Tag: books

Character and Story Traits I Love

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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 had a lovely Easter weekend. Sorry to hear about the death of Pope Francis.
Writing going well. Weather a bit of a mixed bag at the moment but that’s April in Britain for you! Lady hopes to catch up with more of her friends as the week goes on.

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Hope you have had a good day. Quiet one in the park with Lady but the weather was good and Lady had a great time running around.

Writing wise, don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out on 1st May, the first one from the new service provider. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

The next edition of Writers’ Narrative will be out before too long as well so do keep an eye out for that too.

Also have exciting writing news I cannot share yet but hope to do so soon. Good start to the week basically!

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Mixed bag weather wise today. Nasty but thankfully shortlived storm this afternoon. Lady managed to stay dry this morning and did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal so all well there.

Looking forward to seeing Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor, the latest show from The Chameleon Theatre Company, with my lovely editor, Janet Williams, later this week. It will be another Chandler’s Ford Today “works outing”. The play is one adapted from the radio and is an interactive murder mystery where the audience can interrogate the cast. Sounds fun and I will review later for CFT.

Talking of CFT, I will have another smashing author interview to share in May but more details on that nearer the time.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Lovely church service this morning.

Just to flag up Friday Flash Fiction are wanting submissions sent in from Mondays to Thursdays only. See link for more information.

Planning to submit my competition story next weekend a good way ahead of the deadline. Today has been busier than expected so will be spending today writing flash, editing, writing blogs etc. Lots of “bits and pieces” but I enjoy writing sessions like this. The work mounts up over the course of time too.

Hope the Easter weekend is going well for you so far. Am tuned into the Classic FM Hall of Fame chart (and have been since yesterday) as the new one is unveiled over the long weekend. Am hoping I don’t hear the three I voted for until Bank Holiday Monday! Two of mine made it to the last day of the new chart being unveiled. To quote Meatloaf, “two out of three ain’t bad”!

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Honest and Dishonest Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up next Friday. After that I will be reviewing The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production, Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor, which I’m off to see next week. Ties in nicely with next week’s CFT post given the show is bound to have plenty of both type of characters here!

Writing Tip: Much as I love the outline, do give yourself manoeuvre room. What I mean by that is I don’t plan out every little thing about my characters or my storyline. I just need enough to get started and to have a rough ending in mind. It gives me space to work out how ideas which occur to me as I write my draft (and it happens a lot) will fit in or are better than my original thoughts and I can adjust accordingly.

I usually find if I know enough about my characters an apt story for them will occur from their outline anyway and it is why most of the time I focus on knowing my characters first. The one exception to that is if I am entering a competition with a set theme where the situation has been given to you. I then work out the kind of character which would best suit that situation.

But whether I work with the situation first or with the characters, I always give myself that manoeuvre room as better ideas occur to me. It is one of the laws of writing other better ideas will occur to you as you write your drafts but you need to have written something to generate those or so I have found. But if you have got that manoeuvre room available it is easier to put those better ideas to good use.

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Hope today has gone well for you. Submitted a flash piece yesterday. Am building up a bank of 100 word stories as I have different outlets for them and it is good to have something I know I can call on when I spot a competition I like. There are a number of 100 word competitions out there so it is worth keeping an eye on.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week too. Will be looking at writing in different genres using flash, which is something I do a lot as flash can give you more freedom than you might think. It is just the word count limit you need to watch.

It’s Monday, albeit a Bank Holiday one in the UK. Time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Waiting Game. I sometimes write historical flash fiction and this is an example of that.

What someone who could be considered to be the power behind the throne really makes of their role. It isn’t all banquets and flashy clothes. Would you do what my character is preparing to do?

 

Plenty of lovely singing at church this morning including the classic tune of Maccabeus from Handel for Thine be The Glory. This wonderful music often turns up in the Classic FM Hall of Fame, which I am enjoying this weekend. Not heard this one so far this year.

Prompt: Story thought for you. What would your characters like to sing if they could pick one tune? Why would they choose this? There will be a story behind their choice. What could you do with that?

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Am hoping to submit a competition entry as part of that.

When it comes to flash competitions and titles, most of the competitions don’t include the title as part of their word count allowance but there are always exceptions to the rules! I always note whether a competition allows for the title in the word count or not, along with what the overall word count is.

Where a competition does include the title as part of the word count permitted, I allow up to five words for the title. I then write to the story up to whatever word count is remaining. If I end up taking a couple of words out of the title, I can add them to the story or not, depending on whether I need a couple of extra words or not. It is always all right to come in at under the word count stated, unless a competition expressly states they want a specific word count.

Basically, it pays to check and double check the rules. Competitions do vary in their requirements and you don’t want your stories discarded due to not following these things.

It happens. But it doesn’t have to happen to you!

Goodreads Author Blog – Character and Story Traits I Love

One of the things I love about series novels is watching how the characters develop over several books. The best for me for this is the development of Sam Vimes in the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. 

The transformation in that character is astounding and so well done. Start with Guards! Guards!, work through Men at Arms (which is also a fabulous detective tale) and wind up with Raising Steam and you will see what I mean.

But thinking about this led me to consider those character traits I love to see in fiction. I love courage, honesty, working hard etc and Sam Vimes easily embodies all of those. He’s also not afraid to upset his “superiors” when he needs to do that. I have a soft spot for characters doing that. It usually is deserved!

What I’ve always loved about the classic fairytales is characters deserving of help get it. Those who are arrogant etc are usually brought down a peg or two. But with rare exceptions they do learn their lesson. Oh if only that would happen in life, yes?

One huge advantage to reading widely (across genres as well as types of fiction such as short stories, flash as well as novellas and novels) is you get to see so many more character developments and I have always loved this as a reader. It means even more to me now I’m a writer as well.

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What You Need to Know About Character Creation and Shorter Fiction Forms

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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. Have had some writing admin to tackle again but now sorted. Lady has had a lovely time with her pals. Looking forward to the Easter celebrations and a long weekend. Have a good Easter break yourself, whether you celebrate or not.

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Double Blog Time!

18th April 2025 – Good Friday – Chandler’s Ford Today

Second blog post from me today. First one below! This time it is my latest for Chandler’s Ford Today. This time I look at What You Need to Know About Character Creation. (Combines well with my Authors Electric post too! It does too. See below).

I look at the positives and negatives of using certain traits (which is something you can expand further depending on which trait you use for your characters). I also look at attitudes, situations, and dialogue, so I hope you will find plenty of useful information here.

Do have fun creating your characters. I think it is the best aspect to storytelling.

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18th April 2025 – Good Friday – Authors Electric
Double blog post today. First up is my latest on Authors Electric. This month I discuss Shorter Fiction Forms.  Second blog above.

One huge advantage to the shorter forms of fiction is they do make you focus on what does matter for your characters, you don’t have the word count room to do otherwise. But that in turn is a good discipline to get used to for writing any fiction. Hope you find it useful.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again so all is well there.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post on What You Need to Know for Character Creation will be up tomorrow. See top post.

