Tag: Bridge House Publishing

A Year In Flashback

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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 Lynn Clement, Paula Readman, and Penny Blackburn for images from the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event and The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick held earlier this year.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady has enjoyed seeing her chums though the weather has been frightful at times. Am slowly winding down for a Christmas break. There will be one more round up post (Tuesday 23rd December and the one after that will be on Tuesday, 30th December). Meantime I hope all of your Christmas preparations go well – still plenty to do here!

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Pleased to share my last Chandler’s Ford Today post for 2025. I look at A Year In Flashback and review my writing year. I also share the link to the recent Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM hosted by Hannah Kate. I was pleased to have a festive piece broadcast here (and thrilled three other members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group had their work broadcast too).

This post was a joy to write as I look back at events I went to and review my news of the year, especially the forthcoming publication of Seeing The Other Side (Bridge House Publishing). Hope you enjoy the post and I would recommend taking out some time to look back at your own writing for the year. You may well find you’ve achieved more than you thought. I’ve written more stories than ever this year, for one thing.

A Year In Flashback

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The weather has been ghastly today (Lady didn’t go out this afternoon and it has to be really bad for that to happen) but I do hope my latest post on Authors Electric might bring some seasonal cheer.

I look at Approaching Christmas and A New Year this time and discuss the joys of taking in seasonal stories whether it is by book or film (many of which are based on books in any case). I also share some film ideas here too – if you haven’t seen Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather, I highly recommend it. Plus you can’t beat The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Hope you enjoy the post and I hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year. See you here again in 2026, all being well!

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Hope you have had a good Wednesday. Lady had a lovely time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals which was sweet to see.

Looking forward to tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. We’ll be sharing chat, news, stories etc. Christmas jumpers and so on are optional. Should be fun and it is a lovely way to wrap up our writing year here. It was great fun!

Will be sharing A Year in Flashback for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I will be back on CFT after that early in the New Year. A huge thank you to all the lovely authors I’ve interviewed this year. Am hoping for more of the same in 2026. See above for CFT post.

Writing Tip: As Christmas approaches, I do slow down on the writing and then stop for a few days. The break is wonderful and gives me chance to catch up on some reading too. Never be afraid to take a break from writing when you feel you need one. It will still be there for you when you are ready to resume it (and I find I am raring to get back precisely because I have had that break).

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No story to share on Friday Flash Fiction this time but I will just say the winner of their Christmas competition will be announced shortly after 19th December 2025. Good luck to all who took part in the competition too.

I will start sending stories in again in the New Year and look forward to doing so, though the break will also be lovely (and I am sure that will be the view of the FFF people too!).
Will be sharing A Year in Flashback for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Will be my last CFT post for 2025. See above.

I hope to draft some flash and other pieces during the holidays but don’t plan on writing much. I do hope to catch up on some reading though.

I will be sending out my author newsletter on 1st January as normal though I will admit to preparing a lot of this in advance. It helps! I share news, tips, story links and more here. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and for those who already subscribe, may I say a huge thank you for your continued support.

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Last meeting for 2025 for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tonight. (On Wednesday 17th December and it was good fun).

Also am glad I got my final flash and short story competition entries in a couple of weeks ago. Things are starting to become more hectic in the run up to Christmas. I know, I know. I shouldn’t be surprised by it really. We all know Christmas is coming but the last week or so seems to creep up on you. Am looking forward to taking part in some carol services too. These are always lovely.

I try to use some of the Christmas break to catch up with stories (via books, films, audio etc).

Flash fiction comes into its own during busy times. It means I will always have time to read some stories, even if they are only 100 words long a piece!

Fairytales with Bite – Minor Characters in Fairytales

I have a very soft spot in my heart for minor characters in fairytales. One helped me get into print with A Helping Hand in Bridge House Publishing’s 2009 anthology, Alternative Renditions. I have written many fairytales with minor characters taking the lead for once since then.

Flash fiction works brilliantly for this given I think this kind of story works at its best when kept tight. For one thing, you don’t need to go into much detail about the story the minor characters have come from as folk will know this already. All you do is hint there was more to come and that is where your story comes in, of course.

This kind of story can be great fun to write as you can set the record straight, if you wish, for the minor characters who will be your “stars”. You can also show behind the scenes material the original story didn’t cover. For example, what did go on in the Palace kitchens on the night of Prince Charming’s ball? What was the gossip (and you can bet there would have been plenty of that, especially after midnight!).

What matters is showing why you want to write about the minor characters you pick. What made them special enough for you to write their tales up? That is where the story will “spark” and catch not just your imagination but those of your readers too. So what does need to be told about these characters and why?

These tales are a great vehicle for humorous stories too. Have fun! (I continue to do so here).

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This World and Others – The Role of Your Setting

What role does your setting play in your story? Why have you set your story there? How does it help or hinder your characters? How would it appeal to your readers? What would we picture about it to make it seem real to us?

Setting can almost be a character in its own right. Think Mordor or The Shire from The Lord of The Rings. Both of those places conjure up different images (and of the characters likely to live here too).

If your world setting is an old one, how has it changed over time and has that been due to natural factors or things like magical power misuse? If the latter, has anything been done to correct it?

Your setting could be the story in its own right – what happened to it, why, and what was done to rectify it and who led the way to things being put right (or as right as possible).

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The Perfect Read

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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. Plenty of writing and editing done so all good here. Lady continuing to make good progress. Getting significantly colder – have had first frosts – but I prefer that to the wet and the mud as, I suspect, does Lady.

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Hope you had a good day. Cold but bright and Lady got to see her two best buddies again, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. Lovely time had by all. I resumed a good swim and enjoyed that. Water felt warm – it never is by the way but it confirms it was perishing outside!

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say my author copies of Magi, the Bridge House Publishing anthology, reached me today. My story, The Family Legend, is in there and it is good to be between the covers again with some very familiar names. Some of them I hope to meet up with next month at the BHP celebration event. It’s always nice to receive a parcel of books with your work in them.

It won’t be too long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out and, in a few days, I will be sending out my latest author newsletter. If you would like to know more about flash fiction, read some of my online stories, and pick up on good writing advice, do sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Hope you have had a good Monday. Hectic here as ever but Lady did get to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler friends today. They all had a great time.

Had a fabulous writing and editing weekend. Plenty done. Just to flag up (and thanks to Jenny Sanders for letting me know) that Hannah Kate is holding her Three Minute Santas again on North Manchester FM. See the link for more details and good luck if you intend having a go. I hope to again, It’s good fun to write festive flash fiction.

Tip: I always record my submissions for Hannah’s show on Zoom and then play them back. I can literally hear how I come across and, just as good, the Zoom recording confirms the time I’ve taken to read my story. All useful as Hannah needs stories which are no longer than three minutes (the clue is there, folks!) and I can ensure I come in just under this limit doing this.

Festive Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

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Hope the weekend has gone well. Lovely church service this morning followed by walking the dog and heading home for lunch. Nice day today too though on the cold side.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon which will begin shortly and include responding to today’s Flash NANO prompt.

