Month: November 2025

Short Story Collections

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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 all is well. How can it be almost December already? Lady has had a good time this week with her two closest chums and we’ve managed to avoid some of the wet weather. (Nobody avoids it all!). Writing is going well and I have just sent in a piece for the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas show coming up soon. Whether it’s picked or not, I know Christmas has begun when I send that in and also at church when we light the first Advent candle.

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Am pleased to share Short Story Collections on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at the advantages of these from the viewpoints of both readers and writers plus share tips on writing to set themes. Most anthologies I’ve come across do set themes and writing to these is also useful competition for story competitions anyway.

I also (naturally) take the chance to flag up Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing. My story, The Family Legend, is in there. Hope you find the post useful.

Short Story Collections

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Despite it being a grey, drizzly day today, Lady had a lovely time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Short Story Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. As well as discussing the many advantages to reading such things, I share tips on making the most of set themes as most anthologies do set themes. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Bridge House Publishing always set one in keeping for the time of the year their annual anthology comes out (now basically!). Am looking forward to their annual celebration event which is coming up in early December.

Talking of stories, I’ve just had a turn down so will have another look at that story and see if I can work on it and send it somewhere else. I’ve also picked two stories for another competition (where I can send in two pieces for one fee, these are worth looking out for as you get two bites of the cherry) and have started editing those. Am looking to submit these in a week or so I think.

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Hope today has gone well. Pretty cold here – the frost was crisp and deep and even! (No sign of King Wenceslas yet though). Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today – nice time had by both.

Writing wise, am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later tonight. Am also hoping to go over my draft story as well so I’m ready to submit that by the end of this week, sooner if possible. Done!

Plus I’m looking forward to having a go at today’s Flash NANO challenge. Am also working on a super author interview I’m looking forward to sharing on Chandler’s Ford Today soon.

Character Tip: You know all of those little niggles we all have and which are far more annoying than they ought to be? Why not write them out of your system and get your characters to have them! How would your characters handle them – like you do, better than you, worse than you? Whatever you go for here, there will be story ideas.


Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I finish the week with a light, delicious story on Friday Flash Fiction – Cakes. Hope you enjoy it. Many thanks for the comments coming in on this one already. I think folk like my choices of cakes in this story! See what you think.

What does every published author want other than people to buy and read their books? Why, reviews of course! I treasure mine and a lovely quote from a review of Tripping The Flash Fantastic reads:-

The storytelling was beautiful in so few words which takes the talent and skill of a practiced author.

Many thanks to my reviewer there but I mention this because with Christmas coming up and most of us are going to have some book related presents (we are, aren’t we?), then another present you can give the author is to put a review up. They don’t have to be long but help us all a lot. So please do consider doing this.

I should add I read reviews myself regularly and not just for books so they do make an impact.

Meantime if you want to find a copy of Tripping the Flash Fantastic (and why wouldn’t you!), do check out the link below.


Flash fiction is wonderful for those moments which are complete stories in themselves but too short to be part of anything else. So if you have scenes that cannot form part of your longer work but which you are reluctant to discard, can you turn them into short, sharp flash pieces instead?

The challenge of flash is always to still have a complete story in and of itself within a restricted word count. I love that challenge. I often start with my ending and then work out where the pivot point has to be and from where what at the start would lead to that pivot point. It means I have a structure in place and it makes it far more likely my story will “work”.

I also like the challenge of writing to different word counts within flash. It’s also good practice for entering flash competitions given these come in at different word counts.

I think what you get better at, over time, is working out this story would work best at 100 words while another needs 500 or more.

Fairytales with Bite – Seasonal Magic

Every season, I think, has a kind of magic of its own. For spring, it is the new growth. For summer it is the lovely weather (usually!) and seeing the trees in full bloom. For autumn it is the changing colour of the leaves. For winter, I do enjoy seeing the silhouettes of the trees against the sunset. This often looks magnificent.

But I suppose if we were to pick one season and associate something special with it, it is now in the run up to Christmas and the end of the year. For me, as a Christian, Christmas obviously has a lot of significance but I do appreciate the other side of the festivities too. I love the Christmas films for example (and The Muppet Christmas Carol is the best retelling of Dickens’ classic in my view).

When it comes to your magical setting, what would count as magic, seasonal or otherwise, for them? What would stand out as special for your characters? Also is certain types of magic only used at certain times of year and, if so, what is it and why the restriction on its use? There will be stories behind those thoughts.

Would your setting’s natural world encourage the use (or disuse) of certain types of magic? Would geography/geology directly impact on what kind of magic could be used and when (and possibly how much as well)?

How do your characters adjust to being able to use certain powers only at certain times of the year (or other time period you use)? Does anyone try to cheat this and, if so, what would the consequences be? There are always consequences!

This World and Others – Waters

I love waters in all their varieties – peaceful streams, lakes and rivers, as well as the sea. I think there is a sense of eternity to be felt when I walk along a beach and look at the sea. I guess there is a sense of timelessness here. Is there anything like this in your magical setting?

What kinds of waters would your world have? Would they be anything like we have here? If not, what would your characters drink (I can’t imagine any character not needing to at some point)? Are the waters or equivalent in your world treasured or have they become polluted (perhaps by too much magic entering it)?

Is water supply an issue? If it is, how does your setting overcome this? Has climate change (or the equivalent in your setting) been responsible for this and can it be reversed? Or is water treasured so much its uses are protected and nobody dares goes against this?

Who would manage the waters on behalf of the overall population? Would this be a government managed resource or otherwise? Could your characters be “held to ransom” by whoever does control the waters? Could that be used to restrict the use of magic against whoever does the controlling?

