Outlining and Prompts

October 8, 2024Leave a comment

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good few days. Looking forward to going to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering in Rugby at the end of the week. Will be good to catch up with folk. Am looking forward to the workshops too. Won’t be long before Flash NANO starts in November either. Have found that great fun to take part in over the last couple of years and am looking forward to being part of it again.

Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day and managed to avoid at least some of the rain. Mu gutters were doing their usual splendid impersonation of Niagara Falls at 9 am today! Thankfully it was dry when Lady and I went out and she did get to see her Hungarian Vizler friend, much to the delight of both dogs.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Miriam Drori about her new book, Loyalty and the Learner, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward also to my trip to Rugby on Saturday to join the Association of Christian Writers for their Autumn Gathering. Am hoping the weather will be better!

Writing Tip: I often outline my characters by interviewing them. A couple of pertinent questions gets the ball rolling nicely. Once I know the character well enough, I can write their story up. So I look at what motivates them (and from that, why). I also look at what secrets they might keep and why.

For example if my character is motivated by the need to be discreet, I would probably discover a secret from their past which is so horrendous, discretion has become second nature for them. I can then decide whether to reveal their secret and how they handle the outcome of that or take another route and get them doing something drastic to keep that secret. Either would be a good story to write up.

7th October
A deeply sad day.

Writing wise, I’m working on blogs, editing, judging, as well as flash fiction at the moment. Enjoying it all too. I find writing therapeutic at times in terms of it giving me a creative outlet and I escape for a while into the world I create. Reading helps me escape into worlds other writers create – love that too.

Having said that, I don’t always like what my characters get up to and some of them I definitely wouldn’t want to meet for real, so to speak. It is the way of things but I also take comfort from the fact my characters should have a life of their own, else they would only be cardboard cutouts. Nobody relates to those.

Drizzly but clearing up here today. Hope your weekend has been a good one.

Busy editing and judging at the moment. Will be enjoying flash fiction Sunday afternoon too today.

Character Creation Tip: It’s not unknown for authors to base their characters on aspects of themselves. Well, you draw on what you know here, right? True but I’d be wary about doing this if writing horror, erotica or even crime! You do want to separate the author from their work!

My approach is to take what I know about human nature/behaviours – and specifically what can result from a trait – and ask myself questions especially the What If one. The What If question is useful for getting an outline/rough idea together. I look at what a character would do and why.

Knowing the why is important for me because I can then write the story up with confidence knowing where it and its characters are going. The why makes motivations understandable (though not necessarily nice).

Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. I’m looking forward to going to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering next Saturday. Looking forward to catching up with people and enjoying the workshops.

On Chandler’s Ford Today next week, I’ll be chatting to fellow Swanwicker, Miriam Drori, about her new novel, Loyalty and the Learner. Looking forward to sharing that.

Writing Tip: What have I found to be the most useful piece of writing advice I’ve picked up over the years? I’d say it was to write first and to edit later and that’s it’s okay to write a rubbish first draft. Everyone does! Just get those ideas down and then come back to them, after a suitable break away to evaluate them properly and then do the inevitable tidying up work which needs to be done.

The time away from your first draft is vital to be able to judge it properly but I use that time away to go and draft something else. I can then rest that one and come back to the first piece. It means I always have something on the go. I like that.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting in a couple of weeks. Will be looking at how to make the most of Flash NANO, which stars on 1st November, and I’ll be sharing tips on how to make the most of writing prompts. I’m writing on prompts again for Authors Electric this month (due out on 18th October).

I use a wide variety of prompts. It keeps things interesting for me but it also means I’m not fazed when I’m set them by other writers. I know I can produce something. I can polish things up later and only I see the first draft!

I use the prompts directly but I often do put my own twist on them and get yet another idea. So if an opening line prompt says something like He wasn’t amused to get a parking ticket, I would change that to something like The alien wasn’t amused to get a parking ticket. I know I could have fun with that one!

It’s Monday. Time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Lighting Up. I expect many will identify with this one!

There are plenty of flash fiction competitions out there. A quick Google search will bring up loads of them. All of that is good news but do make sure you check out the terms and conditions and you are happy with these.

I never enter competitions which require me to sign away all of my rights (just what is in that for me?! I also may want to do something else with a the story in the future. Signing away my rights means I can’t do that).

I also check the entry fee is proportionate to the prize on offer. I also check out the competition’s website. Usually there are FAQs here which I find it pays to look at. The competition should be easy to find online. If they have a Facebook page, do check out the comments. If you’re not sure about a competition (a) walk away, you have to be comfortable with where you’re sending your work as you want it to reflect well on you and (b) do ask the writing community.

If you’re part of online writing groups do ask around here too. Someone is likely to be able to answer your query. Also the competition organiser should cover a lot of the common queries in their FAQs and, if not, be amenable to you putting a query to them.

Always walk away from those who don’t want to be helpful – you have to query why, right?

One reason I love writing something for Friday Flash Fiction most weeks is it gets me back to my first introduction, and therefore love of the flash fiction format, the classic 100 word story otherwise known as the drabble.

For flash competitions and markets, unless they want a specific word count, I write to just under the overall limit. I want to make the most of the word count room I have available. So if I have a 250 words limit and my story comes in at 150, I will save it for a competition or market which is looking for word counts of 200 words or fewer.

The reason for that is so I can make every possible use of the word count limit I have got. If I’ve got the room for that powerful line which shows something useful about the character it’s going in. Here it is a case of adding depth to the story and character.

No line will ever go in, regardless of word count, if it doesn’t add something useful to the story in some way but if I’ve got some extra room, I see it as a wasted chance if I don’t use it this way.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books With Impact

To an extent, all books have impact. The first impact is on you as the reader making you decide whether you loved the book or not. But when I talk about books with impact, I mean those stories which stay with you long after you’ve read them initially and which you will happily re-read at any time.

For me, this includes The Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, most of the back catalogues of Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett, and the classic fairytales.

What pleases me now is I’m increasingly adding non-fiction to that mix. It makes for an interesting “reading diet” and I would include most of Ben Macintyre’s books in the “will happily re-read” category.

I don’t mind the book format I use either. I mainly read paperbacks and ebooks with hardbacks every so often coming into the mix (but I have to be very sure of the author for those!).

The impact I look for in fiction is entertainment. For non-fiction it is in learning something new to me in a way that entertained me (and I welcome the development of creative non-fiction here because this is one of its strengths).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the September 2023 issue of the magazine which had marketing as its theme. Always a timely topic, that one! I have two pieces in here – Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines. And it really isn’t long to go now before the magazine is back with us again!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Books With Impact https://t.co/YRcBOtM4EQ via @goodreads Delighted to talk about books with impact for Goodreads. I look at what this means to me and name some of those authors whose works come into this category for me. Who would you nominate? pic.twitter.com/ZBSN6yXtB2
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 5, 2024

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It’s Monday. Time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Lighting Up. I expect many will identify with this one!https://t.co/HZmB9WETZa
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 7, 2024

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Publication News and The Perfect Ending

June 4, 2024Leave a comment

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good weekend. Week has got off to a great start with the news The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in there. More below on that. Also the June issue of Writers’ Narrative is out now too. Can’t believe we’re in June already but at least the weather is stating to play along with the idea we’re due some sunshine now!

Facebook – General

Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Three very happy dogs went home again after a lovely time in the park. Dogs know what matters!

Writing wise, I’m talking to Jenny Sanders again for Part 2 of a fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Her devotional book, Polished Arrows, was published recently and this week we’ll be talking about marketing, launches, the value of good supportive writing groups, and much more besides. Don’t miss! Lots of tips and useful thoughts here.

Now to give Amazon their due. I contacted them on Sunday to ask them to add The Best of CafeLit 13 to my Amazon Author Central page. I’ve found, from past experience, I need to give them the details and they add anthologies (because I’m not the publisher but am a contributing author). Anyway, it was done yesterday, well within 24 hours.

Have just added the book to my ALCS records too. I’ve found it pays to add new publications (books or articles where there is an ISSN number) as soon as I can to make sure I get it done. Will make a difference to my ALCS payment next year, which is the best incentive to get it done!

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My three stories in The Best of CafeLit 13 are Cinnamon Comforts, Untaken, and Sweet Dreams. It’s good to be back between the covers with old friends in this anthology and I’m looking forward to catching up with their works here, as well as checking out those authors new to me. I often do read anthologies as you might expect and find them to be a fabulous way to try out works by authors new to me. If I like their work, I will often then try their longer works. This is a great way to discover new writers.

I also like to read collections of short form works in between reading novels. I like to ensure I have a good reading diet of longer works and shorter ones. Anthologies make it so much more convenient to catch up with the latter!

