Tag: Author Newsletters

Decisions

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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. Mine has got better as we slowly recover from the burglary. There is much to be said for keeping the drama strictly to the pages of fiction!
But Lady has seen her best friends this week and, especially on Wednesday, you could see she was being cheered up considerably by her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie. It was sweet to watch. Tuesday was so stressful.
It has been a relief to get back to writing. It has helped enormously in terms of feeling things are almost normal again and just being creative in and of itself, I’ve always found is its own reward especially in stressful times. I guess it is because it is an outlet.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Decisions, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at the topic from the viewpoints of writing decisions (including the choices characters have to make), career decisions, and the value of going to writing events and chatting with other writers, as you can often find out so much from this.

That in turn can lead you into writing paths you might not otherwise have found (more decisions to be made there!) and I can vouch for this. I met my publisher many years ago long before I wrote anything for them. Neither of us at the time could have known how things would pan out here. More details in the post.

https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/decisions/

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Things are slowly returning to normal here. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend today.

My Decisions post is up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and my next author newsletter will be out on 1st June.

To sign up do head over to my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I set a monthly theme for the newsletters, as well as sharing news, as it gives me a “peg” to hang tips and short posts on which I hope prove useful. I try to think of what I would look for in this newsletter if I was the one receiving it. I find this a useful technique here and for writing my fiction because it helps me to focus on what really matters here – giving something of value to readers (potential or actual).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Everything stops for tea, including changing the world apparently, as my character, George, testifies in my latest tale for Friday Flash Fiction called Tea Break. Hope you enjoy the story.
Screenshot 2024-05-24 at 11-56-13 Tea Break by Allison Symes

I like to hit the ground running with all of my stories so try to ensure my opening line intrigues in some way. Sometimes I use dialogue for this. Sometimes I set up an odd situation. Sometimes I show a character’s thoughts and ensure they’re thinking something interesting!

Sometimes I use questions as an opening line because you then know the story has to answer said question. All are fun to do and if you would like to check out more of what I do, the link takes you to my Amazon Author Central page.

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Fairytales With Bite – “Normal” Routines

I’d decided on this topic before discovering I’d been burgled earlier this week so I guess it is a timely topic! What would your magical characters consider to be their normal routines? Which do they like? Which do they tolerate (on the grounds they probably don’t have much say in the matter?

Can they ever get back to their normal routines after their adventures or do they have to make new ones and, if so, how easy or otherwise do they find that process? Are others around them, especially those who did not go on the adventures with them, understanding of this or not?

If you have more than one kind of magical character, where are there similarities in normal routines for the different types of being? Which would be radically different? Can this lead to conflict? Are there bridge builders who try to improve relationships between the species?

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This World and Others – Dealing with the Unexpected

Again, I came up with this topic before my burglary this week. I have indeed been dealing with the unexpected!

How do your characters cope with the unexpected? As with us, some will inevitably handle it badly, especially if they are routine dependent. Others won’t be fazed by the unexpected at all. Could you put the two types here together in a story?

What impact does the unexpected and how it is handled have on them both? Would the more confident one help the other one to cope with future unexpected events because of the way they show them how they handle this one right now?

Where does the unexpected come from incidentally? Is it something that could reasonably be expected at some point or is it truly coming out of nowhere? If your world is facing something unexpected, who takes charge to deal with it? Are they successful?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Tea Break, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction <a href=”https://t.co/Lf2Am2VCkA”>https://t.co/Lf2Am2VCkA</a&gt; Everything stops for tea, including changing the world apparently, as my character, George, testifies in my latest tale for Friday Flash Fiction called Tea Break. Hope you enjoy the story. <a href=”https://t.co/SThc7EAYKq”>pic.twitter.com/SThc7EAYKq</a></p>&mdash; Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AllisonSymes1/status/1794067934945464514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 24, 2024</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Decisions <a href=”https://t.co/JxpGU14jqa”>https://t.co/JxpGU14jqa</a&gt; Pleased to share Decisions, my latest post for CFT. I look at the topic from the viewpoints of writing decisions (including choices characters make), career decisions, and the value of going to writing events and chatting with other writers.</p>&mdash; Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AllisonSymes1/status/1794069007454077312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 24, 2024</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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Writing Magazines, Author Newsletters, and Notebooks

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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. Will be sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday but I don’t limit myself to five. I regularly use many more different writing exercises, which I also love, but had I written about all of those, I would have a long running series on my hands!
Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing some pals she hasn’t seen for a while, as well as her Hungarian Vizler chum. Back to the drizzly weather here unfortunately.

