Month: July 2024

Best Invention Ever – Books!

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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, though photos of me with The Best of CafeLit 13 were taken by other half, Adrian Symes. Thanks also to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me about to run a workshop at Swanwick 2023.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Back to hot sunny weather here. Getting ever nearer to the wonderful Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – so looking forward to that. Lady has been catching up with her pals and having a great time in the park with them. Dogs keep things simple. I like the simple approach myself when it comes to drafting a story. I ask myself whose story is it and then work out the character and away I go from there.

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Facebook – General

A hot one day but Lady keeping nice and cool, I’m glad to say. I have a flask of water with me for her which is a blessing.

Will be reviewing Bleak Expectations recently performed by the excellent The Chameleon Theatre Group for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. If you love a Dickens spoof and your own local theatre company put this show on, do go! Locals to my area, if you’ve not seen The Chameleons in performance, you should. You’re missing a treat otherwise. More to come in my post this week.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again on Thursday. Yes, I know, how did we get to August already, but there is no getting away with it. But plenty to share in my newsletter so do look out for it. If you’ve not signed up you can at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This month I’m talking about Best Invention Ever – Books! Well, it’s hard to argue with that one, isn’t it?

Regardless of what you like to read, life would be so much poorer without books in it. Hope you enjoy the post. I do ask how can we persuade people there are books out there for them, especially if they don’t come from a background of having always read. I do come from that background and am mindful I shouldn’t take that for granted.

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Lovely sunny day and Lady got to see her Jack Russell pal, Willow, today. Very sweet dog. Lady always pleased to see friends.

Had a lovely Zoom session with Swanwick friends last night but what is nice is the next time we meet up it will be in person at Swanwick. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: I draft my various posts in advance, I’ve found it pays. When I have any spare writing time, I jot down ideas and then start writing those up even if I don’t have a definite date in mind for using said posts. It does mean I always have something “on the go”. It also gives me more time to finish these pieces off. I’ve found that pays too.

Same applies for story writing. Even if I don’t have a definite market or competition in mind, I will draft away because I know I will find a home for these tales later on.

453212528_940839758055886_1379820348304126146_nHope you have had a good weekend so far. Nice to have lunch out in the garden with other half and the dog. Just as well we did, Is clouding over ominously as I write this!

Next week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post will be a review of Bleak Expectations, recently staged by our excellent local amateur dramatic company, The Chameleon Theatre Group. Their last performance of this is tonight, 27th July. Those with fond memories of the Radio 4 show of the same name (which includes me) will love this show as it is based on that and written by the same chap, Mark Evans.

Looking forward to flash fiction afternoon which is a highlight of most of my Sundays. Have a competition entry to finish and send in too this time as well as preparing my usual stories. Am making good progress towards a potential fourth collection too. During the week my writing consists of a mixture of blogging, story writing, and marketing items (such as getting my newsletter ready etc). Never short of things to be writing and that is how I like it.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Have used one of the prompts I worked on during the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting from my most recent YouTube video which I shared yesterday. I love joining in with the live writing exercises. It keeps me on my toes and I get more flash written – win-win.

All of us share what we prepare on the night. I like to encourage this because it is a good idea to get used to talking about what you write. Helps overcome the nerves in doing so too I find.

Youtube image 2It’s Monday. It’s a hot Monday. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – All Going Swimmingly. Those from the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group may recognise this one from our recent meeting. Knew I’d do something with this tale and here it is!

 

Always look forward to Sunday afternoons. I always write a lot of flash fiction then. I know it sounds almost too horrible to contemplate but it won’t be that long before I am drafting my festive flash pieces. Yes, I know. Not even out of summer yet and I’ve hinted at a certain season coming along!

I bear in mind the women’s magazines will already know what will be in their seasonal specials later this year already so I tend to draft my festive pieces as and when the mood strikes me. I often do this in late summer/early autumn so I know I have pieces to look at and polish before sending them in anywhere. I like having time on my side as much as possible.

453042414_10162062645657053_8222404052672727223_nI sometimes have fun with my flash tales in that I use films I’ve loved as inspiration. For example, my Where The Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) is based on The Wizard of Oz and I use one of the witches for the viewpoint character. It was great fun to do and a different slant on the tale I think.

I have a soft spot for this kind of story writing given my first story in print, A Helping Hand (Alternative Renditions – Bridge House Publishing) is a take on the Cinderella story. Hard to believe that was way back in 2009 – where has the time gone?

The tip I would give here though is always pick a story or film you know almost “inside out”. You need to understand the characters in the, if you like, “authorised” version before you can work out how to write a story suing a different angle based on it.

If you know Cinderella well, you will know the cast of other characters in that fairytale as well, giving you the opportunity to write something from their point of view. As you will know the characters well, your sharing of their viewpoint will come across as plausible to other readers who also know the story well, which is what you are after here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Spoofs

I’ve recently watched a wonderful play (Bleak Expectations) based on the works on Dickens, of course. The show itself was based on a Radio 4 comedy from many years ago and that and the play are written by the same man. There were many wonderful references to lines by Dickens, book titles etc in the play, which I loved. It was great fun spotting them!

But this led to me thinking about spoofs in general. Many are based on books – Bored of the Rings, anyone? (There is also A Midsummer Nightmare out there).

What I hope is the case here is the spoof comes about as a result of a genuine love for the author/books being spoofed. That is definitely the case with Bleak Expectations and if you get the chance to hear the radio series or go and see the play I heartily recommend it. Loads of laughs too! I wonder if any of these spoofs have led to people discovering the authors of the original works? I would like to think so.

One of my favourite moments from the long running Radio Four series, I‘m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, is when they have a books round and usually the players have to add a word to the title or take a word away to come up with a totally different book. I’ve often thought some of the titles they come up with for this would make excellent spoofs.

A well done spoof then, I think, can add to the pleasure of reading in general. Certainly Bleak Expectations has reminded me of Dickens’ titles I need to check out again!

Screenshot 2024-07-27 at 17-20-28 Allison Symes's Blog - Spoofs - July 27 2024 09 20 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the November 2023 edition of the magazine. The theme this time was Novels and my article is called Writing Novels. I share what I learned from writing my first novel. Do check the excellent advice throughout the magazine out.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview: Val Penny – Hunter’s Rules and Lynsey Adams – Book Blog Tour Organiser

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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 Val Penny and Lynsey Adams for images associated with their interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.
Funny old week again. Lovely sunshine followed by heavy rain – the British summer is in full swing! Had a lovely time watching The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production – review to follow on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. Do check out your local amateur theatre companies. I’ve seen some splendid shows staged by The Chameleons. You may well be in for some good surprises here with your own companies. Also I see plays as staged stories so that and the idea of supporting local theatre all at the same time is a fabulous one I heartily endorse.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

So pleased to welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today. We celebrate her Hunter’s Rules, which was recently launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival. Well done on achieving something so prestigious, Val!

In this in depth interview, Val shares with me the joys of coming back to write about familiar characters, writing straplines, what she loves about book blog tours and crime fiction, and much else besides. Plenty of useful thoughts and advice here – do check this out.

I also have a brief chat with Lynsey Adams who organised Val’s book blog tour. Lynsey shares a few tips on what authors should think about when planning their own book blog tour. Again do check this out.
Am sure you will find plenty of information which is useful and entertaining from both ladies. Thank you both for taking part in this.

