Random Generators

August 30, 2024Leave a comment

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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 week. Lady had a wonderful puppy party with not one, not two, but three of her best buddies earlier this week. All of the dogs went home shattered but happy! Writing wise, I have two blogs to share this week with one on competitions (More than Writers) and the other on Random Generators (Chandler’s Ford Today). Hope you find both useful.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Random Generators as my post on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. This is a topic close to my writing heart given I use a wide range of these and find them so useful for triggering story ideas. I share reasons why these things are so useful to writers and tips for making the best of them. Hope you find the post useful.

Random Generators

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I talk about Competitions and share hints and tips I’ve found useful. Hope you find them useful too.

I also look at what I think judges are looking for in competition entries. Am looking forward to putting my judge’s hat back on in September for a writing group, which is why this topic sprung to mind.

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Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her best pals, the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Coco the Labradoodle. Very tired but happy dogs went home (and before it became so humid this afternoon too so win-win there).

Will be discussing Random Generators on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. I use a wide variety of these and find them all useful. Many of my tales created this way end up on Friday Flash Fiction or on my YouTube channel.

Writing Tip: If you have brainstorming sessions every so often (and I do for titles and opening/closing lines), do put them away for a while afterwards. As with resting a story before being able to edit it effectively, I find I have to rest the ideas I’ve come up with here and it is only with time away from them, I can then work out whether they are “goers” or not. Pleased to say most are and I get on with drafts but inevitably I do have to discard some ideas – this is the way of it.

Sometimes an idea which seemed good at the time was only good enough for that time. The cool light of day, and switching my brain from creative to objective judging mode can be illuminating to say the least. I used to worry when I discarded ideas but have learned over time other, better ideas do occur to you so I no longer worry about this aspect.

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Glad to say my story Fifteen is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. The idea for this one came from my Lift Up Your Pens session at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick recently.

I was discussing using numbers in fiction and one of the ideas I shared was that of writing a story based around a character having a fear of a certain number. Find out why my character Shelley chose this one rather than the more usual thirteen.

I use names in my flash pieces for various purposes. Sometimes I use them to indicate likely age. Sometimes I use them to indicate likely social class. Sometimes a name can combine those two factors. I don’t always use surnames because I often find just the first name gives the detail I want readers to pick up on. But I do ensure the name suits the character.

Occasionally I do use the random name generators (especially those where I can select fantasy names. Many of these generators have different settings and it is worth having a look at them to find which would suit you best). Funnily enough I often don’t use the name generated but what it does do is trigger off an idea of my own from it and I then go with that. As ever with me, it is the getting started which matters!

With the exception of Friday Flash Fiction who want up to 100 words, most of the flash competitions I try have a word count of 250 or 300 words. If you wanted to practice writing to specific word counts, I would recommend the 100, the 250 and the 300. I’d also check out the competition guide Writing Magazine issue as these detail flash competitions as well as standard short story ones.

Don’t forget to check out their website as well for other competitions. Some are subscriber only. Others are open to all. And I will flag up now they are running the Grand Flash Prize again, deadline is the end of the year for that one.

Fairytales with Bite – Favourite Books

Do your fantasy characters have favourite books? Are there tales which are considered classics and which everyone is supposed to read/have read? Would any of these be the same or similar to our fairytales? Indeed, what would they have as fairytales and are ours a poor imitation?

What is the attitude towards reading in your world? Is it encouraged or looked down on? Can anyone access books? What would be the equivalent of libraries/book shops in your setting? Would information found out from books (or something of interest in stories) be of crucial importance to your characters as they deal with their situations?

If your setting has multi species, which would be the favourite books of each and is there any crossover happening here? Is there something with unites the different species? It is one of the things I love about books – they can be a great way to bring people together. So could this happen in your story and what would the outcome be?

This World and Others – Access to Books

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, access to books is governed by whether there are such things as libraries in your settings. If not, how else would people access books? Do your characters ever earn enough to buy their own? Are certain books reserved for select species and why is this, if so?

What would those in authority worry about people finding out from books? Are they right to worry? Has there been any historical precedent for trouble being caused by folk accessing books they should not have done?

Or have books been suppressed in the past, they’re not now, but someone is looking to suppress them again? Who would this be? What are they trying to cover up? Do they succeed? Story ideas there I think!
Meantime I’ll continue to appreciate my own access to books! They are wonderful things.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the April 2024 edition on editing. My article here asks the always pertinent question – Editing: Do You Love It or Loathe It?

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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More than Writers: Competitions by Allison Symes https://t.co/6gZdbzmFIh Pleased to be back on MTW, ACW's blog spot. I share tips about competitions I’ve found useful and look at what I think judges look for. Am looking forward to putting my judge’s hat back on in September too. pic.twitter.com/mFi8RA0WM6
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 29, 2024

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Fifteen, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/SAkaZ48yyl The idea for Fifteen came from my Lift Up Your Pens at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I discussed using numbers in fiction. One idea I shared was writing a tale based on a fear of a certain number. pic.twitter.com/zBQVX3QNZT
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 30, 2024

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Random Generators https://t.co/NU11gdsocS Pleased to share Random Generators on CFT this week. This topic is close to my writing heart as I use a wide range of these. I share reasons why these are so useful to writers and tips for making the best of them.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 30, 2024

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Music, Character Tips, and Flash Fiction News

August 27, 2024Leave a comment

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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 Julia Pattison for the image of me at Swanwick 2023 above.

Hope you have had a good weekend. It was the last summer bank holiday in most of the UK. Weather got better as it went on, which was nice. Lady doesn’t understand bank holidays though. Misses her friends given normal routines tend to get dropped including by us. Writing wise, I was glad to have received a commended for my story, Demanded, in the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition. Am resting another story for another competition. Hope to submit that over this weekend.

Facebook – General

Hope you have a good day. Bank holiday weeks always feel a bit odd, as if you’re missing a day or are a day out somehow.

Pleased to say Friday Flash Fiction is now open again for submissions. Have just send a story in. Have another story I want to send in for a competition later this week. Plus Hannah Kate is putting out calls for stories for her Autumn Equinox show on North Manchester FM again. Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for flagging that one up. Do follow the link for more details.

Now this is one area where I do always use Zoom to record my stories because I want to make sure my tales do come in at under Hannah’s timing limit and it is the best way I know of doing just that. Good luck if you are having a go at sending something in. Hope to have a crack at this myself later in the week.

Autumn Equinox Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

Hope you’ve had a good Monday (and made the most of the bank holiday if that applied). I’ve enjoyed listening to Classic FM’s Movie Hall of Fame today (26th August 2024) where they counted down the top 100 film themes voted for by listeners.

I voted for The Lord of the Rings soundtrack and was pleased that hit the top spot again. Epic book, epic film, epic soundtrack. Classic stories stay with you, as does classic music. I can’t say a specific piece of music has ever inspired me to write a story but maybe I should try that sometime. It would be a sound prompt!

Character Tip: What kind of music does your character like most and why? Is it something they’ve always loved or something they developed a taste for (the latter is the case for me with classical)? Do they find music helps them to unwind and what would they need to unwind from? I’m sure there are story ideas there!

