Tag: creative writing

Setting Writing Exercises

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Hope you have had a good few days. Delighted to share broadcasting news this time (see further time) and Lady has had a great week with her pals. All have appreciated the sunshine, as have their owners.

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Delighted to share Setting Writing Exercises on Chandler’s Ford Today which I hope will prove useful to those running writing groups and/or authors who set exercises as part of their newsletters etc to engage with readers (and fellow writers).

I set tips, include examples of different writing exercises, and the importance of mixing things up here. I also look at the benefits of writing exercises whether you do them, set them, or, like me do both as often as you can.

I love writing exercises and it is a joy to set them for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, which I lead monthly. The group have come up with fabulous stories as a result and I maintain, even if your writing work is in the longer forms, using a writing exercise as a “warm up” is not a bad idea. It gets you into writing (and you can work on those shorter pieces again later, hopefully getting those published too. Nothing to dislike about that thought!).

I hope you find the post useful.

Setting Writing Exercises

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A busy day but Lady enjoyed meeting up with the “girls”, her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

I’ll be sharing Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. Will be useful for anyone running a group and/or individual authors looking to set exercises to engage with readers/fellow writers via their newsletters etc.

I’m looking forward to joining in with a Zoom meeting of the Association of Christian Writers later this evening – will be good to chat to fellow writers/ACW members. I enjoyed this kind of meeting when ACW ran it before so I’m pleased they’re doing it again. This is one of the perks of being an ACW member and it was a great meeting.

Last but not least, I’m thrilled to announce my story, Out With The Old, will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM this coming, Saturday 21st March. Link below shares more details. (If you can’t listen live, there is a Listen Again facility. I love that facility myself and often make use of it).

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Spring Equinox Special, Saturday 21 March, 2-4pm

It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog and this time I look at Special Years. I have a special birthday coming up over the weekend, you know the kind that ends in zero, but it is also a reminder of my writing anniversary thirty years ago.

A writing anniversary is a good time to reflect on the writing journey to date and mine has taken many twists and turns I hadn’t anticipated when I first started out trying to write seriously for publication. I also look at how I felt when I was first starting out because it is hard to believe then the break will come and you do need persistence, grit, call it what you will, to keep going as a writer. I think it pays to remind yourself of that sometimes. And, of course, to keep going!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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I look at Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week and, of course, it is something I do a lot of but I respond to even more writing exercises for my flash fiction. I can’t give an accurate figure on it but I estimate well over 90% of my flash stories started life as a response to an exercise. When I go to writing events such as The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, I will sometimes set exercises there but again response to even more from the tutors there.

Also, in entering competitions, especially those with a set theme, I’m responding to an exercise effectively so it is a good idea to practice writing to different kinds, something I hope to do more of later this weekend.

I must admit though I do love the opening line exercises and have used so many of these to start my flash pieces. I find they help me hit the ground running with my characters and their situations and I like that a lot.


Pleased to say I’ll be having a flash piece broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM on Saturday, It has been an especially busy and tiring week so far so this was lovely news to receive. Pleased to say a dear friend of mine will also be having her story broadcast. Love it when that happens.

For stories for potential broadcast I always do record them on Zoom so I can practice reading them aloud and get my timings right. Playing them back when I finish the recorded Zoom meeting with myself is a boon as I can hear how I sound – am I reading too fast? Is my pacing a bit slow etc? Plus Zoom gives you an exact record time which is so useful.

I also use Zoom for when I’m practicing for Open Prose Mic Night sessions for the same reasons. Most of these sessions are for an upper limit of five minutes only. Nobody minds you coming in at under that time but it is unfair on the other performers to go over so using Zoom is a good way to know in advance I won’t be doing that.

It’s also useful for hearing how your dialogue sounds in longer stories too so highly recommend doing this. Back in the day I did use Audacity but I do find Zoom even easier to use.

Hope today has gone well. Lady has been busy enjoying the sunshine with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Flash fiction is a wonderful format for sharing moments in a character’s life which are complete stories in and of themselves, but which are shorter than “normal” short stories. The form encourages you to cut the waffle and to only share with a reader what matters to the character. That alone tightens up your writing. I’ve found that has carried over into my blog and article work, which is no bad thing.

So when I’m outlining a character, I focus on what is the one thing which matters to them and what gets in their way of obtaining it. It’s a great story structure and naturally the tale will show whether they do obtain it or not in the end. Sometimes other things will crop up which show them what they thought they wanted wasn’t ideal for them after all and they find something better. But what matters is something happens, there is always a point of change even in the smallest piece of flash fiction.

And it is a fantastic challenge, always.

Fairytales with Bite – Party Time

As I write this in March 2026, I’m looking forward to celebrating a big birthday, you know the kind with the zero on the end. Party time is fun! But do your characters take the same view? Do they celebrate each and every birthday or just do the special ones? What kind of format would their parties take, especially if they live in a world alien to our own?