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Facebook – General

Busy day and evening today so am posting early.

Don’t forget the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon. You can subscribe for free at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

What do I love about quality writing magazines?

Well, firstly there is the great advice. Everyone can use those.

Secondly, they remind me I am part of a writing community. Being reminded of that is great especially when you can’t meet other writers in person as often as you’d like. (It’s just one reason I treasure going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, in August).

Thirdly, I do love the author interviews and always learn something useful from them.

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Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see some chums she hasn’t seen for a while and her Hungarian Vizler friend who acts a bit like a mum figure to her.

Have got a busy week ahead of me but it will be fun to go and see Waiting for Gateaux being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company on Thursday. Review will follow in due course on Chandler’s Ford Today. I have CFT to thank for introducing me to the wonderful world of local amateur theatre.

Did get my competition entry off over the weekend so well pleased with that. Will be thinking about drafting more stories soon. I like to have a stock in so when a suitable or open competition comes up, I have something that could be a contender. Suspect this may need to wait until the weekend though.

438681466_10161844752107053_3183887308183743724_nWhen I’m not writing for a specific deadline (whether that’s a post for Chandler’s Ford Today etc or a story competition), I will take some of the ideas I’ve jotted down in my notebook and then start drafting them as potential non-fiction articles. I know I will find a use for these at a later date. It is lovely to have work “ready to go” when an opportunity arises.

I will also draft flash fiction and short stories from my jottings for fiction ideas, even if I don’t have an immediate home for them, because I know there will be competitions later in the year where they could be placed.

For my regular deadlines, weekly or monthly, I try to stay ahead of myself in that I will have a post out there, one ready to put up, and ideas for ones beyond that. I find it pays. I’m never short of things to write up either.

One of the biggest aids to my creativity has been in getting to my desk knowing what I’m going to be writing. Just as with my fictional openings, for my writing overall, I do like to hit the ground running.

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Hope you have had a good day, More sunshine! Yes, Lady and I have made the most of it again. Got the lawn cut. She played with her football.

Am looking forward to sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I evaluate these five, all of which I use regularly. Link up on Friday.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday and going to see the wonderfully named Waiting For Gateaux being performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group on Thursday. Review to follow on CFT in due course but I must say this does sound more fun than Waiting for Godot. A busy week to come then but should be a fun one. (Now if only the news could get better!).

Writing Tip: Every so often I jot down potential ideas for future blog posts for Chandler’s Ford Today, Authors Electric, More than Writers, and ideas for possible articles for Writers’ Narrative. So the jotting down of ideas for future use doesn’t just have to apply to fiction. I find it just as useful for non-fiction.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget my next author newsletter is out on 1st May. Only a week to go, folks! If you’d like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As well as sending out my own newsletter, I subscribe to a number of other author ones too. I enjoy finding out what my favourite writers are getting up to with their books and stories and any tips they share.

Sometimes I will find out about competitions relevant to me I hadn’t known about. No one writer can know it all here. There are loads of writing competitions out there. It pays then to stay in touch with what is going on in the writing world and author newsletters, as well as the writing magazines, are great and fun ways to do this.

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It’s Monday. The rain is back. It is still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is Changing Time. Does Maxran get away with his scheme to make it seem as if he has been on time for once? Find out here and what will happen if he fails. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope to be submitting a flash piece later on today for a competition. I won’t hear back for some time but I like to get entries in well ahead of official deadlines. Also ensures I don’t forget to send entries in – that is so easy to do. It may be old school but paper diaries work! I use one all the time to plan out when I need to submit stories or articles. I find doing that keeps me on track.

