Tag: Broadcast News

Book Reviews and Publication/Broadcast News

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good weekend.
Had a lovely carols event at our church over the weekend. Good support too and all were in fine voice. Gets Christmas off to a cracking start for me. Writing wise, will be winding down now over the next few days. Am not planning to post on 25th and 26th December. I will post up until Christmas Eve and then from 27th December onwards. Well, that’s the plan at the moment anyhow. Is Lady looking forward to Christmas? Oh yes. She’s a great believer in Santa Paws and an even bigger believer in Christmas dinner!

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Lady and I did great impressions of drowned rats this morning. She dries off far quicker than I do.
I’ll be sharing a festive round up of recent writing events I’ve been involved with and flash stories for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Looking forward to sharing that. It’s a good way to cover a few things in one post.

Am preparing a post for 29th December taking a look at the year to come writing wise. I do get as much writing done as I can in the few days leading up to Christmas. Afterwards, times of appearance will vary but I am looking forward to the Christmas break and getting more reading time in as well.

Author newsletter will go out on 1st January – to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Wow, where has the year gone? My final post for the year for Authors Electric is on the theme of Book Reviews. I look at this from the point of view of whether you review how many books you’ve read over the last twelve months, as well as the difficulty of getting reviews for your own books. I discuss my own policy for reviewing anything too. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have had a good day and Christmas preparations are going well. It was odd not going to church this morning. We went this afternoon instead for a lovely Carols by Candlelight service instead. A good time had by all. We were in good voice. Tea and coffee and festive refreshments went down very well afterwards too.

Am delighted to be back on CafeLit once more with I Do, I Don’t. This story started life as one of my Flash NANO 2023 prompts and I am glad it has found a home. Hope you enjoy the story.

Screenshot 2023-12-17 at 19-24-17 CafeLitMagazine

Many thanks to Hannah Kate for her Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM as it is a great chance to celebrate festive flash fiction. Enjoyed listening in. Lovely variety of stories.

My broadcast story was This Is The Partnership. Find out how Santa deals with a dodgy salesman and where the contract comes in during all of that. Oh and how the Tooth Fairy fits in too! Good fun to write. I hope you enjoy listening to it. My tale comes in at about the 34 minutes mark in Part 1 of the show (link here) but do check out both parts (link to Part 2 here). You don’t want to miss out on the cracking stories.

You really can’t go wrong with a show full of stories and Christmas music, can you?

Will be talking about my festive related writing activities, including this show, in my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week too.

Screenshot 2023-12-16 at 20-14-24 North Manchester FM 106.6 Listen Again - Listen whilst connected - downloading our shows is not possible

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Hope your Christmas preparations are going well and you have a lovely time with friends and family. I also hope you receive plenty of book related presents too (and they’re easy for Santa to wrap so win-win).

I have written the odd flash fiction story in poetic form. One of these is The Working Man (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) which looks at a current carpenter, an old boy, and his approach to the Nativity. Let’s say he likes the fact that working shepherds were the first to get to the stable. It was a pleasure to write it.

Festive flash can cover aspects of the Nativity as well as things like the stories associated with Santa. I like to write both. I like the thoughtful or cheery mood so often associated with festive flash fiction. We need cheer every now and then in stories I think.

412384359_792733716199825_5419709909276471137_nIt’s not quite the night before Christmas. It is the Monday before Christmas though! And Monday means story time (though I am giving myself next Monday off for some reason!). Hope you enjoy my latest YouTube video – Timings. You know how we all moan about late deliveries of parcels, post etc. Just occasionally someone else does too – find out who here.

 

Well, I got to hear Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade for the first time this festive season as I listed to Three Minute Santas presented by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM yesterday. Countdown to Christmas started then (and this song must be known as the Slade pension fund!). Good to hear it again. I’ve always loved this one.

Will be slowly winding down towards Christmas but am pleased I did get my entry off to what will be my last competition entry for 2023. Glad to have got that off this side of the holidays though.

I enjoyed singing some stories myself in the forms of carols in my church’s Carols by Candlelight service. I’ve always had a soft spot for stories in songs and a classic one here for me is Squeeze’s Up the Junction. Do check it out if you don’t know it. It is classic ballad territory. Proves also you can tell a story in not many words indeed but then that would be music to my ears, wouldn’t it?!

My flash collections are available in Kindle and paperback

Hope you have had a good day. Lovely to have my This is The Partnership broadcast by Hannah Kate on her Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM. Good to hear the variety of stories on here. One reason I love writing festive flash fiction is because there is so much you can do with it. You can write takes on the Nativity. You can write takes on the tales connected with Santa and his elves and so on. And there is always room for a ghost story – see Charles Dickens’ catalogue for more on that! Am I surprised A Christmas Carol has never been out of print? No. Suspect it never will be. Rightly too.

Will have a story, I Do, I Don’t, will be on CafeLit tomorrow so hopefully will share the link there. So it is a good weekend for sharing story links! See above for CafeLit link.

Am looking forward to singing some stories (via carols) in my church’s carols event tomorrow. Always fun and it will be interesting to see what Christmas cracker jokes we are treated to this year! (I love a good groan at a cracker joke).

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Goodreads Author Blog – A Christmas Carol – An Acrostic

A = A classic story which will never date or be irrelevant.

C = Charles Dickens’ tale will always have resonance.

H = His character of Ebenezer Scrooge has gone into the language – we talk about someone being a Scrooge.

R = Realising what the true meaning of Christmas is forms the heart of this story.

I = Imagining what it could take to make Scrooge the way he was at the start of the story shows empathy for a lost soul.

S = Scrooge changes – he has to, else there’s no story – what is fascinating here is finding out how it is done.

T = Time rules are suspended thanks to the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.

M = Muppet Christmas Carol is, to my mind, the best adaptation of the story.

A = And I love the Marley and Marley sketch in this film – think it is brilliant.

S = Stories can show their classic status by seeing how many adaptations of them have been carried out – loads for this one.

C = Caring for others is a huge theme in this story and Scrooge comes to see how others see his miserliness.

A = Anguish in Scrooge’s past is shown to him – he has to face his mistakes, especially with Belle.

R = Reality is part of this story, funnily enough, as there are scary moments in the tale and Scrooge is made to face what he has become, perhaps the scariest thing of all.

O = Original and gripping – wow, what a story!

L = Love triumphs – Scrooge changes – he is no longer a lost soul.

