Month: June 2023

Author Interview: Gail Aldwin and The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Gail Aldwin for the wonderful book/author pics and cover reveal video she supplied for my Chandler’s Ford Today interview with her.
Hope you have had a good week. It has been cooler and both Lady and I have appreciated that. Grass still looks like straw in places mind you. I send sympathetic greetings to all fellow hayfever sufferers!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome back Gail Aldwin to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her new novel, The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. Gail explains how true crime podcasts influenced her for writing her book, how she managed dual timelines, and why she used a prologue. She also shares details of her Twitter launch (and this will be on Monday, 3rd July so do look out for this). We also look at outlines and Gail’s writing journey so far. Hope you enjoy what is a fabulous interview.

Author Interview: Gail Aldwin and The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

It’s my turn once again on the More than Writers blog (the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers). This time I talk about a subject which is very close to my heart – Generating Ideas. Hope you find the post useful.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Am looking forward to sharing a great interview with Gail Aldwin on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week.  See above. She is discussing her new book, The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell, a psychological suspense.

Gail is a prolific writer and has written coming of age novels and flash fiction so we talk about how her short form writing has fed into her longer works. We also look at timelines and Twitter launches, which Gail will be having for her book on 3rd July, amongst other topics. Link up on Friday. I’ve mentioned before I love author interviews as I learn so much from them and this I promise is a good example of that.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

What do you do, as an older lady, when you can’t stand Victoria sponge and yet your granddaughter has brought one to you? Find out here in my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – Your Time Your Cake. Hope you enjoy it (and many thanks for the comments coming in already on this one).
Screenshot 2023-06-30 at 09-58-56 Your Time Your Cake by Allison Symes

A cooler day today and Lady got to see a pal we haven’t seen for a while – Willow, a smashing Jack Russell. Takes no prisoners that one but Lady is very fond of her and she of Lady which is always nice to see.

Looking forward to taking part in the Book Fair at The Hilt on 8th July. Will happily be spreading the word about flash fiction. Last night’s Flash Fiction Group meeting for ACW went very well and we all produced stories with promise.

I drafted my own during the meeting and think I may have something with promise for a competition I’ve got in mind. Needs work and reducing but that isn’t a problem. Always better to have to cut than to pad (and the latter never works anyway. Experienced judges, editors etc spot it easily).

May be an image of text that says "Always a joy to write/ talk about flash fiction."

Am posting earlier today as I’m hosting the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later. Looking forward to seeing everyone online and taking part in the writing exercises. I may set them but I love joining in with them myself on the night itself. I love “live writing”.

Find it is a good discipline for me too. Later I’ll polish these exercises up and then see if I can submit them somewhere. I usually can. But it means I get to do more draft flash fiction writing myself along with everyone else and I just love that.

May be a graphic of text that says "Jotting down ideas for future stories, blog posts etc., is a great thing to do when you're short on time. Latr tired and uninspired, you can come back to those ideas and find something you like the look ofto to write up."

Fairytales with Bite – Twists

T = Trust the magical beings to turn up when you least expect them.

W = Wands will be used – don’t get in the way.

I = Increase your wariness of older beings – they may well prove to be much younger and are merely in disguise waiting to catch out the unwary.

S = Spells can be limited or reversed – have a friendly magical being on side always.

T = Take nothing for granted – even the animal kingdom may prove to be harboring cursed or magical beings.

S = Suspect everyone as being more powerful magically than you are – and treat with respect – you’re unlikely to go far wrong doing that.

BookBrushImage-2023-6-30-19-5752

This World and Others – The Unexpected

In a magical setting, what could count as being unexpected? Where you have magic, do you have science? Would scientific discoveries be more unexpected than magical ones?

Where you have alien worlds what would they consider to be alien to them and do they come across that at all? How would they handle something/someone they consider to be strange?

Different characters will have varying ideas as to what would be unexpected. Others handle the unexpected fine. Others are completely thrown by it. How could that play out in your stories? What could this reveal about characters to others in your stories? Could it change how they act towards them?

If the unexpected is an event, what is the outcome? Could it have been predicted and maybe prevented? Where is the fallout from this?

BookBrushImage-2023-6-30-20-156

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter Corner (2)

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Windsor Castle and Cake Glorious Cake

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for taking the image of me reading at the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night back in 2019. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from Windsor Castle.
Had a lovely day out with my younger sister over the weekend. It was a trip down Memory Lane in some ways. While we’d not been to the Castle itself before, we have been to Legoland and, prior to that on that site, the old Windsor Safari Park. (That was very much of its time). In both cases we remembered the magnificent views of the Castle from those places. This time, it was nice to see the views FROM the Castle!

BookBrushImage-2023-6-27-16-3812

Facebook – General

Posting early as have a busy evening ahead. Have another one again tomorrow with the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom. Talking about flash fiction is always fun and it has been great to see people with this group have works published on Friday Flash Fiction etc. The proof of the pudding etc etc. Writing exercises (and I set these regularly) do spur creativity and are worth having a go at for that reason alone. If you can then go on to get the works published, even better.

May be an image of text that says "I love taking part in live writing exercises as part of a Zoơm group ead. I don't miss out ฮท the fun! And spontaneous writing is wonderful thing to do. It can be tidied up much later. Writing should be fun (at least most of the time!)."

Today would’ve been my father’s 86th birthday. He would have heartily approved of my kid sister and I having a trip to Windsor Castle over the weekend. The last time we were in the area at all, we were kids and he was driving. Yes, I am going a long way back. I have a long way TO go back!

Lady had a good time with her two closest pals, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and the Hungarian Vizler. It has been cooler today – nobody in my acquaintance, human or otherwise, has been sorry about that!

Looking forward to welcoming Gail Aldwin back to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. (Many thanks again to Francesca Tyer for her two part interview – it was great).

Have submitted a short historical piece as an entry for an article competition. So enjoyed writing the piece too. Am pondering whether to have a crack at a flash fiction competition – deadline end August.

May be a graphic of text that says "Entering writing competitions is also good practice for writing to deadlines. DEADLINE 5 60"

Another hot day (though cooler than yesterday). Lady and I are not sorry about that.
Many thanks for the great comments coming in on Deserved Desserts, my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction. The opening line here is an odd one even by my standards but huge fun! Hope you enjoy it if you missed the link on my book Facebook page on Friday (From Light to Dark and Back Again).

Sometimes I will start an idea from a quirky opening line I’ve jotted down (usually during one of my brainstorming sessions). I then work out what I could do with that line and I usually find something. Don’t forget you can use random generators to come up with opening lines (quirky or otherwise). This makes for a good writing challenge. There are competitions which are based on opening lines set by the competition organisers so this is well worth having a go at on a regular basis.