So even if you don’t plan out your stories, you may find it pays to plan out your writing time, competition deadlines etc. I also plan out when to have my newsletter drafted by and give myself plenty of time to add in last bits of news etc. That pays too.

Being organised sounds dull (okay it is dull, it is not something to get excited about) but I have found it has made me more productive and I welcome that.

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I like to mix up what I get from my story titles. Sometimes I like to intrigue – see The Terrified Dragon (Tripping the Flash Fantastic). The obvious hook there is why would such a beast be scared and of what? Sometimes though I like to keep a title “open” such as Identity (also TTFF). There the hook is to find out what identity is being referred to and why it matters.

So I give good thought to what I want my titles to do. I also like a good mixture in collections of the specific and open titles. Also helps me get a good mixture of moods of story. I try to keep my titles short (usually) as they’re easier to remember. The majority of mine come in from one to five words though sometimes I have gone over that if I need more words to convey the mood I want to set.

I have a working title for my drafts. I find it helps. I do sometimes change that if a better idea occurs to me as I’m writing the first draft. I’ve learned not to be surprised when that happens and just go with it but having that starting point is useful for giving me to something to work to.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Lure of a Great Book

The lure of a great book, for me, is in its characterisation. I have got to want to find out what happens to them. For non-fiction, the “character” is the narrative voice and that has to grip me enough to make me keep on reading.

I find it is the characters I remember and from there the plot line rather than the other way around. If someone says Sam Vimes to me, I will picture his character in the Discworld books, then favourite lines by him or concerning him, the overall story etc. It is in that order though.

Once a book has got me gripped, that’s it. I’m away. To ensure I do get a good night’s sleep, I limit myself to a chapter or two. That can be difficult at times but I cheer myself up with the thought I will be having more to look forward to the following night.

The characters/narrative voice do have to get under your skin. They stay with you after the book has finished too. Now that is the sign of a great book if ever there was one. If I were to ask you to name your five top characters, I am sure you would have no trouble doing that. The problem would be in limiting it to just five.

This is why I think characters are so important. We get behind them, not the plot. We want them to succeed (and fulfil the plot but without the characters the whole thing falls apart anyway).

For non-fiction I tend to recall the authors/narrative voice but when these work really well, I am definitely going to be getting more books by them.

Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 19-49-59 The Lure of a Great Book

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Online Workshops and Broadcast News

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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. Delighted to share broadcast news this time (and there will be publication news in the next post too). Weather still all over the place though have had some spring sunshine. Lady is as loveable as ever and continues to have a great time with her pals.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today and this week I’m talking about Online Workshops. I discuss the advantages of these and share tips on how to make the best of them, whether you’re an attendee, a tutor, or, like me, you do both. Hope you find the post useful.

Mind you, if you find the refreshments on offer at an online workshop are not all they should be, you really do only have yourself to blame!

(Will be having some fabulous author interviews coming up on CFT in April and May. Am so looking forward to sharing these too. More to come later).

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Broadcast News: Am delighted to announce my story Budding Betrayals will be broadcast on Saturday 16th March on North Manchester FM. I have an unusual lead character in this one but you will have to listen in (live or on catch up) to find out more.

Hannah Kate is hosting a special Spring Equinox show in her Saturday afternoon slot and I am delighted my tale will be part of it. Many congratulations to every one else taking part too. See link and screenshot for more. I hope to share the link to the show itself sometime next week.

Screenshot 2024-03-14 at 09-49-18 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special Saturday 16 March 2-4pm - Hannah Kate

Today would’ve been my mother’s 90th birthday. Many thanks for the gift of reading, Mum. It has led to a lot!

Don’t forget my next author newsletter goes out on 1st April. Not an April Fool, honestly! To sign up for news, tips, prompts etc, head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I chose a monthly time slot deliberately as it gives me plenty of time to put the newsletter together and it isn’t too frequent an arrival in your inbox! All of the author newsletters I subscribe to are either monthly or occasional. Does anyone send one out weekly? How would you have the time?!

