by Cafelit. I blog weekly for
Chandler’s Ford Today and monthly for More Than Writers, the Association of
Christian Writers’ blog spot. Chapeltown
Books are currently producing my first flash fiction collection, From Light to Dark and Back Again.
4. Do you have a writing routine?
Yes. A writing routine is crucial for me. I am a night owl so write into the early
hours. I start by writing my FB author
page spot and updating my websites with new posts (including my recently
started Word Press site Allison
Symes: Collected Works where I give
a daily round-up of what I’ve been writing where). I then get on to my blog posts (I’ve always
got at least one on the go, especially for CFT). I finish my evening by writing fiction. I find dividing my writing time into a
session for this, a session for that a really useful way of helping me to
achieve things.
5. Do you have a favourite place for writing?
Yes. My favourite writing place is at my desk with
pictures of my parents and other family members near me. I also have a
Commended for a Short Story certificate issued by the Winchester Writers’
Conference framed and hanging on my wall.
If I turn I can look through the French windows out into my garden and
sometimes do this when I need a moment or two of contemplation. Otherwise it is hands down on the keyboard
and away I go. I must confess though I
do not have a tidy writing desk. I know what I’ve got on it and why it is all
there etc but I am surrounded by papers!
Near by is a big cupboard with favourite writing books in in it (I adore
Stephen King’s On Writing in
particular) and in another cupboard are the stationery items. I suppose it is
more like a writing corner. Sometimes
during the fireworks season, my dog will curl up in the writing corner with me
(she usually leaves me alone to get on with it while she goes to sleep!).
6. Tell something quirky about me!
An extract from Helping Out
It is not
every day I get to untangle Hanacrill, a fairy who, Merlin knows how, got caught
in a Leylandii hedge but I expect anything. I’m not usually disappointed.
Being a witch
means being able to handle anything though I’m not meant to rescue fairies. Being
a witch means ensuring I’m never taken by surprise. Surprises are not good when
you live in a magical world. Surprises are usually fatal.
Why should I
rescue someone meant to be an enemy? It’s not good nature on my part, I’ll give
you that. Frankly, I owed Hanacrill.
Hanacrill, who
should have looked where she was going if she really wanted to avoid coming off
second best to a plant, rescued me from (a) the only dragon that almost caught
me out and (b) her boss, the Fairy Queen. I
don’t always look where I’m going either.
Before anyone
says anything, I should add it is not impossible to miss seeing a dragon (some
are subtle hunters, they’re not all huge and blazingly obvious) but I should
have spotted the fairy monarch given she is the one person who cannot go
anywhere without her squad of trumpeters so she has a fanfare ready to go at all
times. It isn’t just the lady on the white horse on her way to Banbury Cross
that likes music wherever she goes.
Our “dear”
Queen has not heard of the term “noise nuisance” incidentally. If I didn’t want
to live, I’d tell her what it was soon enough. You try naming a quiet
trumpeter! It just can’t be done. And not everyone wants to know where Her Nibs
is or to have their time of peace and quiet disturbed by a wretched fanfare.
Hanacrill is
the top performing fairy in the Kingdom (it makes me wonder what the others fly
into) and I’m the best witch, bar my boss. She
frightens everybody. Even the Queen has avoided confrontation with her. Her
Nibs says she doesn’t want war. She doesn’t want to risk losing, more like it. The
coverage on our media would not be favourable and the Queen prefers good news
items that reflect favourably on her. So does my boss. My boss doesn’t get that
though.
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