Also if you are writing in the short form, reading books like this can count as part of your market research. It is always good to know what is already out there and from that you can work out where you would fit in. A publisher needs to know where you’d fit in with their lists and you need to be able to show them that you can.

Publication News (as you may have gathered from the above!)

Thrilled to say The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in here. Will say more about this during the next few days but just wanted to (a) share the news and (b) congratulate the other authors with work in here. Nice to see names and old friends here. Well done, all. (What is especially nice here is the stories are voted for by other CafeLit people so nobody can know their story is going to make the cut).

Will be sharing Part 2 of an in-depth conversation with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Next time we’ll be looking at launches, marketing, and more. Link up on Friday.

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my Unwelcome News, my latest Friday Flash Fiction tale. Just who is the worst here – Melissa or Stefan? Read the tale and see what you think. Link here. (Great fun to write).

Screenshot 2024-05-31 at 10-15-31 Unwelcome News by Allison Symes

Delighted to say the June edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is poetry this time and my article looks at The Links Between Flash Fiction and Poetry. There are more than you might think. I also include a flash fiction piece told in poetic form as I sometimes write stories this way and it can work well. I share some tips for doing this too.

My article is on Pages 14/15 but do check out the excellent pieces throughout. For one thing, you can find out if you know who your padawan is! Go on, you know you want to find out!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day.

Something I mention to members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is to look out for the short story competitions. Many of them either have a lower word count limit of 1000 words (making it the top end of the range for flash fiction writers but still do-able) or have a range of word counts for you to write to.

The Bridport Prize, for example, has a flash fiction category but also has a short story one. No reason why you couldn’t enter both with different tales should you wish.

Another one is the HISSAC Annual Open Short Story competition where they want short stories up to 2000 words and flash fiction up to 500. There will be other competitions out there who will do something similar. Worth watching for.

Competitions are great for making up face up to working to a deadline and if you get listed or win, even better!

It’s Monday. It has been a sunny one too. Still Monday though. Still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my Life Changing Moments. Those who came to the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting will recognise this as my response to a prompt I set.

Usually when I put my YouTube videos here, they are inserted into the page and you click and play. Not happening tonight. Please use the link above. Screenshot to just give you an idea but there is more to this story so do check the link out! Thanks.

The buzz of being in print never diminishes! The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out and I have three stories included. I also enjoy getting to update my records over on the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and on Amazon. This will be a lovely job to do later this week! Done. See above but most enjoyable tasks to do!

Will be getting on with some flash fiction writing today. Nice way to spend Sunday afternoons! I do more later in the week too but there is something about Sunday afternoons which helps with focus. Well, I know it helps me.

Favourite thing about creating a character? I think it is that moment when I think “yes, I know you, I’ve got where you’re coming from” because then I know I can write from their viewpoint effectively. I understand what drives them and what mistakes they’re likely to make. Once I’ve “got” this, I can’t wait to write their stories up and that is always a good sign.

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It’s that time of the month again – time for the author newsletter. A huge hello to those who have subscribed since last time and an enormous thanks to all who support me here. All much appreciated. The theme this time is questioning your characters, something I do all the time. It pays especially when you’re writing a lot of stories and need ways into coming up with characters all the time.

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Ending

Is there such a thing as the perfect ending to any story? The only reason I’m not sure about this is because all writers are human and we’re all fallible. No perfect writer = no perfect writing.

I know, looking back on my older stories, I can see ways of improving them thanks to things I’ve learned about writing craft and technique since that time. BUT you can improve on what you do. I can look back at those stories and know they were the best I could do at that time. So am reasonably pleased with them but am more pleased with improvements I have made since that time. Writing is always a case of developing your craft, I think.

For stories by other writers, what I look for is an appropriate ending for their characters’ stories. Yes, sometimes that ending can be ambiguous. (After all, tomorrow is another day from Gone With The Wind is a good example of that kind of ending). But it should be appropriate to all that has come before and as long as it has done that, I’m happy.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Screenshot 2024-05-31 at 16-55-29 Writers' Narrative June 2024

Screenshot 2024-05-31 at 16-55-58 Writers' Narrative June 2024

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Delighted to say the June edition of Writers’ Narrative is out. The theme is poetry. My article looks at The Links Between Flash Fiction and Poetry. I also include a flash fiction piece told in poetic form as I sometimes write stories this way.https://t.co/43xQd7Tuly
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 1, 2024

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It’s time for the author newsletter. A huge hello to those who have subscribed since last time and an enormous thanks to all who support me here. The theme is questioning your characters. It pays especially when you always need ways to invent characters.https://t.co/zqjQyPkKJp
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 1, 2024

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: The Perfect Ending https://t.co/HYH2jKEsZA via @goodreads I discuss whether there is such a thing as the perfect ending for any stories for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/6o3IzZqXBA
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 1, 2024

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Thrilled to say The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in here. Will say more about this during the next few days but just wanted to (a) share the news and (b) congratulate the other authors with work in here. Well done, all. pic.twitter.com/lwYcZi0LQh
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 2, 2024

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Gosh, where did Friday go? #bookreviews #interview #books pic.twitter.com/78amURPimA
— DancingThroughChaos (@jennyhsanders) June 3, 2024

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It’s Monday. It has been sunny too. Still time for a YouTube story. Hope you like my Life Changing Moments. Those who came to the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting will recognise this as my response to a prompt I set. https://t.co/67Ht9zeTk2
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 3, 2024

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My stories in The Best of CafeLit 13 are Cinnamon Comforts, Untaken, and Sweet Dreams. It’s good to be back between the covers with friends in this anthology. I’m looking forward to catching up with their works and checking out those authors new to me. https://t.co/Pmu009fd3x
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 3, 2024

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Questions and Answers In Writing

May 10, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good week. Lovely to have the temperatures matching the spring weather at last. Posts will be out at different times next week but am looking forward to my Scottish break. Will do hubby, dog, and I the world of good, as it always does.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Questions and Answers in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the value of a simple but timeless structure for writing, which works just as well for non-fiction as it does for fiction. I also share specific examples of good questions to ask for use in fiction and non-fiction respectively. Hope you find the post useful.

Questions and Answers In Writing

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The spring sunshine has finally turned up with a lovely temperature to go with it. Lady and I are loving this.

Will be looking at Questions and Answers in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above. Post will look at how these work for fiction and non-fiction. They do make a useful structure for your writing.

Writing Tip: Mix up how you find prompts for your writing. It keeps things interesting for you by keeping you on your creative toes. No bad thing that. I like to use a mixture of the random generators, story cubes, books of prompts, proverbs and phrases etc. I have written stories, many of which went on to be published, from all of these methods.

Hope you have had a good day. Proper spring weather at last – Lady and I loved it.

I’ve mentioned before I use random generators of various types to help trigger ideas. They are the modern equivalent of story cubes (and I use those too!). I had a quick look at the random question generator tonight and came up with What is one of the great values that guides your life?

Now that could make an interesting blog post or non-fiction article but it would have uses in fiction too. You could use this as a theme, deciding on the value in advance and showing that being played out through your story. You could get your character to answer the question directly and then backing it up with their actions. You could also have fun here by showing them failing to live up to what they said. What would be the fallout there? There would be some.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-worder, Artistic Inspiration. Talking of inspiration, this one is inspired by the old Tom and Jerry cartoons (which are always worth watching). Find out why via the link. Hope you enjoy the story.

Another great way to have fun with flash is to write what I call a “two-hander”. This is where one character is directly addressing another one who is reading what the first one has sent to them which is in the style of a letter, minus the usual greetings and yours sincerely bits etc.

My example of this is You Never Know from From Light to Dark and Back Again where my lead character is berating the unseen other character for envying them a luxurious life as a magical tour guide.

The story shows exactly why it is any thing but that. Would you fancy the Gollum special (the raw fish diet), for example, which my lead character has to have? Doesn’t matter if they get tired of it. Would you listen to Snow White’s advice to never eat anything red and glowing? (I can’t help but feel that is good advice outside of fiction as well!).

Fun to write but you need a strong lead character who has enough to say on the theme of the story and ideally does so with wit. (Nobody likes a whiner). You want your readers to end up sympathising with what the lead character is putting up with here. So think about who your two characters would be and how the second one would give the first one something to write to them about.

If you have a character with special powers or abilities, you do need to let readers know about this before any demonstration of those things.

In my Being Yourself (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), my character reveals what her special gift is, then demonstrates it, leading to a satisfying conclusion as she…. Well no spoilers here as ever but the point is I do set that special gift up ahead of showing it in action. To do anything else won’t ring true for a reader.

A reader will also need to understand why your character wants to use these gifts/powers. Doesn’t necessarily have to agree with the course of action being taken by the character but there has to be what I call good follow through in that a reader sees what is happening, understands why, and so the story will work for them.

