Trick or Treat for Characters and Book Fairs

October 30, 2026October 30, 2026Leave 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 the week has gone well so far. Off to an online launch this week and had a lovely online get together earlier this week. Let’s hear it for Zoom, it makes things possible. Lady has had a fabulous week catching up with her Australian Shepherd boyfriend, her Rhodesian Ridgeback girlfriend, and her Hungarian Vizler chum who is the matriarch of our little pack.

Am very sorry to hear of the death of Sir Patrick Stewart, a great actor and a greater man. Loved him in Star Trek – The Next Generation. When he is assimilated by The Borg is truly scary. He also played a magnificent Scrooge. We often watch his version of A Christmas Carol after watching The Muppet one. Both are excellent and true to Dickens’ original work.

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Delighted to share a timely piece on Trick or Treat For Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I don’t celebrate Halloween as I much prefer the following day, All Saints Day, but I thought I’d look at the topic from a creative writing viewpoint.

I look at characters who play tricks, characters who have tricks played on them, characters who give out treats, characters who receive treats or turn them down (and there are opportunities for blackmail stories in all of these to name one thought). I also look at situations which might be seen as a treat but don’t necessarily turn out that way. I look at situations which could be seen as a trick too.

Lots of lovely story possibilities to come from all of those things which I discuss in the post so I hope you find it useful.

Trick or Treat For Characters

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Lady had a fabulous time with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again today. Smashing woodland walk this afternoon too.

Writing wise, I’m glad to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, discussing Book Fairs. I stress how useful it is to other authors to support these even when you aren’t behind the stalls and what you can gain here too. I’ve made friends at book fairs.

I also share some tips on having useful materials for potential readers to take away even if they don’t buy from you on the day. (I find these things often lead to sales on Kindle later and, even when not, they are still useful in getting word of who you are and what you write out there).

Hope you enjoy the post.

Book Fairs

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Lady had a doubly special time at the park today. First thing she met up with her Australian Shepherd “boyfriend”. Later she met up with her Hungarian Vizler chum and then got to run around with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. We have one tired but happy dog here.

Talking of pets, I will flag up Classic FM are running their Pet Classics again next week where they play calming music to help against fireworks etc. I find it helps, especially if I turn the sound up, draw the curtains. The music also soothes me and I think that helps Lady too. I do wish folk would use silent fireworks. They’re more readily available now. It is the noise more than anything here I think. Mind you, I can think of one piece Classic FM won’t be playing next week – the marvellous but noisy 1812 Overture!

Had a fabulous time at the Association of Christian Writers online meeting last night. Once the formal business of the AGM was done, it was lovely to connect up with various people in breakout rooms and have a good chat.

Tomorrow I’ll be online again to celebrate Hannah Ruth Retallick’s new flash fiction collection, Falling Woman. I hope to interview her for Chandler’s Ford Today soon too – more details as and when.

Talking of CFT, I’ll be sharing Trick or Treat For Characters this week. Link up on Friday. See above. I can promise no pumpkins were harmed in the making of this post!

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Thoroughly enjoyed the online launch for Hannah Ruth Retallick’s Falling Woman last night. Great stories read and lots of interesting discussion. Well done, Hannah.

Look out for news on my online launch for Seeing The Other Side in my newsletter out on Sunday and later in the month here too.

Online Launch Tip: You get to speak a fair bit so have plenty of (non-alcoholic) drink before the event and have something to hand during it, you will be glad of it. Alcohol tends to dry out the throat but if you’re in need of a restorative after the event that’s a different matter!

Also prepare questions and answers in advance. It will give you something to talk about in between readings and people always, for example, do like to know what inspired the writing of a story or the collection as a whole.

Hope today has gone well. Chilly here but dry. Looking forward to going to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s launch of Falling Woman, her latest flash fiction collection later tonight. Always good to celebrate flash fiction.

I’ll share the link to my online launch in November. Am looking forward to that one too! I’ll be reading from Seeing The Other Side and taking questions. If you subscribe to my newsletter, full details will be coming out in that on 1st November. I’ll share the link here later.

I’ve mentioned before flash is great to read to people at events because it doesn’t take long and it is the best way of showing what flash is. Works just as well for online events!

Hope today has gone well. Was pretty dark by half four this afternoon. Not keen on that, to be honest, though I did value the hour’s lie in over the weekend. Oh well, can’t have it both ways, can we?

Not that this has stopped some of my characters trying to have things every which way. Such characters are fun to write up. They’re even more fun to bring crashing to earth! I have examples of these in all of my flash fiction collections.

If you want to find out more about the “nuts and bolts of flash fiction”, do check out my interview by Wendy H Jones as part of the blog tour for my third collection from a couple of months back. The interview was great fun to do and Wendy asked some wonderful questions.

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Fairytales With Bite – Launching

Now this topic has come up because I’m supporting a friend’s online book launch shortly and in November 2026 will be having an online launch for my Seeing The Other Side. Launches are fun and hard work but such a good opportunity for authors to “share their wares”.

In your magical setting, what kind of creative arts exist where characters would want to have launches such as we know them? Is there a magical book industry for example and what kind of works would they publish, other then spell books which could be seen in this world as technical manuals? How would they launch new works?

Are there other careers where launches would be appropriate?

When it comes to “technical developments” such as new spells, who would launch these? Would they have to be registered with your setting’s equivalent of the Patents Office before any such launch could happen? Who would be responsible for testing these?

Now every author I know, including me, would like more reviews for our work. How would your magical writers feel about that? I would hope they would be banned from literally conjuring up their own reviews – that would be almost a kind of AI at work there, I think!

Are there launch parties? Who would get to go to this? What could happen when a launch went wrong?

Plenty of story thoughts there. Happy writing!

This World and Others – Progression

Whatever the career, most would want to see positive progression in it. What would this look like in your fantasy or sci-fi based setting? Is magic allowed to be used to boost someone’s career? Is it only with magic any kind of progression is possible?

What would magical progression look like for your characters and is it dependent on what kind of magical species they are? Are certain types limited to what kind of progression they make and were those limits brought in for understandable reasons or as a method of controlling said certain types? Is any progression made in changing things here? Would anyone want to campaign for positive change here?

As ever in any world, there are always those who want to make more progression for anything but good reasons and are happy to use unorthodox methods to achieve what they want. See Sir Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic for examples of that! There was a film version made which starred the late Tim Curry in the role of Trymon, whose ambitions seem to know no limits. It was a fantastic bit of casting. Do check it out (and read the books!).

On the opposite side of things, are there characters who are happy where they are, thank you, and don’t want to make progression because they’ve seen what has happened to others when they try? What would these characters do in the scenario they’ve got to make progression or else? How would they handle that?

Again, plenty of story thoughts there.

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As The Dark Draws In…

September 29, 2026September 29, 2026Leave 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.

Fabulous family weekend. Good time had by all. All shattered including the dog. Now back to usual writing and editing work.

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Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at As The Dark Draws In, which I thought was a good topic as we head rapidly towards October.

