Tag: Chandler’s Ford Today

Summer Reading

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope all is well. This week has been dog friends reunion week as Lady has caught up with her two closest chums. All of the dogs were delighted by this.
Writing is going well and I can confirm I will be having a blog tour for Seeing The Other Side which is likely to be in September.

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Delighted to share Summer Reading on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. A light post for a lighter time of year, I think.

I ask what you would think of as the perfect summer read, share some of my thoughts on that, and discuss holiday books. I also put in a shout for flash fiction and short story anthologies, perfect for when perhaps you haven’t as much time to read as you’d like as you fit in reading around everything else including holiday schedules.

I discuss reading time and reading outside (which I should do more often) and celebrate the fact books are great value and explain why.

I also hope the recent announcement of Queen Camilla’s gift to Year 6/P6 children will encourage further reading. More than half the battle is getting people, of all ages, to read for pleasure and it is when you start that, you are in with any chance of keeping what is a fabulous habit going.

Hope you enjoy the post and do share your summer reads in the comments box.

Summer Reading

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Hope your day has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal again today and I managed another in person book sale (not to the Vizler before you ask though she is a very intelligent dog!).

Writing wise, I’m sharing Summer Reading as my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow. Hopefully it will prove to be a good summer read! See above.

Have carried out some more admin for Seeing The Other Side. It has been a while since I put in an order with a well known printing firm! Fun to do, mind you.

And it won’t be long before my August newsletter goes out. To sign up for news (and I do have quite a bit this time!), tips, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As ever, a huge thanks for the support.

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Another lovely and cooler day. Lady saw her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum again today and both dogs had a great time. Lady is somewhat tired, but in a good way.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Summer Reading on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. In early August, I’ll be sharing another super interview. And I hope to write up about this year’s The Writer’s Summer School, Swanwick and my book launch for Seeing The Other Side later in August. It may be the summer holidays but there’s still plenty going on.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to read one of my stories from Seeing The Other Side at my Slimming World group yesterday, with the consultant’s blessing. The story, Spring, relates to Slimming World though anyone who has ever had someone scupper their slimming plans, intentionally or otherwise, will identify with this tale. Am glad to say the reading went down very well and it was fun to do.

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I like mixing up the mood of the flash and short stories I write. Mind you, this reflects the thought I like to mix up the mood of what I like to read. I love humorous fiction but appreciate the need to see the other side of life in my other fictional reading at times. It keeps a good balance, I think. Equally I don’t want grim all the time!

Reading does inspire a lot of what I write from the classic fairytales onwards. Reading widely in and out of your genre, including non-fiction, feeds the imagination more than you often realise. I’ve drafted many stories where I realise afterwards where the influence came from. Often it is from a story I read a while ago which has come into my subconscious and has either inspired how I’ve developed my character or their setting.

So read more and be inspired more!

Flash is wonderful as a writing exercise. It is a great “warm up act” for those writing in the longer forms. It can also be a lovely “mini break” from those longer forms. But it can also be a published form in its own right, as I can testify.

Sometimes I’ve taken a flash piece and then expanded it into a longer short story (two different markets here). It is a remarkably flexible form despite the upper word count limit.

And of course I’ll always appreciate it as it has given me a way into having published books with my name on them out there. I am so glad I responded to the CafeLit challenge all those years ago to produce a story in 100 words! I guess this is also an object lesson in being open to trying new forms of writing, sometimes at least.

I hope to start looking again at flash fiction competitions after I go to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August though I do know of one already I am probably going to try given I’ve had a go before. Good deadline on it too – I have until the end of the year!

I also plan to start getting a fourth collection together, probably later in the autumn as I have the material. It will be a question of honing that material and editing it thoroughly before I even think of submitting it and that stage always takes longer than you think. So my thought is to start work on this probably in October.

I’ve various things coming up between now and then, family and book related, but having a new book out does make you keen to get another one “on the go”!

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Characters

I love writing about magical characters. My favourites are dragons who will not let anything or anyone disturb them and their nest and fairy godmothers who happily dispense justice on the arrogant or prove they’re not over the hill yet, thank you. Great fun to write about but it isn’t the magical element which attracts me most here. It’s the attitude!

Mind you, combine that attitude with magical powers and the sparks can really fly and I love reading, as well as writing, stories which shows this.

I do think your character has to be special enough for you to want to write their story up. The magic they have is just one aspect of their overall personality which they use or misuse, according to your plot. I also like magical characters who work hard to improve their powers, just as we have to work hard to have any chance of passing exams etc. I think that kind of thing makes them more relatable.

I don’t want characters who just fire off magic just because they can (and the same goes for our world where there are those who would just fire weapons because they can). There have to be reasons why they would just do – the essence of the story will be found in those reasons why, I think.

This World and Others – What is a Normal Magical Life?

Just what is a normal magical life?

For any non-magical being, the magical world is going to seem odd. It has sources of power not known elsewhere. To those who live in such settings though, magic wouldn’t be odd at all. There would be “normal” magical usages and those times when it isn’t being used correctly for whatever reason. A good reason would be someone abusing the magical system to gain further power for themselves. We do it here too. We just don’t use magic to do it.

So give some thought then if you are using a magical setting, what your characters would consider normal. What would be the signs to them something was going awry? To most of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings, a good sign would be Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry not coming back from a walk. It would’ve been noticed they hadn’t come back.

For the characters themselves, when would they realise they might to improve on their magical skills because trouble is coming? How quickly could they do this? Also give some thought to someone using magic when they wouldn’t usually use power like that. It rarely bodes well!

If you have a non-magical being living permanently or otherwise in a magical setting, what would they get used to as being part of a normal magical life? How would they recognise when something was wrong?

Story ideas there for sure!

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Publication Week! Allison Symes – Seeing The Other Side

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Cooler here but still too hot for Lady to be out after lunchtime unfortunately but getting there. Big news is Seeing The Other Side is now out, I have news of a signing to share, and I am happily posting books out. All go but in a good way. See below for more.

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A huge thank you for the wonderful support on my posts yesterday regarding the publication of Seeing The Other Side. All much appreciated.

For Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I share Update – Local Author News – Allison Symes – Seeing The Other Side – Publication News which is a good summary of the most recent happenings.
I also share more of what the book is about and discuss linked flash fiction, which I’ve written more of for my third collection.

I also share a marketing video which some of you may have seen on Facebook recently. Well, opening your box of books is pretty special! I also share news about my book launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as part of this round up post.

What I hope is some of the things I share here, including the need to update certain things due to having a new book out, will also help other authors as it can act as a kind of checklist. It is easy to forget to do some of this stuff.

Again, a huge thanks for your support so far.

Update – Local Author News – Allison Symes – Seeing The Other Side – Publication News

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16th July – Publication Day!

And at last the great day is here – publication day for Seeing The Other Side. Link to the ebook on Amazon below but you will see the button taking you to the paperback from here too.

It has been six years since I last had a book out and I am so thrilled to now have a trilogy of flash fiction collections out there.

Am also thrilled to say I posted out my first book order today too. I never mind going to the Post Office for things like that! Do remember if you want to buy from me, you can. Just contact me via my website contact form at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/contact

You can also find the link to sign up to my newsletter here.

Now to crack on with various admin tasks such as adding my lovely new book to my website and so on. Fun things to do for a fun event!

And a huge thank you to Gill James and her team at Chapeltown Books for their support here.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Fine this morning but again so hot in the afternoon so Lady taking it quietly and doing fine.

Writing wise, it’s publication day for me tomorrow. So looking forward to that. Will be sharing an update on news to date on Seeing The Other Side on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above.

