Books When Out and About

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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, as was the photo of St. John’s in Egham.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here. Had a wonderful time at the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering on Saturday in Egham. More to come on that in my Chandler’s Ford Today post later this week. Lady is all okay and is looking forward to catching up with her friends again this week.

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Hope you have had a good day. Bit of a mixed bag here though Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and we did have some lovely walks today.

Writing wise, I’m busy preparing an other super interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today soon. Am interviewing fellow Bridge House Publishing author, Penny Rogers.

I love conducting interviews (and being on the receiving end). I always learn something useful from them. Mind you, I am insatiably curious about how other writers go about their work. Again, I think this is a good thing as I’ve picked up so many helpful tips along the way.

Long before I was published at all, I would read author interviews and try to figure out how I would answer similar questions if they were put to me. This is a good practice to think about. It helped me prepare for when I did face the questions! It also made me think about how I would describe my stories, again all useful stuff.

Busier day than usual by my standards for a Monday so it is a relief to get to my desk and write for a while. Lady did get to see and play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today so that was lovely, all three had a great time.

Writing wise, it’s going to be a busy week. The rescheduled ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting will be on Wednesday and I’m off to see The Chameleons perform Ghost Train on Thursday. Am also going to another show on Saturday afternoon but I’ll write more about that later.

Writing Tip: If you’re entering competitions, give yourself enough time to draft the story, rest it for a while, come back to it for editing and still have time for a final check before submission. This does pay. I’ve found last minute things to correct before sending something in. So I plan out when I will have my draft done by, when I’ll have my editing done by and so on.

Hope you have had a fabulous weekend. I loved every moment of my time at the Association of Christian Writes Autumn Gathering yesterday. Glad of a quieter day today, mind you!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Author News – Allison Symes – Getting Out and About with ACW for my Chandler’s Ford Today post. Link up on Friday.

The week after, I’ll be interviewing fellow Bridge House Publishing author Penny Dale (who writes as Penny Rogers) and it will be a joy to talk about her new book, Amelie at The Window.

Plenty going on then – and another author newsletter to come at the end of the week, of course.

Despite an iffy start to my journey to Egham for the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering event, I had a marvellous time.

One train cancelled on the way out and a slower journey time meant I got to the venue later than planned but I got there. It was wonderful catching up with friends in person, including some folk from the Flash Fiction Group. We don’t step outside our Zoom boxes often!

I will be writing more about this for my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week. Am looking forward to sharing that.

Meantime, don’t forget my next author newsletter is due soon. I share news, tips, links to my online stories and more. To sign up, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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When I’m using the random generators to trigger a starting point for new flash stories, I deliberately mix up the kind I use. I don’t want to just be able to use one or two favourites, no matter how useful they are. This puts me in good stead for when anyone else sets me a prompt. I’m unlikely to be thrown by it!

Talking of prompts, I’m looking forward to the next lot coming from the last Flash NANO which starts from Saturday, 1st November. Should be fun and I do relish the challenge of it.

It has been a manic Monday for me today and it’s definitely time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Neighbourliness.

What does a fairy godmother do when moaned at by her neighbour for increasing the latter’s pumpkin yields to unmanageable quantities? Find out here.

 

Will be a bit later than normal getting on with my flash fiction Sunday. It will be more of a case of a flash fiction Sunday evening. Wanted to take the dog out for her last walk of the day before the light went though I did appreciate the extra hour’s lie-in this morning thanks to the clocks going back.

Time is an interesting topic for any form of fiction and I have used it often in flash. I’ve sometimes used Time as a character. I’ve given characters limited time in which they must get something done by and more besides.

It’s a good and, aptly, timeless theme because we are all impacted by time so our characters should be too. Even time travellers would be especially if they end up where they didn’t expect to be. I’ve written two fun tales on that – you can find them in Tripping The Flash Fantastic – Mishaps and Jumping Time.

So what does time mean to your characters? Do they make the best use of it? Are there times they dread?
Plenty of food for story thought there.

Lovely to see the sunrise on my way out to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering event today. I enjoyed the event and resuming my habit of getting on with some writing while on the train. I find I can get quite a bit done, which helps when I go home again and am too tired to write much. I see these as “flash” writing sessions! Well, the countryside goes by in a flash anyway…

Looking forward to the rescheduled Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Glad to have caught up with some group members in person today. Always something nice getting to meet and chat with fellow writers like this.

Our topic next week will be festive flash and looking at ways to find something different to write about here. It is a question of writing something new which ties in with familiar themes here.

Oh and I got to see the sunset on the train ride home too…

Goodreads Author Blog – Books When Out and About

Now confession time. When out and about on the train, I tend to get some writing done, rather than read. This week’s post was written on my train to London for a writing event.

Do you read on the train? Do you prefer books, including books and audio, or magazines?

When I do read on the train, I tend to read magazines (easily portable and not heavy) or, on my return journey, I will start reading those books I bought at the writing event. Well, that is almost obligatory, yes?!

Do you like any train related stories? One of my favourite books from Agatha Christie is her Murder on the Orient Express. That, and her The ABC Murders, are her best Poirot tales, I think. For her Miss Marple works, the 4.50 From Paddington and Nemesis, are the best for me.

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Author Interview – Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to John Puzey and Richard Hardie (Authors Reach) for author and book cover shots and logos for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Fab interview with John too – check it out. Link below.
Hope you have had a good week. Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers event in Egham on Friday and Saturday, though I am only going up for the Saturday. Will be good to catch up with friends again. Lady and I remain unimpressed but not surprised by the weather.

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Glad to share a fabulous interview with John Puzey about his new book, Captive Audience. If you love history, do check this interview (and the book) out.

John was inspired to write this by old letters written by his late father who was a prisoner of war in World War Two. The topic of the book is on an aspect of history not often considered. To find out more, and John’s thoughts on writing and acting (he is a member of our local amateur theatre group, The Chameleons), do see the interview. It is a good read.

Talking of The Chameleons, I’m off to see their next production soon too. They are staging The Ghost Train written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame. Am looking forward to seeing this.

Author Interview: Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience

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Hope you’ve had a good Thursday. No pals in the park today but Lady had a good time anyway.

If you love history, fiction, non-fiction or both (as I do), do check out my interview with John Puzey about his book, Captive Audience, for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. His book looks at a very different historical aspect to World War Two, one which I’ve not come across often, and is inspired by letters from his late father who was a prisoner of war. Link up tomorrow. See above.