Hope you’re having a good Sunday. Lovely service this morning. Quiet day the rest of the day. Just what the doctor ordered etc.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again next week. I share news, tips, story links and much else. If that is of interest please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Also, many thanks to those who signed up to the newsletter at Swanwick recently.

I outline my characters but never use all of the information I trigger doing this in the story itself. What it does do is give me enough information to be able to write my characters with conviction. I know what they’re going to be doing and why, so away I go on my first draft. I know I need to know my characters well enough to be able to drop them right in it in whatever situation I choose and that is so much fun!

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Many congratulations to Tom Baldwin who won the Friday Flash Fiction competition with his story, Wedding Day. Congratulations also to the runners-up and those who were Highly Commended and Commended. I was delighted to find my tale, Demanded, is one of the Commended ones. Nice start to the long weekend!

I’ll be discussing Random Generators for Chandler’s Ford Today on 30th August. I use these often because I am always looking for ways into creating story and/or character ideas. I use a variety of these things and have found them all useful. Link up on Friday.

A huge thanks for the great response to yesterday’s CFT post about Swanwick. (Am already looking forward to Swanwick 2025).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

May I welcome all who have subscribed to my YouTube channel, especially since I see the numbers have gone up. Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the stories I share here. If you’re interested in subscribing, just follow the link.

I usually put a new story up on Mondays. It’s good fun to do. I use Book Brush for creating the video – lovely and easy to do too. Having my own channel makes for a nice, visual media addition to my marketing and I also use it to advertise flash fiction and all it can be.

It’s Monday. Okay for a lot of the UK it is the summer bank holiday but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Perfect Timing.

F= Fun format to write for and it helps you to learn to write tightly and to not fear editing.

L = Less is more is the anthem for flash fiction writers – you have to be selective as to what you show a reader.

A = And if you like creating characters, as I do, this is the form for you as you need loads of them!

S = Succinct storytelling, giving readers only what they need to know and allowing them to infer plenty for themselves.

H = Has various divisions – the dribble (50 worders), the drabble (100 words), micro (usually under 300 words), plus the 500 and 750 word forms – there will be at least one to suit you.

Not a great day to be out and about here – has chucked it down for most of the day. Not that this worries Lady. She dries quickly. It is a good day to be indoors writing and reading though!

I like to be inside my characters’ heads for all of my fictional work. I have got to understand where they’re coming from, even though often I don’t approve of their actions and attitudes at all. One huge advantage to outlining a character is you do get to understand them. I’ve found it helps me to portray them realistically, even if they’re a fantasy creature.

In my Time for Some Peace (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) I write this from a mother dragon’s viewpoint and her actions are understandable based on what I’ve shown you about her. But I outlined that bit in a line or two before I wrote the story up.

Goodreads Author Blog – Next on the TBR Pile

Working out what to read next is probably the reader’s most difficult dilemma though it is a lovely one to have. I mix up reading novels with short story and flash fiction collections. I also mix up the genres I read. I also like to mix up the mood of what I read. I also mix up reading classic and contemporary.

At the moment I’m happily reading some of P.G.Wodehouse’s works as I want a lighthearted read. Am loving getting into the stories of Jeeves and Wooster again. Am currently reading Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen and I was delighted to come across a reference to Blandings Castle, the scene of some of my favourite Wodehouse stories with the lovely Lord Emsworth and the wonderful Uncle Fred.

Not just here but in series books, I love those little “nods” to other places the author writes about. I see this a lot in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld too. In the fabulous Maskerade (a spoof of opera and The Phantom of the Opera especially), the Lancre witches come to Ankh-Morpork where so many of the other Discworld novels are set. I love links like that and often I will find my dilemma about what to read next is solved because having read Maskerade again, for example, I wold probably go on to re-read one of the Sam Vimes books, the common link here being that fabulous fantasy city.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time, I share the first edition of the magazine – the August 2024 one. I talked about Boost Your Writing With Flash Fiction. Now that will be a topic which will always be close to my heart, pen, laptop etc!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Next on the TBR Pile https://t.co/UfZS7PhMy8 via @goodreads I share how I often work out what to read next from my TBR pile for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/Vapsevikbc
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 24, 2024

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It’s Monday. Okay for a lot of the UK it is the summer bank holiday but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Perfect Timing.https://t.co/ilHnw7sSjk
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 26, 2024

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Welcome to all who have subscribed to my YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy my tales here. I put new tales up on Mondays. I use Book Brush for creating the video. My channel is a visual media addition to my marketing and I use it to advertise flash fiction.https://t.co/UABhvVRjC1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 27, 2024

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Swanwick 2024

August 23, 2024Leave a comment

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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. A huge thanks to all who contributed to the pictures for my Chandler’s Ford Today post about Swanwick this week. I especially appreciate those of me taking part in events. Always tricky to do those shots yourself!

Hope you have had a good few days. Weather all over the place once again. My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week was a particular joy to write – well, it was on Swanwick 2024 a subject close to my heart. I hope the post gives you a good flavour of what makes Swanwick special for so many writers, including this one.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. For those of us having a bank holiday this weekend, hope it proves to be a good one.

I’m delighted to share Swanwick 2024 as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. This one was a labour of love! I review my week there, share something about what makes The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick so special, and celebrate its 75th anniversary.

I also got to have an almost red carpet moment with fellow Swanwicker, Dave Bromley, but find out more about that in the post. Link below.

Swanwick 2024

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Not great weather today though it didn’t stop Lady having a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler chum this morning. Mind you, I got to reprise my excellent impersonation of a bedraggled rat! Wasn’t quite enough rain to be a fully fledged drowned rat!

My Swanwick 2024 post is up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. If you want to know something about why The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is so special, do check my post out. See above.

My next events will be the Association of Christian Writers’ Autumn Gathering In October and the Bridge House Publishing event in December, both of which I’m looking forward to already.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. I know. It’s hard to believe we’re so close to September, one of my favourite months, (and only one more Bank Holiday to go in the UK before…. Best left there I think).

Oh and a sneak peak at a lovely moment from Swanwick. I was delighted to get to present a Swannie to Dave Bromley this year. To find out more about Swannies and what this was all about see my CFT post tomorrow.

I was delighted to present a Swannie to Dave Bromley for his comedy Husbands R Us

Hope your Wednesday has gone well. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening. Also looking forward to sharing Swanwick 2024, my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link for that up on Friday. See above. The next best thing to being at Swanwick is to write about it!

Character Tips: Especially for my flash fiction, I need to know the character well. They are my way into the story. It doesn’t mean I have to know every last detail though. I just need to know enough to help me picture them and envisage the sorts of situations they would end up in and how they would react to these.

So often working out answers to a couple of pertinent questions such as what would you never do and why will reveal a great deal about my character’s attitudes and assumptions and I can make good use of those. I can, of course, make them have to face the thing they don’t want to do but I will know their reasons for this and I think that helps me create a more believable character.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction is currently closed for submissions, understandably taking a break after their recent competition. I look forward to sending pieces in again to them soon but what I am especially grateful to them for is helping me rediscover the joys of the drabble, the 100 words flash fiction type.

I started in flash fiction writing 100 worders (for CafeLit) but then branched out into writing the longer forms of flash and short stories (which I still write). The discovery of Friday Flash Fiction led me back into writing the 100 worders regularly and I am loving doing this.