Good story thoughts there, I think.

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The Perfect Read

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Plenty of writing and editing done so all good here. Lady continuing to make good progress. Getting significantly colder – have had first frosts – but I prefer that to the wet and the mud as, I suspect, does Lady.

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Hope you had a good day. Cold but bright and Lady got to see her two best buddies again, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. Lovely time had by all. I resumed a good swim and enjoyed that. Water felt warm – it never is by the way but it confirms it was perishing outside!

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say my author copies of Magi, the Bridge House Publishing anthology, reached me today. My story, The Family Legend, is in there and it is good to be between the covers again with some very familiar names. Some of them I hope to meet up with next month at the BHP celebration event. It’s always nice to receive a parcel of books with your work in them.

It won’t be too long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out and, in a few days, I will be sending out my latest author newsletter. If you would like to know more about flash fiction, read some of my online stories, and pick up on good writing advice, do sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Hope you have had a good Monday. Hectic here as ever but Lady did get to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler friends today. They all had a great time.

Had a fabulous writing and editing weekend. Plenty done. Just to flag up (and thanks to Jenny Sanders for letting me know) that Hannah Kate is holding her Three Minute Santas again on North Manchester FM. See the link for more details and good luck if you intend having a go. I hope to again, It’s good fun to write festive flash fiction.

Tip: I always record my submissions for Hannah’s show on Zoom and then play them back. I can literally hear how I come across and, just as good, the Zoom recording confirms the time I’ve taken to read my story. All useful as Hannah needs stories which are no longer than three minutes (the clue is there, folks!) and I can ensure I come in just under this limit doing this.

Festive Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

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Hope the weekend has gone well. Lovely church service this morning followed by walking the dog and heading home for lunch. Nice day today too though on the cold side.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon which will begin shortly and include responding to today’s Flash NANO prompt.

Writing Tip: What would I say was the most useful writing tip I’ve received and still use? Difficult to say but on balance I think it has to be the write first, edit later tip.

When I began writing seriously, I spent ages trying to get the first sentence or two right but just ended up getting frustrated. It was much better when I began just getting the story down, having a break from it, and then looking to improve it. I wasn’t interrupting my writing flow. I was treating writing and editing as two separate and different creative tasks. I enjoy them much more, keeping them apart from each other.

I also know now in a way I didn’t back then nobody writes a perfect sentence. Everybody has to edit at some stage so why not enjoy the creative writing first, then work out how to improve it? I also find it much easier to figure out what does need improving (and why) if I can see the whole story. I know what I’ve got to work with for one thing.

Hope today has gone okay. Horribly soggy here. Good day for staying indoors and getting on with some writing then!

Writing wise, I plan to share Short Story Collections on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing the joys and challenges of writing for these plus share tips on how to make the best of any set theme. I hope it will prove useful. After that will be a fabulous author interview – more on that nearer the time.

Looking forward to looking at memories and story ideas resulting from that topic for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

And if you’re starting to think about book related presents, why not check out an anthology? Your recipient will receive a mixed bag of stories and hopefully will discover many authors new to them. Why not check out Magi (Bridge House Publishing)? See link.

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I can hardly believe we’re almost at the end of the last ever Flash NANO. Will be getting on with the latest prompt later this evening. Where has the time gone? The variety of prompts have been fantastic and a good challenge.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow evening. The focus will be on memories and how we can use these for flash fiction and flash non-fiction. Our December meeting is always an informal chat with sharing of news and stories. Christmas jumpers, hats etc are optional!

Have drafted a potential festive flash fiction story which I hope to submit later this week. Still want to pick out some earlier drafts for competitions but hope to get to do that later this week. Deadlines, thankfully, aren’t for a while yet.

It’s Monday. It gets dark far too early for my liking. It has been hectic as usual. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Book Signing.

What secret is Allison keeping from Linda and where does a book signing come into it all? Find out here.

Note: No authors were harmed in the making of this video! Neither am I confessing to something here, honest!

 

I found fairly quickly after getting into flash fiction writing seriously, I did need to have a title as a “peg” to work with. I would say I leave 90% of them unchanged. But I do need something to help me get started and a title is a big help here, even when I know for sure in advance I’m likely to be changing it. It is the way of it too that sometimes as you write, a better idea for a title comes along so I then go with that.

I like shortish titles, especially those which are open to interpretation. You can have a great deal of fun with those in playing with expectations and either delivering on them directly or springing a good twist on your readers. Certainly when I’m reading flash fiction/stories, a title I can guess will be open to interpretation will always grab my attention.

Flash NANO continues apace and I will have a go at today’s prompt later. All good fun (and it has been lovely to receive great feedback on stories I’ve shared on the FN Facebook page. A little encouragement goes a long way as any author would tell you!).

Also congratulations to Hannah Kate for the 10th anniversary of her Hannah’s Bookshelf programme on North Manchester FM. Flash fiction has often featured on Hannah’s show, especially at Halloween and just ahead of Christmas. Flash is a great format for radio – short enough to be entertaining. Not too long to switch people off either!

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Anniversary Special, Saturday 22 November, 1-4pm

 

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Read

Provocative title for this post? Maybe? Is there really such a thing as The Perfect Read?

I think there can be but it depends on what you like to read and your mood as you read it. For example, I will often read something by P.G. Wodehouse in the darker months because I want something lighter to cheer me. It always does and so, whatever I choose by him here, it will be the perfect read.