Fairytales With Bite – Travels

How do your characters get around in your setting? Do they rely on broomsticks or do they have more sophisticated forms of travel? Do your characters regularly travel or is it something they only do out of necessity (such as with the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings)?

Are certain species banned from travelling and how did that come about? Is travel easy for most or only the reserve of the privileged few? Is magic used to power transport or is that saved for other more important things? You could have a combination of machines as we would know them with magical power saved for what cannot be done mechanically.

Which characters can fly directly? Which need to use a broomstick or other device? Can animals fly in your setting and would that be restricted to those who would normally be renowned for running such as the horse? (You could argue their flying would equal their running on the ground, they would just be “running” in the sky effectively).

Are there places in your setting where everyone loves to go? Where would they avoid and why?

This World and Others – Wonders

There are so many wonders on our planet, despite the ever grim news, it can be easy to miss them. From the glories of nature to the wonders of the universe above us (and getting to see even more of these thanks to the space telescopes) to the tiniest flower, there is much to wonder at and admire. But you do have to have an open mind and an appreciative heart to see this, I think.

So in your setting, do your characters see the wonders around them or do they take these for granted because they are always here? Would they suddenly realise how much these things mattered if they were taken away for some reason?

Wonders also span the scientific world in terms of discoveries in so many fields, including medicine. What would be the equivalent in your setting?

What is the view of your Joe Public here? Do they appreciate the wonders around them or do they need these pointing out? Who benefits the most from wonders where discoveries happen and new inventions occur? Do the benefits get down to the ordinary people?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Screenshot 2024-05-06 at 12-42-16 Writers' Narrative eMagazine May 2024

Screenshot 2024-05-06 at 17-13-52 Writers' Narrative eMagazine May 2024

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Tip: block out pockets of time where you will have brainstorming sessions for things like titles, opening lines, blog ideas etc. You will be glad of these later. pic.twitter.com/iEYcGouevV
— ACW (@ACW1971) May 8, 2024

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Writing Tip: I go through my notebooks regularly to see what I came up with for my brainstorming sessions. The ideas I still like, after time away from them, are the ones I then write up. pic.twitter.com/ThyZuihJxk
— ACW (@ACW1971) May 9, 2024

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Writing Tip: I like to mix up how I trigger ideas for blogs and stories. It keeps me on my toes. It’s fun too. Don’t forget the random generators, story cubes, books of prompts etc. I use them all. pic.twitter.com/ttf5NoROvp
— ACW (@ACW1971) May 10, 2024

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Artistic Inspiration, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/JMAXkd7VZb Pleased to be back on FFF with my latest 100-worder, Artistic Inspiration. This one is inspired by the old Tom and Jerry cartoons (always worth watching). Find out why via the link. pic.twitter.com/pzf9fCTVaV
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 10, 2024

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Questions and Answers In Writing https://t.co/Ldba3zApDC Delighted to share Questions and Answers in Writing for CFT. I look at the value of a simple but timeless structure for writing, which works just as well for non-fiction as it does for fiction. Hope you find the post useful pic.twitter.com/4Vcmrp87cM
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 10, 2024

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Faith In Stories

April 30, 2024Leave a comment

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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. Weather still chilly but sun is appearing more often. I’ll take that. Really enjoyed the play I went to see last week – review on that coming up on Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today. I have CFT to thank for introducing me to the joys of local theatre and National Theatre Live. Must try and catch some more of the latter again soon. I see theatre as enacted stories – another way of taking tales in.

Hope you have had a good day. Enjoyed a great swim this afternoon and caught up with friends there.

I’ll be reviewing Waiting For Gateaux, recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group, for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that.

Author newsletter goes out again tomorrow. (1st May 2024). How come it is the end of April already? (Lovely to see all the bluebells out in my part of the world though).

Writing Tip: If you do have or are thinking of having an author newsletter, do have items you can always share which will be useful to people regardless of whether or not you have any news to share.It pays to plan out what you will do with your newsletter long before you set one up. I have done this with mine and find it pays off.

I often find I have lots of items of news at once and then none at all for a bit so I will share what I have when I have got it but also share advice and tips useful to writers. There is no use by date on those!

Think about what you could talk about here as well – for example your writing process, what you have found useful to you, favourite stories of yours and why you like them and so on. You’re engaging with your readers directly here so make it fun and useful. I try to go for a bright cheery style with mine. Okay if you write horror, that style might not be so apt (!) but there has to be something of value to your readers for them to keep reading what you send out.

Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I’m talking about Faith in Stories where I look at having belief in the process of creating your tales. I share what the biggest single thing any writer can do to help themselves (reading, no surprise there) and discuss why it helps. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Nice quiet day here. Lovely way to wrap up the weekend.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter is out on 1st May. If you’d like to subscribe head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

When I draft a new story, I start with the character(s) but have different ways of bringing them into being. I use a simple template a lot where I jot down a name, their species (where apt), their main trait, and anything else I think I might need to know.

Sometimes I write down something I just know they would say or think and then work out what it is that makes me feel this because that will indicate the underlying trait of this character I will want to bring out more in the story itself.

Sometimes I write down a line of dialogue or internal thought and then work out what kind of character would come up with this. All are fun ways to create characters.

When it comes to competitions, especially those with a set theme, I like to work out what kind of character would best serve that theme. When there is an opening line competition, again I would work out what character would come up with this line, or if it is a description, what character would be noting this and then work out why it is important to them.

But for all stories, regardless of who writes them, for me it is all about the character. I have got to get behind them to want to read on and I take the view most readers will take the same view with my creations.

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Hope you are having a good weekend so far. Nice quiet one here. Lady got to see an old pal, Miller, today. Dogs do get so much from being with their pals.

Am looking forward to reviewing Waiting for Gateaux for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. Will also be having a smashing author interview coming up on CFT towards the end of May which will continue into the early part of June.

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on my most recent Friday Flash Fiction tale, Deception. In case you missed it, please see the link.

Also the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out soon. Do look out for it if you subscribe.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’m fond of poetic justice stories and flash fiction suits these well. You set up the situation. You show the character who is either on the receiving end of said poetic justice or is the one to dish it out. You finish by delivering on that justice in the last line.

One example of this is my The Circle of Life from From Light to Dark and Back Again. This one is just under 100 words and I get my character to share their story in the first person where they show you what they want to do something about and why and then finish with how they are going to do it. Let’s just say those on the receiving end of the plans here deserve it.

It was a fun and satisfying story to write and I hope readers like it but the important point here is if you have set something up in your tale, you must deliver on it. Else there is no point. What I love about flash fiction is the restricted word count means you do have to ensure everything in your story is necessary. You haven’t the space for anything irrelevant. This does wonders for your story pacing too.

It’s Monday. It’s been a long day. It’s time for a story. (Plus side it isn’t raining this week!). Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Something. The lead character may seem familiar to all fairytale lovers.

Am happily working my way through some of my own answers to exercises I set for the ACW Flash Fiction Group back in March for story ideas for my YouTube channel and Friday Flash Fiction. Am looking forward to tackling what I came up with for the April session in due course as well.

The March session involved possible opening and closing lines (two of my favourite writing exercises as my recent Chandler’s Ford Today post on the topic highlighted).

The April one saw the return of my character creation template and there are at least two possibles here I am keen to get to work on soon. When a character possibility grips you like that, it is a great feeling. Mind you, I feel the same way when I read a story by another author and I really “get” their character. Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is a classic example of that as are Jeeves and Wooster from P.G.Wodehouse’s fabulous works.

I was looking at genres and flash fiction for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Wednesday night. As flash has to be character led (no room for lots of scene setting basically so you must lead with characters), you can set those characters wherever and whenever you want. Those characters don’t have to be human either.

I also use a simple template to help me create some potential characters. I put those ideas aside for a while and then come back to them later. If the ideas still grab me after that break, I will write them up. I know there are at least two from Wednesday’s session I drafted I will come back to at some point. Looking forward to doing that.

But it is the time away from your jotted down ideas which matters. You need objectivity and time away from your notes helps you get that. The positive thing for notes like this and for draft flashes that time away doesn’t have to be a long one. I usually find a few days is enough. What matters is your being able to come back to your work and be able to see it as if for the first time. It is that which will help you see the strengths and weaknesses of your ideas. You can then of course do something about the latter.

Goodreads Author Blog – Holiday Reading

Am looking forward to a break away in May but I already know what my holiday reading will be. It will be whatever I am currently reading on my Kindle. The ebook comes into its own for this kind of thing, of course. No packing of heavy books. No limitation on what you can take to read either. All I must remember to do is pack my charger (especially since it does my phone as well!).

