Tag: Authors Electric

Questioning Characters and Flash NANO

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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 the lovely Kielder Viaduct in Northumberland.
Why is the first week after a holiday so tough to get through?! Has been lovely catching up with friends again (and Lady would say the same if she could). Autumn well and truly here now as the temperature plummets. I like crisp autumn days though. It’s the cold, wet ones I could do without!

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Hope you have had a good day. Managed to get a good weight loss after my week away thanks to plenty of good fresh Northumberland air and loads of walking. Temperature has plummeted at home but I guess I am already acclimatised to it!

When do you know a story is special to you? For me, it is when the characters stand out and I can easily quote lines from the tale. I’ll be talking more about this in my More than Writers post for the Association of Christian Writers later this month.

Meantime, I’ll be talking about Books on the Radio for Authors Electric tomorrow and will share the link then. Books are meant to be read and listened to, I think. I cherish memories of being read to as a child.

My love of books started right there (and is one reason why I was thrilled my late mother got to see my first story in print and, later, my late father got to see From Light to Dark and Back Again). Radio is a fabulous way of keeping the oral storytelling tradition going too.

Don’t forget to check out the October issue of Writers’ Narrative. As the nights draw in earlier, what more encouragement do you need to settle in for a great read?

 

I’m pleased to say Jennifer C Wilson will be back on Chandler’s Ford Today this week talking about The Joy of Writing Groups and Workshops. She leads the North Tyneside Writers’ Circle and their anthology, Black Coal, White Sands, has recently been released. More about this on Friday but she will be sharing lots of wonderful advice on what to look for in a writing group if you are considering joining one. Am looking forward to sharing this – I know it will be useful to many.

I mentioned yesterday I’d be writing about Scene Setting as well for CFT. (See post below). That I hope to post on 27th October. So plenty of good things coming up!

I must admit that writing regular columns, whether they’re weekly or monthly, soon shows me how quickly the year is passing!

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Have spent the day catching up with various things after our break. Nice to get Lady back to her usual park walk and play. She loved it too. Managed to get some writing done too last night though back to normal routine today.

I plan to look at Scene Setting for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. One bit of sad news is that The Chameleon Theatre Group have had to cancel their production of Wyrd Sisters. I do hope they can come back to this at another time as I know they’d perform it brilliantly (and the story itself is so good). Their next production will be the pantomime in January. My wait to see a Discworld play goes on a bit longer then!

Anyone watching their weight may well sympathise with my character, Shelley, in Lucky Thirteen, my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction. If my Slimming World consultant is reading this, I was not guilty of this on my recent holiday, honest!
Screenshot 2023-10-13 at 15-50-30 Lucky Thirteen by Allison SymesNow home from a great holiday in Northumberland. Very grateful for good weather too. Loved all the walking. Lady loved it too though was very tired each night. Mind you, we averaged a 5-6 miles walk each day. It is good to be home again though too.

Do you send your characters on holiday or enjoy reading works by other writers who do? I must admit I don’t do this myself but my favourite book along these lines is probably Nemesis by Agatha Christie. It’s amazing what Miss Marple can ferret out when sent on a coach trip!

Many thanks to those who took part in my recent poll over a topic for the next Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group meeting later this month. Votes noted and will be honoured! Next topic will be Marketing Your Flash Fiction.

Always a joy to talk or write about flash fiction

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I’ll be taking part again in Flash NANO which starts on 1st November. I did this last year and ended up with thirty new stories, some of which I have since worked on and submitted to online websites and to Hannah Kate’s festive flash fiction show. Find out more about Flash NANO at Nancy Stohlman’s website below.

I had a ball drafting my thirty stories last year and am looking forward to repeating that experience this time! Unlike NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where you write 50,000 words over the month of November, with Flash NANO you are given a prompt for each day of the month.

I found it useful to draft something each day and then I came back later when I had more time to finish pieces off. Sometimes I completed the first draft on the same day but what matters here is getting something down. I also found the range of prompts interesting too, some of which I had done before, others I had not.

If you’re interested in flash fiction, I strongly recommend giving this a try because even if you can’t do it for the whole of November, you will still get more stories written.

 

It’s Monday. It’s my first Monday back after a much appreciated holiday. It’s cold. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is The View and is loosely inspired by my recent break. Hope you enjoy it.

 

I mentioned yesterday (see below) I ask questions about/of my characters but I also quiz myself when I’m outlining a story. I want to ensure I am committed to the idea and that it is as strong as I first thought. So I ask myself what mood I want the story to be, which character would serve that best and why, and whether it is going to be a 100 word story, such as I write for Friday Flash Fiction) or a longer flash piece/short story.

I look at why I want to write the story too. For example, if I want to write a funny one, is it because an idea has come to me that would work well humorously or do I want to write something to cheer myself (and hopefully others) up. Both views are fine but I need to be clear in my own mind as to why I am writing the story this way.

Then, with my characters quizzed too, off I go with the first draft. One joy of flash writing though is this process doesn’t take long but I have found, once done, I get that first draft done more quickly too.

Where will your fiction take your readers
Some questions I ask about/of my characters as I outline them include:-

1. What is your major trait and, more importantly, why? What kind of trouble could this lead you into?
2. What would you never do and why?
3. What do you want from life and why?
4. What drives you?

For a flash piece, my answers to these are kept short. If I was writing a longer piece, I would extend those answers as I would need further information. The joy of questions like these are their adaptability to whatever you’re writing. I find it is a question of working out what you need to know.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Kindle

My favourite book format is the paperback but must admit you can’t beat the Kindle for when going on holiday. No more worries about how many books I can take with me. Also takes less room in the suitcase.

I recently finished Churchill’s Wizards on Kindle. Great read. Interesting look at trickery used against Nazi Germany.

Books like this (and non-fiction generally) often work brilliantly as ebooks, thanks to indexes acting as hyperlinks, making looking something up a doddle.