If your setting is a magical one with various species, would they all celebrate in the same way or would what would be acceptable to one kind be abhorrent to another? Could that lead to clashes?

I don’t especially like balloons (not great for the environment either) or candles (fire hazard especially with my big birthday coming up!), but what “fripperies” would your characters like to have at their celebrations? What would be considered a “must have”?

Also, who does all of the work in getting the party food and drink ready? Are certain magical characters in your setting known for their skills here?

Could be some fun stories to write up here, apt since parties should be fun.

This World and Others – Society Occasions

As well as private functions as I look at in Fairytales with Bite, most places will have some sort of society event, sombre or otherwise. What forms would these take in your setting?

Being based in the UK, we had various Jubilees for the late Queen Elizabeth (and it seems so strange still writing of her in those terms) and I enjoyed these. We also have sombre occasions such as Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. But all of these things are important in different ways and matter in different ways.

So how would your society hold a public celebration? How would they have a remembrance event (and what are they seeking to keep in the public memory here)?

What would your characters make of these things and do they play any role in any official events like this? Is there anyone with a vested interest in disrupting these things in some way and what are they hoping to achieve?

Story ideas there!

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Getting The Hooks In

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the week has gone well. Mixed bag with the weather though there have been some nice days and Lady has seen her friends so all well there. Writing and editing going well too. I also have publication news too, which is always welcome.

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Am pleased to share Getting In The Hooks for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the importance of delivering on the hook’s promise, look at their role in non-fiction and writing exercises, the usefulness of opening line hooks, other kinds of hook, and placing your hooks (they don’t necessarily have to be at the beginning). I hope you find the post useful.

Publication News: Nice to finish the working week with publication news. Am delighted to say I’ll be in The Best of CafeLit 15 coming out later this year. Good to see some familiar names will be in that book with me but congratulations to all.

Getting The Hooks In

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Hope the day has gone well. Drizzly and blustery here though Lady was cheered to see her Hungarian Vizler chum again.

Writing wise, am happily preparing my next PowerPoint for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Plus my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Getting The Hooks In will be up tomorrow. See above. Am also equally happily editing and drafting bits and pieces for later use. Never a dull moment here but that is how I like things to be.

Character Tip: I always find it useful to work out what motivates my character but, on top of that, to work out what they would be prepared to do when pressurised. The differences between “normal” motivations and those actions which come as a result of dire straits can be interesting and reveal much more about your character to you.

For example, a character who is usually calm because they hate drama, unnecessary anger etc because they know how hurtful it can be, what would make them go away from that state? Would it be to help someone else and why would they help that particular character? Definite story ideas there.

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal again today and a lovely time was had by both dogs.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Getting The Hooks In on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I share thoughts and tips here and hope the post will prove to be useful.

Writing Question: What do I most enjoy about any creative writing? I think it is the creating of something new. Okay, I know it will need a lot of work but there is something new I’ve got down on paper or on screen with potential to be better. And I find discovering that potential to be such a challenging, fun and interesting thing to do. I really do love editing. It brings out the best of those initial drafts and it’s great to get to that point. I’ve also found the more writing I do, the clearer my writing voice becomes and I like that too.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums today and a lovely time was had by all.

Pleased to discover yesterday I will be in The Best of CafeLit 15 later this year. Always lovely to receive news like that.

Writing wise, I hope to be back to drafting more stories over the weekend, especially on Sunday. That’s a lovely way to wind up the week as a whole. Am thoroughly enjoying reading Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites. I have some tales in there but the selection is wonderful and I highly recommend this (and not just because I’m in it, honest guv!). Link below.

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As well as writing flash fiction, I also read it. It makes sense to read in your genre. It confirms what you love about it for one thing! It also shows you what is out there already (and you can learn a great deal from that). Also reading the anthologies is simply fun to do and I read these in between reading novels. I like to make sure I read plenty in the short as well as the long forms – again, fun to do and so helpful to any writer as you learn what you like and dislike as you read. That does have a powerful impact on your own writing.

My works, including the anthologies I’m in, can be found on Amazon (as well as elsewhere). Link to my Amazon Author Central page here. (Am so looking forward to when my third collection, Seeing The Other Side, can be on there too).

Twist endings in flash work so well. You don’t have to wait long for the pay-off. Because the story is so short, the impact of that twist is stronger, I think. I often know my twist first so I then jot down different scenarios which would lead to this twist arising naturally and then go with the one which has the most impact on me. Other readers are likely to feel similarly.

I also know the kind of twist I love reading in stories written by others and why I like them. Almost inevitably it is because when I look back at the story again, I can see the clues were there which would lead to that twist and this is why it works so well.

