What Attracts You to a New Book/New Author

June 23, 2026June 23, 2026Leave a comment

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

Hope you have had a good weekend. Very hot here and will be for next few days so Lady won’t be out so much. Writing continuing to go well. More news on Seeing The Other Side soon.

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Even hotter than yesterday (with more to come) and Lady continues to chill out at home. We’re taking her out early and then she spends the rest of the day pottering around our well shaded garden. She is being so good and (unusually for her!) sensible!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Using Dates in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today. The link will be up on Friday. I will be sharing various ways of using dates this way, all of which I hope will trigger story ideas.

It won’t be long before my next author newsletter will be out. I know, I know. Where is the year going? Anyway, for flash tips, news, story links and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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A very hot and sticky Monday. Lady was out earlier than normal. Managed to see her Hungarian Vizler pal but the rest of the day has been spent quietly in and out of our sheltered garden. It will be enough for her for the next few days.

As it’s Monday, it’s story time of course. I shared this one on Substack yesterday but it is time to share it here too. Hope you like my latest on this platform – I Got Away.

Busy and hot weekend. Lady’s not going out so much, as you can imagine. Next couple of days will be especially tricky but I’m grateful she readily drinks water. It helps (my last two dogs didn’t).

Am also very pleased I have one of those boards with a fan in it for my laptop. It comes into its own when the weather is hot and helps me also have the right angle to write to. The board is tipped at an angle so air can also get in underneath it. Highly recommend. Have had mine for years.

Writing wise, I hope to crack on with flash fiction Sunday shortly. Hope to use some of my drafts from the meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group earlier this week to get me off to a good start.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Will need to be careful with Lady over the next few days as the temperatures will be rocketing again.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Using Dates in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing various ways in which you could do this and why dates can be such a useful telling detail in and of themselves. Link up on Friday.

Don’t forget it won’t be too long before my next author newsletter will be out. For tips, news, story links etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

One nice job I’m looking forward to doing when Seeing The Other Side comes out is to update my books page on my website. I’ll take the chance to have a bit of a “tidy up” while doing this. It’s not something I feel the need to do often but the occasional refresh is always useful.

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I hope over the weekend to review some of my notes I jotted down during last week’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. I know there are some story ideas to come from these so hope to make a start on some of these then.

I like to mix up the kinds of random generator I use too when I’m seeking ideas. My two stories on Substack and YouTube earlier this week (see above AND below!) were inspired by a random picture generator.

There are loads of these things out there. There is bound to be at least one which will suit you and by putting your own spin on what comes up, you create even further ideas.

Have fun with these, I do!

So glad writing is something I can do in the (relative) cool. Well, almost anything is cooler than the pavements etc at the moment. And as it is Monday, a hot and sticky one at that, it’s time for another story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Best Left.

Both this one and I Got Away on my Substack platform were inspired by a random picture generator. I then put my own spin on the image and have got two stories from the one image. I like this!

She loved her old home. She really didn’t want to leave it but it was best left now. Find out why here.

Another hot day here in Hampshire but am keeping nice and cool where I write. Dog is happy in the cool too.

Thought I’d share five tips for flash I continue to find useful. Hope you’ll find them helpful too.

Work out what the story is first and then worry about the word count.
If your character portrayal is great and the story works, then don’t try to cut the story down for the sake of making it fit the “right” word count. I’ve often had to leave stories at 150 words, say, and accept I need to write something else for, say, a 100 word story competition.
Think tight turns of phrases so no “he ran quickly”. It isn’t specific enough. “He raced” is specific and I believe is easier to visualise because people’s definitions of “quickly” can vary.
Have a concrete detail In the story readers can picture. This can vary from being the colour of something to a named place or historical setting. What you want readers to pick up from this is a clear idea of where your character is in time and, from that, what they are likely to be wearing. For example, if you show me your story is set in the Tudor era, I will expect a high born character to be wearing a ruff.
Think about what you want the impact of the story to be on your reader. Do you want to make them laugh or cry? Do you want them to feel empathy for your character? You can then look at ways to do this and my way in here is always to work out what I need a character to do and be to achieve the objective. Most of my characters I want readers to feel empathy for will be on the “goodie” side as a rule.

Hope you find that useful.

I’ve sometimes used the letter format for flash fiction and short stories. It’s fun to do but you need a strong character voice to make it work. For me, this is another great reason to get to know your character ahead of writing their stories up. I need to know the kinds of things they would say and/or write and/or think and what’s behind that.

Motives are usually simple ones – greed, jealousy and, on the more positive side of life, love, wanting to help someone etc. Motives will colour what a character says, does and thinks but get to the bottom of that and what your character comes up with is more likely to be believable. It will “ring true”.

Goodreads Author Blog – What Attracts You to a New Book/New Author?

I think the top thing which attracts me to a new book and/or new author (new to me anyway) is a good recommendation by friends, especially other writing ones. We love good stories. We aim to write themselves, of course. We’re inspired by what has come before (and continue to be). So when a writing friend recommends a book or author, I will sit up and take notice.

Sometimes seeing or listening to an excellent adaptation will make me read the book and find out more works from the author. That was the case for me with Dickens, funnily enough. Watching Shakespeare has introduced me to many of his wonderful works but I remain convinced, other than his sonnets, he is meant to be watched rather than read as such. Ironically, I have the pandemic to thank here because it was thanks to the National Theatre Live productions which were put on at that time which drew me to the Bard.

Sometimes browsing in a book shop will introduce me to a new author. I discovered Terry Pratchett that way. It was the Josh Kirby covers on the Discworld series which drew me in but once I’d read my first Pratchett, which was Jingo, I knew I had to read the rest.

What I remain glad about is there are so many ways to discover new books and authors. There will always be plenty to read out there (and authored by humans too!).

That’s how it should be too.

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Discovering Classic Authors New to You

June 2, 2026June 2, 2026Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you have had a great weekend. Had a lovely time out at The Dorset Museum with editing colleagues and the weather is pleasantly cooler. Lady and I are not sorry about that. My latest newsletter is now out and am so looking forward to Seeing The Other Side come out later this month.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady did. She managed to have a puppy party in the park today with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals plus Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Tired and happy dogs went home. Job done there then. And we’re all thankful the temperature has come down somewhat.