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Broadcast News and 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. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for the image of me at Swanwick 2023. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Had a lovely trip out to the West Country with other half and Lady plus a meal out with family which was great. Have had great writing news which I hope to talk more about in the New Year. Meantime, I have a story being broadcast soon and another one on CafeLit soon. So it has not been a bad few days!

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Hope you have had a good day. Right old mix weather wise today.

Am looking forward to welcoming Rosemary Johnson to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to talk about her book Wodka, or Tea With Milk. Her novel is set against the backdrop of the Solidarity movement. Now to me this seems this was only on the news yesterday but that definitely is an “age thing” on my part!

Rosemary will be sharing something of the joys and challenges of her road to publication as well. Great interview – do look out for it.

Talking of interviews, do bear in mind this can be a useful technique for finding out more about your characters to help you picture them well enough to write their stories up.

For my flash fiction, I find only a couple of pertinent questions are enough to help me picture my characters. Good questions to ask include things like what is your major trait and why do you think you have this one? A character has to open up to answer those properly. These can’t be Yes/No answers. Give it a go and see how you get on. I find it useful.


Am thrilled to say my story This Is The Partnership will be broadcast by Hannah Kate on her Three Minute Santas show on Saturday, 16th December between 2 and 4 pm. The link gives more information. I hope to share the link to the show itself early next week.

Huge congratulations to all of the other writers whose stories are being included in the show. I spied some familiar names (Rosemary Johnson and Jenny Sanders) too. Well done all!

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 16 December, 2-4pm

Screenshot 2023-12-12 at 20-20-02 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf Saturday 16 December 2-4pm - Hannah Kate

Pleased to say I’ll be on CafeLit later this coming week. More details nearer the time. Publication news is always lovely!

Have also had some great writing news elsewhere but hope to talk more about that in the New Year. I will just say it’s a great way to come towards the end of this writing year though!

Don’t forget the December issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Packed full of great information and interviews, it is an enjoyable and useful read for any writer. Do check it out. Link below.

 Hope you have had a good day so far. Went down to Dorset with other half and the dog. Blustery but dry and it was fabulous to see West Bay again. Lady loves these trips out. Thankfully all three of our dogs have been good travellers. It helps, in Lady’s case, that she is a very nosy dog so the chance to explore somewhere different is always welcome!

In writing news, I am delighted to say I will be interviewing Rosemary Johnson, whose debut novel, Wodka, or Tea with Milk, came out earlier this year. She will be talking to me about her road to publication and shares some of her writing frustrations as well as her writing joys. We have all had our fair share of the former and would like far more of the latter! Looking forward to sharing this interview on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

But one writing joy I am glad to share is that my festive flash fiction piece, This Is The Partnership, will be broadcast by Hannah Kate on her Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on 16th December (between 2 and 4 pm). Am looking forward to sharing the link for this later.

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Am so thrilled to be on the Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show this coming Saturday with my flash tale, This Is The Partnership. Am so pleased people I know will also be on that show too. Will be sharing links, probably early next week.

This will be the third year in a row I have had a story on here and I am delighted there is a home for festive flash fiction. It is worth celebrating. It is huge fun to write and to listen to. Am looking forward to tuning in myself on Saturday. It is another way to have stories read to you after all!

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It’s Monday. It’s dark. I can’t put on the Christmas lights early enough! It’s still Monday. It’s time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is called Satellite Navigation and I make no apology for the pun! Hope you enjoy the story.

 

One of the joys of anthologies and collections is they are perfect books for dipping into. They are also great when you know you haven’t got a lot of time for reading but want to keep your reading “going”. They’re also fabulous for introducing you to authors new to you.

I’ve been in a number of anthologies over many years now as well as having my two flash fiction collections out there. To find out more do visit my Amazon Author Central page.

Am always happy to sign books for people so please contact me via my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/contact for more information.

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Screenshot 2023-12-12 at 20-34-53 Allison Symes books biography latest update

Sometimes I will use a well known phrase in the story. In The Power of Suggestion (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I use a well known phrase as the penultimate line (and in case you’re wondering, the line reads There is a sucker born every minute).

Sometimes well known phrases suggest story ideas or a character for whom that phrase would indeed be the mot juste. I then flesh out the idea or the character more, depending on which thought arrived with me first!

If you’ve got a book of proverbs, keep hold of it! It is worth dipping into every now and then as I have had many a story idea this way. The phrases and proverbs have the advantage of being timeless truths which readers will always identify with.

For example, there’s a sucker born every minute is always going to be true, is it not?! It is a question of your story revealing who your sucker is and what they fell for. I must admit I love that kind of story. It’s good fun to give a character deserving of if their overdue comeuppance. In my case, the sucker did have it coming.

I do like poetic justice tales. Maybe this is a function of fiction. We often don’t see justice in life. We can see it in stories. We can also see why someone might act in a certain way. This can act as both triggering empathy but also as a warning not to go that way ourselves. I am sure the fairytales were meant as warnings in a lot of cases.

Tripping The Flash Fantastic - by night

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Christmas Stories

There are always wonderful Christmas stories. I love the Nativity. I also love A Christmas Carol. The redemption theme will always be timeless. I am not at all surprised this wonderful work by Charles Dickens has never been out of print. I can’t see it ever going so either.

There are stories in the carols themselves. The First Nowell tells the Nativity pretty much from start to finish. Gabriel’s Message focuses on the Annunciation. While Shepherds Watched focuses on the shepherds and We Three Kings does the same for the wise men. (Yes I have sung the traditional and alternative versions of these!). The only carol I don’t really get is The Holly and the Ivy.

Film wise, I love the story of The Polar Express. I see that as a great all age story. It’s not twee (which I think Miracle on 34th Street is). And then there is the much missed Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather. Time to watch and/or read that again very soon!

Plus as I mentioned last week there is always the wonderful post Christmas reading to do. Christmas is full of stories. Not all of them are of good cheer (see King Herod for more on that) but the majority are and I find that to be a wonderful boost at a dark and cold time of year.

Screenshot 2023-12-09 at 16-48-41 Favourite Christmas Stories

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Broadcast News, Writers’ Narrative, and Dates

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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 good weekend. It was lovely being back on Hannah Kate’s Bookshelf show on North Manchester FM on Saturday. Flash and radio/audio formats work so well together. And if you like horror, do check out the latest issue of Writers’ Narrative – link further down. Lady has had a good start to her week too, getting to play with her best girlfriends.

