Tag: characters

Stories In Holiday Locations

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. One 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.

Facebook – General

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!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Thoughts on Editing

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week 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

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


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.

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Honest and Dishonest Characters

Leave a comment

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady has had a fabulous time with her closest friends. I’ve had a lovely trip to the local theatre and good writing news which I hope to share before too long.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Honest and Dishonest Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Fun piece to write especially given literature is full of excellent examples of both types of creation. I look at some of the aspects you need to consider when creating these and share thoughts and tips. Hope you find it useful.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

24th April
Am off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor later this evening. Will review it for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. The audience get to interrogate the cast as part of the performance which should be good fun. Have not been to an “interactive” murder mystery play before. Looking forward to reporting back later.

I see going to plays like this as another way of taking in stories. It’s not a bad idea to try to visualise your own stories as if someone was acting them out.

It can be a good aid to ensuring your dialogue sounds right, helps you cut down description (for a play you would see this as a visual set – can your readers picture your scenes easily enough?), and will show you whether all of your characters are playing a vital role in the story or not. If one or more doesn’t seem to have “much to do”, do you really need them in the tale?

Hope you have had a good Wednesday. Lady had a fabulous time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. Came home tired but happy.

Don’t forget my next Chandler’s Ford Today post is upon Friday when I’ll be looking at Honest and Dishonest Characters. Fun piece to write which I hope you will find useful and thoughtful. See above.

Marketing Tip: Consistency matters. I find it useful to focus on those social media outlets and marketing tasks I know I can keep going. So select what you would enjoy most and stick with that.

I like preparing an author newsletter and my YouTube videos, for example, so I have no problems being consistent with producing these. As much as possible, your marketing as well as your writing should be fun for you too. (Or as much fun as possible most of the time anyway!).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Same Old Thing.

Hope you enjoy it. Good to finish the working week with an enjoyable tale I think. Do check out the rest of what is on FFF – you will have plenty of good reading here.

24th April
Hope today has gone well. Am off to see my excellent local theatre company perform an interactive murder mystery. Should be fun. Led me to think though all of our stories should be interactive in that they should engage your readers so they are gripped by the situation and world you are showing them. No pressure then!

I do believe we are our own first readers though and if I’m not gripped by my characters, I can’t honestly expect anyone else to be.

Have come across another flash competition I may have a go at which specifies a character count rather than a word one (and yes it is linked to X or Twitter as I still prefer to think of it as).

Today, 23rd April, is both the birthday and anniversary of death day for William Shakespeare. Not sure what he would have thought of flash fiction given the length of his plays! But in the wonderful writing world, there is room for all word counts and styles (which is yet another reason to love being part of the overall writing community).

Writing Thought: Why not take one of Shakespeare’s famous quotes and use it as a theme for one of your own stories, flash or otherwise? What could you make of “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” as a theme, for example? Shakespeare was right on that one but could you come up with a tale which proved otherwise?


Fairytales with Bite – Crime in the Magical World

I love the Vimes novels within the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s magnificent Discworld series. The entire canon is superb but the Vimes books stand out for me and books like Men at Arms are excellent detective stories in their own right (and the fantasy setting makes them stand out more).

So thinking about your own magical/fantasy setting, which crimes could happen with in it? Are the crimes solved by magic or with good old fashioned police work (the Pratchett approach, which for me makes the books more real).

If you use magic to solve the crimes, bear in mind the criminals would almost certainly have used crime to commit their nefarious deeds so how can more magic overcome that?

You will need to give thought as to what magic can do and not do in your setting. There should be advantages and disadvantages to using it/not using it (as this will give more issues for your characters to think about as they work out what to do and will help increase tensions in your story).

Also think about the crimes which could only be committed in a magical world, what would these be? What is done to try to prevent them? Is there any kind of magical crime prevention agency and/or a detective one? Who could police the use of magic and what powers would they have to enforce this? How did the rules for the use of magic come into being in the first place?

This World and Others – Social Issues in the Magical or Sci-Fi World

Where magic or where science beyond what we know here exists in your setting, which social issues arise from them? Do these things create a have and have not society? If so, how is that handled? Are there any attempts to make things better for the have nots? Are there classes of citizens who are gifted with this kind of magic and/or science and do they share it or hoard it?

Has your magical/scientific setting over time benefited from the developments discovered or created? If so, how? Do these benefits help all? Those with the skills – are they revered or hated? Would others in your setting have good cause to fear them?

If your setting can survey other worlds, such as Earth, are there ideas we have they do not? Would they be prepared to steal them? If so, how would they go about this without drawing attention to the fact there was was an alien invasion going on (might cause panic!) or do they not worry about that? Have they raided other worlds before?

Scientific developments especially can cause two reasons – welcome and rejection. People can fear what they don’t understand so how would your setting’s people overcome this so new developments weren’t misunderstood or misrepresented?

The trouble with misunderstanding or misrepresenting something is the panic and resulting actions from that panic which in turn could cause social issues( rioting, maybe?).

Food for story thought there I hope.

MailerLite – Allison Symes Author Newsletter – Sign Up Link

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

Popular Themes – Is There Anything New To Say?

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Lady did – she got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback again. I managed to get plenty of writing done, which always pleases me. Full steam ahead for the week to come, I hope!

Facebook – General

Delighted to be back on Authors Electric. My post this month is called Popular Themes – Is There Anything New to Say?

I thought it would be an apt topic given a certain saint has just had his renowned saint’s day and there are more than a few love stories around at the moment!

I share my thoughts on the importance of bringing something new to the mix and share how my way in to this is via the character(s).

Hope you find the post useful.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope your Monday has been reasonable. It’s not my favourite day of the week by any means but what was lovely this morning was Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and her Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. A great time was had by all.

It seems the scammers were especially busy earlier today as I spotted a couple within the space of a few minutes. Tiresome, tedious and a reminder, I suppose, we all have to be careful. The golden rule of if it seems too good to be true is right here.

Writing wise, had a smashing weekend getting plenty done with story and article submissions achieved. Hope the rest of this week follows a similar pattern!

Lovely church service this morning. Enjoyed that. Lady also got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal unexpectedly after that and both dogs were so pleased to see each. Very sweet to see.