In other news, writing is going well. I am a lot of the way to a fourth book but will need to focus on that more later this year. I also hope to return to another project I currently have on the back burner. I think most writers have at least one back burner!

Am also busy preparing interview questions for something coming up in CFT in August. And, of course, a major highlight of my year, The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is getting nearer too. Always look forward to this but even more so with a new book out and due to be launched there.

Flash/Character Creation Tip: Now I write a lot of flash fiction. I’ve not counted how many I’ve written over the years but suspect I am well into four figures by now. So that means creating a lot of characters and situations.

As I’ve mentioned before, my focus is on the character. They’ve got to interest me to want to write their stories up so what does interest me enough about a character to trigger this? Some thoughts below which I hope inspire you too:-

1. The character has an urgent problem and must resolve it. There can be no sitting on the fence here.

2. The character is different in some way. This is one reason why I do write many tales involving grumpy fairy godmothers or dragons. Am interested in what makes them the way they are and what they do about it. Can lead to some great, fun tales.

3. I’ve come up with an interesting opening line and want to find out more about the character who “came out with it”.

There are many other ways to work out if a character is “strong enough” to be written up but I do find the three points above great ways into to creating stories and situations.

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Another hot day though it is not quite so bad as it has been. Still being careful with Lady though. She’s doing fine but she, like us, won’t be that sorry when rain does come and brings the temperature down a bit. I will say she is missing her friends though and I am sure they are missing her. Bonding between dogs is such a sweet thing.

Writing wise, naturally I’m busy now Seeing The Other Side is out and I was glad to hear my first postal order reached its destination safely. Looking forward to my book events at Swanwick and Salisbury and online ones too. Hope to organise more events before too long.

Flash fiction is a great form of writing. It teaches you to write concisely, to think about meaning (and choosing words with extra care to get the most impact in the fewest number of words possible to convey that meaning), and to think about what it is the readers need to know and what you can allow them to infer.

All of those skills are transferrable to other forms of writing and if you’ve ever taken part in a writing exercise anywhere, you have written flash, given you only have so much time for the exercise. In that time you’re only going to come up with a hundred words or so, depending on how much time you have been allotted.

One of my stories in my new book started life as a writing exercise set at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I polished it up later and lo and behold it is now a published story so it can be done.

I can’t recommend trying flash fiction (and yes flash non-fiction too) highly enough.

It’s publication day! Seeing The Other Side is finally out there. And I’ve set up a signing at Salisbury URC (who support the city’s Art Festival) for Saturday 5th September. Do see the link. Am so looking forward to this. My family and I have connections to the church here and it was so good of them to offer their church as a venue for a book launch. It’s an offer I am only too happy to take up.

I will post a reminder about this much nearer the time but if you happen to be in Salisbury, which is a lovely city, on that day, do pop by and say hello. I also hope to share details about my publisher launch, which will be via Zoom, ahead of this.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week will also details of my launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. See above. 

So plenty going on then with more to come.

Saturday September 5th, 10am-12.30 Meet the author

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Publication day tomorrow – yippee! Good to be celebrating flash fiction with another collection out and, as mentioned on my author page, I have enough material for a potential fourth book so hope to to look at that later this year.

The best definition of flash I’ve ever come across is from The Bridport Prize where they describe is “the art of just enough” and I think it that aspect which makes you hone your writing, cut out wasted words, and lose all fear of editing when writing in the form. But these disciplines can cross over into other forms of writing you do and I have found this to be the case for my Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative articles especially.

Hope to crack on with updating my website for Seeing The Other Side later this week. Plenty to do but it will be fun.

Fairytales with Bite – Writing Fairytales With Bite

I love writing what I call fairytales with bite. These tales (and there are more of them in my new book, Seeing The Other Side) focus on a magical character or something happening in a magical setting.

My stories are usually humorous and can involve someone getting a long overdue comeuppance (which I like to think of as my tribute to the original fairytales which also are often based on this). There is a lot of irony (which I discovered the joys of thanks to reading Jane Austen).

But what matters is there is a proper story structure, the “bite” has to come from the situation before it and has to seem to be a sensible result, a believable one, regardless of how fantastical my character or setting may be.

It’s why I’ve had no problems about writing from the viewpoint of a mother dragon before now. It was a question of understanding her motivation for what she was about to do and it made it all so believable.

I start with knowing my character, what then makes them special, what motivates them and take things from there. When I start with the setting, I work out who would be in it and what they would need to be able to do to survive in that setting. A non-magical being in a magical setting is at an immediate disadvantage, unless they have something useful which isn’t reliant on magic.

But you can have a lot of fun writing this kind of story. I’ve always had a soft spot for humorous fiction and it works so well for flash work too. For flash, I can’t go into too much detail about what kind of magic my character has. What I can do is show them using it – readers will pick up what they need to know from that.

This World and Others – Aspects of the Magical Setting

Tying in with Fairytales with Bite above, when I use a magical setting as my way into creating a story, I focus on one or two aspects which makes that setting stand out. I won’t have the word count room to show all which makes my setting a magical one but I can show enough.

I’ve found the best way of doing that is to show my characters thriving in the setting or struggling against it and that in turn will reveal what the aspects of my setting are. For example, if one aspect is my setting has the unfortunate capacity to change weather patterns every ten minutes, I can show my characters coping with this, what their attitude towards it is, and how it impacts on what they’re supposed to be doing.

Magical settings don’t have to help those who live in them and fun tales can be written around characters trying to make the best of what they’ve got, possibly inventing things to improve things too.

But it helps to know what your setting has, what it hasn’t got, and what your character(s) can/cannot do, though not all of that will make it into the story itself, even if you write longer form. You need to know more than the reader does. It helps you create your character and setting with believability built in because you will believe in these things because you know how things work.

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Marketing and Writing

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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 ADRIAN SYMES FOR FILMING ME OPENING MY COPIES OF SEEING THE OTHER SIDE – SEE BELOW.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Cracking one here. My copies of Seeing The Other Side are now with me and look wonderful. Have had to switch to a hot weather schedule for Lady again (and will probably have to do so again next week).

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Delighted to share Marketing and Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at balancing writing and marketing time, which is never easy to get right. I look at marketing you can enjoy (honest!) and share tips about writing about the book you have written, which can seem such a strange thing to have to do.

Hope you find the post useful. Am very much writing about what I know right now!

Marketing and Writing

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Many thanks for the lovely responses to my sharing of the “author opening box of books” video I posted yesterday. See below. Much appreciated, folks.

Am continuing to keep Lady out of the heat. She’s doing fine but loathes this temperature. I’m no fan either.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Marketing and Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today this week, both topics being at the top of my agenda right now. Link up tomorrow. I’ll be sharing tips which I hope will prove useful. See above.

There could only be one post on this page from me today and I’m glad to share my news via my YouTube channel. A huge thanks to Adrian Symes for filming this. It’s the kind of marketing which is difficult to do on your own!

Am delighted to share the classic “author receiving their new books” video. This has been a long time in coming but am so glad to share this now. Says it all!

A huge thank you to Gill James and all at Bridge House/Chapeltown Books. I know I’m biased but I think Seeing The Other Side looks fabulous and it is a joy to have my copies to hand. Now to start organising events (and I will have news to share on the Swanwick one soon too).

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Another hot day here and Lady remains on the hot weather schedule. She’s doing fine. Have come across a few stories about dogs dying from heatstroke. Am not taking the risk. Pleased to say she’s sensible and, unlike my other two collies, I don’t have to persuade Lady to drink water. She’s pretty good on that.

