Tag: author newsletter

Using the Senses, Workshops, and Classical Music

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. It was a bank holiday for many of us in the UK and I loved listening to a special classical music chart – more details below. I find writing to classical music effective. There is something about classical which relaxes me and when I relax, I write more (and I hope better!). As far as Lady is concerned, bank holidays mean bonus walks so she is happy.

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Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my post on Workshops.

I share thoughts on what I look for from a workshop I go to as a delegate. I especially check out the workshop leader’s background in the topic they’re sharing. This should never be difficult to find out by the way!

I am so grateful for all I have learned from workshops and will continue to do so. They are a good thing and I am glad Zoom has made more workshops possible.

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For those of you who had a bank holiday today, I hope it went well. Bank holidays are a bit odd for me as I get on with the jobs I would usually do on a Monday anyway. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so it was a normal day for them too!

Mind you, I am enjoying the movie music countdown on the Classic FM Hall of Fame today. I’m rooting for The Lord of the Rings soundtrack to get the number one spot. The soundtrack is perfect for the films. There is everything from opera to Enya on there and it all suits the story so brilliantly.

Talking of music, do you listen to any while you write? I find classical to be soothing and when I’m relaxed, I just get on and write. Sometimes I will hear a piece of music and think that might suit Character X whom I’ve just written about. That’s a good sign. If the characters seem real enough to me to have tastes in music, they’ll seem real enough to readers too.

So working out what your characters are likely to love and/or loathe is a good way to find out more about them and as a result you will write their stories up knowing you know your character well enough to do justice to their tales.

I find it helps to think of it as being “their” tales too. I don’t want my authors’ voice intruding. It is the character which holds my interest in any story I read. I want to find out what happens to them so I take the same approach with my own stories.

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Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Will be talking about Workshops in my More than Writers post for the Association of Christian Writers. That will be up on Tuesday. See above. Can hardly believe the end of next week will see us into September, mind you.

Writing Tip: It has often been said about using all of the senses in your writing. It is a great idea but don’t shoehorn these things for the sake of it as that never works.

If I need a character to eat something, I may well slip in something about how much they loved or loathed the texture of their food etc. Or, even more likely, mention the smell of it. But I won’t get a character to eat something just so I can get the use of another sense into my story.

Everything in your story has to be in there for a good reason. The story should lose something important if you were to take that something out. I’ve found this to be a useful way of gauging whether I do need something in the tale or not.

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Strange day weather wise – a right old mix. Still I guess it prepares us for autumn with September just around the corner. I’ll be talking about Autumnal Joys for Chandler’s Ford Today next week so it’s timely! I don’t do a lot of seasonal writing – my autumn post for CFT and my festive flash fiction writing is about it.

I’ve talked about knowing your character well before but you could consider, as part of the getting to know them process, what they make of the seasons and why they hold the feelings they do. You do get people who love autumn and those who loathe it.

My late grandmother hated it. Always thought it was the season when everything died. I do love it as I see it as the colour change season (leaves etc) and things getting ready for a rest period (winter) and then coming back (spring). You can’t have the spring without the autumn and the winter before it.

This in turn could lead you to thinking about whether your character is generally optimistic or not and what kind of problems their overall attitude to life could cause them. There would be story ideas there.
I thought I’d share one of my autumn stories from a while back. Hope you enjoy it.

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Don’t forget my author newsletter is due out again on Friday. I share links to my online flash stories here as well as useful writing advice and the latest news from me. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and many thanks to all who have subscribed. Much appreciated.

I’ll be talking about Autumnal Joys for my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. Autumn is a busy season writing wise and I have various things to look forward to, culminating in the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in December. I hope to have further publication news soon too.

One good thing about the darker evenings is they do encourage you to stay at your desk and write! Have resumed working on a long term project and it has been great to get back to that so I hope to make good progress on this over the next few months.


It’s a Bank Holiday Monday where I am but it still remains at heart a Monday, that day of the week which can fill people with dread. Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest tale on YouTube – Bobbing for Apples. A bit early for an autumnal story, I hear you cry? Hmm.. Given the weather has taken a distinctly autumnal turn where I am, I thought I’d get ahead of the game here!


Flash illuminates one moment in time but has such a powerful impact because of that. I use that aspect of flash fiction writing to work out whether I want to write a funny story, a sad one, or what have you. I then work out how I can best achieve this.

I focus on one character, one moment for any tale which is 500 words or fewer. For the 500 to 1000 bracket, I may have a second character but I always make it clear whose story it is and there has to be a good reason for the second character to be there at all.

Naturally that second character can fall into the helper or villain category where I have made the main character the “good guy”. Where I haven’t, I can flip that around (though I still like to show where my main character is a villain, the second character has severely damaged them and I have to have a good reason for telling the story from the villain’s viewpoint in the first place).

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

Sometimes I use repetition in a flash tale. An example of this is The Wish List from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Every sentence bar the last one starts with the words I wish. The story builds up until the conclusion. It was fun to do.

Repetition can be useful. It can be used to build up tension, which is what I did in this story. It can be used for emphasis. But it is important you know what you want repetition to achieve for your story. Otherwise you will use up your word count without having good reason to do so.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Fiction – An Acrostic

F = Fabulous characters in a range of settings, past and present and future, in this world and others.

I = Imagination, inventiveness, images created – all gripping stuff.

C = Characters who live on in your memory long after you have read their tales.

T = Truth is often stranger than fiction but the latter can show truths in a way straight reporting cannot and in a more palatable way too.

I = I can get to imagine what I would do if I was in the characters’ shoes – fiction is great for encouraging empathy.

O = On this world, over it, off this world altogether – fiction can take you anywhere.

N = New books, old books, bought books, borrowed books, audio books, ebooks, collections – treasure them all!

Screenshot 2023-08-26 at 20-38-38 Fiction - An Acrostic

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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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 the photo from a local wildflower meadow.
Hope you have had a good couple of days since we last met here. Newsletter will be out again next week. How can it almost be September already? Not that Lady worries. She’s been having a fabulous times with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals for a lot of this week so it has been a good few days for her.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Writing Exercises on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I discuss my nervousness when I was first set them, thinking help, I can’t do this. But I did draft something and later realised that was the idea. Just get something down. You can work on it again later if you wish. I usually do with my writing exercises and some of them have gone on to be published.

