Heading North Again Soon and Frameworks in Fiction

February 15, 2022Leave a comment

Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Most images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos of the wonderful view as you come into Dundee Railway station and of my table at the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Hope you have had a good weekend. Went to see a live comedy gig over the weekend, booked my tickets for a very special event in March, and got soaked with the dog – so a mixed bag here!

Facebook – General

Lady and I had a soaking while out this morning at the Recreation Ground but other than that it has been a good day.

Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group Zoom meeting tomorrow night. I’ve mentioned before that one reason I think for the growth in the popularity of flash fiction is that people read more on screens now and flash works brilliantly for that. It is also easy to screen share on Zoom!

Now when it comes to thinking of topics for blog posts, I start by looking at what I think might interest other writers. (For the moment for Chandler’s Ford Today I am writing an In Fiction series). I then think about what might encourage people to join in with their comments and I also aim for my blogs to be both useful and entertaining. I do know from years of going to writing conferences etc that a topic which grabs one writer is likely to hook in others!

And for my fiction and non-fiction work, I ask myself one vital question. What will the reader get from this? It is crucial there is something in your writing that is of benefit to them, whether it is to amuse/entertain or to give them information which will be useful for their own writing. Do that and it is far more likely people will come back to you and read more of what you do.

Hope you have had a good Monday and happy St. Valentine’s Day to all who celebrate.

Had a hilarious time at the Mayflower Theatre last night and it was good to see the entertainment industry coming back to life too.

Am pleased to say the February 2022 edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now free to download on Amazon.

Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday night. Meanwhile I’ll be enjoying meeting up with the History Writers on Zoom tonight. I’ve been very grateful for how Zoom has made things possible – with both of these groups I would not be able to get to these events in person (well, maybe once a year but that would be about it).

I’ve used a number generator as the focus for my stories for Friday Flash Fiction this week and for my new YouTube video which I’ll be sharing over on my book page shortly. See further down for the link. The number generated was 64. What could I do with that? Well, pop over to my book page in a moment and pick up the link for the video and I hope to share the second part of the answer to this on Friday!

Am posting early today as am off with better half and other family members to see Jack Dee at The Mayflower Theatre later. Has been such a long time since we were last there.

A huge thanks for the fantastic response to my post yesterday about my forthcoming trip to the Scottish Association of Writers Conference. See below.

I’ll be looking at Frameworks in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week – link up on Friday.

A big thanks also to the response to Misunderstanding, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Feedback always appreciated.

Hope this week proves to be a good one (though Lady and I were none too impressed with the weather today – let’s just say the bedraggled look is in!)

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Thrilled to say I have booked my train tickets for the Scottish Association of Writers Conference which takes place in March (18th to 20th). See link.

Now you may well be thinking that’s all very nice, Allison, but you’re a Hampshire lass so how come you’re heading north?

(Not for the first time either, missus. Quite right as I was at the Brechin/Angus Festival in November which was great fun and I must admit my breath was taken away by the stunning view as you come into Dundee Railway Station – see pic below!).

Stunning views as I came into Dundee station

Another view as I came into Dundee.

I thought Dundee Station looked rather splendid

I thought Dundee Station was rather grand.

Well, I joined the History Writers group who are part of the SAW and indeed I will be giving a talk to them very soon via the wonders of Zoom about historical flash fiction. Very much looking forward to that. Now you may be suspecting there is probably a common link somewhere amongst all of this and there is – the lovely #WendyHJones links SAW, History Writers, and the Brechin/Angus Festival.

At the Conference in March, I will be running a flash fiction workshop. I’m also one of the judges for one of the SAW’s competitions.

So lots going on behind the scenes for me right now, all very exciting, and I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the Conference in March.

Screenshot 2022-02-11 at 19-39-37 Scottish Association of Writers Everyone has a story to tell

Screenshot 2022-01-21 at 21-07-58 Writing Workshops Conference 2020 Scottish Association of Writers

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I need to know my character before I start writing up their story but I also need to know the framework of the story in which I am going to put them.

Will it be a linear narrative, a circular story, a twist in the tale, a diary format, or should I write the story in the form of a letter? (I’ve used all of those frameworks in my time and will do so again!). I’ll be looking at Frameworks in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today this week where I’ll discuss this further but I do find frameworks so useful. I like to have a rough road map of where I am going. And sometimes I know what the story is going to be and then have to decide which is the best way to tell it for the character I’m writing about.

I do usually write A to B but for twist endings/punchline endings, I write B to A because it is simpler to get that kind of ending down first and then work out what could have led to it. It is also a relief to know I have got my ending in place and just have to work out the starting point.

There are often several options there and this is why I use spider diagrams to help me work out which would be best. And when I say best, I am thinking best for the character and best for the future reader. It isn’t the same as what would be easiest for me, the writer, to actually do (and I always dismiss this anyway because the idea is to stretch myself and not make life easy for me or my unfortunate character I’ve chosen to drop right in it!).

Hope you enjoy my new YouTube story, At Number 64. I’ve submitted a linked story to this for Friday Flash Fiction this week and I hope to share the link on that on Friday if I can. I am enjoying using the same theme generated for two stories per week but it is also great to have a story with connections to another one, yet both stand alone.

The joy of flash is having a completed bit of work to hand relatively quickly but there is a difference between “completed” and “first draft”. I can draft a story in about ten/fifteen minutes (for say a 100 to 150 word count) but I will spend considerably more time after that honing and improving that draft. And that is how it should be.

The first draft is to get the idea down. Then and only then do you look at ways of making that better. Guess what? There are always ways of making things better! But you yourself get better in spotting what can be improved and sharpened over time. You get better at knowing what your writing flaws are and then making a beeline on the first edit to get rid of those.

ASPECTS OF WRITING - Asking characters questions

STARTING AND FINISHING - I like to know a general direction

ASPECTS OF WRITING - Treating writing and editing as separate tasks

Hope you have had a good Saturday. I mentioned this on my main author page the other day but I will repeat it here – Amazon have a good offer on the paperback of Tripping the Flash Fantastic at the moment. See the link for more information.

Looking forward to talking about historical flash fiction at the History Writers group I’m part of on Zoom soon. Given flash is focused on characters there is no reason why some of those characters can’t live in the past! And you can use characters to explore that past too. It is something I am hoping to do more of in due course.

History is made up of so many stories, of course, and as long as you are accurate, I see no reason why you can’t explore history via fiction. After all one of my favourite books The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey led me to change my mind about Richard III and take more of an interest in his life and times. Flash illuminates briefly. Why not illuminate a small section of history?

The words your characters use should be appropriate to their background

Goodreads Author Blog – Visualising Characters

I started reading Dickens as a result of watching Oliver Twist on TV. The film version being shown starred Sir Alec Guinness and Oliver Reed (Fagan and Sykes). Both were brilliant and I absolutely had to read the book after seeing this.

And, again with Dickens, I loved The Muppet Christmas Carol (and still do, it’s a must see at Christmas) with Sir Michael Caine as Scrooge. What I loved best, with my reader’s and writer’s hats on, is where Gonzo acting as Dickens the narrator tells us all to go and read the original book. Quite right too!

I don’t need a film or TV adaptation to visualise a well portrayed character but where adaptations are thoughtfully done, those TV and film portrayals add something special to the book when I then go on to re-read it again. I do visualise the well cast actors. I can’t read a Poirot novel now without visualising Sir David Suchet in the role or a Miss Marple without seeing in my mind’s eye the wonderfully cast Joan HIckson.

So are there any adaptations that bring a book more to life for you? Or will you always prefer the book over any adaptation?

Gollum knows Frodo has something he does not - a loyal friend

Dark grey streets typical of Dickensian London

Scrooge is horrified to see how much glee his death will bring to others unless he changes his ways

Frodo needed his friends, especially Sam

The late Jacob Marley visits Ebenezer Scrooge - Pixabay

Scrooge soon realises there is more than one ghost due to visit him - Pixabay

liked Allison Symes's blog post: Visualising Characters https://t.co/F26uAq44VL via @goodreads I look at whether TV and film adaptations can add to your enjoyment of stories. I find the well cast ones can – and I name a few favourites too. pic.twitter.com/j8agOXNAy4
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 12, 2022

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Many thanks, @valeriepenny – if you like your fiction on the short side, do check out my flash collections (published by Chapeltown Books and available in the usual outlets – and from me!). https://t.co/C2qePQa8Nu pic.twitter.com/y67orKbO1b
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 13, 2022

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Dialogue in Fiction

February 4, 2022Leave a comment

Image Credits:-

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

Hope you have had a good week. I hope to be on a train on my way to Derbyshire by the time this goes out (and it will be lovely to meet up with members of the Association of Christian Writers Committee once again, I’m their Membership Secretary). I’ll be at The Hayes, Swanwick – and I got to book my place for that in August this week so it has not been a bad week at all!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

I look at Dialogue in Fiction for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I also include internal dialogue (aka thoughts in this and discuss the use of dialect. I also share my policy on whether a character should swear and list what I think the functions of dialogue should be in any kind of fiction. Hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Dialogue in Fiction

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Hope you have had a good day. Has been a bit mad here. Glad things are winding down a little. Posts from me over the next couple of days will be at differing times as I am away on Association of Christian Writers business for a couple of days.

