Tag: author interview

Author Interview: Gail Aldwin and The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Gail Aldwin for the wonderful book/author pics and cover reveal video she supplied for my Chandler’s Ford Today interview with her.
Hope you have had a good week. It has been cooler and both Lady and I have appreciated that. Grass still looks like straw in places mind you. I send sympathetic greetings to all fellow hayfever sufferers!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome back Gail Aldwin to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her new novel, The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. Gail explains how true crime podcasts influenced her for writing her book, how she managed dual timelines, and why she used a prologue. She also shares details of her Twitter launch (and this will be on Monday, 3rd July so do look out for this). We also look at outlines and Gail’s writing journey so far. Hope you enjoy what is a fabulous interview.

Author Interview: Gail Aldwin and The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell

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It’s my turn once again on the More than Writers blog (the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers). This time I talk about a subject which is very close to my heart – Generating Ideas. Hope you find the post useful.

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Am looking forward to sharing a great interview with Gail Aldwin on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week.  See above. She is discussing her new book, The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell, a psychological suspense.

Gail is a prolific writer and has written coming of age novels and flash fiction so we talk about how her short form writing has fed into her longer works. We also look at timelines and Twitter launches, which Gail will be having for her book on 3rd July, amongst other topics. Link up on Friday. I’ve mentioned before I love author interviews as I learn so much from them and this I promise is a good example of that.

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What do you do, as an older lady, when you can’t stand Victoria sponge and yet your granddaughter has brought one to you? Find out here in my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – Your Time Your Cake. Hope you enjoy it (and many thanks for the comments coming in already on this one).
Screenshot 2023-06-30 at 09-58-56 Your Time Your Cake by Allison Symes

A cooler day today and Lady got to see a pal we haven’t seen for a while – Willow, a smashing Jack Russell. Takes no prisoners that one but Lady is very fond of her and she of Lady which is always nice to see.

Looking forward to taking part in the Book Fair at The Hilt on 8th July. Will happily be spreading the word about flash fiction. Last night’s Flash Fiction Group meeting for ACW went very well and we all produced stories with promise.

I drafted my own during the meeting and think I may have something with promise for a competition I’ve got in mind. Needs work and reducing but that isn’t a problem. Always better to have to cut than to pad (and the latter never works anyway. Experienced judges, editors etc spot it easily).

May be an image of text that says "Always a joy to write/ talk about flash fiction."

Am posting earlier today as I’m hosting the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later. Looking forward to seeing everyone online and taking part in the writing exercises. I may set them but I love joining in with them myself on the night itself. I love “live writing”.

Find it is a good discipline for me too. Later I’ll polish these exercises up and then see if I can submit them somewhere. I usually can. But it means I get to do more draft flash fiction writing myself along with everyone else and I just love that.

May be a graphic of text that says "Jotting down ideas for future stories, blog posts etc., is a great thing to do when you're short on time. Latr tired and uninspired, you can come back to those ideas and find something you like the look ofto to write up."

Fairytales with Bite – Twists

T = Trust the magical beings to turn up when you least expect them.

W = Wands will be used – don’t get in the way.

I = Increase your wariness of older beings – they may well prove to be much younger and are merely in disguise waiting to catch out the unwary.

S = Spells can be limited or reversed – have a friendly magical being on side always.

T = Take nothing for granted – even the animal kingdom may prove to be harboring cursed or magical beings.

S = Suspect everyone as being more powerful magically than you are – and treat with respect – you’re unlikely to go far wrong doing that.

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This World and Others – The Unexpected

In a magical setting, what could count as being unexpected? Where you have magic, do you have science? Would scientific discoveries be more unexpected than magical ones?

Where you have alien worlds what would they consider to be alien to them and do they come across that at all? How would they handle something/someone they consider to be strange?

Different characters will have varying ideas as to what would be unexpected. Others handle the unexpected fine. Others are completely thrown by it. How could that play out in your stories? What could this reveal about characters to others in your stories? Could it change how they act towards them?

If the unexpected is an event, what is the outcome? Could it have been predicted and maybe prevented? Where is the fallout from this?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Windsor Castle and Cake Glorious Cake

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for taking the image of me reading at the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night back in 2019. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from Windsor Castle.
Had a lovely day out with my younger sister over the weekend. It was a trip down Memory Lane in some ways. While we’d not been to the Castle itself before, we have been to Legoland and, prior to that on that site, the old Windsor Safari Park. (That was very much of its time). In both cases we remembered the magnificent views of the Castle from those places. This time, it was nice to see the views FROM the Castle!

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Facebook – General

Posting early as have a busy evening ahead. Have another one again tomorrow with the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom. Talking about flash fiction is always fun and it has been great to see people with this group have works published on Friday Flash Fiction etc. The proof of the pudding etc etc. Writing exercises (and I set these regularly) do spur creativity and are worth having a go at for that reason alone. If you can then go on to get the works published, even better.

May be an image of text that says "I love taking part in live writing exercises as part of a Zoơm group ead. I don't miss out ฮท the fun! And spontaneous writing is wonderful thing to do. It can be tidied up much later. Writing should be fun (at least most of the time!)."

Today would’ve been my father’s 86th birthday. He would have heartily approved of my kid sister and I having a trip to Windsor Castle over the weekend. The last time we were in the area at all, we were kids and he was driving. Yes, I am going a long way back. I have a long way TO go back!

Lady had a good time with her two closest pals, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and the Hungarian Vizler. It has been cooler today – nobody in my acquaintance, human or otherwise, has been sorry about that!

Looking forward to welcoming Gail Aldwin back to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. (Many thanks again to Francesca Tyer for her two part interview – it was great).

Have submitted a short historical piece as an entry for an article competition. So enjoyed writing the piece too. Am pondering whether to have a crack at a flash fiction competition – deadline end August.

May be a graphic of text that says "Entering writing competitions is also good practice for writing to deadlines. DEADLINE 5 60"

Another hot day (though cooler than yesterday). Lady and I are not sorry about that.
Many thanks for the great comments coming in on Deserved Desserts, my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction. The opening line here is an odd one even by my standards but huge fun! Hope you enjoy it if you missed the link on my book Facebook page on Friday (From Light to Dark and Back Again).

Sometimes I will start an idea from a quirky opening line I’ve jotted down (usually during one of my brainstorming sessions). I then work out what I could do with that line and I usually find something. Don’t forget you can use random generators to come up with opening lines (quirky or otherwise). This makes for a good writing challenge. There are competitions which are based on opening lines set by the competition organisers so this is well worth having a go at on a regular basis.

Screenshot 2023-06-23 at 09-56-26 Deserved Desserts by Allison Symes

Had a fabulous day out at Windsor Castle with my kid sister. Lovely time had by us both. So hot though. What is nice is we’ve been able to convert our tickets so we can visit again during the next year during the times the Castle is open to the public. We hope to get to do that. No extra money for this either. Also very impressed with how well organised they are for those with mobility issues.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Gail Aldwin whose The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell is out soon. Link up on Friday. And then I’ll be sharing more news about the Book Fair I’m going to be part of in July.