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Another meeting this evening so another early post from me. Trust you have had a good day. I’m talking about Quizzing Your Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Find out why I do this and why it has paid me to do it then. Will also be talking about Autumnal Writing for More than Writers (the Association of Christian Writers blog spot) on the same day. Plenty of tips in both blogs.

Why are blogs like London buses? None for a while and then two come along at once!

Looking forward to the Flash Fiction group meeting on Wednesday for the Association of Christian Writers. We’ll be looking at opening and closing lines, vital for any form of writing. For flash fiction, because of the form’s brevity, these lines carry even more weight. So well worth looking at what makes these work and practicing writing them then.

Often when I edit, I realise a better opening line than the one I first put down is a little further on in the text. That’s fine. I change the opening line accordingly. And, as ever, I am thinking about the impact on the reader here.

Easy to miss things editing on screen though there are things you can do to help mitigate that

Pleased to say the latest issue (the October 2023 edition) of Writers’ Narrative is out and given Halloween is not too far away, this magazine focuses on horror as a topic. There is a wealth of information and tips here plus author interviews.

I talk about The Telling Details here. I look at why it pays to work out what is going to be scary in your story and why. Also I discuss why your “star” here should be as fully thought out and rounded as the “good guys”. Horror takes many forms and it doesn’t have to be all guts and gore.

One of the scariest films I’ve watched is Duel which doesn’t show the “enemy”, there is a complete lack of guts and gore, but builds up the tension as the film goes on. It always keep me riveted to the edge of my seat and I know the film! There is a lot to learn from films for writers in any genre.

Hope you enjoy the magazine. Do check it out (and details of how to sign up for it – for free – are in the magazine itself – see Page 40).

Today would have been the 63rd wedding anniversary for my late parents and yesterday would have been the 94th birthday of my late mother-in-law so a strange weekend in some senses. All much missed, along with many others.

Occasionally a story idea will occur to me which is loosely based on truth. One of these is The Pink Rose in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. I do have artificial pink roses on my desk which had been originally given to my mother on behalf of various members of the family. They had been kept in her care home in a place she could see them.

Don’t forget symbolism can have a powerful impact in stories too. So if you have a character with a special fondness for roses, for example, why not explore why that is and what do other characters make of it? Could that special fondness be used to help the character or against them (and who would want to do the latter)? Food for thought there.

Roses remain one of my favourite flowers

Delighted to be taking part in the Autumn Equinox special on Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM today. My story, The Natural Look, is on during Part 2 of the two hour show but do check out the whole programme. It is a joy for those who love the written word and stories work so well on radio/audio formats.

Part 1 – https://podcast.canstream.co.uk/manchesterfm/index.php?id=49866

Part 2 – https://podcast.canstream.co.uk/manchesterfm/index.php?id=49867

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Well, you can tell it is autumn here in the UK because my central heating came on over the weekend and, with it, comes that unmistakable aroma of hot dust! Thankfully that soon goes and you will gather from this I don’t like dusting.

I have every sympathy with the poem Dust If You Must by Rose Milligan. Do look it up. It’s a great read. (I totally get why you need to keep kitchen, bathroom clean etc. I even don’t mind hoovering but dusting…argh! Also Lady is scared of the cobweb brush I use. She runs away whenever I get that out. Mind you, she doesn’t like spiders much. My first dog ate them, my second one considered them beneath her notice, and Lady decides to take herself out of any room a spider happens to be in!).

What do your characters dislike so much they would go out of their way to avoid? What led them to develop that dislike? Do other characters mock them or are they sympathetic?

Now being the kindly soul I am I would be unable to resist the temptation here to ensure my character does have to face up to their dislike in the story I put them in, even if that’s not the main part of the tale. I’d use this as something they’d have to overcome on the way to their final goal. It would be fun finding out how they would manage.

You can then decide if your character overcomes that dislike so it doesn’t bother them again or they just cope with it for the story because they have no choice (naturally you would ensure that being the kindly soul you are!) but resume their dislike once the story is over. Here I would imply that is the case.

Oh and apologies for forgetting to do this yesterday. Despite it being Tuesday, we can still have a story, can we not? Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Anniversary.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her two best girlfriends today. All three dogs went home tired but happy.

Will be talking about Quizzing Your Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Yes, I do quiz my characters for my flash fiction. I have to know where my characters are coming from and why (and this is where knowing their major trait is useful because that reveals so much.

If I know someone is honest, I can put them into a situation where they have to face up to being dishonest – how would they cope with that?). I share thoughts and tips. It is a question of working out what you need to know before you write your stories up.

Given my focus on reading stories is always on the character, when it comes to writing tales, my focus is again on the characters. I have to care about them to want to read on to find out what they do.
Link up on Friday (and it will be a double blog post as well this week given I am also on More Than Writers, the Association of Christian Writers blog spot on the same day. For them, I will be talking about Autumnal Writing. Plenty of tips in both blogs. Looking forward to sharing them both).

I have interviewed characters before now

Do dates have any meaning for your characters? It doesn’t necessarily need to be an anniversary or a birthday. Such a date could be linked to a historical event they care about.

For many of us 22nd August 1485 has meaning given it is the date of the Battle of Bosworth where Richard III was killed, the last English monarch to be slain in battle. But in a fantasy or sci-fi story, does your setting have dates in the way we understand them and, if so (or your setting has something similar), what dates would have meaning there and why?

How do your characters respond to such dates and can it change the outcome of their stories?

The most important anniversary - 11th November

So pleased to be sharing the joys of flash fiction again on Hannah’s Bookshelf (hosted by Hannah Kate) on North Manchester FM. Links shared over on my Facebook author page

Flash works brilliantly on radio (and audio generally) because it is so short. As well as being an ideal bus stop read, it is a great quick listen as well. Flash is great as a discipline for a writer, not only because you learn to write tight and edit ruthlessly, but because you have to find ideas and keep on coming up with ideas. I will be sharing some tips on how I keep on finding ideas in my author newsletter (due out on 1st October). You can sign up to that at my website landing page. 

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Goodreads Author Blog – Young Adult Books

Just to show how old I am, Young Adult books weren’t really a thing as I grew up. Honest. There were children’s books. Then you went straight into adult fiction. I would’ve loved the YA category when I was growing up.

Mind you, I’ve made up for this since. I have read YA books and loved them. Some of the children’s books I read at the time (or could have read if I had got around to it then!) may well count as YA now. Where would you put Watership Down or The Hobbit for example?