Writing wise, am cracking on with blogs and material I will need later and enjoying this. There is a writing competition I’ve got in mind to enter but will have another look at my “story store” over the weekend, I hope, to see if I have something which would suit. The theme is an open one which helps!

Also found out today another competition entry didn’t make the cut but I will have another look at this story later and see if I can find another home for it. Sometimes, I can.

Hope today has gone well. Lady was reunited with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal for the first time in a couple of weeks today. Both were thrilled to see each other and had a lovely time in the park. None of us are sorry the temperature has come down.

Has been a busy day or so on the writing front. My author newsletter went out again today.

Plus I share here my latest story on Substack which went out on that platform yesterday. I hope you enjoy Banners Banned. It was great fun to write. Back to the good old drabble (aka the 100 word story) for this one. Incidentally I used a random word generator and the word “banner” for my stories here and on YouTube this week.

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Hope the weekend is going well. Cooler and pleasanter day today. It was a joy for Lady and I to be out (so unlike most of last week!).

Writing wise, I’ll be getting on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. The coming week will probably be based around various blogs and background work for when Seeing The Other Side comes out. All will be a joy to do.

I love all forms of creative writing and editing so it is always a joy to be back at my desk. Yes, there are some writing admin and editing tasks which are less interesting, but when you think these things will help improve your work and can make the difference between being published or not, then that thought makes them easier to deal with.

Editing Tip: Do think of reading work out loud (or recording on Zoom/Audacity etc and playing back) as one of your rounds of edits and yes, there will be more than one round! This kind of editing alone can show up clunky dialogue, missing words and much more and is so worth doing.

For longer work, break this down into chunks such as chapters or two or three scenes in a chapter. I’d also recommend, as you play something back, making notes as to what isn’t working and then go through and amend once you have a complete list to work through.

For short stories and flash, this won’t take long. For novels, as I say, you may want to do one chapter or significant sequence at a time but work through your list and make amendments once you have gone through the lot. When you look at the list as a whole, you may spot where the weaker bits are but I think you do have to see the whole to be able to do that.

I can’t recommend this technique highly enough.

I drafted this on my way down to Dorchester to revisit The Dorset Museum for a Thomas Hardy exhibition. I caught up with editing colleagues here and it was great to see them. On the train home, there was a splendid writing and editing conversation going on.

I used my Senior Railcard for the first time. Today’s trip, including posting the tickets to me, came in at a very good rate indeed.

One thing we know about as editors is deadlines. I’ll be talking about that for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Deadlines are a fact of life for writers and editors alike, of course. I’ll be sharing tips on handling deadlines which I’ve found useful over many years and still do.

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Flash tightens up your writing thanks to its restricted word count but another advantage to it is if you have a character and storyline you’d like to do more with, you can.

I’ve sometimes expanded a story which started life as a flash piece and turned it into a longer standard length short story but only because the character and plotline were both strong enough for that.

With my competition judge’s hat on, you can spot where you think someone has padded out a story and this is why that kind of thing never works. Every part of a story, regardless of its word count, has to feel to someone reading it as if it must be there and couldn’t work without it.

Now there’s a challenge for us all!

It has been a cooler and frankly more pleasant Monday today compared with the sweltering heat of last week. Mind you, it is still a Monday and that means it’s story time again. I hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Proper Spelling and Everything.

Joey thought he was doing the right thing with his banner but his teacher shows him there could be a downside. Find out what here and what Joey did get right.

Almost time to get on with flash fiction Sunday, which is always a joy. As I’ve been out and about and am now catching up with work, I may need to put back looking for another competition to enter until next weekend.

One good thing about that is I do know there will be something out there which will be worth my while trying. There are far more flash fiction and short story competitions about so there is more choice but, as ever, always check the background of the competition out and ensure all is as it should be. Entry fees should be proportionate to the entry fee. You shouldn’t have to give up your copyright either. And you should be able to find a track record for the competition organisers.

Flash Fiction Tip: Lead with your character is usually my way into creating a new flash piece. I have to know who they are, what their major trait is and from there I can work out the kind of trouble they’d be likely to get into – all good fun!

But I often also start with a line of dialogue or internal thought. Just writing that down can give me a good indication of my character type. Someone who speaks “posh” will use certain words while those who aren’t “posh” would speak in a different way.

From that you can work out where someone is likely to live and something of their background. So if you’re thinking of creating a character and am not sure where to start, write down a random line of dialogue and see what it shows you about the speaker and where this is likely to take them.

Happy writing!

Have been out and about on the trains today having a lovely time.Naturally part of this is looking out for those sparks which can trigger story ideas.

Those sparks can include things like overhearing interesting snippets, spotting oddities (or things which strike me as that), spotting wildlife (there can be room for them in stories too) and much more.

Will be fun finding out tomorrow, hopefully, if any of my “finds” make it into my tales I draft for this week’s flash fiction Sunday.

Goodreads Author Blog – Discovering Classic Authors New to You

I spent the last Saturday in May 2026 visiting a Thomas Hardy exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester with editing colleagues. We like a jolly every now and then! The exhibition was fascinating and I’m glad I went but must confess to not having read Hardy.

And it made me think about how do you discover those classic authors whom everyone has heard of but you yourself just haven’t got into their works.

I suspect this trip out will lead me into reading Hardy and that may well be the point of exhibitions like this.

My late well read mother had Dickens and Austen at home. But it was at secondary school when Pride and Prejudice was a set book, I discovered dear Jane for myself.

As for Dickens, I watched the old black and white film of Oliver Twist on BBC2 one weekend afternoon which led me into reading Dickens. This film starred Sir Alec Guinness as Fagan and Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes. They were both seriously scary. I had to read the book to see if the original story really was like that. And yes it is.

Which classic authors have you yet to read for yourself? As a writer too, I’m aware of the need to read contemporary fiction, which I do, but it is good to read the classics too. You will often spot the influences on other writers from them.

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Author Interview – Esther Chilton – Myths and Magic

May 29, 2026May 29, 2026Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you’ve had a good week so far. Has been so hot here. Lady has had limited exercise but is coping well. Thankfully we have a generally shady garden. Writing going well. Thankfully I can do that in the cool too!

