Tag: Cafelit

Review – The Business of Murder by Mike Standing

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 Creativity Matters was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Started the week feeling poorly but much better now. Enjoyed going to Penny Rogers’ online launch for Amelie at The Window. I interviewed her for Chandler’s Ford Today recently. Busy editing and other writing going well and Lady continues to make good progress and loves seeing her chums so all okay here.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with another review. This time I review the murder mystery play, The Business of Murder by Mike Standing, which was recently staged by the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church Senior Thespians. It was great fun and I look at some of the joys of this kind of play in my review.

Hope you enjoy the post and if you get the chance to check out murder mystery plays near you, do so. They are a great format.

Review – The Business of Murder by Mike Standing

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady enjoyed being with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and I was pleased to get back to swimming, though it was for a shorter session than I usually do. It was nice being in the pool again though and before you think I’m daft here, the water was lovely. Mind you, it only feels like that when it is either (a) perishing outside as it is today or (b) so hot outside the water feels refreshing by contrast (as it did in the summer)!

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing my review of The Business of Murder by Mike Standing which was recently performed by the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church Senior Thespians. The murder mystery was great fun and I share more about it on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Am making good progress with Flash NANO. Hard to believe we’re at the two-thirds through mark already.

Will be sharing a super author interview in early December on CFT too and am looking forward to that.

Marketing Tip: Seeing marketing as a way of being creative with your writing is one way of making doing any more bearable. I know many authors don’t particularly like marketing. We’d far rather be writing, right?

But we also want readers to see our writing so deciding what marketing we will do and being creative with it is another way to play with words and promote our written works. I do enjoy using Book Brush to help me create graphics. I love preparing little videos for my YouTube channel.

In both these things, I can put my imagination to work and get some marketing done. Win-win there, I’d say.

Hope you’ve had a good Wednesday. Bitterly cold here though we’ve managed to escape the snow for the time being. Lady doing well but she, like me, wasn’t sorry the walk was a relatively short one today.

Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Will be looking at the topic of memories – apt for a month where remembrance is so important. Memories can be a huge source of inspiration for story ideas as well as showing you something about the characters they come from.

It won’t be too long either before the last author newsletter of the year comes out from me. My, does the year fly by. If you want to sign up for news, tips, story links and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and a huge thank you for the support shown, it is much appreciated.

Character Tip: Think about the kinds of memories your character could have. Which would they select to share? Which would they ensure remained only with them? There will be story ideas there. Happy writing!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday. It’s time to end the working week with a story. Hope you like my latest drabble on Friday Flash Fiction – Standing Out. Find out here if monsters can be embarrassed and, if so, who by. Hope you enjoy the tale, it was fun to write.

Had a lovely response to my Flash NANO 19-words story yesterday. Thanks, all. It was great fun to do and it’s not a word count I usually use, so it was a good challenge. Will be having a go at the latest prompt shortly.

Mixing up the word counts I write to with flash is something I do regularly. For Friday Flash Fiction, it is always the classic drabble (100-worder) I write but most of the competitions I have a go at are anything from 100 to 500 words. (I’d say 250 to 300 is probably the most popular I’ve come across).

What matters though with any flash fiction is you have a complete story – a proper beginning, middle, and end. It is never truncated prose. There must be a feeling that nothing more could be added to the flash piece (though much will be implied).

It should have impact, whether it is to make a reader cry, laugh, scream, wince or what have you. There should also be a feeling nothing could be taken away from the story too.

I have a lovely Flash NANO prompt for today (19th November) where I have to write to a specific word count. Always a good challenge to do. Always good fun too. This kind of prompt does make you think about what really matters for your character. There will be no room for anything else. Will be cracking on with this prompt later.

Don’t forget the wonderful CafeLit is a great home for short stories and flash fiction. To find out more why not follow the link? Am looking forward to catching up with CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing and Chapeltown Books authors at next month’s Bridge House Publishing’s celebration event. A lot of writers getting together in convivial surroundings – there will be lots of story telling for sure! (Not least of which will be what we’ve all been up to writing wise since we got together last time!).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Fairytales with Bite – Musical Magic

One thing which is on my bucket list is to go and see The Nutcracker at some point. I love the music. I love the storyline. I just need to go and see it! But I just love the idea of a magical musical story in the run up to Christmas. For me, that’s fitting.

I love most forms of music, especially classical. There is something about music which can be soothing, uplifting, inspiring and so on. So what does your magical world have in the form of musical magic? Do they have music at all? If so, is magic used to create it/perform it or is at an area where magic is banned (on the grounds magic is in the music anyway if you have the right attitude to it)?

What forms of music are available in your setting? Is it available to all? Would your characters appreciate it?

Is our love of music here something which might redeem humans (a bit) in the eyes of your setting? Does your setting appreciate its composers (and do they copy anything from Earth though they may refer to it as “sampling”!)?

Has music always been available in your setting or is it a recent discovery? If the latter, where and how did they discover it? (By exploring what other worlds including our own do here, perhaps?).

Definitely story ideas here.

This World and Others – Time Off The Magic

When you live and breath magic (or an equivalent form of power/energy), would you want time away from it? I am sure you would.

So how would your characters get to have this time off and what would they do to ensure they had a proper break before resuming work related duties again? Does using magic all of the time get tiring enough the powers that be in your setting recognise the need for their folk to have that proper break?

How are proper breaks organised? I am not including things like the need for sleep here but things like days off, holidays etc. Would there be times your entire setting has down times or do these have to be staggered to ensure the setting doesn’t leave itself defenceless, for example?

Do your characters need to ensure some level of protection for themselves when taking a break and who/what would they need that protection against? Tiredness can kill and not just in our world!

When it comes to having a break, where would your characters go to have it? If they go to our equivalent of hotels etc., is magic used there to ensure good service or is it all done “manually”? If the latter, is that because your characters on a break can absorb magic from around them so if it is used in their presence, they don’t really get a break from it.

