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. Lovely autumnal weather here. Writing and editing work going well and Lady is continuing to have a great time with her pals, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, but there is now a new boy to our “group”, the fantastic Flash, a black lab. The Ridgeback is especially keen on him and Lady has spotted an opportunity to have a bigger group to herd up so everyone is happy here.
Facebook – General
Hope today has gone well. Odd one for me as not feeling brilliant so have cancelled a few things today and have taken life that bit easier. Hope it’s just one of those 24 hour buglets.
Writing, though, is lovely because I get to sit down, I can take my time doing it, and I always feel better for having written something. I guess it’s a need to get a creative fix here.
Writing wise, I’ll be delighted to share The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Curtain Up for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. It is always a delight to see their shows and this was a new story to me. Find out more when the link goes up on Friday.
It has been a particularly hectic Monday so am glad to be at my desk and share stories with you.
First up tonight is the one I shared on Substack yesterday called Autumn Colours, one of my darker pieces. Hope you enjoy it.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Have loved the warm autumnal weather.
Writing wise, I’m hosting an ACW online group next week plus I hope to catch up with some blogging I need to get done. My Writers’ Narrative article about Darkness in a Flash is out next week too. Not going to get around to competition drafting this weekend after all but things should ease up towards the end of next week so should get to make some progress then.
What first drew me to writing short stories and, from there, to flash fiction? I can’t pin down any one thing here. I’ve always loved fiction of all lengths but there is something so compact about short tales which makes me adore them. I like being able to read about and write a complete world in 2000 words or fewer and then move on to more! You can’t read a novel in a day (at least I can’t). I suppose it is a case of getting my story fix per day right!
Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here.
Will be sharing The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Curtain Up for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. It wasn’t a play I’d heard of but then that is one of the joys of going to your local excellent amateur theatre company. You get to discover many wonderful plays. Review up on Friday.
Going to the theatre is just one fabulous way of taking in stories, apart from reading them. Am also fond of good film adaptations and audio books/productions. Where I’ve read the originating book first, as so many productions are based on novels and short stories, I like to see the adaptation has stuck to the book as faithfully as possible or, at the very least, to its spirit. I’ve got to feel the original novelist/short story writer would like what has been done with their works.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Quiet one here as not feeling brilliant but writing is useful for taking your mind off things. Flash is great when you know you want to write something but not necessarily a lengthy piece!
I think writers do have two great joys – writing and the love of reading which got us into writing our own stories in the first place. The lovely thing with flash it is a perfect format for dipping into and I often read flash and short story collections in between reading novels. I like a good mixture of long and short fiction in my life, whether I’m reading or writing it.
I’m currently preparing some answers to questions for a blog I hope to appear on in due course (I will share the link as and when) and one brilliant question was to ask about my favourite story in Seeing The Other Side. Now I love them all, naturally, though there is one which stands out as I gave it a test run at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in 2025 where it was well received.
But with rare exceptions, most stories are great aren’t they? And the challenge of writing your own remains fun, as it should do (most of the time anyway).
It has been a non-stop Monday so am glad to be sitting down to write this. Time for another story on YouTube. This one is lighter in tone than my Substack one this week (Autumn Colours – see above) but both are written to the 50 word classic dribble word count.
Hope you enjoy Change of Plan.
No matter what world it is, there will be disagreements between mothers and daughters as to what the latter should be wearing when they go out. See what happens here on this in the fairytale world.
Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly. The last few weeks have seen me write plenty of 100 worders for Substack and YouTube so will be writing to a different word count today.
It’s a good idea to mix up writing to different flash fiction word count ranges as you will find competitions to suit whatever word count you are using. It’s also fun!
The dribbles (fifty worders) are great for sharing on social media. The 100 worders are good for sharing on your website/blog. Both give folk a chance to enjoy your writing style.
As ever, am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. I shared some thoughts on getting work out there with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group earlier this week and I hope in time I’ll get to see they did get some of their flash pieces published/broadcast etc.
Am also going to an online launch for a flash fiction collection by a fellow Chapeltown Books author later this month. Always good to celebrate flash books getting out there. And don’t forget they make excellent presents!
I’ve always loved inventing characters so getting to do this all of the time for flash writing is a joy. What makes characters come to life for me is their voice. Can I imagine Character A saying the things the author has given them to say?
The answer to that should be an unqualified yes. Even where Character A says one thing but thinks something else it should be clear to the reader why this is. There it is interesting to find out whether thoughts and speech ever come together or whether what the character is really thinking finally emerges undermining what they’ve said.
But the author has done their job well there because I only have one way to find out – keep reading.
Goodreads Author Blog – Character Likes and Dislikes
We all have our likes and dislikes when it comes to characters. I love those who try to get things right, fail, try again, eventually get them right. I don’t like characters who rely on others to do all of that for them or if they are relying on the misfortunes of others to make things right for them. Doesn’t seem quite right to me.
I find it fascinating to find out more about a character as I read on and that goes for their likes and dislikes too. How will those likes and dislikes pan out during the course of the story? Could someone’s dislike of tea, say, give them problems when they’re trying to win someone over who loves the beverage? Good potential for comedy there.
A character seems to be more real to me, even when they’re the most fantastical creation, if they have likes and dislikes. I will have much more empathy for a tea drinking fairy godmother who is bemoaning the lack of time for a decent brew or two than one who just gets on with the job and shows no “humanlike” traits about them. Indeed, the latter is more likely to come across as a cardboard cut out.