Before you ask, Lady isn’t coming but she will be spoiled rotten while I’m away. She always is! She’ll sulk a little when she knows I’ve gone (she tends to look around my side of the bed just to double check I’ve not sneaked back during the middle of the night) but will mug me for all she is worth when I do get back.

Now what is it that you like best about books? Yes, I know. It’s a question of where to start on this one, isn’t it? For me, it’s where I’ve got to the point in the story where I’m rooting for the character to succeed or fail because I know the book has now gripped me and I will just have to read on to find out what happens. And it doesn’t matter whether I’m reading a flash piece or an epic fantasy trilogy, that point doesn’t change for me.

My next favourite bit is getting to the end of the tale and finding the author has made good on their promise – the character has succeeded or failed, as is appropriate for them and the story they’re in. I must admit I do feel so disappointed if I’ve read a story with promising and interesting characters and then find the ending falls flat. But the best ending in the world won’t work for me if I’m not gripped by the characters in the first place.

Many thanks for the views on No B Gratitude, my latest YouTube story. This is a short and fun tale and I manage to get a pun in on the choice of music for this too. I’m off at an ACW Committee Retreat soon so I may well be putting up a video later than usual next week. Will just have to see how things go. Likewise for getting a piece in to Friday Flash Fiction but I am really enjoying producing something for both of these things once a week. Keeps me on my toes and I am finding more uses for the random generators I love so win win!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I hope by the time you read this I will be in lovely Derbyshire on Association of Christian Writers business for a couple of days. (I’m their Membership Secretary). But right now it is the end of the week and time for my weekly drabble. Glad to share my latest on Friday Flash Fiction and this one is called Timing. Again I used a random generator for this and the question behind it was what was the most recent silly thing you did? So I got my character here to answer that one! All great fun and I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/timing-by-allison-symes

Your first audience for any story you writer is, of course, you. If you’re not gripped by the characters and the situation they’re in, nobody else will be. This is why I outline my character so I can get a “feel” for who they are, what they’re capable of, and as a result I can determine whether they really do have a story in them that should be told.

With flash fiction I reach that “yes, got to write this character up” stage very quickly indeed and you get better over time (and with practice) at spotting promising characters earlier. I don’t always know the length of the story at this point unless I am writing to a specific word count market such as Friday Flash Fiction, but I don’t let that worry me. I get the story down. I edit it. I leave it for a bit and then look at it again and read it as a reader would. I ask myself tough questions particularly of the “do I really need this in here” variety! That question is useful because you have to be able to say an emphatic “yes” to that one.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback today. Two tired and happy dogs went home again. I do sometimes write flash pieces based around dogs. One of them is Jumping Through Hoops from From Light to Dark and Back Again. Let’s just say I am very much on the side of the poor dog in this one!

Fairytales with Bite – Dreams and Nightmares

Most of the classic fairytale characters go through a nightmare stage before their dreams come true (though it is always useful if you have a kindly fairy godmother turn up armed with a large wand and bigger pumpkin!).

In your fictional world, are your characters able to make their dreams come true and is this dependent on magic (whether it’s their own or someone else intervening to help them)? What would count as a nightmare situation for your characters and how do they overcome that?

Of course one person’s nightmare could be someone else’s dream – the villain wants their schemes to succeed, it would be their dream come true. How can you ratchet up the tension between Character A trying to make those schemes succeed and Character B who desperately needs them to fail? There should be plenty at stake here – just what do your characters have to lose or gain?

In a magical world, is the meaning of dreams taken seriously? Who interprets them? Do they do this honestly and do your characters act on what they have been told? What are the consequences of that?

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This World and Others – Interactions

Fiction is dependent on interactions between characters. Story is dependent on conflict and resolution (even if the latter is not a happy one) so there has to be a case of a character wanting something and something/someone else getting in the way of them obtaining that.

Sometimes the conflict can be an internal one – the character wants to change some aspect of themselves and struggles to do so. You see glimpses of this with Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. There are times Frodo’s more positive attitude towards Gollum seems to be paying off and other times when Sam’s cynical view of Gollum is justified.

So yes a character can interact with themselves and Gollum does that a lot. Not necessarily to his own benefit either. For the record, I see Gollum as a tragic, evil character whereas Sauron is just evil. There is a huge difference here. I don’t like Gollum but the possibility of redemption is there – whether he takes it or not is another matter.

How do interactions between your characters play out? Does on character always seem to get the upper hand or is there more of a balance? The problem with dominant characters, as with dominant people full stop, can be they cause resentment (and rebellion) in others. Interactions matter – they fuel the conflict which is the heart of any story.

So give thought to what you want your characters to do and why they are the way they are. With Gollum, you can see what led him to become the creature he became. Your readers need to do that with your characters – and indeed with mine!

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Dialogue in Fiction https://t.co/0ELAtguPjl Pleased to share the latest in my "in fiction" series. Aptly I talk about dialogue including internal dialogue. I look at the differing roles for dialogue in stories and discuss swearing – as you do! Hope you enjoy and find it useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 4, 2022

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Timing, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/72SUFwsQtG Delighted to share my new story on FFF. I used a random question generator for this one – the question was what was the most silly thing you recently did? I had fun with this. Hope you enjoy. pic.twitter.com/IRf2x8kzZa
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 4, 2022

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Starting and Finishing and Creativity

February 1, 2022Leave a comment

Image Credits:-

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

Hope you had a good weekend. Nice quiet one here but lots of exciting news to report this time plus I hope a useful blog I prepared for the Association of Christian Writers on Starting and Finishing.

Facebook – General

You know how sometimes there is no news and then all of a sudden there is loads to share – well today is one of those days for me.

Delighted to say my new author newsletter is now out there (for more do see https://mailchi.mp/22ec1b09a6da/allison-symes-february-2022-newsletter).

Many thanks also for the comments in on Tears Before Lunch, my most recent Friday Flash Fiction story. See https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/tears-before-lunch-by-allison-symes for more.

And I’m delighted to share the link to the brand new edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads which is free. See https://moms-favorite-reads.com/2022/02/01/moms-favorite-reads-emagazine-february-2022/ – the range of articles in here is amazing. Do check it out.

Has also been a good day for another reason – I’ve booked my place for the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August. Can’t wait to go and there is plenty to look forward to before then.

I’ll be at the Scottish Association of Writers conference in March and running a workshop on flash fiction there. So looking forward to that – https://www.scottishassociationofwriters.com/workshops-speakers/

screenshot-2021-11-19-at-12-18-15-allison-symes-collected-works

Screenshot 2022-02-01 at 16-00-44 Mom’s Favorite Reads eMagazine February 2022

Screenshot 2022-01-28 at 11-48-35 Tears Before Lunch, by Allison Symes

Hope Monday hasn’t been too trying. Newsletter out tomorrow, new story video out (will share link on my book page shortly), and pleased to have submitted a new story to Friday Flash Fiction. I’ll be discussing Dialogue in Fiction for my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday.

I use more dialogue in my short stories (1500 words plus) than in flash though I am counting thoughts as internal dialogue and I do use that a lot in flash. It’s a great way of taking you straight into a character’s head and showing you their thoughts and attitudes. You see things as they see them and I think it a good way of developing character empathy. Okay you may not always agree with them but that’s another matter! You at least see where they are coming from.

Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely to catch up with writing friends on Zoom last night. Always such a morale boost. Am getting my next author newsletter up together ready for sending out next week. If you would like to sign up for tips, prompts, news, stories etc., head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

What would you say was your favourite kind of story? I suppose mine comes from my life long love of fairytales in that I love to see wrong being righted and the underdog to do well. Mind you, that does open up a lot of possibilities for reading material as well as for writing stories. Wrong being righted is a common theme to crime stories after all. And the underdog aka the hero nobody expects to be a hero is a common theme in fantasy.

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I talk about Starting and Finishing for More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, this month.

I discuss how I often get into starting a story by using a random generator and share why spider diagrams are so helpful too. As for the other end of the story, I look at how for twist in the tale stories, it is a good idea to write that twist down first and then look at what could lead to that point.