I also set a couple of exercises in this post for you to have a go at as well. Hope you have fun with them and find the post useful as I also share why writing exercises are so useful for any writer.

Writing Exercises

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In my Writing Exercises post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I will be looking at some of the most popular types I’ve come across. I’ll also have a look at the benefits of practicing writing to these.

Glad to say the writing exercises I set at last night’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Group meeting went well too. And if I get set exercises, as I so often am at things like Swanwick, I am only too glad to give them a go. I get a draft out of it! Sometimes I go on to do more with that draft. Sometimes I don’t but I find it fun just having a go at these things. More in my post tomorrow.

Am so looking forward to the next production from The Chameleon Theatre Group in October. They’re staging Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (adapted by Stephen Briggs). Will be a real treat. Great story. Will be the first time I’ve seen a Discworld play.

What's your story - writing exercises can help you find out

Lady had a lovely time with her two best girlfriends in the park today. Good time had by all.
I’ll be looking at the usefulness of Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up on Friday. See above.

I’ll be setting some writing exercises for the flash fiction group I’ll be leading later today.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again on 1st September. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Looking forward to sharing further publication news soon too.

Ideas are triggered by writing exercises and the more you do, the more you trigger said ideas

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Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Puzzled Out. Hope you enjoy it – this is a story where I knew the ending first. And then worked backwards to get to a logical start. Definitely one for puzzle fans.

Screenshot 2023-08-25 at 10-16-23 Puzzled Out by Allison Symes

Have signed up to take part in Flash NANO again in November. This is where you are given a flash fiction prompt for the thirty days of November and you write them up as flash pieces. Last year, I managed to complete the challenge – that’s thirty new pieces to edit and submit somewhere and/or put towards a new collection. I hope to do the same again this year.

I found it great fun to do. I found it useful to write the prompt each day but found with some I had to “carry over” to another day but that was fine. I had something to work with, which is the whole point, The person behind Flash NANO is Nancy Stolhman. More details below.

 

Hope you have had a good day. As well as mixing up the kinds of flash fiction I write in terms of mood and setting, I also mix up the word count length. My overall favourite is the drabble, the 100-worder, but I am fond of the whole range of flash. My next most common category to write in is the 250 to 500 words bracket. I do write some at 750-1000 words but not nearly so often. I usually find if I’m going for a longer work, I will turn it into a standard short story instead (and it ends up at 1500 or so).

For my blogs, all of them are between 500-1000 words or so. For Chandler’s Ford Today I can and do sometimes go up to 1500/1750 depending on what kind of article I am writing. It isn’t always apt to split an author interview in two, for example.

You do end up getting a feel for what kind of word count works best for which item of writing. Practice helps which is why regular writing comes in handy as you get to develop your style of writing and which word count works best for you for certain pieces of work. At least that has been my experience.

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Fairytales with Bite – Once Upon A Time – Acrostic

O = Original characters in an original setting – your magical world won’t be exactly the same as anyone else’s while it will have elements in common.

N = Never mind how your characters feel – drop them right in it and see how they fare.

C = Create characters we will care about in some way – we all love to boo a “good” villain but need to understand why they are being the way they are.

E = Experience will tell – it is not unreasonable for your main character to have a magical mentor of some sort.

 

U = Undertaking – there will be something special for your character to do here and there will be high stakes.

P = Persistence and perseverance – two qualities every hero will need. (Funnily enough the villain needs them to a certain extent too but naturally they usually don’t have enough of these qualities. There has to be a difference between them and your lead).

O = Once upon a time is a classic way to start a tale but you could mix it up by bringing us straight into the action. We will have to read on to find out what happens.

N = Never leave loose ends – there has to be a resolution.

 

A = Always care about your own characters – you are the first to believe in them. You don’t want to be the last!

 

T = Truthfulness in character portrayal pays off – people will believe in your characters if they feel they are or could be true. Knowledge of human nature and what we’re capable of and why can be useful here.

I = Imagination, Imagination, Imagination – why do we read? To find out what the author has imagined for us to enjoy.

M = Memory can be unreliable. If you’re writing series stories, it would pay you to note somewhere what you need to recall about your characters. It’s too easy to change colour of eyes, say, from one story to the next.

E = Enjoy the writing – creativity is fun. Bear in mind editing can be creative too as you seek to strength your story. But do see the writing and editing as two separate tasks. I find that helps a lot.

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This World and Others – History and How It is Told

So much depends here on what value your world setting puts on history and who controls the narrative. That seems a familiar tale does it not?! But when history is told, how is it done?

Is it just via books or are there plays, reenactments, and so on? I once went to a historical reenactment in Tewkesbury – good fun but what was interesting was you got a real sense of the smells, the sounds etc which you would not have got had you just read a historical account.

So in your setting, who writes the history? Is it performed? Who would do that? Do they have to stick to the official version of the history or can they put their own interpretation on it?

In your setting, are new historical discoveries ever found? Are these welcome? Not all might be! If something were to put a different spin on a genuinely accepted event, people (as well as their government) are not likely to react well to it.

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Housekeeping, Editing, and Paper Cuts

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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. It’s always a case of coming back down to earth with a bump after my wonderful week at Swanwick but there is writing to be done so off I go! (And I can already start my countdown to Swanwick 2024).

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Every so often I take the opportunity to do some housekeeping on my website.Often it is to update the anthologies on my books page etc but today I’ve updated my Author Services page on my website. See link below. I’ve added in details about my work on Writers’ Narrative magazine, the editing services I offer, and also the kinds of talks/workshops I run. Very much behind the scenes writing work but necessary all the same.

Writing Tip: Do include the work you do on your website etc as part of your writing work for the good reason it is. Writers need to have a shop window where we can show people what we do so keeping your website up together is an important part of your overall writing work. Make sure the website has material you yourself would find useful. Putting yourself in the head of your ideal audience is a good idea here. Think about what they need to know. Think about what they would find useful if they came across it in your website.

Author Services – Allison Symes

 

Glad to report the notes for my Swanwick workshop are now up on the site – Editing From Both Sides of the Fence. This is one of the lovely bonuses from The Writers’ Summer School. After the school itself, delegates can access the course notes even for those workshops and courses they didn’t go to. I’ve made good use of this myself and will continue to do so.