I don’t read what is normally known as holiday reading. Not really my genre though I can appreciate why the lighter reads are wanted for the summer season. (They’re even more important to cheer people up if the weather is a wash out as it can be in the UK).

For me, my light reads are the humorous books I love – Wodehouse and Pratchett works especially. I usually get to listen to some Pratchett audio books on the journey to and from my destination so get some extra stories in that way.

All counts as holiday reading in my book, some pun intended! I’m just listening to the tales rather than reading them but audio books are fantastic inventions. I get to take in even more stories and revisit old favourites -nothing to dislike about that.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Holiday Reading https://t.co/h400kIQIXO via @goodreads I share the joy of ebooks and audio books for holiday reading for Goodreads this time. pic.twitter.com/RY2z7LZrIT
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 27, 2024

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In today's More than Writers post, @AllisonSymes1 gives helpful tips on how to have faith in the writing process https://t.co/mpQflrM2WM
— ACW (@ACW1971) April 29, 2024

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Something https://t.co/2ZU1F32Wqr via @YouTube

It’s Monday. It’s been a long day. It’s time for a story. (Plus side it isn’t raining this week!). Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Something. The lead character may seem familiar to all fairytale lovers.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 29, 2024

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More than Writers: Faith in Stories by Allison Symes https://t.co/4zmAyfLEfl For my Faith in Stories, I look at having belief in the process of creating tales. I share what the biggest single thing any writer can do to help themselves (reading, no surprise) and why it helps. pic.twitter.com/l9gDmWu1VW
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 29, 2024

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My Top Five Writing Exercises

April 26, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good week. I’ve had a busy one with the ACW Flash Fiction Group and a lovely trip to see the latest production from my local excellent amateur theatre company. Review to follow on CFT in due course. All I will say is with the title being Waiting For Gateaux I was expecting some laughs. Lady got to see her friend Coco the other day for the first time in ages and both dogs were very happy to see each other. Dogs are lovely like that.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Had a lovely time at Ritchie Hall for Waiting For Gateaux last night. Review to follow for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course.

Meantime, I’m pleased to share My Top Five Writing Exercises as my CFT post this week. If you would like to try writing exercises to help with your story creations etc but don’t know where to start, why not try out the five I list here? I use them all regularly. There are many other exercises available but these are the ones I use most often.

My post also looks at how writing exercises encourage you to think in different ways (and therefore stretch your imagination). I also share further top tips for making the most of writing exercises. Hope you find the post useful.

My Top Five Writing Exercises

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Am off to see Waiting For Gateaux, the latest production to be staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group at Ritchie Hall tonight. Should be fun. Will be reviewing for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. I also get to meet up with my lovely CFT editor at these productions so we do kind of consider these to be a CFT works outing!

Will be sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for CFT tomorrow and evaluating what I find helpful about each of these. There are many more I could have mentioned as I use far more than five but I thought the ones I picked for this post would be useful for any writer to use. See above.

Every so often I receive reviews directly rather than via Amazon etc. Delighted to say one came in for me today for Tripping the Flash Fantastic. A huge thank you to the reviewer concerned.

I like how Allison Symes managed to put together a book of short stories, flash fiction, and poetry that intrigued me here and there. Tripping the Flash Fantastic is also very easy to read through because the stories are short—before long, I found myself already having devoured more stories than I thought I could in a short amount of time. The stories are also creative and while not all stories resonate, it is inspiring and quite original. I like simple books like these. From KO.

I’ve mentioned before all authors appreciate reviews. They help make our books more visible and all writers welcome validation of their work (and we get that from reviews and other feedback from readers of course).

Reviews don’t have to be long either. Nor is there a use by date by which you need to get reviews in by. Yes, they are especially useful shortly after publication but I’ve reviewed books by other authors which I came to years after those books originally came out. You can’t know when someone is going to see your books.

But do review. It doesn’t take long. And it gives the author something to share as part of their marketing via posts like this one, mentions on their website etc.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – Deception. The opening line for this one started life as an exercise I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group which I run once a month on Zoom.

I always have a go at the exercises (I don’t want to miss out on the fun of creating stories from them!) and knew this one had potential. This story, I think, will have resonance for many. Many thanks to those who have already commented on this.

One of the delights of going to see a live production, as I will be doing this evening, is watching for those lovely moments which add to the characterisation of the play in question. These will be those “flash moments” which help you understand a character better and can be funny, moving, tragic etc. Mind you I am off to see Waiting For Gateaux so I am expecting humour with a title like that!

Glad to say last night’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom went well last night. I hope everyone gets something positive from the exercises I set. I have a go at these myself after the meeting and I think I can do something with at least two of what I drafted last night. Hope to start drafting something over the weekend when I have more time.

Sometimes for these meetings, I will prepare an answer to an exercise in advance to give an example but I do love joining in with live writing exercises myself. Does wonders for the old brain cells!

Looking forward to tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Always good to see everyone and we usually draft flash pieces in response to prompts (or have the starts of stories to finish off later) by the end of the evening.

I join in with these exercises and indeed, from the meeting in March, I’ve used a couple of opening lines I drafted then for YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction stories this month. That’s a result as far as I’m concerned.

Pleased to have received a review of Tripping the Flash Fantastic directly (see my author timeline on Facebook for more on that). See above. But I will sneak in another plea for reviews for all authors. Thanks.

I like to mix up how I open my flash tales but the one thing I try to do for all of them is to hit the ground running. I want to engage readers immediately. Sometimes I do that by setting up an interesting premise. Other times I’m showing a character in the middle of something and you have to read on to find what happens.

Sometimes I’m using thoughts, dialogue, or questions. But whatever I use, I always ask myself what is in this for the reader? That matters. Keeping your audience in mind all the time helps with focus. It makes editing easier too. With that question in mind, it is easier to spot what would be useful to a reader and what could be cut.

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Equipment

In your setting, what exists in the way of magical equipment? Who makes it? Where do they get their “components” and do they have to meet safety standards?

(I’m married to an electronics engineer. Safety standards come into his world a lot and rightly so but I see no reason why they can’t come into a fictional world too. Indeed, a good story idea would be about someone trying to enforce safety standards for the greater good and the struggle they have to get everyone else in their society to accept that point. How many accidents would have to happen before the need for change is recognised and your character is the one to lead the way here?).

Can all of your characters access the magical equipment they need or are these reserved for certain species and/or for those at a certain level of magical ability? Your governing authority could of course control who can gain that magical ability to limit what powers can be used by whom that way but there would be an interesting story in why they are doing this.

Also does magical equipment go wrong? Can it be fixed? Who would carry out repairs and “servicing”? Is there the equivalent of an MOT for a witch’s broom? (If not, why not! Would love to see a queue of witches lining up to get their vehicles through statutory checks. What would happen to any unfortunate service engineer telling an annoyed witch her bristles need replacing? Could see some funny stories coming out here!). How can wands be checked to ensure they are doing what they’re supposed to do? Who cares enough to ensure magical equipment does work properly?

What controls do your governing authority have to ensure shoddy equipment doesn’t make it out into the open? Where has your world come from in terms of equipment development to get to where they are now?

Who has invented the equipment? What was done to improve the original models (almost inevitably improvements would either be necessary or become desirable when technology changes)?

Give some thought too as to how well or otherwise your characters use magical equipment available to them. That could make a huge difference as to whether they complete their “mission” successfully or not. Tools/equipment matter!

This World and Others – Manufacturers

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite above, who are the manufacturers who make the products your characters will use? (The best known one of course is Ollivander the wand maker from the Harry Potter series but I liked that character. I liked the way it was realised someone had to make the things the main characters need to use).

How do the manufacturers access the ingredients and materials they need? What difficulties do they face here? Do they ever find materials they could always access before become rarer due to reasons of natural disasters/magical wars/other events in your setting or other manufacturers effectively buying up the lot?
Do magical manufacturers trade knowledge and materials with each other? Are there trade bodies? Do governments agree standards manufacturers have to meet and enforce that?

How did manufacturers get into the business? Is it a question of following the family business? How did those businesses begin? What made characters realise their talents lay in making equipment rather than using it directly?

How do they balance selling their equipment to those they would far rather not have these things with being able to survive? (Well, would you want to sell equipment to Sauron or Voldemort but what choice would you give your manufacturers for your own cast of villains here?).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Deception, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/vlIaZQzg66 The opening line for this started life as an exercise I set for the ACW Flash Fiction Group which I run once a month on Zoom. Knew this line had potential. This tale, I think, will have resonance for many. pic.twitter.com/YKTTb37NkH
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 26, 2024

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My Top Five Writing Exercises https://t.co/u1hyEeYZqG If you want to try writing exercises but don’t know where to start, why not try the five I list in my CFT post this week? I look at how writing exercises encourage you to think in different ways and share further tips too.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 26, 2024

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History – Fact and Fiction/The Joy of Author Interviews

April 19, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good week. Glad to be talking about history, something I adore, for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Lady has been out and about with her closest girlfriends and we’ve had more sunshine. (You make the most of that while you have it. Lady shares that view!).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share History – Fact and Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ve loved history from an early age in fiction and non-fiction forms.

