Fairytales and Pantomime

January 26, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Richard Hardie for the publicity shot of me at the Book Fair last summer.

Hope the last few days have been okay for you. Weather settling down a bit more. Busy week with the ACW Flash Fiction Group and a pantomime on my agenda this week but both were lots of fun – oh yes, they were! Lady has been playing with her two best buddies so she has had a lovely time and made more friends at my Slimming World group. I don’t normally take her with me for that but circumstances dictated I had to do this for this week and she loved being fussed over. I put a thank you post on our SW timeline and it had over 110 views! Think Lady has a new fan club…

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Fairytales and Pantomime, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at why fairytales do make for wonderful pantomime material and why fairytales and pantomime help to keep each other relevant and in people’s memories. I think that matters.

I also look at why pantomime can encourage a life long love of theatre. Nothing to dislike there! Hope you enjoy the post. This is a lead in to my review of Sleeping Beauty performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. Am looking forward to sharing that next week.

Fairytales and Pantomime

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Early post as am off to the pantomime tonight. Oh yes I am. No. There’s nothing behind me either! I am off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform Sleeping Beauty. Am expecting lots of laughs, excellent performances, and a great time to be had by all. Well, that is exactly what happened for all of their other pantomimes so am not expecting differently tonight!

I hope to review the show for Chandler’s Ford Today next week but my post tomorrow will look at why Fairytales and Pantomime are such a great match up. Looking forward to sharing that one. See above.

Don’t forget my author newsletter goes out again next week. I know, I know. January, for once, has flown by and we are almost into February. This time as well as sharing my news and useful tips, I am also sharing a pdf which I hope will prove useful to the writers amongst my subscribers. Plenty of time to sign up. If you wish to do so, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

While on topic, I’d just like to say a big thank you for all who have signed up to my newsletter and a big hello and welcome to those who have signed up recently.

Hope you had a good day. Lady has. Got to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback friends. Me? Housework and going to the dentists! Having said that, dentist is reasonably happy with me (!) and I am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting later on. Zoom is a blessing and the meetings are always great fun.

Will be looking at Fairytales and Pantomime for Chandler’s Ford Today – link up on Friday. See above. I explore why fairytales are brilliant stories to adapt for pantomime. Am going to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform Sleeping Beauty on Thursday. Looking forward to that. Review to follow in due course.

Why do I love fairytales so much? Firstly, they are great stories. Secondly, the most unlikely characters often turn out to be the heroes and I have a very soft spot for that kind of thing. Thirdly, you just know the villains won’t get away with it (so unlike life, sadly). Fourthly, they were one of my first introductions to the wonderful world of stories as a whole. That alone is enough to make me love fairytales.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with If Only, a tale which shows the consequences of the Fairy Queen banning magic from being used in baking. Hope you enjoy the story. Many thanks to all who have commented on this one already.
Am currently working my way through the excellent competitions guide and handbook which came with the current edition of Writing Magazine. I’ve set a goal to enter more flash and short story competitions this year and am sure this guide will be an enormous help. This is where setting myself some deadlines (and using my diary to help me stick to them) will be useful.

Writing Tip: I know this one isn’t always possible, life has a habit of throwing curve balls etc, but I have found it so useful to block out times in which I will write. Again I use a diary to help me with this. Sometimes that time is a short slot. Today’s slot (Thursday 25th January slot) is as I’m off to the pantomime (oh yes I am!) after dinner tonight so I’ve got about ninety minutes in which to get some writing done.

Knowing this was coming up, I’ve worked out what I can do in that time slot and am doing it. It helps. When life does get in the way – as it does and will – whatever I scheduled for myself to do, I just “rebook” on another day. I find booking myself writing time helps me stick to it and I do get more written. It is worth a go.

It is fine if you can only book fifteen minutes here, half an hour there etc. Pockets of time mount up and I find the smaller slots ideal for drafting some flash pieces to finish off later. I then book myself a longer slot to do that finishing work.

As well as flash fiction, I write short stories and have just submitted one coming in at the 2000 words mark – for me, that’s a huge tale! This story was fun to write because I had the word count room to expand my characterisation in a way that suited the tale. I know it has added depth to the story.

But this also reminds me why I love flash so much. The impact of a flash piece can be tremendous precisely because there are not so many words to deliver that in. Flash fiction, for me, is like snapshots – one moment in time. A short story can be two snapshots put together if you like – you can have a couple of moments in time.

Both are wonderful fiction forms and I hope to write more of both in 2024 than I did last year. Onwards and upwards!

Fairytales with Bite – Spanners in the Works

Troublesome characters are great fun to write and to read. They are the ones who throw the spanners in the works but it is not always for evil reasons. Sometimes they can see the lead character is heading off in the wrong direction so they may cause trouble to make that character face up to this and make the right choices instead.

Maybe causing trouble is the only way to make the lead character face reality. So give some thought to your troublesome characters. Why are they causing trouble? How do your other characters respond to it? Are your troublesome characters being troublesome just because they can or because they have good motives to do so?

A good example here is Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. He was troublesome to put it mildly. Even when he helped the hobbits, it was from mixed motives. Yet he did help them (even if on Mount Doom, he hadn’t intended to do so).

Troublesome characters can add a great deal of tension to your story but there should be good reasons (even if only from the character’s viewpoint) for them being that way. Gollum really thought he was right to want the precious back. Okay he was wrong but he thought he was right. And you can use that kind of thing to portray a character causing trouble because they honestly believe it is the right thing to do.

It is then up to you to work out whether that is the case or not and, especially where not, what your lead will do to overcome all those who cause trouble for them. After all, we wouldn’t want things to be too easy for our lead characters now, would we? The story is in overcoming the problems somehow.

This World and Others – Problems

What problems do your characters face which are directly caused by your setting? Those problems can come from geography (dreadful terrain to have to journey across) to government dictatorship (not allowed to travel without a legal permit which would be a nuisance, to put it mildly, if your character has to go on a quest. Yes, they can ignore the requirement but at some point I would expect them to be challenged so they have to be prepared to deal with this somehow).

Think also about a character’s own problems. Do they have to overcome fears? Do they have to overcome family/friend objections? Are they going against what their society would expect them to do and, if so, what drives them to do this? There would have to be pressing reasons to do that. Nobody upsets the old apple cart without good cause.

Stories focus on problems and how characters overcome them. I find outlining my characters useful as I work out their traits and the negative/positive qualities coming from those. That will show me how well or otherwise said characters are likely to be at overcoming problems and often gives me good ideas for the problems I will make them face.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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If Only, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/DwaSyHAtm4 Pleased to be back on FFF with If Only, a tale which shows the consequences of the Fairy Queen banning magic from baking. Many thanks to all who have commented on this one already.https://t.co/hfPQ5woqhV pic.twitter.com/Gtiz31VO0A
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 26, 2024

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Fairytales and Pantomime https://t.co/7XwamhCICV Am pleased to share Fairytales and Pantomime, my latest CFT post. I look at why fairytales make wonderful pantomime material and why fairytales/pantomime keep each other relevant and in people’s memories. Hope you enjoy the post.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 26, 2024

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Newsletter Tips, New Hats, and a New Reading/Writing Year

January 19, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Richard Hardie for taking the publicity shot of me at the Book Fair last year. Many thanks to Gill James for taking the publicity shot of me at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event which I’ve used in my Authors Electric post for this month. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good week. Continues cold here. Perfect weather for staying in and getting on with the writing then!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Newsletter Tips, my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today. I hope this post proves especially useful to those considering setting up an author newsletter. I share why I decided to have one and what I have found helpful in keeping it going.

I also discuss the advantages of having one at all and, some great news here, is that to begin with at least, it is perfectly okay to use a free plan from one of the service providers such as Mailchimp or MailerLite. I share thoughts and tips on scheduling your newsletters and coming up with interesting content too.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Newsletter Tips

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Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my latest blog post – A New Reading and Writing Year. I ask what you would like in this new year on both counts and share some of the things I would like.

I share a few thoughts on AI and Twitter too (because I would like to see authors appreciated more. Robots can do many things but the world would be a far poorer place without human imagination).

Hope you enjoy more fabulous books (reading and writing them) in 2024.

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Another chilly one today. Glad to say Lady got to play with her best buddies, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback. Good time had by all. Life came back to my feet on getting home!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Newsletter Tips on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will be especially useful if you are thinking of setting one up. See above.