So I think having this category is a great idea. It makes sense to have a natural progression from younger age range books to YA to adult and, as I say, I still like reading YA books now and again. Great books can always be re-read. The Tiffany Aching books from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld would count as YA. I’ve read them as part of the overall Discworld canon and while I will always prefer characters like Sam Vimes, I did enjoy these books too. Certainly wasn’t going to let my ripe age stop me reading them!

Screenshot 2023-09-23 at 18-01-45 Young Adult Books

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Favourite Supporting Characters, Why I Write, and Secrets

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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. Lady and I have spent a lot of time getting drenched. My gutters were giving an excellent impersonation of a decent waterfall on Wednesday! The good news here is Lady dries of quicker than I do and is never worried about having to be towelled down! She sees it as a chance to have a cuddle. My first two dogs hated the “faff” of being towelled down. Thrilled to be back on the radio again this weekend. Details below. Nice way to end the week.

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22nd September 2023 – CFT – second post

Second post today. I am glad to share Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I name some of my favourite supporting characters and look at the vital roles such characters play.
Can you imagine a good novel or film without them? I know I can’t.

Even in the shorter forms of fiction they have a role to play even if they don’t appear in the story itself but are referred to by the lead character. There will be a reason why the lead character mentions them and it will be a good one. Hope you enjoy the post.

Who would you name as our top supporting character? Do send in your nominees via the (CFT) comments box.

Favourite Supporting Characters

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22nd September 2023 – First Post – Why I Write – Guest Appearance on Jo Fenton’s Blog

Double posting from me today. Am pleased to be on Jo Fenton’s blog today taking about Why I Write. I met Jo at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and I can’t imagine a better subject for a writer to talk about. Many thanks to Jo for hosting me.

Why I Write – Allison Symes

 

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week We’ll be looking at opening and closing lines. These are so important in any form of writing but for flash fiction, they do a lot of heavy lifting because of the brief overall word count. So it is a question of learning how to make the most of these.

Am sharing Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be looking at the vital roles of such characters. Well, can you imagine Holmes without Watson, for example? I know I can’t. Link up tomorrow. See above.

On a plus note, Lady and I have managed to avoid getting a soaking today!

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)Always a joy to talk or write about flash fiction

Have spent a lot of the day getting wet again though it was delightful to see Lady and her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, have an absolute ball in the park this morning before the dreadful weather set in. Let’s just say Noah with his Ark would have felt right at home!

Am thrilled to say my story, The Natural Look, will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s show on Saturday afternoon (23rd September). Will share a link when I have one. Hannah Kate put out a call for autumn themed stories for her Autumn Equinox edition of Hannah’s Bookshelf show on North Manchester FM. Was only too glad to write something and send it in.

I like autumn as a season (despite today’s weather!) so it was apt I wrote an autumn related tale.

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Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Secrets. Find out if Mary Wentworth succeeded in keeping her secret to the very end and what baking like King Alfred (of burnt cakes fame) has to do with it. Hope you enjoy the story (and many thanks to those commenting already on this one).

Screenshot 2023-09-22 at 10-11-14 Secrets by Allison Symes

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week (up tomorrow) is about Favourite Supporting Characters. See above.

For flash fiction, I find a lot of these are referred to by the main character but don’t appear. I have found a supporting character works better for the flash stories which are about 400 to 500 words or so. Mind you, whether the character is the lead of a support, I do have to know why I am writing about them. I have to care enough about them to want to write about them. I have to see their potential. This is why I plan my characters out and that will trigger ideas for stories to put them in.

Character Needs are everything

Am busy getting next author newsletter together. One thing about having these newsletters is they are an excellent reminder of how quickly the year is passing!

Am pleased to say I will be back on the radio on Saturday this week given my autumn related story has been picked by Hannah Kate for her Autumn Equinox special on North Manchester FM. My story is what I call a fairytale with bite so expect a twist and humour. That’s all I’m saying but link to come later.

I’ve also had a couple of rejections in the last few days – all part and parcel of the writing life – but I will revisit these tales and see if I can get them out somewhere else. Nobody wins them all!

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Fairytales With Bite – Magical Reading

I like to know my characters so plan them out rather than the story itself. When I know my character, I have a good idea of the kind of story which would suit then best.

One way of getting to know your character well enough to write them up is to work out what tastes they would have. What would your magical character like to read, for example? Do they like the fairytales or are they keen to read almost anything but those given this forms part of the “day job” reading?

Is reading encouraged in your magical world? Are there libraries? Are there restrictions on what characters can read and why are these in place? I would suspect that apprentices, for example, are definitely not allowed to read spell books given what happened in Fantasia (Walt Disney). Incidentally, I have never seen that film in full, just clips of it (the famous scenes where things are getting out of hand for poor old Mickey Mouse). The music for it is fantastic (Paul Dukas).

So what would your characters read? Would their reading material help them with their magical gifts of do they read just to switch off after a hard day waving the magic wand about?! Who writes the stories in your setting too and what inspires them? Story ideas here, folks!

(Also I must admit I find little details in a story, such as what a character would read, makes that character and story world more real for me so even if this isn’t part of your main plot, you might like to consider putting in relevant touches such as this to add depth to your story).

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This World and Others – Reference Libraries

What kind of records does your magical setting hold? What would they keep in their reference libraries? I must admit I love historical records and history books so those would be my first port of call in any reference library. What kind of history would your setting record? What would it deliberately not have as a record (and how would people find out about it – someone somewhere always keeps an inconvenient record!)? Have records been altered at a later date and, if so, who by and why?

Is history as a subject appreciated in your setting? What kind of archives would your archivists manage?I love the idea of not just written records but oral ones, film clips, sound clips etc. What would your setting have? How could a particular record make a difference to your character’s life/quest? Information makes a huge difference to the success of a quest (the right kind anyway) and it is not unreasonable to assume ti would have to be stored somewhere.

Are your characters allowed access to things like reference libraries or do they have to find alternative ways of getting to it? Can characters access information at home?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Broadcast News and Stories in Song

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Hannah Kate for kind permission to use the Three Minute Santas photo. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Weather turning cold again here. Christmas preparations going okay but still much to do! Still time for stories and writing though….!

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Facebook – General

Posting early today as am off out to my church’s Carols by Candlelight village sing-along later. It’s a lovely informal event with plenty of Christmas cracker jokes in between the singing. Last time we held this event was in the week of Christmas 2019. It is so good to have this back!

Those who follow the Friday Flash Fiction website – look out for the results of the Christmas competition soon. Normal submissions will resume in the New Year I would’ve thought. (Please note the normal submissions button isn’t there at the moment on the understandable grounds the editor needs time to count up the votes for the competition and get the results out!). I’m preparing pieces to submit in January to give myself a bit of a head start here – always useful to get some drabbles written!

