Tag: Chandler’s Ford Today

A Year In Flashback

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

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

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

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

A Year In Flashback

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

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

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

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

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

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

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


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

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

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

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

Fairytales with Bite – Minor Characters in Fairytales

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

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

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

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

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This World and Others – The Role of Your Setting

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

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

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

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

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

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

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

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

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

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

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

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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


Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fairytales with Bite – Behind The Scenes

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

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

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

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

Definitely story ideas there!

This World and Others – Staging

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

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

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

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

Story ideas there too!

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

Author Interview – Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience

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 John Puzey and Richard Hardie (Authors Reach) for author and book cover shots and logos for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Fab interview with John too – check it out. Link below.
Hope you have had a good week. Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers event in Egham on Friday and Saturday, though I am only going up for the Saturday. Will be good to catch up with friends again. Lady and I remain unimpressed but not surprised by the weather.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Glad to share a fabulous interview with John Puzey about his new book, Captive Audience. If you love history, do check this interview (and the book) out.

John was inspired to write this by old letters written by his late father who was a prisoner of war in World War Two. The topic of the book is on an aspect of history not often considered. To find out more, and John’s thoughts on writing and acting (he is a member of our local amateur theatre group, The Chameleons), do see the interview. It is a good read.

Talking of The Chameleons, I’m off to see their next production soon too. They are staging The Ghost Train written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame. Am looking forward to seeing this.

Author Interview: Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you’ve had a good Thursday. No pals in the park today but Lady had a good time anyway.

If you love history, fiction, non-fiction or both (as I do), do check out my interview with John Puzey about his book, Captive Audience, for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. His book looks at a very different historical aspect to World War Two, one which I’ve not come across often, and is inspired by letters from his late father who was a prisoner of war. Link up tomorrow. See above.

John will also be sharing thoughts about his writing life and whether his acting career (via our local company, the ever excellent The Chameleons) has any basis for his approach to creating characters. Fascinating stuff. Definitely worth checking out.

Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was pleased about that.

I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. Always fun and we get some flash fiction drafted so win-win. It’s also a good chance to catch up with people’s news too. Due to unforeseen circumstances have had to reschedule this meeting for next week but the rest of this paragraph still applies!

Also enjoyed replying to a very nice email about the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event in December. Looking forward to that one too!

Don’t forget my interview with author John Puzey about his fascinating Captive Audience is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. His book looks at a historical element to World War Two from a very different angle to those often considered here. More on Friday. See above. I found it fascinating finding out how his acting and his writing impact on how he sees characters but do check the interview out.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, That Sinking Feeling. The sharp-eyed amongst you may well spot a connection between this story and my YouTube story earlier this week (Achievement). Hope you enjoy the FFF story too.

Just why is Jill facing a nightmare of a washing up pile and what does Cinderella have to do with it all?

Find out here. 

Have needed to reschedule the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting for next week but that will suit more people and I look forward to that then. These things happen. We’ll be looking at festive flash and will have plenty of time to get some drafts done in time for this year’s season.

One joy of flash which I know I’ve mentioned before is because it is character led, you can set those characters anywhere you want. I do try to take full advantage of that, which is why I’ve written historical flash, crime flash, fairytale flash and much more. Why limit yourself? The only limit I have to contend with is the 1000 words upper limit and you can do a lot with that.

Don’t forget the last ever Flash NANO is due to start soon (1st November). Even if you’ve taken part before, you will need to sign up for this one. Details below. Am looking forward to taking part again. Have always enjoyed the range of prompts. It’s a good challenge. Why not give it a go? The screenshot shows the page when you “click to join”.


Fairytales with Bite – Turning The Tables

One aspect to fairytales I have long loved is that the tables are turned on those deserving of it so every often. The rude prince gets turned into a horrendous beast until true love sets him free. The decrepit old man or woman turns out to be a powerful magical being in disguise and are inevitably trying to test someone’s character. That someone doesn’t always pass, at least immediately.

The story which follows is inevitably about how they do get to pass eventually and who helps them to do so. It’s a story trope which won’t date. For one thing, most of us enjoy a happy ever after ending but where the characters have to work at it to deserve and get that ending.

Turning the tables is a fabulous theme and doesn’t just apply to fairytales of course. But I do see this theme as a major one in fairytales and fantasy. One of the joys of the fairytale world is the “bad guys” do usually get their comeuppance though who the ”bad guys” are is up to you. It’s what I loved about the Shrek films. The ogre, the traditional baddie, isn’t the baddie here – and it works. Shrek has a convincing story.