Author Interview – Val Penny – Hunter’s Rules and Book Blog Tour Organiser interview – Lynsey Adams

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Am off to see Bleak Expectations, the latest show to be staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group, tonight. Looking forward to that and catching up with my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today too. Plays are staged stories when all is said and done so I see these as another way of taking in wonderful tales I might not come across another way. Nothing to dislike about that!

Writing Tip: When you’ve enjoyed a fabulous tale of any word count, why not look at it again and work out what it was you especially liked. If the characters gripped you (as I would hope they would), work out what it was which made them “do” that to you. What made them stand out? How did the author achieve that? Which details were key in getting the character across to you that way? There will be something!

Another thought – re dialogue. Now we know that fictional speech can only replicate real speech but it has the advantages of having far fewer hesitations and repetitions in it because we don’t want our readers to nod off due to boredom. But if you’re tempted to abbreviate fictional speech think about how it will look on the page/on the screen to your reader. It still has to “look right” to read right.

Whatever your kind of character, their dialogue has to fit their portrayalHope you’ve had a good day. Lady managed to see her Hungarian Vizler friend and Gertie, a lovely Golden Retriever, whom we see from time to time. Lady went home shattered but happy (as one of her favourite tricks is to suddenly get a burst of energy and run around pals showing off as she plays with her toys. I have no idea if that impresses them but it impresses her).

Am off to the theatre again tomorrow for a Chandler’s Ford Today works outing! My lovely editor and I will be seeing Bleak Expectations (a stage play based on the hilarious radio comedy of that name) being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group. Review will follow in due course. Am expecting plenty of laughs and Dickens based jokes. Should be a lot of fun. If you can, do check out the radio show. I thought it was fabulous.

Talking of CFT, I’m talking with Val Penny about her Hunter’s Rules and Lynsey Adams about book blog tours on Friday. Lots of useful information from both ladies. Be sure not to miss it and well done to Val for having her new book launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival too. See above.

As for this evening, I’m running the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later. Theme is summer. Jury is out as to whether summer has turned up. I have had the sun back out today so I would give a cautious thumbs up to this one (given I know the rain is back for me tomorrow!).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my new story, Life Dreams. What does someone, whose species uses dreams to communicate, do to avoid being caught by them and dragged back to their own planet? Find out here!
Screenshot 2024-07-26 at 09-56-49 Life Dreams by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Do look out for Friday Flash Fiction’s annual Edinburgh Festival competition (it runs in conjunction with the actual festival). See screenshot but more details will be put on the website soon. The FFF competition runs over two weeks. Worth having a go. It is free to enter. You can enter one 100 word story per week for the fortnight the competition is on so two stories in all.

The 100 word category is a popular one for competitions. It is a great discipline for sharing what matters to your characters. You give the reader what they need to know and the rest they can infer. Well worth practicing regularly (which is one reason why I submit stories to FFF often!).

Screenshot 2024-07-25 at 16-20-20 Friday Flash Fiction - Friday Flash Fiction

Writing to closing lines is great practice for coming up with punchlines or twist endings. Every so often one of my brainstorming sessions will be to do this. (I also use such sessions for coming up with title ideas and opening line possibilities).

Once I’ve got some closing lines down, I rest them for a while before having another look and seeing what I could use. Inevitably there will be some discards but there will be ideas which literally stand the test of time with me. I then have the fun of working out how I could get to that closing line. The line will throw up different possibilities and I go with the one which appeals to me the most.

For example, if my closing line was And the day had started so well too, I could use that line to produce a humorous story. I could also use it to produce a sad or slice of life tale. I would then decide what mood I wanted to write to and then figure out what character could serve my purposes here. All good fun and then I write my first draft.

But what I am keen on is to ensure that lovely closing line I’ve got seems like the only way to end my story. It has to seem natural and not tacked on though that is true for any line for any length of story.

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Fairytales with Bite – Agencies

In your fantasy setting, what agencies exist? Is there one, for example, to train fairy godmothers to an acceptable standard? Is there a law and order agency (and, if not, why not? Who would ensure criminal magic did not run riot here?). Who runs the agencies and are they accountable to higher powers? How do those higher powers operate?

Within the agencies themselves, what hierarchies exist and how did these come about? There would be potential for humorous stories here I think as well as dramas. Where you have organisations you have the competent, the incompetent, and those who muddle their way through. You could have fun here!

How would your characters fit into that kind of set up? Could one of your “muddling” characters develop something which proves to be brilliant? How would they handle their unexpected success, given others wouldn’t have expected it either?

You may not want one hugely powerful magical being running everything. It would be bound to drain powers etc. So how would the ones at the top of the tree farm out jobs for others to do and where could your characters fit in to this?

Would the agencies be your world’s major employers and how easy or otherwise is it to get a job with them? Does it depend on the “old boys’ network” and could someone break that if so?

Story ideas there I think.

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This World and Others – Who Does What?

Wherever there is a setting, no matter how far away or fantastical it is, you have administration! It does get everywhere. To be fair, a job has to be done, someone has to do it (and therefore has to organise how they do it).

I’ve always loved the quote about Death from the Discworld novels by the much missed Terry Pratchett. The Archchancellor refers to Death as a Professional fellow with a job to do. And if you read the Death novels here you will discover there is an immaculate system of hour glasses and books. There is a reason why Death has a huge desk!

So for your characters who does do what job? Is it based on their species, their class status, or a mixture?

Do certain species have certain talents so your setting rightly deploys them for the jobs requiring those skills? How did those talents develop in the first place? Who organises your setting? Discworld has the Patrician and the Guilds. Who runs your world? Are they good at it? Is there any threat to their position? Do they give the most awkward jobs to the ones who might challenge them? Do they give offers others cannot, dare not, refuse? (Good way of dealing with enemies!).

If your characters are nowhere near the seat of power, and perhaps glad to be so, what would they do? What would they be expected to do in usual circumstances? If those change, what would your characters have to learn to do (and quickly)?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the May 2024 issue which was about memoir. My article is about Using Memoir Techniques for Character Creation.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author’s Voice, Revising, and Parties as Settings

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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 good weekend. Lovely one here. Family party which we all loved and Lady was brilliant with our youngest family member (1 this coming week!) and a visiting spaniel. We found Lady crashed out in our hall at about 7.30 pm! I suspect the spaniel crashed out too. This week I’m running a flash fiction group for ACW and am off to the theatre on another evening so all go but should be fun all around.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see Willow, a lovely small Jack Russell, today, and Daisy, a very gentle spaniel. Whenever Lady gets to see any of her pals, she feels her day has not been wasted! Hope to be back in the swimming pool later this week. Missed it today. Was waiting for MOT result on my car today, thankfully it passed.

Writing wise, I’ve redrafted a competition entry. Am now resting it again. Have got it to the required word count simply by tightening up how I’ve phrased things. For short stories (this one has to be 250 words maximum), I do find it easiest to run it out on paper and edit it the old-school way. Doing that for this one highlighted where I could phrase things better and so I have!

Am planning to submit it over the coming weekend (deadline is end August but I want to make sure I don’t forget to do it before heading off to Swanwick).

452637013_10162048436782053_4036150123600301241_nA busy day but changeable weather again. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler though. Lots of affection shown and they both mug the Vizler’s owner for treats. Two happy dogs went home.

Looking forward to sharing a fab interview with Val Penny on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’m also popping in a couple of questions to book blogger, Lynsey Adams, as part of this as she organises Val’s blog tours. Lots of good tips and advice from both writing and book blogger viewpoints. Be sure not to miss it!

