Tag: collections

Lifting Up My Pen at Swanwick 2024

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the photo of me leading the Lift Up Your Pens session about using numbers in fiction.
It is so good to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and a joy to catch up with friends in person. Have learned so much from the courses and workshops so far.

Marvellous to catch up with friends and to see the fish in the lake again at Swanwick 2024

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Another lovely day at Swanwick. Enjoyed the sessions on The Write Mindset (Sarah Harlow) and Powerful Public Speaking for Writers (Simon Hall). Always plenty to learn from sessions like these. Sometimes it is just reassuring to know you are on the right lines!

On Tuesday afternoons there is spare time (which is done deliberately) where I hope to catch up with some of my writing. Later tonight I am due to take part in the Open Prose Mic Night and am looking forward to that. It does make a great advert for what flash fiction can be.

One of the beautiful lakes here at Swanwick - you might just spot the fish here - Swanwick 2024

Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the shots of me at the Lift Up Your Pens session yesterday. It was a joy and privilege to lead the Lift Up Your Hearts session this morning, a short devotional session for all denominations.

Was back at Vivien Brown’s Short Story course this morning and then went on to Road to Self-Publishing Success led by Lizzie Chantree. Both packed full with useful information. Plan to get along to Anthologies Collaborations too.

There is so much choice here. It is one of the strengths of Swanwick and you choose how many or how few of those courses you go to. I trust the Book Room is also seeing brisk sales as if there is one thing I know about writers, it is none of us can ever have too many books!

Discussing how we can use numbers in stories as part of Lift Up Your Pens - Swanwick 2024

Glad to say the session for Lift Up Your Pens which I hosted at Swanwick this morning went well. I was looking at different ways of using numbers in stories. There are more than you might think and using numbers at all encourages you to think outside of the box, which is also a good thing.

Thoroughly enjoyed Vivien Brown’s Short Story specialist course, the fist part of which was this morning. I went on to Twist in the Tale hosted by Val Penny which was on before and after lunch. Both of these topics are right up my writing street of course.

But one of the lovely things about creative writing is there is always something you can learn which can help you improve your craft further. Now that is a very good thing indeed!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Am on my way to Swanwick 2024. So looking forward to seeing everyone. Lady, with my other half, saw me off. I expect to be mugged by her when I get back. It’s what usually happens.

Will be talking about Never Fear The Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today. It is timely given my Swanwick course is on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Link up on Friday for CFT (I just love scheduling in advance!).

Am getting back to my old habit of getting some writing done on the train. The notes app which came with my phone is great and proving to be a good replacement for Evernote as I don’t have a need for a paid subscription which they effectively now are.

You can't beat the trusty notebook and pen for work in groups or at events like Swanwick

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Will be taking part in the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night later tonight. Hoping to read from my books and one or two pieces from my stories on Friday Flash Fiction. Did take part in the general knowledge quiz last night – the team came 5th out of 8 though the placings between 5th and 2nd were very tight. Might pay to brush up for next year!

Nice to have a chat with fellow Bridge House authors, Linda Payne and June Webber, today. Always good to wave the flag for a lovely publisher.

From Left to Right below:  June Webber, yours truly, Linda Payne.

Waving the flag for Bridge House Publishing and CafeLit - June Webber, Allison Symes, Linda Payne

Having a fabulous time at Swanwick. I swear you can feel the creativity in the air! The gardens are as lovely as ever, as are the lakes, and I’ve found it refreshing to take walks around the latter at break times. Have never seen the fish so busy in those lakes as I have done this year.

Glad to have caught up with the lovely Linda Payne – she and I are the Bridge House Publishing contingent for this year! Also glad to have caught up with Susan Pope and Vikki Thompson (of the lovely Mermaids writing group. I’ve given a couple of talks for them on Zoom but it is so nice to see the ladies again in person).

Have some ideas from exercises already set but suspect I need to be back at home before I get a chance to write them up though.

