Brainstorming and Spreading the Word about Flash Fiction

October 15, 2024Leave a comment

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

Hope you had a great weekend. I had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering writing event on Saturday in Rugby. Plan to write more about that and supportive writing groups for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Do look out for it. I’ll be sharing some tips on what to look for if you’re thinking of joining a writing group. Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing her best pals. Always comes home looking so happy when she’s met up with them.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Two happy dogs went home.

Will be sharing a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow advertising the local Book Fair. Do look out for it (and the event itself is this coming Saturday, 19th October. More details in the post tomorrow and if you can come along even better).

Writing Tip: Every so often have a brainstorming session. Jot down ideas for titles, opening/closing lines etc. It’s good fun, a great creative exercise, and later once you’ve reviewed what you’ve come up with, you will find something you can work up later. What’s not to like about that?

Has been drizzly and murky here but Lady didn’t worry as she got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Good time had by all.

Will be writing about the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering and Supportive Writing Groups for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be sharing useful tips for what to watch out for when you’re thinking of joining a writing group. Link up on Friday. More author interviews to come soon too.

Hectic day today so won’t be getting so much writing done today but Mondays are always like this for me and I more than make up for it during the rest of the week. What I do on Mondays is focus on little “bits and pieces”. I can tick some of those off my writing to do list at least. Makes Mondays a bit better for me!

Had a fabulous time with the Association of Christian Writers yesterday. Will be writing more about that for Chandler’s Ford Today this week but it was just marvellous getting together with people I haven’t seen in person for some time. Regards to all and I hope you all had safe journeys home.

Have spent this afternoon copying over various pieces of writing I managed to get done on the train journeys – did more than I thought. Good use of time that!

Will be back to editing and judging later today, once I’ve written and edited some of my flash pieces.. Am almost there on the story judging and plan to get results back to the writing group this week. It’s a lovely task to do and many thanks to the writing group concerned for inviting me.

Will have some news to share later in the week about my being judged for one of my stories too. I’ve often been on both sides of the editing fence at the same time but this is the first time I’ve been on both sides of the competition judging one!

12th October 2024

Am on my way to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering at Rugby.

Looking forward to seeing everyone, the talk by Paul Kerensa, and the workshops. Will be a long but excellent day. I hope to write about this and the value of supportive writing groups for Chandler’s Ford Today next week.

Have seen dawn rise as I travel. Very nice but also proof the mornings are darker for longer. Will be pitch black when I go home again.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Will be spreading the word about flash fiction at the local Book Fair this coming Saturday 19th October. I’ll be sharing a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post on this tomorrow with more details. But it has been great last weekend and this coming one to be out and about on the book stands once more.

It’s Monday. It’s been more hectic than usual for me so I too am glad to take time out for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – The Day Out. What on earth Could Vera have done to make headlines in her home world? Find out by following the link.

I was glad to share the benefits of flash fiction yesterday when chatting with various people at the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering. The ACW group leaders who were present invited people to join them to discuss what their group does as the last event of the day.

I waved the flag for the online groups given the Flash Fiction Group could never get together in person, we live hundreds of miles apart, and there are a number of ACW groups like this now which have formed to cover different genres. With Zoom distance isn’t a problem though wifi connections can be at times but that’s tech for you and I found out long ato there is no such thing as the totally perfect system.

One major benefit I was keen to share about flash fiction is it helped me to get my head around the whole idea of show, don’t tell. I have got to get my characters to show you what you need to see because I don’t have the word count room to do otherwise. This is no bad thing though and it has benefited my other writing, even my blogging, because I have learned to write “tight” with no wasted words or anything that could be construed as padding!

12th October 2024
Am on the train today and as I travel I get glimpses of “other lives” especially as I go through the towns. Could any of that inspire flash fiction? Oh yes.

As well as Kipling’s Serving Men of who, what, where, when, how and why coming in handy here, my favourite addition of what if will also help me develop ideas. If you don’t like outlines as such, but need something to get you started on flash or other writing, all of these questions are brilliant places to start. Often I find just a one line answer is enough to trigger the ideas.

Goodreads Author Blog – Special Book Moments

I’m sure all of us have special book moments when a story just “clicks” with us. I love those moments.

I recall studying Pride and Prejudice at school and remember loving it so much I read it again immediately at home. My mum loved Jane Austen and this novel remains a comfort read of mine. I had an excellent English teacher (Miss Mackenzie) who brought to life for me the fabulous use of irony in this book.

As for Terry Pratchett, my first Discworld novel was Jingo. Loved the cover and blurb. Hooked by the end of page one! Naturally had to read the rest of the series after that.

As for The Lord of The Rings I was intrigued by the hobbies and Gandalf from the start so naturally kept reading.

Books are so special anyway but are even more so when they give you fabulous memories too.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the December 2023 edition of the magazine which looked at Finishing Strong, always an apt title for an end of year issue. I looked at Finishing Strong in the Short Fiction Forms and shared a separate piece under the Writing Group of the Month section about the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group which I lead monthly. Much to enjoy in this issue and it really won’t be long now before the magazine is back!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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I look at special book moments for Goodreads this week.https://t.co/w4y3QnWiON
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 12, 2024

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Day 5 of the blog tour for Loyalty and the Learner.
Many thanks to @AllisonSymes1 for a fab post and @between_pr for organising the tour. https://t.co/kxH5yTceHE #crimefiction #newnovel #authorinterview
— Miriam Drori (@MiriamDrori) October 11, 2024

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It’s Monday. It’s been more hectic than usual for me so I too am glad to take time out for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – The Day Out. What on earth Could Vera have done to make headlines in her home world? Find out by following the link.https://t.co/Fmmppeabaj
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 14, 2024

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Outlining and Prompts

October 8, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

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

Facebook – General

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

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

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

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

7th October
A deeply sad day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Books With Impact

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

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

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

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

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

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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

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

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Newsletters and Competition News

October 1, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you had a good weekend. Lovely to catch up with family and friends and relieved the weather held. It was bucketing down again on the Sunday! There are times my gutters do a credible impersonation of the Niagara Falls! Writing wise, am busy judging a flash fiction competition at the moment and editing, as well as writing my usual materials. Plenty going on but that’s the way I like things. Also have had some exciting competition news of my own – see below.

Facebook – General

How come it is October already? Having said that, I like October. It can be a lovely month, weather wise, though today it has been changeable in my part of the world.

Still the first of the month always reminds me to get my author newsletter out and accordingly my latest went out earlier today. I guess producing one of these a month makes it easier for me to spot how quickly the year is passing!

Writing Tip: I know it’s an oldie but this tip is a goldie and one I use a lot. The moment you get an idea jot it down as soon as you can. Don’t rely on yourself to remember. You don’t. I know I’ve lost ideas this way. I try never to do so now.

Now what do you do when said idea strikes at an awkward moment? Often does for me – the shower is a favourite location for my brain to decide it is suddenly going to show up with some inspiration. Goodness knows why, though I am grateful it never happens just as I’m trying to sleep. I know that would irritate me no end.

Anyhow, I have notebooks in different places to allow for this. Alternatively, I grab my phone and use the note feature on that to jot things down. Sometimes I’ve just jotted down key words but have found that is enough to get the idea “back”.

Have been known to mutter words to myself re the idea until I can get to that notebook or my phone. It may sound odd but it works, honest! Just helps to have an understanding family though!

Hope you have had a good start to the week. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals this morning. A good time had by all despite the dodgy weather.