So give some thought as to who you need to run the tables on and why. Have fun in making this happen! I love writing characters who get their just desserts. But there has to be good reason for why they deserve this. Else it won’t be believable. We need to see your characters doing the kind of things which will lead to them being brought to book. It is such fun to write though.

This World and Others – What Does a Magical World Not Expect?

A magical world is unlikely to be caught out by much I would have thought, but it is not impossible and it can be fun exploring that thought. Would science, as we know it, be a threat to such a world? How could it threaten magic? How would the magical world discover a threat like this existed? What would they do to try to prevent it “polluting” their world? Who or what could possibly introduce it?

Even if an “outside” threat doesn’t exist, give some thought as to what your setting might not expect. This could include such situations as a lowly character, not supposedly able to produce powerful magic, finding a way of doing so. What would be the consequences of that? There are always consequences! Also how does the character do this and did they have help?

Arrogance is a key weakness in so many villains which would make it possible for other characters to take advantage of that and come up with the unexpected. So how would your characters bring about the unexpected and what help do they get to achieve it?

Can magic be used to fight magic here or does the defeat of the villain have to happen by non-magical beings, something which would not/could not in usual circumstances be expected to happen? Could “outsiders” be a key element here? (Nobody expected hobbits, of all beings, to defeat Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, did they? I also refuse to believe that’s a plot spoiler now either!).

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

Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

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 the week so far has gone well. Lady has had a lovely few days with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and I’ve kept busy with the writing and editing. Also went to a fun ACW Zoom group (on science fiction and fantasy). So not a bad week at all so far here.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Have focused on writing things here. Am sure there are plenty of thoughts here which most writers will identify with!

Hope you find the post useful and encouraging. I think it helps to know you’re not alone as a writer on things like the topics (time taken to get published, rejections, opportunities which may not seem as if they are at first etc) I share in this post.

Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you’ve had a good Thursday. Lady had another fabulous time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal (they’ve had a terrific week!) and saw her lovely spaniel friend, the gentle Daisy, too.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up for that tomorrow and I restricted the post to just being about writing otherwise the post would’ve been far too long! See above.

Later in the month I’m off to see The Ghost Train (written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame) performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company. I’ll also be off to the Association of Christian Writers in person meeting at Egham where I’ll be pleased to catch up with members of the flash fiction group in person, as well as other ACW members I haven’t seen for a while.

Plus I will have further author interviews coming up on CFT too so plenty to look out for and plenty going on with me at the moment. But then that is how I like it to be.

Lady was overjoyed to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback friend again today. Lots of cuddles were exchanged. Sweet to see.

Pleased to see my author newsletter went out this morning. I was looking at short fiction forms for this one (and that will be the theme of the October Writers’ Narrative which is due out at any time).

I am also looking at Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link for that up on Friday. To prevent the post from being far too long, I have limited the topic to things associated with writing! Am sure you will identify with a lot of what I will be sharing here. Again, see above, and if I hadn’t limited the scope of the post, I really could have written chapter and verse on the topic!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my Lighting Up. I hope you enjoy the story and would you like Marian as a friend or relative of yours?

Flash gives me the opportunity to have fun with genre as I have written flash crime stories, flash historical ones, flash fairytales, and many more types. I love the variety here. I have to lead with my characters given there isn’t room for much in the way of description though that in turn makes you focus.

I show you what the character needs to show you. The character only gives you the dialogue and internal thoughts you need to make sense of what they are doing and why. But given I can put my characters anywhere, I do take advantage of that. It makes life more interesting for me and I hope for my readers too.

Certainly for the collections, it leads to a good variety of stories. I love reading those as well as writing them so know I want to see plenty of story types in my collections.

Hope the day has been a good one for you. Not bad here. Looking forward to going to an ACW Zoom group tonight – always good fun.

Am pleased to know a few of the Flash Fiction Group will be going to the in person ACW event later this month. It will be lovely for us all to come out of our “Zoom boxes” and meet in person”! Naturally we will put in the word about the joys of flash fiction at some point (and I will be sharing some of this in the October Writers’ Narrative which is due out at any minute I will share the link as soon as I can).

Character Tip: One of the strengths of flash fiction is it does mean you have to focus which is why I recommend for our story to focus on one character and one moment in time, especially if your story will be 500 words or fewer. I like to think of this as not “diluting” your story.

Fairytales with Bite – Natural Light

As I write this in October 2025, the autumn season is well under way. The nights are drawing in, the leaves are changing colour (which is one of my favourite sights at this time of year) and the acorns are coming down rapidly (you should hear the sound as they hit the car roof!).

