Flash Fiction On Radio

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Hope you have had a good week. Lovely weather. Lady and I have enjoyed being out and about in that. Writing and editing going well. Steadily making progress.

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Delighted to share Flash Fiction On Radio for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I include in this a link to the Mixcloud recording of Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM. I was thrilled to have my Out With The Old included in this.

Also in the post are hints and tips on preparing stories for broadcast which I hope you will find useful. I also share tips on preparing the story itself. Thinking about the impact you want to have is especially useful here (and do bear in mind you are so reliant on how something sounds here).

I look at the importance of rehearsals and believe flash fiction and radio are a great match. There are opportunities out there for short form writers – community and internet stations help a lot here and are well worth supporting and listening to.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Flash Fiction on Radio

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Not as warm as yesterday but pleasant enough. Lady enjoyed seeing her Hungarian Vizler friend again.

The Society of Authors have launched a Human Authored campaign in conjunction with their American counterparts, The Authors Guild. To find out more do click on the link here.

I’ve applied for it for my Tripping The Flash Fantastic and will add future books of mine to this labelling scheme. The scheme is open to books published from 2020 onwards (which is why I can’t list From Light to Dark and Back Again as that came out in 2017). There are logos you can use on your website and I hope to put them on mine over the weekend at some point. If you’re not already a member of The Society of Authors, you can apply to do so via the link below too.

I think this is a great idea to differentiate from AI produced books and wish the scheme well.

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Gorgeous day today and Lady enjoyed catching up with her Hungarian Vizler pal. I squeezed in a short swim and a hairdressing appointment so a nice but full day and am glad to now be at my desk to write.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Flash Fiction On Radio for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I will be including in this the link to the recent Hannah Kate Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM where my story, Out With The Old, was broadcast. I’ll also be sharing hints and tips when it comes to writing short pieces for radio. Hope you’ll find it useful. See above.

Am happily editing a short story for a competition at the moment. Am also equally happily editing someone else too. Editing others is interesting because it can show up so much about your own writing which you can take and learn from.

Editing Tip: If you prefer to edit on screen, do change the font, the font size, the colour of the text etc to make the document look new to you. That will help you pick up more errors and there will be some. There always is, for everyone. You also know you won’t be sending the manuscript out in this form but it is amazing how enlightening a “new” looking piece can be to your brain for spotting things you would otherwise have missed. It is worth doing. Also it helps to be aware the brain will fill in the words you meant to put in but which aren’t there in fact. Having a new looking document makes that kind of thing easier to spot too.

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Hope today has been a good one. Lady had a lovely puppy party in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. We also saw Daisy the gentle spaniel. Great time had by all.

I look at Flash Fiction On Radio for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week (see my author page here for the link to that – also see above). I’ve mentioned before reading work aloud ahead of sending it anywhere is a useful editing technique. For broadcast and Open Prose Mic Nights, I would say it is essential.

I know I find it helps calm my nerves a bit precisely because I know I’ve rehearsed, I’ve played my recordings back to check how the story is coming across and so on. Good prep work helps all kinds of writing including flash.

As well as seeing my own work come out, it is a privilege and joy to see books I’ve edited for others come out. Another one of those has come out recently.

Now one of the lovely things about the writing community is it is supportive and you quickly make friends. Of all the writer friends I am privileged to know (hello, all!), I can’t think of one of them who enjoys writing their blurb. They’ve come up with thousands of words of fabulous prose and then that short bit on the back cover…

I also can’t think of any writer (and this goes for me too) who doesn’t spend considerable time on getting that short bit on the back cover right or as right as possible!

Blurb Tip: I’ve found it helpful to try to treat this as a piece of flash non-fiction writing. I will often start by working out what I know I want the blurb to end with. From there I can figure out what must come immediately before it and then that will open up ideas for how I open the piece.

Still hard work. Still plenty of crafting and editing to be done but I’ve found thinking of it in these terms has helped and I hope it helps you too.

I was talking about editing on my author page here and it is just as vital to get it right for flash fiction, as for any other kind of writing. I would also say it is easier with flash to make the classic error of leaving words out.

Why? Partly because you do have the word count limit in your mind and partly you may well be writing quickly to get that first draft down. Depending on the word count, I can draft a flash piece in fifteen minutes. It’s not going anywhere in that rough state, mind you! I easily spend several times longer than that honing and crafting the piece before it does go anywhere.

And it’s easy to think you’ve got to the required word count when you spot those dratted missing words, put them in and then need to go through the piece again to get it to what you need word count wise.

Flash may be short but there are still no short cuts with crafting it and rightly so.

Fairytales With Bite – Light Bearers

Who are the positive souls in your setting? Who could be considered to be light bearers for others who need that? The obvious one here to me is Sam Gamgee acting in this manner towards Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Sam’s presence and actions made a huge difference and your light bearers should do the same. Their motivations for doing this should be strong enough to withstand pretty much anything because this should come from a genuine wish to help someone else. No fair weather friends here.

Even outside of quest stories, there will be times your characters may feel as if they’re stumbling in the dark, figuratively or literally. So who would be their light bearer to help them get out of this? How would the light bearer achieve this? Is magic involved at all?

What struggles would your light bearers have with their role? Many will play second fiddle to the lead character. Could they come to resent this or are they relieved about it? Sam never sort to take over from Frodo as such, neither did Sam envy him. This is just one reason why I think Sam is more heroic than might at first appear to be the case – and maybe that could be true for your characters too.

Also, what darkness is there which needs to be overcome by light? How did that come into being making light bearers needed at all?

This World and Others – Sources of Light

What sources of light does your world have? How many of these are natural for your setting? How many have been invented to suit the purposes of your setting? There could be interesting stories in working out who developed these things, their problems doing so, and how those were overcome. Also, what materials would they have needed and how easy or otherwise was it to get these things? Would your setting experience environmental damage similar to what we have had here?

Assuming sources of light have been well established, what kinds are used for what purpose? Could magic be used to produce these light sources or are they powered by magic? What would be the downside to that? Would there be a risk of running out of magical energy to keep these things going?

Who controls the sources of light and do they so fairly? Would certain magical species have access to only some kinds of light but not others (and could that be because they’ve shown they can’t be trusted with these when allowed access before?).

Story ideas there, I’m sure!

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Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a wonderful Easter. Moving Easter services meant a great deal to me. Lady has been out and about enjoying the sunshine and I’m writing away. A good weekend and yes chocolate was involved too!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely day weather wise today.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to share the link to my latest article on Writers’ Narrative. For this month, the theme is travel writing. My take on it? To think about it from a character’s viewpoint.

At some point we have to make our characters move and travel problems will be as real for them as, alas, they are for us. (I faced yet more temporary traffic lights today – no warning given etc!).

Even in a fantasy world where some characters may be able to fly without the aid of machinery, they will face issues such as wind currents and so on. I share thoughts and tips on this including the thought travel brings out the best and worst in us so it can do exactly the same for our creations too.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

It’s a Bank Holiday here in the UK. I’ve spent a lot of the weekend listening to and enjoying the countdown of the Classic FM Hall of Fame for 2026. I’ve heard two of my choices so far – one went up, the other went down – and have still to hear the third. The third one ended up being a non-mover!