Screenshot 2023-06-23 at 09-56-26 Deserved Desserts by Allison Symes

Had a fabulous day out at Windsor Castle with my kid sister. Lovely time had by us both. So hot though. What is nice is we’ve been able to convert our tickets so we can visit again during the next year during the times the Castle is open to the public. We hope to get to do that. No extra money for this either. Also very impressed with how well organised they are for those with mobility issues.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Gail Aldwin whose The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell is out soon. Link up on Friday. And then I’ll be sharing more news about the Book Fair I’m going to be part of in July.

I’ve occasionally written a flash piece based on a work of art. Gill James set this as a challenge ages ago and it was fun to do. Will I do it again? At some point, yes. I was impressed with the Van Dycks and other masterpieces I’ve seen today at the Castle so plenty of inspiration to be found there! Am not short of potential material at least…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I mix up the pieces I use for reading at Open Prose Mic Nights etc – in terms of mood, word count as well as by using different tales. I rehearse reading these (and yes I do often record them on Zoom to play back) but the important thing is to have a good read through (ideally several) as it is too easy to assume you know the material, you can wing it. Err… no.

What I do find the rehearsals do is help calm my nerves because I know I have rehearsed. It helps. The tricky bit is working out how much to drink (non-alcoholic as alcohol can dry the throat aside from any other side effects!) ahead of an event because you don’t want to have a dry throat when reading (it can lead to coughing) nor do you want to be caught short! I find about an hour before hand works well.

May be an image of 1 person

It’s Monday. It has cooled down a bit! Still time for a new story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Cake Glorious Cake. Is on the dark side, probably like the chocolate involved in the cake. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Internal thoughts are a great way to show character attitude (and usual practice is to have these in italics. It distinguishes them from “speech” and flags up the the reader this is a character thinking). I use this a lot as I often want to get across attitude and don’t we all think things we don’t then go on to say? Characters can do the same thing! What the thoughts will do is influence their behaviour and show the reader directly why your character is acting the way they are, both useful things.

May be a graphic of text that says "Thoughts are effectively internal dialogue but should still suit the character you portray and the genre of the story."


Looking forward to running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom next week. Always good fun and it is an enjoyable challenge for me to find a useful topic to set exercises on. I like setting (and then doing) writing exercises. I’ve had several stories go on to be published which started life this way.

Now I must admit I find the hot humid weather not the easiest of conditions to cope with but it led me to wonder if you could get a character to find the same thing. How would that change their attitudes and behaviour? How would that change the course of your story? And are other characters tolerant of their struggles to cope with the conditions?

Goodreads Author Blog – Classic -v- Contemporary Reading

Now for me there is no debate when it comes to whether you should read classic or contemporary works of fiction and non-fiction. You do both of course. For non-fiction you need to be aware some information is likely to be out of date but there is still inspiration to be had from what people thought at the time of publication. That could even lead to fictional story ideas.

I often mix up my reading so I’ll read a novel, before going on to a story or flash collection and then I’ll move on to some non-fiction but it is a good idea to mix up between classic and contemporary as well. You don’t want to miss out on the classic works and you want to see what is out and about now. I see this as having a good reading diet (which I find helps inspire my writing too).

It’s also encouraging to know great writers have always been inspired by others’ stories. So I should be too! But it is interesting that ideas for stories often come when I’m reading non-fiction. And I can be as taken away by fabulous tale whether it is a classic or contemporary one.

Screenshot 2023-06-24 at 20-52-27 Classic -v- Contemporary Reading

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

Twitter Corner

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Part 2 – Francesca Tyer – Author Interview

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
Many thanks once again to Francesca Tyer for author and book cover images supplied for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week. Also thanks to Vie Portland for supplying the images for the Book Fair at The Hilt. All other images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
I was very sorry to hear about the Titan disaster. I hope lessons can be learned from that.
In happier news, I am looking forward to a busy summer with workshops and I am glad to say I will be, via Chandler’s Ford Today, hosting more author interviews. Part 2 of Francesca Tyer’s wonderful interview is out this week and there’s another corker of an interview to come next week. Am looking forward to sharing that too. Have a peaceful weekend.

BookBrushImage-2023-6-23-19-1147


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Part 2 of a fabulous interview with Francesca Tyer for my post this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. This week we discuss workshops (Francesca runs her Untold Stories Academy – see the post for more), her involvement with Authors Reach, how she got into writing at all, and much more. Hope you enjoy the post.

Many thanks, Francesca, for the interview and good luck with your launch, soon, for your third book, The Earthstone.

Part 2 – Francesca Tyer – Author Interview

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A better day today and it was nice having a swim earlier. Most refreshing.

Looking forward to sharing Part 2 of a great interview with Francesca Tyer tomorrow on Chandler’s Ford Today. Plus there will be more author interviews after that. See link above for FT.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again soon (1st July) and I share tips, news, links to some of my online stories and so on. To sign up just head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Talking of online stories, do head over to visit Friday Flash Fiction regularly. It gives you a good “feel” for what 100 word stories look like on screen and there’s a great range of material here.

 

Have had one of those irritating, everything rubs you up the wrong way kind of day, so it is a great relief to get to my desk to enjoy an evening’s writing. Always puts me in a much better frame of mind!

Am looking forward to taking part in the Book Fair at The Hilt on Saturday 8th July. For full details, follow the link. Entry is free but if you pre-book a ticket, your name is entered in a a raffle. The winner gets £10 to spend on a book from any one of the authors, including yours truly, taking part in this event. So basically you can get a free book! What’s not to like about that? (It was nice to see the advert up in our Post Office window for this event – it looks good!).

Just before this I’m running a flash fiction workshop on Zoom and am looking forward to that too. So looking forward to Swanwick in August too.

Meantime there is writing to be done so best get on with it!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. It’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Deserved Desserts. I do like a bit of alliteration every now and then! Hope you enjoy the story.
Screenshot 2023-06-23 at 09-56-26 Deserved Desserts by Allison Symes


Hope you have had a good day. Getting humid again. Lady and I not all that keen on this. We send greetings to fellow hayfever sufferers (as even Lady has been known to have the occasional sneeze -on days when the pollen count is sky high so no great surprises there). Good old Sneezy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves really needed to be on the antihistamine!

Now I create flash fiction stories throughout the week. Sometimes I use snippets of reality to inspire my stories. Sometimes I completely make things up. Both are fun routes to take! But when I do use reality, I use things which have either happened to me directly or which people will know to be true because most of us are affected by these things at some point.

We all know, for instance, the frustration of being caught in a queue at an awkward moment. My story Time Waits For No Man right at the end of From Light To Dark and Back Again is my take on that situation. It is fun putting my characters through the mill here rather than experience the situation again myself though!

May be a graphic of text that says "With flash fiction, you have to focus on THE single most important aspect of your character's life"

Sometimes I get another character to “talk to” another character by narrating a story. In From Light to Dark and Back Again, I do this with You Never Know where my lead is pointing out it is not all glamour and fun being a magical tour guide. Great fun to write and I suspect my lead character enjoyed having the chance to have a humorous whinge!