I recently gave a PowerPoint talk on two women united by one king (Richard III – the women in question are Josephine Tey and Philippa Langley) and fiction as well as non-fiction can do so much to bring the past to life. My post looks at the advantages of both forms of writing when it comes to history and I also share how music can help enhance historical portrayals too.

I’m currently reading Double Cross by Ben Macintyre and loving that. If you have any suggestions for good historical reads, fictional or otherwise, do pop across to the CFT page (link below) and share in the comments box. Would be good to get a reading list going!

Hope you enjoy the post.

History – Fact and Fiction

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Pleased to be back on Authors Electric. This time I’m talking about The Joys of Author Interviews. I look at conducting them (I do this often for Chandler’s Ford Today) but also what I find fascinating about interviews I listen to/read which are conducted by others. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Sunshine again today! Lady and I made the most of that.

Looking forward to sharing History – Fact and Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. I love history. Historical fiction can bring out truths which cannot be proved in the traditional sense but which could be said to be reasonable supposition based on what is known.

I use reasonable supposition for my historical flash pieces such as in My Girl (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) where the viewpoint is from Queen Anne Boleyn on the eve of her execution.

For fictional characters, having worked out their main trait, their attitudes and behaviours will be based on that. I like to think of that as “following through”. If a character’s main trait is slyness, then they will act in that way and their attitude reflect it.

Characters have to seem true to a reader to convince them to follow the character’s story.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

End of the working week means it’s time for another story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction. This one is called Sharing Is A Mug’s Game. Find out why my character George comes to this thought – is he right?

Flash fiction is ideal for Open Prose Mic Nights. Doesn’t take too long to read. You can mix up the mood of the stories you pick for this too. But I do practice what I read beforehand. Find it helps with the nerves (and there should be some good nerves here – some adrenaline is useful for a performance. I find it gives me a kick start!).

I like to mix up the mood for the stories I put in collections but you can pick a big enough topic to write about only. Dawn Kentish Knox did this with her excellent The Great War, which contains 100 tales of 100 words each. It also has to be a topic that is of huge interest to you. You need the commitment to that topic to be able to produce that number of stories.

For assortments of stories, which so far has been my route, it is a question of getting the balance of stories right – literally from light to dark and back again.

I’m a huge fan of outlining but I focus on ensuring I know my character(s) well enough. I work from their major traits and what attitudes/actions these would be likely to lead them to and that in turn helps ensure their motivation is understandable.

If a reader understands why a character is acting the way they are, the character will come across as more believable, regardless of how fantastic the setting might be. I see doing all of this as my bedrock for a story.

Once I know my character I can then see what kind of situations they are likely to end up in. A forthright character, for example, is likely to cause upset simply by being tactless. What is then fun is working out what that leads to – one of my stories with a character like that ending up cutting up someone in a car park who later on was revealed to be the judge for a story competition they’d entered. Oops!

Following through to ensure everything about your character makes sense pays dividends. You’re less likely to have plot holes for one thing because you have already figured out what Character A would be likely to do/feel in the situation you’ve set up.

Fairytales with Bite – Breaking the Magical Rules

For your magical setting, it pays to let readers have some sense of the rules early on. For example, can all of your characters use magic? If there are limits, why have these been imposed and are they imposed fairly?

What are your characters allowed to do with their powers? What are they expressly forbidden to do and how are these rules enforced? What would happen to anyone who broke the rules accidentally? What would happen to someone who did this deliberately? I would hope there would be a difference here!

Give some thought as to who in your creation set the rules for magic. If these were imposed on your setting by a superior power, why was this done and by whom? Why are they not involved with your setting now? Are they likely to come back?

Most of us understand and accept most laws but there will always be some which niggle, which seem petty or bureaucratic. What would the equivalent of these be in your setting? Does someone breaking rules like that get away with it? Could it lead to petty laws being repealed? What would your character be seeking to change here and are they doing it for the greater good of their society?

Sometimes there could be a point to breaking the magical rules, especially if these were being misused. So who would challenge the status quo here and what has led them to do so?

Story ideas there!

This World and Others – What is Normal Anyway? (Settings)

I think this is a good question to answer regardless of what your setting is! For your world, what would be considered normal behaviour? Would it equate with what we consider normal behaviour? What would your world make of humanity and the ways we organise our countries etc?

In an alien setting, where there are special powers/magic/greater scientific discoveries etc, what would be considered normal there? Would someone we consider to be a genius be seen in a different light in your setting because intellectual capacity is so much greater?

What would be the normal use of magic, special powers etc? What would be considered excessive?

Within your communities in your world, what is the range of expectations? If you have a magical community, what would be considered normal for elves to be able to do, dwarves to be able to do and so on? Do the different groups co-operate to make things better for all? (And yes we could do with more that here!).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Authors Electric: The Joys of Author Interviews by Allison Symes https://t.co/yFZhmEPhSr I’m talking about The Joys of Author Interviews for AE this time. I look at conducting them (I do so often) but also what I enjoy about interviews I listen to/read. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/T3mZWcZcHk
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 18, 2024

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Sharing is a Mug's Game, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/63JXc2vCLj End of the working week means it’s time for another tale. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Sharing Is A Mug’s Game. Is George right for coming to this conclusion? pic.twitter.com/BmC7sbhUf1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 19, 2024

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History – Fact and Fiction https://t.co/3Aw9CYpFLz I recently gave a PowerPoint talk on two women united by one king (Richard III, the women are Josephine Tey and Philippa Langley). Fiction and non-fiction can bring the past to life. My post shows how music plays a part here too.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 19, 2024

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Caring for Characters and Story Twists

April 2, 2024Leave a comment

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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 lovely Easter weekend. I’ve loved the church services and, separately, listening to the Classic FM Hall of Fame for 2024. (When will Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams make it to No. 1? So deserves it. You feel like you’re going back in time listening to that!).

Am so looking forward to sharing Part 1 of a very special two part interview with Sophie Neville for Chandler’s Ford Today. Sophie is best known for her role as Titty in the classic children’s film Swallows and Amazons but she has done so much else too. More to come in the interviews. Part 1 up on Friday.

Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Shorter swimming sessions for the next couple of weeks due to the Easter holidays. Lady may well be getting longer walks in the afternoon, not that she’ll mind. She loved seeing her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback buddies today. Lady came back from that tired but happy (which is my standard look when I come back from a swimming session!).

Writing Tip: What is it about your characters which appeal to you the most? What makes you care about what happens to them? Sorting that out so you know will help you create characters which appeal to readers too.

Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Labradoodle pals this morning. Bank Holiday Mondays (as today is in the UK) always feel like a strange kind of Sunday to me. It was nice to see some spring weather though.

Newsletter went out this morning. No April Fool’s about that! Link to the current edition here but if you like the look of this and would like to sign up do head over to my landing page at my website. Separate link for that here.

Managed to get a fair bit of writing done over the weekend and am going through PowerPoints I’m due to present (one next week!). Am so looking forward to sharing Part 1 of a wonderful two part interview with Sophie Neville (Swallows and Amazons) for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Be sure not to miss. Sophie discusses her incredible creative life. Very inspiring.

Happy Easter! Nice to have some spring weather to go with it, though I understand the rain is due back again later, alas. Lady had a nice surprise today as she got to see her Hungarian Vizler chum at lunchtime.

When do I know a character will “work”? There’s no one single thing, to be honest, but when I can know how and why they would react in any given circumstance, that is a good sign. It shows me I’ve outlined them deeply enough.

Sometimes I will come across or think of something which will make me think Character X in Story Y would say exactly that, and this is another good sign. Sometimes I can come across something a character of mine in a story would not say and that, funnily enough, is useful as well because it then makes me think of what they would come up with instead. (I’d also know why here).

Knowing my characters well enough has been an enormous help to me. Having different ways to create characters (crucial as I am inventing characters a lot!) is invaluable. And knowing the characters gets me a long way to knowing what their stories will be and why. Story structure is not a glamorous thing but, for me, it underpins all the fiction I write.

It’s the small victories in life which really make you want to cheer at times. Today (30th March 2024) is the first day this year I’ve had my washing out on the line and got it dry! Yippee! Also happy to see my bluebells are beginning to emerge.

Many thanks to all who have subscribed to my author newsletter since last time. Welcome aboard and many thanks to the longer term subscribers too. Your support is much appreciated. (Next letter due out on 1st April – not an April Fool’s, honest!).