It’s not that easy just picking three pieces of music but it’s fun having a go. And listening to so much lovely music over the Easter weekend has been a joy – everything from classical to film scores to operatic to themes from games (the latter is surprisingly good). I usually write with Classic FM on. It relaxes me and when I relax I write more.

Writing wise, I shared another flash piece over on my Substack page over the weekend. Link here. Have started work on various things I’ll be sharing in one form or another later this month/early next month. Plus I’ve been editing. So the weekend has been productive.

Character Tip: If you’re fleshing out a character outline, give some thought as to what kind of music they’d like and why. It may well show you their likely age, possibly some of their background too, and I’m sure you can make use of that in your stories.

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Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Lovely and cheery church service this morning. Our minister even brought a big chocolate egg for us to share. It went down very well with all!

Writing wise, will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly.

Congratulations to all who have been accepted for the Bridge House Publishing anthology out later this year. News came out about that yesterday.

Ahead of that will be the release of The Best of CafeLit 15, where my story, Freedom, will be included. Already looking forward to catching up with folk in person at the end of the year.

Writing Tip: Will be reviewing my story for the BHP book because I know its theme may well make it open for other competitions. I’ve nothing to lose doing this and, indeed, have sometimes gone on to have work accepted which was initially turned down elsewhere. The good thing is I now know I’ve the necessary distance now to re-read this story and see what can be done to boost its chances out there.


Hope the Easter weekend has got off to a good start. Weather can’t make up its mind what it wants to do here, not that this stopped Lady and I having a nice time at the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Flash Fiction On Radio for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here too. Am looking forward to sharing that.

Will also be starting work on a super interview to come up on CFT later in May. Good to be kept busy!

Structure Tip: I find this tip as useful for my non-fiction writing as I do for my short form fiction. I have a rough plan of what will be at the start of the piece, what must be in the middle, and from there what must come at the end. The Three Act structure has much to recommend it even when you’re writing short pieces. I find it keeps me on track. I do find having a framework to work to so useful.

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Absolutely gorgeous day today. Lady and I had a quiet time in the park today. Hope to catch up with pals again tomorrow.

My Writers’ Narrative article is out today (7th April 2026) and talks about Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move. So many of the issues, including travel, that we face, we can then apply to our characters.

Now in flash fiction, there isn’t a lot of room for description so if I need to show you my fairy godmother on the move, I’ll show her getting on her broom or tapping her red shoes to go somewhere. Flash uses inference a lot but there does need to be something in the story for readers to be able to make that inference. This is where using tropes can help you – red shoes will remind folk of The Wizard of Oz and brooms, well everyone knows about flying brooms in the magical world. So it is a question of then of picking out the right detail for readers to pick up on. For flash, they don’t need to know the ins and outs of broom transport unless that is the story itself.

It has been one of those rare beasts in the UK – a Bank Holiday Monday which was sunny! Have loved that. But it is still Monday when all is said and done and so it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Colour of Lying.

It seems lying politicians get everywhere when it comes to energy usage, as my fairy godmother character finds out

 

Hope your Easter Sunday is going well. Good to see some sunshine out. I know it cheers me up no end seeing some brightness especially since earlier today Lady and I were caught in a hail shower.

Weather can change moods then for better or worse but how does it do this for your characters? Could a change in the weather change the outcome in your story and, if so, how?

What other factors would change your character’s mood for better or worse? Who could exploit that, whether or not it is in the character’s best interest?

Definite story ideas there!

I plan as part of my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow to look through some drafts I’ve been storing as I’ve got ideas for competitions in mind for some of this work. This is why it pays to build up a stock of stories and something I need to get back to doing because I’ve got some to use now, which is fabulous, but I will need to replenish these in due course.

Naturally keeping some stories back like this gives me the necessary distance from them to see the faults and rectify those.

It also pays to draft some tales, every so often, to common themes because you know these will come up at some point and it can give you a head start when you spot competitions you fancy trying.

Goodreads Author Blog – Easter Stories and Inspiring Characters

The Easter story is full of drama – betrayal, injustice, a grim killing – but also hope in the form of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The characters in the story do go through a rollercoaster of emotion from crushing grief to overwhelming joy.

I must admit I like the little moments in these stories. I can picture Mary, literally blinded by grief, mistaking the risen Jesus for the gardener. You just would, wouldn’t you? Grief does things to you like that.

I like the story of Doubting Thomas too. Someone would’ve asked…

All of these tales bring home the very human qualities of these people.

Naturally, you can be inspired by that to create your own characters where the grief hits home for them, the doubts and fears do haunt them, though I must admit I would always like those stories to end on a note of hope. The news is grim enough. Books and stories can take us away from that for a while but you still need to be able to root for the characters. Understanding where they come from is a huge step for this.

And this is what the very best stories do, of course. You get behind the characters because you want them to do well (usually). It’s the hope of that which keeps me reading, for sure.

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Hopes In Writing

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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. Do have a lovely Easter break (and Passover if you celebrate). I’m looking forward to the Easter services, always a special time. Lady and I are enjoying the sunshine and making the most of it while it lasts. Writing wise, I plough on!

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Am pleased to share Hopes In Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at this from the viewpoints of hopes for a writer and how we can use hopes to strengthen our characterisation. After all, our characters must hope for something, yes?

I look at hopes coming from basic needs, believable hopes for characters, and the best kinds of hopes for characters which are not necessarily the same as the best hopes because a character may hope for something but they actually need something better).

I also look at hopes for writers, especially developments in print on demand and the indie press, both of which have given more opportunities for writers.

Hope you enjoy the post too!

Hopes in Writing

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Quiet day in the park today but lovely all the same. Lady and I enjoyed the sunshine.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Hopes in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be looking at hopes for writers and how we can use hopes as part of our characterisation. Hope you’ll find the post useful. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Loved the ACW group I went to online last night – good chat and laughs. There is rarely a time when that isn’t welcome!

Writing wise, I do plan to get on with more story writing over the weekend, especially on Sunday. I was pleased to recently use two stories I drafted at the last ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting for a recent Substack post and YouTube video. I do like to have stories like this in “stock” so to speak, even if they have only just been put into the “stock cupboard”. I do know I could do with topping up my supplies though! Mind you, this is a fun task to be getting on with and the Easter weekend should help a lot here.

Hope your day has gone well. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal so all is well there.

Writing wise, am looking forward to “going to” an online ACW meeting this evening. It’s always a fun one. It also won’t be too long before my next article will be on Writers’ Narrative. Hope to share the link to that next week.

Also my April newsletter went out today. (1st April).

Editing Tip: The biggest one of all, I think, is to give yourself plenty of time and accept you will need more than one sweep for this. You will, in fact, need several. You will need an edit to make sure the story “works properly” (structural). You will need an edit to look for inconsistencies as well as typos and grammatical errors (copy editing). You will need a final check all is well before the manuscript goes to print (proofreading). All three take time. All three make a huge difference to how well your work comes across. Don’t sell yourself short here.

Yes, I’m biased being an editor but I think it is a good bias. I know I’ve always appreciated the editing work carried out on my books. Editors will pick up on things you won’t have seen, precisely because you are too close to your own work (and in many ways should be as it is your baby, after all, but you do need to accept you need that distance and independent eye).