I look at making the most of the darker, longer evenings by reading more and suggest using the theme of As The Dark Draws In for your characters. There will be plenty of story opportunities there. Most characters have to face their “dark” and either fight it or succumb to it. Either way there are consequences which your story will share.

I discuss how in the natural world, as with the Christian faith, we see the dark coming and then the light breaks through. That’s a good theme for stories too. Plus I look at being the light for others and stories encouraging empathy.

Hope you enjoy the post.

As The Dark Draws In by Allison Symes

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Hectic day, have run late all day (yes, it was one of those Mondays!), but Lady had a fabulous puppy party in the park today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal, our neighbour’s gorgeous Golden Retriever and a handsome black lab called Flash. Four tired happy dogs went home.

As it is Monday, that does of course mean it’s story time. Hope you like my latest which went up on Substack yesterday – Four. It’s a thoughtful piece, I think.

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Had a fabulous family day yesterday. Lady had a wonderful time, including with another family dog, and was shattered by about 7 pm! (Mind you, so was I). Busy morning today too as a family member was taking a service in Salisbury and I am in the role of support for that. Great to see everyone at Salisbury again. I last saw them at my book event for Seeing The Other Side held outside their lovely church.

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly and then focusing on various bits and pieces I want to get done. This week, bar Wednesday when the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group happens, will be a quieter one. Oh and the next newsletter goes on Wednesday too.

Dialogue Tip: If you’re using slang terms or words associated with a particular region, make sure readers can pick up the meaning from context to allow for the fact not everyone will know what these things are. The use of these can be great for adding some “colour” to your character – you can guess where they’re from, at least originally, for one thing – but clarity is everything.

Will be a busy family day today so won’t be writing much and am posting early. Will be looking at Comedy in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today which will hopefully lead nicely into a review of The Chameleon Theatre Company’s production of Curtain Up the week after.

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday and the next day will see my next author newsletter going out.

Next weekend, I hope to resume drafting stories for competitions. All go here but this is good. No further news yet on events for Seeing The Other Side but will keep you posted. I am at the point where I know I have enough material for another book but hope over the later autumn and winter months to sit down with this and get another book ready to submit.

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Busy day again though Lady did get to see her Australian Shepherd “boyfriend” and later her Hungarian Vizler pal too. There will be a tired dog on our sofa tonight!

Writing wise, my next author newsletter goes out on Thursday. If you’d like to sign up for tips, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to my subscribers for your support. It is much appreciated. A lot of the writing life can be a lonely one (though I make up for that at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event and The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick every year!).

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It’s Monday, it’s storytime. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Research Purposes. Like my Substack story this week (see above), it involves the number four.

Jimmy and Gran have a disagreement on what could be construed as good research purposes. It involves chocolate. More details here.

Hope the weekend has gone well. Busy family one but absolutely lovely as always.
Writing wise, will be cracking on with story writing shortly and hope to get back to submitting for competitions soon too. Last couple of weeks have been especially busy. Mind you, I see this as the calm before the storm of the festive season!

Flash Fiction Tip/Prompt: Have fun inventing titles and then seeing if you can draft a flash piece around them. I often do this. Sometimes I will need to put a promising title aside to think over options but that’s fine. A promising title can make you think of characters and situations you would not otherwise have done and can be a useful way into starting another draft.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow as always. I need to draft some more flash for competitions. There have been a couple of competitions I’ve missed this year because I’ve been busy with other things, notably Seeing The Other Side, but that has been (and continues to be) a lovely thing to be busy with!

Don’t forget to sign up for Writers’ Narrative – it is free and you receive in your inbox articles on the topic of the month from a wide range of published authors, including yours truly.

Many of my articles look at working in the shorter forms of fiction so are relevant to flash fiction and short story writers. It is a joy to write for this ezine – well worth your checking it out but don’t just take my word for it!

GOODREADS AUTHOR BLOG – Events Where Stories Are Told

I love taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights when I can and also relish being part of the audience for them. What can you dislike about events like these where you know stories are going to be told? Naturally this does help the authors too and they are great ways to engage directly with potential readers. They link back to the oral storytelling tradition too, a pleasing circle I’d say.

But I also love in stories where there are events the characters are going to because inevitably stories will be told at these things, even if it is just about what is going on in the area of the setting at the time. So many plots hinge around who meets at what event and what stories they exchange. Can you image Pride and Prejudice without the ballroom scenes, for example?

Potentially any time characters meet up anywhere in whatever setting you care to name, there will be opportunities for story sharing. Whether the characters are telling the truth or not, and how important that may be to the plot, is something else I love discovering.

But get the characters together – that’s when the story really takes off. And events give you the chance to create a memorable setting too.

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Events

August 4, 2026August 4, 2026Leave 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.

Had a fabulous weekend. Wonderful family wedding on the Saturday. I took our church service on Sunday and it was a time of peace and quiet reflection, which I appreciated.

Have to watch the hot temperatures again this week for Lady but she’s doing well. Am so looking forward to being at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick very soon. I will be posting as and when I can while there but may do one round up post next week and that on my return.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Cooler but still not quite as cool as Lady and I would like. Still, we’re getting there.

Writing wise, I’m working out what I’d like to be going to at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later this week. I do have basic ideas but know I will probably change my mind on at least some of them when I get there. It is almost a ritual for many of us! Good to have plenty of choice though!

Will be hosting an ACW group tomorrow night and am looking forward to that. We’ll be discussing all things science fiction/fantasy related though we often spin off into talking about writing issues too.

Character Tip: Know what makes your creations tick. Motivation really is everything. It is such a powerful driver and one readers will get behind even if they don’t approve of what the character is doing. It is, for me, what makes characters come to life almost more than anything else.

The countdown to Swanwick week begins! And that thought has cheered me up considerably given it has been another busy and very hot Monday.

Talking of Monday, it is time to share the story I put up on my Substack platform yesterday. This is one of my moving tales. Hope you enjoy The Newsletter.

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Yesterday’s family wedding was all you’d hope it would be – lovely, fun, and moving and a joy to be at. Managed to get some writing done on the way up to it and then posted the results on the way home! Writing on the move with someone else driving is great!

Pleased to say my author newsletter went out okay yesterday.

Have already packed quite a bit for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. There will a few bits and pieces to do later in the week but that’s it. Anyone would think I was keen!

Talking of this fabulous week, I will be posting at various times and some regular posts I may defer to when I am back home again. For example, my twice weekly blog round up over on my website may become once a week while I’m at Swanwick and then when I’m home. I’ll see how things go and how tired I am!

You get such a buzz from Swanwick in terms of being with other writers, as well as what you learn from the courses and workshops, by the time you get back to your room again, you’re usually just wanting to get some kip. (This is how it should be, of course!).

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Am on my way to a family wedding as I write this though whether I’ll get to post this today remains to be seen. I do love the notes app on my phone. Always use it when out and about. Have drafted plenty of useful material with it.

Writing wise, I’ll be welcoming Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, back to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her Murder in Gilmerton, which is part of her DI Hunter Wilson series.