I like the discipline of creating a brand new 100 word story for them most weeks of the year. I also appreciate the feedback and support from other writers on the site plus I get to enjoy a thoroughly good read every week. What’s not to like about that? If you would like to check out my stories here do follow the link.

One of my favourite comments about flash fiction comes from the good people at The Bridport Prize who refer to it as “the art of just enough”. I think that’s a great summary of it.

I have it in mind when I’m drafting my stories. I think about what the reader needs to know and give them that and nothing else. They do get the “just enough” so they can make inferences needed, where appropriate.

I know when I’m reading I don’t want the author to spell out everything. I want them to give me enough, regardless of the length of story, so I can figure some things out too. It is always fun going on to find out whether I’m right or not.

Hope you have had a good day – has been trying here. But knowing how I feel when days are trying is something I can transfer to my characters when I put them in trying situations. (I make sure I do of course!).

Drawing on what you know in terms of how you feel when things go wrong or disappointment hits is something you can transfer to your characterisation. It makes for believable characters readers will identify with because they know where the character is coming from and why they are feeling the way they do. We’ve all been there. Our characters can go there too!

One of the great comforts about reading, I think, is when we read characters going through hell and high water and think well at least it isn’t us or we know how the characters feel. Stories are fabulous for encouraging empathy like that.

Do I find it relaxing when I put my characters through the mill? It can be amazingly therapeutic at times but my goal is to ensure it all works out and becomes a good story a reader will enjoy. That’s the challenge and I love rising to it.

Fairytales With Bite – Accountability

With my writing, I find having deadlines makes me accountable. I have to get columns done by a certain date, stories off to competitions and/or markets by a certain date and so on.

Leading on from that thought, in your world, when a task (magical or otherwise) has to be done, who makes sure it gets done and in the right way? Who follows through? Who reports back X has been done in the right way? Who reports back when it hasn’t been?

What you are looking for here are story possibilities from the chain of command which must exist. Even in the most democratic of fantasy settings, someone does have to give the orders, there will be others below them and so on.

There would be room for humorous stories here too. It doesn’t have to be deadly serious. As ever, I will flag up Discworld here where there is no doubt about who is in charge of Ankh-Morpork but so much humour does come from those wonderful novels. I’m especially fond of the Sam Vimes books here. He knows he’s accountable to Lord Vetinari. Doesn’t mean he has to like it though! When Moist von Lipwig comes into the stories, he finds himself accountable to His Lordship and to an extent Vimes as well (see Raising Steam).

So who would you have accountable to whom? How does this work?

This World and Others – Record Keepers

Every society has its history and archives. Some treasure these more than others. Every society has its good and bad history. Some acknowledge this. Others definitely don’t.

In your setting, which records are kept and why? Who can access them? Are there any secret records only a privileged few can ever access? Have any records been destroyed and, if so, which ones and on whose orders?

Are the record keepers treated well or are they kept under the thumb by dictatorial bosses? How did the record keepers get to hold that position in the first place? I would envisage connections working here – the old boys’ network perhaps – especially if there is anything which has to be kept secret from the general public. You would want someone you could trust in positions like that.

Also give some thought as to how far the records go back and in which manner they’re kept? Is technology used or is it all kept on scrolls? When you have a character needing to look something up, how easy or otherwise would they find doing this? Do they find the information they’re after?

Records matter. They’re used for all sorts of things including family history research. Would your characters need to look up some of their ancestors and, if so, why? Would they be pleased or horrified at what they find out?

Story ideas there!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Well, given my editing course at Swanwick recently, I thought the April 2024 edition of Writers’ Narrative on that theme was the best one to share this time! In the magazine my article asks Editing: Do You Love It or Loathe It? Always a timely question!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Friday Flash Fiction helped me rediscover the joys of the drabble, the 100 words tales. I started in flash writing drabbles for CafeLit but branched out into writing longer flash/short stories. FFF led me back into writing drabbles, which I love. https://t.co/NI4JfRPb77 pic.twitter.com/ZX9X2YEFEn
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 23, 2024

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Swanwick 2024 https://t.co/R7lKl8D2rC I’m delighted to share Swanwick 2024 as my CFT post this week. I review my week there, share something about what makes The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick so special, and celebrate its 75th anniversary.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 23, 2024

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The Joy of Writing Events

August 20, 2024Leave a comment

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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. A huge thank you goes to Penny Blackburn for the image of me reading at the Swanwick 2024 Open Prose Mic Night, to Jen Wilson for taking the one of me at the Lift Up Your Pens session, and to June Webber for the Swanwick celebration photo. (I swear I was on the apple juice and NO not cider!).

Must admit the weekend was mainly spent recovering from Swanwick week but I suspect every other attendee did much the same! Have slowly resumed my usual writing routine this week. I find having a routine helps enormously. I know what I am writing when and by the end of the week I’ve got more done precisely because I haven’t dithered.

Of course most of this week I’ve also been thinking about what was I doing at Swanwick a week ago. It would never surprise me if other Swanwickers do the same.

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Hope you have had a good day. Glad to be swimming again. First time back in the pool after Swanwick. I came out feeling a little bit less like a beached whale! (You do get looked after very well at The Hayes!).

Writing Tip: Even if you’re not thinking of being published or are published yet, it would still pay you to work out what you would say if someone asked you about what you write. That question does make for a good ice breaker at events like Swanwick so it would pay to be ready for it.

Should the time come when you’re submitting work to a publisher/agent, they will want you to be able to describe your work succinctly. If you are writing a book or a short story collection, it also pays to think of your one line hook for it because these take more time than you might expect to get right.

Discussing how we can use numbers in stories as part of Lift Up Your Pens - Swanwick 2024

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom on Wednesday. Plan to share some useful tips, after which I hope people will share a piece or two of flash fiction.

It’s not a bad idea to get used to sharing work in an environment where you are comfortable doing so. It gets you used to reading your work out. You receive immediate feedback from a friendly audience. It can be a major source of encouragement.

Talking of which I was encouraged Bridge House Publishing shared an excerpt from my Tripping the Flash Fantastic. See screenshot. Nice start to the week.

Pleased to be back on Authors Electric with a timely post. I talk about The Joy of Writing Events, two days after returning from the wonderful The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Post went out originally on 18th August 2024.

I look at the joys of being with like-minded people who understand the joys and frustrations of writing and discuss the benefits of joining in with writing events. Zoom, of course, has come into its own thanks to the pandemic making online events possible. I regularly run a workshop on flash fiction using this.

What is great is that there are benefits from both types of event. For me, being with others who understand that urge to write is one of the biggest ones. No need to explain anything!

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I was mugged by Lady on getting home from Swanwick yesterday as expected. Lady duly delivered and she was delighted to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, as we returned from our lunchtime walk today. Win-win for the dogs!

Eventful journey home yesterday as the train to London St. Pancras had to stop at Kettering because of a medical emergency and everyone had to change trains. Just hope that poor passenger is okay. Especially glad to get home after that and see everyone.