Am looking forward to resuming my “arts correspondent” role for CFT soon as I am off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production of Sleeping Beauty next week. It is panto time. Oh yes it is! Review to follow in a couple of weeks though I am planning to write a piece about fairytales and pantomime the week ahead of that review.

I do hope The Chameleons do get to stage Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters at some point as I know they’d do this well. It was a shame they couldn’t go ahead with this last autumn after all but I hope they get to have another crack at this. Great story and I know they’d do it justice.

I’ll be looking at A New Reading and Writing Year for Authors Electric ahead of all of this though – link up for that tomorrow. Again see above. Busy week on the old blogging front!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Thrilled to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, New Hat Time. This story came about as a result of my using a well known saying as a theme. Clue: it involves hats! Hope you enjoy the tale. Many thanks also to those who have sent in comments already on this one.

Hope you have had a good day (and kept warm enough. Lady was running around with her best buddy again so she was fine).

A major focus for me when I write flash fiction is thinking about the impact of my story on potential readers. Do I want to make them laugh, cry, occasionally scream etc? I then look at the characters who can “deliver” these things.

Competitions with set themes, I find, kind of give me a head start here because I can work out immediately the kind of impact their theme is likely to deliver, though you do sometimes get themes which can be taken in more than one direction. I enjoy those. I get to pick which way to take it!

Though when that doesn’t happen and a theme has an “obvious” impact, I have great fun in working out how I can deliver on that and what would make my characters stand out. It is a good challenge. Entering competitions is useful for this and for getting you into the habit of writing to deadlines.

Brrr…. Am so glad writing can be done in the warm! (Ironically I have enjoyed my swims so far this week. When the weather is this cold, the water feels like you’re getting into a tepid bath. Trust me it isn’t like that!).

When drafting a flash piece, I focus on getting the story down. Then and only then do I think about the word count. The story is the most important thing.

Once down, I can then look at whether I have expressed things as well as I can. Usually a turn of phrase can be improved. Sometimes I will add in a detail to improve my characterisation. The odd detail here and there can create a stronger image and make my character more relatable to a reader.

That all done, then I can figure out what word count suits the story. Sometimes I leave it at a longer count. Okay, that will change where I send the piece, but the story has to be complete in and of itself and sometimes these things do work better at 300 words rather than 100.

Fairytales with Bite – Fairytales and Theatre

This topic came to mind as I will shortly be looking at this for a longer article for Chandler’s Ford Today. I’m off to see Sleeping Beauty performed by the excellent local amateur theatre group I often review performances for and, of course, there is a close link between fairytales and pantomime.

But it led me to wonder if your stories are set in a magical world, what would they do for entertainment? What would they consider to be fairytales? Do they have such a thing as theatre? I must admit I would hope so. There is something almost magical about theatre, I think.

In your magical setting, when it comes to performing any kind of story, would magic be allowed to be used, especially for what we would think of as special effects? Or is it a case, in a magical world, that the one time this power is not used is in putting on entertainment as that has to be done “manually”? By that I mean using the arts of acting, stage set design and so on directly rather than having a wave of the magic wand solve all of that.

There is much satisfaction to be had in creating a piece of work yourself. I find this every time I complete a flash fiction piece or short story (even though I know there will be more work to be done on these things). So could your characters want to produce things like theatrical entertainment without resorting to magic to help them? This is where they get their creative spark. Just a thought. There could be some interesting stories here.

This World and Others – Alien Forms of Entertainment

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, what would alien forms of entertainment be? After a hard day’s work collecting specimens from other planets for your bosses (and you don’t want to know what happens next, not your job to worry about that etc), where would your average alien go to be entertained? Or is the thought of entertainment, as we know it, alien to them?

On the assumption it isn’t alien, what would your characters like do to do relax? Would there be music, cinema, theatre, sports, the arts etc? Would there be things in common with Earth here or is what they do different? How would they play sport if they don’t play it as we do? How would they enjoy music if they don’t do so the way we do?

Here is where you would need to give some thought as to what your characters look like and what their physical biology is? If they don’t have ears, how would they appreciate music? Could they absorb it through their skin instead, for example?

If there is an entertainment industry, who controls it? Can all access it? Do your characters have to pay for their entertainment and, if so, what form does the payment take? Are certain entertainments more valued than others?

Now I can see story ideas forming here but also you could use these kind of questions to work out what you need to know about how things work in your setting and then share with a reader only what they need to know. So you set out early on a character absorbs music through their skin, say, by showing this to a reader early on. Readers will pick up that is what happens in your setting but naturally you need to know how things work first.

You can also drop entertainment into your story as a backdrop. Perhaps your character has to meet someone/thing important at a certain entertainment venue before going on to do whatever is expected of them. There have to be places where your characters meet and there is no reason why it couldn’t be your world’s equivalent of our pub etc.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Authors Electric: A New Writing and Reading Year by Allison Symes https://t.co/HKLcPX1zEt Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric. I ask what you would like in this new reading and writing year and share some of the things I'd like. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/8paIzgRX6j
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 18, 2024

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New Hat Time, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/7nMU6hUECV Thrilled to be back on FFF with my latest tale, New Hat Time. This story is based on a well known saying. Clue: it involves hats! Many thanks also to those who have sent in comments already on this one. pic.twitter.com/A4N1TeRP9p
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 19, 2024

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Newsletter Tips https://t.co/dGC6tcLyne Pleased to share Newsletter Tips, my latest CFT post. I share why I decided to have one, discuss the advantages of doing so, and tips on scheduling newsletters and coming up with interesting content too. https://t.co/dGC6tcLyne
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 19, 2024

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The Joys of Writing Dialogue

January 5, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to fellow author friends for taking various publicity shots of me last year. Much appreciated and said shots are being put to good use!

Well, the New Year in the UK has got off to a very stormy start. Hope you are all okay. Plenty of flooding and high winds in my part of the world. Have well and truly christened the new boots received for Christmas!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

My first Chandler’s Ford Today post for the New Year is all about The Joys of Writing Dialogue. I love getting my characters to talk but I do have to ensure what I get them to say is relevant to their story and moves the tale on in some way. Otherwise there is a risk of conversational ping-pong which gets in the way of a good, pacy story.

I share thoughts and tips on what I’ve found useful in writing dialogue. I also share why knowing your character types helps with this aspect of writing too. Hope you enjoy the post and find it helpful.

The Joys of Writing Dialogue

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Hope you are all okay. Stormy weather today. Enjoyed my swim but that was the only occasion today when I welcomed getting wet. Even Lady didn’t like the heavy rain and it was very heavy. Did our walk in record time this afternoon!

Another reason to love creative writing – it is something you can do in the dry! Talking of which, I will be sharing The Joys of Writing Dialogue for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

My interview with Val Penny will be Friday week so plenty of good things to look forward to (and I hope you enjoy reading them in the dry!).

Will be having a busy weekend looking at some drafts for competitions. Deadlines are in February but I follow my own advice to get my entries in at least ten days before said deadline, having gone through my scripts several times. Yes, even for flash. It’s amazing how typos can get through several edits.

The one consolation here is this happens to every writer but I know to look out for this and my final edit on anything is to specifically look for these. So I set myself dates where I will have an edit to check the story works done by a set date, then I will have another edit a few days later to ensure I am still happy with the plot and go through for errors. Then a few days later still I do my final edit for typos and get the story submitted. Then off to the next story!

The weather was a complete contrast with yesterday. Lady and I didn’t get wet at all. She did get to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and a riotous time was had by both of them.

Am looking forward to interviewing Val Penny for Chandler’s Ford Today again soon on her book of short stories. More details nearer the time but did I want to quiz a novelist about switching to the short form? You bet I did! All sorts of questions arose from that which I look forward to sharing later, along with Val’s answers.

Writing Tip: Never worry about rubbish first drafts. That’s the point of a first draft. You just get the story down and tidy up later. Nobody ever writes a perfect first draft. Shakespeare didn’t either. There is some consolation in that thought, I think!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s great to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my first story for 2024 called, aptly, A New Start. Find out if Gemma does actually have her own new start this time. Hope you enjoy the tale (and many thanks to those of you who have already commented on this one).

Sometimes I use a theme as a title. One example of this is The Power of Suggestion in Tripping The Flash Fantastic. I get my character to show how the power of suggestion changed their life and whether it was for the good or not. Themes are fantastic hooks for stories and I like the thought of having a double whammy here by using them as titles as well.