Twists serve the story and the character. It all has to blend together nicely. A twist shouldn’t be thrown in just for the sake of it. It won’t work. But a character doing something and then because something else happens, the twist occurs, that’s fair enough. And I do love it when authors manage to wrong foot me here. I always go back and study how they’ve done it. Always plenty to learn here (which is another aspect of the writing life I love because you are always learning and that is so good for you and your creativity).

Fairytales With Bite – Going Against Stereotype

Fairytales may be seen to be stereotypical but they often go against type. When you think that many powerful magical characters are older men or women in disguise, usually to teach someone arrogant a lesson, the message there is, rightly, don’t write off or treat with contempt older folk.

I must admit I love the Shrek franchise which goes even further here in turning a typical storybook villain into the hero. Thought that was so well done. And it does throw open an interesting question – just who is the hero or villain? These can be very different characters depending on which perspective you use. Robin Hood is a great example of this – if you were from peasant stock, you’d support him. If you were the Sheriff of Nottingham, you definitely wouldn’t.

When it comes to going against stereotype in your own stories, think about what it is you want to change. Do you want to give a fairytale species a better reputation as Shrek has successfully done? Or is it a question of helping a misunderstood character type have their say and showing where it is they come from?

Motivation is key here. Show us your character’s motivation, one we can understand (but not necessarily agree with), and then we’ll follow their journey and your story is more likely to work.

Happy anti-stereotype writing! (You do need to know what it is you want to change and why and then start from there).

This World and Others – Fitting In

I’ve always had a soft spot for characters who struggle to fit in but get there in the end, usually with understanding characters who help them and/or where they themselves go to huge efforts here. Sometimes it can be a case of their saving those who are misunderstanding them.

How easily do your characters find fitting in? Is it a natural thing for them or do they have to work hard at this? What parts of their personality do they reveal to make fitting in easier? Equally, what do they hide because they worry it will put folk off?

I always look for character development in stories, yes even the flash fiction pieces I write and read, because I like to see how the situation the characters are in change them for better or worse. Going through a situation could help your characters to fit in better at the end of the story than they had been at the beginning. That is a classic story arc because it works.

In a magical setting, how easy or otherwise would your non-magical characters have in fitting in? Are they treated decently or discriminated against? What can they do the magical kind can’t? These abilities could be the way they would fit in.

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New Books For A New Season?

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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. Back to the drizzle and the mist here! Still lovely seeing the spring flowers though. Some cheer in the gloom, which I think a good book can also do for you. Lady doing well. We’re all appreciating the lighter evenings. Writing going well and am back to the editing work too.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal. Both dogs were trying to eat the mud – argh! Both dogs are old enough to know better. Other than that, they had a lovely time (and probably saw their owners as spoilsports).

Writing wise, I’m back to editing work again, which is lovely, and I hope at the weekend to start work on stories which I want to submit for certain competitions later this year.

Author Interview Tip: Read and listen to as many as you can, even if you haven’t had anything published yet. You will learn from them and remember those authors being interviewed were newbies once too. I always see author interviews as encouraging just on that thought alone.

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Not bad here though the weather isn’t a patch on last week’s delightful few days of sunshine.

Writing wise, I’m glad to report my second flash fiction story is now up on my Substack account. Hope you enjoy my Smashing It. You can find my Substack account at Substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

And if you scroll down to my other page here, From Light to Dark and Back Again, you will see the link to my YouTube story for this week called Clearing Up. There is a link between the two tales, see if you can spot it.


Hope the weekend has gone well. Back to drizzly and murky weather again though.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting The Hooks In for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at why these matter, some thoughts about placing them in pieces of work (and, yes, non-fiction needs them too), and more. Link up next week.

Will be shortly getting on with flash fiction Sunday. Making good progress on the co-judging I’m currently undertaking too.

Writing Tip: When you’re reading work from other authors, once you’ve enjoyed a good read go back through the tale and see what the stand out moments were for you. You are highly likely to learn something useful here you can then apply to your own creations. Just why are these stand out moments so important to you? Do these reveal something about character and/or pacing etc?

And it’s fun to do too!

Glad to be back on Writers’ Narrative on Substack today. The theme this month is Writing Fiction and my post is Writing Fiction – The Joys of Making It All Up. I share a little about why I write fiction and what its values are. Not everyone appreciates fiction. I had a dear friend who only saw the point of non-fiction and they weren’t the only one to hold that view. I also share useful tips.

Hope you enjoy the post and remember the magazine is free to subscribe to and you receive a wealth of useful information written by experienced writers. Nothing to dislike there!

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Had a nice task today. Have wrapped up and posted my two flash fiction collections – From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic – to the competition organiser whose event I am co-judging. It was a pleasure to sign these copies and get them posted off. I do hope the eventual recipient enjoys them.

Flash Fiction Tip: Make yourself practice writing to different word count lengths for flash. Focus on 100, 250, 300, and 500 words especially as these are, by far, the most common competition brackets I come across in this field. Also it’s fun to do!