Will be writing about my week at Swanwick for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Looking forward to writing that one up! The rest of the weekend though is booked for recovery time. As expected, I came back from Swanwick, re-inspired, re-enthused, and shattered but these are all signs of a truly great week!
Many thanks to June Webber for the picture too!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I was resting a flash fiction competition entry prior to going to Swanwick. Glad to say I have now reviewed it and submitted it.

I knew there wasn’t a lot to do to it but those who came to my editing course will know I talked about having a “final, final edit” where I look for typos, ensure I’m following all the rules etc. I then get the story sent off which is now done for this one. I won’t know anything until much later in the year but I’m 11 days ahead of the deadline so that pleases me too.

Never leave submissions to the last minute – you will miss something. I’m not guilty of this one myself but have known it to be done. It never pays off.

So on to the next flash competition then and I do have something in mind to have a try for here. Now to get on with a first draft (though I will probably add this on to my flash fiction Sunday afternoon spot later this week).

Sometimes I know which competition I’m trying. Sometimes I have an idea for a character, write their story up, and then if a suitable competition comes up, I will review my story and after polishing it, send it in. But I do always like to have some flash “on the go”. That does pay off!

It’s Monday. It’s the first Monday back from Swanwick. I need a story! Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Dial a Character.

I suspect it will be a slow return to normal after the bliss of Swanwick week. Having said that, one thing which will help enormously is having my usual flash fiction writing on a Sunday afternoon! I also had the lovely task of judging some flash stories for a competition and I have now sent in my choice. It was hard to pick a choice (which is alway a good sign of great quality writing overall). I’ll be judging flash stories again for a writing group in September and am looking forward to doing that. Will also be resuming my editing work later this week.

Oh and have managed to submit a story for a flash competition, which I was “resting” during Swanwick week. I’d drafted it at the end of July, edited it a week or so into August, and then rested it, came back home, minor tweaks only required, and off it has gone.

One of the things I mentioned in my editing course was having a deadline by which you will send a piece off somewhere. It is possible to use editing as a form of procrastination and I am aware of this so always set myself deadlines to get work out by. It gets around that issue nicely.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week at the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group on Zoom. I plan to share some top tips and I hope people will get the chance to share some of their flash pieces. Well, everyone likes to listen to stories, right?

Pleased to share the word about flash fiction at Swanwick. It is also a fabulous format to use at Open Prose Mic Nights because you can give your audience complete stories and still not over run. Win-win there.

Am looking forward to resuming my usual flash fiction writing on Sunday afternoon. Nice way to end the week. Good luck to anyone who has entered the Friday Flash Fiction competition (which is timed to run as the Edinburgh Festival runs).

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Goodreads Author Blog – Celebrating Books and Those Who Write Them

I’ve recently returned from my highlight of the writing year – a week spent at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is set in the lovely county of Derbyshire. I have a week of workshops and courses (I ran a two part one on editing there this year) and spend a week immersed in the wonderful world of writing with other authors who understand the drive to write at all.

It is also fantastic catching up with old friends in person. For the rest of the year we stay in contact online. It’s also lovely getting to meet new people and chat with them about what they do writing wise. (The topic is a guaranteed ice breaker).

I like to see Swanwick as a chance to celebrate books and those who write them. I come back refreshed, reinvigorated, and shattered! You can feel the creativity in the air, I think.

In general terms, I would like to see more celebrations of books and their authors. Books are one of the best things humanity has ever given to the world.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the recent May 2024 edition which was based on memoir. My article was on using memoir techniques for character creation.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Celebrating Books and Those Who Write Them https://t.co/FrnLnwxnUE via @goodreads Celebrating books and authors is always good. I'm especially keen given my return from The Writers' Summer School, Swanwick. Books and authors – what's not to like? pic.twitter.com/M7gqCmut3n
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 17, 2024

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Authors Electric: The Joy of Writing Events by Allison Symes https://t.co/8GLfghmPMi Pleased to be back on Authors Electric with a timely post. I talk about The Joy of Writing Events, two days after returning from the wonderful The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. pic.twitter.com/UhrPVHVEwp
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 18, 2024

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It’s Monday. It’s the first Monday back from Swanwick. I need a story! Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Dial a Character.https://t.co/Hlt85NeZf4
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 19, 2024

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Never Fear The Editing

August 16, 2024Leave a comment

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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 and some Swanwick photos were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Val Penny for arranging for one photo to be taken and to then send it on, more below.

Had a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I will write about it in more depth for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. Am home again inspired, encouraged, and shattered! Am listening to Classic FM for the first time for a few days and am finding it especially soothing.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as I draft this. So good to catch up with so many writing friends. I keep in contact with many via social media and some via Zoom but you cannot beat getting together in person.

Many thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my two part editing course and/or the Lift Up Your Pens session I led on Sunday morning. I looked at different ways of using numbers in fiction for that. If, however, you would like more on editing, do check out my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week aptly called Never Fear The Editing.

Never Fear The Editing

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The week at Swanwick passes so quickly. Many thanks to all who came to my Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge two part course today.

I’ll be discussing more on editing for my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow too. Glad to get together for fellow Association of Christian Writers for a group photo today which was taken on Val Penny’s phone by a staff member of The Hayes.

The ACW contingent at Swanwick 2024

Another wonderful day at Swanwick though I am glad the temperature has cooled somewhat. My Chandler’s Ford Today post will be up again on Friday where I’m talking about Never Fear The Editing. See above.

In something that is no coincidence whatsoever, my editing course at Swanwick is tomorrow and will be on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge.

Had a fabulous time at the third part of Vivien Brown’s Short Story course. I had great fun killing off one of the characters we had to create on Monday as part of the homework exercise that was set. I do believe in killing my fictional darlings!

Then I was off to SpellBound Books and their talk in Pitch to a Publisher. I will be back for Part 2 of this later today. I’ll be finishing the afternoon with a Show Don’t Tell workshop, the topic is always useful.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, it was lovely to answer questions about flash fiction too. I loved advertising flash through the Open Prose Mic Night too. A huge thanks to Penny Blackburn for the photo.

Meantime if you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Stuck?

Reading at Open Prose Mic Night – Swanwick 2024 – many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the pic

Pleased to share how flash fiction writing has helped my editing skills as part of the two section Editing course I ran at Swanwick today. Hope I have persuaded some of the joys of editing too!

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Had a wonderful time at the Open Prose Mic Night here at Swanwick last night. I read a selection of pieces from my two books, CafeLit 13, and printed some of my tales out from Friday Flash Fiction to read too. It made for a nice selection and I came in at under the five minutes mark, as is required. (This means it is more likely everyone who would like to read gets a go!).

I was also pleased to be asked for some advice on flash fiction this morning, as well as, later, being complimented on my stories. Thank you to those concerned. Feedback like this is invaluable because most of the time writers are working away on their own of course.

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Fairytales with Bite – Where Magic Can Be Found

In your fantasy setting, can magic be found anywhere or is it limited to specific locations? If the latter, is there a geographical reason for that? Does your fantasy setting ever have interaction with non-magical species or worlds? If so, do “your people” hide their skills or use them to dominate others?

Are there those who have seen and experienced the awful side to magic (all forms of power can be abused so that applies here too)? Do they do all they can to fight it? What can they right back with?
If there is “raw” magic in the geography itself, can that be “mined” by anyone? Are there rules governing its use?

