Month: July 2026

Reworking Stories

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Cooling down a bit for which Lady and I are grateful. Just over a week to go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as I write this – so looking forward to it.
More behind the scenes admin going on with Seeing The Other Side too including the fact it is now up on the online bookshop for the Association of Christian Writers. Having your books on there is a perk of membership and it is so nice to have my new one there.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Reworking Stories on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at why all writers have to accept the need to rework and why I believe getting your draft down, resting it, and then having another look at it later is such a good idea.

For short form writers, the rest period doesn’t necessarily need to be that long, but you do need to get out of “creator mode” and in more analytical “editor mode”. How long that takes will depend on the length of your work but it is the best way I know to give myself enough distance to be able to judge a piece of writing objectively enough.

On the plus side our laptops and PCs do make reworking easier to do. I did use to have to paste and cut literally. It wasn’t fun! I also look at the challenge to the writer here and it really is a question of ensuring you can judge your work objectively. I also share tips for reworking stories I continue to find useful.

Hope you find the post helpful.

Reworking Stories

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady briefly saw her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal earlier – both dogs delighted to be reunited briefly. I was out early for an early swim which was lovely. Am thankful it isn’t as hot as yesterday but it’s still a bit too warm for my (and Lady’s) liking. Feel very sorry for the wildfire fighters.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Reworking Stories on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Mind you, even if you just write non-fiction, reworking your drafts comes into play for you too. I share thoughts and tips.

After that I’ll be interviewing Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, who also knows more than a thing or two about reworking stories! Indeed, I can’t think of any author who hasn’t had to rework something and often more than once. I do know that’s the case for me. Hope you’ll find tomorrow’s post useful.

And my next author newsletter is out on Saturday too. Plenty of news to share this time.

Pleased to share my latest post on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I discuss Getting Together with Other Writers, which is apt as it is just over a week or so before I head to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

I share something of what I’ve learned over many years of meeting up with other writers, not least of which is making many fabulous friends. That alone is reason to go to writing events when you can (and the online ones are also valuable here).

Hope you enjoy the post and you have a great time at any events you go to over the next few months. If you’re plucking up courage to go to one, I would say go for it because we were all nervous newbies for these things. I remember my first event years ago on the Isle of Wight but I ended up having a lovely time and I met the lady who went on to become my publisher many years later. Neither of us could have known at the time.

It is amazing what you can learn from a writing event and, talking of which, I’m also looking forward to meeting up with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening. That was good fun too!

Getting Together With Other Writers

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope the day has gone well. Won’t be writing much (if at all) tomorrow given I’ll be at a family wedding. It has been a long time since we last had one of those…

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again tomorrow. A huge thank you to my subscribers for their support. I share news, tips, and more including story links so you get to have a good read. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

What has been especially nice about the newsletter about to go out is having much more news to share. It’s always wonderful to share publication news and I am so glad Seeing The Other Side is now out there.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Nice task today. I’ve been preparing the copies of Seeing The Other Side I’ll be taking to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in just over a week’s time. Some jobs you just don’t mind doing…!

Am also getting on with further “admin” for my new book, the results of which I hope to be able to share later on.

Incidentally, if you are thinking of getting the paperback via a certain online retailer, please ignore their delivery date guidelines. You will get the book quicker than they say. All that happens here is they receive the order for the book, they let the publishers know, it gets sent on to the printers, and lo and behold a couple of days later you will get your book.

I should add the online retailer does do this for all of the independent presses and it can be a pain. What I think is forgotten is with print on demand, which all of my books are, is there is no stock as such. You just order and pay and then you get your book. At worst case, it may be a day or two later but that should be all.

This way of working is also greener because you’re not printing more than is needed. Neither are there warehousing or distribution costs as such. It is a huge factor in what makes the independent press viable.

The ebook, of course, you will get immediately.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Delighted to say my Seeing The Other Side is now on the Association of Christian Writers online bookshop. It is one of the perks of being an ACW member and one which is appreciated.

Many thanks to the ACW webmaster, Annmarie Miles, for making this happen. And do check out the ACW bookshop. There is a huge range of fiction, non-fiction and devotional works on there, representing very well what ACW members write. We are a broad church, aptly enough.

Seeing the Other Side

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fairytales With Bite – Ending The Beginning

When and how do your magical characters take off, so to speak? Where is the point where they have ended their training and are ready to start the magical life “properly”? How do they get on? There could be some good stories around rookie mistakes here. Bound to be some. Most professions will have these so why not the magical ones?

Are your characters glad to leave the training behind and get on with their lives or are they nervous about it? What support do they have? Are they willing to avail themselves of that support?

Where your characters have had training, do the institutions concerned follow up on their previous students or leave them to it? Are they ever proud of their former students? Also, would they have something like mature students? Learning is life long after all (or should be).

In the case of a quest story, where is the point when the story really takes off, the characters know there is no going back, they have to press on to whatever conclusion awaits them?

At some point, the beginning has to end. It will be here your characters begin to mature and come into their own lives. Same as for us, really, but there could be great stories here.

This World and Others – Society Forming

Does your setting focus on a magical or a science-fiction like basis? Or could the two co-exist? Why has your society developed in the way it has, whichever route it has chosen to be the predominant way through for most of their citizens?

What are the advantages to your society forming the way it has? Have there been any aspects it has regretted “dumping”, presumably out of necessity to develop what was the most important things for the society to function in the desired way?

Talking of which, who did make the decisions to take the society in a certain direction? Which of your characters (present or in the past backstory) decided this world will be a magical or science based one? Were they ever challenged? Were their decisions right or not? There would be good stories here.

I could see if characters were unhappy in the way the society was heading, they might want to try to change that. It happens here after all and both fantasy and science fiction reflect humanity with all of its merits and woes.

If your society is mainly a magical one, how would a character who wants to go down the science route as we would know it do this? Would they be ostracised or encouraged? (Some might see the point in having a balance at both magic and science, especially if you know there are things magic cannot do).

Interesting thoughts to explore, I hope.

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK  

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

New Stories and Opening Lines

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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’ve had a good weekend. Quiet one ahead of two busy ones coming up. Cooling down, even had some rain, but more is needed. Feel sorry for those fighting the wildfires.
Writing going all okay. Set up my card reader so it is ready to use – it was easier than I thought which was nice.

Facebook – General

Hope today has gone well. Is becoming hotter again so am being careful with the dog again. Having said that, she’s fine but she’d like the thermostat turned down a bit, as would I.

Writing wise, my next author newsletter goes out on 1st August (Saturday!) and I’ve plenty to share this time, of course. I also share story links to my work on Substack and YouTube and offer writing tips and advice. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

There’s nothing quite like writing a monthly newsletter to bring home the thought the year is whizzing by.

In other news, I’ve just heard my Bridport Prize entry won’t be going any further. On the plus side, this means I can have another look at this tale when I have more time and see if I can send it somewhere else. I’ve done this before and sometimes a piece has found a home on the second go around.