How would your characters react if their needed break was interrupted by a threat of some sort? How would they handle this? How would not having their full break impact their performance?

Again story ideas here.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up


WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Discovering Favourite Authors

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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. Some images of me holding books were taken by Adrian Symes. One image relating to Creativity Matters was by Wendy H. Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Blustery and busy one here. Plenty of writing done, which is just how I like it to be. Lady and I dodging a lot of the rain but not quite all – seems fair to us.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Not bad here. Enjoyed my swim. Can’t believe we’re halfway through the month already. Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. That, and my monthly newsletter, tends to confirm to me how quickly time goes by.

Mind you, that would make a great theme for a story. Why does time pass quickly for your character? Are they glad of this or not? What are the reasons for them feeling the way they do about this?

Today has been one of those “could’ve been worse” days. Had a lovely time in the park with Lady. She got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle plus, last minute, Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal too. Lady was also a huge hit with my supermarket shop delivery (I loathe going into those places).

Thought I’d take advantage of the strong winds to get my washing done and it was almost finished when the heavens opened and yours truly (and washing) got a right soaking. On the plus side tonight, I know I shan’t be spontaneously combusting any time soon!

So I am very glad to get to my desk tonight and put all of that behind me.

Story Submission Tip: Don’t forget if you submit stories to Friday Flash Fiction, their submission window is now from a Monday to the end of Thursday. As well as always checking you know the rules of submission for anywhere (online or in print), do look out for the fact these do change from time to time so ensure you’re up to date. It happens (and always for good reasons).

Hope Sunday has been peaceful for you. Lady and I just managed to avoid the heavy rain today. Whether we’ll be so fortunate on her evening walk later remains to be seen.

Had a lovely Zoom session with fellow Swanwickers last night.

Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Will be taking a look at linked flash.

Character Tip: If your character is grumpy one, is there a reason behind the grumpiness? Are they ill, struggling with other worries, or feel they are being put upon to much by others? Give some thought to this and you will soon have a story outline to follow up. Indeed, you could get three different ones here.

Sometimes it is the small victories which mean the most. I managed to catch a break in the changeable weather today and finished wood treating my fence. I consider this to be a win! Lady was less impressed, mind you.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Writing Competitions for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday.

Looking forward later this evening to seeing some Swanwickers on Zoom. Always a lovely time had by all here.

Writing Prompt: I love opening line prompts so thought I would set one for you to have a go at. Hope you have fun with this.

The mirror shattered on seeing her face.

Hmm… may well have a go at that one myself!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I love the fact that I can create a flash fiction story quickly. Okay the polishing up and editing takes far longer but I can get the first draft down in no time and this is lovely because I have certain days, especially Mondays, when I can’t write a lot. So in drafting a flash tale, I know I have written something.

Being creative in any way always cheers me up. And given all writing exercises set at events and workshops are flash fiction by their nature, because you don’t have a lot of time in which to draft something, why not turn them into something you can submit somewhere?

It’s Monday. It has been a hectic, soggy one for me. Definitely time for a story then.

Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Turn Around. The inspiration for the title came from a certain Bonnie Tyler song – Total Eclipse of the Heart. The words turn around feature in that. Had no idea why I had that in mind but I know an inspiring title idea when I get one so I’ve used it. Hope you enjoy the story.

What does one anthropomorphic being do when they’ve caught another one doing something they shouldn’t? Find out here.

Isn’t it amazing how quickly the days speed by? Here we are at Sunday once again and it’s time for my flash fiction afternoon. It’s also time for me to share the latest part of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest batch of stories.
As ever, I am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow and I hope to share the latest installment of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit too. Done. See above. That serialisation stops at the end of the month and then it will be a question of waiting for the book to come out next May. I do hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far here though.

Don’t forget there is such a thing as flash non-fiction too. Many blogs might fall into this category if they’re under 500 words long. How about this for an idea? You have a story published (hooray!). Why not write a short piece sharing how you wrote it and what inspired you. That could be interesting material for your website and easy to share on social media too.

Yes, I have done this kind of thing myself and will, hopefully, be doing this again soon, but I will share more news on that when I have it.

Goodreads Author Blog – Discovering Favourite Authors

How did you discover your favourite authors? I suspect we all have several ways here.

I discovered the works of P.G. Wodehouse thanks to the television series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, as many have done. Everything about that adaptation was wonderful including the titles and theme music. So apt. (Do check it out. I suspect you may be able to fine some of this in YouTube).

I found Sir Terry Pratchett thanks to a mooch around my local independent bookshop, now sadly long gone due to retirement by the owner. But I found Jingo here. Liked the look of the cover. Bought it. I then read everything by Pratchett I could get!

As for Jane Austen, my late mum had some of her works at home and then Pride and Prejudice was set as a school read. Loved Austen ever since (with the exception of Mansfield Park).

As for The Lord of the Rings, I just knew, from what I’d heard about the books, I wanted to read it so went and got myself a copy. Wonderful.

Knowing about the books is so important and this is where libraries, authors, reading groups etc play such a wonderful role, as do the bookshops.

Let’s celebrate all of these and look forward to finding more favourite authors in the future.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Weather and Reading Moods and Book Orders

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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. Had busy weekend getting plenty of writing and editing done, which always pleases me. Also managed to wood treat another two fence panels – it’s all go here! Lady enjoyed her weekend walks too.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. I had a lovely swim and my book order for topping up my supply of From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic arrived today. So pleased with that. I only ordered them on Saturday. Print on demand works, folks!

Don’t forget you can order from me (as well as through Amazon and The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop – see link below).

Just contact me via my website 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you’ve had a good start to the week. Lady and I had a lovely time in the park and hope to catch up with pals, doggy and human, later in the week.

Writing wise, I’ve had a busy weekend. Am almost there with my story for a competition. It just needs a final read through and then I’ll sent it out, probably mid-week. Looking forward to going to an online group meeting later tonight and there is an online book launch by an ACW connection I hope to get to on Thursday. So plenty going on.