John will also be sharing thoughts about his writing life and whether his acting career (via our local company, the ever excellent The Chameleons) has any basis for his approach to creating characters. Fascinating stuff. Definitely worth checking out.

Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was pleased about that.

I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. Always fun and we get some flash fiction drafted so win-win. It’s also a good chance to catch up with people’s news too. Due to unforeseen circumstances have had to reschedule this meeting for next week but the rest of this paragraph still applies!

Also enjoyed replying to a very nice email about the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event in December. Looking forward to that one too!

Don’t forget my interview with author John Puzey about his fascinating Captive Audience is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. His book looks at a historical element to World War Two from a very different angle to those often considered here. More on Friday. See above. I found it fascinating finding out how his acting and his writing impact on how he sees characters but do check the interview out.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, That Sinking Feeling. The sharp-eyed amongst you may well spot a connection between this story and my YouTube story earlier this week (Achievement). Hope you enjoy the FFF story too.

Just why is Jill facing a nightmare of a washing up pile and what does Cinderella have to do with it all?

Find out here. 

Have needed to reschedule the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting for next week but that will suit more people and I look forward to that then. These things happen. We’ll be looking at festive flash and will have plenty of time to get some drafts done in time for this year’s season.

One joy of flash which I know I’ve mentioned before is because it is character led, you can set those characters anywhere you want. I do try to take full advantage of that, which is why I’ve written historical flash, crime flash, fairytale flash and much more. Why limit yourself? The only limit I have to contend with is the 1000 words upper limit and you can do a lot with that.

Don’t forget the last ever Flash NANO is due to start soon (1st November). Even if you’ve taken part before, you will need to sign up for this one. Details below. Am looking forward to taking part again. Have always enjoyed the range of prompts. It’s a good challenge. Why not give it a go? The screenshot shows the page when you “click to join”.


Fairytales with Bite – Turning The Tables

One aspect to fairytales I have long loved is that the tables are turned on those deserving of it so every often. The rude prince gets turned into a horrendous beast until true love sets him free. The decrepit old man or woman turns out to be a powerful magical being in disguise and are inevitably trying to test someone’s character. That someone doesn’t always pass, at least immediately.

The story which follows is inevitably about how they do get to pass eventually and who helps them to do so. It’s a story trope which won’t date. For one thing, most of us enjoy a happy ever after ending but where the characters have to work at it to deserve and get that ending.

Turning the tables is a fabulous theme and doesn’t just apply to fairytales of course. But I do see this theme as a major one in fairytales and fantasy. One of the joys of the fairytale world is the “bad guys” do usually get their comeuppance though who the ”bad guys” are is up to you. It’s what I loved about the Shrek films. The ogre, the traditional baddie, isn’t the baddie here – and it works. Shrek has a convincing story.

So give some thought as to who you need to run the tables on and why. Have fun in making this happen! I love writing characters who get their just desserts. But there has to be good reason for why they deserve this. Else it won’t be believable. We need to see your characters doing the kind of things which will lead to them being brought to book. It is such fun to write though.

This World and Others – What Does a Magical World Not Expect?

A magical world is unlikely to be caught out by much I would have thought, but it is not impossible and it can be fun exploring that thought. Would science, as we know it, be a threat to such a world? How could it threaten magic? How would the magical world discover a threat like this existed? What would they do to try to prevent it “polluting” their world? Who or what could possibly introduce it?

Even if an “outside” threat doesn’t exist, give some thought as to what your setting might not expect. This could include such situations as a lowly character, not supposedly able to produce powerful magic, finding a way of doing so. What would be the consequences of that? There are always consequences! Also how does the character do this and did they have help?

Arrogance is a key weakness in so many villains which would make it possible for other characters to take advantage of that and come up with the unexpected. So how would your characters bring about the unexpected and what help do they get to achieve it?

Can magic be used to fight magic here or does the defeat of the villain have to happen by non-magical beings, something which would not/could not in usual circumstances be expected to happen? Could “outsiders” be a key element here? (Nobody expected hobbits, of all beings, to defeat Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, did they? I also refuse to believe that’s a plot spoiler now either!).

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Book Buying Season

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was one photo for my Authors Electric post.
Hope the weekend went okay. Wet, windy and wild here in Hampshire. Time again for lots of soakings for the dog and me and plenty of warm towels to snuggle up with! Am so thankful writing is generally done indoors!

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Lady and I made the most of some sunshine this morning (which we were so glad to see after yesterday) and had a lovely time in the park. Even better was meeting up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum – zoomies followed!

Writing wise, will be working on the first part of my blog round up for this week and editing work.

Looking forward to drafting some flash pieces with the ACW Flash Fiction Group tomorrow night. (I do always set exercises but they are fun ones, honest!).

It’s also not long now before the last Flash NANO starts and am looking forward to that. I understand there will be something else from November 2026 but will have to wait and see what form that takes. I like the idea of having a month working on flash prompts though. It helps output a lot!

Lady and I set a world record time for getting around the park this morning – the weather was awful. At one point, I did think I was going to have to thumb a lift from Noah – there would have been room in the Ark for the pair of us, I’m sure.

Writing wise, am ploughing on with blogs and editing. I hope later this week to pick a story I’ve already drafted and look at it with a view to entering it in a competition.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday. Also looking forward to seeing some of the group at the ACW in person event on Saturday at Egham. It will be good to catch up with friends in person once again. I confidently expect to come back with more books to add to my TBR pile!

Wet and wild here in Hampshire today, unfortunately. Still in some ways it means it is the perfect day to stay inside and get on with some writing.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with local (to me) author, John Puzey, about his latest book, Captive Audience, on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. John is a stalwart member of our local amateur theatre group, The Chameleons.

Stepping into the lives of characters is nothing new for him. This book was inspired by letters from John’s father when he was a prisoner of war in World War Two. Do check out the interview especially if you have any interest at all in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction. Link up on Friday.

Pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post, Book Buying Season. Well, it is timely given a certain event is only a couple of months away now. I also look at why I think this season is also Author Event Season and I hope all of these go well for anyone holding them. I have a couple of events coming up later this month and in December where I hope to sell books. I also look at the biggest challenge to all writers in this post.

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Hope today has gone okay. Not bad here. Almost time to start thinking about drafting some festive flash fiction. When I am ahead of myself, writing wise, I have been known to do this in July but not this year!).