Writing wise, I am so looking forward to sharing Part 1 of a very special two-part interview with the lovely Sophie Neville on Chandler’s Ford Today. Sophie is still very well known for her role as Titty in the children’s classic film, Swallows and Amazons. She has gone on to have a superb career in TV (in front of and behind the camera) and in writing and has recently won awards for her scripts too.

There is so much to discuss with her (if anyone could be said to have immersed themselves in the creative life, it is Sophie) and I am so looking forward to sharing the first part next Friday, 5th April. Link up on Friday. Don’t miss!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

The joy of flash fiction and story collections is in having “bite size” reads which are so easy to dip into. I often mention using pockets of time for writing and that is a great and useful thing to do. I’ve found it has made me more productive because I’ve got ideas waiting for me to assess and then write up.

But why not use pockets of time for your reading too? I tend to use my lunch break for this but it helps me to read more and that is never going to be a bad idea!

What I like about the CafeLit and Bridge House Publishing anthologies especially is getting to read other authors in one book. That shows me whether I like their style or not and, assuming I do, it makes it far more likely I will check out their own longer works of fiction.

If you would like to know where to start, why not check out the Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop which covers the works of authors writing for Chapeltown Books too. So am not unbiased here but well produced story anthologies are a joy to read so why not check them out?

It’s Monday. Okay it’s a Bank Holiday Monday in my part of the world and we’ve even had some sunshine, hooray! Still time for a story though. Hope you enjoy Unfair, my latest on YouTube. (Short and sweet this one).

Happy Easter! Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again tomorrow. Not too late to sign up. Just head on over to https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com for that.

What I find useful in compiling my newsletter is adding bits and pieces to it throughout the month as thoughts occur to me and then editing appropriately a few days before it goes out. I also do a couple of test runs to make sure all is okay.

Flash is great to share on a newsletter too. Doesn’t take up much room(and this is another reason why I also add links to my stories on Friday Flash Fiction here as well. Easy enough to click on a story title that takes your fancy and have a quick read over a cuppa. Challenge to me? Coming up with intriguing story titles but it is good to be kept on the old writing toes here!

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My flash fiction collections, From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic, are square books. The design makes them stand out and they are ideal gift books, as someone rightly pointed out in a wonderful review for the latter.

Fabulous collection of poems and flash fiction. Some made me giggle, some made me gasp, all surprised me! I found it a real page turner, as the stories had such unexpected twists and turns! Some were actually quite moving. Highly recommend this! Makes a lovely present as well, with its (to me) unusual shape.

All of the Chapeltown flash collections are in this shape as part of an overall branding style. I think it works well though I accept I am biased (and bound to be so) here! The paperbacks are a great size to fit into pockets, bags etc so again are ideal for a train/bus ride read. Very easy to take with you (and even easier still if you go for the Kindle version of them!).

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Twists

I love twists in stories as long as they suit the character and situation. An early one I came across was in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, whom I understand received complaints about what she did here. Can’t say more without giving things away but it is a great book and I highly recommend it especially if you like twists.

I use twists a lot in my own flash fiction. For a very short tale like this, often my closing line is the twist. I have done this with the “standard” twist but have also written humorous twist endings. All good fun to do.

The tricky bit is ensuring that the twist does come across as “natural”. It must fit in with what has been revealed about the character and their situation, otherwise it will look like a “fix” to get the author out of a tight corner. My favourite twists are when I look back through the story, having read it through, and then spot the clues to the twist which is about to be revealed. Naturally I learn a good deal for my own writing studying things like that.

This is where I think writers are so lucky. To write well, we need to read well and widely. So if we ever did need an excuse to have a book in our hands, that’s it, right there, regardless of whether there is a twist or not!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Story Twists https://t.co/5HUyAaAUsU via @goodreads I look at story twists for Goodreads this week. An early favourite was in an Agatha Christie novel. For a twist to work it must fit in with the characters and situation. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/YUGuyoQGMn
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 30, 2024

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It’s Monday. Okay it’s a Bank Holiday Monday in my part of the world and we’ve even had some sunshine, hooray! Still time for a story though. Hope you enjoy Unfair, my latest on YouTube. (Short and sweet this one).https://t.co/y68QSxdFan
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 1, 2024

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Newsletter went out this morning. No April Fool’s about that! Link to current edition below but if you like the look of this and would like to sign up do head over to my landing page at my website. Separate link for that below.https://t.co/SAMeT8yz7k https://t.co/4PWkpgevt3
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 1, 2024

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Online Workshops and Broadcast News

March 15, 2024Leave a comment

Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good few days. Delighted to share broadcast news this time (and there will be publication news in the next post too). Weather still all over the place though have had some spring sunshine. Lady is as loveable as ever and continues to have a great time with her pals.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today and this week I’m talking about Online Workshops. I discuss the advantages of these and share tips on how to make the best of them, whether you’re an attendee, a tutor, or, like me, you do both. Hope you find the post useful.

Mind you, if you find the refreshments on offer at an online workshop are not all they should be, you really do only have yourself to blame!

(Will be having some fabulous author interviews coming up on CFT in April and May. Am so looking forward to sharing these too. More to come later).

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Broadcast News: Am delighted to announce my story Budding Betrayals will be broadcast on Saturday 16th March on North Manchester FM. I have an unusual lead character in this one but you will have to listen in (live or on catch up) to find out more.

Hannah Kate is hosting a special Spring Equinox show in her Saturday afternoon slot and I am delighted my tale will be part of it. Many congratulations to every one else taking part too. See link and screenshot for more. I hope to share the link to the show itself sometime next week.

Today would’ve been my mother’s 90th birthday. Many thanks for the gift of reading, Mum. It has led to a lot!

Don’t forget my next author newsletter goes out on 1st April. Not an April Fool, honestly! To sign up for news, tips, prompts etc, head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I chose a monthly time slot deliberately as it gives me plenty of time to put the newsletter together and it isn’t too frequent an arrival in your inbox! All of the author newsletters I subscribe to are either monthly or occasional. Does anyone send one out weekly? How would you have the time?!

Having a newsletter forms part of my marketing, of course. It’s a joy to put together and it also gives me an opportunity to share links to my stories on Friday Flash Fiction for the month and to my videos on my YouTube channel. It makes a good “one stop shop” for me here.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am delighted to share my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction – Neighbours. Neighbours are not always what they appear to be and that is the case for the characters in this story. Hope you like it.

(From tomorrow, 16th March 2024, Friday Flash Fiction are running an annual competition in memory of Andrew Siderius. Check out the home page for more information).

Pleased to have another flash fiction tale due to be broadcast by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM this coming weekend. (Saturday 16th March 2024). I hope to share a link to the show itself sometime next week. This news came as a nice surprise today.

Am making good progress on what I hope will end up as a fourth flash fiction collection in due course too.

I love flash for its flexibility in mood, style, genre I write in, and even the word count I write to, as long as I don’t go over 1000 words. Great fun to do. It also makes for an excellent warm up writing exercise. Why not give it a go? I did. Two published books later and another in the pipeline, I’d say I made a good call!

Screenshot 2024-03-14 at 09-49-18 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special Saturday 16 March 2-4pm - Hannah Kate

My mother would’ve been 90 today. She saw my first published story in print. She would’ve been pleased about the flash fiction collections. I owe my love of stories and books in general to her. It is the gift which keeps on giving.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting later in the month. Always good fun. It’s also an opportunity for folk to share news of relevant competitions etc as no one writer can know them all and I was told about Flash NANO via the Flash Fiction group. Am appreciative of that!

I sometimes write what I call “slice of life” flash tales. One of these is Judgement Day from Tripping the Flash Fantastic which has a “punch in the gut” ending. You would root for my character in this one and that, of course, is the reaction I wanted to generate with this story.

When I write slice of life tales, I focus down on what matters most to my character and that then is the story. There will be change. There will be development. There will be reflection. All of this comes together to bring about an emotional tale, which I hope gives readers pause for thought. For me, that is the purpose of a slice of life tale.

Fairytales With Bite – Humorous Fantasy

I am very fond of humorous fantasy and my favourite series here is the Discworld one by the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett. Humour can often get across points better than “telling”. People are more willing to “take in” humour.

Humour has its place in the world of the fairytale too and many of my flash fiction pieces fall in this category. I love ending a fairytale piece with a punchline ending.

One of my own favourites here is Making The Grade from From Light to Dark and Back Again. I often read this one at Open Prose Mic Nights as it is short (100 words), has a punchline ending, and involves a magical character and exams. All good fun!

I’ve found a good way into writing this kind of humorous fairytale is to have a strong character in mind first. Ensure you know what their main traits are. My character in the story above is determined to do things her way and a lot of the humour comes from that.