It is double blog day for me tomorrow given my Authors Electric post will also be up. That will be on the topic of Short Fiction Forms. See second post!

Looking forward to sharing both of those tomorrow so expect two posts. Has been lovely and busy on the non-fiction front!

 

Hope you have had a good day. Squally weather this morning, better this afternoon. Lady did get to see and have a fabulous time with her Hungarian Vizler friend and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle.

Writing wise, I will be sharing What You Need to Know For Character Creation on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See top post.

Following my scam warning post yesterday, I have since heard a few other writers I know have had similar experiences so clearly there is a spate of these things going on at the moment.

Newsletter coming along nicely. To sign up for this do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

You should see what appears on the screenshot below.

Theme this time will be on playing with genre in flash fiction, which I‘ll be discussing in further depth later this month for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100 words tale, Appearances. Trying to keep up appearances doesn’t always work out. Find out why here.

Hope today has been a good one.

I sometimes decide on what my next flash fiction story will be by picking a topic to write about. This is good practice for competitions with a set theme too. I then look at the kind of characters which could serve that topic well and then start to flesh them out.

The topic has got to grip me (and that goes for the set theme for competitions too) for me to want to write to it, of course. Not every topic does.

But there are plenty of topics (and set theme competitions) to go around to this never worries me. I think you do have to have a keen interest in the topic of theme to be able to do it any justice at all.

Hope the day has been a good one. Just to flag up the submissions window for Friday Flash Fiction is now open again. Have sent in something this afternoon.

Flash fiction is a lovely thing to share on your website, social media etc to flag up the kind of writing you do. It’s a good way to share something of interest to your subscribers for your author newsletter. It’s fun to do too especially if you love creating characters, which has always been my favourite aspect to storytelling.

Create my “people” (not that I always choose humans!), put them in a situation and find out what happens! And although I outline so I know roughly what is going to happen, I deliberately don’t plan out everything. I like to give my characters room to surprise me and they often do. I love that too.

Fairytales with Bite – Endings which Could Be Beginnings

I write this in the run up to Easter 2025 and it led me to think that, as a Christian, I see Good Friday as an ending (the crucifixion of Jesus) which became a new beginning (the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday).

But it also led me to think we can have endings which could be beginnings for our stories too in any genre but I’m focusing on one of my favourite kinds – the fairytale. How?

Simply by remembering there are two sides to every story. What is one character’s happy ever after ending will bring about a change of circumstances for other characters in the story (which they may or may not welcome of course) and those can be interesting avenues to explore further.

The musical Wicked is based on an alternative look at The Wizard of Oz story and people seem to like this!

My first story in print, A Helping Hand (in Alternative Renditions, Bridge House Publishing, 2009) looks at the Cinderella story from the viewpoint of the youngest stepsister. That character had a distinct view on Cinders as you can imagine. The story was great fun to write and I was thrilled for it to be my breakthrough in print.

There is nothing to stop you from (a) taking a character of yours and exploring their story further (it is where prequels can come in for one thing) and/or (b) taking another character from your story and doing something creative with them.

Why not give it a go? Having endings which could be beginnings for new stories is great fun to do. I think it works especially well with fairytales.

This World and Others – Upheavals

Our world is always full of upheavals and is especially this way as I write this in April 2025. But it led me to wonder about the kinds of upheavals your settings might see. Do they make ours look pathetic by comparison or are their upheavals “ a piece of cake” compared with what we have going on here?

What triggers your setting’s overall upheaval? Usually these things start with something small which then build and build. What would be your characters’ involvement in this? Are they the trigger point themselves or do they get caught up in the momentum of events as things build up and then find they can’t escape?

What are the consequences of the upheavals? Does it lead to political or other change or does the upheaval fail and governments crack down harder than ever on any kind of dissent? (This does sound depressingly familiar doesn’t it? The one positive is taking this idea and using it for a story where at least you can decide what the ending will be!).

Also, something positive can come out of things like this. For example, communities torn apart by previous events can come together to fight against a common foe (not necessarily literally though that too is a possibility). Things which needed to be changed are changed and for the better for most. The great thing here is you get to decide what these will be.

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Changes In Your Reading

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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. Images of me with books I’ve written or have been in were taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, though one especially useful screenshot was kindly supplied by fellow Swanwicker, Christine Miller.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here. Writing wise, am making good progress on my competition story and am pleased to say there will be a fabulous author interview coming up in May on Chandler’s Ford Today about historical short stories. Meantime, Lady continues to have a fabulous time in the park with her pals so all is well in her world.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady and I had a lovely time in the park, hope to catch up with friends (doggy and human) tomorrow.

Pain In The Neck Time: Just want to say a huge thank you to Christine Miller and Joy Wood for warning me some one seems to be trying to impersonate me on Facebook because “Allison Symes” has apparently sent out friendship requests.

Problem with that is these requests have gone out to people I am already friends with in person and online!

The good news is I have taken the necessary actions with Facebook and have now added a two step verification process, which I would recommend to all.

Word to the wise: My account has my picture on it. The fake one does not. See screenshot (and thanks to Christine for sending this to me). I never accept friendship requests from anyone who does not show their picture. I want to see who people are. It’s a good thing to watch out for. I also check my friends list every so often. It’s how I know when I get a duplicate request from someone else.

Also annoyingly I get friendship requests from the usual suspects of tragically widowed US Generals and the same name for the profile comes up time and again. I’ve just blocked a certain Mr SJT again.

So be careful, folks! And I’m so grateful for the support from other writers here. We do have to “put ourselves” out there to a certain extent and of course that can make us more susceptible to this kind of scam.

It is a right pain in the neck though! Am looking forward to getting on with some proper writing later – will cheer me up no end. And I am starting to cheer up putting this very post together!

This one above definitely NOT the original and the best!

(No room for false modesty here. No time for scammers or would be scammers at all though).

Hope you have had a good start to the week. Not bad here. Lady got to play with Coco the lovely Labradoodle and her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this morning so she thinks Monday has been fabulous. Her owner does not necessarily share that view about Mondays though I am looking forward to what will be a great Zoom group later this evening.

Writing Tip: You really cannot edit a blank page so try not to worry if you don’t have a lot of time to write. I never do on a Monday. It is a question of doing what you can and I’ve always found five minutes of writing makes me feel as if I have done something creative, which in itself gives me a boost. When I can do more than that, even better naturally but those five minutes here and there build up. I have completed articles and stories this way.

Lovely church service, had some rain though Lady and I managed to miss most of it.

Writing wise, I’m busy preparing my PowerPoint for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later this month. Am also busy preparing my first newsletter to come out on the new newsletter email service provider. Am taking the opportunity to spruce up the look of the newsletter too.

