Month: December 2020

Looking Ahead

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. (Images created via Book Brush such as the Special Note below use Pixabay).

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Picture of Lady helping me open my box of Tripping The Flash Fantastic taken by Adrian Symes. Can’t help but feel Lady looks very knowing here.

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Facebook – General – and Association of Christian Writers

My turn on the Association of Christian Writers’ blog spot. Sometimes the calendar is a direct inspiration for what I write here (I’ve called the piece Looking Ahead!). Well, given we are almost at the end of 2020 (and what a year that has been!), looking ahead does seem to me to be the most juste of a topic to write about!

Further to my earlier post about my Looking Ahead piece for More Than Writers (the ACW blog spot), I should add that if you are usually not a planner for your writing, still jotting down a few notes about what you think you might like to do is helpful.

You are still more likely to achieve more in terms of getting writing done if you write down what you think you might like to do. It is too easy to forget promising ideas when they’ve not been written down. And once you’ve forgotten them, that’s it. Any possibility of doing anything with them has gone. So looking ahead a bit does pay off, even if you decide not to look ahead too far.

For my flash fiction writing, when I know who the character is, I sometimes have the situation where I could put them in two differing stories (often one will be funny, the other anything but). I put down a few notes as to how each story could go and then write up the one I think will suit the character best. I look to play to the character’s strengths here.

The notes I make for the specific story ideas I’ve had will bring out elements to the character not covered by my initial outline as for that I was focussing on who the character is, what their major traits are etc. For, say, a humorous story, I need to look a bit deeper and work out what could be funny about the character so they “play the script” as a good actor would do.

(Never ever underestimate the foil in comedies. They are the ones that bring the humour out and the same is true for a story. Oh and for the record the finest foil the UK has ever produced in my view? Why Ernie Wise of course… Morecambe and Wise simply would not have been the same without him. Eric was the best comic this country has ever produced but he needed the foil to play to – and so does your character, whether or not they realise they are the foil to the situation you’ve put them in).

Cold and wet in Hampshire today. A little snow but ground too wet for it to settle. Brrr….. Perfect night to stay in and write then! I will be back in business with Chandler’s Ford Today this week which, surprise surprise not, given the piece will appear on Friday 1st January will be about the New Year! Sometimes you do just have to go with the calendar for writing ideas…!

I’m also looking ahead a little to a piece I am currently drafting about writing exercises and why they’re beneficial. Will flag this up nearer the time. And I can’t wait to share new series with you called Launches in Lockdown but again more on that nearer the time.

I’ve been focusing on my non-fiction project so fiction work has taken a little bit of a back burner but I am hoping to get back to that shortly. I hope to finish the first draft on the non-fiction by the end of the year (so I’ve got until Thursday basically!), I will then rest it for a while, and then resume working on my third flash fiction book. So plenty to do, all of which will be fun, but that’s the way I like things!

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)I prefer the second one inIndeed - says it all, Happy 2021 everyone

I hope you had as safe and happy a Christmas as possible. Very pleased with my new writing diary (though it has taken me ages to copy across what I need to copy across). This diary is also packed full of useful information for writers and I will be meandering my way through that in due course. Am also enjoying one of Joanna Penn’s non-fiction books which I am sure is going to be of assistance to me in the next year or so. More on that as and when I can!

Slowly getting back into the old writing tasks again though I loved writing a letter this afternoon in reply to one from a friend over Christmas. We’ve been pals (and penpals) for more years than either of us care to remember but it was lovely writing a letter instead of belting out an email or ringing her up on the phone. Can’t recall the last time I did that (though I have written flash fiction as a letter format – see my Punish the Innocent in From Light to Dark and Back Again. Not sure that counts as proper letter writing though!).

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NO POSTS FOR CHRISTMAS DAY OR BOXING DAY (can’t imagine why!)

24th December – Christmas Eve
Have a safe and as happy a Christmas as possible. Enjoy stories whether in books or on audio or via film or any combination of those! The lovely thing with stories? No calories in them whatsoever so indulge as much as you like! Nobody has ever had to diet because they read too many stories… that isn’t going to change!

23rd December
Will be winding down on the old writing front for a few days though am now relieved to have the present wrapping done and the food shopping in and away. (Lady was interested in the latter. There is no such thing as left over turkey ever again when you have a dog in the house. She has also decided she is very fond of pigs in blankets so will she help “supervise” as I cook Christmas dinner. Oh yes! Mind you, dear Gracie and Mabel took the same views here!).

Hope to be doing a lot of reading over the Christmas break. And it would never surprise me if book sales shoot up again after Christmas given so many of us are now in Tier 4. Increased book sales would at least be something positive!

A story I drafted as a response to a writing prompt has ended up being far longer than I intended so will be looking to cut it back. (Mind you, anything over 1000 words is lengthy to me!). Am starting to flesh out a few thoughts for a theme I need to write to in the New Year. And am getting ever nearer to finishing that first draft of my non-fiction book. So a good way to finish for Christmas I think.

Looking forward to catching up with favourite films etc over the festive period. I see those as another way of taking in stories and a very entertaining way at that!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

So pleased at the latest review for Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Many thanks! (And don’t forget writers will always welcome post-Christmas “presents” of thoughtful reviews. What do I mean by thoughtful? Simply, it is clear the reviewer has understood the book they’ve reviewed and what it is meant to be , even if they still don’t like it!).

Delighted to have my lovely new writing diary and have already started scribbling entries into it. Looking forward to using my new Harry Potter notebook at some point too. No doubt I’ll end up jotting some ideas for stories in that in due course.

Ideas for stories do not always come at convenient times which is why the good old notebook and pen will always be useful!

Screenshot_2020-12-29 Tripping the Flash Fantastic Amazon co uk Symes, Allison 9781910542583 Books

I had a quick look at the random question generator again and this came up. If you could go back in time 1,000 years, what year would you visit? Well, I think I can hazard a guess at one year nobody would choose to visit again – 2020!

The question is an interesting one though and has good possibilities for flash fiction writers. As well as answering the question directly, you could select the time for your character to visit and then tell their story. Equally you can pick the time first and then decide which would be the best character to write about for it. Here, you would be using the time period chosen as a setting, almost a character in its own right.

And another possibility is to have a character out of sync with the time they are in (whether this is due to their being ahead of their time, a time traveller etc, is something else to consider). What is important though is that you have fun writing the story!

Incidentally, you do not need a wealth of detail to conjure up the time period. Specific details are enough. For example, if you set a story during the reign of Elizabeth 1, showing a coin which commemorated the victory over the Armada confirms it is her reign and that it has to be after 1588. So look for specific details to show in the story. They will “punch their weight” here.

Looking forward to sharing my ACW More Than Writers’ blog post later this week. It will be about planning ahead. Sometimes, just sometimes, the calendar is a direct aid to article and story ideas!

Will be having a new CafeLit story up in January and look forward to sharing that in due course.

Just slowly getting myself back into the swing of things again writing wise and hope to be drafting flash stories later. They make for a great warm up writing exercise anyway but also a good way to get back into writing again after a break, which everyone needs sometimes. Hope you had as nice a Christmas as possible. Lady was very pleased that Santa Paws had included her on his nice list!

LADY DISCUSSES TTFF WITH ME

NO POSTS FOR CHRISTMAS DAY OR BOXING DAY (hope you had as safe and as happy a Christmas as possible).

24th December – Christmas Eve

Have as safe and happy a Christmas as possible. I hope you find plenty of book shaped presents waiting for you tomorrow. Happy reading!

23rd December

Do you think the star the three wise men followed to get to Bethlehem would count as the first example of “sat nav”? Just a thought!

There are moments in the Christmas stories which would translate well into flash fiction. For example, what did the innkeeper make of the strange visitors to his stable? It’s not every day that three wise men turn up after all.

And one of my recent CafeLit stories, Finding My Feet, looks at the Cinderella story from the viewpoint of the footman who had to travel the Kingdom to find the one girl whose foot would fit that glass slipper. What did he make of it all (and for my take on it do see the link!)?

Think of moments. So often they can be turned into stories. Not necessarily long stories but hey that is flash fiction’s strength is it not?!

Goodreads Author Blog Post – Books under the Christmas Tree

I hope there were plenty of books left for you under the Christmas tree this year. I’m happy with my selection, in particular a non-fiction one I’d had my eye on for a while, which I’m sure is going to help me with a major writing project I’m working on.

I’ve got three months now to compile a book request list for my birthday! I think I’ll manage it though!!

Unsurprisingly, Christmas is the biggest market for publishers and writers. With my reader’s hat on, it is perfect given the weather outside (in the UK) is often ghastly, what better thing to do than curl up with a book and a mug or glass of something nice to drink? And finishing the day with a good read has always struck me as an excellent thing to do.

So what made you decide to go for the books on your Christmas list? Was it a case of getting the latest by a favourite author or was there a title that caught your eye? Or both, of course?