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Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out on 1st September, which will be here almost before we know it. To sign up for tips, hints, as well as news and useful links, do sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks for those who signed up at my editing workshop at Swanwick during the last week. I have now added you on to the list. I have also sent out a separate email to flag up the email address linked with my account with my newsletter service provider has now changed. Just for information only. For those of you who have been with me for some time here, I just didn’t want you puzzling over why the next newsletter is linked to a different email address!

Writing wise, I will be looking at making the most of an in person workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today later this coming week. I hope that will prove useful. Naturally that post is directly inspired by my time at Swanwick!

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Many thanks for the comments coming in on my Diary of a Swanwicker post for Chandler’s Ford Today post yesterday. All of my CFT posts are labours of love but there was something special about this one. There is something very special about The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. For more information, check out their website.

I’m working away on a flash piece I want to submit to a competition by the middle of this month or thereabouts. The deadline is for the end of the month but those at my editing workshop will have heard me mention I always do take off time from the official deadline and make the brought forward date my deadline instead.

It is my final chance to check for typos etc and then I submit it. It helps me beat procrastination too and that can be the curse of many a writer. (Many thanks also to those who have signed up for my author newsletter while at Swanwick. I will be adding you on to the list very soon).

 

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Hope you have had a good day. I strongly suspect all who were at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick are thinking back to what they were doing at this time last week. I know I have been!

(Today I have got a good excuse. I was running my editing workshop last Tuesday. A huge thank you to all who came and supported that. There was a great turnout and it has reminded me to update my Author Services page on my website so that’s good too!).

Writing flash has meant I’ve lost all fear of editing. I see it as an essential tool to make my work better and give it a more of a chance out there – and so it has proved. Having a strict word count has meant I do have to cut out all unnecessary words and that habit carries over into my other writing.

Sometimes I have a character who is wordy but I flag that up as part of their portrayal early on. There my editing would be to give them a style of speech which suits them. So in their case I would get them to talk about “meandering around the Recreation Ground” rather than to say “I walked across the park”. But I could cut words out from around them to give them the word count room in which to do this. I don’t do this often and the character has to be strong enough to justify me doing it.

But editing has to be apt for the character you’re writing and even in wordy creations there will be ways to tighten up what you’ve given them to say.

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It’s my first Monday back after Swanwick. I don’t know about you but I definitely need a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Paper Cut.

 

There won’t be any story from me this coming week on Friday Flash Fiction this week given they are closed for submissions at the moment. They’ve just run a competition so understandably want a break. Good luck to all who have entered the competition. However, do check the website out anyway. I’ve shared the link to the 100 word story section. You’ll be in for a very good read and will pick up a good feel of what flash fiction can do and be at this word count. So well worth checking out. Update:  I believe FFF are now reopen for the 100 word stories but I will be submitting material again at the weekend. Still check the site out though – it is a great read.

367450875_712376190902245_8080882626496330576_nScreenshot 2023-08-11 at 11-01-33 The Lakes by Allison Symes

As I write a lot of flash and short stories, I am always on the look out for sources of ideas. I use a variety of ways here – the random generators, which I’ve talked about many times. I have used (and still use) books of prompts (and have contributed to some). I also use story cubes. I am also inspired by books and characters by other writers, things I’ve seen on film or TV or heard on the radio.

Music can inspire too. I love to ask questions, my favourite probably being the old “what if” one. And going to workshops such as the ones at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick can also inspire ideas whether or not the workshop leader issues prompts themselves (and many do).

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Goodreads Author Blog – Selling Books, Buying Books

Understandably all writers want to sell their books. But what got us into writing in the first place? Our love of reading books by other authors!

I’ve just come back from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and had the great joy of selling some of mine. I came back with an interesting selection of titles which have gone on my To Be Read pile. I have started on a couple of them. Am loving what I have read so far and am looking forward to tackling the rest in due course.

The bonus for writers is we get to do two things we love – write our own stories and read other stories. This probably explains why most authors are not rich! It also helps a lot if you can arrange to have plenty of shelves.

I do know there is nothing else I would rather do – write (and hopefully sell) my own books and buy books from others. The written word (including via audio books and ebooks) is glorious. It is a great joy to me to have a book shelf dedicated to books written by friends of mine and signed by them. I am adding to my collection here too. Such a pleasure to do that!

Separately I have a section for the two flash fiction collections I’ve written and the anthologies I’ve contributed to over the years as well. It’s always a joy to add to that too.

Conclusion? Can’t have enough book shelves in my life but it is a nice problem to have.

Screenshot 2023-08-12 at 20-38-15 Selling Books Buying Books20230805_164239

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

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The September issue will be available during the last week of August. It is packed full of useful information.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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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Holiday Writing and Quizzing Characters

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good few days.
Am looking forward to a trip out with family to Windsor Castle later this week. I suspect there will opportunities for people watching. Whenever I go out anywhere, there usually is! Sometimes a snatch of dialogue will inspire a story. Sometimes a striking hat or other clothing item will make me think of a character of mine who might wear something similar and what situation they’re in. As ever, I just need something to get me started and getting out and about can help with that!

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Nice, cooler day today – Lady and I appreciated that.

Part 2 of my interview with YA fantasy author, Francesca Tyer, will be up on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Cracking interview. Link up on Friday. Be sure not to miss.

Now if you were temporarily allowed to bring one of your characters to life to ask them one question, who would you choose and what would you ask? Could be great material for a story or two here. Hmmm… something I too need to check out I think!

Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. These are always great fun. I do set exercises here. I find writing exercises a great way to put into practise a tip or two you’ve picked up. The nice thing with writing exercises? There is sure to be at least one or two which really suit the way you write. Practising writing to them helps build up your writing skills so worth a go for that alone.

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Wasn’t sorry for the rain yesterday evening. Has cooled things down though the grass is still like straw over the Recreation Ground. Not that it stopped Lady having a good time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie today.

Writing Tip: Quiz your characters. Find out what makes them tick. What wouldn’t they do in any circumstances? Your job here – put them in those circumstances and then see what they do. They will have to find a way of coping with it. Doesn’t necessarily have to be something “overly” dramatic.

For example, let’s say you have a character who doesn’t like the water. A friend is ill and someone is organising a charity swim to raise funds to help this friend. What would your character do? Sure, they could just donate but where’s the story in that?