As well as a fabulous author interview with Joan Livingston on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday, I plan to have further author interviews with one pencilled in for the end of October. It’s always great to chat to other authors and I always learn a great deal from what they share in such things. I hope you do too.

Plus I’m being interviewed soon and will share more details on that nearer the time. It is lovely to be on the other side of the fence too.

Lovely church service this morning. Nice quiet afternoon ahead working on flash fiction. Great way to spend a Sunday. Happy to have booked my train tickets for the in person Association of Christian Writers event in Egham at the end of October (booked the actual event ages ago). Looking forward to going to this and catching up with folk again.

Also put in a book order for my two flash fiction collections from my publisher. Will look forward to when that box comes in the post. Naturally, I’m looking forward to putting in my first order for Seeing The Other Side next year too. Update:  Book order arrived on the Tuesday. See above. Very pleased.

Writing Tip: Even if you don’t enter competitions, do make a note of themes some of them set. There’s nothing to stop you using these as prompts for your own use at a later date. I’ve sometimes come across a competition too late to enter it but I can use the theme as a prompt later so I still get something from this.

Do read winning entries in writing magazines etc as much as you can and try to figure out what makes that story work well enough to win the competition. It pays. If you think it is down to, say, wonderful dialogue, look at what makes that seem wonderful for you. What was it that grabbed you about it?

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. I managed to paint another two fence panels with wood treatment. It’s all glamour here, I’ll have you know!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joan Livingston of the Isabel Long Mystery series on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. She’ll be discussing her latest book in the series, Finding the Source, as part of a blog tour set up by Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog. Looking forward to sharing this. Plenty of fabulous information and a great read. Link up on Friday.

Am busy editing a story I hope to submit for a competition towards the end of next week too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I like to have fun playing with genre when I write flash so I mix up the genres I write in for the form. I love humorous fantasy but I do have a soft spot for some work on the darker side. I also love crime fiction so some of my flash pieces are crime stories. It’s a challenge writing to the word count limit but hey that’s the fun of the form!

Of course the focus with flash has, for me at least, to be on the character so where I set them and what I get them to face is up to me and that is so much fun to do. Naturally I get to drop them in the proverbial mire a lot and that is fun too!

Writing isn’t always fun. It is hard work but I do think it is important to enjoy as much of the process as possible. (That goes for marketing and editing too). I think having fun with your writing – most of the time anyway – matters. You need to be able to love what you do writing wise to keep going with it.

It’s Monday and you know what that means. It means it’s time for a start the week story. My latest on YouTube is Leaf In The Puddle. Think this one will have resonance for many but why not see what you think.

Memories can be triggered by simple things such as a toddler dragging a leaf through a puddle, as my character finds out here.

 

As ever, am enjoying flash fiction Sunday afternoon. Plus I’m pleased to share the latest installment of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest batch of stories.

As ever, I am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. Lovely way to spend the afternoon. (And if you want to read a lot of flash fiction, and why wouldn’t you, do go and check out the Friday Flash Fiction website).

Don’t forget the wonderful CafeLit also shares flash fiction, along with the longer short stories, so plenty to read there. I plan to share the latest installment of my Seeing The Other Side from CafeLit tomorrow. Done. See above.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Goodreads Author Blog – Weather and Reading Moods

Does the weather change what you choose to read at all? I must admit as we go into autumn here in the UK with the longer darker evenings drawing in so rapidly, I do find myself more drawn to the lighter side of fiction. P.G Wodehouse comes into his own here – his works always put a smile on my face. There is a wonderful book of letters from him edited by Sophie Ratcliffe which is also a fantastic read. This is aptly titled P.G. Wodehouse – A Life In Letters. It does do what it says on the cover, folks!

I guess it is the light levels with me, As the light drops, I want fiction to amuse me. I don’t have a lot of time for dystopian fiction as it is (and even less so now, the news is grim enough) but I want books to lift my mood, cheer me, up, entertain me, so the weather and the seasons can have a bearing on what I read when.

One thing I am liking right now is I play some word related games on my phone and naturally there are adverts, which I generally ignore. Having said that, Amazon are showing some really good adverts about encouraging reading by showing how books bring stories to life. They did this last year in the run up to Christmas. Between now and then is the biggest market for book sales. Wish Amazon did these adverts all year around though as this is always true – books do bring stories to life.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Stories In Holiday Locations

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 Creativity Matters image kindly supplied by Wendy H. Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the weekend went well for you. Autumn has come in rapidly especially on Sunday. Not sorry about the rain but the darker evenings are already noticeable. Lady not especially bothered. The evenings are her curl up time no matter when they come in time wise. Writing going well and am busy editing too.

Facebook – General

Managed to avoid most of the rain today and then went and had a swim! Make that make sense…! I did have a good time in the pool though and it was good to catch up with some regulars there.

Writing wise, I am busy with blogging (for posts due later this month) and editing, as well as my usual column for Chandler’s Ford Today etc. I do like a good variety of writing projects to work on. They don’t have to be all done at once!

Friday Flash Fiction is now open for submissions again so I managed to get a 100 word tale sent in yesterday.

Flash Tip: I often use prompts to trigger story ideas but have found it pays to mix up the kinds I use. It challenges me to respond to more and different kinds of prompts, which is fun to do. I also get more stories written.

Well, it’s been a blustery start to September. No pals out for Lady to see today though we hope to make up for that as the week goes on. We were pleased to miss most of the showers though. Mind you, it is good to see the park grass starting to look like grass again.

Writing wise, I’m thrilled to say I’ll be interviewing American crime writer, Joan Livingston, for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. More details on that nearer the time. Plus I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for this week’s post – well, they do say write what you know.

Pleased to say my author newsletter went out again this morning. Won’t be long before I start thinking about ideas and themes for the next one.