When I’m reading an author new to me, having been captivated by their blurb, book cover etc, I simply want the book to deliver on its premise. As long as it does that, it will be a perfect read for me. What I don’t want is to have expectations set up and then not delivered on unless there is a superb twist or something like that, which I always love because I never mind when an author wrong foots me like that.

What I don’t want is a promising book but the author wrong foots me by delivering something which comes across to me as dull. (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen does this for me I’m afraid but I do love her other works).

The perfect read, in a more general sense, always occurs for me when I can get behind the characters, whether I’m rooting for them to succeed or fail. (There is nothing quite so satisfying as booing a good villain, even if I only do so metaphorically!).

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Review – The Business of Murder by Mike Standing

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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. One image of Creativity Matters was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Started the week feeling poorly but much better now. Enjoyed going to Penny Rogers’ online launch for Amelie at The Window. I interviewed her for Chandler’s Ford Today recently. Busy editing and other writing going well and Lady continues to make good progress and loves seeing her chums so all okay here.

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Am delighted to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with another review. This time I review the murder mystery play, The Business of Murder by Mike Standing, which was recently staged by the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church Senior Thespians. It was great fun and I look at some of the joys of this kind of play in my review.

Hope you enjoy the post and if you get the chance to check out murder mystery plays near you, do so. They are a great format.

Review – The Business of Murder by Mike Standing

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady enjoyed being with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and I was pleased to get back to swimming, though it was for a shorter session than I usually do. It was nice being in the pool again though and before you think I’m daft here, the water was lovely. Mind you, it only feels like that when it is either (a) perishing outside as it is today or (b) so hot outside the water feels refreshing by contrast (as it did in the summer)!

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing my review of The Business of Murder by Mike Standing which was recently performed by the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church Senior Thespians. The murder mystery was great fun and I share more about it on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Am making good progress with Flash NANO. Hard to believe we’re at the two-thirds through mark already.

Will be sharing a super author interview in early December on CFT too and am looking forward to that.

Marketing Tip: Seeing marketing as a way of being creative with your writing is one way of making doing any more bearable. I know many authors don’t particularly like marketing. We’d far rather be writing, right?

But we also want readers to see our writing so deciding what marketing we will do and being creative with it is another way to play with words and promote our written works. I do enjoy using Book Brush to help me create graphics. I love preparing little videos for my YouTube channel.

In both these things, I can put my imagination to work and get some marketing done. Win-win there, I’d say.

Hope you’ve had a good Wednesday. Bitterly cold here though we’ve managed to escape the snow for the time being. Lady doing well but she, like me, wasn’t sorry the walk was a relatively short one today.

Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Will be looking at the topic of memories – apt for a month where remembrance is so important. Memories can be a huge source of inspiration for story ideas as well as showing you something about the characters they come from.

It won’t be too long either before the last author newsletter of the year comes out from me. My, does the year fly by. If you want to sign up for news, tips, story links and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and a huge thank you for the support shown, it is much appreciated.

Character Tip: Think about the kinds of memories your character could have. Which would they select to share? Which would they ensure remained only with them? There will be story ideas there. Happy writing!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. It’s time to end the working week with a story. Hope you like my latest drabble on Friday Flash Fiction – Standing Out. Find out here if monsters can be embarrassed and, if so, who by. Hope you enjoy the tale, it was fun to write.

Had a lovely response to my Flash NANO 19-words story yesterday. Thanks, all. It was great fun to do and it’s not a word count I usually use, so it was a good challenge. Will be having a go at the latest prompt shortly.

Mixing up the word counts I write to with flash is something I do regularly. For Friday Flash Fiction, it is always the classic drabble (100-worder) I write but most of the competitions I have a go at are anything from 100 to 500 words. (I’d say 250 to 300 is probably the most popular I’ve come across).

What matters though with any flash fiction is you have a complete story – a proper beginning, middle, and end. It is never truncated prose. There must be a feeling that nothing more could be added to the flash piece (though much will be implied).

It should have impact, whether it is to make a reader cry, laugh, scream, wince or what have you. There should also be a feeling nothing could be taken away from the story too.

I have a lovely Flash NANO prompt for today (19th November) where I have to write to a specific word count. Always a good challenge to do. Always good fun too. This kind of prompt does make you think about what really matters for your character. There will be no room for anything else. Will be cracking on with this prompt later.

Don’t forget the wonderful CafeLit is a great home for short stories and flash fiction. To find out more why not follow the link? Am looking forward to catching up with CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing and Chapeltown Books authors at next month’s Bridge House Publishing’s celebration event. A lot of writers getting together in convivial surroundings – there will be lots of story telling for sure! (Not least of which will be what we’ve all been up to writing wise since we got together last time!).

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Fairytales with Bite – Musical Magic

One thing which is on my bucket list is to go and see The Nutcracker at some point. I love the music. I love the storyline. I just need to go and see it! But I just love the idea of a magical musical story in the run up to Christmas. For me, that’s fitting.

I love most forms of music, especially classical. There is something about music which can be soothing, uplifting, inspiring and so on. So what does your magical world have in the form of musical magic? Do they have music at all? If so, is magic used to create it/perform it or is at an area where magic is banned (on the grounds magic is in the music anyway if you have the right attitude to it)?

What forms of music are available in your setting? Is it available to all? Would your characters appreciate it?

Is our love of music here something which might redeem humans (a bit) in the eyes of your setting? Does your setting appreciate its composers (and do they copy anything from Earth though they may refer to it as “sampling”!)?

Has music always been available in your setting or is it a recent discovery? If the latter, where and how did they discover it? (By exploring what other worlds including our own do here, perhaps?).