Writing wise, I’ll be doing various bits and pieces over the weekend including marketing work, which given my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week is called Marketing and Writing is apt! Have also added a copy of my Seeing The Other Side to the shelf where I keep my works, the anthologies I have work in, and books written and signed for me by friends.

Also pleased to report I will have another super interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. More news on that nearer the time.

Hope today has gone well. Appreciated my swim today! Another hot one here.

I now have details of my book launch at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick for my Seeing The Other Side but I’ll share further details firstly in my author newsletter on 1st August and then here after that. It makes sense to me to share the news in the week running up to it happening! Am glad it is all set up though and am looking forward to this a lot.

I also hope to share a few stories from the book at the launch and at the Open Prose Mic Night Swanwick runs, assuming my name is drawn out of the box. There can be a waiting list. Mind you, the Prose Night is something I try not to miss, whether I’m taking part or not, because it is fabulous listening to a selection of works by other writers and there is something wonderful about being read to by someone else for your entertainment.

Great day here – I now have my copies of Seeing The Other Side. So pleased about that. Will have news soon about launches, both the one planned to be held at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, and one which Bridge House Publishing will do online.

It is such a joy to hold my author copy and see my work in print once again. That buzz never leaves you, no matter how few or many books or other publication credits you have.

It is great to see work come to fruition when all is said and done.

Fairytales With Bite – Fairy Godmother = Acrostic

F = Fantasy figure, usually has a heart of gold but not always.
A = Always has a magic wand or several to hand.
I = Imaginative in many ways, likes old school traditions in others.
R = Respects those who try to be kind, curses those who are not.
Y = You cross this figure at your own risk.

G = Granny like sometimes, attractive young woman at others but don’t be fooled by appearances.
O = Old magic as well as new is like drawing breath to her and she uses both types at will.
D = Drawn to helping those deserving of help, drawn to teaching the arrogant a lesson the hard way.
M = Magic used with the right motivations behind it is what keeps her going.
O = Opponents are soon shown the error of the ways; where she can’t beat them, she’ll neutralise what they do.
T = Threats are no deterrent and she never makes any herself unless she knows she will carry them out.
H = Hotheads are soon made to cool down with her aptly chosen spell.
E = Endings, where she is involved, are usually on the happy side, unless you are her opponent.
R = Remember her powers, remember respect, all will be well.

Allison Symes – 8th July 2026

This World and Others – Bending The Rules

I’ve long had a soft spot for characters who bend the rules, especially when they’re doing so to help someone else and there is no other obvious way forward. I’ve written characters like this myself.

But what makes a character even think about doing that in the first place? They must know deep down that, given certain circumstances, this is what they would do.

Often with my fairy godmother kind of character, they’ve long had issues with some of the petty rules and regulations they have to follow. Now sometimes with my characters, those rules really are petty. Sometimes they’re not and it is my character who is the problem. Both kinds of attitude are fun to write up into stories.

But knowing what motivates your character here is vital. It won’t be convincing if they seem to break the rules or bend them for no apparent reason. There will be a reason somewhere and it doesn’t have to be one you or your readers agree with but it has to be one they can understand your character having.

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Using Dates in Fiction

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Hope all well. Has been so hot here over the last few days. Gosport in Hampshire has recently shattered a heat record. We’re taking Lady out early and then keeping her in. She’s doing well but isn’t keen on this level of heat.
Writing wise, am progressing okay but will find it easier to progress more when the temperature comes down a bit!

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Pleased to share Using Dates in Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at various ways of using dates in our stories including usages in historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy where the dating system may well be so different to ours, and I ask what dates can mean to our characters too. There will be plenty of ideas to be written up around that last thought alone.

I also look at using dates to create settings, time frames and time/dates as a plot device. I discuss dates for the writer too.

Hope you find the post useful.

Using Dates in Fiction

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Another scorcher of a day, another quiet one for Lady though she is managing well and drinking plenty of water, as are we.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Using Dates in Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Lots of useful thoughts here which I hope will trigger plenty of story ideas. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Will be hosting another online group for the Association of Christian Writers next week and am looking forward to that. Plus my next author newsletter is due out on the same day, next Wednesday. How can it be almost July already? Mind you, I have great reasons to look forward to next month. More to come when I have it.

Character Tip: You know your character. You know what they’re capable of and why. Now think of something they might say or do which would catch you and readers off guard. This can bring in great twists to your tale and show you even more about your creation.

If you know, for example, your character is scrupulously honest because they were let down big time by continual lies earlier in their life, readers will understand that. But what if your character then does go and lie, especially if this seems to come out of the blue? I would immediately want to look for the reason in the change of behaviour and there will be at least one.

On this example, I would wonder if they were shielding someone else. Also I will go back and look through the story to see if there were any hints something unexpected might come. There usually is something on a second read.

Crime stories do this all of the time but it can work just as well for other forms of fiction. Incidentally the hint can come in a variety of means such as the character admitting they could do anything to protect someone they love or had done so in the past etc etc.

Wow, it’s been so hot. Hope you are all well and taking good care. Lady out early and then home again for the rest of the day. She’s not sorry. Neither are we. Will be the same again tomorrow and probably Friday too.

Writing wise, I’m trying to start my writing sessions earlier than usual because I do find the heat has a direct impact on my concentration levels (and I drink loads of water etc because I should and because it aids concentration). So it is a question of doing what I can and be as comfortable as possible. Let’s just say I’m already looking forward to a swim tomorrow!

Still the good thing with writing flash fiction and short stories is I can write in short stints and still get plenty done.

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Today would have been my father’s 89th birthday. Dates and anniversaries can be wonderful things, sad ones, funny and much more.

Funnily enough, I discuss Using Dates in Fiction for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week (see above) but dates/anniversaries are wonderful things to write flash fiction around. They make for a good “peg” to hang the action on.

What, in your story, makes this date/anniversary stand out especially? What has happened to make it more memorable than usual? What does your character make of an anniversary someone else wants to celebrate but they do not?

There are plenty of ways to use dates in stories and, yes, there is such a thing as a random date generator out there. Mind you, the old school way of picking a page at random from your diary and using that date as a focus for your story would also work well!

Hope you’re all keeping well and as cool as possible. Lady managing okay but she loathes this heat and I can’t say I blame her. I heard on the radio earlier that visualising cooler things can help. Hmm… can’t say it’s worked for me so far.

But talking of visualising, when you create your characters do you tend to visualise what they look like? It isn’t the first priority for me. I like to hear them speaking. (I don’t know whether that is because of my life long love of radio coming into play here or whether, back in the day, on the old TV sets you tended to get the sound through first and then the picture). I do get a clearer picture of my characters once I know how they speak though.

This is the joy of the creative process though. Different things work for different writers. It is a question of finding what works for you, I think. (And if one way doesn’t seem to hit your creative spot, then it’s time to try another. You will find what’s right for you writing wise but it can be a question of trial and error).

I don’t tend to use weather much in my flash fiction and short stories. Certainly I’m not planning to write anything about the current heatwave. Not sure there is much of a story in getting my characters to reflect my views – I don’t like this! Mind you, being a dog owner does colour my views here. Both Lady and I much prefer a temperature in the lower twenties.

But you could use the thought of something colouring a character’s views to come up with some interesting story ideas. If a character is kind and generous but won’t be towards another character, there will be reasons (and stories) behind that, for example.

The good thing here is you get to decide what would colour your character’s views (and therefore attitudes and behaviours) and by how much. Can you get a character with a strong opinion which goes against the grain for the other characters in your story to come across as having good reasons to be as they are and even be a sympathetic character?