But I haven’t forgotten it’s Monday and it is still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest – One Hour. I shared in Lift Up Your Pens at Swanwick yesterday how to use numbers in fiction and one way is to use it as a time. Here’s my response to that!

Many thanks to Val Penny for the shout-out as part of her Twist in the Tale course at Swanwick today. Yes, for flash fiction, you can only have the one twist and that is it because you don’t have the word count room for more. However, it is precisely due to that I find twists in flash fiction have a more powerful impact as there is nothing to “water it down”.

Have put my name in the box for reading out at the Open Prose Mic Night. Flash is a great form for this bcause you can’t take too long. Goes down well with organisers and audiences, that one!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Hope to share some flash fiction at Swanwick again. It is a great format for Open Prose Mic nights as it doesn’t take long and the audience gets to hear complete stories. Have brought new material for this year.

Hope to get some flash written while away too. Am sure some of the exercises I will be set will end up eventually as flash tales.

Always time for a laugh with fellow writers-1

Goodreads Author Blog – Collections

There is a great meme doing the rounds which claims it isn’t hoarding if it is books. I have a lot of sympathy for this viewpoint and confidently expect to add to my own hoard courtesy of the book room at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is my base for a few days.

I also love story collections and have done from an early age thanks to the collected fairytales Reader’s Digest brought out as a two volume set a long time ago.

I’m not unbiased given many of my stories are in collections and I often edit them for others. I love the mixture of tales in these and to be able to dip in and out of the books as I wish.

I often read them in between reading novels. I like to mix up reading the short and long forms. A well curated collection is a joy to read.

Screenshot 2024-08-13 at 09-18-54 Allison Symes's Blog - Collections - August 10 2024 06 07 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the June 2024 edition which was on the theme of poetry. My article looks at the links between flash fiction and poetry. Hope you enjoy it.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview: June Webber – Publication: Never Too Late

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush.Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were photos of The Hayes, Swanwick as part of my CFT interview this week. Talking of which,  many thanks to June Webber for great author and book pictures for her interview with me on Chandler’s Ford Today.
Has been a cold week hre but Lady has got to have many “puppy parties” this week with her best friends over the local park so she’s happy at least.

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I am thrilled to welcome dear friend and fellow Swanwicker, June Webber, to Chandler’s Ford Today, to share her writing journey in Publication – Never Too Late. Her writing story is an encouraging one. I very much hope you enjoy the post and find it encouraging too.

Author Interview: June Webber – Publication: Never Too Late

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Hope you have had a good day. Another bitterly cold one here. Looking forward to chatting with June Webber on Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. Her story is an inspiring one and I’m only too pleased to be sharing it. See above.

Where do you get your inspiration for writing from? As well as using the random generators to trigger ideas, the biggest inspiration comes from what I love reading.

I’ve always loved the classic fairytales so they are a huge influence on me. I love the humour of Austen, Pratchett, and Wodehouse, so those are huge influences on me.

This is why the more you read (in terms of numbers of books read and genres), the bigger and wider are the sources of inspiration for you to draw on. Other sources of inspiration can be topics on which you have strong feelings. I like to see justice done and the evil not to get away with it (again the fairytales have a definite influence on me there) so I will read crime stories which reflect this.

So having a broad reading diet then is a very good idea indeed!

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It’s my turn on the Authors Electric blog and this time I’m talking about Flash NANO – A New Challenge In the Old Year. I look at what Flash NANO is and share what I found useful about it. It is good to be stretched, writing wise, every so often, and Flash NANO did that for me. Looking forward to the next one already.

Screenshot 2023-01-18 at 09-31-41 Flash NANO - A New Challenge in the Old Year by Allison Symes

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Delighted to share Reasons, my latest Friday Flash Fiction story. Many thanks for the great comments coming in on this one already.

Screenshot 2023-01-20 at 09-27-41 Reasons by Allison Symes

Looking forward to giving my flash fiction workshop this weekend and also the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. I like a mixture of in person and Zoom events – both kinds of event have their bonuses.

