Tag: Andrew Siderius Memorial competition

What Makes A Story Work

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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. Image of me at a local book fair taken by my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today, Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Continuing to enjoy the lovely weather, as is the dog. My camellia (a pretty pink) is now beginning to come out. Looks great. Writing wise again have been busy on Zoom but also doing plenty of “bits and pieces” around this. Has been a good writing week to date.

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Hope you have had a good day. Gorgeous weather here.

Delighted to share What Makes A Story Work for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the role of dialogue and description, what you take in from stories you read, understanding the characters, and much more besides. Hope you find the post useful.

What Makes A Story Work

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3rd April 2025 – 1st post – META protest

Two posts from me tonight.

First up, a protest against outright theft by META. I am standing with #TheSocietyofAuthors against the theft of authors’ books to train AI #dothewritething.

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3rd April – Second post

Just to say I’ll be sharing What Makes A Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

Am looking forward to sharing my next CFT post on 11th April too as it is on a topic every writer will identify with. More details nearer the time.

Have had a good week on Zoom again and an looking forward to another webinar on Storytelling next week. I do think Zoom with its ability to allow people to join in with various writing and other events online has been one of the few positive things to come out of the pandemic. I’d not used it at all prior to that. And it’s thanks to Zoom I’ve rediscovered the joys of PowerPoint, which I use for my Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meetings.

Writing Tip: Do your characters have catchphrases? These can be useful but I’ve found it best to use them sparingly, especially in short form writing. What you don’t want is for readers to get sick of the things. Even the famous comedy characters didn’t use their best known sayings all of the time.

Hope you had a lovely day. Lady had a fabulous “puppy party” with Her Hungarian Vizler friend and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, though it was more a case of Lady and Coco doing the running around.

Will be sharing What Makes A Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. You do pick up so much about this topic simply by reading lots of lovely fiction!

Glad to say my author newsletter went out yesterday. Definitely not an April’s Fool!

Writing Tip: I like to build up a “stock” of flash fiction and blog pieces for later use. I find this pays off a lot during those frantic times when I know I haven’t got much writing time. So when I haven’t a particular writing task to do, I will spend some time writing these because I know it will come in useful later.

So if you are “stuck” for something to write, why not try this? Use a writing exercise or a random generator prompt to start you off (it’s amazing how many of those can also be used for non-fiction).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am back on Friday Flash Fiction but this time with a story, It Was There, which comes in at just over the 300 words mark. It is my second entry for the Andrew Siderius competition FFF are running. You could have one story on one theme for the 100 words category and then use the other theme (two are always set for this) for the longer word count category which is what I have done. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Good time had by both.

This doesn’t just apply to flash fiction, of course, but do ensure you keep to the right word count for competitions you enter. (This may not apply to novel competitions so much though most would be expecting a word count there of 80K to 100K words). What you don’t want is for a good story to not make the cut because of a rule infringement like that.

But I have found it pays to get the story right first and then worry about the word count. Sometimes I’ve had to put a story which is right but cannot make the word count requirement aside and save it for another competition with a higher “allowance”. It happens sometimes. But I usually do get to use that story in another place later on.


Another lovely sunny day. So nice to be out and about with the dog at the moment. She appreciates it too.

Now getting out and about in the fresh air does us good but how could you apply this to a flash fiction story? Could you get your character going out on their normal walk but with something different happening during it? How would they react to this? What would trigger the “something different”?

Equally if your character goes a different way to their normal walking route, why do they choose to do this? Are they trying to avoid something or someone? What do they notice which they might not have done had they stuck to their normal route and how would this impact them? Does it make them change their thoughts about something or someone?

Story ideas there I hope!

Fairytales with Bite – The Natural World in a Magical Setting

When your setting is a magical one, what would the “natural” world look like? Would this be considered to be any form of life which wasn’t magical in some way? Or would it be the natural backdrops against which your stories are set?

What would your magical characters make of the natural world around them? Do they care for it or treat it with contempt (and is there a natural backlash from that attitude)? Would some of your magical characters care for the natural world – I.e. they would be our equivalent of environmentalists, naturalists etc?

Would your younger characters in the equivalent of schools study their natural world or it is of little interest because it isn’t magical in itself?

Now I would say the natural world is magical in itself when you think about how beautiful it is but would your stars of your setting take the same view?

This World and Others – Environments

What kind of environments does your setting have? Are they similar to what we have? If not, how do they differ? What kind of atmosphere does your setting have? Do your characters need oxygen, water etc? If not, what do they require instead and how are these produced? Are these things produced naturally or do they have to be manufactured and if the latter how is that done?

Do your characters live in what we would consider to be a pleasant environment or is that the privilege of a few? Is your setting’s overall environment better or worse than what we have here, especially in terms of things like pollution? Has your setting been better in the past and, if so, what changed?

What would your world consider to be “science”? It is approved of by those who are magical or do they see this as being too like humanity for comfort? Could there be snobbery against science here? How would the working environment be in your setting if this is the case?

Those who are scientists as we understand the term could have a hard time indeed here in terms of being “socially acceptable” and being able to get anything they do accepted by those around them.

Environments don’t have to be comfortable!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Springtime in Words and Music

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Janet Williams (my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today) for taking the photos of me at a local Book Fair. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Have had a lovely time on Zoom this week at an online book launch from a fellow ACW member and then on the next night I followed on with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Lady has had a smashing week too in that she has seen plenty of her friends.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Lovely day in the park though Lady had to put up with just me today. Having said that, we both had a lovely time.