Will be starting flash fiction Sunday shortly. Have a competition in mind for one piece I want to work on today. It’s one I drafted a while ago but I know where it could do with strengthening so will get on with that. I do take comfort from the fact I can’t think of any writer who ever wrote the perfect first draft. I know I won’t be the one to ever change that!

Hope your weekend is going well. Have been out in the garden. Nice to have lunch out there with the other half and the dog. Don’t do this nearly often enough. Delighted the camellia at the front which I pruned back is out in full bloom and looking marvellous (and better than before for having had that prune, much like my stories are so much better when I’ve given them a decent editing!).

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Working Out What You Need to Know For Character Creation for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday, which I hope you will find useful.

As ever, looking forward to flash fiction Sunday for me tomorrow, especially this week after “writing admin” though I am glad to say the newsletter service provider changeover seems to be sorted. I will know for sure on 1st May when I send the first newsletter out on the new system but all is set up as it should be. Am glad to have that done.

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Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month on Zoom. We will be looking at playing with genres in flash. Should be fun. I’ve set some interesting exercises I’m looking forward to sharing with folks later.

Am currently resting a piece for a flash competition I always have a go at but want to get this submitted by the end of the month, which I should get done.

Flash Tip: It’s a good idea to practice writing to 100, 250, 300 and 500 words for flash competitions. These are some of the most popular categories I regularly come across. At least one is bound to suit you!

It’s Monday again. Time for a story from me. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Timing.

Steve, the new postie, thinks Dave is an exceptionally helpful colleague but is he right to do so? Find out here.

 

Hope the weekend has been a good one for you. Nice one here. Family over on Friday night, gardening yesterday which I enjoyed because it was productive (I cannot always say this for my efforts in the garden!), and, naturally, flash fiction Sunday afternoon for me. Am also working on a piece for a competition.

One of my favourite moments when writing flash is when I know I’ve got the ending right. It will be something to make you laugh, make you think, or be a “punch in the gut” style ending, all of which I love reading in stories as well as writing these myself. But knowing I have produced the required ending is always a satisfactory moment.

What makes for a great flash fiction story? For me, the answer to that is when you have read a flash piece where you feel not one word could be added to it. You also feel not one word could be taken away. And that can happen at ten words, fifty, 100 etc.

I find nearly always it is the character which grips me which leads to stories like this. And not just for flash fiction.

This is why, for me, a way into creating stories of my own is always to start with the character and work out why I have to write about them. What is it about them which fascinates me because it will be that which is more likely to fascinate a reader?

I find it is a good place to start.

Goodreads Author Blog – Changes in Your Reading

What changes in your reading have you noticed over the years? For me, there have been two major changes.

One is happily reading ebooks on my Kindle. I held out against having one for a long time because I will always love paperbacks but do find the Kindle useful especially when I’m away. Gives me far more room in my suitcase and I don’t have to fret about only being able to take so many books with me. I can have as many as I want on the Kindle!

The other major change is happily reading non-fiction. Fiction will always be my first love for too many reasons to say here but I have discovered the joys of non-fiction reading and only wish I’d discovered those sooner than I have done. Still, better late than never!

During lockdown, that dreadful time, I was focusing on reading humorous or other lighter works and found those to be therapeutic. I still do this when the news is especially grim so am back to the lighter works again now.

Am currently reading a wonderful book of writers’ quotes and a collection of flash stories (though some of those aren’t light in tone but in fiction I have no issues with that. I suppose that is because I know it isn’t real life. What I can’t cope with when life is grim are dystopian works though I do understand the market for them).

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Writers and Stationery – A Match Made In Heaven

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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. Images of me with CafeLit 13 and Creativity Matters were taken by Adrian Symes. Many thanks to Wendy H Jones for the other Creativity Matter shot with the rosette on it (love that rosette!). Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week., Pleased to announce I will be changing newsletter service provider from 1st May. I have put in the link to the new one where you can subscribe now. This link is on other pages of my website too now. Lady has had a lovely week with her friends int he park – as have I!

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Hope you have had a good day Lady had a lovely time in the sunshine with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this morning. Great time had by both dogs.

Delighted to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post. This week, I talk about Writers and Stationery – A Match Made In Heaven. I don’t know of any writer who has enough notebooks and pens!

Fun post to write. Just to prove that, here’s the opening line.

With apologies to the late Jane Austen, I will start by saying it is a truth universally acknowledged that writers have two obsessions, okay three if you count chocolate, but what are the other two?

Hope you enjoy a cheerful post written in a cheerful spirit!

Writers and Stationery – A Match Made In Heaven

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Lady and I made the most of a lovely sunny day again today. Didn’t get to see any of her pals today unfortunately. Lady had to put up with me but she made do well enough!

Will be sharing Writers and Stationery – A Match Made in Heaven on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above. Such fun to write. Hope you will enjoy the post too.

Newsletter News: Just to say I am changing my newsletter email service provider. Sadly, my current one is stopping the free plan (as from June), which is more than enough for my needs as things stand at the moment so have found another leading service provider instead. I didn’t want to leave this until the last minute so have made the switch now.

For new subscribers, I do have the link set up so you can sign up both my via website and I will also be sharing the link again on my website/blog round up post tomorrow. I’m also sharing it here. See screenshot below for what the new sign up form looks like.

The first newsletter to go out with the new service provider will be the May one. Any queries, do contact me via my contact form via my website.

Hope you had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Lovely time had by all.

Had a lovely Zoom meeting re editing at lunchtime and am looking forward to another webinar this evening on storytelling. Zoom has made a lot of things possible including learning more about your craft without having to travel anywhere. It means I can take part in more things than I would otherwise have done and I’ve made the most of this, especially over the last couple of weeks or so.

Zoom Tip: I prepare presentations on PowerPoint when I run groups on Zoom but it pays to have a practice run on this ahead of your meeting. I do rehearse short stories and flash (especially for Open Prose Mic Nights) via Zoom but you can do the same with presentations. 

I do find on the run though I will think of other ideas to add in to make the presentation more useful. I think this is because I am putting myself in the audience seat when doing such run throughs and I can spot any gaps or something which would be additionally useful that much more easily.

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No Friday Flash Fiction story from me this week as the submissions window isn’t open again after the Andrew Siderius competition. The window will be reopen again soon and I will flag it up when I know it is.

Writing for FFF has got me back to the joy of writing the 100 word tales, which was my introduction to flash fiction in the first place. Also bear in mind the 100 words limit is a popular competitions one so it is worth practicing writing to this flash category.

You still need a proper beginning , middle and end but it is often at these lower word counts, I work out the ending first and then plan backwards to get to the start. It gives me a structure and I can confirm it works. No danger of running out of word count for the ending because I have already sorted that out. Helps keep me on track for a tight beginning and middle too. No waffle room at all! That is a great thing.


