Tag: Allison Symes – YouTube channel

Author Interview Questions and Ghost Stories

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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 my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today, Janet Williams, for taking the image of me at the 2023 Hiltingbury Book Fair.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Glad to see some wonderful autumn weather with plenty of sun and a nice temperature. Lady off to a great start this week having a riotous time with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback.
Writing wise, am looking forward to sharing a wonderful interview with Ruth Leigh on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. There will be another great interview with Anita D Hunt the week after. Plenty to look forward to and lots of useful information for any writer.
And I can confirm I will be going to the Hiltingbury Book Fair next month.

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Facebook – General

Lady was delighted to see her Hungarian Vizler pal this morning. Lovely time had by both dogs. Another lovely autumn day too here.

Don’t forget I’ll be talking with Ruth Leigh about her new book, The Further Adventures of Isabella M Smugge, on Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today. There will be plenty of useful tips too – so be sure not to miss it.

Looking forward also to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Always good fun and it has been wonderful to hear how group members have had work published and/or broadcast on North Manchester FM when Hannah Kate puts out the call for theme related flash fiction to be sent in.

Well done, everyone, and keep up the good work!

 

Lady has had a fabulous start to her week having a wonderful time with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback. As well as running around and play fighting like the overgrown pups they are, they gave each other cuddles too. Very sweet to see.

Writing wise, I’m busy preparing various interviews for Chandler’s Ford Today and there will be more to come in October, I’m glad to say. There is always plenty to learn from these, I find, and they’re great fun to conduct.

Writing Tip: Whether you’re published singly or a number of times, or even if you’re not published yet, look at the questions posted in author interviews and work out how you would answer them if someone posed them to you. It will make you think in more depth about what you write and get you used to talking about what you do.

I did this early on in my career and worked out what I would say. I found that enormously helpful especially in overcoming nerves. I knew I had something I could say and that helped a lot. Plus you learn a lot from the tips and advice writers share in these things. I always ask authors to name three top marketing tips as we can all learn from that and no one writer can know them all.

460226249_10162248915762053_570811761049776159_nHope the weekend has gone well. Lovely autumnal weather here. I enjoy days like these. Lady does too. Pleasant, not too hot etc.

Many thanks for the lovely responses to my post the other day about my taking part in the Hiltingbury Book Fair. Much appreciated. More on the event nearer the time.

My author newsletter will be out again before you know it. If you’d like to sign up for news, tips, story links etc, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing Tip: Know your character. Know them well enough for whatever length of story you write. For flash, I need to know less than, say, a novelist would need to know but I still need to know enough. Above all, I do need to know what drives them and makes them tick. That underpins their attitudes and actions/reactions.

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Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. Not bad here. Got the lawn cut. Always looks good for it.

Am delighted to say I’ll be interviewing the lovely Ruth Leigh for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. My post, Catching Up with Ruth Leigh: The Further Adventures of Isabella M Smugge, goes out on Friday.
Since we last talked on CFT, Ruth has had two other books out (A Great Deal of Ingenuity and The Unexpected Book of Poetry) and we’ll be discussing how those came about, as well as celebrating Ruth’s new Isabella book. Isabella is one of those characters for whom it is true once you’ve met them you don’t forget them. That’s always a sign of a great character in my view. More to come nearer the time and I’m looking forward to sharing the interview.

And if you love author interviews, as I do, I’ll have another fabulous chat the week after, this time with Anita D Hunt where we’ll talk about her domestic noir novel, Behind The Curtain. Much to look forward to in both interviews.

Last but not least, I’m delighted to say I’ll be taking part in the Hiltingbury Book Fair again. The date is 19th October and I will share more news on this as and when I get it. It was a huge success last year and naturally everyone will hope it is again this time.

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Facebook – From Light To Dark and Back Again

Many thanks to all who have subscribed to my YouTube channel. I create flash fiction videos (using Book Brush for the video element and my imagination for the rest!) and usually put a new tale up every Monday. New subscribers are always welcome.