It would be a good challenge.

Fairytales With Bite – Magical Words

Now I know I’m biased as a writer and editor but I do believe words are magical in and of themselves. When I think about how many stories I’ve loved, and continue to love, I believe I have a good point. Stories are so much part of what makes us human.

But what about our characters who are anything but human? Which stories and/or words would they consider to be magical and why? What impact do these things have on them? How have they shaped them? Would your character’s favourite stories bear any resemblance to those we have here? (It is amazing, for example, just how many variants of the Cinderella story there are and how far in time it goes back too).

Who would have written the stories your characters love? How did they get to be such a special part of your character’s world? Has anyone ever tried to suppress and/or rewrite them to suit their purposes?

Who would be considered to be the overall guardian of your setting’s magical words and stories, how did they get that role, and how good a job do they do? Definite story ideas there.

This World and Others – Literature with Meaning

I believe all literature has at least some meaning. Even the funniest, frothiest of stories have meaning simply because they are great at helping people escape for a while. For me, that is the definition of a good read. I often will not want “serious” reading. I want to be entertained and I see nothing wrong in that.

So when I look for meaning in any story, I am looking for the impact it had on me, for good or bad. I know there are some stories I won’t be reading again because the impact they made on me was I’ve read this once, I don’t need to read it again. Incidentally another definition of a good read for me is wanting to re-read tales.

Anyway, in your setting, especially if it is nothing like our own dear planet, what would your characters see as literature with meaning? Do they read it themselves or only do so when they have to (at school for example)? Is literature readily available to all or only to the select few? If the latter, can literature somehow “escape” by devious means so others can get to see it and, if so, who would be behind that and why are they doing it?

Literature has impact. Not everyone welcomes that here! This could apply easily to other settings. What would be the story of your character who is an author who writes something they know their regime won’t like it? What drives them to do it? Do they get their work out there? Is the impact as expected or not? What would the literature getting out to the masses do to your setting? It could change so much.

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Publication Thoughts – Seeing The Other Side by Allison Symes

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Pretty busy here and Lady has had a fabulous time catching up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this week. Hasn’t seen her for a bit. Writing going well. Seeing The Other Side will be out soon.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum today before it heated up in the afternoon so that was fine.

Am delighted to share Publication Thoughts – Seeing The Other Side on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

My third flash fiction collection is shortly to be published by Chapeltown Books (Bridge House Publishing). I share the book’s blurb, look at what is in my new collection, and discuss the importance of book covers. I look at what happens next and share thoughts and tips I hope will prove useful to other writers approaching their own special publication days.

I also flag up the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society. See the post for why. Hope you enjoy the post and there will be more news on my third book in due course.

Publication Thoughts – Seeing The Other Side by Allison Symes

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Delighted to share my latest post on Authors Electric – Publication Day Thoughts. I discuss launches (both in person and online) as well as whether I enjoy the marketing side of the writing life.

I am looking forward to creating bits and pieces to go with my book launches as and when I have them. It has been a while since I last got to do that.

Hope you enjoy the post and find some useful pointers for your own launches too.

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Hope today has gone well. Lady had a fabulous time with her two closest chums, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback. It seems to be quite a day for the latter as we met another one in the park and three more on our afternoon walk. A bit like London buses – none for ages and then…

Looking forward to catching up with folk from the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later tonight. Plan is to look at how to use questions for themes, titles and more. Hopefully we’ll get some ideas jotted down, maybe the start of some flash pieces.

Writing wise, I’ll be writing “bits and pieces” around the group meeting. These odd pockets of time have proved useful to me in the past. I’ve often drafted the start or even full flash pieces in these slots and later, after further work, have had some published.

I suppose also that given I’ve always had time slots in which to write (other duties have had to be sorted out first), I want to get to my desk for these and just get on with the writing. It’s not a bad habit to have fallen into though. I want to hit the ground running when I write.

I guess it has taught me to make the most of the writing time I do have.

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It’s looking to be a hot few days over the weekend and into next week so Lady will be playing things nice and cool. Am so glad writing is something I can do in the cool!

I like to mix up how I find topics for flash fiction. I do have favourite themes. One liners (including those I overhear!) can inspire ideas, as do books of prompts, the random generators, something I spot when out and about with the dog and much more besides.

I think it is a case of being open to the thought of there being potential ideas all around you. I also think you do have to write what you care about. I love reading funny tales so often write them. I love fairytales where tables are turned on the arrogant and often write these too.

As well as discussing Publication Day Thoughts over on Authors Electric today, 18th June, I’ll be looking at the same topic in greater depth for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up for that tomorrow. I’ll be sharing more thoughts and tips in the CFT post which I hope will be useful to other writers. See above.

More news to come on Seeing The Other Side as and when I have it.

It will be so nice having a third book with my name on it out there. It does validate the work put in and each publication is very special to its creator. It also gives me a great chance to celebrate flash fiction as a format. I am so glad CafeLit issued that 100 word challenge all those years ago. I am even more glad I responded to it!

Flash is a great format for when you are short of time to write but also I think many people write it without necessarily recognizing they have.

If you ever take part in writing exercises at workshops or other events, you almost certainly are writing flash because you normally have five to ten minutes in which to write. You’re only going to write up to 150 words or so in that time. Why not polish them up later and submit them somewhere?

One of my stories in Seeing The Other Side started life as a writing exercise at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

Fairytales With Bite – Developing Characters

One of the things I love most about any fiction is seeing how characters develop over the course of one flash fiction piece, one short story, one novella, or one novel. Stories need conflict and resolution. I expect a character to change in some way over the course of a story, no matter how short or long that is.

Characters in a magical setting and/or with magical abilities need to develop too. Does your character improve on their magical skills as their story goes on? Is it a case of them having to do this to survive? Those without magical gifts but in a magical setting must have something to help them navigate their world when it seems they must be at an automatic disadvantage. So what do they develop? What do they have which is useful to everyone else which helps their survival?

In my new flash collection, Seeing The Other Side, I’ve written some linked flash where the character and/or the setting appears in more than one story. The character can have a different “lead” in each link. Each story stands alone but the links put together form their own arc too. Here you get to see the character develop over the links in the chain. It means I can reveal a bit more about them with each story in the chain. These were great fun to write and I hope to do more of this for future books.

But if the character only appeared in one flash piece, they would be different by the end of it to what they were at the beginning. The situation I’ve put them will make them develop. You get to decide, of course, whether or not that is in a good way.

With a magical setting and/or characters, you can show that development in terms of how magic improves/gets worse. You can also show development in a non-magical way around them.

The classic fairytales show proud characters being brought to their senses. They needed to develop humility and being the victim of a curse which could only be freed by love (Beauty and the Beast) is the development they needed to get to where they needed to be overall. Your characters don’t need to see the development as positive by the way though they might later.

This World and Others – Developing Worlds in the Short Fiction Forms

In the short fiction forms, there isn’t any room to show much in the way of your world and its development. But you can still show enough to help your readers form a good picture of your setting and your characters.

It is a question of picking the right detail to share. If I need my setting to be a river based one, and my characters live and work around the major rivers, I will show the characters doing just that. There could be mention, for example, the River XXXX is the major trade route between rivers YYYY and ZZZZ.

Seeing the characters in their environment will make the setting clearer to readers. Seeing them emerge from, say, a hobbit hole (I love those in The Lord of the Rings and think I’m the right height to live in one!), gives you some idea immediately of how tall or otherwise your characters are. It is a question, I think, of choosing what the reader needs to know. They can then fill in the gaps around that (and I know I love doing this when reading stories by other authors).