Whatever you chose, I hope you have a fabulous time reading (and I know it is post-Christmas now but I think there is still time for the following story!).

Fairytales with Bite – Top Tips for the Aspiring Character

You are a character who wants to come to life on your creator’s page but they’re umming and ahhing about whether you are really the character they want to lead what they laughingly call their story. It is your story, naturally. They just haven’t realised it yet. So what can be done to make your writer give you your proper place in the tale? Top tips include:-

1. Ensure your personality is strong enough. Don’t be a doormat. Doormats not only get trodden on but, far worse, they’re forgotten. That must not happen to you.

2. You must have good turns of phrase so your conversation is unforgettable too. If you can be witty and come out with appropriate one-liners, so much the better. Readers remember those. Your writer should remember that.

3. Are you prepared for adventure? Are you happy for your writer to drop you right in it, several times if need be and usually from a great height? Yes? Good! They can do what they like with you then and they will like that.

Good luck! (And tell your writer to get a move on and get you in the story). (Oh and never tell them who is really the boss!).

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This World and Others – Can Cliches Ever Be Useful?

The answer to the above question should be “like the plague” really! But to be serious can cliches have a place in fiction?

Yes, they can but in different ways.

1. Above all else, they should be used sparingly. Too many of them spoils any good effect you might want to use them for and will just switch readers off. Also, don’t use them in every story you write either. Every now and again but more on this in 2 below.

2. A cliche can be a useful shortcut but choose the right one and aim for it to have a positive impact on your readers. You want them to be able to see why you used it and for there to be no stronger alternative. Most of the time there will be as you come up with your own expressions and these should be the ones you always go for first.

3. You can subvert a cliche. I’ve used “take the Garibaldi” as a subversion of “take the biscuit”. This approach can also help you convey something of character too. Someone who takes the Garibaldi is going to be of a different social standing to someone who “takes the Lidl Rich Tea” for one thing and you can then play on that for effect.

And for flash fiction, where every word has to punch its weight to justify being included, subverting cliches can be a useful tool indeed.

BookBrushImage-2020-12-29-20-2722FLASH - I would hope there would be some flash fiction collections amongst this lot - PixabayFLASH - You can set your characters anywhere in flash fiction - PixabayFLASH - Flash fiction soon teaches you how to cut unnecessary words - PixabayFLASH - Ideas will spark others, something else I love flash fiction for - PixabayFLASH - Always time for this - PixabayFLASH - Flash fiction can only show so much but that is the point - it is all on the focus - PixabayFLASH - Flash fiction, like lightning, is fast and to the point - Pixabay

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Voices, Radio Story, and Relaxing Books

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Images of me reading at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School were taken by Geoff Parkes and Penny Blackburn respectively (and in succeeding years at the school. We all hope to be back there in 2021).

Facebook – General

It is odd not writing about what my Chandler’s Ford Today post is going to be this week, but even I take a week off occasionally. A huge thanks to my lovely CFT editor for the surprise “Legends Box” parcel which reached me today. Lots of nice goodies inside with a flyer saying the sender thought I was a legend!

Better still, all proceeds from these parcels go to the Trussell Trust. Imaginative and positive gift ideas for next Christmas I think and such a lovely thing to do. So many thanks to my editor again and to the people behind the Legends Box idea. I like things like this. My church a few years back supported the Send-a-Cow charity and we managed to send two cows and a goat I believe.

I AM working on CFT behind the scenes however. I am working on what will be an informative mini-series which will hopefully go up in January plus another interesting feature with a writer/publisher. So plenty to look forward to then!

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Delighted to share the link to Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM. My story, Up to Scratch, was broadcast here on Saturday 19th December. My story comes in at about the 1 hour 28 minutes mark but the show makes for a wonderful celebration of festive flash fiction. Hope you enjoy. I loved taking part and hope to do so again at some point. A big thanks to #HannahKate and also to #ElizabethDucie for flagging this up to me.

Link:  https://www.mixcloud.com/Hannahs_Bookshelf/hannahs-bookshelf-pre-christmas-christmas-special-19122020/

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One of the highlights of Christmas for me is the Carols by Candlelight service. Of course, this year the way it is held is different. It was pre-recorded and then put on Youtube. It was lovely to be able to sing along. I gave one of the readings (I went down to the church to record it a couple of weeks back) but the whole service cheered me no end. Yes, sure, it is not the same as being there but it was the next best thing so a huge thanks to all who worked so hard on making this happen.

By this stage of the writing year, my poor old writers’ diary is looking more than a bit tired (as indeed is this writer!). But I do find this an invaluable aid to planning out what I am writing and for when. I know it seems old-fashioned to write with a pen in a paperback diary but it works for me! I didn’t use any of the writing prompts in the diary this year. I will try and make up for that in 2021.

Am almost at the end of the first draft for my non-fiction project so am pleased with that. I am on target to have this written by the end of the year (though possibly not this side of Christmas). There will be no Chandler’s Ford Today post from me this coming Friday (I wonder why!) but I will be posting on New Year’s Day. And I’ve got a good initial draft of a third flash fiction collection to work on while I’m resting my non-fiction for a while so I can resume work on that with a fresh eye in due course.

But I must admit I do hope we can get back to some sort of writing events where we can meet people. Here’s hoping!

Candlelight - Book Brush

Delighted to say it was my recording of my reading Up To Scratch that went out on Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM earlier this afternoon. Many thanks, #HannahKate for picking my story. I hope to share the link to the show in the next couple of days or so.  (Done, see further up!). Well, there is always time for a flash festive fable! (And I do hope to submit stories to Hannah’s Bookshelf in the future. Flash works well on audio given it is so short).

This story was one of those where I had the “voice” for my characters immediately and is a tale told entirely in dialogue. Good fun to do. I’ve always found dialogue tales work best when kept short so they’re a good choice for flash fiction writers.

How do I know when I’ve got the voice for my characters? It isn’t just a question of knowing how they sound funnily enough, It is a question of knowing yes this is the kind of thing they would say, the kind of vocabulary they would use because…. , and also knowing what wouldn’t suit them. For example the two characters in this story would not swear. Therefore, they didn’t!

Oh and to make sure I don’t forget to do this, please find below a little something created using Book Brush this afternoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTenqfNs3k8

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

One thing I love about writing for Chapeltown Books has been helping to choose suitable images for the book covers. For From Light to Dark and Back Again I choose rippling circles with light playing on them. For Tripping The Flash Fantastic I chose a castle with lights shining in it with lightning seeming to strike one end of the castle. That image was not my first choice but it proved to be better than what I had chosen initially given there are historically based flash stories in this book. I also liked the idea of the lightning flash as being a kind of clue to the book genre.

What I do know is you have to be happy with your book covers and a good one will convey something of what the contents are likely to be. You then hope someone picks up the book, looks at the blurb, and looks inside to find out more (before going on to buy it of course). But it is easier for the writer to do the necessary marketing work if they themselves love the cover, the blurb, and the book itself. One of my favourite Wodehouse quotes is “God may forgive Herbert Jenkins Limited for the cover of……… but I never shall”!

Glad to say that has not been a problem for me!

TTFF squareBookBrushImage-2020-11-14-19-1939BB - blue poster for books


Taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights was not something I anticipated doing when I started writing flash fiction seriously but it is a very good vehicle for developing your writing skills, funnily enough. It pays to read your story out loud to yourself a few times before you do an event like this. You’re looking for anything that might make you stumble over your words. If you find anything (and you inevitably do), it’s time for a rewrite. The aim is for a smooth read for you and a smooth listening experience for your audience. Recording a story and playing it back to yourself helps too. All of this helps you hone your editing skills further too so win-win!

The Open Mic for Prose night

Many thanks to Geoff Parkes for this image of me reading at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School Open Prose Mic Night.

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Quick plug alert! Amazon say that the paperback of Tripping the Flash Fantastic can be with you for 22nd December if ordered today. See http://mybook.to/TrippingFlashFantastic for more.

If anyone would like a signed copy directly from me, just send me a Direct Message and we’ll take things from there. I would really need to get books off in the post by Tuesday, 22nd December at the latest to have any chance of getting this to you in time for Christmas. If you’re not in a hurry, then just message me anyway and we can sort things out after Christmas and Boxing Days.

And do remember if you are on the receiving end of book presents this Christmas (you are, aren’t you?!), please do review the book in the usual places. Reviews don’t have to be long but they do help the author.

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Horrendous weather off and on in Hampshire today. Mud levels in the local park are quite something now too. Not that Lady minds! I am blessing my dear old mum for leaving me a shed load of old towels. They do for Lady nicely!

Delighted my story Up to Scratch was on the radio this afternoon. Will share a link when I have it. This story was an all dialogue on between two characters only (though others are referred to in the tale).

I like the challenge of writing all dialogue stories from time to time but I think they are best used sparingly. The advantage of “standard” prose stories is I can take you into the heads of the characters and show you their thoughts. I can’t do that if I’ve got them talking to you!!