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It’s that day of the week again. The day Garfield the cat hates with a passion – Monday. I’ve not yet met anyone who is especially keen on it. By my reckoning, it’s time for a story then.

Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – First Trip Out. If there’s a moral to this one it is to be wary of Granny’s recipes especially when she can’t recall where she got them! But does my character, Bill, follow that advice? Umm… no. Find out what happens here.

 

One of the joys of being published with Chapeltown Books was having some input into the covers for From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic. All of the flash fiction books published by Chapeltown are square books (ideal for gifts!) but there is a central image to the front cover.

For my first book, I deliberately went for a ripples picture. I think this apt for flash fiction as a whole given flash infers so much and there are ripples coming out from the stories as a result. It is one of the aspects to flash I adore because I like to work things out when I am reading stories by other authors. I just need the right clues to be able to do that.

With flash, I don’t have a lot of time and space in which to plant said clues (often I only get to plant one but it is key as you would expect). Readers don’t get much time in which to work things out but I love the challenge of that myself when I am reading flash by other writers. It is a good challenge!

 

I’m going to be taking part in the Hiltingbury Book Fair again next month as I mentioned over on my author page. This time I’ve opted to give a short talk and a reading or two from my books as part of this event. I have found before demonstrating what flash fiction is by reading some out is a great way to encourage sales. Naturally I hope it will do that again this time!

There was a good range of authors and genres at last year’s event. I hope that will be the case again. Certainly I happily enjoyed representing the short story and flash fiction forms last time and am looking forward to doing so again.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Ghost Stories

Earlier this week, I was sorry to hear about the death of Kenneth Cope who famously played the role of the ghost detective, Marty Hopkirk, in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). It was known as My Partner The Ghost in the USA. It was a great series.

This led me to thinking about ghost stories generally. Now I know next month (October) would probably be a more appropriate time for this post but I would like this one to be a kind of tribute to a great show. It was quirky, it was different, and I loved it. I still love quirky and different stories and shows. I write quirky fiction too.

For me the ultimate ghost story does have to the classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What I love most of all I think about this is the ghosts, while scary (especially the Ghost of Christmas Still To Come), have a positive role. They are on a redemption mission and I feel it is appropriate to be reminded of that at Christmas. As a Christian I see the link to the redemption story of Jesus whose birthday I celebrate then. But I like the fact the ghosts aren’t just there to scare. They do have something to do. The story wouldn’t work without them.

For any story to work well, the characters have to be believable. One way of doing that, of course, is to ensure they have every reason to be in the story and no reason NOT to be in it. Dickens does this brilliantly here. (I’d also argue the hardhearted Scrooge is far scarier than the ghosts by the way).

So, yes, even ghosts have to have a reason to be in a story and I like the fact it isn’t always about scaring people. Sometimes it is to help them. I’ve written the odd short story on this theme myself and loved doing so.

Screenshot 2024-09-14 at 17-55-23 Allison Symes's Blog - Ghost Stories - September 14 2024 09 55 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the June 2024 edition of the magazine which had poetry as its theme. My article here looked at The Links Between Poetry and Flash Fiction Writing.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Music, Character Tips, and Flash Fiction News

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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 Julia Pattison for the image of me at Swanwick 2023 above.
Hope you have had a good weekend. It was the last summer bank holiday in most of the UK. Weather got better as it went on, which was nice. Lady doesn’t understand bank holidays though. Misses her friends given normal routines tend to get dropped including by us. Writing wise, I was glad to have received a commended for my story, Demanded, in the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition. Am resting another story for another competition. Hope to submit that over this weekend.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have a good day. Bank holiday weeks always feel a bit odd, as if you’re missing a day or are a day out somehow.

Pleased to say Friday Flash Fiction is now open again for submissions. Have just send a story in. Have another story I want to send in for a competition later this week. Plus Hannah Kate is putting out calls for stories for her Autumn Equinox show on North Manchester FM again. Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for flagging that one up. Do follow the link for more details.

Now this is one area where I do always use Zoom to record my stories because I want to make sure my tales do come in at under Hannah’s timing limit and it is the best way I know of doing just that. Good luck if you are having a go at sending something in. Hope to have a crack at this myself later in the week.