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I’m delighted to share a wonderful author interview with Esther Chilton on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. She discusses her new children’s book, Myths and Magic, which is book two in a series of six called Saffy’s Secret Quest.

In this in depth interview, Esther discusses the values of planning, how she decided on Saffy’s age given that has a direct impact on Saffy’s character arc, and the issues which surround marketing not just one book but one which is part of a series.

Esther also discusses the value of reading work out loud (something I also find useful especially for my flash pieces) and which fantasy tales inspired her writing. We are all inspired by what has gone before. There are good reasons why the fairytales and other fantasy work remain timeless. For one thing, their themes are timeless.

There are plenty of useful thoughts and tips here. Hope you enjoy the interview.

Esther, good luck with Myths and Magic. It’s always a joy to share news of books coming out into the world.

Esther Chilton – Author Interview – Myths and Magic

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Cooler day, even had some rain this evening, so much better for Lady.

It was a quiet session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last night so will save my presentation on using questions for the next meeting, but had a lovely chat about all things writing wise.

This is the joy of good writing groups – the support and encouragement you can gain and give out from these is amazing. It is a two way street too because no one writer can know everything and we all end up sharing useful information with each other. Some of this is useful immediately. Some may be useful later, years later sometimes.

Talking of sharing useful information, do look out for a fabulous interview with Esther Chilton on Chandler’s Ford Today regarding her newly published Myths and Magic children’s book. Link up tomorrow. There are plenty of good tips and advice for all writers here so do check it out. See above.

Another scorching day here so again limited exercise for Lady but she’s a good girl, is drinking well, and is happy curled up at home in the shade.

Writing wise, I’ll be running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later on. We’ll be looking at questions and how we can use these to create characters, themes, and settings.

Questioning is a useful tool for all writers. My favourite is the “what if” one as that can spark all kinds of ideas. Many of my flash fiction stories have been based on my answering that one!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing a smashing interview with fellow flash fiction writer and children’s author, Esther Chilton, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. There is plenty to discuss about her new children’s book, Myths and Magic, and there is also good information for all writers (Esther shares her thoughts on marketing series for one thing) so do look out for this. And if you want to find out how washing up can help your writing, do catch the interview! Again, see above.

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Hope today has gone well. Thankfully cooler and much pleasanter for Lady (and the rest of us, frankly).

Looking forward to a trip out to The Dorset Museum tomorrow with editing colleagues – we’re going to a Thomas Hardy exhibition. Should be interesting. The museum itself is a gem.

Am sure I’ll be able to jot down some useful notes on my trip. It is one of writing’s oddities that non-fiction can often spark ideas for stories and naturally I am hoping that will happen for me tomorrow. I can always put a writing prompt to good use after all.

Talking of which, why not try the following prompt?

Flash Fiction Prompt: He didn’t know the species but there was something about this creature which was familiar.

Have fun!

Almost time for my author newsletter again. To sign up for flash fiction tips and advice on writing, competition news, story links and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I use themes for my newsletter, of course, but am also writing to set ones a lot given many competitions come with them. Indeed, I often find competitions with a set theme “easier” than open ones because the set theme does at least give you a starting point. I like starting points. Give me one of those and away I go!

Flash Fiction Tip: Mix up the word counts you write to – I’ve recently got back to the 50 worders again. Also think of the other end of the scale here and try the 750 worders (there are some competitions for these) as well as writing to the full 1000 word count allowance.

Writing across the spectrum is not just fun, it’s useful. There are various competitions for the different flash “categories” so if you know you can write to them, you already have a head start here. And then why not try this for flash non-fiction too! It’s all great writing experience.

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I’m looking forward to joining in with at least some of the writing exercises I’ve set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening. It means I get some drafts down too and I can always make use of those. It was a quiet session so hope to do this for the next meeting instead!

Am out with editing colleagues on Saturday and I expect things I will see and hear on the train and/or at The Dorset Museum may well spark story ideas. Am glad for my note app on my phone. It is always useful (and given everyone is on their phones on the train these days it looks less obvious for me to be on my mine jotting down thoughts for potential stories compared me to getting out a notebook, looking around me, taking down notes etc!).

Mind you, that has sparked a writing prompt thought for you (and it may well be one I’ll use later).

Writing Prompt: Someone has left their notebook behind on the train. Your character cannot resist flicking through it. (Be fair, would you especially if you know the owner is well away from where you are!). What do they find in there? What intrigues? What horrifies? Do they discover something momentous?

Definite story ideas there – have fun!

Fairytales with Bite – Ideal Weather for Whom

As I write this in late May 2026, the UK is experiencing a heatwave. Okay, it’s not unknown for May but this one is hotter than normal. I keep hearing descriptions of the lovely sunshine and, yes it is and all of that, but not everyone will feel the same way – hayfever sufferers for a start.

So in your stories and settings, what weather conditions would be ideal for your characters and why? Which conditions would they find especially trying to handle and why? Which weather conditions would get in the way of them achieving what needs to be achieved?

Also, are your characters looked down on because they find certain types of weather troublesome when those around them just get on with things? What kind of empathy, if there is any, would there be here?

If you have magical beings who can tamper with the weather, why would they do so and what do they hope to achieve? How did they develop the skills they’d need here?

This World and Others – Climate Change

Has your setting always been the way it is or has it seen climate change (or something similar to that) over time? If so, have there been any benefits to the way the setting has changed? What have been the disadvantages?

Has something which was useful been lost for good and your characters are only realising that now? Is there anything they can do to restore things or get an approximation back again which would help their world? I must admit I’m not convinced by the Jurassic Park films. I remain unconvinced it would be a good idea to bring the dinosaurs back!

Where magic is a major part of your setting, has that been used to help the climate or is it responsible for negative changes? I would see magic here as a form of energy and could your setting/characters have abused this in the past with the consequences beginning to come in now?

What would your characters do about it now?

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A Change of Scene

May 22, 2026May 22, 2026Leave a comment

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, AS WAS A PHOTO FROM SCOTLAND IN MY CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY POST THIS WEEK.

