Tag: character tip

Discovering Favourite Authors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Had a lovely Zoom session with fellow Swanwickers last night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The mirror shattered on seeing her face.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Discovering Favourite Authors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stories In Holiday Locations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories In Holiday Locations

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

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

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

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

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Mixing Writing Exercises Up and Series or Stand Alone Books

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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. One photo taken by my lovely editor from Chandler’s Ford Today, Janet Williams, from the most recent Hiltingbury Book Fair. One image of me holding a copy of Creativity Matters was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Much cooler than the last one. Much nicer for Lady and me. Writing and editing going well. Hope to share links to the first part of the serialisation of Seeing The Other Side soon. Exciting times!

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Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. Lovely time had by both dogs. Will need to watch the weather later in the week given the temperatures are going up again. Lady didn’t miss out when I had to skip walks. She was perfectly content staying in the shade at home and I can see us having to do that again later this week.

Looking forward to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in just over a month’s time. It is the highlight of my writing year. Am so looking forward to catching up with fellow writers again. Will be leading a couple of volunteer sessions (Lift Up Your Pens and Lift Up Your Hearts, always lovely to do).

Writing Tip: To get the most out of writing exercises, mix up the type you do. For example, I love the opening line kind so, yes, I often do them but I also have a crack at the closing line ones. I like to try the one line stories, as well as flash fiction ones which specify a different word count (100, 250, 500, and 750 worders are popular).

As well as giving you different experiences in producing stories to different kinds of exercise, you may well find a type which you really take to – I’ve taken to the 100 worder for example. I find it’s also fun to mix things up and see it as a great way of getting more stories down than if I just stuck to one or two kinds of exercise.

Also you don’t know if you can do these exercises unless you do give them a go.

Hope you’ve had a good start to the week. Tiring one here. Lady had a lovely time in the park though she didn’t see any pals today. Hope to make up for that later in the week.

Lovely weekend writing wise. Got plenty done, which always pleases me, especially since Monday is the one day of the week when I know I won’t get too much done.

Character Tip: Think about the characters you love and loathe in books you read. What is it about them which makes you feel this way? Is is their attitudes, their behaviour, a combination, or something else? Then look at how the author has shown you these things (and it will be in more than one way too).

Can you apply any of what you have picked up here to how you present your own creations? Writers always learn from other writers and the most fun way of doing this is by reading a lot in and out of your genre. So if you did need an excuse to read more, by all means use this one!

Had some thunder and rain today. Has cooled the air down more which is great. Lady isn’t fazed by thunder. But she isn’t keen on it either so takes the approach it is best to stay out of the way and curl up somewhere cosy. You can’t argue with that, can you?

Writing wise, will be starting flash fiction Sunday shortly before resuming works on blogs etc (I always have at least one on the go. I have a low boredom threshold!).

Top Tip: Want to make the most of your reading? As well as enjoying the stories you read, have a look at them again when you’ve finished. Work out what it was which appealed to you the most and why. You can learn from that for your own writing.

Every writer is inspired by their own love of reading. You pick up so much unconsciously almost as to what makes a character grip you etc. As you read, you are just aware this character is gripping you.

So when you go looking for specifically what made you feel this way about a character, you will find it. Often I find it is a turn of phrase which brings a character to life for me. It “rings true”. It is the “rings true” moment we all strive to write into our own works.


Hope you have had a good day. Got some rain today – made the air lovely and cool.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Quizzing Your Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and sharing different ways in which this can be done as well as sharing three standard questions which would be a fabulous outline for any story.

Looking forward to a lovely Swanwick Zoom later tonight and flash fiction Sunday for me tomorrow. Have a story I want to get off to a competition too.

Marketing Tip: I deliberately don’t try to do every single marketing thing a writer could do. I think you do have to pick what you can do consistently and, importantly, enjoy doing because that will help you to be consistent at all.

Consistency resonates with readers, I think, if only because it shows you take what you do seriously. You are here for the longer term. Plus it makes sense to enjoy this side of life (or as much as possible anyway) because it is part of the writing life. Every writer, published, self published or what have you, has to do their own marketing so it makes sense to like what you do here.

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I’ve had one of those days where I’ve run late on most things all day and that includes getting my Facebook posts up. (Gone past 8 pm today). You do just get days like that but how about this for an idea?

Story Idea:  Create one of these days for a character and see how they handle it. You could get several tales out of that thought because you could have different characters facing different difficulties in the space of a day. You could mix the mood of the stories up here too.

Have fun (and yes I will almost certainly explore this thought myself at a later date).

It’s Monday. Has been more hectic than usual for me. Hope yours has been better! Time to wind down with a story then. My latest on YouTube is Ring Any Bells.

The new vicar is holding auditions for bell ringers but will the next door neighbour get away with their way of auditioning or not? Find out here.


Do dates have meaning for your characters in your stories? There are the obvious dates to use such as birthdays and personal anniversaries but bear in mind you could use historical dates (whether or not your stories are set on Earth).

Dates are a great way to use numbers in your flash fiction because your story can hinge about the meaning of this date. Your character will have a heightened emotional response to it, else why is it special or important in some way to them? Naturally you can get another character to spoil or enhance things here. Good story outline there, I think.

And if you can’t think of a number to use as a date, do use the random number generator. You won’t be stuck for thoughts here using that!

Flash comes in many forms. As well as the different word counts you can use (up to 1000), you can mix up the styles a bit too. For example, I’ve written acrostic flash fiction, poetic flash fiction, all dialogue flash fiction and more. I’ve written historical flash, crime flash, ghost flash, fairytale flash and more. I’ve turned writing exercises in to published flash fiction too.