Glad my Newsletters post on More than Writers (I shared the link yesterday – see below) has triggered questions. I have now responded to those for those of you who commented on the post itself. I will add in that I was a late comer to having an author newsletter but am now glad I have one. It is an easy way to engage with readers and I find them fun to put together too. I believe in keeping it simple and being consistent, two good qualities for any writer!

And talking of which, my next newsletter is out tomorrow, 1st October. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com – and many thanks to all who have subscribed.

It’s my turn again on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time, I talk about Author Newsletters and share tips as to what I’ve found helpful in setting up and running mine. Hope you find the post useful.

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Hope you have had a good day.

Will be looking at Story Inspiring TV and Its Music for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Am sure it will bring back many happy memories for many of you. Looking forward to sharing that on Friday. Then it will be back to author interviews again. More details to come nearer the time.

You often hear the advice to treasure the moments (and we should do too) but you can make this true for your characters too. Think about what moments they would treasure and why. Sure to be a story or two behind answering those points.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Competition News: Had a lovely email in this morning saying one of my stories has come third in a competition, I can’t say any more than that yet but will share more when I have a link to share as the story will be published. Could do with more emails like that!

Mind you, while I have been on both sides of the editing fence at the same time before, this is the first time I’ve been on both sides of the competition judging fence at the same time as I am currently judging flash pieces for a Scottish writing group. Lovely position to be in though.

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It’s Monday. The weather here has been iffy to say the least. It’s time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Cake and Candles, a timely theme as I was celebrating a family birthday over the weekend. Well, they say write what you know, do they not?

I’ve always had a soft spot for characters who can see beyond the obvious and who are not necessarily prepared to go along with the crowed (especially if they can see said crowd is being foolish).

One of my characters like this is from The Terrified Dragon (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) where the local butcher can see a way of putting an unexpected dragon to use (well, be fair, it is never good news when one turns up in the neighbourhood), instead of just trying to kill the thing. Great fun to write and I always find characters like this more interesting to write for. I start by working out what it is about them which makes them different to the rest.

Another example of mine is from The Circle of Life (From Light to Dark and Back Again) where my character finds a novel way to stop animal cruelty. Funnily enough, I didn’t name either of these two characters (for longer stories I would’ve done) but they’re memorable because they stood out against the crowd.

I used the random object generator recently and used what came up, a cookie tin, as inspiration for my stories on Friday Flash Fiction (The Old Bat and the Cookie Tin) and on my YouTube channel (Appreciation) this week. Two different characters, two different story lines, two stories full stop and all from one object idea! I like this! Hope to play again with the random object generator soon.

You can make even better use of the generators by changing the parameters you use for them but I’ve found not generating too much in one go is a good idea. I limit myself to two or three things at a time.

By the time I’ve clicked a couple of times something will have rung my inspiration bell and off I go with an outline and first draft. Having too much in one go I’ve found tends to swamp me. I have got to see the wood for the trees!

Goodreads Author Blog – Encouraging Reading

It is no surprise all authors are always huge fans of reading. It is usually a case of having loved stories all of our lives, we then want to write some of our own. I’m all for things like World Book Day which encourages children to engage with books. Would like to find ways of encouraging adults to read more though!

I do think one of the most important things about children’s literature is in its role in engaging kids to read at all and then to keep them reading, Every writer of stories for adults owes a debt to the children’s writers given they grown our audience for us.

It is not unheard of for someone to discover books as a an adult but it is far more often the case someone has developed a love of reading which started when they were children. It is said the best way parents can encourage children to read to let their children see them read for pleasure.

I can vouch this approach works. My late mother encouraged my love of reading this way and also by ensuring, when very young, I was read to every night. The oral tradition of storytelling is an ancient one and must never die! It does lead on to reading for yourself.

So let’s hear it for the children’s writers and also get on with our own reading. In doing the latter we support other writers and I would hope encourage those around us to read for pleasure too if only by setting a good example here ourselves.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the November 2023 issue which had novels as its theme. My article is on Writing Novels and is based on what I learned from writing mine. That book is still unpublished though I hope to return to it soon.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Encouraging Reading https://t.co/if7Iywjvmh via @goodreads I discuss the importance of encouraging reading for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/Zv2Qm1zNBs
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 28, 2024

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More than Writers: Newsletters by Allison Symes https://t.co/kgATeFbAbQ It’s my turn on More Than Writers, the blog for the Association of Christian Writers. I discuss Author Newsletters and share tips as to what I’ve found helpful in running mine. Hope you find the post useful. pic.twitter.com/9UsBgkVytk
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 29, 2024

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It’s Monday. The weather has been iffy to say the least. It’s time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Cake and Candles, a timely theme as I was celebrating a family birthday over the weekend. Well, they say write what you know, do they not?https://t.co/eCN32vbT57
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 30, 2024

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Author Interview: Behind The Curtain with Anita D Hunt

September 27, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Anita D Hunt and Lynsey Adams for pictures supplied for the Chandler’s Ford Today post this week.

Hope you have had a good few days. Torrential rain and brief spells of sunshine here. Hoping it brightens up for the weekend as have a family event. Writing wise, have more superb author interviews coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today in October. Will say more nearer the time though I find it hard to believe we’re almost at the tenth month of the year already! Where has the time gone?

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

As part of her blog tour, I am delighted to welcome fellow Swanwicker, Anita D Hunt, to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her new domestic noir novel, Behind The Curtain.

Anita shares many useful tips and plenty of great advice in this in depth interview, in which she also discusses how it can be painful getting inside your characters’ heads at times and what to look for in a writing group.

She looks at what she likes about creating characters and how Cornwall, her home county, plays a major part in her work. She discusses themes and shares an invaluable tip about writing blurbs. Do check out the interview and settle down for a riveting read.

Behind The Curtain with Anita D Hunt

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Glad to say the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom last night went well. The theme was marketing (many thanks to Rosemary Johnson for suggesting it) and I shared a few ways flash fiction can help with this.

If nothing else, sharing flash fiction stories every now and again can act as a marvellous advert for the rest of what you do. It doesn’t take long to read, it entertains potential/actual readers, and it showcases you/your work. Nothing to dislike there, I think.

And talking of marketing, it’s time for me to put in my usual end of month reminder about my author newsletter. The next one goes out on 1st October and I share stories, tips, advice (based on what I’ve found useful myself), news etc. If interested do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com where you can sign up. A huge thank you too to all of my subscribers here and on my YouTube channel.

Thought for Today: Every writer has their fair share of rejections, not doing well in competitions etc, but there’s nothing to stop you revisiting your old work, seeing if you can polish it up and get it out somewhere else. I’ve had work published that way.

Sometimes I will review a piece and with the benefit of time and that useless aid, hindsight (I would far rather have the ability to spot something wrong at the time I’m working on a piece and see my mistakes before I send anything out!), I can see why a piece failed but even that can be useful because I’ve learned from it.

So maybe hindsight isn’t so useless after all. I would still prefer foresight or at the time sight though! Suspect most of us would.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady has had a smashing one given she got to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. I’ve managed to avoid most of the rain today too so will take that as a win.

Don’t forget I’ll be talking to Anita D Hunt about her domestic noir novel, Behind The Curtain, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. The interview is packed full of useful tips and advice too so do look out for it. See above. Glad to say there will be more author interviews to come on CFT in October too.

Writing Tip: I know some writers dread marketing and would far rather focus on writing. I understand that but there are creative aspects to marketing your stories too. After all the challenge here is to make what you have to say here about your work interesting and appealing to readers and not switch them off. (Saying buy my book all the time does do precisely that).