Pleased to share Springtime in Words and Music as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I discuss books I associate with the season (well some of them anyway) and share some thoughts as to how we could use spring as a season in our writing. Plus there are some lovely music clips courtesy of YouTube.

Hope you enjoy the post. Thought it would be a nice one to wind down a working week with and the writing thoughts I hope “spring” story ideas off in you!

Springtime in Words and Music

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Will be sharing Springtime in Words and Music on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Link up then (see above) but in the meantime if you fancy a fantastic read (and why wouldn’t you?), why not check out the April 2025 edition of Writers’ Narrative, which came out today (27th March 2025).

The theme is Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, a theme I love as many of my flash tales are fantasy related. And yes it is possible to write fantasy in the shorter forms of fiction. My two articles in this month’s magazine are Flash Fiction Fantasy and Writing Fantasy in Short Forms of Fiction.

Do check out the wide range of articles in here which look at all aspects for writing in these genres.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her best friends the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and the lovely Labradoodle. Some very tired but happy dogs went home again!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom this evening. We’ll be looking at editing flash fiction, always a useful topic.

Enjoyed going to an online book launch by a fellow ACW member last night.

Will be celebrating Springtime in Words and Music for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up on Friday. Pieces like this are always a joy to write. See above. It was a pleasure to write this one. Need more positive things right now, yes?

Has been a nice week so far. Hope to look at competitions again at the weekend as I am actively trying to submit more flash pieces to more competitions this year. Not doing badly so far.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Something a bit different this week. Friday Flash Fiction are currently running the Andrew Siderius competition. Last week I submitted my 100 word entry. This week I use the other theme in the 151 to 500 words category as you can only enter one story in each category and only use one of the two themes for each tale you send in. It is about the only time of year when I do enter longer stories for FFF.

Hope you enjoy my It Was There (which comes in at just over 300 words).

As ever do check out the other tales, the 100 words and the longer ones, on this site. Makes for a great read!

Pleased to report I have two articles in the latest edition of Writers Narrative. (April issue out today – see my author page for the link – see above). One of those articles looks at Flash Fiction Fantasy and I often do write flash pieces on a fantasy theme. It can be done!

I know when you think of fantasy it is easy just to think along the lines of a three part epic (The Lord of the Rings, anyone?!) but I often write fairytales with bite which come in at well under 1000 words so it can be done.

What I do is select the relevant telling details to flag up this a fantasy piece and I often do this via the characters. For example, I will often show you a fairy godmother at work so that flags up immediately this has to be a fairytale/fantasy piece. I can show a spell being cast or someone being on the receiving end of that spell and again it flags up this has to be a fantasy piece.

So if you like fantasy but want to write the short form, you can do it and have a lot of fun with this. I do.

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There is more to editing flash fiction pieces than just trying to get to the required word count, as I’ll be exploring with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this evening.

I learned to appreciate editing much more than I had done on realising good editing was helping me obtain more acceptances for flash and short stories. It has also helped to know no one writer ever gets it right first go and, for me at least, it is easier to edit the whole thing so I can see what it is I have to work with than try to do it a paragraph at a time etc.

I’ve also learned to see writing and editing as two separate creative tasks, It is lovely when as I edit a story, I can see it “tightening up” and becoming a stronger piece for it. There is a creative element here, honestly.

Fairytales With Bite – Keeping Busy

Keeping Busy
A fairy’s work is never done.
Dawn to dusk, always on the run.
Checking on clients old and new
Having many spells on the brew.
Recording how these things work out
Being honest by sharing doubt
If ideas are useful or not.
It’s never good when a new spell
Blows up the roof and creates hell!

Allison Symes
26th March 2025

This World and Others – Working Weeks

Naturally most of us are used to a standard working week of Monday through to Friday. But what would a working week look like in your setting? Are there weeks as we know them or does your setting measure time in a totally different way? What does work look like to your characters? Are their jobs similar to what we know here? What jobs would be different because your setting is literally alien?

As in any setting, there will be those who love their work, those who hate it, and those who work just to meet needs (which can also include cultural expectations as well as financial requirements). There will be those who work hard and those who do the bare minimum, the ones you know could do more but don’t. So how would characters like that work in your setting? How about writing some “industrial” stories set in your world? There could be potential for humour and/or drama here. Work is something we all understand so a story set in the world of work should be relatable.

And there are stories to be written about those characters who leave their working week behind altogether to do something unexpected? Why? What happens? What is the outcome? If they return, are they welcomed back? Do others understand why they did what they did? How would your characters handle any resentment because they didn’t keep going with a normal working week and left their colleagues to it all?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Do see the link to the April 2025 magazine given above.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview – Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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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 few days. Family do over the weekend which I’m looking forward to and Lady is as well as naturally she will be spoiled rotten! Writing wise, getting plenty of “bits and pieces” done so all well there.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am so pleased to welcome fellow Swanwicker, Joy Wood, to talk about her great series of books on Chandler’s Ford Today.

As well as sharing her writing journey to date, Joy shares useful writing and marketing tips and what she thinks about editing amongst other topics. She also shares how competition slogan writing kickstarted her writing career, which is an interesting way into novel writing!

Naturally she discusses the joys of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, something we both love, here too. Plenty to enjoy here – hope you enjoy the post.

Author Interview: Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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Hope you have had a nice day – lovely sunshine here. Good temperatures too. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal again today.