I think many write flash without always realising it. If you ever take part in a writing exercise set by someone else, you will only get to write a hundred words or so in the time you’ve been given.

If you go in for Open Prose Mic Nights, you usually only have five minutes in which to share something. That’s perfect flash territory because your material cannot go on for too long.

It’s not a bad thing to prepare material to last for a short time whether or not you take part in these things. Why? Because it would be something useful to share on your social media, website etc. That gives you something of value to share with potential readers and that is always a good thing.

Goodreads Author Blog – Series Books -v- Stand Alones

Do your prefer series books or stand alones? I love both, naturally and can see the merits in both.

Sometimes a story can only be told in one book – The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a great example of that. Nothing can be added.

But I do love series books, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the major characters develop over time. Indeed, you can follow a whole life story for them within the overall plots of the individual books.

Sam Vimes is the best example here as you see him go from being a drunk copper to becoming a heroic copper who marries the fabulous Lady Sybil Ramkin (what she doesn’t know about dragons isn’t worth knowing) and then on to being a Duke, still being heroic and never losing sight of himself. He’s not one for whom fame would get to his head. Love all of that. And you get to see that slowly revealed over many novels.

This kind of thing I think is the best feature of series books and is why crime series tend to do so well. You follow the results of the individual case plus you catch up on what the lead characters have done/are doing. Plenty to like there.

In my field, short fiction, you obviously get to have lots of stand alone stories but you can have series ones too. I write linked flash fiction sometimes where a character will turn up in more than one tale yet each story is its own complete tale. Fun to do and a good challenge.

Am glad to say I will have a new book out next year (more details nearer the time) and I have had fun with linked flash in that. Looking forward to saying more about this later. But you can have series and stand alones in short stories and flash fiction too.

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Books and Stories In Culture

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me at Swanwick about to run an editing workshop. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from my local wildflower meadow.
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Pleased to say the temperature has come down a bit – much fresher and nicer for Lady and me. Good to take some pictures of the local wildflower meadow – see one of the posts below for these. It is good to focus on lovely things and I include creative writing in that. Especially when the world at large is not a great place, it is good to escape, for a while at least, into a world I can create through stories. When reading, I escape into a world created for me by other writers. What is there not to love about books?

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Hope you’ve had a good day. It has been a lovely pleasant day and Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal too.

Pleased to say I did manage to submit two stories yesterday. It was a good use of my limited writing time yesterday. As ever, I did pick up on a final error – it is the way of the writing life – but it did mean I could correct that before sending my material in. It does pay to give yourself your own time limit ahead of any official deadline. It gives you the chance to spot and correct things like that.

Good breezy day and much pleasanter as a result. Lady and I appreciated that.

Writing wise, well it is Monday, one of my busiest days of the week so I focus on getting bits and pieces done. Hope to submit a couple of pieces a little later on (all prepped earlier of course and edited).

I often use Mondays as my final day to check all is well and send pieces in. It is a good use of my limited time and frees up longer sessions later on in the week for more concentrated bursts of writing.

You do have to find what works best for you. It takes time to work out what does work best for you but it is worth it, I’ve found. I know what I’m going to be doing when I get to my desk so I can get straight on with it. That saves a lot of time in itself, funnily enough.

Cooler today, Lady and I are not at all sorry about that. It was much pleasanter over the park and the wildflower meadow is looking amazing. See pics.

Writing wise, I’ll be on to flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Always a lovely way to end the weekend. Have a short story to send to a competition once I’ve sorted out my edits but hope do that either today or early part of this week. Am also busy editing at the moment and loving the work.

Character Tip: Physical appearance generally for me is not the most important thing for me to know when creating my characters. I need to know their main traits and what comes from that and then ideas about their appearance might come to me.

Just occasionally does knowing a character is a brunette as opposed to a blonde matter to the story but not often. In life, as in fiction, I try not to judge by appearances, not least because it usually is the least important thing about someone. Attitude matters far more but can be so useful for creating tremendous tales and characters readers remember).

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Had some drizzle today, cooled the temperature a bit, but has heated up again this afternoon. Lady keeping nice and cool though.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing some local author news in a detailed post for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. No prizes for guessing who the local author will be when I say the post will be called Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side. I’ll be sharing some more information about the book as well as what it means to me to have a third book due. More on that on Friday. After that, I will share news when the serialisation of part of the book starts and, later, more on the book launches I hope to have.

Writing/Marketing Tip: Think about what it is which makes you love to write. It gives you a good topic for conversation with potential readers and other writers whether you meet them face to face or online. It is also a natural way into talking about your book whether it is out, about to come out, or whether you are finishing it off ready to send out there.

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Today has, aptly for me, gone by in a flash but how do your characters handle the passing of time? Are they finding it drags for them or does it race along? What are the reasons for them feeling this way? Bound to be reasons – and potential flash stories too. Hope you have fun with that thought!

It’s funny how quickly Mondays come around again. It’s time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Bringing Things to An End.

A group where confessions can be made anonymously with no fear of disclosure hears what could be its most unusual confession to date. And just where do custard pies come into it? Find out here.

 

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Zoom has proved useful for writing groups and made more of them possible to do at tall.

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Incidentally, Friday Flash Fiction now want submissions sent in between Mondays and Thursdays so I prepare my tale for them on a Sunday and submit it on a Monday evening. Works well, especially since Monday is the day of the week when I know I can’t do much writing. So ”little things to do” such as getting my story in to them is useful and cheers me up. I know I’ve done something useful which is creative.

If you submit work somewhere regularly, it pays to keep on top of what their latest guidelines are because things do change, always with good reason, and it means you’re aware.


