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 from the Book Fair at The Hilt. Many thanks go to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for supplying book and author shots for her Chandler’s Ford Today post with me this week. Also in that is a lovely shot of Debz, myself and Paula Readman, which was taken on Paula’s phone. Lovely to see that one again.
Hope the week has been a good one. Mixed bag here between fun things such as going to see The Chameleons, feeling unwell and perking up again, and getting to do more writing than I normally would, thanks to having to be at home for a bit rather than be out and about. Lady has had a smashing week, including a proper puppy party on Wednesday. It was a sight for sore eyes!
Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today
Delighted to share Part 1 of a a super interview with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt who joins me on Chandler‘s Ford Today to discuss her new novel, If Crows Could Talk (Walela Books). She also shares wonderful thoughts on writing short stories to hone your craft and about writing for joy. This makes a huge amount of sense given nobody can know for sure how things will turn out with their works. You do have to enjoy the process and what you write. You are your own first reader.
She also shares what inspired her to write If Crows Could Talk and the need to outline so you know your story arc. Do check out the interview. Link below and congratulations, Debz, on the new book!
Part 2 next week (and after that a review of The Chameleons’ I’ll Be Back Before Midnight. Lots going on at CFT at the moment with more to come too).
Author Interview: Debz Hobbs-Wyatt – If Crows Could Talk – Part 1
Off to the theatre later to see The Chameleons perform I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, a thriller. Plan to review later. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Has had a good week – it’ll only be tomorrow when she won’t see any chums.
Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. If you want to sign up to receive tips, news, story links etc , do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com
Had a lovely session at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday. We were looking at tips on how to make the best of Flash NANO and writing prompts generally. If you’re taking part in Flash NANO or NaNoWriMo, both of which start on 1st November, good luck and I hope you get a lot done. What I love most about Flash NANO is having 30 new stories to edit and polish after the month is up. I can take my time doing that.
Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady had a smashing one at the park – a real puppy party, She played with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals but the lovely Coco, the Labradoodle, came out as well. The dogs were so pleased to see each other and a good run around was had by all.
Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting this evening. Will be looking at tips on Flash NANO and writing prompts generally. Always a useful topic.
And I’ll be sharing Part 1 of a super interview with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt about her book, If Crows Could Talk, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above.
Meantime, talking of CFT, many thanks to my lovely editor, Janet Willams, for taking the snaps of me at the Book Fair at The Hilt last weekend. Always tricky trying to get his kind of shot yourself!
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Delighted to share my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Awkward Questions. You should be able to spot the influences in this one! It was great fun to write. Hope you enjoy it.
I’m a huge fan of writing prompts and like to mix up the types I use. It means I don’t stick to my favourites all of the time. It would be easy to do that. As I write a lot of flash, I need ideas all of the time so am always looking for ways in to finding said ideas. Prompts are enormously helpful here, I use them as a way in to creating characters and situations I can put them in, and they give you practice in writing to a topic set by someone else. That’s handy if you enter competitions.
While it is still a little way of yet, I am pleased I’ve booked my train tickets for the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event in London in December. Always good fun and it is lovely hearing people read their stories Hope to read some of mine too. Always good to have something to look forward to at the close of the year!
I also need to start drafting some festive flash but I hope to make a start on that from next week. Also looking forward to Flash NANO which starts on 1st November. Had 30 new draft pieces from it last year and hope to achieve the same again this time.
Fairytales With Bite – Nights Out
What would count as a good night out in your setting? Which of your characters would love that kind of thing? Which would dread it? What would they be prepared to do to get out of having a night out? Could be some humorous tales there.
What would your average fairy godmother or wizard do when they want a night off from the magic?
What would be the equivalent of the cinema? What would they listen to if they went to a concert? Do they visit other worlds, including ours, when they want an evening of entertainment and what do they do to ensure they’re not spotted by said inhabitants of those worlds? (You just know there’d be fallout, though it might be easier for them to blend in better around Halloween!).
Does your world have celebrations everyone is expected to take part in and, if so, what forms would these take? What similarities would they have to our national events? Where would these be alien to what we know here? And if visitors from other worlds, including ours, could see these things, what would they make of them?
Story ideas there!
This World and Others -The Entertainment Business
Our entertainment business is vast taking in film to music to writing and much more besides. What would it look like in your setting? Are there similarities with ours? Are there things which could only exist on the world you’ve set up? Is the entertainment business regulated and who does the regulating? Did anything happen to make these regulations necessary?
Who works in the business? Is it considered an honourable profession or is it only for those who couldn’t make their magical abilities work properly and they’ve had to fall back on show business?
What would your fantasy setting make or our pantomimes and things like that? Would they see them as insulting the magical world or a humorous spoof?
WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK
This time I share the September 2023 edition, which looked at marketing. I had two articles in here – Marketing Your Books and Writing For Online Magazines.
AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAwkward Questions, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/TrtArRPAm4 Delighted to share my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Awkward Questions. You should be able to spot the influences in this one! It was great fun to write. Hope you enjoy it. pic.twitter.com/x4Xz853sku
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 25, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAuthor Interview: Debz Hobbs-Wyatt – If Crows Could Talk – Part 1 https://t.co/lPMHJ2zpor Delighted to share Part 1 of a fab interview with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt about her If Crows Could Talk (Walela Books). She discusses writing short stories to hone craft and what inspired her.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 25, 2024
Allison Symes: Collected Works 