Tag: Clearing Away by Allison Symes

Not Impressed

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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.
Apologies for a shortened post this time. Sadly I was ill over the weekend/early part of this week but am glad to report am now feeling much better. I did miss being able to write though. It is true – writing can be addictive! Mind you, it has been the thing to cheer me up as I’ve got back to it again.

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Facebook – General

A huge thank you for the best wishes expressed yesterday. Am so glad to be well on the mend (though must ‘fess up to sporting a rather unfetching tired and washed out look right now! Better than being ill by lightyears though).

So glad to be back writing again. I do have to be ill not to be able to do any at all! I did manage to submit a story to Friday Flash Fiction yesterday and I will be sharing over on my book page shortly my video for the week. To only be a day out is not bad given the circumstances.

And it is always nice to have something to look forward to doing, creatively, at the end of my day. I suspect it was that aspect I missed the most.

I’ll be talking about Purposes of Creative Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Look forward to sharing that on Friday.

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)
Apologies for the no-show yesterday, I had an awful weekend, being rather ill! (Lost 6 lbs over one night!). Am feeling better now but very tired and washed out. It will be a few early nights this week for me I think.

Writing tip: Never beat yourself up when you can’t write. I just couldn’t focus on anything over the weekend. These things happen. Look forward to having writing to come back to when you are more up to that again. I know this one works – have just done an unwanted test on this one!

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Hope you have had a good day. Many thanks for the comments coming in on Clearing Away, my latest on Friday Flash Fiction.
I’m going to be looking at the Purposes of Creative Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Am enjoying writing it and looking forward to sharing this on Friday.

When I prepare author interviews for CFT, I take some time in researching the background to the writer in question so I can put pertinent questions to them and find aspects of their work they will want to elaborate on. That makes for a great, entertaining interview. You can do pretty much the same for your character outline. What would your character want to tell you and why is an interesting angle to explore. What do you think your characters would want to keep hidden from you and why is another one.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to now be able to share my story video of the week. It was lovely getting back to doing this, after having been ill, and to only be a day out is nice. My story title reflects how I felt about how I ended up spending my weekend – hope you enjoy Not Impressed!

Sorry, I wasn’t about yesterday. I spent a lot of the weekend being ill. Pity that wasn’t over in a flash!

Moving on, I’ve mentioned before that one joy of flash is being able to draft something when you haven’t got much time. It is also handy when you are not up to writing much. You still feel as if you have got something done and I’ve found that helpful in the past and now. It can be a useful morale boost when you’re not feeling up to much.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

I shared in my CFT post yesterday that one thing I loved about editing for Mom’s Favorite Reads is in seeing how people respond to the challenge I set. They always rise to the occasion! I love responding to challenges (say competition themes) and seeing what I can do with them. I think being made to raise our game here is a great discipline.

It is always nice being able to surprise yourself with what you can come up with here and having the challenge to respond to is a fantastic way of stretching yourself. After all, responding to that CafeLit 100 word challenge made me discover the joys of flash fiction. You need something to respond to in the first place, I think.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says "A fiction writer's challenge is to keep coming up with characters who engage with us. A non-fiction writer's challenge is to keep coming up with topics which engage us. I do both!"

Goodreads Author Blog – Haunting Characters

I occasionally write a ghost flash fiction story. One of my favourite stories of all time involves three ghosts and a miser – I’ll leave you to guess what that one is! And I love a great series of books called Kindred Spirits by Jennifer C Wilson who combines ghost stories and history. (I should add Jennifer is a friend but I would happily read and recommend these books anyway given I love historical fiction and this is an interesting take on it).

But haunting characters shouldn’t just be confined to ghost stories. I want characters to haunt me and stay with me long after I’ve finished reading their story. Some of those that do this for me include Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Sam Vimes, Death (from Discworld), Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee, Jeeves and Wooster, and many others besides. I do love an eclectic mix!

So how can a character haunt a reader then? Simply by being so convincingly portrayed any reader would want to root for them and absolutely have to find to what happens to them. They’ve got to make the reader feel as if they were almost there in the story with them, as it is only when that is achieved will a reader care enough about them.

Screenshot 2023-03-11 at 20-46-06 Haunting Characters

ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Catching Up – Author News – Allison Symes

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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. It has been a right mixed bag weather wise – snow, sleet, rain, sunshine – but Lady has taken it all in her stride. My solitary crocus seems to have survived the onslaught, much to my relief. Before you ask, I have planted others but I suspect they’ve been taken by animals feeding on these things. This one crocus comes out year on year and is a delight to see.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Catching up – Local Author News – Allison Symes as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. The first quarter of 2023 has been brisk, I’m pleased to say. Pleased because the writing life is not meant to be a static one. Am also pleased to spread the word for Mom’s Favorite Reads and share some tips I’ve found useful.