It won’t be too long before my next author newsletter will be out. There will be a summer related theme. To sign up for tips, flash tales, news and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Flash is easy to share on social media given it is short, hopefully entertaining or thought provoking, and gives you something of value to share with those who follow you and your work. Even if your work is longer, maybe a flash piece about one of your characters could make a useful “taster” to share. Just a thought.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Stories in Culture

No matter what our own cultures are, there will be books and stories which stand out in them. These will be the books and stories “everyone knows” but may not necessarily have read for themselves. I am so conscious of all the wonderful English language classics I am unlikely to get around to reading though I am determined to get at least some read.

Where this comes in is when you play the great game of spot the influences when reading works by authors you love. A great example of this is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. There are all sorts of “nods” in those.

Another example can be found in the stories of Jeeves and Wooster by P.G. Wodehouse where Bertie Wooster inevitably gets the name of the author and/or the book concerned not quite right. Yet it is clear from context the book and author do exist.

So cultural books and stories can inspire other tales. I like this!

 

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Tips, Blurbs, and Using Set Themes

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Hope you had a good weekend. Stormy on Saturday, sunny on Sunday – typical for the UK! Lady had a lovely time and very busy on the writing and editing front, which I love. Will be sharing good news soon.

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Hope you have had a good day. Weather changeable but Lady had a lovely play time – and the zoomies – with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback today.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Why Write Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that. I do answer the question, you’ll be glad to hear.

I was pleased to recommend two fictional historical books and one non-fiction one at an online meeting last night. Good fun. (For the record I recommended The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, The Sunne In Splendour by Sharon Penman, and London by Peter Ackroyd. All excellent reads and different in style).

Character Tip: Think of one character you have already written or are thinking about writing up into a story and then name three things you would associate with them. May well prove to be useful additional information for you character outline.

This is especially useful if you haven’t already thought of three things so ask yourself three questions you know you haven’t already done. If you know about their physical appearance, think about what makes them tick. If you know the latter, think about what they would never wear or always wear etc. It will show you more about them and you are bound to find a use for that.

Hope you have had a good start to the week. Mine has been hectic but then it usually is on a Monday. Lady has had an excellent start to her week because she got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie for the first time in a few days and saw her Hungarian Vizler pal too. Win-win, or perhaps as they would say, woof-woof!

Time Tip: Don’t worry about those days when you know you can’t get much writing done. Mondays are always like that for me. I focus on doing “little bits and pieces” so I can save my longer periods of writing time later in the week for bigger stretches of work. Not only is this efficient, I feel I have done something useful with the small pockets of time I have had and it ensures those are not wasted.

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice to see calmer, sunnier weather today. Lady and I appreciated it over the park earlier.

Loved going to The Chameleons Open Evening last night which was their way of celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. I will write about this for Chandler’s Ford Today in a couple of weeks time.

Writing Tip: It is worth keeping an eye out on writing competitions for another reason, especially the ones with a theme set for you. Why?

Simply because I’ve sometimes come across those I would have loved to have entered but know I cannot get anything in for the deadline. So I use the theme as a prompt and write my story up later. The same theme may come up again at some point. They often do. If not, I have another story to put towards another collection.

A soggy Saturday here though so far the rain hasn’t been as bad as predicted. Hope it stays that way especially as I’m off to The Chameleons Open Evening later on.

Writing wise, I’ll be asking a leading question for Chandler’s Ford Today next week when I discuss Why Write Fiction? Link will be up on Friday for that one.

If you write articles for a magazine with an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) it is worth putting your articles down on your listing with the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). It makes a big difference to your payment received and the good news is online magazines can have an ISSN. I list my articles for Writers’ Narrative with ALCS, for example. To find out more about ALCS, do check out the link.


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I love writing quirky tales from time to time, often with a humorous twist. Flash is the ideal format for these, I think, because they work best when kept to a tight word count. (You don’t want the “laugh” being dragged out – flash won’t allow you to do that).

Usually with these I do know the ending first and then work out how I could have got to this point. It means my structure is a logical one and I often do these with any of my twist flashes and short stories, regardless of the story mood. I find it works. A twist, humorous or otherwise, does have to have a solid foundation behind it. Without that, it won’t convince the reader.

It’s Monday. Hectic as ever and time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Need to Know. Am sure you will understand Bill in this one.

What does the need for secrecy, Wendy, doughnuts, and a new bakery in town, all have in common? Answer: Bill. Find out why and what here.

 

I mix up the ways I come up with ideas for flash fiction and other stories. I do this to keep me on my creative toes but it is a good idea anyway. You don’t want to miss out on possible sources of inspiration after all.

So I use various random generators (and will mix up the parameters I set on these too as that gives me further ideas), books of proverbs and phrases, story dice, books of prompts (and I’ve contributed to some of these – good fun to do) and, of course, from Flash NANO. As mentioned on my author page, I will use set themes from competitions as prompts whether or not I enter the contest. I should add prompts are a regular feature of Writers’ Narrative too. Check out the latest issue at the link below.

 

If you’re in the UK, I hope you’ve managed to dodge the heavy rain today!

Do keep an eye out for flash fiction competitions. There are plenty out there and some short story ones add flash on as a category or allow your minimum word count to be 1000 words, which is at the top end of flash. There are opportunities out there.

Flash is also easy to share on your social media platforms and your website. Doesn’t take up too much room and gives followers a taster of your writing style. Besides it is fun to do and I love playing with genres and setting my characters in all sorts of situations. Give it a go! I’ve found it has also sharpened up the other writing I do, which is no bad thing either.

Goodreads Author Blog – Blurbs

A brilliant blurb is an excellent draw for me to buy the book it is on. Tricky to write though! (I do think writing flash fiction regularly at least gives you practice in writing to the word count required for blurbs but I am biased here given flash is what I do).