I’ve occasionally written a flash piece based on a work of art. Gill James set this as a challenge ages ago and it was fun to do. Will I do it again? At some point, yes. I was impressed with the Van Dycks and other masterpieces I’ve seen today at the Castle so plenty of inspiration to be found there! Am not short of potential material at least…

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I mix up the pieces I use for reading at Open Prose Mic Nights etc – in terms of mood, word count as well as by using different tales. I rehearse reading these (and yes I do often record them on Zoom to play back) but the important thing is to have a good read through (ideally several) as it is too easy to assume you know the material, you can wing it. Err… no.

What I do find the rehearsals do is help calm my nerves because I know I have rehearsed. It helps. The tricky bit is working out how much to drink (non-alcoholic as alcohol can dry the throat aside from any other side effects!) ahead of an event because you don’t want to have a dry throat when reading (it can lead to coughing) nor do you want to be caught short! I find about an hour before hand works well.

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It’s Monday. It has cooled down a bit! Still time for a new story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Cake Glorious Cake. Is on the dark side, probably like the chocolate involved in the cake. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Internal thoughts are a great way to show character attitude (and usual practice is to have these in italics. It distinguishes them from “speech” and flags up the the reader this is a character thinking). I use this a lot as I often want to get across attitude and don’t we all think things we don’t then go on to say? Characters can do the same thing! What the thoughts will do is influence their behaviour and show the reader directly why your character is acting the way they are, both useful things.

May be a graphic of text that says "Thoughts are effectively internal dialogue but should still suit the character you portray and the genre of the story."


Looking forward to running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom next week. Always good fun and it is an enjoyable challenge for me to find a useful topic to set exercises on. I like setting (and then doing) writing exercises. I’ve had several stories go on to be published which started life this way.

Now I must admit I find the hot humid weather not the easiest of conditions to cope with but it led me to wonder if you could get a character to find the same thing. How would that change their attitudes and behaviour? How would that change the course of your story? And are other characters tolerant of their struggles to cope with the conditions?

Goodreads Author Blog – Classic -v- Contemporary Reading

Now for me there is no debate when it comes to whether you should read classic or contemporary works of fiction and non-fiction. You do both of course. For non-fiction you need to be aware some information is likely to be out of date but there is still inspiration to be had from what people thought at the time of publication. That could even lead to fictional story ideas.

I often mix up my reading so I’ll read a novel, before going on to a story or flash collection and then I’ll move on to some non-fiction but it is a good idea to mix up between classic and contemporary as well. You don’t want to miss out on the classic works and you want to see what is out and about now. I see this as having a good reading diet (which I find helps inspire my writing too).

It’s also encouraging to know great writers have always been inspired by others’ stories. So I should be too! But it is interesting that ideas for stories often come when I’m reading non-fiction. And I can be as taken away by fabulous tale whether it is a classic or contemporary one.

Screenshot 2023-06-24 at 20-52-27 Classic -v- Contemporary Reading

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

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Part 2 – Francesca Tyer – Author Interview

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Image Credits:-
Many thanks once again to Francesca Tyer for author and book cover images supplied for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week. Also thanks to Vie Portland for supplying the images for the Book Fair at The Hilt. All other images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
I was very sorry to hear about the Titan disaster. I hope lessons can be learned from that.
In happier news, I am looking forward to a busy summer with workshops and I am glad to say I will be, via Chandler’s Ford Today, hosting more author interviews. Part 2 of Francesca Tyer’s wonderful interview is out this week and there’s another corker of an interview to come next week. Am looking forward to sharing that too. Have a peaceful weekend.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Part 2 of a fabulous interview with Francesca Tyer for my post this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. This week we discuss workshops (Francesca runs her Untold Stories Academy – see the post for more), her involvement with Authors Reach, how she got into writing at all, and much more. Hope you enjoy the post.

Many thanks, Francesca, for the interview and good luck with your launch, soon, for your third book, The Earthstone.

Part 2 – Francesca Tyer – Author Interview

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A better day today and it was nice having a swim earlier. Most refreshing.

Looking forward to sharing Part 2 of a great interview with Francesca Tyer tomorrow on Chandler’s Ford Today. Plus there will be more author interviews after that. See link above for FT.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again soon (1st July) and I share tips, news, links to some of my online stories and so on. To sign up just head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Talking of online stories, do head over to visit Friday Flash Fiction regularly. It gives you a good “feel” for what 100 word stories look like on screen and there’s a great range of material here.

 

Have had one of those irritating, everything rubs you up the wrong way kind of day, so it is a great relief to get to my desk to enjoy an evening’s writing. Always puts me in a much better frame of mind!

Am looking forward to taking part in the Book Fair at The Hilt on Saturday 8th July. For full details, follow the link. Entry is free but if you pre-book a ticket, your name is entered in a a raffle. The winner gets £10 to spend on a book from any one of the authors, including yours truly, taking part in this event. So basically you can get a free book! What’s not to like about that? (It was nice to see the advert up in our Post Office window for this event – it looks good!).

Just before this I’m running a flash fiction workshop on Zoom and am looking forward to that too. So looking forward to Swanwick in August too.

Meantime there is writing to be done so best get on with it!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. It’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Deserved Desserts. I do like a bit of alliteration every now and then! Hope you enjoy the story.
Screenshot 2023-06-23 at 09-56-26 Deserved Desserts by Allison Symes


Hope you have had a good day. Getting humid again. Lady and I not all that keen on this. We send greetings to fellow hayfever sufferers (as even Lady has been known to have the occasional sneeze -on days when the pollen count is sky high so no great surprises there). Good old Sneezy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves really needed to be on the antihistamine!

Now I create flash fiction stories throughout the week. Sometimes I use snippets of reality to inspire my stories. Sometimes I completely make things up. Both are fun routes to take! But when I do use reality, I use things which have either happened to me directly or which people will know to be true because most of us are affected by these things at some point.

We all know, for instance, the frustration of being caught in a queue at an awkward moment. My story Time Waits For No Man right at the end of From Light To Dark and Back Again is my take on that situation. It is fun putting my characters through the mill here rather than experience the situation again myself though!

May be a graphic of text that says "With flash fiction, you have to focus on THE single most important aspect of your character's life"

Sometimes I get another character to “talk to” another character by narrating a story. In From Light to Dark and Back Again, I do this with You Never Know where my lead is pointing out it is not all glamour and fun being a magical tour guide. Great fun to write and I suspect my lead character enjoyed having the chance to have a humorous whinge!

What I like about this tale is my lead has to know the other person she is “speaking to” though the reader never sees them and they’re not even named. The character has to know what the other one is likely to come up with to rebut the things she thinks will be coming. This means a lot is inferred in this story regarding the character not seen.

Inference is used a lot in flash and I must admit I love being left to work things out by other authors, as long as they give me the right clues so I can do that. Naturally when I use inference, I ensure the right clues are not just there but are in the right place in the tale.