But that is where the challenge lies. What could a character be reasonably expected to know to be able to say to another character? It’s also got to sound like natural conversation (though without the ums and ahs we all come up with).

This kind of story makes for a good writing exercise too. Try it some time and see what you come up with. I’ve found this kind of story is best kept short (and I keep mine to about the 100-`150 word count length). It keeps the tale tight and to the point and you really don’t want characters wittering on!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Perfect Books To Relax With

What kind of book do you like to relax with? My favourites are fantasy (especially the humorous kind such as Terry Pratchett’s wonderful Discworld stories) and crime (though I am more at the cosy end of the market).

Though right now I am loving Peter Ackroyd’s London, which is a biography of the city. An interesting way of writing up a history and full of fascinating tales. It’s a fairly big paperback but is an engrossing read so very happy to recommend it.

If a writer’s style draws me in, as it does here, it doesn’t matter how big the book is! They’ve got this reader to the end (which is a challenge for all of us writers to ensure we try and do that with our own writing).

I can’t read in the bath. I’d be worried about dropping a book or Kindle in the water. Neither would come out well. This is why my main reading is just before I go to sleep. I am so relaxed then. It’s not the time to read a gripping vampire novel though. Mind you, I wasn’t planning on doing this so that’s okay.

For me books have to be entertaining and help me relax. If I want a challenging read, I will carve out time during the day when my brain is better able to cope with said challenging read!

I hope you have plenty of excellent new reads for Christmas and I hope you have a safe and as good a celebration as possible. If ever there was a year, we all needed books to help us escape, it is in 2020.

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LAST BUT NOT LEAST

My next round-up will be on Tuesday 29th December. I’m having a couple of days off over Christmas though I still plan to write my weekly Goodreads Author Blog post. I am likely to move this to Sunday 27th December.

In the meantime, I wish you all as safe and happy a Christmas as possible in what has been such a strange year and I look forward to seeing you back here next week!

Many thanks for your ongoing support. It is much appreciated!

merry christmas sign

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

O Tidings…

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

O Tidings is the title for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week and of course it comes from one of the lines from the carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. That carol always puts me in mind of Dickens, A Christmas Carol etc. It just “takes me back in time” to that period every time I hear it.

I look at how tidings and the way we receive them has changed so much but I also long for a better balance between bad and good news, especially in a year when the tidings have been unremittingly grim. (And then in the next news report talk almost inevitably goes to people’s mental health declining and is it any wonder? I think we do need some good news in amongst the bad. I know we can’t avoid the latter but balance I think is important).

On a more positive note, and doing my bit to provide some balance,I also share some Christmassy flash fiction and micro stories which I hope do put a smile on your face.

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Had a wonderful time at the Christmas Book Hub online party on Facebook last night. Many thanks to the organisers, #AnnaMariaShenton and #PatriciaMOsborne. It was great fun.

It was lovely to “see” familiar faces there and make new online friends.

It was also a joy today to send a signed copy of Tripping The Flash Fantastic to #FrancescaCapaldiBurgess who won from my post on the Hub yesterday. Hope you enjoy the book, Francesca!

I shared a Christmassy story, The Help, from TTFF and that went down well. I am delighted to share it again here. Hope you enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxtiAzRVOes&t=4s

Looking forward to taking part in the Christmas Book Hub event on Facebook later tonight, hence this early post from yours truly. I’ll be sharing a story from Tripping The Flash Fantastic and am looking forward to following all of the lovely and entertaining posts that will make for such a fun event later on. Given all of the live events have been cancelled, events like this one do much to cheer writers and readers up alike so three cheers for that!

My CFT post this week will, appropriately enough, be called O Tidings. I’ll be talking about how tidings have been shared, a little on how much communication has changed over the last twenty years, although I think it is fair to say an angelic visitation would still come as something of a surprise to most people! I’ll also be sharing some Christmassy flash fiction and some micro stories as part of this post. (I define micro stories as one/two-liners).

No post from me the following Friday!!! (I hope to have something up in the run up to New Year but Christmas Day is one of the few days of the year where I won’t be writing at all. I hope to do plenty of “story intake” though via favourite Christmas films and reading my gifts from Santa later on in the day. Christmas, for me, would not be the same without at least one book-shaped present under the tree but that is hardly a surprise and it does mean I am easy to buy for!).

And remember the best thing you can do for the writers in your life is (a) buy their books and (b) review them in the usual places! I can’t think of any writer who’d turn down those gifts!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good week. I’ve created a new flash fiction story called The Fairy’s Viewpoint which will, shortly, be on my website (right here, this is the only issue with preparing a post for Facebook and then putting it in my round-up here – sometimes things like this happen!) at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

N.B.  The Fairy’s Viewpoint is further down under the Fairytales with Bite section. Hope you enjoy it!

Great fun to write though I don’t know what cat owners will make of it! I hope that has intrigued you enough to pop over to my site later on and have a look. You will find the story under my Fairytales with Bite section for tonight’s round-up of my posts and blogs.

Just so you know, I do a twice weekly round up on the Blog section of my website and it is effectively a twice weekly mini-magazine. Good fun to do and it means I keep my website and blog up to date with fresh material on a regular basis. (N.B. As you good people who follow me already know but this is very much my marketing exercise for today and I hope the initial post on Facebook will draw people to this very website! I can but try!).

Hope to share the link to the radio broadcast of Up to Scratch either later this weekend or early next week. Well now is the time for Christmas stories after all!

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It was great fun taking part in the Christmas Book Hub Facebook event last night. My story video, The Help, went down well which was lovely (flash fiction is perfect for story videos!), but my night was made by being a prize winner in one of the events. I’ve already received my copy of the ebook but a parcel of other goodies is on its way to me. And yes I am a big kid here. Who doesn’t like a parcel full of goodies? A big thanks to #KatrinaHart and I am looking forward to reading her Lost Town of Man’s Crossing over the Christmas break.

Next week will be a little different obviously. There will be no Chandler’s Ford Today post from me on the 25th (even I like a day off now and again!) and I will collate my usual twice-weekly blog and posts round up into one edition on Tuesday, 22nd December with the next one to be on the following Tuesday, 29th December (and that will be a bumper edition). After that it will be back to business as usual.

I am hoping to have the first draft of my big project written by the end of the year and while that is resting for a while, I will be working on a third flash collection. I must admit though I am itching to get back to author events though and hope that will be possible from the spring/summer onwards.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to my story, Up to Scratch, being broadcast on Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM (hosted by Hannah Kate) this coming Saturday, 19th December between 2 pm and 4 pm. I hope to share the link to the broadcast later this week/early next week. Is it going to be odd hearing my story read by someone else? Yes, but in a very good way and it is a great way to wind down my writing year.

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Flash fiction is useful for events such as the Christmas Book Hub Facebook event I’ll be taking part in later on today. It’s easy to record on a phone and videos don’t take long to upload as a result. A short story to hopefully entertain people is just the ticket. So even if you don’t write flash fiction as a regular thing but write it occasionally, bear in mind the idea of using it as a way of drawing people in to see what else you write.

I don’t always produce videos for these. I sometimes just put the text up in posts like this one as you know but I must admit that now being hooked on Book Brush, the temptation to create something for the story is too much to resist! (And it’s another way of sharing stories too as proven below!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHdm95OBhmg

Fairytales with Bite – The Fairy’s Viewpoint

I thought I’d share a flash tale in the run up to Christmas for Fairytales With Bite and I think my character in this has plenty of bite to her! Hope you enjoy.

The Fairy’s Viewpoint
It’s that time of year again, is it? I swear it was only five minutes ago you put me back in the box for another year. Oh look at the dust on this dress. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a new outfit? I wouldn’t mind a nice green number, perhaps with some gold stars on it. Still festive and it’s bound to be warmer than this silly tutu.
Oh you’re just going to shove me on top of the Christmas tree again, are you?
I wish I could say I was surprised.
I wish I was allowed to grant my own wishes. I’d conjure up my own outfits! Have a new one for each Christmas. Not much for a girl to ask for, is it?
At least the view from up here is good and I am well away from your perishing cat. I’ve never liked the way it looks at me. Trust me, Puss, if I could conjure up a spell or two, you would be showing me more respect and you can stop hissing. I know you know I’m talking to you. Bad luck, your human owners won’t understand you. Even if they did, they wouldn’t believe you!
Hmm… I do believe the humans have splashed out on new Christmas lights this year. Not before time to be honest. The last set were ancient. I like the blue and white motif. Hmm… maybe not the green dress then. Maybe a blue and white dress to fit in.
Puss, if you come any nearer this tree, I will kick the baubles off and they will hit you on the head. I always had a good aim when I was at fairy school. You are not coming up here to “nab” me.
Oh good, the human mum has grabbed you and put you in your cat basket. I hope she keeps you there. Still at least they don’t leave you alone with me in here. I think they don’t trust you with the tree. I don’t trust you with me!
Right, time to put on a good show. I do have a little magic still. I know how to make my hair, eyes, and silly tutu shine. Yes, there I go. The little girl is clapping and saying she likes my pretty dress. Hmm… let’s see. I’ll close my eyes and wish hard. Yes, done it. There’s a new present tucked under the tree. The cat is hissing. Tough, Puss, you’re not wearing the dress. She will be. Okay the parents are going to try and work out who sent it and probably have a row over it but their little girl will be happy. And she’s okay, unlike you, wretched cat.
I suppose I’d better conjure something up for the boy. He’s not bad. He can have a Lego kit. He likes the stuff and has got a knack with it. And his parents can row over that too… unless.
The fairy smiled despite feeling more tired in years. It has been a long time since I performed so much magic but this family have had a tough year and if ever there was the time to bring them some cheer, this year is it.
Under the tree now, were two bottle shaped presents. The parents will appreciate that at the end of Christmas Day, I’m sure.
The fairy peered into the cat basket. Oh all right, Puss. One more wish. And don’t wreck the toy mouse all at once. It would be nice if it could see Boxing Day.
The fairy chuckled quietly. There was no chance of that wish coming true… none whatsoever.