Where magic can be found as a theme can be taken in positive or negative directions. So what do your characters make of magic and why? Story ideas there!

This World and Others – Creativity and Collaboration

I’ve not long returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is a fabulous week where delegates find themselves immersed in the world of writing, There is a lot of creativity and collaboration! Many of the workshops and courses, including the one I ran on editing, are interactive in that exercises are set, feedback is given there and then and so on.

So what would be your world’s equivalent of this? Would this kind of creativity and co-operation be confined to what we know as the humanities/creative arts?

Of course here you often see these wonderful attributes in things like engineering, science etc where the great discoveries, engineering achievements and so on can’t possibly be achieved by one person but where a special someone (like Isambard Kingdom Brunel) is needed to kick start the process off. By this I mean they achieve great things but also enable others to do so building on what they have done.

So who would your special characters be here? What have they contributed to your world? What obstacles did they have to overcome? Plenty of story ideas there.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the September 2023 issue of the magazine with its focus on marketing, always a timely and useful topic. I talk about Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines for this one.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Stuck, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/krhD1zR7iJ As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, I answered questions about flash fiction too. If you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on FFF – Stuck?https://t.co/dOhBBzfYfc pic.twitter.com/7jSmpKfNXt
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 16, 2024

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Never Fear The Editing https://t.co/iBXBtXAK6l Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers' Summer School, Swanwick. Thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my editing course. If you'd like more on editing, check out my CFT post this week called Never Fear The Editing.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 16, 2024

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Lifting Up My Pen at Swanwick 2024

August 13, 2024Leave a comment

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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 Jen Wilson for taking the photo of me leading the Lift Up Your Pens session about using numbers in fiction.

It is so good to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and a joy to catch up with friends in person. Have learned so much from the courses and workshops so far.

Facebook – General

Another lovely day at Swanwick. Enjoyed the sessions on The Write Mindset (Sarah Harlow) and Powerful Public Speaking for Writers (Simon Hall). Always plenty to learn from sessions like these. Sometimes it is just reassuring to know you are on the right lines!

On Tuesday afternoons there is spare time (which is done deliberately) where I hope to catch up with some of my writing. Later tonight I am due to take part in the Open Prose Mic Night and am looking forward to that. It does make a great advert for what flash fiction can be.

Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the shots of me at the Lift Up Your Pens session yesterday. It was a joy and privilege to lead the Lift Up Your Hearts session this morning, a short devotional session for all denominations.

Was back at Vivien Brown’s Short Story course this morning and then went on to Road to Self-Publishing Success led by Lizzie Chantree. Both packed full with useful information. Plan to get along to Anthologies Collaborations too.

There is so much choice here. It is one of the strengths of Swanwick and you choose how many or how few of those courses you go to. I trust the Book Room is also seeing brisk sales as if there is one thing I know about writers, it is none of us can ever have too many books!

Glad to say the session for Lift Up Your Pens which I hosted at Swanwick this morning went well. I was looking at different ways of using numbers in stories. There are more than you might think and using numbers at all encourages you to think outside of the box, which is also a good thing.

Thoroughly enjoyed Vivien Brown’s Short Story specialist course, the fist part of which was this morning. I went on to Twist in the Tale hosted by Val Penny which was on before and after lunch. Both of these topics are right up my writing street of course.

But one of the lovely things about creative writing is there is always something you can learn which can help you improve your craft further. Now that is a very good thing indeed!

Am on my way to Swanwick 2024. So looking forward to seeing everyone. Lady, with my other half, saw me off. I expect to be mugged by her when I get back. It’s what usually happens.

Will be talking about Never Fear The Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today. It is timely given my Swanwick course is on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Link up on Friday for CFT (I just love scheduling in advance!).

Am getting back to my old habit of getting some writing done on the train. The notes app which came with my phone is great and proving to be a good replacement for Evernote as I don’t have a need for a paid subscription which they effectively now are.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Will be taking part in the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night later tonight. Hoping to read from my books and one or two pieces from my stories on Friday Flash Fiction. Did take part in the general knowledge quiz last night – the team came 5th out of 8 though the placings between 5th and 2nd were very tight. Might pay to brush up for next year!

Nice to have a chat with fellow Bridge House authors, Linda Payne and June Webber, today. Always good to wave the flag for a lovely publisher.

From Left to Right below: June Webber, yours truly, Linda Payne.

Having a fabulous time at Swanwick. I swear you can feel the creativity in the air! The gardens are as lovely as ever, as are the lakes, and I’ve found it refreshing to take walks around the latter at break times. Have never seen the fish so busy in those lakes as I have done this year.

Glad to have caught up with the lovely Linda Payne – she and I are the Bridge House Publishing contingent for this year! Also glad to have caught up with Susan Pope and Vikki Thompson (of the lovely Mermaids writing group. I’ve given a couple of talks for them on Zoom but it is so nice to see the ladies again in person).

Have some ideas from exercises already set but suspect I need to be back at home before I get a chance to write them up though.

But I haven’t forgotten it’s Monday and it is still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest – One Hour. I shared in Lift Up Your Pens at Swanwick yesterday how to use numbers in fiction and one way is to use it as a time. Here’s my response to that!

Many thanks to Val Penny for the shout-out as part of her Twist in the Tale course at Swanwick today. Yes, for flash fiction, you can only have the one twist and that is it because you don’t have the word count room for more. However, it is precisely due to that I find twists in flash fiction have a more powerful impact as there is nothing to “water it down”.

Have put my name in the box for reading out at the Open Prose Mic Night. Flash is a great form for this bcause you can’t take too long. Goes down well with organisers and audiences, that one!

Hope to share some flash fiction at Swanwick again. It is a great format for Open Prose Mic nights as it doesn’t take long and the audience gets to hear complete stories. Have brought new material for this year.

Hope to get some flash written while away too. Am sure some of the exercises I will be set will end up eventually as flash tales.

Goodreads Author Blog – Collections

There is a great meme doing the rounds which claims it isn’t hoarding if it is books. I have a lot of sympathy for this viewpoint and confidently expect to add to my own hoard courtesy of the book room at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is my base for a few days.

I also love story collections and have done from an early age thanks to the collected fairytales Reader’s Digest brought out as a two volume set a long time ago.

I’m not unbiased given many of my stories are in collections and I often edit them for others. I love the mixture of tales in these and to be able to dip in and out of the books as I wish.

I often read them in between reading novels. I like to mix up reading the short and long forms. A well curated collection is a joy to read.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the June 2024 edition which was on the theme of poetry. My article looks at the links between flash fiction and poetry. Hope you enjoy it.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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https://t.co/Xojn3TnS97 Well, this is a topic close to my heart!
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 10, 2024

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Having a fabulous time at Swanwick. You can feel the creativity in the air! But I haven’t forgotten it’s Monday – time for a YouTube tale. My latest is One Hour. I shared in Lift Up Your Pens how to use numbers in fiction. One way is to use them as times.https://t.co/7ddyrQZpn3
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 12, 2024

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Book Title Games

August 9, 2024Leave a comment

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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 Julia Pattison for the photo of me at my one hour workshop at Swanwick in 2023 and to Adrian Symes for the CafeLit 14 and my book signing pictures.