May be an image of text that says "From Lightto Dark and Back Again Allison Symes MHt e Hayn"

Fairytales With Bite – A Magical Recipe

Thought I would do something different this time. Below is a story I’ve recently written up in response to a 30 day challenge and it illustrates what I mean when I refer to “fairytales with bite”. There is humour and irony in this piece – that’s where the bite comes in. Hope you enjoy the story.

The Best Fairy Godmother

Ingredients: –

Tonnes of kindness (the more the better in fact).

Equal amount of common sense (so important knowing where and when to use magic properly which is where the common sense comes in).

A fully charged magic wand with recharging facilities. (Never rely on battery wands. They always pack up when you need them).

A selection of spell books. (No one book has them all in, at least the ones you use most often).

Fluffy white hair (optional).

Grit – lots (and not the kind you put on the road when snow is due).

Sensible clothes including a hooded cloak, a full length gown which must have pockets (you need somewhere to store your wand and books when on the go), and reliable underwear. (You don’t want that giving out on you in mid flight).

Method:-

Blend all together with years of experience on the rounds and you have the best fairy godmother going.

Now to find the clients to help but that’s beyond the scope of this recipe. You’re on your own but good luck!

Ends
Allison Symes – June 2023

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This World and Others – Qualifications – Advice to a Student

Q = Quality of work will count for more than quantity in any magical world which values safety when practising magic.

U = Under good tutors, the diligent pupil will do well but be ware of those who cannot prove they’ve got experience in their field.

A = Academic scoundrels get everywhere – they’ll happily con you and you still won’t qualify.

L = Love learning for its own sake – you’ll be more likely to do well.

I = Intense revision is not avoidable in any world when exams are looming but it is a temporary phase so keep going.

F = Fantastic magical careers await those who work hard here.

I= Imagine what you could use a qualification in dragon flying for – which worlds could you get to and explore?

C = Challenge the expectations if you’re from a lowly background – no reason why you can’t quality as a wizard, fairy godmother etc as long as you put the work in.

A = Always assume you’ll be tested thoroughly on what you find your most difficult topic. This happens everywhere exams do.

T = Test yourself regularly well ahead of exam season. Okay you’ll be testing your invisibility and other spells rather than maths and geography but the principle is the same!

I = Invigilators are not out to get you – they look that stern at everyone. They’re looking for the cheats. Not easy to do in a magical setting.

O = Open your results envelope as soon as you can. You won’t be able to mind read these – they’re protected against that. Would make it too easy for someone to forge the results otherwise.

N = Never look down on those whose results are worse than yours. The magical world has a habit of the underdog coming back to do phenomenally well later on. You don’t want to be the wrong side of these people. Retribution is likely to be swift and painful.

S = Success breeds success – now build on your magical qualifications. Put them to good use and good luck!

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview: Francesca Tyer – Part 1

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Many thanks to Francesca Tyer for supplying author and book pictures for the first part of her fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Another hot few days but Lady and I have been keeping as cool as possible. Delighted to share Part 1 of a great interview with Francesca Tyer, YA fantasy author, who is part of the Authors Reach stable. Wide ranging questions and more to come next time too.
I’ve talked before about interviewing characters to find our what they’re made of – it is a fab idea, I’ve used it many times, but don’t forget to ask open questions so “they” can’t answer with a simple yes/no. You want your characters to have to explain “themselves”.

I have interviewed characters before now

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome Francesca Tyer, YA fantasy author from the Authors Reach stable, back to Chandler’s Ford Today. This is the first part of a fabulous in depth two-part interview. This week Francesca and I discuss inspiration, poetry, writing follow on books, writing routines, and much more. Hope you enjoy it and I look forward to sharing Part 2 next week.

Author Interview – Francesca Tyer – Part 1

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It was so good to go swimming today, I can tell you! Pity I had to get out again but there you go. Can’t have it all.

Don’t forget Part 1 of a fabulous interview with Francesca Tyer is live on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday – will put the link up tomorrow. See above. Looking forward to sharing that. More interviews to come later in the month too.

Looking forward to running another flash fiction workshop in early July. Then there will be the Book Fair at The Hilt. And after that I will begin my official countdown to when I go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is the biggest highlight of my writing year. It will be so good to catch up with friends (and hopefully make new ones) there. Am also looking forward to running my editing workshop there.

Towards the end of the year will be the Bridge House Publishing celebration event and I am looking forward to that too. So plenty going on, writing wise, which is how I like it.

Oh and I should have news to share about online magazine Writers’ Narrative fairly soon too.

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Hope you have had a good day. More breeze today which Lady and I have welcomed.

On Friday, I’ll be sharing Part 1 of a wonderful two part interview with Francesca Tyer. She is a YA fantasy author whose third book, The Earthstone, will be out soon. This is the follow up to The Firestone and The Seastone.

We’ll be discussing what led Francesca into writing YA fantasy, her love of poetry, her writing routine, and she shares some useful tips and there is much more besides. Looking forward to sharing the link later this week. See above.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share Anniversary, my latest 100 word story on Friday Flash Fiction. See what you think about Helen, my lead here, and her take on anniversaries.

Screenshot 2023-06-16 at 18-35-04 Anniversary by Allison Symes

I often ask myself questions as I’m outlining my story. I want to quiz my characters so I know what they’re made of and it reminds me why I want to write about these people/other creatures of choice in the first place. I ask myself whether my title would lure me into reading the story if it were written by someone else. I also ask what is in this for the reader?

The last question is a good one. It helps me to focus on what matters for my characters. It encourages the ruthless cutting out of any purple prose and to ensure my wasted words (very, actually, and that are the worst) have been removed.

May be a doodle of text that says "I ask myself questions as I write my first draft."

I like to keep my titles to the point. Often when I’m entering competitions, I’m conscious I need something that will “hit” the spot immediately. After all I’m trying to hook the reader into reading the rest of the story – in this case the competition judge.

I want my title to help the story stand out and give it a better chance of a placing. For those competitions where the title is part of the word count allowance, I have an even more powerful reason to keep my titles short. I want to save the majority of the word count allowance for the story itself.

The role of the title is to set the scene for what is to come in the story. It should be a good lure!

May be an image of text that says "Engrossed in a good book? Read for longer than you meant to? Ãh good. The hooks worked then."

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Extremes

What are the ranges of magical ability in your setting? What would count as magically “low” ability and “high” ability? Is this dictated by the character’s background? Can your characters improve what they do or are magical educational establishments only for the privileged few? Is this something that has been inherited or are your characters seeking to change the system?

Talking of systems, is there an agreed definition of what would constitute “bad/evil” magic and which would be considered “good”? Is anything banned and what would happen if someone broke that ban?
How has your world discovered what works and what doesn’t here?

The past history here might not make it into your story but it will colour your characters’ views and behaviour. That can change your plot. So it is worth working out what you need to know here. It will add depth to your characterisation knowing X is doing Y because….

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This World and Others – Climates

Your setting is likely to have more than one climate. As well as the geographical variety, and there will be different regions with different temperatures etc., think about what the political climate could be like. Everywhere has some sort of political elite so what form would yours take? Do your characters come from that elite or are they against it? How interested in politics are your characters? If they’re disillusioned, why would this be?