Allison Symes – 17th December 2020

Hope you enjoyed that! It was great fun to write. And if you’d like to explore of my flash fiction, please check out both of my flash collections at:-

http://mybook.to/FromLightDarkBackAgai
http://mybook.to/TrippingFlashFantastic

BookBrushImage-2020-11-14-19-1939BB - blue poster for books

This World and Others – Music

What role does music play in your fictional world? I can’t imagine a world without some kind of music. Nor do I wish to! Along with the gift of literacy, I think music is one of the most important things we have as a species. And I write listening to classical music. It relaxes me and I write better (and more) when I’m in that state!

So in your fictional work, which kinds of music do your characters enjoy listening to or is music saved for the elite? What instruments exist? Are there choirs? Is singing encouraged or frowned on? (I like the idea of underground choirs – those who defy the rules to sing though they would have to keep the volume down!).

I’ve been singing along to the carols on Classic FM and glad to do so. I always enjoy this but never more than this year when singing is restricted at best. (As I write this in December 2020, I still can’t sing in church though I can listen to live music).

And if singing and music is “normal” in your fictional world, what could take it away from your characters? I personally can’t write about the pandemic much, I want to escape with my stories and blogs. There is likely to be a spate of pandemic stories so I think it would be useful to come up with something different which takes music and things like that away from your fictional people.

Spider diagrams can be useful when roughing out ideas. You can then follow the thread of the most promising line of thought. Incidentally if music is taken away in your creation, it won’t be the only thing removed. And whoever or whatever does the removing should have good reasons for doing so.

 

Mulling Over Story News

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

(Though the image of Mulling It Over and Transformations under the Christmas tree was taken by me, as was the screenshot for the North Manchester FM radio show. More on that in the posts below!).

Facebook – General

Delighted to say my copies of Mulling It Over and Transformations arrived today. Stunning covers for them both and wonderful stories inside. A great mix of styles and mood. See more over at my Amazon Author Central page at http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent

I have a short story in Mulling It Over and three pieces in Transformations. The latter is the paperback compilation of the three ebooks produced by Bridge House Publishing as a result of the last three years’ worth of Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition winning tales. And I am delighted that I have a story in each of the three ebooks and so three stories in this compilation. Also pleased to say these two books are now listed under my ALCS record (Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society).

Can you have too many books under the Christmas tree? Of course not! (My wish list to Santa went in some considerable time ago!). It is more difficult to name favourite books though the great thing is nobody says you can only have so many! Just as well too.

Mulling It Over and Transformations under the Christmas tree


Lots happening this week.

Firstly, I’m taking part in the Christmas Book Hub party on 16th December right here on Facebook. I will be sharing a story video with a Christmassy theme (The Help) and there will be a prize too. I’ll be giving away a signed paperback copy of Tripping the Flash Fantastic on the night. Anyone who likes my story video post will be given a number via a random number generator and the person whose number comes up when I make the draw at about 9.30 pm will be the winner. Lucky dip the electronic way basically but all great fun!

I’ve used random number generators before for my launch in October and for From Light to Dark and Back Again back in 2017. Great fun. I use them sometimes to trigger story ideas too. How? I can use the number to mean something special to the characters in my story, or use it as a time (in seconds), or as door number, or a train time etc.

Secondly, I’m pleased to share the link to the radio show where my story, Up to Scratch, will be broadcast on Saturday afternoon (between 2 and 4 pm) on North Manchester FM. Many thanks to Hannah Kate for picking the story and also to Elizabeth Ducie for putting me on to this.

I will be sharing the link to the show itself after the broadcast. See https://hannahkate.net/north-manchester-fm-hannahs-bookshelf-saturday-19-december-2-4pm/ for more and my screenshot below.

Lovely start to the week after a busy Monday (and Lady was busy too. She had a fab time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback buddie this morning and is suitably tired as a result. I expect her buddie is too).

Screenshot_2020-12-14 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf, Saturday 19 December, 2-4pm - Hannah Kate


Well, I’m glad I raked up leaves yesterday. Today has been a case of soggy Hampshire. Only too glad to be in for a lot of the day AND the countdown to Christmas has now started for me. Why? I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol tonight! One of the best adaptations of that wonderful story and I think the best thing The Muppets did too.

Christmas cards going by post now done and will be off in the box tomorrow.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to “going” to the Christmas Book Hub Facebook event on Wednesday evening. And my story, Up to Scratch, is due to be part of Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM hosted by Hannah Kate later this week.

When I get more details about the time and/or a link to a playback, I’ll share here. It’s another first for me too in that it will be the first time I’ve had a story of mine narrated by someone else.

One of my Christmas Day traditions is a good read in the evening followed by watching some Morecambe and Wise to finish the day off nicely. Looking forward to all of that. And I hope you have plenty of books listed on your wish list to Santa.

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Hope Saturday has been a nice day. Have continued my autumn/winter workout by raking up leaves. You appreciate coming into a nice warm house after that. An Options orange hot chocolate drink also goes down well after that!

Making good progress on the non-fiction book, have prepped a blog which will appear later this month (as in December I am keen to get anything like that done this side of Christmas – it pays!), and am delighted to say a flash tale of mine has been picked to appear on a festive flash fiction radio show (and a big thanks to #ElizabethDucie for putting me on to this).

I hope to share more details on that later next week but it will be a lovely way to end the year. Am also preparing something for a Facebook event mid-week, again will share more on that next week. (More on this above).

Am sketching out an idea for what will be my first CFT mini-series for 2021 plus continuing to write flash stories which I hope will make it into a third collection in due course.

But I do hope 2021 will see the return of writing events (as well as continuing to use Zoom to make events more accessible). I have missed the interaction which happens when you go to an event.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am hoping to get my Facebook posts up earlier than normal tomorrow as I will be taking part in the Christmas Book Hub Facebook party tomorrow evening (16th December). Looking forward to this as I know it will be great fun. And I’ll get to spread the word about the joys of flash fiction too.

The challenges of flash fiction, I suppose, are obvious – the reduced word count and finding the right market for your work, though the latter is true for whatever kind of writing you do. You do get used to the word count restriction though and these days, anything over 1000 words, seems lengthy to me even if I’m over by just one word!

It took me a while to realise my natural writing home (bar my Chandler’s Ford Today posts) is the sub-500 words kind of story. It is what most of my stories seem to naturally come in at and that’s fine. You then learn to play to your strengths but this is all part of the writing journey. You find out what you love doing the most writing wise (and this is what will come to you naturally as you are writing from the heart here). You then focus on that!

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New story video time. Please see the link for A Misguided Day Out which I hope you enjoy. (Definitely not seasonal in my part of the world right now!). What I am enjoying doing here is creating the video in Book Brush, uploading it to Youtube and scheduling it, then going back in to edit the video and add an audio track using the free music available in Youtube. All great fun. And little stories make a great quick read when time is off the essence, which I think is true for most of us right now!


What is your favourite part of a story? I’ve always loved the classic fairytale opening of “once upon a time”, but the bit I really couldn’t wait to get to was when our hero/heroine won through. I was always interested in seeing how that was going to be done (and what would happen the nasty beings getting in our hero/heroine’s way). I guess that should have flagged up a career as a writer could well be in the pipeline!

Even as a kid, I knew life wasn’t fair. Stories were a way of sometimes redressing the balance a bit. I still do find it quietly satisfying when one of my villains gets what’s coming to them and all that. And that is why I think I will always retain my love of fairytales and the fantastic (and why I have a soft spot for crime stories too).

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This story came about as a result of a writing prompt where I had to write a “love letter” to a cherished object. No real surprises at what I picked here!

MY DARLING
I love every moment in your company. You do all that you are meant to do but with such flowing grace it is an absolute pleasure to work with you.
I’ve drafted so many stories with you. I save your cousin, the red pen, for the editing of course, but with you, the writing flows. I can just invent and have fun.
You are the humble biro.
More power to you, pen!
Ends
Allison Symes – December 2020

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books FOR Santa.