If your character is not from this world and doesn’t look humanoid, you will need to share a little of what they do look like. If, for example, they have six legs, the world setting they’re in might make that essential and you can show something of what that is. What you can’t do is show everything.

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Discovering Classical Authors – and Further Book Cover News

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison SymeS, AS WAS A PHOTO OF AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR I DISCOVERED AFTER RETURNING FROM A RECENT VISIT TO THE DORSET MUSEUM. SEE MY CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY POST FOR THAT.
Hope you have had a good few days. Am thrilled to now reveal my full book cover for Seeing The Other Side. See below. Lady and I have managed to avoid most of the rain this week so I think we can say it has been a good few days so far!

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After an exciting week with my book cover reveals (see further down), I’m equally glad to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post – Discovering Classical Authors.

This post was inspired by my recent visit to The Dorset Museum with editing colleagues to see the Thomas Hardy exhibition, which was fascinating. I report on that but also share ways in which I’ve discovered classic authors. These vary from film and TV adaptations to plays and more.

Hope you enjoy the post and discover plenty of classic authors by whatever means. Sometimes the books aren’t the immediate way in. That was the case for Dickens with me. More in the post.

Discovering Classic Authors

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Book Cover Reveal

A week to go and it is time, I think, to share the full book cover for my Seeing The Other Side.
Have been looking forward to doing this, as you can imagine.

I’m pleased the book will be in the classic Chapeltown Books (part of Bridge House Publishing) framed square design. They look distinctive and make excellent gift books, which is part of the reason for this design, of course.

There are a fair few in the series now but I will always have a soft spot for my debut book, From Light to Dark and Back Again, because it was the first one to come out in this format (as well as it being my first book, naturally. I was glad my late Dad got to see that. My late Mum got to see my first printed story – A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions, a Bridge House Publishing anthology back in 2009. There is a nice symmetry to that, I think).

Hope to share more details of my third book as and when I have them.

Hope the day has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal again today and I’ve enjoyed an online editing meeting this afternoon.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Discovering Classical Authors on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. This post came about thanks to my recent visit with editing colleagues (whom I caught up with again this afternoon online) to The Dorset Museum to visit the Thomas Hardy exhibition. My post will look at various ways to discover classical authors. I’m sure these will resonate. Looking forward to sharing the post.

Many thanks for the great responses to my sharing of a partial book cover reveal yesterday for Seeing The Other Side. I’ve sent off various items connected with this to enable a launch to happen at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. On my to do list will be to set up other in person and online launches. So there will be more news in due course.

I’ve now seen the back cover for my new book and I have to say the whole cover looks fab. Will share the full cover soon. See above! Just over a week to go before the book is due out too!

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What a week! A huge thank you for the wonderful responses to my book cover share for Seeing The Other Side. Much appreciated. More news to come on the book as and when I have it.

Meantime, there is still plenty of flash fiction to be written, which I hope to get to later in the weekend.

Flash Fiction Tip: Are you intrigued by your potential characters? Do you want to find out what they get up to, what could go wrong for them, and what they do to rectify matters?

You should be. You are your own first reader. The characters do have to grip you first.

But this is where I find working out my potential characters helps so much. As I begin to flesh them out, I get a feel for the attitudes they are likely to have, what kind of troubles they are likely to have due to said attitudes and much more.

I’ve always found time spent getting to know my characters is never wasted time. Indeed, it can save many a rewrite later.

A week to go before my third book, Seeing The Other Side, comes out. Exciting times. I hope there will be further publication news later in the year too.

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Am bringing it forward for various reasons this month but I hope we get to discuss questions and how we can use them to set themes, characters and more. There will be plenty of fun writing exercises to have a go at too and, yes, I do these too. It’s a great way to get more flash fiction drafted after all.

When I write flash, I am either writing to a competition or there Is a topic I especially want to write about. Sometimes I have an idea for a character and then work out what kind of story would best suit them.

Sometimes I know a rough story outline and then work out the best character to “play the lead part”. I have used snippets of overheard conversation before now as a trigger point (not that the original speakers would ever know). I also know sometimes I want to write a light piece or, conversely, a dark one.

Finding a way into writing a story usually isn’t an issue. What can be is working out the best route to go. But it is a fun challenge and one I am always up for!

My new book, Seeing The Other Side, will be my biggest collection to date. There are over 200 stories in there so plenty of reading to be done there!

I’ve also had fun writing more linked flashes for this book, acrostics and so on, as well as writing to the different word counts in flash up to the maximum of 1000. Am really looking forward to seeing the book out there, as you can imagine.

I’m also glad, whenever I promote any of my books, that I’m also promoting flash fiction as a format. It is an enjoyable challenge and addictive to write and read. It is also the perfect “quick read” for those times when you can’t read for as long as you like but you can still read something.

And I’ve long held the view flash can be useful in bringing in the reluctant readers, those who won’t read a massive book, but could be tempted in by the shorter formats in the form of collections like mine.

More news to come on the book as and when I have it.

Fairytales With Bite – Seeing The Other Side

Naturally given my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, is due out on 18th June 2026, my thoughts do turn to this topic. Many of my stories in the book will, I hope, help you see how things look from the “other side of the fence” given what the characters are going through.

For our magical characters and settings though, this is a topic worth exploring further. For every character who benefits from magical assistance, who is the one who misses out or is harmed by it in some way? There is always another side to the story.

Indeed, my first story in print was A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing – 2009) and that had this thought in mind. My tale was based around the character of Cinderella’s younger stepsister. Fairytale retellings or additions to the original stories have always been popular. Seeing the other side resonates here!

Also within your setting, which of your characters loves it? Which of your characters hate it? Both will have good reasons for feeling the way they do and what would happen if you bring those two together? Clashes galore and some interesting stories would emerge, I’m sure.

If your characters have specific tasks to do what elements of the setting would help them or get in their way? Would they see another side to where they live based on this?

Again, story ideas there.

This World and Others – Perspectives

My strapline for Seeing The Other Side reads Perspective can be wonderful but will you still feel the same if your view from the fence changes?

This theme underlies many of my stories in the new book but it is a great one to write around.

Perspective will change depending on whether you’re writing from the viewpoint of the hero/heroine or the villain, for example.

Often the villain will see themselves as being hard done by rather than being out and out evil (though of course there are exceptions to that. Some of the most over top characters are the villains who know they are and have a ball with it. My thoughts go to the Sheriff of Nottingham as played by the much missed Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves here).

Perspectives change significantly depending on whether your character has a task to do or someone else is getting them to do it! I always think if Character B insists Character A is the right person for the job, I want to know why and also why Character B isn’t doing it. Not unfair to think that, I think, and this can be used to show Character A struggling to come to terms with what they’re supposed to do. You can also explore why Character A either believes Character B or argues with them over it. Definite story ideas there.

My main way into writing stories is to know my character(s) traits and attitudes and actions likely to come from that. I have to know their perspective on things. This underpins all of my stories and it is what readers latch on to. They need to understand where the character is coming from even if they don’t agree with what is happening.

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Deadlines

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days since the last post Lady and I have ducked the rain, got caught by the rain, but the temperature is so much better for said rain. Trees and plants are looking happier too. Writing going well too.

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I’m delighted to share Deadlines on Chandler’s Ford Today. I work to deadlines all the time for CFT, Writers’ Narrative, Authors Electric, More Than Writers, and for various story competitions.