31st August – Bonus Post – CafeLit Serialisation – Seeing The Other Side
Quick bonus post. Hot off the presses, so to speak, is the latest serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side over on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest batch of stories.

Lady and I have been dodging the showers today (most of them anyway) but it is good to see the grass looking better than it has done for weeks.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out tomorrow. To sign up for news and tips do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As ever, many thanks for the continued support with the newsletter. It is a joy to put it together and I hope you get plenty from it.

Character Tip: If you ever wondered why writers are always encouraged to read more, one superb reason for doing that is you get to know a wide range of characters across different genres. As a result, you soon get to know what you dislike and like in character portrayal and can then apply what you like/avoid what you dislike in your own creations. Besides which, it’s fun!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start for you. Wet here though we do need the rain.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday. (Well, they do say write what you know).

Have had a busy week in getting interview questions back – that was fun to do. Am also looking forward to receiving interview questions back from a lady I’ll be interviewing for CFT soon. Am also putting the finishing touches to my newsletter. Hard to believe we’ll be in September come Monday.

Writing Tip: When I’m thinking about a new character, I want to know what drives them more than anything else. Why?

If they are honest no matter what so that trait drives them, I will put them in a situation where that could get them either sacked or promoted, for example. I then give the character the dilemma of whether they are going to follow through or not. They know the costs of continuing to be honest so will they do it?

But whichever way they jump, it is going to cost them. And it is that I think, readers will relate to because we have all faced our own dilemmas, had our own regrets and so on. I think characters should too. I think it is important to be able to relate to a character.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope today has gone well. Plan to look into further story competitions to have a try at later this week but one I must make a note to do is the Writing Magazine Grand Flash Prize. Deadline is 31st December so will start thinking about potential outlines for something here later this month, I think. I’ve kept my promise to myself to enter more competitions than last year but there is still three months to go so I figure I can get some more in before then!


It’s Monday, the start of a new month too, but still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a new story from me on YouTube then. Hope you like my latest here – Impressions.

Justin loved his girlfriend’s glossy hair but was surprised to see the source of it. Find out what that was here.

F = Flash is a fun and challenging form to write;
L = Leaving a lasting impression in few words.
A = Any genre can be used for flash fiction.
S = Starring characters of all backgrounds, human or otherwise.
H = Have fun experimenting with the form – it is addictive so be warned!

Looking forward to my flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. (I know Friday would be a better, alliterative day but I’ve too much on then!). Spending the afternoon crafting some flash pieces pleases me a lot, especially since I have got off to a head start this week, thanks to drafting a couple of 100-worders at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday night. Haven’t yet decided on further competitions to try but hope to do that during the coming week.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories In Holiday Locations

Do you like stories set in holiday locations? I’m not specifically thinking about holiday reads as such, though they’re fine, but more along the lines of a regular character being taken out of their usual locale for a vacation. Naturally something happens on that vacation to drag them back to their usual day job.

Two good examples of this happen to Jane Marple, Agatha Christine’s fabulous creation, with At Bertram’s Hotel and A Carribbean Mystery. The latter leads on to my favourite Marple book – Nemesis. And that too involves a holiday – a coach trip in this case. Excellent books, all of them. Also makes a nice change of murders not happening in Marple’s St. Mary Mead!

Even in fantasy, holiday locations can crop up. In Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld for example, Sam Vimes is sent on what is meant to be a holiday in Snuff but naturally he uncovers something rotten in the state of the countryside and simply has to sort it out.

Do you prefer main characters to be in their usual setting or do you like it when they are taking out of it for a while? All I want is a good strong storyline with characters I care about, regardless of where they are set, but these books are great examples of what I see as holiday books.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Key Story Elements

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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. It was back to creosoting the fence here but I was thankful for cooler weather in which to do that. Have had some lovely comments in on my recent Chandler’s Ford Today post about Swanwick. I was deeply touched by those. Thank you, folks.

Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Not bad here.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. To sign up for tips, news, story links, and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter tip: I find having a monthly theme helps because I can share tips related to the theme, writing prompts related to it and so on. It gives the newsletter a focus. It also means I can prepare the newsletter during the month so there isn’t one mad rush to finish it and get it out on time.

Mind you, I am a big fan of scheduling and do this all the time for my Chandler’s Ford Today posts so it makes sense to me to prepare as much as I can in advance here too.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Despite it being a bank holiday in my part of the world (the next one is a certain day in December, folks – argh!), Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal. A good time was had by both dogs. Bank holidays always seem a little odd to me as for most of them I am doing mostly the sane stuff as I would do on any other Monday but there you go. Certainly the writing continues as normal.

The next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is on Wednesday so am looking forward to that. We’ll be looking at prompts, useful for any form of writing, I think.

Writing Tip: Never worry about how much time you have for writing. As long as you write regularly, what you do write will mount up over time. I’ve found this to be the case and you end up getting more done than you might think, especially if you look at your writing over the course of a week or so (rather than daily).

24th August – Bonus Post – CafeLit Serialisation – Seeing The Other Side

Bonus post. As I posted my other posts earlier than normal, I forgot to share the latest part of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit.

The posts don’t appear there until 4pm each day as the idea here is you get to read stories at this time with tea/coffee, cake etc. Lovely idea (just wish I had more time for the cake and didn’t put on what seems like half a stone just by looking at cake but there you go!).

Anyway, here is the latest installment. I do hope you enjoy the stories.
Hope today has been a lovely peaceful Sunday for you. It has been here. Lady is currently happily curled up having had a couple of lovely walks and play times. Hopes to catch up with her pals during the week.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Stand Alone Books for Chandler’s Ford Today this coming week. Link up on Friday.

Have started work on editing a story I’ve drafted for a competition. Will probably aim to have this sent out in the next couple of weeks.

Looking forward to reading Christian Writer, the quarterly journal of the Association of Christian Writers. Copy landed on my mat yesterday. Also looking forward to going to their in person event in Egham in October. My railcard is getting good usage so far this year! The good news from Lady’s viewpoint is I will be back in time for dinner so she won’t be too unhappy about Mum going off somewhere for this one.

