Tag: competitions

Author’s Voice, Revising, and Parties as Settings

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Lovely one here. Family party which we all loved and Lady was brilliant with our youngest family member (1 this coming week!) and a visiting spaniel. We found Lady crashed out in our hall at about 7.30 pm! I suspect the spaniel crashed out too. This week I’m running a flash fiction group for ACW and am off to the theatre on another evening so all go but should be fun all around.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see Willow, a lovely small Jack Russell, today, and Daisy, a very gentle spaniel. Whenever Lady gets to see any of her pals, she feels her day has not been wasted! Hope to be back in the swimming pool later this week. Missed it today. Was waiting for MOT result on my car today, thankfully it passed.

Writing wise, I’ve redrafted a competition entry. Am now resting it again. Have got it to the required word count simply by tightening up how I’ve phrased things. For short stories (this one has to be 250 words maximum), I do find it easiest to run it out on paper and edit it the old-school way. Doing that for this one highlighted where I could phrase things better and so I have!

Am planning to submit it over the coming weekend (deadline is end August but I want to make sure I don’t forget to do it before heading off to Swanwick).

452637013_10162048436782053_4036150123600301241_nA busy day but changeable weather again. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler though. Lots of affection shown and they both mug the Vizler’s owner for treats. Two happy dogs went home.

Looking forward to sharing a fab interview with Val Penny on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’m also popping in a couple of questions to book blogger, Lynsey Adams, as part of this as she organises Val’s blog tours. Lots of good tips and advice from both writing and book blogger viewpoints. Be sure not to miss it!

In other news, I’m thrilled to say Writers’ Narrative will be back in December, earlier than originally thought. Will share more information nearer the time.

Am counting down the days to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick too. Not that far away now.

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Despite the rain, we had a wonderful family party yesterday. Am recovering today (as is the dog, who was just brilliant. She loves people. She is literally a party animal).

Thinking about your characters, are they the type who love parties or hate them? Are they the type of characters people would be only too keen to invite along to a do or do folk ensure these never get invited to their place? Whatever your answers here, give some thought as to why the answers are the way they are. Story ideas are likely to crop up. To name just one, suppose a character turns up at a party. They have had the invite. It was sent out in error. What happens next?

Also thinking of having a party as a setting, what could happen there to change a character’s life for good or ill? Do they end up regretting going to that do or are so pleased they did go? Potential I think for feel good and humorous stories here. Goodness knows, the world could do with many more of both of those kinds of tale!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Apologies this is later than normal but have had a fabulous day celebrating other half’s birthday with family. Lady and my cousin’s dog, Lily, a lovely spaniel, get on really well and had a magnificent time. They also make excellent biological vacuum cleaners!

Am looking forward to welcoming back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today next week. She’ll be discussing Hunter’s Rules with me, her new book which will be launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival in the next few days. Well done, Val, on that! I’ll also be having a chat with Lynsey Adams as part of this interview about book blog tours and there will be tips shared. So please do look out for this. It will be an excellent and enlightening read.

(What’s nice is I’m due to see Val again on Zoom soon. After that I’ll be meeting up with her in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Looking forward to both of those things!).

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Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again soon. If you’ve missed any of my YouTube stories I do share links for the month in my newsletter. I also share links to anything I’ve had on Friday Flash Fiction for the month.

To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and I will also take this chance to say a huge thank you to my subscribers. Support much appreciated.

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It’s Monday. The weather has been all over the place again. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Selections. Does the genie finally get to meet a non-greedy human? Find out here.

 

It took me a long while to discover what my author’s voice is and what helped me discover it at all was to write and to keep on writing. As I produced more short stories, blogs, flash fiction etc, a style emerged and I realised that was my author’s voice coming through. (Reading my work out loud regularly also has helped me hear my style and voice emerge).

One thing which is underrated, I feel, is the need to have a backbone of steel so you do keep on writing. You accept there will be rejections and disappointments but you also realise this happens to every writer. I’ve found knowing that makes me feel a bit better when the turn downs do come in, funnily enough.

I hope when I mention here I’ve had a rejection it will encourage others to realise that it doesn’t mean you stop writing. What you do try and do is write better, while accepting not everyone will get what you do. You have to allow for subjective tastes too.

The other thing which has helped a lot is reading more widely and in contemporary fiction, as well as the classics and favourites we all know and love. This is why going to writing events and discovering authors and books new to you is such a wonderful aid to any writer because you can’t know in advance always what will inspire your own stories (and it is fun finding this out).

452231899_10162042748972053_1141268187125797544_nI mix up how I decide my flash pieces are going to be. Sometimes I know the mood of the story I want to write. Sometimes I know the theme. Sometimes I have a character making themselves known to me and I have to get their story down.

For competitions, I like the open theme and the set ones. The latter challenge me to write to what someone else has decided here and that is a good discipline and worth practicing.

The former challenges me to think deeply about my theme and characters. Given the competition is an open one, I have to ensure my storyline and characters stand out. They have to be memorable to the judge who is likely to be reading several stories.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Children’s Books

I have a very soft spot indeed for children’s books. My late mother encouraged reading and a love of stories from an early age, something I’ve always appreciated. I have fond memories of children’s classics such as Black Beauty, the Famous Five, Heidi, and, of course, my beloved fairytales.

Being hooked on red reading early on encouraged my development into reading adult books. No such thing as a YA category in my day – I would’ve loved it and I think it is a superb idea. I collected the works of Agatha Christie via Odhams Book Club (remember them, anyone?) and still have these now. But without my love of reading the children’s books, would I have gone on to read the Queen of Crime? I doubt it.

Someone has to hook you into reading in the first place and this is where the children’s authors come in. It has long been a belief of mine that all writers of books for adults owe a huge debt to the children’s writers. They do grow our audience for us.

It was a great joy, when I became a parent, to select children’s books and, later, to see my child pick their own. (That’s a good thing to encourage too). I was especially fond of the children’s treasuries of stories (as my child was) precisely because there were lots of tales to dip into. They are the perfect books for that.

Each generation needs its children’s writers. It also needs its adult writers. I don’t know if any survey has ever been done on this but it would not surprise me much if it was found 90% + of all readers say they owe their love of reading to loving books as a child.

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The fabulous news is Writers’ Narrative will be back in December 2024, earlier than anticipated. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the edition from June 2024 which focused on poetry. My article explored the links between flash fiction and poetry. There are more than you might think!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Publication News and The Perfect Ending

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Week has got off to a great start with the news The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in there. More below on that. Also the June issue of Writers’ Narrative is out now too. Can’t believe we’re in June already but at least the weather is stating to play along with the idea we’re due some sunshine now!

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Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Three very happy dogs went home again after a lovely time in the park. Dogs know what matters!

Writing wise, I’m talking to Jenny Sanders again for Part 2 of a fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Her devotional book, Polished Arrows, was published recently and this week we’ll be talking about marketing, launches, the value of good supportive writing groups, and much more besides. Don’t miss! Lots of tips and useful thoughts here.

Now to give Amazon their due. I contacted them on Sunday to ask them to add The Best of CafeLit 13 to my Amazon Author Central page. I’ve found, from past experience, I need to give them the details and they add anthologies (because I’m not the publisher but am a contributing author). Anyway, it was done yesterday, well within 24 hours.

Have just added the book to my ALCS records too. I’ve found it pays to add new publications (books or articles where there is an ISSN number) as soon as I can to make sure I get it done. Will make a difference to my ALCS payment next year, which is the best incentive to get it done!

 

My three stories in The Best of CafeLit 13 are Cinnamon Comforts, Untaken, and Sweet Dreams. It’s good to be back between the covers with old friends in this anthology and I’m looking forward to catching up with their works here, as well as checking out those authors new to me. I often do read anthologies as you might expect and find them to be a fabulous way to try out works by authors new to me. If I like their work, I will often then try their longer works. This is a great way to discover new writers.

I also like to read collections of short form works in between reading novels. I like to ensure I have a good reading diet of longer works and shorter ones. Anthologies make it so much more convenient to catch up with the latter!

Also if you are writing in the short form, reading books like this can count as part of your market research. It is always good to know what is already out there and from that you can work out where you would fit in. A publisher needs to know where you’d fit in with their lists and you need to be able to show them that you can.