In other news, I’m thrilled to say Writers’ Narrative will be back in December, earlier than originally thought. Will share more information nearer the time.

Am counting down the days to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick too. Not that far away now.

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Despite the rain, we had a wonderful family party yesterday. Am recovering today (as is the dog, who was just brilliant. She loves people. She is literally a party animal).

Thinking about your characters, are they the type who love parties or hate them? Are they the type of characters people would be only too keen to invite along to a do or do folk ensure these never get invited to their place? Whatever your answers here, give some thought as to why the answers are the way they are. Story ideas are likely to crop up. To name just one, suppose a character turns up at a party. They have had the invite. It was sent out in error. What happens next?

Also thinking of having a party as a setting, what could happen there to change a character’s life for good or ill? Do they end up regretting going to that do or are so pleased they did go? Potential I think for feel good and humorous stories here. Goodness knows, the world could do with many more of both of those kinds of tale!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Apologies this is later than normal but have had a fabulous day celebrating other half’s birthday with family. Lady and my cousin’s dog, Lily, a lovely spaniel, get on really well and had a magnificent time. They also make excellent biological vacuum cleaners!

Am looking forward to welcoming back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today next week. She’ll be discussing Hunter’s Rules with me, her new book which will be launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival in the next few days. Well done, Val, on that! I’ll also be having a chat with Lynsey Adams as part of this interview about book blog tours and there will be tips shared. So please do look out for this. It will be an excellent and enlightening read.

(What’s nice is I’m due to see Val again on Zoom soon. After that I’ll be meeting up with her in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Looking forward to both of those things!).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again soon. If you’ve missed any of my YouTube stories I do share links for the month in my newsletter. I also share links to anything I’ve had on Friday Flash Fiction for the month.

To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and I will also take this chance to say a huge thank you to my subscribers. Support much appreciated.

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It’s Monday. The weather has been all over the place again. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Selections. Does the genie finally get to meet a non-greedy human? Find out here.

 

It took me a long while to discover what my author’s voice is and what helped me discover it at all was to write and to keep on writing. As I produced more short stories, blogs, flash fiction etc, a style emerged and I realised that was my author’s voice coming through. (Reading my work out loud regularly also has helped me hear my style and voice emerge).

One thing which is underrated, I feel, is the need to have a backbone of steel so you do keep on writing. You accept there will be rejections and disappointments but you also realise this happens to every writer. I’ve found knowing that makes me feel a bit better when the turn downs do come in, funnily enough.

I hope when I mention here I’ve had a rejection it will encourage others to realise that it doesn’t mean you stop writing. What you do try and do is write better, while accepting not everyone will get what you do. You have to allow for subjective tastes too.

The other thing which has helped a lot is reading more widely and in contemporary fiction, as well as the classics and favourites we all know and love. This is why going to writing events and discovering authors and books new to you is such a wonderful aid to any writer because you can’t know in advance always what will inspire your own stories (and it is fun finding this out).

452231899_10162042748972053_1141268187125797544_nI mix up how I decide my flash pieces are going to be. Sometimes I know the mood of the story I want to write. Sometimes I know the theme. Sometimes I have a character making themselves known to me and I have to get their story down.

For competitions, I like the open theme and the set ones. The latter challenge me to write to what someone else has decided here and that is a good discipline and worth practicing.

The former challenges me to think deeply about my theme and characters. Given the competition is an open one, I have to ensure my storyline and characters stand out. They have to be memorable to the judge who is likely to be reading several stories.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Children’s Books

I have a very soft spot indeed for children’s books. My late mother encouraged reading and a love of stories from an early age, something I’ve always appreciated. I have fond memories of children’s classics such as Black Beauty, the Famous Five, Heidi, and, of course, my beloved fairytales.

Being hooked on red reading early on encouraged my development into reading adult books. No such thing as a YA category in my day – I would’ve loved it and I think it is a superb idea. I collected the works of Agatha Christie via Odhams Book Club (remember them, anyone?) and still have these now. But without my love of reading the children’s books, would I have gone on to read the Queen of Crime? I doubt it.

Someone has to hook you into reading in the first place and this is where the children’s authors come in. It has long been a belief of mine that all writers of books for adults owe a huge debt to the children’s writers. They do grow our audience for us.

It was a great joy, when I became a parent, to select children’s books and, later, to see my child pick their own. (That’s a good thing to encourage too). I was especially fond of the children’s treasuries of stories (as my child was) precisely because there were lots of tales to dip into. They are the perfect books for that.

Each generation needs its children’s writers. It also needs its adult writers. I don’t know if any survey has ever been done on this but it would not surprise me much if it was found 90% + of all readers say they owe their love of reading to loving books as a child.

Screenshot 2024-07-20 at 21-25-41 Allison Symes's Blog - Children's Books - July 20 2024 13 23 Goodreads
WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

The fabulous news is Writers’ Narrative will be back in December 2024, earlier than anticipated. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the edition from June 2024 which focused on poetry. My article explored the links between flash fiction and poetry. There are more than you might think!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Making The Most of a Writing Event and a Great Blogging Week!

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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. Photos of me were taken by Adrian Symes. It is tricky to do the author holding the book picture without camera shake etc.
Hope you have had a good week. Weather up and down though back to sunny and hot at the moment. Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Val Penny on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week – do look out for it. There will be tips on book blog tours too as part of this. Meantime, do check out the THREE blogs I share with you this week!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

How come it is Friday again so soon? Anyway, it’s time to share my latest Chandlers’ Ford Today post and this week I’m looking at the topic of Making the Most of a Writing Event. This is timely given in less than a month I will be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again.

I look why going to writing events is a good idea and share top tips on how to make the best of them. Most of the tips apply to online events as well as the in-person kind. I also share thoughts on what is useful after the event too.

Hope you enjoy the post and, whatever writing events you are going to in the next few months, I hope they prove to be hugely enjoyable and useful.

Making the Most of a Writing Event

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It’s that time again – time for me to share my Authors Electric post. This time I look at Opening Lines. Whatever form of writing you do, opening lines have to lure the reader in and, for the short fiction forms such as flash fiction, I feel they do a lot of “heavy lifting”. You do have to hit the ground running here I think.

I’m also one of those writers who need something to start them off even though that start may well change later. I see opening lines as my way in to a story or article. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and we all enjoyed the sunshine. Coming back home without getting soaked always counts as a win!

Glad to say I am on Gill James’ blog today talking about my involvement with The Best of CafeLit 13. When you send in a story to CafeLit, they ask you to assign a drink to your story. I try to match my drinks to my story moods. You can see what I chose for my three stories in this anthology and much else in the interview.

Good fun to take part in – hope you enjoy reading it. A quick shout out to my other half too for the photos in this. These kinds of shots are difficult to do yourself, what with book in one hand, camera in the other, trying to avoid the dreaded camera shake etc.

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’m delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Time Problems. Some fairy godmother clients aren’t perhaps as grateful as they could and should be. Find out who and why here. Hope you enjoy the story.

Screenshot 2024-07-19 at 09-59-12 Time Problems by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Has been a gloriously sunny and warm day today, much better than earlier in the week when Lady and I had a soaking!

Writing Exercise: Pick a random opening line from a random generator or, if like me you brainstorm ideas for these every so often, go back through your notebooks and find one you like the look of and which you haven’t already used.