Will have the joy of proofing a story of mine which will be in an anthology soon. Will share more news on that book before too long.

Editing a piece of flash fiction takes time. Okay, it cannot be as long as for a novel, say, obviously, but where the editing skill comes in here is working out what you can take out without spoiling the story overall. I have left pieces at a longer word count before now when I’ve felt the flow of the story works better with those “extra” words in it. I have to consider how the story flows. It’s not just about getting it to the “right” word count.

It’s Monday. It has been so stormy here – the rain has been torrential. Definitely time for a story I think. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Achievement.

The wandmaker finds out how Jill, a young fairy, earned enough money to get a wand upgrade, where Cinderella’s story comes into it all, the role of the kitchen sink, and cheery songs.

 

Time for an acrostic I think, on this wet and wild Sunday afternoon. Well, why not? Hope you enjoy this one.

F = Fantastic format for anyone who loves creating characters and a wide mixture of genres in which to put them.

L = Length is anything from a few words up to 1000 maximum and plenty of categories across the range.

A = Attitudes and actions of your characters come across clearly in this sharply written format.

S = Stories can cross time, space, dimensions known and unknown and so much more – it’s just the word count which has a limit.

H = Have fun experimenting with characters and genres here as writing flash will tighten up your other writing too, removing all fear of editing.

Hope the weekend has gone well so far. I’ve resumed my usual autumn workout in clearing up oak leaves in front of my home. We have some superb and very old oaks and I don’t mind clearing up. It keeps me warm, I love the trees, and it means I get very good value for money out of my Garden Waste collection service each year!

The changing colours of the leaves (and their falling) shows up the passing of time so well and we need to show this to an extent in our stories. We expect to see characters change in our tales, no matter how short or long the stories are, and regardless of the time span of those tales. Without the change, whether it’s due to internal or external conflict or both, there is no story after all.

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Acrostic

Haven’t written an acrostic for a while. Hope you enjoy this one.

S = Stories spring surprises with characters who keep you gripped.

T = Tall tales, flash fiction, short stories, novels, novellas – there is something for everyone across so many genres.

O = Originally stories were told in oral form but now we have print, audio, ebooks, which is all to the good, something for everyone again.

R = Re-reading favourites is always a joy, as is discovering new authors and new stories.

Y = Young or old or anywhere in between, there are stories for you.

Have a fantastic read!

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Ending A Piece of Fiction

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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. Many thanks to Janet Williams for the picture of me at the HIltingbury Book Fair a year or so ago. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady has had a fabulous time with most of her pals this week. Am busy on editing and writing but good progress being made so am reasonably happy with that!

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Hope you’ve had a good Friday. Lady had a good run around with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and a lovely time was had by both dogs. Also met a cute puppy.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Ending A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today and hope you find it useful.

I share thoughts on those occasions when you do know the ending first, about themes in competitions where what they give you may well suggest an ending, and how knowing what you like in story endings can help you with creating your own plus much more.

Ending A Piece of Fiction

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Hope today has been good. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today and a lovely time was had in the park. Nice to see the autumn colours too. Getting out with the dog gives me more opportunities to appreciate things like that. There’s a lot of Virginia Creeper where I am – all a blaze of red right now.

Don’t forget my next Chandler’s Ford Today post is out tomorrow, I’ll be sharing Ending A Piece of Fiction which I hope will prove useful. See above.

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group which will be next week. Looking forward to catching up with some of the group in person at the ACW in-person event at Egham not long after that.

And now back to the writing and editing…

Hope you’ve had a good Wednesday. Lady had a lovely time. It was puppy party time at the park as she saw all of her best chums – the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Lady has been rather tired the rest of the day!

Writing wise, I’m sharing Ending A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. Also it won’t be that long before my next author newsletter is due. To sign up for news, tips, stories, and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

For a long time, I wrote only for my own pleasure and to prove to myself I could put a story together. It took me some time to be confident enough to try to submit work anywhere. Naturally for a long time after that I received plenty of rejections but when the acceptances did start coming, that was the boost I needed to keep going and to realise the importance of learning how to improve my writing.

There are no shortcuts to learning your craft and the rejections are all part of the learning curve here. The positive thing is it does toughen up up a bit so later you really do take these things in your stride and focus on improving your story and trying again with it elsewhere. I’ve gone on to have work published thanks to doing that so it is worth doing.

Persistence and willingness to learn go hand in hand here.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Comforts. Two fairies argue about the benefits of enjoying certain human treats. Find our more here. Hope you enjoy it.

I was talking yesterday about flash being great when you haven’t much writing time but it is also fabulous for when you haven’t much reading time. Flash collections are wonderful for dipping into. I know I‘m biased with two of my own collections out there and another one to come next year but it is true.

I often dip into collections. This is partly reading in my field which all writers should do but I love the form so why wouldn’t I want to read it as well as write it? I want to enjoy and be inspired by what is out there from other flash authors as well as hope my stories do the same for someone else.

Quiet day today which has been welcome. Still haven’t got as much done as I’d have liked. Always the way though! Mind you, I did get my flu jab done so good to have that out of the way.

Flash is great for those days when you haven’t got much writing time. I find I can at least draft a story in the time I do have. Polishing comes later when I do have more time. Yes, I often do find it takes at least as twice as long to polish a story to get it right than it does to come up with the first draft but I think this is a good ratio. Editing shouldn’t be rushed. It will guarantee you will miss something doing that!

Fairytales with Bite – Adjusting to a New Role

Over the years, I’ve adjusted to several new roles – changes of job, changes of marital status, becoming a mum and later a doggy mum plus I’ve become a writer and editor. All wonderful new roles which I was (and remain) only too happy to have embraced. But other new roles in life aren’t welcome – such as getting used to loss. (Doesn’t mean you have to like it even though you adjust as much as you can).

So thinking about your characters, how do you think they would react to a new role they would welcome and one which wasn’t but which they had no choice but to undergo? What would this tell you about them? Could you feed that into your story?

When it comes to magical practices, are new roles developed in that as new and “better” forms of magic are found and used in your world? (There would always be the magical equivalent of the Luddites who wouldn’t see anything as “better” – could be story ideas there too).

Do some of your characters adjust better than others and, if so as is likely, why would that be? Have they had to adjust before? What had that taught them so they adjust well again? If the other characters didn’t know, why was their past kept quiet? Does that come back to haunt your character now?