I also look at whether planning your work out kills off spontaneity.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Screenshot 2022-02-01 at 20-58-37 Starting and Finishing by Allison Symes

STARTING AND FINISHING - Getting that draft down

STARTING AND FINISHING - I don't need to know physical characteristics

STARTING AND FINISHING - Working out what you need to know

STARTING AND FINISHING - Knowing main traits

STARTING AND FINISHING - Easier to start or to finish

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

The new edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is out and you can download it for free. See the link at https://moms-favorite-reads.com/2022/02/01/moms-favorite-reads-emagazine-february-2022/ for more.

In my column this month (see Page 42), I talk about Creativity. I look at some of the different ways I use to trigger story ideas and fuel my own creativity (and I discuss picture prompts and random generators amongst other things. I hope to talk more about random generators for a future column as these are so useful). My theme for people to write to this time was What Creativity Means to Me and the responses to that were wonderful but don’t just take my word for it – go and treat yourself to a good and free read!

Fizzing with ideas - just get them down and then sharpen them up

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

WRITING NIGGLES - Never rely on memory to recall notes

Where will your fiction take your readers

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

FINDING IDEAS - When your brain fizzes with ideas write them all down, re-evaluate them later

Classic Themes never date but put your own spin on them

Image - Allison Symes - Light and Dark is a feature of life so let's use it in fiction

FINDING IDEAS - Recharging your supply of ideas by mixing up how you find them is a good idea in itself

Hope you enjoy my new YouTube story – No B Gratitude. This story was inspired by something that came up on a random question generator – the question was what was the most recent silly thing you’ve done?
So I got my character to show you! (There’s also a pun in the choice of music chosen for this one – I was so pleased to find it available to use from YouTube’s comprehensive audio library which is the audio equivalent of Pixabay for photos).

Just to flag up there is an offer on From Light to Dark and Back Again at the moment over on Amazon.

What do I love most about reading flash fiction by other writers? Firstly I learn a lot from seeing what other people do with the format. Secondly, I love to see what writers do when writing to the same theme and word count.

The Waterloo Art Festival Writing Competitions held in the last few years were a great example of this – the fifteen winners for each year, including yours truly, all wrote to the same theme and word count yet the stories were so vastly different.

Last but not least, it encourages me to “up my game” and see what I can do better. Why is that a good thing? Because it fuels the old creativity “grey cells” and helps me produce (a) more work and (b) better work because I have tried to stretch myself a bit.

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Twist endings work beautifully in flash fiction precisely because you don’t have to wait long for the pay-off! I’ve always loved that aspect of things. And the nice thing here is you don’t have to limit twist endings to crime stories, though that is the obvious home for them.

Twist endings can also be punchlines so will work well for humorous tales. And a monologue can be enlivened by a surprise ending too. For this kind of tale, I always write the twist first and then work backwards to get to the start. It seems an odd way of doing things to begin with but you do get used to it. It also means you have a logical plot leading to that final twist. You don’t want your twist let down by a weak start or flabby middle.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Trains

Books and trains are a match made in heaven (especially publishing heaven!). As well as stories inspired by train (and my favourite here is Murder on the Orient Express – the ultimate train, yes?!), books are the best form of portable entertainment and a fabulous way of passing the time.

I must admit I wait to read until I know I am on the train I want otherwise there is the risk I will still be reading at the platform long after the train has gone! (It helps a lot if I know I’m going somewhere like London Waterloo which is the end of the line as I know I can’t miss my stop either!).

It is no coincidence that the major stations have bookshops on them. For me the perfect way to escape the cares of the world is to read, ideally while listening to classical music via my headphones. (If there’s a cup of tea or hot chocolate to hand, even better!) And if I’m not reading stories while travelling, I am writing my own so I love that too.

It probably helps that I write flash fiction which a dear friend described as a “bus stop read”. It works well on trains too!

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Books and Trains https://t.co/oHfvwTwGW2 via @goodreads I share why I think books and trains are the perfect match up in this week's Goodreads post. pic.twitter.com/v4uk0tZnHh
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 29, 2022

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Many thanks, @valeriepenny – this is a good summary of my latest collection. https://t.co/KlBF5co2K1 pic.twitter.com/dkuu3Z4a4Q
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 30, 2022

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Hope you enjoy my new YouTube story – No B Gratitude. This story was inspired by something that came up on a random question generator – the question was what was the most recent silly thing you’ve done?
So I got my character to show you!https://t.co/AxyMNGMWdU
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 31, 2022

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Allison Symes – February 2022 – https://t.co/l0vG6axLJ6
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 1, 2022

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Out With The Old?

December 31, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Hope you have had an enjoyable Christmas break. Happy New Year!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Firstly, may I wish you a very Happy New Year.

Secondly, I’m pleased to share Out with the Old?, my new post on Chandler’s Ford Today. Hope you enjoy it. I talk about whether you should necessarily discard everything that is old about your writing (old markets, old work which has been turned down, old ways of doing things) and about appreciating the new.

I also look at how this time of year is a great opportunity to assess where you are writing wise and maybe set some plans for the coming twelve months. And I also include a timely reminder that it is a normal part of the writing life to have to take the rough with the smooth, which gives added reason to celebrate the positives in writing when they happen.

Out with the Old?

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One of my post Christmas treats is to have a day trip to Dorset with better half and Lady. Cobwebs well and truly blown away. Lovely time had by all. Big walks are not where I find story inspiration funnily enough. What they do achieve is being something where I chill out. It’s being in that state of mind which does achieve kickstarting the old imagination.

Posting early today but am pleased to share my latest post for More Than Writers, the blog spot from the Association of Christian Writers.

This time I talk about Aspects of Writing. I look at what I need to know before writing and why it helps to accept a first draft is not meant to be perfect, far from it!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Will be sending out author newsletter tomorrow. I share tips, prompts, links to stories and videos I’ve created etc, as well as news. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Given flash is brief, and newsletters work better when they’re kept fairly short, a flash fiction based newsletter is a good match up I think! (And Tripping the Flash Fantastic is still on offer over at Amazon – see screenshot).

Happy New Year!

Looking forward to resuming drafting drabbles at the weekend. The 100 worder is a great form to practice as there are plenty of competitions and markets for it. Check out the Writing Magazine Competition Guide or do a web search. And if you can write to that tight a word count, it will help you draft your blurb and synopsis for longer works.

Lovely warm and sunny day for the time of year though Lady did manage to find all the mud in the park this morning!

As I write this on route to see family, I get glimpses of people, houses etc. Now any of these could spark ideas for flash fiction pieces. Who is that person? Why do they live where they do? Have they always lived there? If not, what or whom made them move? All story ideas there.

Anything that triggers you asking questions, start wondering “what if” etc, will have good flash potential to it. And people watching is a great one – just be discreet. Nobody should be able to guess what or whom inspired your story unless you tell them.

Fairytales With Bite – New Beginnings

This is an apt topic as we rapidly approach 2022. Do your characters see a new calendar year as a chance to have a new beginning or is this not something which would occur to them perhaps because their world does not celebrate the passing of time like this? If the latter is the case, what would make your character decide now was the time to begin again and which aspect of their life needs them to have a new start?

You could argue that a new beginning for a fairytale character should start after the “happily ever after” bit because your character(s) would be making a new life for themselves. And there are stories to be told here. How well did Cinders, Snow White etc adjust to married, royal life for example?

I should stress that does not need to be a negative story. They could adjust very well indeed but it would be likely they would need time to adjust, they would make mistakes, and it would be there that the stories could be told. How do they overcome all of that?

How supportive are their spouses? What mistakes would they make as they adjust to married life themselves? Certainly there would be space for good romance stories there – and probably humorous ones too, if the couples overcame the issues in a humorous way.

New beginnings, for me at least, would be positive stories and there is no reason why that can’t happen in a fairytale world. For me, here, the stories would be more interesting if the fairy godmother was not called in to sort things out and the couples had to sort things out themselves, probably making a bit of a hash of it along the way but overcoming that too. (Don’t we all do that at times?!).

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This World and Others – A Brand New World

I don’t know about you but the New Year period can feel a little like we’re about to enter a brand new world. There is (usually) more optimism and hope around for the start of the next twelve months. Okay, at the end of the year, we tend to look back and review whether the year was as good as we’d hoped for or not. In the case of 2020, with the onset of Covid, I suspect it could be named the Year Everyone Wants to Forget. (And I suspect 2021 is not going to score too highly in the Best Year of All Time Awards either!).

How do your characters respond to a new time in their lives? Are there the equivalent of New Year celebrations? If so, how are these celebrated and do your characters join in with this? What is societal expectation here? If not, how is the passing of time marked in your fictional setting instead? Why is it different from what we know? What would make your characters feel like they were about to enter a brand new world? Are they right to feel that way?