What I like about this tale is my lead has to know the other person she is “speaking to” though the reader never sees them and they’re not even named. The character has to know what the other one is likely to come up with to rebut the things she thinks will be coming. This means a lot is inferred in this story regarding the character not seen.

Inference is used a lot in flash and I must admit I love being left to work things out by other authors, as long as they give me the right clues so I can do that. Naturally when I use inference, I ensure the right clues are not just there but are in the right place in the tale.

May be an image of text that says "From Lightto Dark and Back Again Allison Symes MHt e Hayn"

Fairytales With Bite – A Magical Recipe

Thought I would do something different this time. Below is a story I’ve recently written up in response to a 30 day challenge and it illustrates what I mean when I refer to “fairytales with bite”. There is humour and irony in this piece – that’s where the bite comes in. Hope you enjoy the story.

The Best Fairy Godmother

Ingredients: –

Tonnes of kindness (the more the better in fact).

Equal amount of common sense (so important knowing where and when to use magic properly which is where the common sense comes in).

A fully charged magic wand with recharging facilities. (Never rely on battery wands. They always pack up when you need them).

A selection of spell books. (No one book has them all in, at least the ones you use most often).

Fluffy white hair (optional).

Grit – lots (and not the kind you put on the road when snow is due).

Sensible clothes including a hooded cloak, a full length gown which must have pockets (you need somewhere to store your wand and books when on the go), and reliable underwear. (You don’t want that giving out on you in mid flight).

Method:-

Blend all together with years of experience on the rounds and you have the best fairy godmother going.

Now to find the clients to help but that’s beyond the scope of this recipe. You’re on your own but good luck!

Ends
Allison Symes – June 2023

BookBrushImage-2023-6-23-19-5333

This World and Others – Qualifications – Advice to a Student

Q = Quality of work will count for more than quantity in any magical world which values safety when practising magic.

U = Under good tutors, the diligent pupil will do well but be ware of those who cannot prove they’ve got experience in their field.

A = Academic scoundrels get everywhere – they’ll happily con you and you still won’t qualify.

L = Love learning for its own sake – you’ll be more likely to do well.

I = Intense revision is not avoidable in any world when exams are looming but it is a temporary phase so keep going.

F = Fantastic magical careers await those who work hard here.

I= Imagine what you could use a qualification in dragon flying for – which worlds could you get to and explore?

C = Challenge the expectations if you’re from a lowly background – no reason why you can’t quality as a wizard, fairy godmother etc as long as you put the work in.

A = Always assume you’ll be tested thoroughly on what you find your most difficult topic. This happens everywhere exams do.

T = Test yourself regularly well ahead of exam season. Okay you’ll be testing your invisibility and other spells rather than maths and geography but the principle is the same!

I = Invigilators are not out to get you – they look that stern at everyone. They’re looking for the cheats. Not easy to do in a magical setting.

O = Open your results envelope as soon as you can. You won’t be able to mind read these – they’re protected against that. Would make it too easy for someone to forge the results otherwise.

N = Never look down on those whose results are worse than yours. The magical world has a habit of the underdog coming back to do phenomenally well later on. You don’t want to be the wrong side of these people. Retribution is likely to be swift and painful.

S = Success breeds success – now build on your magical qualifications. Put them to good use and good luck!

BookBrushImage-2023-6-23-20-748

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter Corner

 

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Holiday Writing and Quizzing Characters

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good few days.
Am looking forward to a trip out with family to Windsor Castle later this week. I suspect there will opportunities for people watching. Whenever I go out anywhere, there usually is! Sometimes a snatch of dialogue will inspire a story. Sometimes a striking hat or other clothing item will make me think of a character of mine who might wear something similar and what situation they’re in. As ever, I just need something to get me started and getting out and about can help with that!

BookBrushImage-2023-6-20-20-3539
Facebook – General

Nice, cooler day today – Lady and I appreciated that.

Part 2 of my interview with YA fantasy author, Francesca Tyer, will be up on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Cracking interview. Link up on Friday. Be sure not to miss.

Now if you were temporarily allowed to bring one of your characters to life to ask them one question, who would you choose and what would you ask? Could be great material for a story or two here. Hmmm… something I too need to check out I think!

Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. These are always great fun. I do set exercises here. I find writing exercises a great way to put into practise a tip or two you’ve picked up. The nice thing with writing exercises? There is sure to be at least one or two which really suit the way you write. Practising writing to them helps build up your writing skills so worth a go for that alone.

May be an image of text that says "I love taking part in live writing exercises as part of a Zoơm group ead. I don't miss out ฮท the fun! And spontaneous writing is wonderful thing to do. It can be tidied up much later. Writing should be fun (at least most of the time!)."

Wasn’t sorry for the rain yesterday evening. Has cooled things down though the grass is still like straw over the Recreation Ground. Not that it stopped Lady having a good time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie today.

Writing Tip: Quiz your characters. Find out what makes them tick. What wouldn’t they do in any circumstances? Your job here – put them in those circumstances and then see what they do. They will have to find a way of coping with it. Doesn’t necessarily have to be something “overly” dramatic.

For example, let’s say you have a character who doesn’t like the water. A friend is ill and someone is organising a charity swim to raise funds to help this friend. What would your character do? Sure, they could just donate but where’s the story in that?

What they would do so there is a story is learn to swim, take part in the event (though they probably wouldn’t do many lengths given the lack of experience here) but everyone is thrilled they’ve done this. That would make a nice human interest story. Your character has faced up to something they don’t like here. They are putting themselves out for someone else. It’s that which readers will like.

So think about something which would make your characters do something they wouldn’t ordinarily do. This can be taken in many directions. Have fun!

May be an image of text that says "How well do you know your characters? need to know their major trait(s) before writing their stories."

I’m talking about Holiday Writing for Authors Electric this month. Do you do any and/or do you send your characters on holiday? Take your characters out of their normal environment and what could happen? I discuss this and more in this post. Hope you enjoy it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Bit of an odd day. Have gone from doing the ironing to painting a wood preservative on another fence panel. Oh the joys! So it is with great relief I am now back at the writing desk.

It was great to share Part 1 of the interview with Francesca Tyer on Chandler’s Ford Today yesterday. Am looking forward to sharing Part 2 on Friday.

Many thanks for the great comments coming in on Anniversary, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. This one has a dark twist – if you missed it, check out the link. I very much appreciate the feedback on this great site and if you want to see what flash fiction can be, this is a very good place to start.

Screenshot 2023-06-16 at 18-35-04 Anniversary by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash fiction collections are a great way to show off what flash can do and be. Mine have a wide range of characters and situations in them. Equally The Great War by Dawn Kentish Knox is a wonderful book (100 x 100 word stories) all based on World War One. So flash works well for characterisation and themes then. Then there are the flash-in-novella books too.