I find deadlines useful but know not every writer sings to that tune so I thought a post sharing tips about how to make these things more manageable (and therefore endurable!) would be useful. I also use some old school ways to help me manage my own deadlines. Find out more in the post.

Hope you find the post handy.

Deadlines

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Hope today has gone well. Some amazingly heavy showers today but Lady and I have managed to duck those, thankfully.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Deadlines on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow and share some handy tips as to manage these things. Most writers have to face them at some point and many of us all of the time at that! Hope you will find the post useful. See above.

Have booked my train tickets for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick today. (You can get good discounts booking a reasonable way in advance and even more of one if you have a railcard. I am now the proud owner of a Senior Railcard and am putting this to good use already!). So looking forward to being back at The Hayes in August.

Character Tip: What drives a character to do something is so important. It is what makes a story believable, I think, even if your character is some fantastic creature from the back of beyond. So understanding motivations, for me, is a key part of character creation and yet another reason why I focus on character over plot. I fervently believe characters set the plot anyway.

Lady and I did get a soaking this morning though that was still easier to cope with than the super high temperatures of last week. There really is a silver lining regarding those clouds!

Looking forward to going to an online ACW group tonight. Plus I plan to get on with various pieces of writing though it will be mainly non-fiction this evening. Having said that it is a joy to write non-fiction as well as fiction as it means I always have something “on the go” and often ideas from non-fiction can spark thoughts for potential stories. It does tend to happen that way around too.

I hope my recent revisit to The Dorset Museum will spark a future Chandler’s Ford Today post. It has already inspired my recent Goodreads one. Ironic as it may sound, getting away from the desk for a while may well trigger ideas to put to good use when you get back to said desk again.

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Hope you have had a good end to the working week. Weather has been a bit of a mixed bag but it didn’t stop Lady and I getting out and about. Writing wise, I hope to look at some stories for potential competitions over the weekend plus I have various blogs to get on with and am getting ready for when Seeing The Other Side comes out. No chance of being bored here but I like that. I have a very low boredom threshold!

Flash is a great format for developing your characterisation skills. Given it has to be led by characters (as there is no room for lots of description), you do have to focus on what matters about the characters you have as the stars of your tales.

What does the reader need to know about them? Why should they care about what happens to them? Both of these questions should be answered for any length of fiction but it is especially crucial for the shorter story forms.

Hope to pick out a story to review for a possible competition at the weekend. It’s often the best time for me to go through my “stock” and it is nice to come across those tales I wrote a while back but which I have not yet placed. It means I have had the necessary time break away to judge them objectively enough.

It is also a fun thing to do to revisit these because you can see what works and from there figure out how to fix what doesn’t. This is the ongoing challenge of story writing. It’s great for the brain!

Flash Fiction Tip: Let’s say you have a character and storyline you like. Why not try writing this up to, say, 100 words, then 300, then 500 and see which works the best? The longer ones will have a bit more depth to them and that may be exactly what you want for a competition you’ve got in mind. Good luck!

Some of my non-fiction posts can come into the realm of flash non-fiction when they come in at 500 words or fewer. I must admit I still tend to think of them as blogs though!

But a thought to try on this front is to pick a topic you like and see if you can write a flash non-fiction piece to it to 500 words exactly. It’s a good challenge and, if nothing else, this can give you interesting material to share on your website.

Thoughts for topics could include ideas which would work just as well for a story theme. For example:-

Justice;

Favourite historical character (whom you can then put in a story or have someone who would have known them put in a story);

Inventions which changed the world (and you can invent some for stories with a fantasy setting).

Best Day Out Ever (and then write a story around a character who has their best ever day out).

There are many more topics, of course, but I like the thought of flash non-fiction feeding into flash fiction like this. It’s useful! I like the idea of having one idea and getting more than one piece from it.

Fairytales With Bite – Magical Stores

Where do your magical characters get their supplies from? I must admit I love the idea of Diagon Alley in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The films especially confirmed my thought the place may well look as it it came straight from the times of Dickens! But it also confirmed magical characters need supplies – potion ingredients, wands, other equipment and so on.

So as well as thinking about where they’d go to get these things, flip it and look at who manufactures these things. How did they discover the art? How did they become expert at producing certain things? Is there a “government standard” they have to adhere to and, if not, why not? (Magic is dangerous enough without dodgy equipment!).

How do your “magical storekeepers” protect their premises against those who would steal their wares? What can be done to stop those on the dark side corrupting products so they’re used for things not originally intended?

Story ideas there for sure!

This World and Others – Provisions

How do your magical characters provide for themselves? Is magic allowed to be used for, say, the growing of food, or would that be the equivalent of “artificial farming” which most of us would reject? If they can’t create their own things like this, where would they get food, clothes etc?

If anyone is allowed to produce these things magically do they have the equivalent of a government licence to do so?

For centuries in the UK, the monarch would grant monopolies on various things to those they favoured and those folk would make money from that. For example, Queen Elizabeth Tudor gave monopolies to print and publish music for twenty-one years to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. That guaranteed them income.

If your setting cannot produce everything it needs, where would it get the “missing items”? Who would it import from and is there anything it could export back?

Provisions have to come from somewhere and there will be people who make things happen here. There could be some great stories here.

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Author Interview – Esther Chilton – Myths and Magic

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good week so far. Has been so hot here. Lady has had limited exercise but is coping well. Thankfully we have a generally shady garden. Writing going well. Thankfully I can do that in the cool too!

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I’m delighted to share a wonderful author interview with Esther Chilton on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. She discusses her new children’s book, Myths and Magic, which is book two in a series of six called Saffy’s Secret Quest.

In this in depth interview, Esther discusses the values of planning, how she decided on Saffy’s age given that has a direct impact on Saffy’s character arc, and the issues which surround marketing not just one book but one which is part of a series.

Esther also discusses the value of reading work out loud (something I also find useful especially for my flash pieces) and which fantasy tales inspired her writing. We are all inspired by what has gone before. There are good reasons why the fairytales and other fantasy work remain timeless. For one thing, their themes are timeless.

There are plenty of useful thoughts and tips here. Hope you enjoy the interview.

Esther, good luck with Myths and Magic. It’s always a joy to share news of books coming out into the world.

Esther Chilton – Author Interview – Myths and Magic

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Cooler day, even had some rain this evening, so much better for Lady.

It was a quiet session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last night so will save my presentation on using questions for the next meeting, but had a lovely chat about all things writing wise.

This is the joy of good writing groups – the support and encouragement you can gain and give out from these is amazing. It is a two way street too because no one writer can know everything and we all end up sharing useful information with each other. Some of this is useful immediately. Some may be useful later, years later sometimes.

Talking of sharing useful information, do look out for a fabulous interview with Esther Chilton on Chandler’s Ford Today regarding her newly published Myths and Magic children’s book. Link up tomorrow. There are plenty of good tips and advice for all writers here so do check it out. See above.

Another scorching day here so again limited exercise for Lady but she’s a good girl, is drinking well, and is happy curled up at home in the shade.

Writing wise, I’ll be running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later on. We’ll be looking at questions and how we can use these to create characters, themes, and settings.

Questioning is a useful tool for all writers. My favourite is the “what if” one as that can spark all kinds of ideas. Many of my flash fiction stories have been based on my answering that one!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing a smashing interview with fellow flash fiction writer and children’s author, Esther Chilton, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. There is plenty to discuss about her new children’s book, Myths and Magic, and there is also good information for all writers (Esther shares her thoughts on marketing series for one thing) so do look out for this. And if you want to find out how washing up can help your writing, do catch the interview! Again, see above.