Now much as I love autumn, it is always a shame to see the amount of natural light fading. While it is lovely to cosy up inside with writing and good books, I also love being able to enjoy the natural light as long into the evening as possible. So this led me to wonder, how does light “work” in your setting? Do they have a sun (or more) as we know this? How are your characters affected the amount of natural light available?

Can natural light be created artificially? Does your setting have electricity as we know it? (I always loved the old character Catweazle describing it as electrickery. For those who don’t know, this was a 1970s UK children’s programme and many have fond memories of it. Catweazle was a time travelling wizard effectively).

How does the geography of your setting, including light and darkness, challenge your characters? How can they use natural light, or the lack of, to their advantage?

There will be story ideas there.

This World and Others – Character Types

How many character types does your setting have and are they anything like what we have here? Are species easy to differentiate? Is there a clear hierarchy in terms of magical power etc? Is there a dominant species and what led to them becoming that way?

I have an interest in hierarchies in settings because I am always looking out for the underdog in a story and seeing what they get up to. I guess that comes from my long love of the classic fairytales where the underdog often turns out to be the hero/heroine.

I also have a soft spot for non-human characters but then I have written from the viewpoint of a mother dragon before now. As long as readers can understand why your characters (of any kind) are the way they are, why they have the attitudes they do, why they act the way they are, then the story will follow through. I also think variety in character types is a good thing. The Lord of the Rings would be much poorer without that.

Why does your setting need the character types it has? I would expect to see geography and climate to have an impact here given we have different species suited to different conditions so it would be odd if a fantasy world didn’t have something similar.

Also give some thought as to how your character types developed the skills, magical or otherwise, that they have? Is there evolution going on here? If there is an overall creator in your world, how do they control how things/characters develop? Is there a limit to how far they can go?

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

Being Interviewed

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 in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones but added to by me thanks to the wonder that is Book Brush! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Has turned cold and bright here but Lady and I love autumn days like this. Writing going well. Had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group where we looked at linked flash. I’ve written more of that for my Seeing The Other Side. Good fun to do.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, Being Interviewed. This has come about because I am about to be interviewed for Writers’ Narrative in the forthcoming October edition about Short Form Fiction. More news on that next week.

Meantime, this post shares hints and tips about preparing for interviews, even if you are not published yet, or if this kind of thing seems a long way off. There is much to learn from author interviews right now.

I also look at what I think makes for a good interview and discuss prep work needed by interviewer and interviewee alike.

Hope you find the post useful.

Being Interviewed

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Another lovely autumn day at the park for Lady and I. We hope to catch up with her best buddy tomorrow.

Writing wise, don’t forget my post on Being Interviewed, which is full of useful tips, will be out on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

It’s also not long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative is due out but, meantime, why not check out the current issue, which is full of useful information about publishing. 

 

Hope today has gone well. An odd one for me as today would have been my late parents’ wedding anniversary. Lovely autumn day, another one of the kind Lady and I love though, so a joy to get to the park though we didn’t see any doggy chums today. Also looking forward to ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. It was good!

Will be sharing Being Interviewed on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I share tips and thoughts on handling interviews which will be useful, even if you have not been published yet and this kind of thing seems a long way off. (It may well come around sooner than you think!). See above – and I was glad I prepared for interviews ahead of actually having them. It paid. See CFT for more.

Writing Tip: You know your character. You know what drives them. Do you know what kind of vocabulary they would use? Would they have any pet phrases which could reveal something about them? Do they have any pet phrases which others could use “at them”? I can think of some my late parents did use with me. Am not saying what! But you could use this kind of thing to give even greater depth to your characters and make them seem more real to your readers.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction is taking a short break from submissions and won’t take any until after 3rd October. Do see the screenshot and I hope all at FFF enjoy a well earned break.

But if you want a great read do check out the link as there is plenty to enjoy here.

In other news, I’ve booked my ticket for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in December. It will be great to catch up with fellow flash fiction and short story writers here. Looking forward to this already. 

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out next week. I share tips, flash fiction story links, news, and much more. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

A huge thank you to all of my subscribers – the support is much appreciated.

There is another flash fiction competition I want to make sure I have a go at before the end of the year so hope to start work on a piece for this over the weekend.

Also delighted the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday on the theme of linked flash went well. People had plenty of cracking ideas here and I hope they go on to write the stories up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

What makes your character’s irritable, other than things like tiredness, not feeling well, overwork etc? What would happen if they had to face something which would trigger their irritable mood but they couldn’t react in the normal way they would do? Perhaps they are trying to impress someone so know they have to rein the irritability in somehow.