Writing Thought: Why not write down a list of your favourite themes (and this can include proverbs and sayings too) and pick one or two to write stories up for? Think about your favourite films, TV shows, books etc – is there a common theme or two behind what you like most?

I’m attracted to the thought of people not always being what they seem (this is a classic idea in fairytales) so the moment I came across Strider in The Lord of the Rings, I did guess correctly there was more to this character than was apparent. I also thought this was true for Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series.

So do I write stories where characters are not all they seem to be? Oh yes! Simply because it is a theme I care about and working out what those are for you can be a great place to start when looking for new story ideas.

There are several good reasons to have a try at the flash fiction and short story competitions.

Firstly, these are excellent ways to practice writing to deadlines.

Secondly, following the submission rules (and these do vary) gets you some useful practice in following any future guidelines on submissions of longer work.

Thirdly, if you are long or short listed or win or get a runner’s up spot, all of this makes for excellent material to put on your writing CV. This is especially true when you are submitting longer work. It will show a publisher/agent someone else judged your material to be of a standard to get any of those placings.

Fourthly, you get in useful practice in sticking to word counts. This is especially true of the flash fiction competitions where there are those who want you to write to an exact word count. Not one word more. Not one word less. It is a good idea, when you’re drafting flash for future use, to draft some which come in at the 250, 300, and 500 word counts as these are some of the most popular categories I’ve come across for competitions.

Fairytales With Bite –

New Year Acrostic – Tips for Visitors to the Magical World

N = Never underestimate a fairy waving a wand.

E = Expect the worst if you come across a witch with a cauldron as she is highly unlikely to worry about your health and safety.

W = When visiting a magical world, expect strange creatures but the good thing is they’ll think you’re odd too.

Y = Your three wishes, if you are fortunate enough to get any, cannot be extended or transferred.

E = Expect high moral standards here, even with strange creatures about – greed is generally looked down on, for example.

A = Always treat anyone you meet with respect – you never know what powers they’ve got and prudence is a good thing here.

R = Restrict yourself to following the proper tour with guide and don’t go wandering off – it won’t end well for you if you do.

This World and Others – Beginnings

At the start of a new year, it is natural to think about beginnings. For fiction, we can look at beginnings for characters but also for settings.

How did your magical world begin? How did it get to where it is now in terms of development? Has the use of magic enhanced your setting or weakened it? Have there been magical wars? Has power had to be controlled to stop chaos erupting?

For example, if magic polluted your world, was there a point when the “bosses” said enough was enough and limited the use of magic to prevent further damage? How did your setting and characters then cope with a new beginning of limited magical use? How difficult was it to adjust?

For your characters, what beginnings have they had to face up to and were these welcome or not? What are they leaving behind so they have their new beginning? Do they have regrets or are they only too glad to have a new start (and what could lead them to feeling that way)?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
https://author.amazon.co.uk/books

A New Start, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/Q02aOlIHBP It’s great to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my first story for 2024 called, aptly, A New Start. Find out if Gemma does have her own new start this time. Hope you enjoy the tale. pic.twitter.com/jIbEAlhMH6
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 5, 2024

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The Joys of Writing Dialogue https://t.co/FPHNh3Crjr My first CFT post for 2024 is The Joys of Writing Dialogue. I love getting my characters to talk but must ensure what I get them to say is relevant and moves the tale on in some way. I share tips on what I’ve found useful here.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 5, 2024

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Approaching a New Year/Reviewing Your Writing Year

December 29, 2023Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Richard Hardie and Julia Pattison for images of me in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and hope you go on to have a Happy New Year. It was nice having a break and catching up with family. Lady was spoiled rotten. And I have several new books to read so am very happy about that! This post is a round up one covering the Christmas period. Back to my normal twice weekly routine here from next year (but then that’s only a few days away now!).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

29th December – CFT
Second post and it is my usual weekly one for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at Approaching a New Year. There is a theme emerging from my posts tonight! I ask if you approach a new year with anticipation or apprehension. Well, I recall the hopes for 2020 and we all know how that turned out!

But this is a good opportunity for writers because we’re about to enter a new writing year too. This is a great chance to look at your writing goals and see where you are with them. Do they need adjusting? Sometimes they do and that’s fine but taking the time out to think about this is a good way to help propel your writing forward.

Why? Because you will make necessary tweaks and other changes to help you towards your writing goals or, if they’re not working out for whatever reason, to re-evaluate what you want to do with these. I changed direction to the shorter forms of writing as a result of one of my re-evaluations. It has proved to be a good move! Hope you find the post helpful.

Approaching A New Year

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29th December – More Than Writers
It’s double post time! First one up tonight is my post for More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Reviewing Your Writing Year. I share why I think taking time out to review your writing for the past year and what you would like to do over the next twelve months is a good idea.

And I stress why it is vital to focus on the positives. There will be some. Those positives can be built on too. I also take a look at reviewing your reading too given what we read is a great source of inspiration for our own stories. Certainly in my case if I didn’t have a love of reading, would I have wanted to write? Probably not!

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Am enjoying my additions to my reading pile. Good to get back to some writing yesterday. Not doing much today as seeing family. Back to full on writing from tomorrow. Will be looking at Approaching a New Year for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Am off for further family celebrations tomorrow so may post early or not at all but I wanted to pop by now and say (a) hello, (b) hope you had a lovely Christmas and (c) to say my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday will be about Approaching a New Year. Will be back to normal writing routine from Friday but must admit I have enjoyed the break and am looking forward to catching up with family tomorrow. I also hope you had lots of lovely books as presents. Have added to my TBR pile!

And last but not least, though nobody really knows what day of the week it is now (there is something odd between Christmas and New Year that does this to people I think), it is time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Down Time. It does seem apt!

NO POSTS Christmas Day or Boxing Day (I wonder why! Hope you had a fabulous time).

Have a lovely Christmas. I hope you get plenty of lovely books amongst your presents! Have ticked off The Muppet Christmas Carol from my viewing. Will be watching Hogfather later. And there’ll be other favourites to enjoy over the next couple of days – a favourite here is The Great Escape, which I remember always being on at Christmas.

I do have a soft spot for films based on true stories (though I admit The Lord of the Rings is a notable exception!). I expect I’ll be watching some of my favourite Morecambe and Wise sketches too.

Back in a few days, folks. Have a great time.

Hope you have had a good day. Lovely to have a brief chat with my great editor at Chandler’s Ford Today earlier this afternoon. Will be catching up with her more when we next go to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform. That will be in January – for the pantomime which is always a good laugh. Oh yes, it is!

Will be discussing Approaching a New Year for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. I won’t be posting for a few days over Christmas and my next round up of what I write where won’t appear until the 29th too (you will still get a bumper read though!). Think I am delivering on this promise!

Hope to get plenty of reading done over the Christmas break too. I definitely put books on my wish list. Now you can’t say you’re surprised by that, eh? Hope you too get plenty of lovely books. When I’m not writing, I want to be reading.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I do hope you had a lovely Christmas. I loved catching up with favourite films, many festive, some not. All of the films had something in common though – they all had fabulous storylines and fantastic characters. Those are the two most important ingredients to any story, no matter what format it is in.

Hope to get back to submitting work to Friday Flash Fiction from next week.

And I hope having a break has inspired you with your reading and writing. I know mine has. I loved the break. I am happy to be writing again. Win-win. (And I am loving my Christmas reading!).

Naturally I hope to write more flash in the coming year. It would be nice to have a go at more competitions too.

F = Flash makes you focus.
L = Limitations on word count encourages creative thinking.
A = Always use specific details to create strong images in your readers’ minds.
S = Specific images also help you make the most of your word count.
H = Have fun with your characters as they are the stars of your flash tales.

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Just to say I hope you had a lovely Christmas. Will be back to normal writing routine on Friday but wanted to say hello now and to flag up Amazon still have a good offer on my From Light to Dark and Back Again flash fiction collection on the paperback. See link below for more. Over 40 stories for under £4.00 – bargain!

In other news, my newsletter will be going out again on New Year’s Day. To sign up for that, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I use my newsletter to share tips, news, story links and so on. Many thanks to all who have subscribed – it is much appreciated.

NO POSTS Christmas Day or Boxing Day (had a great time. Hope you did too. Lots of lovely new books to read. One very happy writer here!).