What I want from a good blurb is a taster of the book. I must have an idea of who the lead is and the problem (the major one) the character is facing. I have then got to feel as if I must read on to find out what happens. If successful in making me do that, the blurb has done its job!

Blurbs are best kept short. You do just want a taste, not the whole buffet, but it has to be enough of a taster and that is the tricky bit to get right, I think.

Mind you reading lots of books and seeing how other authors have done this is a great way to learn for when you hopefully get to do this for yourself! Not that I need encouraging to read more, mind you. That is always a great thing to do whether you write as well or not.

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June 2025 edition shared further up but please do see the March 2025 edition below. Always worth a re-read or two! Ties in nicely with my comments about historical fiction and non-fiction further up.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Thoughts on Editing

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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 week so far. Mixed bag weather wise but the train is welcome (grass has been looking sorry for itself). Writing wise, lots going on and I hope to share some very exciting news on this soon.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, Thoughts on Editing. Naturally I am biased on this topic given I am an editor but I share useful thoughts and tips on editing anything (yes, really). Hope you find the post informative and practical.

Am off to The Chameleons Open Evening tomorrow (7th June) as they are holding this to celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. Congratulations to them all. They put on some wonderful plays so if you have a chance to get to one or more, do go.

The Open Evening is on from 6 pm to 9 pm and will be at the Ritchie Hall in Chandler’s Ford. All welcome to go and find out more about what it takes to put on a performance. Volunteers always wanted for roles on and off the stage. 

Thoughts on Editing

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Hope today has been okay. Another soggy one but Lady got to play in front of her Hungarian Vizler chum again so all is well with their worlds! Not sorry about the rain. Grass needs it. Relieved it’s not coming down as a torrential downpour which just floods everywhere. Rain coming down at a steady rate means the ground is more likely to make better use of it. Also Lady and I get damp rather than soaked so there is that as well!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

Will be off to visit The Chameleons as they hold their Open Evening to celebrate their 60th anniversary on Saturday evening. Hope to catch up with my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today there as well.

Character Tip: What draws you (or repels you) to the character you’re writing about? There has to be a strong reason why you want to write their story up whether they’re going to be the hero of the villain. This all ties in with character motivation of course but I do think this is a huge driver for any story to be a success, regardless of its length.

Hope today has been a good Wednesday for you. Lady showed off in front of her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. The latter looks on Lady playing, almost as if she was being an indulgent granny watching her favourite grandchild! Lady just has a fabulous time (but I am sure she is aware she is showing off!).

Writing wise, am looking forward to going to an online sci-fi and fantasy group (run by the Association of Christian Writers) later this evening. Always good fun. Am making good progress on a longer short story too. Group was great fun. Longer short story on the back burner for the moment. Things have cropped up but I hope to share news of this soon.

I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday – it is always a timely topic especially given I am editing away at the moment and loving it. See above.

 

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Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble (100 worder), Starting Over. Find out what role the “umbrella from hell” has to play in Mary’s life here.

I mentioned yesterday about using flash to play with genre (see below) but inevitably my favourite genres come through in my flash fiction stories.

For me, these are what I call fairytales with bite (humorous fantasy, sometimes grimmer fantasy!), historical fiction, crime and many more but I would say these are my main three.

There is often a strong element of justice being done in many of my stories too which crosses the genres but I know for me is inspired by my love of the classic fairytales. The rotters rarely get away with it in those tales. You know the comeuppance is coming. The great thing with flash tales is that comeuppance comes very quickly, sometimes in only 100 words!

One of the things I enjoy most about writing flash fiction is the opportunity it gives me to play with character and, therefore, genre. I can and do set my characters, some of whom are definitely not human, in all kinds of settings and back and forwards in time as well.

What I focus on is making my character believable as I mentioned the other day. Their world may be fantastic. But their actions and attitudes should always be relatable. (Not necessarily agreeable though!).

Fairytales with Bite – Seasonal Magic

In your magical setting, do the seasons, whether they’re the same as ours or not, play havoc with a character’s magical abilities? Does the availability of natural light, or its lack, change what your characters can do or limit their powers in some other way? If it does, can this be overcome by what they would consider artificial means?

Can enemies take advantage of when powers are “down” due to seasonal fluctuations? What would your world do to protect itself against that?

Equally when there is an abundance of natural energy (not necessarily light though this is an obvious one to think about), does that boost your character’s magical powers and how can they make the most of this while this lasts? Can your world take advantage of this against their enemies?

Certainly I wouldn’t think it unreasonable for lack of light or other energy source to have a direct ability on someone’s magical capacity in stories. It an also limit the powers of magic forcing your characters to find other ways to resolve their problems. There will be interesting story ideas to emerge from that.

This World and Others – Times

Time is a major factor in all of our lives and that goes for our characters too. Even the superheroes need their down time. So what kind of down time would your characters need (other than the obvious ones of food, drink, rest) and how would they get this time off?

How is time measured in your setting? Are the lengths of days and nights the same as ours, or are they wildly different and, if the latter why is that the case? This has a direct impact on what could be grown in your setting too and what your characters are likely to be able to eat. It would then in turn have an impact on the kinds of employment in your setting too. If only certain items of food can be grown, your setting would need workers for that, others to process it for the general market and so on.

The way time works in your setting will have an impact on what you characters could get done in a typical “day”. That will have an impact on how long they will need to fulfil their quest or whatever task you’ve set them to do. Of course if they have more time in a day than we do, that could help them a lot!

But it pays to plan out how time will work in your setting.