Taking your setting and characters a whole, what is the prevailing mood? Is it optimistic or pessimistic and why? For example if your world is generally optimistic because it is at peace, most people have all needs met etc., what would it take to change that mood? What would make it become a brand new world in a negative way? (And you can swap that round too – what would make a negative world positive? In either case, are the changes permanent?).

https://t.co/cgBzLxPDnn. My turn on the ACW blog today. I share how accepting a first draft isn't meant to be perfect helped me. pic.twitter.com/3HfB36nKaN
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 29, 2021

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Out with the Old? https://t.co/xgpU1xDR6E Firstly, Happy New Year! Secondly, in Out with the Old?, I ask if you should discard everything that is old about your writing. I also talk about appreciating the new and look at how now is a great opportunity to review your writing.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 31, 2021

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Back From Brechin

December 3, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Many thanks to Sarah Archibald for Brechin/Angus Book Festival related material. Also a huge thanks to Wendy H Jones, Caroline Johnston, Tony Collins, Maressa Mortimer, Ruth Leigh, and Sarah Grace for their fab author and book cover photos for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. My book cover images are from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Back from Brechin, my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at how the event went, the benefits of events like this, discuss my talk and workshop here, and give a shout-out to the contingent from the Association of Christian Writers who went, especially Wendy H Jones, who hosted us and ferried us around. (A huge thanks also to Maressa Mortimer for her valuable taxi services too!).

There were eight of us all including me and we covered a wide range of writing between us – literally everything from children’s fiction to crime to flash fiction to memoir and narrative non-fiction and YA stories to historical novels and Christian chicklit.

The event was great fun and useful experience, as well as it being the first major book event I’ve taken part in since before lockdown. What with this, and the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School back in August, it is good to be out and about again. I love Zoom but getting together with people at in-person events has been something I’ve missed over the last year or so and it is good these are coming back.

Back From Brechin

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Brrr… back to the biting cold again. Not that Lady worried as she was too busy playing with Coco and Katima, two of her pals today. Mind you, Lady might have wondered why her owner insisted we kept walking around the park instead of staying still to watch her and her pals play. I was trying to get some life back into my feet!

Will be sharing my Back From Brechin post for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. It was such useful experience and good fun taking part in the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. Link above.

Now I’ve talked before about using a variety of methods to trigger ideas for my short stories and flash fiction pieces. I do much the same for my blog posts. Events I go to are obvious topics to write up but I also look at aspects of writing which intrigue me (and I won’t be the only one to be intrigued – what fascinates one writer will fascinate others) and I adore interviewing other writers. I always learn something interesting and interviews make a great way about sharing who you are and what you do in an entertaining way without being too “in your face” with the old “buy my book” routine.

I’ve learned over time to keep a watching brief out for topics I think might be of interest to others. And that is the point – it is vital to think of your audience, always, regardless of what you write. It is also vital that you enjoy what you write as that comes through. It also makes it easier for you to sustain your writing over time.

Image - Allison Symes - Light and Dark - these questions can help you establish which applies most to your characters

One of the things I love about writing is you never stop learning and this is good for you

Prompts can help you recharge your ideas

AE - July 2021 - A great character drives the plot

Today has been one of those days though the highlights were seeing Lady play with her best buddy, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Even better their mutual pal, a very smiley Hungarian Vizler, came and joined in the fun. The other highlight was getting my hair done. But other than that…!

Sent my author newsletter out earlier. See link. Always good fun to put these together.

Looking forward to going to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event on Saturday. Will be lovely to catch up with friends. (Zoom and Facebook have been a lifeline but you can’t beat getting together in person where possible).

As you know I blog for a number of places and I can’t recommend drafting posts for future use highly enough. It has often proved a lifeline for me as it means I know I always have something which will be “good to go” as and when I need them. It pays to have a “stock” in of these and whenever I go out by train, I always draft blog posts like this once I’ve finished drafting some flash fiction of course!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My latest story on Friday Flash Fiction is called Specialist Subject where my heroine, Doreen, finds a way of dealing with the local bore. Find out how via the link. My sympathies are entirely with Doreen incidentally!

Unless I am writing for a specific website such as Paragraph Planet or Friday Flash Fiction or Mom’s Favorite Reads, I don’t worry about the word count until I’ve got the story down. With the three sites I’ve mentioned, I know their word count, what it looks like on a page, and know what to aim for so away I go.

But if I’m not writing for a specific market, I want to write without having to worry about the word count too much. Once I’ve edited the story so I know it is as good as I can make it, I then think either where can I send this piece (and I will know of a few places, I can also research some) OR I save these for open competitions.

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Amongst the many random generators out there is a random object one. Having a quick look tonight, I set two items as my parameters and came up with the words balloon and box.

Now you could just find a way of getting these words into a story. You could get your character(s) to love or loathe these things and your story is about why they feel this way and what led them to that. In the case of loathing, you could also examine what happens if the character is forced to deal with these items again. They’re in a situation where they can’t avoid the things. How do they handle that?

And you could find a way of framing your title around the items too. Plus you could have two characters with opposing views on these objects. How do they resolve their differences? For the above example, what if one character wants their kid to have loads of balloons and boxes at their party, it’s what they always had, while the other believes these are wasteful and doesn’t want any of them?

I’ve found using the different generators enormously useful in (a) coming up with ideas and (b) making me think differently about how I approach writing a story. They’re fun too!

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Fairytales With Bite – Fairytales in the Christmas Season

Fairytales are a popular feature at Christmas of course thanks to pantomime in particular. (Think Cinderella, Babes in the Wood, Sleeping Beauty etc). I enjoy a pantomime where it is clear cast and audience are having lots of fun but overall I prefer reading the original stories.

What I hope the pantomime season does is encourage people to check out the original stories (even if the younger fans might be better off leaving that until they are a little older. Many of the original tales could not be staged as they were originally written).

Where I do enjoy my fairytales at Christmas even more is in certain films. I adore The Polar Express and consider that to be a fairytale (and one with an edge to it too). The same goes for Shrek where I love the way the ogre is the hero here. Fairytales have often been “subverted” and the Shrek films are great examples of that.

This World and Others – Communal Celebrations

Does your fictional world have communal celebrations? If so, are they based on religion, on seasons of the year, or both? Does everyone take part in these? Are any celebrations from the past now banned and, if so, why was that done? How tolerant are your differing peoples of the celebrations of others?

Communal celebrations serve to bring people together and to lift the spirit (especially winter based events as these are often connected with celebrating light and foreshadowing the return of spring). Are these aims achieved in your fictional festivals? Do your characters join in with the events or choose to abstain? Is joining in compulsory?

What foods and drinks are served and who prepares these? Is magic involved in the celebrations? Answering questions like these will help you to picture what your fictional world would do. If that makes things clearer for you, it will do the same for your readers.

Specialist Subject, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/iRvcaQKcOc Find out here how Doreen plans to outwit the local bore. Hope you enjoy the story. pic.twitter.com/oCoN8X5Kew
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 3, 2021

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Back From Brechin https://t.co/TavlyMqUs8 Delighted to look back at the Brechin/Angus Book Festival for CFT this week. I also look at the benefits of events like this and discuss what I did for my talk and workshop at Brechin.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 3, 2021

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What Books Mean to Me, Bridge House Publishing, and Random Questions

November 30, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of one of my stories from The Best of CafeLit 10. I also took the photo of my books at the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Not so cold today and Lady got to play with her pal, Coco, who is a very lovable Labradoodle.

Looking forward to sharing this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I’ll be writing about the recent Brechin/Angus Book Festival and sharing why events like this matter (and not just to the authors taking part either). Link up on Friday.

Am putting finishing touches to my author newsletter too and that goes out tomorrow, 1st December. Can hardly believe we’re almost at December already. (And I do hope you have a good number of books on your wish list!).

Also, I was delighted to come up with a new idea for a flash fiction story when I was taking part in the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group recently. Have written it up, polished it, and submitted it. Now fingers crossed time!

It’s my turn once again on the More than Writers blog for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I talk about What Books Mean to Me and the challenge here was to keep to the 500 words limit!

Mind you, it is a topic every writer could go on about at length. We’re inspired by what we read. The more we read the bigger our “inspiration net” from which to fish. And we’re supporting the industry we want to be part of – win-win there I think.

Brr… another cold day here. Am grateful for thick clothes, big coat, long scarf, and gloves for walking the dog. Glamorous? Err… no!

I’ll be talking about What Books Mean to Me in my blog for the Association of Christian Writers tomorrow. See link above. The challenge there was keeping that topic to 500 words! You can see how I did tomorrow when I put the link up.

Pleased to see more comments coming in on Moving Along, my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction.

Am working on material for another Zoom talk in February and I’m almost there with material for my third flash fiction collection. It will need robust editing before I submit it but I am hoping to get that off by the spring of next year, earlier if possible. I am happy with the material in and of itself but I know thorough editing will sharpen what’s there and I enjoy that process.