Writing Tip: What would I say was the most useful writing tip I’ve received and still use? Difficult to say but on balance I think it has to be the write first, edit later tip.

When I began writing seriously, I spent ages trying to get the first sentence or two right but just ended up getting frustrated. It was much better when I began just getting the story down, having a break from it, and then looking to improve it. I wasn’t interrupting my writing flow. I was treating writing and editing as two separate and different creative tasks. I enjoy them much more, keeping them apart from each other.

I also know now in a way I didn’t back then nobody writes a perfect sentence. Everybody has to edit at some stage so why not enjoy the creative writing first, then work out how to improve it? I also find it much easier to figure out what does need improving (and why) if I can see the whole story. I know what I’ve got to work with for one thing.

Hope today has gone okay. Horribly soggy here. Good day for staying indoors and getting on with some writing then!

Writing wise, I plan to share Short Story Collections on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing the joys and challenges of writing for these plus share tips on how to make the best of any set theme. I hope it will prove useful. After that will be a fabulous author interview – more on that nearer the time.

Looking forward to looking at memories and story ideas resulting from that topic for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

And if you’re starting to think about book related presents, why not check out an anthology? Your recipient will receive a mixed bag of stories and hopefully will discover many authors new to them. Why not check out Magi (Bridge House Publishing)? See link.

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I can hardly believe we’re almost at the end of the last ever Flash NANO. Will be getting on with the latest prompt later this evening. Where has the time gone? The variety of prompts have been fantastic and a good challenge.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow evening. The focus will be on memories and how we can use these for flash fiction and flash non-fiction. Our December meeting is always an informal chat with sharing of news and stories. Christmas jumpers, hats etc are optional!

Have drafted a potential festive flash fiction story which I hope to submit later this week. Still want to pick out some earlier drafts for competitions but hope to get to do that later this week. Deadlines, thankfully, aren’t for a while yet.

It’s Monday. It gets dark far too early for my liking. It has been hectic as usual. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Book Signing.

What secret is Allison keeping from Linda and where does a book signing come into it all? Find out here.

Note: No authors were harmed in the making of this video! Neither am I confessing to something here, honest!

 

I found fairly quickly after getting into flash fiction writing seriously, I did need to have a title as a “peg” to work with. I would say I leave 90% of them unchanged. But I do need something to help me get started and a title is a big help here, even when I know for sure in advance I’m likely to be changing it. It is the way of it too that sometimes as you write, a better idea for a title comes along so I then go with that.

I like shortish titles, especially those which are open to interpretation. You can have a great deal of fun with those in playing with expectations and either delivering on them directly or springing a good twist on your readers. Certainly when I’m reading flash fiction/stories, a title I can guess will be open to interpretation will always grab my attention.

Flash NANO continues apace and I will have a go at today’s prompt later. All good fun (and it has been lovely to receive great feedback on stories I’ve shared on the FN Facebook page. A little encouragement goes a long way as any author would tell you!).

Also congratulations to Hannah Kate for the 10th anniversary of her Hannah’s Bookshelf programme on North Manchester FM. Flash fiction has often featured on Hannah’s show, especially at Halloween and just ahead of Christmas. Flash is a great format for radio – short enough to be entertaining. Not too long to switch people off either!

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Anniversary Special, Saturday 22 November, 1-4pm

 

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Read

Provocative title for this post? Maybe? Is there really such a thing as The Perfect Read?

I think there can be but it depends on what you like to read and your mood as you read it. For example, I will often read something by P.G. Wodehouse in the darker months because I want something lighter to cheer me. It always does and so, whatever I choose by him here, it will be the perfect read.

When I’m reading an author new to me, having been captivated by their blurb, book cover etc, I simply want the book to deliver on its premise. As long as it does that, it will be a perfect read for me. What I don’t want is to have expectations set up and then not delivered on unless there is a superb twist or something like that, which I always love because I never mind when an author wrong foots me like that.

What I don’t want is a promising book but the author wrong foots me by delivering something which comes across to me as dull. (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen does this for me I’m afraid but I do love her other works).

The perfect read, in a more general sense, always occurs for me when I can get behind the characters, whether I’m rooting for them to succeed or fail. (There is nothing quite so satisfying as booing a good villain, even if I only do so metaphorically!).

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Character Memories and Publication News

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here but productive. Lady is making good progress too. Writing has gone well. Looking forward to sharing another superb author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today next month and many thanks too for the lovely likes and comments on the publication of Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing.

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post Character Memories.

I look at why I think character memories make the character concerned more real for me. I also look at how memories can drive action and attitudes. I also discuss how I use memories a character might have to help me know about them even if those memories don’t end up in the story I tell about them.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope today has been reasonable (well, you have to make allowances for it being Monday). Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler which cheered her up no end. Lady is making good progress and I think giving it another week should see her fully okay again. We hope that will be the case anyway.

As the day went on though, I started to feel unwell and am not feeling fabulous as I write this so it will be an early night for me, I think. I will get some writing done though not as much as I might usually have done because it will cheer me up a bit. Being creative, in any form, is good for you like that. I hope a good night’s sleep will do wonders too. I guess it’s time for the bugs to make their presence felt, unfortunately.

Writing Tip: Never despair when you get those times when you can’t write much for whatever reason. It happens to most writers. I find the best way to handle this is to accept I will just do something and leave it at that until I am able to write to my normal levels.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy one here. Glad to get to Sunday afternoon and wind down a bit. Can’t believe we’ve hit the halfway stage of Flash NANO already. Will be working at today’s prompt later on.

Lady continues to improve and is feeling happier than she has done though we still need to be careful with her exercise for a while.

Had a lovely Zoom with Swanwick friends yesterday, one of whom I’ll catch up with in person at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event.

A huge thank you too for all the lovely comments and likes etc coming in on my news yesterday of Magi, the latest BHP anthology, being released. See below.

Check out an anthology for Christmas – that could catch on as a saying I think!

Hope today has gone well. Good news – Lady is improving and she got to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, on a short walk today. It was lovely to see how seeing her closest chum cheered Lady up a lot. Dogs are good for each other as well as us.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a review of The Business of Murder, the murder mystery play recently staged at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church by the wonderfully named Senior Thespians! Link up for that on Friday.

Will also on with the latest prompt from Flash NANO later today.

Publication News: But the big news is I am thrilled to say I am in print again. My story, The Family Legend, appears in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. It is out today – 15th November 2025 – link below.

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Feeling better than yesterday though still not 100%. Writing has proved to be a wonderful distraction. It’s also handy it’s something which can be done in the warm given we had our first full frost overnight. Brr…

Will be working on the latest prompt from Flash NANO later. As ever, I’m enjoying the variety of prompts. It’s always a good idea to mix up the type of writing prompts you use. It keeps you on your toes. It makes you think outside of the box. Also, it’s just plain fun to have a go at different prompts, though inevitably you will end up with favourite types. I would say mine are writing to an opening line or where you have to put certain words into a story. Like those a lot.