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Hope to do much more flash fiction writing this weekend but meantime I thought I’d share a fun story I wrote for Flash NANO 2025 (which was alas the last one!). Hope you enjoy the following.

A Change Will Do You Good by Allison Symes

How often did I hear her say “A change will do you good”, whenever life threw bricks at me? It was her answer to everything.
I did wonder if she used it as an excuse when chatting about my latest failure with the neighbours. I guess she had to find something to say. Mums are like that.
Still, I have, at last, found a change I like. She never did want me to go to that special school. I told her she’d watched too many fantasy films. But I loved the school and finally found somewhere I didn’t stick out. Everyone else there was like me.
As for the change, I know I shouldn’t have done it but I’d just had enough.
I turned Mum into a statue. The spell will wear off tomorrow. No harm done. She’ll remember nothing.
But I get some peace and quiet for a day. That is a change I welcome. And I can use it whenever she becomes a little too much.
You do understand, don’t you?

Ends
Allison Symes – 3rd November 2025

I was looking through Writing Magazine earlier today and came across a place which specifically asked for flash prose. I know that sounds an odd term but it isn’t really. I’ve occasionally written a flash story in poetic form so it does pay to make the distinction. Certainly, flash prose does make up the vast majority of what I write.

I do write flash acrostics more often and they’re fun to do now, every now and then, as a change. It pays to keep the word or words you use for this short though.

Most of all, I do write to the different categories in flash in terms of word count as I’m pleased to say there are far more competitions about now than when I was starting out in this field. So it pays to be able to write to the various word counts required, the most popular being 50, 100, 250, 300, and 500 words.

I was talking about editing on my other Facebook page but I should add here flash needs just as much editing as any other form of writing. One thing I’m always looking out for is whether my words are the best I could choose to create the maximum impact for the fewest words used.

The other thing to watch here when writing in this form is that errors will stand out more given the reduced word counts involved so beware! Mind you, it is easier to read flash pieces out loud to pick up errors that way and to check your dialogue does flow as it should do. So there are positives here!

You still need to take your time though!

Fairytales with Bite – Sparkle and Glitter

I must admit I’m always wary when any magical character turns up in a story spreading sparkle and glitter and good will. I always want to see the context behind that. Is this character really as good as they are making out to be or is this a good cover up? What do they hope to get out of it? I want to see good deeds carried out for good reasons.

I’ve much more sympathy, and more inclined to believe, those characters who try to do what is right, sometimes muck it up, and then seek to put it right. Mind you, I’ve got more sympathy for those in life who do that.

Those characters who are generally good will be more believable if you show something of what led them to be that way. What made them decide not to go down the path for using power for their own ends and so on? Show something of the struggle they may have against that constant temptation.

I’m sure there must be magical characters who would love to “blitz” away a bad magical being for the best of reasons but know in doing so they will betray themselves and their principles so have to find a better way of dealing with this.

I also think magic is a form of power and there will be downsides to those using it.

This World and Others – Putting On A Show

Do your magical characters like to put on a show when using their powers or do they believe discretion is the better part of valour? (I prefer that myself).

Those characters who do like to put on a show – what are their motivations for this? Is it because they’re insecure or are they trying to demonstrate to others they’re worthy of promotion etc? What do they really want? There usually is something!

When shows are put on for better reasons, individually or state events, who is behind this? What are the shows for? For state events, will these be a means of controlling the population? I can’t help but think of the old Roman maxim here about bread and circuses.

What do your characters make of shows which they are either part of, attend (and do they have a choice on that?), or know about? If your characters do their utmost to avoid these things, how successful or otherwise are they at doing that? Would other characters give them grief for this?

Story ideas there!

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Hope Springs Eternal and Characters

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Hope the weekend has gone well for you. Sunny but cold now but has been good to get out with Lady. Writing and editing going well. Would’ve liked to have done more at the weekend but various things got in the way of that so onward and upward this week, I hope.

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Hope today has gone well. No chums in the park for Lady today as I had to get her out early so I could squeeze in a wonderful swim. Timetable changes for the Easter holidays but it was well worth going. Feel suitably tired and refreshed at the same time.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Hopes in Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at hopes for writers and how we can use hopes in our characters. Hope you’ll find the post useful.

Next author newsletter is out tomorrow (1st April). Many thanks to all who subscribe.

Character Tip: When we talk about write what we know, this applies directly to characters too. We know what we as a species, and as individuals, can be capable of so we can apply that to our creations. It pays to be honest here about the better qualities we have and the worst ones too. From there, we can create well rounded characters.

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums and a good time was had by all three dogs. Can hardly believe we’re almost at the end of another month.

Writing wise, will be getting on with various blogs during the week and stories at the weekend. Am also editing at the moment and am enjoying the work immensely.

Writing Tip: It’s easy to forget to do this one but do read about what is going on in the industry. It keeps you up to date and may well share news of interesting competitions and so on. The advice is also useful and I’ve often found tips coming in useful for me much later on after I first read about them. They stick in the mind. You come across something and recall advice you’d heard about before. I catch up with writing news while having lunch – win-win there. Food for the creative mind as well as the body here!

And don’t forget Writers’ Narrative gives plenty of good advice every few days on Substack. Do sign up. It’s free.


It’s my turn once again on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Hope Springs Eternal, which is particularly apt as we enter Holy Week and Easter.

I look at why writers need hope and how you can find this via a supportive writing group. ACW is excellent here, of course. I should add I have been to the two ACW Connect sessions held so far and found these were great opportunities to listen and talk with other ACW members. If you get the chance to go to these online meetings, I would highly recommend it. I do know a little hope and support can go a long way in the writing community.

I also look at how, as you start out in writing, you do need this kind of hope and support but as your own journey goes on, you in turn can become a source of hope and support to other writers. This is a real blessing for both ends of this seesaw.

I also look at why I like hopeful stories as a rule. I know I’m not alone there.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you’ve had a good start to your weekend.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Hopes in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll look at this from the viewpoint of writers and characters.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. To sign up for hints, tips, story links and so on, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Hope to get on with plenty of flash and short story drafting tomorrow. It has been another hectic week so will be especially glad to get to Flash Fiction Sunday afternoon!

Writing Tip: Clarity is everything in storytelling and never more so than in the short forms. Part of the editing process for me is going through and checking the impressions I want to give to a reader via my characters are coming across clearly enough.

If I need a character to be ambiguous, I will show this through their dialogue and then back it up with what they are thinking because the two things won’t marry up here. But I want the reader to be able to see that my character is like that. This is the advantage of the written form. A reader can literally read my character’s thoughts and deduce from that whether they’re trustworthy or not.

And if it is a case the character said something and then realised later they were wrong, I’ll either show them apologising or get them to act in a way that shows they know they were wrong. But this will be crystal clear. There will be a natural and clear progression and that is what I like to try to achieve in all of my stories.

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I love the focus on character flash fiction encourages. Without much room for description, I have to take you inside a character’s mindset immediately. Even when the story starts with action, it won’t be long before you meet the character responsible for it and gauge something of their attitudes and actions.

Flash fiction is great for strengthening writing skills. You have got to cut the waffle and that’s no bad thing. That skill is transferable to other types of writing too and I’ve found this to help a lot with my blogging and article writing.