What they would do so there is a story is learn to swim, take part in the event (though they probably wouldn’t do many lengths given the lack of experience here) but everyone is thrilled they’ve done this. That would make a nice human interest story. Your character has faced up to something they don’t like here. They are putting themselves out for someone else. It’s that which readers will like.

So think about something which would make your characters do something they wouldn’t ordinarily do. This can be taken in many directions. Have fun!

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I’m talking about Holiday Writing for Authors Electric this month. Do you do any and/or do you send your characters on holiday? Take your characters out of their normal environment and what could happen? I discuss this and more in this post. Hope you enjoy it.

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Bit of an odd day. Have gone from doing the ironing to painting a wood preservative on another fence panel. Oh the joys! So it is with great relief I am now back at the writing desk.

It was great to share Part 1 of the interview with Francesca Tyer on Chandler’s Ford Today yesterday. Am looking forward to sharing Part 2 on Friday.

Many thanks for the great comments coming in on Anniversary, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. This one has a dark twist – if you missed it, check out the link. I very much appreciate the feedback on this great site and if you want to see what flash fiction can be, this is a very good place to start.

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

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Flash fiction collections are a great way to show off what flash can do and be. Mine have a wide range of characters and situations in them. Equally The Great War by Dawn Kentish Knox is a wonderful book (100 x 100 word stories) all based on World War One. So flash works well for characterisation and themes then. Then there are the flash-in-novella books too.

There is more flexibility in flash than at first might appear to be the case. It is the top word count only you have to watch for but there is much you can do within that

I regularly share tips on flash writing via my author newsletter. Next one is due out on 1st July. If you’d like to sign up, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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It’s Monday once more. It’s still hot (in my case not helped by having an afternoon in the kitchen batch cooking though it will pay off later in the week!). Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Editor Edited.

 

One of the joys of flash (and there are many) is that it is a great format for turning the tables. In my The Terrified Dragon I do exactly that. Firstly, the expectation normally is the dragon would be terrifying. Not in this story from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Secondly, I then go on to show good reasons why it is terrified instead and have another character come to its aid. Great fun to write. Best kept as a very short story, anything else would be padding, and so flash is perfect for it.

Sometimes you just know when an idea comes to you that it works best in the shorter formats and with flash we have the ideal vehicle for the very short form. A single idea executed in the right amount of words works so well. Gauging whether an idea has “legs” for a longer format is not easy to get right. My gut instinct is to keep an idea tight – stick to the point of it and don’t elaborate further. Turning the table kind of stories tend to focus on one central action so this is why it works brilliantly when kept short.

May be an image of text that says "Flash with a Dash of History, Crime, Fantasy, and Dragons Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection story worlds"

I’ve sometimes used proverbs as title ideas (and often they end up being the theme as well). One of these is A Stitch In Time from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. I used a humorous slant on this one.

The great thing with using proverbs for fiction is the proverbs have a timeless quality to them. People will always identify with the point they’re making and that is something invaluable to use for your stories. People will always get the point you’re showing in your tales as a result. So don’t throw out that book of proverbs – you can make good use of it here.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Book Fairs

Do you go to book fairs? I hope so. I’m taking part in one in my area in July and am looking forward to that. It gives local authors a chance to show what they do and these things are especially useful in areas which have a lost a lot of their bookshops. We had a fantastic local one but that had to close due to the owners’ retirement. Much missed.

All of us as readers appreciate the works of authors. We wouldn’t be on Goodreads otherwise but authors do appreciate support from readers. Going to book fairs is just another way of showing that support. So if you have such an event coming up near you, try and get along. You may well be surprised at the range of works your local authors produce. I know I’m impressed with what is available in my area.

Besides which, these events are fun!

Screenshot 2023-06-17 at 19-54-49 Book Fairs

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Planning, Deadlines, and Research in Flash Fiction

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Really nice to be into spring/early summer weather now. Lady has loved it. Not too hot either. Putting finishing touches to my author newsletter, which will be out on Thursday, 1st June. I do enjoy compiling these. I try to make my newsletter something I would like to receive if someone else had written it. I try to take the same view with my stories and blogs too. It means I’m keeping the reader in mind, always.

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Another glorious day. Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler “mum” . Well, Lady treats heras a mum-like figure and always shows off in front of her! Quite sweet to see.

Posting early as out tonight but don’t forget my author newsletter is due out again on Thursday. If you would like news, tips, useful links etc (and especially around flash fiction), do sign up at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

A big hello to those who signed up since last time and just as big a hello for those who have been with me for longer.

Delighted that Bridge House Publishing will be having a celebration event at the end of the year. Am planning on going. These events are always great fun and it is lovely to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Also looking forward to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. I hope we get glorious weather for that. Am not expecting it for the BHP event given it is in December!

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I’m back on More Than Writers, the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers. I talk about Planning this time (and it does kind of tie in with my Chandler’s Ford Today post on outlining which I’ll share on Friday). Meantime, I hope you enjoy the MTW post and do decide if I need to be apologetic to Shakespeare or not!

Screenshot 2023-05-29 at 09-53-32 Planning by Allison Symes

I’ll be discussing To Outline or Not to Outline for Chandler’s Ford Today and will be looking at the advantages of doing so, plus acknowledging the disadvantages. I also share some thoughts on my approach to outlining and what I’ve found works for me. Link up on Friday.

I’ll be back on the More than Writers blog tomorrow (see above) and sending out my next author newsletter on Thursday. Can’t believe we’re almost at June.

Writing Tip: when you’ve read a book you love, why not jot down a couple of thoughts as to what especially gripped you about it? Almost certainly there will be pointers here you can then apply to your own writing. Oh and don’t forget about leaving a review in the usual places for the author, it all helps!

Hope you have had a good day. More glorious weather here. Lady has spent a lot time in the garden so I doubt we’ll see the deer back tonight. Lady’s scent will be everywhere!

Don’t forget if you want to go in for The Bridport Prize you’ve only got a couple of days left in which to do so – deadline is 31st May. There is a flash fiction category. Good luck if you are entering that or other writing competitions.

Writing for competitions does help you get used to writing to a deadline and a story of mine which didn’t get placed I’ve gone on to rework and have published elsewhere. Nothing is wasted. I’ve also found writing for competitions helps you develop the skill of looking at your story objectively during the editing process.