How do they do it? Does it pay off? If they can’t keep the irritability in, how would the other character react? Would they prefer your lead character to just be honest in the first place?

Definite story ideas there.

Fairytales with Bite – Celebrations

Shortly, I’ll be hosting a family celebration – everyone is looking forward to it – but what would this kind of thing look like in your setting, especially if magic is involved or could be involved? I must admit I love the opening of The Lord of The Rings with Gandalf’s fireworks. Rightly these are spectacular.

So how would your magical characters celebrate anything? How would the governing powers arrange state celebrations (or commemorations for that matter. Sometimes a commemoration can involve an element of celebration especially if you are recalling a moment of deliverance, say).

Would your characters use magic or any other form of power they have to help with their celebrations? Are certain powers only used for this kind of thing and who developed these things and the rules for their usage?

How long do the celebrations go on for and does everyone have a good time (I personally would hope they would!)?

This World and Others – Official Events

Linking with Fairytales with Bite above, how would official events be run? Are these all sombre occasions or is there a mixture of celebratory and commemorative events? What would be the history behind these things? Is magic involved in running these events of would that be deemed inappropriate if, say, one event involved remembering the misuse of magic and the consequences of that?

Are all of your characters pleased to take part or witness these commemorative/official ceremonies or do any of them see it all as a waste of time/public money/both? Do any of your characters protest/otherwise try to disrupt these things and, if so, what are the consequences? Would the “general public” (in whatever forms they are!) be against for for them?

Are there events your characters feel should be commemorated officially but are not and, if so, why was that decision taken and by whom and can it be changed?

Story ideas there!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

As I shared the September 2025 issue above, I thought I’d pick out a back issue for this spot. All great reading.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Author Interview: Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

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.
A huge thank you to Joan Livingston, Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog, and Sarah Holbrook for author, book cover and poster pictures for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I interviewed Joan as part of a blog tour. It is a cracking interview. Do check it out below.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady has had a lovely time with some of her chums, we’ve managed to avoid some of the rain, and the writing is going well. So all good here.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m delighted to welcome Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series, to Chandler’s Ford Today for an in-depth interview regarding her latest book in the series, Finding The Source.

The interview is part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

In a cracking interview, Joan shares insights as to how she developed her series and lead character, Isabel Long. In a nice link, given I live in Hampshire, Joan explains how her background as a journalist, including writing for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, influenced her writing.

She also shares how she manages to get the right amount of back story into a novel, given not everyone will come to her work with the first book in the series. Plus she shares three wonderful tips on writing and another three on marketing, which will help any writer. And there is much more too. Do check the interview out.

Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Lady was overjoyed to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum today. They’ve been best friends for a long time and we haven’t seen her for a while so the two dogs were overjoyed to see each other again. This is one thing I love about dogs like these two – the friendship is always there. Humans could learn a lot from dogs at times.

Writing wise, don’t forget to look out for my author interview with Joan Livingston on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. It’s a fabulous one but don’t just take my word for it. See above.

This evening (11th September 2025), I’m supporting a friend’s book launch on Zoom. That’ll be fun. It was and interesting with it.

Will have news to share concerning the next edition of Writers’ Narrative but in the meantime why not check out the current issue, which is packed full of wonderful advice about publishing.

 

Lady and I didn’t manage to avoid the rain altogether though she did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and played with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Neither Lady nor Coco cared about the rain. Both had a super run around. Thankfully, both dry off easily enough, which is more than can be said for their owners!

Writing wise, I’ll be talking with Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series, about her latest book, Finding The Source, for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This is part of the Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog book blog tour. The interview is packed full of cracking information and insights. Be sure not to miss it. See above. Plenty of interest to readers and writers of crime fiction here too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s a delight to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-worder, The Green Pin. Katie discovers the green pin slipped under her door by someone unknown has huge significance for her. Find out what that is and how Katie reacts here. Hope you enjoy the tale.

I’ve made no secret of my love of writing prompts and use many kinds to trigger ideas for my own writing. They’ve all paid off. But the lovely thing as a flash fiction writer is the fact I can use each prompt and get different stories out of it.

For one thing, I can write my prompt to 100 words, 250 words, 500 words, etc.

I’d have the choice of using the same character for each story or making up different ones.

If I use one character throughout, I can show more of their story with the increasing word counts.

If I use different characters, I could use the prompt itself as a common link and so have some linked flash written.

Either way I have options which I always like.