This World and Others – Rivers and Seas

I am fond of rivers, seas, and all sorts of water features in the natural world. They seem to speak to me of timelessness, beauty, calm (when the weather’s right!), and of worlds beneath them, a lot of which we still don’t know much about. This is especially true for the seas.

So can any of that apply to your magical world? What water features does it have? If it isn’t dependent on water to be able to sustain life, what does it rely on instead? What does your setting know about what lives in the rivers and seas (or equivalent)? What does it need to know? Does it take good care of its natural environment?

Would your water (or equivalent) features look like what we have on Earth? Would they “behave” in the same way (e.g. are there tides?). The later would be vital to know if your characters are dependent on water (or equivalent) to make their living (e.g. they have to sail)?

Which of your characters live near water features (or equivalent)? Have they learned over time to “manage” them? What natural conditions would they dread these things having (e.g. certain tides always cause mass flooding etc)?

Story ideas there!

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Curling Up With A Good Book

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Hope the weekend went well for you. Okay here. Writing wise, am making good progress on my next author newsletter, have sent some pitches off last week, and am continuing to blog, edit, and write flash fiction – all good stuff. I think it’s sometimes easier to write more as we go into autumn and winter – less temptation to be outside!

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Hope today has been a good one. Lady didn’t get to see any doggie pals today but she did see some human ones so was pleased about that and is looking forward to catching up with her four legged chums tomorrow.

There is one more big flash competition I want to have a go at (deadline is the end of the year) but am hoping something I will draft for Flash NANO (which starts on 1st November) this year may prove to be a good fit for it. Will have to wait and see. What I do draft this year will be an excellent start to my fourth flash fiction collection in due course.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady’s week has got off to a flying start as she met up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals. Lady and her Ridgeback pal has a lovely play fight, which they both loved. Given Lady is coming up 9 and her pal is 7, they are both still pups at heart.

Writing wise, one of the joys of being interviewed is of course to talk about your work and what you love about it in depth. One fabulous question I was asked by Wendy H Jones in the October 2025 issue of Writers’ Narrative was about whether short form fiction allowed for more experimentation in voice and form.

Do check out the interview for my reply (screenshot below gives a taster) but it was great to share something of what I love about the short forms of fiction and, in a separate question, what drew me to it in the first place.

Hope Sunday has been a good and peaceful one for you. Not bad here. Looking forward to starting flash fiction Sunday soon. Nice way to end the week (or begin the next one, either works!).

Writing Tip: When you come across (as you will) a story which didn’t work for you, take some time out to figure out why this was. You will learn a great deal from this.

I know there are certain types of character I don’t like having read some of them in stories which didn’t grip me at all, so I take care not to produce that kind of character myself. I’ve found it helps just as much to know what you don’t like as it does knowing what you do when it comes to your own writing.

Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. Managed to get the lawn cut (and before it shoots up too high again ) so I count that as a win.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Ending a Piece of Fiction as a nice conclusion to my mini-series started yesterday with Starting a Piece of Fiction. The new post will be up on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

It was lovely to finish the working week with a nice surprise. Naturally, I was thrilled to be one of the two Editor’s Choices for Friday Flash Fiction this week with my Finding Out the Hard Way.

Delighted Jim Bartlett was the other pick for his Safer. Many a word of truth in that one. Do check the stories out on FFF. You can be guaranteed a good read. Link below to my one which appeared yesterday.

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One tip I find useful for competitions with a specific word count (e.g. 53 words, 75 words etc – and I have come across these) is to instantly reserve up to five words for the title. I then know a rough count for the story itself.

If I end up having a shorter title, I can add a couple of words to the story. Often I don’t bother. I see having those “spare words” as a safety net to ensure I am well under the count asked for though there are places which want you to get to the exact limit. In these cases, I know immediately how many words I need to put into the story to bring it up to the right count.

It’s Monday. It’s as hectic as ever. It’s time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Giving It A Miss.

A justly beautiful tourist destination, popular with colleagues, who only visit at a certain time of year leads to my character finding out why. She isn’t planning a return visit. Find out why here.

 

It won’t be too long before I take part in the last Flash NANO. I will be sorry to see that go. I’ve found it so useful for producing 30 draft flash pieces in November for the last few years. Some of those went on to be published (and some will be in my Seeing The Other Side collection due out in May 2026).

I’m looking forward to meeting up with other members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group at the ACW in person meeting at the end of this month. It will be nice to step outside our Zoom boxes for a bit. Naturally, we will all be waving the flag for the joys of writing flash fiction!

When I write to a specific word count, as I do for Friday Flash Fiction, the additional challenge of sticking to 100 words each time is coming up with something fresh and different every time, which can still be contained in that tight word limit.

I have found it useful to focus on one character and one moment. It makes me think about what matters so much to my character it has to be written up as a story. Flash is excellent for helping you develop a real feel for what matters here and that’s a good discipline to take across to other forms of writing as well. I’ve found it useful with my blog posts and articles too.

Goodreads Author Blog – Curling Up With A Good Book

One of the joys of the autumn and winter seasons is you get to have more opportunities to curl up with a good book., Okay, I do have to go out with the dog (which is fine) but when you have the chance to just grab a book and not go out in the cold and wet, you’re going to take it, yes?

As the nights draw in, I will often turn to my favourite forms of comfort reading, which is on the lighter side of fiction. There is enough “grim” going on in the world for real for me to want to read more of it in a book, I’m afraid.

Dystopian fiction has never been my thing and it certainly isn’t now. I’m all for books which address issues because they can meet so many needs. For one thing, they can draw attention to those issues and make people think about them.

But I will admit with not having as much reading time as I would like, I am going to focus on an entertaining read. That takes in many genres, funnily enough.

For me, one definition of a good book is it is one that takes my mind off things for a short while and with characters I can root for and come to care about.

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Back issue time as I’ve shared the October 2025 edition above. Hope you also enjoy the issue below and remember it is free to subscribe.

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Starting A Piece of Fiction

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Hope you have had a good week. Lady has – she’s been catching up with her pals. Many thanks for great responses to my posts about the October issue of Writers’ Narrative where I’m the Featured Author. It’s not often you get to be a cover girl in your late fifties but there you go!

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Lady has had a fabulous week in that she has seen most of her friends most of the time this week. I think most of us would count that as a great week.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Starting A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Hope you find it useful.