There is more flexibility in flash than at first might appear to be the case. It is the top word count only you have to watch for but there is much you can do within that

I regularly share tips on flash writing via my author newsletter. Next one is due out on 1st July. If you’d like to sign up, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

It’s Monday once more. It’s still hot (in my case not helped by having an afternoon in the kitchen batch cooking though it will pay off later in the week!). Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Editor Edited.

 

One of the joys of flash (and there are many) is that it is a great format for turning the tables. In my The Terrified Dragon I do exactly that. Firstly, the expectation normally is the dragon would be terrifying. Not in this story from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Secondly, I then go on to show good reasons why it is terrified instead and have another character come to its aid. Great fun to write. Best kept as a very short story, anything else would be padding, and so flash is perfect for it.

Sometimes you just know when an idea comes to you that it works best in the shorter formats and with flash we have the ideal vehicle for the very short form. A single idea executed in the right amount of words works so well. Gauging whether an idea has “legs” for a longer format is not easy to get right. My gut instinct is to keep an idea tight – stick to the point of it and don’t elaborate further. Turning the table kind of stories tend to focus on one central action so this is why it works brilliantly when kept short.

May be an image of text that says "Flash with a Dash of History, Crime, Fantasy, and Dragons Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection story worlds"

I’ve sometimes used proverbs as title ideas (and often they end up being the theme as well). One of these is A Stitch In Time from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. I used a humorous slant on this one.

The great thing with using proverbs for fiction is the proverbs have a timeless quality to them. People will always identify with the point they’re making and that is something invaluable to use for your stories. People will always get the point you’re showing in your tales as a result. So don’t throw out that book of proverbs – you can make good use of it here.

May be an image of text that says "Sayings and proverbs used as themes can show us timeless truths and get a point across in an entertaining way. Lie Truth"

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Fairs

Do you go to book fairs? I hope so. I’m taking part in one in my area in July and am looking forward to that. It gives local authors a chance to show what they do and these things are especially useful in areas which have a lost a lot of their bookshops. We had a fantastic local one but that had to close due to the owners’ retirement. Much missed.

All of us as readers appreciate the works of authors. We wouldn’t be on Goodreads otherwise but authors do appreciate support from readers. Going to book fairs is just another way of showing that support. So if you have such an event coming up near you, try and get along. You may well be surprised at the range of works your local authors produce. I know I’m impressed with what is available in my area.

Besides which, these events are fun!

Screenshot 2023-06-17 at 19-54-49 Book Fairs

BookBrushImage-2023-6-20-20-5711

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Twitter Corner (2)

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Author Interview: Francesca Tyer – Part 1

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Many thanks to Francesca Tyer for supplying author and book pictures for the first part of her fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Another hot few days but Lady and I have been keeping as cool as possible. Delighted to share Part 1 of a great interview with Francesca Tyer, YA fantasy author, who is part of the Authors Reach stable. Wide ranging questions and more to come next time too.
I’ve talked before about interviewing characters to find our what they’re made of – it is a fab idea, I’ve used it many times, but don’t forget to ask open questions so “they” can’t answer with a simple yes/no. You want your characters to have to explain “themselves”.

I have interviewed characters before now

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome Francesca Tyer, YA fantasy author from the Authors Reach stable, back to Chandler’s Ford Today. This is the first part of a fabulous in depth two-part interview. This week Francesca and I discuss inspiration, poetry, writing follow on books, writing routines, and much more. Hope you enjoy it and I look forward to sharing Part 2 next week.

Author Interview – Francesca Tyer – Part 1

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was so good to go swimming today, I can tell you! Pity I had to get out again but there you go. Can’t have it all.

Don’t forget Part 1 of a fabulous interview with Francesca Tyer is live on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday – will put the link up tomorrow. See above. Looking forward to sharing that. More interviews to come later in the month too.

Looking forward to running another flash fiction workshop in early July. Then there will be the Book Fair at The Hilt. And after that I will begin my official countdown to when I go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is the biggest highlight of my writing year. It will be so good to catch up with friends (and hopefully make new ones) there. Am also looking forward to running my editing workshop there.

Towards the end of the year will be the Bridge House Publishing celebration event and I am looking forward to that too. So plenty going on, writing wise, which is how I like it.

Oh and I should have news to share about online magazine Writers’ Narrative fairly soon too.

May be a doodle

Hope you have had a good day. More breeze today which Lady and I have welcomed.

On Friday, I’ll be sharing Part 1 of a wonderful two part interview with Francesca Tyer. She is a YA fantasy author whose third book, The Earthstone, will be out soon. This is the follow up to The Firestone and The Seastone.

We’ll be discussing what led Francesca into writing YA fantasy, her love of poetry, her writing routine, and she shares some useful tips and there is much more besides. Looking forward to sharing the link later this week. See above.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share Anniversary, my latest 100 word story on Friday Flash Fiction. See what you think about Helen, my lead here, and her take on anniversaries.

Screenshot 2023-06-16 at 18-35-04 Anniversary by Allison Symes

I often ask myself questions as I’m outlining my story. I want to quiz my characters so I know what they’re made of and it reminds me why I want to write about these people/other creatures of choice in the first place. I ask myself whether my title would lure me into reading the story if it were written by someone else. I also ask what is in this for the reader?

The last question is a good one. It helps me to focus on what matters for my characters. It encourages the ruthless cutting out of any purple prose and to ensure my wasted words (very, actually, and that are the worst) have been removed.

May be a doodle of text that says "I ask myself questions as I write my first draft."

I like to keep my titles to the point. Often when I’m entering competitions, I’m conscious I need something that will “hit” the spot immediately. After all I’m trying to hook the reader into reading the rest of the story – in this case the competition judge.

I want my title to help the story stand out and give it a better chance of a placing. For those competitions where the title is part of the word count allowance, I have an even more powerful reason to keep my titles short. I want to save the majority of the word count allowance for the story itself.

The role of the title is to set the scene for what is to come in the story. It should be a good lure!

May be an image of text that says "Engrossed in a good book? Read for longer than you meant to? Ãh good. The hooks worked then."

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Extremes

What are the ranges of magical ability in your setting? What would count as magically “low” ability and “high” ability? Is this dictated by the character’s background? Can your characters improve what they do or are magical educational establishments only for the privileged few? Is this something that has been inherited or are your characters seeking to change the system?

Talking of systems, is there an agreed definition of what would constitute “bad/evil” magic and which would be considered “good”? Is anything banned and what would happen if someone broke that ban?
How has your world discovered what works and what doesn’t here?

The past history here might not make it into your story but it will colour your characters’ views and behaviour. That can change your plot. So it is worth working out what you need to know here. It will add depth to your characterisation knowing X is doing Y because….