Publication News (as you may have gathered from the above!)

Thrilled to say The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in here. Will say more about this during the next few days but just wanted to (a) share the news and (b) congratulate the other authors with work in here. Nice to see names and old friends here. Well done, all. (What is especially nice here is the stories are voted for by other CafeLit people so nobody can know their story is going to make the cut).

Will be sharing Part 2 of an in-depth conversation with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Next time we’ll be looking at launches, marketing, and more. Link up on Friday.

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my Unwelcome News, my latest Friday Flash Fiction tale. Just who is the worst here – Melissa or Stefan? Read the tale and see what you think. Link here. (Great fun to write).

 

Delighted to say the June edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is poetry this time and my article looks at The Links Between Flash Fiction and Poetry. There are more than you might think. I also include a flash fiction piece told in poetic form as I sometimes write stories this way and it can work well. I share some tips for doing this too.

My article is on Pages 14/15 but do check out the excellent pieces throughout. For one thing, you can find out if you know who your padawan is! Go on, you know you want to find out!

 

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Hope you have had a good day.

Something I mention to members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is to look out for the short story competitions. Many of them either have a lower word count limit of 1000 words (making it the top end of the range for flash fiction writers but still do-able) or have a range of word counts for you to write to.

The Bridport Prize, for example, has a flash fiction category but also has a short story one. No reason why you couldn’t enter both with different tales should you wish.

Another one is the HISSAC Annual Open Short Story competition where they want short stories up to 2000 words and flash fiction up to 500. There will be other competitions out there who will do something similar. Worth watching for.

Competitions are great for making up face up to working to a deadline and if you get listed or win, even better!

447551831_10161932010872053_7782713995846695559_nIt’s Monday. It has been a sunny one too. Still Monday though. Still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my Life Changing Moments. Those who came to the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting will recognise this as my response to a prompt I set.

Usually when I put my YouTube videos here, they are inserted into the page  and you click and play. Not happening tonight. Please use the link above. Screenshot to just give you an idea but there is more to this story so do check the link out! Thanks.

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The buzz of being in print never diminishes! The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out and I have three stories included. I also enjoy getting to update my records over on the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and on Amazon. This will be a lovely job to do later this week! Done. See above but most enjoyable tasks to do!

Will be getting on with some flash fiction writing today. Nice way to spend Sunday afternoons! I do more later in the week too but there is something about Sunday afternoons which helps with focus. Well, I know it helps me.

Favourite thing about creating a character? I think it is that moment when I think “yes, I know you, I’ve got where you’re coming from” because then I know I can write from their viewpoint effectively. I understand what drives them and what mistakes they’re likely to make. Once I’ve “got” this, I can’t wait to write their stories up and that is always a good sign.

 

It’s that time of the month again – time for the author newsletter. A huge hello to those who have subscribed since last time and an enormous thanks to all who support me here. All much appreciated. The theme this time is questioning your characters, something I do all the time. It pays especially when you’re writing a lot of stories and need ways into coming up with characters all the time.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Ending

Is there such a thing as the perfect ending to any story? The only reason I’m not sure about this is because all writers are human and we’re all fallible. No perfect writer = no perfect writing.

I know, looking back on my older stories, I can see ways of improving them thanks to things I’ve learned about writing craft and technique since that time. BUT you can improve on what you do. I can look back at those stories and know they were the best I could do at that time. So am reasonably pleased with them but am more pleased with improvements I have made since that time. Writing is always a case of developing your craft, I think.

For stories by other writers, what I look for is an appropriate ending for their characters’ stories. Yes, sometimes that ending can be ambiguous. (After all, tomorrow is another day from Gone With The Wind is a good example of that kind of ending). But it should be appropriate to all that has come before and as long as it has done that, I’m happy.

Screenshot 2024-06-01 at 20-03-53 The Perfect Ending

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Marketing On The Move and A Commendation

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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 was the photo of Lady posing on our last holiday.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Have been on the tail end of Storm Kathleen here. Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing Part 2 of a fabulous interview with actress/writer, Sophie Neville, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Be sure not to miss. It is an inspiring interview with someone who is so immersed in the creative life it is an encouragement to all.
In other news, Lady had some fun spotting some pals at a local fun dog show over the weekend, one of whom came second in their category. If ever there was a category “dog who is the best at being daft”, Lady would be a shoe-in for that, or should that be a paw in?

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Lady had a great start to her Tuesday by playing with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Did get my story sent off to Friday Flash Fiction yesterday – they opened up to submissions again yesterday evening. Sent in a 100 worder. Good to get back to those again.

Managed to do some marketing “on the move” today. I was giving blood and part of the process is to confirm who you are, address etc. Usually you’re asked what you do too. Gets a nice chat going before you donate. So I mentioned I’m a writer, with two flash collections out and another in the pipeline, to which the NHS Blood lady made a note of my name and said she’d look me up online. Marketing doesn’t have to be scary! Some of the best marketing can come from conversations.

Has been a nice day today with lovely comments in on my recent interview with Sophie Neville on Chandler’s Ford Today. See screenshot and Part 2 of a fabulous conversation will be up on site on Friday.

Screenshot 2024-04-09 at 10-12-58 Association of Christian Writers (Group) ACW's Allison Symes asked such great questions that this author interview brought out more than any other - ever Facebook

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)Hope you have had a good start to your week. Not bad here but blustery again as I write this.

Am busy preparing blog posts and articles at the moment. Have a story I want to submit to Friday Flash Fiction when they reopen to submissions so hope to do that later this week but ahead of Friday of course!

Looking forward to taking part in a history group Zoom session this evening. I do write some historical flash but have always loved the subject of history since school days long before I took up creative writing.

Finding out what happens is a key component to writing in itself. It is what draws the readers in. It comes into history (and science) but I love things which shed light on the past. Sometimes a spark of inspiration for a story can come from that. I’ve found that to be the case for my historical flashes.

I totally understand the point of historical fiction though I only dabble in it myself. And I want the historical non-fiction I read to be gripping, entertaining, as well as informative. History should never be boring. It wasn’t for real for those going through it. It shouldn’t be in book form either!

Do I hope to write more historical pieces? Yes. As with my other flash work, I focus on the character and look at what I could say through them in my tale. I hope my portrayal of them shows a side to them which encourages empathy. Understanding what motivates people, real of fictional, is a powerful and good thing when it encourages that empathy (and a deeper appreciation for what we do have now).

BB - Flash with a Dash for TTFFHope you have had a good weekend. Blustery but dry here. Think we’re getting the tail end of Storm Kathleen.

Looking forward to sharing Part 2 of a fabulous interview with Sophie Neville (of Swallows and Amazons fame, though she has done and continues to do so much in the creative spheres), for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Do look out for that.

A huge thank you for the congratulations coming in on my story Doing Right being Commended in the Friday Flash Fiction competition. Nice way to end the week.

Writing Tip: You’ve got to your desk, eager to write. Nothing comes to you. Don’t panic. Free write literally anything for a few minutes and/or brain storm title ideas, opening line/closing line ideas etc.

I’ve found that once I’ve started writing something other ideas, better ideas, come to me, but you do just need something to start with. The idea of just writing anything, no matter how rubbish it may seem to you, is just to warm your creative “muscles” up so those other better ideas come through. You’ve nothing to lose by trying this either.

Another good tip here is to go back through your notebooks etc where you have previously jotted down ideas. Now is the time you might put one or two these to use. The idea here is you have already jotted this idea down, now flesh it out and see what you can do with it. Again, it is to get you started on something.

Good luck and happy drafting.

433964776_10161819122772053_2492553790739286847_nLovely surprise today (6th April 2024). Discovered my 100 word story, Doing Right, was commended in the Andrew Siderius competition recently held by Friday Flash Fiction. Many thanks to Dawn Knox for flagging that, congratulations to her too, and well done to the winners and all who where shortlisted as I mentioned yesterday over on my Facebook book page.

First time I have had a commendation here. Feeling chuffed!

Link to story here. All pet owners will get this one.

Screenshot 2024-04-06 at 14-13-48 Doing Right by Allison Symes

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Busy day today so am later posting than normal but good to be back at the desk and writing. Need to give some thought to the Bridport Prize soon. (Closing date is end of May). Do have a story ready I feel would be suitable so I will try and take a look at that again this weekend. I will want to submit anything by early to mid May at the latest.