Once I get started on a flash tale or short story, I am generally “away with it” (though I do use outlines to help me). What can be tricky can be knowing where to start and this post shares some thoughts and tips I have found useful over many years to overcome this.

I also share a useful template (which is easily adaptable) which, again, I hope you find useful.

Starting A Piece of Fiction

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Will be sharing Starting A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. The following week, I will, as you will probably have guessed, be sharing a piece on Ending a Piece of Fiction. I hope both will prove to be useful. After that will be a fabulous interview with John Puzey about his book, Captive Audience, so plenty going on at CFT at the moment. John is also a member of our excellent local theatre company, The Chameleons.

Have been busy this week working on a presentation and pitches. Have sent the latter off. The presentation will be for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. So far it has been a non-fiction heavy week but I will be switching to the fiction side again soon.

And Lady had a great Thursday meeting up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals so she has had a great day, as did her friends.


Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today – nice time had by both dogs.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Starting a Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will be sharing tips I’ve found useful for overcoming hesitant starts to stories. I find once I get started it’s fine. It can be the getting started which can be tricky sometimes. I hope the post will prove useful. See above.

Marketing Tip: Consistency matters. It’s better to focus on a few things you know you can do (and keep doing) than spread yourself too thin. This is why I’m not on every social media platform out there (though that doesn’t preclude me from changing the ones I am on or adding others later). But I know I can post regularly where I currently do so I keep that going. Over time, consistency pays off. Readers know where to find you.

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Am thrilled to be one of two Editor’s Choices on Friday Flash Fiction with my tale, Finding Out The Hard Way. Hope you enjoy it.

Congratulations to Jim Bartlett for his story, Safer, which was the other Editor’s Choice.

Having two stories chosen doesn’t happen often so this was an especially nice surprise today.
We talk about having flashes of inspiration and they do happen but I find they come more often when I am at my desk working out ideas for characters and situations to put them in. Then the flashes can come.

Basically, I’ve got to put the work in, which is fine because I love that.

Where I do a get an idea out of “nowhere”, it usually is because something has been bubbling away in my subconscious for a while and it comes to the surface when I am working on something it could be useful for.

Often that something bubbling will be due something I’ve read so this is another reason to read widely and well, contemporary and classic works, short and long forms, and non-fiction because you want a wide pool to fish from for ideas to bubble like that.

It is also more likely you will get more ideas the more you read (and write).

Another aspect to flash fiction flexibility is mixing up the word count ranges you write to within the overall limit of 1000 words. You do develop favourites over time. My overall favourite will always be the drabble, the 100 worder, as it was my way into flash fiction in the first place, but I often write to 300 and 500 words especially. This is handy as so many flash competitions go to these word count limits. As you can imagine, I’m sure, this is no coincidence on my part!

Also when I have submitted stories for potential broadcasting, I am usually looking at the 200 to 250 word count tops for these, so it pays to practice writing to this kind of count.

You do, with time, get used to seeing/knowing what 200 to 300 words will look like on the page/screen so get better at knowing where to stop your story. You get a feel for what will fit in that word count limit.

I can usually tell at a glance now when I draft a 100 word story for Friday Flash Fiction, by roughly how much I’ve gone over on that first draft (and I always do go over). I’m not usually out by much when I compare my thought to the word count on the screen.

Mind you, that tells me how much I have to edit and I start by removing all of my wasted words (that, very, actually etc). Its amazing what a difference can be made to your word count removing words like that can do.

Fairytales with Bite – Options for Magical Beings

What options do your magical beings have in your setting? Are they born with their powers or do they develop these as they grow up? Which powers come to them as naturally as breathing and which do they have to learn? How would all of that impact on the kind of careers they can have later?

Do your magical creations get any choice at all on their career? Can anyone “rebel” against their “default setting” and do something different? What would the consequences be of that?

Are your characters happy with the skills they are born with and/or go on to develop? What are the advantages and disadvantages of them? Could any of your characters with powers envy those without them and why would that be? (Simpler lifestyle and less complications would be one thought springing to my mind).

This World and Others – Careers

In your setting what kind of careers are available for your characters? Is this dependent on magical skill set (see Fairytales With Bite above) or can anyone go for these careers as long as they’re willing to learn and work hard? How have the careers developed in your world? Is magic an advantage here or not?

Also are there careers not possible in your setting but which are still needed for your society to function?

Could magical power get in the way of these needed careers so your world has to import people /other beings of choice to carry out these vital roles? How does that happen? (There could be many a tale of alien abduction here – at least it would be for a reason that made sense!).

Are there careers your characters are desperate to avoid or get? How can they avoid/get them? Why do they feel this way? Could a story involve a character facing up to having to do a career they don’t want for a greater purpose?


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Cover Girl Time – Allison Symes – Writers’ Narrative – October 2025 – Short Form Fiction

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Wendy H Jones and Writers’ Narrative for the magazine images. Also thanks to Wendy for images re Creativity Matters.
Hope the weekend went well. All fine here. Some debris from Storm Amy but grateful not more than that. The big news is I am finally a cover girl! Am on the front cover of Writers’ Narrative for their October 2025 edition on Short Form Fiction. Plus there is an in-depth interview between Wendy H Jones, Editor in Chief, and me for this issue. Do check it out and I am always pleased to hear the short form writers being given a shout out, naturally enough. 

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today – a great time was had by all.

Managed to make the most of my limited writing time yesterday and ended up doing more than I thought. This is often the way when you haven’t much time. You make the most of what you do have and lo and behold, several jobs are ticked off your list. All good stuff.

Character Tip: Jot down a short list of characters created by other authors, say five or six names, and then write one line about why you picked these characters. Was it something about their personalities that appealed to you especially? Could you use those thoughts in your own characters?

Hope your Monday hasn’t been too chaotic. Bit of a mixed bag day for me but Lady did get to have a fabulous time in the park with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal so she’s had a good day.

Writing wise, I’ll be working on “bits and pieces” given Monday is one of those days when I don’t have so much time for writing. I often use this time to get writing admin done and draft notes for future blog posts etc. These things mount up and save me a great deal of time later.

Later in the week when I do have more writing time available, I get to work on longer pieces. I learned long ago that all writing is valuable (even if you discard a lot of it later when editing) and using whatever time you have does pay off in the long run.