I also like being able to adjust fonts and font sizes and display on ebooks. What I need to remember to do when at home is mix up my reading to include the Kindle more so I don’t just use it when away.

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My flash collections are available in Kindle and paperback

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Reading and Writing Seasons

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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 Janet Williams (my lovely CFT editor) for the image of me at the Book Fair in July. It is a great marketing shot!
Hope you have had a good weekend. It was a mixture of Zoom (running a workshop and having lovely chats with writer friends and family), painting a fence with wood treatment, sunshine, heavy rain, taking the dog out and, of course, writing. Busy but that’s how I like it. Here’s to a good week ahead of us.

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Facebook – General

Posting earlier than usual due to a meeting later. Hope you have had a good day. Have spent a lot of the day getting wet. Only one time was fun – when I was in the swimming pool!

Will be looking at Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Put your thinking caps on and see if you can name some of your favourite supporting “cast” from books and stories as comments are always welcome on the CFT page. Link up on Friday. My problem with this post? Making myself limit the numbers of favourites I could submit! I could have gone on for some time. Best not, I think, but am looking forward to sharing the post.

Writing Tip for Bloggers: Don’t forget you can make use of the random generators (especially those on theme and questions) to trigger thoughts for blog post ideas. I have used pictures randomly generated to trigger ideas for a post as well.

Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post, Reading and Writing Seasons. I look at what I mean by this and discuss how the writing season in particular has its dips but it helps to be aware of these. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Lady and I had a soaking on our trip out today. Boy, did it bucket down. She dries off quicker than I do though!

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on Time Travel, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. If you missed it, do check out the link. Sometimes an image just puts a story idea into my head and that was the case here. The image here was of a photo album. See what I made of that in the story.

I do sometimes use my own photos for this kind of prompt but also the random picture generators. Those are to an extent better as I don’t know what will come up from those.
Screenshot 2023-09-15 at 19-00-56 Time Travel by Allison Symes

Many thanks to the lovely people at the Spiderplant writing group for making me so welcome via Zoom this morning (Saturday, 16th September 2023). It was a pleasure to share my flash fiction workshop with you. I hope you find the hints and tips (which can be applied to almost every form of writing) will prove useful. 

I’ll be looking at Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and am pleased to say there will be further author interviews in the next couple of months. Plenty to look out for then. I love conducting as well as reading/listening to author interviews.

Always plenty to learn (which I think is one of the great strengths of creative writing. It stretches your brain and you always seek to improve on what what you do).

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Have to post a bit earlier than usual today. Next couple of weeks or so are going to be especially busy but this is where planning out my writing time is helpful. I use this to help me work out what time I do have and then I can deduce how I can make the best use of these “slots”.

Drafting flash fiction pieces will come into it. I often use small pockets of time to jot down ideas for those pieces or even the first draft of one, based on say a title idea I’ve already jotted down in a previous pocket of time I had to hand. Overall, I get more written. Like that a lot.

When out and about I tend to use Evernote on my phone for this. At home, it’s back to old school ways with the good old notebook and pen. But however you do it, it is the use of those small pockets of time which can help you (and do help me) to end up with more written than you would otherwise have done.

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It’s Monday. It has been bucketing down. The darker evenings are drawing in. Have had to dig out my boots so I can walk the dog. And it is still Monday. Time for another story from me then. Hope you enjoy my thoughtful piece, A New Life, on YouTube.

One thing I watch out for in my stories (flash and standard short ones) is not to put anything into the story which could date it, unless I am specifically writing a historical fiction piece. Sometimes a story can become a historical fiction piece when real life events overtake it.

My story, Jubilee, in The Best of CafeLit 12 is like that given the background to it was the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and at the time I wrote it, I was looking forward to seeing what those celebrations would be like.

Her Majesty’s sad passing has now made that tale a historical piece but these things happen. What I try to do with stories where this is a possibility is to make the theme a universal one. In this case it was the theme of someone beginning to make new friends after a difficult time in their life. There is never a time when that theme won’t be relevant.

What I won’t do is put products into a story unless I want to use them to convey a certain era. For example, I would not refer to Betamax video or CDs unless I wanted those to reflect what my character owns and give a time setting that way.

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It was wonderful sharing something of the joy of flash fiction writing with the Spiderplant writing group this morning.

Flash has certainly taught me never to fear editing or being edited again, which is handy to say the least. It has also shown up my wasted words and repeated phrases, which are always useful to know as these are the first things I cut on my first edit.

Okay, I wish I could stop myself from writing the things in the first place but the next best thing is to be aware of them so you can remove them later. I take some comfort in knowing every writer has their own pet phrases and words here!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Early Books

Do you recall the early books which were used to introduce you to the joys of reading? I have some memories of the Janet and John books but I was much happier when I was able to choose books of my own to read. I am pleased that now there is far more variety with books designed to encourage the reluctant readers. In my school days, there wasn’t much at all. There was less sympathy too for those who found reading difficult. Some things have got much better.

What amuses me somewhat is when I was bringing up my own child the Spot the dog books were popular. I am sure they still are and we liked them too along with books such as the fabulous The Gruffalo and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. These things will be timeless. These days, said child as an adult loves reading political history. It is hard to imagine a greater contrast in types of book enjoyed!

What matters then is encouraging that love of reading as early as possible, to have help where reading is difficult (there is a book type out there for everyone to love and enjoy, honest, and there is help available for the difficulties), and to nourish the love of stories.

Early books matter. I couldn’t write one myself but I admire those who can. Those writers are building the foundations for a lifetime of happy reading which is such a worthwhile thing to do.

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Getting the Most From an In Person Workshop

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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 of my books in the Swanwick Book Room. Almost every author does this! Many thanks to Julia Pattison and Janet Williams for pictures of me at Swanwick and the Book Fair respectively.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has got better as the week has gone on. Nice to be back out walking the dog and she has been glad to be seeing her dog friends again. Our wildflower meadow is looking especially nice right now – see photo below taken by me. (Oh and it’s double blog time as well as both my CFT and Authors Electric posts came out on Friday, 18th August 2023).