I don’t believe in leaving it to the last minute for one excellent reason. You’re more likely to make mistakes in your entry if you do.

Second reason – technology can go wrong so if there is an internet “blip” you want it to “not matter”. You will want to be able to try later or next day once things are fixed. If you have something like that right at the last minute to submit your story, there’s no time to have another go at submitting the same. I do believe in a safety net here.

436968787_10161823048807053_1350110096695660263_nIt’s Monday. It’s time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube, which has an apt title for Mondays – One of Those Days. Hope you enjoy it.

 

If you have a flash fiction story which revolves around a secret, do play fair with your readers and ensure the secret is revealed by the end of the tale. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a “big reveal”.

In my The Past – Ready or Not? (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I reveal my character’s secret in three words towards the end of the story (which is a sub 150 worder).

I see this as akin to Chekov’s Gun rule in that if you have a gun in the story, at some point it must go off. If you have set up any kind of expectation in your tale, you do need to follow through on it. But that follow through is huge fun to write and can create some tremendous closing lines.

Have fun with this, I do!

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I enjoyed writing The Writers’ Wish List for the recently published Spring 2024 edition of Christian Writer, the journal of the Association of Christian Writers (and only available to paid up members of ACW).

One element I applied directly to flash fiction and short story writers is that, every now and again, I will come across someone who is “stuffy” about the shorter forms of fiction. Naturally my wish was people wouldn’t be like that!

I have never understood this attitude. Yes, novels are difficult to write and obviously take far more time but the short forms still need drafting, editing, crafting, and a lot of time and care still goes into doing that. Also, why restrict what you read and/or write? I love reading novels and short stories/flash fiction. Plenty of room in the world for both forms!

When I’m reading I will deliberately read a novel or work of non-fiction, then a short story or flash collection, then back to a longer form of writing again. Why restrict yourself?!

When I’m writing, my main work is in the short form but I do have longer projects on the go. Why restrict yourself here either? Yes, you will over time find what is your natural “home” but it doesn’t mean you can’t give something else a try writing wise. I find it’s fun.

Sometimes, just sometimes, a short story or flash fiction piece will pack a powerful emotional punch in ways the longer forms wouldn’t do because everything that needs to be said is said in, say, 500 words.

The great novels show you a whole world and you need the time and space to show that. That’s something the short forms can’t do.

But this is why we need all of the writing forms!

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Goodreads Author Blog – What Reading Teaches You

As a writer, I’ve learned so much from what I’ve read over the years. You take in how stories work by reading loads of them.

I picked up on the Rule of Three from reading the classic fairytales, for example. I came to realise something would happen, then happen again, but on the third time there would be a different outcome.

You also get to see how stories are laid out (paragraphs, dialogue, how scene breaks work etc) just by reading how others have done this before you.

I’ve long thought writers effectively have two great joys here – their own writing and reading. The love of reading triggers the desire to write. It is also why it pays writers to read widely – classic and contemporary, fiction and non-fiction.

Ideas for your own stories are often triggered by something else you’ve read so it pays to have an “imagination pool” to fish from which is as wide and deep as possible. Reading widely, and in varied forms, does that for you.

I’ve found the Kindle has encouraged further reading in that I use it to try out books by authors new to me. I will take a “punt” on a £2.99 ebook. If I like the author’s work, I often go on to buy further paperbacks from them later. But this is all because the Kindle makes it easy to read even more works. I like that. I make a point of reading both ebooks and paperbacks in my main reading session. Love them all.

Books are wonderful things.

Screenshot 2024-04-06 at 16-52-23 What Reading Teaches You

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Publication News and Writing Tips

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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 had a good weekend. Garden starting to look really nice with daffodils all over the place. Lady has got off to a good start to her week by having a tremendous run around with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Both of them tired out. Job done! Writing wise, got lots done over the weekend so pleased with that.

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Hope you are having a good Tuesday. Am glad it’s dried up somewhat.

Will be looking at Online Workshops for Chandler’s Ford Today this Friday. Will also share tips on how to make the most of these from the viewpoints of attendee and tutor. Hope it will prove useful.

Writing Tip: Got a competition coming up? Good. Give yourself plenty of time for it. My own approach is to draft a story, rest it for a few days, and then come back and edit it. Seeing it with fresh eyes after a reasonable gap does make all the difference in spotting errors, things you could do better etc. I send my competition entries in about ten days before the actual deadline, having carried out a final edit to ensure no pesky typos have slipped the net.

I also double check (as part of my editing) that I am following all of the guidelines issued by the organisers to the letter. Once all done, I’m drafting more stories. I like to having something resting, to be creating something new, and to be jotting ideas down for future stories/competitions I like the look of (where I’ll note down possible themes).

431165501_10161776772797053_6555407234403660617_nPublication News: Delighted to hear a recently edited story of mine has been accepted and will appear on CafeLit this time next week. Looking forward to sharing that.

Just to flag up as well Friday Flash Fiction will be running the annual Andrew Siderius competition. I hope to have a go – one week in the 100 words category and a longer flash in the longer word count section for the following week. You can enter over two weeks but can only have one go at each word count category. There is a also a poetry category so potentially you can send in three entries in total. More details to follow.

Do keep an eye out on the website for more on this but why not give it a go? Good fun to have a go at.
Screenshot 2024-03-11 at 17-06-44 Friday Flash FictionHappy Mother’s Day to all mums, past and present, and to all mother figures. Hugs to all who find it a difficult day for whatever reason. You are remembered.

It is both a lovely and a strange day for me as I miss both my mum and mum-in-law. My lovely mum-in-law was a second mum to me. Know I was so lucky there.

My mum would’ve been 90 this coming Wednesday. She encouraged my love of reading and taught me to read before I started school. That one is the gift which keeps on giving. She did get to see my first published story in print and my late Dad got to see my first book. There is a kind of symmetry there.

Many thanks to all who have sent in wonderful comments on Point of No Return, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. That second line has raised a few smiles!

Sometimes a line like that just comes to you and you know deep down it is a great one. Moments like that are so special for any writer and I treasure my special writing moments. And if you haven’t checked out my second line, see the link and screenshot!
Screenshot 2024-03-08 at 09-53-43 Point of No Return by Allison SymesHope your weekend is going well. Lady got to see her friend, Coco, in the park today and the pair had a good run around. Nice day out there too. Even managed to give my lawn its first cut of the year (and entertained Lady by kicking her football for her as I was doing that. Makes quite a sight. One leg in, one leg out, kick her football all about etc!).

Will be looking at Online Workshops for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up next Friday. Will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of these and sharing tips on how to make the most of them.

Writing Tip: Do read the writing magazines. I’ve often found information useful to me immediately but have just as often come back to information when I’ve had a need for it later. It happens! To start you off, do check out the March issue of Writers’ Narrative magazine (oh and remember subscribing to this is free, details on how to do so are in the magazine itself).

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

One of my favourite flash pieces is Calling the Doctor, which I used as the book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again. I’ve often changed the mood of the story in the last line or two (and still do of course!) but this one was an early story where I managed to change the mood on the last word. I’ve also found it makes a great piece to read at Open Prose Mic Nights for that reason.

I do have a lot of fun playing with story moods in flash like this. When I’m drafting a tale, I already know what mood it will be, who my character is, and a rough idea of the likely ending. Yes, sometimes that can change. It did with Calling the Doctor. It was on the editing I realised changing what my last line is to what it is now would have far more impact on a reader/viewer.

 

Hope you have had a good Monday. But as ever it’s story time. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – It’s Good To Be Wrong.

 

Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate and to all who remember and to all who do both, as I do.

Occasionally I write about another kind of mum – the kind who is the human mum to a dog. Well they do say talk about what you know! One of mine from From Light to Dark and Back Again is called She Did It Her Way, Kind Of.

It’s one of my longer flash pieces – right up at the 1000 words end – and it shows Jane Westbrook and her puppy, Harry, figuring out how to get along after the death of William, Jane’s husband and who would’ve been Harry’s trainer. It is one of my reflective, feel good pieces, but if there was anything I could change about it now, it would be that title. I went for this title initially as a twist on a well known phrase (doing it your way) and it does work as that but I know now, as I didn’t back then, I could’ve simplified it!