Am notching up another year on the clock on Saturday. Many thanks to all who have donated to my birthday fundraiser for this year. I’m supporting the Salvation Army.

Do look out for a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. See above. Looking forward to catching up with Joy in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later this year.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Hungarian Vizler, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Labradoodle pals today. Marvellous time had by all. Nice weather too.

Looking forward to sharing my interview with Joy Wood, a fellow Swanwicker, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will be a great read – do look out for it.

Writing Tip: Give some thought as to what the hook for your story is – that is, try to ask yourself what would make you want to read it had it been written by someone else. It’s a good question to ask as it means you’re thinking of what your readers want and that is a great thing to focus on. It helps against waffle tendencies!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share my story Best Served Cold on Friday Flash Fiction. You will see that it has the topic of Revenge in the corner. This is because this is my entry under the 100 word category for the annual Andrew Siderius competition Friday Flash Fiction runs. 

Next week I hope to submit a story on the other theme for this year but that will have to be at a longer word count. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one. It’s another example of where I’ve used a well known phrase to generate an idea for a tale. 

Good luck too to all who are entering the competition this year.
Flash tales are great for humour (think short, snappy tales with a punchline). They’re also great for specific moments where a character has something important to share but doesn’t need a lot of word count space in which to do this. As a result those specific moments have a more powerful impact I think. I call these “punch to the gut” tales and they can reflect all moods.

I like to mix up my word counts within flash. My favourite will always be the 100 worders because those were my first introduction to this fabulous form of writing.

But another one to have a go at is the 250 worder and some competitions are using this word count limit, The Bridport Prize springs to mind here. You can obviously pack more into this word count limit so it gives you the chance to show more of your character and what they are made of, which has always been my favourite aspect to storytelling.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Focus will be on editing. Flash fiction writing teaches you a great deal about this but it is a major benefit of writing in the form regularly. It can transfer to other forms of writing you do and I’ve found this to be the case for my blogs etc.

Also because you do have to keep an eye on the word count, you are always looking for better ways of phrasing things so you make yourself dig deeper to find that better phrasing. That in turn encourages your creativity, another good thing!

Fairytales with Bite – Legacies

We often think of legacies as gifts etc left in wills and so on but legacies can mean so much more than that. We all have those legacies, often resulting from family traditions, upbringing and so on, which form a major part of who we are and why we are that way, so why not apply this to potential characters?

It means digging deeper into fleshing out your creations but that will help you create more rounded characters. You may well find you can do more with those characters as a result.

So why not give some thought as to what your characters have “inherited” from their past which will directly effect the way they are in the story you’re going to put them in? This kind of thing will be a major part of what motivates them.

That in turn is what readers will latch on to because we understand this. We know what drives us. We know why we are driven this way. Some of that can be from our past, (as well as being from things like greed, lust for power etc).

This World and Others – Tales of Old

What would your setting consider to be tales of old? Are these cherished or an embarassing part of their history which they can’t quite shake off?

Are the old tales useful for a tourism industry (so much the case in my part of the world – all of our historical castles etc have stories attached to them, some of which are gruesome to say the least. In any other circumstance, these are the stories you would keep quiet about because they’re not something you’re proud of but the tourist industry finds them useful!).

How old does your world consider to be old? Where I am, it would be anything over 50 years old, I think, but that may be me being biased given I am over 50!

Who decided which tales could be kept from olden times and which have been deliberately forgotten/suppressed? Are the tales of old ever re-enacted (stage, film, for historical purposes etc) and who would stage these things? Are these things obligatory for the populace to see every so often? Could these things be used as a way of educating the populace especially if literacy rates are low?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Many of the Cafelit, Bridge House, and Chapeltown authors contributed to this book by Gill James. There is a prompt for every day of the year.
My latest published story is in The Best of Cafelit 6.
Where my stories are in print. Image by Allison Symes
Six of the seven books my stories have appeared in (okay in the case of Limerick Nation, one limerick!). Baubles is the other book. Image taken by me.
My tale Evergreen – Never Old and Good to Go – is in this collection from Bridge House Publishing
Image from Bridge House Publishing
I contributed to this. Image from Bridge House Publishing
Nativity. Image supplied by Gill James, Bridge House Publishing
Transforming Being. Image by Bridge House Publishing.
Image from Bridge House Publishing

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Author Interviews

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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. Book Fair images taken by Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a great weekend. Nice one here. Making good progress on the writing. Significant editing done too. Hope the week ahead continues to go well for us all. There are more signs of spring appearing all the time too, which always cheers me up.

Facebook – General

Pleased to share my latest post on Authors Electric. This time I look at Author Interviews. It is a great joy to be on both the receiving and setting end of these, given I’ve appeared on other writers’ blogs, have been on podcasts, and, of course, I set many writers questions over at Chandler’s Ford Today.

I discuss how I’ve used author interviews to help me on my own journey to becoming a published writer and how I continue to find such interviews engaging and informative. Hope you find the post useful and thought provoking.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Hectic here but it was good to see Lady playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals earlier this morning.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my Authors Electric post about Author Interviews. See above. Not a coincidence this one!

Hoping to get an article finished and sent off later this evening plus I hope to work on my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Am almost there on it.

Had a productive weekend but Mondays are always one of those days when I don’t get so much writing done due to commitments elsewhere so I use Mondays to do little bits and pieces. These things mount up.

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice to see more sunshine.