Hope today has gone well. Quiet one here – back out creosoting the fence. Am making good steady progress. Sometimes you come across descriptions which are perfect. Well, our fence was described as being made from rough cut timber. They were right about the rough bit!

The next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is next week so am looking forward to that. I hope to resume preparing work for competitions from next week too. I have set it as a goal to enter more competitions this year. I have already fulfilled that compared with how many I went in for in 2024 but I would like to do more before the end of the year.

I’ve got a story in draft for a competition (due in towards the latter end of September) so will focus on that one first. Always good to have something to work on like this. Makes me up my game and certainly I have produced more stories than I would have done otherwise.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash fiction is a great thing to share if you have an author newsletter. It gives something hopefully entertaining to your followers, doesn’t take up too much room, and who doesn’t love a free story to read? Win, win, win there. All part of my marketing too.

No author newsletter? Well, how about writing a short story to share on your website for your followers there. It is a lovely way to give back for the joys writing gives us, I find.

And talking of flash fiction, hope you enjoy this one.

The Party by Allison Symes – 26th August 2025
Out of the thirteen guests who were dressed as ghosts for the party, only one could walk through the walls, leaving the remaining twelve screaming.
Ends

It’s a Bank Holiday Monday where I am. It’s been a hot one too. But it does mean it is time for a beginning of the week story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Liberating Luck.

A witch cannot believe her luck on managing to escape a magic lamp nor on whom she managed to get to take her place in it. Find out who that was here. Is the witch right to celebrate her luck?

 

About to crack on with flash fiction Sunday, which is something I always look forward to – it’s a great way to end the week and I get more stories drafted. I can polish them and find a home for them later.

Congratulations to the winner, the runners up and the short listed for the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition.

The 100 words (drabble) category for flash fiction is a popular one for competitions so it is worth practicing writing to this word count. I’ve found the form to be addictive and hope you do too! They’re also great for sharing on your author newsletter etc as they don’t take up too much space and give people a quick, entertaining read.

One element to flash fiction which can be overlooked is that it gives you skills you can use for any form of writing. I’ve found this to be the case. You tighten up your editing skills, for one thing.

You learn to look for phrases which convey the meaning you want but do so in fewer words. You focus on specific images rather than risk anything which could come across as vague.

No room for wordy description here. I have to show you a character and/or a setting quickly so must focus on the telling details which will bring those to life for you. This means I have to be able to picture it first. Anything getting in the way of that is cut.

Goodreads Author Blog – Key Story Elements

I lost count years ago of how many books and/or stories I’ve read.

I include flash and short story collections here deliberately, partly because I write them, have featured in them but, in any case, they are still as much of a book as a novel or novella. They’re just a different format, that’s all, and I’ve found them useful for another reason.

If I like an author’s short work, it’s a good bet I will like their longer works too. So sometimes I have tried out an author’s short form work before buying any of their novels.

But regardless of story type, every work of fiction has to have key story elements. For me, these include characters I can relate to, an interesting plot, and an ending which fulfils the promise of the book.

I have to feel that the ending was right. If there was a twist (and I love these), I need to be able to look back at the story on a second reading and see how it could only be this twist and it had to be the way the writer portrayed it.

No matter what the setting, the characters have to be believable too. There has to be something in their portrayal I can relate to and naturally this acts as a wonderful challenge for me to do the same with my own creations.

Reading encourages writing. Writing encourages reading. Behind it all is a love of story and the key story elements are what readers crave and what writers long to create.


MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Writing Events and An Author’s Dilemma

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 holding Creativity Matters and my flash collections to date was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from Swanwick for my Authors Electric blog. See below.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Slowly getting back to normal after my trip to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Nice to be out walking Lady again. Hope to catch up with some chums in the park later this week.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler chum today. Lovely time had by both. I was back in the swimming pool for a long swim. It was wonderful. Am now suitably tired!

Writing wise, I will be sharing Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025 for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that one. Look out for a couple of pictures of Lady in it too – think of them as a before and after selection.

Slowly resuming my normal writing routine. Am preparing another wonderful author interview to appear on CFT in September. Plus I am preparing to be interviewed myself in October so all go here but fun with it.

It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog. This time I look at Writing Events. It is no coincidence I post this just after returning from my annual jaunt to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, Derbyshire.

Naturally I had a fabulous time there but my post looks at the benefits of writing events, including online ones, for all writers. Hope you enjoy the post (and I hope you have a great time at any forthcoming events you’re attending).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lovely to be back at church this morning. Peaceful and thoughtful. Just what was needed after a busy but fun week, I think. Looking forward to writing about Swanwick for Chandler’s Ford Today. Will be cracking on with that later today after spending some enjoyable time composing more flash fiction tales. Will resume competition entries I think from next weekend though I am glad I did get my 750 words story in for the relevant competition before heading off to Swanwick.

Writing Tip: It pays to spend a little time working out what writing time you have where. Most of mine is in the evening though I do have some slots in some afternoons. I always plan out what I will do my writing time. I find it helps me make the most of them. It means I get straight with the tasks in hand when I do get to my desk.


I expect every Swanwicker will be doing what I’ve done since getting home on Thursday – working out what I was doing this time last week! I thought of this today as I was back out creosoting my front fence – oh, the glamour of it all! It was a truly fabulous week away and I plan to write more about it for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Slowly getting back to my usual writing and other routines. Has been great taking Lady out for her walks again (and it may help shift some of the inevitable weight gain most Swanwickers have to face up on getting home again. The Hayes feed you really well!).

Also looking forward to resuming my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Also hope to share news of another fabulous author interview on CFT before long. I will have another interview to share with you later too but this time the interviewee will be me. Exciting times!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. It’s amazing how quickly the weeks whizz by.