Having said that, it is a dog-related tale I’m very fond of and I suspect most dog owners would identify with it.

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by nightI was delighted to be notified by my publisher the other day they’d received a lovely review of Tripping the Flash Fantastic.

One good thing about reviewing flash fiction collections is it would be highly apt to keep reviews short! The quote below is from another short review for this book.

If you enjoy a diverse collection of stories, this is the book for you!

If you can do review books you’ve enjoyed. It means a great deal to the author to get feedback like that. And I review as much as possible myself (most writers do). Great thing – it doesn’t have to take long and is the second best thing you can do to support writers after buying their books. Thanks!

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Goodreads Author Blog – World Book Day

I like the whole concept of World Book Day (which was just held on 7th March 2024). Having said that, judging by the writers I know and this goes for me too, there isn’t a day ever when a book doesn’t feature in it somewhere. Often it is more than one book too!

I like the way children are encouraged to think of/dress up as their favourite characters. Books are meant to be interactive in that they draw you into their worlds. It’s one of the aspects of reading I love most. You really can lose yourself in a good book.

I should imagine the most difficult comes from deciding which character is your favourite, which is the one to dress up as this year etc. I was never into dressing up but books have been a major feature of my life since very early days.

I have my late mother to thank for encouraging that love of reading. She taught me to read before I started school. She was moaned at for “doing it the wrong way” but I’ve never felt her way of doing it was wrong, far from it. She herself read everything from history to science fiction (H.G. Wells in particular for that) so she can’t have been doing too much wrong!

I don’t know which favourite character I would dress up if I was the right age for this. Mind you, given I am not endowed with a great height, I suspect I would end up dressing as a hobbit! (Before you ask, I don’t have hairy feet. Just want to be clear on that point!).

I hope everyone taking part had a fabulous World Book Day and it enthuses all ages for reading more until the next one comes around again.

Screenshot 2024-03-09 at 17-22-57 World Book Day

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Introducing Rosemary Johnson – Wodka, or Tea with Milk: The Road to Publication

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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 Rosemary Johnson for supplying author and book cover pictures and images of her trip to Poland for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Christmas preparations are coming along. So pleased to have my cards out! Mind you, it is lovely seeing the cards coming in. Nice way to keep in touch. Lady, as ever, will be looking forward to her Christmas dinner and inevitable toys. She is a great believer in Santa Paws. Writing wise, so pleased to be back on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show again and also to have another story on CafeLit (coming up later this week, will share on next post here).

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to welcome Rosemary Johnson to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to talk about her novel, Wodka, or Tea With Milk. Rosemary shares her road to publication, which has not been an easy one, and what she thinks about writing blurbs. There is much here for many writers to identify with!

She looks at what triggered her love of creative writing and much else besides. Do enjoy a cracking interview and, many thanks, Rosemary for coming on to CFT. Also thanks for a shout out on your blog (see second link) and for referring to me as a flash writer supremo!

Introducing Rosemary Johnson – Wodka, or Tea with Milk: The Road to Publication

Chandlers Ford Today

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Will be sharing a fabulous interview with Rosemary Johnson on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. Do look out for it. See above. Rosemary will be talking about her book Wodka, or Tea With Milk, which is set against the backdrop of the Solidarity movement in the early 1980s, a time I recall well.

I love author interviews. I always learn so much from them. And even if you are not published yet (note the yet!), it is worth preparing for these.

Why? Because it gives you some useful practice in working out what to say about your book or story and to keep it succinct and interesting. That may well prove to help you in preparing a short description when you are ready to submit said work to a publisher. In reading/listening/watching other author interviews, you can learn from how they’ve done this. I know it has stood me in good stead.

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Lady got to play with Coco today. Two happy dogs. Always nice to see that.

My story, I Do, I Don’t, will be on CafeLit on 17th December. This story started life as one of this year’s Flash NANO prompts. Link to come later in the week.

Looking forward to an informal Christmas chat/review of writing year with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Glad to say three of us will have pieces on the Three Minute Santas show hosted by Hannah Kate at the weekend. This is especially nice as we managed this last year too!

Writing Tip: Festive flash fiction is the main seasonal writing I do. I’ve found it helps to focus on one thing – whether I’ll feature Santa or someone present at the Nativity etc. But for the other seasons, you can pick telling details to flag up to a reader the season in question.

For autumn, I could mention the nights drawing in earlier, or harvest events, or leaves changing colour but I would pick one as the detail for the reader to pick up on. I’ve never believed in laying it on with a trowel! One good thing about flash is the word count limit does stop you doing that.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to share my story, Breakdown, on Friday Flash Fiction. This is the second entry by me for the Christmas competition. Here you can find out why Santa needed to call out a mechanic. Hope you enjoy the story.

Screenshot 2023-12-15 at 11-54-50 Breakdown by Allison Symes

Closing date for the Friday Flash Fiction Christmas Competition is midnight tomorrow, Friday 15th December. Entries to be 75 to 100 words (and the word counts are checked!). So you do still have time to get something in for this one. More details in the link.

Have another story I want to enter for a competition elsewhere. It is almost ready. Deadline is the end of the year but I want to get it in this side of Christmas to make sure (a) I don’t forget to do it and (b) to follow my own advice to get a submission in about a fortnight ahead of the closing date!

If you are entering any Christmas related competitions, good luck! Even if you don’t win or get shortlisted, these are still good things to try as they’re fun and they get you working to a deadline and word count. That is always useful to practice.

Screenshot 2023-12-15 at 17-28-56 Christmas Contest Entries

Every so often I will use something I’ve seen in a film to inspire a flash fiction story. Where the Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) is an example of that. The film in question is The Wizard of Oz. This is good fun to do because I can take the viewpoint of another character and run with that.

Indeed it is how I got into print back in 2009 with my A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing). So give some thought to the films and stories you love. Is there someone you think has been unfairly represented and who deserves to have their story told? In my first story, I went for the viewpoint of the less unkind stepsister to Cinderella.

Think about the kinds of characters you love to read about. What is it about them that draws you? What can you take from that to put into your own creations? Inspiration comes from thinking about what you like yourself in stories. So the more you read, the more inspiration you’re opening yourself up to getting! That’s never a bad thing.

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Fairytales With Bite – The Christmas Tree Fairy

Hope you enjoy the following festive themed tale of woe. Who would be the fairy on top of the Christmas tree?

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The Christmas Tree Fairy by Allison Symes

They get me out of the big cardboard box once a year.
They need five minutes to get the dust out of my ear.
I am given the place of honour, you see.
I must sparkle and shine, every part of me.
I look down at the festive tinsel and lights.
While affixed, I get ladders in my tights.
I watch them scoff all the Christmas chocs
Then doze away by the telly box.
I try to make the most of what I can see.
Takes my mind off having been rammed on a tree.
Pleasant it is not, there are places pine should not go
But I’m just a toy fairy, they think, what would I know?
And then before I know it Twelfth Night is here.
Tomorrow I go inside for the next year.

Ends.
Allison Symes – 13th December 2023

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

This World and Others – Unexpected Visitors

In your fantasy setting, what would count as alien to your usual residents? What would they make of unexpected visitors? What do they expect to be “normal”?

In the Nativity story, I have every sympathy with the shepherds being terrified when the angels arrived. Well, you would be, wouldn’t you? The shepherds knew that bright light wasn’t a natural one (at least not natural to this world). But what would frighten your characters? Would they listen to whoever their unexpected visitors were?

Why would the unexpected visitors come to your setting? Is it a peaceful trip or is there sinister intent behind it? How would your main characters handle this?

I would expect fear, hostility but do you have characters who could see the potential of getting along with the visitors, seeing benefits to both worlds? Would anyone listen to them and give them the chance to see if that potential could be realised?

Definite story ideas there!

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Purposes of Creative Writing

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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.
It has been an odd week. I started it being ill, got better, appeared on a blog, and am now looking forward to catching up with friends and family shortly. Proof I suppose it is better to end well rather than worry about a rotten start. Having that said, writers need to start well, do the middle well, and end well. It is a good challenge!