BookBrushImage-2023-6-16-20-70

This World and Others – Climates

Your setting is likely to have more than one climate. As well as the geographical variety, and there will be different regions with different temperatures etc., think about what the political climate could be like. Everywhere has some sort of political elite so what form would yours take? Do your characters come from that elite or are they against it? How interested in politics are your characters? If they’re disillusioned, why would this be?

If your setting has a religious element, there will be a climate there too? Is is a moderate one or an extremist type? How does that play out?

Class and social status can have a major effect on the kind of climate your character lives in. If they’re lower down the social scale, how does poverty affect the kind of climate they live/work in? Are there tensions fuelled by poverty in and around them? Can your characters work to improve things here?

If a character is within a family unit, what kind of climate exists there? Is s it a loving one or does your character struggle to fit in? Why would that be? Personal climates will affect attitudes and actions of your character too.

BookBrushImage-2023-6-16-20-151

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Flash with Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Twitter Corner

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Book Fair News and Writing Challenges

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Still humid and hot here. Lady fine and is a good water drinker. Not all dogs are – my first two weren’t! Writing wise, I’ve the first part of a great interview with YA fantasy author, Francesca Tyer coming up this week. Plus there will be more wonderful interviews to come later in the month too. Meanwhile I’m taking part in a 30 day writing challenge which is great fun – details below.

Dreams of the writing life can become reality - use for Part 2

Facebook – General

Again, very hot. Again, Lady and I keeping cool. Hope you are too. Now a little while ago, I mentioned I would be taking part in a Book Fair. Am glad to now share more details.

The event will be at The Hilt, Chandler’s Ford on Saturday 8th July from 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm. Entry is free but if you book a ticket, you will be entered in to a raffle. The prize is £10 which you can use to buy a book from any of the authors at the event (who no doubt will be pleased to sign it for you too. I know I would be!). I’ll be posting more about this nearer the time (and will do a future Chandler’s Ford Today post on it as well).

So if you are planning to come, do book a ticket and good luck with the raffle. This event is a great opportunity to find out what the local authors do – there are a fair few of us and the range of what we write is incredible. There is bound to be something you like! Do come along and check things out.

Best of all? The event is being held at a good time for you to top up your holiday reading list!

Book Fair image

Another hot and humid day here. Lady all okay. She drinks well and is sensible about heading for the shade. We’re sensible about taking her out at apt times. It all helps. The latter is vital. I’ve got a nice spot here where I can do a pavement test – it gets the sun directly so is a good place to monitor about whether walking Lady is okay or not.

I have already cancelled one walk with her where the air was far too hot (last Saturday) and have seen pictures of dogs with burned pads on Facebook. It is just not worth it. Be careful with your furry friends, folks.

Can’t stress that point enough. And talking of getting the point, do check out my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction called, you guessed it, Getting The Point!
Screenshot 2023-06-09 at 11-45-24 Getting The Point by Allison Symes

Cooler day, even had some rain, air much nicer. Was nice to take Lady out earlier. She appreciated it too. (Was she sorry she stayed put yesterday? Not a bit of it. Had a great day in the shade and/or indoors and was much happier for it too, as indeed was I!).

I’ll be talking to YA fantasy author, Francesca Tyer, in the first part of a two part interview on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. It’s a great interview. Do look out for it. More details mid-week or so.

I’ve mentioned before I’ve interviewed my own characters prior to writing their stories up. I find this a useful technique. It means I get a real “feel” for their likes and dislikes and the kind of character they are. I can then write their story up with confidence. I don’t need to know every single thing about them. I just need to know enough to know I’ve “got” them and know why they would act the way they are in my tale.

The Scrivener short story function has a template for both character and setting but there is no reason why you can’t create you own. It is a question of working out what you need to know. Elements of that will differ from author to author. I don’t need to know physical appearance. I do know other authors find that knowledge crucial.

A very hot day today. Lady had her exercise at appropriate times and spent the rest of the day resting. She wasn’t sorry. Neither were we. On the plus side, my washing was dry in under two hours. It is always the simple pleasures in life which give the most joy!

Many thanks to Val Penny for a fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today yesterday. More author interviews coming soon. And starting this coming week as I begin a two part interview with Francesca Tyer. What I love about author interviews is there is always something useful to learn from them. Hope you find the same.

Am enjoying taking part in a 30 day writing challenge issued by Auscot Publishing and Retreats. Some of the pieces I’ve drafted so far I know I can turn into flash fiction pieces and get out to competitions, markets etc. Others – hmm… the jury’s out there. I may be able to do something with them later but at least I will have the option of having something to try and work with. Equally if I discard these at a later date that’s fine. I gave the exercise a go. Didn’t quite work out for me but at least I know.

If you get the chance to take part in a challenge like this, do so. It encourages you to be more productive. And it is just good fun to give these things a go and see what you can do. That, after all, is how I discovered the joys of flash fiction – I gave it a go!
Screenshot 2023-06-13 at 20-47-54 (1) Facebook

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am looking forward to waving the flag for flash fiction at The Hilt, Chandler’s Ford for a Book Fair being held on Saturday 8th July between 1.00 pm and 5.00 pm. The organisers hope this will become an annual event. I hope so too. We have lost a lot of bookshops over the last few years though I am glad there are still some in the area (which covers Southampton and Winchester too). Will be posting more about the fair nearer the time.

I often demonstrate what flash is by reading some and I hope to get to do that again. It is good fun and always results in sales!

 

It’s Monday. It’s a very hot Monday. Time for a story though I can’t promise it will cool you down. Hope you enjoy Recall, my latest on YouTube. Is loosely based on a true story which happened to my late father and I.

 

As flash fiction is so short, it has to be character led. Readers need to care about the characters to read on and there isn’t the room for much description anyway. What you want for that is the odd telling detail which will set enough of the scene to help readers visualise it.

But clues can be given to character status through the use of names. People will have different expectations from a Charlotte than they would from a Karen (and I am not saying whether that is a good or bad thing, I just know people will!). Of course whether your story lives up to those expectations will, I hope, be the hook that makes people read on to find out if they were right or not.

But another thing you can use to show something of a character is their nickname. I just went on to a random question generator I often use and the first question which came up was What is your nickname? You could apply that to a character and the story could be about how they got it. It could also reveal something more about them. If Charlotte prefers to be known as Lotte or Charlie for example, there will be a story about why that is the case.

May be a doodle of glasses and text that says "You want your books and stories to get your readers right into your characters heads. They need the characters to show them the stories, how they feel etc. Telling readers will switch them off Welike to work things out."

One of my longer flash fiction pieces is Rewards which is in From Light to Dark and Back Again. It takes up pretty much the whole 1000 words maximum for flash.

My lead character, Becky, reveals a lot about herself through her thoughts , including how she is haunted by another woman. The story reveals how she deals with said woman.

What I like about this piece is I reveal more and more about Becky as the story goes on but I am drip feeding this in to the plot. I also like Becky’s attitude. Doesn’t mean I agree with what she does though! But it is always a lovely moment when you know you have just “got” your character. The story spark is in that moment.