I did get my submission in for the Writing Magazine Grand Flash Prize a while back, following my own advice to take some time off the official closing date. Good luck to all who have or are about to have a go at this one – deadline is the end of the year.

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Hope you have had a good start to Christmas week. Looking forward to sharing my Festive Flash and Other News post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. There will be a couple of new flash pieces in there from me plus I take a look back at some highlights from my writing year.

Will start winding down on the writing for a few days from Saturday. Looking forward to doing plenty of reading over the Christmas break too.

I often use this time of year to ensure I’m up together with my blogs and have started drafting others for the start of the New Year. I don’t just keep a stock of stories to hand!

And I’m looking forward to a social evening on Zoom for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group later this month. It will be a nice way to wrap up our writing year there.

Am also getting my January newsletter ready. If you’d like to sign up for hints, advice, stories etc do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

 

It’s my turn on the Authors Electric blog today. This time I look at Stories in Song. The carols inspired me here as so many of them have a clear narrative but there are other songs which have long been favourites of mine due to their lyrical quality. See what you think via the link and do send in your favourite stories in songs in the comments.
Screenshot 2022-12-18 at 08-05-15 Stories in Songs by Allison Symes
Hope you have had a good day. Many thanks to Hannah Kate for including my story, First Night on The Round, on her Three Minutes Santas show on North Manchester FM today. Hope to be able to share a link soon but meantime you can use their Listen Again service to find the show.

Please note Hannah’s show is in two halves for the benefit of the Listen Again service. I’m first on for Part 1. Great fun listening to all of the other stories here too. Well done to everyone included in the show. And do check out festive flash fiction – it is great fun to write, read, and/or listen to bit don’t just take my word for it. Give it a listen here!

Part 1 here.

Part 2 here.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Twist endings work especially well for flash fiction. The impact is greater given the restricted word count. I love writing humorous ones, the “character gets comeuppance” type, as well as the character coming up with something unexpected kind, which is not quite the same thing as getting their comeuppance.

In my George Changes His Mind from From Light to Dark and Back Again I end the tale with the dragon given their viewpoint on the proceedings. Great fun to do and a lovely “left field” ending to that tale!). So think about what you want your twist ending to do and how you want it to impact on your readers.

I do this and find writing this first, then working out what could lead to it works very well. It means I stick to the point and everything that proceeds before my big reveal has to make sense and be logical, even in the most fantastical of settings.

Framed Flash Collections

19th December – Second Post
Oops! Almost forgot to share my latest YouTube video. Hope you enjoy New Experiences.


It was lovely at the Carols by Candlelight service yesterday. First one since Christmas 2019. The singing was fantastic.
Do your characters like to sing and, if so, what would they sing? What songs have special resonance for them?

Resonance comes into my flash fiction too. I have to know where my characters come from to be able to write them up at all. Some of their attitudes and actions have got to resonate with me, even if I still don’t approve. You don’t necessarily need to like your characters. You do have to understand them to be able to get into their heads and so write up their tales though.

Have been doing a little admin in adding books to my website book page and my Book Brush Reader Hub. That’s a nice task – Evergreen – an Anthology is now on there. Plus I’ve notified ALCS and my Author Central page has been updated by Amazon. They are usually pretty quick to do that when you notify them.

Screenshot 2022-12-19 at 20-31-08 Reader Hub Book BrushScreenshot 2022-12-18 at 21-38-10 Allison Symes

A week to go to Christmas and I’ve enjoyed one pre-Christmas treat – re-watching The Muppet Christmas Carol. Fabulous film and to me one of the best adaptations of Dickens’s classic tale. Lots of lovely little moments as the film goes on (Miss Piggy giving Scrooge a piece of her mind is just one of them!) and, of course, little moments is what flash fiction is about. We focus on the single most important thing, which is a little like looking at the cameo and focusing on that rather than on taking in everything about the main film. (That’s the job of the novel!).

Writing flash fiction is a great exercise for any writer for another reason – it does make you focus on the single important thing and it can show you perspectives you might not have considered before. Later on this evening, I’m reading a wonderful poem called Shepherd by Lisa Debney for the Carols by Candlelight service at Abbey URC, Romsey.

The poem is lovely and it focuses on one viewpoint – that of the shepherd – but it shows a perspective I had not considered before I read this poem. (There can be some links between poetry and flash in that both forms need to use words to specific and deliberate effect and we are using the word count restrictions to their best advantage).

Flash Fiction focuses on THE important aspect of a character's life

My story on Three Minute Santas, hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM, was broadcast today. 17th December – and see links above.  For this submission, I had to submit a story which came in at a maximum of three minutes. So how to do it? Simple! I used Zoom to record myself reading my story, I ended the meeting with myself, and Zoom then turns the file into an mp4 file. Not only can I play it back to hear how it sounds, I’ve got the timing of my story right there!

Mine, First Night on the Round, came in about 2 minutes 50 seconds. When I first started writing, I used Audacity to play back stories of mine so I could check if the words flowed as well as I thought. Doing this is a great way of picking up on clunky dialogue etc. I see it as part of my editing process.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Santa’s Reading List

Now we all know many of the presents on Santa’s sleigh are books. (The rest I suspect would be chocolate, toys, socks, and stuff for pets!). But what would Santa himself want to read after all of those deliveries have been done or would like to read if the books existed? We all deserve to put our feet up with a good book after all. (He would have already read A Christmas Carol and The Nativity stories of course and would re-read them each year).

Lounging in the Sun – would make a change from his usual environment, yes?

How to Bake the Perfect Mince Pie – suspect he might leave this book as a present when what he is offered as refreshments is below par. Bound to come across the odd shoddy few.

Reindeer Management – What You Need to Know – wonder if he’ll find a cure for Rudolph’s red nose here.

Postman Pat – Any of these classic children’s stories would go down well with the great man. Would make a change to read stories from someone else with deliveries to sort out.

Getting Away From It All – You’d want to after dealing with the workload for another year.

The Haynes Guide to Sleigh Maintenance – The Haynes manuals are very well known especially in the UK. They even have one for the Star Trek Enterprise and the Millennium Falcon so why not do one for Santa’s sleigh?

Hope you have plenty of book shaped presents under your Christmas tree this year!