Incidentally, if you like books of prompts, why not check out The Big Book of Prompts, published by Bridge House Publishing? I’ve contributed prompts to this book, along with dear friends from Bridge House, CafeLit and Chapeltown Books. This book gives you a prompt for every day of the year too.

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It’s Monday. It has been hectic. I feel under the weather – boo. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Outstanding Effort.

Sometimes monsters can’t believe what they’re hearing but when they win first prize for something which comes naturally to them, maybe they can hide their real attributes for a bit longer.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly as I draft pieces for Friday Flash Fiction, my YouTube channel, and the latest Flash NANO prompt.

I need to select some stories, already written in draft form, to look at for potential competitions. I’ve got a couple of competitions I wouldn’t mind entering before the year end. This is where regularly drafting flash helps a lot because I always have something in stock I can pull out and, after good editing and polishing, put in for a competition.

Also hope to get on with a PowerPoint for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.


Thrilled to have publication news again in that my story, The Family Legend, is in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. Always good to have news like this!

I started writing standard length short stories, such as this one, long before I discovered the joys of flash fiction and I happily write both. Most of my standard length short stories are either in anthologies or are submitted for competitions. My flash fiction work usually ends up online or in a future collection (sometimes both!). Plus I do enter flash fiction competitions.

Many congratulations to all who are between the covers with me for Magi. It is good to see some familiar names here and I hope to meet up with at least some of you at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Collections Acrostic

C = Collections (short stories and flash fiction) are wonderful ways to try out works by authors new to you.

O = Original stories, often on a theme, inspire so many ideas and make for a truly entertaining read.

L = Lively imaginations at work in collections to make the most of the theme.

L = Love collections for giving authors a voice and also some at least are used to raise money for charity.

E = Enter the worlds of story collections and meet many different characters.

C = Characters which grip you and often short stories and flash fiction make more of an impact because of their brevity.

T = Tension and drama aplenty in the short forms and collections bring so many of them together in one easy format.

I = Imagination let loose for readers to enjoy.

O = Options for collections usually include paperback and ebook so there will be something to suit you.

N = Nothing ventured, nothing gained – why not try story collections as gifts?

S = Story collections are perfect for dipping into when you don’t have as much time as you’d like for reading.

Go on, give them a go! You are bound to find topics and themes to suit.

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Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

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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 week. Lady has seen her friends, I’m making good progress with various writing tasks, and sometimes we’ve ducked the rain so I’d call that a good week! Oh and I have publication news too with more details to come in my next round up on Tuesday, 18th November.

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I’m delighted to share my review of The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley (best known as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army, such a wonderful programme). This was recently staged by my local excellent amateur theatre group, The Chameleon Theatre Company.

I share a little of what the play is about (but no spoilers!) and look at the wonderful use of sound and lighting which made this play especially atmospheric. I also look at how good costuming does wonders for giving a real sense of time and place. Plus the acting was great.

Really good theatre should leave you feeling as if you have left the real world for a little while and this certainly did that for me. Hope you enjoy the review. It was a pleasure to see the play (and I was curious to see it too because of who it was written by, having long been a fan of Dad’s Army).

Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

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Has been a mixed bag of a day. Lady did see her best buddies, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, but later in the day, Lady was not wanting to put weight on one of her back legs. Visit to the vet (who was lovely). We think it’s a strain/a touch of arthritis (Lady is nine now) and we have to lead walk her only for short periods for the next couple of weeks and see how Lady gets on. Lady has had the odd strain before and this kind of treatment helps enormously so we hope and pray the same will be the case again. What Lady won’t like is not being able to run after a ball for a while…

In much happier news, I’m reviewing The Ghost Train recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above. The week after I’m reviewing again but this time that will be The Business of Murder, recently performed at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church. No reviews for ages and then two at once…

Am very happy to say I’ll be putting in a book order soon. How come? Well, another of my short stories is about to come out in the latest Bridge House Publishing anthology called Magi. More on that at the weekend.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Good time had by all and we even had some unexpected but most welcome sunshine.

Writing wise today, I hope to get plenty of “bits and pieces” done. I’ve a blog to finish and schedule and a review where I want to finish writing the text plus, of course, I will have today’s Flash NANO prompt to respond to as well. I’ve also an interview to prepare – always good fun to do these. I do like a good variety in my writing life.

Hope to have some more publication news soon too. See above! (More to come in my next round up).


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Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Recall. Occasionally I write a flash story with rhyming elements and this worked well for this tale. It suited my character’s narrative style. Do see what you think (and a huge thanks for the lovely comments coming in on this so far).

Am happily cracking on with the Flash NANO prompts and will have a go at today’s one shortly. I do love the variety. It is why I mix up the writing prompts I use generally. It keeps me on my toes and encourages further creative thinking. I also don’t want to ever just have to rely on one prompt type – why limit yourself?

I like to use the random generators (and there are so many of those, trust me you won’t run out of ones to try), books of prompts, story cubes, as well as going back through my notebooks every so often to pick up on ideas I jotted down during writing events. (It’s too easy to forget about those the moment you get home!).

Will be thinking about memories in flash fiction for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. November is a month of memories for all sorts of reasons. (Many churches, including mine, have a memories service this month where we recall loved ones – it’s always a moving service).

Memories can drive action (from a character being determined to never do what someone in their past did or to do something better than they did). Memories can often form interesting narrative non-fiction articles – and that is the theme of this month’s Writers’ Narrative. Do check it out if you haven’t already – link below.

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Fairytales with Bite – Behind The Scenes

What goes on behind the scenes in your magical setting? There could be plenty of story ideas here from looking at what goes on behind the scenes in magical government, other magical establishments, but also how villages etc are run. Are there dominant families, for example? Are they beneficial overseers running the village well or do they make everyone else’s lives miserable?

When it comes to learning magical or other skills needed in your world, what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to training students? Can all benefit from this kind of tuition or is it limited to certain species only?

When fairies are sent out on missions to help others, how is it decided which fairy does what? Are there rivalries going on here? How is infighting dealt with or are your characters expect to “slug it out”?

In your setting, how were things set up in the first place and why was it done in this way? Who ensured things behind the scenes were set up the way they wanted? Was this truly in the best interest of your magical world?

Definitely story ideas there!

This World and Others – Staging

We can all think of those who stage things for their own benefit (and not just in the political world, though I suspect it is rife there!). In your magical setting, who would do this? There would be those who wield obvious power but lower down the scale, you can find those who would be manipulative if they had the chance to be so and get away with it.

So who would set things up for their benefit? How do they get away with it? Is what they stage ever challenged?

When it comes to entertainments in your magical setting, what forms do these take? Who would carry out the creative staging needed here? Is it appreciated by the general populace? Is magic used to help this process or is it expected other means would be used instead? (If you use magic everyday as the day job, you may well want something different when it comes to arranging your entertainment, else it would be what we’d know as a busman’s holiday).