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Hope today has gone well. Thankfully cooler and much pleasanter for Lady (and the rest of us, frankly).

Looking forward to a trip out to The Dorset Museum tomorrow with editing colleagues – we’re going to a Thomas Hardy exhibition. Should be interesting. The museum itself is a gem.

Am sure I’ll be able to jot down some useful notes on my trip. It is one of writing’s oddities that non-fiction can often spark ideas for stories and naturally I am hoping that will happen for me tomorrow. I can always put a writing prompt to good use after all.

Talking of which, why not try the following prompt?

Flash Fiction Prompt: He didn’t know the species but there was something about this creature which was familiar.

Have fun!

Almost time for my author newsletter again. To sign up for flash fiction tips and advice on writing, competition news, story links and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I use themes for my newsletter, of course, but am also writing to set ones a lot given many competitions come with them. Indeed, I often find competitions with a set theme “easier” than open ones because the set theme does at least give you a starting point. I like starting points. Give me one of those and away I go!

Flash Fiction Tip: Mix up the word counts you write to – I’ve recently got back to the 50 worders again. Also think of the other end of the scale here and try the 750 worders (there are some competitions for these) as well as writing to the full 1000 word count allowance.

Writing across the spectrum is not just fun, it’s useful. There are various competitions for the different flash “categories” so if you know you can write to them, you already have a head start here. And then why not try this for flash non-fiction too! It’s all great writing experience.

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I’m looking forward to joining in with at least some of the writing exercises I’ve set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening. It means I get some drafts down too and I can always make use of those. It was a quiet session so hope to do this for the next meeting instead!

Am out with editing colleagues on Saturday and I expect things I will see and hear on the train and/or at The Dorset Museum may well spark story ideas. Am glad for my note app on my phone. It is always useful (and given everyone is on their phones on the train these days it looks less obvious for me to be on my mine jotting down thoughts for potential stories compared me to getting out a notebook, looking around me, taking down notes etc!).

Mind you, that has sparked a writing prompt thought for you (and it may well be one I’ll use later).

Writing Prompt: Someone has left their notebook behind on the train. Your character cannot resist flicking through it. (Be fair, would you especially if you know the owner is well away from where you are!). What do they find in there? What intrigues? What horrifies? Do they discover something momentous?

Definite story ideas there – have fun!

Fairytales with Bite – Ideal Weather for Whom

As I write this in late May 2026, the UK is experiencing a heatwave. Okay, it’s not unknown for May but this one is hotter than normal. I keep hearing descriptions of the lovely sunshine and, yes it is and all of that, but not everyone will feel the same way – hayfever sufferers for a start.

So in your stories and settings, what weather conditions would be ideal for your characters and why? Which conditions would they find especially trying to handle and why? Which weather conditions would get in the way of them achieving what needs to be achieved?

Also, are your characters looked down on because they find certain types of weather troublesome when those around them just get on with things? What kind of empathy, if there is any, would there be here?

If you have magical beings who can tamper with the weather, why would they do so and what do they hope to achieve? How did they develop the skills they’d need here?

This World and Others – Climate Change

Has your setting always been the way it is or has it seen climate change (or something similar to that) over time? If so, have there been any benefits to the way the setting has changed? What have been the disadvantages?

Has something which was useful been lost for good and your characters are only realising that now? Is there anything they can do to restore things or get an approximation back again which would help their world? I must admit I’m not convinced by the Jurassic Park films. I remain unconvinced it would be a good idea to bring the dinosaurs back!

Where magic is a major part of your setting, has that been used to help the climate or is it responsible for negative changes? I would see magic here as a form of energy and could your setting/characters have abused this in the past with the consequences beginning to come in now?

What would your characters do about it now?

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Story Essentials

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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, as was one photo from the magnificent north-east Scottish coast.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady and I have been out and about and the writing/editing continues to go well so, for differing reasons, we both think we’ve had a good and enjoyable week. Plenty to share further down including thoughts on Story Essentials and useful marketing and character tips.

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Delighted to share Story Essentials on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at the classic structure of story beginnings, middles, and endings. I also look at the other crucial ingredient to any successful story – interesting characters. I share what I think can help make them be interesting to potential readers. The role of character motivations and attitudes plays a huge role here.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Story Essentials

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Hope your Thursday has gone well. Sunshine and showers again. Lady tired out after her exercising today and is currently snoozing as I write this. It’s always good to see a contented dog!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Story Essentials on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above. I will discuss story structure (the classic beginning, middle and ending), and look at the vital role characters play. Hope you will find the post useful as it is written with any kind of fiction in mind.

Having a story structure in place may sound boring, you just want to get on and write, right? But I’ve found having one saves me a great deal of time in writing the piece and in editing it later simply because I already know the structure will work.

Marketing Tip: The good news here is marketing doesn’t have to be done all at once. What you can do is focus on the marketing you are going to do and ensure all is well prepared for that.

For example, I know I’ll have plenty of marketing to do when Seeing The Other Side comes out. I’ll be looking at launches, perhaps being a guest on blogs and all of that kind of thing. But I can do this a piece at a time. It takes the pressure off. It means I’ll enjoy every part of the marketing I’m going to do (and I believe you as a writer get so much more from this when you enjoy what you’re doing here).

Also marketing is genuinely always an ongoing thing. I’m always going to want to promote my books and anthologies in some way long after they first came out/are due out.

Hope the day has gone well. Mixed bag weather wise again though as I type this, the sunshine is out again. Lots of lovely walking with Lady today.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to interviewing Esther Chilton about her latest children’s book, Myths and Magic, on Chandler’s Ford Today later this month. There will be plenty of interest and tips here. Look out for this towards the end of the month.

Character Tip: Characters make or break a story for me so I have to believe in them to care enough about them to find out what happens. This, for me, means I need to understand their motivations for doing what they are, even if I don’t agree with the actions.

I especially love those characters where some of their back story is dropped in, as that can highlight what drives them. I don’t need to know everything though. I just need to know enough.

And how much is enough? That will depend on the length of the story to a certain extent. If it is a flash piece, I won’t need to know nearly as much as I would for a long short story, novella or novel.

For flash work, I like to use character thoughts to show something of their motivations because these also reveal their attitudes at the time too.

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Have just had news from an ACW friend about a potential competition so hope to look into that over the next few days or so and see if I can do something with it.

Networking helps writers in so many ways and this is just one of them. Nobody can know every single competition there is available but together we can share news of what we do know – it will indeed be news to someone else.

I’ve made good use of tips like this in the past and I do spread the word about the wonderful CafeLit whenever I can too. They were my introduction to flash fiction. It’s paid off!

I look for ideas for flash fiction stories all of the time. I opt for timeless topics as much as possible too. Right now I’m especially enjoying being out and about with the dog so I suspect at some point I’ll write a piece based around a walk which will be life changing in some way for my lead character.

The ordinary things of life can and do spark story ideas. Most of hate having to do housework yet see it as a necessary evil. So you could give some thought to what your characters would consider natural evils they have to cope with in some way. There could be potential for funny stories here too.

As well as using prompts, random generators, proverbs etc., I sometimes look at old scenic photos of mine and then weave a story around that. What characters could live here? What would they do? What issue do they have to resolve?

I think it’s a question of keeping your mind open to the thought there are plenty of ideas out there. The trick is working out which would best suit you and your style of writing.

I’m looking forward to the release of Seeing The Other Side next month, naturally enough. One reason why is having new material to share at Open Prose Mic Nights, such as the one The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick put on. I did read something from the new book last year and was pleased it went down well.