But it is also a relief to know I’ve got the book “down”, the stories are a good mix, and editing will improve them still further. What’s not to like there? Do I wish it was a quicker process? Sometimes. But I know I need a decent break between writing the stories and then going back and editing them. Taking the time there has helped me enormously in the past to see more clearly what is working and what doesn’t. It then gives me my best chance of submitting the best I can to a publisher.

Hope everyone is okay. Very stormy conditions in the UK today. Hampshire saw snow, sleet, rain, bitter cold, and strong winds for a lot of Saturday. Even Lady wasn’t that impressed. She isn’t usually fazed by the weather.

Am busy getting my author newsletter ready for sending out on 1st December. I share tips, prompts, video links and all sorts here. Head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com if this sounds of interest.

I’ll be talking about the recent Brechin/Angus Book Festival for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Many thanks once again to Lynn Clement for the recent two-part interview. It is always a joy to interview other writers for CFT as I always learn something interesting/useful to know (and often both).

The great thing with creative writing is that it is an ongoing process to find out what it is you like to write and then to try and get better at it. Good for the old imagination and the brain as a whole. And then there are all those competitions and markets to still try and crack… no excuse for becoming bored then!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event on Saturday. It will be nice meeting up with Lynn Clement again, whose The City of Stories, has recently been published by Chapeltown Books. I recently interviewed Lynn to discuss flash fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today.

Flash is a wonderful format for sharing on social media. For something to entertain without taking up too much of anyone’s time, it can’t be beaten. And it is easy to share at in-person events too. In the busyness of life, it is great to take time out for a very quick read indeed!

I’ve found it pays me to just get the story written and worry about the editing and word count later. Some flash pieces genuinely do work better at 250 words rather than 100 words, for example. It is only by getting the whole story down and giving myself breathing space to look at it properly later, I can see that yes, this needs to be kept in and that doesn’t.

Over time, you do develop an instinct for what will work better at a slightly longer word count and I’ve learned to trust that instinct when it kicks in.

Back to my normal slot for story time. Hope you enjoy Going On. This one came about as a result of a question from a random question generator (what can you talk about for hours?). I’ve used the same question as the basis for my story for Friday Flash Fiction this week too. Good fun to do.

Am glad to report there’s a special offer on the paperback of Tripping the Flash Fantastic on Amazon right now. See link below. And a big thank you to those who have picked up the Kindle version recently too. Much appreciated (and if you have time to leave a review, even better).

I’ve mentioned before I’m often using Sundays to produce new stories for YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction respectively and I often use the random generators to trigger my ideas here.

Having a quick look at a random question generator, the question that cropped up was “what can you talk about for hours”? I don’t know yet if I will use that for my stories tonight but the thought struck me it would be a good question to ask your characters as you outline them. You are sure to find out more about what makes them tick by getting “them” to answer that. It should highlight some of their overall attitudes to life too.

For example, if the answer is “military history”, say, you could then dig deeper to find out why your character is fascinated by that. What does that reveal about them? Could an opponent use this against them in some way? And there’s your story outline as you think about the answers to those questions. Using one question to trigger others works for story outlining.

http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent

I often write festive flash fiction. My last Chandler’s Ford Today post of the year usually features some. And I have just written a piece and submitted it on a festive theme. Will report back it if it gets taken. I often share a festive dribble (50 words) or drabble (100) words on my Facebook pages too. (The 50 word ones also work well on Twitter).

I see it as a nice way to wrap up the old year and hopefully the tales will raise a smile or two. Naturally I keep the theme for thee stories light. I do avoid any kind of whimsy though. Even tales featuring Santa will have a bit of a bite to them (albeit a nice bite!).

And when I do write a fairytale kind of story, again apt for the rapidly approaching season, there will be a twist or a sense of irony in the story somewhere. Fairytales were never meant to be twee. I think stories with humour are often the best for getting any kind of message across anyway. It helps to make it palatable.

But what I want most for my festive fiction is for there to be a sense of fun about them. I certainly have fun writing them and I hope that comes across.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Appeal of Anthologies

Naturally I am a bit biased here as I’m honoured to have several of my stories appear in various anthologies over the years. It’s a pleasure to write short stories for these and even more of a pleasure when said tales are accepted.

But, regardless of that, I have always had a soft spot for anthologies. Why? I like to see them as a reading “mixed assortment”. Who ever said that just worked for biscuits or chocolates?! It works for books too!

What I get most from anthologies is the wonderful range of talent on offer. I get to read authors I might not have come across otherwise and, when the anthology is to a set theme, it is fascinating to see how so many different writers bring their own take to that topic.

I deliberately read anthologies, including flash fiction ones, between novels. They do act almost like a “starter meal” for my next longer read. Indeed, if I’m not sure which novel to read next, by the time I’ve come to the end of an anthology, I know which mood (and therefore genre) of novel I want to read next.

So do check the anthologies out. (They’re also useful for seeing if you like the work of an author new to you. If you like their short work, it is highly likely you will like their longer books).

And happy reading – short and long form!

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: The Appeal of Anthologies https://t.co/DJskASuAKq via @goodreads I discuss why I love anthologies (and it's not just because I have stories in some, honest). I look at why I mix up my short and long form reading too. pic.twitter.com/r2bifs6QvH
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 27, 2021

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More than Writers: What Books Mean to Me by Allison Symes https://t.co/3VfVatMtG6 My turn on the ACW blog once again and this time the challenge with my topic was keeping it to 500 words. See how I did here! pic.twitter.com/wjZaDYSD2k
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 29, 2021

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Stories, Editing, and a Press Appearance

November 26, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Many thanks to Sarah Archibald for images related to the recent Brechin/Angus Book Festival. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing (though the image of CafeLit 10 was my usual keen author opening their box of books shot!). It has been a strange week. I started the week in Dundee, after a lovely time at the Festival, and am now back at my desk, getting down to the nitty-gritty of the writing life (and loving that). Am very appreciative of the joy creative writing has given and continues to give me.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am so pleased to welcome back Lynn Clement to Chandler’s Ford Today. This week we talk about editing. I had the pleasure of editing Lynn’s flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, recently. Lynn shares how she found the vigorous three stage editing process Chapeltown Books has and what her approach to editing is amongst other topics. Hope you enjoy the post and pick up useful thoughts here. I hope it is some consolation that editing is hard work but oh so worth it when you know your book is sharper, tighter, flows better than it did before. It is worth it, folks, honest!

And what is really nice is I am due to meet up with Lynn again in person at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event on 4th December. Looking forward to catching up with her and other Bridge House/CafeLit/Chapeltown Books authors then (and many of us write for all three!).

Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing

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Pleased to share the following link kindly forwarded to be by Sarah Archibald – a lovely write up and pic of the authors taking part in the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. Must admit the last time I sat in a group like this, I was at school! (Also first time I’ve been in a newspaper so feeling a bit chuffed I must say).

Success for Brechin/Angus Book Festival event

Hope you’ve had a good day. I’m in that “back to the office after a break” kind of routine and am trying to catch up with paperwork.

Had a lovely time on the Association of Christian Writers Flash Group meeting tonight. Groups like this are useful for sharing tips and advice, reading stories out and receiving feedback. We’re not meeting next month (I’ll leave you to guess why!) but look forward to meeting up with everyone again on Zoom in January. And that will be with us before we know it. (Oh and I did come up with an idea I hope to write up soon as a result of our discussions tonight – I always welcome things like that!).

PS. Since writing the above post, I did write up the idea I came up with during this meeting and have since submitted the story. Will let you know if it goes anywhere.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased I managed to get a story in for Friday Flash Fiction this week after all. Hope you enjoy my latest here (and many thanks for the comments in on it already). What could possibly go wrong when a witch decides to have a house rebuild? Find out here!

Firstly, had a lovely Zoom session last night with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Plenty of feedback and tips shared. (Another advantage here is there is a lot of great advice for writing flash that can be taken to help you improve standard length short stories too).

Secondly, I’m pleased to share a link to flash fiction on Mom’s Favorite Reads. Don’t forget the magazine is free, has a wide range of articles and stories, and I will be setting the theme for the next edition soon. Always fun to do that!

Last but not least, I will be talking again with Lynn Clement on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. I recently edited Lynn’s flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, for Chapeltown Books. Tomorrow Lynn and I will discuss the editing process. See link above.

Pleased to share my latest YouTube story. Hope you enjoy A Turn Up For the Books. What happens when healthy eating impacts on the fairy world? Find out here!

Fairytales With Bite – Magical Livelihoods

What kind of jobs could exist in the magical world other than the obvious ones of wizard, fairy godmother etc? How about these?