Friday Flash Fiction is currently judging its recent competition so is not open to submissions at the moment. Will let you know when that changes. (Do check out the stories on there anyway. There is so much amazing work here and I can’t think of a better way to practice writing 100 word stories regularly).

Flash Tip: The one thing I find most fascinating about any length of story is in my wanting to know what happens. Simple as that. And why do I want to know what happens? I want to find out because I’ve come to care for the character(s) in the story quickly. There’s a good challenge for every fiction writer right there.

For flash fiction writers, you’ve probably got the opening line or two to create a character who readers will want to root for in some way. It’s a great challenge! 
It’s Monday. It has been as hectic as ever. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Writing Woes.

Writers have all manner of writing woes but this one may come as a surprise to the author in my story here. Find out what that woe is here.

 

I forgot to share the link to the latest serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit last Sunday when I was at Swanwick. Good news, it’s double bubble time, folks.

I share below the link to the stories I forgot to share last week plus I share today’s selection. Hope you enjoy them.

I am glad to say I read one of my new stories (Time For a Change) at the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night and it went down well. Now to crack on with my flash fiction writing Sunday afternoon too!

Part 1 Serialisation
Part 2 Serialisation 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

As you know, I love writing prompts (and I picked up loads having gone to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick). Sometimes you come across a prompt where you cannot find an obvious immediate use for it but I have found on making myself dig that bit deeper with it, I can usually get a story from it.

Often these are especially good stories precisely because I have had to dig deeper. I have had to not use what might seem to be an obvious idea.

I also think it good practice to deliberately mix up the prompts I do use though it is always good to have something to fall back on it. I will always have a soft spot for the random words to go in a story kind of prompt but am also fond of the opening line type.

When I get one of the latter prompts, I will make myself list some ideas to come from it. I never go for the first few I jot down either. By digging deeper, my experience has been you can come up with some truly great work in the ideas which are further down on your list.

Goodreads Author Blog – An Author’s Dilemma

There is one dilemma no author minds that much. This is where you go to a writing event and bring home as many or more books than you took of your own to sell! I have done this again this year having just returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

Mind you, my trip this year has also enabled me to add to my growing collection of books signed for me by my author friends. Whenever I pass the shelves these books are on, I smile and recall where I first met the author. I like things like this.

Books are important for more than just the stories or interesting non-fiction between their covers, vital though they are. They can encourage positive memories. For example, I still have The Readers’ Digest Collection of Fairytales. Both volumes were given to me by my late father. I loved looking at those books long before I could read them for myself. Wonderful illustrations and lovely memories to go with them.

Books, stories, memories – lovely things as a rule.

Incidentally, the only thing which did stop me from going completely overboard with how many books I brought back from Swanwick was knowing I was travelling by train and had to be able to put them in my suitcase! Sometimes you need the discipline of that!


MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Balancing Writing and Reading

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Great one here. Was so pleased Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present went well on Friday night. Had a lovely Zoom call with Swanwick friends on Saturday. Talking of which, I am now busy getting ready to head off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick at the end of this week. So looking forward to that. Lady will be well cared for and will mug me the moment I’m home again!

Facebook – General

Lovely time out with the dog and then, later, in the swimming pool. Refreshing but tiring (for both things!).

Looking forward to sharing Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This will take a look back at the recent exhibition I visited.

There will be a second CFT post coming out on Friday from me. I’m flagging up a forthcoming local author event by John Puzey in our excellent local library.

Looking forward to attending an ACW group meeting tomorrow. Plus I have started packing for Swanwick. Couldn’t resist doing that any longer!

Hope you’ve had a good day. Windy and wet here though not as bad as further north. Hope everyone is okay. Has brightened up this evening.

Busy day as always on a Monday so it is a relief to get to the desk and write for a while. Will focus on “bits and pieces” tonight. It’s a lovely way to unwind after a hectic day and I often get useful writing admin done. It frees up my time later in the week for longer bouts of writing.

Just to flag up Friday Flash Fiction are running their annual Edinburgh International contest to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival. Full details can be found at the link. The contest runs for two weeks and you can submit one story per week. Usual 100 words limit for this competition. They’re not taking any other longer submissions during this period so you will need to wait for the contest to finish before you can do that again. 


Very much with the blessing of publisher and author here, I am delighted to be able to share the YouTube link to Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present short story collection. This was held on Friday 1st August and Rosemary shares two stories from her book, which I am sure you will enjoy.

We also have an in depth conversation about how she came to write the book and much more. Plenty of interest for writers and readers here. Hope you enjoy it and many congratulations to Rosemary once again for the publication of her collection.


Hope you have had a good day. I was back to creosoting my fence today. Much preferred going to see the Jane Austen – Down to the Sea exhibition at The Dorset Museum last week with colleagues from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading. Talking of which, I will be sharing a review of that exhibition on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Also the countdown is now on for me. It’s a week to go before I am back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Looking forward to seeing everyone again and learning so much from the courses and workshops.

Pleased to report the online launch for Rosemary Johnson’s Past and Present (Bridge House Publishing), which was held on 1st August, went well. BHP hosted the event, I was compere, and a wonderful discussion and readings entertained the audience. It’s exactly how you want an online launch to go. Well done, Rosemary. Fantastic start to a weekend I’d say! See above for more.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope to get my 750 words story submitted to a competition before I head off to Swanwick. Not sure what stories I will be able to write etc next week so, as ever for this wonderful week I will play things by ear. I am sure I will come home with lots of ideas for future stories from the courses I go to though as in previous years!

It’s Monday. As ever, it has been a hectic one. Definitely story time then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Not Looking Up.

There are advantages to humans having smartphones as my alien character discovers in this story. Mind you, the birds are a different matter. Find out why here.

Will be getting on with my usual flash fiction Sunday shortly but, firstly, I wanted to share Part 4 of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side which is now live on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest selection.
Secondly, it is now less than a week to go for when I am at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. The case is out!