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Tips, Writers’ Narrative, and Defining a Good Read

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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. Image of me holding Creativity Matters, From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Company for permission to use the photos in the bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post shared below.
Hope you have a good weekend. Mine encompassed the glamour of wood treating a fence panel to getting on with my writing. Both creative in their way though, I suppose!

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Today has been somewhat soggy but Lady didn’t mind. She got to see her Hungarian Vziler pal again today and Lady never frets about the rain. She’s got a good coat, she can shake it all over Mum, so why worry?

Writing wise, hope to share some exciting news soon. Looking forward to being able to do that. Watch this space as they say.

Apologies for forgetting to put a title to my June newsletter – oops! But many thanks to all my subscribers. Your support is much appreciated. Other than that little faux pas, I have found the transfer over to MailerLite to be painless, I’m glad to say.

Character Tip: Whatever kind of character you create – and I have many non-human ones in my cast list – they still have to be understandable to readers.

So motivations and wants need to be clear and we should be able to see why someone would do something. Nothing is to “come out of the blue” – nobody ever believes that.

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. Busy one here as always. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so her week has got off to a good start.

Writing Tip: Want a quick easy outline for a story? Just ask two questions.

  1. What does your character want?
  2. What gets in their way?

In fleshing the answers out to those, you will be off to a flying start with your outline and the resulting story. All stories need a structure and those two questions give your tale a great “backbone”.

Hope the weekend has been a good one for you. Still can’t quite believe it’s June already.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. It is always a timely topic and I share tips which have proved useful for me as a writer and as an editor.

Looking forward to popping along to The Chameleons’ Open Evening later this week too.

Pleased to say my author newsletter went out again today. It’s only the second one I’ve sent using the new service provider. All well so far and pleased to be able to schedule it too.

Glad to catch up with some friends from Swanwick on a Zoom session last night. Good way to keep in touch.

31st May –  First Post – Bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post
Two posts from me tonight. First up is a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post. As you know, I often go and see plays performed by our excellent local theatre company, The Chameleons. They’re celebrating their 60th anniversary this year and are holding an Open Evening next weekend (Saturday 7th June). More details in the post but if you can get along, they will be pleased to see you.

The Chameleons – Open Evening – 7th June 2025 – Celebrating 60 Years of Drama

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31st May – Second Post – June 2025 edition of Writers’ Narrative

Second post and I’m pleased to say the June edition of Writers’ Narrative is now available. See link below.

The theme is on Worldbuilding (which comes into various forms of fiction and not just fantasy and sci-fi – e.g. crime fiction has to set its world too, you need to know era for one thing).

I share Five Top Writing Tips, useful for whatever you write. Do enjoy a cracking read.

 

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Flash fiction helps with other forms of writing in all sorts of ways.

Writing to one line sentences, as I set recently for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, can be used to help practice writing straplines. Longer flashes (say up to 500 words) can be used to help get you used to writing to the word count needed for a synopsis.

Plus it can be used as a warm up exercise ahead of your main writing work and, as I’ve mentioned before, you could polish those pieces up and get them out for competitions etc.

Well worth trying. I find writing flash to be an absorbing challenge.

It’s Monday. Time for another story. Hope you like my latest one on YouTube – Taking Time.

Can the old Master of Time live up to his reputation when put to the ultimate test? Find out here. This is one of my fairytales with bite.

 

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Need to look out some more competitions soon to have a try at but that may well need to wait until next weekend. Am happily busy elsewhere, writing wise.

I’ve always loved the way The Bridport Prize describes flash fiction – as the “art of just enough”. Sums it up so well. Inference is a powerful tool in the flash format. Picking the right telling detail about your character and/or setting can leave much else to be inferred but readers will pick up on this.

I know I love it in any length of story when an author doesn’t tell me every single thing. I like to work things out. All that is needed are the right clues to do that.

Flash fiction writing is great practice in working out what you do need to reveal and what you can leave to be implied. As such it is an excellent writing exercise. But the better news is there are opportunities for being published and competitions for those flash pieces you come up with.


Had a lovely morning wood treating a fence panel – I know it’s all glamour here! Lady was enjoying the cool indoors. (I also cannot trust her to not want to stick her nose in the wood treatment pot. She is a curious animal but sometimes there is such as thing as too much curiosity!).

Writing wise, pleased to say the June 2025 edition of Writers’ Narrative is out – theme is Worldbuilding. Every fiction writer does this to a certain extent. Even in flash fiction I have to show a reader where my story is, sometimes indicate era and so on. Link to the magazine shared via my author page. See above.

Last but not least, my author newsletter is out tomorrow. Can’t believe we’re almost at June already. I share news, tips, and links to my flash stories online in the newsletter. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Goodreads Author Blog – Defining a Good Read

How would you define a good read? For me, it is any story of any length and genre, where I have to read through to the finish. Usually it is the character which grips me. Sometimes it’s an intriguing premise. The very best stories have both of those.

But I have been just as entertained and gripped by a well crafted 100 word story as I have been by the other end of the scale, a 100,000 word novel.

I like a wide variety of genres though my favourites are fantasy, fairytales especially, history (fiction and non-fiction) and crime.

Thankfully I have not abandoned many stories of any length because they haven’t engaged but in those cases where it did happen, I know it was because I wasn’t convinced by the characterisation, yet alone gripped by it. Still in a way this is useful. I know what I like and dislike here so I can avoid making the same mistakes in my own work.

Life is too short to not have good reads in your reading pile!

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Book Reviews, Editing, and Writing Superpowers

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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 the weekend went well. Good to be back in the garden again. Lawn grateful I was I think! Pleased to see lovely foxgloves in flower too. Writing wise, am pretty much back to my normal routine and enjoying that. Lady, as ever, appreciates the company of her pals at the park. We appreciate the little things in life. They’re often more important to you than you might think. Know this is true for me and the dog!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Soggy one here in Hampshire though Lady was delighted to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal again. Both dogs had a lovely time in the park before the rain set in.