About to head off to Derbyshire. So looking forward to seeing everyone again. Will be posting but at different times. Expect to come back refreshed, reinvigorated, and shattered! In my experience that’s a great sign of a fabulous writing event as here will be a lot of creativity going on. Lady will be spoiled rotten while I’m away – she usually is.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share a post which was good fun to write – Book Title Games – on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s amazing what changing a letter or a word in a book title can do to it and its mood! Find out more in the post and why not give it a try?

I also pay tribute to that wonderful BBC Radio Four comedy, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, which often has books in their games, changing the titles just being one of them. Hope you enjoy the post.

Book Title Games

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Hope you have had a good day. Soggy one here. Lady not worried – she got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums today. Good time had by all. On the way home, there is a certain spot where Lady always looks up at me with what I call her happy, shining eyes, as if to say thanks Mum, that was great. Today she did that three times (rather than just once) and kept nudging me to make sure I saw. Now that is what I call demonstrating your pleasure at seeing your friends again. Dogs can be so sweet.

My Book Title Games is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. Hope you’ll have some fun with this one too. The post shares different ways to have fun with words via book titles.

Will be posting as usual from Swanwick from Saturday for a few days but posts will be out at different times. So looking forward to seeing everyone.

Writing Tip: You will often have heard don’t give up and this is true. Writing takes time to develop (and any success in it even longer to achieve). But it is fine to change direction if one way isn’t working out for you.

I did so by switching from the longer form of writing to the shorter. Will I resume my long form writing? Yes. Am working on something now. But I am so glad I have discovered the joys of writing short stories and flash fiction.

Good day today, Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal, and I’ve done most of my packing for Swanwick. (Why is it packing always takes longer than you think?).

Will be looking at Book Title Games as a fun post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Am looking forward to sharing the link. See above. Hope it inspires some silly but fun alternative book titles with you!

Writing Tip: When do you know a character has “got to” you? For me, it is when I can envisage asking them practically any question and knowing how they would respond and why.

I sometimes outline a character by interviewing them with a few pertinent questions. I don’t believe in Yes/No questions for characters for my guests on Chandler’s Ford Today either! Do give this exercise a try. It can be great fun to do and it’s often amazing what you come up with here.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday and time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Demanded. Just so you know, for the next two weeks while the competition linked to the Edinburgh Festival is on here, there won’t be any comments on any of the stories. Good luck to all entering the competiton too.

Later in the year I hope to take part in Flash NANO again. A flash prompt is given daily for the 30 days of November. I’ve taken part in this for the last couple of years and have found it to be great fun and a good challenge. There are always prompt types I’ve not tried before and I love the way these push me to try new formats. One such was to write a flash story in the form of a police report. Loved doing that.

Meantime I continue with my regular flash fiction writing. I have found it to be true the more you write of anything, the more useful material you produce. That in turn I have found means it is more likely some of this at least will find a publisher somewhere. Rejections are a fact of life for any writer but the more you write, the more you can polish and submit and that has to increase your chances.

One of the things I love most about flash fiction is it has to be character led due to its restricted word count. I haven’t the word count room for lots of description so I have to focus only on what readers need to know (and leave them to infer other things from what I have revealed). This is a great writing discipline for other forms of writing and not just for fiction. I’ve found it has paid off for my blogs and articles elsewhere.

It does mean I can mix and match my character moods though and I do just that when it comes to reading out at things like Open Prose Mic Nights. I want a story/character to produce a smile, another to give pause for thought and so on. It makes a great advert for what flash fiction can be and do. I like that too.

Fairytales with Bite – Conferences

I’m writing this post as I prepare for one of the highlights of my writing year – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. And that led me to wonder about the kind of conferences you might find in a fairytale setting.

Do fairy godmothers go on retreat to recharge the old batteries when they’ve had enough (for a while) of helping unfortunate clients? Do they go to conferences where they can improve their wand/magical techniques? Do they have to go to these things to help with their Continuing Professional Development? What would be taught at such conferences?

Do fairy godmothers and the like relish the chance to get together with others in their profession, seeing it as a chance to share tales of woe and success, or do they dread it? Does having to go to these things mean they have to face up to fighting the magical equivalent of Imposter Syndrome? (Practically every writer I know goes through this at some point, and often more than once, but I think it is linked to the creative arts in general – you always wonder if you’re good enough).

Do the delegates appreciate good accommodation, wonderful food, and a great time? (You will gather from this a little of what Swanwick is lIke!). Or are they relieved the conference is over for another year? They’ve done what they’ve had to by requirement of higher powers and that’s it.

Story ideas here including from the viewpoint of those who run the conferences. Do they dread the latest intake? Could be some funny tales here.

This World and Others – Thoroughfares

I like the word thoroughfare. It has a nice sound to it and conjures up to me images of old roads and streets in cities like York and Winchester. Here in the UK we still have Roman roads in existence (Watling Street is probably the best known). As well as creating new roads, the Romans also built over those already in existence so thoroughfares go back a long way.

I have a soft spot for old maps (including old editions of the A to Z) because these too can show how things have changed over time.

Now in a magical setting, what would count as a thoroughfare? Is it like we know here? (There is one obvious one – the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz). But how about thoroughfares for those who can fly? Would they have the equivalent of motorway lanes but just set in the sky? Who worked out “lanes” here and are they policed?

Just as we have traffic regulations, how would that kind of system work for your characters as they move around your setting’s roads and streets (even if they are set in the sky)? Are there some thoroughfares no respecting magical being would ever go down and why would that be? (Potential for a horror story there especially if even magical beings are scared by it!).

Who set out the street system in the first place and what obstacles did they have to overcome to do it? Has it proved to be a blessing or a curse?

Which would be your main character’s favourite thoroughfares and why do they love them? That could reveal aspects to your character’s personality and something of their background too.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the November 2023 issue of the magazine which focuses on novels. My article in here is Writing Novels and based on my experience of writing my first book (still unpublished though I would like to get back to it at some point). Fabulous magazine as ever packed with useful advice regardless of where you are at on your writing journey.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Do you find writing during the summer months easier or harder to do? Whatever the answer, why not try flash fiction? Short stories (up to 1000 words maximum) also make for a great warm up writing exercise ahead of longer projects. pic.twitter.com/WyQhG8M86W
— ACW (@ACW1971) August 7, 2024

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For my flash pieces, I usually start by knowing my character. Discovering their major trait flags up the situations in which those traits would show up well. That gives me a rough outline for my first draft and away I go, filling in the gaps. pic.twitter.com/IrwOaHbEX4
— ACW (@ACW1971) August 8, 2024

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It’s Friday. Time for a tale. Hope you enjoy my latest on FFF – Demanded. For the next two weeks while the competition linked to the Edinburgh Festival is on, there won’t be comments on the stories. Good luck to all entering the competition. https://t.co/ElPVy8ni6L pic.twitter.com/vp57D79NNy
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 9, 2024

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Book Title Games https://t.co/jQJRhK7XVT Pleased to share a post which was fun to write – Book Title Games – on CFT. It’s amazing what changing a letter or a word in a book title can do to its mood! Find out more in the post and why not give it a try? https://t.co/jQJRhK7XVT
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 9, 2024

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Editing, Using Proverbs, and Revisiting P.G. Wodehouse

August 6, 2024Leave a comment

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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, and pictures of me at Swanwick were taken by fabulous Swanwick friends.