The writing life is full of ups and downs but you do get used to this. You learn to make the most of the up periods when you have them too!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Another busy Monday so that means it’s time to share here the story I shared on my Substack platform yesterday. Both this story and the YouTube one I’ll share on my book page shortly are based on a blue hat. Two stories out of one object? Oh yes! Also both are at the 75 words mark. Hope you enjoy both of them but first up from Substack is my The Blue Hat.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Many apologies but I forgot to share my Authors Electric post from just over a week ago but I am pleased to share it now. I talk about New Stories this time.

I know why I forgot. I’ve been full of the publication of Seeing The Other Side, of course, but this post looks at the joy of having new stories to share for things like Open Prose Mic Nights and the like. I like to mix up new and old stories and the moods of those tales for events like these so there is a good balance.

I also look at the advantage of reading work out loud even when it’s not for an audience. I continue to find it can be a great editing tool. I’ve often spotted things like missing words doing this and they can be the devil to spot precisely because they’re not there but when you read out loud, that is when you suddenly realise the gap.

Hope you enjoy the post and, again, apologies for the late share.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Have finally invested in a card reader for book events and have now got it set up and good to go. Regardless of what the tech is, I know from experience it pays to give yourself plenty of time here! Still all seems to be okay and it will be lovely to be able to offer card payment facilities at book events.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Reworking Stories on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. The week after that, I hope to be sharing a super interview with Val Penny so do watch out for that. And then after that I’m off to Swanwick again – the year whizzes by.

Review Tip: As with any author with books out there, I will put in a plea for reviews. They don’t need to be long. They do need to be honest. One line reviews are absolutely fine and a good tip here is to think about what you liked most about the book and go with that. These make for excellent reviews. Reviews do help authors more than it might appear at face value so please do give a review.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased Tuesday has been somewhat calmer than Monday. Enjoyed a lovely swim earlier too. I remember thinking when I took swimming up seriously I could use this time to work out story ideas etc. Not a bit of it.

You focus on what you’re doing – rightly so – for one thing. I also find you tend to “switch off” which is lovely and I am sure that does refresh me, mentally speaking, for work at the old desk later in the day. I can’t recall writing any flash fiction based around the swimming world. Hmm… will have to rectify that at some point.

But things like swimming, going out with the dog etc can inspire story ideas even if they don’t seem to do so directly. I’ve spotted, say, a striking hat being worn by someone and “pinch the hat” to use for a character of mine who I know would just wear something like that.

Sometimes objects you see while out and about can be a great trigger for a story idea. (And there is always the random object generators to fall back on too. Plus don’t forget the photos on your phone. What view did you take a shot of which could be used as a story setting, say?).

Happy writing!

Monday – busy, hot, my least favourite day of the week as you may well have gathered by now. Mind you, it does mean it’s story time.

Hope you enjoy my The Return. As with my Substack story this week (see above), this video also features a blue hat but I take a very different take on what can be done with it in this tale.

One person’s bargain from a charity shop is another one’s horror story. Find out more here about what possible bargain this could be.

 

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday in a short while. Am also looking forward to catching up with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday too. Will be hosting another group for ACW the week after and then I’m off to Swanwick so next couple of weeks will be delightfully busy.

Flash Tip for Specific Word Counts: Now this is a specific tip if ever there was one! I’ve found it useful to look at what 50 words, 100 words etc looks like on screen/paper. It gives me a visual aid as to what I should be aiming for here. I then draft my stories, knowing roughly what it should like to get to the desired word count.

I always go over the limit but then go through and cut out my wasted words which brings the count down. I wish I could stop myself writing those wasted words in the first place but it doesn’t work that way for me so I go with the flow here, happy in the knowledge these things won’t be in the story for long.

Looking forward, as always, to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. Nice way to wind up one week and to start another one.

I do miss writing for Friday Flash Fiction and haven’t yet found somewhere suitable for me to submit regularly. It was that aspect of regular submissions I found most useful for FFF. Am sure I will find somewhere eventually. (Am also sorry Flash NANO is no longer about).

Having said that, I am enjoying posting stories to Substack and YouTube and will continue. Incidentally I do share all of my links to my stories on a monthly basis via my newsletter so you can easily see them all in “one hit” there so to speak.

I never mind doing this kind of marketing! I want there to be something in it for a potential audience and there is something lovely about sharing stories.

GOODREADS AUTHOR BLOG – Opening Lines

I enjoy creating intriguing opening lines for my flash fiction and short stories. Great fun to do. I also love reading intriguing opening lines. They do keep me reading on, which of course is the whole idea. The tricky bit though is in working out what will be intriguing to a reader given tastes vary.

Having something different which can indicate an interesting time period or setting is a good way to start. The classic one here is from Orwell’s 1984. The thought of a clock striking thirteen is fascinating.

But irony as in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is also a wonderful start. It leads to wondering whether the premise of that opening line (which I won’t give away here and in any case I am sure you know it) will be delivered on. The only way to find out is to read the book.

I must admit I have a soft spot for stories, including my own, which start with dialogue or a character’s internal thoughts. You get to have a feel for the character’s attitude and from that what might come further on in the story just from this alone.

A successful opening line then is one which makes you read on to the finishing one. You can write the most amazing finish to a story but unless the opening is equally fantastic nobody will get to the end and that’s the challenge every fiction writer faces. It’s a cracking challenge though!

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Summer Reading

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 all is well. This week has been dog friends reunion week as Lady has caught up with her two closest chums. All of the dogs were delighted by this.
Writing is going well and I can confirm I will be having a blog tour for Seeing The Other Side which is likely to be in September.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Summer Reading on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. A light post for a lighter time of year, I think.

I ask what you would think of as the perfect summer read, share some of my thoughts on that, and discuss holiday books. I also put in a shout for flash fiction and short story anthologies, perfect for when perhaps you haven’t as much time to read as you’d like as you fit in reading around everything else including holiday schedules.

I discuss reading time and reading outside (which I should do more often) and celebrate the fact books are great value and explain why.

I also hope the recent announcement of Queen Camilla’s gift to Year 6/P6 children will encourage further reading. More than half the battle is getting people, of all ages, to read for pleasure and it is when you start that, you are in with any chance of keeping what is a fabulous habit going.

Hope you enjoy the post and do share your summer reads in the comments box.

Summer Reading

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope your day has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal again today and I managed another in person book sale (not to the Vizler before you ask though she is a very intelligent dog!).

Writing wise, I’m sharing Summer Reading as my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow. Hopefully it will prove to be a good summer read! See above.

Have carried out some more admin for Seeing The Other Side. It has been a while since I put in an order with a well known printing firm! Fun to do, mind you.