If your setting has a religious element, there will be a climate there too? Is is a moderate one or an extremist type? How does that play out?

Class and social status can have a major effect on the kind of climate your character lives in. If they’re lower down the social scale, how does poverty affect the kind of climate they live/work in? Are there tensions fuelled by poverty in and around them? Can your characters work to improve things here?

If a character is within a family unit, what kind of climate exists there? Is s it a loving one or does your character struggle to fit in? Why would that be? Personal climates will affect attitudes and actions of your character too.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Flash with Amazon and Barnes and Noble

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Book Fair News and Writing Challenges

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Still humid and hot here. Lady fine and is a good water drinker. Not all dogs are – my first two weren’t! Writing wise, I’ve the first part of a great interview with YA fantasy author, Francesca Tyer coming up this week. Plus there will be more wonderful interviews to come later in the month too. Meanwhile I’m taking part in a 30 day writing challenge which is great fun – details below.

Dreams of the writing life can become reality - use for Part 2

Facebook – General

Again, very hot. Again, Lady and I keeping cool. Hope you are too. Now a little while ago, I mentioned I would be taking part in a Book Fair. Am glad to now share more details.

The event will be at The Hilt, Chandler’s Ford on Saturday 8th July from 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm. Entry is free but if you book a ticket, you will be entered in to a raffle. The prize is £10 which you can use to buy a book from any of the authors at the event (who no doubt will be pleased to sign it for you too. I know I would be!). I’ll be posting more about this nearer the time (and will do a future Chandler’s Ford Today post on it as well).

So if you are planning to come, do book a ticket and good luck with the raffle. This event is a great opportunity to find out what the local authors do – there are a fair few of us and the range of what we write is incredible. There is bound to be something you like! Do come along and check things out.

Best of all? The event is being held at a good time for you to top up your holiday reading list!

Book Fair image

Another hot and humid day here. Lady all okay. She drinks well and is sensible about heading for the shade. We’re sensible about taking her out at apt times. It all helps. The latter is vital. I’ve got a nice spot here where I can do a pavement test – it gets the sun directly so is a good place to monitor about whether walking Lady is okay or not.

I have already cancelled one walk with her where the air was far too hot (last Saturday) and have seen pictures of dogs with burned pads on Facebook. It is just not worth it. Be careful with your furry friends, folks.

Can’t stress that point enough. And talking of getting the point, do check out my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction called, you guessed it, Getting The Point!
Screenshot 2023-06-09 at 11-45-24 Getting The Point by Allison Symes

Cooler day, even had some rain, air much nicer. Was nice to take Lady out earlier. She appreciated it too. (Was she sorry she stayed put yesterday? Not a bit of it. Had a great day in the shade and/or indoors and was much happier for it too, as indeed was I!).

I’ll be talking to YA fantasy author, Francesca Tyer, in the first part of a two part interview on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. It’s a great interview. Do look out for it. More details mid-week or so.

I’ve mentioned before I’ve interviewed my own characters prior to writing their stories up. I find this a useful technique. It means I get a real “feel” for their likes and dislikes and the kind of character they are. I can then write their story up with confidence. I don’t need to know every single thing about them. I just need to know enough to know I’ve “got” them and know why they would act the way they are in my tale.

The Scrivener short story function has a template for both character and setting but there is no reason why you can’t create you own. It is a question of working out what you need to know. Elements of that will differ from author to author. I don’t need to know physical appearance. I do know other authors find that knowledge crucial.

A very hot day today. Lady had her exercise at appropriate times and spent the rest of the day resting. She wasn’t sorry. Neither were we. On the plus side, my washing was dry in under two hours. It is always the simple pleasures in life which give the most joy!

Many thanks to Val Penny for a fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today yesterday. More author interviews coming soon. And starting this coming week as I begin a two part interview with Francesca Tyer. What I love about author interviews is there is always something useful to learn from them. Hope you find the same.

Am enjoying taking part in a 30 day writing challenge issued by Auscot Publishing and Retreats. Some of the pieces I’ve drafted so far I know I can turn into flash fiction pieces and get out to competitions, markets etc. Others – hmm… the jury’s out there. I may be able to do something with them later but at least I will have the option of having something to try and work with. Equally if I discard these at a later date that’s fine. I gave the exercise a go. Didn’t quite work out for me but at least I know.

If you get the chance to take part in a challenge like this, do so. It encourages you to be more productive. And it is just good fun to give these things a go and see what you can do. That, after all, is how I discovered the joys of flash fiction – I gave it a go!
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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am looking forward to waving the flag for flash fiction at The Hilt, Chandler’s Ford for a Book Fair being held on Saturday 8th July between 1.00 pm and 5.00 pm. The organisers hope this will become an annual event. I hope so too. We have lost a lot of bookshops over the last few years though I am glad there are still some in the area (which covers Southampton and Winchester too). Will be posting more about the fair nearer the time.

I often demonstrate what flash is by reading some and I hope to get to do that again. It is good fun and always results in sales!

 

It’s Monday. It’s a very hot Monday. Time for a story though I can’t promise it will cool you down. Hope you enjoy Recall, my latest on YouTube. Is loosely based on a true story which happened to my late father and I.

 

As flash fiction is so short, it has to be character led. Readers need to care about the characters to read on and there isn’t the room for much description anyway. What you want for that is the odd telling detail which will set enough of the scene to help readers visualise it.

But clues can be given to character status through the use of names. People will have different expectations from a Charlotte than they would from a Karen (and I am not saying whether that is a good or bad thing, I just know people will!). Of course whether your story lives up to those expectations will, I hope, be the hook that makes people read on to find out if they were right or not.

But another thing you can use to show something of a character is their nickname. I just went on to a random question generator I often use and the first question which came up was What is your nickname? You could apply that to a character and the story could be about how they got it. It could also reveal something more about them. If Charlotte prefers to be known as Lotte or Charlie for example, there will be a story about why that is the case.

May be a doodle of glasses and text that says "You want your books and stories to get your readers right into your characters heads. They need the characters to show them the stories, how they feel etc. Telling readers will switch them off Welike to work things out."

One of my longer flash fiction pieces is Rewards which is in From Light to Dark and Back Again. It takes up pretty much the whole 1000 words maximum for flash.

My lead character, Becky, reveals a lot about herself through her thoughts , including how she is haunted by another woman. The story reveals how she deals with said woman.

What I like about this piece is I reveal more and more about Becky as the story goes on but I am drip feeding this in to the plot. I also like Becky’s attitude. Doesn’t mean I agree with what she does though! But it is always a lovely moment when you know you have just “got” your character. The story spark is in that moment.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books To Dip Into

I love books you can dip into but what do I mean by that? Well, short story anthologies and flash fiction collections are ideal for this, of course. I will admit to being biased here given I have work in anthologies and two flash collections of my own out there. But I also love the reference books to dip into as and when.

A great one for this is Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable which goes into the origins of well known fables and phrases. Fascinating book to dip into. It’s a massive one as well – another one to avoid dropping on your foot.

I also love books like the Agatha Christie short story collections. Her novels I will read from cover to cover, naturally, but for the collections I can pick a story at random and then come back to another at random later if I wish. I find this to be a refreshing way to read from time to time.