Autumn Equinox Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

Screenshot 2024-08-27 at 19-52-56 Autumn Equinox Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM - Hannah KateHope you’ve had a good Monday (and made the most of the bank holiday if that applied). I’ve enjoyed listening to Classic FM’s Movie Hall of Fame today (26th August 2024) where they counted down the top 100 film themes voted for by listeners.

I voted for The Lord of the Rings soundtrack and was pleased that hit the top spot again. Epic book, epic film, epic soundtrack. Classic stories stay with you, as does classic music. I can’t say a specific piece of music has ever inspired me to write a story but maybe I should try that sometime. It would be a sound prompt!

Character Tip: What kind of music does your character like most and why? Is it something they’ve always loved or something they developed a taste for (the latter is the case for me with classical)? Do they find music helps them to unwind and what would they need to unwind from? I’m sure there are story ideas there!

457214661_10162170743762053_2434117636414299628_nHope you’re having a good Sunday. Lovely service this morning. Quiet day the rest of the day. Just what the doctor ordered etc.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again next week. I share news, tips, story links and much else. If that is of interest please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Also, many thanks to those who signed up to the newsletter at Swanwick recently.

I outline my characters but never use all of the information I trigger doing this in the story itself. What it does do is give me enough information to be able to write my characters with conviction. I know what they’re going to be doing and why, so away I go on my first draft. I know I need to know my characters well enough to be able to drop them right in it in whatever situation I choose and that is so much fun!

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Many congratulations to Tom Baldwin who won the Friday Flash Fiction competition with his story, Wedding Day. Congratulations also to the runners-up and those who were Highly Commended and Commended. I was delighted to find my tale, Demanded, is one of the Commended ones. Nice start to the long weekend!

I’ll be discussing Random Generators for Chandler’s Ford Today on 30th August. I use these often because I am always looking for ways into creating story and/or character ideas. I use a variety of these things and have found them all useful. Link up on Friday.

A huge thanks for the great response to yesterday’s CFT post about Swanwick. (Am already looking forward to Swanwick 2025).

Screenshot 2024-08-09 at 09-38-35 Demanded by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

May I welcome all who have subscribed to my YouTube channel, especially since I see the numbers have gone up. Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the stories I share here. If you’re interested in subscribing, just follow the link.

I usually put a new story up on Mondays. It’s good fun to do. I use Book Brush for creating the video – lovely and easy to do too. Having my own channel makes for a nice, visual media addition to my marketing and I also use it to advertise flash fiction and all it can be.

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It’s Monday. Okay for a lot of the UK it is the summer bank holiday but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Perfect Timing.

 

F= Fun format to write for and it helps you to learn to write tightly and to not fear editing.

L = Less is more is the anthem for flash fiction writers – you have to be selective as to what you show a reader.

A = And if you like creating characters, as I do, this is the form for you as you need loads of them!

S = Succinct storytelling, giving readers only what they need to know and allowing them to infer plenty for themselves.

H = Has various divisions – the dribble (50 worders), the drabble (100 words), micro (usually under 300 words), plus the 500 and 750 word forms – there will be at least one to suit you.

Flash Fiction focuses on THE important aspect of a character's life

Not a great day to be out and about here – has chucked it down for most of the day. Not that this worries Lady. She dries quickly. It is a good day to be indoors writing and reading though!

I like to be inside my characters’ heads for all of my fictional work. I have got to understand where they’re coming from, even though often I don’t approve of their actions and attitudes at all. One huge advantage to outlining a character is you do get to understand them. I’ve found it helps me to portray them realistically, even if they’re a fantasy creature.

In my Time for Some Peace (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) I write this from a mother dragon’s viewpoint and her actions are understandable based on what I’ve shown you about her. But I outlined that bit in a line or two before I wrote the story up.

Goodreads Author Blog – Next on the TBR Pile

Working out what to read next is probably the reader’s most difficult dilemma though it is a lovely one to have. I mix up reading novels with short story and flash fiction collections. I also mix up the genres I read. I also like to mix up the mood of what I read. I also mix up reading classic and contemporary.