Happy Christmas. Will be back online next week. Hope you get to enjoy plenty of stories and down time. There will be a Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday where I’ll be looking at Approaching a New Year. It literally will be timely! In the meantime, have a lovely time over the festive season.

Glad to be able to share the Mixcloud link to the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM last weekend. One easy link to click! Do have a listen. I loved the variety of stories and music. Enjoy!

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Time!

I know it’s not quite pantomime time. For those not in the know, pantomime happens after Christmas and goes on to late January/early February. It is a fabulous way of getting people into the theatre as it is aimed at all the family with a lot of audience participation, adlibs, and much humour. The stories used for pantomime are based on the classic fairytales. Pantomime is an old tradition too). I do know it is story time though.

I love the story of the Nativity, poems such as Twas the Night Before Christmas (also known as A Visit from Saint Nicholas), and the carols. In the Bleak Midwinter is my favourite and Christina Rossetti, like Charles Dickens, have added to Christmas related literature. Not many can claim to have done that. I also love stories in film (The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Polar Express, Hogfather).

I also love to write festive flash fiction and was privileged to have one of mine, This Is The Partnership, broadcast on internet radio recently. My tale looks at how Santa deals with a dodgy salesman. Good fun to do.

But as I mentioned in a recent post here, I am looking forward to that lovely time just after Christmas where I will get to read more, the normal routines are suspended, and I get to enjoy those presents which just happened to be books. I always have a request list here. No surprises there.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and you get to listen to/watch/read some wonderful stories.

Fairytales With Bite – A New Beginning

A new beginning is what comes after the happy ever after ending in the classic fairytales when you think about it. Cinders and Prince Charming had to get used to their new beginning of a married life. The woodcutter in Little Red Riding Hood may well have gathered extra business in terms of removing threats after what he did to the Big Bad Wolf. If so, it would have meant an entire new career.

Major events can often trigger new beginnings. Not everyone responds to these well. (Just ask the evil fairy godmother in Sleeping Beauty. She didn’t welcome the christening. Okay it was because she wasn’t invited but there would have been a reason for that).

So think about what a new beginning would mean for your characters. Would they welcome or fear such things? When the new beginning has been forced on them, how do they handle that? Does something good come out of their situation? Can they see the point of the new beginning later on?

If your setting has to start again – new government, new way of ruling etc- how does that come about? Why? What are the consequences of the change? Does anyone resist the new beginning and do they have good cause? Are they successful?

Good story ideas there!

This World and Others – Time Measurement

I write this as we approach a New Year – 2024 – which is the one time everyone is focused on time. We measure our time by seconds, minutes, hours, days etc but how would your world do it? Would time be based on the rising and setting of any sun like star?

If your world has an industry, how would they measure working time? In the UK, time became standardised thanks to the coming of the railways. Time needed to be standardised for the railway system to work at all (no good having one time in one place and another time in the train’s destination, say) so does your setting face anything like that? Does anyone resist the change to timing systems?

What devices are used to measure time in your setting? Who invented these?

If you have Time as a character in a story, how are they recognised? How would “they” prefer to be measured?! (Would be good to ask Time directly, yes?).

No system for measuring anything can ever be infallible so what would be the failings with the system your world has and how would these impact on your characters? Here in the UK we have to adjust our clocks by an hour twice a year to adjust to daylight hours available. So what would your world do when “corrections” were needed?

Also give some thought to the downsides of being able to measure time? Are your characters’ lives dictated by the clock or other measuring device and how would this show in their behaviour and attitudes?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Glad to be able to share the Mixcloud link to the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM last weekend. One easy link to click! Do have a listen. I loved the variety of stories and music. Enjoy!https://t.co/j3iYysQqPa
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 23, 2023

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Story Time https://t.co/2b8oK6keWO via @goodreads I celebrate stories at this time of year including carols (which tell the Nativity in song), pantomime and fairytales, as well as fab books. Hope you enjoy many wonderful tales this Christmas. pic.twitter.com/iO1BzlLoLA
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 23, 2023

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Although nobody really knows what day of the week it is now (there is something odd between Christmas and New Year that does this to people I think), it is time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Down Time. It does seem apt!https://t.co/3CB3DeI66S
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 27, 2023

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More than Writers: Reviewing Your Writing Year by Allison Symes https://t.co/SCtrOtmbrF I share why I think taking time out to review your writing in 2023 and what you would like to write in 2024 is a good idea. There will be positives in your review, which can be built on too. pic.twitter.com/13kO0mh0bG
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 29, 2023

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Approaching A New Year https://t.co/hq1iEsA8zq Do you approach a new year with anticipation? I recall the hopes for 2020. Look at how that turned out! But this is an opportunity for writers because this will also be a new writing year, making it a good time to re-assess goals.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 29, 2023

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Introducing Rosemary Johnson – Wodka, or Tea with Milk: The Road to Publication

December 15, 2023Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Rosemary Johnson for supplying author and book cover pictures and images of her trip to Poland for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week.

Hope you have had a good week so far. Christmas preparations are coming along. So pleased to have my cards out! Mind you, it is lovely seeing the cards coming in. Nice way to keep in touch. Lady, as ever, will be looking forward to her Christmas dinner and inevitable toys. She is a great believer in Santa Paws. Writing wise, so pleased to be back on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show again and also to have another story on CafeLit (coming up later this week, will share on next post here).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome Rosemary Johnson to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to talk about her novel, Wodka, or Tea With Milk. Rosemary shares her road to publication, which has not been an easy one, and what she thinks about writing blurbs. There is much here for many writers to identify with!

She looks at what triggered her love of creative writing and much else besides. Do enjoy a cracking interview and, many thanks, Rosemary for coming on to CFT. Also thanks for a shout out on your blog (see second link) and for referring to me as a flash writer supremo!

Introducing Rosemary Johnson – Wodka, or Tea with Milk: The Road to Publication

Chandlers Ford Today

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Will be sharing a fabulous interview with Rosemary Johnson on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. Do look out for it. See above. Rosemary will be talking about her book Wodka, or Tea With Milk, which is set against the backdrop of the Solidarity movement in the early 1980s, a time I recall well.

I love author interviews. I always learn so much from them. And even if you are not published yet (note the yet!), it is worth preparing for these.

Why? Because it gives you some useful practice in working out what to say about your book or story and to keep it succinct and interesting. That may well prove to help you in preparing a short description when you are ready to submit said work to a publisher. In reading/listening/watching other author interviews, you can learn from how they’ve done this. I know it has stood me in good stead.

Lady got to play with Coco today. Two happy dogs. Always nice to see that.

My story, I Do, I Don’t, will be on CafeLit on 17th December. This story started life as one of this year’s Flash NANO prompts. Link to come later in the week.

Looking forward to an informal Christmas chat/review of writing year with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Glad to say three of us will have pieces on the Three Minute Santas show hosted by Hannah Kate at the weekend. This is especially nice as we managed this last year too!

Writing Tip: Festive flash fiction is the main seasonal writing I do. I’ve found it helps to focus on one thing – whether I’ll feature Santa or someone present at the Nativity etc. But for the other seasons, you can pick telling details to flag up to a reader the season in question.

For autumn, I could mention the nights drawing in earlier, or harvest events, or leaves changing colour but I would pick one as the detail for the reader to pick up on. I’ve never believed in laying it on with a trowel! One good thing about flash is the word count limit does stop you doing that.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to share my story, Breakdown, on Friday Flash Fiction. This is the second entry by me for the Christmas competition. Here you can find out why Santa needed to call out a mechanic. Hope you enjoy the story.

Closing date for the Friday Flash Fiction Christmas Competition is midnight tomorrow, Friday 15th December. Entries to be 75 to 100 words (and the word counts are checked!). So you do still have time to get something in for this one. More details in the link.

Have another story I want to enter for a competition elsewhere. It is almost ready. Deadline is the end of the year but I want to get it in this side of Christmas to make sure (a) I don’t forget to do it and (b) to follow my own advice to get a submission in about a fortnight ahead of the closing date!

If you are entering any Christmas related competitions, good luck! Even if you don’t win or get shortlisted, these are still good things to try as they’re fun and they get you working to a deadline and word count. That is always useful to practice.

Every so often I will use something I’ve seen in a film to inspire a flash fiction story. Where the Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) is an example of that. The film in question is The Wizard of Oz. This is good fun to do because I can take the viewpoint of another character and run with that.