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Purposes of Creative Writing, my Chandler’s Ford Today post for this week. There are many benefits to any kind of creative activity but I look at these from the writing viewpoint. I hope this proves to be an encouraging post! I also look at finding your creativity in this one. I believe everyone has at least one form of creative activity which would suit them. It can be a question of finding it. I also feel creative writers actually have two – we need to be active readers too. Hope you find much of cheer here and do keep on with the writing.

Whether you stay in the same direction or not is another matter. I changed direction to flash fiction and have never regretted that! Whether you seek to be published or not, writing can stretch you, make you come up with pieces you never thought you could produce, and is huge fun.

Yes, there are those days when you would rather throw your laptop out of the nearest window but even there is some comfort. Every writer has felt like that at some point. I find it helps to know I’m not alone when I feel like that. We get days when we still do but you also get those days when you are in the zone, the words fly out of you, stories get produced and published etc.

Purposes of Creative Writing by Allison Symes

 

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Hope you have had a good day. Looking forward to sharing my Purposes of Creative Writing post for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Has been a struggle to get back to writing after a very dodgy weekend but have got there in the end. Have run late all week but not just on my writing it should be said. The writing has been a solace all week (unlike so much else!).

I hope everyone who goes to the Scottish Association of Writers Conference has a fabulous time. I did when I went last year. I ran a flash fiction workshop there and judged one of their competitions for them. It was a delight to meet friends old and new. Weather this year is a bit different, mind you! Keep warm, folks.

One of the joys of conferences is learning more about the wonderful world of writing. I love the fact there is always something you can learn to improve on what you do and to get more from it. No wonder writing is good for the brain, something I cover in my CFT post tomorrow. (Nice to come full circle on a post as well!).

May be an image of tree, sky and text that says "Feature Image- At the Scottish Association ofWriters Conference March 2022 Allison Symes"


Am thrilled to be back on Val Penny’s blog today. Many thanks for hosting me once more, Val.
Val put some pertinent questions to me which I loved answering. I talk about flash fiction (of course!), discuss characters, and writing routines. Last but not least I share some advice which I’ve found helpful. Hope you do too.

Screenshot 2023-03-15 at 10-12-50 Conversation with Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

You know the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Well, for my story for Friday Flash Fiction this week, I apply that principle to magic. Hope you enjoy Spotting the Magic.

Screenshot 2023-03-17 at 09-40-48 Spotting the Magic by Allison Symes

Am at that stage where I’ve got a couple of possibles for a certain well known competition I enter – now it’s make up my mind time. I could enter both so I may decide on that eventually. Am resting the pieces so I can look at them with a fresh eye. I’ve got a couple of months in hand here but that soon whizzes by and I want to have my submissions in well ahead of the deadline, as I usually do. What is pleasing here is I have earmarked some of my draft Flash NANO pieces for competitions so that’s another reason for taking part in this again. I found it a great way to get a stock of stories together to work on for future use.

May be an image of text that says "Flash fiction illuminates briefly it is a great form for a lighthearted piece. These often work best when kept short."

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom later this month. Ideas and news (competitions etc) are shared. This is handy as no one writer can know everything and we can all help each other here.

Don’t forget I share tips and news on a regular basis via my newsletter. Next one due out on 1st April. That may be April Fools Day but I’m not fooling, honest. To sign up head over to (my landing page) at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

 

Fairytales with Bite – Using Prompts for Fairytales

I often use a wide range of writing prompt. I often use random generators, have recently used story cubes, and I’ve contributed to, as well as used, books of prompts in my time.

But have I used any of these for writing what I call my fairytales with bite? Oh yes. Not all the time. Some prompts work better for certain types of story but things like the random question generator are useful for giving you a direct theme and/or title for your piece. Then you can work out how to get a fantasy/fairytale story out of it!

One such question I’ve used was What’s something you learned in the last week? You can apply that to a magical character easily enough and there is good potential for a humorous piece here.

The random word ones are even easier here given what you usually do with those is put them into a story (of any genre so the sky’s the limit here).

Well worth having a go at – I’ve had a few pieces published this way. I often use these to submit stories once a week to Friday Flash Fiction and to create stories for my YouTube channel. You just want a way in to get started and the prompts are useful here.

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This World and Others – Exploring Your World

How do your characters get around in your setting? Is exploration encouraged or firmly discouraged? Is there a drive to explore at all? Or does that drive come about as a result of urgent need? The hobbits in The Lord of the Rings are the ultimate example of that I think, given they were usually more concerned with second breakfast and/or beer!

You could get stories from transport systems here (and who uses them and, perhaps more pertinently, who doesn’t. What would be the reasons behind that? Does anyone defy the rules? What would be the consequences (there always would be something)?

Where the world has been explored, who did this? Who were they doing it on behalf of? What do your characters think is the most important thing about their world? Are they worried about location or do they prefer to explore the world metaphorically via challenges to standard ideas etc? There is always someone who will want to find out just how far they can go!

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

Screenshot 2023-02-24 at 21-11-57 Reader Hub Book BrushMOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE
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Screenshot 2023-02-17 at 20-49-13 Allison Symes

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Getting Together With Other Writers and Book Shelf Joys

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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, as were most of the pictures from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. A big thanks to Jennifer C Wilson for sharing the picture of the triumphant Prosecco Queens!
Hope you have had a good start to your week. In my part of the world there has been a bank holiday so I will probably spend the rest of the week reminding myself just what day is it?! It is a common phenomenon! 

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good Tuesday. I know I’ll be a day “out” for most of the week, given we’ve had a bank holiday in my part of the world. Scary thought is the next one isn’t until Christmas!

Many thanks for the great comments coming in on my More Than Writers blog for the Association of Christian Writers yesterday. My topic of Getting Together with Other Writers clearly hit a chord or several! Link below.

Will be sending my next author newsletter out on Thursday. To sign up just head over to my website (landing page) at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

There is also an offer on the paperback of Tripping the Flash Fantastic over on Amazon at the moment – do see the link at https://mybook.to/TrippingFlashFantastic

Screenshot 2022-08-30 at 20-01-13 Tripping the Flash Fantastic eBook Symes Allison Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store

More Than Writers

It’s my turn on the More than Writers blog (Association of Christian Writers blog spot). This time I talk about Getting Together with Other Writers and the benefits of this. If you are thinking this can’t be a coincidence given Allison has recently got back from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, you’d be spot on! Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Screenshot 2022-08-29 at 08-21-46 Getting Together With Other Writers by Allison Symes

I’ll be looking at Author Newsletters for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Apt since my next one is due out next week too! I’ll be looking at why authors have them and what I do with my one. Link up on Friday.

I’m also busy preparing some interview questions for two great writers for Chandler’s Ford Today and I hope to be able to tell you more about these next month.

Am also going to be setting my next flash fiction challenge soon for Mom’s Favorite Reads, the October edition. I have to work a month in advance here but if you want to find out more about MFR, you can do so here. (You can also check out the latest magazine for free here too – go on, have a great read, you know you want to!).Screenshot 2022-08-28 at 16-57-51 Mom's Favorite ReadsHope you have had a good Saturday. Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on Facebook re my Looking Back at Swanwick 2022 for Chandler’s Ford Today which I shared yesterday. It was a fabulous week.

Also thanks for the comments coming in on Fitting In on Friday Flash Fiction. If you missed the story, you can find it at the link here.

Am busy getting my author newsletter ready. Hard to believe we’re almost in September. If you would like to sign up for tips, stories and more please do head over to the landing page of my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Am rediscovering the joys of seeing what is on my Kindle. Am currently reading Churchill’s Wizards, which is proving a fascinating read so far. It is about the art of subterfuge etc carried out during the war. I’m a fairly late convert to the joys of non-fiction reading (and this one I would say comes into the creative non-fiction category given the way it is told). Definitely a case of better late than never though!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I see Writing Magazine are having their Grand Flash Fiction prize competition again. I entered last year, didn’t get anywhere, but reworked my story and I hope it will form part of my third flash fiction collection in due course. I will probably have a go at the competition again this year.

It is a good thing to enter competitions as they help you get used to writing to a deadline and in actually sending a piece of work off somewhere. Too easy to sit on a piece of work for too long.

I don’t enter every single flash fiction competition. I’m glad to say there are far too many of them for that to be possible but at least it does mean there is plenty to choose from out there! Always check the competition rules thoroughly. Check out the credentials of those running the competition as well.