At the moment I’m happily reading some of P.G.Wodehouse’s works as I want a lighthearted read. Am loving getting into the stories of Jeeves and Wooster again. Am currently reading Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen and I was delighted to come across a reference to Blandings Castle, the scene of some of my favourite Wodehouse stories with the lovely Lord Emsworth and the wonderful Uncle Fred.

Not just here but in series books, I love those little “nods” to other places the author writes about. I see this a lot in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld too. In the fabulous Maskerade (a spoof of opera and The Phantom of the Opera especially), the Lancre witches come to Ankh-Morpork where so many of the other Discworld novels are set. I love links like that and often I will find my dilemma about what to read next is solved because having read Maskerade again, for example, I wold probably go on to re-read one of the Sam Vimes books, the common link here being that fabulous fantasy city.

Screenshot 2024-08-24 at 17-57-56 Allison Symes's Blog - Next on the TBR Pile - August 24 2024 09 57 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time, I share the first edition of the magazine – the August 2024 one. I talked about Boost Your Writing With Flash Fiction. Now that will be a topic which will always be close to my heart, pen, laptop etc!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Phrases and Using Repetition Effectively

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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’ve had a good weekend. Strange weather so far – storm force winds, rain, blazing sunshine, and hail. That was just on Monday! Hope things are better with you.
Am busy prepping a story for submission to a competition and hope to get that out later this week. Almost there on it but I want a final read through on it, after a gap of course, to make sure I’ve missed nothing. Will be discussing History – Fact and Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Looking forward to sharing that.

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Facebook – General

Better day weather wise today. Much appreciated by Lady, her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum, and their owners!

Already looking forward to being at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. I’ll be running a two part course there (on editing) and taking part in some volunteer run items too.

I sometimes use known phrases in a story rather than as the title. One of these tales is The Power of Suggestion (Tripping The Flash Fantastic). Now I know that’s a well known phrase in itself but it wasn’t the main one I was writing to for this story.

Instead the phrase I use within this tale is there’s a sucker born every minute and I was “hanging” my story around that thought. I go on to repeat that phrase towards the end of the story for deliberate emphasis.

I know. You’d think within a limited word count format, the last thing you’d want to do is repeat phrases. Sometimes though it can be so effective and pack a punch to do so and that was the idea for repeating the phrase in this tale.

So if you are thinking about repeating a phrase within a story, especially in the short forms, give due thought as to why you are doing it.

Also sometimes a direct repeat would be less effective in producing an impact on a reader than if you used a paraphrase.

So think about what would have the biggest impact on your reader here. What would make them react the most? I use that as my judgment call here.

436429751_870673985072464_3161695335123637717_nIt has been a strange Monday. Blazing sunshine, heavy rain, storm force winds, and an almighty hail shower all by 3 pm today. Lady and I were glad to be indoors though earlier this morning she was delighted to see her Hungarian Vizler pal. Must admit I was hoping to be ditching my boots by now for more seasonal wear. Alas, that isn’t going to happen for a while. Am so glad writing is something I can do in the warm!

Writing Tip: Back up your work to more than one place. It’s incredibly easy to forget to do it. I once lost an evening’s work thanks to a power cut which went on for ages. I managed to recall a lot of what I’d written but I was so cross with myself over this.

Now I back up to my laptop, my memory stick, a separate external hard disk, and to Dropbox. I’m probably over compensating here (!) but I’m not being caught out again on this one.

Back up your work in more than one wayDon’t forget my author newsletter comes out on the first of each month. If you’d like to sign up for news, tips, story links and more, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

A huge hello to all of my subscribers here.

Also subscribers are always welcome to my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@allisonsymes

I usually put up a new video on here on Mondays. Well, I think it can be a great way to start the working week! Will be writing this week’s story shortly after I’ve written this post. Sunday afternoons is one of my top times for getting more flash fiction written.

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Hope your weekend is going well so far. Great to see the sun out (again! Am making the most of it too!).