I have a number of writing advice books on my shelves and I can dip into those to refer to specific topics now I know what it is I need to know. When you start out as a writer, you generally don’t know. You find out what you do need to know about the writing world as you go along. But I am at that point now where I can just refer back to selected chapters as and when I need it. (This frees up more time to read other things so win-win there and proves there is value to dipping into books at times).

Books - ideas exchange here

Screenshot 2023-06-10 at 20-48-19 Books To Dip Into

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Val Penny – Author Interview and News Update

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to a kind colleague from Swanwick for taking the picture of me book signing there on my phone. Always tricky to do that kind of thing yourself!
Gorgeous, sunny week and Lady has seen many of her pals so a good week for her. Following on from my last round-up, am pleased to report more poppies emerging in my garden. I love those splashes of red. Writing wise, it is lovely to share a wonderful interview with Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. See below for more. And a huge thank you to Val for supplying author and book pics and some great shots of Edinburgh.
There will be further author interviews to come soon too. I love sharing these as I always learn from them and I find it endlessly fascinating finding out what other writers are getting up to! Mind you, it does add to my To Be Read pile considerably…

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, back to Chandler’s Ford Today.

We discuss The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, Val’s two series of wonderful crime fiction, scheduling your work, and much more besides. I hope you enjoy a fabulous in depth interview with her as much as I enjoyed conducting it. (Am also looking forward to when Val brings out her collection of short stories – we talk about that too).

Val Penny – Author Interview and News Update

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Lady got to see a couple of pals unexpectedly while out on walks today and she loved that. Mind you, she loves seeing people. Most affectionate dog. Delighted more poppies coming out in my garden – love those splashes of red.

Talking of colour, I do use it sometimes to add to my flash pieces and short stories. It can make something easier to visualise. But I try not to just use vision when adding senses to a story. It is the obvious one to go for but I must admit I find it difficult at times to add in taste.

Well, for one thing, my flash pieces can be so short, my characters are in and out of the story again before they’ve had chance to eat or drink anything!

I never add anything in for the sake of it. I will bring senses in to a story, regardless of length, when it is apt to do so. But I must admit I do tend to fall back on vision and sound as the two basic building blocks here. I think many writers do.

Mind you, maybe my characters would be grateful for the chance to hear music, grab a bite or two to eat etc. I came across a lovely story in The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose compiled by the much missed Frank Muir where an author’s characters come to life and berate him for giving them such a hard time. Hmm… something to think about then!

May be an image of text that says "Creative writing is fun and good for the brain τσσ."

Another lovely day in the park for Lady and her girlfriends. Three happy but tired dogs went home (and long before it got hot in my part of the world too).

Looking forward to sharing a smashing interview with Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. Val shares her latest news, why she is now a member of the Committee for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, and looks ahead to her forthcoming collection of short stories. Plus there’s more. Link up on Friday. See above (and a great photo below of the two of us taken at Swanwick on my phone by a kind colleague!).

Reading/listening to author interviews is a useful tool for other writers because not only can you learn from them, you can use the questions to work out how you would answer them if an interviewer put them to you.

This in turn gives you the chance to really think about what your book/stories are about. That’s a good thing. Being able to talk concisely about your work stands you in good stead for pitching to publishers/agents (and for chatting to other writers at events).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Amazon made me laugh today. You know they send you emails recommending what they think you’ll like. Well, I had one of those today and what did they think I would like? A copy of From Light to Dark and Back Again! Can’t have noticed the name on the cover! Okay they’re not wrong but…

Pleased to say Getting the Point is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy it.

Screenshot 2023-06-09 at 11-45-24 Getting The Point by Allison Symes

Pleased to have got my story submitted for a competition last night (closing date is the end of this month, 800 words maximum word count so perfect flash territory). Have another story to work on for another competition later in the year plus interviews to get ready for Chandler’s Ford Today. It’s a lovely mix of writing work.

So looking forward to being at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick again in August. I’ll be running my one hour editing workshop there. I have another workshop to run on flash fiction in July. So busy, busy, busy which is how I like it but it is also why I need to plan out what I’m doing when. Having said that, it means I get more done including entering more flash and story competitions.

May be an image of diary and text that says "Planning out your writing does not have to kill spontaneity, far from it. don't plan to the "nth" degree. I plan enough to get me started and to ensure I get done in a week what I'd like to get done. TOBER NOVEMBER YEARLYPLANNER DECEMBER LANNER TUE MON ONS"

A writing exercise I’ve sometimes used is to take an old story of mine and see if I can cut it in half. I’ll take a 1500 words story, say, and see if I can get it down to 750/800 words without losing anything important.

Sometimes I really can’t but I will get the story down to, say, 1000 words. Sometimes I can though and it is an eye opener as to what can be discarded and how the story tightens up considerably. Asking yourself the old question does this story/character really need this is an amazing aid to editing!

Just give yourself time for this exercise. It does take longer than you think but the results can be amazing.

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Fairytales with Bite – Fairytales and Proverbs

Don’t discard your old book of proverbs. They are so useful in providing themes for your stories and fairytales use these a lot. For example, the saying Don’t judge by appearances would apply to Puss In Boots who is far smarter than his master. It can also apply to any tale where a wizened old man or woman turns out to be a powerful magical being in disguise (Beauty and the Beast).

There is a strong sense of right/wrong/justice in the classic fairytales and that will often be based on proverbs, well known sayings, Biblical quotes etc.

I have sometimes used a proverb or well known saying to provide a title for my story and I do use these as themes a lot. Part of the reason for that is these things are timeless. There will always be room for stories based on, for example, truth will out. You could take that in many directions and show the consequences – for good or bad – here.

Also if your setting is a strange one, having a basic theme which people will identify with will help “anchor” your setting. People will take to it because, even if they can’t identify with your setting, they can do so with the theme. Your setting can of course have its own proverbs (but it will help if they are loosely based on what we have).

Another favourite of mine is beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Think about The Ugly Duckling. Didn’t consider themselves a “looker” at all. Thinks about what your characters believe about themselves. Are they right? If not, who or what can make them see themselves for who they really are?

Many wonderful stories can come from having themes based on the proverbs.

IDEA GENERATING - Proverbs are wonderful to source ideas but are not the only way

This World and Others – Wise Words

What would your fictional world consider to be wisdom? What would be their wise words? Is the constitution of your world based on these? Are there wise words nobody argues with (and is that because they don’t want to argue or they dare not?).

Who gives your fictional world their wise words? What great teachers/philosophers have your setting had? Have their words been proven to be true?

Now characters (as indeed we will) can argue about what defines wise words. What can seem like wise words to one can seem like foolishness to another. What could that lead to in your setting? War? (People have fought over far less a motive than words after all). How would your characters resolve it?

Think about whether you have a character who is especially wise (the Gandalf motif if you like). How could they share their wisdom with others without being too dominating?