I’ve found if I can make the marketing fun for me to do it is more likely to be appealing to a reader. Sharing something of interest and/or value to readers/writers as I discuss what I’m up to writing wise is also marketing. I think it is more likely I can keep this kind of marketing going too.

My aim with posts like this one then is to have a chatty informative style, while sharing useful tips and something like oh by the way my newsletter is out soon, if you want to sign up head over to etc etc. I take the view if it is something I wouldn’t mind reading if I were on the receiving end, other readers (or at least some) will take the same view.

So work out then what you like to see in marketing you receive. Figuring out what works for you as a reader will help you come up with material based on your work you won’t mind sharing with your readers (and they won’t mind it either). The focus has to be on engagement, I think. Stories about your writing life work well too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday, end of the week time, weather iffy so definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – The Old Bat and The Cookie Tin. Think I’ve found a contender for one of my all time favourite titles!

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady didn’t get to see any of her pals today though she hopefully will tomorrow. Have a family event at the weekend. Lady loves these because (a) she loves people, (b) she loves getting extra food and getting to be an outside Hoover, and (c) she loves playing with the visiting dog, with whom she gets on brilliantly. Am expecting Lady to be shattered on Saturday night. She was last time but happily so!

Looking forward to the local Book Fair in October and literally the week before the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering event. I shall be off to Rugby for that one and will be back to London in December for the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Lots going on all connected with writing and I plan to enjoy every minute! I also get to spread the word about flash fiction of course.

Prompt Idea: Events mean different things to different people so why not invent one for a character of yours and show what they make of it? Do they organise it? Do they love it? Do they dread it? What happens at this event which changes things for them?

I’ve mentioned before the importance of using the right telling details to help your readers picture your world/setting/character/any combination of those. In my The Terrified Dragon (Tripping The Flash Fantastic), I start with the line The dragon was surrounded by angry humans with weapons and realised to his dismay he was supposed to blast them all away.

Note I haven’t told you what those weapons were as that isn’t the important thing. What you need to know is the main character is a dragon who has got into trouble (which is odd in itself given dragons are usually the cause of fire-related trouble!). You need to know about the angry humans (and you don’t need telling why they’re angry given a dragon turning up is seldom good news).

But you also see something of the dragon’s attitude. He knows what he is meant to do but is strangely reluctant to do it. There is something strange about this creature. Only way to find out what is to read on. Job done.

I’ve always found it useful to figure out what a reader has to know and then decide how I am going to plant those things in the story. When I’ve outlined my character well enough, I can see how the story will develop and where those things should go. It will arise naturally, which is what you want.

Fairytales with Bite – Flying Around

Now I know I moan about traffic in my area – I suspect most of us do – but what would this traffic look like in a magical world? How is the Eye in the Sky supposed to work when all around them are flying on broomsticks and other magical craft?

Would there be speed limits? Would there be corridors magical flying beings are supposed to stick to (if only to give the wildlife a half decent chance of being able to fly anywhere in safety? I feel sorry for birds in magical worlds. In any other kind of world the skies would be theirs. Not in this kind of environment it isn’t!).

Now we all know there are certain kinds of car driver (usually with specific brands of vehicle too) who are notorious for tailgating, jumping traffic lights, being awful at junctions etc. What would the magical equivalent of these things be in your setting? How is flying traffic controlled or is it a free for all and it is assumed the fittest/fastest/strongest survive and it’s tough luck on the others? What are the accident rates?

Are the state of the skies in your setting better than they used to be or worse? Can any magical being fly? Are the “vehicles” restricted to certain speeds?

You could have some funny stories here about the magical traffic cop and how they rein in anyone who breaks the rules here. I once wrote a festive flash piece where such a character tried to pull Santa over for speeding! Great fun to write.

This World and Others – Policing the Skies

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, who does police the skies? How seriously or otherwise is this role taken? Does it get the support of the general public or it is looked down on? Are there any perceptions that certain flyers (e.g. witches and wizards) get away with traffic faults and other more lowly kinds (such as the trainee fairies etc) do not?

Who does control the skies in your setting and how do they do it? We consider keeping control of our own air space as vital to our defences (as proven by the Battle of Britain in World War Two) so I would assume your setting’s government would take the same view.

Who would they need to defend their skies against? What is the history behind that? What is the history behind how your government does police the skies? What have they found works well and what less so?

I quite like the idea of a traffic cop on a broomstick with a flashing blue light pulling over other magical beings for speeding etc. What punishments can be given? How are other magical beings stopped from avoiding these and/or giving the cop a hard time?

Story ideas here (and possibly funny ones too).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Since marketing has come into this round up tonight, I thought I’d share the link to the September 2023 edition of the magazine given it has marketing as its theme. I have two pieces in here – Marketing Your Books and Writing For Online Magazines.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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It’s Friday, end of the week time, weather iffy so definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – The Old Bat and The Cookie Tin. Think I’ve found a contender for one of my all time favourite titles!https://t.co/SoNEdSo8GF pic.twitter.com/nDyb07y3CB
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 27, 2024

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Behind The Curtain with Anita D Hunt https://t.co/kiOYshPN53 As part of her blog tour, I'm delighted to welcome fellow Swanwicker, Anita D Hunt, to CFT to discuss her domestic noir novel, Behind The Curtain. She shares useful tips and great advice in this in depth interview.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 27, 2024

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Random Generators

August 30, 2024Leave a comment

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

Hope you have had a good week. Lady had a wonderful puppy party with not one, not two, but three of her best buddies earlier this week. All of the dogs went home shattered but happy! Writing wise, I have two blogs to share this week with one on competitions (More than Writers) and the other on Random Generators (Chandler’s Ford Today). Hope you find both useful.

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Delighted to share Random Generators as my post on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. This is a topic close to my writing heart given I use a wide range of these and find them so useful for triggering story ideas. I share reasons why these things are so useful to writers and tips for making the best of them. Hope you find the post useful.

Random Generators

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I talk about Competitions and share hints and tips I’ve found useful. Hope you find them useful too.

I also look at what I think judges are looking for in competition entries. Am looking forward to putting my judge’s hat back on in September for a writing group, which is why this topic sprung to mind.

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Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her best pals, the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Coco the Labradoodle. Very tired but happy dogs went home (and before it became so humid this afternoon too so win-win there).

Will be discussing Random Generators on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. I use a wide variety of these and find them all useful. Many of my tales created this way end up on Friday Flash Fiction or on my YouTube channel.

Writing Tip: If you have brainstorming sessions every so often (and I do for titles and opening/closing lines), do put them away for a while afterwards. As with resting a story before being able to edit it effectively, I find I have to rest the ideas I’ve come up with here and it is only with time away from them, I can then work out whether they are “goers” or not. Pleased to say most are and I get on with drafts but inevitably I do have to discard some ideas – this is the way of it.

Sometimes an idea which seemed good at the time was only good enough for that time. The cool light of day, and switching my brain from creative to objective judging mode can be illuminating to say the least. I used to worry when I discarded ideas but have learned over time other, better ideas do occur to you so I no longer worry about this aspect.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to say my story Fifteen is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. The idea for this one came from my Lift Up Your Pens session at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick recently.

I was discussing using numbers in fiction and one of the ideas I shared was that of writing a story based around a character having a fear of a certain number. Find out why my character Shelley chose this one rather than the more usual thirteen.