Catching Up – Local Author News – Allison Symes

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Looking forward to sharing a catch up post from me for Chandler’s Ford Today where I share recent events and news. See above. There has been plenty going on since my last one. Mind you, the writing journey isn’t meant to be static so I fit in with that well enough. Link up tomorrow.

One tip that has stood me in good stead is to always double check submission requirements, whether it is for an online magazine, a publisher, or a competition etc. Follow these things to the letter (and in the case of Friday Flash Fiction to the comma – see the site (and my screenshot for more on that). Why?

Well, you risk automatic rejection if you don’t, for one thing. There are always good reasons for submission requirements. Sometimes it is to do with formatting.

Secondly, you make the editor’s life that much easier if you follow the rules. Editors, competition judges (and I am sometimes both of these!), appreciate these things (and trust me, I have!).

Thirdly, it can make you look like an amateur if you don’t follow the rules.

Fourthly, if you’re working (or hope to) with a publisher/agent, if you can’t follow the rules, it can make you look awkward to work with and you don’t want to give off that impression, however unintentionally.

So it is worth taking the time here to get these things right.

(In other news, am rather chuffed with myself as I’ve finally managed to score over 600 on an online game similar to Scrabble. I managed to get all seven tiles out on a double treble word score. The likelihood of this happening ever again is remote so am grabbing bragging rights now!).

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Well, we did get snow, and Lady had a lovely time but neither of us were that sorry to get back home again.

Where would your characters call home and does home have the same meaning for us as it would do for many of us? Is it something they look forward to returning to or somewhere they just “put up with for now” because they have plans for better?

One of the things I loved about The Lord of the Rings is when Frodo, Sam etc do return to The Shire, they are pleased to be back but it is obvious they have changed. It would be odd if they had not been. And that’s something we need to reflect in our stories if we get characters returning to a place having been through their story.

A character shouldn’t be exactly the same as they were before setting out. Readers expect to see change (and sometimes it can be negative) but there should be something to show they’ve been affected by their experiences during the tale.

May be an image of outdoors and text that says "Hobbiton, home of the Hobbits, in The Lord of the Rings."

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I mentioned I was going to use the theme of clearing away for my YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction stories this week. The YouTube one went out on Monday but today I can share the one now on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy Clearing Away.

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Just a quick post to say if you find flash fiction books like mine on Amazon saying they’re out of stock – well, they’re not. Most of the indie press such as Chapeltown Books use print on demand (as it saves a small fortune in warehousing and distribution costs and I feel is less wasteful too).

What happens is an order goes in to print your book and you get it shortly afterwards. And do bear in mind you are always welcome to buy from me directly via my website. Just let me know via my contact page (link below). Always pleased to help here! (And I can sign your books for you too).

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Just going to flag up that Amazon have an offer on the paperback of From Light to Dark and Back Again. See link. Many thanks to all who have reviewed both of my books – reviews are much appreciated. More are always welcome, of course. Yes, I do review books myself. It is another way of supporting the author. The nice thing is reviews don’t have to be long either but they do have to be honest ones!

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Fairytales with Bite – Problems Acrostic

P = Problems a character must overcome; cause of great drama and tension.
R = Real issues even in a magical world should be something a reader can sympathize with your character about.
O = Onward and upward but just how does your character do that – with magical help or without?
B = By the end of the story the problem must be resolved in some way but not necessarily happily.
L = Let your character work things out for themselves, even if they end up concluding they’ve got to call help in.
E = Extra help should be seen to be merited (after all, why should someone have a fairy godmother drop in?).
M = Make the problem help your character develop in some way, that will bring about a point of change, which all stories need.
S = Sympathy, struggles, stress – your characters should go through two of these to get the first!

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This World and Others – Typical Problems Your World Faces

What are the typical problems your world faces? Are these seasonal? Have they taken steps to make things better or are other things getting in the way of that happening?

If it is a question of your world not wanting to face up to the problems they’ve got, why is that? Is it a question of the problems being so huge they can’t tackle them or a lack of resources? Could they team up with other places to help them sort these issues out or is that where the real problem lies – they can’t get on with anybody, nobody wants to help them etc?

If the underlying problems are to do with the environment, are there characters in your story who are trying to do something to make things better? What can they achieve? Can they change others’ attitudes?

Plenty of story thoughts there. And bear in mind the problems might be exactly what your character needs as a challenge to get the best of them. We generally see problems as to be overcome. Your characters can do and it can develop what they are capable of doing, even if at the beginning of the story (and throughout it) they doubt what they can achieve. People will be glued to finding out what your character can do, how they overcome their doubts etc.

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

Screenshot 2023-02-17 at 20-52-45 Reader Hub Book BrushMOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Screenshot 2023-03-10 at 21-07-08 Allison Symes

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