Ingredient Fetcher – always out in the fresh air. Works for witches, wizards and those fairy godmothers who like to use wildlife in their spells. Must love amphibians (as eye of newt comes up a lot in this job).

Spell Book Translator – If you’ve ever read Old English, you will know how difficult it is to read (especially over a longer document). Old spell books are much the same. They need translating into more modern magical speech. And these things don’t happen as if by magic, oh no. Someone has to do them.

Food Preparer – Definitely not a cook. This job means taking the shiniest red apples the ingredient fetcher has brought you and selecting the very best to go through to the boss, who no doubt has something to add to them herself. And you dare not bring her anything less than the best. The boss won’t sack you if you do. She’ll just do a trial run of her special ingredient on the sub-standard apple you’ve brought her and make you eat it. Get it right though and there will be rewards (including getting to live for another day).

Cleaners – Always needed regardless of what world you live in. Use of magic to do the job strictly banned since that spot of bother with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

This World and Others – Employment Issues

What kind of employment opportunities exist in your fictional world? Do jobs match what we have here or are there work placements which could only exist in your fiction? Can anyone apply for jobs based on merit or is there a strict system where only those from a certain type of background can apply for certain types of work?

How does your society pay for goods and services? How are these things produced? Is magic allowed to be used? Is there such as thing as a working week? Are there employment laws protecting the workers? Can people better themselves through working hard etc?

What does your fictional world need in terms of employment and are those needs met? Does it need to import labour and/or services and, if so, where does it get these things from?

What does your lead character do for a living? How does that affect their outlook? And when they’re called up on to go on the adventure you’re sending them on, how easy do they find it to give up all they have known? After all, secure employment is a rarity wherever you go!

Pleased to share my latest YouTube story. Hope you enjoy A Turn Up For the Books. What happens when healthy eating impacts on the fairy world? Find out here!https://t.co/S4UkiMCMF4
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 24, 2021

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Pleased to share link kindly forwarded by Sarah Archibald – a lovely write up and pic of the authors from the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. The last time I sat in a group photo, I was at school! Also first time I’ve been in a newspaper so feeling chuffed. https://t.co/UkOGDu315b
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 25, 2021

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Moving Along, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/1lH1Crrl1X Delighted to share my latest drabble on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy it. Mind you, my character has decided views on HER new creation! pic.twitter.com/Q8eVOTaFIL
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 26, 2021

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Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing https://t.co/CdqOXJyn3N Delighted to welcome Lynn back to CFT. This week we look at the editing process Lynn underwent with her flash collection, The City of Stories, for Chapeltown Books. Lynn shares how she found this process. pic.twitter.com/QvY21dqxaz
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 26, 2021

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Book Festivals, Inventing Characters, and Going Home

November 22, 2021November 23, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

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

Facebook – General

Absolutely shattered last night after getting home from Scotland but it was an enjoyable trip and I have to say I liked LNER. I’ve not travelled with them before but liked the trains. Also impressed with very high standard of cleanliness – and a charging point at every seat. Great idea.

Am getting back to my usual writing routine (though whether I’ll get around to a YouTube video and/or submission to Friday Flash Fiction this week remains to be seen). I will be getting my author newsletter for December ready soon though (and you can sign up for that at my website landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com).

Looking forward to the next event – the Bridge House Publishing celebration on 4th December. Will be so good to meet up with friends again there too and catch up with what everyone has been doing.

Heading home from the Brechin/Angus Book Festival and enjoying great scenic views on the way as I travel through Scotland and a fair bit of England too. Had a lovely time.

It was great catching up with friends from the Association of Christian Writers and meeting new people. Some of us have a regular meet up on Zoom. This was the “live” version in many ways!

A huge thanks to Wendy H. Jones for being a fab hostess and organising all that needed to be organised, and to Sarah Archibald and her team behind the festival.

Looking forward now to being back at home with my family and Lady. Reports tell me she has been checking my side of the bed every night to see if I’d somehow sneaked back home while she was not looking! Not a chance even if I did have access to a portal etc. The postie only has to put one foot in the drive before she tells us about it!

In other news as they say, I look forward to sharing Part 2 of a great interview with Lynn Clement, whose The City of Stories was recently published by Chapeltown Books. This week we discuss the editing process – Chapeltown has a vigorous three stage plan for this. I had the privilege of editing Lynn on this and I look forward to sharing the link on Friday.

Had a lovely workshop session at the second day of the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. It was great to share ways into flash fiction and read some of my stories. That does two things – it shows what flash is and hopefully entertains the listener.

Later I gave a talk on The Ups and Downs of Becoming An Author where I talked about my circular route into becoming a published author. All good fun and many thanks to those who came to listen.

It has been particularly nice to meet new people and get chatting about books and stories.

Lovely to be at the Brechin/Angus Book Festival. It’s wonderful to see lots of lovely books (and equally lovely authors) out and about again.

There is a great contingent from the Association of Christian Writers here. So shout-out to Wendy H Jones, Maressa Mortimer, Ruth Leigh, Heather Flack, Tony Collins, and Sheila Robinson (writes as S.C. Skillman).

Also lovely to meet in person those I’ve only met on Facebook and/or Zoom.

Have also taken part in my first professional photo shoot with the other authors. All of us held up our latest book with pride! Great fun. Will appear in The Angus Courier next Thursday.

Book stall all set up to go at The Northern Hotel, Brechin

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’ve mentioned before my love of using random generators to help trigger different story ideas. I’m convinced these work because they force you to think outside of your usual creative box. You are being set a prompt to work to after all by something that has not come from you.

But don’t forget you can get even more from these by changing the parameters for these things. For example, for the random word ones, I often choose to generate just two words but there’s no reason why I can’t pick far more than that.

I’ve found using two will often give me a title and, yes, it can be easier to fit two words into a story rather than ten or so but that’s precisely the reason to change the parameters! It encourages you to think about how you can get these ten words into the story so it makes sense, adds to the character or the plot in some way etc.

Stretching yourself like that is a good thing. I’ve come up with more stories as a result of experimenting with parameters like this.

It was a pleasure to read from my flash collections at my workshop and tallk over the weekend at the Brechin/Angus Book Festival.

Doing this shows what flash is and the impact it can have so effectively. I just tailor which stories I read to suit the audience. I also like a balance of tales to make people smile and others that trigger other responses (such as a twist ending for a crime story, say).

I don’t read the same tales at every event (though I do have my own favourites I will often use).

Last day of the Brechin/Angus Book Festival and it has been fabulous to talk about flash fiction, sharing what I love about the form. As I mentioned yesterday, it is the continual inventing of characters I find the most fun. It is also the most challenging but it keeps me on my toes!

Writing flash fiction has meant I get to do what I love most – invent characters. Even more fun can be had because those characters don’t have to be human.

Why do I love inventing characters? Simply because they are fun to “play with”.Characters give me ways in which to explore motivations and what anyone might do in any given situation when under duress or where normal expectations don’t exist or are challenged.

How a character reacts is something that fascinates me. And with flash I get to do this over and over again.The joy of my two collections – From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic – is I can reflect a number of scenarios and settings and that is also fun.

Goodreads Author Blog – Advertising Books

The best advertising for books is word-of-mouth. If someone I know tells me about a book I am more likely to sit up and take notice.

But getting awareness of available books out there is difficult.No author wants to come across as too pushy (instant turn-off for potential readers). But you equally can’t be too shy and retiring.

What I have found helps me is having a brief spiel prepared covering what flash fiction is (my main genre), why I love writing it, and then I go into my two collections. Often I’ll read from them too.

And readers do need to know the stories are out there. This is where book festivals and fairs can play a major role. So if you can support them, do. You will get to see potential good reads new to you and you support books in general as well as the authors.

Twitter Corner

liked Allison Symes’s blog post: Advertising Books https://t.co/PB41kqgaOH via @goodreads.

I look at getting the word out there about books and the role of book festivals etc here. pic.twitter.com/ssccx9W7xj
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 20, 2021

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Book Lists, Writing Days, and Competition

October 29, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Hope you have had a good week. I’m off for a short break from 30th October. I plan to keep posting but internet connections may get the better of me so I will see how things go! (Definitely back here on Tuesday, 9th November if I can’t post).

Facebook – General – and

Chandler’s Ford Today and Association of Christian Writers

29th October – CFT

Am writing on a topic close to my heart for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’m writing about Book Lists. Every writer has two – one for books they want to read and others they want to write! I’m focusing on the ones I want to read for this one. Posts like this are a celebration of books in general and those are always a good thing to celebrate! Hope you enjoy the post.