Hope you have had a good week. The first one back after a holiday always seems a bit odd but Lady and I have loved catching up with friends. Am resuming my usual writing routine too and have a lovely Bridge House Publishing Zoom event to enjoy too. a bit more on that below…

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Hope your day has gone well. Another gloriously sunny day here. Bit of a contrast with last week when I was wrapped up in a coat walking along the gorgeous Golspie beach!

Am delighted to share A Change of Scene for Chandler’s Ford Today which I hope you’ll find useful.

I look at the purposes of a change of scene for your characters and share thoughts on how you can keep these parts of the story as riveting to read as the rest of it.

Another good reason to read in and out of your genre, contemporary and classic works, is to learn from other authors and how they handled their changes of scene when characters need to take some “time out” ahead of the next big action/happening in the tale.

I also look at how changes of scene can help develop character realism. We need breaks. So will your story stars.

And if you get to have changes of scene (holidays etc), I hope you and your writing come back reinvigorated!

A Change of Scene

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21st May 2026
It’s strange how the time goes. Today is the ninth anniversary of Dad’s passing.

On a happier note, Lady and I made sure we made the most of the lovely sunny day today. Lady and I loved our time in the park, especially as she saw her Hungarian Vizler pal again. One great thing about dogs is over time you can see close bonds form between friends and it is always nice to see.

I’ll be sharing A Change of Scene over on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and after that will come a wonderful interview with Esther Chilton about her latest children’s book, Myths and Magic. This is book two in her six book series, Saffy’s Secret Quest. More to come in the interview and I’m looking forward to sharing that.

Nearer to that – today in fact, 21st May – I’ll be “off” courtesy of Zoom to a book launch event being held by Bridge House Publishing. These things are always fun (and I hope to have news on my own account here later – watch this space as they say). It was a great event which I loved, a little more on this below.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady enjoyed catching up with her Hungarian Vizler pal again and we saw our neighbour’s lovely Golden Retriever too.

Will be sharing A Change of Scene on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. See above. I go into more depth on this topic than I could do for my recent Authors Electric post (though do see that as a useful intro!).

For CFT, I’ll be sharing tips on how to make changes of scene continue to be an interesting read for your readers. The danger with a change of scene is that is the point where a reader could switch off, which is the last thing you want. More on this on Friday.

Also looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

And it won’t be that long before my next author newsletter goes out. I share news, tips, story links and more here. One lovely thing about flash fiction writing is so many of the tips for it can be applied to longer forms of fiction too. If you’d like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Talking of which, a huge thank you to my subscribers too – your support is much appreciated.

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Loved attending the Bridge House Publishing book launches on Zoom last night (21st May 2026). Nice to catch up with old friends online and to meet new people, especially flash fiction writers new to me. It was a great event and I hope everyone does well with their respective books, one of which I worked on as editor. It’s always a joy to see books you’ve worked on like that be published.

Part of the conversation last night was on the challenges of flash fiction but also in recognizing writing it regularly is such a good discipline. I’ve mentioned before it teaches you to edit well, to think more closely about word selection for maximum impact with minimum word count usage, and more.

It is also a fabulous warm up writing exercise ahead of longer work and the great thing here is these exercises could go on to be published work with further revision. At least one such story of mine will be in my forthcoming Seeing The Other Side.

Moments in time can make for intriguing flash fiction tales. You have to focus on one special moment – the word count tends to dictate that – but there can be such a powerful impact from this as the focus is intense relative to the length of the story. No waffle room either (which is always a good thing).

So why not give some thought to what would be a specific moment in time your character(s) would want to recall and why. You can also write stories around those things they’re desperate to forget but are forced to face up to again.

Hope you can get some good drafts out of those thoughts. Happy writing!

I often find a one word topic can be a great theme for flash fiction (and would also work for longer fiction forms). Often they’re the basis for many a writing competition too and you may find yourself writing often on themes which particularly appeal to you. Some of the one word topics I throw out for consideration are:-

Justice
Mercy
Love
Revenge
Ambition
Security
Greed
Pride

I suspect if you wanted to, you could put all of those things into one story! Certainly they often turn up in novels. But why not pick one of these at a time and write a flash fiction story around it? (If members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group read this, you could see this as additional writing exercises!).

Now thinking about it, I’ve often written to many of these themes. Sometimes they combine too. Justice combined with mercy is a popular one. I haven’t written so much about a character’s need for security. Hmm…. maybe I’ll make a note to change that!

Fairytales with Bite – Improving Skills

In any walk of life, most seek to improve their skills and get better at what they do, possibly with an eye on promotion and even better prospects. So why shouldn’t this apply to your magical setting?

What skills do your characters have they wish to improve? How have they improved in the past? What kind of training is given in your magical world? I’m working on the premise here it is better for your magical government to have magic which is controlled rather than having it not controlled at all or controlled badly.

Could other characters get in your lead’s way and, if so, what are they hoping to achieve by doing that? Does the wish to improve skills indicate a real desire to learn and get better or is there hidden ambition behind all of that? Another character’s wish to stop someone improving doesn’t necessarily have to be out of bad motives such as jealousy or resentment someone else can improve while they possibly can’t or have to wait longer to do so.

What fuels your character’s desire to improve? Are they worried about being left behind? Are they the main breadwinner so have to improve as much as possible to ensure their continued employment?

Definitely story ideas here.

This World and Others – Learning from Past Mistakes

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite above, one key way to improve skills is to learn from your past mistakes. Am sure The Sorcerer’s Apprentice did this! (Indeed, have written some flash stories around that thought).

How well or otherwise does your character learn from their past mistakes? Do they do this willingly or does it take someone else/a major incident to wake them up to the fact they have made mistakes? (We all know folk like that – fiction reflects life. It doesn’t flatter generally either).

Does your character go on to better things/being a better being due to learning from their mistakes and, if so, how? Are there mistakes they tend to repeat?

Also, give some thought to the mistakes your magical society has made. What can your characters learn from those? What can they do to make things better for the future of their society?

Again, story ideas there.

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Using Old Sayings in Fiction

May 1, 2026Leave a comment

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

Hope you have had a good week. Lady and I are loving the continuing sunshine. Writing is going well and I now have news my Seeing The Other Side should be out on 18th June 2026 – exciting times!