Writing wise I’ll be getting on with Flash Fiction Sunday shortly. Later I have editing to crack on with and a presentation to add more to so I will be happily out of mischief for the rest of the day, no problem!

Also have just heard will be off to a murder mystery my local amateur theatre group is performing in April. Will be going to this with my lovely editor from Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to that already. Plus I will have a writing Zoom to go to in early April as well as so plenty going on.

Character Tip: This is where writing what you know can help you in the creation of your characters. We know what we like and dislike in other people so let’s put that to good use as we invent our own people/beings of choice.

We understand what can make people angry, for example, so how can you tap into that when writing an angry character of your own? Look at the reasons why people have the attitudes they do.

There will be something you can use for your fictional creations from that. Understanding motivation helps so much here I think.

Hope you have had a good start to the weekend. Managed to get washing out and dried on the line today – yes, I know it’s sad but it is a win, honestly! Also lots of daffodils now out in one of my borders – daffodils always make me smile as I see them as pretty cheery plants, and they also remind me of Wordsworth.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Do look out for that on Friday. The interview is packed full of useful thoughts and tips and you can also find out how and why competition slogans had an impact on her writing life. Looking forward to sharing that and hopefully catching up with Joy again in person at Swanwick later this year.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady had a fabulous time in the park today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Great time had by all. Hopefully more of the same will take place tomorrow!

I haven’t used dogs much in my flash fiction tales and short stories. I tend to focus on characters who are human or fantastical in some way though my YouTube story this week, Temptation, is one for dog owners to enjoy especially.

But there is nothing to stop us using the qualities most dog owners appreciate in their pets (loyalty, love, faithfulness, mischief making, just being fun to be around etc!) in other types of character for our stories. Just a thought.

To quote The Bangles, it has indeed been a Manic Monday and it is time to share another story of mine on YouTube. Hope you like the short but sweet Temptation. Dogs and their owners will especially appreciate this one.

Temptation can attack anyone or anything but especially, in some cases, where cooked chicken is involved.

 

Both of my flash fiction collections with Chapeltown Books have titles which indicate something of their genre and/or mood. From Light to Dark and Back Again very much flags up the mood of the stories. Tripping the Flash Fantastic indicates the genre (flash and fantastic tales/fantasy).

Did I have either of those titles when I began compiling my books for submission? No! Both had alternative working titles. The titles I ended up with came to mind as I was drafting and editing. This happens so I no longer worry about it. I find I have to have a working title for anything I write but am not worried if it ends up changing. I think I just need a placeholder and I work with that.

Most of the time when ideas for alternative titles come up, they are better than the original but it doesn’t always work out that way. When it doesn’t I simply stay with what I first came up with. I always ask myself what kind of impact the title has on me (and therefore on a likely reader) and the strongest impact is always the one I go with.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Friday Flash Fiction is about to run their annual Andrew Siderius competition so do look out for this. I hope to have a go.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later in the month. Will be looking at editing flash fiction for this one. One massive benefit to flash fiction writing is you do learn to improve your editing skills considerably and that can then filter across to other forms of writing you do. I’ve found this to be the case.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Their Moods

Now it’s no secret the books I read often depend on what mood I’m in. When life is grim (and the news even more so), then I will usually go for humorous reads such as works by Wodehouse, Pratchett, and Austen, something I know will make me smile basically. I see it as having something lighter to counterbalance the darker side of life.

But books too have their moods and certain genres play on this to good effect – horror, crime, and thrillers, all indicate the moods of their stories to name but a few.

Now I’m one of those readers where I don’t want the mood the book to match my mood. I like that counterbalance though there are books I will always read regardless of what mood I’m in. For example, I will always find time to re-read Agatha Christie or Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time (which is a fabulous book and the only novel to make me change my view on a historical person, in this case Richard III).

So which books do you use to lighten your mood? Which ones do you read regardless of mood of book or your own mood?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Questions and Answers For Characters

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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 few days. Unbelievable weather here – heavy rain, gale force winds etc. March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. No sign of the lamb yet! (I also know parts of the country have had snow too). Am always grateful writing is something to be done indoors! Writing wise, will have a very special interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today in early April. Looking forward to sharing more about that a bit nearer the time.

BookBrushImage-2024-3-29-19-613

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

29th March 2024 – CFT
Second blog from me today and it is my usual weekly post for Chandler’s Ford Today. This time I talk about Questions and Answers for Characters. This ties in nicely with my More than Writers post for ACW (see further down) too given I look at how little details can make a story seem more believable to readers.

Well, getting little details right about your characters will help make them more believable to readers too. For this post, I share what I think are five useful questions to ask of your characters which would, I’m sure, inspire story ideas for them to “serve in”. I’ve long found outlining my characters does then trigger story ideas and I think is well worth doing. Hope you find the same.

Questions and Answers for Characters

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29th March 2024 – MTW
It’s double blog day for me today. First up is my post for More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. (Well, it was first up when I put my posts on Facebook!). This time I talk about Easter Stories and Little Details. I share how the little details in the biblical accounts make them more real for me.

I also go on to discuss how getting the little details right in your stories will help make your characters and tales seem more believable to readers too. This ties in nicely with my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. More on that in a moment. (See above). Hope you enjoy the MTW post.

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Can’t believe the weather today – heavy rain and gale force winds! I was walking Lady earlier when another local commented it feels more like November. It does too. For those of you who have had snow, I’m sorry!!