Just to confirm the news I’ve shared over on my author page, I am changing my newsletter email service provider. Link here. First newsletter out on the new provider on 1st May where I will continue to share news, tips, story links, and celebrate all things flash fiction related in particular. Any queries, do contact me via the contact form on my website.

Looking forward to getting on with more flash fiction writing over the weekend. This kind of admin is rarely fun!

Another glorious day. I don’t usually use the weather at all in my stories which is for two reasons.

Firstly, I want to avoid cliche (yes, like the proverbial plague!).

Secondly, I am usually focusing on what my character is saying, thinking, or doing. To me that has always been more interesting.

But there is no reason why you can’t use the weather to reflect or contrast with your character’s moods. You could use the weather conditions to make those moods better or worse (and readers will then want to find out what the outcome will be). Moods will have a direct impact on actions and attitudes – they do for us after all!

Fairytales with Bite – New Starts

How easy would it be for your character to make a new start in their magical setting? Fairy godmothers and their ilk aren’t exactly going to be able to pretend they’re not magical so if someone has had enough, or retires, what happens? Can they hang up the old magic wand and have a new start? Do they find they can’t give magic up altogether or is it a case magic won’t let them go?

For non-magical characters, where do they fit into your society? Are they prized for special skills not available to those who are magical? (You could also look at the reasons they they’re not available There could be some interesting stories here). Are they looked down on? Are they expected to be in certain stations in life? Can anyone break the mould here?

What would a new start mean for your character in terms of how they would break the news to whom they are closest to – or do they just get on with the new start anyway and deal with the consequences later on?

This World and Others – Career Changes

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, new starts can often led to career changes. Why would your characters want to change careers, how easy or otherwise do they find this, and does it work out for them? Good story possibilities there.

Are certain characters encouraged to change careers and what is the motivation behind that? Could be good – no not! (Someone wanting to get a certain character out of the way for a job they want perhaps?).
Is there such a thing as a Careers Advisory Service in your setting? (There could be humorous possibilities here).

When a career change has happened, how does your character adjust? What inevitable mistakes do they make? How would this impact on the story as a whole?

Good possibilities for serious and humorous stories here, I think. This is where we can write about what we know of the working world but put it in a different magical setting and adjust accordingly. There would be careers in the magical world we wouldn’t have obviously but it could work the other way around. Your setting needs skills only the non-magical have. (Could this be behind alien abduction stories, they need someone do do the cleaning! Just a thought!).

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Favourite Kinds of Story

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Images of me with books taken by Adrian Symes. Handy having that facility!
Hope you have had a good weekend. Weather continues to be lovely here. Good writing weekend. Will have news soon of a change. More to come later.

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Hope you have had a nice day. Gorgeous weather again and Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Lovely time had by both dogs (and their owners, as we appreciate the lovely walking weather as opposed to getting soaked during the winter months!).

Will be looking at Writers and Stationery – A Match Made in Heaven for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that. (I could’ve titled this one Stationery Addicts Anonymous!).

Looking forward to going to a storytelling webinar tomorrow night. Plus I have an editing forum meeting during the day. Another busy week on Zoom!

7th April – Guest Blog Appearance

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely weather here and Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so had a lovely time at the park with her chum.

Delighted to say my Tripping the Flash Fantastic is part of a feature over on Sandra’s Book Club today. Check out the details on the link. Nice start to the week (and don’t forget you can buy copies of both of my flash fiction collections from me via my website and also via The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop, which is Bridge House Publishing’s online book shop. Naturally you can get them from Amazon too).

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Hope your Sunday has been a lovely, restful one. Not bad here. Lovely church service and lunch, now an afternoon of writing – all very much what this doctor orders! Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly. Incidentally even when I have some down time words still come into it – have a lovely couple of word games on my phone!

Character Creation Tip: I like to know main traits when thinking up characters because behaviours and attitudes come from those things but I do use both the negative and positive aspects of these traits. There is always a flip side to a trait regardless of which way around you start!

For example, if you have a character who is honest, are they honest to the point of being brusque? Who could they upset that way? Definitely story ideas there.

So take a trait and “flip it”. See what you can get from these things by taking both the positive and negative views of it. It mixes things up, is a better balance (given nobody is perfect) and you can get your other characters to react to whichever aspect of that trait you show.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Lovely weather again here. So nice being out in the garden today.

Writing wise, I am looking forward to sharing next week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post especially as it is on a topic I really should have written about before! And what could that possibly be?

Simple! I’ll be talking about Writers and Stationery – A Match Made In Heaven – and it so is! I can’t think of any writer I know who could tell me exactly how many books they have or how many notebooks and pens etc they have. I know I can’t do that either! Fun piece to write. Link up next Friday.

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Plan to explore how we can use genres in flash fiction for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month.

Especially if you lead with characters, as I do, you can set those characters anywhere. I’ve written crime flash, historical flash, fantasy flash and much more.

It is one of the joys of the shorter fiction forms that it is easier to do this, plus you have different places to submit to, including competitions so you can have a great deal of fun playing with genres like this. Yes, you do have to “obey the rules” for each genre bit it is do-able.

It’s Monday but it is a lovely sunny one so that’s good. Still Monday though and time for another YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest on here – Wake Up Call.

When you know you’ve messed up, you know why you messed up, and it doesn’t help at all you’re a fairy godmother.

 

I’ve mentioned before because I write a lot of flash fiction, I need to have various ways by which I can create characters and trigger story ideas. It’s not a bad idea to mix up the way you do things here because I find it keeps my fiction writing life interesting for me and, I hope, readers.

There are a huge variety of random generators to choose from, plus well known proverbs and phrases, but how about this for another way into creating stories?

There seems to be a National day for almost anything. Today, 6th April, is the day for, amongst other things, National Carbonara Day, (which sounds wonderful), National Teflon day (will that stick, I ask myself), and, in the UK, today is the start of the new taxation year. It isn’t widely celebrated that one!

But how about using these things in stories? Could your character be creating a carbonara for someone special or doing to to cheer themselves up after a horrendous day? Could romance bloom in amongst the tax ledgers! You could also set stories using the national day event as a backdrop. Could it complicate things for your characters in some way or make life easier? Your call but story ideas for sure here.

Congratulations to all who won or were listed in the Andrew Siderius competitions recently run by Friday Flash Fiction. Enjoyed reading these.

Looking forward to my usual flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. I find it a lovely way to create after church, walking the dog, and lunch. Should be getting back to the 100-worders tomorrow too. I sent in a longer flash for the above competition which was fun to do but anything over 100 words wise now story wise seems ever so long to me! Flash fiction does do this to a writer.

Having said that, I have written at the other end of the spectrum too. The one category I’ve not yet had a go at is the “mid-range”, the novella. Wouldn’t rule it out though. And it is possible to have novellas told via flash fiction with each story (acting as its own chapter) up to 1000 words, each story standing alone, but there also being an overriding arc you can follow through to the end, just as you would for a longer work.