Writing wise, will have further editing work coming up shortly. Looking forward to starting on that.

There will also be a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post on Saturday this week from me as I’m publicizing The Chameleons’ Open Evening on 7th June. They’re celebrating their 60th anniversary this year and are inviting people to see what they do (and where they need volunteers) on and off the stage.

Plus I will be looking at History and Stories in my usual Friday night slot where I look at the links between history and stories and why I love both. (Nice link here as The Chameleons have acted out many wonderful stories, some of them history based, over their 60 years on the stage).

Stories, whether as prose or plays, can explore history and shed new insights on it.

Bank holiday here today in my part of the world. Lady was thrilled to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today. We either see all we know on a bank holiday or nobody at all – there is no middle ground!

Had a quick look at the random question generator I use every so often to trigger story ideas. Usually the question gives me the theme I write to (and my characters answer the question, it literally is the story).

The question which came up tonight was if you could have one superpower what would it be? Now that is a fabulous question and I’m sure an article or two could be written around it but I wondered about answering it for this post from a writing viewpoint.

So which writing superpower would I like to have? I think it would be the ability to keep writing, no matter what. I wouldn’t ask to write perfectly from the get go because I think a lot of excellent stories come about thanks to having decent editing work done on them.

But to keep going whenever and whatever the circumstances, that would be a good thing to have. It isn’t always easy to do this so having a superpower boosting me here would be most welcome.

Hope the weekend is proving to be a good one for you. Cut the lawn yesterday. Desperately needed doing. Looking much better now and it was a great workout for me!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again too. (I know. I can hardly believe is is almost June either). You can sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing wise, I’m working on a longer short story as well as my usual flash work at the moment. Have put final touches to my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group for Wednesday. Now done! Will be back to blogging and editing shortly. I do like a good mix of things to do!

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Have got to the end of the first week back from our wonderful Northumberland break. Always tough, the first week back from any kind of break but hey I’m there so now it is a case of onwards and upwards.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at History and Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I love history. I love stories. History is full of stories. It’s a gem of a topic to write about! I’ve also found reading historical fiction has led to me reading historical non-fiction too but more on this in my post on Friday.

Character Tip: Remember it isn’t compulsory to like the characters you create, far from it, but you do need to know what drives and motivates them so you can write their stories up with understanding of where they are coming from and why.

For villains, you do need to look at why they have become that way. Not all of that will make it into your finished tale but enough should so readers can see why they’re being the way they are too.

If, say, your villain is driven by the need to make money a line of dialogue with another character or their own thought showing their need for enough money will create that understanding.

Readers (and you) still don’t need to approve of how they go about things here.

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Hope today has been a good one. Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. The topic is Tens. Looking forward to seeing everyone then. Zoom has made more things possible including writing groups like this one.

Am hoping to go an in-person ACW meeting later this year but have to book it first. Hope to do that in next couple of days. I like a good mixture of in person and online events. In a world which is far from perfect, why not have the best of both worlds when it comes to meeting with other writers?

Flash is also wonderful to share in any kind of workshop and/or writing group given it is short. I’ve always found stories illustrate points well. People remember the stories. (This is nothing new, far from it. Jesus did this with parables. Aesop did it with his fables too. All would count as flash fiction as we know it now).


It’s a Bank Holiday Monday where I am but it is still Monday. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Mixing It Up.

What harm could it do to mix up the dragons’ magical foodstuff and give it to the butterflies instead? George thinks it will be okay but is he right to do so?

 

Titles are important for any story (or article come to that) given they’re the first hook to entice a reader into reading your work. 

For flash fiction, I try and use mine to do some “heavy lifting” in terms of indicating to a reader the tale’s probable mood without using up any of my precious word count. (Most flash competitions don’t include the title in the limit they set you but there are always exceptions so do check).

I also use titles as a brainstorming exercise. It’s fun to do too. Why not give it a try?

Writing Exercise: Give yourself five minutes. Jot down as many three to five word titles as you can in that time. It helps to think along the lines of Subject and Action (a refusal to act will count as an action). Also consider Subject and Job.

You are looking for two immediate hooks here. People will want to know about your subject depending on what action or job you’ve given them in the title.

For example, how about George, the Butterfly Tamer, as an idea. I would immediately want to know who George is, how can anyone tame butterflies, and why does anything think it is needed. The story would reveal the answer to those questions but I’ve got to read it to find out. Job done by the author there I think! Do see my YouTube story for this week too – see above. I wrote this post first then decided to write the story up with just the title to go with. Good fun to do.

I’ve also found when I do this exercise once I get started, a whole raft of other ideas come. Later, I will review my title lists and the ones which still appeal to me are the ones I will write up. But this exercise is definitely worth trying. Hope you have fun with it.

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group on Zoom on Wednesday. Have set what I hope will be an intriguing theme (Tens – what would you make of that?) Alas, I’m not telling all here, but it is fun coming up with different ideas for these meetings and, of course, a good challenge to me.

Whatever you write, doing something different every now and then is a good challenge and will help sharpen up your other writing – or at least I’ve found that to be the case. It’s another good reason to enter story competitions every now and then (but do check the competition background out first and ensure you’re happy with it). Again, it makes you do something different, you are often set the prompt and it is a good challenge to see what you can do with it.

(Am also pleased because when I relax I play with words too. Have today got the word rewrites out in my phone’s equivalent of Scrabble. All seven tiles out so I get the bonus points too. Apt word for a writer and editor, I think!).