Much has happened since I last interviewed Val, not least of which is her move to Joffe Books. We discuss that and more in an in-depth interview. Do look out for it next Friday.

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Have got a potential 250 word flash competition to have a go at, news of which landed in my inbox earlier this week. If I get any time at Swanwick, I will draft some thoughts, else it will be something I may have a go at on the train journeys up there and/or home again.

Love getting some writing done on the train and flash is wonderful for this. I can get a draft down in about half an hour or so, depending on word count.

Flash Tip: If you’re wondering what to write about, think about the themes which intrigue you the most and start from there. Look at why they intrigue you. Ideas may well start to spring up just by doing that. Guess how I know!

It’s Monday. It’s hot. It’s busy. It’s still hot. It’s still Monday. Time for another story from my YouTube channel then.

Hope you enjoy Spreading The News. Both this tale and my Substack one focus on a newsletter this time. Hope you enjoy both of them but now for the YouTube tale.

There are always consequences for critics of the fairy government. Find out what happens to Jasminda here.

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly after a busy weekend. Family wedding yesterday and I took a church service this morning. Part of my theme for that was the importance of keeping themes simple and to the point. They’re easier to remember that way. Oh and stories are a fantastic way of getting themes across to folk (and without preaching, which I know sounds ironic, but you really do want people to remember the theme).

None of this is new to any fiction writer, of course. For those of us focusing on the short forms, I think it is even more important for your theme to stand out. It will do a lot of the “heavy lifting” for you in terms of your word count if you get your characters to show the theme in “action”.

Readers will pick up on the inferences. Inference plays a huge role in short fiction, especially flash. And I must admit it is an aspect to flash I adore. I like to work things out. I just need the right clues from the author to do so.

Also delighted news of Seeing The Other Side went out on the Association of Christian Writers newsletter – again it’s a perk of membership. What’s nice about ACW is you have such a wide range of writers here – those, like me, who are Christians working in the secular market and others who do write direct devotional items. A broad church indeed.

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Inspiration for flash stories can come from practically anywhere but when you get to do some general observations, you can be spoiled for choice.

Am at a family wedding today so suspect ideas might strike if colours, clothing etc catch my eye. Will also have great observational opportunities when I head up to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick soon.

I always change something about what catches my eye and do likewise with prompts of any kind. I like to put my own spin on these things.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Events

Now that my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, is now out, I’m thinking about book events. There will be a launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and my publisher is planning an online event. I’ll also be having an event in Salisbury in early September (5th). I hope there will be more to come too.

Book events are obviously great for writers but how about for readers?

I think events are great opportunities for readers to discover writers whose work is new to them and you get the chance to quiz the authors. We love being asked about what we write! So if you can support author events, it would be much appreciated.

Events can also be fabulous parts of stories, of course. Given events of all kinds have an impact on us, it would be odd for this not to be reflected in fiction. Where would Pride and Prejudice be without the ball at Netherfield or The Lord of The Rings without Gandalf turning up in The Shire? That was seen as a big event especially by Frodo who had no idea then just how big a turning point it would be for him.

So let’s celebrate the events, whether we hold them, go to them, or read about them.

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Reworking Stories

July 31, 2026July 31, 2026Leave 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. Cooling down a bit for which Lady and I are grateful. Just over a week to go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as I write this – so looking forward to it.

More behind the scenes admin going on with Seeing The Other Side too including the fact it is now up on the online bookshop for the Association of Christian Writers. Having your books on there is a perk of membership and it is so nice to have my new one there.

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Pleased to share Reworking Stories on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at why all writers have to accept the need to rework and why I believe getting your draft down, resting it, and then having another look at it later is such a good idea.

For short form writers, the rest period doesn’t necessarily need to be that long, but you do need to get out of “creator mode” and in more analytical “editor mode”. How long that takes will depend on the length of your work but it is the best way I know to give myself enough distance to be able to judge a piece of writing objectively enough.

On the plus side our laptops and PCs do make reworking easier to do. I did use to have to paste and cut literally. It wasn’t fun! I also look at the challenge to the writer here and it really is a question of ensuring you can judge your work objectively. I also share tips for reworking stories I continue to find useful.

Hope you find the post helpful.

Reworking Stories

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady briefly saw her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal earlier – both dogs delighted to be reunited briefly. I was out early for an early swim which was lovely. Am thankful it isn’t as hot as yesterday but it’s still a bit too warm for my (and Lady’s) liking. Feel very sorry for the wildfire fighters.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Reworking Stories on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Mind you, even if you just write non-fiction, reworking your drafts comes into play for you too. I share thoughts and tips.

After that I’ll be interviewing Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, who also knows more than a thing or two about reworking stories! Indeed, I can’t think of any author who hasn’t had to rework something and often more than once. I do know that’s the case for me. Hope you’ll find tomorrow’s post useful.

And my next author newsletter is out on Saturday too. Plenty of news to share this time.

Pleased to share my latest post on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I discuss Getting Together with Other Writers, which is apt as it is just over a week or so before I head to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

I share something of what I’ve learned over many years of meeting up with other writers, not least of which is making many fabulous friends. That alone is reason to go to writing events when you can (and the online ones are also valuable here).

Hope you enjoy the post and you have a great time at any events you go to over the next few months. If you’re plucking up courage to go to one, I would say go for it because we were all nervous newbies for these things. I remember my first event years ago on the Isle of Wight but I ended up having a lovely time and I met the lady who went on to become my publisher many years later. Neither of us could have known at the time.

It is amazing what you can learn from a writing event and, talking of which, I’m also looking forward to meeting up with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening. That was good fun too!

Getting Together With Other Writers

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Hope the day has gone well. Won’t be writing much (if at all) tomorrow given I’ll be at a family wedding. It has been a long time since we last had one of those…

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again tomorrow. A huge thank you to my subscribers for their support. I share news, tips, and more including story links so you get to have a good read. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

What has been especially nice about the newsletter about to go out is having much more news to share. It’s always wonderful to share publication news and I am so glad Seeing The Other Side is now out there.

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Nice task today. I’ve been preparing the copies of Seeing The Other Side I’ll be taking to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in just over a week’s time. Some jobs you just don’t mind doing…!

Am also getting on with further “admin” for my new book, the results of which I hope to be able to share later on.

Incidentally, if you are thinking of getting the paperback via a certain online retailer, please ignore their delivery date guidelines. You will get the book quicker than they say. All that happens here is they receive the order for the book, they let the publishers know, it gets sent on to the printers, and lo and behold a couple of days later you will get your book.

I should add the online retailer does do this for all of the independent presses and it can be a pain. What I think is forgotten is with print on demand, which all of my books are, is there is no stock as such. You just order and pay and then you get your book. At worst case, it may be a day or two later but that should be all.

This way of working is also greener because you’re not printing more than is needed. Neither are there warehousing or distribution costs as such. It is a huge factor in what makes the independent press viable.

The ebook, of course, you will get immediately.

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Delighted to say my Seeing The Other Side is now on the Association of Christian Writers online bookshop. It is one of the perks of being an ACW member and one which is appreciated.