Though flash is necessarily on the short side, it doesn’t mean there are any limitations to the themes it can tackle. Indeed by focusing on the character, flash fiction can show the reader the big themes and the impact on those characters. As the word count is limited, the impact isn’t diluted.

One of my tales from From Light to Dark and Back Again is called They Don’t Understand and is what I call a slice of life tale where my character looks back on his life. You can see the impact losing his wife is having on him as he relates their joint story together. He doesn’t have to spell everything out.

The joy and strength of flash is inference and it is a powerful tool here. For this kind of story, I think it is the best way to go. The character’s voice grabs your attention, there are no boring bits, he focuses on what you need to know, and it doesn’t go on for too long.

Neither does he tell you the theme – he shows it.

Fairytales with Bite – Something Spectacular

The trouble with any magical setting is what would count as something spectacular? Mind you, do your characters see magic as something ordinary and would see something like our science as being something spectacular?

I guess this is a matter of perspective but what perspective would your characters have? Do they agree with the overall consensus here or do they think differently?

What would your world consider as a spectacular development for them? Would it be a case of being able to do more with the magic or other powers they have or to develop something which is different to that so they have alternative sources of power to use?

And what would the general public make of it all? Who would be behind the spectacular development? What drove them to do it? What obstacles do they have to overcome?

Definite story ideas there.

This World and Others – What Passes For Normal Around Here?

Now I think this would be a great title for a novel or short story. If your setting is a magical world, just would be considered normal? It would be different from what we would think here.

There are always those who think outside of the box so their definition of normal is likely to be different from that held by the majority. How would the “misfit” get on given this? Or would they be encouraged given your setting’s great inventions tend to come from those who do dare to be different?

Also did your world’s definition of “normal” change over time (and maybe partly due to different inventions coming along changing life and attitudes?). If your world interacts with other species/planets, how has that changed their definition of normal?

Plenty of food for thought for stories there, I think.


MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

As I’ve shared September’s issue above, I thought I’d share a back issue of this fabulous magazine here.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

Flash Fiction Collections

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 was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes. Two images of the September 2025 cover of Writers’ Narrative were supplied by Wendy H Jones.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady and I have managed to dodge most of the showers but into every life a little rain must fall and we didn’t get away with a soaking altogether! Writing wise, my latest author newsletter went out and I had a lovely time at an ACW group online so good so far. Oh and the September issue of Writers’ Narrative is out too – theme is publishing. Do see further down for the link to it. It’s a cracking read and packed full of useful information.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Another lovely day in the park today for Lady as it was sunny and she got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again and play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, who never minds being herded by Lady.

Am pleased to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post, which is so much on a topic close to my heart. I discuss Flash Fiction Collections, and the joys and challenges of putting these together.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Flash Fiction Collections

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Lady had a fantastic time in the park this morning. Not only did she get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal, her “boyfriend” Bear, a fabulous Aussie Shepherd, also came out. Haven’t seen him for a bit but dogs never forget their friends, human or animal.

Lady generally prefers to play with other girl dogs but Bear is an honourable exception and the pair of them had a fabulous time while the lovely Hungarian Vizler looked on. We all managed to beat the rain too so that counts as a win.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Plus next week I’ll be interviewing American writer, Joan Livingston, as part of her blog tour for her Finding The Source, the latest in her Isabel Long mystery series. Looking forward to sharing that. It’s a cracking interview.

 

Busy day today. May as well have had a revolving door in my front door today. Did manage to avoid most of the rain though (which was an achievement today to be honest, I think Someone was being kind to me!) and got my hair done so all ended well. Lady also got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was well pleased with that. Lady is sweet here in that she gets so much out of being with her chums.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say the September issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is Publishing and there is so much in here for writers at all stages so do check this out.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday, the end of the working week, and I’m pleased to be back again on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy my latest here – A Hard Bargain.

Someone does get more than they bargained for but will you feel sorry for them, I wonder. 

Have got a story to edit for a competition which I hope to work on over the weekend. (Deadline is towards the end of this month). Story is pretty much there but I need to cut it to 1000 words, which I should be able to do.

I was set an exercise once where I had to write a 1000 word story, then another exercise where I had to cut the first story in half to 500. It was a fantastic challenge. Why not try it sometime? It so sharpens up your editing skills!

Hope today has been okay. Looking forward to taking part in an Association of Christian Writers Group meeting later this evening. It will be especially nice just to see everyone and chat as today has been hectic. It was great fun too!

Having said that, busy days like this are when flash fiction, I think, comes into its own. Not much time to write? Okay. Why not try a 50 words or a 100 words story? Doesn’t have to be perfect at this stage but you will still have written something. I know this always makes me feel better – just being able to do something creative – on days when you can’t do much.