Definitely story ideas here.

This World and Others – Time Off The Magic

When you live and breath magic (or an equivalent form of power/energy), would you want time away from it? I am sure you would.

So how would your characters get to have this time off and what would they do to ensure they had a proper break before resuming work related duties again? Does using magic all of the time get tiring enough the powers that be in your setting recognise the need for their folk to have that proper break?

How are proper breaks organised? I am not including things like the need for sleep here but things like days off, holidays etc. Would there be times your entire setting has down times or do these have to be staggered to ensure the setting doesn’t leave itself defenceless, for example?

Do your characters need to ensure some level of protection for themselves when taking a break and who/what would they need that protection against? Tiredness can kill and not just in our world!

When it comes to having a break, where would your characters go to have it? If they go to our equivalent of hotels etc., is magic used there to ensure good service or is it all done “manually”? If the latter, is that because your characters on a break can absorb magic from around them so if it is used in their presence, they don’t really get a break from it.

How would your characters react if their needed break was interrupted by a threat of some sort? How would they handle this? How would not having their full break impact their performance?

Again story ideas here.

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Character Memories and Publication News

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here but productive. Lady is making good progress too. Writing has gone well. Looking forward to sharing another superb author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today next month and many thanks too for the lovely likes and comments on the publication of Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing.

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post Character Memories.

I look at why I think character memories make the character concerned more real for me. I also look at how memories can drive action and attitudes. I also discuss how I use memories a character might have to help me know about them even if those memories don’t end up in the story I tell about them.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope today has been reasonable (well, you have to make allowances for it being Monday). Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler which cheered her up no end. Lady is making good progress and I think giving it another week should see her fully okay again. We hope that will be the case anyway.

As the day went on though, I started to feel unwell and am not feeling fabulous as I write this so it will be an early night for me, I think. I will get some writing done though not as much as I might usually have done because it will cheer me up a bit. Being creative, in any form, is good for you like that. I hope a good night’s sleep will do wonders too. I guess it’s time for the bugs to make their presence felt, unfortunately.

Writing Tip: Never despair when you get those times when you can’t write much for whatever reason. It happens to most writers. I find the best way to handle this is to accept I will just do something and leave it at that until I am able to write to my normal levels.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy one here. Glad to get to Sunday afternoon and wind down a bit. Can’t believe we’ve hit the halfway stage of Flash NANO already. Will be working at today’s prompt later on.

Lady continues to improve and is feeling happier than she has done though we still need to be careful with her exercise for a while.

Had a lovely Zoom with Swanwick friends yesterday, one of whom I’ll catch up with in person at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event.

A huge thank you too for all the lovely comments and likes etc coming in on my news yesterday of Magi, the latest BHP anthology, being released. See below.

Check out an anthology for Christmas – that could catch on as a saying I think!

Hope today has gone well. Good news – Lady is improving and she got to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, on a short walk today. It was lovely to see how seeing her closest chum cheered Lady up a lot. Dogs are good for each other as well as us.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a review of The Business of Murder, the murder mystery play recently staged at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church by the wonderfully named Senior Thespians! Link up for that on Friday.

Will also on with the latest prompt from Flash NANO later today.

Publication News: But the big news is I am thrilled to say I am in print again. My story, The Family Legend, appears in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. It is out today – 15th November 2025 – link below.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Feeling better than yesterday though still not 100%. Writing has proved to be a wonderful distraction. It’s also handy it’s something which can be done in the warm given we had our first full frost overnight. Brr…

Will be working on the latest prompt from Flash NANO later. As ever, I’m enjoying the variety of prompts. It’s always a good idea to mix up the type of writing prompts you use. It keeps you on your toes. It makes you think outside of the box. Also, it’s just plain fun to have a go at different prompts, though inevitably you will end up with favourite types. I would say mine are writing to an opening line or where you have to put certain words into a story. Like those a lot.

Incidentally, if you like books of prompts, why not check out The Big Book of Prompts, published by Bridge House Publishing? I’ve contributed prompts to this book, along with dear friends from Bridge House, CafeLit and Chapeltown Books. This book gives you a prompt for every day of the year too.

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It’s Monday. It has been hectic. I feel under the weather – boo. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Outstanding Effort.

Sometimes monsters can’t believe what they’re hearing but when they win first prize for something which comes naturally to them, maybe they can hide their real attributes for a bit longer.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly as I draft pieces for Friday Flash Fiction, my YouTube channel, and the latest Flash NANO prompt.

I need to select some stories, already written in draft form, to look at for potential competitions. I’ve got a couple of competitions I wouldn’t mind entering before the year end. This is where regularly drafting flash helps a lot because I always have something in stock I can pull out and, after good editing and polishing, put in for a competition.

Also hope to get on with a PowerPoint for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.


Thrilled to have publication news again in that my story, The Family Legend, is in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. Always good to have news like this!

I started writing standard length short stories, such as this one, long before I discovered the joys of flash fiction and I happily write both. Most of my standard length short stories are either in anthologies or are submitted for competitions. My flash fiction work usually ends up online or in a future collection (sometimes both!). Plus I do enter flash fiction competitions.

Many congratulations to all who are between the covers with me for Magi. It is good to see some familiar names here and I hope to meet up with at least some of you at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Collections Acrostic

C = Collections (short stories and flash fiction) are wonderful ways to try out works by authors new to you.

O = Original stories, often on a theme, inspire so many ideas and make for a truly entertaining read.

L = Lively imaginations at work in collections to make the most of the theme.

L = Love collections for giving authors a voice and also some at least are used to raise money for charity.

