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. A huge thank you to all who shared pictures from the Bridge House Publishing celebration event with me – full details in the Chandler’s Ford Today post – but thanks, all!
Hope you have had a good week. Almost there with Christmas preparations. Loving joining in with the carols when played on Classic FM. (For the record my favourite carol is In The Bleak Midwinter but it has to be the Holst setting). Lady has got to play with a few chums this week and a new terrier pal called Freddie so she has had a good week.
Am winding down now for Christmas so my next round up post after this one will be on Friday, 29th December. For some reason I’m not going to be about to do one next Tuesday, Boxing Day! So that leaves me to wish you all a most blissful and happy Christmas and hopefully catch up with you again on the 29th.
Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today
It’s always a joy to write the pre-Christmas round up post for Chandler’s Ford Today. This week in my Festive Writing And Round Up 2023, I report on the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event, the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM, and I share some festive flash with you too. Hope you enjoy the post.
Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023
Making more progress on Christmas prep work so that’s good. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal today. Two happy and tired dogs went home. Just what the doggy doctor ordered then!
Will be sharing a festive writing and events round up post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow plus I will be sharing festive flash as part of the post. I’ll also be sharing my write up of the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event as part of this too and the links to the Three Minute Santas show which went out last weekend. See above. You can see from the pics what a good time everyone had at the BHP event!
Looking a little further ahead, I will not be posting on 25th and 26th December for reasons which now escape me (!) and timings will vary as I disappear to have fabulous times with friends and family. I very much hope you get to do the same!
Meantime more writing and Christmas prep to do so best crack on!
Hope you’ve had a good day. More Christmas prep done today so am making progress at least. Lady got to play with her pal, Coco, and then later with a friendly terrier called Freddie. Good time was had by all.
Looking forward to sharing my festive post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Also looking forward to the Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom tonight for the Association of Christian Writers. Will be catching up on news. Christmas jumpers are optional. Will be good fun with or without said jumper! Am so pleased a number of us had festive flash broadcast last weekend on the Three Minute Santas show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM. Hope we can keep this going!
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Will be resuming submitting stories to Friday Flash Fiction in the New Year given they are taking a well earned break after running their Christmas competition. Many congratulations to the winner and those who were listed.
I’ll probably share a flash fiction tale on my YouTube channel sometime next week but in the meantime if you would like to check out my other stories on there, you can do so at https://www.youtube.com/@allisonsymes
Festive flash is obviously a hot topic for me at the moment but the one thing I am always keen to avoid is any sense of tweeness. I’ve never liked it in any form of writing and, so help me, will not be guilty of it myself!
What I look to do is either write something which will make people smile/laugh (always a worthy aim, that!) or to give pause for thought (time for reflection at this time of year is also a good thing I find).
Will be taking a break over Christmas but will be sharing some of my festive flash for this year in my Chandler’s Ford Today post. Link up on that tomorrow plus I’ll be talking about the recent Bridge House event and sharing the links to the Hannah Kate radio show. So if you like festive flash, as I hope you do, please look out for that post tomorrow. See above.
I do hope to create some festive flash after Christmas and before New Year but is likely to be just on my YouTube channel and on a different day. Will flag it if I get around to doing this.
Don’t forget the December issue of Writers’ Narrative is out and the theme is Finishing Strong. Well, it is an apt topic for the end of the year, is it not?
If you haven’t read it yet, you can check it out here.
Fairytales With Bite – Is Magic The Be All and End All?
The simple answer to that question is no. Magic can’t be the be all and end all, else all conflicts and problems in stories would be resolved by a quick wave of the magic wand. No drama in that!
Magic should be seen as a tool to be used wisely and where there are no alternatives. I believe that is its use in fairytales. Cinderella did need magical help to get to the ball for example. There were no alternatives.
I also like to see magic as having consequences (on the grounds any form of power has consequences if it is used for good or for ill).
So give some thought as to how your characters use magic, what they do instead of using magic, and what consequences they face when they do use it. For example, does using magic drain their mental powers (which could also have a major impact on what else they go on to do in the story).
Consequences should be something they’re aware of (or become so fast) as I would feel it a little unfair if the character didn’t know (or find out quickly). Also if they know what the consequences are it gives them the chance to go for other options and that will make for a more interesting story. A reader will also know when they do use magical power it is because they have no other choice.
This World and Others – “Usual” Magic
What would your setting consider to be “usual” magic – I.e. what most in your setting would expect to see used on a regular basis? For example, is magic used where we use engineering? What we consider ordinary household gadgets such as the washing machine, would these be seen as magical in your setting or very basic?
Who would be the usual practitioners of any kind of magic? Are any species in your setting banned from using it? If so who, why, and is that ban enforced? What would happen if someone defied it?
Within your setting, what categories of magic exist? Can all species access magic to improve lives in their communities? Is some magic considered only to be used by the more important beings? (You can guess who brought that rule in!).
Are any restrictions placed on the use of any kind of magic for the benefit of the whole setting? Generally you don’t want beings firing magic at each other all the time and causing chaos. So what restrictions exist to prevent that from happening? What magic is considered acceptable to be used all the time?
WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK
AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsWill resume submitting to Friday Flash Fiction in the New Year as they take a break after running their Christmas competition. Congratulations to the winner and those who were listed. If you would like to check out my stories on YouTube, you can do so at https://t.co/UABhvVRjC1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 22, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAllison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023 https://t.co/ltOqznSqp8 It’s a joy to write the CFT pre-Christmas post. I report on the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event, Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM, and share festive flash.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 22, 2023
Allison Symes: Collected Works 