I use names in my flash pieces for various purposes. Sometimes I use them to indicate likely age. Sometimes I use them to indicate likely social class. Sometimes a name can combine those two factors. I don’t always use surnames because I often find just the first name gives the detail I want readers to pick up on. But I do ensure the name suits the character.

Occasionally I do use the random name generators (especially those where I can select fantasy names. Many of these generators have different settings and it is worth having a look at them to find which would suit you best). Funnily enough I often don’t use the name generated but what it does do is trigger off an idea of my own from it and I then go with that. As ever with me, it is the getting started which matters!

With the exception of Friday Flash Fiction who want up to 100 words, most of the flash competitions I try have a word count of 250 or 300 words. If you wanted to practice writing to specific word counts, I would recommend the 100, the 250 and the 300. I’d also check out the competition guide Writing Magazine issue as these detail flash competitions as well as standard short story ones.

Don’t forget to check out their website as well for other competitions. Some are subscriber only. Others are open to all. And I will flag up now they are running the Grand Flash Prize again, deadline is the end of the year for that one.

Fairytales with Bite – Favourite Books

Do your fantasy characters have favourite books? Are there tales which are considered classics and which everyone is supposed to read/have read? Would any of these be the same or similar to our fairytales? Indeed, what would they have as fairytales and are ours a poor imitation?

What is the attitude towards reading in your world? Is it encouraged or looked down on? Can anyone access books? What would be the equivalent of libraries/book shops in your setting? Would information found out from books (or something of interest in stories) be of crucial importance to your characters as they deal with their situations?

If your setting has multi species, which would be the favourite books of each and is there any crossover happening here? Is there something with unites the different species? It is one of the things I love about books – they can be a great way to bring people together. So could this happen in your story and what would the outcome be?

This World and Others – Access to Books

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, access to books is governed by whether there are such things as libraries in your settings. If not, how else would people access books? Do your characters ever earn enough to buy their own? Are certain books reserved for select species and why is this, if so?

What would those in authority worry about people finding out from books? Are they right to worry? Has there been any historical precedent for trouble being caused by folk accessing books they should not have done?

Or have books been suppressed in the past, they’re not now, but someone is looking to suppress them again? Who would this be? What are they trying to cover up? Do they succeed? Story ideas there I think!
Meantime I’ll continue to appreciate my own access to books! They are wonderful things.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the April 2024 edition on editing. My article here asks the always pertinent question – Editing: Do You Love It or Loathe It?

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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More than Writers: Competitions by Allison Symes https://t.co/6gZdbzmFIh Pleased to be back on MTW, ACW's blog spot. I share tips about competitions I’ve found useful and look at what I think judges look for. Am looking forward to putting my judge’s hat back on in September too. pic.twitter.com/mFi8RA0WM6
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 29, 2024

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Fifteen, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/SAkaZ48yyl The idea for Fifteen came from my Lift Up Your Pens at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I discussed using numbers in fiction. One idea I shared was writing a tale based on a fear of a certain number. pic.twitter.com/zBQVX3QNZT
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 30, 2024

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Random Generators https://t.co/NU11gdsocS Pleased to share Random Generators on CFT this week. This topic is close to my writing heart as I use a wide range of these. I share reasons why these are so useful to writers and tips for making the best of them.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 30, 2024

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Never Fear The Editing

August 16, 2024Leave a comment

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots and some Swanwick photos were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Val Penny for arranging for one photo to be taken and to then send it on, more below.

Had a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I will write about it in more depth for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. Am home again inspired, encouraged, and shattered! Am listening to Classic FM for the first time for a few days and am finding it especially soothing.

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Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as I draft this. So good to catch up with so many writing friends. I keep in contact with many via social media and some via Zoom but you cannot beat getting together in person.

Many thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my two part editing course and/or the Lift Up Your Pens session I led on Sunday morning. I looked at different ways of using numbers in fiction for that. If, however, you would like more on editing, do check out my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week aptly called Never Fear The Editing.

Never Fear The Editing

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The week at Swanwick passes so quickly. Many thanks to all who came to my Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge two part course today.

I’ll be discussing more on editing for my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow too. Glad to get together for fellow Association of Christian Writers for a group photo today which was taken on Val Penny’s phone by a staff member of The Hayes.

The ACW contingent at Swanwick 2024

Another wonderful day at Swanwick though I am glad the temperature has cooled somewhat. My Chandler’s Ford Today post will be up again on Friday where I’m talking about Never Fear The Editing. See above.

In something that is no coincidence whatsoever, my editing course at Swanwick is tomorrow and will be on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge.

Had a fabulous time at the third part of Vivien Brown’s Short Story course. I had great fun killing off one of the characters we had to create on Monday as part of the homework exercise that was set. I do believe in killing my fictional darlings!

Then I was off to SpellBound Books and their talk in Pitch to a Publisher. I will be back for Part 2 of this later today. I’ll be finishing the afternoon with a Show Don’t Tell workshop, the topic is always useful.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, it was lovely to answer questions about flash fiction too. I loved advertising flash through the Open Prose Mic Night too. A huge thanks to Penny Blackburn for the photo.

Meantime if you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Stuck?

Reading at Open Prose Mic Night – Swanwick 2024 – many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the pic

Pleased to share how flash fiction writing has helped my editing skills as part of the two section Editing course I ran at Swanwick today. Hope I have persuaded some of the joys of editing too!

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Had a wonderful time at the Open Prose Mic Night here at Swanwick last night. I read a selection of pieces from my two books, CafeLit 13, and printed some of my tales out from Friday Flash Fiction to read too. It made for a nice selection and I came in at under the five minutes mark, as is required. (This means it is more likely everyone who would like to read gets a go!).

I was also pleased to be asked for some advice on flash fiction this morning, as well as, later, being complimented on my stories. Thank you to those concerned. Feedback like this is invaluable because most of the time writers are working away on their own of course.

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Fairytales with Bite – Where Magic Can Be Found

In your fantasy setting, can magic be found anywhere or is it limited to specific locations? If the latter, is there a geographical reason for that? Does your fantasy setting ever have interaction with non-magical species or worlds? If so, do “your people” hide their skills or use them to dominate others?

Are there those who have seen and experienced the awful side to magic (all forms of power can be abused so that applies here too)? Do they do all they can to fight it? What can they right back with?
If there is “raw” magic in the geography itself, can that be “mined” by anyone? Are there rules governing its use?

Where magic can be found as a theme can be taken in positive or negative directions. So what do your characters make of magic and why? Story ideas there!

This World and Others – Creativity and Collaboration

I’ve not long returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is a fabulous week where delegates find themselves immersed in the world of writing, There is a lot of creativity and collaboration! Many of the workshops and courses, including the one I ran on editing, are interactive in that exercises are set, feedback is given there and then and so on.

So what would be your world’s equivalent of this? Would this kind of creativity and co-operation be confined to what we know as the humanities/creative arts?

Of course here you often see these wonderful attributes in things like engineering, science etc where the great discoveries, engineering achievements and so on can’t possibly be achieved by one person but where a special someone (like Isambard Kingdom Brunel) is needed to kick start the process off. By this I mean they achieve great things but also enable others to do so building on what they have done.