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Authors Electric
Double blog post Friday today! First up, it’s my turn on Authors Electric. I’m discussing Book Fairs and Writing Retreats. The last month has seen me happily busy with both! I share some thoughts on editing too given I was running a workshop on that for the writing retreat I was on.

Hope you find the thoughts there useful especially as I discuss how to give the Procrastination Monster and the Imposter Fiend a very hard time indeed.

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Chandler’s Ford Today

The second of my two blogs out today is my usual weekly one for Chandler’s Ford Today. This time I look at Getting the Most from an In Person Workshop and I hope you find the thoughts here useful. I share what I look for in a workshop like this whether I run or go to them.

Getting the Most From An In Person Workshop

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It’s been a week since I returned home from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Fabulous time. Glad to be home but also miss Swanwick dreadfully! Will be looking at Getting the Most from an In Person Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. See above.

Am also looking forward to the return of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Will be glad to see you good people! Am sure we will get some useful writing done too.

Writing Tip: Plan ahead for markets you’ve got in mind. Entering competitions is good practice for this (and if you get listed or win, even better!). They get you used to deadlines for a start.

But many markets, especially those that are seasonally based, will be thinking months ahead of the season in question. One positive thing here is these seasons come round, literally time and again, so you can always plan a story for another year if you miss the current one.

I do write, for example, festive flash fiction as and when throughout the year. Sometimes I find a home for it in the same year. Sometimes it waits for another year but I do know I’ve got something. I also try to build up a small stock of stories for seasonal use given I know the season will come around again. (Doesn’t have to be the obvious calendar based seasons either. Bear in mind there are holiday seasons for winter and summer. There are seasons in sport etc.).

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Pleased to say the September issue of Writers’ Narrative magazine will be out in the last week of August. Do watch out for it. Am pleased to share tasters in the photos below. Be sure not to miss out. The topic this time will be marketing and the magazine is packed full of useful information for any and every writer.

Am practicing what I preach here too. My Chandler’s Ford Today post will be about Getting the Most from an In Person Workshop. Having just run one at Swanwick now I am marketing the idea of going to them and running them. I’ll be sharing useful tips for getting the most out of workshops whatever side of the desk you are on (and always giving self explanatory post titles is a good marketing start!). Link up on Friday. See above.

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Nothing from me on Friday Flash Fiction this time though I hope to rectify it soon but why not treat yourself to a read of some wonderful stories here. Also please note there is a change of deadline for submissions here – see top of page on link and screenshot.

Screenshot 2023-08-18 at 17-24-00 100-Word Stories


It’s worth keeping an eye out on the writing competitions for ideas for themes, even if you don’t enter the competitions themselves. I’ve done this a few times when I’ve spotted the competition too late to enter it but like the look of the theme and think I can use that. I do too.

Proverbs can make great themes and often the topic they suggest will come up time and again so is worth writing stories about. For example, take the proverb a stitch in time saves nine. You can have various characters in situations and settings showing that to be true. (I used this as a a title for a story in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Proverbs are versatile like this). You could use that proverb as the basis for a love story, a crime one and so on.

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Just to flag up there’s an offer on Amazon at the moment on the paperback of From Light to Dark and Back Again. Check out the link below.

When writing flash pieces, I focus on my character as I’ve got to know where they’re coming from (and what is behind that. This is where knowing their major trait and likely attitudes coming from it is so helpful). It is then a question of working out whether I will then use the first person or the third.

I try to mix this up. I have used first person more with flash as it is so immediate but I don’t want to use it all the time. It is not always the best option. I have to figure out what would work best for my character and their situation. But this is good fun!

And for my collections, I had a fabulous time putting the stories together. I hope that comes through in the tales themselves.


Fairytales with Bite – Magical Services For Hire

In your setting, is everyone magical? If not, are there services which people can buy in as and when they need them? Who would run these services? Are there any standards services have to stick to (and what would be the consequences if they didn’t?). What kind of character would need to buy in a service? Is it easy to get the services needed?

If the services doesn’t deliver, is there room for redress? How could a non-magical character get justice here against someone who has conned them? How did your setting develop the need to be able to hire services out? Can the government use these services for their own ends – or is this a way of controlling who can access these things?

Name an industry and you can name a con artist connected with it. There is even more scope for this with a magical industry! But this could form the basis of humorous stories, especially if the con artist is forced to change their ways. If a customer turns out to be someone they know or someone they would like to get to know better, could they still con them?

Where you have things like magical shops, what would they stock? How do they obtain their products? Are products tried and tested? And think about your customers. Why is someone in need of these things? Does the services they buy in make a difference to their mission and if so how? If not, was it a question of bringing in these things as a kind of confidence boost? Also, did it work?

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This World and Others – Guilds and Commercial Bodies

If you have a magical industry, are there guilds and other commercial bodies which control the running of these things? (Best fantasy guilds of all time are the ones Terry Pratchett has in his Discworld series incidentally!). Who would run these things? Are they answerable to the government or do they control the politicians?

Who set the guilds/commercial bodies up in the first place? Did they come into being by consent or were there unpleasant historical episodes which led to them being formed? Did those who control them have to fight their way to the top? Do they still have to fight to stay at the top?

How can people join the builds/commercial bodies? Do they offer apprenticeships? Are there preferred organisations here? Are there ones which people only go for because they literally have no choice? Are the guilds/commercial bodies the same as they they started or have they had to adapt? Were changes welcomed? What rules do they have to stand by? What rules do they find are useful (even if not legally enforceable?).

