Autumnal Writing by Allison Symes

Image Credits:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

In a recent ACW Flash Fiction group meeting, we discussed seasonal writing. I shared tips, not least of which is if you are writing seasonally, think well ahead of time. The women’s magazine market would have wanted their Christmas 2023 stories in by June in most cases. Look on the bright side - you’ve got plenty of time for the Christmas 2024 market by starting now!

For this post, I thought I’d look at autumnal writing. The best known example is To Autumn by Keats. His lines Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun cannot be beaten, in my view, for the sheer beauty of the imagery they conjure up. We can learn from this. 

Keats has chosen specific images. We see the mists in our mind’s eye. We know what he means by mellow fruitfulness (especially when you see wasps and other insects having a high old time of it on a fallen apple). Think about what images you want your readers to imagine when they read your work. This applies to non-fiction, fiction, as well as poetry.

Word association is a fun game but for writers it can be a useful technique in finding links. The first ideas you come up with for a word association game will be the obvious ones but it is when you make yourself dig deeper, you will discover more interesting finds. 

What did I come up with for the word autumn? Do try this yourself and two/three word phrases are useful too.

Damp, chilly, dark, wet, misty, apples, blackberries, crumbles (I’m passing on the custard - have never liked it), acorns, squirrels, leaf colour changes, Victoria creeper (there is a lot of this in my part of the world - the colour change is spectacular), sunsets.

All of these put specific images in my head. Now it is a question of choosing which to use in my autumnal flash fiction story. 

Try picking three of my words above and put them into a story. I’ve shared what I’ve done below. Hope you enjoy it. I opted for chilly, blackberries, and apples.

Autumnal Workout by Allison Symes
I have no time for those “and bend and stretch” exercises. I don’t look good in a leotard. Not anymore. Not at my age. I also like my neighbours. There are some sights nobody should have to see.

But I do plenty of bending and stretching, naturally clad in something more suited to my mature years. If I was going to frighten the neighbours, I would have done it years ago.

On a chilly autumn day, there is nothing like bending to pick blackberries from my garden and stretching to collect apples from my trees at the back. I feel virtuous bringing my harvest in but my halo slips only hours later.

Why?

Well, you simply can’t beat an apple and blackberry crumble with plenty of cinnamon in the topping, can you?

Ends.
Allison Symes - August 2023 (first published on Chandler's Ford Today)