Humorous post from me this time. I know I like to relax at the end of the day with a good book so what would Santa choose when he has completed a task well done for another year? I make some reading suggestions for the great man here

Now I don’t know about you, but at the end of the day I love my reading time. It’s the perfect way to wind down before sleeping. And there is nothing to beat putting your feet up and enjoying a good read unless you are doing that and eating a big bar of chocolate at the same time! (Let’s assume no mess!).

So let’s give some thought to someone who, when they finally get to put their feet up after a task well done, ought to be able to relax with a good book. So just what would Santa read? My list of books for Santa to read would include:-

  • Improve your World Geography Knowledge in Ten Easy Steps
  • How to Get the Best Out of Your Transport
  • Insulating Your Home The Easy Way
  • What You Really Need to Know about Elves
  • The All Time Great Flight Paths
  • A Christmas Carol (Scrooge prior to the ghosts’ visits would definitely be on the naughty list).
  • The Never Ending Story (Santa is likely to have a lot of sympathy with this one).
  • The Ultimate Gift Guide (not that Santa would really need this. It would be more of a case of keeping an eye on any possible competition!).
  • Perfect Parcel Wrapping – You Too Can Do This!
  • 1001 Carrot Recipes

I hope you have plenty of books on your list to Santa. It goes without saying I have!

Hope your Christmas books take you to all sorts of wonderful places! Pixabay image

 

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Continuing Professional Development

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share my post on Continuing Professional Development for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Mind you, I could easily have called this post Continuing Personal Development as I think it benefits writers, every so often, to assess where they are and where they would like to be, say in a year’s time.

It is an oddity that even in this technological age, if you write down something, you are more likely to do something to try to achieve that same something. I sometimes brainstorm not just ideas for stories but ideas for writing (competitions etc) I’d like to try at some point.

Inevitably I get around to some but not others but I still achieve more than if I had not written my thoughts down. So yes there is still plenty of room in a writer’s life for the good old notebook and pen!

CPD also means getting to grips with the social media platforms that best suit you and engaging, not just with potential readers, but with other writers. There is nobody but nobody like a fellow writer to understand the ups and downs of the creative life, as I mentioned yesterday. And the best way to meet and make writing pals especially at the moment is online.

So you seek to develop writing friendships, you aim to be as creative as possible within your chosen sphere, and every so often, be brave and step out of it. After all it is how I discovered flash fiction. Have fun exploring other forms of writing.

Writing should be fun (for most of the time). You want to build on what has gone before and if you can look back at your work over a year and see where you’ve done that, well done. I hope this particular post proves to be an encouraging one! (Encouragement is always welcome and never more so than this year I think).

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The creative life has its ups and downs and it takes time to work out how best to handle this. But I’ve found small steps lead to more small steps and, given time, you can look back and see how far you’ve come. It will be further than you expect.

The Plus Side

  • Obviously having work accepted. Cherish the moment. You’ve worked for this. Add your work to your writing CV.
  • Receiving likes etc on Facebook posts you’ve written. Cherish those too. It shows people are engaging with what you write (and that is so lovely).
  • Receiving good reviews for your work. Cherish those as well. (And if there is a book you’ve loved, do the writer a favour and leave a review. They do help and it makes sense to support the industry you want to be in/are part of).
  • Getting something done you’ve not tackled before. This can be anything from having your own website/blog/both and posting to it regularly or trying a new form of writing and having fun with it. This stretches your creativity and you’ll be achieving more, even if that achievement is discovering you’re not cut out to be a playwright after all but flash fiction is more your forte.

Cherishing positive times like this matters. It makes you feel good (and so it should. You’ve worked hard to get to this point).

The Down Side

  • Rejections. They suck. They always will. Having sympathetic writer buddies helps a lot here. We can be shoulders to cry on (and maybe in time you will be that shoulder for someone else. What goes around comes around is a true saying and it happens in writing too).
  • Not hearing. I think this is worse than receiving a rejection because at least with that, you know. The one comfort is this happens to everybody. One way around it is to have work on the go, work “out there”, and work to edit so you know you’ve always got something to do. I’ve found keeping busy writing wise helps a lot here. If I don’t hear from Publication X after a certain time, I assume it’s a no and submit work elsewhere.
  • Not receiving responses to your social media posts. This doesn’t mean you necessarily want to hear from readers all the time but if there is a long period of silence, it can be disheartening. So if there is a post you like, do let the writer know. We like to know you are out there enjoying what we’ve written.

It has helped me a lot to know other writers feel this too. It’s important to know you’re not alone so if you’ve not done so, build up a good writing buddy support network. You need people to celebrate with and sometimes whinge with and they will be glad of your support when they want to celebrate or whinge!

Cafelit books - Book Brush mock up

CafelLit is a wonderful online writing community and very supportive. Image created by Allison Symes using Book Brush.

Book Brush - Cafelit 9, Mulling It Over, Transformations

Appearing in anthologies is another way of supporting other writers as well as yourself. You all want tthe books to do well! Image created by Allison Symes using Book Brush

person holding white ceramic mug

Photo by Diva Plavalaguna on Pexels.comThe support given by other writers online has been a real boost to everyone this year. Keep it up, folks!

My CFT post this week will be on Continuing Professional Development and how this can apply to writers. I share something of how I’ve developed here and look ahead to how I hope I will continue to improve on what I do. This applies to the writing itself and to the marketing of it.

One positive thing about writing is that it should stretch you in terms of coming up with new ideas for new stories, stretch you in terms of what you learn from writing conferences and the like, and in working out the best way for you to come to terms with social media. And it is a question of coming to terms with it!

All writers have to find ways to market what they do (and to a certain extent themselves as well) and it is vital that, whichever route you take here, you enjoy it. That is important. Readers will pick up on whether a writer is writing to entertain a potential readership or whether they’re doing this because they feel they have to do it.

Also, enjoying what you do social media wise means you are far more likely to keep it going. That is important too. Readers like consistency (as do publishers and agents). Link up on Friday.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Just sometimes I work on a flash fiction story and I realise it’s going to be longer than I expected. I’m working on one such at the moment. Do I worry? No. If it ends up being a standard length short story (1500 words or so), then that’s fine. I’ll leave it at that and find a different market/competition to send it to and then work on another piece of flash fiction.

Little is wasted in writing. It’s absolutely fine to take say a section of a story that didn’t quite work out for some reason and use it in another. And also I take the view that I will learn from what made this story not quite work out. How can I avoid that happening again?

For a story that is taking more room than expected, I need to accept the characters need the room and let them have that space. I very rarely throw work out. In all the years I’ve been writing, I’ve only done this a couple of times and that was because I hadn’t outlined properly and wrote myself into a metaphorical brick wall. Still I’ve learned from that. I always outline characters now to make sure I DO know them as well as I think I do.

I love using first person in flash fiction because I can take you the reader straight into the character’s thoughts, mindset, attitudes etc. That can be fun or horrific, depending on how I’ve portrayed the character!

The advantage of the third person is, I think, I can focus more on the character’s actions (and often you will pick up on likely attitudes to life and others from the way they act. Sometimes from the way they don’t act too!).

But as ever, and regardless of which option you go for here, you do need to know your character pretty well to write their story. So again a plug for the advantages of outlining your characters first!

How do you end your stories? Do you find the endings easy to write or do you struggle?

For me, so much depends on how I’ve written the story. If I know what the ending is first, I will write that closing line down and then work backwards to get to the beginning.

When I write stories the “right” way around, because I outline my characters before I start a tale, I usually have an idea of where said characters are likely to end up and that gives me the story ending. Where I have a choice of how the character could end up, I jot down both versions and then go with the one I think has the strongest impact on me (and therefore is likely to do the same for a reader).

Whichever way I do this, I’m looking for an ending that’s appropriate to what’s gone before and has a good impact on the reader. Impact is everything. Your ending has to wrap up the story of course, but you want to leave your reader having really enjoyed your story and with an ending that they feel couldn’t be anything else.

Yes it pays to write down different options here. Spider diagrams can be useful for working out different options. But I have found doing initial outlining saves a great deal of time later on.

Sometimes a stronger idea for an ending will come to me as I’m writing the first draft. I note it down and then look at it later in “the cold light of day”. Sometimes an idea that occurs like this seems brilliant at the time but in a day or two’s time… well, if it still seems brilliant, then go for it! But do look at it honestly. Does it have the impact you want for this story? Does it suit the character?

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Fairytales With Bite – What Happens When The Sparkle Has Gone?