When it comes to staging for political reasons, what is someone hoping to gain from this and why do they feel the need to do things this way?

Story ideas there too!

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Author Interview – Introducing Penny Rogers and Amelie At The Window

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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. One photo of me at a local book fair was taken by my lovely Chandler’s Ford Today editor, Janet Williams. Many thanks to Penny Rogers and Bridge House Publishing for photos supplied for my Chandler’s Ford Today interview with Penny this week. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was one photo from a previous Bridge House Publishing celebration event.
Hope the week has gone well for you. Lady has got to see her two closest chums several times this week so they’ve all had a great week, despite the fireworks. Had a most enjoyable time at an ACW genre group and am making good progress with writing and editing. So not bad at all here really!

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I’m delighted to welcome fellow Bridge House Publishing author, Penny Rogers, to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to discuss her lovely new book, Amelie At The Window.

As well as sharing what inspired her to write the book (which takes in two time frames – 1914 and 1924), Penny looks at what led her into writing and shares tips she has found useful. If you like historical fiction, do check this out. More in the interview – link below.

Penny and I share a mutual love of flash fiction and short stories and she shares her thoughts on those wonderful forms too.

Penny is also having an online launch next week. There is a link to this in the interview. It is free to attend and I am sure Penny would love to see you attend if you can. (I’ve already booked my ticket).

Author Interview – Introducing Penny Rogers and Amelie At The Window

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Lady had a lovely time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler pal today so has had a cracking week so far in that she has seen her best friends all week.

Writing wise, I am welcoming Penny Rogers to Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow to discuss her new book, Amelie At The Window. Amelie is an unforgettable character.

Penny and I discuss the book, along with Penny’s writing life in flash fiction and short stories. Plus there will be much more to enjoy and find useful as Penny shares writing tips and her thoughts on marketing and much else. Do look out for that tomorrow. (It is especially nice for me to welcome a fellow Bridge House Publishing author to CFT of course). See above.

Plus there will be two smashing play reviews to come in the next couple of weeks on CFT too.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her two best pals again today and all of them had a lovely time. Lady is now curled up indoors and we are listening to Pet Classics on Classic FM.  The idea is to play plenty of soothing classical music to helps pets anxious with all of the fireworks going off etc. This was on Bonfire Night, 5th November, but they are running another Pet Classics on Saturday 8th November. It is an excellent idea.

We’ve found it helps Lady, along with things like shutting the curtains early, turning up the volume on the radio/TV, and yes she does have a den to go to should she need it. Our local schools are having a laser show this year which is great and I hope everyone enjoys it. I also hope people do turn to the silent fireworks as they’re easier to buy now. I always write with classical music on and find it helps a lot. It gets me into the “zone” so so speak.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to joining in with an ACW genre group later this evening. Always good fun. Am also busy preparing my reviews. I know. No reviews for ages and then I get to do two at once.

Enjoying the Flash NANO prompts so far too and will have a go at today’s one a little later on.


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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, But Why? This was fun to write and I hope it makes you laugh, which is always a nice way to end the working week. If you’ve ever had a culinary disaster, you should like this one!

Have not really noted my word count for the Flash NANO prompts so far but looking at what I’ve come up with so far, I would say they’re at my favourite range of sub-500 words. Enjoying the challenges and will crack on with the next one later this evening. This is the thing with Flash NANO – thirty prompts in thirty days – game on, as far as I’m concerned. It’s a fantastic way of increasing my output over a month!

Some of the stories from previous Flash NANOs will be in my third book, Seeing The Other Side, in due course too. I also expect to use some (and have in the past) for competitions.

Am sorry it’s ending but hope there will be another good challenge to take its place. Meanwhile there are two other competitions I want to have a go at this year and hope to begin work on those soon. Both are flash competitions.

I love mixing up the mood of the tales I write in flash fiction, I will often have a spate where I deliberately want to go for the lighter hearted kind of story and then at other times, I am writing on the grimmer side of life. But you can do this with flash and I love mixing up the word counts I write to as well.

Given I’ve always loved inventing people, it is easily my favourite part of writing fiction, I get to do this all of the time with flash and I’ve gone on to write about other species too. Well, why not write from the viewpoint of aliens, mother dragons etc! It’s fun!

Am also looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month and have booked my train tickets today. It’s a great, fun event and it’s lovely meeting up with other BHP authors, most of whom I only get to see in person at this event. It’s a great celebration of short fiction too as most of us here are short story writers and flash authors. Some are novelists too.

Fairytales with Bite – Lighter Characters

I love stories which include lighter characters in the tale. They are great for providing much needed light relief. After all, don’t we appreciate those friends who make us smile so why wouldn’t our characters feel the same way about characters who do this for them?

That doesn’t mean we put these characters in for the sake of it. They still need a vital role of their own in the tale but they can give much needed shade and colour in a story which is on the grim side, say. And if you’re writing a humorous tale, well you will need plenty of lighter characters to help supply the smiles!

Lighter characters can be interesting for another reason. Have they always been that way or have episodes in their life led them to develop a lighter persona as their way of coping with what they have gone through? Good story ideas to explore there.

Equally are lighter characters covering up a darker, criminal side perhaps? Again good story ideas to find there, I think.

In a magical setting, would lighter characters be deemed to be those who don’t have so many magical powers? They are considered lightweight by others but aren’t necessarily so, maybe? Again story ideas to find there, especially if they can find ways to develop greater powers (and what would they be prepared to do to achieve that)?

This World and Others – Who Decides What is Dark Anyway?

We all know what good and evil are, right? Certainly all of us have ideas on this and the majority of us will hold the same values in common.

But is this true for your magical setting? What would they see as good or evil? Do they share our views or are they the opposite?

Amongst your characters, do certain species hold certain values in common while others definitely do not? What does pass for the law in your setting? Who enforces it? Who does decide just what is dark anyway? How can they get the main species to agree on what should be held in common? There would have to be some agreement else there could be no way for a sensible form of government to happen, there would be anarchy.

Also has your setting’s view changed on all of this over time and have any particular historical acts led to changes coming in here? After all our own laws have changed many times over the centuries.

If your setting has been threatened by other worlds, did your setting unite to face it and defeat it? Or were there divisions? An enemy could exploit the latter. But the darkness would have to be faced and dealt with in some way.

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Books Which Live On

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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. One image of me holding Creativity Matters and my flash collections was taken by Adrian Symes, as was the photo of me signing copies of Tripping The Flash Fantastic. I was being watched over by a distinctly unimpressed Lady! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Fabulous one here – lovely family party. Good time had by all, including the dogs. Lady was so tired on Saturday night! Pleased to say the second part of the serialisation of Seeing The Other Side is now on CafeLit – link below. Looking forward also to helping a friend with her online book launch on 1st August – details below.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady had a lovely time in the park. Have been very busy, so much so my feet feel like they need a retread! Good to be at the desk writing.