And it won’t be long before my August newsletter goes out. To sign up for news (and I do have quite a bit this time!), tips, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As ever, a huge thanks for the support.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Another lovely and cooler day. Lady saw her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum again today and both dogs had a great time. Lady is somewhat tired, but in a good way.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Summer Reading on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. In early August, I’ll be sharing another super interview. And I hope to write up about this year’s The Writer’s Summer School, Swanwick and my book launch for Seeing The Other Side later in August. It may be the summer holidays but there’s still plenty going on.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to read one of my stories from Seeing The Other Side at my Slimming World group yesterday, with the consultant’s blessing. The story, Spring, relates to Slimming World though anyone who has ever had someone scupper their slimming plans, intentionally or otherwise, will identify with this tale. Am glad to say the reading went down very well and it was fun to do.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I like mixing up the mood of the flash and short stories I write. Mind you, this reflects the thought I like to mix up the mood of what I like to read. I love humorous fiction but appreciate the need to see the other side of life in my other fictional reading at times. It keeps a good balance, I think. Equally I don’t want grim all the time!

Reading does inspire a lot of what I write from the classic fairytales onwards. Reading widely in and out of your genre, including non-fiction, feeds the imagination more than you often realise. I’ve drafted many stories where I realise afterwards where the influence came from. Often it is from a story I read a while ago which has come into my subconscious and has either inspired how I’ve developed my character or their setting.

So read more and be inspired more!

Flash is wonderful as a writing exercise. It is a great “warm up act” for those writing in the longer forms. It can also be a lovely “mini break” from those longer forms. But it can also be a published form in its own right, as I can testify.

Sometimes I’ve taken a flash piece and then expanded it into a longer short story (two different markets here). It is a remarkably flexible form despite the upper word count limit.

And of course I’ll always appreciate it as it has given me a way into having published books with my name on them out there. I am so glad I responded to the CafeLit challenge all those years ago to produce a story in 100 words! I guess this is also an object lesson in being open to trying new forms of writing, sometimes at least.

I hope to start looking again at flash fiction competitions after I go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August though I do know of one already I am probably going to try given I’ve had a go before. Good deadline on it too – I have until the end of the year!

I also plan to start getting a fourth collection together, probably later in the autumn as I have the material. It will be a question of honing that material and editing it thoroughly before I even think of submitting it and that stage always takes longer than you think. So my thought is to start work on this probably in October.

I’ve various things coming up between now and then, family and book related, but having a new book out does make you keen to get another one “on the go”!

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Characters

I love writing about magical characters. My favourites are dragons who will not let anything or anyone disturb them and their nest and fairy godmothers who happily dispense justice on the arrogant or prove they’re not over the hill yet, thank you. Great fun to write about but it isn’t the magical element which attracts me most here. It’s the attitude!

Mind you, combine that attitude with magical powers and the sparks can really fly and I love reading, as well as writing, stories which shows this.

I do think your character has to be special enough for you to want to write their story up. The magic they have is just one aspect of their overall personality which they use or misuse, according to your plot. I also like magical characters who work hard to improve their powers, just as we have to work hard to have any chance of passing exams etc. I think that kind of thing makes them more relatable.

I don’t want characters who just fire off magic just because they can (and the same goes for our world where there are those who would just fire weapons because they can). There have to be reasons why they would just do – the essence of the story will be found in those reasons why, I think.

This World and Others – What is a Normal Magical Life?

Just what is a normal magical life?

For any non-magical being, the magical world is going to seem odd. It has sources of power not known elsewhere. To those who live in such settings though, magic wouldn’t be odd at all. There would be “normal” magical usages and those times when it isn’t being used correctly for whatever reason. A good reason would be someone abusing the magical system to gain further power for themselves. We do it here too. We just don’t use magic to do it.

So give some thought then if you are using a magical setting, what your characters would consider normal. What would be the signs to them something was going awry? To most of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings, a good sign would be Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry not coming back from a walk. It would’ve been noticed they hadn’t come back.

For the characters themselves, when would they realise they might to improve on their magical skills because trouble is coming? How quickly could they do this? Also give some thought to someone using magic when they wouldn’t usually use power like that. It rarely bodes well!

If you have a non-magical being living permanently or otherwise in a magical setting, what would they get used to as being part of a normal magical life? How would they recognise when something was wrong?

Story ideas there for sure!

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Having A New Book Out

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
A huge thank you to Rosemary Johnson for sharing a reel she created on my behalf on Instagram, one platform I’m not on at the moment. Also a huge thank you to my Slimming World consultant for letting me read a SW related story from Seeing The Other Side at our group session – marketing takes many forms!
Hope you have had a great weekend. Cooler here which is welcome. Writing going well. So looking forward to book launch events for Seeing The Other Side.

 

Facebook – General

Bonus Post

A huge thank you to Rosemary Johnson for posting a reel about my Seeing The Other Side on Instagram.

Lovely day here. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal today. The dogs haven’t seen each other since the heatwave started and the Vizler is considerably older than Lady so would have found the heat even harder going. The dogs were delighted to see each other. It does seem to be dog reunion week so far.

Writing wise, I’m going to be sharing one of my stories from Seeing The Other Side at my Slimming World group tonight with the consultant’s blessing. This particular tale will have resonance with everyone there and I’m looking forward to sharing that. (Whether it leads to book sales remains to be seen!). Glad to report the reading went well!

Have also been getting on with some admin which will end up hopefully giving further publicity to my new book via a website and in house journal. These are nice tasks to be getting on with!

And I’m also looking forward to meeting up with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Am delighted one member has had a story broadcast since we last met.

Marketing Tip: Think about what you’d enjoy doing. It pays to plan things out. As I’ve mentioned prepare some material so you are ready to tell others what your book is about and remember this is an ongoing process. It can’t be done all at once, which is as well really.

Fantastic start to the week for Lady as she got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. The dogs haven’t met up properly since the heatwave started for obvious reasons. They were overjoyed to see each other. And I had a good natter with the Ridgeback’s human mum so that got the week off to a good start for me too.

Writing wise, it is time to share the story I put on my Substack yesterday. Hope you like my A Good Show.

Look out for my YouTube story this week, If I’d Known, because it links to the Substack one. Good fun to do and I hope you like both of them.

Meantime, it is indeed time for a good show…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope the weekend has gone well. So much cooler, a lot nicer to be honest. Back to normal walks for Lady today for the first time in what seems like forever. She’s enjoyed that but I do know she’s missing her dog friends. Am hoping we’ll catch up with some of them at least this coming week. We did!

Writing wise, I’m glad to report I will be having a blog tour for Seeing The Other Side. Likely to be in September. More news as I have it. Hope to get on with some admin relating to promoting the book later today which will include working on my newsletter, which will be out again on 1st August. To sign up for that, just head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

While there if you head over to my books page, you will see I’ve added in recent publications including the new flash fiction collection to that. This kind of admin I never mind doing!

And it won’t be that long before I’m off once more to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Am so looking forward to seeing everyone again and this year will be extra special given it will be the first time I’ve had a launch here.