So am I all for flash fiction and flash non-fiction? Oh yes! Why not give it a go? (And if you regularly have a go at writing exercises, you are already in the flash world – welcome!).

It has been another hectic Monday. It’s time for another story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Heavy Handed. This dark tale started life as a sixty word flash fiction exercise. Brief can still give plenty of impact, which is why I love the form.

My character explains their actions against the most powerful man in their world.

 

We’re racing towards the end of another month and while I’ve managed to get plenty done, there is still plenty I would’ve liked to have done. I think this is true for most writers. Still, it does mean I’m never short of things to write up.

Talking of which, it’s almost time for my flash fiction Sunday afternoon. It’s a lovely way to finish an old week and begin a new one – getting more flash written. I had hoped to spend time this weekend either drafting more stories or picking competitions to enter but that isn’t going to happen. Will try to do better in the coming week. But what does matter is making the most of the writing time you do have and, as long as I’ve done that, I’m reasonably content.

Onwards and upwards with the writing then!

Flash fiction can and does make good use of words which have more than one meaning. The meaning being used will be clear from the story context. I am selecting words for definitive impact.

If I want to lead a reader down a certain path and then throw in a twist, there will be clues early on in the story to show that might happen so a reader can look back over the story and see, yes, this character was capable of doing this. I love this when other authors do it to me and it especially works well in crime fiction, of course.

But I choose words with care because I want to wring every possible use out of them that I can for my limited word counts!

Goodreads Author Blog – Characters Acrostic

C = Characters make or break a story.
H = Having characters to root for, to succeed or fail, is vital.
A = Actions and attitudes should be understandable though nobody says you have to agree with them.
R = Reading the stories should draw you right into the world and mindset of the characters.
A = Any action should have a reaction and consequences.
C = Characters should grip you by the heart.
T = Tension, drama, laughs – what will the characters give you?
E = Endings should be apt for the characters, not necessarily happy ones.
R = Re-reading stories is a sure sign the characters have got to you in a good way.
S = Stories with characters you can get behind – the best tales of all.

And whether you’re reading books, novellas, short stories or flash fiction, all of the above applies!

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Templates

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good week. Weather more changeable but Lady has been having fabulous times in the park with her closest chums so all well there. Glad to say my story did go out on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on Tuesday 24th March. Links below

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Templates on Chandler’s Ford Today. I share thoughts on what you could put in your own template to help you flesh out characters and/or settings. All of the questions I share here will help you come up with story ideas.

I also look at the advantages and disadvantages of templates. I see them as a helpful way in to creating a new character and/or setting. Sometimes it is useful to know the setting first and then you can work out who would populate it. Often settings can almost be like characters in their own right – for example, think of the moors in Wuthering Heights or Dickens’ London as shown in Oliver Twist.

I also mix up the questions I use in templates to avoid them becoming formulaic. Hope you find the post useful.

Templates

 

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum today – the dogs are always pleased to see each other. It’s lovely to see.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Templates on Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. I’ll be looking at the usefulness of these things (and also discuss some disadvantages, not everyone gets on with them for one thing). I’ll also be suggesting ideas for your own templates. Hope the post will prove useful.

Am glad to say I now have the link for the Hannah Kate Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM on Mixcloud. I hope to catch up with this myself at the weekend but highly recommend a listen because I love the stories on these shows though I will admit to bias being on the show and knowing someone else who is but it is a good bias to have, I think.

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Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback friends and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. All four dogs went home tired and happy.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later on tonight. Our theme this time is sixty. There are various ways to incorporate that thought into stories and we will be looking at some of those this evening.

I hope to catch up with Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show over the weekend but many congratulations to all of the writers who had work featured here. I always enjoy catching up with these shows and listening to all of the stories – fabulous entertainment.

Writing Tip: Character names can be used to reflect something of their age and likely social status but the main thing to watch when having more than one named character in tale is to ensure the names are different enough so it is easy for readers to tell who is speaking at any given point.

Also it helps not to have the same initials. If Jake and John are in the same tale, it could be easy to confuse these unless there are other clear points of difference such as in the manner each of them speaks and the type of vocabulary they use.

A good editing tip here is when you read through your work, can you tell the characters apart easily? You should be able to do so.

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Earlier this week at the meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, we looked at the theme of Sixty. I chose that to fit in with my special birthday (couldn’t resist it!) but it does lend itself to stories based on diamonds, special birthdays and anniversaries. You can also just use the number itself as part of a story such as part of an address, a sum of money and more.

I also set the group some exercises, one of which was to write to sixty words exactly including the title. My story for that session, to show as an example, is below. Hope you enjoy it.

My Hero by Allison Symes

I can’t say I like his handiwork but he leaves me gifts. He doesn’t do that for anyone else. He comes and sits on my lap when I feel sad. Then goes out and kills as many mice as he can find and brings them all to me.

I possibly shouldn’t have called my rough diamond Mr Tiddles.

Ends
Allison Symes – 8th March 2026

Word Count including title = 60

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The next best thing any reader can do after buying an author’s book is to review them, of course. A lovely one for my Tripping The Flash Fantastic includes the following quote.

Fabulous collection of poems and flash fiction. Some made me giggle, some made me gasp, all surprised me! I found it a real page turner, as the stories had such unexpected twists and turns!

Many thanks to my lovely reviewer here. Reviews like that reassure an author they’re on the right lines. I look to entertain with my flash and short stories so it’s good to know that is happening!

The great thing with reviews is they don’t have to be long, which is so apt for when you’re reviewing a flash fiction collection.

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Looking forward to joining in with some of the exercises I’m setting for tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Always good fun this and I get more drafts down so nothing to dislike there. Hopefully these will end up later on being polished up for competitions. Am hoping to get to write some further drafts over the weekend as there are competitions coming up in May and beyond which I always have a go at and I do like to start early. It means I get enough time to rest my drafts to assess them properly well ahead of deadlines.

I also make a point of mixing up the kind of writing exercise I use because it keeps me on my toes and I get to create more stories this way. I must admit though I do have a soft spot for the opening line kind.

Fairytales With Bite – A New Era

This topic came to mind as I’ve recently celebrated a landmark birthday. You know, the kind of one which marks the end of one decade and the beginning of another.

So how would your magical characters recognize what was a new era for them? Does your setting mark time in a similar way to ours but, if not, how do they do so? How would their eras correlate to what we would recognize as that?

Now I see my next decade as a promising one in that I hope to continue to develop my writing and hopefully have more success with it. But how would your characters see the passing of another decade (or the equivalent)? Do they worry about aging and, if so, why? Would magical powers decrease with age and that is why nobody really wants to think about getting older and what it would mean there? (There are clear parallels with us here).

Is your magical setting a benevolent one or a dictatorship? That would colour the views of your characters as they enter a new era. They may want more of the same or a complete overthrow of the regime. Good story thoughts there.

And a character’s view to aging, whether they’re magical or not, can also highlight other attitudes of theirs. If they worry about aging, could it because they know how older beings are treated? Again, good story ideas there.

This World and Others – Leaving the Past Behind

Landmark birthdays can give cause for reflection as you look ahead to the decade to come and ponder on the one you’ve just left behind. I don’t think it is entirely possible to leave the past behind. You always carry some of this with us and so should our characters. But there are times we want to not be held back by damaging things from our past and that again can often be the case with our characters.