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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Snow, Anthologies, and Broadcast News

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Hannah Kate for kind permission to use her photo regarding Three Minute Santas. Very cold this week and have seen first lot of snow for the winter. Writers often talk about having “layers” to their characterisation. Right now, the one having layers around here is me!

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Facebook – General

Busy day. Bitterly cold one too. Lady had a great day though playing with her “boyfriend”, a lovely tri-coloured Aussie Shepherd. He had the perfect coat for this weather. I did go swimming today. How can you tell when it is really cold outside? When the pool water feels like you’re swimming in a warm bath. Trust me. The water isn’t like that!

Looking forward to sharing my post on Chandler’s Ford Today about the recent Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Such fun to go to that – and lovely to have it again after the turmoil of recent years cancelling it.

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Have you made any writing plans for the New Year? I’m hoping to resume work on another long term project I’ve got in draft now I’ve submitted my third flash fiction collection to Chapeltown Books. Oh and I’ve booked for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick taking advantage of the Early Bird rate (which means I’ve paid the same as for this year’s event).

In the run up to 2023 though, I plan to continue to submit flash tales and blog posts but will slowly wind down as we reach Christmas Day. I’m looking forward to doing a lot of reading over the Christmas holidays too. And if the weather stays this cold, staying indoors to write and read seems like an even better idea than it already is!

Hope you have had a good Monday. Lady got to play with her best buddy, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, who looked very smart in her coat. I was wrapped up like the old Michelin Man. (It is not a good look!). Then their other friend joined us, the Hungarian Vizler, also looking very smart in her coat. Am so grateful writing is generally done indoors!

Broadcast News: Looking forward to sharing the link for Three Minute Santas on Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM when I get the link. The show goes out on Saturday 17th December from 2pm and it is great fun listening to the variety of festive flashes here.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 17 December, 2-4pm

Screenshot 2022-12-11 at 20-43-39 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf Saturday 17 December 2-4pm - Hannah Kate

3 Minute Santas

Had our first lot of snow today. Laid briefly too. Lady not too understanding about the fact Mum wanted to keep moving when we were out on our walks today. She wasn’t fazed at all. Mum on the other hand just wanted to keep as warm as possible. (Mind you I was doing a great impersonation of the old Michelin man – readers of a certain age will remember that one well. Let’s just say it isn’t a flattering look on anyone. I lost count of how many layers I had on!). The highest temperature reached in my part of the world was +1 and that was at midday.

Have put in my book request list for Christmas. (I don’t think I’m on Santa’s naughty list – well, I wasn’t the last time I checked – so am looking forward to book shaped presents under the tree in due course!). Have submitted my annual flash piece for a national competition so fingers crossed time again.

Don’t forget my latest story, Numbers, is up on Friday Flash Fiction.

Screenshot 2022-12-09 at 16-48-49 Numbers by Allison Symes

Hope you’ve had a good day. One benefit of raking up the leaves in front of my place is it does keep your warm! No snow in my part of the world but the frost is deep, crisp, and even.

Will be taking a look back at the recent Bridge House Publishing celebration event for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday. After that I hope to write up my usual festive flash piece for CFT where I’ll also take a look back at my writing year. (I hope by then I’ll be able to share the link to the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM. That show goes out on Saturday 17th December).

Writing tip: I’ve mentioned having a stock of stories before. Certain themes always crop up in competitions – love, justice, crime, and so many more. So you could prepare stories on those themes knowing you are very likely to find a home for them. Also prepare other stories because there are a lot of “open” competitions around too. I often batch cook – it saves time overall. You can batch write too – same result in terms of time!

Also it pays to have another look at stories you haven’t placed. You’re likely to have had enough time away from these to be able to judge them objectively. Is there something you can now do with them that you weren’t able to see before? Always worth another look. I’ve gone on to have work published doing this.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I often use major traits to get into a character’s mindset. Someone who is honest – well I can then put them in situations where it would pay them to lie and see how they manage it.

Knowing the trait means I can then work out the situations they would find easy to handle and, far more interestingly, the ones they wouldn’t.

Minor traits feeding off the main one can also be great areas to explore. An honest person could be tactless as well. Why? Simply because they’re so honest they can’t tell even white lies when it would be kinder to do so. What kind of trouble could that land them in?

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Pleased to share my new YouTube story, Travelling Light. It is time for the Christmas puns to start! Hope you enjoy.


Hope you have had a good day (and kept warm – you can see why mulled wine is such a big hit at this time of year! Mind you, I prefer hot chocolate).

Got a flash piece off a for a competition and am looking forward to listening to Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas on 17th December. Her festive show on North Manchester FM is great fun and it is a joy to have a piece included in it again this year.

I like being able to set my characters anywhere and everywhere in flash and, of course, with festive flash, you can have great fun playing with the traditions in it. After all, Santa is known to have elves as assistants but what it they’re disgruntled with their lot etc? There is fun to be had in writing that kind of story up but you need to give thought as to what would make your elves feel this way and to how the problem here is resolved. It is what you bring to the mix here that makes your story stand out.

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Themes for flash pieces (and often things like blog posts too) can be found via books of proverbs, random generators, and many other sources. Think of themes that would appeal to you and ask yourself why this is and can you do something with that topic for your own writing?

You can also think of themes which would appeal to your characters but not necessarily to you! Again have a look at why this might be and put yourself in your characters’ shoes. They will have good reasons for feeling the way they do about this theme.

This is where interviewing your characters is a great technique for getting to the bottom of why they feel the way they do. You do have to understand your characters. You don’t need to like them, just know where they’re coming from.

Goodreads Author Blog – Anthologies

I’ve been fortunate to be published in many anthologies including the most recent from Bridge House Publishing (Evergreen – an Anthology). It is great fun to write for these and it’s a privilege and pleasure when your story is selected.

I read anthologies too, regardless of whether my work is included or not, because I’m a firm believer in supporting the market I want to be in! Also, I want to mix up the kind of things I read. I read novels, novellas, flash, short stories, collections of the latter two categories, as well as magazines and the like. I want a good and varied reading “diet”.

Anthologies are a great way to find authors new to you and many either support charities or are produced by independent publishers who give more authors a voice. For many it is their way into being published at all. It was for me.

I also like varied moods in my stories (whether I read or write them) and in anthologies, you get this in one book so that’s another reason to love them. You can also work out the kind of writing style and mood you prefer by reading these. I tend to like a lighter touch. I’ve described my own collections as “mixed assortments” and this can apply to most anthologies too.