Will be sharing History – Fact and Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. This topic came about as I’ve recently presented a PowerPoint on how two authors (Josephine Tey and Philippa Langley) have used fiction and non-fiction respectively to show Richard III in a different light than the usual Shakespearian version. My post will look at the joys of historical fiction and non-fiction and I will also be sharing a few of my other favourite reads. Post up on Friday.

I’ve written some historical flash pieces too which has also inspired my CFT post but the great thing with flash is, because it is character led, you can have great fun with genres here. I’ve written crime flash, ghost flash, fantasy flash, historical flash, slice of life flash and much else besides. Only limitation is that upper word count of 1000 words. But you can do a lot with 1000 words.

Flash encourages you to focus on what you really need to show a reader. That’s a good thing. No room for purple prose here so flash also helps you with editing as you learn to look for what is relevant and must stay and what isn’t.

Less is More is the theme for flash fiction writers

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

One of my reviews for From Light to Dark and Back Again contains the sentence ‘My favourite line in the collection – the perfect crime is the one ‘where nobody realises a crime took place’!’

Many thanks to the reviewer here. All reviews appreciated!

That story is Punish The Innocent and I loved the idea of taking the usual idea of punishing the guilty and turning things around here. Flash is a fantastic form for twist endings/humorous endings/both! I love writing this kind of story and it works out the range goes from funny to dark, depending on the nature of the twist.

I do play fair with readers though. There are always clues in the story so if you go back through it you will find how the twist fits in. This is where my outlining comes into its own because it makes sure I do place the clues in the right place to feed the twist properly. Outlines don’t have to be chapter and verse. Often for my flash pieces, it’s just a paragraph or two but it keeps me on track and is a great aid.

 

It’s Monday. I’ve had most of the available weather types in one day here where I am. I have to look at the calendar to remind myself it is April! Definitely time for a story then.

Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Jam Today. Will Margery finally beat Wilma in the village show competition and just what is that on Mrs Anderson’s chocolate cake? Find out here.

 

I’m going to be talking about some of my favourite writing exercises for a future Chandler’s Ford Today post. Will share more on this nearer the time but I would estimate 90% of all of my flash fiction is written thanks to a prompt from an exercise!

I love writing exercises, find they challenge me and I just love the fun of responding to that challenge. I must admit I think the toughest one to do is the middle line one where you have to plan to get to that point and plan again to get to the ending. I find it easier to either start from an opening line or know where the end is thanks to having a closing line as a prompt.

Good practice to have a go at all three and the various other exercises available. I find they stretch my creativity and the possibilities can be tremendous from the different exercises available.

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Had a nice surprise the other day in that WordPress notified me I have now written 1000 posts on my blog with them (which is part of my website). I don’t tend to keep a tally of things like that so it was nice to get the notification. Where has the time gone? I update my blog twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) usually.

If you want to find out more about what I’ve written here do check out my blog page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/blog/

Do check out my older posts on the blog page. Plenty of writing tips there.

You can also sign up to my newsletter on this page (just scroll down to the bottom of a post to find the Mailchimp details) as well as go directly to my landing page. (I share news, tips, links to my online stories and more here).

Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group later this month where I’m planning to look at genres and flash.

Have got a draft story potentially for the Bridport Prize. Hope to be looking at that again tomorrow and to be sending it in by the end of the month. (Deadline is 31st May but I do follow my own advice about taking a couple of weeks off a deadline and using that as my send in date instead. Means I don’t miss anything!). I love the way they describe flash as being “the art of just enough”. That sums up flash fiction so well.

Screenshot 2024-04-13 at 17-20-03 Flash Fiction - Bridport Prize

Goodreads Author Blog – Working Out What to Read Next

Do you ever have problems working out what you’re going to read next? I must admit to being a bit “naughty” in that I don’t necessarily read in strict chronological order from my always large To Be Read pile, whether is the old school print pile or the electronic one on my Kindle!

I don’t have this issue if I’m reading a series. I’ll just follow on.

When not doing that, I will go by my mood. If I’ve just enjoyed a crime story, I may well read another one straight off the back of the first one. However, I never read more two books in a row in the same genre.