Indeed it is how I got into print back in 2009 with my A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing). So give some thought to the films and stories you love. Is there someone you think has been unfairly represented and who deserves to have their story told? In my first story, I went for the viewpoint of the less unkind stepsister to Cinderella.

Think about the kinds of characters you love to read about. What is it about them that draws you? What can you take from that to put into your own creations? Inspiration comes from thinking about what you like yourself in stories. So the more you read, the more inspiration you’re opening yourself up to getting! That’s never a bad thing.

Fairytales With Bite – The Christmas Tree Fairy

Hope you enjoy the following festive themed tale of woe. Who would be the fairy on top of the Christmas tree?

The Christmas Tree Fairy by Allison Symes

They get me out of the big cardboard box once a year.
They need five minutes to get the dust out of my ear.
I am given the place of honour, you see.
I must sparkle and shine, every part of me.
I look down at the festive tinsel and lights.
While affixed, I get ladders in my tights.
I watch them scoff all the Christmas chocs
Then doze away by the telly box.
I try to make the most of what I can see.
Takes my mind off having been rammed on a tree.
Pleasant it is not, there are places pine should not go
But I’m just a toy fairy, they think, what would I know?
And then before I know it Twelfth Night is here.
Tomorrow I go inside for the next year.

Ends.
Allison Symes – 13th December 2023

This World and Others – Unexpected Visitors

In your fantasy setting, what would count as alien to your usual residents? What would they make of unexpected visitors? What do they expect to be “normal”?

In the Nativity story, I have every sympathy with the shepherds being terrified when the angels arrived. Well, you would be, wouldn’t you? The shepherds knew that bright light wasn’t a natural one (at least not natural to this world). But what would frighten your characters? Would they listen to whoever their unexpected visitors were?

Why would the unexpected visitors come to your setting? Is it a peaceful trip or is there sinister intent behind it? How would your main characters handle this?

I would expect fear, hostility but do you have characters who could see the potential of getting along with the visitors, seeing benefits to both worlds? Would anyone listen to them and give them the chance to see if that potential could be realised?

Definite story ideas there!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Many thanks to @AllisonSymes1 for posting about Wodka, or Tea with Milk on Chandler's Ford Today.https://t.co/jsDkzLxC2g pic.twitter.com/O1RFtnLKH7
— Rosemary Johnson (@REJohnsonWriter) December 15, 2023

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Breakdown, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/DlWJCGlLfI Delighted to share my story, Breakdown, on Friday Flash Fiction. This is the second entry by me for the Christmas competition. Find out here why Santa needed to call a mechanic. Hope you enjoy the story. pic.twitter.com/CYDh9oub3B
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 15, 2023

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Introducing Rosemary Johnson – Wodka, or Tea with Milk: The Road to Publication https://t.co/rcF3i2WLqI Pleased to welcome Rosemary Johnson to CFT to talk about Wodka, or Tea With Milk. She discusses her road to publication, blurbs, and much else for writers to identify with.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 15, 2023

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Remember, Remember – Author Interview: Richard Hardie

December 1, 2023Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Richard Hardie for logo, author, and book cover pics for a marvellous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

It has been a very cold week here, with some snow and sleet showers. Not that Lady worried as she got to run around with her best friends all week. I just put on extra layers and my big coat! Looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event on 2nd December. Will be lovely to see everyone again. (And it’s indoors out of the cold!).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to interview Richard Hardie for Chandler’s Ford Today again. He is the author of the Temporal Detective Agency series (aimed at YA though I must admit despite not qualifying on that score for some considerable time, I find the books a great read too!). Today he launches his third book in the series, Remember Remember. This follows Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords.

Richard discusses with me the challenges and joys of writing series fiction, his publishing company, Authors Reach, and what they have been up to since our last interview, and how Richard manages to keep details for his characters correct from book to book. This is a major consideration for anyone writing series. Plus there is much more useful information and great insights into the writing life here.

Many thanks, Richard, for a great interview. Link below.

Remember, Remember: Author Interview – Richard Hardie

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I am so pleased to welcome back Richard Hardie to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to talk about his new book, Remember Remember. This is the third in his Temporal Detective Agency series. The series is aimed at Young Adults but there are many who no longer qualify as such who also enjoy these books! Richard and I will also be chatting about marketing and other topics as part of this interview. Link up tomorrow (and Richard’s Facebook launch starts at 1 pm UK time tomorrow too). Interview above.

Two days to go to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event. So looking forward to seeing everyone.

I cannot believe today is the last day of Flash NANO 2023. I will be having a go at today’s challenge (aptly a thirty word story one) later on this evening. Have so enjoyed taking part in this again and the feedback and support on the Facebook page has been wonderful. Thanks, all, and also to Nancy Stohlman for setting all of this up.

Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This month I talk about Story Formats. What would be your favourite – the hardback, paperback, ebook, audio book? I welcome different formats and see them as ways of getting people into reading at all. Comments welcome over on the MTW page. (Let’s take the opportunity to celebrate the written word in all its formats!).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Author newsletter out earlier today. I know it’s early to wish everyone a Happy Christmas but my next one isn’t until 1st January which would be a tad late, I think!

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with The Lost Coin. Hope you enjoy it. See what you make of my Gran character in this. Is she harsh or does her grandchild deserves what happens in this one because they ….. Well, no spoilers here. Link here for you to check it out! And many thanks to those who have already commented on this one.

Had a fun time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom last night. We drafted some stories based on the festive theme. Glad to see some of our group taking part in the Flash NANO challenge too. Hard to believe we’ve reached the end of that already.

Once I’ve completed tonight’s challenge – a 30 words only story – I will have written 46, 586 words over the month. This is not far short of the 50,000 set for NaNoWriMo writers. Am pleased with this.

I didn’t have an overall target in mind when I began this. I just wanted to respond to each day’s challenge. Some of my stories were towards the upper end of the flash range but most were in the category I most write to – the 100 to 500 words count.

Am NOT surprised at that but what Flash NANO proves is all those “little” bits of writing do add up! So don’t worry about only having short times in which to write. Have fun. Get something written. Edit later. You can get more achieved than you think by using pockets of time like this.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again on Friday, 1st December. (Just where does the time go?!). If you would like to sign up for tips, news, story links etc, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Meantime, I am looking forward to tonight’s ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom. There will be more than a hint of a festive flavour about our flash writing this evening! It was great fun too!

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No acrostics are ages so here are two in one go! Hope you enjoy them. The second one sets some interesting questions for potential stories.

Fairytales with Bite – Festivities

F = Fairies, including godmothers, need to let their hair down every so often, you know.
E = Energy is drained by the continual use of magic.
S = Slippers, glass or otherwise, take a great deal of creativity energy – it’s not just a quick spell and away you go.
T = Time to have a party then for friends and colleagues so what does your average fairy do here?
I = Innovation is key – they invent spells to conjure up delicious food and drink without them having to lift a finger to do it.
V = Variety matters too – there will be spells for music, brightly coloured lights and so on.
I = Invitations are treasured for a fairy’s party – you know you’ve made it when you get one.
T = Timings of said parties are flexible but all start at midnight, it’s a traditional and a nod to Cinderella.
I = Imaginative dress is expected of the guests but this isn’t an issue – just don’t turn up as a wicked stepmother and you’ll be fine.
E = Expect to have a good time and an even better sleep when you eventually go home.
S = Strictly RVSP and no red apples whatsoever to be seen anywhere at a fairy’s festive do – it spoils the tone, you know.