Then write a 50 word story to it.

Then have a go at writing 100 words to that line.

Maybe even then write yet another story to this line but this time go up to 250 words.

Once you’ve got at least two stories down, read them out loud (maybe record them and play them back) and see which has the most impact on you. A reader is likely to react in a similar way.

Sometimes I’ve found with this exercise the 50 word one is the best story. Sometimes I do need more words and it is the 100 or 250 worders which I will then submit somewhere. But this is a fun and interesting exercise to have a go at, if only because you find out just how strong (or otherwise) that opening line is.

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A task I am gladly looking forward to fairly soon is working out which new stories of mine I will use as potential reading material for the Open Prose Mic Night at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I couldn’t take part in it last year as it clashed with something else I really wanted to go to but this year’s timetable shows no clashes for me here. Really pleased about that.

I make a point of mixing the moods of whatever I read at whatever venue but also the word counts. So I expect I will end up reading a 100-worder, a 250 type, and maybe a couple of the 50s. It’s a good way of showing the range flash has.

Don’t forget my author newsletter comes out again on 1st August. I share flash fiction tips and stories here, amongst other things. You can sign up at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Fairytales with Bite – The Influence of Fairytales

Fairytales are some of the oldest stories we take in and I recall, with huge fondness, my late mother often reading to me from the Reader’s Digest Fairytale Collections long before I could read these wonderful books for myself. The reason I remember this is so well is my mother read to me consistently and often for many years, even when I was beginning to read for myself.

I owe my love of books and stories to her – very much drummed into me from an early age but something I am grateful for and which feeds into my writing now. Naturally I also watched several of the Disney classic fairytale animated films. All of that has encouraged my love for the form and I write some fairytales myself in my flash fiction and short stories.

But the influence of fairytales goes much deeper than this. Thanks to them, I’ve picked up on the Rule of Three subconsciously. I know in fairytales something happens twice but on the third occasion, something changes and that then usually leads on to the traditional happy ever after ending (Three Little Pigs, anyone?).

I’ve also learned the decrepit looking old man or woman is usually a powerful magical being in disguise and they will be teaching some arrogant so-and-so a hard lesson (The Beauty and the Beast). I’ve also learned to expect justice to be done in some way, and some wrong to be righted in some way (Cinderella).

You then have to learn that doesn’t always happen in life (deep down I knew that even as a kid) but I think one of the comforts of fairytales is it does happen in them.

The other influence from fairytales is they got me reading more of them and then moving on to other kinds of story. All very welcome!

Also fairytales don’t shy away from showing something/someone as being evil. Sometimes the tales act as warnings. Fairytales are honest writing and I love them for that too.

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This World and Others – Access to Books

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, reading is encouraged to develop when access to books is easy! In your setting, are there such things as libraries? What kind of books would they stock? Can anyone access them? Are there bookshops to purchase your own choices? Again, what would be on offer here?

If you have several communities in your setting, which would each read? For example, I would expect dwarves to read their own histories and legends but are they open enough to read those of other communities such as the elves or the humans they share their world with?

Is the skill of reading universal or limited? Who decides what goes in the libraries and bookshops? (Easy to arrange censorship there).

If your characters can travel around your setting, what would they find in other areas, book wise, they don’t have at home? Do they bring these back with them? Would doing that cause an outcry or would people/other beings welcome the chance to discover things they did not know? Not everyone would welcome that.

Are there any banned books? If so, what and why were these banned and has anyone tried to get around or repeal the ban?

Access to books is something we can easily take for granted. Do your characters do so or do they know they are lucky to have it and make the most of it?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

I’m sharing the link for the November 2023 edition of Writers’ Narrative this time. Its theme was Novels, which was apt for the month of NaNoWriMo (and for flash fiction writers, Flash NANO). I wrote a piece called Writing Novels for this issue, based on my experience of writing novels earlier in my writing life and what I’ve learned from doing that. Do check out all of the excellent articles in here.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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The Writing Life, Writing Blurbs, and Killing the Mood

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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.
What a soggy start to a new week! Oh well at least Lady dries quickly. Writing wise, I’m looking at Making the Most of a Writing Event for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and it won’t be long before I am their arts correspondence once again as I’ll be off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production, Bleak Expectations, soon. Well, the weather is certainly bleak at the moment but I am expecting plenty of laughs as the show as it is based on the radio show of the same name which went out on air some years ago. Should be fun.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Lady and I didn’t get soaked today so we’ll take that as a win.
Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Maybe summer, my theme for this, will be back by then? I can but hope!

Writing Tip: I draft presentations such as the one for the ACW group well in advance and then go through it nearer the time, having rested it for a bit. As with my story writing, that gap gives me time to see if I’ve missed anything and/or if there’s anything useful I could add in and so on. It pays off.

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Lady did get to see one of her chums, the Hungarian Vizler, today despite the awful weather. We all hope it is better tomorrow. Has anyone got Noah on speed dial?

Am preparing drafts for future flash fiction competitions. Deadline – end of August so I will aim to have something submitted by just before I go to Swanwick or shortly after I get back again. Will ensure I have time to spare and I always like that.

Then I will look out for autumn deadlines for flash competitions. After that, it will indeed be time for the festive flash season again. Yes I know. (Have not spotted anything to do with that particular season yet. It is a matter of time though! I remember always getting fed up when I was a kid when I spotted the Back to School signs in the shops and I’d only just broken up for the six weeks break. I swear this is worse now).

Will be interviewing the lovely Val Penny for Chandler’s Ford Today again soon. More details nearer the time.

Am also busy editing at the moment but the great thing with all of this? I stay in the warm and dry to do it!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Saw a lovely kite in the shape of a US plane flown in our park today. Looked fabulous when in flight. Lady doesn’t know what to make of kites so stays well clear which is no bad thing. We also get red kites in our area. You can tell when they’re about. The smaller birds disappear!

Writing wise, will be enjoying flash fiction Sunday today. I always start a story with the question who am I going to write about because for me a story is all about the character, who they are, and what happens to them/because of them. Even when I’m given or I generate a potential opening line, I am thinking who would be the best character to “serve” that line.

When it comes to my Chandler’s Ford Today or Writers’ Narrative posts, I think along the lines of what would serve a reader best. So, whatever I write, I have the reader in mind all the time and that’s good. I’ve found it helps me focus on only those things the reader needs to know or would find useful to know.

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Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Mixture of sunshine and soggy here.

Will be looking at Making the Most of a Writing Event for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and share useful tips on this. A lot of those tips will also apply to online events. Timely one to write about given in August I’ll be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I also hope to get to an Association of Christian Writers day event in October too.

I remember – too many years ago to count now! – going to my first ever writing event and being so nervous about it. But I had a lovely time, learned loads, met my now publisher there too (and neither of us could have foreseen that one). Have not looked back since. If there is a writing event of use to me I can get to I’ll go!

As well as being a delegate at Swanwick, I am also one of the course tutors. I’m running a two part course on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Looking forward to this and every aspect of Swanwick week. I come home refreshed, reinvigorated, and absolutely shattered. Now that is a sign of a great writing event!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Happy with a draft flash for a competition I’ve got in mind to enter next month but have already seen where I can sharpen it. A bit more of a gap resting it and I will see more to sharpen but that is the nature of the beast.

Where I’m happy with the draft is knowing I’ve got the character voice right and am always happy when I’ve got that nailed down. Everything else is then looking at whether I’ve expressed things as well/as tightly as I can and there is always something I can tweak usefully. But the first draft is exactly that.