Many thanks to the ACW webmaster, Annmarie Miles, for making this happen. And do check out the ACW bookshop. There is a huge range of fiction, non-fiction and devotional works on there, representing very well what ACW members write. We are a broad church, aptly enough.

Seeing the Other Side

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Fairytales With Bite – Ending The Beginning

When and how do your magical characters take off, so to speak? Where is the point where they have ended their training and are ready to start the magical life “properly”? How do they get on? There could be some good stories around rookie mistakes here. Bound to be some. Most professions will have these so why not the magical ones?

Are your characters glad to leave the training behind and get on with their lives or are they nervous about it? What support do they have? Are they willing to avail themselves of that support?

Where your characters have had training, do the institutions concerned follow up on their previous students or leave them to it? Are they ever proud of their former students? Also, would they have something like mature students? Learning is life long after all (or should be).

In the case of a quest story, where is the point when the story really takes off, the characters know there is no going back, they have to press on to whatever conclusion awaits them?

At some point, the beginning has to end. It will be here your characters begin to mature and come into their own lives. Same as for us, really, but there could be great stories here.

This World and Others – Society Forming

Does your setting focus on a magical or a science-fiction like basis? Or could the two co-exist? Why has your society developed in the way it has, whichever route it has chosen to be the predominant way through for most of their citizens?

What are the advantages to your society forming the way it has? Have there been any aspects it has regretted “dumping”, presumably out of necessity to develop what was the most important things for the society to function in the desired way?

Talking of which, who did make the decisions to take the society in a certain direction? Which of your characters (present or in the past backstory) decided this world will be a magical or science based one? Were they ever challenged? Were their decisions right or not? There would be good stories here.

I could see if characters were unhappy in the way the society was heading, they might want to try to change that. It happens here after all and both fantasy and science fiction reflect humanity with all of its merits and woes.

If your society is mainly a magical one, how would a character who wants to go down the science route as we would know it do this? Would they be ostracised or encouraged? (Some might see the point in having a balance at both magic and science, especially if you know there are things magic cannot do).

Interesting thoughts to explore, I hope.

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Sparkling Dialogue

June 30, 2026June 30, 2026Leave 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, as was a lovely photo from my local wildflower meadow.

Hope you’re all okay. Am so thankful the weather cooled down over the weekend, especially on Sunday. It was a relief all around, including for the dog.

Writing going well. Delighted to say Seeing The Other Side is now up on Amazon for pre-ordering – Kindle version only as I write this. Paperback will follow. Am getting there!

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Another lovely cooler day and Lady again got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal so all well there.
Writing wise, my author newsletter goes out again tomorrow and I can hardly believe we’re almost into July. My Seeing The Other Side will be out on 16th July though so am very much looking forward to that. (The ebook is already up on Amazon for pre-orders).

Will be discussing What I Look For In a Writing Advice Book for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week and I share tips, which I hope will prove useful given there are many excellent guides out there. Link up for that on Friday.

Was so sorry to hear of the death of Dame Penelope Keith. Loved The Good Life and To The Manor Born. She was my late mother’s favourite comedic actress (and mine too) so another link with the past gone thinking about that too. I hope they put on some repeats of these two series. I think they stand up well over time. Also Dame Penelope’s appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show was legendary! Well worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of staircases… enough said.

In happier news, Lady was thrilled to catch up with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, and her Hungarian Vizler pal in the park this morning. I think that was what Lady missed most of all last week in that heat – not being able to see her friends. All had a good and cool time this morning.

In other news, I’m delighted to be able to share my new post on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. ACW moved platforms for their blog last month and it is now on WordPress.

My post this time is on Sparkling Dialogue. Amongst other things, I look at how we can use dialogue to show a lot about our characters and the importance of not writing dialogue for the sake of it. As with any element of a story, there has to be a good reason for it to be there.

Hope you find the post useful.

Sparkling Dialogue by Allison Symes

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Even cooler today and it was lovely being able to resume a post church walk with Lady today. She loved it. Also, our park has a wonderful wild flower meadow in it and it looks amazing at the moment. Photo below gives a good idea. The park has had a meadow like this for the last three years or so and there is a different mix of wildflower for each year. It’s a fabulous idea.

Talking of colours, bear in mind these can be great to bring into a story. It helps, for example, with picturing what a character is wearing. Also you can use colours to help flesh out your character more – what are their favourite colours and how do these come into their stories?

A character who loves pink, say, is likely to have an item of pink on them as they get on with whatever is going on in the story. I know I like to wear a mixture of favourite colours myself and even when not, I’ll have a bag or something which will be in one of those colours.

Colours can also be linked to memories. I recall my late grandmother, who died when I was a young child, always had Rose’s Lime Cordial in. I can still picture the colour of that green (delicious) liquid well over fifty years later!

There is a series of linked flash stories in my forthcoming Seeing The Other Side which are based around the theme of “red”. Great fun to write and I hope readers will enjoy them too in due course.

Thankfully it is cooler today though we’re still being cautious with Lady. She has been especially good this week. Dogs like their routines, it gives them a sense of security, so to have that disrupted can disturb even the most placid of dogs. It is due to become cooler still next week, which will be most welcome.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at What I Look For In A Writing Advice Book for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips as to what I’ve found useful to know ahead of making any purchases. Link up on Friday.

Delighted to say my Seeing The Other Side is now available for pre-order on Amazon but with the Kindle version only. Stay tuned for further updates. It is just a matter of time before the paperback is up there too but I was so pleased to discover this late yesterday. The official publication date is now 16th July – not long to go!

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At the end of June already! The year flashes by, does it not?

Talking of which, what do your characters make of time flashing by for them, whether they are set in this world with our time system or somewhere different which has its own ideas on how time should be?

I do know that whenever I do anything boring, such as the housework, time drags. Again, story thoughts here. What would your characters find makes time drag for them and what do they do to try to improve matters? I could see there being some humorous tales there.

Two stories to share here tonight – one for Substack and the other for YouTube. Hope you enjoy them both.

First up is my tale which appeared on Substack yesterday – Discussing a Problem With A Friend.

Find out why an icing gun comes into the tale.

Second up on tonight’s menu is my YouTube story – Timings 2 (Confession time: I forgot I already had a video with this title here but this story is different and amusing and I liked the title so it stays!).

The local kids’ football match has additional help nobody knew was needed. Excellent play and all that but there is a but. Find out more here. This one isn’t based on a true story but it could be!

Looking forward to cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly and very pleased to be doing so in much cooler conditions. The temperature where I am is in the early to mid twenties, as opposed to the late thirties during the week.

Ten may not seem significant as a number but in terms of lowering the temperature by that much, it is considerably something as Lady would also testify if she could!

Talking of the number ten, why not try a ten word story as a flash fiction exercise? I’ll let you have the title though! Hope you have fun with this. I find it a great exercise to return to every now and then. My examples below:-

1. He wondered if he’d finally find the ice cream van.
2. She couldn’t believe Granny left her a talking magical mirror.
3. When time is all you have, you will do anything.