You also get to see what the different word counts “look like” whether you just work on screen or print out on paper and that will come in useful later as, with more experience, you will get a feel, when drafting a story, when you’re at or about the “right” word count for the category you’re writing to. You will find, as I have, when you do check the word count, you won’t be out by that much but the practice at writing to these different lengths helps no end with future stories, I find.

Another busy Monday and am so looking forward to enjoying catching up with a lovely online group I go to once a month. I get to listen and chat about history and it is lovely. Meantime, I hope you enjoy my latest story on YouTube – Clearing Up.

The dangers of sitting on high walls are shown up here as all of the King’s Men face a messy cleaning task or do they? Find out here.

If you check out my author page here, you will see my Substack story, Smashing It. There is a link between the two tales. I do this every now and again. Why? For the best reason of all, it’s fun!

Hope you enjoy both of the stories.

 

Will be getting on with a couple of 100 word stories shortly. I do need to start drafting some longer pieces for competitions soon but the next couple of weeks will be especially busy so I may need to put these on the back burner for the moment. Mind you, that doesn’t stop me thinking about and jotting down potential ideas.

What does make for a great piece of flash fiction? I don’t think there is one single answer to this but I know I like to read about a character who grips me and where the ending is appropriate for them. I like twist endings/humorous punchlines too but I have to feel that everything I read before leading up to these is also gripping and there could be no other ending.

Sometimes I do know a potential ending for a story first so I note that and then work out what could come from it. Once I’m happy with a potential scenario, I get on with my first draft. I do know it has to be the idea which has the most impact on me because I figure it will do likewise for readers and if I’m not gripped by it, nobody else will be.


Drizzly damp day today but Lady still had a nice time over the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting The Hooks In for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. A huge thank you also to the lovely comments on yesterday’s post – Author Interview – Wendy H Jones – A Right Cozy Historical Crime.

As ever, tomorrow will be flash fiction Sunday and I do plan to share a 100 worder on Sundays on my Substack account. It will be a good challenge for me and I hope enjoyable for you.

It was the 100 worder, also known as the drabble, which got me into flash fiction writing at all so it will always have a special place in my writing heart. And it’s thanks to flash fiction, I have two published books with a third due.

Even if you’re not specifically looking to write flash fiction as your main writing format, it is an excellent writing exercise and can be a useful warm up for your longer writing work. I find this to be the case ahead of writing my blogs and articles.

Also congratulations to all who took part in the 500 Words competition. I understand presentations were made at Windsor Castle by the Queen earlier this week. Well done, all. (What a fantastic way to get into writing, especially flash fiction).

Goodreads Author Blog – New Books for a New Season?

Do you read new books for a new season? I do save certain favourite books for re-reading at other times of the year. One example of this is Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett which I save for harvest time.

But generally I work my way through my To Be Read pile. I usually find it goes down for a while and then by some strange circumstances, such as me going to writing events, I find the pile gets bigger again. This is a lovely problem to have and, given the current troubling times, I think having plenty to read which you know you will like is an enormous blessing.

If you do read new books for a new season, do you try to match the mood of the books/stories you read with the seasons? For spring, I would imagine that mood would be light and bright. For winter, much less so!

Mind you, there is never a season when you won’t need books! There is never a season which won’t be enhanced for you in some way by having new books, whether you buy them or borrow them from the libraries.

For every season, there are books galore to enjoy and I do think that is worth celebrating.

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Catching Up

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. One image in my books slideshow was taken by Wendy H Jones and another by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the week has gone well. Enjoyed the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Wednesday. Lady has had a lovely time with her closest pals all week and we have had more sunshine. Spring is finally on the way, hooray!

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Am delighted to share Catching Up on Chandler’s Ford Today this week which is a round up of my recent(ish) news. Plenty has been happening since my last writing update here as I briefly outlined yesterday.

It pays, every now and again, to look back at where you have come from on your writing journey. Mine has taken me in directions I never envisaged when I started writing seriously but am glad of every experience here. Even the dodgier ones, such as almost being caught out by a vanity publisher and I stress almost, were useful in that I learned something from it and I also discovered the fabulous Society of Authors as a result.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Catching Up

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Hope today has gone well. Lady is having an absolute ball with her pals over the park at the moment. Today she saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and Coco and Charlie. All of the dogs went home tired but happy.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Catching Up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. This is a round up of various things happening in my writing world including Writers’ Narrative’s move to Substack, my editing work, Friday Flash Fiction (which also includes publication news) and more. A lot has happened in the last few months!

Marketing Tip: I’ve mentioned before I use odd pockets of time to draft flash pieces, brainstorm for titles, opening lines etc, but you can also use these periods to jot down some ideas for future marketing for your stories. This includes making a note of avenues you would like to explore. I find I am much more likely to do this if I write this down in the first place. I guess it is a case of my making a commitment to myself here.