Book Lists

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29th October – ACW

It’s a busy night on the blogging front for me today but I am delighted to share my blog on More Than Writers. This is the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I talk about Writing Days and I share hints on how to make the most of these as well as how to re-create some of the buzz from events like these when you’re at home. Hope you find it useful (and a big thanks for the wonderful comments already in on this one).

https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2021/10/writing-days-by-allison-symes.html

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Am posting very early as this evening I’m off to the theatre again. I’m going to see Murder with Ghosts staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group and I hope to review this show in due course. I’m also meeting up with my lovely editor, Janet Williams, so it will be a Chandler’s Ford Today “works outing” in many ways. Haven’t had one of those since December 2019 when Janet and I were at the Chameleons last show before You Know What disrupted everything. I love a good spoof and the title of this play sounds very promising!

Talking of CFT, I will be sharing my post tomorrow about Book Lists. (You must have at least one on the go, yes?).

It will be a busy day on the blogging front as my post for the Association of Christian Writers is also up tomorrow. Plan to do two separate posts about these. See above.

I may need to share my author newsletter a couple of days early as I won’t be about on 1st November. You know how sometimes things pan out beautifully – one thing comes along, then another, then another and all is well. Well, sometimes you get everything happening at once and I’m at that point right now! Takes deep breath, will stay calm and carry on!

Ritchie Hall, home to The Chameleon Theatre Group

Lady had a fabulous time with her best buddies, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler today. It was lovely seeing them run around. Lady has to have a good run once a day (the rest of her exercise is walking) and what is nice is I can always tell when she’s really enjoyed herself. How? On the way home, she will look up at me with bright shining eyes and her tail is going nineteen to the dozen as if to say “thanks, Mum, I needed that.”. Dogs are honest about how they feel. We, and our characters, aren’t necessarily!

If you have a character who has to hide their true feelings, they’ve got to have a decent reason for doing so. It is a common theme in romance of course but it can apply to other genres too. Ironically in crime stories, often you will know who the murderer is, it is case of finding out how the detective finds them out. That wonderful series Columbo was brilliant at that. As the story plays out , we find out how the murderer tried to cover up their tracks and of course they can give away no signs of guilt etc.

So how can we have our character do one thing but feel another? Internal thoughts can of course reveal how they are really feeling. But showing a character hesitating before taking a certain course of action can also show a character who has split feelings.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My latest #FridayFlashFiction story is called Competition and you find out what could happen when Humpty Dumpty talks with one of the bears from Goldilocks. Great fun to write and a huge thank you for the wonderful comments in on this so far. Feedback is always appreciated, writers learn a lot from it, and a pat on the pack is particularly nice at the end of a busy week! Also a quick shout-out to another friend of mine making her debut on Friday Flash Fiction – well done to #RosemaryJohnson.

I’m looking forward to being at the Brechin/Angus Book Fest from 19th to 21st November where I’ll be running a flash fiction workshop and giving an author talk. What is nice about the workshop is there are various ways “into” starting to write flash pieces and I will be sharing some of those for that. I hope these encourage people to give flash a try.

The nice thing with creative writing is there isn’t any competition as far as I’m concerned. We all have our own unique author voice and it can take a while to find what yours is, it took me ages to find mine, but once you have it, away you go.

As well as being published in the form, flash has brought other opportunities to my door, including Brechin, radio interviews, taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights and it has all been great fun. Long may this continue!

Screenshot 2021-10-27 at 21-16-37 Authors events

Screenshot 2021-10-27 at 21-19-45 Festival Programme 2021

Most of my flash fiction tales come in at the 100-word mark (and even more do so now I’m submitting tales regularly to #FridayFlashFiction). It’s also apt as it was the good old drabble as the 100-word story is known which got me into flash fiction writing in the first place.

But I do like to write across the spectrum. It’s good practice. It means you have an even wider of competitions and markets to approach. Having said that, the vast majority of mine still come in at 500 words or under. I do think you eventually find what is your natural writing zone and that appears to be mine!

But I worry about the word count aspect only when I’ve got the story down. Putting it aside to rest for a while, I can come back to the story and read it as a reader would. That makes it easier to spot the flaws and there are always some of those! But I also get to see more clearly thanks to giving myself some distance from that first draft the “heart” of the tale and from that can work out what I need to keep and what needs to come out.

Sometimes it works out a story works better at 500 words rather than 250 and that’s fine. Usually it is a case I have details which add depth to my character(s) and the story would be poorer without those details in so I leave them in.

Fairytales with Bite – Setting Scenes

What aspects of your magical setting does a reader need to know? And how can you indicate this is a fantasy setting where magic will happen? How will your readers find out what your characters can’t do/are banned from doing? (The two aren’t the same and there will be many a story to be had from following the adventures of characters who decide to defy whatever the ban might be).

I’ve talked before about telling details and writing down possibles here can help clarify things for you. (I often use spider diagrams and the like to work out different story possibilities but you can use the same things for working out what scenes have to be in your story and also what needs to be in those scenes).

Fantasy settings can be indicated by things like:-

Colour of sky/ground/seas if different from Earth.
The kind of buildings that exist
Showing a character using magic as a matter of routine
What your characters look like. If they’re humanoid how do they differ from us? If they’re not humanoid at all, your readers will need to know what they are to be able to visualise them.

Examples of telling details could be:-

Colour of hair (or equivalent) especially if different from us
How characters speak, write etc again especially if different from us
How the world is governed (you won’t need everything here. What readers need to know is whether your characters live in a free society of under a dictatorship).
What would count as standard “powers”? What would be extraordinary? (And you can show that by contrasting two characters with different skill sets. One will be seen to be lower than the other in terms of how their skills are valued – this will also show something of the class structure in your world too).

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This World and Others – The Need to Know Question

Ah but who needs to know what in your created world, that is the question. Forget the to be or not to be question posed by Shakespeare. Information is power no matter what world your characters are in so how is information shared in your setting or is it only available to the privileged few? Is information manipulated before being “allowed out there” and what kind of technology does your world have to share it?

What would happen if your government really does need the populace to take in necessary information but they won’t do so, being cynical of any government pronouncement? How do the powers that be get around that one?

Also who decides who needs to know? Can they be bribed or threatened to make information available to others?

Who needs to know? Is there such a thing as whistleblowers in your creation? What happens to them?

Who creates the information in the first place? Do journalists, writers etc., have any say in what information they produce?

Think about what might happen if a long cherished nugget of information is exposed as a lie. What ramifications would that have?

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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>Competition, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction <a href=”https://t.co/XIwz3UQNlz”>https://t.co/XIwz3UQNlz</a> Delighted to share the link to my latest drabble on Friday Flash Fiction. What happens when Humpty Dumpty has a chat with one of the bears from the Goldilocks story? Find out here! <a href=”https://t.co/n6bde4xJQa”>pic.twitter.com/n6bde4xJQa</a>— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AllisonSymes1/status/1454118628777988101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 29, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>Book Lists <a href=”https://t.co/Sqsf1Z3UwL”>https://t.co/Sqsf1Z3UwL</a> My topic for CFT this week is close to my heart – Book Lists. Every writer has two – one for books they want to read and others they want to write! I’m focusing on ones to read. Posts like this celebrate books which is always worth doing!— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AllisonSymes1/status/1454142514554888194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 29, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>More than Writers: Writing Days by Allison Symes <a href=”https://t.co/494Qu84AS7″>https://t.co/494Qu84AS7</a> My turn on the ACW blog again this month. I share hints and tips on making the most of a writing day and how to re-create the buzz from these when you're at home. Hope you find the post useful. <a href=”https://t.co/uxgfKfKFbH”>pic.twitter.com/uxgfKfKFbH</a>— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AllisonSymes1/status/1454143450144706564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 29, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Competition, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/XIwz3UQNlz Delighted to share the link to my latest drabble on Friday Flash Fiction. What happens when Humpty Dumpty has a chat with one of the bears from the Goldilocks story? Find out here! pic.twitter.com/n6bde4xJQa
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 29, 2021

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Book Lists https://t.co/Sqsf1Z3UwL My topic for CFT this week is close to my heart – Book Lists. Every writer has two – one for books they want to read and others they want to write! I’m focusing on ones to read. Posts like this celebrate books which is always worth doing!
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 29, 2021

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More than Writers: Writing Days by Allison Symes https://t.co/494Qu84AS7 My turn on the ACW blog again this month. I share hints and tips on making the most of a writing day and how to re-create the buzz from these when you're at home. Hope you find the post useful. pic.twitter.com/uxgfKfKFbH
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 29, 2021

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Writers’ Days

October 15, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Images from Swanwick Writers’ Summer School were taken by me, Allison Symes, in August 2021 (and it was wonderful being back there again).