How does commerce come into the lives of your characters? Does it help them or get in their way?
Thinking about these things can help you picture your world as all settings will need to have employers and employees. Where you have got those you have a financial system of sorts behind them. This is where the guilds could come in and there could be good stories to be written about what goes on within their organisations.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

September issue due out in last week of August.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

 

 

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Websites – Why A Writer Needs One

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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 Wendy H Jones, Editor in Chief of Writers’ Narrative, for supplying the images of the new online magazine (due out very soon, folks. Don’t miss it). Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking the image of me in “full flow” at the recent Book Fair.
Have had a good week, hope you have too. Lady has got to show off her ball retrieving skills in front of her Hungarian Vizler friend for most of the week so she has had a good week too (and her friend looks on indulgently almost like a proud Mum!). Oh and it is fabulous to be able to share publication news again – more below.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to share Websites – Why A Writer Needs One for Chandler’s Ford Today. I share tips I’ve found useful in developing my own website. The good news is you don’t have to do everything at once here. I hope you find the post useful.

Websites – Why A Writer Needs One

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Am delighted to say The Best of CafeLit 12 is now out. Many congratulations to all of the writers with work in here, many of whom I know well. That’s a second joy right there! The first joy? Being in there myself, of course, with my story, Jubilee. (There will be a third joy later on at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event In December – looking forward to that already).

 

I’ll be talking about websites for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Every writer needs one but I share tips and how I started out (simple) and then moved up as and when I needed to do so. More later in the week.

Writing Tip: What does your character want? What drives them? What gets in their way? Answers to those three questions alone will give you a basic outline. Outlines don’t need to be complicated.

I’ve found taking a little time to figure questions like this out saves me a great deal of time later on. I’ve got the structure in place so it is then a question of whether I’ve written the story as well as I could do. It is then and only then I look at my phrasing etc. Inevitably there are things I can tighten up but I know I won’t have to worry about the structure. That alone for me is worth having a outline for.

May be an illustration of text that says "I find outlining encourages creativity. I work out who my characters are and why) and then off I go with the first draft of their story കക"

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my new story, Doing Time. Hope you enjoy it. (And a huge thanks to those who have kindly commented on this one already).

Screenshot 2023-07-21 at 09-55-45 Doing Time by Allison Symes

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my Authors Electric post for July where I talked about Books Which Worked and Those Which Don’t. Not the snappiest title I’ve ever come up with, I admit, but it doe get to the heart of the matter! If you missed it first go, please check it out here.

Another benefit to flash fiction writing here – you get used to the word count and so much of that is applicable to blogging as well!
Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 10-08-08 Books Which Work and Those Which Don’t by Allison SymesI outline flash fiction tales as well as my longer short stories. The outlines for flash are merely shorter but they help me get my structure right from the start (as I mentioned over on my main author page on Facebook earlier).

When I write the ending first (for a humorous punch line tale or a twist one), I just outline backwards to get to a logical starting point. I only outline what I need to know. What a writer needs to know will vary but knowing your character well is a good failsafe.

Knowing your character well enough means you will have a a greater understanding of what motivates them and that in turn will drive their actions and reactions.

May be an image of tick and text that says "9.. Understanding what makes US tick is crucial for understanding what makes your characters tick."

Fairytales with Bite – Crime Solving in the Magical World

Where you have power, you have abuse of power. In the magical world there needs to be a system in place where the powerful cannot just ride roughshod over the others in their world. If they could, there would be no stories, other than bleak ones about how they got their own way all the time. Would be a depressing (and I suspect boring) read.

So there needs to be a way of holding them to account. There needs to be at least one way of dealing with crime. Abuse of power so often leads to that too!

So what kinds of magical activity would be considered criminal? How was this decided on? Who upholds standards here? Is there such a thing as a magical police force and, if so, are they given extra powers to keep the rest of the magical world in check? How are they themselves held to account? Would they have detectives as we know them and what kinds of cases would they need to resolve?

There is potential for humour there too. How would those charged with dealing with magical crime interact with each other? How would the general population regard them?

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This World and Others – Unique Qualities

Think about what unique qualities your world has. How would these impact on the way your characters lead their lives? Are those qualities imposed on the world due to geographical factors? Or are these qualities which have developed as a result of political actions, including warfare?

What unique qualities do your characters have in your setting? Have they needed to develop these to cope with their environment? For example, if the land is unstable, does that mean your characters have had to be able to fly by their own powers? How have they had to adapt where they live (presumably not on the ground)? Would that put pressure on available spaces to live?

Think about what makes your world attractive to you to write about – can you keep this going? There has to be something which appeals to you and which will continue to appeal. Do study other series (the Discworld one by the late great Terry Pratchett would be a great place to start). Definitely outline what makes your world stand out – its advantages and the disadvantages. That will throw up things your characters have to find ways of dealing with and there could be great stories in that alone.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Books Which Work and Those Which Don’t

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Not bad here. Glad to spread good news about the forthcoming monthly online magazine, Writers’ Narrative. This is written by writers for writers and the first issue will be out soon. More details below. Am very pleased to be part of this. (Images kindly provided for Writers’ Narrative by Wendy H Jones, Editor in Chief).

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Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric once more. This month I talk about Books Which Work and Those Which Don’t. I do love titles which get to the heart of the matter! Hope you enjoy the post.

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Back to the changeable weather today but Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend so was very happy with that.

Will be looking at Websites – Why A Writer Needs One for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on Friday. Looking forward to the next Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Group meeting next week too.

The countdown to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick starts about now. Well, at least it does for me! So looking forward to catching up with friends and making new ones and the workshops are always an inspiration.

I’m chatting about Books Which Work and Those That Don’t for Authors Electric – link up tomorrow. See above.

May be a graphic of 1 person and text that says "The writing life is addictive but fun. The support of other writers makes a huge difference."Better day weather wise today though was thankful to avoid most of the rain yesterday. Still our park is looking much better than it had done. The grass is looking like grass as opposed to straw.