Well, what does happen when a fairy godmother hangs up her wand? Not everyone wants to leave their respective worlds permanently with their “shiny shoes” on after all. My thoughts on this are:-

  • She takes up gardening but refuses point blank to have anything to do with pumpkins.
  • She has a pet but will not have mice, rats, anything she might once have enchanted. She really does not want her past coming back to haunt her in her own home. Oh and cats are out too. Those are strictly for the witch fraternity.
  • She works on her cooking on the grounds she needs to eat and it makes a nice change to brew up something that is not going to be used on anyone else for magical purposes.
  • She collects nice shoes. No glass ones obviously. This fairy godmother wants comfort. And it is nice to put some business the shoe shops’ way rather than creating things magically. (Especially since she had not meant to conjure up glass slippers at all. She still doesn’t know what went wrong with that spell but is grateful Cinderella did not get splinters. Bleeding feet is never a good look).
  • She collects a wide variety of hats. She was not sorry to ditch the “upside down icecream cone” look which formed part of her fairy godmother uniform.
  • She reads widely, especially books from other worlds. She avoids spell books, fairytales (she knows how they end), and anything which might have any connection to her working life.
  • She makes sure she is not cheated on her pension. The one thing that might make her dig out her wand would be if she thought anyone was cheating her here. No strongly worded letter for this girl. Anyone attempting to cheat her here would find their life expectancy cut short or turned into a species with a huge number of predators. Fairy godmothers know how to get even.

Mind you, the chances of a fairy godmother getting to have a retirement in peace is remote. Someone would be bound to call her out in times of emergency. Her biggest problem would be in trying to resist that urge.

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This World and Others – Celebrations

I know! 2020 the year for celebrations? Point taken and possibly not (though I hope Christmas proves to be a useful and cheer people up break, whether they share my Christian faith or not).

But in terms of creating your own fictional worlds, are celebrations a part of what your characters would know? If not, why not? Are celebrations of any kind banned or are only government sanctioned ones permitted? What are these? What happens to anyone refusing to take part or holding their own celebratory events?

What is the history behind the celebrations your characters know? Would we recognise any of the elements of these things? Food and drink are an important part of things like these so what would your characters enjoy? What would be the common items? What would be the luxuries?

And are any members of the community excluded from celebrations for any reason? Are birthdays acknowledged?

Now your story is unlikely to about these things directly, but details like this can add depth to your created world. We see in The Lord of the Rings celebrations for Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday and have enough details to be able to picture it, yet it is not the whole story or even the major bit of it. (It makes a great starting point though. Could you use your own world’s events to draw readers in and get the story off to a cracking start?).

Also you can contrast celebratory moods with what happens to the characters afterwards when they go off on their quest or have to contend with other threats to them.

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Bridge House Celebration, ALCS, and the What If question

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Image of me with wild hair and Tripping The Flash Fantastic taken by Adrian Symes.

Facebook – General

Great to see Amazon have updated my Author Central page quickly so Mulling It Over and Transformations are now both on there.  (Lovely to see a good collection building up here!). And that has reminded me to add these books to ALCS too. What is ALCS?

As I’m a member of the Society of Authors, I have free membership to ALCS (the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society). ALCS collects money from copyright licences etc and distributes said monies to authors. There is no way any one writer could possibly keep tabs on X making photocopies of their work here, Y doing it there and so on.

If you’re not a member of the Society of Authors, you can still join ALCS. It costs £36.00 and this is lifetime membership, not per year. See https://www.alcs.co.uk/how-to-join for more.

I had my first modest pay-out from ALCS back in March and most welcome it was too. Do check out their website for more information. The main thing to remember is to update your details when you have new works out. And this includes, for me, not just my two flash fiction collections, but all of the paperback anthologies I have been in and continue to have work appear in.

(The reasons for the emphasis on paperback is ALCS need you to tell them the ISBN number and ebooks don’t have that. They have an ASIN which ALCS do not work with but given most anthologies come out in ebook and paperback, you can at least register the latter!).

Very well worth doing. (And another little task ticked off my writing admin list today!).

Even colder than yesterday here in Hampshire though Lady did get to have a fab time with her busy buddy, a lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback today. No chance of them getting cold with all that running around.

I’m going to be having a look at Continuing Professional Development and how it can apply to writers in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Have also put in my book order for copies of Mulling It Over and Transformations and have also asked Amazon to add these two to my Author Central page in due course. Hopefully they’ll appear on there later this week. I’ve usually found Amazon answer such requests quickly.

It is nice to see a good collection of books appearing on my page now. This is not something I anticipated when starting out but it does show the value, I think, of persistence, keeping going, and learning over time to get better at targeting my work to the appropriate market. And yes, it does take time. But this is true for everybody and I found that quite encouraging when I was starting out. It is good to know it is not just you!

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Brrr… so cold today. Even Lady wasn’t sorry to get in from her evening walk. Enjoyed watching The Polar Express tonight. One of my favourite Christmas films along with A Muppet Christmas Carol. Better half put the decorations up yesterday so the old homestead is looking festive. Am very thankful Lady leaves the tree alone.

Making good progress on my non-fiction project. Am on track to finish the first draft by the end of the year. Whenever I write anything, I always feel a certain relief on getting that first draft down. I love the creative side but I also enjoy the editing and getting the work into good shape ready for submitting somewhere. I swear I can almost feel the draft getting better as I take out my usual wasted words and sharpen up what remains. I like that feeling.

I’ve also got a third flash collection on the go. I plan to resume work on that once I’ve got the first draft of the non-fiction project done as I know I’ll need to rest that for a while so I can look at it with fresh eyes when I get back to it.

Writing is the gift that keeps on giving in many ways.

Firstly, boredom is a thing of the past as I’ve always got something to work on!

Secondly, writing stretches me. I want to keep trying to get better at what I do.

Thirdly, to write well you need to read well so you get two activities in one here. But best of all?

Making friends thanks to a shared love of writing!

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It was great seeing everyone at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event this afternoon. It was lovely to see friends and meet new people and the turnout was wonderful. There was plenty to celebrate too, despite the obvious problems affecting everyone this year.

There were plenty of new books out via Bridge House, including the recently released Mulling It Over and Transformations. Plus there were new single author collections out too, including my own Tripping The Flash Fantastic.

There was a cryptic clue quiz. I was hopeless at it but I always am at cryptic clues. It was something of a relief that I did get my book title in amongst the mix, plus the two I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of editing for Bridge House this year. (And that really was about my lot!).

There was lovely mix of stories read too and I read Progressing. This was my first winning story for the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition (and is in the new Transformations book too).

All great fun and we are all looking forward to next year’s events! Pics for this one are the Cafelit (BB) mock up, the tunnel one, my anthologies one, and the phone one plus the “sky” one for FLTDBA and TTFF.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to share my latest story video on Youtube. This is one of my acrostic flash tales called Autumn. Let’s just say the video is apt for the tale and that no spades were harmed in the making of this story! Hope you enjoy.

 

As well as my own flash collections, I often contribute flash pieces to CafeLit. My Humourless in The Best of CafeLit 9 is one of my most recent and is on the darker side for me. The idea for this piece came to me when I asked one of my favourite writing questions – the old classic “what if”? What if someone had lost their sense of humour due to their job? What could that job be?

Finding a starting point for your stories is crucial and asking the “what if” question is an invaluable place to begin because it should trigger other questions and you will find yourself wanting to know what the answers are. If you can be hooked into finding out the answers, then hopefully a reader will be too.

Other useful starting points include using Kipling’s famous serving men – What, Where, How, Why, When, and Who? Anything that makes you ask questions to find out more about the character and what they’re facing is going to help you plot out the story in more depth.

The tricky bit is in working out what the most relevant points are and focusing only on those. This is why I find flash’s restricted word count useful. It makes me focus and that’s no bad thing.

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It was especially nice to talk to a fellow flash fiction writer, Dawn Knox, for Chandler’s Ford Today last week. Always good to advertise the form and to show what can be done with it.

Flash is a great vehicle for character studies. I find those work best when kept short (as is the case with monologues) and flash fiction is ideal – a match made in writing heaven perhaps.

When I’ve drafted a flash story I ask myself certain questions about it.

  • Does the story make the impact I thought it would before I wrote it?
  • How does the character make me react/feel? (No reaction = character not strong enough = no story).
  • Have I marked up my usual suspects of wasted words ready to take out for the second draft?
  • What phrases have I used that could be fine tuned into creating stronger images for the reader?

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Delighted to see another review come in for Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Many thanks! Reviews really do help authors. Neither do reviews have to be lengthy. I use reviews myself when checking out potential books to read or when I’m wondering whether to try a new grocery product!

Had a fab time at the Bridge House Publishing event this afternoon. It is one of the highlights of my writing year. It was great to see a good turnout too. I did miss the actual getting together (and the splendid authors’ lunch that precedes it!) but I am sure we will make up for that next year!

But the biggest thing about Zoom is making events accessible and it was wonderful to see some of Bridge House’s more far flung authors able to take part in today’s event. When the nightmare of Covid is over, I want to see Zoom continuing. It has been one of the more positive things about this whole year.

Screenshot_2020-12-05 Amazon co uk Customer reviews Tripping the Flash Fantastic

 

Goodreads Author Blog – New For Old?

New for old is a catchphrase from Aladdin of course but is this something that is appropriate for book lovers?