Hope the week has been okay for you. Had a good run of nice autumn weather, due to change to rain next week. And my book order of Tripping the Flash Fantastic arrived. It is always lovely to receive books in the post, especially when you’ve written them! Below is image taken by Adrian Symes (always tricky to do your own author posing with books photo) when Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing arrived a few weeks back. Glad to hold up my two flash fiction collections too, which was apt since my topic in the CM book was flash fiction!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post which is about Writers’ Days. I share hints and tips on making the most of events like this, whether they’re the in-person kind or on Zoom. This post naturally was inspired by my having gone to the Association of Christian Writers event held last Saturday in London, our first in-person event since You Know What struck. It was just so lovely to see people again and to have a wonderful creative buzz being generated by being with so many wonderfully creative writers.

You do get a buzz from a Zoom session incidentally but I think it is not quite in the same way. It is more subtle with online writing events in that I find a buzz after the event and I look back and think yes, that was fab. I think for an in-person event you pick up on that buzz immediately. Of course that may just be me!

Anyway, I hope you find the post useful and hope you have a wonderful time at whatever writing/reading/general literature events may be coming your way. (Oh and my books arrived safe and sound so it has been a good day here – see below for my posts on waiting for my book order to come in. I do feel like a kid waiting for Christmas when I’ve got a book order in somewhere!).

Writers’ Days

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The book order I mentioned yesterday (for Tripping the Flash Fantastic) will be with me tomorrow between 10.51 am and 2.51 pm. Bless the Royal Mail for their precision! (I’d have been quite happy with a between 11 and 3 category but there you go!).

Later this month, I am due to go and see the Chameleon Theatre Group perform Murder with Ghosts, which sounds hilarious. And my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today will be there too. I haven’t seen her for ages so it will be nice to catch up with her too. Review will follow in due course though it will be delayed by a week or so as I am heading north to Scotland once more for a much needed break with my better half and the dog right at the end of the month.

Talking of CFT, my post tomorrow is called Writers’ Days and I will be sharing tips as to how to make the most of these as my image (created in Book Brush indicates). Link up tomorrow. See above.

Always pleased to receive an email saying my book order is on its way to me. Am expecting further copies of Tripping the Flash Fantastic in any moment.

I’ll be talking about Writers’ Days for my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. Really looking forward to sharing that on Friday. I will also be sharing some tips as to how to make the most of these and events held on that wonderful app, Zoom. Hope this will prove useful. And if you think this is an odd coincidence after my going to the Association of Christian Writers’ day last Saturday, well it isn’t! Inspiration for blog posts can come from a variety of sources (as with fiction) after all!

I remember going to my first events as a delegate and being a bundle of nerves. Sometimes thinking about the tips I would have loved to have known back then gives me ideas for posts for CFT. Little is wasted in writing. It is sometimes finding the right use for material you have. It is sometimes a case of looking back at what I’ve learned over the years and writing it down. You do pick up more tips and useful advice than you often realise. I’ve also learned over time to spot the potential for a story or blog post and then flesh it out further to see if there is any “mileage” in that initial idea. If there is I go with it.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to share my latest story on #FridayFlashFiction. Development is the latest tale involving my hapless magical being, Sarah, as she tries to fit in well with her human neighbour, Tina. How does she do this time?

Delivering on the promise of an interesting title and hook is vital of course. You don’t want to let readers down. Always think of those you’re writing “to” as they’re the ones you’re seeking to entertain. This is another reason why I will use spider diagrams and/or flowcharts to work out different ways I can take a promising idea. I then go the one I like the most and it almost always is the one I think will have the most impact on a reader, whether it is to make them laugh, cry, scream or what have you. If the story produces that effect in me, whichever one I’ve chosen, it will do so for others.

I know how I feel when I read a story I love. I’m gripped by the premise, the characters etc., and I always want to reproduce those effects in my own fiction. And if you’re not sure about who you’re writing “to” invent your own Ideal Reader. Who would you like to enjoy your flash or other stories?

On my reading list at the moment is Root, Branch, Tree, an anthology of flash fiction produced as a result of the National Flash Fiction Day in 2020. Whatever genre you write, you should read in your field, as well as out of it.

The latter helps you expand your imagination, the former helps you see what else is out there in your area. You can study the book to work out the publisher’s style and then decide whether or not your style of writing would fit in with theirs. Studying the market is vital and I would say every writer has to do it. How else will you know where to submit your work? You can’t do it blindly but at least studying the market is fun – you get to read and can legitimately call it research!

Fairytales with Bite – Required Reading

What books or stories are required reading for your characters, whether they’re at school or not? Who writes these? Is anything specially banned and, if so, why? Would, say, a book on logic go down particularly well in your magical setting? And are our interpretations of the classical fairytales the same as those held on the world you’re creating for your story?

Is there any class of character in your setting who cannot read or is forbidden to do so (and do they seek knowledge and books another way)? Do your characters accept the stories they’re told to read or do they ever question them?

Who lays down the rules for what is read? Why did they choose this particular material? Are adaptations allowed?

What do your characters “make” of reading? If everyone is, say, expected to read and re-read classic books regularly, do your people do that or do they get sick of it and get put off the books they’re supposed to love?

For characters capable of producing magic, what text books, instruction manuals etc do they have? Is there such a thing as an editor in your world? (Someone should make sure the spells are written out correctly after all).

Thinking about questions like these can help you flesh out your creation. Attitudes to literature (and by default to the arts in general as well) will show much about your world and how it is run. A world that takes reading seriously is more likely to be a civilised place in which to live than one which despises knowledge, never wants to learn etc.

I must admit I can’t imagine a life without reading. Nor do I wish to imagine it!

This World and Others – Literacy Matters

Literacy matters a great deal to me as I am sure it does to most of us. As mentioned in Fairytales with Bite, I can’t imagine my life without books in it. Not being able to read fills me with horror – imagine missing out on so much. Occasionally I go to medieval weekends and the like and I always come away from these, having had a great day out and learning a lot, with a profound sense of gratitude I live int he age I do, despite its problems. I just know back then I would have been an illiterate medieval peasant who would probably have died in childbirth long before the age I am now.

So on your fictional world, how seriously is literacy and education taken? Do your characters get an education and, if so, what form does that take? How does it impact on them later in life? Does their education (or lack of) help them in the story you’re putting them in or cause them problems because they know too much or don’t know enough?

Can your characters easily access books? Is fiction valued or does your world only treasure cold, hard facts? Are there specific school/age related books as we know them or do your characters have to get to grips with archaic language from an early age?

And if you have a divide between the educated and those who are not, how did this come about? What clashes happens between the two groups? Is there anyone with a vision to get education to all and do they accomplish this or do other forces get in their way? (It is always easier to control those who don’t ask questions or who perhaps don’t know they should ask questions).

Food for thought there, I think, and I know I will always appreciate my books!

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Told you I loved books!

Development, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/jni0ablpst The latest installment following the hapless Sarah's magical misadventures. Hope you enjoy. pic.twitter.com/KumRyiKEfV
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 15, 2021

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Development, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/jni0ablpst The latest installment following the hapless Sarah's magical misadventures. Hope you enjoy. pic.twitter.com/KumRyiKEfV
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 15, 2021

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Image Credits:-

Hope you have had a good weekend. Went to see a live comedy gig over the weekend, booked my tickets for a very special event in March, and got soaked with the dog – so a mixed bag here!

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Visualising Characters

Image Credits:-

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

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales with Bite – Dreams and Nightmares

This World and Others – Interactions

Image Credits:-

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

Hope you had a good weekend. Nice quiet one here but lots of exciting news to report this time plus I hope a useful blog I prepared for the Association of Christian Writers on Starting and Finishing.

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Trains

Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Hope you have had an enjoyable Christmas break. Happy New Year!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales With Bite – New Beginnings

This World and Others – A Brand New World

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales With Bite – Fairytales in the Christmas Season

This World and Others – Communal Celebrations

Image Credit:-

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – The Appeal of Anthologies

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Many thanks to Sarah Archibald for images related to the recent Brechin/Angus Book Festival. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales With Bite – Magical Livelihoods

This World and Others – Employment Issues

Image Credit:-

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

Many thanks also to Sarah Archibald for the Brechin/Angus Book Festival materials – it is a joy to share them!

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Advertising Books

Twitter Corner

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Hope you have had a good week. I’m off for a short break from 30th October. I plan to keep posting but internet connections may get the better of me so I will see how things go! (Definitely back here on Tuesday, 9th November if I can’t post).

Facebook – General – and

Chandler’s Ford Today and Association of Christian Writers

29th October – CFT

29th October – ACW

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales with Bite – Setting Scenes

This World and Others – The Need to Know Question

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Images from Swanwick Writers’ Summer School were taken by me, Allison Symes, in August 2021 (and it was wonderful being back there again).

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales with Bite – Required Reading

This World and Others – Literacy Matters

Told you I loved books!