Sent off a story for a competition. Have picked another one to try (and have got a rough edit of a potential story for it too). Had a good evening writing yesterday!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again before too long. I share news, tips, story links etc. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I’ve found adding bits and pieces to my newsletter throughout the month is the best way to write it. I also allow a few days before it is due to go out to check it and to make sure there is nothing missing. I usually pick a theme for the month. The one for March will be titles, a great form of advertising for your stories if you get them right.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope the weekend is going well so far. Still grim, weather wise.

Writing wise, I’ll be discussing Making the Most of an Author Interview for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and plan to share tips I’ve found useful. Hope you will do so too. I also hope to have further author interviews (more news as I get it) and hope you enjoyed the great one with Gill James, which I shared yesterday.

Character Thought: What would a character of yours usually see as nothing out of the ordinary but another character shows them otherwise? What has brought about the chance of perspective and is the second character right in bringing it to attention of the first character or not? What is the impact of the change of perspective on the first character? Do they handle it well or not?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady hit the jackpot this morning in that she firstly got to play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, and then, separately, with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Lovely time had by all. Lady tired but happy. Definitely a good day in her books.

Talking of which, what would be a good day for your characters and could you get some stories from that? A day in the life of can make an interesting take for a story. Works best when kept short so what better format than flash fiction for that?

It’s Monday. It’s cold BUT the sun came out today, hooray! Note to anyone not in the UK – most of us have had several days of grey, murky weather. Okay not unusual for February but it is so nice seeing the sun again! Still time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Listening to Reason.

What do you do when you are fed up with some jerk being incredibly rude to you and in a crowded shopping centre where people are laughing? Well, when you’re in my character’s shoes, you have options you know will silence the jerk and the laughter. Find out what these are here.

 

Will be working on another flash story for a competition which isn’t advertising itself as a flash one but is because it wants a maximum word count of under 1000 words. It pays to look out for these. There are more of this kind of competition than you might think. Also several of the short story competitions have a minimum word count of 1000 words so flash fiction writers could go in for these too if they wished.

It pays to practice reading flash fiction (and indeed other stories) aloud. It is so easy to stumble over something you know well (and even easier on material you don’t!). I use Zoom to record myself when I’m preparing for an Open Prose Mic session or anything like that. It means I go into the event more relaxed than I might otherwise have been simply because I do know I have prepared all I can.

Separately I’ve found reading work out loud, even if not an event, to be useful because it means I can hear how my dialogue comes across and so on. You can hear where the prose seems “heavy” or too complicated and I can then edit accordingly.

Goodreads Author Blog – Flash Fiction

My main writing work is in the field of flash fiction where the longest any story can be is 1000 words. You can pack a lot of characterisation and drama into that limit. As well as having individual pieces published online and in print anthologies, I have two collections of flash fiction books out with a third in the pipeline. The advantage of flash fiction is you get a short sharp read and it can have a huge impact on you because it is so short. It is undiluted fiction, if you like.

Probably the best known of all flash fiction stories is Ernest Hemingway’s famous For sale: baby shoes, never worn. There is a world world behind those few words. Very much punch to the gut storytelling there.

I make a point of reading flash fiction and short story collections in between reading longer works. I want to read from as wide a field as possible and I will always put in a huge plug for the shorter forms of fiction, just as I am doing here! It isn’t just because I’m published in these forms, honest.

Do check out the collections. There are so many fabulous stories to find out there and word count shouldn’t come into your reading choices, I think.

I also think reading long and short forms of writing makes for an interesting reading “diet” for you. I know I love mine!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Author Interview – Gill James – Natascha’s Story

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Still no sign of any sunshine here, I’m afraid. Writing wise, am busy preparing blogs and a presentation as well as my usual fiction work. So glad to be able to do that indoors!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m delighted to welcome back author, editor and publisher, Gill James, to Chandler’s Ford Today for an in-depth interview about her latest book, Natascha’s Story. This is aimed at the younger end of the children’s market and Gill wrote this book with her daughter, Ashleigh James, illustrating the book.

There is plenty of interest for all writers here with useful thoughts and tips we can all use, especially on marketing and writing.

Oh and do discover what domestic object Gill uses as a portal in this story. It’s not something I would have thought of!

Hope you enjoy the post.

Author Interview – Gill James – Natascha’s Story

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Another cold and murky day but Lady did get to play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today and both dogs had a riotous time running around the park, which was great to see.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing a wonderful interview with Gill James about her latest book, Natascha’s Story, on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow and there will be plenty for all writers to enjoy from this. See above.

Writing Thought: A question all writers need to be able to answer, regardless of what form you write in, is the classic What is your story (book) all about? The ideal is to be able to reply in one line. This is worth practicing as a writing exercise.

I usually say I write flash fiction and short stories, with flash being up to 100 words. If I’m asked about a specific story, I will share something about the character “star” of that tale.

Hope today has gone well for you. Still grey and murky here though Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today which cheered both dogs.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. Am also working on articles for Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative, as well as the flash fiction and short stories.

I love the mixture of fiction and non-fiction. Am never short of things to work on either. Over the course of a week, I end up spending about the same amount of time on each. My reading reflects my love of both types of writing too. Always keep it interesting!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s good to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with another story. It’s a great way to finish the standard working week. Hope you like my latest here – Judging It Right. You can find out if my character, Beth, did judge it right after all (and many thanks for the comments in on this one so far).
When asked about what I write, the next question I often face is just what is flash fiction. I say it is any story which is 1000 words or fewer. I also then share the advantages of writing it.

It has to be character led but you can set those characters anywhere and at any time you want, so this means you can have a great deal of fun with genre here, including setting tales back in time. I also set them forward in time so I can have some fun with science fiction and fantasy here too.

What can often start off as a writing exercise (because you never get time in a lot of workshops to write more than a couple of hundred words or so at the time) can be polished up to become published stories. Nothing to dislike there!

A huge advantage to flash fiction writing is because it tends to be character led, you can not only put them where and when you want, but you can change their moods too!

I’ve written grumpy characters, sad ones, ghost ones, and characters who will put a smile on your face, amongst many others. All fun to do.