After two, I want to ring the changes a bit. At the moment, I’m on my second non-fiction book in a row so when I come to the end of that, I will go for fiction again. I’ve not decided yet what the genre will be.

In between novels, I will read short story and flash collections before resuming novel reading again. Then it will come full circle and I will be back to the non-fiction. I am keen to make sure I have a good balance of reading material and like to mix up classic and contemporary here as well.

Why limit your reading after all?

Screenshot 2024-04-13 at 17-36-47 Working Out What To Read Next

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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CafeLit, Resting Stories, and the Influence of Music

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Also hope the storms have not caused too much damage – feel so sorry for those who’ve lost power. Hope all is restored soon. Glad to report publication news and Lady having a great time with her best friends – a good start to this week anyway.

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Facebook – General

How long should you rest a story before coming back to edit it? There is no definite answer to this as far as I know though the longer the work, the longer the rest period. You really do need to come back to a piece and read it with fresh eyes.

I find with my flash fiction and short stories a week to ten days is enough but a novelist will need considerably longer than that. After all you have immersed yourself in the world of your novel and it will take you a while to come out of that world so you can then assess it objectively. With short stories and flash fiction, you enter the story world quickly. You come out of it again quickly.

I have always found though that the time away is invaluable in spotting errors. I have no idea why I don’t see them after immediately writing the story but the fact is I don’t. I need that break away to spot things like typos, grammatical errors, but also where I’ve missed words out. That is so easily done. Your brain fills in what you mean to say and you can assume you’ve typed it. Err…. No. Not necessarily. Only coming back to the story after a break makes this kind of error stand out – and we all do it.

So don’t see the rest period as a waste of time. It’s far from that. It can help you get your story right and give it a better chance of being published. Besides which, I get on and draft more stories or blogs during that rest period. Well, there’s always something to write up, which is how I like things to be.

Editing takes time, you need more than one sweep

Hope your week has got off to a reasonable start, despite the storms raging in the UK at the moment. Monday night is story night. Coming up on my book page shortly will be my YouTube video for this week (see further down) but right here and now I’m pleased to say I have another story published on CafeLit.

Hope you enjoy An Unexpected Alliance. CafeLit like writers to assign a drink to their stories. I’ve selected raspberry tea for mine – can be sweet, can be tart! I thought it apt for this story. See what you think.

Screenshot 2024-01-22 at 17-47-46 An Unexpected Alliance by Allison Symes raspberry tea

Hope your weekend is going well. Busy week coming up. Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday. And I’m off to the panto, Sleeping Beauty, on Thursday – oh yes I am! In between that I’m also off to a meeting on one evening and then the dentists for the usual checkup on another afternoon. Nobody wins it all, do they?!

Have a story to submit this week so will be working on the finishing touches to that later today. Plus there is another competition I’ve got my eye on – and an idea for – so need to get on with a first draft. But these are fun things to do and I can stay out of the wild winds doing them!

(Lady doesn’t respond that much to bad weather, she just gets on with it, though I have noted she can be more skittish when there are strong winds about. I understand toddlers are much the same. There’s a link here).

420070684_814180027388527_6694004179551173272_nHope you have had a good day. Glad to say it’s warmed up a bit here but I stress it is only by a bit!

Will be looking at Fairytales and Pantomime for Chandler’s Ford Today next week, ahead of my review of the performance of Sleeping Beauty, which I hope to put up the week afterwards. I am due to go and see this show with my lovely editor at CFT, Janet Williams, on Thursday. The Chameleon Theatre Group always put on a good show and their pantomimes are always a great laugh so am looking forward to this a lot.

Have been sorting out my bookshelves today. Pleased to say I’ve now got all of my books, including the anthologies I’ve been in over the years, all in one place. Next to them are books written (and signed for me) by friends. Have wanted to get these in one place for some time. So job now done and a perfect task to do on a chilly day. Still want to see more books by me up there though! (Am working on it before you ask…!).

The next edition of Writers’ Narrative will be out soon. Don’t forget you can subscribe for free. See the link.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope today has been okay. Am also hoping the forecast storm tonight isn’t as bad as the last one (Sunday night).