Also the prize on offer should reflect fairly the charge you’re being asked to pay. With a novel competition, for example, I would expect to pay a fair amount (usually circa the £25 mark) because a judge will be reading your book and to an extent your fee is paying something towards their time, which is only fair.

Good luck with any competitions you’re entering. Give yourself plenty of time to draft, rest a story, edit it thoroughly etc. And have fun writing the tale – it should be fun.

Plenty of competitions for the short form

If you’ve had a bank holiday today (as I have), I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Having said that, it is still a Monday and it’s definitely time for a story! Hope you enjoy The Guest.


I love setting the flash fiction challenge for Mom’s Favorite Reads (look out for the next issue due next week by the way) and part of my column gives my own response to the challenge I’ve set. A great way to keep me on my toes, I can say! I also get more flash written so win-win there.

I do like mixing up how I approach writing flash and this is yet another reason to use the random generators. They make me think outside my usual box and that encourages further creativity in me. It can do the same for you, honest, give them a go.

You can also combine results from random generators to create more stories. I did this recently for the Lift Up Your Pens session I took at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. I hope to do more of that too.

About to run a workshop on editing at Swanwick


I love mixing up writing in the first and third person over the span of a flash fiction collection. The immediacy of the first person makes it an ideal match for flash writing but I also love the third person where a named character shows you their story. I like being able to set my characters wherever and when I want. I can dip a toe into my favourite genres here. So despite the word count restriction, flash is remarkably flexible.

It’s also easy to share and perfect for Open Mic Nights. I don’t know if Radio 2 still have their schools competition for a 500 words story. I hope they do. It’s a great way into creative writing.

It is one of those ironies in fiction that limits fuel creativity rather than stifle it because you are made to work with what you have got. You learn to think about better ways of phrasing sentences so you make the most of your word count. And you’re never afraid of editing again which is a good thing. I happily stamp all over my darlings when I must (see what I did there!).

Have lost all fear of editing

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Shelf Joys

One of the great pleasures of being a writer as well as a reader is getting to buy books brought out by your writing friends and having them sign them for you.

I have plenty of those on a special shelf and it gives me great joy whenever I walk past it. I look at the books on there and happy memories come flooding back, (for instance of times spent with said writing friends at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School).

Another shelf bringing me joy holds the books I inherited from my late mother (hardback copies of Dickens amongst many others). As for the shelves that give me a distinct case of the giggles, well those hold the works of P.G, Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett. Then there is the shelf containing hardback works by Agatha Christie, the first set of books I collected as an adult.

Books have meaning well beyond the stories they contain – and I love that too.

Having said that, the ebook very much has its place here. I’m rediscovering the joys of finding out just what is on my Kindle and am currently reading Churchill’s Wizards, a fascinating non-fiction book.
So which book shelves have special meaning for you? It is the meaning that makes the shelf special.

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Judging Book Covers Part 2, Planning, and Openings

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. 

Many thanks to Val Penny, Jennifer C Wilson, and Teresa Bassett for their author and book images for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post.

Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for her image of me reading at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. I adore Swanwick and am always happy to sneak in extra pictures if I get the chance and given Val and Jennifer are both Swanwick friends, I thought it was a good opportunity to do that again!

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Later on in this post, I’ll be looking at openings for magical stories but you still can’t beat the one below!

Facebook – and Chandler’s Ford Today


Pleased to share Part 2 of my Judging a Book By Its Cover series for Chandler’s Ford Today. This week I chat about book covers with guests from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, Val Penny and Jennifer C Wilson, and from Authors Reach, Teresa Bassett.

Between them my guests have written crime mysteries, romantic historical fiction, ghostly historical fiction, non-fiction, and YA books! Not a bad checklist that!  And a wide range of cover experience to discuss and share with us. Hope you enjoy. I share the final part of this series next week and hope the entire series proves especially useful to those considering their cover designs now.

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Lovely day, despite a chilly breeze, and Lady had a smashing time playing with her friend, Coco.

Looking forward to sharing Part 2 of my new Chandler’s Ford Today series, Judging a Book by Its Cover. This week I chat to guests from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and Authors Reach about their most recent covers. They share their thoughts on what makes for a good cover. Link up tomorrow.

I don’t know about you but you do know a good cover when you see one. It can be hard to define exactly what it is that has drawn you in. What matters is that the cover has drawn you in to want to find out more. And once you’re drawn in, off you go for hopefully another wonderful read! No pressure then…!!

Gorgeous covers. Image via Pexels.


Lady had a smashing play time with her best buddie, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and her “gentleman friend”, Bear, who is a lovely tri-coloured Aussie Shepherd. Lady generally prefers playing with her girlfriends but Bear is one of the exceptions and he is a gent of a dog, which is probably why Lady likes him. And she can play with his Chuckit ball while he plays with her Chuckit ball etc. Three tired but happy dogs went home again… Delightful to hear a lot of thundering galloping going on here. Three reasonably big dogs at full pelt is a sight to be seen and heard.

Talking of being heard, how well do your character voices come across? Can you picture your people (or other beings) when you read their stories? When you have more than one character in a story, can you tell them apart by the way they speak? This is where pet phrases or certain words used by certain characters can help. I’ve written stories in the past where one snobby character did not use contractions at all. Good way of telling them apart from everyone else.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again


I’ve mentioned the need to really know your characters before but how does that work for flash fiction with its word count restrictions? Simple! You have a simpler set of questions to ask your characters!

You’re not going to need to go into as much back story as you would if you were writing a novel but what I have found useful to know before writing that first draft of a flash tale can be summed up below.

 

Character Type – Not does not have to be human.
Character Mood – Doesn’t have to be a positive one!
Major Trait – Again doesn’t have to be a positive one.
Theme – And sometimes the theme can make a useful title as well.

I’ve outlined an idea for a mini-flash tale (50 words or under generally) as a quick line or two on a piece of paper as I realised I had two ways of taking that particular story and I needed to know which would work best.

Jotting things down on a piece of paper or in an Evernote file on the old phone still has much to commend it. I’ve always found an outline, no matter what its length, keeps me on track for my story and saves time and heartache later on.

The heartache can come if you find out no matter what you do the story isn’t going to work and you’ve written a load of it already and can’t see ways of salvaging it. That has only happened to me twice and for the same reason – I didn’t know my character well enough.

Lesson learned. A little forward planning pays dividends and if you’re not really a planner just jotting a note to yourself of where you think your character may take you is still useful.

Picking up wriitng tips will help you improve your work. Pixabay image.
Always good advice! Pixabay image.
Always good advice this. Image via Pexels
Always good advice. Pixabay
Whatever you write, enjoy it! Pixabay image
The most important advice of all when it comes to books whether you are just reading them or trying to write your own as well. Image via Pixabay.

Am currently preparing something to submit to The Bridport Prize in their flash category. (Wish me luck. I would love to be longlisted here!). Hope to sort out the final polish and submit over the weekend.

What is encouraging though is that flash, while now a regular part of this competition and many others, wasn’t always recognized. It is great to see opportunities like this and yes you do have to be in it to have any chance of winning it.
Incidentally my final polish will be to make sure I have followed the entry rules to the letter. I can’t stress how important that is.

I have judged competitions and you don’t want to have to disqualify entries because of that but it is unfair on those who have followed the rules to allow any to go through that have not done so. So don’t make the judge’s life easy. Follow everything to the letter so the judge doesn’t have “easy” reasons to turn your entry down. Much the same applies for submitting work to a publisher and/or agent of course.


There are many things I love about flash fiction but the chief one, I think, is being able to set my characters wherever and whenever I want. So I do! I’ve written historical flash, ghost mini-tales, crime ones, acrostics, and my trademark fairytales with bite (aka fantasy with a twist, often an ironic one).

But I also love using the first person for flash tales as I get to take you straight into the head of my lead character. You see what they do. You see why they think as they do. The immediacy of flash is what gives it its emotional impact I think.

Preparing a talk or a flash fiction story perhaps. Image via Pixabay.
My debut flash fiction collection.
My two flash collections!
Says it all really and applies to non-fiction equally as fiction. Image via Pixabay.