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Reviews

Do you read book reviews? I do. As a writer myself, I appreciate the reviews which come in on my books but I also like to write reviews on works by other authors. Other than buying the book itself, reviewing is probably the next best way to support authors. I keep my reviews short and would put in a plea to review when you can. It helps more than you know.

I try to review the moment I’ve finished a book whether it’s on Kindle or in print. Otherwise, I know I may well forget to do it. Life getting in the way and all of that…

The best reviews give a good flavour of what the book is about without giving too much away. The good news is they don’t have to be long to be effective.

Why not review the book you are currently reading? Doesn’t have to be a contemporary one either (though that obviously does help current authors) but there’s nothing to stop you giving your thoughts on a classic work either. I know I still find those useful for the classics I’ve not yet got around to reading.

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Once Upon A Time

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Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy but fun one here and so delighted to hear I’ll be in print again later this year, details below. Lady having a lovely time catching up with her pals and enjoying the lovely weather.

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Am pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my post is called Once Upon A Time.

I discuss how these famous opening words to classic fairytales can inspire us with our own opening lines. For one thing, they show you don’t need too many words to set a scene, genre, and time scale!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have a good start to the week. Lovely weather here. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today so all is well in her world.

Looking forward to sharing my review of Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor which I went to see performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group last week. The review will be on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. It’s the first time I’ve been to an interactive murder mystery play.

Writing Tip: How easy or otherwise do you find getting into your character’s head so you know where they are coming from here? I find I must be able to do so to understand their motivations properly and be able to write their story up. A few pertinent questions can help here. A good one to always ask is what do you want and why? That alone can give you a good “backbone” for a story.

Publication News
Am thrilled to say my story, The Family Legend, will be in the Magi themed Bridge House Publishing anthology due out later this year. Huge congratulations to all of the other writers who will also be in this book. I share the full list below and it is good to see some familiar names here!

Jane Spirit – A Royal Dilemma
Diana Powell – Adoration
Adam Mizler – Caspar’s Story
Joyce Frohn – Epiphany
Sally Angell – Follow Your Own Star
Michael Rogers – In the Departure Lounge
Margaret Bulleyment – Island Views
Sara Winslow – Lavender
Sara Page – Nativity
Paula Readman – Quizmas Rivalry
Richard Balou – Return of the Magi
Steve Wade – Seosamh, Meryem, the Busker and the Boy
Sharon Keely – Star Over Dartmoor
John Walker – The Census
Allison Symes – The Family Legend
Ian Inglis – The Four Wise Men
Anne Meale – The Gift of Common Ground
Rob Whaley – The Lost Magus of Michigan
Caliman Florentina – The Mysterious Journey of a Soul
Henry Lewi – The Road Trip
Yrev Very – The Second Coming
Liz Cox – They Came from the East Riding on Camels
Sarah Swatridge – Three Wise…Monkeys?
Penny Dale – Travelodge Epiphany

Will share further news such as publication date when I have it. It will be good to be in print again!

Am posting early as busy but enjoyable weekend this time. Hope the weekend is going well for you. Weather forecast for next week looks almost summery which will be nice. Touching to see such a wonderful turnout in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral. TV figures etc will be even higher of course. He will be much missed.

Looking forward to reviewing Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor, recently staged by the fabulous The Chameleon Theatre Group, for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. First time I’ve been to an interactive murder mystery play. It was fun but more on that in my post next week.

Character Tip: What kind of language (and not just swearing!) is your character going to come up with and why? Are there words they always use or words which would never pass their lips?

Give some thought as to why this is and you will find out more about your character, which I’m sure you will find a good use for in fleshing them out more. It is a case the writer always needs to know more about the character than the reader does.

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Am enjoying the sunshine, as is Lady, who got to play with Coco the lovely Labradoodle this morning before it warmed up this afternoon.

Many thanks for the congratulations over my publication news shared the other day. Much appreciated.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow evening. Always good fun.

Flash Fiction Tip: I’ve found it useful to focus on my character and their situation, get that draft down, tidy it up and then and only then worry about the word count. You do need to get your story “right” and I have ended up with a story over the word count of the competition I had in mind but where I really didn’t want to change anything on it. I feel it would spoil something so I simply save that story for another competition instead.

It’s Monday. Okay, it’s a lovely sunny Monday but it is still Monday and time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Pictures.

It is only after her mother’s death Sally discovers why there were never many family photos up at home. Maybe some things were best left hidden after all…

 


Delighted to say one of my longer short stories will be in the Magi themed Bridge House Publishing anthology due out later this year. Meantime will crack on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon!

After the 100 worders, I think my favourite flash category is the 300 words one because that seems to be the word count I write to most often after the good old drabble. It is also a common competition category for flash tales so well practising writing for.

In my collections I have a few stories which are between the 750 and 100 words limit but the majority are either 100 or between 100 and 500. I literally do average out at about 250 or so!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week on Zoom. Will be looking at genres. This is just one aspect to flash I love and take advantage of a lot – the fact I can put my characters anywhere and everywhere in stories so I do.

When I have a competition with a set theme I take time to work out what kind of character would be best suited for it. When it’s an open theme, I work out what theme I ‘d like to write about and then figure out the best fit character from there. You do want a good match up here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Family Stories

What do you think about stories based around families? I loved the Little Women series based on the March family from Louisa May Alcott and still have a very soft spot indeed for Jo. I still have the books (bought from a local newsagent back in the days when they would often stock popular titles. Indeed the Little Women series was part of a “Deans Classic” collection).

I also adored Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series (and again still have a very soft spot for George).