All those little pieces of writing build up over time and could spark off ideas for other work too.

Sometimes a flash piece will spark ideas for a longer short story etc but unless you’d written that piece down, there would be nothing to spark from. So I see little bits of writing as never ever being a waste of time, far from it.

Fairytales with Bite – Fairytale Acrostic

F = Fun to read and to write, the fairytale world is often grim for its inhabitants.

A = Always on the lookout for bears with a grudge (Goldilocks), or old women selling dodgy red apples.

I = Innocence and Infamy collide, usually the innocent get through okay, sometimes with the aid of a fairy godmother.

R = Remember the wizened old man/old lady may well be a powerful magical being in disguise – be sure not to offend.

Y = You can be sure the characters will get their just desserts somehow.

T = This could and should be a terrifying prospect for the villains.

A = Alas, it isn’t, but on the other hand seeing them get their comeuppance makes for great storytelling.

L = Life resumes its usual pattern but with justice done after the expected and usually granted happy ever after

E = Ending.

Allison Symes – 3rd September 2025

This World and Others – Progress

What would count as progress in your magical/more technologically advanced world? Would it be things such as the development of new, better, more reliable spells or equipment to improve technology even further?

What does your world lack (in any area) and what are they prepared to do to make progress on getting what they need? Would they trade with other worlds? How would this be done? What could they give of value to another planet? Or are they more warlike and would invade to take what they need by force? (This is not meant as a direct comment on what goes on here but you can see the link!).

Is progress seen in more general terms such as becoming less warlike (which would be welcome in any world I’d say)? Would your setting compare itself with others it knows about? How would it react on discovering a world which is more progressive than it is? not everyone would react well after all.

Story ideas there, I hope.

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

Double Blog Day – Stand Alone Books and Out and About with Jane Austen (again!)

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, as were the photos from the Dorset Museum for my More Than Writers post this week.
Hope the week has gone well so far. Weather becoming changeable, a good reminder we are rapidly heading into autumn (in my part of the world anyway). I like autumn. Love to see the leaves changing colour. Lady doesn’t mind which season she’s in though can find the high heat of summer trying. Have had to cancel some of her walks during the heatwave this year.
Writing wise, had a lovely session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this week. Will have a smashing author interview coming up too plus I too am being interviewed so lots going on.


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today and More Than Writers

29th August 2025 – 1st post – More Than Writers

It’s double blog time again for me and the first one I’m sharing today is my More than Writers post for this month. This is the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers and this time I’m talking about Out and About with Jane Austen.

I look specifically at what writers can gain from going to exhibitions like this and why one particular thought I had here is a good challenge for all writers. If you can, do get down to The Dorset Museum in Dorchester as this exhibition is on until 14th September and is worth going to see.

(A longer version of this post was on Chandler’s Ford Today recently but for More than Writers I wanted to look at things writers especially can learn from such things, as well as to celebrate the life and times of Miss Austen, of course. Don’t think you can do that often enough incidentally!).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

29th August 2025 – 2nd post – Chandler’s Ford Today

Second blog post from me today and this time it’s my Chandler’s Ford Today one. Again I look at something well worth celebrating – Stand Alone Books.

I share what I like about such books. I’m not unbiased here as I write them too. My flash fiction books are different from each other and each can be read alone, though naturally I would love people to read both of them and to get my third when it is out next May as that will be different again!

I also look at the joys of writing such books and naturally I look at the challenges too.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Stand Alone Books

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

It’s double blog day again for me tomorrow so do look out for two posts from me. I will be sharing my latest on More Than Writers (the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers) which is about my recent visit to a Jane Austen exhibition in Dorset. I specifically look at what writers can get from going to things like this. The second will be my usual Chandler’s Ford Today post where I will be looking at Stand Alone Books. See above for both.

Writing Tip: Always have in mind your potential audience for what you are writing, as well as the reason why you writing it. It helps with focus. I wrote a longer piece for CFT about Jane Austen which was to give a general overview of the exhibition a little while back with the idea to encourage potential visitors to go to said exhibition (and if you can get to go before it ends in mid September, I would). My post tomorrow for More than Writers narrows my focus down as to what writers can learn from this kind of event (and there is plenty too). So one idea, two articles, two different areas of focus – and this works. 

For fiction, think about what your potential audience will get from your story, whether it is to be entertained, or made to think about something (though there is no reason why you can’t do both of those things as a good story will always have me asking myself whether I would act as the character did or not). What is the focus of the story? Why will your character appeal to readers?