Many thanks for the kind comments in on my Clock Watching which was Editor’s Choice for Friday Flash Fiction yesterday. Much appreciated.

Am looking forward to my usual flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. As well as what I usually do, I have a story for a 750 word story I want to put my final edits to (with the idea being I will probably submit it just ahead of my going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick next weekend).

Flash Tip: I’ve mentioned before that one advantage to writing flash fiction is it makes you focus on what matters to the character, that and nothing else. In the word count limit we have, it does have to be one focus.

So when I outline my character I ask what matters most to my character. I then put them in a situation where this “comes out” and readers get to see what my character does to handle the situation or other character which means so much to them.

Goodreads Author Blog – Balancing Writing and Reading

I would be most surprised if any author doesn’t find it tricky, at least sometimes, to balance their writing and reading lives. I know I do.

One way I get around this issue to ensure I do read at lunchtimes – usually a magazine – but it all counts! I can sometimes be far too tired at bedtime to read then.

I do sometimes find if I have had an intense period of writing, I will read less. Or I will read something totally different to what I’ve been working on. So if I’ve been writing a lot of fiction, I will crack on with my non-fiction reading. If I fancy fiction but have been writing lots of short stories and /or flash, I will read a novel.

As well as being a good idea anyway, because you get to read more, mixing up the types of reading I do helps here. It means I am nearly always reading something, And that is always a good idea!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Postcards Home and Authors/Story Links

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 friends from Swanwick for taking some images of me signing books etc at a previous Swanwick. Also thanks to Adrian Symes for taking a photo of me holding Creativity Matters.
Hope you had a good weekend. Had a lovely trip out to see a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester with editing colleagues. Good fun and a fascinating place to visit. Want to go back as I didn’t get to see half of what was there. The Austen exhibition was good too. But oh how tiny the waists were back then!
Meantime back at home, Lady has got to see her two best buddies for the first time in a few days so all is well now. Part 3 of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side came out over the weekend on CafeLit too. Link given below. All go here but in a great way!

Facebook – General

It’s my turn once again on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Postcards Home and set a few exercises for people to try. Hope you have fun with them. I especially hope the ACW Flash Fiction Group gives them a go!

Hope you enjoy the post. This is an apt topic for me as flash fiction has been known by many names, including postcard fiction.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lady has had a lovely day. She played with her two best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. All is well in their world!

As promised the other day, I thought I would give a quick reminder now to say I will be quizzing Rosemary Johnson about her new book, Past and Present (Bridge House Publishing) later this week. There is 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. Hope to see you there.

Marketing Tip: Whenever you are sharing information about your latest story or book, think about what is in this for your readers. This is where sharing an odd story or two is handy because it makes perfect sense to say hello, this is what I write, and then share a sample of it. Nobody minds a free sample. If you have an author newsletter, it is a useful thing to include as part of that.

So enjoyed my trip to the Dorset Museum yesterday. Didn’t even see half of what they have there so a return trip is called for. The ticket from the museum lasts for a year so I hope to take full advantage of that. Pleasant run on the train too – and useful writing time of course. Will shortly be getting on with flash fiction Sunday today, naturally.

Writing wise, will have a busy week ahead with plenty going on the blogs front. Plus I will be sending out my author newsletter again on Friday (and taking part in Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present the same day so Friday will be fun but busy).

Also it is almost time for the next edition of Writers’ Narrative so do look out for that too. You won’t be short of reading material this week!

Glad to see it is almost time for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: If you can get to writing events, be they online or in person, a one day thing or longer, try and go. One huge advantage to them is you get to meet other writers. Not only do you make friends, writers share information with each other all of the time.

You never know when (a) that could prove useful to you and (b) what you can share will prove useful to someone else. The writing community is generally a hugely supportive one and it is lovely to be part of it.

Was on my travels today down to Dorchester to visit the Jane Austen exhibition at the Dorset Museum. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at the great author’s links with the coast. I met editing colleagues here from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). A great time was had by all and I plan to write more about the exhibition for Chandler’s Ford Today soon.

Talking of which, a huge thank you for the fabulous comments which have come in on Esther Chilton’s interview yesterday.

Next week’s post will be a review of the play of Notes From A Small Island, which was performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company this week.

Next week will be busy too as the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will be meeting on Wednesday. Plus I’m also looking forward to Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present collection on Friday. Host is Bridge House Publishing via Eventbrite. Will repost the link in next couple of days. Have done so above.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady has had an especially nice day as she got to play with Bear, a wonderful Aussie Shepherd, who is the nearest thing she has ever had to a boyfriend.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow on Zoom. We’ll be looking at the theme of summer. Plenty of good ideas to come from using a season in your writing. For one thing, they make an excellent backdrop.

Flash Tip: When you have a theme to hand for a story, take some time to jot down as many possibilities from it as you can think of. There will be more than you think. Play Word Association here. What you come up with may well generate words to put in a story, even the basic outline of what a character might see or do in your story.

For example with the theme of summer, you could think of things like tennis (story set against that back drop perhaps). You could think of ice cream (lovely old soul looks for a favourite flavour for someone he cares about) and that is just two basic ideas from two words associated with the theme.

Am sure you could come up with many more. Have fun!

It’s Monday. It has been hectic. It’s story time once again but this time I’ve produced something a little different. The program I use to produce my videos was unfortunately down when I needed to use it for my usual weekly tale though I am glad to say it is back up and running again.

Having said that (and given I have other writing commitments today), I took a story, recorded it on Zoom and have uploaded that to YouTube. Hope you enjoy my Work To Rule read by yours truly.


Flash Fiction Sunday is with me again so am looking forward to cracking on with that shortly.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom next week.

And now it’s time for part 3 of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you like the latest selection of tales.

Getting out and about on the train, as I have done today, gives great opportunities for discreet people watching. I have occasionally heard intriguing snippets of conversation I have put my own spin on to create stories. The original speakers would genuinely never know.