After all I love old books. I love new books. I just love books!

I think it is good to have a balance of old favourites. These are my comfort reads when I need that.

I also like to read new books, especially from contemporary writers. It is good to know what is being put out there now.

One handy side benefit to making writer friends is this does help ensure you do get plenty of contemporary reading in. I take great pleasure from the fact I have shelves which are packed full of fab books written by people I’ve come to know and count as friends. I always look forward to adding to my shelves in that regard. I can’t wait to get back to book events so I can pick up those books signed by said friends in person.

Naturally I’m looking forward to being able to hold some book events of my own in due course.

So have I got books on my Christmas list?

What do you think?!

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More From Dawn Knox – Flash Fiction, Writing Routines, Career Highlights

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Images of Dawn Knox, the photos of the stage productions of her plays, and her book covers were kindly supplied by her.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Part 2 of a fascinating interview with Dawn Knox for Chandler’s Ford Today. Dawn is a fellow CafeLit and Bridge House Publishing author and has written wonderful flash fiction (see her The Great War – it is a great example of what flash fiction can do and be) and fabulous funny stories. Her latest collection, The Macaroon Chronicles, is out now.

We talk about what drew Dawn into writing flash fiction, her links with her local radio station, writing routines, how she balances writing with marketing, and what she thinks is the most fulfilling aspect of her career to date amongst other interesting topics.

Dawn and I took part in a Zoom event back in September which was great fun and we are both looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event tomorrow, 5th December. Hope to see you there! Where would we be without Zoom now?!

A huge thanks to Dawn Kentish Knox​ for taking part in a fabulous two part interview with me for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look forward to catching up with her and other Bridge House writers at the BHP celebration event tomorrow! We would prefer to meet in person but right now this is not possible and Zoom is the next best thing!

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Nice to be able to resume swimming today. Did my usual number of lengths but let’s say I won’t be setting any world records here… Not that I intended to do so anyway so that’s okay.

Looking forward to sharing Part 2 of a wonderful chat with Dawn Knox on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow.
Saturday will be busy with the Bridge House event in the afternoon and directly after that I’m off to my church in Romsey to record a Bible reading for a service that is being recorded to be shown via Zoom nearer to Christmas Day.

I am going to miss the traditional carol services though I have had a couple of invites to Zoom ones so I will try and tune in to at least one of those. I do enjoy a good sing. Whether anyone else does is another matter!

It’s strange sometimes the memories that come up on Facebook. Earlier this morning they put up a picture of me reading from From Light to Dark and Back Again at a Bridge House event held in a pub (and yes a very good time was had by all!). I’ll be reading on Zoom on Saturday for this year’s BHP event where I plan to read from one of my winning stories from the Waterloo Arts Festival.

Now the event is free to go to but you do need to register. Hope to see you there. There will be readings and giveaways. It will make a great way to spend a cold December afternoon! (See images below for some of the books we will be celebrating!).

Book Brush - Cafelit 9, Mulling It Over, Transformations

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Other Ways of Being

Gill James’s latest book as at July 2020.

Days Pass like a Shadow Large

An intriguing short story collection from Paula Readman

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Facebook Memory

From three years ago – where has the time gone? I was reading from newly released From Light to Dark and Back Again at a Bridge House Publishing event. This year? I’ll be reading again at a BHP event but on Saturday via Zoom! Annoyingly, I can’t find the original picture but one thing that has developed over the last year or two has been a love of reading flash fiction out at events like the BHP ones and I hope to do more of this. Flash works very well as a “performance” read.

Allison Symes - Published Works

Yours truly and some of my collected works! Image by Adrian Symes

Great to see a review come in for The Best of Cafelit 9. If you are after an anthology which has a real mix of stories and writing styles, do check the Cafelit books out. I often use collections and anthologies as my go to for reading between novels. I don’t always know what I want to read after finishing a novel so switch to short stories and flash fiction collections for a while before deciding what my next big read will be.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes write a flash fiction story “backwards” in that the first line I write is what will be the final one in the story. I then work out different ways I could get to that point and pick the one I think works best.

I sometimes use spider diagrams to help me work out what would be the one to work best. Usually it is a case of if one idea triggers a lot of other thoughts then that is a good indication there is strength in that idea.

If an idea only triggers the odd thought to come off from it, then I’ve got to ask am I likely to run out of steam if I go that route (and the answer to that is inevitably yes. I’ve only ever abandoned two stories in all the years I’ve been writing and in both cases I had not thought them out properly and did indeed run out of said steam for them! So if you’ve wondered why I’m such a fan of ensuring I know my characters well enough to write about them properly, now you know!).

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Lady looks distinctly unimpressed! Image by Adrian Symes
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One of my stories in Tripping The Flash Fantastic is called The Wish List. With your reader’s and/or writer’s hat on what would you wish for? You can have three wishes for a reader’s requirements and three for a writer’s one. My answers below.

Writer’s Hat

I wish to never run out of ideas.

I wish to never run out of energy to write them up.

I wish to always love every aspect of the writing process.

Nice thing with this is the last one isn’t usually a problem but we all get days when we’re tired, have too much to do in too little time, and so some of the enjoyment of writing can lag. What you want there is for that feeling to never last long!

Reader’s Hat

I wish to always know what I’m going to read next. (Lack of wonderful material isn’t the issue here. It is prioritising!)

I wish to learn something useful to my own writing from everything I read. (Often do and generally positively. Occasionally I come across a story that didn’t work for me but even there I learn something. I look at why it didn’t work for me).

I wish that everyone had full literacy skills and access to good libraries. (Possibly sneaking in an extra wish there but it is an understandable one so maybe the Book Fairy Godmother will let me off that!).

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I was having a chat over on Twitter at #writingchat about where writing has taken you. I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t start out as a flash fiction writer. That came about as a result of writing short stories for CafeLit and then taking up their 100 word challenge. I’m not sorry for that particular writing detour!

And it is why I do say be open to trying new styles of writing. You may well hit upon something you really love as I have. It’s also fun to experiment with your writing like this. If you decide you don’t like it, fine, but if you do… well it’s another string to the old writing bow, isn’t it?

Three top tips for flash fiction writing:-

1. Outline your character so you know who you are writing about and why you want to write about them.

2. Get the story down first and worry about the word count later. If a tale works better at 500 words then 100, leave it at 500.

3. Reading your work out loud is a great idea as it helps you pick up on the “rhythm” of your prose. If you stumble over it, a reader is likely to do so too. The great thing with flash is that this is so easy to do. You’re only reading out a short piece of work!

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Fairytales With Bite – Codes

What codes do you think should exist in a magical environment? I offer up the following ideas for a Code of Conduct for a Magical World.

  • No drawing of wands in an enclosed space. Do you want to make the whole building go up or become a giant white mouse or something?
  • Those with the ability to fly, whether it be by wings or broomsticks or other magical object, will observe the speed limits or risk being enchanted by the Magical Traffic Police. And their spells have been known to go horribly wrong. Yes, traffic enforcers do get everywhere.
  • Those with the highest magical powers will not bully the ones who are still learning the craft. That may have been considered a fine tradition once upon a time but times have changed. Also the underdog in the fairytales has a consistent habit of having their fortunes turned around thanks to a friendly fairy godmother. Do you really want them coming after you for revenge on what you did to them all those years previously? Best be cautious here.

Hope you enjoyed those. But if you are planning out a magical world for your stories, it does pay to work out who can do what. If everyone has the same magical powers, they’re going to cancel each other out. So how do the different magical species live in harmony with another? So some sort of agreement/code is going to be necessary after all!

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This World and Others – Differences

Does your fictional world celebrate the differences between cultures, species etc? Or is there a dominant culture/species that seeks to dominate the others? How do the others react to that?

Even when there is no hostility between species, what are the differences between your characters? Do they get along well or irritate the hell out of each other?

How do differences in character/how characters handle situations play out in your stories? You are looking for what drives your characters to act the way they are but they will have their reasons for their behaviour.

Are these good reasons? Do the characters need to change their outlook?

What differences do other characters bring to your leads and are these for good or ill?

Above all, what difference is there in your main characters at the end of the story as opposed to when the story starts? There should be pivotal change. That is the story!

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Decisions, Transformations, and Useful Questions

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Image of Dawn Knox kindly supplied by her.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good Tuesday. I see we’re due for sleet in Hampshire on Friday. At least we have made it into December first before any signs of the really cold stuff!

I will be posting Part 2 of a wonderful chat with Dawn Knox on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and am looking forward to sharing the link for that. She’ll be talking about how she got into flash fiction writing and shares what has been the most fulfilling aspect of her career to date.

One lovely thing about writing is you never know quite where things will lead but this is a good thing. My short story writing led me to discover flash for a start! But the other good thing is you should seek to develop and to improve on what you do. This can lead to trying out forms of writing new to you and discovering you can add another string to your writing bow. More from Dawn on this, along with other lovely things to chat about, on Friday.