So who would your special characters be here? What have they contributed to your world? What obstacles did they have to overcome? Plenty of story ideas there.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the September 2023 issue of the magazine with its focus on marketing, always a timely and useful topic. I talk about Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines for this one.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Stuck, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/krhD1zR7iJ As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, I answered questions about flash fiction too. If you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on FFF – Stuck?https://t.co/dOhBBzfYfc pic.twitter.com/7jSmpKfNXt
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 16, 2024

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Never Fear The Editing https://t.co/iBXBtXAK6l Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers' Summer School, Swanwick. Thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my editing course. If you'd like more on editing, check out my CFT post this week called Never Fear The Editing.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 16, 2024

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Best Invention Ever – Books!

July 30, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, though photos of me with The Best of CafeLit 13 were taken by other half, Adrian Symes. Thanks also to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me about to run a workshop at Swanwick 2023.

Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Back to hot sunny weather here. Getting ever nearer to the wonderful Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – so looking forward to that. Lady has been catching up with her pals and having a great time in the park with them. Dogs keep things simple. I like the simple approach myself when it comes to drafting a story. I ask myself whose story is it and then work out the character and away I go from there.

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A hot one day but Lady keeping nice and cool, I’m glad to say. I have a flask of water with me for her which is a blessing.

Will be reviewing Bleak Expectations recently performed by the excellent The Chameleon Theatre Group for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. If you love a Dickens spoof and your own local theatre company put this show on, do go! Locals to my area, if you’ve not seen The Chameleons in performance, you should. You’re missing a treat otherwise. More to come in my post this week.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again on Thursday. Yes, I know, how did we get to August already, but there is no getting away with it. But plenty to share in my newsletter so do look out for it. If you’ve not signed up you can at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This month I’m talking about Best Invention Ever – Books! Well, it’s hard to argue with that one, isn’t it?

Regardless of what you like to read, life would be so much poorer without books in it. Hope you enjoy the post. I do ask how can we persuade people there are books out there for them, especially if they don’t come from a background of having always read. I do come from that background and am mindful I shouldn’t take that for granted.

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Lovely sunny day and Lady got to see her Jack Russell pal, Willow, today. Very sweet dog. Lady always pleased to see friends.

Had a lovely Zoom session with Swanwick friends last night but what is nice is the next time we meet up it will be in person at Swanwick. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: I draft my various posts in advance, I’ve found it pays. When I have any spare writing time, I jot down ideas and then start writing those up even if I don’t have a definite date in mind for using said posts. It does mean I always have something “on the go”. It also gives me more time to finish these pieces off. I’ve found that pays too.

Same applies for story writing. Even if I don’t have a definite market or competition in mind, I will draft away because I know I will find a home for these tales later on.

Hope you have had a good weekend so far. Nice to have lunch out in the garden with other half and the dog. Just as well we did, Is clouding over ominously as I write this!

Next week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post will be a review of Bleak Expectations, recently staged by our excellent local amateur dramatic company, The Chameleon Theatre Group. Their last performance of this is tonight, 27th July. Those with fond memories of the Radio 4 show of the same name (which includes me) will love this show as it is based on that and written by the same chap, Mark Evans.

Looking forward to flash fiction afternoon which is a highlight of most of my Sundays. Have a competition entry to finish and send in too this time as well as preparing my usual stories. Am making good progress towards a potential fourth collection too. During the week my writing consists of a mixture of blogging, story writing, and marketing items (such as getting my newsletter ready etc). Never short of things to be writing and that is how I like it.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Have used one of the prompts I worked on during the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting from my most recent YouTube video which I shared yesterday. I love joining in with the live writing exercises. It keeps me on my toes and I get more flash written – win-win.

All of us share what we prepare on the night. I like to encourage this because it is a good idea to get used to talking about what you write. Helps overcome the nerves in doing so too I find.

It’s Monday. It’s a hot Monday. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – All Going Swimmingly. Those from the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group may recognise this one from our recent meeting. Knew I’d do something with this tale and here it is!

Always look forward to Sunday afternoons. I always write a lot of flash fiction then. I know it sounds almost too horrible to contemplate but it won’t be that long before I am drafting my festive flash pieces. Yes, I know. Not even out of summer yet and I’ve hinted at a certain season coming along!

I bear in mind the women’s magazines will already know what will be in their seasonal specials later this year already so I tend to draft my festive pieces as and when the mood strikes me. I often do this in late summer/early autumn so I know I have pieces to look at and polish before sending them in anywhere. I like having time on my side as much as possible.

I sometimes have fun with my flash tales in that I use films I’ve loved as inspiration. For example, my Where The Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) is based on The Wizard of Oz and I use one of the witches for the viewpoint character. It was great fun to do and a different slant on the tale I think.

I have a soft spot for this kind of story writing given my first story in print, A Helping Hand (Alternative Renditions – Bridge House Publishing) is a take on the Cinderella story. Hard to believe that was way back in 2009 – where has the time gone?

The tip I would give here though is always pick a story or film you know almost “inside out”. You need to understand the characters in the, if you like, “authorised” version before you can work out how to write a story suing a different angle based on it.

If you know Cinderella well, you will know the cast of other characters in that fairytale as well, giving you the opportunity to write something from their point of view. As you will know the characters well, your sharing of their viewpoint will come across as plausible to other readers who also know the story well, which is what you are after here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Spoofs

I’ve recently watched a wonderful play (Bleak Expectations) based on the works on Dickens, of course. The show itself was based on a Radio 4 comedy from many years ago and that and the play are written by the same man. There were many wonderful references to lines by Dickens, book titles etc in the play, which I loved. It was great fun spotting them!

But this led to me thinking about spoofs in general. Many are based on books – Bored of the Rings, anyone? (There is also A Midsummer Nightmare out there).

What I hope is the case here is the spoof comes about as a result of a genuine love for the author/books being spoofed. That is definitely the case with Bleak Expectations and if you get the chance to hear the radio series or go and see the play I heartily recommend it. Loads of laughs too! I wonder if any of these spoofs have led to people discovering the authors of the original works? I would like to think so.

One of my favourite moments from the long running Radio Four series, I‘m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, is when they have a books round and usually the players have to add a word to the title or take a word away to come up with a totally different book. I’ve often thought some of the titles they come up with for this would make excellent spoofs.

A well done spoof then, I think, can add to the pleasure of reading in general. Certainly Bleak Expectations has reminded me of Dickens’ titles I need to check out again!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the November 2023 edition of the magazine. The theme this time was Novels and my article is called Writing Novels. I share what I learned from writing my first novel. Do check the excellent advice throughout the magazine out.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Spoofs https://t.co/JWfGtyspkT via @goodreads Having just seen a wonderful spoof play based on Charles Dickens, I thought I'd talk about spoofs for this week's Goodreads post. pic.twitter.com/J7Sa41JjBe
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 27, 2024

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It’s Monday. It’s a hot Monday. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – All Going Swimmingly. Those from the ACW Flash Fiction Group may recognise this from our recent meeting. Knew I’d do something with this tale!https://t.co/l6XfufM6ip
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 29, 2024

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More than Writers: Best Invention Ever – Books! by Allison Symes https://t.co/XesVBzltkq Pleased to be on MTW, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, talking about this theme. It’s hard to argue with, isn’t it? Life would be much poorer without books in it. pic.twitter.com/ZYTmW6AYj7
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 29, 2024

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Top Ten Tips and Letters

July 2, 2024Leave a comment

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

Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here. Am busy on both writing and editing projects at the moment and am loving them all. I do like knowing what I’ll be working on when I get to my desk. Some days I have more time than others but I’ve learned to plan out my week so I see my writing and editing as a case of what have I got done over the course of a week, rather than judge it day by day. It also means I use the smaller pockets of time more efficiently too. I know what I’ll be saving those odd ten minutes here, ten minutes there for.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Pleasant time in the park with Lady though she didn’t get to see her chums today. Hopefully will make up for that tomorrow.