Hope you’ve also enjoyed a lovely, sunny Wednesday. Proper puppy party over the park this morning with Lady, Coco, the lovely Labradoole, her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. Plus our neighbour’s Golden Retriever (who is huge and lovely) came over to say hello. Lovely time had by all. Could swear I was feeling the benefit of being out in the sunshine. The dogs certainly loved it.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Catching Up on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This will be a round up post of recent happenings, writing wise. Again, see above.

Character Tip: Think about what can “throw” your characters – illness, work worries, just sheer tiredness. What impact would those things have on their story and how would they overcome them, assuming they do? (Might be a short story if they don’t!). I know tiredness can directly have an impact on my writing so have developed ways of limiting that, such as accepting certain days when I’m rushed off my feet all day, I will only write for a shorter time and get bits and pieces done. Makes me feel better doing those things. Means I’m not overdoing it either. So what would your characters do to help them manage things?

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Am thinking of sharing some of my 100 word flash pieces on my Substack account on a regular basis. Will keep you posted when I do this. One of the things I loved about writing for Friday Flash Fiction regularly was it did get me into the discipline of writing to such a tight word count often. And I’ve found that pays off. I also love the challenge of it too.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again on 1st March and to celebrate a significant birthday for me later that month, I will be sharing something special with this one which I hope will be prove useful.

To sign up do just head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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One thing which came up in last night’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group was how a document could inspire story ideas. This is even more true if the document is something someone wanted suppressed, as is so often the way with these things.

But bear in mind you can write flash (or longer fiction) based around an object and what that means to a character. Yes, there is such a thing as a random object generator too. I share a link to one here but there are others. But you could look at what a character would do to obtain or get rid of an object. Plenty of story ideas there.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting this evening. Hope to get some more drafts written too. I like taking part in the exercises I set. Some of them I do in advance to illustrate a point but I save a lot of them so I can join in on the night. Good fun!

I also love taking part in writing exercises at the various writing events I attend. I always see these as a great challenge but they do make you “up your game” and I’ve come up with several published stories thanks to these.

You can of course set your own writing exercises. I will sometimes use the random generators for this purposes and again the challenge of writing to a prompt you’ve not set yourself will encourage creativity and lateral thinking. If you like the old school way of doing this, take a book of proverbs, pick a page number at random and then a line number at random and then write to the theme of the proverb which comes up from that line.

It all helps keep you on your creative writing toes!

Fairytales with Bite – Starting Over Again

We know what it is to have to start over again in various aspects of life and how we feel about this. Sometimes a new start is something exciting to look forward to, at other times it is simply a pain, and at still others it comes with heartache. So how do your characters, magical or otherwise, feel and manage when they have to start all over again?

What led to the circumstances causing them to have to start again? Was it through their own mistakes or something beyond their control? Where they’ve been the unfortunate victims of circumstance, how do they overcome this? Would they want the circumstances to not dictate to them – that is, they will rise above it, no matter what? Good stories to be told following that path.

Do your characters have others to help them to start again or do these secondary characters get in the way, perhaps scared of the inevitable changes that are coming? Do they hold your characters back fearing to lose them altogether if they don’t?

Again, plenty of story ideas to come there given characters will have, like we do, mixed motives at times and that will also affect how they handle having to start again.

This World and Others – Rebuilding a World

Natural disasters are, sadly, a fact of life and some of them can change an area permanently. I’m thinking of the volcanic eruption which engulfed Pompeii (though ironically it did help preserve the place for all time – archaeologists have discovered so much here).

In your setting, what natural disasters have happened there? Were your species responsible for any of that happening and, if so, how? What have they learned from this? Have they been able to put things right? Did anything “good” come out of the disaster? Has your setting and those responsible for running it learned from the disaster to prevent anything like it happening again?

If magic was involved in the disaster, did it make things worse or did it limit the damage done? Was magic used in the clearing up operations? How did it help? Who did do the clearing up?

Of course, we can also rebuild our own personal worlds, especially after a sad event. How would your characters do this? Would they be “moving on “ knowing a loved one would want them to do so? How do they start again and rebuild? What help is available to them? Is your setting/major species broadly sympathetic here or not? Does the culture expect your characters to just get on with life again?

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“Lent” and Borrowed

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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 have had a good weekend.
Pleased to say we’ve had some sunshine and some of my early spring flowers are emerging. Lady is still getting pretty muddy over the park though! Writing going well. Had a good stint, especially on Sunday. Here’s hoping the next few days go well on all fronts!

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Hope today has gone well. Have enjoyed being out and about in the sunshine (yes, really!) with Lady and her two best pals, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. The topic will be On This Day, which should prove to get our imaginations started. Well, I hope it will!