I also find knowing a rough idea of the ending helps. I often write down a potential punchline finish first and then work out what could lead to that. It means I have a logical structure in place. I’m just writing from B to A rather than A to B.

So think about what your characters would find funny. Also what situations could you put them in where humour could develop. I am a big fan of outlining (yes, even for 100 word stories) and find jotting down ideas helps clear my mind and sparks other ideas too. I then go with the one which has the biggest impact on me as that will be the same reaction other readers will have.

But do have a go at writing humorous fairytales. They are good fun. I find they work best when kept relatively short but there are places in the flash fiction market which would be open for these kinds of stories.

And they make people smile. I like that.

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This World and Others – Humour In Your Setting

Linking with Fairytales with Bite, I thought I’d look at humour in your setting. Does your setting have anything intrinsically funny about it? Does it have species which are considered to be funny by others and if so, what are they? What is it about them that produces the smiles? (I think there is something intrinsically amusing about the duck-billed platypus, for example. I like the way it breaks the rules. Mammals aren’t meant to lay eggs but it does).

What would your characters find funny? Do the powers that be in your setting encourage humour or suppress it, given humour is often linked to freedom of thought and speech? What would your characters do or where would they go to find humour? Is there an underground humour movement? (For more on this kind of idea do check out The Goodies’ show Goodies Rule UK? It is brilliant).

Do all of your main species have humour or do only some have it? What kind of problems could their humour cause, especially where it is not shared? Could you use humour in your stories to bring species together, maybe to even wrap up your stories?

Humour is a powerful and wonderful thing. Tastes in humour vary too. That could be something to be explored in your character portrayal too.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Which is your favourite Easter story? I have a soft spot for two – Doubting Thomas and Mary mistaking Jesus for the gardener. I find both easy to relate to, which is a challenge for us when creating characters. Can our readers see where our creations are coming from? pic.twitter.com/W1tQhtGKUV
— ACW (@ACW1971) March 13, 2024

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🌼 Coming up on Saturday at 2, it's the Hannah's Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special on @normanfm1066, featuring seasonal stories from @jennyhsanders, Peter Barnes, Carmen Walton, @noodleBubble and @AllisonSymes1! 🌼 pic.twitter.com/ou2MHBviMd
— Hannah Kate (@HannahKateish) March 13, 2024

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Easter shows the triumph of good over evil. For our stories, we need to show our characters “deserving” their triumph over evil. We want readers to be rooting for them every step of the way, another reason why readers need to understand where our people are coming from. pic.twitter.com/AqQ1XaAQoS
— ACW (@ACW1971) March 14, 2024

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Delighted to say my story Budding Betrayals will be broadcast on Saturday 16th March on North Manchester FM. Hannah Kate is hosting a Spring Equinox show in her Saturday afternoon slot. Many congratulations to every one else taking part too. https://t.co/nTFgzNB8j8 pic.twitter.com/gLaaYbuePt
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 14, 2024

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I have found it incredibly helpful to outline my characters. I just need enough information so I feel I know them well enough to write them up. Their own characteristics reveal to me the kind of situations they’re likely to end up in and that’s useful too. pic.twitter.com/EN67h2kZ7O
— ACW (@ACW1971) March 15, 2024

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Neighbours, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/m7L9R6UQxp Am delighted to share my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction – Neighbours. Neighbours are not always what they appear to be and that is the case for the characters in this story. Hope you like it. pic.twitter.com/KUE8pHal1A
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 15, 2024

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Online Workshops https://t.co/rnSJScdnjk Am pleased to share my latest post on CFT. I discuss the advantages of Online Workshops and share tips on how to make the best of them, whether you’re an attendee, a tutor, or, like me, you do both. Hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 15, 2024

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Ways Into Creating Characters

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024Leave a comment

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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 Geoff Parkes for taking the photo of me at one of my Swanwick Open Prose Mic Nights.

Hope you have had a good week. Lady and I have had a wet week -with many soakings! I am so glad writing is generally an indoor activity where I can stay dry! I share a flash fiction in Fairytales with Bite this time which I hope you enjoy. I also share how I wrote this. I look at character vocabulary too.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Ways Into Creating Characters as this week’s post on Chandler’s Ford Today. I hope you find it useful. I look at why stories are character led (I have good reason to think this given how many I invent over a year), and share various tips.

I look at picking a trait, interviewing characters, and thinking of situations you want to write up (as from that comes the kind of character who would work best in those situations) just to name a few thoughts and tips. I also discuss why a writer needs to know their characters well enough.

What is “well enough” will change from writer to writer as so much depends on what you need to know to be able to picture your people/other beings of choice in your head but you should figure out what it is you do need to know. I have found that last bit to be invaluable.

Ways Into Creating Characters

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Lady and I had a real soaking this morning. She dries off far quicker than I do! Then I went swimming…. That soaking I didn’t mind at all!

I’ll be looking at Ways Into Creating Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week, link up tomorrow. Hope you will find it useful. Looking forward to sharing it. See above.

Am also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Theme will be on the fact it is a leap year and how we can use that in our flash stories.

Am also busy working on PowerPoint presentations and enjoying writing these. I hadn’t used PowerPoint for years until Zoom came into my writing life. It is useful for this. Flash writing helps for this kind of thing too. The slides work best if you don’t put too much on them! Far better to have more slides than crammed ones.

Hope you haven’t got too soggy today. Lady and I probably soaked up your share when we were out this morning. No ducking it today! Am glad rain doesn’t make you shrink otherwise we’d both be in trouble.

Newsletter out again shortly. Where does the time go? Having a monthly newsletter brings home how quickly it does pass. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing Tip: I work out my characters’ likely vocabulary as part of my outlining process. I have an idea of the kind of speech they would use (based on what I believe their educational levels would be) and, just as importantly, what they wouldn’t come up with unless under great stress.

So if I get a non-swearing character to suddenly change their mind on that, there has to be a great reason behind that change which plays out in the story. It does mean I would’ve dropped them right in it and the kind of situation they’re in is likely to produce this effect.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Time to end the working week with what I hope you will find is a fun story. Am delighted my latest piece is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you like Facing The Frog.

When I take part in Open Prose Mic Nights, I look for a mixture of flash pieces to read in terms of mood. I like to try and show what flash can be capable of and that it can produce moving, punch in the gut type tales as well as laugh out loud on a punchline ending ones.

I also mix up whether I read pieces in the first or third person. Flash works well for both. And yes when I am reading a first person piece, I do try to get “into” the character so it is almost a performance rather than a straight reading.

Why? Because I am showing the audience my character. Acting out their story helps me to get them across more vividly I think. And it is huge fun. I am being the “I” in the story after all even if I “just” read it so I may as well get right into the character’s head and “perform” their tale.

I’ve mentioned before flash is great for twist and/or humorous punchline endings. It is also great for giving a character who deserves it their comeuppance fast. Is fabulous fun to do.

One of my favourite stories of mine here is A Kind of Hell from From Light to Dark and Back Again. Comes in at 94 words, excluding the title, and I paint a scene where my horrible character does get justice and in an appropriate way too.

With these kind of stories, again I work out what the appropriate justice would be first, write that out, and then work out how I could logically get to this point. It works!

Fairytales with Bite – Crossing Spells

Crossing Spells by Allison Symes
The great inventors always discover things by accident. Oh they write down what they think will happen but something always goes awry and either there is an explosion or they find something which is even more useful to us all. There is never any middle ground here. Same goes for us fairy godmothers with spells.

Happened to me last week. I looked up my spells, made sure I had all the ingredients to hand, and then what should have been a pumpkin turned into a coach, let’s just say she turned up to the royal ball smelling of squash! I don’t know what I crossed to get that.

Still I must say the pumpkin style coach did have something about it. My critics say yes, it had a strong pong and the rats, which had been turned into footmen, remembered their original form and started eating away at the coach before it reached the Palace.

I had cast the right spell. Miranda, my best friend at fairy college, tells me I mispronounced one word and hence the desired effect was crossed with the basic ingredient and it all went horribly wrong.

Still the girl got there. Neither she nor His Nibs seemed to care and they’re getting wed next week. So no great harm done. But it has had the effect of whenever I go out and about, people point at me and chuckle. Some wag keeps leaving pumpkins on my doorstep too.

Miranda swears it wasn’t her but why did she stink of squash recently? She tells me she’s taken up gardening. Well if she has, she has the cleanest hands of any gardener I’ve known!

On the plus side, I have been invited to give the annual address to the Pumpkin Growers’ Society this year and I get paid for it too. I just hope the payment isn’t my weight in pumpkins though!

Ends
Allison Symes – 21st February 2024

Hope you enjoyed that. One of my favourite forms of writing is taking a well known fairytale and coming at the story from another angle. It works best when kept short and, I hope, funny and flash fiction is ideal for this.