But taking one character and changing their mood in the course of a story could make a good structure for a tale or several. Why do they change? Is the change a positive one? Can they change back again? You get to decide but I know as a reader I am always fascinated by what makes a character change. I have to find out how and why and whether this is for the best or not so I keep reading.

So think about what would cause your character to change their mood – you will often a theme emerging from this too.

Fairytales with Bite – Love Is In the Air but Is It Magical or For Real?

I write this with St. Valentine’s Day fast approaching. With regard to your magical setting, do your characters have an equivalent day for celebrating all things love related or is something which simply isn’t done there and they would find us a bit odd for doing this?

Is magic allowed to be used to get characters to fall in love or is this banned? Where it has been allowed, what have been the consequences (and could there be funny ones here?).

Equally where magic is banned from this, how would your characters meet and form attachments with others? Are some things like love meant to be kept “real” with no suspicion of magic having been used to compel people?

Also, whichever way the rules work in your setting, could you write about characters who defy the rules? Again think of the consequences here because there could be some great stories resulting from that idea.

This World and Others – Relationships

Romance may not be uppermost in your mind as your write your fantasy stories, (I write this with 14th February almost with us once again), but could it form an interesting back drop to your main storyline? Even if not, what kinds of relationship do exist in your setting and between which characters?

Do any of your characters defy conventional expectations here and, if so, how and why? It’s always easiest to go with the flow rather than against it, especially if it isn’t just the immediate people around you who are against you. Why would anyone be prepared to defy what their whole society expects?

What other kinds of relationship exist in your setting? Are there families as we know them or are the makeup of these things literally alien from what we know?

When the relationship is a friendship rather than a blood relationship, how did the friendship come about? How is it going to be tested to the limit in your stories? (Should be too. Good example set here by Sam Gamgee and Frodo in The Lord of the Rings!).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Author Interview: Sophie Neville – A Creative Life Part 1

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days since the last post. Weather still all over the place but Lady running all over the place with her closest chums so they’re happy at least!
Am so thrilled to welcome Sophie Neville to Chandler’s Ford Today – she is a very talented actress (best known for Swallows and Amazons), has written many books, and is an award winning scriptwriter as well. This interview is a two parter, with the next stage coming out on 12th April. Don’t miss either parts – there is so much to inspire here.

BookBrushImage-2024-4-5-19-1554

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good Friday. Lady and her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal rounded off their “working week” with a superb playing, good zoomies (you stand out of the way!), and who then went home tired and happy. I was happy to dodge the rain. That counts as a win this week.

For Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I am delighted to share Part 1 of a wonderful interview with actress and writer (and much else besides), Sophie Neville, who is best known for her role as Titty in Swallows and Amazons, a classic children’s film. She went on to do much more in front of and behind the camera plus her writing, especially her scripts, has won her awards too.

This week we look at how the different aspects of Sophie’s work have fed into each other, her thoughts on preparing for talks (useful tips shared too), and her involvement with the Wild Otter Trust and much more.

Do enjoy! Part 2 this time next week. Don’t miss!

Author Interview: Sophie Neville – A Creative Life on Water, in Film, and in Writing – Part 1

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lady has had a super duper week in that she has got to see her friends for most of it! Had a lovely time again earlier today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. It is quite something to see the pair of them running.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I will be sharing Part 1 of a splendid two part interview with the hugely creative and talented Sophie Neville of Swallows and Amazons fame and much else besides. The whole interview is so inspiring to anyone with any interest in the creative life so do look out for it. More tomorrow on this. See above.

Writing Tip: When writing flash fiction, don’t worry about the word count. I know that seems an odd thing to say but focus on getting the story right first. Once you’ve got that sorted, then figure out what the word count should be.

If my draft ends up coming in at, say, 120 words, I will then and only then see if I can genuinely get it down to a 100 word count. Sometimes I can. That’s great. Sometimes I can’t (because it would spoil the story in some way) so in that case I leave it alone and I send it in to a category which is over 100 words instead.

How can I judge what would spoil the story in some way? Simply by asking myself would cuts take away from the characterisation I am trying to show. If it does, I don’t do it.

The star of any flash fiction story is the character. The reader needs to know who they are (in some cases in my stories, what they are too!) so if my cutting takes something away from their enjoyment of the character, that’s when I leave the story alone.

But if I can genuinely cut something to tighten up pace, give my characters a sharper focus, then I will do that.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Strange weather though thankfully Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again today. Came home tired but happy. She always gets a buzz from being with her chums.

I was talking earlier today about non-fiction books via a Facebook group I am part of and I mentioned I’m currently reading Double Cross by Ben Macintyre, the true stories of the double agents used to fool Hitler. Fascinating reading. Highly recommend. I love the development of non-fiction told in narrative style, as this book is, as it almost seems like a novel (and a page turning one at that). Great way to take in history, I think.

I do sometimes write historical flash fiction though I do use standard modern English for my characters here. Why? Old English is not that easy to read so my one conceit is to allow past characters to talk in a way we would understand now. My historical flash pieces are all based on fact and/or reasonable supposition on the basis of known facts. Fun to do.

By using the flash format for this, I do have to hone in on what really matters to my characters. (And that applies to every other flash piece I write too, regardless of genre. Flash is a great writing discipline for this).

434500112_10161812547272053_4478909043558913187_n

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

No story on Friday Flash Fiction this week as they’re closed to submissions at the moment after the Andrew Siderius competition. Many congratulations to the winners and all who where shortlisted. It was great fun to take part. I submitted a story in the 100 words category and then a longer flash (151 to 500 words) over the two weeks the competition was running.

If you need to look at what 100 word stories look like on screen (or the longer up to 500 words category), do check out the website. I’ve found doing this useful in the past because it gives me a visual aid for what to “aim for” when drafting my story.

If I know a 100 word story could be three short paragraphs, I’ve already got a kind of structure in place. First paragraph – set up, meet character, know problem. Second paragraph – things worsen, character has to do something. Third paragraph – Character has done something and this is the resolution. Visual aids like that can be handy at times.