Have drafted a flash piece which I hope to submit in the next day or so. Was a joy to write.

Also due to have a super interview coming up very soon on Chandler’s Ford Today. More about that nearer the time but plenty going on right no, which is how I like things to be.

Hope your week has got off to a good start. Lovely sunshine today. Cheered me up no end seeing that. Lady was cheered up by having a great time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Hard to believe we’re racing towards the end of February already. Talking of which, it’s almost time for my next author newsletter and the one for March will be special. I celebrate a certain landmark birthday next month so have prepared something special to go with that newsletter when it goes on out on 1st March.

To sign up for this, and to receive news, tips, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As ever, a huge thank you to all of my subscribers.

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Hope your weekend has gone well. Managed to see some sunshine! Lady didn’t. She was too busy with her head to the ground “tracking”!

Looking forward to getting on with flash fiction Sunday. I’ve yet to find somewhere I can regularly submit work to as I did with Friday Flash Fiction but will do so eventually I’m sure. Meantime I’m judging, editing, and writing so I’ve got plenty to be getting on with.

Every so often I check out the Book Brush hints and tips videos and did so again recently. Am looking forward to implementing some of the ideas coming from those.

Flash Fiction Tip: I know it sounds odd but leave worrying about the word count until later. Get your story written, rest it, edit it, then worry about what word count you want for this piece. When I am specifically writing a 100 word story (as I hope to do later this afternoon), I know what will work out as about three short paragraphs. So I have my character and situation in the first paragraph, the problem worsening in the second one and a resolution in the third one. It’s a loose structure but it works.

Hope you have had a good start to the weekend. Still pretty muddy over the park though I am seeing more crocuses and spring flowers out now.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Catching Up on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. It will be a round up of my most recent news. Not long after that I’ll be sharing a super author interview. More on that nearer the time.

Character Tip: Have you ever written characters you dislike? I have. It’s an interesting challenge because I need to figure out why I dislike them and then what makes them act in the way that makes me dislike them in the first place. You do have, I think, to be able to work out where your characters are coming from. You don’t have to agree with them though. I can think of several of mine I disagree with but I do know why they acted the way they did.

I have to get into their heads and mindsets and keep mine out of the way. Understanding motivation is pivotal to this. This is another reason why asking my characters a few pertinent questions is a good idea. I get to “see” them and their way of thinking and then I can write their stories.

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Prompts for any kind of fictional writing come in a variety of forms and I like to use a good selection. They all challenge me to think laterally. I also like not being reliant on only a couple of prompt types because you can never know what can come up in competitions so the more prompt types I can put my hand to, the better. I also think it is great fun creatively too. My most recent YouTube story – Learning From the Past – was inspired by a proverb and I hadn’t used those for a while. So I like to revisit old favourite prompt types from time to time too.

There is no such thing, I think, for a writer as running out of sources of ideas. I think the problem can come in when working out where to start looking and how to hone things down so you’re not overwhelmed. It’s why when I use the random generators, I only set a few things to be generated at a time (you can generate loads). I’ve found limits, including the word count for flash fiction, to be an aid to creativity, not a restriction. I think it is because you have to work with what you have got and that certainly compels me to get on with it.


Hope your Monday has been less hectic than mine. I do know it’s time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Learning From The Past.

Will Annabel get through the Flying Fairy Test this time? Can she avoid the mistakes which made her a laughing stock amongst other FFT inspectors? Find out here.

 

For flash fiction, I need to come up with characters and situations continually so need various ways of doing this. This is why I use the random generators, the books of prompts, proverbs and phrases, story cubes and much more. All of these things encourage you to think creatively and links start to form. From there, I get the beginnings of a possible story outline.

But you need to have something for that initial spark which is why knowing where to start can be the issue rather than the actual drafting of the story. I like to have loads of different ways in which to start! Options here are always a good thing and mixing up the things I use keeps me on my toes too. I don’t want to be stuck only being able to create stories in one or two ways.

So if you have tried and tested favourites for story ideas, why not try out some new ones to add to your repertoire? I’ve done that with the various random generators and have found it has paid dividends as I’ve come up with many stories I wouldn’t have done in any other way.

As ever, I’m looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. It’s a lovely time to get some new pieces drafted. It won’t be too long before I start thinking about putting another collection together.

Flash is fabulous for those times when you haven’t got much time to write but it does take crafting to get it right and that does take time. This confirms my belief I’m right to write first and edit later so I can see, with suitable distance, what needs improving. There always is something but that’s the nature of writing anything.

Looking forward also to next week’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Hope to get some work drafted then too.

Goodreads Author Blog – “Lent” and Borrowed

I couldn’t resist the pun on “lent” given we’re in the Christian season of Lent but it led me to think about our beloved books. Have you ever lent books out? Have you ever borrowed books from friends? I must admit I’ve only done these occasionally. My main borrowing, especially when I was younger, was from the libraries (those wonderful institutions). (Confession time: yes, I do need to make more time for more visiting here).