A writer’s life is made up of special moments – over time you realise how important it is to make the most of them because you can’t know when the next will be. It does help a lot to know you need to see all of this as a long term investment in your writing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thankfully it’s cooler today though we still have to be careful with Lady. But at least there’s a decent breeze which helps a lot.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Summer Reading for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be looking at what I like to read over the lighter months of the year and flagging up flash fiction and short story anthologies as good reads, especially if your reading time is more limited due to other commitments.

And, yes, I’m biased here obviously, but I do like to include the shorter forms of fiction, as well as the longer ones, in my overall reading “diet” and highly recommend this. I’ve discovered some great authors this way.

Short Fiction Tip: What is the one single thing which matters to your character(s)? (For flash it will often be one character). Focus on this and why it matters and you have an excellent framework for your story.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Another cooler day which is most welcome. Certainly Lady has been appreciative of it.

Flash Fiction Tip: Don’t be afraid to start with the ending first. In many of my tales I know this first and then work backwards to get to a starting point.

But when I do things this way, I know why the ending is the way it is. That matters because it conveys truth and it is easier to work backwards to the starting point for my character because I will already know why they have concluded the action in the tale the way they have.

Motivation matters. I do think of my characters as if they were a cast. Are they the right fit? Do they have the right motivation to do what has to be done for the tale to make sense? I find this helps.

Not so hot as it has been which is a relief but still hotter than I’d like. And it’s Monday which scuppers most things anyway. So it’s definitely time for a story and my YouTube one this week links up with my Substack one (see my author page for the link for that). See above.

Hope you enjoy my latest video, If I’d Known.

Some people have to learn their lesson in life the hard way but for this guy it involved a bear, a girl and a woman who was more than she appeared to be. Find out more here.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly with the weather cooler and pleasanter. It is hard to focus in a heatwave (though having shorter pieces of writing to work on does help!).

I never know exactly what I’ll be writing for these flash sessions and that is the fun of it. The challenge to come up with something interesting is an ongoing one and should be – it keeps me on my toes. I usually know what mood of story I’d like to write though. I find that a useful starting point.

From there it is a case of working out which kind of character would best suit that mood and then I need to know something about the character themselves to convince me this one is interesting enough to write up. Then I get drafting.

Sounds complicated? It isn’t really. What I have found is that, over time, you do develop a better instinct at what character would best suit a story and what is fascinating about them to have them as your “star”. Definitely instincts worth cultivating.

Quiet weekend this time and a cooler one. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. Also looking forward to sharing readings from Seeing The Other Side in due course. It’s lovely having more material to choose from!

I’ve often recommended reading your work out loud as part of your editing processes. (Yes, there is definitely more than one!). I’ve found doing this helps me spot missing words. It also flags up clunky dialogue and where you think you’ve put a crucial element to the story in somewhere and then realise you haven’t.

You haven’t missed this before because, of course, you know the story inside and out so it won’t necessarily stand out to you that you haven’t put in the necessary elements to make it clear, but your reader doesn’t. Reading your work out loud and ideally playing it back means you can take in the tale as a reader would and it is so enlightening.

For longer works, it is still possible to do this though it would pay to break it down into scene and/or chapter segments. There’s nothing to stop you making notes on what works and what doesn’t as you go through the whole of your book a piece at a time and then come back to the correction stages only once you’ve gone through the whole book. Your notes will show you what needs work and where. That will save you a lot of time later.

Goodreads Author Blog – Having A New Book Out

It’s always a special moment for an author when they have a new book out. I’ve had the joy of this recently given my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, came out on 16th July 2026.

As I write this, I’m happily arranging book events and updating certain records, including my website, to show off my new creation, of course. This kind of lovely work will go on for some time.

But for a writer, the moment you hold your new book in your hand is the special moment, I think. All the work, all the edits, and here the final result is – you’ve done it!

But now the hard work begins in promoting your book and any others you may have out. It’s also the time authors most appreciate reviews, especially here on Goodreads.

Other than buying a book from an author, the next best thing you can do to support them is to leave a review. It doesn’t have to be a long one. It does have to be honest.

So if you know someone with a book out, do give them a review. It helps more than you know. I use quotes from reviews I’ve had so far on my other two books (From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic) as part of my marketing.

It shows readers this is a real author, someone else read their work and liked it, so it is worth them checking it out.

And you are encouraging reading too when all is said and done. That has to be a good thing!

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES –  NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Publication Week! Allison Symes – Seeing The Other Side

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Cooler here but still too hot for Lady to be out after lunchtime unfortunately but getting there. Big news is Seeing The Other Side is now out, I have news of a signing to share, and I am happily posting books out. All go but in a good way. See below for more.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

A huge thank you for the wonderful support on my posts yesterday regarding the publication of Seeing The Other Side. All much appreciated.

For Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I share Update – Local Author News – Allison Symes – Seeing The Other Side – Publication News which is a good summary of the most recent happenings.
I also share more of what the book is about and discuss linked flash fiction, which I’ve written more of for my third collection.

I also share a marketing video which some of you may have seen on Facebook recently. Well, opening your box of books is pretty special! I also share news about my book launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as part of this round up post.

What I hope is some of the things I share here, including the need to update certain things due to having a new book out, will also help other authors as it can act as a kind of checklist. It is easy to forget to do some of this stuff.

Again, a huge thanks for your support so far.

Update – Local Author News – Allison Symes – Seeing The Other Side – Publication News

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

16th July – Publication Day!

And at last the great day is here – publication day for Seeing The Other Side. Link to the ebook on Amazon below but you will see the button taking you to the paperback from here too.

It has been six years since I last had a book out and I am so thrilled to now have a trilogy of flash fiction collections out there.

Am also thrilled to say I posted out my first book order today too. I never mind going to the Post Office for things like that! Do remember if you want to buy from me, you can. Just contact me via my website contact form at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/contact

You can also find the link to sign up to my newsletter here.

Now to crack on with various admin tasks such as adding my lovely new book to my website and so on. Fun things to do for a fun event!

And a huge thank you to Gill James and her team at Chapeltown Books for their support here.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Fine this morning but again so hot in the afternoon so Lady taking it quietly and doing fine.

Writing wise, it’s publication day for me tomorrow. So looking forward to that. Will be sharing an update on news to date on Seeing The Other Side on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above.

In other news, writing is going well. I am a lot of the way to a fourth book but will need to focus on that more later this year. I also hope to return to another project I currently have on the back burner. I think most writers have at least one back burner!

Am also busy preparing interview questions for something coming up in CFT in August. And, of course, a major highlight of my year, The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is getting nearer too. Always look forward to this but even more so with a new book out and due to be launched there.

Flash/Character Creation Tip: Now I write a lot of flash fiction. I’ve not counted how many I’ve written over the years but suspect I am well into four figures by now. So that means creating a lot of characters and situations.