Also check out the wide range of stories on here. You’ll be in for a great read. The link takes you to a page full of useful tips for writing flash fiction. Do check them out.
Screenshot 2024-04-05 at 17-07-46 Writing Good Flash Fiction

One great thing about the opening line writing exercise is it challenges you to come up with excellent prose to follow on from it. I find I want to deliver on that cracking opening line and not let it down. So I need a strong character, one I know well and whose reactions and actions make sense based on my portrayal of them.

Do I like all of my own characters? Not necessarily! I can think of some of mine who make my skin crawl but the way I’ve portrayed them, their actions and attitudes would make sense if only to them. I don’t write too many of this kind of character because they’re not my favourite type but sometimes I have an idea for a plot where that kind of character has to be the one to “star” in it for it to make sense.

I do love my witty characters though and have a very soft spot for them. I especially love the ones who come up with wonderful one liners. What I need to watch there is to ensure I don’t write those lines just for the sake of it. Any and every line does need to move the character and the story on.

Any and every line has to earn its place in my stories. If there’s any doubt, then that tells me this line isn’t strong enough. Equally it tells me it doesn’t stand out enough to justify staying in the tale so out it comes.

433949985_862760885863774_6838487424595193097_nSometimes I’m inspired by films I like and take the viewpoint of another character for my flash piece. In my Where The Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) I take the viewpoint of the witch from The Wizard of Oz who was unfortunate enough to have a farmhouse land on her. Just what are the odds of that happening, even in a magical world, I wonder! Good fun to do as it is interesting to explore what another character would make of the situation that has happened to them.

When Cinders got married, not all considered this to be good news – the stepmother and her daughters for a start. You can have fun playing with that kind of idea (and indeed I did with my A Helping Hand from Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing), which was my first story in print back in 2009).

I’ve mentioned about using proverbs and sayings for inspiration (and they are fabulous sources) but why not the fairytales too? Whose story hasn’t been told? Who thinks they’ve been treated unfairly? A lot of fun stories could be told here (and I love the way the Shrek films covers this idea too).

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Studying

The best known magical school is, of course, J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts. (Love those books and films). But when it comes to your own stories and settings, how would your characters be educated? Would there be formal education such as Hogwarts or would there something akin to learning from the “elders” of the people in a more traditional, oral manner? Would your characters have access to any education at all? If not, why not?

You can show a great deal about your society by showing who is allowed to be educated and who is not. Equally for your stories where education doesn’t come directly into the plot lines, your characters would still have needed to learn some skills in a magical world so they could survive. Do they ever talk about what they learned and how?

Good teachers have a positive influence on you for life. I recall with great fondness my English teacher, Miss Mackenzie, who introduced me to Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice). I learned irony was a thing in fiction from that one book!

After that, we went on to The Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham), a book I was sure I would hate given it was science fiction. I was wrong. I was pleased to be wrong. Miss Mackenzie gave me an invaluable lesson here in mixing up your reading and not being afraid to try genres new to you, something that remains with me (and I am sure has had a positive influence on my own fiction writing).

So what teachers would have had an influence, good or bad, on your characters and how does that play out in your story? How does your characters’ magical studying, no matter how they did this, affect what they can do in your plot line? When they are in trouble, as all characters will be at some point (!), do the lessons they studied earlier in their lives come to their aid now?

Studying has a life long impact. So it would make sense for that to apply to characters too. It could make a huge difference to whether they survive or not. Story ideas a plenty there, I think!

BookBrushImage-2024-4-5-19-4417

This World and Others – Discoveries

I’m always pleased to hear of discoveries which will be useful to mankind (medicine perhaps being the obvious one here). I also love to hear of discoveries which are simply amazing. I love seeing the photos from the various space telescopes, for example. The images are amazing (and that in turn gives me a renewed appreciation for the wonders of the human eye, for colour, and for photography).

So think about your characters. Which discoveries do they value and why? Do any of these come to their aid in the course of the story? Development in transport, for example, could make a huge difference as to whether your characters succeed in their quest or not.

What does your fictional world think about science or do they equate their magic with our science? In terms of the ruling powers, do they encourage new discoveries or try to suppress them? Not all would welcome people being able to find out more because that, in turn, could well lead to said people questioning how they are governed, especially if their discoveries are in things like finding out other places have democracy and they themselves do not.

Discoveries can take many forms. Which would your world/characters appreciate? Which would they not want and why? Who is behind making the discoveries and are they on their own here or do they have support?

If the ruling powers support discoveries, is that only for specialized fields such as military applications?
Give some thought too as to which discoveries would turn your fictional world upside down and is that a good thing or a bad one? Not all would see it as good. Not all would see it as bad. What could that split in opinion lead to?

Which discoveries could your fictional world/characters really do with having? Is your setting anywhere near obtaining these?

One single discovery could change so much too. Think about the discovery of pencillin for us. How many lives has that saved? So what would your world’s equivalent of the “game changer” be?

Again, plenty of story ideas there, I think.

BookBrushImage-2024-4-5-19-5021

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Allison Symes - advertising books and services resized 640Twitter Corner with hashtag, Scrabble tiles, and the blue bird

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

Characters and Lost In A Bad Book

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Had first snow in my part of the world but it didn’t settle. Big coat time! Mind you, Lady takes the view her coat suits all weathers and all occasions! Was pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction last week and have managed to get in my first competition entry of the year so a good start.

BookBrushImage-2024-1-9-20-2619

Facebook – General

Brrr…bitterly cold in my part of the world today, not that Lady noticed. I did though!

Delighted to say I’ll be welcoming back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to discuss her new short story collection, Hunter’s Christmas and Other Stories.

Naturally I was intrigued by the challenges a novelist like Val faced when writing the much shorter form of story. Writing short stories and flash is a challenge anyway but when you are used to writing the longer works, perhaps they are even more so!

Look out for interesting thoughts and tips on writing the short form and what led Val to go down this particular writing route. I’ll be sharing the interview on Friday and it will be part of Val’s blog tour this week.

Tour Poster

Hope you have had a good Monday. Had some snow here but ground still so wet from the horrendous rain late last week it wasn’t going to settle. Lady got off to a cracking start to her week by getting to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Pleased with my writing weekend. I finished a story I’d been working on and got that sent off to a competition I had my eye on so nice to get the ball rolling with this one. Also working on various blogs and a couple of PowerPoints for future use.