If you’re thinking of putting a collection together, remember the independent press is a great avenue to explore as they are much more open to approaches from non-agented writers. And having short stories/flash fiction published online or shortlisted in competitions makes for great material to put in your query letter.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Creative writing is fun and good for the brain ίσσ."

Many thanks to #ValPenny for sharing Writing Pitfalls, a recent blog I wrote for Chandler’s Ford Today on her blog today. A great way to spread the word! One writing pitfall I didn’t mention either here or earlier on CFT is not realising just how many kinds of writing there are out there and therefore to take your time working out which suits you best. I am so glad I discovered flash fiction for instance though I’d never heard of it when I started out.

Writing Pitfalls by Allison Symes

Screenshot 2023-01-20 at 20-17-43 Writing Pitfalls by Allison Symes

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Seasons – Characters and Magic

How does your magical world have its seasons? Are they similar to Earth’s four and, if so, is magic more prominent in any one of them? If so, why? Does the winter, for example tend to dampen down magical activity? Does magic abound in the spring with longer days and brighter weather?

Do your characters have seasons in their life where their magical performances are significantly better or worse than others? Indeed, are waning powers a sign of illness/a character’s life coming to an end, again on the grounds everything has its season and it applies to characters too? Or does everyone experience a drop in performance at certain times and they’ve learned how to cope with that?

Do you have characters who cope with the down times better than others and how do they achieve this? Does the availability of light make a difference?

I also love characters who are older but with tonnes of useful magical experience behind them yet are still capable of “outgunning” those far younger than them because of that experience. How would their magical season progress?

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This World and Others – Climates

Does your world have one predominant climate or several? How does this/these affect the geography of your fictional world? Equally how does the geography affect the climate that can only exist because, for example, your world has a lot of water in it? Can your characters change the climate (for better or worse) and. If so, how?

Are there wars between different peoples because one has a better climate than the other? What pressures are there on food production etc which could lead to such conflicts and how are these things resolved?

What kind of climate do your characters prefer to be in? There will always be those who relish causing trouble so like a climate in which that is easily done. They would be bored senseless in a climate where peace prevails and nobody argues about anything. (Would make for a boring story too).

And how do shyer characters cope in a climate where people/other beings of choice are expected to be upfront and dominant? My thinking here is climate can be about social context and prevailing attitudes, as well as the geographic kind.

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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

Memories and Collections

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What memories are special for your characters and why? Are they shared memories with other family/tribe members or individual ones or both? Does your created world have special events where certain memories are officially recalled? Is the past a good place for your characters to visit or do they block out all memories to avoid inflicting more pain on themselves?

This post came about because I was showing some lovely photos of my maternal grandparents’ wedding (set in the grounds of Chiswick House) to other members of my family today. I only came across these photos after I cleared out my late parents’ house. My only regret is had I known of their existence before, I would have quizzed my mother in particular over one photo where she and her younger sister were bridesmaids. There were people in this photo I didn’t know and the family and I took intelligent guesses at who they were.

I guess this shows the importance of maintaining memories and cherishing what is vital from the past, your past. So how do your characters do that?

How pics used to be taken. Pexels image.
Everyone loved flipping through the photo albums. Image by Allison Symes
It has been a while since I last saw one of these! Image via Pixabay
A good reading pile! Pexels image.
Glorious autumn. Time to take stock briefly and then move on. Pixabay image.
Very old school writing. Pixabay image.
It always is! Reflecting first helps a lot! Pixabay image
I recall using a manual typewriter and manually copying and pasting. Pixabay image.
Part of my church’s 200th anniversary exhibition. Image by Allison Symes

When you read a book outside of the genre you write in, what are you looking for?

I’m looking for a world I can identify with (though almost inevitably I wouldn’t want to live there!) and characters whose motivations I understand (and usually sympathise with).

I like a fast pace to the story and other background information to help me make sense of the setting. I also want there to be gaps that I have to fill in with my imagination. I want the dialogue to hook me so that I have to read on and not notice the “he said/she said” tags. Well written dialogue does make me skip over these tags as if they weren’t there.