Don’t forget it won’t be long before my next author newsletter will be out. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I share news, tips, discuss a topic, and share story links, including to the partial serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side plus more on my newsletter. Would be good to have you aboard. A huge thanks to all who support me here. It is much appreciated.

Am looking forward to watching The Chameleon Theatre Company perform the stage version of Bill Bryson’s Notes From A Small Island later this week. Should be great fun. I plan to review it for Chandler’s Ford Today at a later date.

Plus I am off to visit a Jane Austen exhibition at the weekend. Plenty going on. Loving it all.

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Hope your week has got off to a good start. Lady got to play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today and saw Tao, who looks as if he could be Lady’s big brother (but isn’t!).

Event News:  Am delighted to say I’ll be quizzing dear friend and former ACW colleague, Rosemary Johnson, about her new book, Past and Present, which has recently been published by Bridge House Publishing. She will be holding an online book launch via Eventbrite, hosted by Bridge House Publishing, on Friday 1st August from 7.15 pm (UK time). The event will last for an hour.

Do check out the link to find out more – the event is free. Rosemary will also be sharing extracts from her book so if you love stories, especially those of a historical ilk, do come and join us on 1st August. And you can put questions to the author herself too. Hope to see you there.

Lovely family party yesterday. Weather okay in the end (and thankfully cooler thanks to the rain in the morning). Lady enjoyed playing the role of doggy host to Lily and Teddy. Lady was absolutely shattered at the end – caught her out for the count in our passageway. She also slept really well last night but I suspect those of us with two legs, as well as those with the four, all did!

In writing news, I will have news of an event I am helping with for a friend’s book launch in the next day or so. Launch itself will be on 1st August. See above.

Serialisation News:  And I am pleased to share the second part of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side (due out on May 2026). Hope you enjoy the selection in the link.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Other half had his birthday yesterday. Family do today. Great fun. Wonderful seeing everyone. Knackering? You bet but isn’t that the sign of a good party?

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming fellow Swanwicker and flash fiction writer, Esther Chilton, to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her new book, The Secret Dragon. Looking forward to sharing that. The book is aimed at 5-7 year olds and I can tell you now the blurb and extract she shares with me for the post makes me almost wish I was that age range again! More nearer the time.

Sometimes things occur which you hadn’t thought about but it has a special resonance. Yesterday, 18th July, I shared my Authors Electric post about Jane Austen. Her birthday is commemorated later this year (December) but 18th July is the anniversary of her death in Winchester. I hadn’t picked up on that. Always good to re-read her works though. You don’t need a special event for that.

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Hope the day has been a good one. Have a couple of competitions (flash ones) in mind to start drafting for at the weekend (or at least I hope to get to do that. Do have plenty of time for the deadlines which helps).

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Will be looking at the topic of summer for that. The seasons can throw up plenty of ideas for stories.

Also do consider using the game of Word Association to help trigger prompts, which in turn can trigger story ideas.

It’s Monday. It has been an especially hectic one, at least for me. All I know is it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on You Tube – Prompts.

Which three prompts could Shirley pick out to cause any concern to Barry, someone who has never understood her wish to write? Find out here.

 

Hope all well with you. Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly after a lively and fabulous weekend.

The second part of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side is now out on CafeLit. See the link (though it is over on my author page here too).

One of the nice things about having a book accepted is getting to read your stories again after a gap apart from them. I hope to take part in the Open Prose Mic night at Swanwick again this year so hope to share some of my new material from this book there too. 
Did manage to get my competition story off during the week, the one I mentioned last weekend. Have another competition to have a crack at – a lovely 750 words one. Plus there is another one which links with a book festival where I can go up to 1000 words.

I sometimes have a look at my past Flash NANO stories and polish those up for competitions. They’ve had long enough to rest up before I use them. I can usually spot things I can strengthen them so I do. When I draft those tales for the event in November each year, I do have this idea in mind. I’ve found it useful.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books Which Live On

Books which live on is an apt topic for me at the moment as I’ve just written about Jane Austen for another blog I contribute to monthly and it was a lovely, enjoyable thing to do. Her books will live on and have lived on long after her because she creates such memorable characters and situations. That, I think, is the secret to any good story.

Yes, sure, styles of storytelling do change over the years. We don’t need descriptions in the way Dickens wrote them because we have our own references to helps us picture things. His readers would not have had those things – being in the film, radio and TV age does make a difference, as does universal education. But we can still understand his characters and what motivates them. I do feel it is the characters which are the important connection in any story.

Any book which does that should live on. I think the classic books can give us insights as to how life was lived back then so they can be educational in that respect. I don’t want stories dismissed just because they’re old or not read for that reason. (Same applies to the authors!).


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Once Upon A Time

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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. One image kindly provided by the Hampshire Writers Society where I have been a guest speaker. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy but fun one here and so delighted to hear I’ll be in print again later this year, details below. Lady having a lovely time catching up with her pals and enjoying the lovely weather.

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Am pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my post is called Once Upon A Time.

I discuss how these famous opening words to classic fairytales can inspire us with our own opening lines. For one thing, they show you don’t need too many words to set a scene, genre, and time scale!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have a good start to the week. Lovely weather here. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today so all is well in her world.

Looking forward to sharing my review of Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor which I went to see performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group last week. The review will be on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. It’s the first time I’ve been to an interactive murder mystery play.

Writing Tip: How easy or otherwise do you find getting into your character’s head so you know where they are coming from here? I find I must be able to do so to understand their motivations properly and be able to write their story up. A few pertinent questions can help here. A good one to always ask is what do you want and why? That alone can give you a good “backbone” for a story.

Publication News
Am thrilled to say my story, The Family Legend, will be in the Magi themed Bridge House Publishing anthology due out later this year. Huge congratulations to all of the other writers who will also be in this book. I share the full list below and it is good to see some familiar names here!

Jane Spirit – A Royal Dilemma
Diana Powell – Adoration
Adam Mizler – Caspar’s Story
Joyce Frohn – Epiphany
Sally Angell – Follow Your Own Star
Michael Rogers – In the Departure Lounge
Margaret Bulleyment – Island Views
Sara Winslow – Lavender
Sara Page – Nativity
Paula Readman – Quizmas Rivalry
Richard Balou – Return of the Magi
Steve Wade – Seosamh, Meryem, the Busker and the Boy
Sharon Keely – Star Over Dartmoor
John Walker – The Census
Allison Symes – The Family Legend
Ian Inglis – The Four Wise Men
Anne Meale – The Gift of Common Ground
Rob Whaley – The Lost Magus of Michigan
Caliman Florentina – The Mysterious Journey of a Soul
Henry Lewi – The Road Trip
Yrev Very – The Second Coming
Liz Cox – They Came from the East Riding on Camels
Sarah Swatridge – Three Wise…Monkeys?
Penny Dale – Travelodge Epiphany

Will share further news such as publication date when I have it. It will be good to be in print again!