Writing Tip: You have a character in mind. What would their catchphrase be? You may not use it in your story but if you can figure out what they might have as a catchphrase, that can show you more about them which could be relevant to your tale. If they come up with a humorous phrase for example, does this mean they are a funny character or do they use humour to cover up how they really feel? Could be some interesting story thoughts there.

Hope the weekend has gone well for you. A huge thank you for all the support on yesterday’s news about my interview in Writers’ Narrative and being on the front cover of the e-magazine. Much appreciated.

Looking forward to sharing Starting A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I sometimes find the starting point tricky so will be sharing in this post some tips I’ve found useful for overcoming this issue. I hope you’ll find them useful too. Link up on Friday.

Pleased to say I’ll be interviewing John Puzey, author of Captive Audience, later in the month for CFT. Will share more news on that nearer the time. Plus there should be another author interview coming up in early November.

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The big news is I am a cover girl! The October issue of Writers’ Narrative has Short Form Fiction as its theme, a topic very close to my writing heart of course, with yours truly as the Featured Author.

I am interviewed in depth by Editor in Chief, Wendy H Jones, and this was great fun to do. As part of the interview, I share a story showing something of the flexibility of flash fiction. I’ve written across genres, and have also written poetic flash, acrostic flash, as well as the differing word count ranges up to the 1000 words limit, and much more so I share an example here.

Hope you enjoy the story and the interview.

Let’s hear it for the short form writers!

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Good to be celebrating flash fiction in the October Writers’ Narrative, which is obviously my big news of the week! But if you have never tired flash fiction before, why not give it a go?

If you have ever written any kind of writing exercise at an event, you have almost certainly written some flash as you are never given too long to respond to these exercises. The most you’re going to be able to write in the time is a 100 words or so.

So why not make it an official part of what you write? I’ve found it be fun and addictive.

It’s Monday. It’s been busy. It’s time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Some Forward Thinking. (Always a good idea this, I find!)

You’re a fairy godmother with a problem which needs to be resolved fast. You can’t use magic directly but some forward thinking, involving an unsuspecting human, should do the trick, literally. Find out how here.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday in a moment or two. (I did too!). Lovely way to end the week, I must say, and I get plenty of flash written. Nothing to dislike there.

If you’d like to know more about flash, including some examples of it, do head over to my landing page and sign up for my newsletter at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I regularly share tips and flash fiction stories of mine here – it makes for a good “one stop shop” to find out what I’ve written and where.

On a related topic, flash, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is Flash NANO is on again this year – see link for how to join up. This is where those who join in are given 30 prompts over the 30 days of November. You can do as many or as few as you like. I see it as a great chance to draft 30 new stories!

The bad news? This will be the final one, alas, so do sign up and give it a go while you can. I find it great fun and a good flash challenge and writing work out.

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So glad the short forms of fiction are being celebrated in the October issue of Writers’ Narrative (do see my author page on Facebook where I share the link). Also see above.

As well as reading a lot of short work, because it is the field in which I work, I love reading these stories anyway. I see them as wonderful reads in between reading lots of longer books. Indeed I see this has having a good overall “reading diet”.

Indeed my way into the love of stories and books was via the short form, the classic fairytales of which I remain fond. Many of my 1000 word pieces for Friday Flash Fiction have more than a passing nod to the fairytales.

What you read does influence what you write so it pays to read widely and well. Non-fiction has been an eye opener for me as I have found that too can spark story ideas. Who knew? Well, I didn’t until fairly recently.

Glad to have found this out though. Am always glad to have reading sources of ideas for my writing as I get to enjoy a fabulous read and then enjoy the writing up of the ideas – win-win there for sure.

Goodreads Author Blog – Light and Dark in Fiction

I guess it’s appropriate we have light and dark in fiction given our stories reflect our human condition and there’s plenty of light and dark in that. Indeed the thought of that inspired the stories in my first flash fiction collection and also gave me the title for it – From Light To Dark And Back Again.

I suppose light and dark in fiction also reflects reading moods. Certainly for me, when the seasons change and the darkness draws in ever earlier in the day, I want to read and write lighter material. Not exactly raging against the dying of the light happening here but I am trying to make my journey towards that dying light more pleasant at least!

Can’t beat Wodehouse, Austen and Pratchett here (though the latter is remarkable in that there is darkness within Discworld but it is dealt with via humour, which to me makes the points being made much more effective).

I guess we do need a balance here though if I have to tip the scales somewhere, I would tip it in favour of light fiction. I learned long ago what looks easy to read isn’t necessarily easy to write, far from it.

Time to read some more amusing stories then!

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Naturally I am thrilled to bits about the October issue but as I have shared that issue above, I will share a back issue here. Do enjoy a good read!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

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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 the week so far has gone well. Lady has had a lovely few days with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and I’ve kept busy with the writing and editing. Also went to a fun ACW Zoom group (on science fiction and fantasy). So not a bad week at all so far here.

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Pleased to share Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Have focused on writing things here. Am sure there are plenty of thoughts here which most writers will identify with!

Hope you find the post useful and encouraging. I think it helps to know you’re not alone as a writer on things like the topics (time taken to get published, rejections, opportunities which may not seem as if they are at first etc) I share in this post.

Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

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Hope you’ve had a good Thursday. Lady had another fabulous time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal (they’ve had a terrific week!) and saw her lovely spaniel friend, the gentle Daisy, too.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up for that tomorrow and I restricted the post to just being about writing otherwise the post would’ve been far too long! See above.

Later in the month I’m off to see The Ghost Train (written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame) performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company. I’ll also be off to the Association of Christian Writers in person meeting at Egham where I’ll be pleased to catch up with members of the flash fiction group in person, as well as other ACW members I haven’t seen for a while.

Plus I will have further author interviews coming up on CFT too so plenty to look out for and plenty going on with me at the moment. But then that is how I like it to be.

Lady was overjoyed to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback friend again today. Lots of cuddles were exchanged. Sweet to see.

Pleased to see my author newsletter went out this morning. I was looking at short fiction forms for this one (and that will be the theme of the October Writers’ Narrative which is due out at any time).

I am also looking at Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link for that up on Friday. To prevent the post from being far too long, I have limited the topic to things associated with writing! Am sure you will identify with a lot of what I will be sharing here. Again, see above, and if I hadn’t limited the scope of the post, I really could have written chapter and verse on the topic!

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my Lighting Up. I hope you enjoy the story and would you like Marian as a friend or relative of yours?