Hope you have had a good weekend. This week is my countdown week to going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Will be posting as usual while I’m there but times will vary. Lady and I both appreciating the weather being cooler than it was last week. Much easier on both of us.

Facebook – General

So nice to be in the swimming pool today for a while. Refreshing but do I think out any story ideas while swimming? Not a bit of it.

If I think of anything at all, it is about how many lengths I would still like to swim before the session ends. Mind you, I do think sometimes that time to not think much at all helps later when I am at my desk again. I’ve had a mental breather as well as the physical exercise of the swim, I guess.

Looking forward to the quizzes (literary and general knowledge) Swanwick stages on different evenings as part of the after dinner entertainment. Always good for a laugh these! I also take part in a meet and greet session – fantastic and great way to meet many new writers!

Writing wise, I hope to come back with plenty of story ideas in my notebook thanks to the courses I go on as I have found, as well as being set exercises directly in a lot of these , the topics themselves usually trigger further creative thought I can exploit later. But then that is the idea here!

Hope the week has got off to a reasonable start for you. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum today and happily showed off her running skills in front of her. Lady appreciates an audience. Not sure the Vizler was overly impressed but that doesn’t stop Lady trying!

When I review a story or blog post, I always ask myself what is in this for the reader because it is the best way I know of ensuring any purple prose which has crept in gets promptly cut out again! I can’t stop myself writing what I call my wasted words – very, actually, and most instances of that – but I know what to look for in my first edit and out these come again. I see this as getting my wasted words out of my system!

My wasted words don’t add anything of value to my piece.

Very doesn’t give the emphasis you might think as often there is a stronger, better choice of word (instead of saying very miserly, why not just say miserly?).

Actually – something usually is or isn’t the thing you’ve put the word actually before so you may as well cut the word out. (I actually went to the market – why not just say I went to the market?).

Sometimes you do need the word that but on reading through my work, if I find the sentence would work as well without it, out it comes.

All of this tightens my work up and improves pace. Naturally it helps with my word count restrictions too.

Less than a week to go to Swanwick now. Case is down ready to pack. Getting to see writer friends in person that for the rest of the year I only see on online is pretty special. Plus it is just wonderful being able to immerse fully in the writing world for a few days. Lady will be spoiled rotten in my absence and I will be mugged by her on my return – it’s almost a tradition here!

Am currently re-reading some of the Jeeves and Wooster stories and am loving them. The way Wodehouse plays with the English language is sublime as I discussed over on my Goodreads post yesterday. The Jeeves and Wooster stories makes for perfect summer time reading. Now if only I could arrange a nice large glass of something lovely to go with it…!

Writing wise, today is flash fiction Sunday for me so am looking forward to getting on with those pieces shortly. (I suspect some of Wodehouse’s sentences are longer than some of my flash fiction stories, mind you!).

Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. Weather a right mixed bag in Hampshire today.
I’ll be looking at Book Title Games for Chandler’s Ford Today next time. Looking forward to sharing that post on Friday, the day before I head off to Swanwick. It’s a fun post, one I really enjoyed writing, and I hope you will like it too. It also celebrates that marvellous Radio Four comedy, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.

Writing Tip: I love word games of many kinds but playing simple games such as Word Association can be an excellent trigger for story ideas. You form links with this game and I’ve had story ideas triggered by that. Worth a go and a lot of fun (and I find a nice way to unwind with words too, outside of reading them of course).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Can description ever play a part in flash fiction writing, given its limited word count? Yes but I prefer to think of this as putting in the right telling details to help readers make sense of your characters and setting – that and no more.

Readers might not need to know my character drives a run down car but they do need to know said character is not well off. I could show that in letting readers know my character is wearing something frayed with moth holes as they get into their car (and readers will assume rightly from that the car isn’t brand new and is likely to have to be patched up to keep it going). That shows limited income far better than I could describe it in the old sense of spelling it all out.

Also readers can put the links in themselves here and I must admit I love doing this myself when reading stories by other authors. I don’t want them to tell me everything!

It’s Monday. It has been busy. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Ruby, one of my thoughtful ones.

I’ve mentioned using proverbs as ideas/themes for stories before but sometimes I will take one and use it as a closing line (or part of one). I’ve done this recently with Provisions on YouTube (link below) and for Time Is For Others To Worry About (Tripping the Flash Fantastic).

When I do this, I work out what could lead to the closing line – I plan from B to A if you like rather than the usual way around. Everything I pick here has to seem reasonable to a reader based on what I’ve shown them of my character and setting.

For the proverb to work well as a closing line, it has to seem as if it was a natural ending to the tale and not something tacked on. But it makes for a great writing challenge – why not give it a go? What could you get out of proverbs for your stories?

It is true every word counts for stories. It is even more true for flash fiction. When I’m writing something for Friday Flash Fiction, I know I’m writing to a 100 words count. Certain competitions I regularly enter ask for 250 words (that is such a common category it is worth practicing).

But for the rest of the time I draft my story. I rest it. I edit it. When happy with the contents I then look at the overall word count. Let’s say my final version comes in at 115 words (and this has happened with me), I will look at the piece again and see if I can genuinely get it 100.

Sometimes I can and I will then save that story for a 100 word market of competition. But sometimes I can’t (without losing something vital) so I save stories like that for a future collection, my website, or a higher word count category for a competition). What matters is getting the story right, then worry about the word count. Also not to try and make something fit when it really won’t.

Goodreads Author Blog – Revisiting The World of Jeeves and Wooster

Having read a lot of lovely non-fiction recently on Kindle and in paperback, it was time to get back to fiction. I’ve just finished re-reading the marvellous P.G. Wodehouse: A Life In Letters so it was obvious to me next up on my reading list would be his most famous creations, Jeeves and Wooster.

Am so glad to be reading their stories again. Wodehouse’s gift with words is amazing and I struggle at times not to laugh out loud. I only try to resist simply because I read at bedtime and don’t want to disturb anyone. Maybe Wodehouse’s work should come with a warning here!

I also thought Jeeves and Wooster would be the perfect summertime read – I am right on that one. If you haven’t read any, do check them out. They are so funny and the way Wodehouse plays with the English language is sublime.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I thought I’d go back to the first edition of Writers’ Narrative – the August 2023 issue. Am so pleased the magazine will be back in December 2024 and that will be with us before we know it. Meantime do enjoy this edition. My article here is Boost Your Writing with Flash Fiction.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Revisiting The World of Jeeves and Wooster https://t.co/8Nr2Lv4LNA via @goodreads A joyous post to write for Goodreads this week – am so glad to be back in the marvellous, escapist world of Jeeves and Wooster by P.G. Wodehouse. pic.twitter.com/FlogB0sJNl
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 3, 2024

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It’s Monday. It has been busy. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Ruby, one of my thoughtful ones.https://t.co/PRYhNfvfvE
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 5, 2024

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Bleak Expectations – Review – The Chameleon Theatre Group

August 2, 20241 Comment

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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 pictures of Swanwick used in a collage below. Photos of me holding The Best of CafeLit 13 were taken by Adrian Symes.