Having a newsletter forms part of my marketing, of course. It’s a joy to put together and it also gives me an opportunity to share links to my stories on Friday Flash Fiction for the month and to my videos on my YouTube channel. It makes a good “one stop shop” for me here.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am delighted to share my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction – Neighbours. Neighbours are not always what they appear to be and that is the case for the characters in this story. Hope you like it.

(From tomorrow, 16th March 2024, Friday Flash Fiction are running an annual competition in memory of Andrew Siderius. Check out the home page for more information).

Screenshot 2024-03-15 at 10-08-09 Neighbours by Allison SymesPleased to have another flash fiction tale due to be broadcast by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM this coming weekend. (Saturday 16th March 2024). I hope to share a link to the show itself sometime next week. This news came as a nice surprise today.

Am making good progress on what I hope will end up as a fourth flash fiction collection in due course too.

I love flash for its flexibility in mood, style, genre I write in, and even the word count I write to, as long as I don’t go over 1000 words. Great fun to do. It also makes for an excellent warm up writing exercise. Why not give it a go? I did. Two published books later and another in the pipeline, I’d say I made a good call!


My mother would’ve been 90 today. She saw my first published story in print. She would’ve been pleased about the flash fiction collections. I owe my love of stories and books in general to her. It is the gift which keeps on giving.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting later in the month. Always good fun. It’s also an opportunity for folk to share news of relevant competitions etc as no one writer can know them all and I was told about Flash NANO via the Flash Fiction group. Am appreciative of that!

I sometimes write what I call “slice of life” flash tales. One of these is Judgement Day from Tripping the Flash Fantastic which has a “punch in the gut” ending. You would root for my character in this one and that, of course, is the reaction I wanted to generate with this story.

When I write slice of life tales, I focus down on what matters most to my character and that then is the story. There will be change. There will be development. There will be reflection. All of this comes together to bring about an emotional tale, which I hope gives readers pause for thought. For me, that is the purpose of a slice of life tale.

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Fairytales With Bite – Humorous Fantasy

I am very fond of humorous fantasy and my favourite series here is the Discworld one by the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett. Humour can often get across points better than “telling”. People are more willing to “take in” humour.

Humour has its place in the world of the fairytale too and many of my flash fiction pieces fall in this category. I love ending a fairytale piece with a punchline ending.

One of my own favourites here is Making The Grade from From Light to Dark and Back Again. I often read this one at Open Prose Mic Nights as it is short (100 words), has a punchline ending, and involves a magical character and exams. All good fun!

I’ve found a good way into writing this kind of humorous fairytale is to have a strong character in mind first. Ensure you know what their main traits are. My character in the story above is determined to do things her way and a lot of the humour comes from that.

I also find knowing a rough idea of the ending helps. I often write down a potential punchline finish first and then work out what could lead to that. It means I have a logical structure in place. I’m just writing from B to A rather than A to B.

So think about what your characters would find funny. Also what situations could you put them in where humour could develop. I am a big fan of outlining (yes, even for 100 word stories) and find jotting down ideas helps clear my mind and sparks other ideas too. I then go with the one which has the biggest impact on me as that will be the same reaction other readers will have.

But do have a go at writing humorous fairytales. They are good fun. I find they work best when kept relatively short but there are places in the flash fiction market which would be open for these kinds of stories.

And they make people smile. I like that.

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This World and Others – Humour In Your Setting

Linking with Fairytales with Bite, I thought I’d look at humour in your setting. Does your setting have anything intrinsically funny about it? Does it have species which are considered to be funny by others and if so, what are they? What is it about them that produces the smiles? (I think there is something intrinsically amusing about the duck-billed platypus, for example. I like the way it breaks the rules. Mammals aren’t meant to lay eggs but it does).

What would your characters find funny? Do the powers that be in your setting encourage humour or suppress it, given humour is often linked to freedom of thought and speech? What would your characters do or where would they go to find humour? Is there an underground humour movement? (For more on this kind of idea do check out The Goodies’ show Goodies Rule UK? It is brilliant).