On to happier matters. I’ll be looking at Questions and Answers for Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Some of what I share in here could make a useful template if you’re not sure where to start in finding out what you need to know about your potential creations.

It will be a double post from me tomorrow as I’ll also be sharing my More than Writers post tomorrow for the Association of Christian Writers where I’ll discuss Easter Stories and Little Details. Again see above! Blogs can be like buses – none for ages then two or three at once!

I often find little details make a character/story for me because it helps to make them seem more real and believable, no matter how fantastical or otherwise the setting is.

Also had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night. Lots of great ideas were shared. I take part in the writing exercises I set on the night of the meeting. I love live writing exercises. They fire up the old imagination and I now have some promising opening and closing lines to investigate further in due course. That will be fun!

 

Strange weather again today though Lady did see her Hungarian Vizler chum and we managed to get damp rather than have a thorough soaking. I guess that counts as a win.

Looking forward to tonight’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom. Will be looking at Endings and Beginnings. Apt as we head into Easter.

Will be looking at Questions and Answers for Characters on Chandler’s Ford Today on Good Friday. See above. I’ll be sharing tips on what I’ve found useful in getting to know characters before I write their stories up. Hope it will prove useful. Also pleased my copy of Christian Writer arrived yesterday. I have a humorous piece in there this time which I hope ACW members will enjoy.

And don’t forget the April issue of Writers’ Narrative is already out in good time for a fantastic Easter read! Check it out at the link.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to say my second entry for the Andrew Siderius competition for Friday Flash Fiction is now up on site. This one, Memories, has the theme of manipulation and is in the 151-500 words category. Hope you enjoy the story. Let’s say my sympathy here is for my alien character and there is none at all for Mrs Evans. See what you think. Link here.

Screenshot 2024-03-29 at 09-29-35 Memories by Allison SymesFlash fiction is great for sharing different moods of story. I’ve written funny tales, scary ones, and the poignant kind, just to name a few examples.

One of my latter type is Judgement Day from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. It is a story I often read out at Open Prose Mic Nights and the last line has a “punch to the gut” ending appropriate for the character and their situation. With this tale, I did know the ending first and worked out what would lead to that ending.

If you’d like to find out more, do check out my Amazon Author Central page.

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A useful writing exercise, which I’ve used to kick start flash fiction ideas, is to just jot down ideas for titles and then one or two lines working out which direction you could take those titles.

For example, if I used a title such as The Open Door, I would then write a line or two indicating what kind of mood I would want the story to be, what kind of character would best serve that mood, and then I’d jot down some notes for a potential character. All of that would be about a paragraph, similar to this.

But it is enough of an outline to get me started and I find that in itself is enough to fire up other ideas. I often find it is the starting of a piece which can prove tricky. Once I have a way in, I can then get on with the first draft.

I can then judge the piece as a whole later and make suitable amendments (and there always are some!). But you have to have something down in the first place to be able to do that. Getting over a blank page/screen, for me, is vital.

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Fairytales with Bite – The Biter Bit

One of the things I’ve always loved about fairytales from an early age is that justice will be done. Sometimes that justice can be on the rough side – a case of the biter bit. But for those characters who are kind and honourable, you know somehow things will work out for them in the end. (If only that was always true in life!).

The phrase The Biter Bit would make a great theme for many stories. Who would deserve to be bitten like that? What have they done to deserve it? And where does magic come into it? Is it a case of an annoyed magical being doling out the punishment here (as is often the case with the fairytales) or would they be on the receiving end? Who would be powerful enough to do this?

Thinking about your setting as a whole, how would the justice system operate? Who would make sure any kind of poetic justice, especially if a magical kind, wasn’t overdone?

Story ideas there too I think!

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This World and Others – Sayings

Proverbs and sayings are so useful for giving theme ideas for stories. I’ve sometimes used them directly as titles too. But for your alien setting, what kind of proverbs and sayings would they have? Would they be similar to ours or something totally unknown?

Many of our proverbs and sayings come from the Bible, Shakespeare etc. Where would your setting’s sayings come from? What would be the texts your characters would treasure and how have these influenced their culture/outlook/treatment of aliens (including humans)?

There is no reason either why you couldn’t use our sayings to influence how you portray your alien characters and/or settings.

For example, take the saying Truth Will Out. If your character is an honest one in a setting which isn’t, how would that play out? What led to your character becoming counter culture here? If the setting is based on truthfulness, what would it do to characters who were not (and again what led them to being counter culture here? I think it would take more than just greed here too. To go so against your own culture would take strong motivation given the risks involved, especially if your setting has the death penalty. So the drive behind this would have to be more than material, I think).

Again, interesting story idea potential here.

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PowerPoint, Writers’ Narrative, and Doing Right

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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 seeing friends and family at the weekend for birthday get together. We all have a fab time. Lady loves (a) seeing everyone, you should see her face when they go home, looks so sad (aaah!); (b) Lady loves playing with a family spaniel, the lovely Lily; and (c) both dogs make excellent hoovers and have a great time there too! Not so much writing over the weekend but I will, to quote the Terminator, be back! Meantime a huge thank you to all who have donated to the Salvation Army through my fundraising post on Facebook.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

A huge thank you for the birthday messages coming in today (22nd March). Much appreciated.

First up tonight, I discuss PowerPoint for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. It is an odd thing to have something come back into use after a period away from using it. Usually something is superceded. PowerPoint is the rare exception to the rule here.