This World and Others – Traditions

T = Traditions are a bedrock of any society so what would your setting have?
R = Revere the traditions or do your characters ignore or despise them?
A = Are there traditions based on religious or other festivals and does everyone take part?
D = Dancing – is this allowed in your setting and, if so, what form does it take?
I = Invented traditions – who invented them and why; what were they seeking to replace and why?
T = Timings of traditions – are these celebrated/commemorated all year or just in certain seasons?
I = In your world’s traditions, what would people do, eat, drink, and why these things in particular?
O = Ongoing traditions – why have people wanted these to continue?
N = New traditions – have your characters taken well to these and what purpose do they fill the old ones couldn’t?
S = Solemnity in traditions or super fun or a mixture of both? Which would your characters prefer and why?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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There are so many ways to experience stories these days (eg paperbacks, e-books, audiobooks, films) as @AllisonSymes1 explains in today's More than Writers post. Which are your favourites and why? https://t.co/Z4kD0hdcXV
— ACW (@ACW1971) November 29, 2023

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More than Writers: Story Formats by Allison Symes https://t.co/pOR0CQsqvm What is your favourite format – hardback/paperback/ebook/audio book? I see them as ways of getting people into reading. Comments welcome on the MTW page. Let’s celebrate the written word in all formats! pic.twitter.com/XMGvv8hlCC
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 29, 2023

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Author newsletter out today. To sign up to receive it every month, please go to my landing page at https://t.co/4PWkpgevt3
For December's newsletter see https://t.co/6TEyIoWZJq pic.twitter.com/r6qPhFATjx
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 1, 2023

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Pleased to be on Friday Flash Fiction with The Lost Coin. See what you make of my Gran character. Is she harsh or does her grandchild deserves what happens in this because they ….. no spoilers. Many thanks to those who have already commented on this one.https://t.co/ppb2PpFyl9 pic.twitter.com/bWdzSgcBkq
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 1, 2023

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Remember, Remember: Author Interview – Richard Hardie https://t.co/kzo9hjdVa1 Today Richard launches his third book in his Temporal Detective Agency series, Remember Remember. Richard shares with me the challenges/joys of writing series fiction, and much more useful information.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) December 1, 2023

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Editing Tips

November 24, 2023Leave a comment

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. Image of me at the 2022 Bridge House Publishing event taken, I believe, by Lynn Clements on my phone. Many thanks! Also thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me at the editing workshop at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, back in August which I use in my CFT post. Always great having writing friends helping you out here!

Hope you have had a good week. Turning cold here. Time for thick jumpers, hot chocolate, and, when necessary, the heating goes on! Am making good progress on the Flash NANO challenges. So looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event (for the launches of Gifted and The Best of CafeLit 12) which is on 2nd December. Not long now! Will be so lovely to meet up with people face to face.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Editing Tips as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Hope you find it useful. I learned to stop fearing editing when I realised, on getting better at it, I was receiving more publication acceptances. There definitely is a link here!

I discuss editing on screen as well as on paper as part of this post and share what I think the purposes of editing are. It’s not about telling someone off for a typo, honest! Find out more here.

Editing Tips

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Am sharing my thoughts on editing in Editing Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. I take a broad overview at what I cover in my workshops on this topic which is one of those subjects which is always timely and useful. See above.

Looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event coming up soon and, on Zoom, getting together with fellow members of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group next week.

Have drafted some other flash tales which I hope to look at over the weekend. Have got ideas for homes for them too. But the break away from them is crucial for me to pick up on where I can do better. There is always room for improvement.

Sometimes it is a question of a phrase being fine but the odd tweak of a word here and there can make it better still. Is it as good as it can be? I also set myself a date when I will send a story off somewhere because I don’t want to procrastinate and at some point I need to test the market with it. You can over-edit. You can also not edit nearly enough. The battle is getting the happy medium right!

Editing takes time, you need more than one sweep

Hope you have had a good day. Getting colder (below freezing overnight at the weekend too. Still this is the joy of thick clothes and the lower calorie but still yummy Options hot chocolate!). Not that Lady minds the cold weather – she had a good run.

As you know, some of my stories have appeared in various anthologies over the years. The most recent is Gifted published by Bridge House Publishing. Now they have an excellent online bookshop called The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop. Why not check it out and get some ideas for Christmas presents?

Screenshot 2023-11-22 at 17-00-15 Gifted

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am making good progress on Flash NANO 2023 and I plan to do today’s challenge later on. So far my word count is 6,908 excluding today. This averages out at 300 words a day.

I suspect by the end of the month I will probably end up with between 8000 and 9000 words written. That’s thirty new stories. Thirty stories I wouldn’t have written otherwise.

The nice thing with Flash NANO is even if you can’t do it all of it, you will still get some new stories drafted. And you can vary your word count for each day’s challenge as I’ve done. I’ve written the 100 worder right up to the 1000 maximum so far this time. Looking forward to having a go at the rest of the challenges too.

Hope you have had a good day.

One of the joys of a flash tale is ending on a “punchy” closing line. Love doing this. You can check out an example of mine in Reaching The End of the World in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. The title of the story intrigued me when it came to me and I just knew I had to do something with it. I also knew it called for a punchy ending so it got one!

The December issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out soon, as will my author newsletter. You can sign up for the latter at the landing page on my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Am cracking on with Flash NANO 2023. Am enjoying the variety of prompts. I’ve had the odd one where I’ve needed the full 1000 words. Likewise, I’ve had the odd one which has come in at exactly 100 words. The rest have been between 200 and 500 words. It was the same last year but I have expected that given the latter is where I mainly write to, word count wise.

I hope to save some of the drafted stories for submissions. Others, I know, have got a lot of work still needed on them before I think of sending them anywhere but that is the nature of writing for you.

Feedback has been tremendous where I have shared either the draft story or a brief post about what I’ve done with the prompt. I’m enjoying reading the drafts by other authors on the Flash NANO Facebook page too. The sense of community is good and is the thing to keep you going with your own drafts or, at least, I’m finding that to be the case.

Support your fellow writers. It is (a) nice and (b) you will find support come back to you too. What goes around comes around and all that.

Fairytales With Bite – Supplies

Does your magical world create/supply everything by magic or are there items it needs to create/manufacture/import another way?

My own thoughts here are that the use of magic is bound to drain the energy of those using it and there are disadvantages, as a result, to using it all the time. I also think naturally produced food would be bound to taste better than artificially produced food (and I would see magically produced food as artificial. I like the thought of things being grown organically. I am with Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings when it comes to “taters”, for example!).

So what does your setting do to get in supplies of what it needs to manufacture anything the “old school” way? Who would it trade with? What would it trade in exchange for those supplies?

Equally are other worlds around yours wary because of your world’s use of magic. To get any supplies in at all, does your world have to limit its use of magic to keep everyone else happy? How would the politics of this play out?

Who organises supplies? Who organises the suppliers? Is corruption a problem? Are certain sections of your society denied access to certain supplies or only get shoddier items? Again a political story could come into play here as characters seek to challenge that and change society for the better.

We all need the basic necessities of life. That goes for characters too and the supply issue could throw up some interesting story ideas.

This World and Others – How Much Do You Need to Know?

When it comes to setting up your world, you clearly need to know much more than the reader will. The reader only needs to know what is vital to making sense of your story and setting. But what is it you do need to know? Only you can know for sure.

I need to know character traits and what has led to my people (and other beings!) having these. There often is a cause and effect going on here. If your character hates poverty because that is how they spent their childhood, it would explain their attitudes towards being driven to gain money and it is then for you to decide if they work honestly to earn enough or they turn to less honest means to make ends meet.

But you will always need to know what makes your characters tick and why. It will have an impact on every aspect of your story because it will impact your characters’ attitudes and resulting actions. Those in turn will lead to consequences and increase the drama and tension in your tale.

But when it comes to how your world looks, what do you need to know? You need to know what kind of landscape your character is going to face if they’re going on any kind of journey. You need to know what the transport system is because that will dictate to your characters how they do get from A to B. You may not need to know every single bit of your world, just the area where your characters are and where they are likely to head.

You may not need to know the political system in great detail but your characters will be affected by whom is in charge overall because they could make life difficult or not for them. So who is in charge and what are their prevailing attitudes?

It really does pay for you to figure out what you need to know first. Once you’ve sorted that out, it makes an outline for your characters and plot easier to do because you have a rough idea at this stage of what your characters are likely to face.

You can then work out how they either overcome the challenges or find other ways of “getting around” them. If they’re likely to face, say, a hostile local government official, can they avoid having to deal with them by going another way if they’re on a journey, say? What impact would having to take a detour have on them and the story outcome? Or can they bypass the official by going above their head to someone more sympathetic?

I don’t outline every single thing because I want to give my imagination what I call manoeuvre room. I do plan the start and likely ending and major staging posts in between. Something has to happen at X before Y can happen. I then work out what that something is. I also know my characters well. I then have fun drafting the story knowing I have a rough road map. I find it reassuring. It also means I have a rough structure in place which will also help the story.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Editing Tips https://t.co/qnmfsrwKde Am pleased to share Editing Tips for CFT this week. I stopped fearing editing when I realised, on getting better at it, I was receiving acceptances. I discuss editing on screen and paper and share what I think the purposes of editing are.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 24, 2023

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Book Buying, Past Stories, and Imaginative Advertising

November 21, 2023Leave a comment

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. Happily drafting plenty of flash stories and some of those written for Flash NANO this time, I’ve already got some ideas as to where I can try placing them. There is also a competition I would like to try before the end of the year too. Am so glad writing is an indoors activity. Weather has been a right mix again. It’s a win at the moment if Lady and I come home without being soaked.