Hope the day has gone well. Had some welcome rain today. Actually had to towel the dog down for the first time in weeks.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening.
Am also looking forward to sharing a wonderful author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today in September. Am also working on interview questions for myself at the moment. Am almost there on them. More news later on that one. But plenty going on, I’m glad to say.

Don’t forget the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon too. It is free to subscribe to so why not check it out? It is written by writers for writers and covers so much but why not see for yourself?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope the working week has gone well. I can now share what were my two entries for the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition and, once again, heartiest congratulations to Sue Clayton, who won with her tale Per Annum, plus the runners-up.

My two pieces were:-
Making It Up
Faith and Flowers

Hope you enjoy these two but do check out the other tales here. I’ve had a fabulous read doing so and am sure you will too.

Had a lovely session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday. Was pleased we all got to draft some stories. I joined in with this too and now have two pieces to polish up and submit somewhere. All good!

It’s funny how your perspective can change over time. I remember being terrified of writing exercises. Would I be able to write something? I was sure it would be absolute rubbish if I could get something down.

Now I rarely pass up the opportunity to have a go at any writing exercise. I know the first draft will need work so I can forget about the rubbish bit. It’s fine for it to be rubbish. Nobody writes the perfect first draft but there will be something I can take from my initial draft and make better still. And that has the possibility of going on to be published or do well in a competition. Everything to go for then as far as I’m concerned.

With flash, you can have fun playing with genres as well as the moods of your stories within any one genre, so why not give it a go? If you usually write funny flash, why not try writing a more moody one (and vice versa)?

I like to mix up the word counts I write to though for Friday Flash Fiction it is usually the classic 100-worder I send in with an occasional trip to the longer flash category allowed. But elsewhere when I’m entering competitions, my usual word count is 300 words or fewer. It is by far the most popular word count category I come across.

Mind you, I also come across competitions which don’t advertise themselves as being flash ones but are. For example, Writing Magazine does run a 750 word story competition. Also many of the short story competitions will allow you to send in something at 1000 words, the top end of flash so there is a kind of crossover point here which flash writers could take advantage of.

Certainly it would be worth having a go at these, even if you don’t enter the competitions. Why? It would give you useful practice in writing to the top end of flash.

Fairytales with Bite – Being Creative

How would creativity manifest itself in a magical world? Would it mean inventing things without the use of magic etc or would it mean developing and creating new kinds of spells or both? Would there be a writing world here, an artistic one etc? How would stories be told in your world? Are there any creative things your magical setting copies from Earth and why did they pick these things to ape?

Is creativity valued or is it seen as secondary compared to doing an honest day’s “magical work”, say? Not everyone appreciates creativity here so it wouldn’t be unreasonable for some in your setting to take the same view. That could give other characters of yours difficulties if they were of a creative persuasion. Mind you, you could be creative in turning that into a good story!

This World and Others – The Unexplained

Our world has much which is unexplained. How would this apply to your setting? Especially if your setting is more advanced than ours in terms of technology, science, magic even, what would remain unexplained to them?

Would this cover your setting’s natural world? Just think of how much we don’t know about our oceans, for example. What would your world’s equivalent be here?

I am always amazed at the pictures sent back by the space telescopes. What would your world’s equivalent be here too in terms of the technology here but also what planets and star systems surround them?

When it comes to your world building, there will be things you need to know but which the readers of your works may not. Can you cover all you need to know so there is nothing or very little unexplained to you?

Knowing how your world works (or at least enough of it to get your started) will save you much rewriting later on. If you know your setting has a form of power we don’t know here, for example, your working out how this would work, how it is supplied etc will add credence to your tale.

You can never just wing it but you don’t necessarily go into details to the nth degree either. What you do need to know to be able to show the reader what they need to know is what is key 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 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025

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. Huge thanks to Penny Blackburn, Joy Wood, and Julia Pattison for supplying some images connected to my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Two images of Lady were taken by Adrian Symes. She missed me when I was away! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Have spent my time slowly resuming normal routines, including the writing one, after my return from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Think I am getting there now. Have loved getting back to the park with Lady. The weather’s cooler at the moment and much pleasanter for us both.


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Have been looking forward to sharing my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Well, when I tell you it is Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025, you’ll know why.

I share some highlights from what was an amazing few days in Derbyshire and discuss the courses and workshops I went to – it will give you a good idea of the range on offer here. Plus it was marvellous catching up with friends I only see online the rest of the year.

Hope you enjoy the post and maybe see you there next year.