With the advent of Zoom, PowerPoint has come back into its own and I use it frequently. I share thoughts and tips on making the best of it and hope you find the post useful. (Combined with Zoom, it makes for an excellent way of presenting presentations).

PowerPoint

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Secondly up tonight, I am delighted to say the April edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Just in time for the perfect weekend read, I’d say!

The theme this time is editing and my piece is called Editing – Do You Love It or Loathe It?

There is a great deal of excellent advice on what can be a thorny topic in this month’s magazine. Do check it out.

Lady got to see just her Hungarian Vizler chum today, both had a lovely time. Bluebells out on our regular walk back home. Lovely to see them (my garden ones always come up later).

I’m discussing the joys of PowerPoint for Chandler’s Ford Today this week and will be sharing useful tips. The advent of Zoom for writing workshops has brought PowerPoint back into my regular usage again. I use it at least once a month. I find it handy especially for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group I lead. Will be using it again at next week’s meeting!

PowerPoint is a good match up for online work but appropriate too. It encourages you to keep to the point. There’s nothing for a flash fiction writer to dislike there, is there?!

Link up tomorrow. See above.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Nice to see some spring weather. Got warm! (First time since last autumn!). Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals – all three had a fabulous time. Not going to get much writing done today as off to a meeting this evening but this kind of thing happens and it is where my planning out how to use the available writing time pays off. So have a few small jobs to do which I can tick off my list. Back to longer pieces of work when I have more time tomorrow.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting next week. Will be looking at Endings and Beginnings (and yes deliberately that way around as I thought it apt as the meeting will be so close to the Easter weekend. Good Friday is an ending. Easter Sunday is a new beginning. Naturally I will be looking at crafting good endings and beginnings for flash fiction).

Writing Tip: Have a range of writing tasks to do. It’s fun. It helps you make the most of available writing time. On busy days, you will still feel like you have written something useful for the excellent reason you have! Also pockets of time mount up if you see them over a longer time period.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be on Friday Flash Fiction with my 100 words tale, Doing Right. This is my first entry for the Andrew Siderius competition FFF are running for the next couple of weeks.

My story next time will have to be eligible for the longer flash word count section. No comments on any of the stories at the moment either for obvious reasons. Comments return after the competition is over. Good luck to all who are taking part.

Screenshot 2024-03-22 at 09-55-13 Blog PostsI’ve always liked creating characters. It’s my favourite part of storytelling. I like to know who my “stars” are going to be. Flash fiction writing means I am creating characters all the time and the more you do this, the easier it becomes to find ways into creating characters. I’ll be looking at this more for a future Chandler’s Ford Today post.

Flash makes you focus. The word count limit means you have to work out how to make the best use of it. I’ve found characters leading the way into the “action” of the story helps keep the word count down because they won’t waffle on. They will want to get straight on and do what has to be done to get the story resolved. Also readers can be taken straight into the characters’ mind sets and the tale feels more immediate because of that, I feel.

It helps to know what you like and loathe about character portrayal. You will know what you want to achieve and what you want to avoid. This is where reading widely is a must I think for writers, regardless of story length. You do find out likes and dislikes.

433603785_10161790366532053_7822517670405261763_nWhen I have small amounts of time in which to write (and today is one of them!), a good writing exercise to try is just to jot down titles, opening lines, closing lines etc. You can then come back to these when you have more time. The time away will give you the break you need to evaluate these ideas properly and which ones are worth your writing up and which ones are not.

For titles, I like to keep things open. I like to be able to take titles in more than one direction so I can then decide which mood I’d like to go for.

For example, my story Bypassing The System (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I could take in several ways by working out which system, who is doing the bypassing, and are they doing this for criminal or more honourable intentions. Not going to say which way I went on this one but I do like to have manoeuvre room with my titles. I find it triggers even more ideas. That I always welcome!

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Fairytales with Bite – Birthdays and Other Celebrations

This is a timely post as this will go out on my birthday. Looking forward to seeing friends and family soon too.

In fiction, my favourite birthday celebration is that of Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. Say what you like about Gandalf, he knew how to do fireworks! Also hobbits know how to throw a good party.

For your own characters, and the settings in which you’ve placed them, are birthdays marked in any way? Are celebrations only saved for “official” events and is everyone expected to take part in those, whether they like it or not?

If private celebrations do happen, are they similar to what we would have or are parties etc literally not of this world and what forms would they take? What would the food and drink be like?

Who would your characters invite to events? Who would they leave out? Bear in mind that can have consequences. See Sleeping Beauty for more on that one.

Could you use a celebration event as the trigger for a story? If you use a birthday here, what would happen to your character(s) between one celebration and the next?

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This World and Others – Public Gatherings

Following on from Fairytales with Bite, does your setting allow for public gatherings? Are these strictly regulated or not? Who administers such regulations? What forms do public gatherings take?

Also give some thought as to what events those in power would want there to be public gatherings for. What would be the history behind these? How to the authorities persuade folk to to? Does anyone resist that?

Are there public events which are not celebrated or remembered but which should be and are kept suppressed by the authorities because they fear public reaction to them? What would happen if someone broke the mould here?

Give some thought too as to how public gatherings are organised. Is there a police force overseeing everything? What would happen if things went wrong? What would cause a public gathering to go wrong? Who would be behind it and what are they trying to do?

Story ideas here for sure!

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Publication News and Writing Tips

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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 had a good weekend. Garden starting to look really nice with daffodils all over the place. Lady has got off to a good start to her week by having a tremendous run around with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Both of them tired out. Job done! Writing wise, got lots done over the weekend so pleased with that.