The great thing with this kind of exercise is you can obviously write the stories up further and use these lines as the beginning, the mid point, or the ending of your tales.

Hope you have fun with your own ten word creations.

Nice the weather is cooling down a bit, Lady is far happier, but it will be much better still from next week so we soldier on.

Flash fiction is great if you like to write to the seasons. There can be broadcast opportunities for the seasons too – see Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM for more on this. I was pleased an ACW friend recently was on the midsummer show.

I hope to submit something much later in the year when the season will be so different from what we have now. It will probably be sometime in the autumn when I start thinking out my ideas for this one. Hard to get your thinking cap on for it when the season is so different to what will be required for the tale. That is my excuse and I will be sticking with it!

Having said that, I do usually draft for seasonal writing well ahead of time given most deadlines for these things are either ahead of the actual days or are right at the beginning of them.

Goodreads Author Blog – Reading in Hot Weather

As I write this in late June 2026, most of the UK has experienced a severe heatwave with temperatures in the high thirties (and overnight in high twenties!). Thankfully it is beginning to cool a bit (anything is welcome, especially if you own pets) and it will be better still hopefully as we go into July.

But it made me wonder do you find it easy to read in hot weather? Generally, you may need to wind things down which may free up more time for reading but do you actually feel like reading?

I found I continued my magazine reading (writing advice ones) as usual. I often save these for lunchtime reading and that continues to be fine. My main book reading though is at bedtime and I managed to do some but nowhere near as much as I’d have liked.

There is something about hot weather which zaps concentration levels, even when you do all of the right thing especially regarding hydration, so I suspect this is why I struggled. I hope to get back to normal reading when the weather resumes normal for the UK for this time of year.

As for the kind of reading to be done, when you can, when it is so hot, I like to keep it light. Now is not the time for “serious literature” for me. I want entertaining and funny. It keeps my mind off how hot things are for a start!

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Moving Books

May 5, 2026Leave 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 Janet Williams for taking two images of me at one of the Hiltingbury Book Fairs.

Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here and it includes a Bank Holiday. Lady is hoping to see more of her friends this week and I remain thrilled to bits my third book, Seeing The Other Side, is due out on 18th June 2026. Onwards and upwards it is then!

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Hope today has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler friend today – all well there.

Writing wise, I’m back on to editing for a client, as well as getting various bits and pieces together which will appear over the next month or so. All hugely enjoyable tasks plus, naturally, I hope to share more news of Seeing The Other Side in due course. So looking forward to that coming out.

Character Tip: There are various ways to start creating a character. Ironically, I don’t find pictures that helpful while I know many other authors do. I’m more drawn by how my character sounds in conversation, which will also show me a great deal about their attitudes to life and educational level/class. That conversation will come from what I believe their main trait will be.

Creating a character can be a bit like putting a jigsaw together. Get a corner piece and away you go! For me that corner piece is the trait and then I get the second corner piece of something my character is likely to say or think.

Hope you’ve had a good day. It has been a Bank Holiday Monday where I am. Still hectic mind you.

So time for my Substack story of the week and I hope you enjoy this one – Last Silly Thing. Idea for this one came from a random question generator which asked what was the last silly thing you did. There is no way I’m revealing that one but I can get a character to do so!

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Lovely church service this morning followed by a quick walk in the park with Lady and a quiet writing and editing afternoon. Much to enjoy about Sundays from my viewpoint! And I’ll be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday soon too….

Hope to submit a story I’ve worked on recently to a competition later today. Then it’ll be time to pick another competition to have a go at. I like to keep my hand in!

Writing Tip: I’ve mentioned before how useful it can be to have a stock of stories to hand for when competitions of interest come up, as they do, but where to start here? My thought would be to write stories around timeless themes (which is where the proverbs and sayings will prove useful), because these will always come up. There will always be competitions based around the themes of love, justice, revenge, and things like that. You can also think about genres here too. There will always be competitions around ghost stories, crime stories, history stories and more.

It’s important to write what you genuinely love though. I love most genres (and read in them) so writing to them when the occasion demands it seems a natural thing to do for me. I’m not so keen on horror, for example, so won’t write to that. (The nearest I’ve ever got to that was a dark, by my standards, ghost story and there I was looking at what could drive the character to be the way I portrayed them. I had no problem with approaching the story that way).

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here though rain has now come in. Not that this bothers Lady.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Book Event Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I hope it will prove useful. Am looking forward to more events myself when Seeing The Other Side comes out.

Delighted to receive my copy of Christian Writer, the journal of the Association of Christian Writers, in the post today. Aside from anything else, we don’t always get post on a Saturday these days! Anyway, I have a column in Christian Writer called Allison’s Advice and I write a 100 word flash non-fiction piece for it on aspects of writing. My column this time shared a few thoughts on learning to love editing (or at least see it as the useful and crucial thing it is).

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Did get my flash competition entry off over the Bank Holiday weekend so was pleased about that. Have just received an email about another potential one. It is one I’ve tried before but have had no joy but you have to be in it to win it, yes?

I hope to get back to some longer short story competitions too but am putting this on the back burner for the next couple of months. Once my Seeing The Other Side is out, there will be plenty to do there but I am looking forward to that immensely.

It has been a busy Bank Holiday Monday here (though Lady was delighted to get to see her “boyfriend”, a lovely Aussie Shepherd). I do know it is time for a story on my YouTube channel though. Hope you like my latest one here – Past Mistakes.

Magical mistakes have led to my character learning and surviving but she now faces the test of her life. Find out more here.

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly and I have a competition to submit for too. My entry for that was a flash piece I drafted a while ago, left “to brew”, came back and edited it and strengthened it. It’s now ready to send in but the break away did help me see flaws clearly when I came back to it.

I hope to write up some of the prompts I set at last week’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting. There was time for one of the exercises on the night and I’ve drafted something for that, which I think has promise. But I do want to try to have a go at some of the other prompts. There are some interesting characters to write stories around and that kind of prompt always draws me in.

As you know, I do believe a successful story hinges on how well readers root for the characters in it.

One of the joys of re-reading my Seeing The Other Side when I was proofreading it recently was to rediscover the stories in there. I write a great number of tales so it is impossible to remember them all. But I do tend to remember the characters. They’ve always been the kingpin of any form of fiction. If they grip me, the story will. It’s a good challenge to remember as I write my own tales.

Character Tip: Think about what makes your character stand out for you. What do you love about them? What do you loathe? The reasons why behind your answers here will tell you more about those characters and will reveal something of their motivations, which is always useful to know.

If you loathe a character because they’re dishonest, you can then look at why they’re that way. Were they driven to it? Did they do this as a survival technique? Were they determined not to be deceived by anyone else again?

Whichever way you look at it, there are story ideas here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Moving Books

I’ve long thought any story, any book (including non-fiction), should move you in some way for it to “work properly”.

For non-fiction, the “moving” bit comes from helping you to discover something you didn’t know or where a different interpretation, one you’d not come across before, is shown. Here the moving bit is enlightenment, if you like, or you agree/disagree with the different interpretation. It will still have made you think though!