Many of my friends are fellow writers and we all have great reading collections of our own. I’ve long thought writers have two joys – the joy of creating stories and of reading those stories which inspired us to write in the first place.

It is a joy that some of my shelves contain books written by those friends and signed for me. Every time I pass those shelves, I smile. Books in themselves can be associated with fabulous memories. When they’re signed for you by the authors, even more great memories are created.

I like to buy and keep my books. I do end up with the occasional duplicate but I usually donate those. (Though that isn’t so easy to do these days). I buy paperbacks mainly but use Kindle to try out authors new to me. If I like their work, I’ll usually go on to buy future paperbacks from them.

I am always happy to recommend books though (and can’t get in enough plugs for the fabulous The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey).

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Stories In Other Forms/Top Ten Tips For Researching

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Mixed bag here given the weather got in the way of getting certain tasks done but hey it is February (and it isn’t January!). Lady doing well. Writing going well too and the new look Writers’ Narrative is about too. Do check it out.

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Hope today has gone well. Busy one here though it was good to get into the swimming pool today.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing my review of Camelot The Pantomime which was recently staged by my excellent local amateur theatre company, The Chameleons. It’s always a joy to go to these things and a great pleasure to write them up afterwards.

Am about to be a co-judge on a flash fiction competition for a writing group. Looking forward to reading the stories and yes judging stories can often be enlightening as to where you’ve come on your own writing journey. It can also encourage you to “up your own game” when you read high quality entries.

My first post on Writers’ Narrative is now up on Substack. I share Top Ten Tips for Researching and hope it proves useful. Remember it is free to sign up to Writers’ Narrative so do check it out. 

Hasn’t been a great Monday for me (though Lady did have a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler pal) but what has cheered me up has been the new look Writers’ Narrative is now out. Do check it out. My articles on here will be appearing soon.

And in other news, Editor’s Choice: Friday Flash Fiction Favourites is now out on Amazon. I have a few stories in there. Looking forward to my copy arriving later this week as it will be a lovely final hurrah for what was a fabulous website.

Hope your weekend has gone well. Weather has been a mixed bag though at least it is less rainy and stormy than earlier this week!

Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today and the new look Writers’ Narrative is out too. Be sure to subscribe. My first posts now it is on Substack will appear later this week. One huge advantage to the platform move is it is going to make it easier for you to look up topics by title that the magazine has covered. I can imagine that being a blessing to many.

Writing Tip: When thinking of topics of your own to write about (for fiction or non-fiction), play a quick game of Word Association first and list all the words you can think of connected to your topic/theme. As you write more words down, you will find more possible connections and ideas for your piece.

31st January 2026

Well, we’ve got there. Finally it is the last day of January! Naturally February will go by in a flash as it always does. January has been a funny old month with more downs than ups this time, unfortunately. I do hope things have been better for you. On the plus side, the writing is going well and, especially when times are not as good as I’d like, I do find writing to be wonderfully therapeutic.

Writing wise, I’ll be reviewing Camelot The Pantomime which was recently staged by our excellent local amateur company, The Chameleons. That post will be live on Chandler’s Ford Today from Friday next week. It is always a pleasure to go to their shows and a joy to write the reviews.

My author newsletter will be out again tomorrow, 1st February. Writing a monthly newsletter is a literally timely reminder of how quickly the year goes by. I do sometimes use the seasons as good topics to write pieces about for the newsletter. There are calendars of events on this day out there which can also be inspirational both in terms of the event itself giving you something to write about, but those things can also suggest wider themes to write about too. Well worth checking out (and just as useful for fiction as non-fiction). For example, if a topic is about a historical event, you could just as well write a story about it as write an article.

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Flash is a wonderful vehicle for exploring ideas. Occasionally, what I think will make a great flash tale proves to need a longer word count and I find myself with a longer short story instead. That’s fine. I can find a different market for that.

But when you have a story where you want the maximum impact for the minimum amount of words, flash fiction is the way to go.

It’s Monday. It’s not been a great one for me this time. So I too definitely feel in need of a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Staying At Home.

When can a deliberately missed opportunity be the best thing of all? And does the dog agree? Find out here.

 

From the longest month ever to the shortest one but it lovely to be in February at last. I get to spot more signs of spring for one thing.

When you think of this month, certain topics spring automatically to mind as possibles to write about. Nothing wrong with the love theme but think about what you will bring to it which will make your characters and story stand out.

I know I have to care about the characters in some way for their stories to have any chance of succeeding with me and that goes for long, as well as short, form work.

Talking of short form work, it’s time I got on with Flash Fiction Sunday Afternoon!