When it comes to magical or alien characters, what kinds of things would they want to confine to the past and why? Would they have the same or similar regrets to us or would theirs be different due to their nature and/or environment?

Leaving the past behind can throw up interesting areas to explore for historians and archaeologists. What would count as archaeological finds on your setting? Would it be anything we’d recognize? Sometimes discoveries from the past can have impact on what is known now. For example, the finding of the remains of King Richard III has done this. Are there things from the past your world and/or characters wish had stayed hidden?

Definite story ideas there.

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Broadcast News, Broadcast Hiccups, and Birthdays

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Hope you had a great weekend. I had a fabulous 60th birthday celebration with family and friends – Lady was exhausted too by the end of it. A huge thank you for all the good wishes which have come in too.

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Good news. I’ve heard from Hannah Kate that her Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM, which was due to be broadcast on Saturday, will now be broadcast this evening, 24th March 2026 from 7 pm to 9 pm. The link below, I’m told, will still work for this.

Huge congratulations to fellow ACW member, Rosemary Johnson, whose story is on the show, along with my one, Out With The Old.

It is ironic perhaps I’m out later so will almost certainly have to use the wonderful Listen Again feature later this week to hear the stories but do tune in as and when you can. I always love listening to all of the stories on these shows. The range is amazing and, of course, they all have to be flash fiction to fit in with broadcasting requirements.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special, Saturday 21 March, 2-4pm


Hope your week has got off to a reasonable start. Delighted to have my statement through from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). Good result and up on last year so am very pleased. Many thanks to Wendy H Jones for flagging this up. I’ve been a member of ALCS for years as it comes with my Society of Authors membership. Do check them out if you have work out there with an ISBN or ISSN on them. It is a superb way of helping authors.

Don’t forget it won’t be long before my next author newsletter comes out. To sign up for hints, tips, stories and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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A huge thank you for the many birthday greetings coming my way thanks to my hitting the big 60 today. Much appreciated. I can’t quite believe it either. Had a lovely time yesterday with family and friends. Today is recovery time! (Lady had a ball with her chum, Lily. Lady slept very well last night!).

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Templates on Chandler’s Ford Today this coming Friday. I use them often and they can help so much with character creation and in helping you to “see” your setting in your own mind even if you don’t share most of that with your readers. I hope the post will be useful.

Am also looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group next week.

Hope to get back to drafting short stories for competitions from next weekend.

Unfortunately there were technical issues on Hannah Kate’s show yesterday so the Spring Equinox show did not go out as planned. I understand this will be redone at a later date and I will share further details when I get them. Tech is wonderful when it works! Update:  See above. Programme rescheduled for 24th March 2026.

Delighted my Out With the Old will be broadcast by Hannah Kate on her Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM today. Many congratulations to all of the featured authors. Flash is wonderful for broadcast and Open Prose Mic Nights precisely because they don’t take too long while retaining the challenge of ensuring listeners are engaged with a gripping story line and characters.

There is a Listen Again feature on the station, which I will be making use of as, when my tale goes out, I will be busy partying with family and friends ahead of my 60th birthday tomorrow. It’s all go. Sadly, things went wrong but the show was rebroadcast on 24th March 2026 instead.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special, Saturday 21 March, 2-4pm

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My story, Out With The Old, will now be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show this evening on North Manchester FM – 24th March. I look forward to listening to it and the other tales in due course.

Flash works well for radio as it doesn’t take long and has immediate impact as does radio itself, of course. I also love taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights when I can especially at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, because you can get immediate feedback from the audience reaction as to how something went down with them.

Trust me, this is useful, and I’ve used the feedback I’ve had here to hone stories further. I think the tricky bit is getting the mood of the stories right for the occasion. For Swanwick with the five minutes maximum reading time, I like to read something punchy, something funny, something reflective. I think it makes for a good balance of moods and is a great way to showcase what flash can be.

It’s Monday. As ever it’s been hectic. Time to wind down with a flash story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Blame Game.

Well, just who IS to blame when food goes missing at a party? Find out here.

 

22nd March
I celebrate my 60th birthday today, not quite believing where the time has gone. I’ll be setting some sixty word exercises for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Think three short paragraphs and you’re there. It’s a good challenge!

I haven’t come across any competitions for this word count (I have come across 53, 75 etc) but these short pieces are excellent for sharing on your social media and website. They give a good taster of your writing style and make for an excellent “warm up” exercise ahead of longer writing work.

Also birthdays are useful for looking back at times past as well as ahead to the future and good story ideas can come from those thoughts.

Hope your weekend is going well. Busy one here as I am about to celebrate my 60th birthday (22nd March) with friends and family today. Lady will have a fabulous time and be happily shattered later. She loves family get togethers especially as she will meet up with another family dog with whom she gets on very well.

Birthdays and other celebrations can be an excellent idea to write stories about. Who goes to what event? Who doesn’t get invited (there are consequences – think the wicked fairy in Sleeping Beauty here)? What happens at the event itself? Good story ideas there and they can be funny, tragic, dramatic, depending on your characters.


Goodreads Author Blog – Birthdays and Other Celebrations in Books

Birthdays and other celebrations can make a great backdrop in a story. I always think of Bilbo Baggins’ event at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. Here, it was used as a way for him to “disappear” without anyone seeming to notice. Frodo does, of course, and this sets in motion his own huge quest.

Birthdays can show up what other characters think of the celebrant. The birthday person can also use their event to make a point and that could set other things in motion. The event can also be where a murder or other crime takes place too. Nobody said these things have to be happy events!

Also reaching a certain age can set things in motion as they did for Harry Potter when he reached his eleventh birthday.

Other celebrations would include the ball where Elizabeth Bennet meets Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. It would not be something either of them would see as celebratory at the time but it did have a powerful impact on both of them.

It’s also lovely to see this kind of event in fiction at all because fiction does reflect life and birthdays are very much a part of that.

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Setting Writing Exercises

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Hope you have had a good few days. Delighted to share broadcasting news this time (see further time) and Lady has had a great week with her pals. All have appreciated the sunshine, as have their owners.

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Delighted to share Setting Writing Exercises on Chandler’s Ford Today which I hope will prove useful to those running writing groups and/or authors who set exercises as part of their newsletters etc to engage with readers (and fellow writers).

I set tips, include examples of different writing exercises, and the importance of mixing things up here. I also look at the benefits of writing exercises whether you do them, set them, or, like me do both as often as you can.

I love writing exercises and it is a joy to set them for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, which I lead monthly. The group have come up with fabulous stories as a result and I maintain, even if your writing work is in the longer forms, using a writing exercise as a “warm up” is not a bad idea. It gets you into writing (and you can work on those shorter pieces again later, hopefully getting those published too. Nothing to dislike about that thought!).

I hope you find the post useful.

Setting Writing Exercises

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A busy day but Lady enjoyed meeting up with the “girls”, her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

I’ll be sharing Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. Will be useful for anyone running a group and/or individual authors looking to set exercises to engage with readers/fellow writers via their newsletters etc.

I’m looking forward to joining in with a Zoom meeting of the Association of Christian Writers later this evening – will be good to chat to fellow writers/ACW members. I enjoyed this kind of meeting when ACW ran it before so I’m pleased they’re doing it again. This is one of the perks of being an ACW member and it was a great meeting.