Shakespeare didn’t write a perfect first draft. I know I won’t either! It is all in the edit, folks!

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It’s Monday. It’s a wet Monday. So wet even Noah is wondering whether it’s time to set sail again. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Killing the Mood.

 

Despite being used to write to tight word counts, writing the blurb (say for my Tripping the Flash Fantastic page on Amazon) still took time to craft.

I focused on what led me into writing flash fiction at all, then picked some highlights from the book to share, and flagged up it was a follow up to From Light to Dark and Back Again. I did this in under 70 words but it took ages to hone it down that tightly.

Was worth doing though. It sums up everything a potential reader has to know and having that in the back of my mind helped a lot.


Allison Symes loves reading and writing quirky fiction. She discovered flash fiction thanks to a Cafélit challenge and has been hooked on the form ever since. In this follow-up to her “From Light to Dark and Back Again”, Allison will take you back in time, into some truly criminal minds, into fantasy worlds, and show you how motherhood looks from the viewpoint of a dragon. Enjoy the journey!

Once you’ve got a potential line or two like this down for your own books, read them out loud. Hear how they flow. Can you simplify your lines without losing anything important? Editing comes into this too!

 

Given the weather is so changeable again – yes, I know it’s July, someone needs to tell the weather systems this – why not take the chance to catch up with your reading? At least that’s not weather dependent!

I love reading flash fiction as well as writing it and am often inspired by the wonderful stories I come across. Every writer needs to feed their own imagination and the best way of doing that is to read widely, in and out of your genre, and do include non-fiction.

Sparks for story ideas have come from non-fiction articles for me before now. Keep your imagination pool wide and deep and always topped up is my motto!

The other huge advantage to being a writer who reads well is you know what works well for you when you read something by someone else. You can work out why that is too. You can then apply that to your own writing. Win-win there I’d say.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Reading Acrostic

R = Read widely and well – every writer is advised to do this but why leave it just to writers?
E = Enjoy a wide range of genres and discover the wonderful world of non-fiction.
A= Authors cross all ages and genres in their work so why not discover their crated worlds?
D = Discovering a genre and/or writer new to you, whose work you like, is a great joy.
I = Imagination, inspiration, intricate plots, immense and amazing characters – what’s not to like?
N = Novels, novellas, short story and flash fiction collections – why not try them all?
G = Gives you good opportunities to read contemporary works as well as the classics.

Screenshot 2024-07-13 at 17-14-03 Allison Symes's Blog - Reading - An Acrostic - July 13 2024 09 13 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

The link below this time is to the October 2023 edition of the magazine which had a horror theme to it (well, it was Halloween month!). My article here was on Writing Horror: The Telling Details.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Fitness

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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 week. Getting nearer to that wonderful week of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Mixed bag weatherwise. Hope it improves for Swanwick week. Hope it just improves! Lady made a new friend earlier this week so she’s had a good few days and doesn’t care if she gets wet! It’s okay for her. She dries off quicker than I do.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Writing Fitness for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the value of screen breaks, being prepared for the ups and downs of the writing life, accepting you are in for the long haul with your writing, and how taking that approach can make it easier to take rejections as well as it is ever possible to take these things. Hope you find the post useful.

Writing Fitness

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Lady and I appreciated the sun this morning after what has been a wet week so far. It is apt I’m listening to O Sole Mio on Classic FM (O My Sunshine) as I write this post too.

Do look out for my Writing Fitness post on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Also my next author newsletter will be out on 1st August. Yes, I know, how can it nearly be August already? You can sign up to said newsletter for news, tips, and stories at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing Thought: When you put down the old pen, or shut up the old laptop, and resume reading for pleasure, do have a look at how the authors are presenting their dialogue, moving their story on and so forth.

One of the joys of creative writing is I think writers have two joys here. We have the joy of inventing our own tales but we also all love reading. And the second joy is we can learn from what other authors have done and have a fabulous time reading while learning, I definitely see that as a win-win.

 

Well, the sun did put in an appearance today, for which Lady and her chums, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler, were all grateful. First day this week Lady and I haven’t got wet.

I’ll be looking at aspects of Writing Fitness for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday, including looking at the value of screen breaks and preparing yourself for the long haul in writing. See above.

My favourite aspect to creating stories is in inventing characters who come to life as I outline them and find out more about what they would do and say (and what they would never do or say. That can be remarkably enlightening in itself).

When it comes to creating blogs and posts like this, my favourite moment is in having an idea to write about and then seeing its use to writers. I always find that a good moment because I then write away happily. I focus on tidying things up later.

But I have to see a use for writers here because I want these posts to be useful to me too. I also see this as a way of giving back because I’ve learned a lot over the years from useful posts myself so like the idea of giving back in some way.

But whatever I write, it is the getting started which is the key moment for me because once I have started, away I go.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I find it useful to be able to visualise what 100 word stories look like on screen (where most of mine usually find a home so it pays me to know this!) and one great way of doing that is to check out the 100 word stories page on Friday Flash Fiction. See link. Do take the chance to have a great read. Flash encompasses all moods and genres. It is a major reason why I love writing it and reading it. Enjoy!

 

I like to mix up how I present my flash tales every so often. I’m not reinventing the wheel here but it is nice to sometimes share a story in the form of an acrostic, a poem, a letter, an all dialogue piece, as well as in the “usual” prose layout. Keeps it fun and interesting for me and I hope it does for readers too.

I love reading as well as writing pieces for collections and anthologies. Those stories which stand out because they are using a different format always grab my attention. Partly I want to find out if the different format works. It nearly always does because the writer has rightly focused on ensuring it is apt for their character and situation.

In my Punish the Innocent (From Light to Dark and Back Again), I use a letter format because my main character has to leave information for another one in this way as it is the most appropriate medium. Without giving too much away, my second character here has to receive the information after a certain event has happened involving the main star here. The latter doesn’t want to be stopped from what they are intending so a letter, timed to only arrive after the event concerned, is the way to go with this one.

So if you use a different format, ask why you need it. Ask why it has to be this format. Ask why it has to be the appropriate one for your character. If you can answer all those in the affirmative, go for it and good luck!

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by night

Ending a flash fiction piece has its own joys and challenges. I do love ending a story on a punchline or a twist. They’re fun to write and a great place to leave the story. The tale has revealed all it needs to – the end, that’s it.

The challenges come from ensuring the punchline or twist (and sometimes you can have a punchline which is also a twist) arises naturally from the characters and situation I’ve put them in. Nothing must seem contrived or forced. A reader has to be able to feel the ending was the appropriate one for this situation.

This is one reason why I find a simple outline so useful. I have Character A, they’re in this situation, how would that be resolved? I can then jot down ideas for the ending and I go with the one which makes the strongest impact on me. A story and character has to be able to make me react to it, no matter how short or long the tale might be. I have to care about the outcome. If I care about that, readers should do too.

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Fairytales with Bite – Magic Wands Plus

M = Margo so begrudged having a second hand wand.
A = All of her fairy colleagues had brand new tools.
G = Granted, Margo’s mother was always fond
I = In Margo’s view of making her the butt at fairy school.
C= Considered it vital for making her develop backbone.

W = Wishing on a star was a complete waste of time.
A = And spell books could always be misread.
N = Never mind, Margo’s mother said, your wand is sublime.
D = Doubting this, Margo put it to the test and found it led
S = Straight to Margo outperforming everyone in her year.