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my post yesterday about Writers’ Narrative. Much appreciated. I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with editor in chief, Wendy H Jones, about the new writing magazine, in a couple of weeks time on Chandler’s Ford Today.

Meantime I’ll be looking at websites and useful material for them for the post coming up on CFT this coming week. Hope you will find both posts useful. More on each nearer the time.

15th July – Val Penny blog tour
So pleased to be part of Val Penny’s book blog tour to link in with the re-release of Hunter’s Blood. The tour is organised by Lynsey Adams but do check the tour out. And good luck, Val.
Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 20-42-30 Reading Between the Lines Online Book PR15th July – second post
Am pleased to share more news about Writers’ Narrative, the forthcoming new online writing magazine. Written by writers for writers. The first issue will be out soon and the best way to ensure you don’t miss an edition is to subscribe to it. Best news of all – this is free – do see the link (and meet the team as well while there). The magazine will be a monthly one and packed full of advice and aspects of the writing world you will not want to miss. Oh and check out the cover on the first one – it’s fabulous.

Writers' Narrative

 

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Many thanks for the great comments coming in on The Neighbours, my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction. This is the only tale I’ve written which is inspired by Shakespeare, Terry Pratchett, and the female characters from long running sitcom, The Last of the Summer Wine. It’s a good mix though! If you missed it, do check out the link.

(Oh and many congratulations to other members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group for having work on here this week as well. Always good to see that).

Screenshot 2023-07-14 at 10-10-17 The Neighbours by Allison Symes

It’s Monday. I just about rescued my washing in time from a heavy downpour when the forecast said there would be no rain. (Have always felt the forecast is more like an intelligent bet – and sometimes it does not pay off!). Time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Porridge.

 

I’ve mentioned before that telling details, which includes having a hook-them-in title, are crucial components for flash stories. With no room for much in the way of description, you do have to show only what your readers what they need to know and leave it there. The rest can be implied.

This is where using the senses can come in handy. Rather than get my character to wear a drab coat, I would get them to wear a beige one. It is specific. Beige is considered a drab colour. Job done there.

Sometimes for locations you can use sound to imply where a character has to be. If they’re listening to a wide variety of bird song, they’re unlikely to be in the middle of a big city. Other little details can then flesh this out such as the character relishing the sound of walking through crunchy leaves etc (and that gives you the season too without you having to say so).

Naming a street, say, would imply the character has to be in at least a village.

It pays then to work out what your reader has to know and then work out how you can show that through your character’s actions and thoughts.

May be an image of text that says "What's Next? A good hook will make your reader want to find this one out!"

As promised, more news about Writers’ Narrative. I am one of the team behind the magazine (the editor in chief is Wendy H Jones) and the magazine is packed full of wonderful information and advice no writer is going to want to miss and much more besides. Good news! You can subscribe to the free magazine here. The first issue will be out soon. It is a pleasure and privilege to be working on this. (Oh and naturally I’m talking about flash fiction in the first issue). You can subscribe for free here.

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Goodreads Author Blog – All The Fun of the Book Fair

I was thrilled to take part in a Book Fair local to me last weekend. It was the first one in the venue chosen (and the venue was excellent). It was fantastic to see a wide range of authors covering so many different tastes in books and age ranges too.

Non-fiction (travel journeys) was well represented too. The organisers counted well over 100 people in attendance and there was a constant footfall flow all afternoon. This is highly encouraging. There is hope this event will become an annual one. For obvious reasons, I hope it does too.

But I also saw it as encouraging that people still love books. They want to see what their local authors are coming out with. If you have an event like this coming up near you, do go if you can. You may well be pleasantly surprised at the wealth of reading material on offer. I was – and I was taking part!

Also great to see these events back again. The last one I took part in was before the pandemic – that seems like a world away now – though I have run workshops, gone to conferences etc since. Good to see the book fairs back too now! This was something I was especially pleased about as our bookshops are now several miles away so having the books come to the locality will always be a fantastic idea.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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This tweet came as a nice surprise! Thank you. Jacci Gooding! Also have been very busy on the Twitter front this week – that bird has been tweeting a lot from my end!

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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.

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

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.

May be an image of text that says "Sayings and proverbs used as themes can show us timeless truths and get a point across in an entertaining way. Lie Truth"

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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The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research

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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. Photos of Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to colleagues who took images of me on my phone about to run the workshop on editing there in 2022.
Hope you have had a good week. Loved running the workshop on Monday. I’ve had some lovely feedback on that too. Weekend will be a bit odd. On Sunday it will be the anniversary of my Dad’s passing (six years) and I’ll be ordained as an elder in my church. Mixed emotions especially as he would’ve loved to have seen that service (as would my mum and late in-laws). Lady and I have relished the emergence of consistent sunshine this week though. Not before time we think!

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Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today. My post this week is called The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research. All writers need to carry out research (yes it goes for fiction too) but the advantages we have now are easier access to a wider range of material and a greater appreciation of keeping and treasuring records of the past.

Hope you find the post useful. I share tips on researching and useful questions to ask yourself as you do. It is too easy to get sidetracked on to an interesting section of research which is not needed for your story or article.

The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research

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It’s my turn to be on Authors Electric and this time I talk about Story Shapes. What do I mean by that? Well, I often use linear shapes in my writing – a straight sharing of a story where I start at A and finish at Z, but I also write circular ones too. This is where my end line repeats the opening line (or has strong echoes of it). The repetition is deliberate and works so well for poignant stories. But can shapes apply to blogs too? Check out my post and see what you think. Hope you enjoy it.
Screenshot 2023-05-18 at 09-48-22 Story Shapes by Allison Symes

Another lovely day here and Lady got to play with three of her girlfriends today – the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Hungarian Vizler, and a lovely Labradoodle. Very much a girls morning out in the park!