Even when on a single theme, you can be amazed at what the contributing authors have come up with for it. I’ve done this myself. For the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition a while back, I had to write to a set word count on a set theme. Fifteen winners (including me) wrote to those stipulations but the way all of the authors took the topic was amazing.

I often use anthologies to read in between reading novels to make sure I do mix up my reading and to help me make up my mind which genre of novel I will read next.

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Allison Symes – Book Brush Reader Hub

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Festive Flash News and Author and Book Events

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of my two flash collections at the BHP event. Many thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the photo of me reading at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Always tricky doing that kind of thing yourself! 
Weather becoming significantly colder in my part of the world. Lady’s not bothered but is probably wondering why Mum is keen to keep moving rather than let her stop and sniff everything every five seconds or so!

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Facebook – General

Glad to report one of my festive flash fiction pieces will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on 17th December. Looking forward to sharing the link to the show later. Glad to hear other friends will also be having their stories on here – well done, all!

Now I will record myself on Zoom every so often to check if a story flows as well as I thought and for things like Hannah’s show, I want to make sure I’ve got my timings rights. (Maximum allowed is three minutes). The lovely thing with Zoom is if you set up a meeting with yourself, record yourself speaking, and then end that meeting, Zoom will convert the file to an mp4 for you. You also get an exact timing.

And in playing back your recording, you can literally hear the ebbs and flows of your story. Worth doing and it is also great practice to read aloud for Open Prose Mic Nights as well.

Last but not least, a big thank you for the anniversary congratulations yesterday. Much appreciated! (See below).

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5th December
Hope you have had a good day. Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. Better half and I can’t believe where the time has gone either.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share the link to the super duper double issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads. Why such a large edition? Simply it is because this is the 50th edition and naturally that had to be celebrated with something special.

I use the theme of Fifty for my article in this issue and I set not one but two flash fiction challenges. One was to write on the subject of fifty up to a word count of 300 words. The second challenge was to write a fifty word story all in, including the title. Do check out the stories that came in – it was, as ever, a joy to be the editor on these.

 

Brrr…it’s cold out there. Nice to have a quieter day today after my trip yesterday. I hope my next trip will be in January when I’ll be giving a flash fiction workshop. (It will be in person ideally but may need to switch to Zoom. Am happy with both kinds of workshop).

Am looking forward to welcoming back Wendy H Jones to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. She’ll be discussing Deadly Traditions, a cozy mystery at Christmas anthology, with me. I’ll be chatting about how she found writing shorter fiction given she is best known for her own crime series and marketing books in particular. Long and short fiction writing have their own challenges and joys.

Have not yet started work on my editing for my Flash NANO stories. I suspect I’ll get to this after Christmas. I won’t be that sorry about it as I do give myself time away from something recently written so I can come back and judge it objectively later.

 

Am writing this on way up to London for the annual Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. This is being held at the wonderfully named Theodore Bullfrog pub.

Am looking forward to seeing friends and listening to author readings. I’m taking part in that too but it is such a joy to relax and be read to – how often do you get to do that? Audio books are fab but listening to the author telling their tale live as they want it to come across is special and a treat.

Do support author reading events. They’re great fun and give you a chance to escape the world for a bit as well as being another way to support writers.

Update: Did indeed have a fabulous time at the BHP event. Loved the readings from the different authors and it was fun to take part myself. Hope to write more about this for a further Chandler’s Ford Today post. A big thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the picture of me on my phone as I read a story from each of my two flash collections.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to say a festive piece of mine will be on Three Minute Santas on Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM on 17th December. Always a fun show to listen to – and I plan to share the link later. Flash works so well in an audio format.

Flash is also great to share as a reading because you can’t go on for too long yet it makes for a great introduction to you and your writing style. Win-win there!

I am planning to use my Flash NANO stories for a mixture of competitions and for a future collection. Nice to be off to a cracking start there!

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It’s Monday. It’s cold. There is still far too much to do before Christmas but it is time to take a break and enjoy a new flash fiction video. You know it makes sense, to quote Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. Hope you enjoy Fourteen Days, my latest on YouTube.

 

Loved my trip out yesterday and it is always good to wave the flag for flash fiction. I hope to do so again in January when I’m due to run a workshop.

I took the opportunity yesterday to show how flash can mix up the moods so read a humorous tale and a serious one. Both tales have good emotional impact which is what you want from a story. Even as a kid, I wanted to get to the “happy ever after” in the fairytales but I was also intrigued as to how that would happen.

That should’ve been an early flag to me that writing would be what I’d end up doing!

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by nightTripping The Flash Fantastic - by night

Looking forward to reading some flash tales at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event in London today. Nice to be back on the train again too. Always good for people watching and I have had inspiration for stories from things seen/overheard.

These things are always a starting point only as by the time I’ve written and edited my tale, my “unintentional inspirers” would never recognize they had inspired a story.

One key skill for any writer is to be observant and from that to think yes, I could use that. For example, I spotted someone hastily writing out a couple of Christmas cards. So my mind is thinking along the lines of who are these cards for and why it is vital my character gets these written now.

It’s a situation most of us can identify with and has the potential to be a funny tale and/or a heartwarming one. But I needed to spot someone doing this to get my ideas sparking.

(Again thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the picture of me reading).

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Goodreads Author Blog – Book Events

Book events are great fun and if you can get to go to any, please do.

As well as showing support for the authors (which is always appreciated), you may well get to hear readings. Also there will be the chance to get signed copies. These make for fab Christmas presents!

A lot of work goes on behind the scenes setting these up but book events are wonderful for bringing writers and readers together.

Any reader interacts with the author simply by reading their works of course but at events, you may be able to ask questions as you get your books signed.

That can give the writer useful feedback. I’ve had readers say something about my stories revealing hidden depths I hadn’t considered when writing the tale.

Was I pleased? Oh yes! Why? Because the readers had engaged with my stories and showed me they had.

We all love books for various reasons but engaging with stories like that is so special. And it is really nice for an author to find that out a book event.

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Book Brush – Reader Hub – Allison Symes

 

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Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
A huge thanks to Gill James for the YouTube clip in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Also thanks to Lynn Clement for her fab author-editor-publisher photo which is part of this post. Other photos in this post were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.
Hope you have had a good week. Have been busy on the flash fiction front with stories submitted for competition as well as in my usual outlets. And I have news on another story of mine which will be broadcast soon.

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m pleased to share the link to my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today which is called Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing. I look back at the recent Zoom and in-person events and discuss why events like this matter. I also share some tips on writing to a theme in this post. This is relevant as BHP set the theme for the next anthology at the celebration event.