During that process, I ask myself what would the judge make of this? Are my characters making as much of an impact as I think they are? A break away – a decent one of at least a week – means you can come back to your work with fresh eyes. You’re more likely to spot weaknesses in the story doing that. If you think why did I write that, I could’ve expressed it much better, don’t despair. You’ve spotted what needs to be fixed.

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Can research come into flash fiction given its brevity? Yes, it can and does.

If I’m writing a historical piece, I need to know what could be expected to be found in the setting, the level of education my character is likely to have, and so on. None of that appears in the story itself but it does mean I will portray the character accurately.

I do “allow” my characters to speak in relatively modern English as reading old English, even in small quantities, can be taxing. The idea here is we as readers have been given a way to understand them but everything my character comes up with is plausible for who they are and their times. That is the important bit.

An example of this is Not Knowing from Tripping the Flash Fantastic where Elizabeth of York shares her feelings about her future now Bosworth has happened. All of it is reasonable especially her realisation she has to focus on “now,” the now being 1485, just after the defeat of Richard III.

May be an image of text that says "Flash with a Dash of History, Crime, Fantasy, and Dragons Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection story worlds"

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Purple Haze, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Do check it out here if you’ve missed it. (No teddy bears were harmed in the making of this story – now you have got to check it out, right?!).

Screenshot 2023-05-26 at 10-02-16 Purple Haze by Allison Symes

Bonus Post – 29th May
Nearly forgot to do it – oops! I blame the Bank Holiday sunny weather getting to my brain but nonetheless it IS Monday, It is time for another story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Reap What You Sew.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Am looking forward to taking part in a book fair near me in July. Great way to spread the word about flash fiction locally!

I often start my flash tales by working out the character I want to write about and which traits they have which have intrigued me enough to want to write their story up. I aim to justify every word I put in my fiction but I also want the characters to show me they’re worthy of being written up. I have to be intrigued by them first.

For me, character is the great driver here. A strong character can make all the difference to how successful a plot is. And when I think back to my favourite books and stories, it is nearly always the characters I remember so it pays to get them right.

May be an image of text that says "In the character -v- plot debate, I side with the character, no matter how oddball they are."

With both of my collections, I wanted to mix up the mood and the genre of the stories in them. I wanted humorous, poignant, crime, fantasy etc. I love reading anthologies and collections and appreciate a good mix. I think a mixture adds to the strength of the book. Makes them perfect for dipping into as well. I also wanted characters in a good range of situations and that would have to mean those couldn’t always be funny or tragic ones either.

I also find after writing, say, a couple of funny pieces, I want a change of mood in which to write. But once I’ve written some sad or serious ones, I want to switch right back to writing the lighter stories again. Mind you, mixing up like this keeps me on my toes and that’s never a bad thing.

Goodreads Author Blog – Do You Change Your Favourite Book List?

I suspect you may well have a favourite book list. I do. But do you ever change what is on it?
I do so every now and then but it is mainly to add things to it! The nice thing about favourites is nobody has the right to specify you can only have so many. Even if they did, I’d ignore them!

What is nice is trying to keep a balance on my list of funny books, crime books, fiction, and non-fiction, and it is always a joy to discover a new favourite. Doesn’t mean you cherish the old favourites any the less either.

What is nice is having favourites to pick in the first place.

Of course if you read ebooks as well, you could have two favourite book lists – one for the Kindle as well as your print versions!

Screenshot 2023-05-27 at 20-35-44 Do You Change Your Favourite Book List

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections


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Author News – Allison Symes – Spring 2023 Round Up

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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. Images of me at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, were taken by friends of mine, including the much missed Fiona Park, on my phone.
Hope you’ve had a great week. Lovely to have more publication news and it was great to discuss the importance of telling details for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group on Wednesday. Lady has had a great week and there was an unexpected visitor to the garden this week too. See below for more.

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Pleased to share Local Author News – Allison Symes – Spring 2023 Round Up for Chandler’s Ford Today. I am even more pleased to say there is a fair bit to round up here! Many thanks for the kind comments in on this one already.

It does pay every so often to look back at where you have come from as a writer and then look at where you are now. There will be progress. Sometimes this will come in recognizing one form of writing suits you better than another. Sometimes it will be having publication news.

Sometimes it will be developing your website and making it an interesting place for potential readers to visit. Sometimes it will be acknowledging mistakes and then not making those again. I say that because I was almost caught out by a vanity publisher many years ago. I now know the warning signs to watch out for.

One important lesson I’ve learned is to celebrate what may be considered the small steps you make as a writer. Without those, you can’t make the bigger ones.

Local Author News: Allison Symes – Spring 2023 Round Up

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Will be sharing Local Author News – Allison Symes – Spring 2023 Round Up for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. First time I’ve had to add a postscript to a post given my lovely publication news received earlier this week. See above.

Another glorious day here today and Lady got to play with her two best girlfriends today so she’s had a lovely time. No sign of the deer coming back though.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is next due out on 1st June so if you would like to sign up for tips, stories, news, and so forth, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Many thanks for the congratulations coming in on my post yesterday regarding the news my Desperately Seeking Talent is going to be published in the forthcoming Gifted anthology (Bridge House Publishing). Much appreciated, everyone.

Am currently working on a draft of a story for another competition and I hope to have that draft done in the next week. I will then rest it for a while before coming back to assess it with fresh eyes. It takes time but I have found that pays off. For me, it’s the only way I can re-read something of mine as if someone else had written it. It is that kind of distance you want too. You’ve got to be able to judge your work objectively.

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It’s Friday. It’s another Bank Holiday weekend in the UK. It’s time for a story. My latest on Friday Flash Fiction is called Purple Haze. Find out what a love for a colour did for my character, Sally. Hope you enjoy it.

Screenshot 2023-05-26 at 10-02-16 Purple Haze by Allison Symes

It was great to see everyone at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night and I am glad the session was useful. We were discussing telling details and how these can create stronger images in your readers’ minds. It’s an invaluable thing to do regardless of what form you write but in flash with its restricted word count, it pays off considerably and helps you to make the most of that word count.

Delighted to sign and return my contract for my story, Desperately Seeking Talent, to go in Gifted, the Bridge House Publishing anthology which will be out later this year. Always a pleasure to do that kind of task!