Do all of your main species have humour or do only some have it? What kind of problems could their humour cause, especially where it is not shared? Could you use humour in your stories to bring species together, maybe to even wrap up your stories?

Humour is a powerful and wonderful thing. Tastes in humour vary too. That could be something to be explored in your character portrayal too.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview: Val Penny – Hunter’s Secret, Writing a Series, and Blog Tours

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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 and photos of the lovely area of Northumberland taken by me, Allison Symes.
Coming to the end of my time in Northumberland as this goes out. Had a lovely time. Gorgeous scenery and the break has been much needed. Is lovely to be writing somewhere else now and again too. Lots of walking done – we’ve averaged five miles a day. Lady, because she has a fine line in zig-zagging everywhere like our dog, Gracie, used to do, has probably averaged at least a third again on top of that!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am thrilled to welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today as part of her blog tour for her new book, Hunter’s Secret. Val discusses her latest book in her DCI Hunter Wilson series and shares fabulous advice on blog tours, useful information for all writers. She also shares great advice on what writers can do to help themselves in the run up to publication day. Do enjoy a great read and good luck with the new book, Val.

Author Interview: Val Penny – Hunter’s Secret, Advice on Writing a Series, and Blog Tours

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Another glorious day at the Druridge Bay Country Park though this time we took a different direction on that glorious beach and had a fabulous three miles walk towards Cresswell. Then it was time for our around the lake walk after lunch and then coffee/hot chocolate and cake before heading back to our cottage. This is what we call a good day.

Lady having a wonderful play on the beach and a calming walk after lunch is what she calls a good day (though she wouldn’t have minded snaffling some cake from the couple next door to us at the cafe. Fortunately they liked dogs! Lady didn’t have any. I brought her own treats for cafe time). We worked out we’ve averaged five miles a day walking while we have been here (and on one particular day we have cause to think it was closer to eight). We have all been sleeping very well. No surprises there!

Will be sharing a great interview with Val Penny tomorrow on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link above. She discusses her new book, Hunter’s Secret, and shares a wealth of useful information especially on blog tours. So do watch out for this if you are planning a blog tour yourself.

I know I’ve been grateful for all I’ve learned from author interviews over the years, whether I’ve conducted them or not. And learning like this can help save you a great deal of time as you work out what is likely to work best for you.

 

Smashing day out again at Kielder Forest and Water Park. There are so many different walks here and it was a joy to do some different ones today (as well as admiring the marvellous view over the Kielder Viaduct again). There was a wonderful sunset as we came back to our cottage too. Autumn in Northumberland is lovely.

Finished listening to Thud (Terry Pratchett) today and started Feet of Clay (also Pratchett – it is a fabulous crime story. All of the Vimes novels in the Discworld canon stand alone as detective tales). I love the characterisation in Discworld and the dialogue between regular characters in particular. Vimes has a fine line in sarcasm.

Talking of dialogue, this is another area where writing flash fiction helps you hone this. Dialogue in flash fiction needs to be kept to the point. I love getting characters to talk but the need to keep things concise means I ensure all I get them to say is relevant to the story. Anything else gets cut.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share my latest tale, Lucky Thirteen, on Friday Flash Fiction. But is the number thirteen as lucky for my character, Shelley, as she thinks? Find out here.

Screenshot 2023-10-13 at 15-50-30 Lucky Thirteen by Allison Symes

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

The November edition of Writers’ Narrative will be out soon too. To make sure you don’t miss an issue, do subscribe (for free) at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

I do follow a number of author newsletters. I love reading them and it is a great way of keeping up with authors you like. I prepare mine over the course of the month, adding in news items as I get them in, and find that a useful way of compiling the next edition. Doesn’t take too long doing it this way either.

 

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting at the end of the month. It’s always great fun and I love the way information is shared two way. Also looking forward to running an editing workshop via Zoom in November for another writing group. Zoom has been a great tool for workshops.