Flash gives me the opportunity to have fun with genre as I have written flash crime stories, flash historical ones, flash fairytales, and many more types. I love the variety here. I have to lead with my characters given there isn’t room for much in the way of description though that in turn makes you focus.

I show you what the character needs to show you. The character only gives you the dialogue and internal thoughts you need to make sense of what they are doing and why. But given I can put my characters anywhere, I do take advantage of that. It makes life more interesting for me and I hope for my readers too.

Certainly for the collections, it leads to a good variety of stories. I love reading those as well as writing them so know I want to see plenty of story types in my collections.

Hope the day has been a good one for you. Not bad here. Looking forward to going to an ACW Zoom group tonight – always good fun.

Am pleased to know a few of the Flash Fiction Group will be going to the in person ACW event later this month. It will be lovely for us all to come out of our “Zoom boxes” and meet in person”! Naturally we will put in the word about the joys of flash fiction at some point (and I will be sharing some of this in the October Writers’ Narrative which is due out at any minute I will share the link as soon as I can).

Character Tip: One of the strengths of flash fiction is it does mean you have to focus which is why I recommend for our story to focus on one character and one moment in time, especially if your story will be 500 words or fewer. I like to think of this as not “diluting” your story.

Fairytales with Bite – Natural Light

As I write this in October 2025, the autumn season is well under way. The nights are drawing in, the leaves are changing colour (which is one of my favourite sights at this time of year) and the acorns are coming down rapidly (you should hear the sound as they hit the car roof!).

Now much as I love autumn, it is always a shame to see the amount of natural light fading. While it is lovely to cosy up inside with writing and good books, I also love being able to enjoy the natural light as long into the evening as possible. So this led me to wonder, how does light “work” in your setting? Do they have a sun (or more) as we know this? How are your characters affected the amount of natural light available?

Can natural light be created artificially? Does your setting have electricity as we know it? (I always loved the old character Catweazle describing it as electrickery. For those who don’t know, this was a 1970s UK children’s programme and many have fond memories of it. Catweazle was a time travelling wizard effectively).

How does the geography of your setting, including light and darkness, challenge your characters? How can they use natural light, or the lack of, to their advantage?

There will be story ideas there.

This World and Others – Character Types

How many character types does your setting have and are they anything like what we have here? Are species easy to differentiate? Is there a clear hierarchy in terms of magical power etc? Is there a dominant species and what led to them becoming that way?

I have an interest in hierarchies in settings because I am always looking out for the underdog in a story and seeing what they get up to. I guess that comes from my long love of the classic fairytales where the underdog often turns out to be the hero/heroine.

I also have a soft spot for non-human characters but then I have written from the viewpoint of a mother dragon before now. As long as readers can understand why your characters (of any kind) are the way they are, why they have the attitudes they do, why they act the way they are, then the story will follow through. I also think variety in character types is a good thing. The Lord of the Rings would be much poorer without that.

Why does your setting need the character types it has? I would expect to see geography and climate to have an impact here given we have different species suited to different conditions so it would be odd if a fantasy world didn’t have something similar.

Also give some thought as to how your character types developed the skills, magical or otherwise, that they have? Is there evolution going on here? If there is an overall creator in your world, how do they control how things/characters develop? Is there a limit to how far they can go?

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Growing The Seed and Comfort Books

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was one photo from an Association of Christian Writers in person event.
Hope you had a good weekend. Great, family party orientated one here. Fabulous time had by all. Lots of laughs. Lady loves these things and is also shattered. Writing wise, it’s back to the desk and I am looking forward especially to sharing the October issue of Writers’ Narrative. See below for more.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady has – she got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback buddy today.

Looking forward to the October issue of Writers’ Narrative due out at any moment. I always look forward to the magazine coming out but this one is special because its theme is Short Form Fiction, a topic which is close to my writing heart of course.

I am the Featured Author this time and enjoyed a fabulous interview by Wendy H Jones, the magazine’s Editor in Chief. I also wrote a separate article breaking down how one of my published flash pieces works and looking at the influences behind it.

So can’t wait to share this with you. Coming soon, as they say!

Oh and my author newsletter is out again tomorrow too. Busy busy.

It’s a delight to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post, Growing The Seed May Take Longer than Thought.

The idea for this one came from looking at the dates in my hymn book. There is often a considerable gap between the words being written and the music for the hymn being composed. Naturally, as writers, we too can wait for longer than we would care for to see our work be accepted etc.

Hope you find the post encouraging. This phenomenon is nothing new. I find it helpful to know I’m not alone here. And, especially if you are starting out, I hope it helps to know this. I can’t think of any writer I know who has not had setbacks, rejections etc (I’ve had loads) but you press on and learn and improve and keep going. 

 

Had a fabulous time yesterday. Plenty of good company, good food, good drinks, and loads of laughs! But now back to the writing desk.

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Hope to put finishing touches to my next author newsletter either today or tomorrow, ready for it to go out again on Wednesday. Having an author newsletter and/or running a monthly workshop really does show up how quickly the year flies by, or so I’ve found.

Hope to get around to looking at competition material next weekend (as do have some ready already ) but also want to draft some fresh material too. (Keeps me on my toes and I always like to have a “stock” in ready for me to look at when suitable competitions come up). There is at least one more competition I want to have an entry in for this year.

I also hope, before too long, to be drafting my festive flash fiction again (and yes it is almost time to be thinking of that again. I sometimes draft such stories in the summer but more often in the early to mid autumn so I have plenty of time to polish work up before sending it anywhere).

Hosted a family event today so posting at a different time. Am shattered thanks to having a wonderful time but then that’s how a good event should be.

Writing wise, I’ll be getting on with flash fiction Sunday tomorrow and I plan to share Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. To stop that post from being far too long (!), I’ll be focusing on writing here.

Flash Fiction Tip: Always focus on the story rather than the word count. I know that sounds odd for me to say but it does matter to get the story right. I’ve sometimes written what I thought would be a 100 words story only to find it works better at 300 words, say. So I save that story for another market.

For flash, it helps to focus on one character and one important moment for them. It is more direct and can save a lot on your word count.

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Good day, less hectic than yesterday, and now time to settle in for an evening’s writing, one of my favourite times of the day.

Flash Fiction Tip: If you’re planning to write a piece which has a twist ending or a humorous punchline, jot that down first and then work out what could lead to it. I find doing this means the twist or humorous punchline comes across more naturally and is more believable to a reader.