But the novel which always “got” to me was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I loved the whole idea of a story told by the horse and the Gordon family I thought were lovely. (That idea was explored further in the old Southern TV series which was based on the novel and ran with the basic idea while remaining faithful to the spirit of it, not an easy balance to get right, when it was a popular weekend teatime serial and more stories were wanted once they’d finished with the novel itself!).

I don’t specifically seek out family stories though it is funny how many of my childhood favourites are based on them (another one was Heidi).

Mind you, some of the classic fairytales show families which are far from ideal – check out Snow White and Cinderella to name but two!

MailerLite – Allison Symes Newsletter Sign Up Link

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Relatable Characters

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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 weekend. Lovely one here and even more spring flowers emerging. Good to see. Lady enjoying the better weather too. Busy on the writing front but had a productive weekend, which always pleases me.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Another lovely sunny one here.

Looking forward to going to an Association of Christian Writers Zoom session tonight. The talk sounds interesting.

Won’t be getting much writing done today due to that but I do go to these things, when they’re of interest, when I can. I see all of this as part of what you do when learning your craft, looking to develop further etc. Investment in time for your writing is seldom wasted.

Plus it will be lovely to see ACW friends online again! One of the aspects of the writing life I love is the social side to it – online and in person.

Another lovely day and Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today so win-win all around there. How come it is the end of March already?

Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Will be looking at humour as my topic this time.

Writing Tip: You’re tired. It’s been a hectic day. (Mondays always are for me). The thought of writing much seems to fog your already tired brain. So focus instead on writing little bits.

It’s what I use Mondays for with my writing. I add bits to my newsletter, start drafting blogs and flash pieces (but with no pressure to get these things completed that same day). I see this as building up my stock of material I will complete later on.

And the funny thing? I always feel better for having written those little bits. Creativity is good for you, even in small amounts.

Another lovely sunny day with a promising week ahead. Lady and I plan to enjoy as much of that as we can. Will be “zooming” around again this week as I have an online ACW event to attend on Tuesday evening and will be hosting another ACW group on Wednesday which is one I usually go to for a good old chat about all things science fiction and fantasy related.

Will be sharing What Makes a Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Author newsletter is out again on Tuesday, of course. If you would like to know more about flash fiction and discover tips and story links do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Character Thought: What is the one thing you know your character wouldn’t dream of doing in normal circumstances but you then make them face it? What would their response be? It’s absolutely fine to drop your creations in the mire! I find it great fun but this could, of course, just be me!

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Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post – Relatable Characters. I share thoughts on why my favourite Easter stories resonate with me and also share tips on how we can create our own relatable characters. Hope you find the post useful.

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Hope the day has gone well. Nice one here.

Character Tip: In getting to know your character before writing their story up, think about what would be a nice day for them and why. What would be a horrible day and why?

Both of these things have to have a reasonable chance of happening in your story. Think further about how they would handle each type of day and what that reveals about them. There will be insights here you will be able to use in your story. Your characterisation will be deeper and better for it too.

It’s a lovely sunny Monday but it has been hectic for me and it is still Monday when all is said and done. I share Garfield the cartoon cat’s attitude towards disliking Mondays in general. Time for another story from me on YouTube then. Hope you like my latest here – Craving.

What could my character be hiding in her food shopping she really cannot explain, especially since at her age she should know better? Find out here.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Happy Mothering Sunday to those who celebrate. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday as ever. It’s a nice way to wind down after a busy week and I get more stories written – win-win there!

Most of the competitions I send flash pieces into don’t count the title as part of the overall word count you’re allowed. I am always pleased about this! It helps – a lot! 

But a useful tip for those places which do count the word title as part of the overall count is to reserve three to five words for your title. If you end up using less what you have “left over” could be used for the story itself if you need that.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Pleased to be out in the garden for a bit. Mowed the lawn and kicked the football for the dog. It does make quite a sight but it keeps Lady happy and away from the lawnmower. Am sure she sees it as an outdoor vacuum cleaner (which she also still sees as “the enemy”). I had hoped she’d have grown out of that but alas no!

Looking forward to catching up with friends on Zoom later on.

Writing wise, I’m a fair way towards another flash fiction collection in terms of word count. (Don’t yet know when the third one will be out but I have had the nod on it). Have a couple of stories I want to look at tomorrow as part of my flash fiction Sunday as I have competitions in mind for these. Both stories have now had the required “rest time” so I should be able to read them as a reader would. It’s the only way I find works for me which helps me spot the flaws. Then I can do something about said flaws!

Goodreads Author Blog – Beginnings

While true every story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, the beginning is what writers tend to focus on because we know readers won’t get to the middle yet alone the end if the beginning doesn’t grip them enough. No pressure then!

Also many of us study classic opening lines (from say Pride and Prejudice, 1984 and many more) to help us learn our craft here.

I know what I look for in a beginning, when I am reading, is to have a sense of setting and who the lead character is likely to be. I love stories which start with dialogue as that is like eavesdropping on an interesting conversation (here I can do this legitimately!). You also get a sense of the two or more characters involved in that conversation.

Basically, there has to be something which engages my interest immediately so have that “must know what happens next” moment.

With my own stories, my beginnings are rarely exactly the same as I first drafted them. When I come back and edit I can see how I can strengthen them so I do. Every word matters. I have to look for maximum impact on a reader. Hopefully that means they go on to have a great beginning with my stories and then discover what else those tales contain.

Every writer in history has had to do this. It is why the classics are the classics. Their beginnings have stood the test of time. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if as you read this, you can think of your own favourite beginnings to stories. I’ve done so in writing this.

Of course, I don’t think you can ever beat the classic fairytale opening of Once Upon A Time. That got me into reading fairytales, fantasy, and reading in general so plenty to like there!

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