Am posting early as busy but enjoyable weekend this time. Hope the weekend is going well for you. Weather forecast for next week looks almost summery which will be nice. Touching to see such a wonderful turnout in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral. TV figures etc will be even higher of course. He will be much missed.

Looking forward to reviewing Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor, recently staged by the fabulous The Chameleon Theatre Group, for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. First time I’ve been to an interactive murder mystery play. It was fun but more on that in my post next week.

Character Tip: What kind of language (and not just swearing!) is your character going to come up with and why? Are there words they always use or words which would never pass their lips?

Give some thought as to why this is and you will find out more about your character, which I’m sure you will find a good use for in fleshing them out more. It is a case the writer always needs to know more about the character than the reader does.

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Am enjoying the sunshine, as is Lady, who got to play with Coco the lovely Labradoodle this morning before it warmed up this afternoon.

Many thanks for the congratulations over my publication news shared the other day. Much appreciated.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow evening. Always good fun.

Flash Fiction Tip: I’ve found it useful to focus on my character and their situation, get that draft down, tidy it up and then and only then worry about the word count. You do need to get your story “right” and I have ended up with a story over the word count of the competition I had in mind but where I really didn’t want to change anything on it. I feel it would spoil something so I simply save that story for another competition instead.

It’s Monday. Okay, it’s a lovely sunny Monday but it is still Monday and time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Pictures.

It is only after her mother’s death Sally discovers why there were never many family photos up at home. Maybe some things were best left hidden after all…

 


Delighted to say one of my longer short stories will be in the Magi themed Bridge House Publishing anthology due out later this year. Meantime will crack on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon!

After the 100 worders, I think my favourite flash category is the 300 words one because that seems to be the word count I write to most often after the good old drabble. It is also a common competition category for flash tales so well practising writing for.

In my collections I have a few stories which are between the 750 and 100 words limit but the majority are either 100 or between 100 and 500. I literally do average out at about 250 or so!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week on Zoom. Will be looking at genres. This is just one aspect to flash I love and take advantage of a lot – the fact I can put my characters anywhere and everywhere in stories so I do.

When I have a competition with a set theme I take time to work out what kind of character would be best suited for it. When it’s an open theme, I work out what theme I ‘d like to write about and then figure out the best fit character from there. You do want a good match up here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Family Stories

What do you think about stories based around families? I loved the Little Women series based on the March family from Louisa May Alcott and still have a very soft spot indeed for Jo. I still have the books (bought from a local newsagent back in the days when they would often stock popular titles. Indeed the Little Women series was part of a “Deans Classic” collection).

I also adored Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series (and again still have a very soft spot for George).

But the novel which always “got” to me was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I loved the whole idea of a story told by the horse and the Gordon family I thought were lovely. (That idea was explored further in the old Southern TV series which was based on the novel and ran with the basic idea while remaining faithful to the spirit of it, not an easy balance to get right, when it was a popular weekend teatime serial and more stories were wanted once they’d finished with the novel itself!).

I don’t specifically seek out family stories though it is funny how many of my childhood favourites are based on them (another one was Heidi).

Mind you, some of the classic fairytales show families which are far from ideal – check out Snow White and Cinderella to name but two!

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Author Interview – Introducing Hannah Retallick

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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. A huge thank you to Hannah Retallick for supplying many of the images in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week and to Wendy H Jones for creating some fabulous images for the December 2024 edition of Writers Narrative, which I’ve incorporated into a Book Brush collage below. Do check out the magazine itself – link below.
Hope you have had a good week to date. Storm Connell early in the week followed by bitterly cold days – it has been a mixed bag of a week here, weather wise. Lady has been running around so the cold doesn’t worry her. Writing wise, am thrilled to announce Writers’ Narrative is back – see more below on this. Written by writers for writers, it is well worth checking out. And it’s double blog day given my Chandler’s Ford Today and More than Writers posts are both out on the Friday.

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29th November 2024 – Post 1 – CFT

Quick bit of news just before I share double blog posts – lots going on today.. Am pleased to say I sent in a prompt for Flash NANO and Nancy Stohlman has chosen mine to be today’s one. I haven’t written up the prompt myself yet but do plan to do so later on and see what I can do with it!

Double blog day once more and this time I start with a stunning interview with Hannah Retallick on Chandler’s Ford Today. We celebrate her new (debut) short story collection, Something Very Human.

Hannah shares with me so many useful thoughts and tips any writer will find useful so do check the post out. Hope you find it useful and entertaining – I did!

Hannah and I are both short story and flash fiction writers. We’re also both published by Bridge House Publishing. We discuss the joys of writing in the short form, fiction wise, and look at marketing and writing routines amongst other topics.

Author Interview: Introducing Hannah Retallick

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29th November 2024 – Post 2 – More than Writers

Double blog day part 2! I’m delighted to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers with a timely piece called Light in the Darkness. Timely, of course, since we go into Advent at the weekend. Hope you find the piece encouraging and inspiring.

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Two pieces of great news to share tonight:-

1. Am sharing a fabulous interview with Hannah Retallick about her debut story collection, Something Very Human (Bridge House Publishing), on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. Hannah shares so much useful information, tips, and thoughts useful to writers so do check this out. See above.

2. Am thrilled to say Writers Narrative is back with the theme of cozy marketing and writing. My piece is about festive flash fiction which, given its nature is fun and lighthearted, is a very cozy read indeed! Check out the magazine below (and there’s a free to subscribe link within the magazine itself).

 

Brrr… a cold one today. Storm Connell has done some damage – most evident in the afternoon and evening walks I take with Lady. Flooding, parts of tracks swept away etc. Had to do a detour tonight. Having said that, she did get to have a good time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this morning. The park just gets soggy. Think I’ll be living in my boots now until next March (if early 2025 proves to be good), next May (if it doesn’t!).

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later this evening.

Will be sharing a fabulous interview with Hannah Retallick on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Be sure not to miss it – lots of useful and interesting thoughts for all writers. See above.

Will be a double blog day on Friday given my post on More Than Writers will also be out and I will be looking at Light in the Darkness for that one. Apt as we go into Advent. Again see above. Has been a busy week!

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale here Fitting In. This one I would describe as a fairytale in reverse. Just what does happen to the Fairy Kingdom’s clumsiest fairy ever? Find out here.
Screenshot 2024-11-29 at 09-48-00 Fitting In by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Many thanks to all who came to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom last night. The theme was festive flash fiction. I talk about the same topic for Writers’ Narrative this month which I am so glad to say is back. Its focus this issue is on cozy marketing and writing. Festive flash fiction fits in perfectly here given it is the ultimate, I think, in lighthearted reads – short, often funny, and definitely light, something I think is needed at that this time of the year. Link given up above.Screenshot 2024-11-28 at 16-32-08 Writers' Narrative Magazine December 2024 by scottandlawson - Issuu
As well as providing an interesting varIety of prompts, taking part in Flash NANO does mean you end up drafting stories in varying moods and genres. What will I do with these later? I hope some will go into a future collection. Others I will reserve for competitions.