Am pleased to say I’ll be running a one hour workshop at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, in August. I’ll be looking at editing from both sides of the fence given I’ve been edited and have been editing at the same time at different points in my career. For more details on the school, do see their website.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in already on News, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. If you’ve ever had round robin letters, you may well sympathise with my character, Wilma, in this one!
Screenshot 2023-05-19 at 09-49-56 News by Allison Symes 
Hope you have had a nice day. Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler chum so Lady definitely has had a good day. (And her pal never minds the showing off so all well there).

I’m talking about The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research for Chandler’s Ford Today (link up tomorrow). See above. Do I need to research for my flash pieces? Simply, yes and often.

For a crime flash tale, I might need to find out what poisonous plants would be found in a garden (and I have researched that one!). For historical flash pieces, I need to get dates etc right if I use them. I sometimes need to know if something was available at a certain time period.

Research comes into fiction, as well as non-fiction, writing in all sorts of ways and it is great we have a wider range of materials available for research purposes. More in my post tomorrow.

But bear in mind a story has to ring true for a reader even if it is set in a bizarre setting. Using facts from what we know here on Earth (especially for world building) can help give that sense of “this could be real if this world existed somewhere”. So yes research is needed for fantasy too!

May be an image of text that says "ਜਗ |could happily while away many hours researching in here!"

Many thanks to Medway Mermaids, the writing group I presented my flash fiction workshop to on Monday for some wonderful feedback. Very much appreciated.

“It was comprehensive and informative, giving writers an excellent guide to the art of writing short fiction”.

Now that is a quote I am proud to share!

One problem all authors have is that most of the time we work alone. We don’t always know how our work is going down with others. So feedback is useful (and it is something I appreciate from Friday Flash Fiction as well).

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Fairytales with Bite – Inspiration

What inspires your characters to take the actions they do in your stories? Is it a question they have no choice but to do whatever it is you’ve set them – it is life or death for them here – or because they are motivated to help someone else in need of help? (Sam Gamgee did not have to go with Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. It is just as well that he did).

When your fairy godmother is looking for a suitable spell or to create something suitable to help a client, what inspires her? Does she base her creation on years of experience, stick strictly to the books, or is happy to add her own special ingredients given she knows they’ll give her magic that bit of “kick” she feels her client needs?

What inspires your characters to keep going when it would be the easiest thing for them to give up and go home? (And even more so when they could go home and nobody would blame them!).

Also think about what inspires you from the classic fairytales. For me, a big one here is seeing wrong being righted as we all know that so often doesn’t happen in life, unfortunately. But the thought of that inspires me to write my own fairytales with bite where I can ensure wrong definitely is righted! Good fun to do too!

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This World and Others – The Creative Industries

Industry can sometimes seem as if it is a negative word. It conjures up images for me of factories and works back in the Victoria era where conditions were often not that great.

On a more positive note, we talk about the creative industries. What does your setting have in the way of these? Are the arts celebrated? Do they bring in significant income for your world? (They do for the UK, for instance).

What creative industries would your characters be involved in? Are they involved in these willingly or is it expected of them because they’re following a a family or tribal tradition? The kind of thing which goes “your grandfather was a musician, your father was too, so guess what you’re doing!” There is potential for humour here if the unfortunate character really cannot play a note no matter how hard they try.

What is the attitude of your setting’s governments to the creative industries? Do they welcome them or view them with suspicion given they can be a vehicle for free expression? What would happen if there are clashes here? Who would win? On the face of it you might think it would be the powers that be and in the immediate term that might be the case. But the creative industries live on for centuries. People look back at events. Views change and the arts can help change them so I wouldn’t see this a s a clear cut thing at all.

Do your characters take part in the creative industries just for fun? If so, what is their main work and how do they find the arts helps them?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

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Writing To A Theme and Dragon Duty

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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 are well. Had a lovely weekend away at the ACW Committee Retreat. Lady not happy I went. Was overjoyed when I got back! Now back to the usual routines, writing and otherwise. Spring weather seems to be more settled now. Am hoping that won’t prove to be a case of famous last words!

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Regular blog posting is a good indication of how quickly time passes by! Can’t believe we’re at the 18th already and it is my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog. This time I talk about Writing to a Theme.

This is something I do a lot for my blog posts here and elsewhere (I set them), to other places where the theme is set for me, including competitions. Hope you find the post helpful.

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After a busy weekend, it has been a busy Monday! Start as you mean to go on, perhaps?

Will be scheduling a story for my YouTube channel so it appears tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing that. Spent a lot of my train journey home yesterday drafting different pieces – will find homes for them in due course. I often do draft potential blog pieces/stories like this because I know I can use them at a later date. I don’t usually edit pieces on journeys like that. I just want to get something written and save the editing for when I‘m back at my desk again. I see journey time as bonus writing time.

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On way home from the Committee Retreat (Association of Christian Writers). Plan to do reasonable amount of writing on the trains home. Never short of things to draft here!

It was lovely to be back at The Hayes, Swanwick. Due to be back in August for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

This weekend I stayed in the Main House for the first time. Very nice and I literally got some steps in going up and down the stairs.

Will be talking about Book Recommendations for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up on Friday.

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Am currently at the Committee Retreat for the Association of Christian Writers. Good to see everyone again. Getting to stay at The Hayes, Swanwick again which is lovely.

Between us the Committee represents Christians writing for the secular market (I’m included here) and those who do write for the Christian market. There are novelists across different genres, article writers, short story and flash fiction people (yes I count here but am not the only one I’m pleased to say).

We are in a way a microcosm of the wider writing world. Not sure what my colleagues will make of being referred to like that (!) but I think it is an excellent thing. The writing world is huge and the variety amazing. With both my reader and writer hats on, I love that.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I may be a day late (thanks to being away at the weekend) but there is always time for a story on a Tuesday as well as a Monday! Hope you enjoy my latest YouTube tale – Dragon Duty.