May be an image of text that says "From Lightto Dark and Back Again Allison Symes MHt e Hayn"

Goodreads Author Blog – Books To Dip Into

I love books you can dip into but what do I mean by that? Well, short story anthologies and flash fiction collections are ideal for this, of course. I will admit to being biased here given I have work in anthologies and two flash collections of my own out there. But I also love the reference books to dip into as and when.

A great one for this is Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable which goes into the origins of well known fables and phrases. Fascinating book to dip into. It’s a massive one as well – another one to avoid dropping on your foot.

I also love books like the Agatha Christie short story collections. Her novels I will read from cover to cover, naturally, but for the collections I can pick a story at random and then come back to another at random later if I wish. I find this to be a refreshing way to read from time to time.

I have a number of writing advice books on my shelves and I can dip into those to refer to specific topics now I know what it is I need to know. When you start out as a writer, you generally don’t know. You find out what you do need to know about the writing world as you go along. But I am at that point now where I can just refer back to selected chapters as and when I need it. (This frees up more time to read other things so win-win there and proves there is value to dipping into books at times).

Books - ideas exchange here

Screenshot 2023-06-10 at 20-48-19 Books To Dip Into

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Alternative Twitter image

 

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Val Penny – Author Interview and News Update

1 Comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to a kind colleague from Swanwick for taking the picture of me book signing there on my phone. Always tricky to do that kind of thing yourself!
Gorgeous, sunny week and Lady has seen many of her pals so a good week for her. Following on from my last round-up, am pleased to report more poppies emerging in my garden. I love those splashes of red. Writing wise, it is lovely to share a wonderful interview with Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. See below for more. And a huge thank you to Val for supplying author and book pics and some great shots of Edinburgh.
There will be further author interviews to come soon too. I love sharing these as I always learn from them and I find it endlessly fascinating finding out what other writers are getting up to! Mind you, it does add to my To Be Read pile considerably…

BookBrushImage-2023-6-9-19-1737

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, back to Chandler’s Ford Today.

We discuss The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, Val’s two series of wonderful crime fiction, scheduling your work, and much more besides. I hope you enjoy a fabulous in depth interview with her as much as I enjoyed conducting it. (Am also looking forward to when Val brings out her collection of short stories – we talk about that too).

Val Penny – Author Interview and News Update

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Lady got to see a couple of pals unexpectedly while out on walks today and she loved that. Mind you, she loves seeing people. Most affectionate dog. Delighted more poppies coming out in my garden – love those splashes of red.

Talking of colour, I do use it sometimes to add to my flash pieces and short stories. It can make something easier to visualise. But I try not to just use vision when adding senses to a story. It is the obvious one to go for but I must admit I find it difficult at times to add in taste.

Well, for one thing, my flash pieces can be so short, my characters are in and out of the story again before they’ve had chance to eat or drink anything!

I never add anything in for the sake of it. I will bring senses in to a story, regardless of length, when it is apt to do so. But I must admit I do tend to fall back on vision and sound as the two basic building blocks here. I think many writers do.

Mind you, maybe my characters would be grateful for the chance to hear music, grab a bite or two to eat etc. I came across a lovely story in The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose compiled by the much missed Frank Muir where an author’s characters come to life and berate him for giving them such a hard time. Hmm… something to think about then!

May be an image of text that says "Creative writing is fun and good for the brain τσσ."

Another lovely day in the park for Lady and her girlfriends. Three happy but tired dogs went home (and long before it got hot in my part of the world too).

Looking forward to sharing a smashing interview with Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. Val shares her latest news, why she is now a member of the Committee for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, and looks ahead to her forthcoming collection of short stories. Plus there’s more. Link up on Friday. See above (and a great photo below of the two of us taken at Swanwick on my phone by a kind colleague!).

Reading/listening to author interviews is a useful tool for other writers because not only can you learn from them, you can use the questions to work out how you would answer them if an interviewer put them to you.

This in turn gives you the chance to really think about what your book/stories are about. That’s a good thing. Being able to talk concisely about your work stands you in good stead for pitching to publishers/agents (and for chatting to other writers at events).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Amazon made me laugh today. You know they send you emails recommending what they think you’ll like. Well, I had one of those today and what did they think I would like? A copy of From Light to Dark and Back Again! Can’t have noticed the name on the cover! Okay they’re not wrong but…

Pleased to say Getting the Point is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy it.

Screenshot 2023-06-09 at 11-45-24 Getting The Point by Allison Symes

Pleased to have got my story submitted for a competition last night (closing date is the end of this month, 800 words maximum word count so perfect flash territory). Have another story to work on for another competition later in the year plus interviews to get ready for Chandler’s Ford Today. It’s a lovely mix of writing work.

So looking forward to being at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick again in August. I’ll be running my one hour editing workshop there. I have another workshop to run on flash fiction in July. So busy, busy, busy which is how I like it but it is also why I need to plan out what I’m doing when. Having said that, it means I get more done including entering more flash and story competitions.

May be an image of diary and text that says "Planning out your writing does not have to kill spontaneity, far from it. don't plan to the "nth" degree. I plan enough to get me started and to ensure I get done in a week what I'd like to get done. TOBER NOVEMBER YEARLYPLANNER DECEMBER LANNER TUE MON ONS"

A writing exercise I’ve sometimes used is to take an old story of mine and see if I can cut it in half. I’ll take a 1500 words story, say, and see if I can get it down to 750/800 words without losing anything important.

Sometimes I really can’t but I will get the story down to, say, 1000 words. Sometimes I can though and it is an eye opener as to what can be discarded and how the story tightens up considerably. Asking yourself the old question does this story/character really need this is an amazing aid to editing!

Just give yourself time for this exercise. It does take longer than you think but the results can be amazing.

May be an image of studying

Fairytales with Bite – Fairytales and Proverbs

Don’t discard your old book of proverbs. They are so useful in providing themes for your stories and fairytales use these a lot. For example, the saying Don’t judge by appearances would apply to Puss In Boots who is far smarter than his master. It can also apply to any tale where a wizened old man or woman turns out to be a powerful magical being in disguise (Beauty and the Beast).

There is a strong sense of right/wrong/justice in the classic fairytales and that will often be based on proverbs, well known sayings, Biblical quotes etc.

I have sometimes used a proverb or well known saying to provide a title for my story and I do use these as themes a lot. Part of the reason for that is these things are timeless. There will always be room for stories based on, for example, truth will out. You could take that in many directions and show the consequences – for good or bad – here.

Also if your setting is a strange one, having a basic theme which people will identify with will help “anchor” your setting. People will take to it because, even if they can’t identify with your setting, they can do so with the theme. Your setting can of course have its own proverbs (but it will help if they are loosely based on what we have).

Another favourite of mine is beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Think about The Ugly Duckling. Didn’t consider themselves a “looker” at all. Thinks about what your characters believe about themselves. Are they right? If not, who or what can make them see themselves for who they really are?