It was great to meet up with friends old and new at both the Zoom and in-person event though I am sure the Christmas tree at Waterloo Station by the world’s second most famous clock (after Big Ben, though I know that’s the bell rather than the clock!) has shrunk. Check the pictures out and see what you think!

Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing

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Have started on the Christmas cards! I guess it counts as writing…

I enjoy writing them but it is the getting started on them which can be tricky but now I am underway and know I will now finish them. It is exactly the same thing for me when it comes to writing flash fiction tales! Get me started and away I go!

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week will be Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing where I take a look back at both the Zoom and in-person event. Always a lovely way to finish the writing year.

And apologies – I forgot to share my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction which came out last Friday. It’s a fun one too. Just what will Alison do with the witch who has crashed into her bungalow? Find out with my story The Best Remedy.

A huge thanks to all who have commented on this one already – it was a joy to reply. I do appreciate the feedback on this website. It is so helpful. Like most writers, so often you never hear back so to get thoughtful feedback is very much welcomed.

Screenshot 2021-12-09 at 19-43-00 The Best Remedy, by Allison Symes

BROADCAST NEWS

Hope you have had a good day. I now have a list of all the writers who will be taking part in Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas flash fiction show on North Manchester FM on 18th December between 2 and 4 pm. See screenshot below (and thanks to Hannah for putting this up). I plan to share a link to the show later too. Well done, all.

How do I go about writing a piece of festive flash fiction? Without giving anything away about my story for the show, I will say I decide on the character I am going to write about first, work out where they are set, and, often, putting those two things together gives me an idea as to what the story is here.

And you can have a lot of fun with the setting – for example with one of my flash pieces that ended up in Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I started with the idea the story had to be set in Santa’s factory and the character had to be an assistant who was concerned about his boss. (That ended up being called The Help).

Really looking forward to listening to Hannah’s show and not just because I’m part of it, honest! I loved the mix of stories from last year and listening to the variety of tales was lovely so very much want to do that again!

Screenshot 2021-12-08 at 16-07-14 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf, Saturday 18 December 2-4pm - Hannah KateTripping the Flash Fantastic Small.jpg

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Been a busy week on the flash fiction front. I’m going to share two stories from Friday Flash Fiction as I know I forgot to share one “properly” and you get the links to two stories in one go. Hope you enjoy them both. See links below.

Am thrilled my festive flash piece will be on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on 18th December 2021 between 2 and 4 pm (UK time) on North Manchester FM. Will share the link later.

And I’ve sent in a piece this week for the Writing Magazine Grand Flash Prize competition. Fingers crossed time for that one.

There is still time to enter this competition – the deadline is 31st December. Maximum word count is 500 words. Fee for entry is £10.00 if you’re a WM subscriber, £15.00 if not. First prize is £1000, second prize is £250.00, third prize is £100.00. I’ve mentioned before I always check competition fees against the prize on offer. I would expect a higher entry fee for a higher prize and this one seems fair enough to me.

https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/the-best-remedy-by-allison-symes
https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/specialist-subject-by-allison-symes

 

Don’t forget I regularly post flash fiction videos on my YouTube channel. Subscribers always welcome! I also have my two book trailers on here for From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic. These both include a story to give a flavour of what I write. Hope you enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCiePD4p_vWp4bz2d80SJA

Screenshot 2021-12-10 at 19-22-29 Allison Symes - YouTube

F = Festive Flash Fiction is fun to write.
L = Light-hearted and not too long, ideal for a busy time of year.
A = Animals, workers in Santa’s factory, fairies, elves – there are all kinds of characters to write up.
S = Satisfying short stories that raise a smile – that is the point of festive flash I think.
H = Have fun writing it and reading/listening to it!

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Fairytales with Bite – Twists in Fairytales

Twists work so well in fairytales. The hero/heroine is probably going to be an unlikely one – for example, it’s not often you get a talking cat in footwear being the star of a story!

You know that the villain is going to get their comeuppance at some point, which for me that was one of the joys of fairytales when I was a kid. Even then I knew the world wasn’t fair. Somehow in fairytales things mainly are righted where they need to be. What you don’t know is how exactly that comeuppance is going to happen – and there is plenty of manoeuvre room for good twists there. It also keeps readers glued to the page – you have to find out how the villain gets stopped.

Even though you know magic is going to be involved somehow, the twist there is will it work as it is supposed to do or will another magical character thwart it (as happens in Sleeping Beauty).

So we can think about what twists we can put into our magical stories. Some thoughts here, which I hope inspire ideas, include:-

  • The magical element going wrong.
  • The supposed hero proving to be anything but and not worthy of magical help – how will they be taught a lesson? Will they learn and be redeemed or will someone else, more worthy, become the hero instead? The latter often comes into play when you have three characters in a story. It is usually the youngest son out of three brothers who proves to be the hero eventually.
  • Having your story set in a place where magic cannot happen so other ways of dealing with problems have to be found. That is going to be a problem for your average fairy godmother wanting to assist a client. How will they assist instead or will their client have to resolve their own problems?

Have fun with your twists, readers will pick up on that (I know I do when I read stories like that), but ensure the twist is logical for the story. The twist has to be something a reader can look back through the story and think yes, that could happen here.

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This World and Others – Characters and Their Motives

Motives make the character seem real to a reader. The motives don’t have to be good ones but a reader should be able to understand why your character has them. Basic motives won’t change much regardless of your setting. Sentient beings will need food, drink, shelter, security, the ability to reproduce etc, but where you can bring in variety is in how these things are achieved in your setting.

Let’s say your setting bans war, any kind of fighting (if only!), etc, how would characters with conflicting needs resolve this instead with one major way of resolving issues taken away from them?

Motives can change over time too so that is something which can be reflected in your setting and characters. The desire to reproduce lessens with age (as does the ability of course for example so your Character A can go from wanting this to not wanting it at all). How does the change of motive affect them and those they are closest to?

Conflict comes from two characters wanting different things but again there has to be good reasons for those characters wanting what they do and why they feel the other is wrong. Ideally your readers will be able to empathise with both characters (though will usually root for one in particular to succeed. I do this all the time!).

All of this is why I like to outline my characters and know what their major traits are before I try to write them up into stories. I really do have to know where they are coming from so I can picture them and hear their voice. I’ve found it has paid me to work out what I need to know. Every writer will have differing ideas about what they need to know but it can be fun to experiment to find out what you need to know.

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