I’ve mentioned before that flash makes for a great writing exercise and you can use this in different ways. Firstly, you can choose which word count to work to. After all, if you like to start your main writing work by a warm up exercise, why not write a flash fiction tale to 50 words, to 100 words, to 300 etc? It gives you something else to try and get published later as well.

Secondly, in writing flash, you write concisely. You can apply that to any other form of writing you do. Thirdly, if you are writing long form work, there will be a time when you are resting that ahead of editing work. Why not have fun writing the short forms in the meantime?

Less is More is the theme for flash fiction writers

Fairytales with Bite – Character Development

One of the things I love about Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is the way his characters develop over several novels. Sam Vimes, I think, is the best here. But what about our own characters? Can your characters develop even if they are “one-offs”?

For the vast majority of my flash fiction and short story work, my characters are “one-offs” but they develop over the course of the story I’ve put them in. After all, every story has to show change and that change is how our characters develop. Okay, the outcome might not always be a positive one but it will still be change. My characters are not the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning and that is how it should be.

So in a magical setting, how would your characters develop? Is it a question of improving their skill sets, their ability (or otherwise) to get on with others, their growing realisation that magic is not always a good thing etc? Development takes many forms after all and our stories can reflect that.

What I want to see in characters I read is to see how they change. Sometimes I’ll root for them because the change they’re going through is, to my mind, the right one. There are others I want to scream at because I feel they’re taking the wrong path (and often in the story, later on, I am proved to be right).

What I never want to read or write are static characters. Where is the interest there? For magical characters, development can be enhanced or complicated by their magical skills (or lack of).

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This World and Others – Supplies -Magical or Otherwise

How do your magical characters top up on supplies? Are there things which a wave of the old magic wand simply cannot produce? (I must admit if I was living in a magical world, I would want my food and drink produced naturally, the old school way if you like. I would be deeply suspicious of anything produced by magic which is meant to be edible. Snow White should have taken the same view!).

When your setting has things which have to be produced by means other than magic, how is this done? Is there agriculture, for example, as we would know it? Are the producers of non-magical items respected or looked down on? What is the attitude of the society around them?

Does your setting have to import its supplies from other sources (other planets, other countries on their own planet etc)? Does your setting ever have problems getting supplies in and how is that overcome? Does your setting trade magical skills to get in supplies from elsewhere? Who would organise getting those supplies? How would trading agreements work?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Screenshot 2023-09-25 at 12-14-31 Writers' Narrative eMagazine October 2023

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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What Makes A Character Work

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Jennifer C Wilson for taking the image of me about to run a workshop at Swanwick in 2022. Looking forward to catching up with you, Jen, at Swanwick 2023! Many thanks to Richard Hardie for taking the image of me at the Book Fair.
Hope you have had a good weekend. I’m off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick this coming weekend for a few days. I am planning to post but times will be different. Am looking forward to catching up with friends (the rest of the year I meet them online only) and attending the excellent workshops.

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Facebook – General

Someone hasn’t told the weather it’s August, have they? Oh well. On the plus side, the grass in my local park does now look and feel like grass as opposed to the straw it had resembled during that period of hot weather we did have.

My latest author newsletter went out earlier today – many thanks to all who have signed up. Hope you enjoy the latest one.

I came to author newsletters fairly late though I enjoy reading several and it is something I should’ve done sooner than I did. It is a useful way of keeping in touch. I aim to put in mine what I know I’d like to receive myself. I think that helps (and shows). It is a great joy putting these together – marketing can be fun, honest!

May be a doodle of text that says "E-MAIL out my NEWSLETTER I send author newsletter ơη the 1st of each month and share news, tips, story links newsletter EMAIL etc. talk about flash fiction and share thoughts ση writing it here tσơ."

Allison Symes - August 2023 - Out and (Flashing) About

Had to have a chuckle. Had an email in from Amazon today suggesting I might be interested in The Best of CafeLit 12. Credit where it’s due and all that – they’re not wrong.