 

The day after you get back from anywhere is always a toughie as you try to resume your normal routines (whether they be writing, domestic, or in my case both!). This is where writing in the short form is a lovely bonus. If I get, say, 200 words written today, that may be a complete story for me (or I am well on my way to a useful blog post).

Never worry about only writing a “little”. These “little” bits and pieces mount up over time. It’s how I ended up putting two collections (and now a third) together. Also it’s not as if you could write a novel in “one go” anyway. All writing does need building up, you do get to the end. It’s not a race and I would rather write something than nothing.

I won’t beat myself up because I could only write a little rather than my standard amount (and I deliberately don’t work out my average word count. I just write and enjoy the process – mostly. I say mostly because we all get days when we’d far rather be doing something else but I always feel better for getting something creative done and for me that creativity is in the writing).

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Many thanks for the great comments coming in for Making Her Day, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Much appreciated.
Plan to write and submit pieces as usual this week for FFF and my YouTube channel but will be a day later than usual. Hope to draft both on my way back from my weekend away. I bless Evernote!

Screenshot 2023-04-14 at 17-27-12 Making Her Day by Allison Symes

Writing flash helps with other formats too. I’m not going to be fazed by having to write 500 words for an article, say, given I often write to that word count for stories.

I also know editing is vital no matter what word count you write to as there is no such thing as a perfect first draft. What you do get with that draft is a basic story which needs strengthening but that can be done later. You can’t strengthen the unwritten!

Flash has taught me to be specific with word usage and that is useful elsewhere too.

May be a graphic of text that says "Flash fiction illuminates briefly -it is a great form for a lighthearted piece. These often work best when kept short."

Goodreads Author Blog – Reading Away From Home

I usually take my Kindle with me for trips. Gives me choice. Saves weight. Gives me packing room for other things too.
But for my trip to the Commitee Retreat for the Association of Christian Writers, where I am as this goes out, I left my reader at home. Why?

Because I’m currently engrossed with two different paperbacks I couldn’t bear to leave behind.

One is 1000 Years of Annoying the French, which is funny and informative (written by Stephen Clarke).

The other is The Continuing Times of Isabella M Smugge (written by Ruth Leigh). This is funny and moving.

Plan to continue to make progress on these while away. Do think two decent sized paperbacks is a good limit for books in a case though!

Screenshot 2023-04-15 at 17-43-23 Reading Away From Home

 

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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Zoom and Writing Formats

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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 all is well with you. Hectic week so far (and it’s only Tuesday as I type this!) but this is where getting to my desk to write works wonders. The moment I’m doing something remotely creative I relax – and that is a good thing! Okay the hard work comes in later when I’m editing and polishing and submitting work but the joy of getting a new story or blog post down, even though I know there is work to be done on it, is a great feeling.

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Facebook – General

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom tomorrow. I’m talking about Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – let nobody say my timing is off! I do set homework when I run workshops (nothing to be scared off, honest!) – and yes I do it myself as well after the session I’ve led. Makes me draft some more flash pieces too!

Zoom and Powerpoint work well together

Mondays are always hectic for me (as they are for so many of us!) so it is with relief I get to my desk and get on with some writing. It is the kind of day where there isn’t a moment spare but once at my desk, I can focus on something creative and I find that relaxing.

Looking forward to being interviewed at the end of the week by Hannah Kate for her show on North Manchester FM. More details about broadcast nearer the time. (Due in early March but that will be with us before we know it).

On tiring days, I focus on flash writing and drafting blog posts etc. It’s a good use of the time I’ve got available and makes me feel as if I’ve got something useful done. That helps a lot. When I’ve a longer writing slot, that is when I go for the longer pieces and getting collections together etc.

It’s taken me a while to match writing time available to work I can do but I have found I’m more productive for doing this. It’s also more sustainable. I know I’m always going to have busy Mondays so making the best of what I’ve got here writing wise makes a great deal of sense.

Never beat yourself up on what you can’t do but focus on what you can – it is a more positive approach and will make you feel better too.

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Hope you have had a good day. I’ll be looking at Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop for next Friday’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. It’s timely as I’ll be running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this week on Zoom on Wednesday! I often use Zoom for family get-togethers too. It has been one of the better things to come out of the pandemic.

Am busily getting my next author newsletter ready. Do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com if you would like to sign for tips, news, useful post links, story links etc. I base my newsletter on the kind of thing I know I would want to receive in my own inbox so hope people find it useful and entertaining. That’s the aim anyway!

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It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog. This time I talk about Writing Formats – Diaries and Letters. I’ve used both formats in my flash fiction writing, though have needed towards the upper limit for that to do this. Hope you enjoy the post. They’re interesting forms to tell stories in and have been used as such for a very long time. Will you give them a go?

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Since getting involved with Zoom workshops, I’ve rediscovered the joy of PowerPoint. Ideal for flash fiction presentations I must say. Short text, on a slide – yes, that works. Funny thing is I hadn’t used it in years. Good to be reacquainted with it though and am putting it to good use. I used to record my stories on good old Audacity to hear how dialogue worked etc. I now tend to use Zoom for that as it helps me with timings as well (useful if I’m submitting a piece for potential broadcast etc).

May be an image of 1 person, phone and text that says "Reading work out loud is a simple way to ind out if dialoque works as well as you thought. If you stumble, a reader will τσσ."

It’s Monday. It has been a hectic Monday. It’s still dark out there! (Well, it is where I am as I write this!). Time for a story then. This one was inspired by three images which came up on three story cubes I threw. Someone kindly gave me a set recently and I thought I’d have a go with these. Will definitely use again. Hope you enjoy Bee Happy.

It was fun writing a flash acrostic for yesterday’s post (see below), I sometimes write stories in this format too. Works well for flash fiction as acrostic stories work best when kept to either one word or two shortish ones. (I’ve occasionally written to three words such as a story of mine called Talk The Talk).