This is true for any kind of prompt – it is what you do with it which transforms it into something with exciting story possibilities. The prompt is only ever to get you started, which can often be the difficult bit.

Goodreads Author Blog – Authors and Story Links

By the time I post this, I will have returned from a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at her links with the coast.

Confession time – I was only aware of the one link, that being The Cobb at Lyme Regis. It is a major scene in Austen’s Persuasion. I’ve not read The French Lieutenant’s Woman which I believe also uses The Cobb as a setting.

I do always think of Persuasion whenever I visit Lyme Regis though.

The exhibition was an eye opener, fun, and I am so glad I went. So if a favourite author of yours has an exhibition on, why not check it out? They can be another way of helping you enjoy even more from the books you love. That has to be a good thing!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Books Which Live On

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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.

Facebook – General

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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


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.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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!).


MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Serialisation News: Seeing The Other Side by Allison Symes – CafeLit

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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. Busy here – from wood treating fence panels to writing to editing. Glad it has become cooler now. Lady is not sorry about that either. Thrilled to say the partial serialisation of Seeing The Other Side has started on CafeLit – details below.

Facebook – General

Nice day today. Lovely swim. Hope today has been a good one for you. Loved an online Zoom meeting I attended last night. Perfect end to a hectic Monday and interesting topic too.

Writing wise, have just completed the first stage of an edit. Looking forward to assisting with a friend’s online book launch before too long as well. Delighted the first part of the serialisation of Seeing The Other Side is now up on CafeLit. Will share another link to the next part this coming Sunday.

And it won’t be too long before the next author newsletter is due. To sign up for news, tips, story links and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope today has been okay, given it is Monday after all. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal this morning so all is well there. Also cooler today which is most welcome.

Writing wise, I’ll be catching up with bits and pieces this evening as Monday is one of those days when I don’t have so much writing time. But the nice thing about this is I still get useful stuff done which frees up my time for longer writing stints later in the week.

The nice thing about flash is of course I can get a short tale written in the time I do have even when said time is limited. My bits and pieces also include things like writing admin, such as adding things to my ALCS listing (Authors Licensing and Collecting Society) as well as tidying up/updating my website here and there. ALCS link here – do check them out.

Serialisation News – Seeing The Other Side – CafeLit

Am thrilled to say the first part of the serialisation of my third flash fiction book, Seeing The Other Side, starts today on CafeLit. See link. Hope you enjoy this opening taster! More to come too. Will share as and when I have the links. This is the first time I’ve had any work of mine serialised. So pleased about that.

You get good value here too – you will find four of my new flash pieces here.

And while you are on CafeLit do check out the wide range of stories and styles they have here. It is a great site for short story and flash fiction writers.

Hope today has been good for you. Lady out nice and early as another hot one today. Managed to get two fence panels wood treated – it’s all glamour here I’ll have you know!

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Breaking Down Why A Story Works for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Plus after that I’ll be interviewing fellow Swanwicker and flash fiction writer, the lovely Esther Chilton, who will be sharing news of her children’s book, The Secret Dragon. More details on that nearer the time. (Plus it won’t be long after that before I meet Esther again in person at Swanwick; am so looking forward to being there again).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I sometimes come up with alliterative titles to make me think of ideas for flash stories. Good fun to do. Can be useful for acrostic stories too.

I deliberately mix up how I come up with titles. I use phrases and proverbs. Sometimes I use a piece of some of the dialogue I’ve used in the story itself. I prefer two to five words for my titles (easier to remember) though I have used longer ones, including for my book titles.

What matters though is any title, however you come up with it, has a hook to intrigue a reader.

It’s Monday. Okay it’s not as hot as last week but it is still time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – You Know It Is Time.

You know you must change your career. You know your boss won’t be happy. You dare not run from her. It would be better to face the dragons than that…

It’s flash fiction Sunday again for me. Lovely way to spend the afternoon. (Will also be interviewing fellow flash fiction writer and Swanwicker, Esther Chilton, for Chandler’s Ford Today soon though ironically it won’t be flash which will be the focus here!).

I do love the weekly challenge of coming up with my 100 worder for Friday Flash Fiction and another flash piece for my YouTube channel. I also use this afternoon to sort out competition entries and thinks like that. It’s a nice way to end the week – by submitting pieces here and there. I think it gets the following week off to a cracking start.

It’s another way I put specific time aside for specific writing work I want to do – I find it pays.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow for me. Plus I hope to finally get another competition entry out. Story is all good to go but I want to do my final checks on it. This week has been hectic in a good way so am especially looking forward to a quieter one tomorrow when I can get more done.

Things like those final checks for example shouldn’t be rushed. (You will miss something and then be cross with yourself for it – guess how I know!). I will be in good time for the competition deadline – it’s the end of August – but once this story is off, I then focus on another story to work on for somewhere else. I like to have something “on the go”.

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Parts of a Story

Regardless of story genre, length, whether it is in a magazine or in a book, what would you say were your favourite parts to a story?

I love dialogue because when this is done well, it is like eavesdropping an interesting conversation. I know – that probably does say a great deal about me, doesn’t it? But good dialogue will move the story on, have a good pace to it, and leave you wanting to “hear”/read more.

Description works for me when it conveys information I need to know in a story which can’t be shared any other way. So yes I will need to know something about setting, for example, but I won’t necessarily need to know every last detail. I just need to know what is important.

So I would need to know there was a moor, say, but I don’t need to know exactly what the moor is made up of because I will have my own ideas about that. Earlier generations would have needed everything spelled out when people didn’t travel so much so wouldn’t necessarily know this. Naturally writing flash fiction and short stories does tend to encourage what I call tight writing.

Narrative where the story is being moved on thanks to the narrator is another favourite of mine because you usually get a good pace here. You are shown what you need to see. Everything counts so you know you need to read this. I’ve forgotten who it was who said “try not to write the bits people skip” but they had a point!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js