Someone might have noticed though I asked Amazon to add it to my Author Central page, which they’ve done – speedily too – within minutes of my asking, and that’s because I’m one of the authors in here! Mind you, I have had this kind of email for From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic as well. Joined up thinking? Possibly not here.

In other news, have started packing for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Told you I was looking forward to it.

Bit of a strange day today. I’m standing down form a voluntary role I’ve carried out for some years. Absolutely right time to go. Things are developing for me in my church life and my writing one too, which means I no longer have the time for the voluntary role as well. Am still a member of the organisation concerned. I am looking forward to “just” being an ordinary member again though but when you have carried out a role for a long time, it does seem odd to be moving on.

Am so looking forward to sharing my review of Lilies on the Land, the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Group, for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Such a moving play and it brought back memories of stories I was told by my parents/grandparents. More in the post. I suspect the play has and will continue to bring back memories for others too.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter goes out on Tuesday. Still time to sign up at my landling page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter with envelope image

It’s my turn once again on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I talk about What Makes a Character Work. Hope you find the post useful and you can find out why the Sheriff of Nottingham as played by the late great Alan Rickman puts in an appearance here too.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day. Busy one as ever. Am currently working on a flash piece I hope to bet submitted probably just after I get back from Swanwick.

I want to get it to the “resting” stage before I go away. When I come back – well, that will be enough of a break to give me the chance to judge the tale objectively before sending it anywhere. It’s amazing how many things I can pick up when I’ve given a story proper rest period like that and it can make all the difference to whether a tale is accepted or not.

This is why I build in time for this to happen so I still submit well ahead of any deadline. It is a tip which works and has worked repeatedly for me which is why I am happy to recommend it. I like tried and tested tips a lot!

May be a graphic of lighting and text that says "Like these three points but I would also add in a reminder that editing takes longer than you think at times. 1) Dream 2) Set goal 3) Action"

It’s Monday. It’s the Monday before I go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick! Still time for a story though. My latest on YouTube is called Welcome to Earth. Hope you enjoy it.

Damp and drizzly here today. And the month we’re in is what exactly?! Having said that, I do not envy the poor souls with the heatwaves. I know I couldn’t cope with it, I can cope with the rain.

Heads up for those who send in stories to Friday Flash Fiction. For the next couple of weeks, they are only accepting the classic 75 to 100 word flash tales. See link for more information. Their contest ties in with the Edinburgh International Book Festival though, of course, the FFF one is purely online. Usual rule of one story a week applies. Good luck if you’re having a go at this.

Screenshot 2023-07-30 at 17-04-37 Edinburgh Festival Competition 2023

Hope you have had a good day. Changeable weather again here. This time next week I’ll be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and am so looking forward to it. Naturally I shall be spreading the word about flash fiction. Will report back for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course.

Talking of which, there is an offer on for the paperback version of From Light to Dark and Back Again on Amazon at the moment. You can check it out at the direct link below.

Goodreads Author Blog – Biographies

I’m currently reading London by Peter Ackroyd, a biography of the city which is an interesting way to approach writing history. Enjoying it immensely so far. But it led me to wonder about biographies, I have read some (mainly autobiographies) of figures I’m interested in. Agatha Christie’s autobiography is a fascinating read but unless the subject interests me, I don’t read much in this genre. No celebrity biographies for me!

Are there biographies you would recommend and what appeals about them? I do think the subject has to have led some kind of interesting life. With Agatha Christie, I am a huge fan of her books so am naturally interested in what she had to say about herself. I love history so the idea of London appealed to me too. (It helps I’m a Londoner by birth I suspect – another reason to be interested in the subject).

I suppose one reason I do like some of these is I am at that stage of life myself where I am interested in what others at this stage of life or beyond it have got to with theirs! This is another reason why I’m not interested in the younger celebrity books here.

I do wonder well what experience of life have you got other than that which made you famous? For me that isn’t enough, I like to read of how people struggled, made the breakthrough, made mistakes, picked themselves up again etc. Those are stories worth telling.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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