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

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

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Using Old Sayings in Fiction

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fairytales With Bite – Crashes

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

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

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

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

Good potential for humorous stories here, I think.

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

This World and Others – Technology and Magic Clashes

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

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

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

Could our technology ever threaten their magical powers?

Story ideas there for sure.

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

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

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

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Dialogue in Fiction

April 28, 2026Leave a comment

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

Hope the weekend went well. Lovely one here. Great progress on writing and editing and Lady did get to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback, the first time in a while, too. Both dogs were delighted to see each other. Dogs can be lovely like this.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely weather after a cloudy start. Lady and I enjoyed our time in the park again. Parks are wonderful things.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. Hope to get a couple of drafts down.

Have a story ready for submission and hope to get that off either tomorrow or Thursday. Deadline isn’t until well into May but I will always send something in when I genuinely know it’s good to go. I deliberately won’t hold on to a story any longer otherwise the temptation will be to just have “one more look at it” and it makes me go on to draft another story for another competition instead. It’s too easy to put off submitting work. Well, there is no rejection risk in that, is there?

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Lovely time in the park with Lady. Had a great writing and editing weekend. Pleased to get lots done.

Glad to share my latest story on Substack – The Next Repair Job. All dog owners (and I suspect parents of toddlers as well) will identify with this one. Hope you enjoy it.

Hope your Sunday has been a peaceful one. Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly but have already edited a story I’ve got in mind for a competition. Good start to my writing day!

Looking forward also to catching up with folk at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday. Always good to see them and, as ever, I hope we’ll get a couple of draft pieces written.

Later in May I’ll be interviewing Esther Chilton for Chandler’s Ford Today about her new book, Myths and Magic. And I hope to share news on my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, in May too. Plenty going on then and most of it involving flash fiction in some way (Esther is also a flash fiction writer).

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Using Old Sayings in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing a couple with some ideas on how they could be used to create stories. Looking forward to sharing that on Friday. Proverbs and sayings are excellent to use as themes and will always resonate because these things are timeless, readers will alway identify with them. Hope the post will prove to be useful.

Editing is continuing to go well.

And don’t forget it won’t be that long before my next author newsletter is out. To sign up for hints, tips, story links and news, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Will have news on Seeing The Other Side soon. Meantime, I’ve been busy producing more flash work and hope to send something in for a competition this week as it is good to go as I mentioned on my author page here.

I always take time out to double check the submissions process to ensure I haven’t missed anything. For most places I’m submitting work on Duotrope, Submittable or as emails (sometimes in the body of the email as flash is short enough for that). But each place has its different requirements.

Funnily enough, I’ll also be thinking later this year about getting another collection together but meantime it is all systems go with the third book. So looking forward to sharing more news on that.

It’s Monday and another hectic one so time to relax with a flash story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Toy Cupboard in the Sky. This one links to The Next Repair Job which I’ve shared via my Substack and via my other Facebook page.

Hope you enjoy both tales. I had great fun writing them.

Why can’t my mother like character in this story face up to telling someone their toy is beyond repair? Find out here.

Although my forthcoming book, Seeing The Other Side, is naturally very much on my mind at the moment, I am also looking further ahead towards further collections and am well on my way to another one, possibly two, books from what I’ve written in the last year or so.

I also have another project connected to flash fiction which is on the back burner for the moment but which I hope to get back to later this year.

What I would really like now would be for one of my benevolent magical characters to come to life and, as a favour to me for creating them, grant me more time in which to write! Alas…

Mind you, this is a nice problem to have because I know what I’ll be working on when I do get to my desk. I suppose that’s the goal to aim for here. Know what you’re doing and when. It’s a good thing for your characters to know too!

Am looking at a story for a flash competition for the end of May. Will be working on it, I hope, tomorrow. This is a story from my “store” and on re-reading it, I can see where I can tighten it up further. This is the purpose of having a break away from something you’ve written. When you do come back to it again, you really do see the piece with fresh eyes and you are much more likely to be able to judge it objectively.

For flash, there is the advantage of not needing anywhere near as long a break from it as, say, a novelist would for their work, but I’d say don’t be tempted to skip having the break. It does pay off. I’ve found this to be the case time and again.

Put work aside for a time and come back to it so you can look at it as a reader would. Pixabay image.

Goodreads Author Blog – Dialogue in Fiction

I love every element to a story or book – characters, plot, scene setting (though I prefer that to not go on for too long) and dialogue. Dialogue in fiction has to resemble real speech but not be an exact copy of it. It would be tedious to read all the hesitations, repetitions etc. But fictional dialogue, when it is done well, will propel the story forward, show you more about the characters speaking, and fill in the gaps in back story where a character needs to know something from the past but doesn’t need to know chapter and verse about it.

I like to think of it as overhearing an interesting conversation and I love that. This probably says a great deal about me but I also find dialogue can do wonders for pacing in a story too.

And, of course, dialogue can reveal a great deal of information, secrets etc, which are pivotal to the plot. Someone had to tell Frodo from The Lord of the Rings why he had to get out of The Shire and why a certain ring left behind by Bilbo wasn’t such a wonderful gift after all!

Dialogue is a trigger for all sorts of happenings in stories and I think that it is why it is one of my favourite elements to any story.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Dialogue in Fiction https://t.co/1BmcK6Ioe9 via @goodreads I look at the role of dialogue in fiction for Goodreads this week and share why it is one of my favourite elements to any story. pic.twitter.com/42kY1rmekq
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 25, 2026

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Glad to share my latest story on Substack – The Next Repair Job. All dog owners (and I suspect parents of toddlers as well) will identify with this one. Hope you enjoy it.https://t.co/H7A8xPJhOs pic.twitter.com/Smq3LSVwlx
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 27, 2026

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It’s Monday and time to relax with a flash story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Toy Cupboard in the Sky. https://t.co/UsPMxh2ouh
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 27, 2026

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Hopes In Writing

April 3, 2026Leave a comment

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

Hope you have had a good week. Do have a lovely Easter break (and Passover if you celebrate). I’m looking forward to the Easter services, always a special time. Lady and I are enjoying the sunshine and making the most of it while it lasts. Writing wise, I plough on!