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Kinds of Story

I love a whole range of stories and books so it is hard to pick just one overall favourite but we all have those we turn to time and again, especially if life is grim. Right now I know I can’t bring myself to read dystopian fiction. If I want dystopian I’ll watch the news!

I’m a great believer in books being a wonderful source of entertainment. This doesn’t stop them from being thought provoking as well, far from it, but at the end of the day, I want a rattling good yarn I know I can enjoy again and again if I so wish. So where do I turn to for these?

My picks are the classic fairytales, anything from Discworld by the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett, anything by Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse. Always worth re-reading! Then there are the classic works of Jane Austen, crime novels generally, historical fiction geenrally, and The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.

What I look for and find in all of these and many others are stories which take me away from my troubles for a while. Books shouldn’t be underrated for their capacity for this. I do think right now they can be wonderful escape for so many of us.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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What Makes A Story 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. Image of me at a local book fair taken by my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today, Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Continuing to enjoy the lovely weather, as is the dog. My camellia (a pretty pink) is now beginning to come out. Looks great. Writing wise again have been busy on Zoom but also doing plenty of “bits and pieces” around this. Has been a good writing week to date.

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Hope you have had a good day. Gorgeous weather here.

Delighted to share What Makes A Story Work for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the role of dialogue and description, what you take in from stories you read, understanding the characters, and much more besides. Hope you find the post useful.

What Makes A Story Work

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3rd April 2025 – 1st post – META protest

Two posts from me tonight.

First up, a protest against outright theft by META. I am standing with #TheSocietyofAuthors against the theft of authors’ books to train AI #dothewritething.

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3rd April – Second post

Just to say I’ll be sharing What Makes A Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

Am looking forward to sharing my next CFT post on 11th April too as it is on a topic every writer will identify with. More details nearer the time.

Have had a good week on Zoom again and an looking forward to another webinar on Storytelling next week. I do think Zoom with its ability to allow people to join in with various writing and other events online has been one of the few positive things to come out of the pandemic. I’d not used it at all prior to that. And it’s thanks to Zoom I’ve rediscovered the joys of PowerPoint, which I use for my Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meetings.

Writing Tip: Do your characters have catchphrases? These can be useful but I’ve found it best to use them sparingly, especially in short form writing. What you don’t want is for readers to get sick of the things. Even the famous comedy characters didn’t use their best known sayings all of the time.

Hope you had a lovely day. Lady had a fabulous “puppy party” with Her Hungarian Vizler friend and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, though it was more a case of Lady and Coco doing the running around.

Will be sharing What Makes A Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. You do pick up so much about this topic simply by reading lots of lovely fiction!

Glad to say my author newsletter went out yesterday. Definitely not an April’s Fool!

Writing Tip: I like to build up a “stock” of flash fiction and blog pieces for later use. I find this pays off a lot during those frantic times when I know I haven’t got much writing time. So when I haven’t a particular writing task to do, I will spend some time writing these because I know it will come in useful later.

So if you are “stuck” for something to write, why not try this? Use a writing exercise or a random generator prompt to start you off (it’s amazing how many of those can also be used for non-fiction).

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Am back on Friday Flash Fiction but this time with a story, It Was There, which comes in at just over the 300 words mark. It is my second entry for the Andrew Siderius competition FFF are running. You could have one story on one theme for the 100 words category and then use the other theme (two are always set for this) for the longer word count category which is what I have done. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Good time had by both.

This doesn’t just apply to flash fiction, of course, but do ensure you keep to the right word count for competitions you enter. (This may not apply to novel competitions so much though most would be expecting a word count there of 80K to 100K words). What you don’t want is for a good story to not make the cut because of a rule infringement like that.

But I have found it pays to get the story right first and then worry about the word count. Sometimes I’ve had to put a story which is right but cannot make the word count requirement aside and save it for another competition with a higher “allowance”. It happens sometimes. But I usually do get to use that story in another place later on.


Another lovely sunny day. So nice to be out and about with the dog at the moment. She appreciates it too.

Now getting out and about in the fresh air does us good but how could you apply this to a flash fiction story? Could you get your character going out on their normal walk but with something different happening during it? How would they react to this? What would trigger the “something different”?

Equally if your character goes a different way to their normal walking route, why do they choose to do this? Are they trying to avoid something or someone? What do they notice which they might not have done had they stuck to their normal route and how would this impact them? Does it make them change their thoughts about something or someone?

Story ideas there I hope!

Fairytales with Bite – The Natural World in a Magical Setting

When your setting is a magical one, what would the “natural” world look like? Would this be considered to be any form of life which wasn’t magical in some way? Or would it be the natural backdrops against which your stories are set?

What would your magical characters make of the natural world around them? Do they care for it or treat it with contempt (and is there a natural backlash from that attitude)? Would some of your magical characters care for the natural world – I.e. they would be our equivalent of environmentalists, naturalists etc?

Would your younger characters in the equivalent of schools study their natural world or it is of little interest because it isn’t magical in itself?

Now I would say the natural world is magical in itself when you think about how beautiful it is but would your stars of your setting take the same view?

This World and Others – Environments

What kind of environments does your setting have? Are they similar to what we have? If not, how do they differ? What kind of atmosphere does your setting have? Do your characters need oxygen, water etc? If not, what do they require instead and how are these produced? Are these things produced naturally or do they have to be manufactured and if the latter how is that done?

Do your characters live in what we would consider to be a pleasant environment or is that the privilege of a few? Is your setting’s overall environment better or worse than what we have here, especially in terms of things like pollution? Has your setting been better in the past and, if so, what changed?

What would your world consider to be “science”? It is approved of by those who are magical or do they see this as being too like humanity for comfort? Could there be snobbery against science here? How would the working environment be in your setting if this is the case?

Those who are scientists as we understand the term could have a hard time indeed here in terms of being “socially acceptable” and being able to get anything they do accepted by those around them.

Environments don’t have to be comfortable!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Relatable 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 weekend. Lovely one here and even more spring flowers emerging. Good to see. Lady enjoying the better weather too. Busy on the writing front but had a productive weekend, which always pleases me.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Another lovely sunny one here.

Looking forward to going to an Association of Christian Writers Zoom session tonight. The talk sounds interesting.

Won’t be getting much writing done today due to that but I do go to these things, when they’re of interest, when I can. I see all of this as part of what you do when learning your craft, looking to develop further etc. Investment in time for your writing is seldom wasted.

Plus it will be lovely to see ACW friends online again! One of the aspects of the writing life I love is the social side to it – online and in person.

Another lovely day and Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today so win-win all around there. How come it is the end of March already?

Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Will be looking at humour as my topic this time.

Writing Tip: You’re tired. It’s been a hectic day. (Mondays always are for me). The thought of writing much seems to fog your already tired brain. So focus instead on writing little bits.