I often have ideas for this kind of ending to a story so have found “planning backwards” works a treat here. I have my ending, I know what has immediately led to it, I work out what has led to that and before I know it I am back at the beginning of the story.


It’s another hectic Monday (after a fabulous party weekend). Time to take a little time out and enjoy a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – True Friendship.

Beth feels Mary is a true friend after Beth’s break up with her ex but is Beth being honourable here?

 

I’m delighted to share the latest – and the last – installment of Seeing The Other Side, which is being serialised on CafeLit. I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories serlalised here. Plenty more to come when the book comes out next May. This will be my my biggest flash fiction collection to date and I am so looking forward to seeing it out there. Meantime, do enjoy the last crop of stories for now.

Have hosted a family party today. Great fun. Now, have you given thought to using parties as a backdrop to your flash fiction stories? Is your character at a party for themselves or someone else? How do they feel about being there? Can the party be a moment of change for your character?

Story ideas there, I’d say. Also open to mood here. This kind of tale could be funny or tragic. Or anything in between simply due to how your character feels about being at that party.

Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Books

Often when the weather is gloomy, or the news is grim (and right now both of those things apply), I will turn to what I consider to be my comfort books. It’s when I will often turn to Wodehouse, Pratchett, Austen, knowing I’m going to need something to make me smile.

Ironically, something to make me smile doesn’t preclude serious issues. Pratchett was a master of tackling these with humour in his Discworld series. (Do check out his Raising Steam. It has a strong take on terrorism especially that done in the name of faith).

One of the purposes of reading, for me, is to escape. I’ve never seen any harm in books written for “just entertainment”. Indeed, I feel there is a snobbery about books like this, which would include my own, and naturally I am against that. The important thing is people read. Some of my special memories are associated with books too so there is comfort in them too.

Sometimes that is just what you need.

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Being Interviewed

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. One image in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones but added to by me thanks to the wonder that is Book Brush! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Has turned cold and bright here but Lady and I love autumn days like this. Writing going well. Had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group where we looked at linked flash. I’ve written more of that for my Seeing The Other Side. Good fun to do.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, Being Interviewed. This has come about because I am about to be interviewed for Writers’ Narrative in the forthcoming October edition about Short Form Fiction. More news on that next week.

Meantime, this post shares hints and tips about preparing for interviews, even if you are not published yet, or if this kind of thing seems a long way off. There is much to learn from author interviews right now.

I also look at what I think makes for a good interview and discuss prep work needed by interviewer and interviewee alike.

Hope you find the post useful.

Being Interviewed

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Another lovely autumn day at the park for Lady and I. We hope to catch up with her best buddy tomorrow.

Writing wise, don’t forget my post on Being Interviewed, which is full of useful tips, will be out on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

It’s also not long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative is due out but, meantime, why not check out the current issue, which is full of useful information about publishing. 

 

Hope today has gone well. An odd one for me as today would have been my late parents’ wedding anniversary. Lovely autumn day, another one of the kind Lady and I love though, so a joy to get to the park though we didn’t see any doggy chums today. Also looking forward to ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. It was good!

Will be sharing Being Interviewed on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I share tips and thoughts on handling interviews which will be useful, even if you have not been published yet and this kind of thing seems a long way off. (It may well come around sooner than you think!). See above – and I was glad I prepared for interviews ahead of actually having them. It paid. See CFT for more.

Writing Tip: You know your character. You know what drives them. Do you know what kind of vocabulary they would use? Would they have any pet phrases which could reveal something about them? Do they have any pet phrases which others could use “at them”? I can think of some my late parents did use with me. Am not saying what! But you could use this kind of thing to give even greater depth to your characters and make them seem more real to your readers.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction is taking a short break from submissions and won’t take any until after 3rd October. Do see the screenshot and I hope all at FFF enjoy a well earned break.

But if you want a great read do check out the link as there is plenty to enjoy here.

In other news, I’ve booked my ticket for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in December. It will be great to catch up with fellow flash fiction and short story writers here. Looking forward to this already. 

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out next week. I share tips, flash fiction story links, news, and much more. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

A huge thank you to all of my subscribers – the support is much appreciated.

There is another flash fiction competition I want to make sure I have a go at before the end of the year so hope to start work on a piece for this over the weekend.

Also delighted the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday on the theme of linked flash went well. People had plenty of cracking ideas here and I hope they go on to write the stories up.

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What makes your character’s irritable, other than things like tiredness, not feeling well, overwork etc? What would happen if they had to face something which would trigger their irritable mood but they couldn’t react in the normal way they would do? Perhaps they are trying to impress someone so know they have to rein the irritability in somehow.

How do they do it? Does it pay off? If they can’t keep the irritability in, how would the other character react? Would they prefer your lead character to just be honest in the first place?

Definite story ideas there.

Fairytales with Bite – Celebrations

Shortly, I’ll be hosting a family celebration – everyone is looking forward to it – but what would this kind of thing look like in your setting, especially if magic is involved or could be involved? I must admit I love the opening of The Lord of The Rings with Gandalf’s fireworks. Rightly these are spectacular.

So how would your magical characters celebrate anything? How would the governing powers arrange state celebrations (or commemorations for that matter. Sometimes a commemoration can involve an element of celebration especially if you are recalling a moment of deliverance, say).

Would your characters use magic or any other form of power they have to help with their celebrations? Are certain powers only used for this kind of thing and who developed these things and the rules for their usage?

How long do the celebrations go on for and does everyone have a good time (I personally would hope they would!)?

This World and Others – Official Events

Linking with Fairytales with Bite above, how would official events be run? Are these all sombre occasions or is there a mixture of celebratory and commemorative events? What would be the history behind these things? Is magic involved in running these events of would that be deemed inappropriate if, say, one event involved remembering the misuse of magic and the consequences of that?

Are all of your characters pleased to take part or witness these commemorative/official ceremonies or do any of them see it all as a waste of time/public money/both? Do any of your characters protest/otherwise try to disrupt these things and, if so, what are the consequences? Would the “general public” (in whatever forms they are!) be against for for them?

Are there events your characters feel should be commemorated officially but are not and, if so, why was that decision taken and by whom and can it be changed?

Story ideas there!

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WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

As I shared the September 2025 issue above, I thought I’d pick out a back issue for this spot. All great reading.

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