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Am pleased to share Hopes In Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at this from the viewpoints of hopes for a writer and how we can use hopes to strengthen our characterisation. After all, our characters must hope for something, yes?

I look at hopes coming from basic needs, believable hopes for characters, and the best kinds of hopes for characters which are not necessarily the same as the best hopes because a character may hope for something but they actually need something better).

I also look at hopes for writers, especially developments in print on demand and the indie press, both of which have given more opportunities for writers.

Hope you enjoy the post too!

Hopes in Writing

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Quiet day in the park today but lovely all the same. Lady and I enjoyed the sunshine.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Hopes in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be looking at hopes for writers and how we can use hopes as part of our characterisation. Hope you’ll find the post useful. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Loved the ACW group I went to online last night – good chat and laughs. There is rarely a time when that isn’t welcome!

Writing wise, I do plan to get on with more story writing over the weekend, especially on Sunday. I was pleased to recently use two stories I drafted at the last ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting for a recent Substack post and YouTube video. I do like to have stories like this in “stock” so to speak, even if they have only just been put into the “stock cupboard”. I do know I could do with topping up my supplies though! Mind you, this is a fun task to be getting on with and the Easter weekend should help a lot here.

Hope your day has gone well. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal so all is well there.

Writing wise, am looking forward to “going to” an online ACW meeting this evening. It’s always a fun one. It also won’t be too long before my next article will be on Writers’ Narrative. Hope to share the link to that next week.

Also my April newsletter went out today. (1st April).

Editing Tip: The biggest one of all, I think, is to give yourself plenty of time and accept you will need more than one sweep for this. You will, in fact, need several. You will need an edit to make sure the story “works properly” (structural). You will need an edit to look for inconsistencies as well as typos and grammatical errors (copy editing). You will need a final check all is well before the manuscript goes to print (proofreading). All three take time. All three make a huge difference to how well your work comes across. Don’t sell yourself short here.

Yes, I’m biased being an editor but I think it is a good bias. I know I’ve always appreciated the editing work carried out on my books. Editors will pick up on things you won’t have seen, precisely because you are too close to your own work (and in many ways should be as it is your baby, after all, but you do need to accept you need that distance and independent eye).

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Hope to do much more flash fiction writing this weekend but meantime I thought I’d share a fun story I wrote for Flash NANO 2025 (which was alas the last one!). Hope you enjoy the following.

A Change Will Do You Good by Allison Symes

How often did I hear her say “A change will do you good”, whenever life threw bricks at me? It was her answer to everything.
I did wonder if she used it as an excuse when chatting about my latest failure with the neighbours. I guess she had to find something to say. Mums are like that.
Still, I have, at last, found a change I like. She never did want me to go to that special school. I told her she’d watched too many fantasy films. But I loved the school and finally found somewhere I didn’t stick out. Everyone else there was like me.
As for the change, I know I shouldn’t have done it but I’d just had enough.
I turned Mum into a statue. The spell will wear off tomorrow. No harm done. She’ll remember nothing.
But I get some peace and quiet for a day. That is a change I welcome. And I can use it whenever she becomes a little too much.
You do understand, don’t you?

Ends
Allison Symes – 3rd November 2025

I was looking through Writing Magazine earlier today and came across a place which specifically asked for flash prose. I know that sounds an odd term but it isn’t really. I’ve occasionally written a flash story in poetic form so it does pay to make the distinction. Certainly, flash prose does make up the vast majority of what I write.

I do write flash acrostics more often and they’re fun to do now, every now and then, as a change. It pays to keep the word or words you use for this short though.

Most of all, I do write to the different categories in flash in terms of word count as I’m pleased to say there are far more competitions about now than when I was starting out in this field. So it pays to be able to write to the various word counts required, the most popular being 50, 100, 250, 300, and 500 words.

I was talking about editing on my other Facebook page but I should add here flash needs just as much editing as any other form of writing. One thing I’m always looking out for is whether my words are the best I could choose to create the maximum impact for the fewest words used.

The other thing to watch here when writing in this form is that errors will stand out more given the reduced word counts involved so beware! Mind you, it is easier to read flash pieces out loud to pick up errors that way and to check your dialogue does flow as it should do. So there are positives here!

You still need to take your time though!

Fairytales with Bite – Sparkle and Glitter

I must admit I’m always wary when any magical character turns up in a story spreading sparkle and glitter and good will. I always want to see the context behind that. Is this character really as good as they are making out to be or is this a good cover up? What do they hope to get out of it? I want to see good deeds carried out for good reasons.

I’ve much more sympathy, and more inclined to believe, those characters who try to do what is right, sometimes muck it up, and then seek to put it right. Mind you, I’ve got more sympathy for those in life who do that.

Those characters who are generally good will be more believable if you show something of what led them to be that way. What made them decide not to go down the path for using power for their own ends and so on? Show something of the struggle they may have against that constant temptation.

I’m sure there must be magical characters who would love to “blitz” away a bad magical being for the best of reasons but know in doing so they will betray themselves and their principles so have to find a better way of dealing with this.

I also think magic is a form of power and there will be downsides to those using it.

This World and Others – Putting On A Show

Do your magical characters like to put on a show when using their powers or do they believe discretion is the better part of valour? (I prefer that myself).

Those characters who do like to put on a show – what are their motivations for this? Is it because they’re insecure or are they trying to demonstrate to others they’re worthy of promotion etc? What do they really want? There usually is something!

When shows are put on for better reasons, individually or state events, who is behind this? What are the shows for? For state events, will these be a means of controlling the population? I can’t help but think of the old Roman maxim here about bread and circuses.

What do your characters make of shows which they are either part of, attend (and do they have a choice on that?), or know about? If your characters do their utmost to avoid these things, how successful or otherwise are they at doing that? Would other characters give them grief for this?

Story ideas there!

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Hopes in Writing https://t.co/QaDkuxGjJ0 Am pleased to share Hopes In Writing for CFT. I look at hopes for a writer and how we can use hopes to strengthen our characterisation. Our characters must hope for something, yes? Hope you enjoy the post too!https://t.co/QaDkuxGjJ0
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 3, 2026

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Hope Springs Eternal and Characters

March 31, 2026Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope you enjoy the post.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onwards and upwards with the writing then!