Am almost at the end of re-reading the great P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters on my Kindle. Will have the happy dilemma of working out what to read next soon. Having read non-fiction for a while, I will almost certainly turn to something fictional and I suspect Jeeves and Wooster will be in the offing. Just sometimes I only want to read something which I know will make me laugh. Wodehouse always delivers there.

Occasionally, I’ve written short stories, even flash fiction, in the form of a letter. For flash pieces, I have needed to write up to the full word count allowed (1000) but that’s fine.

What I like about the letter format is you have two characters immediately, the writer and the letter recipient, and you can tell much about them by what is written and the attitude coming through the text. (See my Punish the Innocent from From LIght to Dark and Back Again – all I will say is there is a lot of attitude on display here and rightly so given the situation the character is in).

Another month, another author newsletter is out there. You do spot how quickly the year goes by when you realise it is time another newsletter went out.

Writing Tip: Every so often have a brainstorming session. Write something just for the fun of it. Put one side. Then when you get one of those days when you are struggling to get into your writing, dig out your notebooks and have a look through. Pick something out and see if you can write it up further.

I use brainstorming sessions to come up with titles and opening/closing lines in particular. When I go back through my notes, I then have a choice of interesting titles or lines to use. I then jot down what could come from that title or the line I’ve picked. Before you know it I’ve got an outline and from there I’m on to my first draft. Well worth a go.

Hard to believe it’s the end of June already. Author newsletter out again tomorrow.

Will be talking about Employing Kipling’s Serving Men for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. They’re useful for any form of writing and my post will explain more, plus share examples. Link up on Friday.

Delighted to say I’ll be going to see Bleak Expectations in July with my lovely CFT editor. This will be the latest production by The Chameleon Theatre Group and is based on the hilarious radio show from years ago on Radio 4. Yes, it does send up Dickens. Am expecting there to be lots of laughs as there were from the radio show. Looking forward to seeing and reviewing the show in due course.

Lovely to catch up with friends on Zoom last night. Looking forward to seeing them (and many other friends) in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. It’s getting nearer!
Hope you are having a lovely weekend so far.

Glad to say I am back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my post title easily sums up my theme – Top Ten Tips! Hope you find them all useful. I know I do.

All of these I’ve picked up over time (it helps I’ve been writing since the last Thesaurus Rex, the wordy dinosaur, left the planet). I continue to use all of the tips too.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget flash fiction lends itself well to seasonal writing. My main focus there is on festive flash and before you groan at the thought, I will say it won’t be too long before I start thinking of ideas for this year’s festive selection from me. Indeed for the magazine market those festive stories for this year have already been picked.

I have sometimes written autumn themed stories but the advantage of all seasonal writing is you can prepare them in advance. If you’re putting a collection together you could group your seasonal stories with a few tales for each period you’re writing for. Bear in mind there are seasonal writing competitions so having something stories to hand to look at and polish sounds like a good idea to me.

It’s Monday. It’s been hectic as usual. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Traffic Jam. Those at the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will recognise this as a picture prompt I set them (the duck in the road). This is what I did with that prompt!

Hope your weekend has been a lovely one. Has been here. Enough going on to enjoy. Enough time to chill too – the perfect weekend as far as I’m concerned. Goes for Lady too as she’s gone off for a nap as I write this.

Flash fiction makes great use of inference due to its restricted word count but this is a huge advantage to a writer. It makes you think about what can be inferred and how you do that. It makes you think about what a reader needs to know so they can infer what you want them to infer. That last bit is also useful for crime writers when it comes to planting the old red herrings!

In my Serving Up a Treat (From Light to Dark and Back Again), I don’t spell out everything my character has gone through or what they have done. I do give enough information for anyone to work both of these things out and from there to deduce what they feel about my character.

This tale worked especially well in the first person. You can only see what my character shows you and “they” get to select what is shown. I like to take advantage of this in my flash tales. It keeps a reader wondering about my character too (and the only way to find out more is to read on of course).

Occasionally a film or part of one inspires a flash fiction story. My The Haunting from From Light to Dark and Back Again is inspired by a certain detail in that fabulous Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers. Do watch the film if you haven’t – it is one of my must sees – and the cast and script are simply brilliant. The stageshow of this film was also very good when I saw it a few years ago.

But one detail from the heroine of this film led me to writing my story. If you’ve seen the film, you will spot what it is. If not, I hope you enjoy the story anyway. I always make sure any of my stories “stand alone” if people aren’t aware of references etc and am always appreciative when other writers have done this. If I do get the reference, it gives me additional enjoyment from the story. If not, I enjoy the story anyway.

But if you like your films, selecting a detail to inspire you like this could give you story ideas and without it being fan fiction either. There is no mention of The Ladykillers in my The Haunting. Doesn’t need to be. My story stands alone. Those who know the film will pick up the inference. Still works as a tale even if not.

Flash works so well as a format because the limited word count does mean you have to infer a lot. But you as the writer can make good use of that. Using your inspirations in this way can be a great source of further ideas for stories which will be unique to you – they’re your inspirations!

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by night

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Goodreads Author Blog – Story Influences

One aspect to reading I love is when I think I can spot which stories have influenced the writer. Sometimes it is obvious to spot these. (This is especially true for the well done spoof). Sometimes the influence is portrayed in a subtle manner (and I always feel a bit pleased with myself when I spot this type).

Stories do influence us even if we’re not always conscious of it. My love of fairytales means I know I will expect justice to be done in some way (and that applies to most crime fiction too). I pick up on the Rule of Three in all manner of books and stories thanks to what I have learned from fairytales. Something happens twice. Something happens with a change on the third occasion and that change usually leads to the traditional happy ever after ending in fairytales.

Notice I say usually there. My first reading of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christen Andersen came as a shock precisely because it didn’t follow what, by then, I had come to see as the usual pattern. Andersen’s ending of this tale is appropriate for the character as he has portrayed her (which is something else I’ve picked on subconsciously thanks to my love of reading. Naturally I ensure the endings I create for my characters are appropriate to them as I have portrayed them).

So think about what books you love. What influence have they had on you? It may well be more than you thought, especially if you’re a writer too.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Please note the next edition of Writers’ Narrative will be out in 2025. The magazine has had to take a break. What I will share here is links to back copies of the magazine. First one up is the April 2024 edition on a subject close to my heart – editing. Do check these out. Plenty of excellent material to enjoy.