It is one of those things that I do tend to write a fair bit over the weekend and less so on a Monday (too many other domestic things going on which even I can’t put off) but I take the view as long as over the week as a whole I’ve got certain things done, that’s fine.

I don’t set myself a word count target per day because I know life can get in the way of that. I do set myself a task I’d like to get done each day (and for longer works to get to a next stage on them). Most of the time I do it and that’s fine because when I can’t, it’s because I’m away, ill etc. Learning not to beat yourself up as a writer helps a lot! A relaxed writer is (usually) a reasonably happy one!

416086542_805688288237701_4517887420263129307_n

Hope you are having a good weekend. Weather has dried out but it has become bitterly cold. Still, it is January. Lady doesn’t mind the weather but when the rain is especially heavy she’s not sorry to get home either.

Characters are the bedrock of any story in any format because they are what readers/listeners/viewers get behind. We like Character X. We hope Character Y gets their overdue comeuppance etc. This is why I start with working out characters and then figuring out the kind of story they would star in to be at their best or worst (depending on whether they’re the villain or not. A “good” villain will be at their worst after all).

So understanding what makes us tick is key to understanding what could make your characters tick. This is where reading widely comes in because it gives you the chance to work out the kind of characters you like reading about. From that, you can work out what it is you like and then how you can apply that to your own creations. There will always be a need for good and bad characters in fiction – what matters is how we portray them.

416058063_804986764974520_7662330475861587583_n

Many thanks for the great comments coming in on A New Start, my first story on Friday Flash Fiction for 2024. Hopefully, many more stories to come and do check out the website – there are marvellous tales here.

Why do I love the drabble/100-worder?

Firstly, it was my introduction to the world of flash fiction so it will always have a special place in my heart just due to that.

Secondly, I just adore the tightness of this word count limit. You have enough words to give enough detail but nothing more.

Thirdly, these are great for twist endings and/or humorous ones. These work well in the longer forms of flash fiction too but I think there is something more direct about the 100-worder. Impact isn’t diluted because the word count here is so tight.

Screenshot 2024-01-05 at 10-03-40 A New Start by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Writing for online sites such as CafeLit and Friday Flash Fiction is a great way to hone your writing skills and, in the case of the latter, to get useful feedback on your stories.

In the case of CafeLit you have the chance to end up in their annual print anthology too. CafeLit takes stories from 100 words up to 3000 words so there is plenty of scope there for the flash fiction and short story writers. Why not give both websites a try?

With Friday Flash Fiction, you need to send in one x 100 word story. If they like it, that goes on their site on the following Friday. Then you can do the same again. After that they will be open to you sending in longer flash pieces but you do have to have two x 100 word stories on site with them over two weeks before you send in longer work. The idea with them is you create a new piece of flash for one Friday and then another one for another week. You don’t get to send in two stories in one week. See the link for further information.

Have fun here. I do!

Screenshot 2024-01-09 at 20-03-20 Submission GuidelinesScreenshot 2024-01-09 at 20-38-58 Submissions
It’s Monday. It has been snowing. Being a dog owner, am used to having to put a big coat on! It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s story time then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Lost in a Bad Book.

 

One of the challenges of writing flash fiction is in continuing to come up with interesting characters. Thankfully, it is a challenge I love!

I mentioned over on my Facebook author page that characters are the bedrock of any story. See above. This is especially true for flash fiction. There isn’t the word count room for lots of description so I make sure I focus on the telling details which will reveal something of the setting and/or the character, leaving readers to fill in the gaps and they do.

It is one of the charms of the form. Readers do have to work things out. This is also true for crime fiction. Who doesn’t like trying to guess who the murderer is after all?

My job is to make sure I have put the right clues in place so readers can do this. The idea is at the end of the story, people can go back and think, yes, this clue should have made me realise this could be the outcome here. Twists must come from within the plot and character. Even in a fantasy setting, it all has to make sense.

416051240_804987978307732_8478984873316795526_nHope you are having a a great weekend, the first “proper” one back after Christmas. I see Amazon have updated the look of the Author Central pages. I like the new look. You can check mine out at the link.

With their update, I took the opportunity to update my author bio on here so it now includes what I write/do for Writers’ Narrative. Periodically it pays to have a look at this and update accordingly. It is too easy to forget to do it though!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Goodreads Author Blog – The World of Books

I can’t imagine a world without books. I don’t want to either. But that does not mean I need my stories (whether I write them or read them) to be solely set in this world, a planet we know. I love fantasy, fairytales, and sci-fi. These story worlds can show us something of what we are like. Stories set in the future show us what we could be.

I love the way books can take us anywhere – past, present, future – and any setting – known or fantastical. While some fantasy worlds are easier to understand than others, I find I’ve got to salute the imagination behind them all. What is a book without imagination behind it? Blank!

Yes, there has to be imagination behind non-fiction works too. How does the author conjure up, say, a historical world which will intrigue present day readers? They have to think of the details which will draw us into this world.

I love historical fiction and non-fiction. I remain thankful I live in the era I do, for all its faults, but I can explore past worlds via books. Safest way to to do it too. I really would not fancy being at the court of Henry VIII, say, but I can explore that world thanks to books.

The world of books is an amazing one – any time, any place, anywhere. There is also room for more worlds to be invented in fantasy and sci-fi too. The only limit is our imagination. Books encourage us to develop that imagination.

Screenshot 2024-01-06 at 17-34-21 The World of Books

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Screenshot 2024-01-05 at 20-14-06 Amazon Author

Twitter Corner with hashtag, Scrabble tiles, and the blue bird

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

Bridge House Celebration Event

Leave a comment

Image Credits-:
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the pictures of me reading at the recent BHP event for my CFT post this week. Screenshots and most photos for my CFT post this week were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Bitterly cold weather all week here. Writing progressing well – am so glad it’s an indoor job! Looking forward to hearing some festive flash fiction over the weekend, including one of my pieces. It is a thrill to hear my stories on air.

BookBrushImage-2022-12-16-20-380

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share my new Chandler’s Ford Today post which is all about the recent Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event. It was such fun to go to this and catch up with people. It was by no means certain it would go ahead and, of course, the last two years the event has been affected by Covid. Hope you enjoy my round-up. Already looking forward to next year’s one.

Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event 2022

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Lady had an unexpected surprise today – she got to play with her best buddy, the Ridgeback, who looked very fetching in her coat. Both dogs very happy to see each other.

Looking forward to sharing my next Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow. I’ll be looking back at the recent Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event. Always good to go to this. Always lovely to write about it afterwards! See above.

Also looking forward to hearing the Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM with Hannah Kate over the weekend. Festive flash is fun to write and wonderful to listen to – will share the link once I’ve got it. Hope this will be in the next post.

Coming up in the New Year will be another flash fiction workshop in January. I did get my competition entry in for the Writing Magazine Grand Flash prize. (You’ve got to 31st December on that one – 500 words maximum).

 

Hope you have had a good day. Still bitterly cold.

Characters have always fascinated me – in my own work as well as in what I read. I do want to know what makes them tick. I need to care about them enough to want to find that out. Often it can be an intriguing bit of dialogue or an internal thought that lures me into reading more. In that, I’m getting a snapshot of what the character is like. Attitudes show up in what they say or think. When I’m writing, I am thinking what it is about this character that would make a reader want to find out more? There has to be something!

I guess the lure of any well written story is wanting to find out what happens. That something happening has to occur to someone which is why for me at least characters are more important than plot. A great character will drive the plot. A good plot won’t be saved by a poorly portrayed character. Readers have to care about your characters (even if that includes wanting to see them fail. There is still care for the character there – you want to see them get their comeuppance).

May be an image of 1 person and text that says "Readers should be keen to find out what your characters do next. whaus next"

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to report the December double issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now available free to download on Amazon. I took the topic of Fifty as my theme for this edition. I also set a double flash fiction challenge. Do check out how people responded to it. There are great stories here. (And the rest of the magazine is a wonderful read too but don’t just take my word for it – check out the link below.).


I was chatting about closing lines yesterday (see below) so I thought I’d look at opening ones tonight. I love to use an intriguing situation or an interesting bit of dialogue (ideally something that poses a question) so readers have to read on. I also like to set scenes as much as possible too.

One of my favourites here is from Where the Wild Wind Blows from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. That reads The Witch had just finished planting out her runner beans when the farmhouse landed on her head. No prizes for guessing the inspiration behind that one!

But what matters is having something that encourages your reader to read on and I find thinking about what I would like to read helps here. Having an Ideal Reader in mind and thinking about what they would want to see helps enormously too. I am writing for an audience so it makes great good sense to write with them in mind from the get go.

May be an image of text that says "I sometimes use questions as opening lines. I ALWAYS look for something that will intrigue a reader."

I love to end a flash tale with a twist or humorous ending, but not always. There is room for the thoughtful ending too. This works especially well for monologues but I did also use this kind of ending for The Pink Rose in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. This is a compassionate Alzheimer’s story and therefore the ending needed to be appropriate for that.

I also used the phrase “the pink rose” in the opening and closing lines deliberately. It was like a “circle” effect here which again was apt for this kind of tale. Knowing the characters well means I get a good idea of what kind of ending would be apt for them.

The one thing in common with a twist or humorous ending though is it would probably pay to write your thoughtful ending first and then work out the steps that led to it. I’ve done this. It is a good technique to help you ensure your story has the right internal logic to make it work.

BookBrushImage-2022-12-14-19-5236

Fairytales with Bite – The Underdog

The underdog crops up a lot in the fairytales. Cinderella is a classic example of that. She was not expected to “win”. She was expected to continue to be the kitchen skivvy. I think one of the classic fairytale tropes is that the underdog can win (and to encourage compassion for said underdog – encouraging compassion is always a good thing!).

Often in the fairytales the underdog is in that position through no fault of their own and usually due to the cruelty of others. So another message here is that cruelty will eventually fail (though I must say I find that doesn’t come as quickly as I’d like!).

An interesting thought for a story idea (or several) is what about the underdog who does deserve to be in that role. What have they done to put them into this position? Are they remorseful? Can things be put right?

As a matter of note, I always look out for the seemingly unimportant characters in fairytales. They do usually tend to end up being far more important than anyone initially thought and that’s an idea to play with in your own stories too.

I also love it when an underdog does a lot to help themselves get out of their situation and doesn’t just rely on a fairy godmother turning up. Much as I love the Cinderella story, I do query why the godmother didn’t intervene earlier to help the poor girl against all that cruelty going on. I wouldn’t have minded Cinders challenging her on that but maybe that was best saved for after the happy ever after ending. Cinders wouldn’t be the underdog then!

BookBrushImage-2022-12-16-20-5749

This World and Others – Species and Specialisms

Picture the scene. You’ve created a fantastic multi-cultural world. You’ve got a nice array of species. You’ve worked out how they get on with the others (or not as the case may be). You’ve worked out the politics and/or history behind all of that. You’ve figured out how basic needs are met and so on.

So think in more depth about what the individual species are and why you need them in your setting. What are their specialisms? Do they have to co-operate with others to get skills and other resources they can’t do/produce for themselves? Are there biological reasons why they can’t do these things? How does the need to trade with others affect the politics of your world? Can anyone upset the old apple cart here and, if so, how do they do it?

If you have species with specialisms, does that encourage tolerance in your setting or are those with “better” specialist skills resented? What would that resentment lead to?

Also what forms are the specialism in? Technology? Better ways of food production? What you are after here, I think. Are skills which are definitely needed and which others might have cause to envy or resent. Every story needs conflict and resolution. This could be another way into setting up some interesting conflicts.

BookBrushImage-2022-12-16-21-118

Twitter Corner

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

ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

Screenshot 2022-12-16 at 21-06-33 Reader Hub Book Brush

The Writing Life and Show, Don’t Tell

Leave a comment

Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. My workshop at the London Jesuit Centre went down very well and many thanks to all who came. Also for the lovely feedback. Happy writing to you all! (I plan to have a write up about this for Chandler’s Ford Today once I have also ran my flash fiction workshop at the Association of Christian Writers Golden Jubilee celebration weekend in June. Meantime, there are pictures taken by me from the event throughout the post).