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Characters Acrostic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Perfect Ending

March 17, 2026Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here including a pre-birthday celebration meal out with immediate family. Lovely time had by all. Lady had a great weekend too – plenty of walkies though there is also still plenty of mud. Not that she cares…

Facebook – General

Hope the day has gone well. Hectic here and am glad to be at my desk, sitting down to write. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and even Daisy the gentle spaniel. Good time had by all.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Always fun. Am not looking forward to a visit to the dentist tomorrow even though said dentist is lovely (but it is never a fun visit, is it?).

Need to start work on some stories for competitions I always enter but won’t get much chance before Sunday but I can at least be “brewing” some ideas before then. Thinking time is never wasted.

Hope your Monday has gone well. Busy as ever here but it was lovely to see Lady having a good time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Writing wise, I’ll be catching up with a few writing odd jobs. I’ve long found it’s the best use of my limited writing time on a Monday night.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again before long. To sign up for news, tips, and stories, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to my subscribers for your continued support here – it is always appreciated.

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Hope your weekend has gone well and you enjoy the rest of it! Busy one here but good.

Writing wise, I’m back to editing again and enjoying that. Shortly, I’ll be getting on with my flash fiction Sunday afternoon, always a nice way to wind up the week. I’m focusing on 100 word stories at the moment. I do love the form, especially since they were my introduction to flash fiction in the first place. This length of story makes for a great warm up writing exercise too.

Character Tip: Think about what you like and dislike most in a character you’ve read. Think about why you have these likes and dislikes. Especially if you dislike the character, look in more depth as to why and then work out how you would’ve written the character. You learn a lot by thinking things through like this. I know I don’t like characters who come across as wishy-washy. I won’t write them. But I had to know the character type I disliked here to work out what it is I do like.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Nice weather here.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here and this post will tie in nicely with my Getting The Hooks In one too as the best writing exercises “hook” the writer in to want to give them a go. Link up on Friday.

First Draft Tip: I’ve always found it useful to just get the first draft written, rest it, and then edit it later. But if that isn’t your way of doing things, I’d still recommend getting as much of your story down before polishing up anything. It has been my experience better ideas can come as I write my first draft (and the further I get on that first draft the more ideas come) so I note these down separately and look at them later when I’ve had a proper chance to evaluate them all.

But if something really does grip you get that down fast before you forget it (and you do, trust me I’ve made that mistake). You can worry about the exact placing of that idea in your story later. Also the time break once you have got your draft down does give you a chance to decide whether that red hot idea was so red hot after all. They’re not always.

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Flash fiction is especially cheering for me on those days when I seem to be chasing my tail all day because I at least get something creative drafted and when time is very short I go for the 50 or 100 worders.

But it is amazing on looking back at where I’ve used pockets of time like this for odd bits of writing just how much I’ve been able to get done. It does mount up so is worth using these times and if you’re not sure where to start when you have pockets of time like that, why not give flash fiction or flash non-fiction a go?

It has been another hectic Monday. Time to wind down at least a little with a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Bells.

What does the ringing of the church bells mean for my character? Do her memories help her? Find out here.

Will be beginning flash fiction Sunday shortly, a bit later than planned but life gets like that at time. What was meant to be a quiet day suddenly isn’t. But the nice thing with flash is I know I can get something written (which always makes me feel better in myself) precisely because I am committing myself to short form writing. I will get something done.

I find topics for flash fiction in various ways. Sometimes I will use the seasons, anniversaries (personal or national etc) and, at other times, I know I will want to write something light/funny so then figure out the best way to do that and which kind of character would suit me best here. I like to have a variety of ways in to writing stories. It keeps things interesting for me, and I hope my readers, and it is good to be able to respond to different writing challenges in the form of prompts etc. It means I’m not stuck. It is a question of working out which idea I want to write up on what day. Always good to have something in hand there.

As ever, I’m looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. I like putting time aside specifically to write flash (though if I get the chance to write some at other times, I do. That doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. It’s always a case of not having enough time to write as much as I’d like to but I know I’m not alone with that issue).

Am currently catching up with reading a flash anthology and am enjoying that. I love those moments when a story has an emotional impact on you and I am getting plenty of those moments with this book. I love to then re-read these and figure out how the author did it. It makes me up my game for sure. Nothing to dislike about that and I get more reading done.

Naturally, I always think about the impact I’d like my own flash pieces to have on readers. It does affect how I present my characters, indeed even the character types I need to have to successfully bring about that impact.

Writing also includes thinking time and, yes, it is useful for flash fiction too.

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Ending

The perfect ending for any story or book I read or listen to must leave me feeling the characters did get what they deserved. I must also feel that not a word could be added to or taken away without it spoiling the story somehow. Those are good challenges for the writers and I’m so aware of these when writing my own stories.

The perfect ending doesn’t have to be a happy one though I admit I prefer those. But it should be appropriate to what the characters have gone through. It shouldn’t come out of nowhere. When you look back at a story, you should be able to spot the clues which indicated this ending was likely. The skill of the writers here is when you don’t see those clues the first go around or, if you do guess at it, they are still able to wrong foot you another way in that yes, the ending was X but it happened via route Y rather than route W.

Twist endings are great here and I still think you can’t get better than Roald Dahl’s short story, Lamb To The Slaughter. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it and I suspect some of you may well remember it when it was adapted for the TV series, Tales of the Unexpected. I also love this story for another reason in that you have a great plot here but also not a word could be added to or taken away from this one.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: The Perfect Ending https://t.co/oG03DwlhnT via @goodreads I look at what makes a perfect ending for me in any kind of story. I also name what I think is a classic example of this. See what you think. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/Y58LVYISQq
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 14, 2026

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It has been another hectic Monday. Time to wind down at least a little with a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Bells.

What does the ringing of the church bells mean for my character? Do her memories help her? Find out here.https://t.co/2ucTJLks7S
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 16, 2026

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Where Do You Read?

March 3, 2026Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

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

Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely one here. Plenty of writing, even had more sun, and it was a refreshing one for us here. Plenty coming up this week including a super interview on Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely weather again. Lady and I are so making the most of this. Well, you don’t want to blink and miss it, do you?

