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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 the weekend went well. Good to be back in the garden again. Lawn grateful I was I think! Pleased to see lovely foxgloves in flower too. Writing wise, am pretty much back to my normal routine and enjoying that. Lady, as ever, appreciates the company of her pals at the park. We appreciate the little things in life. They’re often more important to you than you might think. Know this is true for me and the dog!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Soggy one here in Hampshire though Lady was delighted to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal again. Both dogs had a lovely time in the park before the rain set in.

Writing wise, will have further editing work coming up shortly. Looking forward to starting on that.

There will also be a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post on Saturday this week from me as I’m publicizing The Chameleons’ Open Evening on 7th June. They’re celebrating their 60th anniversary this year and are inviting people to see what they do (and where they need volunteers) on and off the stage.

Plus I will be looking at History and Stories in my usual Friday night slot where I look at the links between history and stories and why I love both. (Nice link here as The Chameleons have acted out many wonderful stories, some of them history based, over their 60 years on the stage).

Stories, whether as prose or plays, can explore history and shed new insights on it.

Bank holiday here today in my part of the world. Lady was thrilled to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today. We either see all we know on a bank holiday or nobody at all – there is no middle ground!

Had a quick look at the random question generator I use every so often to trigger story ideas. Usually the question gives me the theme I write to (and my characters answer the question, it literally is the story).

The question which came up tonight was if you could have one superpower what would it be? Now that is a fabulous question and I’m sure an article or two could be written around it but I wondered about answering it for this post from a writing viewpoint.

So which writing superpower would I like to have? I think it would be the ability to keep writing, no matter what. I wouldn’t ask to write perfectly from the get go because I think a lot of excellent stories come about thanks to having decent editing work done on them.

But to keep going whenever and whatever the circumstances, that would be a good thing to have. It isn’t always easy to do this so having a superpower boosting me here would be most welcome.

Hope the weekend is proving to be a good one for you. Cut the lawn yesterday. Desperately needed doing. Looking much better now and it was a great workout for me!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again too. (I know. I can hardly believe is is almost June either). You can sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing wise, I’m working on a longer short story as well as my usual flash work at the moment. Have put final touches to my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group for Wednesday. Now done! Will be back to blogging and editing shortly. I do like a good mix of things to do!

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Have got to the end of the first week back from our wonderful Northumberland break. Always tough, the first week back from any kind of break but hey I’m there so now it is a case of onwards and upwards.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at History and Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I love history. I love stories. History is full of stories. It’s a gem of a topic to write about! I’ve also found reading historical fiction has led to me reading historical non-fiction too but more on this in my post on Friday.

Character Tip: Remember it isn’t compulsory to like the characters you create, far from it, but you do need to know what drives and motivates them so you can write their stories up with understanding of where they are coming from and why.

For villains, you do need to look at why they have become that way. Not all of that will make it into your finished tale but enough should so readers can see why they’re being the way they are too.

If, say, your villain is driven by the need to make money a line of dialogue with another character or their own thought showing their need for enough money will create that understanding.

Readers (and you) still don’t need to approve of how they go about things here.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope today has been a good one. Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. The topic is Tens. Looking forward to seeing everyone then. Zoom has made more things possible including writing groups like this one.

Am hoping to go an in-person ACW meeting later this year but have to book it first. Hope to do that in next couple of days. I like a good mixture of in person and online events. In a world which is far from perfect, why not have the best of both worlds when it comes to meeting with other writers?

Flash is also wonderful to share in any kind of workshop and/or writing group given it is short. I’ve always found stories illustrate points well. People remember the stories. (This is nothing new, far from it. Jesus did this with parables. Aesop did it with his fables too. All would count as flash fiction as we know it now).

It’s a Bank Holiday Monday where I am but it is still Monday. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Mixing It Up.

What harm could it do to mix up the dragons’ magical foodstuff and give it to the butterflies instead? George thinks it will be okay but is he right to do so?

Titles are important for any story (or article come to that) given they’re the first hook to entice a reader into reading your work. 

For flash fiction, I try and use mine to do some “heavy lifting” in terms of indicating to a reader the tale’s probable mood without using up any of my precious word count. (Most flash competitions don’t include the title in the limit they set you but there are always exceptions so do check).

I also use titles as a brainstorming exercise. It’s fun to do too. Why not give it a try?

Writing Exercise: Give yourself five minutes. Jot down as many three to five word titles as you can in that time. It helps to think along the lines of Subject and Action (a refusal to act will count as an action). Also consider Subject and Job.

You are looking for two immediate hooks here. People will want to know about your subject depending on what action or job you’ve given them in the title.

For example, how about George, the Butterfly Tamer, as an idea. I would immediately want to know who George is, how can anyone tame butterflies, and why does anything think it is needed. The story would reveal the answer to those questions but I’ve got to read it to find out. Job done by the author there I think! Do see my YouTube story for this week too – see above. I wrote this post first then decided to write the story up with just the title to go with. Good fun to do.

I’ve also found when I do this exercise once I get started, a whole raft of other ideas come. Later, I will review my title lists and the ones which still appeal to me are the ones I will write up. But this exercise is definitely worth trying. Hope you have fun with it.

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group on Zoom on Wednesday. Have set what I hope will be an intriguing theme (Tens – what would you make of that?) Alas, I’m not telling all here, but it is fun coming up with different ideas for these meetings and, of course, a good challenge to me.

Whatever you write, doing something different every now and then is a good challenge and will help sharpen up your other writing – or at least I’ve found that to be the case. It’s another good reason to enter story competitions every now and then (but do check the competition background out first and ensure you’re happy with it). Again, it makes you do something different, you are often set the prompt and it is a good challenge to see what you can do with it.

(Am also pleased because when I relax I play with words too. Have today got the word rewrites out in my phone’s equivalent of Scrabble. All seven tiles out so I get the bonus points too. Apt word for a writer and editor, I think!).

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Reviews

Do you read book reviews? I do. As a writer myself, I appreciate the reviews which come in on my books but I also like to write reviews on works by other authors. Other than buying the book itself, reviewing is probably the next best way to support authors. I keep my reviews short and would put in a plea to review when you can. It helps more than you know.

I try to review the moment I’ve finished a book whether it’s on Kindle or in print. Otherwise, I know I may well forget to do it. Life getting in the way and all of that…

The best reviews give a good flavour of what the book is about without giving too much away. The good news is they don’t have to be long to be effective.

Why not review the book you are currently reading? Doesn’t have to be a contemporary one either (though that obviously does help current authors) but there’s nothing to stop you giving your thoughts on a classic work either. I know I still find those useful for the classics I’ve not yet got around to reading.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Book Reviews https://t.co/PAMwU5hilM via @goodreads I discuss book reviews for Goodreads this week. They help authors so much but it also pays to review classic works too. Find out why here. pic.twitter.com/defyDcYlT5

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 24, 2025

It’s a Bank Holiday Monday but it still means story time. My latest on YouTube is Mixing It Up. What harm could it do to mix up the dragons' magical foodstuff and give it to the butterflies instead? George thinks it will be okay but is he right to do so?https://t.co/5vRuXqHJ7E

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) May 26, 2025