Now NaNoWriMo has officially finished, how did I do with my “kind of” version? Well, I was pleased. I’ve carried out the restructuring I knew my non-fiction project needed and added a great deal of useful material to it. So win-win. I’m carrying on with this as I want to get a first draft done by the end of the year but am on track to do that.

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I’ve been having fun with Book Brush again. This time I created a story video, uploaded it to Youtube, and then used their audio library to add a soundtrack to the video. I always check out licences allocated to things like images and audio tracks and this one is a free to use one. Always, always, check out what the licences say. You don’t want to break copyright. You really, really don’t. I’ve got used to doing this thanks to writing for Chandler’s Ford Today so regularly. (And it’s why I love Pixabay!).

Creating the video was good fun and I hope you enjoy the story. I was particularly pleased with the background I used as the video here as the movement of the word “sale” reminded me of the way Jaws moved through the water! Apt for the tale but click the link to find out why.

Facebook – General – and Association of Christian Writers More Than Writers blog spot

It’s my turn on the Association of Christian Writers More than Writers blog. My piece this time is called NaNoWriMo – Doing It My Way. Well it’s kind of appropriate given I haven’t written a novel and I know I’m probably under 50,000 words. So how come I even thought about doing this? See the post for more – and I have found the experience incredibly useful for helping with focus. Hope you enjoy!

 

Facebook – General – and PUBLICATION NEWS – TRANSFORMATIONS


Busy night tonight – I have two posts for you.

It is with great pleasure I share further publication news. I’m pleased to say the three e-books that comprise the stories from the winners of the Waterloo Arts Festival writing competition have now been combined to make one wonderful paperback called Transformations. (The three ebooks were To Be…To Become, Transforming Being, and this year’s Transforming Communities).

Link to follow in due course but meanwhile here is the fantastic cover. Many congratulations to all of the other writers who are “between the covers” with me for this one.

Oh and I love the cover for this.

Transformations Medium

SECOND POST

I posted about this topic over on Val’s Book Bundle on Facebook on Wednesday but thought I would expand on the topic here. I asked what people’s favourite part of a book was and my answer was the moment I realise I am rooting for the character(s).

Sometimes I root for them to fail if they’re the villain but the important point is the character is making me react and from that point onwards, I know the story will be fine. No reaction = no interest in the character = no interest in the book!

So developing this further, how can we get a reader to react to our characters?

The simple – and all at the same time complicated – answer to that is to make the reader care about what happens to said character. Simple because it really is down to that. Complicated because just how do you do this?

I outline my characters before I write a story. Sometimes that outline is a brief paragraph, sometimes it’s longer than that, but by the time I’ve done this I have worked out why it is I want to write this character up. I am feeling something for that character. And I can feel something for that character, a reader will. Thinking of questions to ask your character can be useful.

Try these to get you started.

1. What is the character’s main trait?

Can be good or evil or somewhere in between. Think about what would come out from your character if they were really put under pressure if you’re not sure what the main trait might be. Would your character show courage or run away at the first sign of trouble?

Whatever the answer to that is, think about why the answer is as you have given it. If a character would run away for example, is that because they have tried to help before and all it did was land them right in it? Jot down your thoughts. Your story thoughts may well start “sparking” from what you note down.

2. What is it about the character you as their creator like/dislike?

Your readers are likely to feel the same way!

3. Why do you want to write their story? Why does it matter?

If you’re looking to just write a funny story to amuse people, that’s fab. That is just as valid a reason to write as writing a story with purpose behind it. But you still need to think about how your character would amuse people and that will often come down to their main traits. For example, a character who is a loudmouth can set themselves up for a fall and that can be funny or tragic.

An outline doesn’t have to spell out everything. You want some room for your imagination to kick in with other ideas but it is a great place to start!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I use the first person a lot for my flash tales but when I do name a character what do I look for in that name? I look for a name that will reflect something about the character and sometimes I choose age. In my story Identity in Tripping The Flash Fantastic, I chose the name Walter. That immediately called to my mind an older gentleman which is what I wanted for this story. (Making this decision was helped along by the fact my maternal grandfather was called Walter!).

Books of names help a lot here of course but looking up articles from old newspapers can also be a good source of information. If you know your character is going to be in their seventies, for example, you can look up articles from around the time they would be born and look at the names in the paper to get a feel for what names were in common usage then. And don’t forget to look up the family announcement pages too. Those can also help trigger ideas.

Names can be a great tag in flash fiction. They can be an indicator of class, as well as age, and you can use that to good effect. Telling details carry weight in short form writing. For a writing exercise I was set at Swanwick once, I came up with the phrase “take the Garibaldi” as I needed to get my character to say “take the biscuit” but I didn’t want to use the cliche.

Cliches are cliches for a reason but you can have fun subverting them, having said that. But if I had put something like “take the Lidl’s Rich Tea” instead, I could’ve indicated likely background of my character just by referring to the supermarket they use. So think of names, personal or otherwise, as useful tags here.

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Eleven months down, one to go! What a strange year 2020 has been. If 2020 had a strapline, it would probably read something like “2020: The Year That Delivered Something Nobody Wanted” or “2020: The Year Everyone Wants to Forget”!

Over on my author Facebook page,I shared the link to a new story video on my Youtube channel called Decisions. It was great fun playing with both Book Brush and Youtube for this but it is the one line stories that work really well for this kind of thing. You don’t want a video to be too long. So therefore the story can’t be too long either. So this will be an outlet I think for my one/two line stories in future. And, of course, it acts as an advert. Looking forward to doing more with this.

One thing I love about any kind of creativity endeavour is it often helps you develop others as you try to improve on what you do and find new ways of doing exactly that.

And do see writing one-or two line stories as good practice for blurb and strapline writing even if your main writing is something else entirely. These also make great warm up writing exercises.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCiePD4p_vWp4bz2d80SJA


Hope you enjoyed The Buddies yesterday. (N.B. See further down for this new story!). I like to mix up how I approach writing flash fiction as it keeps things fresh for me (and hopefully for readers too). Using the various random generators is a great way of mixing things up.

And another way of using the word based ones would be to deliberately place the words generated in the opening or closing lines or somewhere in the middle and then work out a story from there. Equally you can put the words in the title and nowhere else and then crack on with the tale. But there are different ways of using these things so the only limit should be your own imagination here!

Don’t forget to mix up the word counts to write to as well. There’s nothing to stop you taking an opening line and then writing a 50 word story from it. Then see what you can do when you make it 100 words and so on.

Above all enjoy your writing!

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I thought I would take another look at the good old random word generator and I was delighted to find some other parameters to tick. You can select names too! I generated two and came up with Charlie and Elsa.
Things to do here:-

  • Use the names in the story.
  • Turn this into a full name – e.g. Elsa Charlie or Charlie Elsa and put this one character into a story.
  • Use another character who shows the reader what these people/this person means to them. For example in a crime story, Elsa and Charlie could be two people who ripped the narrator off. Equally the narrator could be the one to con them!

So plenty of possibilities here! Now let’s see what I can do here…

The Buddies
The park bench is empty now. It used to be the three of us on there – Elsa, Charlie, and me. Went to school together, even ended up working for the same boss. Always good for a laugh those two. We were known around these parts as the Cheery Trio. Elsa and Charlie married and I was their best man. It was a lovely day. They were married for 55 years, bless them.
I met Mary at their wedding, she was Elsa’s cousin. We all laughed at how that worked out. Mary and I were married for 52. Good years for the most part. None of us had kids though. Just didn’t happen. Had lots of fun trying but sometimes things just don’t work out and you have to accept that and move on.
We’ve all moved on.
But now Elsa, Charlie, Mary and I are together again. Right here on the park bench. We’re allowed out to come here sometimes.
Just a pity you lot can’t see us but we can see you.
No such thing as ghosts?
Ha! The four of us have plenty to say about that!

Ends.
Allison Symes – 28th November 2020

Hope you enjoy!

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Goodreads – Christmas Book List

Well, I trust you do have plenty of books on your Christmas wish list! There is a tradition in one of the Nordic countries where Christmas Eve is spent eating chocolate and reading books. I like that – a lot!

Don’t forget audio books. There are plenty of ways to take in stories. Reading will always be my first love but listening to stories comes in at a respectable second. And these are great for people who might not want to sit down with a book but who are happy to listen to a story while doing something else. You take in more than you might think.

Re-reading Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather and watching the adaptation of it is on my list of things to do and A Christmas Carol will be on the agenda for me to revisit again at some point in the run up to Christmas. I’ll almost certainly be watching the Muppet version. Not only is that a great adaptation, Gonzo, as narrator Charles Dickens, reminds people to go and read the book at the end of the film. I love that and I’d always second that suggestion!

Okay, you know when you’ve got books as presents. The shape is a dead giveaway but it doesn’t matter if you know what’s in the wrapping. There will always be something special about unwrapping a book for Christmas.

And they do make fabulous presents.

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Twitter Corner

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