A MASSIVE thank you goes to The Chameleon Theatre Group for kind permission to use their photos (taken by Stuart Wineberg) as part of my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week.

Hope you have had a good few days. Just over a week to go for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. So looking forward to catching up with many friends again and hoping to make still more. Have booked to go on the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering so that will be something to look forward to in October. Lady, meantime, is not that sorry we’ve had some rain and the temperature, while still high, is a little cooler.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to share my review of Bleak Expectations, recently staged by the fabulous The Chameleon Theatre Group. As you might expect from a title like that, this was the most marvellous spoof of Dickens and it was wonderfully performed by my local amateur theatre company. There were so many laughs and a great storyline. See the review for more.

If you remember the Radio Four comedy of the same name, yes, this play is based on that and written by the same writer, Mark Evans. So much to enjoy here so if you get a chance to see the play locally to you, do go.

The Chameleon Theatre Group – Bleak Expectations – Review

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Sent author newsletter out this morning. Doing this monthly means you soon realise how quickly the year is going by. The theme for this one was Special Swanwick though I also share some thoughts on Making the Most of a Writing Event (and share the link to my recent Chandler’s Ford Today article on that).

As well as looking forward to Swanwick, I’ll be off again in the autumn to go to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering too. Looking forward to catching up with friends at both of these (and hopefully making new ones too).

I’ll be reviewing the recent performance of Bleak Expectations staged by the wonderful The Chameleon Theatre Group on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Do look out for it. See above.

I share some thoughts on what makes a good spoof as well as part of this. And if you get a chance to go and support your own local amateur theatre company, please do. I’ve seen some fabulous performances from The Chameleons I would’ve missed out on otherwise.

Screenshot 2024-07-25 at 17-25-44 Chameleon Theatre Company of Chandlers Ford drama pantomime and comedy

Another hot day though not so warm as yesterday. Lady continues to keep cool though she was pleased to see her Hungarian Vizler chum this morning. Our park has lots of trees around it so plenty of shady spots. It wasn’t just the dogs who appreciated that.

Am currently working in short bursts with my French windows open. Helps a lot, as does keeping supplies of water, squash etc up, to aid concentration. It’s an odd thing the heat can make you tired but also stop you from sleeping! What is that about? Thankfully no issues here but every sympathy to anyone who struggles with this.

Writing Tip: Especially at the moment, if you’re finding it easier to write in short bursts, this is the time to have a go at some flash fiction writing. Perfect for short slots of time too. I like to mix up writing to 100 words (my all time favourite) to 500 words and most word counts in between. There are competitions for these too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Two things here tonight.

Firstly, am delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Summer Stings. Hope you enjoy it.

Secondly, the annual competition which is liked to the Edinburgh Festival begins on Friday Flash Fiction from tomorrow, Saturday 3rd August and runs all the way through to the 16th August. You can submit one story per week (I.e. one from 3rd to 9th August and another from 9th to 16th August). They are only taking the 100 word stories for this competition.

The longer flash submissions will resume after the competition finished but do watch out for this on the website nearer the time. They will say when they’re open for the longer flash pieces again. And if you have a go at the competition, good luck!

Hope you’ve had a good day and managed to not get caught out by the thunderstorms. Lady and I just got back from a short afternoon walk and then the heavens opened again and again etc. I like writing flash. Not so keen on getting caught out in flash storms, mind you.

Time is an interesting theme to write about for flash fiction because you can do so much with it. I have used it in titles. I’ve written Time into a story as a character. When I’ve written pieces which nod back to the Cinderella story, time plays a major role there.

Plus you can use time as a proverb (time waits for no man is just one. I’ve used that one twice and got two different stories from it). I’ve also written two different stories with the same time travelling alien as the lead character, who gets into bother whether he goes forwards or backwards in time. All good fun to do.

But a broad theme like time is handy because you can jot down different thoughts to come from it and at least one is bound to appeal to the type of story you like to write. Below is just one of my stories based on time.

Had a lovely surprise today – an unexpected review for Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Kelvin M Knight (who discovered the book through the book shop the Association of Christian Writers have on their website. As a long term member, and former Membership Secretary for ACW, I can have my books advertised on their online book shop). Many thanks to Kelvin and to Susan Sanderson for forwarding the review to me.

This was a lovely boost. If you ever needed a reason to write a review for another author, do consider that aspect! Writers work alone, it is the nature of the job, but having good feedback every so often helps enormously.

What I love about ACW is it supports Christians who write obviously Christian material but also people like me who are Christians writing in the secular market. I appreciate both sides of this and I know it is invaluable to all members.

TRIPPING THE FLASH FANTASTIC by Allison Symes – A Review

Fairytales with Bite – Holiday Season

Does your fantasy setting have tourism? If so, what would it consist of? Where would your favourite fairy godmothers go on holiday? Is there anywhere they wouldn’t go?

After all, everyone needs a recharge now and again. Would they stay in what we would recognize as hotels or would they go in for the poshest self catering cottage imaginable? Do they get to switch the magic off for a while or are they expected to be be on call at any time or have to arrange for someone to take over their duties for a bit?

In your setting, when would most go on holiday? Does it tie in with seasons as we know them here? Which of your characters looks forward to holiday season and which dreads it and why?

Are holidays decided on because magical powers diminish when in constant use and that dictates when a break has to happen? How would your world defend itself against enemies who might look to take advantage of that low power period?

Our own lives tend to work in seasons. We have periods when busy, others when not, and still others when we take a break so how would this work out in your setting?

This World and Others – Tourism

Is tourism a major factor in your world setting? Is it seen as a good or bad thing or a bit of both? Who benefits from the tourists? Who finds tourists to be nothing but a pain in the neck? What kind of revenue is brought in by what tourists spend?

Does your world confine itself to only accepting other magical beings or would it welcome humans and other species visiting? Is tourism promoted or does your world try to keep it quiet, reluctantly accepting it will happen, people do move around, but they’re not going to encourage it to develop further? What would be the reasons behind that attitude?

Has tourism ever caused problems, such as pollution, in your setting? What happened and what did occur to put it right? That, of course, could be your story.

How would your characters get to tourist destinations? If flying is involved, can your characters do this themselves so they can take themselves off to their own destinations or would they have to charter someone, with appropriate equipment, who can do this for them? (Would we be talking the magical equivalent of a plane here or a massive flying carpet or some sort of portal device which other characters would control?).

Definite story ideas there.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the September 2023 magazine which is on the theme of the timeless topic of marketing. I have two articles in this issue – Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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TRIPPING THE FLASH FANTASTIC by Allison Symes – A Review @AllisonSymes1 https://t.co/ytGPNrceuJ
— Susan Sanderson (@suesconsideredt) July 31, 2024

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Am delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Summer Stings. Hope you enjoy it.https://t.co/esx19FgVCe pic.twitter.com/OwsoBLxuG1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 2, 2024

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The Chameleon Theatre Group – Bleak Expectations – Review https://t.co/aUzYFtSMKp Delighted to review Bleak Expectations staged by the fabulous Chameleon Theatre Group. This was a marvellous spoof of Dickens, wonderfully performed. There were so many laughs and a great storyline.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 2, 2024

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