Last but not least, I’m thrilled to announce my story, Out With The Old, will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM this coming, Saturday 21st March. Link below shares more details. (If you can’t listen live, there is a Listen Again facility. I love that facility myself and often make use of it).

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special, Saturday 21 March, 2-4pm

It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog and this time I look at Special Years. I have a special birthday coming up over the weekend, you know the kind that ends in zero, but it is also a reminder of my writing anniversary thirty years ago.

A writing anniversary is a good time to reflect on the writing journey to date and mine has taken many twists and turns I hadn’t anticipated when I first started out trying to write seriously for publication. I also look at how I felt when I was first starting out because it is hard to believe then the break will come and you do need persistence, grit, call it what you will, to keep going as a writer. I think it pays to remind yourself of that sometimes. And, of course, to keep going!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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I look at Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week and, of course, it is something I do a lot of but I respond to even more writing exercises for my flash fiction. I can’t give an accurate figure on it but I estimate well over 90% of my flash stories started life as a response to an exercise. When I go to writing events such as The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, I will sometimes set exercises there but again response to even more from the tutors there.

Also, in entering competitions, especially those with a set theme, I’m responding to an exercise effectively so it is a good idea to practice writing to different kinds, something I hope to do more of later this weekend.

I must admit though I do love the opening line exercises and have used so many of these to start my flash pieces. I find they help me hit the ground running with my characters and their situations and I like that a lot.


Pleased to say I’ll be having a flash piece broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM on Saturday, It has been an especially busy and tiring week so far so this was lovely news to receive. Pleased to say a dear friend of mine will also be having her story broadcast. Love it when that happens.

For stories for potential broadcast I always do record them on Zoom so I can practice reading them aloud and get my timings right. Playing them back when I finish the recorded Zoom meeting with myself is a boon as I can hear how I sound – am I reading too fast? Is my pacing a bit slow etc? Plus Zoom gives you an exact record time which is so useful.

I also use Zoom for when I’m practicing for Open Prose Mic Night sessions for the same reasons. Most of these sessions are for an upper limit of five minutes only. Nobody minds you coming in at under that time but it is unfair on the other performers to go over so using Zoom is a good way to know in advance I won’t be doing that.

It’s also useful for hearing how your dialogue sounds in longer stories too so highly recommend doing this. Back in the day I did use Audacity but I do find Zoom even easier to use.

Hope today has gone well. Lady has been busy enjoying the sunshine with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Flash fiction is a wonderful format for sharing moments in a character’s life which are complete stories in and of themselves, but which are shorter than “normal” short stories. The form encourages you to cut the waffle and to only share with a reader what matters to the character. That alone tightens up your writing. I’ve found that has carried over into my blog and article work, which is no bad thing.

So when I’m outlining a character, I focus on what is the one thing which matters to them and what gets in their way of obtaining it. It’s a great story structure and naturally the tale will show whether they do obtain it or not in the end. Sometimes other things will crop up which show them what they thought they wanted wasn’t ideal for them after all and they find something better. But what matters is something happens, there is always a point of change even in the smallest piece of flash fiction.

And it is a fantastic challenge, always.

Fairytales with Bite – Party Time

As I write this in March 2026, I’m looking forward to celebrating a big birthday, you know the kind with the zero on the end. Party time is fun! But do your characters take the same view? Do they celebrate each and every birthday or just do the special ones? What kind of format would their parties take, especially if they live in a world alien to our own?

If your setting is a magical one with various species, would they all celebrate in the same way or would what would be acceptable to one kind be abhorrent to another? Could that lead to clashes?

I don’t especially like balloons (not great for the environment either) or candles (fire hazard especially with my big birthday coming up!), but what “fripperies” would your characters like to have at their celebrations? What would be considered a “must have”?

Also, who does all of the work in getting the party food and drink ready? Are certain magical characters in your setting known for their skills here?

Could be some fun stories to write up here, apt since parties should be fun.

This World and Others – Society Occasions

As well as private functions as I look at in Fairytales with Bite, most places will have some sort of society event, sombre or otherwise. What forms would these take in your setting?

Being based in the UK, we had various Jubilees for the late Queen Elizabeth (and it seems so strange still writing of her in those terms) and I enjoyed these. We also have sombre occasions such as Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. But all of these things are important in different ways and matter in different ways.

So how would your society hold a public celebration? How would they have a remembrance event (and what are they seeking to keep in the public memory here)?

What would your characters make of these things and do they play any role in any official events like this? Is there anyone with a vested interest in disrupting these things in some way and what are they hoping to achieve?

Story ideas there!

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The Perfect Ending

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here including a pre-birthday celebration meal out with immediate family. Lovely time had by all. Lady had a great weekend too – plenty of walkies though there is also still plenty of mud. Not that she cares…

Facebook – General

Hope the day has gone well. Hectic here and am glad to be at my desk, sitting down to write. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and even Daisy the gentle spaniel. Good time had by all.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Always fun. Am not looking forward to a visit to the dentist tomorrow even though said dentist is lovely (but it is never a fun visit, is it?).

Need to start work on some stories for competitions I always enter but won’t get much chance before Sunday but I can at least be “brewing” some ideas before then. Thinking time is never wasted.

Hope your Monday has gone well. Busy as ever here but it was lovely to see Lady having a good time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Writing wise, I’ll be catching up with a few writing odd jobs. I’ve long found it’s the best use of my limited writing time on a Monday night.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again before long. To sign up for news, tips, and stories, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to my subscribers for your continued support here – it is always appreciated.

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Hope your weekend has gone well and you enjoy the rest of it! Busy one here but good.

Writing wise, I’m back to editing again and enjoying that. Shortly, I’ll be getting on with my flash fiction Sunday afternoon, always a nice way to wind up the week. I’m focusing on 100 word stories at the moment. I do love the form, especially since they were my introduction to flash fiction in the first place. This length of story makes for a great warm up writing exercise too.

Character Tip: Think about what you like and dislike most in a character you’ve read. Think about why you have these likes and dislikes. Especially if you dislike the character, look in more depth as to why and then work out how you would’ve written the character. You learn a lot by thinking things through like this. I know I don’t like characters who come across as wishy-washy. I won’t write them. But I had to know the character type I disliked here to work out what it is I do like.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Nice weather here.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here and this post will tie in nicely with my Getting The Hooks In one too as the best writing exercises “hook” the writer in to want to give them a go. Link up on Friday.

First Draft Tip: I’ve always found it useful to just get the first draft written, rest it, and then edit it later. But if that isn’t your way of doing things, I’d still recommend getting as much of your story down before polishing up anything. It has been my experience better ideas can come as I write my first draft (and the further I get on that first draft the more ideas come) so I note these down separately and look at them later when I’ve had a proper chance to evaluate them all.

But if something really does grip you get that down fast before you forget it (and you do, trust me I’ve made that mistake). You can worry about the exact placing of that idea in your story later. Also the time break once you have got your draft down does give you a chance to decide whether that red hot idea was so red hot after all. They’re not always.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash fiction is especially cheering for me on those days when I seem to be chasing my tail all day because I at least get something creative drafted and when time is very short I go for the 50 or 100 worders.