As I’ve mentioned before, my focus is on the character. They’ve got to interest me to want to write their stories up so what does interest me enough about a character to trigger this? Some thoughts below which I hope inspire you too:-

1. The character has an urgent problem and must resolve it. There can be no sitting on the fence here.

2. The character is different in some way. This is one reason why I do write many tales involving grumpy fairy godmothers or dragons. Am interested in what makes them the way they are and what they do about it. Can lead to some great, fun tales.

3. I’ve come up with an interesting opening line and want to find out more about the character who “came out with it”.

There are many other ways to work out if a character is “strong enough” to be written up but I do find the three points above great ways into to creating stories and situations.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Another hot day though it is not quite so bad as it has been. Still being careful with Lady though. She’s doing fine but she, like us, won’t be that sorry when rain does come and brings the temperature down a bit. I will say she is missing her friends though and I am sure they are missing her. Bonding between dogs is such a sweet thing.

Writing wise, naturally I’m busy now Seeing The Other Side is out and I was glad to hear my first postal order reached its destination safely. Looking forward to my book events at Swanwick and Salisbury and online ones too. Hope to organise more events before too long.

Flash fiction is a great form of writing. It teaches you to write concisely, to think about meaning (and choosing words with extra care to get the most impact in the fewest number of words possible to convey that meaning), and to think about what it is the readers need to know and what you can allow them to infer.

All of those skills are transferrable to other forms of writing and if you’ve ever taken part in a writing exercise anywhere, you have written flash, given you only have so much time for the exercise. In that time you’re only going to come up with a hundred words or so, depending on how much time you have been allotted.

One of my stories in my new book started life as a writing exercise set at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I polished it up later and lo and behold it is now a published story so it can be done.

I can’t recommend trying flash fiction (and yes flash non-fiction too) highly enough.

It’s publication day! Seeing The Other Side is finally out there. And I’ve set up a signing at Salisbury URC (who support the city’s Art Festival) for Saturday 5th September. Do see the link. Am so looking forward to this. My family and I have connections to the church here and it was so good of them to offer their church as a venue for a book launch. It’s an offer I am only too happy to take up.

I will post a reminder about this much nearer the time but if you happen to be in Salisbury, which is a lovely city, on that day, do pop by and say hello. I also hope to share details about my publisher launch, which will be via Zoom, ahead of this.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week will also details of my launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. See above. 

So plenty going on then with more to come.

Saturday September 5th, 10am-12.30 Meet the author

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Publication day tomorrow – yippee! Good to be celebrating flash fiction with another collection out and, as mentioned on my author page, I have enough material for a potential fourth book so hope to to look at that later this year.

The best definition of flash I’ve ever come across is from The Bridport Prize where they describe is “the art of just enough” and I think it that aspect which makes you hone your writing, cut out wasted words, and lose all fear of editing when writing in the form. But these disciplines can cross over into other forms of writing you do and I have found this to be the case for my Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative articles especially.

Hope to crack on with updating my website for Seeing The Other Side later this week. Plenty to do but it will be fun.

Fairytales with Bite – Writing Fairytales With Bite

I love writing what I call fairytales with bite. These tales (and there are more of them in my new book, Seeing The Other Side) focus on a magical character or something happening in a magical setting.

My stories are usually humorous and can involve someone getting a long overdue comeuppance (which I like to think of as my tribute to the original fairytales which also are often based on this). There is a lot of irony (which I discovered the joys of thanks to reading Jane Austen).

But what matters is there is a proper story structure, the “bite” has to come from the situation before it and has to seem to be a sensible result, a believable one, regardless of how fantastical my character or setting may be.

It’s why I’ve had no problems about writing from the viewpoint of a mother dragon before now. It was a question of understanding her motivation for what she was about to do and it made it all so believable.

I start with knowing my character, what then makes them special, what motivates them and take things from there. When I start with the setting, I work out who would be in it and what they would need to be able to do to survive in that setting. A non-magical being in a magical setting is at an immediate disadvantage, unless they have something useful which isn’t reliant on magic.

But you can have a lot of fun writing this kind of story. I’ve always had a soft spot for humorous fiction and it works so well for flash work too. For flash, I can’t go into too much detail about what kind of magic my character has. What I can do is show them using it – readers will pick up what they need to know from that.

This World and Others – Aspects of the Magical Setting

Tying in with Fairytales with Bite above, when I use a magical setting as my way into creating a story, I focus on one or two aspects which makes that setting stand out. I won’t have the word count room to show all which makes my setting a magical one but I can show enough.

I’ve found the best way of doing that is to show my characters thriving in the setting or struggling against it and that in turn will reveal what the aspects of my setting are. For example, if one aspect is my setting has the unfortunate capacity to change weather patterns every ten minutes, I can show my characters coping with this, what their attitude towards it is, and how it impacts on what they’re supposed to be doing.

Magical settings don’t have to help those who live in them and fun tales can be written around characters trying to make the best of what they’ve got, possibly inventing things to improve things too.

But it helps to know what your setting has, what it hasn’t got, and what your character(s) can/cannot do, though not all of that will make it into the story itself, even if you write longer form. You need to know more than the reader does. It helps you create your character and setting with believability built in because you will believe in these things because you know how things work.

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Flash Fiction Formats

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 great weekend. Lovely one here despite the heat. Great family gathering enjoyed by all. Am starting work on setting up things re Seeing The Other Side – news to come as and when and I will be sharing a general update for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week.

Facebook – General

Hope your day has gone well. Loved my swim today. Lady still on hot weather scheduling.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to say I’m currently sorting out an in person book signing event for Seeing The Other Side in September and hope to share more details of that nearer the time.

I can’t begin to say how wonderful it is to have my book finally here. A lot of work has gone into it on all sides of this and it is lovely things are beginning to happen. It does make it real!

It’s also lovely to have new characters and situations to share and am looking forward to doing this. I often read some stories at book events. It goes down well, gives a good flavour of the book, is great fun to do and encourages sales – nothing to dislike there!

A cooler morning today than we’ve had for some time but it made up for it this afternoon!

Still, it is time to cool down a bit as I share my story which was shared on Substack yesterday.

This one is based on the number 67 (I used a random number generator to come up with that) and the story is 67 words long, excluding the title. Despite the heat though, this tale might give you a chill or two.

Hope you enjoy my The New Neighbour.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hope your weekend is going well. It was wonderful to catch up with family and friends yesterday. Grateful for (a) the gazebo, (b) fans for inside the house, and (c) whenever there was any breeze whatsoever.

Many thanks again to Val Penny for hosting me on her blog yesterday. See below. It was a joy to discuss Flash Fiction Formats with her. I’ll shortly be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday. Don’t yet know which formats I’ll use today but look forward to finding out!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing an Update – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side by Allison Symes on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday, the after my book is officially out. I’ll be sharing news of my launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, my other news so far on various events connected to the book, as well as links to the ebook and paperback versions. I’ll also be sharing more about the book itself given it is my largest flash fiction collection to date.

Flash Fiction Tip: Think about the theme or character or setting you would like to write about first. Worry about the word count later.