Screenshot 2024-03-22 at 15-23-10 Writers' Narrative April 2024

Screenshot 2024-03-22 at 15-24-20 Writers' Narrative April 2024

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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One useful discipline to entering stories for competitions is you learn to write to specific word counts, as well as to set deadlines. Both are useful in other areas of writing and worth practicing just for that reason. pic.twitter.com/7U2OkffHhd
— ACW (@ACW1971) June 29, 2024

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More than Writers: Top Ten Tips by Allison Symes https://t.co/uoNUt1G6R9 Glad to be back on MTW, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my title easily sums up my theme – Top Ten Tips! Hope you find them all useful. I know I do. pic.twitter.com/Rmx5L3vNU8
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 29, 2024

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Story Influences https://t.co/DyFxd1Kkmc via @goodreads I talk about story influences for Goodreads this week. Many of them you pick up on without realising at the time. At least that has been the case for me. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/WSLBCd3Eoi
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 29, 2024

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As we’re at the end of the first six months of the year, why not take some time out to review what you would like to achieve with your writing in the next six months? There will still be competitions to enter, submissions to make etc. pic.twitter.com/GQaMs3eMVJ
— ACW (@ACW1971) June 30, 2024

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It’s Monday. Time for a tale. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Traffic Jam. Those at the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will recognise this as a picture prompt I set (duck in the road). This is what I did with that prompt!https://t.co/QVMTI3rXRg
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 1, 2024

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Author Interview: Jenny Sanders Part 1- The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction

May 31, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you have had a good week. Weather all over the place again here. Lady not worried as she has been seeing her pals most of the week. Glad to share Part 1 of a fabulous two part interview with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today. Jenny discusses her new devotional book, Polished Arrows. Devotional works are in themselves a specialised (almost technical) form of writing so it is lovely to have it represented on CFT.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Second post from me today and it’s time to share Part 1 of a fabulous two-part interview with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today.

She discusses her new devotional book, Polished Arrows, with me and shares how she faced the challenge of switching from her children’s story work to what is a specialised form of non-fiction writing. She also shares how she went into devotional writing in the first place and how Robben Island, South Africa (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so long) played a major part in this work.

Part 2 will be up next week. Meantime do enjoy Part 1 and good luck to Jenny on both her launch and book blog tour (this interview and next week’s forms part of that tour).

Author Interview: Jenny Sanders The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction Writing – Part 1

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31st May 2024 – More than Writers
Double blog post from me today. First blog post is due to me forgetting I should’ve shared something a couple of days ago! Apologies, folks, but my latest post for More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, should have been shared by yours truly on the 29th. Oops! Still better late than never!

This month I talked about Flash Fiction – Advantages for All Writers. Well, they do say write about what you know! Hope you enjoy the post and a huge thank you to all who have already commented on it (bar the one who is doing an advert for something not writing related at all. Grrr…).

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Will be so pleased to welcome Jenny Sanders back to Chandler’s Ford Today for the first part of a wonderful in-depth interview concerning her new devotional book, Polished Arrows.

Amongst other things, we will be discussing the joys and challenges of this kind of specialist writing and how Jenny began writing devotionals in the first place. Her other work is in short stories for children. So quite a contrast there. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Good luck to Jenny too for the launch of her new book. It is always exciting to have a new publication out there.

Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for the author shot below.

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Lady had a lovely time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback friend today so all is right in her world.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight on Zoom. Always good fun. Theme is questions and answers this time. (They are an excellent structure for all forms of writing for one thing).

A question for you though. Have you thought about making your characters answer questions they would rather not face in the course of your story? There could be some interesting ideas emerging from what it is they don’t want to face here and from what happens when they do have to face those questions and deal with them in some way.

Have fun (though I concede your characters almost certainly won’t but then isn’t that one of the joys of writing – to dump your characters right in it and see how they manage? I refuse to believe that is just me).

Facebook – From LIght to Dark and Back Again

It’s the end of the working week. It’s time for a story. Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my Unwelcome News. Just how will Melissa take her “Dear John” letter from Stefan, who has cleared out her bank account, and which of them has the biggest secret? Find out here!

Had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night on Zoom. The questions and answers topic generated plenty of ideas for stories for all of us and I am looking forward to working on some of my ideas from this session in due course. That’s the joy of joining in with the exercises on the night – I too get ideas triggered for me to work on later.

The Bridport Prize competition deadline is 31st May, so you just have time to submit something. Having said that, I would call this last minute.com submitting given I’m writing this on 30th May! There are other competitions out there though.

If you have got a copy of the competition guide Writing Magazine issued earlier this year, it would pay you to have a look through that and mark up the competitions which catch your eye. If you haven’t do check out their website though bear in mind some of their competitions are for subscribers only. Still worth taking a look though especially if you are a subscriber.

Hope you have had a good day. Am running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. Will be nice to see everyone. I do set exercises for these meetings and often I will join in with these on the night myself. I love live writing exercises. I’ve recently used some of the ideas I came up with for a previous session here to then write stories which have since ended up on Friday Flash Fiction and on my YouTube channel. Win-win I think there!

I do sometimes prepare an answer in advance for an exercise I’ve set to give an example and I know I’ve learned a great deal from workshops I’ve attended as a delegate where that has happened. But I do love the adrenalin rush when you’re set an exercise and you think now what can I do with this? I’ve learned to not worry about how rough the result is – this is only going to be a first draft and only I will see it – but the thrill of knowing I’ve got something down in answer to the brief is wonderful.

Fairytales with Bite – Nasty Surprises

Thought this was an apt topic given I had a nasty surprise recently, having been burgled. Give some thought as to the kind of surprises your characters could well do without. Think about how they would handle these (with or without help) when forced to face up to them. Just what would count as a nasty surprise in a magical setting? Could magical powers fail at a crucial moment (and what would trigger that failure)?

Who would be behind the nasty surprises and why are they doing this? What are they hoping to gain (as there has to be something here to make it worthwhile for them to go to the bother of doing this)? Can those nasty surprises be overturned or softened (as in Sleeping Beauty)?

One nasty surprise, of course, could be a formerly reliable character turning to evil ways. What would be behind that? Are they motivated by money, power, or fear of what would happen if they don’t “turn”? Do they end up regretting changing ways here or is it something they wished they’d done years ago? Are there any indications a character like this might turn bad to the other characters in your story? Could early intervention prevent what could be a very nasty surprise indeed?

This World and Others – Crime and Punishment

In any society in any setting, there will be those who break the accepted rules. There will have to be ways of dealing with that so society doesn’t break down. (Well, not unless that is the point of your story and you are showing how it breaks down etc but even then think about how you would end your story. No resolution to the problem would, to me, seem depressing. There is a place for dystopian fiction but must admit it isn’t my reading choice).

So how would your fantasy settings handle the idea of crime and punishment? Would these be akin to what we have here or something only your world could do because….?

Does your society have the equivalent of a police force (or the wonderful Watch from the Discworld novels)? How effective are they? Are they held in regard by the rest of your society?

What would be considered reasonable punishment for crimes? Indeed, what would be recognized as crimes? Is there a crime, say, of misusing magical power and how could that be proven and what would be done here (especially if the idea is to stop others doing this?).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Unwelcome News, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/PLPLtjduNu Pleased to be back on FFF with Unwelcome News. How will Melissa take her “Dear John” letter from Stefan, who has cleared out her bank account, and which of them has the biggest secret? Find out here! pic.twitter.com/fDUjsDtkzw
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 31, 2024

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More than Writers: Flash Fiction – Advantages to All Writers by Allis… https://t.co/Hv8bF4zMFE Apologies. My latest post for MTW, the ACW blog spot, should've been shared by me on the 29th. I talk about Flash Fiction – Advantages for All Writers. They say write what you know! pic.twitter.com/33GTQn8T5Q
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 31, 2024

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Author Interview: Jenny Sanders The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction Writing – Part 1 https://t.co/SGJFc0QcPt In Part 1 of my interview, Jenny Sanders discusses her new book, Polished Arrows. She shares how she got into devotional writing and why Robben Island played a major role.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 31, 2024

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Learning from Author Interviews

May 28, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you have had a good weekend. It was a Bank Holiday one here in the UK. Mixed bag weather wise but that’s normal. Lady saw her best chum, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, unexpectedly on one of our afternoon walks. Both dogs relished that.