It’s what I use Mondays for with my writing. I add bits to my newsletter, start drafting blogs and flash pieces (but with no pressure to get these things completed that same day). I see this as building up my stock of material I will complete later on.

And the funny thing? I always feel better for having written those little bits. Creativity is good for you, even in small amounts.

Another lovely sunny day with a promising week ahead. Lady and I plan to enjoy as much of that as we can. Will be “zooming” around again this week as I have an online ACW event to attend on Tuesday evening and will be hosting another ACW group on Wednesday which is one I usually go to for a good old chat about all things science fiction and fantasy related.

Will be sharing What Makes a Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Author newsletter is out again on Tuesday, of course. If you would like to know more about flash fiction and discover tips and story links do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Character Thought: What is the one thing you know your character wouldn’t dream of doing in normal circumstances but you then make them face it? What would their response be? It’s absolutely fine to drop your creations in the mire! I find it great fun but this could, of course, just be me!

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Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post – Relatable Characters. I share thoughts on why my favourite Easter stories resonate with me and also share tips on how we can create our own relatable characters. Hope you find the post useful.

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Hope the day has gone well. Nice one here.

Character Tip: In getting to know your character before writing their story up, think about what would be a nice day for them and why. What would be a horrible day and why?

Both of these things have to have a reasonable chance of happening in your story. Think further about how they would handle each type of day and what that reveals about them. There will be insights here you will be able to use in your story. Your characterisation will be deeper and better for it too.

It’s a lovely sunny Monday but it has been hectic for me and it is still Monday when all is said and done. I share Garfield the cartoon cat’s attitude towards disliking Mondays in general. Time for another story from me on YouTube then. Hope you like my latest here – Craving.

What could my character be hiding in her food shopping she really cannot explain, especially since at her age she should know better? Find out here.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Happy Mothering Sunday to those who celebrate. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday as ever. It’s a nice way to wind down after a busy week and I get more stories written – win-win there!

Most of the competitions I send flash pieces into don’t count the title as part of the overall word count you’re allowed. I am always pleased about this! It helps – a lot! 

But a useful tip for those places which do count the word title as part of the overall count is to reserve three to five words for your title. If you end up using less what you have “left over” could be used for the story itself if you need that.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Pleased to be out in the garden for a bit. Mowed the lawn and kicked the football for the dog. It does make quite a sight but it keeps Lady happy and away from the lawnmower. Am sure she sees it as an outdoor vacuum cleaner (which she also still sees as “the enemy”). I had hoped she’d have grown out of that but alas no!

Looking forward to catching up with friends on Zoom later on.

Writing wise, I’m a fair way towards another flash fiction collection in terms of word count. (Don’t yet know when the third one will be out but I have had the nod on it). Have a couple of stories I want to look at tomorrow as part of my flash fiction Sunday as I have competitions in mind for these. Both stories have now had the required “rest time” so I should be able to read them as a reader would. It’s the only way I find works for me which helps me spot the flaws. Then I can do something about said flaws!

Goodreads Author Blog – Beginnings

While true every story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, the beginning is what writers tend to focus on because we know readers won’t get to the middle yet alone the end if the beginning doesn’t grip them enough. No pressure then!

Also many of us study classic opening lines (from say Pride and Prejudice, 1984 and many more) to help us learn our craft here.

I know what I look for in a beginning, when I am reading, is to have a sense of setting and who the lead character is likely to be. I love stories which start with dialogue as that is like eavesdropping on an interesting conversation (here I can do this legitimately!). You also get a sense of the two or more characters involved in that conversation.

Basically, there has to be something which engages my interest immediately so have that “must know what happens next” moment.

With my own stories, my beginnings are rarely exactly the same as I first drafted them. When I come back and edit I can see how I can strengthen them so I do. Every word matters. I have to look for maximum impact on a reader. Hopefully that means they go on to have a great beginning with my stories and then discover what else those tales contain.

Every writer in history has had to do this. It is why the classics are the classics. Their beginnings have stood the test of time. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if as you read this, you can think of your own favourite beginnings to stories. I’ve done so in writing this.

Of course, I don’t think you can ever beat the classic fairytale opening of Once Upon A Time. That got me into reading fairytales, fantasy, and reading in general so plenty to like there!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview – Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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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. Family do over the weekend which I’m looking forward to and Lady is as well as naturally she will be spoiled rotten! Writing wise, getting plenty of “bits and pieces” done so all well there.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am so pleased to welcome fellow Swanwicker, Joy Wood, to talk about her great series of books on Chandler’s Ford Today.

As well as sharing her writing journey to date, Joy shares useful writing and marketing tips and what she thinks about editing amongst other topics. She also shares how competition slogan writing kickstarted her writing career, which is an interesting way into novel writing!

Naturally she discusses the joys of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, something we both love, here too. Plenty to enjoy here – hope you enjoy the post.

Author Interview: Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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Hope you have had a nice day – lovely sunshine here. Good temperatures too. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal again today.

Am notching up another year on the clock on Saturday. Many thanks to all who have donated to my birthday fundraiser for this year. I’m supporting the Salvation Army.

Do look out for a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. See above. Looking forward to catching up with Joy in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later this year.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Hungarian Vizler, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Labradoodle pals today. Marvellous time had by all. Nice weather too.

Looking forward to sharing my interview with Joy Wood, a fellow Swanwicker, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will be a great read – do look out for it.

Writing Tip: Give some thought as to what the hook for your story is – that is, try to ask yourself what would make you want to read it had it been written by someone else. It’s a good question to ask as it means you’re thinking of what your readers want and that is a great thing to focus on. It helps against waffle tendencies!

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Pleased to share my story Best Served Cold on Friday Flash Fiction. You will see that it has the topic of Revenge in the corner. This is because this is my entry under the 100 word category for the annual Andrew Siderius competition Friday Flash Fiction runs. 

Next week I hope to submit a story on the other theme for this year but that will have to be at a longer word count. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one. It’s another example of where I’ve used a well known phrase to generate an idea for a tale. 

Good luck too to all who are entering the competition this year.
Flash tales are great for humour (think short, snappy tales with a punchline). They’re also great for specific moments where a character has something important to share but doesn’t need a lot of word count space in which to do this. As a result those specific moments have a more powerful impact I think. I call these “punch to the gut” tales and they can reflect all moods.

I like to mix up my word counts within flash. My favourite will always be the 100 worders because those were my first introduction to this fabulous form of writing.

But another one to have a go at is the 250 worder and some competitions are using this word count limit, The Bridport Prize springs to mind here. You can obviously pack more into this word count limit so it gives you the chance to show more of your character and what they are made of, which has always been my favourite aspect to storytelling.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Focus will be on editing. Flash fiction writing teaches you a great deal about this but it is a major benefit of writing in the form regularly. It can transfer to other forms of writing you do and I’ve found this to be the case for my blogs etc.