When I know I want to enter a competition with a specific word count, I work out what I need to be able to do in each “third” of the story. For example, if it is a 100 words competition, by about word 33, you must know the character and situation by word 66 or so, you’ve got the problem and my character’s initial attempt to sort it, and by the end you’ve got the resolution. I find it so helpful to break the story into segments like this.

It usually means my first draft is not far out from the word count specified. I always write over it but also know there will be my wasted words and other things I can genuinely cut out to bring it back to where it should be. Having this kind of framework in place though means I know the story does hold together and does what it is meant to do.

Am delighted to be back on Val Penny’s blog to discuss Flash Fiction Formats. I’ve used more of these in my new book, Seeing The Other Side, which is available to pre-order now and comes out on 16th July 2026. Find out more about flash fiction formats in my post here and a huge thank you to Val for hosting me again.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Two days to go before official publication day for Seeing The Other Side. It’s fantastic having another flash fiction collection about to come out and I do hope the new book will introduce more people to the form.

Flash is fun to write and to read. It is the perfect form for short, sharp reads and those times, which we all get, where you would like to read more but for whatever reason, you can’t. There is a form of fiction which suits this – flash!

Top Flash Tip: Always focus on the character. Who are they, why must you write their story up, what grips you about them (which in turn will grip a reader), and what is their situation. One character (generally), one situation, one outcome (though this can be open to interpretation).

Bear in mind you can set your character in any location, any point in time, in this world or whatever you care to invent. Have fun!

Despite a cooler start today (which was so welcome), it has become horribly hot again. Time to cool down with a story, this time the one on my YouTube channel. As with my Substack story (see my author page for that – see above here), this is based around the number 67 but this one worked better at a longer word count length.

Hope you enjoy my Being Impressed.

Not much impresses an old fairy godmother but her niece managed it. Find out how and why here.

 

Hope you’re managing to keep cool. Still pretty hot here. Lady still on her hot weather schedule but she’s doing fine, drinking plenty of water and resting. She really won’t be sorry when the hot weather breaks. Neither will I be, to be honest.

Talking of cool, it can be great fun to write flash pieces when the character loses their cool altogether. You can explore what triggered that and whether your character gets their cool back again or not. Sometimes if the trigger is another character, that secondary one could be right to make your lead lose their cool. Maybe the lead character has done or is thinking of doing something stupid, for example.

Happy writing! Now back to keeping my cool in this temperature as I get on with more writing!

Won’t be writing much today as having a family do which will be huge fun, despite the temperature. Am pleased to be back on Val Penny’s blog – see my author page for the link. See above.

Always thrilled to be talking about flash fiction and in the post I look at some of the different formats you can use. I expect I’ll be using more of them for flash fiction Sunday tomorrow!

Meantime take care and keep cool.

GOODREADS AUTHOR BLOG – Book Parcels

It’s always lovely to receive a parcel full of books and even more so when they’re your books from your publisher! I received my copies of Seeing The Other Side, my third flash fiction collection, earlier this week.

Now I can crack on with planning events including a blog tour. Did feel sorry for the delivery guy though – there has been a heatwave again where I am (and most of the UK in fact). Book parcels are not light!

It’s always a wonderful moment to receive such parcels though. It makes it real. My new book is a good summary of my flash fiction work over the last three years or so. So to see it in print is a fabulous thing and I can’t wait for it to come out on 16th July though it is available to pre-order now via a certain well known online retailer.

I also like other kinds of book parcels – the ones which can be used for charitable purposes. Also bear in mind if you have books you really cannot keep and they’re in good condition, it might pay to ask your local library if they could use them. Given book budgets are so tight, this could well be a blessing to them and helps you.

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Marketing and Writing

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 ADRIAN SYMES FOR FILMING ME OPENING MY COPIES OF SEEING THE OTHER SIDE – SEE BELOW.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Cracking one here. My copies of Seeing The Other Side are now with me and look wonderful. Have had to switch to a hot weather schedule for Lady again (and will probably have to do so again next week).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Marketing and Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at balancing writing and marketing time, which is never easy to get right. I look at marketing you can enjoy (honest!) and share tips about writing about the book you have written, which can seem such a strange thing to have to do.

Hope you find the post useful. Am very much writing about what I know right now!

Marketing and Writing

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Many thanks for the lovely responses to my sharing of the “author opening box of books” video I posted yesterday. See below. Much appreciated, folks.

Am continuing to keep Lady out of the heat. She’s doing fine but loathes this temperature. I’m no fan either.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Marketing and Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today this week, both topics being at the top of my agenda right now. Link up tomorrow. I’ll be sharing tips which I hope will prove useful. See above.

There could only be one post on this page from me today and I’m glad to share my news via my YouTube channel. A huge thanks to Adrian Symes for filming this. It’s the kind of marketing which is difficult to do on your own!

Am delighted to share the classic “author receiving their new books” video. This has been a long time in coming but am so glad to share this now. Says it all!

A huge thank you to Gill James and all at Bridge House/Chapeltown Books. I know I’m biased but I think Seeing The Other Side looks fabulous and it is a joy to have my copies to hand. Now to start organising events (and I will have news to share on the Swanwick one soon too).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Another hot day here and Lady remains on the hot weather schedule. She’s doing fine. Have come across a few stories about dogs dying from heatstroke. Am not taking the risk. Pleased to say she’s sensible and, unlike my other two collies, I don’t have to persuade Lady to drink water. She’s pretty good on that.

Writing wise, I’ll be doing various bits and pieces over the weekend including marketing work, which given my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week is called Marketing and Writing is apt! Have also added a copy of my Seeing The Other Side to the shelf where I keep my works, the anthologies I have work in, and books written and signed for me by friends.

Also pleased to report I will have another super interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. More news on that nearer the time.

Hope today has gone well. Appreciated my swim today! Another hot one here.

I now have details of my book launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick for my Seeing The Other Side but I’ll share further details firstly in my author newsletter on 1st August and then here after that. It makes sense to me to share the news in the week running up to it happening! Am glad it is all set up though and am looking forward to this a lot.

I also hope to share a few stories from the book at the launch and at the Open Prose Mic Night Swanwick runs, assuming my name is drawn out of the box. There can be a waiting list. Mind you, the Prose Night is something I try not to miss, whether I’m taking part or not, because it is fabulous listening to a selection of works by other writers and there is something wonderful about being read to by someone else for your entertainment.

Great day here – I now have my copies of Seeing The Other Side. So pleased about that. Will have news soon about launches, both the one planned to be held at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, and one which Bridge House Publishing will do online.

It is such a joy to hold my author copy and see my work in print once again. That buzz never leaves you, no matter how few or many books or other publication credits you have.

It is great to see work come to fruition when all is said and done.

Fairytales With Bite – Fairy Godmother = Acrostic

F = Fantasy figure, usually has a heart of gold but not always.
A = Always has a magic wand or several to hand.
I = Imaginative in many ways, likes old school traditions in others.
R = Respects those who try to be kind, curses those who are not.
Y = You cross this figure at your own risk.