P = Performance does not depend on having the latest gadget.
L = Learn, Margo’s mother said, updates are not all they’re cracked up to be.
U = Understanding now, Margo buried the hatchet.
S = Success came to her by studying hard and the hidden strengths of her old wand.

Ends
Allison Symes – 10th July 2024

Hope you enjoyed that. My sympathy here is with Margo’s mum given updates are indeed not always what they’re cracked up to be. They never come in at good times either but that may just be me.

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This World and Others – Inventors

Which three inventions would you say were the best? There are so many to choose from but my nominees are:-

  1. The invention of literacy going on to include the development of print.
  2. The invention of medicine.
  3. The invention of photography because I love seeing all those wonderful images coming from space and that all started with being able to capture things on film in the first place.

In your setting, which are the inventions your world could not do without? Which inventions do they wish hadn’t come about? (There is always something there. We didn’t need the “invention” of pollution to name but one).

How does your setting treat its inventors? Are they honoured or treated with suspicion? Not everyone welcomes the clever. Often people can be fearful of new inventions and those behind them.
Is your setting keen to develop further or does it want inventions to be within set limits? (Makes it easier to control, doesn’t it?).

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the December 2023 edition of the magazine with its focus on Finishing Strong. That is always a timely topic.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Questions To Ask Your Characters and Using The Weather

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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, as were the photos of my lovely dog, Lady, and pictures from the local wildflower meadow which is always stunning.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely family meal out here. The calendar may say July but outside it is definitely saying autumn! Hope things are better with you. Not that Lady minds. She’s pretty good about accepting the need to have paws wiped etc after a rainy walk out. I must admit though I am a bit put out I am back in my walking boots though – in July!

BookBrushImage-2024-7-9-19-5735Facebook – General

Another soggy day but Lady got to meet and play with a lovely Golden Retriever called Winston. Good time had by both.

Had a lovely Zoom meeting last night on a topic I love – history. Looking forward to the next ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later in the month. Can’t help but think I may have been optimistic in choosing summer as a theme!

Need to look up some writing competitions to have a crack at – these are good for making you write to a deadline and often to a theme as well. They’re also good for getting you into the habit of submitting work to someone who will truly evaluate it independently.

How do I know the latter? That’s because I have been (and still am) a competition judge. All entries are submitted to the judges anonymously so we really can’t tell who has written what. I’m looking forward to putting my judge’s hat on again in the summer and autumn for flash fiction in both cases. Will be fun.

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Hope you have had a less soggy day than Lady and I. She dries off better and quicker than I do. No danger of a suntan here – rust might be a possibility though!

Writing Tip: If you are going to use the weather in your stories, be specific about it. Let us know your character has got a drenching rather than became slightly damp. You can show us how that drenching changed the character’s mood.

I would be specially interested to know if they were happy about it given that is not most people’s reaction to getting soaked. Has the character got other troubles which put the drenching into perspective, for example? Could the drenching help them in some way (it gives them a good excuse to get out of something, say)?

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Anyone would think it was autumn around here – strong winds, heavy rain etc. Still on the plus side the wildflower meadow is in full bloom at our park – it’s a joy to see. Lady approved too!

Good questions to ask your characters when you’re trying to discover more about them could include the following:-

What would you like to do if you could get away with it and why?
What would you never do even if circumstances allowed you to do so?
Who would you consider to be a hero and why?
What do you think is the most important thing in life and why?

Answering those would give you a good outline. It’s often the reasons why which reveal much about a character.

If my character decided they would love to rob a bank but, only because they know they could get with it, because they were once sacked by a bank, then you’ve got a clear, understandable motivation of revenge (doesn’t mean you have to approve!), and you could write a great story based on this. Knowing the likelihood of getting away with it is remote, do they find other outlets for their need for revenge instead?

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Has been a strange blustery day where I am. Hope it has been much better with you. Managed to get the lawn cut before the rain came in – will take that as a win.

I’m looking at the topic of Writing Fitness for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. More details nearer the time but I will touch on issues such as screen and other breaks and being ready for the ups and downs of the writing life. (Oh and another author interview to come towards the end of the month).

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow as I get a fair amount of flash written then. Lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Just over a month away to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – so looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: Do, as part of your editing, check there are no plot holes. Is everything tied up which should be? It is easy to over look something so make sure all marries up as it should. All should make sense, even in the most fantastic of settings.

What you are after here is to avoid anything which might make readers think “but…”. What you want them doing is rooting for your characters to succeed or fail. That way they will keep reading with nothing to jar their reading enjoyment.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

More rain. Should have guessed. Wimbledon’s on! If anything is guaranteed to bring out the rain, it is the tennis.

My favourite all time moment from SW19? There could only be one. It is when Andy Murray won the title for the first time. Had the great joy of ringing my Dad, who was a life long tennis fan and had been waiting for a British champion all his life, who was all over the moon about it.

Now how do I link that to writing flash fiction? Easy peasy! Flash focuses on the important moment of a character’s life. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is the figuring out of what is the most important moment which can be tricky so I ask myself questions here. What does my character have to achieve by the end of the story and why? Get that sorted and I have my outline. I have what I know I’ve got to focus on.

Flash Fiction focuses on THE important aspect of a character's life

It’s Monday. It’s more like October than July at the moment out there. It’s definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Routine. When all is change and turmoil around him, can Larry keep his job? Will his routine ever be the same again? Find out here.

 

Hope you have had a good weekend. Will be looking at the theme of summer for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. I hope summer will be back by then! It’s more like autumn where I am at the moment.

If you are ever stuck for a theme to write to, do check out the random theme generators. These can be useful for getting you started on something. I’ve found the broader the theme, the more I can do with it.

A theme like summer I can take in all sorts of directions from holidays to someone hating summer because they have the world’s worst case of hayfever to stories which focus on legends and/or sports associated with the summer season.

Another good place to start with themes is looking at what interests you. I love music of a wide variety but classical is my favourite. So I could base a story on a character who loves or hates classical. I could use a classical concert as the backdrop to a story.

So often it is getting started on a story which is the issue so having a wide variety of “methods in” is useful. This is why I use the random generators, story cubes, books or prompts, my own photo, all sorts of things. Sometimes I will look for the theme or something which is an intriguing opening line so I can work out how I would follow on from said line.

Mixing things up is fun and keeps you on your toes. That in turn encourages further creativity.

AE - July 2024 - Writing something down helps trigger further creativity for me

A favourite theme of mine for flash stories is someone not being all they appear to be. Sometimes the character is a magical one who has absconded from their old life to live somewhere else, usually here on Earth. (The Past – Ready Or Not? is one example from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. And yes I did have the old “coming, ready or not” phrase used in childhood games of Hide and Seek in mind for the title here).

What I do is give small details to indicate to the reader my character is hiding something. Those small details add up so the reader can work things out.

Sometimes my character is as human as you and I are but they know someone who isn’t. That can cause issues because they don’t want the neighbours finding out about their dodgy connections – see my What The Neighbours Think as an example of this and how my character handles this.

Again it is the small telling detail which packs a great deal of punch here. My character wonders what it is about her that attracts the oddballs. From that you know said oddball is going to turn up/has just turned up and my character has to handle it/keep things quiet as they see fit.