Word count length has varied for the month – most have come in at the 500 words or fewer count. I have had a couple at the 100 word mark or so. None of this surprises me but I do find Flash NANO invaluable for (a) getting more flash written and (b) taking me out of my comfort zone with some of the prompts. The latter is good because it makes me “up my game”. No bad thing that.

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Fairytales with Bite – Mix Up by Allison Symes

Mix Up
It never pays to be in too much of a hurry.
It will only lead to trouble and worry.
As one fairy godmother, once of such great renown,
Found to her utter chagrin, it got her down.
Picking up the wrong wand by such a clumsy mistake
She turned a client into a fancy cake
Which was then scoffed by a so hungry and fast young elf
The fairy godmother was besides herself
With tremendous grief, ridicule, and later, with pain.
She became the Fairy Queen’s appointed bane.
She was then banished to Earth, speedily, just like that.
Now she can’t magic a rabbit from a hat.

Ends
Allison Symes – 27th November 2024

Hope you enjoyed that one.

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This World and Others – Borrowing From Other Worlds

How advanced is your setting? Does it have technology to travel to other worlds (openly or otherwise)? If so, does it like what it sees and does it “borrow” anything? The other world may not have anything taken from it but copying is an ancient business. So is the outright theft of a good idea!

So what would your characters bring back to their home world and how would these things be put to use? Does everyone back at home welcome the new “things” or are they fearful of them? Could they have good cause to be? There is potential for a humorous story in having a character bringing back all sorts of things, which never work out properly when he/she/it gets back home again.

Also give some thought if the world they’ve pinched ideas from get to travel across universes themselves, could they ever come to your character’s home world and discover what they’ve done? Could make for interesting clashes (and even more so if both worlds are trying to improve relations. Something like this could scupper that. What would the consequences be?).

Could other worlds borrow from what your setting has to offer and how could this come about? Who discovers your character’s home world in the first place and was it something they were deliberately seeking to do or something which they stumbled on accidentally?

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Am so pleased Writers’ Narrative is back. Do see the link further up the post.

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Lifting Up My Pen at Swanwick 2024

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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 Jen Wilson for taking the photo of me leading the Lift Up Your Pens session about using numbers in fiction.
It is so good to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and a joy to catch up with friends in person. Have learned so much from the courses and workshops so far.

Marvellous to catch up with friends and to see the fish in the lake again at Swanwick 2024

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Another lovely day at Swanwick. Enjoyed the sessions on The Write Mindset (Sarah Harlow) and Powerful Public Speaking for Writers (Simon Hall). Always plenty to learn from sessions like these. Sometimes it is just reassuring to know you are on the right lines!

On Tuesday afternoons there is spare time (which is done deliberately) where I hope to catch up with some of my writing. Later tonight I am due to take part in the Open Prose Mic Night and am looking forward to that. It does make a great advert for what flash fiction can be.

One of the beautiful lakes here at Swanwick - you might just spot the fish here - Swanwick 2024

Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the shots of me at the Lift Up Your Pens session yesterday. It was a joy and privilege to lead the Lift Up Your Hearts session this morning, a short devotional session for all denominations.

Was back at Vivien Brown’s Short Story course this morning and then went on to Road to Self-Publishing Success led by Lizzie Chantree. Both packed full with useful information. Plan to get along to Anthologies Collaborations too.

There is so much choice here. It is one of the strengths of Swanwick and you choose how many or how few of those courses you go to. I trust the Book Room is also seeing brisk sales as if there is one thing I know about writers, it is none of us can ever have too many books!

Discussing how we can use numbers in stories as part of Lift Up Your Pens - Swanwick 2024

Glad to say the session for Lift Up Your Pens which I hosted at Swanwick this morning went well. I was looking at different ways of using numbers in stories. There are more than you might think and using numbers at all encourages you to think outside of the box, which is also a good thing.

Thoroughly enjoyed Vivien Brown’s Short Story specialist course, the fist part of which was this morning. I went on to Twist in the Tale hosted by Val Penny which was on before and after lunch. Both of these topics are right up my writing street of course.

But one of the lovely things about creative writing is there is always something you can learn which can help you improve your craft further. Now that is a very good thing indeed!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Am on my way to Swanwick 2024. So looking forward to seeing everyone. Lady, with my other half, saw me off. I expect to be mugged by her when I get back. It’s what usually happens.

Will be talking about Never Fear The Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today. It is timely given my Swanwick course is on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Link up on Friday for CFT (I just love scheduling in advance!).

Am getting back to my old habit of getting some writing done on the train. The notes app which came with my phone is great and proving to be a good replacement for Evernote as I don’t have a need for a paid subscription which they effectively now are.

You can't beat the trusty notebook and pen for work in groups or at events like Swanwick

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Will be taking part in the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night later tonight. Hoping to read from my books and one or two pieces from my stories on Friday Flash Fiction. Did take part in the general knowledge quiz last night – the team came 5th out of 8 though the placings between 5th and 2nd were very tight. Might pay to brush up for next year!

Nice to have a chat with fellow Bridge House authors, Linda Payne and June Webber, today. Always good to wave the flag for a lovely publisher.

From Left to Right below:  June Webber, yours truly, Linda Payne.

Waving the flag for Bridge House Publishing and CafeLit - June Webber, Allison Symes, Linda Payne

Having a fabulous time at Swanwick. I swear you can feel the creativity in the air! The gardens are as lovely as ever, as are the lakes, and I’ve found it refreshing to take walks around the latter at break times. Have never seen the fish so busy in those lakes as I have done this year.

Glad to have caught up with the lovely Linda Payne – she and I are the Bridge House Publishing contingent for this year! Also glad to have caught up with Susan Pope and Vikki Thompson (of the lovely Mermaids writing group. I’ve given a couple of talks for them on Zoom but it is so nice to see the ladies again in person).

Have some ideas from exercises already set but suspect I need to be back at home before I get a chance to write them up though.

But I haven’t forgotten it’s Monday and it is still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest – One Hour. I shared in Lift Up Your Pens at Swanwick yesterday how to use numbers in fiction and one way is to use it as a time. Here’s my response to that!

Many thanks to Val Penny for the shout-out as part of her Twist in the Tale course at Swanwick today. Yes, for flash fiction, you can only have the one twist and that is it because you don’t have the word count room for more. However, it is precisely due to that I find twists in flash fiction have a more powerful impact as there is nothing to “water it down”.

Have put my name in the box for reading out at the Open Prose Mic Night. Flash is a great form for this bcause you can’t take too long. Goes down well with organisers and audiences, that one!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Hope to share some flash fiction at Swanwick again. It is a great format for Open Prose Mic nights as it doesn’t take long and the audience gets to hear complete stories. Have brought new material for this year.

Hope to get some flash written while away too. Am sure some of the exercises I will be set will end up eventually as flash tales.