But it is amazing on looking back at where I’ve used pockets of time like this for odd bits of writing just how much I’ve been able to get done. It does mount up so is worth using these times and if you’re not sure where to start when you have pockets of time like that, why not give flash fiction or flash non-fiction a go?

It has been another hectic Monday. Time to wind down at least a little with a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Bells.

What does the ringing of the church bells mean for my character? Do her memories help her? Find out here.

 

Will be beginning flash fiction Sunday shortly, a bit later than planned but life gets like that at time. What was meant to be a quiet day suddenly isn’t. But the nice thing with flash is I know I can get something written (which always makes me feel better in myself) precisely because I am committing myself to short form writing. I will get something done.

I find topics for flash fiction in various ways. Sometimes I will use the seasons, anniversaries (personal or national etc) and, at other times, I know I will want to write something light/funny so then figure out the best way to do that and which kind of character would suit me best here. I like to have a variety of ways in to writing stories. It keeps things interesting for me, and I hope my readers, and it is good to be able to respond to different writing challenges in the form of prompts etc. It means I’m not stuck. It is a question of working out which idea I want to write up on what day. Always good to have something in hand there.

As ever, I’m looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. I like putting time aside specifically to write flash (though if I get the chance to write some at other times, I do. That doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. It’s always a case of not having enough time to write as much as I’d like to but I know I’m not alone with that issue).

Am currently catching up with reading a flash anthology and am enjoying that. I love those moments when a story has an emotional impact on you and I am getting plenty of those moments with this book. I love to then re-read these and figure out how the author did it. It makes me up my game for sure. Nothing to dislike about that and I get more reading done.

Naturally, I always think about the impact I’d like my own flash pieces to have on readers. It does affect how I present my characters, indeed even the character types I need to have to successfully bring about that impact.

Writing also includes thinking time and, yes, it is useful for flash fiction too.

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Ending

The perfect ending for any story or book I read or listen to must leave me feeling the characters did get what they deserved. I must also feel that not a word could be added to or taken away without it spoiling the story somehow. Those are good challenges for the writers and I’m so aware of these when writing my own stories.

The perfect ending doesn’t have to be a happy one though I admit I prefer those. But it should be appropriate to what the characters have gone through. It shouldn’t come out of nowhere. When you look back at a story, you should be able to spot the clues which indicated this ending was likely. The skill of the writers here is when you don’t see those clues the first go around or, if you do guess at it, they are still able to wrong foot you another way in that yes, the ending was X but it happened via route Y rather than route W.

Twist endings are great here and I still think you can’t get better than Roald Dahl’s short story, Lamb To The Slaughter. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it and I suspect some of you may well remember it when it was adapted for the TV series, Tales of the Unexpected. I also love this story for another reason in that you have a great plot here but also not a word could be added to or taken away from this one.

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Getting The Hooks In

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Hope the week has gone well. Mixed bag with the weather though there have been some nice days and Lady has seen her friends so all well there. Writing and editing going well too. I also have publication news too, which is always welcome.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Getting In The Hooks for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the importance of delivering on the hook’s promise, look at their role in non-fiction and writing exercises, the usefulness of opening line hooks, other kinds of hook, and placing your hooks (they don’t necessarily have to be at the beginning). I hope you find the post useful.

Publication News: Nice to finish the working week with publication news. Am delighted to say I’ll be in The Best of CafeLit 15 coming out later this year. Good to see some familiar names will be in that book with me but congratulations to all.

Getting The Hooks In

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Hope the day has gone well. Drizzly and blustery here though Lady was cheered to see her Hungarian Vizler chum again.

Writing wise, am happily preparing my next PowerPoint for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Plus my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Getting The Hooks In will be up tomorrow. See above. Am also equally happily editing and drafting bits and pieces for later use. Never a dull moment here but that is how I like things to be.

Character Tip: I always find it useful to work out what motivates my character but, on top of that, to work out what they would be prepared to do when pressurised. The differences between “normal” motivations and those actions which come as a result of dire straits can be interesting and reveal much more about your character to you.

For example, a character who is usually calm because they hate drama, unnecessary anger etc because they know how hurtful it can be, what would make them go away from that state? Would it be to help someone else and why would they help that particular character? Definite story ideas there.

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal again today and a lovely time was had by both dogs.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Getting The Hooks In on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I share thoughts and tips here and hope the post will prove to be useful.

Writing Question: What do I most enjoy about any creative writing? I think it is the creating of something new. Okay, I know it will need a lot of work but there is something new I’ve got down on paper or on screen with potential to be better. And I find discovering that potential to be such a challenging, fun and interesting thing to do. I really do love editing. It brings out the best of those initial drafts and it’s great to get to that point. I’ve also found the more writing I do, the clearer my writing voice becomes and I like that too.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums today and a lovely time was had by all.

Pleased to discover yesterday I will be in The Best of CafeLit 15 later this year. Always lovely to receive news like that.

Writing wise, I hope to be back to drafting more stories over the weekend, especially on Sunday. That’s a lovely way to wind up the week as a whole. Am thoroughly enjoying reading Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites. I have some tales in there but the selection is wonderful and I highly recommend this (and not just because I’m in it, honest guv!). Link below.

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As well as writing flash fiction, I also read it. It makes sense to read in your genre. It confirms what you love about it for one thing! It also shows you what is out there already (and you can learn a great deal from that). Also reading the anthologies is simply fun to do and I read these in between reading novels. I like to make sure I read plenty in the short as well as the long forms – again, fun to do and so helpful to any writer as you learn what you like and dislike as you read. That does have a powerful impact on your own writing.

My works, including the anthologies I’m in, can be found on Amazon (as well as elsewhere). Link to my Amazon Author Central page here. (Am so looking forward to when my third collection, Seeing The Other Side, can be on there too).

Twist endings in flash work so well. You don’t have to wait long for the pay-off. Because the story is so short, the impact of that twist is stronger, I think. I often know my twist first so I then jot down different scenarios which would lead to this twist arising naturally and then go with the one which has the most impact on me. Other readers are likely to feel similarly.

I also know the kind of twist I love reading in stories written by others and why I like them. Almost inevitably it is because when I look back at the story again, I can see the clues were there which would lead to that twist and this is why it works so well.

Twists serve the story and the character. It all has to blend together nicely. A twist shouldn’t be thrown in just for the sake of it. It won’t work. But a character doing something and then because something else happens, the twist occurs, that’s fair enough. And I do love it when authors manage to wrong foot me here. I always go back and study how they’ve done it. Always plenty to learn here (which is another aspect of the writing life I love because you are always learning and that is so good for you and your creativity).

Fairytales With Bite – Going Against Stereotype

Fairytales may be seen to be stereotypical but they often go against type. When you think that many powerful magical characters are older men or women in disguise, usually to teach someone arrogant a lesson, the message there is, rightly, don’t write off or treat with contempt older folk.

I must admit I love the Shrek franchise which goes even further here in turning a typical storybook villain into the hero. Thought that was so well done. And it does throw open an interesting question – just who is the hero or villain? These can be very different characters depending on which perspective you use. Robin Hood is a great example of this – if you were from peasant stock, you’d support him. If you were the Sheriff of Nottingham, you definitely wouldn’t.

When it comes to going against stereotype in your own stories, think about what it is you want to change. Do you want to give a fairytale species a better reputation as Shrek has successfully done? Or is it a question of helping a misunderstood character type have their say and showing where it is they come from?