Facebook – General

Brrr… it’s cold today. Often when I swim, if it’s cold outside, the pool feels lovely by comparison. Not today. Cold outside and in the water. Fine when I got swimming though. I swear it’s done on purpose to make you get a move on in the pool. It worked today on me, that’s all I can say.

I’ll be talking about Editing Tips on Friday for Chandler’s Ford Today. I’ll be looking at my approach to editing (which I go into more detail about when I run my workshops on the topic). I see it as part of the creative process. Good editing is what will make the difference to your story being accepted or placed somewhere or not. I also discuss editing on screen and on paper. Looking forward to sharing that later in the week.

One of the joys of writing for CFT is coming up with interesting questions for interviewees. I had a lovely time doing this recently and am looking forward to receiving the replies back from the people concerned! I’ve also learned a lot from author interviews I’ve read or listened to, which is another reason to love them.

Hope you had a good weekend. Leaves coming off the trees at an incredibly fast rate right now. Lady is a bit wary of this time of year only because of the chestnut husks down. She picks her way through delicately but every so often she has to stop and I have to take a husk out of her pads, poor thing. It is like walking on needles. These are better after some rain funnily enough as they then soften.

Can’t believe we’re almost at the two-thirds mark of Flash NANO for another year. Am happily drafting other flash pieces too as I have a competition in mind I want to have a go at and other places I’d like send something into so busy, busy. Am also hoping to be interviewing other authors for Chandler’s Ford Today again before too long.

Must admit some imaginative writing caught my eye today on the packet of the coffee I get for my other half. It’s a new brand to him, as his usual wasn’t in stock. Usually coffee is graded for how strong it is, right? Well this one says “it will kick you THIS hard” and then shows you a star rating. I must admit I liked that. There was also a reference to “if you’re a nerd, you could do…” which made me grin. Great advertising too. Someone somewhere gave great thought to this and it is a great lesson in how to make the usually boring bits much more interesting!

Hope the weekend is being kind to you. Blustery weather here. Lady made a new friend today, a long-haired dachshund called Olive. Lovely to see them running around together. Olive is amazingly fast. Too tired dogs went home. Job done.

I was talking about Book Buying in my Authors Electric post yesterday. Today I’ve ordered my first Christmas presents – books, of course. Feel reasonably virtuous!

Writing Tip: Don’t give up on past stories. I’ve often had a look at past work which hadn’t got anywhere at the time I wrote them. With a good distance of time away from these, I’ve been able to fix flaws and get them out again. Some have gone on to be published.

So it is worth every so often going through your unplaced work and seeing if there is something you can do with them now. Also even if you can’t use the whole story, there may be a character you like you could put into another story or a piece of dialogue worth noting for future use.

Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric talking about a subject close to us all – Book Buying! Is book buying for others fraught with difficulties or do you just get them to give you a list? The only problem with the latter is any element of surprise has gone, of course.

I also ask whether books chosen for you, where you have not known in advance what is coming, have proved to be a fabulous surprise or not. I take the chance to put in a good word for the annual.

Confession time: I have got my list of book requirements for Christmas ready – you’re not really surprised by that, are you?

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day and kept warm. It’s bitterly cold in my part of the world at the moment, not that Lady noticed when she ran around the park this morning!

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on Maisie, my most recent tale (or should that be tail?) on Friday Flash Fiction. See what my dog character makes of the ending of the world in this story.

It’s Monday. It’s dark way too early in my part of the world. It’s cold. It’s Monday. It’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy Drumming Up Business, my latest on YouTube. What would you do if you found jam doughnuts deliberately smashed around your property? Find out what my character makes of it here.

I sometimes write poetic justice tales. I love these. It’s always a joy bringing down a character who deserves that or who finds a way to right a wrong. One of these is The Circle of Life in From Light to Dark and Back Again, where my character makes it clear what they think about animal cruelty and what they intend doing to stop their fellow villagers carrying on with their wrong behaviour. My character’s plan would work too.

This kind of story really does need the ending worked out first because having figured out what my character was going to do to fix things, I could then work back to the beginning to show readers what it was that needed fixing in the first place. It also meant I knew I had my structure in place for this tale immediately. Knowing that always gives my confidence a boost and that helps. It helps me get that first draft down quickly. I then come back to it later to tighten it up.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Perfect day to be indoors writing and editing, to be honest. Talking of the latter, I will be discussing Editing Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. More to come on that during the week though I will say now it helps to think of editing as part of the overall creative process. It really is given good editing will strengthen your work and give it more of a chance “out there”.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later this month. Always good fun and we all get some useful drafts done during the session, yes me too. I make sure of that. I prepare my exercise types in advance but not my answers so to speak. I want to draft these on the night as the others are drafting theirs.

Have started drafting a festive flash fiction story. Always love writing these but it needs honing. Mind you, all stories do, but I’ve never minded this since realising this side of things is just as much a part of the creative process as is getting the first draft down.

Goodreads Author Blog – What I Get From Reading?

What I get from reading is a leading question if ever there was one. Where to start is the question here for me.

Firstly, there is the entertainment factor. I love to escape into other worlds with books (literally if I’m reading fantasy or science fiction). Escaping your own cares for a while is something that should not be undervalued.

Secondly, books and stories introduce you to a wide range of characters. You follow their stories, their dilemmas, you work out whether you would have done or said what they did or said. Empathy is encouraged. You can also learn from what not to do here (and many comic works are fabulous at this. There is always a character who will give you a good laugh because they get it wrong).

Thirdly, there is education, especially from the non-fiction world, but you take this in via a user-friendly medium. I can put my feet up with a good book, a cup of something lovely and nibbles, and learn. Sometimes what I learn can inspire story ideas of my own. I often get a spark of inspiration for a fiction idea from reading something in non-fiction.

Fourthly, books are relatively inexpensive. You can keep them and read them many times over. I do. You can borrow from the library. You can read via ebooks, which are cheaper than paperbacks etc. There is at least one book format out there to suit you.

Fifthly, it is the perfect entertainment when the weather is lousy. Curling up with a good book is such a great idea!

Screenshot 2023-11-18 at 19-57-37 What Do I Get From Reading

Bound to be some fabulous stories in here

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Screenshot 2023-11-07 at 20-07-28 Writers' Narrative eMagazine November 2023

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Authors Electric: Book Buying by Allison Symes https://t.co/EBPzlXYXc6 Am pleased to be on AE talking about a subject close to us all – Book Buying! Is book buying for others difficult or do you get them to give you a list? My list for Christmas is ready – no surprises there! pic.twitter.com/RnGc1xbnLC
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 18, 2023

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: What Do I Get From Reading? https://t.co/TufWogGeCO via @goodreads This is a topic from the heart! I talk about what I get from reading for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/z4TKuW6OC2
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 18, 2023

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Do you bring the seasons into your writing? Festive flash fiction is about it for seasonal writing from me. If you use the seasons, do you have a favourite? Think about what aspects to use too. Will it be the weather or events associated with the season you’ll use? pic.twitter.com/J9oYKp0RaS
— ACW (@ACW1971) November 18, 2023

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The joy of festive flash fiction is I can take it in different directions including humour. I have had Santa face a strike by his elves on Christmas Eve, for example. Consider your story’s mood. What impact will your tales, seasonal or otherwise, have on readers? pic.twitter.com/Oms7nJuHxA
— ACW (@ACW1971) November 19, 2023

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I’m relishing Flash NANO again (30 prompts in November). There is no word count requirement except the classic flash one of 1000 words maximum. Mine are at 300-500 words. I should have 30 drafted which I will edit and submit. Try writing challenges like this. They stretch you. pic.twitter.com/iMRTQdN5M9
— ACW (@ACW1971) November 20, 2023

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It’s Monday. It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s Monday. It’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy Drumming Up Business, my latest on YouTube. What would you do if you found jam doughnuts smashed around your property? Find out what my character makes of it here.https://t.co/qVK4NQ0Lw0
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 20, 2023

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The Importance of Remembering

November 10, 2023Leave a comment

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 and, here in the UK, managed to avoid at least some of the rain. Lady and I have had mixed fortunes on that this week. My post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week is on The Importance of Remembering ahead of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. I explore the role of the creative arts in remembering too. More below.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It is a pleasure and honour to share The Importance of Remembering for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at the role of the war poets and artists as part of this. Words have such an impact and poems such as In Flanders Fields and For The Fallen are deeply touching reminders of that. Words have been used another way too – in comedy, of all things, as Goodbyeee, the last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth proves.