I like to mix up the moods of the stories I read at these things and the word counts too. So I will read a humorous piece, a grimmer one, a short 50 worder, a 100 worder or two and so on, depending on how much time I’ve been given.

Flash works so well for these things. It also makes it easier to stop on a “high” and top tip here, it is always better to come in at slightly under your allotted time rather than to go over it. Going over it at all is not really that fair on others still to read and it is always best to go out leaving your audience wishing they had heard more. For one thing, they can go and buy your book, can’t they?

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Wilderness

Recently, I’ve had the joy of escaping to a part of the country which can be considered to be Wild Britain – the north-east coast of Scotland. It is a magnificent mix of moorland, mountains, coast, and farmland. Lots of lovely walking done with other half and the dog. A real break from it all.

In your magical world, what areas would be considered to be wild? Is this because of the natural geography, flora and fauna or because the area has untamed magic none of your characters can harness, yet alone control? If the latter, how did the area become magically wild at all? Was there a curse and, if so, what was the story behind it?

Alternatively, are there areas in your magical setting where magic cannot be? If so, how did this happen and has anyone tried to change the status quo here? (Bound to be consequences and interesting stories here from where people tried and failed. Could form the legends in your magical setting’s fictional history).

This World and Others – Calming Areas

I think we all need our areas of calm. For me, this is often in the swimming pool. I can’t get emails or phone calls there! Plus the exercise is beneficial and can help create a sense of calm because it makes me feel better in myself for having done this.

Holidays where I can get away from it all help here too but even in my immediate area, there are physical places, including in my own garden, which are just good places to be.

So thinking about our characters, what calming areas/things to help them would they seek?

Where would they go to get away from things, locally to them or otherwise? What makes these areas special for them and can getting to them for a while be the catalyst they need to resolve the issues they’re facing?

Definite story ideas there.

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Book Event Tips

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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 JANET WILLIAMS FOR PICTURES OF ME AT THE MOST RECENT HILTINGBURY BOOK FAIR FOR MY CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY POST THIS WEEK.
Hope you’ve had a good week so far. Lady is doing well and the writing is also going along nicely. I like weeks like this!

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Delighted to share Book Event Tips on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I discuss doing as much prep work in advance as you can, suggest some good things to have on your book table, having newsletter sign up forms ready for these things, and giveaways. I also look at the benefits of taking part in book events.

Naturally I hope to take my own advice at future events once Seeing The Other Side is out. My last launch was back in 2020 with Tripping the Flash Fantastic. It wasn’t the best year to have events!

I hope you find the post useful.

Book Event Tips

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I’m delighted to share my latest post on Writers’ Narrative and hope you enjoy my Comedy Writing in Short Fiction. It can be done! I share thoughts and tips here, which I hope you will find useful.

Don’t forget Writers’ Narrative is free to subscribe to and you receive articles on the theme of the month every few days. The theme this time is Comedy Writing.

My article discusses “natural comedy” which flows from a well developed character and situation. For comedy to work, it mustn’t seem forced. I also look at comedy from dialogue and share one of my stories here to illustrate the point.

Hope you enjoy the post and do check out the other articles.

Hope today has gone well. Lady had a lovely time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Coco, the smashing Labradoodle. Tired but happy dogs went home.

Looking forward to an ACW online group tonight. It was great fun!

Will be sharing Book Event Tips on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. The post will have tips I’ve found useful over the years (and hope you will do too) and which I hope to bring into play again for when Seeing The Other Side comes out.

Marketing Tip: Play to your strengths. Be yourself. If certain social media platforms are not for you, that’s fine. It makes sense to enjoy (as much as possible) the marketing work you do. I like meeting with readers, online or in person, so will aim to do both kinds of event. I like sharing posts on Facebook but haven’t got into, say, TikTok.

Whether that changes or not remains to be seen but I won’t try to spread myself too thin. I see any kind of event, including marketing posts, as a way of engaging with potential readers so want these to be as fun as possible for them and, indeed, for me. So it pays to work out then the kind of marketing you know you would be likely to enjoy the most and focus on that.

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Hope today has gone well. Lady had a fabulous puppy party in the park today with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals, plus Coco put in an appearance.

Looking forward to interviewing fellow flash fiction writer, Esther Chilton, for Chandler’s Ford Today later this month, though it will be her children’s work which will be the focus of the interview.

Planning to work on more flash fiction over the weekend though I will soon need to look at what I’ve got so far. I know I’m close to a potential fourth book. In Seeing the Other Side, there will be acrostic and poetic flashes plus I’ve written more linked pieces and those were fun to do.

Hope today has gone well. Lady came with me to vote today. She loves that. Everyone makes a fuss of her and she is as good as gold. She then caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal and her “boyfriend”, the lovely Aussie Shepherd. So Lady has had a great day.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Book Event Tips on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. I hope the post will prove useful (and maybe reassuring as well). See above.

Editing Tip: I was asked at an online meeting I went to earlier this week about anything which stands out as a “bug” for me with my editing hat on.

I mentioned two things – inconsistencies with character names and paragraphs which go on and on for ever, amen. These grate because you do expect the writer to get their character names right.

The huge block of text, on screen or on paper, is off putting. See it as facing a great big “wall of characters”. Not everyone will read on. Your editor will be contractually obliged to (!) but you won’t win any friends doing this. Also bear in mind the longer the paragraph, the slower the pace.

Another top tip here is to read a wide range of books in the genres you write in (which you should do anyway) but look at how the authors here have laid out things like paragraphs etc. See how they will mix up short pacy ones with longer (but don’t drag) ones. Studying this will be a great guideline for you.

One of the many joys of writing and reading flash fiction is escaping into many different worlds.

Flash is character led and those characters can be set anywhere (and in any time) so it is lovely to take advantage of that.

I also like writing acrostic flashes from time to time, poetic type ones, all dialogue stories and so on. I also like to mix up the word counts I write to for flash. It all helps to keep me on my creative toes and I think this is why flash remains a constant and wonderful challenge. It’s a hugely enjoyable one too.

Certainly if you love creating characters, you get to do this all of the time with flash fiction so I highly recommend it. It is also a fabulous warm up writing exercise.

Why not give it a go?

Fairytales with Bite – Escaping For A While

It’s good to get away from it all for a while. I love to do this via writing, listening to classical music, getting out and about, reading and in many other ways. Day trips and holidays help too of course.

But what would your characters do to escape for a while? Where would they go to get away from it all? If they’re magical beings, can they switch their powers off to get a real break or do they have to keep them on “low” as a defensive measure? What would your characters read, listen to, watch, do for day trips and holidays? Is your setting similar to what we know here on Earth or so different there is nothing here to compare with it?

Why do your characters need the break? Do they take a break willingly or does someone else persuade them they need one? How does the break help or hinder them in accomplishing their purpose?

Plenty of story ideas there.

This World and Others – Winding Down

We all need to wind down but it isn’t always that easy to do. Jobs to do, places to go, people to see, a never ending (or seemingly so) To Do list etc.

I like to wind down with classical music and funnily enough writing. It is both a challenge and a joy to do so I find it unwinds me but there does come a point when my brain says that’s enough for one day and I’ve got better at recognizing that for what it is.

How do your characters do in this department? How do they wind down? Are they glad to do so, relieved even, or is it a case they know they need to do so because nobody can go on for ever and ever, amen, without having health issues at some point?

I find it easiest to wind down, knowing it will do me good, so no issue for me here but I could see characters resenting having to “stop” and that could be an interesting idea to explore. There will be an impact from that on how they react to others, how well they do with their work and so on.

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