As with letter and diary formats, which I talked about for Chandler’s Ford Today, recently, (and for Authors Electric even more recently!), this kind of writing is fun to do every now and again. They all make for excellent writing exercises too as they challenge you to do something a little different. Wouldn’t want to do them all the time as (a) not always suitable for your characters and (b) you could risk it looking gimmicky. But as an occasional thing, they’re great! Why not give them a go?

May be a cartoon of text that says "I've been known to interview my characters to find out what they are capable of. Another good technique would be to write a diary from their viewpoint. What would they want to write down?"

F = Fun to write, the very short form of fiction has plenty of challenges.
L = Learning to select what a reader has to know is one of these challenges.
A = Another is in learning to select the telling detail or two which will save you a lot of description and word count as a result.
S = Still has to be a proper story with a proper beginning, middle, and ending.
H = Have fun with characters in different genres and across the word counts for flash, just don’t go above 1000 words.

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Libraries Acrostic

L = Love your library – they’re wonderful places to explore books.
I = Imagination stretching happens right here as you explore books you might not buy/read otherwise.
B = Books, great and small; books for all.
R = Reading is encouraged and cheered on here.
A = An amazing range of book types can be found in your library – check them out.
R = Read in and out of your genre if you’re a writer; it’s not a bad idea for non-writers either!
I = Inspect sections of the library new to you and don’t forget the wonderful world of non-fiction.
E = Entertainment and education – all to be found here.
S = Support your local authors if they’re having events in the library, many do.

Screenshot 2023-02-18 at 20-27-21 Libraries Acrostic

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Author Interview: June Webber – Publication: Never Too Late

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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 were photos of The Hayes, Swanwick as part of my CFT interview this week. Talking of which,  many thanks to June Webber for great author and book pictures for her interview with me on Chandler’s Ford Today.
Has been a cold week hre but Lady has got to have many “puppy parties” this week with her best friends over the local park so she’s happy at least.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

I am thrilled to welcome dear friend and fellow Swanwicker, June Webber, to Chandler’s Ford Today, to share her writing journey in Publication – Never Too Late. Her writing story is an encouraging one. I very much hope you enjoy the post and find it encouraging too.

Author Interview: June Webber – Publication: Never Too Late

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Hope you have had a good day. Another bitterly cold one here. Looking forward to chatting with June Webber on Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. Her story is an inspiring one and I’m only too pleased to be sharing it. See above.

Where do you get your inspiration for writing from? As well as using the random generators to trigger ideas, the biggest inspiration comes from what I love reading.

I’ve always loved the classic fairytales so they are a huge influence on me. I love the humour of Austen, Pratchett, and Wodehouse, so those are huge influences on me.

This is why the more you read (in terms of numbers of books read and genres), the bigger and wider are the sources of inspiration for you to draw on. Other sources of inspiration can be topics on which you have strong feelings. I like to see justice done and the evil not to get away with it (again the fairytales have a definite influence on me there) so I will read crime stories which reflect this.

So having a broad reading diet then is a very good idea indeed!

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It’s my turn on the Authors Electric blog and this time I’m talking about Flash NANO – A New Challenge In the Old Year. I look at what Flash NANO is and share what I found useful about it. It is good to be stretched, writing wise, every so often, and Flash NANO did that for me. Looking forward to the next one already.

Screenshot 2023-01-18 at 09-31-41 Flash NANO - A New Challenge in the Old Year by Allison Symes

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Delighted to share Reasons, my latest Friday Flash Fiction story. Many thanks for the great comments coming in on this one already.

Screenshot 2023-01-20 at 09-27-41 Reasons by Allison Symes

Looking forward to giving my flash fiction workshop this weekend and also the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. I like a mixture of in person and Zoom events – both kinds of event have their bonuses.

If you’re thinking of putting a collection together, remember the independent press is a great avenue to explore as they are much more open to approaches from non-agented writers. And having short stories/flash fiction published online or shortlisted in competitions makes for great material to put in your query letter.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Creative writing is fun and good for the brain ίσσ."

Many thanks to #ValPenny for sharing Writing Pitfalls, a recent blog I wrote for Chandler’s Ford Today on her blog today. A great way to spread the word! One writing pitfall I didn’t mention either here or earlier on CFT is not realising just how many kinds of writing there are out there and therefore to take your time working out which suits you best. I am so glad I discovered flash fiction for instance though I’d never heard of it when I started out.

Writing Pitfalls by Allison Symes

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Fairytales with Bite – Magical Seasons – Characters and Magic

How does your magical world have its seasons? Are they similar to Earth’s four and, if so, is magic more prominent in any one of them? If so, why? Does the winter, for example tend to dampen down magical activity? Does magic abound in the spring with longer days and brighter weather?

Do your characters have seasons in their life where their magical performances are significantly better or worse than others? Indeed, are waning powers a sign of illness/a character’s life coming to an end, again on the grounds everything has its season and it applies to characters too? Or does everyone experience a drop in performance at certain times and they’ve learned how to cope with that?

Do you have characters who cope with the down times better than others and how do they achieve this? Does the availability of light make a difference?

I also love characters who are older but with tonnes of useful magical experience behind them yet are still capable of “outgunning” those far younger than them because of that experience. How would their magical season progress?

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This World and Others – Climates

Does your world have one predominant climate or several? How does this/these affect the geography of your fictional world? Equally how does the geography affect the climate that can only exist because, for example, your world has a lot of water in it? Can your characters change the climate (for better or worse) and. If so, how?

Are there wars between different peoples because one has a better climate than the other? What pressures are there on food production etc which could lead to such conflicts and how are these things resolved?

What kind of climate do your characters prefer to be in? There will always be those who relish causing trouble so like a climate in which that is easily done. They would be bored senseless in a climate where peace prevails and nobody argues about anything. (Would make for a boring story too).

And how do shyer characters cope in a climate where people/other beings of choice are expected to be upfront and dominant? My thinking here is climate can be about social context and prevailing attitudes, as well as the geographic kind.

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