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Facebook – General

Hope you are having a good Tuesday. Am glad it’s dried up somewhat.

Will be looking at Online Workshops for Chandler’s Ford Today this Friday. Will also share tips on how to make the most of these from the viewpoints of attendee and tutor. Hope it will prove useful.

Writing Tip: Got a competition coming up? Good. Give yourself plenty of time for it. My own approach is to draft a story, rest it for a few days, and then come back and edit it. Seeing it with fresh eyes after a reasonable gap does make all the difference in spotting errors, things you could do better etc. I send my competition entries in about ten days before the actual deadline, having carried out a final edit to ensure no pesky typos have slipped the net.

I also double check (as part of my editing) that I am following all of the guidelines issued by the organisers to the letter. Once all done, I’m drafting more stories. I like to having something resting, to be creating something new, and to be jotting ideas down for future stories/competitions I like the look of (where I’ll note down possible themes).

431165501_10161776772797053_6555407234403660617_nPublication News: Delighted to hear a recently edited story of mine has been accepted and will appear on CafeLit this time next week. Looking forward to sharing that.

Just to flag up as well Friday Flash Fiction will be running the annual Andrew Siderius competition. I hope to have a go – one week in the 100 words category and a longer flash in the longer word count section for the following week. You can enter over two weeks but can only have one go at each word count category. There is a also a poetry category so potentially you can send in three entries in total. More details to follow.

Do keep an eye out on the website for more on this but why not give it a go? Good fun to have a go at.
Screenshot 2024-03-11 at 17-06-44 Friday Flash FictionHappy Mother’s Day to all mums, past and present, and to all mother figures. Hugs to all who find it a difficult day for whatever reason. You are remembered.

It is both a lovely and a strange day for me as I miss both my mum and mum-in-law. My lovely mum-in-law was a second mum to me. Know I was so lucky there.

My mum would’ve been 90 this coming Wednesday. She encouraged my love of reading and taught me to read before I started school. That one is the gift which keeps on giving. She did get to see my first published story in print and my late Dad got to see my first book. There is a kind of symmetry there.

Many thanks to all who have sent in wonderful comments on Point of No Return, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. That second line has raised a few smiles!

Sometimes a line like that just comes to you and you know deep down it is a great one. Moments like that are so special for any writer and I treasure my special writing moments. And if you haven’t checked out my second line, see the link and screenshot!
Screenshot 2024-03-08 at 09-53-43 Point of No Return by Allison SymesHope your weekend is going well. Lady got to see her friend, Coco, in the park today and the pair had a good run around. Nice day out there too. Even managed to give my lawn its first cut of the year (and entertained Lady by kicking her football for her as I was doing that. Makes quite a sight. One leg in, one leg out, kick her football all about etc!).

Will be looking at Online Workshops for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up next Friday. Will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of these and sharing tips on how to make the most of them.

Writing Tip: Do read the writing magazines. I’ve often found information useful to me immediately but have just as often come back to information when I’ve had a need for it later. It happens! To start you off, do check out the March issue of Writers’ Narrative magazine (oh and remember subscribing to this is free, details on how to do so are in the magazine itself).

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

One of my favourite flash pieces is Calling the Doctor, which I used as the book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again. I’ve often changed the mood of the story in the last line or two (and still do of course!) but this one was an early story where I managed to change the mood on the last word. I’ve also found it makes a great piece to read at Open Prose Mic Nights for that reason.

I do have a lot of fun playing with story moods in flash like this. When I’m drafting a tale, I already know what mood it will be, who my character is, and a rough idea of the likely ending. Yes, sometimes that can change. It did with Calling the Doctor. It was on the editing I realised changing what my last line is to what it is now would have far more impact on a reader/viewer.

 

Hope you have had a good Monday. But as ever it’s story time. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – It’s Good To Be Wrong.

 

Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate and to all who remember and to all who do both, as I do.

Occasionally I write about another kind of mum – the kind who is the human mum to a dog. Well they do say talk about what you know! One of mine from From Light to Dark and Back Again is called She Did It Her Way, Kind Of.

It’s one of my longer flash pieces – right up at the 1000 words end – and it shows Jane Westbrook and her puppy, Harry, figuring out how to get along after the death of William, Jane’s husband and who would’ve been Harry’s trainer. It is one of my reflective, feel good pieces, but if there was anything I could change about it now, it would be that title. I went for this title initially as a twist on a well known phrase (doing it your way) and it does work as that but I know now, as I didn’t back then, I could’ve simplified it!

Having said that, it is a dog-related tale I’m very fond of and I suspect most dog owners would identify with it.

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by nightI was delighted to be notified by my publisher the other day they’d received a lovely review of Tripping the Flash Fantastic.

One good thing about reviewing flash fiction collections is it would be highly apt to keep reviews short! The quote below is from another short review for this book.

If you enjoy a diverse collection of stories, this is the book for you!

If you can do review books you’ve enjoyed. It means a great deal to the author to get feedback like that. And I review as much as possible myself (most writers do). Great thing – it doesn’t have to take long and is the second best thing you can do to support writers after buying their books. Thanks!

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Goodreads Author Blog – World Book Day

I like the whole concept of World Book Day (which was just held on 7th March 2024). Having said that, judging by the writers I know and this goes for me too, there isn’t a day ever when a book doesn’t feature in it somewhere. Often it is more than one book too!