Here I took the idea of a well meaning fairy godmother not getting things quite right and seeing what would come from that. So start with your character. Who are you using and why have you chosen them? What could you get them to do to bring something different to the tale?

And have fun writing the tale up!

This World and Others – What We Know as Science

What we know as science covers a wide field, of course, but what would it be thought of in your setting. Would science be seen as that or as a kind of magic?

I went to a medieval fair some time ago and spoke to the herbalist there. She was brilliant but told me that in medieval times, women who were renowned for their use of herbs were okay if things went well for their village because of that herb usage. If anything went wrong, they were likely to face accusations of witchcraft and a horrible death usually followed.

Yet in discovering you could cure headaches with the bark of a certain plant (which we now know led to the development of aspirin), that would have been seen as some kind of magic. What the herbalists had done was simply observe the effects of this bark. This had been observed repeatedly too as one or two spotting this would have just been dismissed. The fact that this was a known remedy meant this has had been tested and found to be true many, many times.

Observation and testing are core skills in any and every science.

So with this in mind, what would your characters make of what we call science? Are they accepting of it or suspicious? Has the practice of science (magic in your setting) gone wrong and led to suspicion of it? How could that be overcome?

Story ideas there I think.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 14-34-15 Writers'Narrative eMagazine January_February 2024 Issue

Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 17-25-18 Writers'Narrative eMagazine January_February 2024 Issue

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Facing The Frog, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/sGunSCGKAe

Time to end the working week with what I hope you will find is a fun story. Am delighted my latest piece is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you like Facing The Frog. pic.twitter.com/GNmQW9W4Ta
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 23, 2024

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Ways Into Creating Characters https://t.co/sT0xXl5qbD Am pleased to share Way Into Creating Characters on CFT. I look at why stories are character led (I have good reason to think this given how many I invent over a year), and share tips, which I hope you'll find useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 23, 2024

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Question Time, A Birthday, and Flash NANO progress

November 7, 2023Leave a comment

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. Photo of Lady taken by Adrian Symes. This is Lady’s natural chilled out look!

Hope you had a good weekend. One positive thing about the rain was it did reduce the number of fireworks – Lady and I are not sorry about that. Also Lady had her birthday and she prefers NOT to celebrate with fireworks. Extra treats go down a treat, so to speak!

Facebook – General

Glad to say today has been a better day. Sunshine nice too.

Don’t forget the November issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is about writing novels and I discuss (on Page 58) what I learned from writing mine. Mine is still unpublished. I hope to return to it at some point. Writing flash has taught me so much about editing and sharpening prose so I am sure I can apply those skills to the novel. As ever, the magazine is packed full of useful information. Do check it out.

Meanwhile I am making good progress with Flash NANO 2023 and look forward to tackling today’s challenge a bit later on. Such a great way to get more flash tales written.

Screenshot 2023-11-07 at 20-05-56 Writers' Narrative eMagazine November 2023

Screenshot 2023-11-07 at 20-07-28 Writers' Narrative eMagazine November 2023

Not a great start to my week – it has been one of those Mondays. Lady had the better time of it running around with her best mate, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, this morning. Still, Monday is only one day of the week, thankfully.

Had a fabulous writing session yesterday. Drafted a few flash pieces. The one from the Flash NANO prompt I then submitted to CafeLit. Will report back on what happens with that. Will be sharing my YouTube video over on my book page on Facebook shortly. See below. And I managed to submit something to Friday Flash Fiction too.

I do find writing amazingly therapeutic at times. My session tonight will help me unwind and relax as well as help me be creative. That is good for the soul and creative mind, I find. Hope you find that too. To do something creative and switch off the cares of the day is a good thing.

Nice to see some sunshine. Lady appreciated it too.

Knew this would happen but it never fails to make me smile. Amazon have kindly informed me today I might be interested in Gifted (Bridge House Publishing) when they know I have a story in there!

How do they know? Because they do update my Amazon Author Central page quickly when I let them know I’ve got work out in an anthology and I have to state my contribution to it. (I usually give them story title, page number etc as well as it makes it quicker for them to find me). They are very good on sorting this out for me (see screenshot below). As with the last one, The Best of CafeLit 12, they updated my page within a couple of hours which is all very commendable.

So yes, Amazon, I am interested in Gifted! I’m interested in all of the books on my Amazon Author Central page!

It’s Lady’s 7th birthday today. We can’t believe where the time has gone either. Lady is the only one of the three rescue collies we’ve had where we do know her birthday as it was on the Dogs Trust paperwork given to us when we adopted her. She enjoyed her usual muddy afternoon walk with my other half today. Downside? Lady has to have a bath. Plus side? Lady doesn’t mind baths. She also sees being towelled down as a chance for a cuddle and she dries quickly. Unlike us I should add!

On to writing matters, am thoroughly enjoying the Flash NANO challenges so far. Will have a crack at today’s one later on. So far, the prompts are not the kind I have come across before either and I relish that. Keeps me on my toes and all that.

I will be looking at The Importance of Remembering for Chandler’s Ford Today next week.

There are a number of flash pieces I want to draft for online websites and competitions so will crack on with those too though this is where Flash NANO comes in so useful. Last year, I was able to use some of the pieces I drafted for this later on, once edited and strengthened of course, and one ended up being broadcast on North Manchester FM on the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate. Would love to do that again – nothing ventured, nothing gained after all!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am enjoying Flash NANO 2023 so much. Great to read the stories people share here. Feedback is always useful. Am varying the word count on mine. My lowest so far is just over 100 words, the highest to date is close to 400 words but this is the flash range where I feel most at home so am not surprised by this.

I write to the story/character demands and worry about the word count later. When writing for, say, Friday Flash Fiction, when I know I will want to write to 100 words, I work out the character and situation which will inevitably be a short sharp piece. What would work best for this?

I always end up writing over 100 words to begin with but the editing process is where I find better ways of phrasing things. It’s amazing what just doing that can do to your word count!

It’s Monday. It’s been stressful. I get Mondays like that every now and then. So definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Question Time. This one is based on a question from a random question generator – what was the best compliment you’ve ever received? I’ve got my character to answer that one. Find out what she says and, more importantly, what she does here.

Finding the Pet Classics show on Classic FM very soothing. It helps Lady too. Please, folks, if you do go for fireworks, why not go for the no noise ones? You can get these from Asda now and you won’t upset wildlife, pets etc. It is really the colour and spectacle which is the “thing” with fireworks. Or it always was with me when I was a kid anyway. Oh and the jacket potatoes of course. Can’t go wrong with those!

I must admit the only kind of flashes I really like these days are the ones I write myself or read on Friday Flash Fiction, in collections etc. And if I choose to write a scary flash, as I occasionally do, I know my dog isn’t going to be worried by it!

Talking of flashes, many thanks for the comments coming in on Manners Maketh The Fairy. Link here if you missed the story.
Hope you have had a good day. Am enjoying listening to the special pet friendly show on Classic FM at the moment. Lady is busy squeaking her ball (on her 7th birthday) so is clearly not fazed by anything!

One of the things I love about flash (and there are many as you know) is I can’t get bogged down in too much description. There are advantages to having a limited word count! What I want description to do, in whatever I read, is give me a sense of place and why it matters to the story. If it matters, I will read on because I will want to find out how it matters.

If I think description is just waffle, I will skip reading it and jump to where the action is but more likely I will just stop reading. Everything about a story, regardless of its length, has to be there for a good reason. When it is, I read every single word!

Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Reading

I love reading for many reasons but I can’t deny a big reason is books and stories are so often a comfort read, especially in times when the news is unremittingly grim. Even when reading crime novels, there can be the comfort of knowing the murderer is not going to get away with it. Justice will be served in some form.

I’ve mentioned before I tend to turn to humorous writing for comfort reading – Pratchett and Wodehouse especially. When I don’t feel like reading anything “heavy”, I will also turn to the flash fiction and short story collections. For the latter, it is also a case for me of reading in the field I’m working in so win-win there.

While I don’t read much in the way of romance fiction, I do understand its appeal. Why shouldn’t people have the comfort of a happy ever after/happy for now ending? (I understand the latter by the way but much prefer the former but then I’ve always loved the fairytales!).

So what would you class as comfort reading? Is is a particular author, book, or type of book, or just the act of reading in and of itself?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Comfort Reading https://t.co/aWVdHOus3N via @goodreads I look at the joys of comfort reading for Goodreads this week. What counts as comfort reading for you? pic.twitter.com/0yBCFUBwWi
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 4, 2023

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It’s Monday. Time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Question Time. This is based on a question from a random generator – what was the best compliment ever received? Find out what my character says and, more importantly, what she does here.https://t.co/27VIwkosSl
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 6, 2023

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