And if you’re wondering with a title like that, was the story great fun to write, I can tell you – yes if was!

Screenshot 2023-05-23 at 20-04-57 Bridge House Publishing Facebook

Hope you have had a good day. Gloriously sunny and warm here. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. I love talking about flash fiction as you may have noticed!

Having said that, the skills you learn in writing flash transfer well to other forms of writing which is why I believe all writers should try flash fiction writing. It takes away all fear of editing.

It is perhaps ironic that a restriction (in this case on upper word count) can fuel creativity as you learn to pick better words to use to create images for your reader. There is no room for the old purple prose. That’s a good thing. It helps you to cut it out immediately on your first edit. We all have wasted words. We might not be able to stop writing them but we can cut them out!

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

Fairytales with Bite – Characters (Acrostic)

C = Characters can make or break a plot so make them hook your readers in so they want to find out what happens to your characters.

H= Have your characters got a trait or a habit which shows a reader what kind of character they are?

A= Any magical talents/skills need to have in-built disadvantages as if anything and everything can be solved with using these, where’s the story?

R= Resist the temptation to tell readers what your characters are like, show them instead via your character’s attitudes and actions.

A = Actions, attitudes, attributes – all great ways to show readers what your characters are like.

C= Can readers understand where you characters are coming from ?

T= Test what your characters are made of by dropping them right in it – do they sink or swim?

E= Endeavour – your readers will want to see what your characters do to help themselves.

R= Remember your characters will have memories, a life before your story, which will colour their attitudes and actions when you write about them.

S= Story, story, story – what is their story and why do they deserve to have their story told? What is in it for the reader?

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This World and Others – Different Species

Most fictional worlds have more than one species living in them so how do they get on? Or do they do everything possible to avoid each other? What would happen when a common need means they do have to work together?

Does your setting have a dominant species and how did they get to that position? Is it ever threatened by another? What would they do to maintain their dominant position?

Do your species share a biology (I.e. they are all bipeds) or are the differences significant? Would the species prey on each other?

If you have a favourite species to write about, why is that? Think about the good and bad qualities of all your species. How can you make best use of these in your stories? Our planet would be a very different place without all the other species on it with us.

Would you have those who study the others species and report back? (Am thinking in terms of wildlife documentaries but studies could be used for spying and other activities).

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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History In Stories

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Coming up next week will be a flash fiction workshop I’m running and I am now booked in for a book fair in July. Not a bad week here then! Have a fabulous weekend. Lady has got to play with several of her friends this week so she has had a good week too.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share History in Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at how history crops up in various genres of fiction and why this can encourage empathy. It also goes a long way to explaining why so often writers, including yours truly, can have interesting internet search histories!

I also look at alternative history and why you have to know the rules, in this case the history, before you can break them, or in this case invent an alternative version. I guess that is the ultimate in the “what if” game for fiction writers!

History in Stories

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Looking forward to sharing History in Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. See above. History turns up in various genres, funnily enough, and I look at that in this post. I love reading historical works – fictional and otherwise.

History can also inspire your own stories. You look at what historical characters did way back when and figure out their motivations. You can then take that idea and use it to create a new story where you character acts from the same motivations in the present day or in the future or in another time period from the past. What would the consequence be? There would be some!

Then you could look at a character of yours acting from motivations which are the direct opposite. What would happen there?

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)

Glad to say I’m taking part in a local book fair in July. Am looking forward to sharing more details nearer the time. Am also running a flash fiction workshop on Zoom on Monday, 15th May. Looking forward to that.

Now looking for ideas is something we all need to do and I like to use a variety of methods here. As well as the random generators (which I sometimes use to trigger ideas for my non-fiction, I like to think about what it is I love about writing and why. That usually triggers an angle I can write about. I also think about my own writing journey and some of the pitfalls I’ve avoided and others I know about as topics for blogs can often come from sharing something about these. (I also hope they warn newer writers to be aware there are scams out there).

I think about books and stories which inspire me and why. I sometimes refer to books of ideas for writers as well. I look into what I like outside of writing because something there can inspire an idea for a character and from there a story to write up.

This is where entering competitions can help too. For short stories and flash fiction, the theme is often set and from there I can figure out how I approach this. I like to jot down different ideas which occur, rest these, then come back and write up the one that makes the most impact on me because I figure it may have the same effect on another reader/judge.

May be a graphic of studying, diary and text that says "WHAT'S NEXT Good question! One thing I've learned 1S the writing journey is a continual one."

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Pleased to share my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy The Down Side. Maybe the genie had a surprise here? See what you think. (And a huge thanks for the wonderful comments in on this one already).

Screenshot 2023-05-12 at 09-59-03 The Down Side by Allison Symes

I’m looking at History in Stories for my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. See above. I love history so this was a particular joy to write. I’ve written some historical flash fiction.

One example of this is Not Knowing from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. I take the viewpoint of Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s queen. What matters is sticking to the known facts. Where the fiction comes in here is I imagined what I thought she would feel like knowing her uncle Richard III has just been killed, feeling understandably apprehensive for the future, but hoping all would somehow work out. That to me is reasonable supposition.

May be a graphic of text that says "The trouble with history is, unless you are writing an alternative one, you can't change the ending. MP"

Hello to all who have signed up for my newsletter since last time and a hello to all who have been with me for longer! My next author newsletter will go out on 1st June and I share news, tips, story links etc. If this sounds of interest, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com to sign up.

Interesting thought: what would your characters put in a news letter if they could write one? What would they share? What would they keep quiet? I suspect there could be some great stories there. Will probably have a go at this myself at some point!

Fairytales with Bite – Ceremonies

I thought this was an apt topic given the UK has just seen the Coronation of King Charles III, the first such event in 70 years.

Thinking about your setting, what ceremonies would they have? Would everyone join in with them or are these things just for the privileged few? Do the ceremonies have a magical significance, a historical one, or both? Is magic used at the events themselves?
Equally do your characters have to get to a certain magical standard before they can take part in such things?

Thinking about the social status of your characters, are there different ceremonies depending on class? For example a wedding (or equivalent ceremony) would happen throughout the society you’ve created but those lower down the scale will almost certainly have to have a ceremony which is less rich in detail and therefore costs than those better off/higher up in society than they are.