I like the way children are encouraged to think of/dress up as their favourite characters. Books are meant to be interactive in that they draw you into their worlds. It’s one of the aspects of reading I love most. You really can lose yourself in a good book.

I should imagine the most difficult comes from deciding which character is your favourite, which is the one to dress up as this year etc. I was never into dressing up but books have been a major feature of my life since very early days.

I have my late mother to thank for encouraging that love of reading. She taught me to read before I started school. She was moaned at for “doing it the wrong way” but I’ve never felt her way of doing it was wrong, far from it. She herself read everything from history to science fiction (H.G. Wells in particular for that) so she can’t have been doing too much wrong!

I don’t know which favourite character I would dress up if I was the right age for this. Mind you, given I am not endowed with a great height, I suspect I would end up dressing as a hobbit! (Before you ask, I don’t have hairy feet. Just want to be clear on that point!).

I hope everyone taking part had a fabulous World Book Day and it enthuses all ages for reading more until the next one comes around again.

Screenshot 2024-03-09 at 17-22-57 World Book Day

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Anthologies

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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.
Another hectic week, more rain too! Am hoping the weekend proves to be a much needed time to wind down a bit!

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Anthologies, this week’s post on Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at the advantages of writing for them and share some tips on working to themes. Most anthologies do set these and it is good practice in any case given so many competitions do as well. Hope you find the post useful.

Anthologies

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Looking forward to sharing my Anthologies post on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. This is a classic case of writing about what you love as well as what you know! Link up tomorrow. See above.

Had a fabulous time at the Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom last night (for the Association of Christian Writers). Great responses to the writing exercises I set. Hope you all get some stories submitted and “out there” as a result.

Don’t forget my monthly newsletter goes out on the first of each month so there is still time to sign up in time for April’s one. Head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com – would love to have you “aboard”. I share tips, writing advice, as well as news.

What I have in the back of my mind here is writing something I would love to receive myself in my inbox for this kind of thing. Mind you, I try to take that approach with my story writing too. I try to keep an Ideal Reader in mind, always, while writing what I love to write.


It’s my turn on More than Writers (the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers). This time I talk about Signs of Spring. This applies to our writing too! Hope you enjoy the post.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I took part in the Andrew Siderius Memorial competition on Friday Flash Fiction last week with a 100 word story. This week I have had a go at the up to 500 words category. Good challenge to mix up the word counts you write to!

Hope you enjoy The Fairy Godmother’s Guide For Finding A New Client, which is one of my longer titles! Sums the story up though.

Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 19-47-23 The Fairy Godmother's Guide for Finding a New Client by Allison Symes

Lady had a fabulous time with her Aussie Shepherd gentleman friend today. Both dogs have a very impressive thundering gallop when they run! Okay, they can send up some seriously impressive mud as well but one cannot have everything!

There is a useful competitions guide (often covering flash too) in the current edition of Writing Magazine but I think the next one is due out at any time so it may pay to grab a copy of the current issue while you can. The guide takes you up to December.

I’m currently prepping a story for a competition and hope to end up submitting that sometime in April.

Don’t forget to look out for Mom’s Favorite Reads due out again soon. I will shortly be setting my challenge for the May edition. See it as a good way to practice writing to a word count of 300 words maximum.

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Damp and grey day here, not that Lady cared. How does the weather affect your characters’ moods? Do they match the weather or do they deliberately go in the opposite direction (if only to cheer themselves up a bit on days like today, say? I find the writing carries on regardless – it is time which is a more relevant factor for me.

May be an image of text that says "Creative writing does just that for reader and writer. Readers can tell when something is written with love and care. You've got to care about what you write to stand all the rejections you are likely to get before acceptances come. Come INSPIRE"

Fairytales with Bite – Humorous Magic – What Could Go Wrong?

What kind of magical jokes would your mischievous characters do and what would be the consequences? In your setting, is magic taken seriously most of the time but with the proviso of something like an April Fools’ Day where folk are allowed to be more playful with their spells (on the understanding nobody gets hurt or made to fall in love with someone they wouldn’t usually fall for)?

I mention the latter as some limits would have to be set to prevent unfortunate consequences which would continue for longer than the period of mischievous magic allowed for. But tricks, jokes – what kind would these be and does your society welcome this as a way of letting off steam every now and again?

If humour is frowned on (it can be closely linked to free speech), how would your characters let off steam? Would there be underground comedy venues? I grew up watching The Goodies. Check out their episode Goodies Rule UK for their take on this – I find this is still funny after all these years. If funny magic is banned, why, who brought in the ban, and does anyone defy it?
Where humorous magic is allowed, who clears up the inevitable mess? There will be someone!

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This World and Others – Treating Magical Accidents

That last line leads nicely into this topic. Where magic is practiced, things are bound to go wrong. See The Sorcerer’s Apprentice for one thing! So who would deal with the accidents? Is there the magical equivalent of paramedics, the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, or any other first responder? Are magical mishaps treated magically or with or traditional kinds of medicine, similar to what we have?

Also, is there any such things as a magical accident insurance company? I could see there being funny stories here, especially with what might go on the claim forms. (Fans of UK comedian Jasper Carrott will remember his routines with insurance claim forms. Hilarious stuff).

Are there particular groups in your setting who would be more prone to this kind of accident, due to either being more clumsy or less experience with magic than other more privileged groups? Would this lead to them being allowed to get more magical experience (if only to keep everyone else safe from them)?

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MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

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