And do wise words “win out” in the end ?Can the right wise words said at the right time (or discovered written down) change the course of the characters/story?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Always love signing my books for people at Swanwick

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Reviews, Time, and Appearances

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Busy start to the week, the spring flowers continue to come up, but still no sign of proper spring weather yet. Lady continues to enjoy the mud! She has got used to the clock change in the UK quicker than I have!

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Facebook – General

Posting a bit earlier tonight (and again tomorrow) as I’ve got a couple of busy evenings coming up (though one of them is for the Flash Fiction Group I lead for the Association of Christian Writers. Always fun, always good writing produced from it. Can’t wait to see the usual members there tomorrow. Zoom is fantastic for this kind of thing).

Writing tip: I know I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating. When time is short, just do what you can. I am in that situation at the moment and will be for a while.

What matters is getting some writing done and I get to my desk relieved and happy to get on with some writing even if, right now, it is not quite as much as I would like to do. There will be time to make up for that later on hopefully.

Ironically this is where I find deadlines especially helpful. They give me something to work to and ensure I focus.

May be an image of text that says "I've found it pays to take time off an official deadline and use that as the date I get stories in by instead. This is the date ー use to go through my script for the last time. If| need to correct mistakes, still can.lfit's it's fine, off it goes. can."

Hope you’ve had a good start to your week. Not bad here and Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie today so all well there. Still feeling a bit of “jetlag” after losing an hour yesterday. The day after a clock change is always the worst for that!

Pleased to say I’ll be interviewing Gill James about a very special idea in April. A bit more on that nearer the time – am looking forward to sharing this on Chandler’s Ford Today. It is going to make an apt tie in with my Anthologies post which will be up this Friday. There are times you just can’t plan these things. Serendipity can be fabulous!

 

I’ll be discussing Anthologies for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Well, they do say write what you know! I’ll also share some tips on how to make the most of the theme you’re set (as so many anthologies will want you to write to one).

Talking of which, it is great to see some fabulous reviews coming in for The Best of CafeLit 11 on Amazon. The wonderful thing about writing a review for an anthology is you can help many authors in one review (!) so so write one. Doesn’t have to be long either.

Allison Symes: books, biography, latest update

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Hope you have had a good day. It actually felt like spring here today. Just in time for the clocks to go forward in my part of the world tonight.

I’ve often used time in stories. Sometimes I’ve used Time as a character. Sometimes I’ve used time travelling characters. Sometimes I’ve written historical flash fiction where the setting of the story acts like a character (and again is a time frame). But time could be used as a countdown in a story too. That would be a great way of ensuing a good pace. Equally you can have an inciting incident happen at a particular time in a story and the tale takes off from there.

I use time to work out my writing week. Certain days of the week I have more time to write than others so I save my longer pieces of work for those days. I use pockets of time to jot down notes, opening lines, title ideas etc. It all mounts up and helps me to be more productive. Time is to be used!

May be an image of text that says "Never Neverworry worry about how much time you have to write. Five minutes of writing builds up over time and is perfect for drafting short pieces. V"

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash fiction can cover any mood and any genre. It’s just the word count you need to watch. But the word count for your flash story has to be appropriate for the tale you are sharing with us. Some of my stories genuinely work out better at 500 words rather than 100 and so I leave them at the upper limit.

May be an image of sky and text that says "One advantage to flash fiction writing is I can set my characters anywhere. I do too!"


It’s Monday and time for a story. Hope you enjoy Appearances. Be ware who you mock!


One of the toughest writing exercises I’ve tried is writing to a middle line. You’re usually told where exactly in the story, word count wise, it has to be be too. It’s not an exercise I come across often and I suspect that is because everyone finds it tough! But this is where forward planning is the writer’s friend.

What I have found useful here was having a spider diagram with the middle line slap bang in the middle and then work out, firstly, what could lead to that line from the start of the story. I then work out what could lead from it to get to a suitable ending (and I usually work out that ending too). I just jot down possibilities and then go with what I like best but the “two way” planning here has worked well for me in the past.

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Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom. Exercises will be set. I know. I’ll be setting them but I do make it a policy not to do the exercises myself until the night of the meeting. I love taking part in live writing exercises myself. It’s fun, a good discipline, and I get to draft some stories for later polishing and submitting somewhere. Win-win there!

May be a cartoon of text that says "Have fun with writing exercises. They give you new ways to create stories."

Goodreads Author Blog – Reviews

R = Reading is one of the great joys of life, along with writing the stories in the first place!
E = Entertainment between the covers and can be educational too.
V = Varying between light reading, serious reading, humorous reading and all kinds of genres, is it too much to ask for a review?
I = Imagine the author hard at work – a review is of enormous help to them.
E = Easy to write too – often the best reviews are fairly short.
W = Will the review influence others to buy the book – hopefully – authors appreciate their sales!
S = Support your authors – buy the books and review them. Thanks!

Screenshot 2023-03-25 at 20-48-09 Reviews

 

 

ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Using Story Cubes, Workshop News, and Writing Exercises

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was my photo of my much missed Bearded/Border collie cross, Gracie, my first dog.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has started with an interview (to go out later this week) and Lady has been getting to play with her best friends, so she’s happy too! Hope all well with you. Lovely to see signs of spring in my part of the world – does give a good lift to the spirit.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Despite it being bitter out again, Lady had a lovely time running around with her Aussie Shepherd gentleman friend today. Both dogs had a fabulous time. Definition of a gentleman here? Simple! A dog that doesn’t pinch another dog’s ball even when said dog easily could – Lady appreciates touches like that! She was also thrilled to see her pal, Coco.

Looking forward to sending our my author newsletter tomorrow. I do enjoy putting these together.

Delighted to say I’ll be running another Zoom workshop later in May and am looking forward to that too. Always love to spread the word about flash fiction.

I’ve talked before about using those odd pockets of time we all get to help your writing along. I like to mix up how I do this. Sometimes I’ll jot down title ideas. Sometimes I’ll note down promising opening or closing lines. Other times, I’ll start drafting a flash fiction tale I’ve already got in mind. I like variety here too.

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Busy start to the week as usual but it has been a reasonable Monday. Hope your day has been good too.

Loved the catch up interview with Hannah Kate – the broadcast goes out on Saturday, 4th March. More details and a link when I get it. Looking forward to sharing that.

Have been using the story cubes again for ideas for this week’s submissions to Friday Flash Fiction and for my YouTube channel. Great fun to use. This week I only used one of them. I’ll be sharing the results for my new video over on my book page shortly. See below.

But I wanted to say I love mixing up the way I approach finding ideas for stories. I think it stretches me and I also know that if one particular way isn’t doing something for me during any one week, then another way will, and I find it reassuring to have that kind of safety net. It is why I like practicing writing to different kind of prompts. Stands you in good stead!

Why not consider putting your own spin on writing prompts to generate more ideas

 

 

 

Hope you have had a good day. Am looking forward to being interviewed by Hannah Kate from North Manchester FM later today. That interview will form part of her show next Saturday, 4th March. Will share the link to the show once I have it.

I’ll be looking at Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them for Chandler’s Ford Today next week so look out for that on Friday, 3rd March.

And before that, on Wednesday, 1st March, I’ll be sending out my latest author newsletter full of news, tips, and story links. Please sign up if interested at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Have a great (writing/reading) week.