Writing Tip: Do make the most of a good old fashioned diary to help you plan out what you’ll write when. I find mine invaluable. I used the A4 ones but I find committing myself to getting something done by such and such a date means I am more likely to do it. It is like making an appointment with myself.

Notebooks are brilliant for writing exercises but you can’t beat a diary for scheduling. I also find the act of writing something down with old school pens again commits me to getting done what I would like to get done. I am also old school enough to want pens to come into the writing process somewhere!

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Do check out my author page on Facebook where I share my latest tale on CafeLit but you know what the drill is here on my book page on a Monday night.

It is indeed Monday. It’s stormy. It’s dark. There are signs of spring on the way (I’ve spotted daffodil shoots in my garden, hope the storms don’t blast them away!). But it is definitely time for another story.
My latest on my YouTube channel is Other Options Are Available. Hope you enjoy it.

Looking forward to the first ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting of the year on Wednesday night. Will be lovely to talk flash again! We’ll be looking at the topic of newness, apt for the first month of a new year.

It is worth exploring open topics such as newness for story ideas, by the way. You could take this in a few directions. For example, what is new in your character’s life and do they welcome that or not? Plus you can put your character in a situation new to them.

Other good topics could include breaking the rut (just how does your character do that?), opportunities (which and does your character take them?), and so on. A broad topic can be split down into separate threads, any one of which could be a story trigger.

Pleased to say Amazon have a very good offer on the paperback of my From Light to Dark and Back Again. See link for more details.

Does music influence what you write? I find classical doesn’t. What it does do is relax me and when I’m relaxed, I just get on and write. I find I write more too.

I haven’t yet used music in a story but it is always an option! I do like adding audio tracks to my flash stories on YouTube though. It is fun finding what I think will be an appropriate choice from the vast options YouTube give you (and no need to worry about copyright here either. Some pieces you do have to put an acknowledgement in your description of the video but there are so many where you don’t even have to do that).

If you haven’t come across my channel here, please check it out at the link. I’ll be adding another story to this on Monday. See above.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Value of Story Collections

I write for story collections as well as having my own flash fiction books out with Chapeltown Books. So I appreciate story collections and have a number on my shelves, including those I have not written for.

I love novels. I love short stories. I love mixing up reading longer work with shorter work. I think short story and flash fiction collections are invaluable additions to my book shelves. Story collections are perfect for dipping into, especially when you don’t have as much time to read as you would like. It happens.

From my viewpoint as a writer, I have found at book events, it is easy to share a little bit from my collections to show what flash fiction is and can be. I’ve made sales that way! People love being read to and indeed I love this myself.

So when you are wondering what your next book should be, why not turn to the shorter form and try out a collection or two? They are also excellent for introducing you to other writers. I’ve come across great writers, whose works I’ve loved, this way.

Screenshot 2024-01-20 at 20-04-34 The Value of Story Collections

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Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023

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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. A huge thank you to all who shared pictures from the Bridge House Publishing celebration event with me – full details in the Chandler’s Ford Today post – but thanks, all!
Hope you have had a good week. Almost there with Christmas preparations. Loving joining in with the carols when played on Classic FM. (For the record my favourite carol is In The Bleak Midwinter but it has to be the Holst setting). Lady has got to play with a few chums this week and a new terrier pal called Freddie so she has had a good week.
Am winding down now for Christmas so my next round up post after this one will be on Friday, 29th December. For some reason I’m not going to be about to do one next Tuesday, Boxing Day! So that leaves me to wish you all a most blissful and happy Christmas and hopefully catch up with you again on the 29th.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s always a joy to write the pre-Christmas round up post for Chandler’s Ford Today. This week in my Festive Writing And Round Up 2023, I report on the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event, the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM, and I share some festive flash with you too. Hope you enjoy the post.

Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023

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Making more progress on Christmas prep work so that’s good. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal today. Two happy and tired dogs went home. Just what the doggy doctor ordered then!