What would your characters wear, eat, drink etc for such ceremonies? This would have to be significantly different from what they usually wear. Everyone would have to have some kind of “glad rags” for these.

Also, would most in society support these ceremonies or are there those who refuse to take part/support them? What would be their reasons? Is there any comeback on that? Ceremonies are often held to bring society together so what would society think about those who don’t want that?

Story ideas there I think!

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This World and Others – What do ALL your Characters Know and Why?

It has been a historic week in the UK with the Coronation of the new King so I wondered, in your setting, what would all of your characters know about their setting’s history and why? What would they be expected to know? How is their history taught? For example is magic used to bring history to life for students in a way that we would use documentaries, visits to historical sites etc to increase knowledge?

Equally are there aspects of history all of our characters know but never speak about on the grounds it is something they have to know to avoid landing themselves in it with the authorities? Authority is often keen for their peoples to know something horrid happened to Character XXX in the Year Dot because they did this or that. They’re trying to ensure it can’t happen again by frightening everybody with the knowledge here.

What codes of behaviour are expected from everybody and what happens to those who against these? Again this would be something your characters would be expected to know. They would also know the consequences of going against these. Authorities are usually pretty keen people know about that too. On a more mundane level, what do all of your characters know about traffic legislation? What do they have to contend with here that we would not?

Where characters do not know what they should do, why is this? Has anyone kept them in the dark deliberately and what are they hoping to achieve with that?

Hope you can get some good stories with these thoughts to think about.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Taking Stock

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend here. More to come this month too. Doesn’t affect the writing. I usually write in the evenings. Do you have a good time of day for writing? I prefer to write when I know I’ve got most of what else I have to do behind me for the day.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a good run round with her Aussie Shepherd friend this morning. I swam 100 lengths in my local pool today in a personal best time. Lady and I shall sleep well tonight! I did think when I resumed swimming seriously I would use the time in the pool to think out story lines, blog ideas etc. Not a bit of it. The mind goes blank. Mind you, that can be relaxing so maybe it is not a bad thing.

Reading Tip (makes a change, yes?): Mix up what you read in terms of format as well as genre. I like to mix up reading paperbacks with reading magazines and ebooks. I mix up fiction with non-fiction. Within fiction, I mix up humorous writing with crime fiction with contemporary with classic etc. It makes for an interesting reading life. That in turn inspires the writing too so win-win here.

May be an image of text that says "Reading can take you places without you having to lift a step."

I like the month of May. More evidence that spring is with us (usually, she says hastily!). My late grandmother was called May. Charming lady. Charming name. Charming month.

Author newsletter went out this morning. Am looking forward to sharing my review of Spring Trio staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group which I went to on Thursday. Post will be up on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. The combination of plays was interesting. Good twists too. And as a friend said you can’t beat good local live theatre. For me, it’s a fantastic and different way of taking in stories – what’s not to love there?

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Wow, the end of another month already. Don’t forget my author newsletter goes out on the first of each month. If you’d like to sign up head over to my website landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I have an exclusive story this time as well and I also break down how I wrote this. I know from having read interviews with authors where they’ve done this, you can learn so much from that technique. I hope you find it entertaining and useful. So look out for my latest missive in your inbox tomorrow!

A huge hello to all who have signed up and those who have done so recently.

Completely off topic, my better half recently redecorated the office in which I work. Has done a grand job. I am still sorting out the boxes of stuff I had on my desk. Who knew I had so much clutter on there? Well, me now! Am determined to keep desk decluttered. Wish me luck!

Allison Symes - May 2023 - Springing Ahead

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Glad to say it’s my turn on More than Writers, the blog spot from the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Taking Stock and why doing this every so often can give you the encouragement to keep going. We all need that kind of encouragement from time to time. Hope you find the post helpful.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I was talking about Reading Moods on Goodreads this week and this is where reading flash collections has an advantage. Short story anthologies share this advantage too. And yes I am biased given I have a foot in both camps but the bliss of these is you can mix up your reading mood within the covers of one book! I deliberately mixed up the mood of my stories in my two flash collections as I wanted to give a good flavour of what flash fiction is and can be. Good short story anthologies do the same thing. And as I’ve mentioned before, these books give you a chance to try out the works of authors new to you.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says "Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection of story worlds"

It’s Monday. Okay here in the UK it’s a Bank Holiday Monday but it’s still time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Circles.

 

Had a lovely time at the ACW Flash Fiction group on Wednesday. I always set exercises for these things and jot down ideas, along with the group, on the night of the meeting. I love live writing like that and everyone came up with ideas to work up later. I am hoping some at least will go and submit their finished pieces somewhere. Now have a few ideas to work up for story submissions. Win-win there!

This is where practicing writing to different prompts helps. It means you’re not fazed by whatever it is you’re set. Even if you haven’t done the actual kind of exercise before, you will know you can write to exercises and prompts because you’ve already got the practice in. It does pay off, honest!

May be an illustration of sugar candy and text that says "Add in "What If?" here and γσu'νe got the best writing prompts of the lot, I think. WHAT WHERE WHEN HOW WHY WHO"

Hope you have had a good day. Loved my trip out to the theatre on Thursday night (which consisted of three plays, more on that in a future Chandler’s Ford Today post). Mind you, there are always moments in a theatrical production which could be turned into a flash fiction story!

Flash focuses on one important moment for a character and in any great play, there are loads of those stand out moments which, individually, could be explored in prose. With a play you have to go on to the next moment and then the next one until you get to the end.

I often outline my character first and that will give me a good idea of the kind of situation they’re likely to find themselves in and from there I can work out what their most important moment is to write about.

May be an image of text that says "Where will your fiction take your readers? This world or somewhere else?"

Goodreads Author Blog – Reading Moods

Does your mood change what you were planning on reading? When life is especially grim, I will often turn to humorous works for sheer escapism. Indeed, I think humorous writing has a major role to play here. Funnily enough, the cosier end of the crime market can have a similar effect.

I have to be in a reasonably upbeat mood to begin with to cope with anything grim reading wise. That decision is backed by the fact I only have so much time in which to read so I want to make sure I enjoy what I do read! For non-fiction, if I’m reading history (as I currently am with 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke), I find mood matters less.