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There is an environmental theme for my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction though that hadn’t been my intention when writing the story. The basic idea came for this one from a story cube showing a cute picture of a bee! Hope you enjoy Buzzing Around though I will confess I prefer bees to wasps.

My first dog, Gracie, one got a bee into her mouth. Thankfully she opened her mouth and a rather soggy bee came out and flew off. Not sure who was more relieved – the bee or me! I never trusted Gracie anywhere near insects after that!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Looking forward to running another Zoom workshop in May. Do let me know via my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/contact/ if you think this might be of interest for your writing group. Zoom has made more things possible for writers and I’ve appreciated this directly. (Flash works especially well for a workshop like this given it is is easy to share examples – and it makes for a great way to advertise what flash can do and be).

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It’s Monday once more. But I managed to do the evening dog walk without having to use my torch – hooray! – for the first time since at least November! It is the little victories which mean so much! This is another story which has come about as a result of using story cubes, in this case just one of them. Hope you enjoy L-Plates.


I’m planning to use the story cubes again to generate story ideas for YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction this coming week. Last time I just used three of them and picked the images from there. Today I’m probably just going to use one.

It’s another way of changing your parameters! I do this all the time when using the online random generators. I find setting limits encourages creativity. It makes you think laterally. But you can mix up how many you set and I find doing that useful too. Keeps me on my toes. Keeps things interesting. If it’s interesting for me, it should be for readers too.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Story cubes and random generators are excellent ways to generate ideas. However, it is a good idea NOT to have your posture like this though when writing! 一"

What is your attitude to writing exercises, especially when you’re set them at workshops, writing events etc? I love them. I see them as a challenge to rise to but I never expect what I come up with to be perfect straight away. This is my chance to get a first very rough draft down on something which I can polish up later.

If you get the chance to share some of what you’ve written do so. Nobody is going to judge you. Nobody is expecting the perfect bit of prose “straight out of the traps” so to speak. But feedback can be really useful and get you off to a head start when you do get to sit down and polish up what you’ve come up with here.

May be an image of text that says "HONEST FEEDBACK WELCOME"

Goodreads Author Blog – Books as Presents

Do you prefer people to buy you books as presents or would you rather choose your own? I like to do both. Yes, I know, wouldn’t everyone?

What I do for birthdays etc is give people a list (two or three books) but because I know others will give me money or book tokens I get to use the latter to pick my own choices not on that list. Seems like a great arrangement to me. (And I am so thrilled book tokens have not gone the way of the dodo. Support these, folks. Get book tokens for the ones you love who love books. Keep these wonderful things going!)

There is something special about picking your own books. There is something just as special about giving people a list and looking forward to finding out what they picked for you. Either way you get books out of it! There is plenty to love about that!
Now if you could give one book to a fictional or historical character, what would it be and why?

My nomination?

My historical character? Richard III.
The book I’d give him? The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey so he can find out for himself not everybody believes he was a villain.

Screenshot 2023-02-25 at 20-54-00 Books as Presents


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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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

March 2023 edition out very soon.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Plus many other books, including my flash fiction collections.

 

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Author Interview: Richard Hardie – Remember, Remember

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Many thanks to Richard Hardie for supplying author, location, and book cover shots for his interview with me for Chandler’s Ford Today. He also supplied the lovely picture of his “editorial assistant”, Oscar!

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Am delighted to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post. This week, I have an in-depth chat with YA author and publisher, Richard Hardie. We look ahead to not one but two books he hopes to bring out soon and discuss book launches, marketing, short and long form fiction writing, and how history works its way into Richard’s writing amongst the many gems here. Useful tips are shared too. Hope you enjoy the post and many thanks, Richard, for a great interview.

Author Interview: Richard Hardie – Remember, Remember

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Lady is having a great week (though she will probably be a bit miffed with me next week when I take her to the vets for her booster!). It was lovely today to see Lady running at full pelt with her Aussie Shepherd gentleman friend happily sharing toys and doing a kind of tag game. Again Lady walked home slowly but happily! As did her friend…!

Looking forward to sharing my interview with Richard Hardie tomorrow on CFT. See above. Amongst many gems, he’ll be sharing his thoughts on marketing (and given he is a publisher as well this is particularly useful) and gives tips on what readers can do to support authors they know beyond buying the books, though of course the latter goes without saying really!

More tomorrow of course and I look forward to sharing future author interviews here too. I’m also preparing a piece for CFT on character creation and share some thoughts of mine on that as this is something I’m doing all the time with my flash fiction work. More on that nearer the time too.

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Lady had a fabulous time with her two girlfriends in the park this morning. Let’s just say Lady was walking slowly on the way home!

I’m chatting to YA author, Richard Hardie, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. Looking forward to sharing a great interview then so do look out for it. I’ve always found with author interviews you pick up and learn so much from them yourself as well as the interviews themselves being a great read/interesting listen etc.

I’ve mentioned before I will interview my own characters before writing their stories up. A couple of pointed questions usually gives me enough information to work out yes, this character is worth writing up. I find it a useful process to help clarify my thoughts. I then get on with the first draft and there is still manoeuvre room for the character to surprise me too – best of both worlds here I think. I deliberately don’t plan everything out – just enough to get me started.

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Many thanks for the great comments coming in already on How Nice, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction, where my narrator is flummoxed by an unexpected present on their doorstep. To find out what it is and what they make of it do check out the link below.

Screenshot 2023-02-10 at 09-38-30 How Nice! by Allison Symes

Pleased to have got another story polished and submitted (and this one started life as one of my Flash NANO pieces too). I suspect I will end up using most of my Flash NANO work for competitions and markets. Nice to have a good stock of thirty of them to choose from (aside from any others I write meantime which I don’t use for Friday Flash Fiction or my YouTube channel). Talking of which, I am glad to say the link for this has been simplified recently.

 

 

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I love writing what I call fairytales with bite because you can have so much fun with these. For example, I’ve written from the viewpoint of dragons. This kind of story often works best when it is kept fairly short so flash fiction is an ideal outlet for it. Why so? Because often this kind of tale will end with a humorous punchline and those work well in flash.

And again humorous punchlines work best when with a tale that doesn’t go on for too long. As with my twist endings, I will often write my humorous ending first and then work out what could lead to it. This means I have a simple structure in place immediately and it’s then a question of filling in the gaps. I love doing that.

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Fairytales with Bite – Fairy Godmother Acrostic

F = Fantastic with her wand work.
A = Always ready to help the deserving who have run into a spot of bother.
I = Instincts about good and evil are always right.
R = Rescuing comes into her role but sometimes it it so save someone from themselves.
Y = Young looking but much, more older than she appears (and is clever enough to not look too clever).

G = Generous and kind, but won’t be taken for a fool.
O = Orders known to be questioned if she thinks they’re wrong.
D = Dreams of perfecting the best spells but sees this as work in progress.
M = Magic is her stock in trade but she takes care to research the latest developments.
O = Other godmothers are her partners in “crime” against those who are truly evil – she does not see colleagues as competition.
T = Truth and trustworthiness are things she treasures in herself and her clients (she won’t help those without these things).
H = Helps directly and helps clients to help themselves too,
E = Enterprising and energetic, she has a working day which would scupper many far younger than her.
R = Rarely needs to advertise – she has a gift for turning up where her kind of help is needed.