E = Enter the worlds of story collections and meet many different characters.

C = Characters which grip you and often short stories and flash fiction make more of an impact because of their brevity.

T = Tension and drama aplenty in the short forms and collections bring so many of them together in one easy format.

I = Imagination let loose for readers to enjoy.

O = Options for collections usually include paperback and ebook so there will be something to suit you.

N = Nothing ventured, nothing gained – why not try story collections as gifts?

S = Story collections are perfect for dipping into when you don’t have as much time as you’d like for reading.

Go on, give them a go! You are bound to find topics and themes to suit.

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Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

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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. Lady has seen her friends, I’m making good progress with various writing tasks, and sometimes we’ve ducked the rain so I’d call that a good week! Oh and I have publication news too with more details to come in my next round up on Tuesday, 18th November.

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I’m delighted to share my review of The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley (best known as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army, such a wonderful programme). This was recently staged by my local excellent amateur theatre group, The Chameleon Theatre Company.

I share a little of what the play is about (but no spoilers!) and look at the wonderful use of sound and lighting which made this play especially atmospheric. I also look at how good costuming does wonders for giving a real sense of time and place. Plus the acting was great.

Really good theatre should leave you feeling as if you have left the real world for a little while and this certainly did that for me. Hope you enjoy the review. It was a pleasure to see the play (and I was curious to see it too because of who it was written by, having long been a fan of Dad’s Army).

Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

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Has been a mixed bag of a day. Lady did see her best buddies, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, but later in the day, Lady was not wanting to put weight on one of her back legs. Visit to the vet (who was lovely). We think it’s a strain/a touch of arthritis (Lady is nine now) and we have to lead walk her only for short periods for the next couple of weeks and see how Lady gets on. Lady has had the odd strain before and this kind of treatment helps enormously so we hope and pray the same will be the case again. What Lady won’t like is not being able to run after a ball for a while…

In much happier news, I’m reviewing The Ghost Train recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above. The week after I’m reviewing again but this time that will be The Business of Murder, recently performed at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church. No reviews for ages and then two at once…

Am very happy to say I’ll be putting in a book order soon. How come? Well, another of my short stories is about to come out in the latest Bridge House Publishing anthology called Magi. More on that at the weekend.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Good time had by all and we even had some unexpected but most welcome sunshine.

Writing wise today, I hope to get plenty of “bits and pieces” done. I’ve a blog to finish and schedule and a review where I want to finish writing the text plus, of course, I will have today’s Flash NANO prompt to respond to as well. I’ve also an interview to prepare – always good fun to do these. I do like a good variety in my writing life.

Hope to have some more publication news soon too. See above! (More to come in my next round up).


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Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Recall. Occasionally I write a flash story with rhyming elements and this worked well for this tale. It suited my character’s narrative style. Do see what you think (and a huge thanks for the lovely comments coming in on this so far).

Am happily cracking on with the Flash NANO prompts and will have a go at today’s one shortly. I do love the variety. It is why I mix up the writing prompts I use generally. It keeps me on my toes and encourages further creative thinking. I also don’t want to ever just have to rely on one prompt type – why limit yourself?

I like to use the random generators (and there are so many of those, trust me you won’t run out of ones to try), books of prompts, story cubes, as well as going back through my notebooks every so often to pick up on ideas I jotted down during writing events. (It’s too easy to forget about those the moment you get home!).

Will be thinking about memories in flash fiction for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. November is a month of memories for all sorts of reasons. (Many churches, including mine, have a memories service this month where we recall loved ones – it’s always a moving service).

Memories can drive action (from a character being determined to never do what someone in their past did or to do something better than they did). Memories can often form interesting narrative non-fiction articles – and that is the theme of this month’s Writers’ Narrative. Do check it out if you haven’t already – link below.

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Fairytales with Bite – Behind The Scenes

What goes on behind the scenes in your magical setting? There could be plenty of story ideas here from looking at what goes on behind the scenes in magical government, other magical establishments, but also how villages etc are run. Are there dominant families, for example? Are they beneficial overseers running the village well or do they make everyone else’s lives miserable?

When it comes to learning magical or other skills needed in your world, what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to training students? Can all benefit from this kind of tuition or is it limited to certain species only?

When fairies are sent out on missions to help others, how is it decided which fairy does what? Are there rivalries going on here? How is infighting dealt with or are your characters expect to “slug it out”?

In your setting, how were things set up in the first place and why was it done in this way? Who ensured things behind the scenes were set up the way they wanted? Was this truly in the best interest of your magical world?

Definitely story ideas there!

This World and Others – Staging

We can all think of those who stage things for their own benefit (and not just in the political world, though I suspect it is rife there!). In your magical setting, who would do this? There would be those who wield obvious power but lower down the scale, you can find those who would be manipulative if they had the chance to be so and get away with it.

So who would set things up for their benefit? How do they get away with it? Is what they stage ever challenged?

When it comes to entertainments in your magical setting, what forms do these take? Who would carry out the creative staging needed here? Is it appreciated by the general populace? Is magic used to help this process or is it expected other means would be used instead? (If you use magic everyday as the day job, you may well want something different when it comes to arranging your entertainment, else it would be what we’d know as a busman’s holiday).

When it comes to staging for political reasons, what is someone hoping to gain from this and why do they feel the need to do things this way?

Story ideas there too!

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Remembrance and Book Memories

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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 weekend. Blustery here. Very moving Remembrance Sunday events. One good thing about the rain was it did limit the fireworks which helped Lady. Writing and editing going well too.