Always time for a laugh with fellow writers-1

Goodreads Author Blog – Collections

There is a great meme doing the rounds which claims it isn’t hoarding if it is books. I have a lot of sympathy for this viewpoint and confidently expect to add to my own hoard courtesy of the book room at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is my base for a few days.

I also love story collections and have done from an early age thanks to the collected fairytales Reader’s Digest brought out as a two volume set a long time ago.

I’m not unbiased given many of my stories are in collections and I often edit them for others. I love the mixture of tales in these and to be able to dip in and out of the books as I wish.

I often read them in between reading novels. I like to mix up reading the short and long forms. A well curated collection is a joy to read.

Screenshot 2024-08-13 at 09-18-54 Allison Symes's Blog - Collections - August 10 2024 06 07 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the June 2024 edition which was on the theme of poetry. My article looks at the links between flash fiction and poetry. Hope you enjoy it.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Moments in Stories

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Weather still a mixture of torrential rain, sunshine, cloud, and high winds. More to come too. I am so thankful that writing is something which is usually done indoors in the warm!

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Next author newsletter due out tomorrow but there’s still time to sign up. Please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com for tips, news, story links etc.

Also due tomorrow is the start of Flash NANO where I’ll receive 30 flash fiction prompts for the whole of November. I took part for the first time last year and had a wonderful time with this. I am looking forward to more of the same! It’s a fabulous way to get some drafting done.

I think that’s the secret, if you can call it that, to this and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). See these as ways to get first drafts done. Editing can come in later. But getting those stories down is vital and these ideas can help you get off to a cracking start. You can’t edit a blank page now, can you?

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler pal, who she treats like a mother figure (and the Vizler loves it too, she loves being “boss dog” here). Managed to avoid most of the rain. Always see that as a bonus. Lady and I don’t always manage it so see it as a win when we do.

How do your characters react to the weather? Equally how does the weather affect the story? It is often used to make life more difficult for the characters (see The Lord of the Rings for more on this!) but could you use it to help your characters instead?

For example, bright sunshine will make any journey more pleasant for most of your characters but if they’re facing threats from vampires, guess who the sunshine isn’t going to help!

Perspective is an issue here too. What some characters see as helpful, others won’t though it can be interesting to explore why the latter take a negative attitude as that may well have a bearing on how well or otherwise they “do” in the story. Outcomes could change too.

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Am pleased to be back on More than Writers with my post Moments in Stories. I look at some of the memorable moments in fiction I love but also discuss whether, as a writer, you can know what these are for your stories before you’ve gone through at least one edit. I also ask why do you care about your characters enough to write their stories up at all. Hope you enjoy the post

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Hope you have had a good day. Very changeable weather today. Still the rain did make me get round to one job I often put off doing – the ritual tidying up of the desk!

Will be looking at Stories Based On Other Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Looking forward to sharing that. I love stories full stop. I have even more love for a story which is based on or inspired by another, stays true to the character/setting portrayal of the original or is upfront enough to say it is Tale X based in the Year ZZZ, but is its own tale too.

Not an easy balance to get right but it can be done. So many tales have been inspired by Pride and Prejudice, for example. Not all are set in the Regency period. Must admit though I don’t like the zombie cross one though. That just seems wrong to me. I dread to think what Jane Austen would have made of that.

Author newsletter due out again next week. I compile this during the month as news and story links come in and is great fun to put it together. I had hesitated about having one but am now glad I have gone ahead. I think it is vital to enjoy what marketing you do here. It is that enjoyment which will help keep you going.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day. I don’t “do” Halloween (much prefer All Souls’ Day) but I have written the odd ghost story in flash fiction. Like any other character, I give good thought to the motivation behind a ghost turning up. There has to be a good reason for it.

In Tripping the Flash Fantastic, in my story Getting It Right, I write from the viewpoint of the recently murdered Richard III who is lamenting how he has been misrepresented. It gave him a chance to have his say to a modern audience! That was my motivation there.

For almost all of my historical pieces, I “allow” my characters to speak in relatively modern English so they can make themselves understood to us in the present day. Olde worlde English can be tiresome to read in huge quantities. As with accents, slang etc, a little goes a long way and I have always felt the most important thing is to get the character and their situation across in a way readers will want to follow. So the use of modern English is my one conceit here.

I have written from the viewpoint of Anne Boleyn too and it was, again, much more important to get her as my character to show you how she is feeling on the eve of her execution and to hopefully encourage sympathy for her and her plight. The Tudor English would get in the way of that, I think.

Allison Symes - Book Collection and TTFFIt’s Monday. The clocks have gone back in the UK. It’s darker earlier. There has been more heavy rain. It’s Monday. You know where I’m going with this – it’s definitely time for a story.

Hope you enjoy Numbers, my latest on YouTube, and see how my postie characters deals with the stuck up folk in Wisteria Crescent.

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Musical Neighbours, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. If you missed it, you can check it out at the link below. I love coming up with the 100-word stories (aka drabbles) for FFF. Great fun to do. And do check out the website for great reads. (My problem here is tearing myself away from the stories but that’s a good problem to have!).

Am looking forward to Flash NANO which starts on 1st November. Had a great time with this last year and out of the 30 prompts, I was able to get stories I was happy with out of most of them which is fair enough. Not every prompt will suit every writer but I had a great time responding to the challenge.

Screenshot 2023-10-27 at 09-46-42 Musical Neighbours by Allison Symes

A huge thank you for the wonderful comments coming in on my news about Gifted, the latest Bridge House Publishing anthology. Much appreciated. Am so looking forward to the BHP celebration event in December.

One of the things I love about writing flash stories is I can give the characters who deserve it their well earned comeuppance quickly! I tell you writing can be so therapeutic at times – for the author at least! But whatever kind of flash tale I write, I do have to know my character well enough to know they are going to deserve to have me drop them right in it. Then it is great fun delivering on that!

Flash works so well for twist stories and humour too. My ideal story is a flash one where a character gets their comeuppance and it is a funny one. Love reading that kind of tale too. Probably says a lot about me but one of the joys of fiction is in knowing that a lot of the time justice is done (especially in crime stories) when in life it sometimes isn’t.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Anthologies and Collections

I’ve had the lovely news this week that another story of mine is out in the latest anthology by Bridge House Publishing called Gifted. My story in there is called Desperately Seeking Talent. I often submit work for anthologies and it has been a great joy many of my stories have appeared in these over the years.

But I love reading anthologies and collections as well as contributing to them. I love discovering the different styles of the writers. I was one of the winners of the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition where the writers had to write to 1000 words all on the same theme. Fifteen different writers came up with fifteen varying stories and it was amazing to see the creativity here and a joy to be part of it.

Reading anthologies and collections is also a great way to discover writers new to you. Why not use what you like about their short form work to check out their longer stories and books?

I see books like this as “mixed assortments” of stories. What is there not to like about that? I also read these books in between novels as I like to mix up reading the long form with the short form. There is so much to enjoy about both kinds of writing and I want to make sure I get plenty of reading done in both forms.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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