Makes for an interesting character outline too!

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This World and Others – Settings There Against Settings Here

Some ways into building your own world is to take what we know of life here and either exaggerate it for your purposes or do a compare and contrast.

The settings here are….

The settings in your fictional word are….

The advantages of this kind of approach are that you can take the failings of what we’ve got here and correct them in your fiction. You could also bring in failings into your fictional world that we don’t have here. Why does your world have these and we do not? Could those failings happen here at some point in the future? You could have crossover with cli-fi (climate change fiction) here.

You could also take the approach of “if I was building a world from scratch, what would I like to see in it?”. Give some thought as to why you would pick the things you have and then figure out how they work for your characters and how they might cause problems for said characters. No world is perfect after all. Your fictional setting should throw up problems for your character to deal with even if it’s not the main part of the story.

For example, if your character has to go off on a quest, how do things like the weather affect their chances of success? Does your world setting suit your characters or have they had to learn to adapt to it and make the most of what they can?

There could be interesting stories in showing how and why that attitude came about.

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

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Deadly Traditions with Wendy H Jones

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Image Credits-:
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots and post box photos were taken by me. Allison Symes, as were photos of Evergreen – An Anthology. Well, what writer doesn’t want to take picture of their books when they arrive?!
A huge thanks to Wendy H Jones for supplying author and book pictures for my interview with her on Chandler’s Ford Today.
Temperatures have dropped significantly in my part of the world – brrr…. Still it’s time to get out the hot chocolate once again (and I love the mint and orange flavours from Options). Meantime, someone has been busy with our local post box…

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It’s with great pleasure I welcome back Wendy H Jones to Chandler’s Ford Today. We discuss Deadly Traditions, a cozy crime at Christmas anthology, in which Wendy has a short story. Given Wendy is well known for her full length work (fiction and non-fiction) one of my question was about how she found writing in the shorter form. It is a different “beast” after all.

I also asked how she found combining a crime story (normally serious) with a lighter touch expected from a Christmas story (true most of the time. I know there are exceptions). Check out the post to see what she said and do pick up her excellent tips for contributing to anthologies.

Deadly Traditions – Interview with Wendy H Jones

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Brrr…glad to see Lady running around earlier with her gentleman friend, Bear, a lovely tri-coloured Aussie Shepherd. At least both of them have good coats. They’ll appreciate them right now. (As I prepare this in the evening, it’s already -2 out there. I know – that’s nothing compared to many places but it is on the early side for my part of the world. We usually get this kind of temperature towards the end of the month/early January onwards). As I prepare this round up on Friday evening, it is still saying -2 out there!

Looking forward to sharing my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow where I’ll be talking to Wendy H Jones about Deadly Traditions, a cozy crime at Christmas anthology. See above.

One thing I do regularly (and where Flash NANO has helped a lot too) is to build up a stock of flash pieces and short stories on themes which are open to interpretation. It is then a question of finding the right market/competition come up for these but there will be something. I often draft potential blog pieces too which I can then place as needed throughout the year. Again when I have odd pockets of time, I can draft something here which I know I’ll get to use later. Helps my productivity no end!

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Glad to say my copies of Evergreen – An Anthology arrived today. Always nice to open a parcel with your books (or books you’ve contributed to) inside!

Talking of anthologies, I’m pleased to be welcoming back to Chandler’s Ford Today Scottish crime writer, Wendy H Jones, who will be talking about Deadly Traditions, where she has a short story. Link up on Friday. See above.

Once nice thing I will have to do in next few days is ensure I notify the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society about my contribution to Evergreen – an Anthology. I also need to get things set up on my Amazon Author Central page, Goodreads, my book page on my website etc. Those will be pleasant tasks though – it is always nice to update with another publication credit. You can’t know these things are coming (you can only put in your best effort and hope) but it is always a joy when they do.

 

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Delighted my story Numbers is up on Friday Flash Fiction. I used the random number generator and came up with the number 14. See what I did with it via the link!

Screenshot 2022-12-09 at 16-48-49 Numbers by Allison Symes


If you’ve not yet had chance to do so, why not check out the recently released special fiftieth edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads? Link here. I talk about Fifty as my theme for the December 2022 double issue. I also set a double challenge here and people responded excellently to both.

Hope you have had a good day. Temperatures are set to plummet even further here. One lovely thing about writing is it generally is something you can do in the warm!

When I read at events, I like to mix up the moods of what I read. It makes for a great advert for what flash fiction is and can be. I also mix up my use of first and third person stories. I occasionally use second person but find this works best as a short (even by flash standards) tale and not often. It can come across as a bit gimmicky but the odd use of a “you” story can be effective. So much depends on your character’s (the narrator’s) voice here being strong enough to carry a story like that.

I also practice what I’m reading by going over it a few times. I’ve mentioned using Zoom here and I always do for new material which I’ve not read before. Only way to be sure of my timings and to ensure the story flows. What looks good written down doesn’t always read out well and if I stumble over my words, a reader will too. But that’s what the edit is for – to iron all that out. I enjoy that kind of ironing at least!

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Fairytales With Bite – Tips for Surviving in a Magical World

You know how it is – you go through some portal or down a rabbit hole and before you realise it, you are in a magical world. Now what? The following tips will be useful.

  • Don’t eat or drink anything until you are 100% certain it is real food and drink and doesn’t have unfortunate side effects. It is not practical or helpful to suddenly discover you’ve grown several feet (in height or in literal feet – think of the shoe bills!).
  • Don’t annoy any little old men or women. They’re nearly always powerful magical beings in disguise. You don’t want to get the wrong side of them.
  • Be humble and not arrogant. It will help you with 2 above.
  • Expect talking animals. Try not to be annoyed when they prove to be better conversationalists than you are.
  • Take nothing at face value. If you come across a rather hairy old woman in a night gown, it might be worth checking out if they really are human or not.
  • Get out of said magical world as soon as you can. Nobody will blame you for running away.

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This World and Others – Getting By

Now there are a variety of ways we all get by so this should be reflected in your fictional world. What kind of jobs do people do? If they’re not earning money to pay bills, how do they manage? Is there a barter system and skills are traded?

What kind of employment does your fiction world offer its characters? Are certain occupations reserved for certain species/classes and how did that come about? Are there skills your world has to import and where would they get these from? What can they offer in exchange?

Another thing to think about is what happens to those characters left behind by the leads going off on quests etc? How do they manage?

One interesting thing about The Lord of the Rings which the book shows well is when Frodo and the hobbits return to The Shire. It is quickly made apparent that all have been changed by what has happened. The Shire and its inhabitants are not the same as when Frodo and company left them (albeit in something of a hurry!).

Could you show something of this kind of thing in your story, especially if you want y our hero(es) to return home? Getting by includes making adjustments to resume normal life again too.

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