For fiction, the success of any story is for the characters to move you enough to make you care about what happens to them. I’ve long found if I don’t care about the character, I won’t be finishing the story.

There are various ways to bring characters to life so they can move readers. Sometimes it is getting them to face a life or death quest (The Lord of the Rings is the godfather of this kind of fiction for me). Sometimes it is when two characters are clearly meant for each other but they have to overcome difficulties (Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion for me here).

But something about the characters has to appeal. I admired Frodo’s courage, Elizabeth Bennet’s determination not to settle for second best, and Anne Elliot accepting she made a mistake when rejecting Wentworth all those years ago.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Moving Books https://t.co/OZggYnyV9P via @goodreads I discuss why I think all books, including non-fiction, should move the reader in some way. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/OiYYgcohwz
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 2, 2026

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Hope you’ve had a good day. It's time for my Substack story of the week. I hope you enjoy Last Silly Thing. Idea came from a random question generator which asked what was the last silly thing you did. I’m not revealing that but I my character can do so!https://t.co/ucNJaI17qq
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 4, 2026

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It has been a busy Bank Holiday Monday here. I do know it is time for a story on my YouTube channel though.

Hope you like my latest one here – Past Mistakes.https://t.co/HySQnH6dng
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 4, 2026

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Using Old Sayings in Fiction

May 1, 2026Leave 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. Lady and I are loving the continuing sunshine. Writing is going well and I now have news my Seeing The Other Side should be out on 18th June 2026 – exciting times!

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Delighted to share Using Old Sayings in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today and I hope you get to draft some stories as a result of it. Why? Simply because I share a few old sayings and suggest ways in which they could be used for storytelling. (Incidentally the proverbs are also useful for non-fiction writing but I thought for this post I’d focus on the fiction side).

Proverbs reveal timeless truths so will always resonate with people and I think this is why they will always be useful as themes and/or titles. Basically, you do have ready made prompts here.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Using Old Sayings in Fiction

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady and I had another great time in the park this morning. She saw her Hungarian Vizler chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Nice time had by all.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Using Old Sayings in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be sharing some old sayings and suggesting ways in which they can be used. I hope the post will prove useful and inspire some stories. Link up tomorrow. See above.

It was great to see everyone at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night. There was great discussion around the prompts set too. I felt it was a particularly encouraging and inspirational session and I hope everyone goes on to edit and polish their drafts.

Publication News: I’m thrilled to tell you Seeing The Other Side has a soft launch date in the middle of June (18th). More news as and when I have it but am delighted to flag this up now. Has perked me up a lot this week, as I’m sure you can imagine!

Glad to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post called Controlling Characters.

Do you control your characters or do they, at least sometimes, control you? I share tips and thoughts for those occasions when your characters come out with the unexpected. I also look at whether you can control your characters while giving them some “freedom” at the same time and where knowing the major trait(s) can prove so useful.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

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1st May 2026 – newsletter
Pleased to say my latest author newsletter went out today. My theme was Dialogue in Fiction. I hope subscribers find the tips and thoughts on that topic useful.

To subscribe you just need to head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Has been a lovely week so far with publication news (my third book, Seeing The Other Side, will be out in mid-June – circa the 18th) and a fabulous writing session with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last night. (On Wednesday 29th April 2026). Have also worked on a piece which I hope to submit to a competition over the weekend.

It is lovely when you have productive times like this. It makes up for those times which are more of a struggle or where all that seems to come in are turn downs from competitions etc.

Encouraging times also help you focus and move forward too. Nothing to dislike about that.

And bear in mind too encouragement can be a fabulous theme to write about. Best encourager in the “fiction business”? To my mind that has to go to Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. Frodo needed him.

Lovely morning in the park and Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler chum today for the first time this week so both dogs were pleased to see each other. Little moments like that are special.

You could argue flash fiction is the art of sharing the “little moments”. By that, I mean there is enough of a tale to be a proper story with a proper beginning, middle and end, but not enough for a standard length short story (usually 1500 words plus). The secret here is to ensure the “little moment” is enough of a story to be a story at all. So there must be a memorable character and something crucial happens but it is all over within a compressed word count.

If you ever want to learn to write tightly, do practice writing flash fiction. You learn to work out what you do need and what you don’t. You cut out the qualifiers such as the words “quite”, “a bit” and “very”. Usually the things these are referring to don’t need the qualifier at all. If something is “a bit” scary, say, then surely it is just scary!

Fairytales With Bite – Crashes

In your magical environment where folk can fly with or without the aid of machinery or a decent broom, how do they avoid crashes? Traffic congestion happens everywhere (and I’ve written a few humorous flash pieces around that thought – one will appear in my forthcoming book, Seeing The Other Side).

Is there a kind of magical Highway Code which people stick to? Do they learn this at their equivalent of school or is it something like our driving test which people have to do later when they are considered to be mature enough to do this?

Would your setting have anything like air traffic control, which would monitor and control air lanes?

If crashes do sometimes happen, what is the procedure for dealing with them? Is there a “magical insurance policy” drivers/fliers have to have and do claimants have to go through claims processes as we do? I smile at the thought of an annoyed witch having to file an insurance claim and being told she has been turned down or has to pay an excess. Would she dare to do anything against the assessor?

Good potential for humorous stories here, I think.

And what inspired this thought? A word game I like on my phone crashed without warning. Still, it’s given me an idea for a blog post!

This World and Others – Technology and Magic Clashes

In your magical setting, would your world consider our technology to be the equivalent to their magic? Or would they consider their magic to be far superior and would they be right to think that?

I’m thinking along the lines that certain aspects of science can “look” magical. For example, if you combine elements to create something else, that could look “magical”.

Especially if our technology can achieve things your world’s settings cannot do, would they want to try and copy what we’ve done? Or would they want to stop it and us? Or would they improve their magical powers to overtake us? Or would they simply steal the ideas from us and use them in their own way back at home?

Could our technology ever threaten their magical powers?

Story ideas there for sure.

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More than Writers: Controlling Characters by Allison Symes https://t.co/bjgeCks1Vi
Do you control your characters or not? I share tips for when they come out with the unexpected. I ask if you can control your characters while granting some “freedom” too.https://t.co/7Jd3gGmPlq pic.twitter.com/ifHcPvE3cM
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 29, 2026

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Using Old Sayings in Fiction https://t.co/Y5TuMreKoW
Delighted to share my new CFT post. I hope you draft stories as a result of it. Why? Simply because I share some old sayings and suggest ways in which they could be used for storytelling. Uou have ready made prompts here.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 1, 2026

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Pleased to say my latest author newsletter went out today. My theme was Dialogue in Fiction. I hope subscribers find the tips and thoughts on that topic useful. To subscribe you just need to head over to my landing page at https://t.co/4PWkpgevt3
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 1, 2026

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Hope Springs Eternal and Characters

March 31, 2026Leave 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 the weekend has gone well for you. Sunny but cold now but has been good to get out with Lady. Writing and editing going well. Would’ve liked to have done more at the weekend but various things got in the way of that so onward and upward this week, I hope.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope you enjoy the post.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onwards and upwards with the writing then!