 

Facebook – General

Strange day – gorgeously sunny and warm and by this evening it was pouring down. Fortunately Lady and I missed the worst (we’re never sorry about that) and she got to play with her pal, Coco, today.

When do you know you really are a writer? Is it when you get your first publication credit or contract or you’ve mapped out your self-publishing route? Not necessarily! I would argue it is when you recognize that writing can not be part of your life and you will write regardless of anything else. Doesn’t matter if you only have a few minutes a day or several hours. It is the commitment and regular writing that matters I think.

Also the acceptance that rejections happen to everyone (and even more so not hearing back from a publisher or a competition) is an important factor. Another one is recognizing nobody’s work can ever be described as perfect. It is a question of making it the best you can make it at the time you wrote it.

I can look back on several of my earlier stories and see how I could improve them. They act as a record of where I was at the time and as encouragement to keep going and to continually try to improve on what I do. That is the challenge of writing – to keep on improving. Resting on your laurels doesn’t encourage you to see what else you might do either.

BookBrushImage-2022-5-17-20-2943

Hope your week has got off to a good start. Changeable weather here again though Lady got to play with her two best girlfriends today and all three dogs went home very happy. It is quite something to see a Collie cross, a Ridgeback, and a Vizler playing! You do learn to get out of the way quickly, mind you.

Many thanks for the comments in so far on Creation, my latest Friday Flash Fiction tale. The feedback on this site is encouraging and much appreciated.

It’s almost time again for my monthly Authors Electric spot – my post will be up on Wednesday (18th May so will be included in my next round up here) and I will be talking about Why I love the Shorter Fictional Forms. There you go! A good example of writing about what you know! Screenshot 2022-05-13 at 09-12-04 Creation by Allison Symes

More like an autumn day out there today than a spring one!

I plan to write up a bit more about my workshop yesterday for the London Jesuit Centre later in June, after I come back from The Hayes in Swanwick after the Association of Christian Writers’ Golden Jubilee weekend. I will be running my flash fiction workshop there and am looking forward to doing so and catching up with friends old and new.

That means I continue with my In Fiction series for Chandler’s Ford Today and next Friday’s post will be about Reading, Rhythms, and Resolutions In Fiction. There’s some nice alliteration for you!

Don’t forget I send out my author newsletter on the first of each month so please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com if you would like to sign up for tips, prompts, news etc.

And I got my story off for one of the competitions I always have a try at so that rounds off the week nicely! As I mentioned to someone at the workshop yesterday, I really don’t miss having to send everything off in the post. I am so grateful for email submissions. It’s quicker and I can know my story got there straight away too!

 

A huge thank you to the lovely people at the London Jesuit Centre for making me so welcome today (Saturday, 14th May 2022). I ran my workshop Finding Your Voice – Writing Fiction – How to Get Started there this morning and there were some fabulous discussions and questions as a result of the workshop material. Many thanks all – I love interactive workshops whether I’m running them or attending them!

Also a quick trip down memory lane here as I always used to try and “buy” Bond Street on the old Monopoly board when playing this as a kid and my Tube Station stop today – you guessed it, Bond Street!

In other news, as they say, a big thanks also to all who have commented on Creation, my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’m sure we’ve all heard the expression “show, don’t tell” and it took me a long time to work out what that meant. Writing flash helped me enormously here.

When I “clicked” it was all about getting your characters to say/do things and not the author, I was away. (Catherine walked through the wall as if there was nothing to it as opposed to me saying something like The character, Catherine, did this, did that. Oh and by the way she’s a ghost. My first example shows you she must be a ghost without my spelling it out).

The flash element helped me develop this because of the limited word count. I had to ensure my characters were doing all of the work.It’s a bit like a play – what does the audience want? To see the actors perform the story (or listen if it’s an audio play). What they don’t want are the stage directions. Those aren’t for them.

Likewise, a reader doesn’t want to see my early drafts of a story. They want to see and read what my characters get up to – and it has helped me to remember that it is the character’s story.

Why am I writing this character’s story up? What is so important they get to do this? Only answer there is for the characters to show me (and ultimately the reader) through what I get them to say and do. The only people readers want to hear from are the characters.

BookBrushImage-2022-5-17-20-3640

It’s Monday (16th May 2022) and time once again for a YouTube video. Hope you enjoy my latest, 47. Linda has an unlucky number but it’s not one of the usual ones – she has no problem with the number 13 for example. Why 47? Find out here!

 

I suppose one of the reasons I love characters so much in any kind of story is I usually understand where they are coming from, even if I still disagree with their attitudes and actions. I want to then see how things pan out. Did those characters make the right choices for them and their situation after all or not? That is the big draw of fiction and I need characters to make things happen.

Okay, sometimes those things will make the initial situation worse but a “good” character will find ways of overcoming that/learning where they went wrong and put things right. In flash fiction, naturally, all of that happens so much more quickly so you get the payback more quickly.

And for any kind of story collection, I like a mixture of moods of story too. It is why I called my first book From Light to Dark and Back Again after all!

Flash with Amazon and Barnes and Noble


I was sharing a flash piece today as part of my workshop Finding Your Voice – Writing Fiction – How to Get Started for the London Jesuit Centre today (Saturday, 14th May 2022). The great thing about doing this is that it doesn’t take too long, flash can illustrate points quickly, and it is easy to demonstrate the point of hooks, powerful opening lines etc.

Also you can show a character does not necessarily have to be right about conclusions they’ve reached for themselves but what should happen in stories like that is the reader should have empathy with that character. They should be able to understand where the character is coming from even though they think the character should have reached a more positive conclusion, say.

Stories, of any length, should make you react, make you feel something, make you care about what happens to the character (and something does have to happen. There should be a conflict which needs resolving. It should matter to the characters that it is resolved).

 

Goodreads Author Blog – Books Acrostic

B = Brilliant books in all sizes and genres, sure to be something to suit you.
O= Original storytelling from contemporary writers or do you fancy the
O = Old Classics? Why choose – have both!
K = Kindles now mean you can now have an overflowing electronic book shelf as well as a physical one!
S = Stories you read may well inspire the ones you write.