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11th November 2025 – Armistice Day

Hope you have a good day. Good to remember Armistice Day today.

Writing wise, had a lovely Zoom session at a group I go to once monthly. Was a lovely way to chill after a hectic Monday (though Mondays are always that way for me for various reasons. I know I won’t get much writing done so I do write little bits and pieces I can flesh out for longer work later).

Am busy writing a review of the murder mystery play I went to with my lovely Chandler’s Ford Today editor, Janet Williams, recently. My post this week will be the review of The Ghost Train performed by The Chameleons but it was one of those weeks where Janet and I got to see two shows in three days. The next show we are likely to see will be the pantomine The Chameleons stage (and this year it is Camelot, oh yes it is).

Will also have another author interview coming up in December and I will be working on that later this week.

So all go here but in a good way.

Hope your Monday has gone well. Lady was delighted to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today, especially as the weather was dodgy. We all managed to avoid the worst though so we will take that as a win.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing my review of The Ghost Train recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on Friday. All I knew about the play was it was written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame. Was pleased to have seen it – great story – more in the review.

Writing Tip: When you’ve got five minutes (I know – this will become less likely as we head towards Christmas!), but can’t get to your laptop, grab the old notebook and pen and brainstorm ideas. I find writing in the old school manner like this can make the ideas flow. It also gives me something to review later when I do have more time. I’ve had plenty of story ideas doing this.

9th November – Remembrance Sunday

As ever the Remembrance Sunday service where I go to church was deeply moving. I recall my late grandfathers. One served in the Forces and then went on to be an ARP warden in London’s East End (neither easy as you can imagine); the other worked in Woolwich Arsenal (and forever getting bombed out as you can also imagine).

I also think of my late parents. Dad was too young to be evacuated immediately so went through the Blitz on London with his mum until he could be evacuated. Mum was evacuated, didn’t say much about it other than she hated it. Two generations – that is all which stands between my generation and the Second World War.

For our tomorrow, they gave their today.

Writing wise, stories which focus on remembering can be deeply moving. I like to focus on one character, one pertinent memory. This kind of story (I like to think of it as slice of life), I feel, works best when kept short and to the point. It’s where flash fiction can come into its own.

Am delighted to say the November issue of Writers’ Narrative is now available. The theme this time is Narrative Non-Fiction and my article on the topic can be found on pages 18 and 19. (I use the technique a lot in my Chandler’s Ford Today posts as well as those I write for Writers’ Narrative). Do check out the other superb articles – see the link below for more.

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11th November 2025 – Armistice Day

Looking forward to having a go at today’s Flash NANO prompt later this evening. The prompt involves the use of magic and given I love writing and reading what I call fairytales with bite, I think this prompt has my name on it!

Have been very pleased to have some lovely feedback on the stories I’ve shared on the Flash NANO Facebook page. I don’t share all of my drafts but will share ones I think will amuse. (Well, at this dark time of year and with the world in a right old state, we all need some literary cheer, yes?).

It’s Monday, a soggy and dark one where I am, and it’s time for a story. I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Memories Edited. There is a (rough!) rhyming scheme to this one. Think it will have resonance with many.

 

9th November – Remembrance Sunday

Today is Remembrance Sunday and the focus is, naturally, on the past and to the huge debt we owe to those who gave up so much for our freedoms, which should not be taken for granted.

As well as flash fiction, there is such a thing as flash non-fiction and short reflective pieces can be amazingly touching, especially when based on memories (collective and individual). I think the important thing here is, whatever your topic, to write from the heart (though that is also true for fiction).

Compassion, empathy, acknowledging the past can be very powerful themes for our writing, fictional or otherwise.

Am enjoying the range of prompts from Flash NANO so far. Yesterday’s one from me was a story told as a list involving using a number in the title. I shared a story about the struggles a cat owner has in getting to get their pet to the vet. I speak as a dog owner! Make of that what you will but it was fun to do and I will crack on with today’s prompt later on today.

Another nice angle to these prompts is they encourage me to get a story down quickly. It’s good practice for when I am set exercises at places like Swanwick. I find fast writing a really good thing to do sometimes. It makes me think on my feet and I know it’s okay to write first, edit later.

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Memories

One of the pleasures of books is as well as giving you stories and non-fiction to enjoy, they can also conjure up good memories for you. Many of my books on my shelves are written by author friends and every time I see the books I remember the story and where and whom I got the book from! I also inherited books from my much read late mother and her Dickens leather bound set always make me think of her when I see them.

When I read the classic fairytales, I am taken back to childhood memories of reading these for myself and, even further back, when my mum read the stories to me.

I think this is why physical books will always be around. They can give you tangible memories in the way a Kindle cannot, though that does have its uses. I use mine to discover authors new to me, for example, and it is great for holidays/being away etc. Physical books can be heavy to cart around but I would never be without them.

With my own flash fiction collections, the memories of having my work accepted will always be very special. Having some input into the covers is another special memory.

I also remember when I first read certain books which are firm favourites of mine.

Books are truly wonderful things.

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As I’ve shared the new November issue above, I thought I’d sneak in the October one again given it’s about short form fiction, I’m interviewed in it, and am a cover girl on it! Well, you can’t blame me really, can you? Absolute thrill to do this interview.

 

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Author Interview – Introducing Penny Rogers and Amelie At The Window

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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. One photo of me at a local book fair was taken by my lovely Chandler’s Ford Today editor, Janet Williams. Many thanks to Penny Rogers and Bridge House Publishing for photos supplied for my Chandler’s Ford Today interview with Penny this week. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was one photo from a previous Bridge House Publishing celebration event.
Hope the week has gone well for you. Lady has got to see her two closest chums several times this week so they’ve all had a great week, despite the fireworks. Had a most enjoyable time at an ACW genre group and am making good progress with writing and editing. So not bad at all here really!