I’m catching up with my writing again after an unwelcome break (as in break in!) and being so glad to be back doing normal things again. Well, as normal as things get for a writer anyway. Have not yet thought of a flash story where a burglar gets their comeuppance but give me time…!

Facebook – General

I love conducting author interviews for Chandler’s Ford Today and also enjoy reading those in writing magazines etc. I’ve picked up many useful tips along the way from these. I also find it endlessly fascinating how each writer comes up with ideas, how they approach getting the writing and editing done and so on.

I got into the habit of reading author interviews long before I had anything published. I was interested then chiefly in how writers got their breakthroughs and quickly discovered no two writing journeys are exactly the same.

But I also realised if I was the one being interviewed and asked these questions, I ought to work out just what I would say in response. So I jotted down several questions and worked out what I might say in the event I had stories published (and then later a book) and had these posers put to me.

I’ve found that so useful. It also helped me filter out what I do need to get across when talking about my writing and to leave out those interesting side bits which aren’t relevant to the questions being asked. I also found doing all of this helped with self confidence.

Practicing talking about what you do (and using interview questions you’ve come across as a guide) is a good thing to do. I found it ensured I was able to summarize my books in a line or two. That’s useful too.

Hope you have had a good Monday. Bank holiday here in the UK. My usual hectic day but with the family at home. Usually feels like a strange cross between a Sunday and a Monday.

Writing wise, I’m interviewing Jenny Sanders on Chandler’s Ford Today about her new devotional book, Polished Arrows. This will be a two-part interview and we will be taking a good look at this kind of writing, which is a specialised form of literature. More to come on Friday.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday evening where the topic will be questions and answers.

And don’t forget the June issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out very soon.

Weather back to being all over the place again. Oh well. Glad to see some love-in-a-mist coming up in one of our borders. Lovely name for a pretty plant. First time we’ve planted it. Something cheery to see after a bad week.

I had a quick look at a random theme generator and the topic which came up was redemption.

Interesting one. Fiction wise, you can invent a character in need of redemption and work out whether they obtain that or not (or deliberately refuse to be redeemed. There would be consequences from that. How would that play out?).

Also bear in mind the character themselves may well feel they don’t need redeeming at all but those around them do! Who would be right? The need for redemption is in the eye of the beholder perhaps.

For non-fiction, there could be some interesting pieces about redemption as a theme in art and the artists who created those pieces, just to name one example.

That is just one topic.

Bear in mind you could also combine themes which come up on the generators. Another one which came up on my look through was spaceship. Okay, you could look at who needs redeeming on board said craft! I’m sure there’d be some interesting possibilities there.

What I always look for when I use random generators, story cubes, books of prompts etc is a starting point, a way into creating interesting characters I then want to write up (and dump right in it and then see how “they” get out of that situation).

It was a pleasure to share on Zoom a one hour talk on editing with the Spiderplant writing group (who are affiliated to the Association of Christian Writers). Many thanks for making me feel so welcome and I hope you found the advice useful. (Many thanks to Rosalie Weller for kind permission to use the photo).

As well as being an author, I’m an editor and judge competitions too. This can be enlightening because it helps me improve my own writing. This is because I can see where mistakes are made (especially on competition entries) and then try to ensure I don’t make the same ones myself.

In other writing news, I will be talking to Jenny Sanders on her new book, Polished Arrows, in an in-depth two part interview which starts next Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to sharing Part 1 then.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Occasionally, I do have scene breaks in my flash stories. These tend to be for the tales which are 750 to 1000 words in length such as my She Did It Her Way, Kind Of (From Light to Dark and Back Again). Most of the time the action of my stories is dealt with in a few paragraphs but this story did need the full flash word count range to show what I needed it to show.

This tale had four characters in it (one was a dog) and another was referred to by the two female, human characters. (The last character was a pushy salesman who fell foul of the dog). I especially enjoyed writing the ending for this story where everything is wrapped up.

A story has to be the appropriate word count length to tell it properly. Sometimes I find a story I thought would come in at 100 words does need more space and can end up as being a 500 words tale instead. That’s fine. I just find another market for it than the one I originally intended.

For me, a story is only complete when everything is wrapped up and I feel not another word could be added without diluting the impact in some way.

It’s Monday. It’s a Bank Holiday but nothing disguises the fact it’s Monday. Garfield, the cartoon cat, famously loathes Mondays. But then he wasn’t about to enjoy a new story from me on YouTube! Hope you like my latest here – First Class. Is Griselda right to be suspicious of posh looking mail coming by first class post and is she in trouble? Find out here.

I talked about random theme generators over on my Facebook author page but wanted to add here there is a huge amount of these things out there. I find it pays to mix up the ones I use as this makes for an interesting challenge. Can I write to what has been generated? It is useful practice for writing to story competition themes as well, I think, because you’re getting into the habit of responding to a prompt which has been set by someone else.

The opening line kind is my favourite because I can use that to kick start a new piece of flash fiction or a short story. Occasionally, if the line is right, it can inspire an idea fora blog post. One I generated for this post reads I am optimistic that…

Now you can write an article or a blog post from that but you could use it for fiction too as a story told in the first person by your character. What are they optimistic about? Are they right?

The important thing is, whatever type of prompt you use, to have fun with them. I’ve created (and had published) many stories and flash pieces which started life this way.

All stories need a proper beginning, middle, and end, regardless of their word count. I find for flash fiction it helps to visualise my word count. This is where studying sites like Friday Flash Fiction helps a lot. You can literally see what 100 words looks like on screen.

Having got the visualisation sorted, I can then work out when I need to have the character and set up by, leaving myself enough words to show the problem and worsen it for my poor characters, while still leaving myself enough word count room again so I can give a proper finish.

For a 500 word story, for example, that is roughly one page of A4 so I can visualise splitting that A4 into thirds to deal with the three crucial elements of any tale.

Goodreads Author Blog – Fictional Humorous Worlds

Every story, of whatever word count length, is its own mini world, of course, but I have a soft spot for humorous worlds, especially when the books concerned are part of a series.

My two overall favourites here are Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and practically anything by P.G. Wodehouse. The latter has multiple worlds – the worlds of Jeeves and Wooster, the Blandings world, the Psmith world and so on.

I love humorous writing. It is wonderful escapism. There is always a time and need for that but perhaps never more so than now when the news is so grim. What I love about the book series though is watching how characters develop over them. This is especially true for Pratchett’s Sam Vimes. That character arc is a fascinating one. Compare who he is in Guards! Guards! with how he is in the final book he is in, Raising Steam. It is a fascinating character study all authors can learn from. Feet of Clay and Men at Arms also work as great detective stories too so do check them out.

You could argue Jeeves and Wooster don’t change that much but that is part of their charm. What does change is the chaos around them they have to sort out, especially Jeeves.

But what is consistent about all of these is the laughs! In a troubled world, I so welcome these. I do wish humorous writing wasn’t looked down on though. I learned a long time ago what looks like easy writing took an awful long time for the writer to craft. It’s even harder for humorous writers given humour can be subjective.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Fictional Humorous Worlds https://t.co/kbyc75gLTN via @goodreads I celebrate humorous writing, especially in book series, for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/ZLcS28jBjO
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 25, 2024

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It’s a Bank Holiday but it’s still Monday. Garfield, the cartoon cat, famously hates Mondays but he wasn’t about to enjoy a new YouTube tale from me! Hope you like First Class. Is Griselda right to be suspicious of posh first class mail? Is she in trouble?https://t.co/cwGL2ySJBw
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 27, 2024

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