My late grandfathers served in different ways – one in the Forces who was invalided out and later became an ARP warden in London’s East End. The other was in a reserved occupation and he, and his colleagues, were always being bombed out. My late parents were both evacuated at different stages in the war. My late father was too young to leave his mother initially but did get evacuated later.

It is a sombre thought to recall I am only two generations away from those who had fought against Hitler and only one away from those who had to be evacuated due to that.

Remembering is important.

The Importance of Remembering

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Today is the eighth anniversary of Mum’s passing. Hard to believe where the time has gone. I get my love of books and stories from her, which is the gift that keeps on giving. I was pleased she did get to see my first story in print (A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions by Bridge House Publishing) back in 2009. My late Dad got to see my first book – From Light to Dark and Back Again. There is a pleasing symmetry to this, I think.

Give some thought as to what your characters would consider treasuring as memories. Why? This may not come into your story at all but doing this will show you something of their nature and what they value and that will come into your tale. It will determine their attitudes and likely actions and that could turn your story upside down. What does really matter to your characters? What are they prepared to fight for? What drives them (and their memories will have a major part to play in determining this)?

Hope you have had a good day. Lady and I got a good soaking this morning. She dried off quicker than I did. No surprise there.

Will be looking at The Importance of Remembering on Friday for Chandler’s Ford Today. I’m also looking at the role of the creative arts in remembering from the war poets to the war artists and the iconic final scenes of Goodbyeee… from Blackadder Goes Forth. Looking forward to sharing this thoughtful post later in the week. See above.

Writing Tip: Always think about the impact your writing will have on your readers. How do you want them to react to it? Are you seeking to make them think, laugh, cry etc? Having an Ideal Reader in mind will help you focus. It helps me, when editing, to work out whether I really need this or that to achieve the impact I am after. If not, out it comes.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My favourite form of flash fiction is the 100-worder, also known as drabbles. Why? Because these are a snapshot of one moment in time, usually one character, and they are great for humorous endings and/or twist finales. Think of these as a couple of short paragraphs and you get the idea. These also help you focus. You’ve got no room for anything but the most essential information for your reader. This is a good discipline to cultivate and writing the drabbles is a great way of developing that discipline.

Will be having a go at Flash NANO Day 10’s challenge later. I have drafted a couple of pieces so far which are close to the drabble in terms of word count. Am sure I can sharpen these up later and get them down to 100 words but I will not be editing these pieces much until after Flash NANO finishes. It gives me enough time away from the pieces to judge them objectively for one thing.

Funnily enough, you can convey a lot of information in 100 words. See an older story of mine, Times Past, from Friday Flash Fiction for proof.

Glad to see Gifted (Bridge House Publishing) is doing well on Amazon. It is always a joy to have stories in anthologies because I love reading what the other writers come up with as well as enjoying seeing my work in there. I find anthologies (in whatever format) a great way of discovering writers new to me too, but then I have always had a soft spot for the “mixed assortment” kind of books.

Twist endings don’t have to be just for the purpose of crime flash tales. I’ve often used a twist to bring about a humorous ending to a tale (which I always love doing. It’s nice to end a story with a smile, especially at grim times).

I work out what the twist is going to be first, regardless of mood of story, and then see how I can bring this about legitimately. No twist should seem to be “crammed in” to get the story to work. It should be a natural development from the characters and plot. Mind you, that doesn’t just apply to twists!

I know not everyone likes planning but I have found some thinking things out has then helped me develop my story and get that first draft written quicker. It is a question I think of figuring out what you need to know.

Some writers need to know almost everything. Some just need to know the beginning (and maybe a rough idea of the likely ending). I know to know my starting point, why I am writing about the character I am (and what grips me about them) and to be able to see an end point, even if I end up changing it later. Road maps have their uses!

Fairytales With Bite – Rights and Wrongs

A few thoughts/guidelines for the new fairy from a more experienced magical worker:-

Use your magic properly and not just to stock up your cupboards to save a trip to the shops. Shopkeepers need to earn a living too, you know.
Come to the aid of those needing it and don’t use your powers just to show off. Just because you can isn’t a good enough argument.
Read your instruction books regularly. Revision and increasing your knowledge doesn’t stop when the exams finish.
Practice flying regularly and be considerate to other sky users, especially those from the natural world. They will not necessarily be impressed to see you up there with them and need to know you are not a threat.
When visiting Earth, be discreet. Don’t draw attention to the existence of the magical world. Humans are curious enough as it is. We don’t want to be encouraging them further here.
Talking of which, do not take any pet dragons etc to Earth with you. Most humans will be terrified. The ones who are not are likely to want to control your dragon themselves. This is never a good idea.
You are not to grant three wishes to anyone. You are a fairy, not a genie. (And if the latter ever suggests you join him in a lamp, get away fast. Intentions are unlikely to be honourable).

This World and Others – Geographical Features and Their Impact

When thinking about your setting and story, what role does the geographical features play? If you have a water based world, where would your characters live? How would they manage? If the world is land based and water is scarce, what would your characters drink? What would they have to do to obtain enough hydration? Given wars can and do happen over borders, water rights etc., how could that kind of thing come into your story?

Also think about your characters in terms of their attitude. Do they take everything in their stride, regardless of what life, the environment etc., throws at them? Or are they fazed by havIng to climb a hill when the rest of their life has been spent on the flat ground? What would a character make of, say, a lake when they’ve not seen one before (and why is it they’ve not seen one)? All potential ideas for bringing your character to life and from there the first draft of a potential story.

Whatever your world’s geography looks like, it will have an impact on your characters. Your characters’ attitudes will shape how well or otherwise they cope, especially with something previously unknown to them.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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My flash collections are available in Kindle and paperback

My favourite flash fiction form is the 100-worder, also known as the drabble. Think of these as a couple of short paragraphs giving a snapshot. You can convey a lot of information in 100 words. See an older story of mine, Times Past, from FFF for proof.https://t.co/RhqnoxrF3a pic.twitter.com/6YdpfVhcLO
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 10, 2023

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The Importance of Remembering https://t.co/5JA4AVPXYH I look at the role of the war poets and artists in this. Words have such an impact. In Flanders Fields and For The Fallen are deeply touching reminders of that, as is Goodbyeee, the last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 10, 2023

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Moments in Stories

October 31, 20232 Comments

Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good weekend. Weather still a mixture of torrential rain, sunshine, cloud, and high winds. More to come too. I am so thankful that writing is something which is usually done indoors in the warm!

Facebook – General

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

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

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

AE - January 2023 - Flash Nano was a new challenge in late 2022

AE - January 2023 - 30 New Stories thanks to Flash NANO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Anthologies and Collections

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

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

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

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

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Screenshot 2023-10-17 at 19-53-12 Writers' Narrative eMagazine October 2023

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

liked Allison Symes's blog post: Anthologies and Collections https://t.co/xT713d3ILd via @goodreads This post is nice to write given I have a story in another anthology this week. I look at the joys of reading and writing for collections and anthologies for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/a4u5cRrxzK
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 28, 2023

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How do you plan for memorable moments in your writing? @AllisonSymes1 on the More Than Writers blog. https://t.co/ae13PKuVzb
— ACW (@ACW1971) October 29, 2023

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More than Writers: Moments in Stories by Allison Symes https://t.co/rif9msEm0F I look at some memorable moments in fiction but also discuss whether, as a writer, you can know what these are for your stories before you’ve gone through at least one edit. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/6HJZum6Eiu
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 29, 2023

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It’s Monday. The clocks have gone back in the UK. It’s darker earlier. There has been more heavy rain. It’s Monday. You know where I’m going with this – it’s definitely time for a story. Hope you enjoy Numbers, my latest on YouTube. https://t.co/iSD6Rm0Hya
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 30, 2023

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