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I’m delighted to welcome fellow Bridge House Publishing author, Penny Rogers, to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to discuss her lovely new book, Amelie At The Window.

As well as sharing what inspired her to write the book (which takes in two time frames – 1914 and 1924), Penny looks at what led her into writing and shares tips she has found useful. If you like historical fiction, do check this out. More in the interview – link below.

Penny and I share a mutual love of flash fiction and short stories and she shares her thoughts on those wonderful forms too.

Penny is also having an online launch next week. There is a link to this in the interview. It is free to attend and I am sure Penny would love to see you attend if you can. (I’ve already booked my ticket).

Author Interview – Introducing Penny Rogers and Amelie At The Window

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Lady had a lovely time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler pal today so has had a cracking week so far in that she has seen her best friends all week.

Writing wise, I am welcoming Penny Rogers to Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow to discuss her new book, Amelie At The Window. Amelie is an unforgettable character.

Penny and I discuss the book, along with Penny’s writing life in flash fiction and short stories. Plus there will be much more to enjoy and find useful as Penny shares writing tips and her thoughts on marketing and much else. Do look out for that tomorrow. (It is especially nice for me to welcome a fellow Bridge House Publishing author to CFT of course). See above.

Plus there will be two smashing play reviews to come in the next couple of weeks on CFT too.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her two best pals again today and all of them had a lovely time. Lady is now curled up indoors and we are listening to Pet Classics on Classic FM.  The idea is to play plenty of soothing classical music to helps pets anxious with all of the fireworks going off etc. This was on Bonfire Night, 5th November, but they are running another Pet Classics on Saturday 8th November. It is an excellent idea.

We’ve found it helps Lady, along with things like shutting the curtains early, turning up the volume on the radio/TV, and yes she does have a den to go to should she need it. Our local schools are having a laser show this year which is great and I hope everyone enjoys it. I also hope people do turn to the silent fireworks as they’re easier to buy now. I always write with classical music on and find it helps a lot. It gets me into the “zone” so so speak.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to joining in with an ACW genre group later this evening. Always good fun. Am also busy preparing my reviews. I know. No reviews for ages and then I get to do two at once.

Enjoying the Flash NANO prompts so far too and will have a go at today’s one a little later on.


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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, But Why? This was fun to write and I hope it makes you laugh, which is always a nice way to end the working week. If you’ve ever had a culinary disaster, you should like this one!

Have not really noted my word count for the Flash NANO prompts so far but looking at what I’ve come up with so far, I would say they’re at my favourite range of sub-500 words. Enjoying the challenges and will crack on with the next one later this evening. This is the thing with Flash NANO – thirty prompts in thirty days – game on, as far as I’m concerned. It’s a fantastic way of increasing my output over a month!

Some of the stories from previous Flash NANOs will be in my third book, Seeing The Other Side, in due course too. I also expect to use some (and have in the past) for competitions.

Am sorry it’s ending but hope there will be another good challenge to take its place. Meanwhile there are two other competitions I want to have a go at this year and hope to begin work on those soon. Both are flash competitions.

I love mixing up the mood of the tales I write in flash fiction, I will often have a spate where I deliberately want to go for the lighter hearted kind of story and then at other times, I am writing on the grimmer side of life. But you can do this with flash and I love mixing up the word counts I write to as well.

Given I’ve always loved inventing people, it is easily my favourite part of writing fiction, I get to do this all of the time with flash and I’ve gone on to write about other species too. Well, why not write from the viewpoint of aliens, mother dragons etc! It’s fun!

Am also looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month and have booked my train tickets today. It’s a great, fun event and it’s lovely meeting up with other BHP authors, most of whom I only get to see in person at this event. It’s a great celebration of short fiction too as most of us here are short story writers and flash authors. Some are novelists too.

Fairytales with Bite – Lighter Characters

I love stories which include lighter characters in the tale. They are great for providing much needed light relief. After all, don’t we appreciate those friends who make us smile so why wouldn’t our characters feel the same way about characters who do this for them?

That doesn’t mean we put these characters in for the sake of it. They still need a vital role of their own in the tale but they can give much needed shade and colour in a story which is on the grim side, say. And if you’re writing a humorous tale, well you will need plenty of lighter characters to help supply the smiles!

Lighter characters can be interesting for another reason. Have they always been that way or have episodes in their life led them to develop a lighter persona as their way of coping with what they have gone through? Good story ideas to explore there.

Equally are lighter characters covering up a darker, criminal side perhaps? Again good story ideas to find there, I think.

In a magical setting, would lighter characters be deemed to be those who don’t have so many magical powers? They are considered lightweight by others but aren’t necessarily so, maybe? Again story ideas to find there, especially if they can find ways to develop greater powers (and what would they be prepared to do to achieve that)?

This World and Others – Who Decides What is Dark Anyway?

We all know what good and evil are, right? Certainly all of us have ideas on this and the majority of us will hold the same values in common.

But is this true for your magical setting? What would they see as good or evil? Do they share our views or are they the opposite?

Amongst your characters, do certain species hold certain values in common while others definitely do not? What does pass for the law in your setting? Who enforces it? Who does decide just what is dark anyway? How can they get the main species to agree on what should be held in common? There would have to be some agreement else there could be no way for a sensible form of government to happen, there would be anarchy.