Fairytales With Bite – Once Upon a Time – Opening a Magical Story

Once upon a time is the classic way to open a magical story, of course. Those four words immediately conjure up a world far, far away (in both distance and time) and encourage me to settle down for a good read. It also immediately sets up the magical environment in which the story is going to be set.

Those words are a good example of repetition (in so many stories) setting up a link that goes deep into our subconscious. Everyone who has read or heard a fairytale will know those words and have a good idea of what is come.

Anticipation of having a story delivered is also an important part of reading. After all, what draws you to a book? The thought of a good read? But that good read can only come from you taking in the opening and deciding you would like to buy or borrow said book.

So how to open a magical story? With my flash fiction, I often set a clue in the opening line or two that magic is likely to appear. For example, in my Seeing Is Believing from Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I open with “When Ben was unwell, strange signs appeared in the sky above his house.”.

So I am upfront right at the start of the story magic has to turn up in this tale somewhere – what else could explain the strange signs? Doing this again gives readers a sense of what this story is likely to be and hopefully be intrigued enough to read on to find out whether or not they were right.

For flash fiction, I keep the level of details down to a minimum (as I need to due to the restricted word count of 1000 words maximum. The advantage of that restriction though is it makes you keep in the story only what really matters to the story. For an opening, it means I have to draw a reader in quickly so I want to make the most powerful impact I can with my opening lines).

For any kind of story, magical or otherwise, those opening lines are vital to the success of your story. I’ve found it helps to put myself in the reader’s shoes and ask myself what would I want to read here? What do I absolutely have to know? And those are good questions to ask yourself as you edit your story. They will help you make your opening lines as strong as possible.

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This World and Others – World History

Does your created world have much of a back story in its own right? If you needed to write a history of it could you do so and which aspect would you look at?

History covers a huge field from the traditional wars and battles that changed history to changing cultural history and so on. Most of this would not be directly relevant to your story but is phenomenally useful for you to know. Why? You need to be able to give your characters a sense of the world they belong to – they should know where they come from and that in turn will influence their attitudes and decisions. That will affect your story and rightly so!

So work out what you think you will need to know. If one of your characters is an artist, what kind are they? Does their culture encourage creativity or stifle it? If, say, they’re a painter in a world where only sculptures count for anything, how do they handle that?

History feeds into the lives we lead now and this is just as true for our fictional creations.

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Book Trailers and Story Videos

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some Pixabay images used via Book Brush to create captions within the picture. (Love that facility!).

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Busy week ahead with my WI talk happening mid-week and the Share Your Story Writing Summit starting on 18th March. Images from the Summit provided by the organisers, Creative U.

3. writers IG 2021

23 Presenters, 23 Writing Workshops, Join Now! (FREE for a limited period, paid options available so you can keep the presentations – link below. An affiliate link will apply so if you go for either of the paid for options, I will earn some money from that affiliate link).

Share Your Story Writing Summit Link – https://www.creativeu.ca/a/46030/yLSebqrq

Facebook – General

Pleased to share my Book Trailers and Story Videos post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at how much has changed between my first book trailer (From Light to Dark and Back Again), which Chapeltown Books produced, and Tripping the Flash Fantastic, which I produced.

So much has changed in terms of software available to writers and this is wonderful. There are so many more ways we can be creative without it costing a fortune.

I also look at learning how to be creative in different ways, including learning to think laterally. I often have to do this with my blog posts, including for CFT, as some of my topics don’t lend themselves to obvious picture links but there is usually a theme I can peg to, so that’s okay. And I take a quick peek at getting the balance right between marketing and writing new material. It’s not an easy juggling act!

Hope your Thursday has gone well. Just a quick reminder my usual Chandler’s Ford Today post is up tomorrow and I’ll be talking about book trailer and story videos.

I’ll be sharing a few thoughts on my involvement with these and how they’ve helped me learn to think laterally. That in turn has helped fuel my creativity.

One interesting thing about the writing life is how so often one thing learns to another. For example, my first book trailer was produced by my publishers, Chapeltown Books. For Tripping The Flash Fantastic, I produced the trailer myself. Between the two I learned so much about how to do these things as I found I needed to be able to do this kind of thing to help with my marketing.

Nearly everything I have learned over the last five years especially were things I had not anticipated needing to know when I started out. In some cases the technology simply wasn’t available!

But the writing journey is not meant to be a static one after all so this is a good thing indeed!
Link up tomorrow. (Also nice to put this video up again!).


Have posted a bonus article on Chandler’s Ford Today about the Share Your Story Writing Summit. All the details you need are here.

As well as having the info in one handy place on CFT, I wanted to give at least a week before the summit starts so those who wish to can take advantage of the special discount if you decide you want to go for a paid version of the workshops (23 in all!).

The paid for versions do have the advantage of your being able to keep the presentations for ever and means you can refer to them whenever you wish, rather than have to be about on the day you want or for a limited time afterwards.

As ever with these things, the earlier you book in for a paid version, the greater the discount. There is an affiliate fee so I will earn some money if you go for any of the paid for versions using the link in the post itself.

Am looking forward to taking part in this and to catching up with the other presentations. There will be much to learn!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the responses to my post yesterday and in particular to my opening line from My Life (which you can find in From Light to Dark and Back Again).

Hooks for a reader have to include an enticing book cover, a promising blurb, and an interesting title but, for all forms of writing, the opening line is essential to get right. It is that one line which will lead your reader on to read the next one, the one after that, or not as the case may be!

My favourite hooks for opening lines are to intrigue a reader with a setting or a character who is about to do something odd or which will grab the reader’s attention in some other way. I also love promising dialogue (who doesn’t like “eavesdropping” a conversation between interesting characters? I refuse to believe that is just me!).

But I do know that if the opening line doesn’t grab me, well… time to scrap it and come up with something much better. It won’t grab anyone else. You are your own first reader (so if you’re not grabbed by the line, why should anyone else be?) and it helps, after you’ve set aside the piece for a while, to come back to it and read it as a reader would.

You’ve almost got to pretend you haven’t written it to be able to do that but it does help you look at the work from a different perspective. I ask myself if I would like a story of mine if it had been written by someone else and I’ve found that a good technique to use. And yes, to quote that famous writing phrase, I do kill my darlings on a regular basis!

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What I love about flash fiction is how a few well chosen words can take you straight into a setting. For example, in My Life in From Light to Dark and Back Again, I start with “It is all white dresses, lace, and flowers now but I hated him when I first saw him”.

No prizes for guessing the setting here or the genre of the tale. The pivotal word here is “but” of course. I love “but” used like this as you know something is about to happen or be revealed. And you’ll hopefully want to find out what happened so the “white dresses, laces, and flowers” bit makes sense. All ways of drawing your reader in, which is what you want.

Flash fiction does make you think carefully about what description you have to show (and it is a case of showing the reader here, so win-win there too). It makes you focus on what the reader has to know and that is a good thing, regardless of what else you write.

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I’m currently leafing through the latest edition of Writing Magazine, which has its phenomenally useful writing competition guide with it. Am impressed to see a huge number of flash fiction competitions (and am sure this is up on last year too). Must go through with a red pen and circle some to have a go at myself!

One nice thing to look out for here is some of these are ongoing rolling competitions, so if you miss one deadline, you can get a piece ready for the next one. Must make a note of a few of those in my diary too.

And good luck if you are entering competitions.

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Fairytales With Bite – Mood Music for Fairytales

Music is wonderful for soothing the soul (especially classical) but it can also inspire and somehow “suit you”. So what music would suit certain fairytale characters then?

Cinderella – I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass – can imagine her the moment Cinders was able to smash those wretched glass slippers. I find it hard to believe they would have been comfortable.

Snow White – Poison Apples – Snow White should have heard this before her stepmother came to visit.

The Little Mermaid – Under the Sea – what else?

Okay so let’s flip this and look at music in general that would suit a magical world.

One obvious one stands out – Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens – to reflect the quirky nature of the magical world. Also a good one if you have Death as a character (though for me nothing will ever beat the wonderful creation of Terry Pratchett here)

Another obvious one is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I’ve never seen Fantasia in full but always have images of Mickey Mouse when this music comes on Classic FM. But this is a great track for almost any magical setting.