Also because you do have to keep an eye on the word count, you are always looking for better ways of phrasing things so you make yourself dig deeper to find that better phrasing. That in turn encourages your creativity, another good thing!

Fairytales with Bite – Legacies

We often think of legacies as gifts etc left in wills and so on but legacies can mean so much more than that. We all have those legacies, often resulting from family traditions, upbringing and so on, which form a major part of who we are and why we are that way, so why not apply this to potential characters?

It means digging deeper into fleshing out your creations but that will help you create more rounded characters. You may well find you can do more with those characters as a result.

So why not give some thought as to what your characters have “inherited” from their past which will directly effect the way they are in the story you’re going to put them in? This kind of thing will be a major part of what motivates them.

That in turn is what readers will latch on to because we understand this. We know what drives us. We know why we are driven this way. Some of that can be from our past, (as well as being from things like greed, lust for power etc).

This World and Others – Tales of Old

What would your setting consider to be tales of old? Are these cherished or an embarassing part of their history which they can’t quite shake off?

Are the old tales useful for a tourism industry (so much the case in my part of the world – all of our historical castles etc have stories attached to them, some of which are gruesome to say the least. In any other circumstance, these are the stories you would keep quiet about because they’re not something you’re proud of but the tourist industry finds them useful!).

How old does your world consider to be old? Where I am, it would be anything over 50 years old, I think, but that may be me being biased given I am over 50!

Who decided which tales could be kept from olden times and which have been deliberately forgotten/suppressed? Are the tales of old ever re-enacted (stage, film, for historical purposes etc) and who would stage these things? Are these things obligatory for the populace to see every so often? Could these things be used as a way of educating the populace especially if literacy rates are low?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Many of the Cafelit, Bridge House, and Chapeltown authors contributed to this book by Gill James. There is a prompt for every day of the year.
My latest published story is in The Best of Cafelit 6.
Where my stories are in print. Image by Allison Symes
Six of the seven books my stories have appeared in (okay in the case of Limerick Nation, one limerick!). Baubles is the other book. Image taken by me.
My tale Evergreen – Never Old and Good to Go – is in this collection from Bridge House Publishing
Image from Bridge House Publishing
I contributed to this. Image from Bridge House Publishing
Nativity. Image supplied by Gill James, Bridge House Publishing
Transforming Being. Image by Bridge House Publishing.
Image from Bridge House Publishing

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Author Interviews

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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. Book Fair images taken by Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a great weekend. Nice one here. Making good progress on the writing. Significant editing done too. Hope the week ahead continues to go well for us all. There are more signs of spring appearing all the time too, which always cheers me up.

Facebook – General

Pleased to share my latest post on Authors Electric. This time I look at Author Interviews. It is a great joy to be on both the receiving and setting end of these, given I’ve appeared on other writers’ blogs, have been on podcasts, and, of course, I set many writers questions over at Chandler’s Ford Today.

I discuss how I’ve used author interviews to help me on my own journey to becoming a published writer and how I continue to find such interviews engaging and informative. Hope you find the post useful and thought provoking.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Hectic here but it was good to see Lady playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals earlier this morning.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my Authors Electric post about Author Interviews. See above. Not a coincidence this one!

Hoping to get an article finished and sent off later this evening plus I hope to work on my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Am almost there on it.

Had a productive weekend but Mondays are always one of those days when I don’t get so much writing done due to commitments elsewhere so I use Mondays to do little bits and pieces. These things mount up.

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice to see more sunshine.

Writing wise I’ll be getting on with Flash Fiction Sunday shortly. Later I have editing to crack on with and a presentation to add more to so I will be happily out of mischief for the rest of the day, no problem!

Also have just heard will be off to a murder mystery my local amateur theatre group is performing in April. Will be going to this with my lovely editor from Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to that already. Plus I will have a writing Zoom to go to in early April as well as so plenty going on.

Character Tip: This is where writing what you know can help you in the creation of your characters. We know what we like and dislike in other people so let’s put that to good use as we invent our own people/beings of choice.

We understand what can make people angry, for example, so how can you tap into that when writing an angry character of your own? Look at the reasons why people have the attitudes they do.

There will be something you can use for your fictional creations from that. Understanding motivation helps so much here I think.

Hope you have had a good start to the weekend. Managed to get washing out and dried on the line today – yes, I know it’s sad but it is a win, honestly! Also lots of daffodils now out in one of my borders – daffodils always make me smile as I see them as pretty cheery plants, and they also remind me of Wordsworth.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Do look out for that on Friday. The interview is packed full of useful thoughts and tips and you can also find out how and why competition slogans had an impact on her writing life. Looking forward to sharing that and hopefully catching up with Joy again in person at Swanwick later this year.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady had a fabulous time in the park today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Great time had by all. Hopefully more of the same will take place tomorrow!

I haven’t used dogs much in my flash fiction tales and short stories. I tend to focus on characters who are human or fantastical in some way though my YouTube story this week, Temptation, is one for dog owners to enjoy especially.

But there is nothing to stop us using the qualities most dog owners appreciate in their pets (loyalty, love, faithfulness, mischief making, just being fun to be around etc!) in other types of character for our stories. Just a thought.

To quote The Bangles, it has indeed been a Manic Monday and it is time to share another story of mine on YouTube. Hope you like the short but sweet Temptation. Dogs and their owners will especially appreciate this one.

Temptation can attack anyone or anything but especially, in some cases, where cooked chicken is involved.

 

Both of my flash fiction collections with Chapeltown Books have titles which indicate something of their genre and/or mood. From Light to Dark and Back Again very much flags up the mood of the stories. Tripping the Flash Fantastic indicates the genre (flash and fantastic tales/fantasy).

Did I have either of those titles when I began compiling my books for submission? No! Both had alternative working titles. The titles I ended up with came to mind as I was drafting and editing. This happens so I no longer worry about it. I find I have to have a working title for anything I write but am not worried if it ends up changing. I think I just need a placeholder and I work with that.

Most of the time when ideas for alternative titles come up, they are better than the original but it doesn’t always work out that way. When it doesn’t I simply stay with what I first came up with. I always ask myself what kind of impact the title has on me (and therefore on a likely reader) and the strongest impact is always the one I go with.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Friday Flash Fiction is about to run their annual Andrew Siderius competition so do look out for this. I hope to have a go.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later in the month. Will be looking at editing flash fiction for this one. One massive benefit to flash fiction writing is you do learn to improve your editing skills considerably and that can then filter across to other forms of writing you do. I’ve found this to be the case.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Their Moods

Now it’s no secret the books I read often depend on what mood I’m in. When life is grim (and the news even more so), then I will usually go for humorous reads such as works by Wodehouse, Pratchett, and Austen, something I know will make me smile basically. I see it as having something lighter to counterbalance the darker side of life.

But books too have their moods and certain genres play on this to good effect – horror, crime, and thrillers, all indicate the moods of their stories to name but a few.