Also has your setting’s view changed on all of this over time and have any particular historical acts led to changes coming in here? After all our own laws have changed many times over the centuries.

If your setting has been threatened by other worlds, did your setting unite to face it and defeat it? Or were there divisions? An enemy could exploit the latter. But the darkness would have to be faced and dealt with in some way.

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The Love of Books and Why It Matters

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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 had a good weekend. Busy one here in that I took in a murder mystery play, cleared a load of leaves, and got on with plenty of writing. Lady hasn’t appreciated the fireworks at all but thankfully they didn’t go on for too long.

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Hope you have had a good Tuesday. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again today and all three of them had a great time in the park.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming Penny Rogers to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

My Flash NANO campaign is going well so far. Looking forward to having a go at today’s prompt later on this evening.

Character Tip: What is the most important thing about your character for you? Is it how they look? Is it their attitudes? Is it something specific they’ve done (or not done) which makes life better for someone else? Bound to be story ideas there!

Hope today has gone well. Another busy Monday here though Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Good time had by all.

Have begun my Flash NANO campaign for a final year. This is the last one ever (boo hoo!) but I have used one of the stories I’ve drafted so far this year as my YouTube video for this week. Will share in separate post shortly. See further down under From Light to Dark and Back Again. It is great fun to take part in the challenge again though.

Writing Tip: I’ve found it useful, when responding to any prompt, to just get a draft down as quickly as I can. I then hone and polish it later after a break away from it but there is something about quick writing which I find helps make the ideas flow fast too. I like to try to capitalize on that.

Hope you have had a good weekend. The weather has been a mixed bag. Nice to see all of the autumn leaves around though. Am having to take the dog out earlier due to the clocks going back an hour recently. Fireworks season has also started. Lady isn’t keen on these, as you can imagine, but we have a good routine to help her though I wish folk would switch to the silent fireworks. You can get them more easily now.

Writing wise, I’ll be on to flash fiction Sunday afternoon/evening shortly and am looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Penny Rogers (aka Penny Dale), a fellow Bridge House Publishing author, on Chandler’s Ford Today next week.

Am also busy preparing two reviews. I like writing these though the challenge is in ensuring you give enough away to show what a good show was performed without giving away too much of the story line.

For the very famous plays, this isn’t so much of an issue because the story line is already famous. But for lesser known plays, I don’t want to spoil the story in case people can get to see it elsewhere.

Busy day. Author newsletter out again. (1st November 2025). Cant believe where the time goes.

Had a fabulous time watching a murder mystery play at the Dovetail Centre in Chandler’s Ford today. Will review in due course but firstly on Chandler’s Ford Today, there will be a fab interview with Penny Rogers (also known as Penny Dale). Link up on Friday.

Then I’ll be reviewing Ghost Train recently performed by The Chameleons. Then I’ll review the murder mystery play I saw today. This was wonderfully called The Business of Murder (written by Mike Standing – great story line).

So there’s a lot going on and all of it fun I’m glad to say!

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Hope today has gone well. Mixed bag weather wise.

Our characters are mixed bags too. Nobody is fully perfect or evil (in most kinds of fiction). So think about what you like and dislike in your characters? What can you get from that to give you ideas for some flash pieces?

It’s Monday, a hectic, dark and damp one! Time for a story then and this week’s YouTube video from me is the result of a Flash NANO prompt for this year. This is pretty good going from me as Flash NANO only started on Saturday (1st November)! Hope you enjoy my story Back In Time.


Flash is wonderful for putting a different spin on fairytales.Indeed, it is my favourite kind of flash story to write (and read). I tend to focus on a “side” character to the main story and show something of them and have found this works best when kept short. There is no time for it to be gimmicky but it can pack a punch when it needs to do so. Fairytale flash is often wonderful for humour too and I do love short sharp tales which end with a laugh.

November is a month full of memories. I know every month is to an extent but I particularly feel this for November because of Remembrance Sunday.

So how can we use memories in our flash fiction pieces when the word count is limited? Memories often take up a lot of words when written down after all.

I’ve found the best way of managing this is to focus on one particular memory for one particular character and that is their story. Sometimes that will result in a flash piece of under 500 words but more often I’ve found I have needed 750 to 1000 words here.

Having said that, these stories can be incredibly touching and are moving to write (and I hope to read too).

Goodreads Author Blog – The Love of Books and Why It Matters

One of my most frustrating moments as a writer and reader came at a Book Fair I had a table at some years ago. The Book Fair was wonderful, I loved being with fellow writers and joy of joys, I sold books. So what was frustrating?

Simply it was when I overhead someone go past by my table and saying very loudly “I don’t like books”. I had to bite my tongue because the obvious retort to that was “why are you here then” but I figured that retort wouldn’t help.

The comment saddened me too,. What was behind the dislike? Problems with reading? Or simply they hadn’t found a genre (ore more) of books which appealed to them? Or did they simply think reading wasn’t for them?

One challenge all writers face now is having to compete with other forms of entertainment. Now I love books, I love music, I love films, and have no problem in enjoying all of these things but is it me or do people these days feel they have to stick to one creative thing they like and no more?

I am also conscious all writers owe a huge debt to those writing for children of all ages. If you can get a child hooked on to books early in life, they are likely to keep the habit of reading for pleasure going and that is what the love of books matters.

No love of books and you miss out on so many wonderful stories because they’re not all made into films! Even when they are, why not check out the original book anyway?

I do hope the forthcoming festive season will lead to more books being bought for all ages and this Christmas someone will get to discover the love of reading for the first time.

I do think that is such a special moment.

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