Many wonderful stories can come from having themes based on the proverbs.

IDEA GENERATING - Proverbs are wonderful to source ideas but are not the only way

This World and Others – Wise Words

What would your fictional world consider to be wisdom? What would be their wise words? Is the constitution of your world based on these? Are there wise words nobody argues with (and is that because they don’t want to argue or they dare not?).

Who gives your fictional world their wise words? What great teachers/philosophers have your setting had? Have their words been proven to be true?

Now characters (as indeed we will) can argue about what defines wise words. What can seem like wise words to one can seem like foolishness to another. What could that lead to in your setting? War? (People have fought over far less a motive than words after all). How would your characters resolve it?

Think about whether you have a character who is especially wise (the Gandalf motif if you like). How could they share their wisdom with others without being too dominating?

And do wise words “win out” in the end ?Can the right wise words said at the right time (or discovered written down) change the course of the characters/story?

BookBrushImage-2023-6-9-19-3651
AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Always love signing my books for people at Swanwick

BookBrushImage-2023-4-21-20-227

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Anniversaries, Attitudes, and Interviews

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Pleased to say poppies from seed I planted last year are now flowering. Am especially pleased as I’m not the world’s greatest gardener by any means. Lovely splashes of colour and it occurs to me that with the right telling details in our stories, we can add splashes of “colour” to the portrayal of our characters, making them seem more real to readers. The use of the senses can help a lot here. I can picture a character in a red coat, say, rather than one in a dull coat. Dull isn’t a strong enough image for me.

BookBrushImage-2023-6-6-20-330

Facebook – General

Today would have been my maternal grandfather’s birthday. It is also, of course, the anniversary of D-Day. (I’ve only seen mention of that on social media incidentally. Am surprised not to have seen at least a mention of it elsewhere). He was in a reserved occupation for the war. Other members of the family were in the forces and then went into the ARP and fire watched.

Anniversaries can be tricky subjects to write about given so many emotions are tied up with them. On those grounds, I tend not to write about them directly but where stories can help, I think, is where you have a character showing the reader what something, including anniversaries, means to them. The action of the story should show why they feel this way.

The nearest I’ve got to this is in my They Don’t Understand from From Light to Dark and Back Again where my character shares a poignant snapshot of his life. He references events many would identify with and certainly I just felt for my poor character in this tale. I hope other readers have done too. Sympathy and understanding are much to be encouraged and stories do have an important role here.

May be a black-and-white image of text that says "A well drawn character will encourage empathy from readers, even if we still think their decisions are wrong."

Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler girlfriends today. All had a nice time. Mind you, Lady couldn’t believe the Ridgeback’s human mum really did not have any treats in her bag. Lady had to stick her nose right in said bag to make sure. Why can you never get a camera out quickly enough for things like that?! Lady looked so comical.

Good laugh had by all and Lady no doubt wondered what the fuss was about. All dogs can do a very good impersonation they are not fed enough, they desperately need more food/treats etc. Don’t believe a word of it, well at least as far as Lady is concerned anyway!

Writing wise, am busy working on another interview for Chandler’s Ford Today, as well as looking forward to sharing the one with Val Penny this coming Friday.

Also looking ahead a little will be preparing material soon for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting at the end of the month. These presentations are always great fun to do and I set plenty of exercises. I do write up the exercises myself and on the night of the meeting too. Live writing like this is a good challenge.

The great advantage to it is nobody expects perfection. You simply can’t do it in the time scale (often only minutes) you’ve been given. The idea is just to get something down. The polishing and editing can happen later.

May be a graphic of text that says "Whatever you write, get the draft down first. Punctuation and paragraphs can be tidied up in the editing."

Another lovely day in my part of the world. Am almost at the end of reading 1000 Years of Annoying the French. Good read, humorous, and an interesting look at history. Highly recommend.

I’ve developed a love for non-fiction in recent years and often find ideas for stories spark from something I’ve read in non-fiction. Think about the spouses of past inventors who were never appreciated in their life time. How did they handle that? Did they appreciate what their spouses were trying to do? Story ideas there for a start!

I like to mix up my reading so the next on my list is a crime novel I’ve been looking forward to reading so that will be fun. Your reading as well as your writing should be fun (at least most of the time).

May be an image of 2 people and text that says "Ideas for your fiction can spark from reading nơn- fiction."

I’ll be interviewing Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Looking forward to sharing a bit more about that nearer the time. The interview itself will be up on Friday.

Talking of interviews, I do sometimes quiz my characters as I’m coming up with an outline of a possible story. I need to know my character is the right one to be the “lead”. I do see it a bit like casting the right actor for the right part.

I need to know their main trait (and that will often show me likely attitudes to spring out of that). I also need to know what would they not do if they could at all avoid it and then put them in a situation where they do have to face this.

Dumping your characters right in it is a fabulous way of finding out what they’re made of – it’s also great fun. Okay not for them but it is for you, the writer. It will also keep your readers gripped as they will want to find out what your character does to get out of the situation (or If they do at all of course).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the wonderful comments coming in on Telling It As It Is, my most recent story on Friday Flash Fiction. All much appreciated. The views on my lead character’s behaviour is pretty much unanimous!

Screenshot 2023-06-02 at 09-42-22 Telling It As It Is by Allison Symes

Mondays are especially busy for me so by the time I get to my desk, I’m already feeling tired. But the good thing is I am aware of this so I use Mondays for “little bits and pieces”. It makes me feel better I’ve got something done. Being creative at all helps me unwind which is just what I need after a busy day.

And one of my “little bits and pieces” is to share my latest YouTube video with you. Hope you enjoy Walking Away.

 

Sometimes I use an attitude as the basis of a story. One I’ve used is the idea of having to make the best of things. My story, Decisions, from Tripping the Flash Fantastic is an example of this.

So think about attitudes you love/loathe and think about how your character(s) could “act” that out. You are not telling the attitude here. You are getting your character to show it and readers will pick it up and run with it. I like to go with positive attitudes (it’s not a bad idea for life!) and as with Decisions, these can often lend themselves well to humorous pieces.

May be an image of text that says "f You YouTube Tube Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection story worlds FOLLOW US-ON twitter g"

I love writing humorous flash stories. The mini story form is ideal for funny tales and to end with a punchline is a delight. I try to ensure the humour arises naturally from the characters and their situation. This means it is is less likely to date. Some things we will always find amusing and it is that kind of humour I try to tap into with these stories.

So think about what you find funny and why that is. One important thing to remember is normally in a comic story, the character themselves does not find their situation funny. It is for the reader to do so. A character can think their situation tragic (and with cause) while we, the readers, fall about laughing. If you look at the classic TV (and radio) comedies, watch (and listen) out for this.