And when I’ve finished the story, I want to feel as if not one word could be added. I also want to regret coming to the end of the story because I enjoyed it so much.

And the challenge here is to write this way myself so hopefully people will feel the same way about MY stories!

The ultimate book tunnel? Image via Pexels
For jotting down those initial ideas. Image via Pixabay.
A truly beautiful book. Pixabay image.
What journeys are your characters going on? Image via Pixabay
I try NOT to chain down my creativity! Pexels image.
Remembering… image via Pixabay
Writing is rewriting. Image via Pixabay.
I’ve never read a book in these conditions, have you? Pixabay image.
Love the bike. Pexels image.

I have collections by several of my favourite authors on my shelves – Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Terry Pratchett to name a few. Love all that they wrote. Tremendously difficult to pick a favourite book by any of them.

What I especially adore though is when they take their major characters and put them into situations they would never have anticipated encountering. For example, Murder on the Orient Express gives Poirot a moral dilemma (and I won’t say more than that – no spoilers here). It’s not the kind of moral dilemma he would have anticipated facing. And it is how he handles that which, for me, makes this story fascinating. (The TV version with David Suchet is particularly good on this aspect).

So can you take the usual situations your lead characters would reasonably expect to face and subvert them? That what has worked for your lead characters before cannot possibly work in this new situation so they are forced to come out of their comfort zone and “go for broke” because they have to solve this new condundrum, no matter what?

One thing is for sure: do this and there will be no lack of drama/conflict in your story!

Nice selection of books here! Image via Pixabay
Lost in time, thanks to a good book. Pexels image.
Pictures in text the old fashioned way. Image via Pixabay.
Something I’ve yet to see happen! Pixabay image.
Fiction is strengthened when backed by fact. Image via Pixabay
Lovely place to browse. Image via Pixabay.
Use what you know of our world and your imagination to create something really special. Image via Pixabay
What writing triggers will help you create your new worlds? Image via Pixabay

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One of the biggest issues facing writers is getting their book out there and, once that has been achieved, how to market it without annoying everyone! One simple thing is just to let people know where it can be found and leave it at that. So taking my own advice then…!

I’m glad to say FLTDBA is available via the Book Depository.

FLTDBA in the Swanwick Book Room

FLTDBA for sale in the Swanwick Book Room. Image by Allison Symes

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Chapeltown Books have a distinctive central image in a frame such as with mine. Image by Allison Symes

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Back cover of FLTDBA. Image by Allison Symes

I was enjoying an old Doctor Who episode earlier this evening when Catherine Tate came in as companion, Donna Noble, to David Tennant’s Doctor. Great episode. What I liked about the character of Donna was her feistiness, her abilty to think on her feet, and the fact she wasn’t letting the Doctor get away with ANYTHING. Her character claimed that the Doctor needed someone to stop him sometimes. I think it’s a fair assessment too.

But this highlighted for me the fact well written characters shine through whatever story they’re in and make themselves and the tale memorable. Something to always aspire to when writing my own characters I think.

This made me smile! Pixabay image.
Great characters = great books. Image via Pixabay.
Charging up for new ideas, maybe? Pixabay image.
Indeed! Pixabay image.
Signing books for a friend. Image by Adrian Symes
Whenever and whatever you read, enjoy. Image via Pixabay.
Good reading – and writing to be done – here. Pixabay image.
Books invite you into their world. Go! Image via Pixabay.

The joy of coming up with one line stories is you can either leave them like that and perhaps enter them into 25-word flash fiction competitions OR you can expand them.

From there of course, you can either have a longer flash fiction story or go to 1500-2000 words (standard short story competition word count). I think if you were to go much beyond that, you would be changing your initial idea as you would need more characters, at least one decent subplot and so on for the story to be able to “stand up” over that greater “distance” and still make sense.

I don’t revisit my one-liners that often but it did occur to me perhaps I should do so more regularly! A case of double whammy for the writer here I think!

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