G = Granny like sometimes, attractive young woman at others but don’t be fooled by appearances.
O = Old magic as well as new is like drawing breath to her and she uses both types at will.
D = Drawn to helping those deserving of help, drawn to teaching the arrogant a lesson the hard way.
M = Magic used with the right motivations behind it is what keeps her going.
O = Opponents are soon shown the error of the ways; where she can’t beat them, she’ll neutralise what they do.
T = Threats are no deterrent and she never makes any herself unless she knows she will carry them out.
H = Hotheads are soon made to cool down with her aptly chosen spell.
E = Endings, where she is involved, are usually on the happy side, unless you are her opponent.
R = Remember her powers, remember respect, all will be well.

Allison Symes – 8th July 2026

This World and Others – Bending The Rules

I’ve long had a soft spot for characters who bend the rules, especially when they’re doing so to help someone else and there is no other obvious way forward. I’ve written characters like this myself.

But what makes a character even think about doing that in the first place? They must know deep down that, given certain circumstances, this is what they would do.

Often with my fairy godmother kind of character, they’ve long had issues with some of the petty rules and regulations they have to follow. Now sometimes with my characters, those rules really are petty. Sometimes they’re not and it is my character who is the problem. Both kinds of attitude are fun to write up into stories.

But knowing what motivates your character here is vital. It won’t be convincing if they seem to break the rules or bend them for no apparent reason. There will be a reason somewhere and it doesn’t have to be one you or your readers agree with but it has to be one they can understand your character having.

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

How Using Nature Can Enhance Your Fiction

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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. Nice one here. So pleased my book order for Seeing The Other Side is now in and am looking forward to receiving these. Lovely Zoom with writing friends and a great meal out with family made the weekend especially nice. Lady doing well too though we will have to watch the temperatures again this week.

Facebook – General

Pleased to share my latest Writers’ Narrative post – How Using Nature Can Enhance Your Fiction.

Nature inspires so much fiction but it can also help inspire ours too. You can also show so much about your characters just by revealing what their attitude is towards the natural world around them, no matter how fantastical a setting they might be in.

I share useful tips as to how you can use nature effectively in your own work.

I hope you find the post useful.

Hope you’ve had a good start to the week. It was okay in the park this morning for Lady but for the rest of this week, it will be back to the early shift. So hot this afternoon so we’re staying in. None of us will be sorry.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to share my Substack story which I shared on that platform yesterday. I hope it makes you smile. Hope you enjoy Melting. The fact it is due to be another hot week where I am inspired this one though there are other circumstances where melting can occur.

Mind you, just looking at the image I chose for this story makes me feel a bit cooler and I hope it does the same for you!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you’ve had or are having a lovely Sunday. Starting to warm up here so will have to be careful with Lady again, though we did get her out earlier today when it was fine. Having said that, we now have a hot weather routine to follow and she was fine with that. We had wondered if she’d be restless, not being able to exercise as much, but not at all which tells us we got this right. She did briefly see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal in the distance earlier. Think both dogs were wondering why the other was going the wrong way!

Writing wise, I’m cracking on with various blog posts, will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly, and other writing tasks such as my next newsletter. I’ve found it helpful to draft the latter over the whole month so there is no last minute panic. Had a lovely Zoom meeting with writing pals last night, which was fabulous. A good boost to morale.

Pleased to say I was invited to submit a blog post by another author where I talk about flash fiction formats. Hope to share the link for that next weekend.

Blog Tip: It’s not a bad idea to have, say, up to 500 words prepared on what you write and why you love the writing you do. There is always a home for this – on your own website, guest blogs and so on. It also means when you meet up with other writers for the first time you have a rough idea of what you will say when folk ask about your writing, as they do.

I found networking easier to handle on realising it is talking about something you love – writing – with others who have the same love. And it’s not long before good conversations start because naturally you will ask about what they write and things take off from there. It has always been my experience this is the case and it is such a positive one.

But having something in mind to say here is useful. Helps against your own nerves especially if you’re going to a writing event for the first time.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here. Busy evening so am posting early.

Will be sharing Marketing and Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Will be sharing thoughts and tips as to how balance these two halves of the writing life. Both are very much in my mind right now given the imminent release of Seeing The Other Side, of course.

Writing Tip: I use an old school diary to plan out when I must have work in by when. It’s not fool proof. It is still possible to miss things (guess how I know but I also suspect this happens to most writers at some point!) but it reduces the chances of you doing so considerably. It also means when there are extra competitions I’d like to try, I can figure out how I could do this around my existing writing commitments.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am thrilled to say the paperback of my Seeing The Other Side is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Woo-hoo! Delighted to see that now on there. Am expecting my copies to come in either later this week/early next week.

After 16th July will come the work of setting up events, updating my records on the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, updating my records on The Society of Authors website, updating my own website and much more.

I also hope there will be a blog tour.

Watch this space as they say and the great thing with all of this? It will be fun!

 

It’s Monday and another hot one where I am so that led to the inspiration for this one. Hope you like my latest here on YouTube – Too Hot.

Sometimes arrogance can cross dimensions but it still doesn’t pay off. Find out how and why here.

Beginning to get seriously warm again. Am grateful I write in the cool (or relative cool anyway). Will be writing some flash fiction shortly.

I sometimes decide I will write to a specific word count on my flash fiction Sundays. At other times, I know I’ve got a topic in mind so will focus on that. I have found that for Substack and YouTube, both work best if I keep my tales up to about 100 words (also known as drabbles).

Suits me. Keeps me working on the form of flash fiction which led to me discovering what a great format flash is and to now having three books to my name. Let’s hear it for the drabble!

Nice day here. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. Will shortly be penning a guest blog about flash fiction formats. That will be going out on another platform and I will share the link as soon as I have it. Am very pleased to have the opportunity to do this (and a huge thanks to the author concerned for inviting me on – more details later).

I always like to celebrate flash fiction, not least when I have a new book out (can’t imagine why!), and I still think it is a great form for drawing in the reluctant reader or those who prefer short reading sessions. Flash is ideal for these.

And even if you write longer works, flash is also ideal as a warm up writing exercise. The great thing here is you can polish these stories up and get them out there too if you wanted to do so.

Goodreads Author Blog – Ordering New Books

I’ve had the great joy this week (first week of July 2026) to put in an order with my publisher for my stock of my new flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side. The book is due out on 16th July and the ebook version is already available on Amazon for pre-order (and since this post went out on Goodreads originally, the paperback is now  up there too). I should receive my paperbacks in a week to ten days’ time. My publisher’s delivery system is very good. Last time I was able to do this for my own collection was for Tripping The Flash Fantastic back in 2020. It has been a while then! (All sorts of reasons for it too and the pandemic didn’t help).

All of this led me to wonder about ordering new books. Now I do use the online retailers including people like Waterstones, Hive, Bookshop.org, Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop (which is my publisher’s online shop) and others.