Motivation is key here. Show us your character’s motivation, one we can understand (but not necessarily agree with), and then we’ll follow their journey and your story is more likely to work.

Happy anti-stereotype writing! (You do need to know what it is you want to change and why and then start from there).

This World and Others – Fitting In

I’ve always had a soft spot for characters who struggle to fit in but get there in the end, usually with understanding characters who help them and/or where they themselves go to huge efforts here. Sometimes it can be a case of their saving those who are misunderstanding them.

How easily do your characters find fitting in? Is it a natural thing for them or do they have to work hard at this? What parts of their personality do they reveal to make fitting in easier? Equally, what do they hide because they worry it will put folk off?

I always look for character development in stories, yes even the flash fiction pieces I write and read, because I like to see how the situation the characters are in change them for better or worse. Going through a situation could help your characters to fit in better at the end of the story than they had been at the beginning. That is a classic story arc because it works.

In a magical setting, how easy or otherwise would your non-magical characters have in fitting in? Are they treated decently or discriminated against? What can they do the magical kind can’t? These abilities could be the way they would fit in.

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New Books For A New Season?

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Image Credits:-
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Hope you have had a good weekend. Back to the drizzle and the mist here! Still lovely seeing the spring flowers though. Some cheer in the gloom, which I think a good book can also do for you. Lady doing well. We’re all appreciating the lighter evenings. Writing going well and am back to the editing work too.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal. Both dogs were trying to eat the mud – argh! Both dogs are old enough to know better. Other than that, they had a lovely time (and probably saw their owners as spoilsports).

Writing wise, I’m back to editing work again, which is lovely, and I hope at the weekend to start work on stories which I want to submit for certain competitions later this year.

Author Interview Tip: Read and listen to as many as you can, even if you haven’t had anything published yet. You will learn from them and remember those authors being interviewed were newbies once too. I always see author interviews as encouraging just on that thought alone.

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Not bad here though the weather isn’t a patch on last week’s delightful few days of sunshine.

Writing wise, I’m glad to report my second flash fiction story is now up on my Substack account. Hope you enjoy my Smashing It. You can find my Substack account at Substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

And if you scroll down to my other page here, From Light to Dark and Back Again, you will see the link to my YouTube story for this week called Clearing Up. There is a link between the two tales, see if you can spot it.


Hope the weekend has gone well. Back to drizzly and murky weather again though.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting The Hooks In for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at why these matter, some thoughts about placing them in pieces of work (and, yes, non-fiction needs them too), and more. Link up next week.

Will be shortly getting on with flash fiction Sunday. Making good progress on the co-judging I’m currently undertaking too.

Writing Tip: When you’re reading work from other authors, once you’ve enjoyed a good read go back through the tale and see what the stand out moments were for you. You are highly likely to learn something useful here you can then apply to your own creations. Just why are these stand out moments so important to you? Do these reveal something about character and/or pacing etc?

And it’s fun to do too!

Glad to be back on Writers’ Narrative on Substack today. The theme this month is Writing Fiction and my post is Writing Fiction – The Joys of Making It All Up. I share a little about why I write fiction and what its values are. Not everyone appreciates fiction. I had a dear friend who only saw the point of non-fiction and they weren’t the only one to hold that view. I also share useful tips.

Hope you enjoy the post and remember the magazine is free to subscribe to and you receive a wealth of useful information written by experienced writers. Nothing to dislike there!

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Had a nice task today. Have wrapped up and posted my two flash fiction collections – From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic – to the competition organiser whose event I am co-judging. It was a pleasure to sign these copies and get them posted off. I do hope the eventual recipient enjoys them.

Flash Fiction Tip: Make yourself practice writing to different word count lengths for flash. Focus on 100, 250, 300, and 500 words especially as these are, by far, the most common competition brackets I come across in this field. Also it’s fun to do!

You also get to see what the different word counts “look like” whether you just work on screen or print out on paper and that will come in useful later as, with more experience, you will get a feel, when drafting a story, when you’re at or about the “right” word count for the category you’re writing to. You will find, as I have, when you do check the word count, you won’t be out by that much but the practice at writing to these different lengths helps no end with future stories, I find.

Another busy Monday and am so looking forward to enjoying catching up with a lovely online group I go to once a month. I get to listen and chat about history and it is lovely. Meantime, I hope you enjoy my latest story on YouTube – Clearing Up.

The dangers of sitting on high walls are shown up here as all of the King’s Men face a messy cleaning task or do they? Find out here.

If you check out my author page here, you will see my Substack story, Smashing It. There is a link between the two tales. I do this every now and again. Why? For the best reason of all, it’s fun!

Hope you enjoy both of the stories.

 

Will be getting on with a couple of 100 word stories shortly. I do need to start drafting some longer pieces for competitions soon but the next couple of weeks will be especially busy so I may need to put these on the back burner for the moment. Mind you, that doesn’t stop me thinking about and jotting down potential ideas.

What does make for a great piece of flash fiction? I don’t think there is one single answer to this but I know I like to read about a character who grips me and where the ending is appropriate for them. I like twist endings/humorous punchlines too but I have to feel that everything I read before leading up to these is also gripping and there could be no other ending.

Sometimes I do know a potential ending for a story first so I note that and then work out what could come from it. Once I’m happy with a potential scenario, I get on with my first draft. I do know it has to be the idea which has the most impact on me because I figure it will do likewise for readers and if I’m not gripped by it, nobody else will be.


Drizzly damp day today but Lady still had a nice time over the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting The Hooks In for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. A huge thank you also to the lovely comments on yesterday’s post – Author Interview – Wendy H Jones – A Right Cozy Historical Crime.

As ever, tomorrow will be flash fiction Sunday and I do plan to share a 100 worder on Sundays on my Substack account. It will be a good challenge for me and I hope enjoyable for you.

It was the 100 worder, also known as the drabble, which got me into flash fiction writing at all so it will always have a special place in my writing heart. And it’s thanks to flash fiction, I have two published books with a third due.

Even if you’re not specifically looking to write flash fiction as your main writing format, it is an excellent writing exercise and can be a useful warm up for your longer writing work. I find this to be the case ahead of writing my blogs and articles.

Also congratulations to all who took part in the 500 Words competition. I understand presentations were made at Windsor Castle by the Queen earlier this week. Well done, all. (What a fantastic way to get into writing, especially flash fiction).

Goodreads Author Blog – New Books for a New Season?

Do you read new books for a new season? I do save certain favourite books for re-reading at other times of the year. One example of this is Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett which I save for harvest time.

But generally I work my way through my To Be Read pile. I usually find it goes down for a while and then by some strange circumstances, such as me going to writing events, I find the pile gets bigger again. This is a lovely problem to have and, given the current troubling times, I think having plenty to read which you know you will like is an enormous blessing.

If you do read new books for a new season, do you try to match the mood of the books/stories you read with the seasons? For spring, I would imagine that mood would be light and bright. For winter, much less so!

Mind you, there is never a season when you won’t need books! There is never a season which won’t be enhanced for you in some way by having new books, whether you buy them or borrow them from the libraries.

For every season, there are books galore to enjoy and I do think that is worth celebrating.

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