What I don’t do is give lots of details about the hidden past/dodgy connection. The reader doesn’t need to know all of that. They do need to know how my character is going to deal with it and an idea of what it is they have to handle at all.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

Goodreads Author Blog – Books of Letters

I love books of letters. I have books of letters by Evelyn Waugh (his own and those he exchanged with Nancy Mitford) and P.G. Wodehouse on my shelves (real and electronic). Yes, the letters do shed insights into the writing life which are fascinating and useful. I also have a book of letters by Jane Austen and I must finish reading that so this post has proved useful in reminding me to do so!

I do so wish Agatha Christie had done this though. Am sure her letters would have been insightful. Having said that, her The Moving Finger does have its plot focus around a string of poison pen letters so she brought them into her fiction at least!

What I like about letters are they do show something of the writer and the recipient. I’ve made use of this as a wiring technique in my Punish The Innocent (From Light to Dark and Back Again). Good fun to do and it makes for a freshing change of story format but one I think best done sparingly. You do have to have strong characters to carry this off successfully.

Maybe that is why more writers haven’t produced books of their letters. They would rather get their characters to show you something of themselves rather than of the writers themselves. What do you think?

Screenshot 2024-07-06 at 16-05-01 Allison Symes's Blog - Books Of Letters - July 06 2024 08 04 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Am sharing the bumper January/February 2024 issue of the magazine this time which looked at new beginnings AND romance writing. I looked at New Beginnings for Characters and asked Flash Fiction Romance:  Is It Possible? for this edition.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Employing Kipling’s Serving Men

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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. Summer weather continuing at a nice temperature for Lady and me. Swimming sessions have been especially nice this week! Delighted to discover a useful notes program on my new smartphone. Am sure I will make good use of this when out and about. Writing wise, am keeping busy with blogs, flash fiction, and editing work – loving it all!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Employing Kipling’s Serving Men on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at what these serving men are and why they are so useful to any form of writing. I also add in a “serving man” of my own – I use this particular one a lot in my own writing.

I share an example of a non-fiction and fictional use of the serving men and discuss frameworks, which is essentially what the serving men give you. Hope you find the post and the serving men useful for your own work.

Employing Kipling’s Serving Men

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Hope the day has been good. Lady accompanied me at the polling booth this morning. Only one in there who didn’t need photo ID.

Will be sharing Employing Kipling’s Serving Men on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Just who are these serving men and why can every writer benefit from them? Details in the CFT post tomorrow. See above.

Have had to change smartphone recently. Delighted to find it comes with its own useful note program. Have used it for both of my Facebook posts today (4th July 2024). Am sure I will be making good use of this. I did use another but have not liked them wanting everyone to have a paid subscription. Not worth it for me.

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Hope the day has been a good one. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and a lovely Nova Scotia Tolling Retriever called Charlie. Fantastic time had by all. Three tired dogs went home.

Will be looking at Employing Kipling’s Serving Men on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Said serving men make for an excellent structure for any piece of writing. More later in the week. See above. There will be more author interviews to come on CFT too plus a review to come for the next Chameleon Theatre Group show, Bleak Expectations, so plenty happening.

I see in this month’s Writing Magazine there is a feature about The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Will look forward to reading that soon. Can’t wait to be at Swanwick again – it is a major highlight of my writing year. Also hoping to get to a day writing event in the autumn and a book fair but I hope say more on both of those nearer the time.

Writing Tip: Always give yourself more time than you think for editing and polishing stories especially those for competitions. You get one shot at these things so taking that bit of extra time and care gives you the best chance. (Will be talking more on that in the editing course I’m running at Swanwick this year too but I’ve found it pays off).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble (100 worder), Blockage Removed. The word “bar” came up as a prompt I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group recently and this is how I put the word to work for me. Hope you enjoy the tale.
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Ideas for stories can pop up anywhere. I’ve sometimes used overheard snippets of conversation, colourful hats etc I’ve spotted when out and about, and other observations for character portrayal. All out of original contexts too so nobody would recognise themselves.

I’ve heard it said writers have magpie minds – they collect this and that and it ends up in a story. Still I take comfort from the thought this has gone on from the dawn of time. Most storytellers want their audience to relate to their tales and that is done by crafted observations.

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Just a quick reminder to say I do take direct sales of my books via my website as well as at events of course. I am always happy to sign copies of From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic for people. Just contact me via my website – link below. I can also supply copies of the various anthologies I’ve had work in – just contact me for more details.

Flash Writing Tip: Get the story down first and then worry about the word count. Once I’ve got a first draft down, I rest it for a while and then come back and look at it again. It’s at that point I spot things I can strengthen and/or cut. If the story works well at 150 words, I leave it there and find a suitable home for it at a later date. The story does have to suit the word count rather than the other way around.

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Fairytales with Bite – A Letter From a Fairy Godmother to a Novice

Hope you enjoy the following. I suspect a letter of this type could be sent out to all magical beings about to graduate.

Learning The Ropes

Dear Novice

As a senior fairy godmother of many decades’ standing, and I am still standing, do take heed of the following. I was grateful for these tips when I was about to complete my final exams and continue to be. They are literally life savers.

Keep your wand fully charged. There is never a convenient time for it to lose power. It may be boring but get into a routine of looking after your equipment properly. Then when you need it, it will look after you.

Make sure your books are fully legible. Some of the ancient ones are easy to misread. You don’t want to find out what the consequences of a misreading will be. (It is still not clear, after all these centuries, what did happen to Fairy Mexatonia. All that was left of her were her smoking boots and a spell book with steam coming off its pages. No chance of reading anything on that now).

Dragons are best avoided. Left to themselves, they are seldom any trouble. They only cause trouble when they feel under threat so don’t go there. Yes, you get the odd rogue one who decides it wants to dine out on roasted fairy godmother but then you discover the joys of having a fully charged wand and zap the thing, right?

Treat all with respect. Many of our more powerful colleagues do look as if a strong gust of wind might blow them over. Not a bit of it. They’re the ones who’ve turned arrogant humans into hairy creatures. You don’t want that happening to you.

If something seems too good to be true, it is. Run away fast. This is a universal principle for all beings.

Best of luck with the practical and theory exams.

Senior Fairy Godmother Artexia

Allison Symes – 3rd July 2024

BookBrushImage-2024-7-5-19-455This World and Others – Getting Through

I would hope that any novice fairy, on receipt of the letter, Learning the Ropes, outlined in Fairytales with Bite, would realise they’ve got to take this seriously. Getting through to others though isn’t always easy though. Prejudices, pride, arrogance etc can all get in the way of someone learning something invaluable. That applies to our characters as well to ourselves!

So you have a story where an older character needs to get information through to a younger colleague, whom they know won’t want to listen. How do they get around this and get the vital information through to the one needing it? Give some thought as to why the younger one won’t listen – it is just youthful impatience or has the younger character got good reasons to be wary of taking seriously anything their older colleague tells them?

There would be some interesting conflicts there. Also does the younger character have to learn their lesson the hard way? Does the older character need to learn how to get things across in a better way so people will listen?

What worked back in the day may not be so effective now given times and technologies change. A younger character could be unwilling to study old magical text books when they could access material via whatever their equivalent of a computer would be. The older one to know perhaps there is information in these old books which shouldn’t be lost and not everything transfers to technology well.