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Characters Acrostic

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

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

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WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Characters Acrostic https://t.co/6HVtQZjLXD via @goodreads I share a characters acrostic on Goodreads this week. This looks at some reasons why I believe characters make or break a story. They've got to grip your readers. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/LlnhOObgsB
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 28, 2026

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More than Writers: Hope Springs Eternal by Allison Symes https://t.co/oPCw4hkn5o This is so apt a topic for Holy Week. I look at why writers need hope and how you can find this via a supportive writing group. ACW is excellent here. I also look at why I like hopeful stories. pic.twitter.com/lJm9ypuirc
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 29, 2026

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It has been another hectic Monday and so it must be story time. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Heavy Handed. This dark tale began as a sixty word flash exercise.

My character explains their actions against the most powerful man in their world.https://t.co/nFQOL88h5N
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 30, 2026

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Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips

January 30, 2026Leave 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 few days. Lady has had a wonderful time catching up with many of her friends and I did the same when I went to our local theatre company’s excellent pantomime. Will be reviewing that for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. The week has had its ups and downs so will not be sorry to get to the end of this one.

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Delighted to share Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s apt given my next author newsletter is out soon (1st February). I’m also using this post to update a couple of earlier ones I wrote for CFT on the topic. I do hope you find this useful if you are considering having your own newsletter or already have one.

Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips

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It’s my turn on More Than Writers, the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Pressing On Towards The End of the Longest Month Ever. I suspect this will remain my longest title for the ACW blog spot! Mind you, it is apt given January does seem to drag on forever.

I look at the thought of pressing on and being patient being crucial parts of both our writing and Christian lives. I also look at the advantages of pressing on. (Success cannot come if you give up. Changing direction is another matter and I’ve done that myself but giving up, no). Also it helps I think to know you’re not alone in the ups and downs of the writing life.

I hope you find the post to be encouraging in what can be a dark and dreary month.

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Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her two best friends, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, today and Daisy, who we see every so often, who is such a sweet spaniel. Not as muddy as I thought it would be over the park after yesterday’s awful weather (Storm Chandra). Still boot weather, mind you.

Am looking forward to exploring the theme of Ways and Paths with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this evening. It will be nice to see everyone again. It was too and the evening went well.

Am off to see Camelot The Pantomime tomorrow so it is proving to be a varied week. Am getting to grips with Substack as Writers’ Narrative is moving over to that platform. More on this soon. My first two posts here will be appearing in early February.

Finding topics for the Flash Group, my Chandler’s Ford Today posts etc is an ongoing task but a fun one. Proverbs and sayings can give excellent themes to write around plus the writing and editing worlds as a whole also throw up timeless topics to write about. What matters is asking myself what can I bring to the table here which will be useful to someone else. I do love the challenge of this and it stretches me as a writer too. No bad thing that.

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Hope your Friday has gone well. My next author newsletter will be out on 1st February and I include an exclusive 100 word story in it. To sign up for this, other story links, tips and prompts, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Will be having a busy weekend with flash and short story drafts but those are the kind of weekends I like!

There are a few standard and well known competitions I have a go at during the year so will be starting to think about drafting something for those before long. I like to give myself plenty of time for these.

I’ll also be co-judging a flash fiction competition soon and am looking forward to this. It’s an enjoyable and enlightening thing to do.

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Hope today has gone well. Lady caught up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler friends again today and we also caught up with Daisy the lovely spaniel again. Lady has done very well with her “socials” this week. I will be getting on with my “socials” this evening as I head off to the pantomime.

Flash fiction wise, I have a story in draft for a competition which I hope to sort out and send at the weekend. I have other “stories in stock” I want to get out there so hope to get back to having a look at those at the weekend too. Plus I have a longer short story to read through and hopefully submit so plenty going on here.

But for tonight though I am going to sit back and enjoy the story of Camelot The Pantomime.
Oh yes I am! And I did – great fun too. More to come on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course.

Hope to get some flash fiction drafted tonight as I join in with the exercises I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this evening. I love “writing live”. It gives me a real buzz and I hope it does for the other members of the group.

Later, much later, I’ll look back at my drafts and then see what I can do to improve them. There will be room for improvement, there always is, but the idea of a first draft is to just get those initial ideas down. Once I’ve worked on the pieces more, I do send some out for competitions, save others for a future collection, and still others for use on my newsletter. Nothing goes to waste. Even the ones I decide to not take any further, I can find something in them (such as the character or a good line of dialogue) I can use elsewhere. I have gone on to have pieces published which started life as my response to a writing exercise. It can be done!

Fairytales with Bite – Looking Ahead to Brighter Times

Much as I love the classic fairytales, I’ve never gone along with the “twee” school of thought which is where some folk think they’re just sweet tales for the kiddies. Errr…. No. That tells me someone hasn’t read the original stories for one thing.

Fairytales are anything but twee and they do show darker sides to aspects of our behaviour. A wave of the magic wand does not solve all problems and generally characters have to earn their “right” to have help in that manner from a friendly magical being.

It isn’t unreasonable then to have characters, magical or otherwise, in situations where they are looking ahead to brighter times. This theme can give a great outline.

What grim situation is your character in? How did this happen (and that can very much include things which are their fault)? How do they think they can get out of it again and what brighter times are they looking forward to experiencing? Does that happen for them? You can get several stories from answering those questions. The characters and their situations change which is why you could get several stories out of this idea.

Happy writing! (And I hope your characters do earn, in some way, their brighter times. I think there should be something they do or are to contribute to them getting their happy ever after).

This World and Others – The Rough and The Smooth

Life is full of the rough and the smooth, of course, so our stories should reflect this too, I think, no matter how fantastical our settings. Indeed, showing the rough and the smooth will help make those fantastical settings more believable.

Also a character’s journey is far more interesting as we read how they cope with the rough times, overcome them or manage them well enough so they’re not destroyed by them. I know I always want to see characters do something to deserve an appropriate positive ending to their story.

The rough times shouldn’t just come out of nowhere though. Even though I love dropping my characters in the mire and finding out how they get out again, those rough times are hinted at as being possibilities earlier on in my stories. It is then a question of whether those rough times will happen and, if so as I would expect to what degree, and again a little foreshadowing means readers are more likely to accept the story premise.

For example, if I have an arrogant character, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for them to upset someone who then goes on to do something to cause grief to the arrogant character. You can see this being likely to happen. For any story to work for me, there has to be a “believability” factor.

When life becomes smoother again, I want to see the character, with or without help, contributing to that. In the example given above, I’d want my arrogant character to realise how they’ve come across and to want to put things right as much as they can. Even if things don’t quite work out by the end of the story (the other character may still be too angry to accept the “being put right” factor), I want to see my character is trying to make things better.

Stories reflect life here I think. There is a wish to see things put right and we can explore that ideas in our stories. But for that to happen successfully, there have to be the rough times for your characters to experience. The smoother times mean nothing without that.