May be an image of pear

Goodreads Author Blog – Book “Flops”

What do you consider makes a book “flop” for you? Thankfully, I’ve not had too much experience of this but if a character doesn’t grip me quickly, I’m unlikely to read much further. I have to care about the character. I have to care about what happens to them and what they do or don’t do to help themselves. There has to be the hook to draw me into reading more and then more etc.

For non-fiction, firstly the topic has to grip me. Secondly, the narrative has to be interesting. I don’t want a list of dates. I want a good read which helps me take in useful information as I go. (This is where I welcome creative non-fiction which uses techniques in fiction writing to great effect in presenting non-fiction material in a more engaging manner. I’ve mentioned before I love the works of Ben Mcintyre. His books read as novels though they are all non-fiction. Case in point here I think).

The biggest killer of a book is dullness. Dull presentation. Dull characters. Funnily enough, you can learn from books you didn’t enjoy and work out what it was that failed for you to help you avoid doing the same in your own work.

Screenshot 2023-06-03 at 20-34-17 Book Flops

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Alternative Twitter image

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

To Outline Or Not To Outline

Leave a comment
Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Another glorious week here and Lady has got to play with her best girlfriends (and her gentleman friend, a smashing Aussie Shepherd) so all is right with her world. Writing wise, I have got some smashing author interviews coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today, the first of which will be next week (9th June). So looking forward to sharing these. I always learn something from author interviews and it is a pleasure and privilege to conduct some!

BookBrushImage-2023-6-2-19-1816

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share To Outline or Not to Outline for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I share thoughts on what I find useful about outlining and also how you don’t need to plan out everything. Hope you find the post useful. Suitable for planners and pantsers!

To Outline or Not To Outline

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal today and to show off again in front of her Hungarian Vizler buddy. Lady has had a fab day! Mine has not been bad either – I loved my swim earlier today.

Also got my author newsletter out (do see link).

Pleased to say I’ll be running a workshop again in early July and am looking forward to that.

Writing going well, lots to get on with, which is how I like it. Hope to be sending in a competition entry next week and I’ve another draft to work on too.

Plus there will be author interviews again soon on CFT as I mentioned yesterday. Love doing those and it is a great pleasure to share them.

Allison Symes - June 2023 - Workshops and Book Fairs

 

Newsletter with envelope image

Looking forward to sharing To Outline or Not To Outline on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. (See above). The good news here is an outline can be what you want it to be. I just need enough to get me started on a piece. More on this later in the week.

Author newsletter out tomorrow. Author interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today on 9th June. More details nearer the time.

Making good progress on a draft of a story for a competition. I hope to be submitting this sometime next week. And I’ve come across another competition I’d like to have a go at so that gives the old brain box something to be thinking about.

May be a graphic of 1 person and text that says "The writing life is addictive but fun. The support of other writers makes a huge difference."

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Telling It As It Is is my latest flash fiction piece on Friday Flash Fiction. My character, Sarah, lives up to the title but… well see for yourself via the link. (A huge thanks for the wonderful comments coming in on this one already).

Screenshot 2023-06-02 at 09-42-22 Telling It As It Is by Allison Symes

I’ve written flash stories as diary entries before now. (Losing Myself in Tripping the Flash Fantastic). I find I need to use towards the upper word count (1000 words) for these as I want to give a good selection of “entries”.

The other fun I have with this kind of story is being able to get the diary “writer” not to just reveal their story but what they think about other characters who they’re involved with. Well, diaries are often of a confessional nature, yes?!

With my story, I gave some thought about how many entries there were to be, over what time span, and how the diary would end. I knew there would be a twist at the end and I then worked out how to get to that point logically. I then filled in the “gaps”! Great fun to do and something I must have another go at some point.

It was fun inventing the character and their diary entries. For one thing, I had to think about why they might want to write something down for someone else to deliberately see which was the hub of this particular tale.

May be an image of one or more people and text that says "I've been known to interview my characters to find out what they are capable of. Another good technique would beto be write a diary from their viewpoint. What would they want to write down?"

There is an offer on From Light to Dark and Back Again at the moment on Amazon. See the link to my Author Central page for more.

In both of my collections, I mix up the word counts of the stories so there are some at the 100 words count, others at 250, still others at 500, and some at the 750 to 1000 range. As with the mood of story varying, I did this deliberately. This is to try to give a good idea of what flash can do and be.

Also some stories genuinely work better at the upper end of the count. Others are best being “punchy” and kept to under 300 words.

Allison Symes

Flash with Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Fairytales with Bite – Character Planning

Whether I write my fairytales with bite or other kinds of flash fiction/short story, I’ve found planning my characters to be so helpful. If I can picture them, so will readers and that is the point. What do I mean by “picture them”? Simply that if these characters could become real somehow, they would be believable. Readers should be able to imagine them being able to exist too.

Some writers need to know what their characters look like. For me that’s not so important. I like to know their attitudes, their main traits as so many things can come from those. For one thing traits have a direct impact on likely behaviour.

When I am writing about characters with magical abilities, I like to work out what they can do and what they can’t. I also like to know if they can improve their skills. While tales about magical schools have been done (!), they will continue to be done. It is what you can bring to the mix that will make your tale stand out (and it would have to stand out given the illustrious predecessors here).

If a character can improve their skills, I could write up stories about how they do so, their failures, their successes etc.

If they can’t, I’d want to look at why this is and what is getting in their way. Can they overcome the “system” to get the chance to improve their skills?

As for what magic they can do, there are story ideas on working out how the character uses these.

I would want some limitations on magical ability so the character has to use other methods to achieve their objectives. A wand getting someone out of trouble all the time isn’t going to keep the reader’s interest. It is what a character does when that isn’t an option which will grab attention and hopefully hold that attention.

BookBrushImage-2023-6-2-19-4146

This World and Others – Impact of Your Setting

Setting can sometimes act like a character in its own right. Think about The Hound of the Baskervilles, Wuthering Heights, anything by Dickens. You can’t imagine those stories being set anywhere else, right?

So think about why you have chosen the setting you have and how your characters manage within it. They don’t necessarily need to manage well. The setting can act as an obstacle.

Can your readers visualize your setting? What do they have to know about it to be able to picture it? Again, as with characters mentioned in Fairytales with Bite, I believe planning is necessary especially if you’re hoping for a series of books.

Planning things out will give you confidence in what you write. You know how the government works, you know how people are employed, you know how technology works, if there is any,. A lot of that won’t appear in your stories but you need to know it to be able to convey what you do need to show your readers. That includes the setting and an industrial society will look very different from a non-industrial one, just to name one example.

Think about whether your setting is prone to natural disasters and how that would be something your characters have to learn to cope with. But again a reader will need to know early on that natural disasters are possible within your environment, otherwise it will look like coincidence.

Think about what you need to know. From there you can work out what the readers needs to know.

BookBrushImage-2023-6-2-19-4620

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

BookBrushImage-2023-4-21-20-227

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.