Now I’m one of those readers where I don’t want the mood the book to match my mood. I like that counterbalance though there are books I will always read regardless of what mood I’m in. For example, I will always find time to re-read Agatha Christie or Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time (which is a fabulous book and the only novel to make me change my view on a historical person, in this case Richard III).

So which books do you use to lighten your mood? Which ones do you read regardless of mood of book or your own mood?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Tips and Characters and Development

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely to see some sunshine out. And more proof spring really is on its way. Lady has loved that too. Writing wise, have been submitting stories, am prepping another one for a competition, working on blogs and am working on a author interview which will be on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. All good! Hope your week goes well.

Facebook – General

Another lovely sunny day and again Lady had another puppy party with her best pals. All dogs went home tired but happy. Enjoyed my swim too. Good to see more spring flowers out. And yes it is good to be reminded the natural world is far better than anything else, especially at the moment.

The other thing which is better is creative writing, of course, or indeed any form of creative art. Hats off to those who can draw anything because I can’t! Enjoying classical music more than ever at the moment – it does calm.

Writing Tip: Dialogue in fiction has to resemble natural speech but cannot be an exact replica of it. Why? Simply because we all um and ah too much and that would so boring to read in print! The odd one or two, yes, but no more.

Hope your Monday has gone well. Another lovely sunny day today and Lady got to have a puppy party with all of her best pals – the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Hungarian Vizler, and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. All of them had a great Monday! They had a great Tuesday too – see above!

Had a good writing weekend with plenty of work done. Looking forward to the week ahead. Creativity of any sort is good for you, I think. It makes you focus on something positive.

Plan to review a story later this week and then hope to submit it by the weekend. The story is pretty much there but a final review before submission pays off. I see this as my final, final check. Usually it is just to confirm all is okay. Occasionally I pick up an error (the lesser spotted typo!) and I can then amend it, of course. But I factor in time to allow myself to do that and this is another tip I picked up from years back which I continue to use.

Lovely sunny day. Was good to be out and about with the dog, both of us enjoying that.

I’ve picked up a lot of writing tips along the way, as you do, and most of them I still use regularly. Most transfer happily to all forms of writing such as write first, edit later. That one has been a game changer for me.

I remember trying to get each sentence right before moving on to the next and all I managed to do was hamstring myself. I found myself enjoying writing much more when I knew it was okay to write a rubbish first draft, it is what the first draft is for, and it was fine to come back and sort it out later. I’ve not looked back since.

Having enough time away from a piece before judging it properly is another tip I use constantly and again I find it pays off. You can‘t judge something properly the moment you’ve finished writing it.

I found I either I thought it was the greatest thing ever written or, much more often, this is total rubbish, neither of which was true. It was work with promise which needed tidying up, pruning etc. And many of those pieces have gone on to be published thanks to going through that process.

1st March – Newsletter
Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today. I know. How can it be March already? I looked at titles as my theme for this one. I sometimes use those pockets of time we all get to brainstorm ideas for title, opening lines etc. I review them later after a suitable break and write up the ones which still make me feel I have simply got to write this one up.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at The Benefits of Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link to go up on Friday.

Character Tip: We all have certain attitudes towards things, based on personal experience, to an extent how we were brought up, faith (or lack of) and so on. But there will be reasons behind those attitudes so what reasons do your characters have for the attitudes they have? Can anything/anyone make them think again or are they right to take the view they do? Plenty to explore there for story ideas.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you’ve had a good day. Despite the news, it’s not been too bad here.

Flash Fiction Tip: Focus on the lead character and what they do because that is your story. You have to focus on what is the most important thing. I can’t give you chapter and verse in any flash tale, there isn’t the room for it, but I can show my lead character doing one particular thing and that having a pivotal impact on them.

Naturally that will make the reader react but what is fun is deciding what that reaction is likely to be and then working out how to achieve it through your character. So if I want to make a reader smile, I’ll probably get my character doing something a bit daft.

This is one reason I went for a lighthearted story on YouTube yesterday (Socks) aside from feeling we could probably do with some lightheartedness right now.

It’s Monday. It’s a cold but sunny Monday where I am but nothing takes away from it being Monday. Time for another story on YouTube from me then. Hope you like my latest here – Socks. Time for a light hearted one I think!

My character comes up with one plausible explanation for why socks go missing, though it doesn’t seem to please her husband. Find out why here.

Almost time to start my flash fiction Sunday! Have picked a random word from a generator to use as my prompt for this afternoon’s stories. I like doing this because I can often get more than one story out of one generated prompt (or any other kind of prompt come to that) and I can change the mood of the stories too. So I may end up with one funny one, another will be a deadly serious tale, and all from the one prompt. I call this a win!

I have found it to be true the more you write the more ideas come to you. I see this as working the old imagination muscle and it is fun to do. Writing exercises, as I will be talking about in my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week (The Benefits of Writing Exercises), are a great way to work that muscle and are great if you don’t know where to start with your writing. Find a set prompt and give it a go.

Hope your weekend is going well. Pleased to see more daffodils out in my garden and more crocuses emerging too. I have always loved spring but am finding it especially cheering this year to see things like this emerging and reminding me there is a better world out there – the natural one.

Looking forward to Flash Fiction Sunday afternoon – I get quite a bit done in this and it is a highlight of my writing week.

Flash Writing Tip: I find it useful to work out who my character is (broad brush strokes here). For example, I know my character is a lady of a more mature age, likes certain colours in her clothes and other colours for her handbags etc. I then work out the kinds of attitudes they are likely to have.
In this case my character is likely to hate certain colours and won’t wear them.

From there I can work out what kind of events those attitudes could lead them into. Again in this case, I could put this lady into a situation where she must wear a hated colour and cannot get out of it so how does she handle this? Good potential for humour here too but you can mix up the mood as well here.

I can decide if I am going to get a laugh out of my character or take a more serious view in getting her to see how her attitudes can cause conflicts with others and over something relatively silly too. Does she change her ways?

Goodreads Author Blog – Characters and Development

One of the things I love about reading series novels is you can see how characters develop over time. The master on this for me was Sir Terry Pratchett with his Discworld novels. The development of Sam Vimes is magnificent. Start with Guards! Guards! and work your way through to Raising Steam. Men at Arms is an excellent police procedural as well as a funny fantasy and I think it is where you see Vimes come into his own so much more.

Now for short stories and flash fiction this kind of development is harder to do because you literally have far less of a word count to do this in but it is possible. You can have linked flash fiction/short stories where the same character turns up in more than one story, for example. Each flash piece/short story must stand alone but when you read the two more more together you should be able to see how the character has developed, whether it is for good or not.

The advantage to the novel is you can see how the character develops over the course of one novel. A lot can and does happen over one book and even more in a series.

But whatever type of fiction you go for, it should be the characters who grab you and make you keep on reading. I know they do for me. I want to see how they develop and change even if I don’t always agree with how they do so.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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