Generational cross-purposes form the basis of many stories in different genres, but especially sagas. There is no reason why this couldn’t come into fantasy stories too. The same issues of being willing or unwilling to listen occur regardless of where your world setting might be.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

The magazine is back in 2025 after a hiatus but in the meantime do check out the back issues. This time I share the March 2024 edition with its theme of Writing For Children. Plenty of wonderful articles here. I had two pieces in here – Writing for Children and, separately, Writing for Anthologies.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Top Ten Tips and Letters

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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 weekend. Nice one here. Am busy on both writing and editing projects at the moment and am loving them all. I do like knowing what I’ll be working on when I get to my desk. Some days I have more time than others but I’ve learned to plan out my week so I see my writing and editing as a case of what have I got done over the course of a week, rather than judge it day by day. It also means I use the smaller pockets of time more efficiently too. I know what I’ll be saving those odd ten minutes here, ten minutes there for.

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Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Pleasant time in the park with Lady though she didn’t get to see her chums today. Hopefully will make up for that tomorrow.

Am almost at the end of re-reading the great P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters on my Kindle. Will have the happy dilemma of working out what to read next soon. Having read non-fiction for a while, I will almost certainly turn to something fictional and I suspect Jeeves and Wooster will be in the offing. Just sometimes I only want to read something which I know will make me laugh. Wodehouse always delivers there.

Occasionally, I’ve written short stories, even flash fiction, in the form of a letter. For flash pieces, I have needed to write up to the full word count allowed (1000) but that’s fine.

What I like about the letter format is you have two characters immediately, the writer and the letter recipient, and you can tell much about them by what is written and the attitude coming through the text. (See my Punish the Innocent from From LIght to Dark and Back Again – all I will say is there is a lot of attitude on display here and rightly so given the situation the character is in).

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Another month, another author newsletter is out there. You do spot how quickly the year goes by when you realise it is time another newsletter went out.

Writing Tip: Every so often have a brainstorming session. Write something just for the fun of it. Put one side. Then when you get one of those days when you are struggling to get into your writing, dig out your notebooks and have a look through. Pick something out and see if you can write it up further.

I use brainstorming sessions to come up with titles and opening/closing lines in particular. When I go back through my notes, I then have a choice of interesting titles or lines to use. I then jot down what could come from that title or the line I’ve picked. Before you know it I’ve got an outline and from there I’m on to my first draft. Well worth a go.

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Hard to believe it’s the end of June already. Author newsletter out again tomorrow.

Will be talking about Employing Kipling’s Serving Men for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. They’re useful for any form of writing and my post will explain more, plus share examples. Link up on Friday.

Delighted to say I’ll be going to see Bleak Expectations in July with my lovely CFT editor. This will be the latest production by The Chameleon Theatre Group and is based on the hilarious radio show from years ago on Radio 4. Yes, it does send up Dickens. Am expecting there to be lots of laughs as there were from the radio show. Looking forward to seeing and reviewing the show in due course.

Lovely to catch up with friends on Zoom last night. Looking forward to seeing them (and many other friends) in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. It’s getting nearer!
449464369_10161990168442053_4486270875338545614_nHope you are having a lovely weekend so far.

Glad to say I am back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my post title easily sums up my theme – Top Ten Tips! Hope you find them all useful. I know I do.

All of these I’ve picked up over time (it helps I’ve been writing since the last Thesaurus Rex, the wordy dinosaur, left the planet). I continue to use all of the tips too.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget flash fiction lends itself well to seasonal writing. My main focus there is on festive flash and before you groan at the thought, I will say it won’t be too long before I start thinking of ideas for this year’s festive selection from me. Indeed for the magazine market those festive stories for this year have already been picked.

I have sometimes written autumn themed stories but the advantage of all seasonal writing is you can prepare them in advance. If you’re putting a collection together you could group your seasonal stories with a few tales for each period you’re writing for. Bear in mind there are seasonal writing competitions so having something stories to hand to look at and polish sounds like a good idea to me.

449776729_10161995376942053_2939031652275405182_nIt’s Monday. It’s been hectic as usual. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Traffic Jam. Those at the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will recognise this as a picture prompt I set them (the duck in the road). This is what I did with that prompt!

 

Hope your weekend has been a lovely one. Has been here. Enough going on to enjoy. Enough time to chill too – the perfect weekend as far as I’m concerned. Goes for Lady too as she’s gone off for a nap as I write this.

Flash fiction makes great use of inference due to its restricted word count but this is a huge advantage to a writer. It makes you think about what can be inferred and how you do that. It makes you think about what a reader needs to know so they can infer what you want them to infer. That last bit is also useful for crime writers when it comes to planting the old red herrings!

In my Serving Up a Treat (From Light to Dark and Back Again), I don’t spell out everything my character has gone through or what they have done. I do give enough information for anyone to work both of these things out and from there to deduce what they feel about my character.

This tale worked especially well in the first person. You can only see what my character shows you and “they” get to select what is shown. I like to take advantage of this in my flash tales. It keeps a reader wondering about my character too (and the only way to find out more is to read on of course).

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Occasionally a film or part of one inspires a flash fiction story. My The Haunting from From Light to Dark and Back Again is inspired by a certain detail in that fabulous Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers. Do watch the film if you haven’t – it is one of my must sees – and the cast and script are simply brilliant. The stageshow of this film was also very good when I saw it a few years ago.

But one detail from the heroine of this film led me to writing my story. If you’ve seen the film, you will spot what it is. If not, I hope you enjoy the story anyway. I always make sure any of my stories “stand alone” if people aren’t aware of references etc and am always appreciative when other writers have done this. If I do get the reference, it gives me additional enjoyment from the story. If not, I enjoy the story anyway.

But if you like your films, selecting a detail to inspire you like this could give you story ideas and without it being fan fiction either. There is no mention of The Ladykillers in my The Haunting. Doesn’t need to be. My story stands alone. Those who know the film will pick up the inference. Still works as a tale even if not.

Flash works so well as a format because the limited word count does mean you have to infer a lot. But you as the writer can make good use of that. Using your inspirations in this way can be a great source of further ideas for stories which will be unique to you – they’re your inspirations!

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Influences

One aspect to reading I love is when I think I can spot which stories have influenced the writer. Sometimes it is obvious to spot these. (This is especially true for the well done spoof). Sometimes the influence is portrayed in a subtle manner (and I always feel a bit pleased with myself when I spot this type).

Stories do influence us even if we’re not always conscious of it. My love of fairytales means I know I will expect justice to be done in some way (and that applies to most crime fiction too). I pick up on the Rule of Three in all manner of books and stories thanks to what I have learned from fairytales. Something happens twice. Something happens with a change on the third occasion and that change usually leads to the traditional happy ever after ending in fairytales.

Notice I say usually there. My first reading of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christen Andersen came as a shock precisely because it didn’t follow what, by then, I had come to see as the usual pattern. Andersen’s ending of this tale is appropriate for the character as he has portrayed her (which is something else I’ve picked on subconsciously thanks to my love of reading. Naturally I ensure the endings I create for my characters are appropriate to them as I have portrayed them).

So think about what books you love. What influence have they had on you? It may well be more than you thought, especially if you’re a writer too.

Screenshot 2024-06-29 at 17-14-14 Allison Symes's Blog - Story Influences - June 29 2024 09 14 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Please note the next edition of Writers’ Narrative will be out in 2025. The magazine has had to take a break. What I will share here is links to back copies of the magazine. First one up is the April 2024 edition on a subject close to my heart – editing. Do check these out. Plenty of excellent material to enjoy.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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