Will be sharing a festive writing and events round up post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow plus I will be sharing festive flash as part of the post. I’ll also be sharing my write up of the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event as part of this too and the links to the Three Minute Santas show which went out last weekend. See above. You can see from the pics what a good time everyone had at the BHP event!

Looking a little further ahead, I will not be posting on 25th and 26th December for reasons which now escape me (!) and timings will vary as I disappear to have fabulous times with friends and family. I very much hope you get to do the same!

Meantime more writing and Christmas prep to do so best crack on!

Hope you’ve had a good day. More Christmas prep done today so am making progress at least. Lady got to play with her pal, Coco, and then later with a friendly terrier called Freddie. Good time was had by all.

Looking forward to sharing my festive post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Also looking forward to the Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom tonight for the Association of Christian Writers. Will be catching up on news. Christmas jumpers are optional. Will be good fun with or without said jumper! Am so pleased a number of us had festive flash broadcast last weekend on the Three Minute Santas show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM. Hope we can keep this going!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Will be resuming submitting stories to Friday Flash Fiction in the New Year given they are taking a well earned break after running their Christmas competition. Many congratulations to the winner and those who were listed.

I’ll probably share a flash fiction tale on my YouTube channel sometime next week but in the meantime if you would like to check out my other stories on there, you can do so at https://www.youtube.com/@allisonsymes

Festive flash is obviously a hot topic for me at the moment but the one thing I am always keen to avoid is any sense of tweeness. I’ve never liked it in any form of writing and, so help me, will not be guilty of it myself!

What I look to do is either write something which will make people smile/laugh (always a worthy aim, that!) or to give pause for thought (time for reflection at this time of year is also a good thing I find).

Will be taking a break over Christmas but will be sharing some of my festive flash for this year in my Chandler’s Ford Today post. Link up on that tomorrow plus I’ll be talking about the recent Bridge House event and sharing the links to the Hannah Kate radio show. So if you like festive flash, as I hope you do, please look out for that post tomorrow. See above.

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I do hope to create some festive flash after Christmas and before New Year but is likely to be just on my YouTube channel and on a different day. Will flag it if I get around to doing this.

Don’t forget the December issue of Writers’ Narrative is out and the theme is Finishing Strong. Well, it is an apt topic for the end of the year, is it not?

If you haven’t read it yet, you can check it out here.

Fairytales With Bite – Is Magic The Be All and End All?

The simple answer to that question is no. Magic can’t be the be all and end all, else all conflicts and problems in stories would be resolved by a quick wave of the magic wand. No drama in that!

Magic should be seen as a tool to be used wisely and where there are no alternatives. I believe that is its use in fairytales. Cinderella did need magical help to get to the ball for example. There were no alternatives.

I also like to see magic as having consequences (on the grounds any form of power has consequences if it is used for good or for ill).

So give some thought as to how your characters use magic, what they do instead of using magic, and what consequences they face when they do use it. For example, does using magic drain their mental powers (which could also have a major impact on what else they go on to do in the story).

Consequences should be something they’re aware of (or become so fast) as I would feel it a little unfair if the character didn’t know (or find out quickly). Also if they know what the consequences are it gives them the chance to go for other options and that will make for a more interesting story. A reader will also know when they do use magical power it is because they have no other choice.

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This World and Others – “Usual” Magic

What would your setting consider to be “usual” magic – I.e. what most in your setting would expect to see used on a regular basis? For example, is magic used where we use engineering? What we consider ordinary household gadgets such as the washing machine, would these be seen as magical in your setting or very basic?

Who would be the usual practitioners of any kind of magic? Are any species in your setting banned from using it? If so who, why, and is that ban enforced? What would happen if someone defied it?

Within your setting, what categories of magic exist? Can all species access magic to improve lives in their communities? Is some magic considered only to be used by the more important beings? (You can guess who brought that rule in!).

Are any restrictions placed on the use of any kind of magic for the benefit of the whole setting? Generally you don’t want beings firing magic at each other all the time and causing chaos. So what restrictions exist to prevent that from happening? What magic is considered acceptable to be used all the time?

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