Thinking about your own stories, what music would suit it and why? Can you think of any anthems that would suit your characters? This kind of thing is just for fun but what you work out here will help you get further insight into your characters’ personalities and that is always useful to know.

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This World and Others – Promotions and Demotions

What kind of careers exist in your created world? Are all jobs manual, magical, or a mixture of both? Can people/beings/what have you (!) work their way up the career ladder? Could they also come tumbling down it and, if so, what would the consequences be? I would suspect in some settings losing a job would be nothing compared to what else a character would lose!

So how do promotions and demotions work? Are rewards made in money or magical gifts? Is there corruption in your setting and do people accept it or rebel against it?

What are the careers people could follow? Do certain backgrounds mean those folk from them can only do certain jobs? What would happen if someone decided to break out from that?

Is work compulsory for all or are certain groups exempt? Do other groups resent them for that?

What political links are there to career advancement (or otherwise)? Who controls those links and can that control be broken or opposed?

Lots of interesting story ideas to come from answering these, I think!

Happy writing!

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Surprises, Titles, Barnes and Noble, and Youtube

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Nice combination for a title I think!

Image Credit

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General

Had a nice surprise today. Discovered I’m on Barnes and Noble. See link and screenshot further down.

Why the surprise? Well, I guess it is because I hadn’t really thought I could be on there! Nice way to finish a Tuesday having said that! Also note to self: you really should check these things out sooner!

Very happy with progress on my kind of NaNoWriMo project too. So not a bad start to the writing week.

One thing I find about my Chandler’s Ford Today posts at times is picture finding. All hail the mighty Pixabay and all of that because they are brilliant but sometimes I will write a post where I think I will find loads of excellent images to go with it.

What do I find? Precious few.

Using Pixabay has taught me to think laterally and that will often resolve my problem but not always. For example my post on board and card games proved surprisingly difficult to find the right images for and I did think I would have a surfeit of richness there.

Still no such problem this week when I chat to #LizHurst! (Another advantage to interviewing authors – as well as being huge fun to do, you can always rely on them for book cover images, author pics etc!!).

Screenshot_2020-11-10 Tripping the Flash Fantastic PaperbackHope you have had a good start to your week. Lady and I had a wet start to the week…not that she worried. Mind you, she was pleased to see her best buddy, who is the sweetest Rhodesian Ridgeback ever. And the news about a possible Covid vaccine is fantastic news. Definitely need a lift right now.

Looking forward to sharing an interview with #LizHurst later this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. Liz and I are big fans of the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. So looking forward to being back there hopefully in August 2021.

One of the biggest things about the lockdown is missing being able to meet up with people in the way we used to do. Mind you, I love Zoom and like the way that has made events accessible. We want the best of both worlds here.

Had the delightful task yesterday of going through a proof of a short story that will be appearing later in the year in an anthology. More news later of course but this kind of writing work I’m always going to enjoy!

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As promised yesterday, here’s the link to the video for Being Yourself from Tripping The Flash Fantastic, which I uploaded to Youtube yesterday. Hope you enjoy.

I also talk a little about what inspired me to write this story. I love this kind of thing when other authors do this as I always learn something useful that I can apply to my own writing.

In other news, I’m making good progress on my non-fiction book which is my “kind of” NaNoWriMo project so am happy with that. Looking forward to getting back on to that shortly. And for another story here is the book trailer for Tripping The Flash Fantastic.

Have just scheduled another video to go up on my Youtube channel. I’ll be putting up my story, Being Yourself, which I created a video for as part of my cyberlaunch for Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Link in above post!

The story is due to go live a little later on this evening (and I will share the specific link tomorrow) but I am impressed at how easy it is to upload videos on to Youtube.

I’ve been creating videos for the first time this year for both my website and things like the launch so it makes sense for me to develop this side of things further.

Flash fiction works very well for this as it isn’t too long (so download times etc are also good). Hope to have more fun with this and create new stories specifically for the Youtube channel in due course.

Screenshot_2020-10-31 Allison Symes - YouTube

From Light to Dark and Back Again

I tend to keep my titles short for my flash stories. This is partly because some markets/competitions do include the title as part of their word count so that’s all the incentive I need to keep the title short!

But it also pays to do so simply because shorter titles are easier to remember. That in turn makes it easier for that title to impact on the reader.

It is also important for a writer to be able to keep tabs of what they wrote and where it was (hopefully) published so again make your life easier here and keep the titles short!

Most of my titles are from one to five words, though I occasionally use a six or seven worder. In Tripping The Flash Fantastic, my story Time Is For Others To Worry About is deliberately at that length as it intrigues (I hope!). If I’m using a proverb or well known saying as my title, then I will use it in full but again that phrase will be designed to spark curiosity in the reader as to what the story is all about.

So as well as outlining my lead character and story line, I do give thought to the impact I want my titles to have. It pays.

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Had a wonderful catch-up chat with Swanwick pals on Friday night via Zoom. I don’t know if this is just me but I do find Zoom easier to use than Skype.

Good to also catch up with listening to a couple of writer pals who’ve been on Chat and Spin Radio recently too. And one thing that came out of a good old chat on Friday night was the joy of flipping through the latest copy of Writing Magazine and spotting the names of writers you know in there. What is lovely is these days I feel a bit disappointed if I don’t spot the names of at least three people I know in there!

And do bear in mind that some of the magazine’s competitions would count as flash fiction. I’ve seen a 750-word competition in there, a 500 words one and so on. They may not be labelled flash fiction but they are all the same!

And online magazines like Cafelit have a lovely mixture of flash fiction and standard length short stories so bear them in mind too.

My story page on Cafelit can be found here and I deliberately have a mixture of flash and standard length short stories on there.

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Both of my book titles have reflected either the mood of the stories within them (From Light to Dark and Back Again) or the overall genre, flash fiction (Tripping The Flash Fantastic).

A good book title should draw potential readers in and the best way of doing that is for the title to spark their curiosity. Otherwise known as the “I’ve got to find out what that’s about” effect!

I didn’t know either of the titles for my collections until late in the writing stage. I DID have working titles (I do need to have something to “peg” my stories to) but also knew these would not be the final versions (but that was okay as I still had my “security blanket peg” so to speak).

It also pays to jot down ideas for titles as they come to you (and it’s often when you’re not expecting them!). Having a shortlist of possibles is reassuring and there is bound to be at least one that really grabs you (and hopefully would also grab other readers).

Photo by Lum3n on Pexels.com
Photo by bongkarn thanyakij on Pexels.com
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Photo by David Gonzales on Pexels.com
Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

 

One good exercise to do is to give yourself five minutes to come up with opening lines. Don’t edit what you’ve come up with either.

Just jot down the ideas and work with those.

I have fun here with coming up with seemingly impossible scenarios that I am going to have to find a way for my character(s) to overcome. The best kind of opening line is open to interpretation and can be taken in different directions. See what you can do with these.

1. The postman may have rung twice but he wasn’t going to do so again.

2. When your living room lights up with blue sparkling fairy lights even though it is nowhere near Christmas, you know you’ve got a problem.

3. The dog was never wrong.

Allison Symes – 7th November 2020

 

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Non-Fiction Books

I must admit my favourite non-fiction books tend to be the writing guides. I’m especially fond of Stephen King’s On Writing (which is also a great memoir. There aren’t many writing books which can claim that).

I also like How Not to Write a Novel by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman is packed with great advice and is very funny.

I also like the Jane Wenham-Jones books Wanna Be a Writer? and Wanna Be a Writer We’ve Heard Of? Again lots of useful information given in a chatty and funny way. I adore that kind of thing.

I suspect I’m not the only one here but I do take information in better (and retain it) if I’ve enjoyed the books said information is in!

No pressure on the non-fiction writers then!

I also love the Ben Macintyre books – again history presented in an entertaining way. I am glad the days of non-fiction being confined to serious and literally heavy tomes have now gone.

And it is a good idea for any writer to mix up their reading material. Inspiration for our own stories can come from a variety of places so it makes sense to read widely and to include non-fiction in that. You just need to read one fascinating fact and ideas for working that into a story can come.

I’m currently reading on my Kindle Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall and loving it. It is non-fiction because Milligan did serve in the war. It is humorous (as you would expect from him) and it draws you in and is a real pleasure to read.

And that’s what a good read should be after all!

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