Returning to The Writers’ Summer School Swanwick for 2025

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Looking forward to sharing Returning to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025 for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Have yet to go through my Swanwick notebook to look up all of the drafts I did in response to exercises set but I hope to do this soon and then rework the pieces concerned. Hope to get at least some of them out somewhere once I’ve had chance to go through them and work on them. It pays too. Once piece I wrote up after a previous Swanwick has made it into my third book, Seeing The Other Side, out next May.

The writing journey is never the same for any two authors. When I started out I was just writing for my own pleasure, just to see if I could get a story down, and doing that kept me going for a long time. But then I felt I should have a go at the writing competitions to see if I could get anywhere there.

Took time but I did get there and in turn that led on to my first story being published in an anthology. That breakthrough moment was A Helping Hand in Bridge House Publishing’s Alternative Renditions which came out in 2009. I can’t believe where the last 16 years have gone either!

Lady had a fabulous time in the park today as she got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again but also ran around with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Lady came home oh so tired but so happy with it. I managed to sneak in a short swim and found that refreshing. Murphy’s Law has struck again by the way. I swear the centre has turned down the temperature of the showers which would have made sense last week when things were so hot. This week it’s cooler…

Writing wise, am slowly catching up with some things I didn’t get chance to look at while at Swanwick.

Author newsletter will be out again before too long so if you’d like to sign up for writing tips (especially on flash fiction), story links, news and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

You can now see the six shortlisted stories for the competition Friday Flash Fiction runs to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival. See the link for that.

Plus the screenshot will tell you more about FFF if you are new to them. It’s a great place for flash fiction writers, especially if you like the 100 word form. Just follow the submission guidelines to the letter and give them a go.

I’d just like to say a huge thank you to all who give me feedback on my stories here. It is much appreciated. 

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group next week. Zoom comes into its own here given the members live hundreds of miles apart (though I am hoping to catch up with some of them in person at the next ACW in person event in October). Will be looking at prompts next week too, which is always a useful topic and one of my favourites. You know you can always get something useful out of a prompt!

Flash Tip: It pays to have a wide range of prompt types you know you can use. It keeps things interesting for you (I always like a flash fiction challenge) and it means you will rarely be stuck for ideas because you know you have all of these different kinds of prompt to try out. And you will know you can do them, which is a real confidence booster.

When I take part in Open Prose Mic Nights I narrow down my selection of pieces to read to one or two. I have a third in reserve. That is usually plenty to cover any time slot you are given. I mix up the moods of the stories as well when I know I can read at least two.

I also practice the ones I know I would like to read. I record my stories on Zoom and play them back so I know my timing is right and I can hear how I come across. I know I have to make myself slow down. It is too easy to race through a piece – that’s the adrenalin pumping of course, but it is then too easy to stumble or garble your words.

So playing a recording back is the single biggest tip I’ve found useful here. I’ve also found it to be a confidence booster because I know I’ve rehearsed. It does pay.

If you get the chance to take part in such nights, have fun. It is a great experience.

Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the photo.

I was reading Time For A Change from my forthcoming Seeing The Other Side here.

Fairytales with Bite – Story Time

I was blessed to have a mother who loved books and stories and my kid sister and I were read to at bedtime regularly. It is a wonderful way to instill a love of stories in children and that is a gift for life.

So I was wondering which of your characters would have a special story time with their young ones? What forms would those stories take? What stories would they tell?

If they told “scary” stories, who would they be warning their youngsters about? Humans, possibly? What would be the basis of their fairytales and legends?

Naturally, you would invent those fairytales and legends yourself as part of your overall story. (Could be separate interesting material to publish later for one thing).

But no matter how fantastical your setting, your invented stories will still have to have that believability factor. Readers as outsiders should be able to understand the stories your characters tell their youngsters. We should be able to understand their monsters, their “goodies”, their “villains” and so on.

If your work is long form inventing those shorter stories could be a fun side line.

This World and Others – Who Tells The Tales?

Who does tell the tales in your setting? Which tales are allowed to be shared and which are definitely kept under wraps? Are there nominated storytellers in your setting with a specific role to play in your society?

Are the storytellers valued or is their job saved for those who could literally do little else? Not everyone appreciates stories, sadly, no matter what world you’re in.

How are the stories told aside from the obvious oral tradition with bards going from village to village? For example, is what we would know as technology used to create “virtual storytellers”? Perhaps your characters must have credits to access that virtual world. How would they get their credits? How many credits would you need for a story? Are all stories priced the same way or are there special ones which need a great deal more in the way of credits?

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