Now in common with all indie presses, my publisher uses print on demand. It’s a great idea. No storage costs, no distribution costs, kinder to the environment and so on. One slight snag it is can show up on screen as not being in stock. Please ignore this. If you order it, the retailer will get it in quickly and then the book is on its way to you.

I wish they didn’t do this. Print on demand books are never in stock so to speak but they are readily and easily available. I’ve never had any problems when I’ve ordered books like this from other authors.

It is a joy to order new books of mine as a writer. I enjoy ordering books from other authors whose works I know I’m going to like I often use ebooks by them as a way of finding whether I like their work or not incidentally.

I do like the fact there are online retailers such as Hive and Bookshop.org who also help independent bookshops. Every purchase you make on them has a proportion going to an independent bookshop you nominate – fabulous idea. You can also arrange for your ordered books to be collected from those bookshops or delivered straight to your home. Lovely to have the choice like that.

So let’s hear it for ordering new books. I also think it is great to have a variety of ways in which to do this.

Mailerlite – allison symes – newsletter sign up

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK  

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What I Look For In A Good Writing Advice Book

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Lady has enjoyed catching up with her closest friends this week. I’m thrilled to say I have now put in my order for Seeing The Other Side with my publisher and can now start organising various things. More news to come in due course but things are happening, which is great.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Another lovely day and Lady has made the most of catching up with her two closest pals this week. Good to see. Swimming was especially nice today too.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share What I Look For In A Writing Advice Book for Chandler’s Ford Today. I share tips and hints as to how to narrow down the search so you find what you really want/need. Plus bear in mind what you need from a guide will change as your writing develops.

I also share what I like to see in any writing guide I go for and what I feel the purpose of a good writing guide should be.

Hope you find the post useful.

What I Look For In A Writing Guide

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lovely day today. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals, I had a lovely swim later, and then this afternoon I’ve put in my book order with my publisher for Seeing The Other Side. Hope to receive these in about a week to ten days time. So looking forward to receiving them. Looking even more to taking them to events such as Swanwick to sell them!

I also hope there will be a Bridge House/Chapeltown Books online launch. More news on that when I have it. But things are happening… it is a great buzz!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing What I Look For In A Writing Advice Book for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. I hope this will prove useful as there are so many wonderful guides out there. Half the battle is in working out what you need/know you are likely to need but more on this in my post. See above.

Pleased my author newsletter went out promptly this morning (1st July). I met a friend at the park who subscribes to it and he congratulated me on the forthcoming Seeing The Other Side as I was walking Lady. That was a nice surprise.

Lady had a nice surprise too. As well as catching up with her Hungarian Vizler pal, she saw her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum too for the first time in a week or so. Basically, everyone stayed out of the sun last week and rightly so. Lady was good about her routine change but she did miss her pals. Had a great time today though.

Writing wise, I’m hosting an ACW group this evening. I’ll be writing various bits and pieces in the lead up to that. Am having fun designing various things on Vistaprint too. Marketing can be fun, sometimes at least, honest.

For one thing, it is always a joy to put the newsletter together. A huge thank you to my subscribers, your support is much appreciated.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to say I put in my book order with my publishers for Seeing The Other Side yesterday. Things are happening!

Also it’s just over a month to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is one of the highlights of my writing year. It will be especially nice to have a new book of mine there this year. I hope to report back later on Chandler’s Ford Today as to how my launch at Swanwick went.

I also hope to have news of my publisher having an online event for the new book soon too. Plus there will be other events. Watch this space as they say but it is so nice to be thinking of these kind of things again.

Last time, 2020, was a long time ago and it was online only. So much has changed since then and at least some of it is for the better. It will be lovely to have in person launches again for one thing.

Hope to crack on with more flash writing over the weekend too.

Hope today has gone well. Lovely one here. As mentioned over on my author page, I’ve put in my order for my copies of Seeing The Other Side and should receive those in about a week to ten days. So pleased with this.

Am looking forward to sharing stories from this new collection of mine at Open Prose Mic Nights too. I shared one at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick last year and it went down so well. So am hoping for a good response to the book as a whole, naturally enough!

And as I’ve mentioned, having a new book out very shortly does mean I can flag up the form of flash fiction too, which is always a joy to do. It is a wonderful challenge to write and I am so grateful to CafeLit for flagging it up to me via their 100 word challenge. I am so glad I went for that one!

Hope your day has gone well. Still appreciating the cooler weather here, especially since it is due to heat up again at the weekend.

Flash fiction wise, I hope to get back to writing for competitions later this summer. My main focus does have to be on Seeing The Other Side coming out. Once I know I can get my book order in, I can start arranging things like blog tours, in person events and so on. It will be lovely getting on with this kind of thing again. Matters were different back in 2020 when Tripping The Flash Fantastic came out – everything had to be online for a start.

I’m also using the opportunity of having a new book out to update my business card. Fun to do. I will be updating my website in due course too – I have a books page on there where I list my publications and the anthologies I’ve been in. Will share the link specifically to it once the update is done. But this kind of background work is nice to do and I like to see it as making progress. Every writer wants that.

Fairytales With Bite – Beginnings, Middles and Endings – Character Careers

How do your magical characters see themselves in terms of how their careers are going? Are they at the beginning, middle or even end of their careers?

I’ve sometimes written flash fiction regarding fairy godmothers who know they’re about to depart their life but have one final flourish before the big goodbye. I’ve always had a soft spot for those characters who know they cannot go on for much longer but do have one final gift to give. I do think that’s so appropriate for fairytales.

If your character is at the start of their magical career, after a suitable training and education, where do they think their career will take them? Will it work out as they think or will they discover that perhaps one magical career isn’t for them after all but another one is? It happens for us – why not for them?

If they’re in the middle of their career, are they pleased to be where they are or disappointed they haven’t made further progress? If the latter, what has got in the way and could they be unwittingly blocking themselves here? That happens for us too!

Definite story ideas here.

This World and Others – The Jobs Market

What is the state of the jobs market in your setting? Does your setting cover magical and non-magical careers or if it focuses on the magical only, what would they need to import to cover those tasks magic isn’t suitable for?

There would be some interesting stories for your setting in working out what can’t be done magically, how your setting discovered this, and what they have to do to overcome the issue.

Also, could your setting discover too much magic can damage their environment so they have to find ways of limiting its usage and to have other ways of doing more manual things, which could be done another way. Magic is a form of power/energy after all and every form of those things do tend to have their downsides!

What would your characters be looking for when it comes to seeking work themselves? Who organises the job market and are certain jobs only for certain species? What would be the reasons behind that?

Has anyone challenged it or is this something your character might do? What would they be seeking to achieve – equality for themselves, their species, or something beyond that such as a wider recognition the jobs market shouldn’t be a closed shop, so to speak?

Again, story ideas there.

MAILERLITE – ALLISON SYMES – NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.