Writing wise, I’m sharing a super author interview with Wendy H Jones on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This is to showcase the latest anthology to come from her – A Right Cozy Historical Crime. The interview will form part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Vlog.

As well as flagging up the other authors in this great book, Wendy and I discuss the joys of blending historical and crime fiction. Am so looking forward to sharing this on Friday. Do look out for it.

Hope you’ve had a good weekend and a promising start to the week. Lovely weather here. Lady made the most of it at the park.

Writing wise, I posted my first flash fiction to my Substack yesterday and I plan to do this regularly. To subscribe to my Substack, just head over to Substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

As well as receiving what I post here, you should also receive my articles on Writers’ Narrative. My next one here appears on 7th March, later this week.

Was also delighted to review a flash piece over the weekend and send that in. Will know more about how what does later this month.

Delighted my author newsletter went out earlier today. Many thanks to all of my subscribers and I do hope you find the special pdf which comes with it useful. It was a joy to put it together.

Writing wise, I’ll be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly plus I’ll have article and blog work to do too – all great fun. I like having plenty of writing to do. Literally never a dull moment. Okay, I grant you checking for typos etc is not the world’s most exciting task but given it helps improve my work, I see it as a case of I have got to do it so let’s get it done and done well. Then I can move on to something much more interesting.

Writing Tip: Planning out what you write and when, depending on your other commitments, helps in terms of knowing when you can get the duller side of writing out of the way ahead of doing something much more creative. With the duller bits done, I can go full steam ahead into more creative work and enjoy it more precisely because I have got the duller stuff out of the way. And we all have to do the dull stuff so it is a question, I think, of fitting it in when it won’t get in the way of longer writing sessions. When I have a longer writing stint, I just want to get on with much more interesting work than checking for typos.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Lovely to see some sun out again today. More flowers appearing too.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a superb interview with Wendy H Jones for Chandler’s Ford Today next week about her new anthology, A Right Cozy Historical Crime. Several other authors are in the book with her and full details about the anthology as well as a wonderful talk about the joys of historical fiction, will be in my post next week.

So looking forward to sharing this one as it combines several loves of mine – short stories, anthologies (they are great books), and historical fiction. This interview will form part of the blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

My next author newsletter will be out tomorrow, 1st March, and will have something special to celebrate a significant birthday of mine later on in the month. Do look out for that in your inbox.

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Another hectic day today but I did enjoy a swim and Lady and I both enjoyed the sunshine again. Glad to have sent off a flash piece over the weekend and I shared my first one on my Substack account too. I hope to do more of that in due course.

Why is flash fiction such an addictive form? I suppose it is because having written a 100 word story, say, and it works well, I want to see if I can do this over and over again. The challenge is an ongoing one to have a proper tale with a proper beginning, middle and ending in that word count (or any of the other ranges flash fiction offers up to 1000 words). Also it is such fun playing with genre because I can set my characters anywhere, use the first, second and third persons, and all of that offers up so many more story possibilities.

As ever, it’s a hectic Monday but, hooray, it is at least a sunny one where I am! Much appreciated. Still time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Apple Seller. No prizes for guessing the inspiration behind this one…

A market stall holder selling apples recalls a strange conversation with an old woman and wonders where Snow White has got to.

Hope the weekend is going well. Mixture of sunshine and showers but I’m seeing more spring flowers emerge every time I take Lady out. That cheers me up no end.

Flash Tip: Read flash fiction collections (and yes I know I’m biased here with two of mine out there) but you will get a good feel for what flash can do and be. You’ll also see how it looks on the page. It can challenge you to raise your game to which is no bad thing, as you’ll inevitably come up with writing you would not have written otherwise. Do check out the independent presses for potential publishers. They are usually more open to unagented writers. I always flag up The Mslexia Indie Press Guide here because it kind of does for the indie presses what The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook does for the bigger publishing houses.

At the end of February already – I suppose you could say it is the “flash” month of the year. Not quite a case of blink and you’ll miss it but it speeds by. What is cheering about it is seeing more evidence of spring coming as the month goes on.

Talking of which, give some thought as to what would help your characters look on the brighter side of life and how this would help them in their story. A story isn’t a story unless there is a point of change and often this is where a character has to do something or change in some way. Their mood and mind set can directly impact on how successful or otherwise they are in changing what has to be changed.

An optimistic character is more likely to see the need for change and implement it. A pessimistic one may well wonder why bother? An optimistic character is more likely to succeed in their quest. They will take the actions and advice needed for this. A pessimistic one may well fail – would they be willing to listen to yet alone take advice which would help them?

Where a pessimistic character may see they need to change, what or whom would help them there?

Goodreads Author Blog – Where Do You Read?

I’m sometimes asked in surveys etc where do I like to read. I love reading in bed just before settling for the night. It’s a fantastic way to unwind, though I grant it is not the time for horror stories, at least it isn’t for me. I also like to read (usually a magazine) at lunchtime.

When away, I usually get to read more during the day. Over the Christmas break, I like nothing better than to curl up on the sofa with a book present and some chocolate (the eating and drinking kinds!).

I suppose a more important question is do you read? I was once at a Book Fair with my table and someone walked past it saying they “didn’t do books”. I had to bite my tongue because I so wanted to ask “what are you doing here then” but deemed it probably wouldn’t help.

What led me into reading at all? Well, I must bless my late mother here because she encouraged reading at an early age and read to my kid sister and I regularly. We also saw her reading. Libraries were (and still are) fabulous places to visit. I developed a love of magazine reading in my teens. That continues but the topic has changed. My focus now is on writing magazines and sometimes things like The Oldie. That will tell you I left my teens behind some time ago!

But what matters is we read and keep reading. It is such a wonderful thing. (And you still can’t beat reading in bed or a comfy sofa for the best location!).

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Where Do You Read? https://t.co/gBhYYKNhUV via @goodreads I celebrate reading and share where I like to read for Goodreads this week. I also look at the importance of early encouragement to read too. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/oAorIrNRQX
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 28, 2026

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As ever, it’s a hectic Monday but it was sunny! Still story time though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Apple Seller.

A market stall holder selling apples recalls a strange conversation with an old woman and wonders where Snow White has got to.https://t.co/OTKKuIPTX3
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 2, 2026

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