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More than Writers: Pressing On Towards The End of the Longest Month E… https://t.co/OQCSLWwiRm This is and will be my longest ACW title but it's apt given January drags. It helps to know you’re not alone in the ups and downs of the writing life. I hope this post encourages you. pic.twitter.com/59C9GY8u3l
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 29, 2026

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Delighted to share Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today. It’s apt given my next author newsletter is out on 1st February. I hope you find this useful if you are considering having a newsletter or already have one.https://t.co/ZDYo90nqQt
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 30, 2026

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Spoofs

January 23, 2026Leave 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 few days. Lady needed an X-ray but is fine and recovering well. Writing going well too. And mostly Lady and I are managing to avoid the rain so we always take that as a win.

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Am pleased to share Spoofs on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. A great spoof has to mimic what it is spoofing successfully so people will “go along” with the spoof and enjoy it (and what it is mimicking). This requires an in depth knowledge of the original work and, I believe, a great love for it. You have to know exceedingly well what it is you’re spoofing.

But when done well, this format is a delight. It isn’t just found in books either and I name two films and, separately, a TV series, which I think spoof brilliantly.

To find out more do check out the post.

Spoofs

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Lady is pretty much back to her old self today (needed an X-ray the day before, see below) and it was particularly nice she caught up with her two best pals, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback today. Seeing them perked her up no end and they all had a lovely time, despite the mud.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Spoofs on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing that. I look at what makes for a good spoof and if ever there was a time of year to enjoy them, I think it is now while we are still in the depths of winter with spring still a fair way away. See above.

It’s my experience too that humorous writing, of any kind, while it may be easy to read definitely isn’t easy to write. I salute anyone who manages it. This is partly because humour is subjective, of course, and not of all it “reads across” well. Also especially with a spoof, you do run the risk that those who love the original you base your spoof on will loathe the take you put on it!

But a good spoof is a great joy and you can find them in many art forms. More in my post tomorrow.

Hope the day has gone well. Has been a strange one here as Lady had to have an X-ray. She’s okay and we have had confirmed what we thought was the problem but it is manageable and things will get better from here because we know what it is. So glad to have her home again. The house has felt very odd without her here.

Writing wise, I loved the ACW Connect session run by the Association of Christian Writers last night. It was good to see old friends and chat with new ones. I’m also looking forward to the next session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. I’m off to the panto next week too – oh yes I am!

I’ll be sharing Spoofs on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I like a good spoof and share some of my favourites as well as discussing what I think a good spoof should be. It was fun to write, as you can imagine.

Writing Tip: My week is made up of writing sessions where I can get lots done in one go and lots of smaller sessions. Writing flash is great here because I can use the smaller time slots I have available for that. But a good idea is to save the smaller sessions for those writing tasks you’re not so keen on (e.g. marketing, editing etc) so you have the longer ones for longer stretches of creative writing, which is where most of us get the maximum enjoyment from our writing.

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Lady was delighted to catch up with her Hungarian Vizler friend today and two chums she hasn’t seen for a while – the lovely Coco and Charlie. Lady is much more herself after her X-ray earlier this week.

Flash Fiction Tip: Always focus on the lead character (in stories under 250 words or so, you are likely to just have the one character in your story). Think about their purpose. What are they seeking to achieve? Do they do so or fall flat on their face (which you can exploit, of course, for a humorous tale)? What drives them? What gets in their way? All of those questions would be good to answer for longer works too. Motivation matters for our characters. It is that which does so much to make them believable to readers.

Hope to get around to looking up some flash fiction competitions over the weekend. I know of a couple of possibles but it will be a case of having the time to check them out before I draft anything. It always pays to check the details to avoid the risk of being scammed etc. Sadly rogues target any industry including the writing and publishing ones.

Also some competitions have very restrictive conditions which may well make you think twice about going that route. I avoid those who want to take all of my rights, for example, on the general principle I really don’t like this. The author is unlikely to do well out of this.

Having said that, when I’ve found suitable competitions, I love the challenge of getting something into them. It is fun to do. And you do have to be in it to win it after all.

It is possible to write flash without realising it. Any novelist who prepares a blurb or the shorter kind of synopsis will be writing up to the 1000 words maximum (and probably closer to 500 words). It would count as flash!

Any writer who takes part in writing exercises at online or in person events will be writing flash as you never have enough time to write more than about 100-200 words or so in the time you’re given for these things.

So why not look at those pieces you’ve drafted and polish them up and submit them? I was asked last night at the ACW Connect session (which was fabulous) where I submit my flash. Well, I build up stories for collections, of course. I also send them into competitions. I also share some in my newsletter/on my website (all counts as marketing).

Why not see if you can get your flash work out there and see what can be done with it? If you win or are shortlisted, anything like that, it also gives you news to share.

Flash Tip: Think about the purpose of your story. How do you want your readers to feel on reading it? Are you trying to make them laugh, cry, scream etc? From there you can work out the kind of character(s) which would be best suited for the story.

Fairytales With Bite – Starting Over

All of us need to start over at some point, whether it is starting a new job, new writing project etc. Why would your characters want or need to start over? Do they welcome or fear the prospect? How easy or otherwise do they find taking a new path in life? Is there support available?

What do your characters want their starting over to bring to them? There should be some advantages, otherwise why bother? If it is a question of necessity rather than wanting to start over, what brought them to this point? Could they have avoided it? If not, what advantages could they gain from dealing with the position they’re now in? Could something good come of the having to start over again?

Alternatively, is your character the one forcing someone else to start over? If they’re a fairy godmother or similar magical being, they could well need to use magic to bring someone to their senses to force them to face up to something and then change their ways. This is common theme in fairytales. Here, could you look at what was the last straw for your character which made them decide now is the time they are going to make Character X change their ways?

This World and Others – Finding A New Place

If your characters have to start over, as I discussed in Fairytales with Bite, would this involve finding a new place? Where would they go? Where are they coming from? Is the new place somewhere they want to go or are they out of options?

How easy or otherwise is it for your character(s) to find a new place to be? If they can choose where they want to go, given they can’t stay where they are for whatever reason, what would they be looking for? If they find this, does it compensate them for having to leave their old place at all? What does make them have to/want to leave?

In a magical setting, are characters expected to live in certain areas depending on their species? Or are the different species encouraged to live together and how does that work out? If it works out well, what would they do if someone from outside tried to change that? Would anyone be forced to find a new place because of this? (Sadly it is nothing new and we still see plenty of examples of it here).

Also, natural disasters can cause the need to find a new place. What kind of natural disasters could happen in your magical environment? Can the use of magic make things better or worsen them?

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News: Writers’ Narrative will soon be moving to Substack. Subscription IS still free to the magazine. Have shared a link with an older version of the magazine below. Do enjoy and look forward to the next issue soon.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Spoofs https://t.co/IPU7qd3BOZ
Glad to share Spoofs on CFT. A great spoof must mimic what it is spoofing successfully so people will “go along” with it. Spoofs are found across the arts. I name two films and a TV series which I think spoof brilliantly. Hope you enjoy the post.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 23, 2026

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