A = Adventures or animal stories – enjoy them all.
C = Children’s fiction, YA, adult, – work your way through!
R = Reading feeds the mind, liberates the imagination.
O = Off in a world of your own – maybe when you read but then the author has done their work well if that is the case.
S = Scary or silly – there are stories for both.
T = Twist endings are not just for crime tales though there are plenty there.
I = Imagine what it might be like to live in a different world – books can take you there.
C = Characters – it’s all about the characters for me whether I love them or loathe them. They have to make me feel something. The very best linger in the mind long after I’ve finished reading the book.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

BookBrushImage-2021-10-15-19-5054

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

Spring-like Writing

Leave a comment

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
A hectic start for the week for me after a lovely and happy birthday weekend spent with family. Mind you, snow is forecast later in the week. Never let anyone tell you the weather in Britain is dull – it is anything but!

BookBrushImage-2022-3-29-20-581

Facebook – General

It’s my turn on the Association of Christian Writers blog spot, More Than Writers, today. This time I talk about Spring-like Writing. What do I mean by that? Well, I take a look at the mood of our writing but also discuss the “energy” within a story. Hope you enjoy the post and many thanks to all who have sent in some wonderful comments already.Screenshot 2022-03-29 at 20-34-37 Spring-like Writing by Allison Symes

Hope you have had a good start to the week. As ever, it has been a hectic Monday here but at least there is only one Monday in any week! Had a lovely weekend with the family (Lady adored having everyone here) and I was back to story writing yesterday.

My latest More Than Writers blog for the Association of Christian Writers is out tomorrow, I’ve sent something off to Friday Flash Fiction, and I’ll share a new YouTube video on my book page shortly. See below for link. So not a bad start to the writing week then!

I look to complete certain things by the end of the week (such as two of my website round-up blogs on the Tuesday and Friday) and then work on stories and blogs around that. It means I know what I’m doing on each day and helps me ensure I never waste a minute of precious writing time.

I like to hit the ground running for my writing as well as getting my characters to do likewise. It keeps things interesting for me – and I trust for my characters too.

BookBrushImage-2022-3-28-20-1412

#Had a wonderful time with friends and family at my birthday do yesterday. Lovely to have a good chat with the fabulous #JanetWilliams, my editor at Chandler’s Ford Today. It’s been a funny week. I started off coming home from Scotland to having a big do and I could so have done without losing an hour’s sleep this morning thanks to the clock change!

Talking of CFT, I resume my In Fiction series this week with an interesting post based around the letter K – Kindness and Killing in Fiction. How can I get a post out of a topic where the title is such a contrast? Link up on Friday – you will have to wait until then to find out!

My author newsletter goes out next Friday as well (see my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com for the sign up page).

Talking of my website, a big hello to all who have started following me here – it has been encouraging to see steady growth here.

And last but not least, there is an offer on the paperback of Tripping the Flash Fantastic over at Amazon. Do check out my Author Central page for more details at http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent


Getting together with family and friends today so thought I would post early. How do your characters handle get togethers? Do they relish them or dread them? And who controls the events? Is your lead character really the one running the show? They might think they are but…

Get togethers are often the source of family traditions so which would your characters have and do they uphold them? Do they cherish them or feel they are being held back by them? For your lone characters, which traditions do they remember from the past and do they miss these? How do they cope with being lone characters now? There is a sense of loss implied here so your story could focus on that.

This is where our own life experiences can help us in crafting a tale. We all know loss. We may not know what it is like to live on an alien world but we can take what we know of life here and help our characters to come across better to a reader. Empathy matters.

BookBrushImage-2022-3-29-21-1358

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Have had one of those days where I’ve run late all day. But the nice thing about flash, and something I especially appreciate during a busy day, is with its restricted word count, I can still carve out five minutes some when during the day to draft a story! Or jot down ideas for stories, possible titles and so on. Those quick writing times mount up and give me a store of things to come back to when I’ve got more time. There is nothing to dislike about that scenario!

BookBrushImage-2022-3-29-21-1752

It’s good to be sharing story videos on YouTube again after a brief break due to my being at the Scottish Association of Writers conference. Hope you enjoy A Scent of Sense. This story was triggered by a question which came up on a random question generator – what is your favourite smell? I thought it a good way to write a tale based on one sense and to focus on that.


If you’d like to check out some of my flash fiction, do visit my YouTube channel. As well as sharing mini stories there, you can find the two book trailers for From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic, here, both of which have a free story included in them. Hope you enjoy (and new subscribers to my channel are always welcome).

Screenshot 2022-03-29 at 21-21-11 Allison Symes - YouTube

Am having a family do today in celebration of my birthday. It will be lovely seeing everyone again and the weather is gorgeous. So am posting early. I’ll be resuming my In Fiction series for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. I also hope to get back to writing for Friday Flash Fiction this week. And I’ve a number of blogs to draft so I will be out of mischief for some considerable time!

Now there’s no reason not to use gatherings in your stories as long as they move your plot on in some way. What could your character find out at a gathering that will make them change what they do next? And could it change the outcome of the overall story?

If your character Is the shy type and a gathering of any kind would fill them with horror, how do they find out information they will need for their “quest”? And how would they handle things if they absolutely had to to go a gathering? Don’t be afraid to drop your characters right in the mire – this is where you find out if they will sink or swim and where you will find out so much more about what they are capable of, whether that’s in a good way or not.

BookBrushImage-2022-3-29-21-2621

Goodreads Author Blog – Celebrating the Booksellers

We should celebrate the booksellers, yes? If you’re lucky enough to have an independent book store near you, make the most of it! Even where you have a known chain, still support them. Where I am, we were lucky enough to have a lovely independent book shop as part of our main shopping centre but the owner retired (understandably) and now the nearest bookshops are at least five miles away.

One of the joys of going to a writing event, such as the one I’ve recently returned from, is there is usually a book stall connected to it. These are often run by a local independent bookseller so, as well as supporting the authors whose works you buy, you support these good people too. And it does make sense to support the industry you want to be part of!

Although online ordering can be convenient, I don’t want the physical bookshops to disappear. I think we would lose something important. Browsing through bookshop shelves is a far more pleasurable experience than trying to browse online!

So go and support your local bookseller. You know it makes sense.

Screenshot 2022-03-29 at 20-47-10 Celebrating the Booksellers

twitter-corner-2

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