Regardless of mood, whatever I read, I want to “zip” along and finish my reading session feeling I could have carried on reading all night if it wasn’t for the need to get some sleep!

So over to you then. Do you find you have to be in the right mood to read at all? (Not a problem with me – I will read, it is just a question of what I read). Do you find your mood dictates what you read (as it can do for me)? Or is it a question of working your way through your To Be Read pile methodically?

Screenshot 2023-04-29 at 20-14-37 Reading Moods

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

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Book Recommendations

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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.
Not a bad week. Have had lovely spring weather. And I get to talk about Book Recommendations for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – always something I’m happy to talk about. Lady hasn’t seen quite so many of her friends this week so will be hoping for better I suspect next week!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s that time of the week once again – time for my Chandler’s Ford Today post. This time I’m talking about Book Recommendations and I share my criteria for my recommending any book to anyone. I also share what I would recommend at the moment (book recommendations are always updated!) and I discuss why I would recommend a series to writers. As ever, comments are welcome on the CFT page.

Book Recommendations

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Lovely day today – able to switch from good old mac to a body warmer. Will probably chuck it down tomorrow. Apologies if it does!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom next week. Always fun and I get to draft flash pieces during this too! Yes, I do set homework but I also do it (not in advance either) so again it helps me get more flash pieces written. I can work out what to do with them later on. I will find homes eventually and I also build up pieces for inclusion in a future collection.

I’ve found over time little is wasted in writing. Stories I haven’t been able to place I have rewritten or taken a character out and reused the character. You learn from what doesn’t work as well as from what does, which is another reason why I feel even rejections are not wasted experiences. Doesn’t stop them hurting at times. But you can learn from them.

May be an image of text that says "Rejections hurt but you can learn from them. Sometimes you can have work rejected, look at it again, and go ση to have an improed piece accepted elsewhere. But But be open to learning from the rejections."

Hope you have had a good day. Will be looking at Book Recommendations for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. Looking forward to sharing that. I’ll be setting out my criteria before I recommend a book to anyone. One nice bonus to going to writer events is you end up with a load of book recommendations made to you so no danger whatsoever of running out of things to read. (Perish that thought!).

I’ll be off soon to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform their latest production. Aptly called Spring Trio, this will consist of three one act plays. Looking forward to seeing that and it will be another Chandler’s Ford Today “works outing” given my lovely editor will be going as well. Review to follow in due course.

Writing Tip: Forget word counts. Is that odd for a flash fiction writer to say? Not really. Get your story or blog down first, then worry about the tidying up. Then worry about what the word count is – and sort accordingly. You really do need to work out what it is you are saying first, then worry about how many words you can use to do just that.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s the end of the week so time for another story of mine on Friday Flash Fiction. I hope you enjoy Going Home. Lovely to see some great comments coming in on this one already. Thanks, folks!
Screenshot 2023-04-21 at 09-47-09 Going Home by Allison Symes

Looking forward to a flash workshop I’ll be running in May. That one will be on Zoom (which is a fabulous word to get out in Scrabble by the way. Have only done it once. Got it on a treble word score and scored over 90 with it. My bragging rights are definitely word related!).

I love online and in person workshops, whether I am running them or going to them. Have learned plenty from both kinds.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon (1st May). To sign up for tips, news, story links etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com – and a huge hello to all who have already signed up. It is good to have you aboard!

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Must admit I do love picking out pieces to read at Open Prose Mic Nights and the like. I like to mix up the mood as well as the word count of the stories I pick for this. I also mix them up altogether for other occasions so I don’t just read the same ones. I also practice reading these and will often use Zoom to play back my readings so I can hear how they sound. I’ve found that facility so useful and it means I can ensure I get my timings right.

You usually have up to five minutes for these things. People don’t mind you coming in at under that time. What they don’t want is you going over it. Nor do you want to unintentionally irritate other performers doing that. And it is a good practice to get into for those times when you might want to submit a story for broadcasting. You will know how long time wise your story is and again ensure you fit in with the broadcaster’s requirements here. More likely to get a second bite of the cherry if you fit in!

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Fairytales with Bite – Twists

To my mind, all fairytales have twists in them. The “harmless old lady” who turns out to be a powerful magical being in disguise so watch how you treat them or she will make you pay is one of my favourite twists here. Fairytales taught me early on that it isn’t a good idea to judge by appearances alone. Plus the stories are full of unexpected/unlikely heroes/heroines who make the story work Like that aspect a lot too. A girl in rags isn’t usually considered to be a heroine but the world of the fairytale turns expectations upside down.

How can you make use of that for your stories? What would nobody expect your character to be able to do (inbuilt prejudices?) and they then go on to do them? What would be the consequences? Could these be humorous or tragic?

Regardless of what you write, when you use twists, they must be reasonable for the characters, your setting, and the story line. I find it helpful to work out what my twist will be first, then figure out how that could come about “naturally” in my story line. I think of this as working from B to A! (But it does work. Well worth trying. It means I know my twist is logical and makes sense).

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This World and Others – Setting Scenes

With my flash fiction, due to its limited word count, I tend to use selected details which will conjure up a wider picture of my setting in the reader’s mind. If I set a story in an alien world, I will use one or two details to show the setting cannot be on Earth/is definitely an alien world but I don’t go into chapter and verse. I will show you an alien who can make himself shrink so he can hide in a ping pong ball (and I have done this!). The fact the alien can shrink into that shows you that this creature is not of this world and probably needs to find better places in which to hide. (Yes, the tale was a humorous one. It is my oddest setting to date).

For longer stories, I’ve got the room to share a little bit more detail but I still try to avoid big swathes of description. I would rather show you my character spilling the tea out of her cheap crockery (rather than tell you this was in a drab lounge because you can imply if the crockery is cheap, where she is living is likely to be as well). I try to work out the details a reader couldn’t guess and ensure those facts go in – the rest they can and will work out. I love doing this myself when I’m reading works by other writers. I love being able to picture the scene without every little detail being “spoon fed” to me. I want to work some things out but need the right clues to do it.

As for twists, as mentioned in Fairytales with Bite above, I will ensure the right clues are put earlier on in the story so when the twist does come, readers can look back and see that yes, this twist could happen because the seeds were sown for it in paragraph three or what have you. (This where working out what the twist is first pays dividends and help me set my scenes more convincingly too).

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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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