January cannot be said to be a “flash” month given it doesn’t go quickly! Still, we’re almost there now. By the time I post this, there’ll only be a few hours to go!

My author newsletter is out again tomorrow and, amongst other things, I share an exclusive 100 word story in it. I hope to find another home for further 100 word stories in due course. The Friday Flash Fiction Editor’s Choice book is due out in February. Now out. See above. I have stories in there and will share the link once I’ve got it. Am looking forward to getting this myself. I do know from the quality of the stories on FFF the book will be an excellent representation of that.

I am still keeping Sundays as flash fiction afternoon because I still need to write plenty of material for other collections and competitions, of course. It’s also a great way to wind up the week/begin the next one (either works!) as far as I’m concerned.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories in Other Forms

I like taking in stories in various forms – books (paperback, hardbook, ebook and audio). I listen to some (audio books and radio plays etc). I sometimes get to watch them. I include the film adaptations here including Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of The Rings.

But I also get to watch plays staged by my local and excellent amateur theatre company. I’ve just seen their most recent production, the wonderful Camelot The Pantomime, which was such fun. The joy with pantomimes is they are usually based on the classic fairytales and/or British legends so you’re reminded of those stories too.

But my local theatre company have also staged plays such as All My Sons by Arthur Miller and the stage version of Blackadder amongst many, many others. The range does go from funny to tragic and I have loved all of them. These plays have brought stories to me in a different way. Many of them I would not have taken in via any other medium. Some, such as Blackadder, I’ve seen via TV and audio. I did wonder how that would work on the stage but it was wonderfully done (and yes it included the iconic last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth).

So if you want to try stories in a different way, why not check out your local amateur theatre company? When their production is based on a book, you can then read that too after having seen it acted out for you.

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See above links for February 2026 Writers’ Narrative. With Substack, the articles will appear every few days. But you can easily search for articles you’ve missed and so on.

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Spoofs

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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 few days. Lady needed an X-ray but is fine and recovering well. Writing going well too. And mostly Lady and I are managing to avoid the rain so we always take that as a win.

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Am pleased to share Spoofs on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. A great spoof has to mimic what it is spoofing successfully so people will “go along” with the spoof and enjoy it (and what it is mimicking). This requires an in depth knowledge of the original work and, I believe, a great love for it. You have to know exceedingly well what it is you’re spoofing.

But when done well, this format is a delight. It isn’t just found in books either and I name two films and, separately, a TV series, which I think spoof brilliantly.

To find out more do check out the post.

Spoofs

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Lady is pretty much back to her old self today (needed an X-ray the day before, see below) and it was particularly nice she caught up with her two best pals, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback today. Seeing them perked her up no end and they all had a lovely time, despite the mud.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Spoofs on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing that. I look at what makes for a good spoof and if ever there was a time of year to enjoy them, I think it is now while we are still in the depths of winter with spring still a fair way away. See above.

It’s my experience too that humorous writing, of any kind, while it may be easy to read definitely isn’t easy to write. I salute anyone who manages it. This is partly because humour is subjective, of course, and not of all it “reads across” well. Also especially with a spoof, you do run the risk that those who love the original you base your spoof on will loathe the take you put on it!

But a good spoof is a great joy and you can find them in many art forms. More in my post tomorrow.

Hope the day has gone well. Has been a strange one here as Lady had to have an X-ray. She’s okay and we have had confirmed what we thought was the problem but it is manageable and things will get better from here because we know what it is. So glad to have her home again. The house has felt very odd without her here.

Writing wise, I loved the ACW Connect session run by the Association of Christian Writers last night. It was good to see old friends and chat with new ones. I’m also looking forward to the next session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. I’m off to the panto next week too – oh yes I am!

I’ll be sharing Spoofs on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I like a good spoof and share some of my favourites as well as discussing what I think a good spoof should be. It was fun to write, as you can imagine.

Writing Tip: My week is made up of writing sessions where I can get lots done in one go and lots of smaller sessions. Writing flash is great here because I can use the smaller time slots I have available for that. But a good idea is to save the smaller sessions for those writing tasks you’re not so keen on (e.g. marketing, editing etc) so you have the longer ones for longer stretches of creative writing, which is where most of us get the maximum enjoyment from our writing.

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Lady was delighted to catch up with her Hungarian Vizler friend today and two chums she hasn’t seen for a while – the lovely Coco and Charlie. Lady is much more herself after her X-ray earlier this week.

Flash Fiction Tip: Always focus on the lead character (in stories under 250 words or so, you are likely to just have the one character in your story). Think about their purpose. What are they seeking to achieve? Do they do so or fall flat on their face (which you can exploit, of course, for a humorous tale)? What drives them? What gets in their way? All of those questions would be good to answer for longer works too. Motivation matters for our characters. It is that which does so much to make them believable to readers.

Hope to get around to looking up some flash fiction competitions over the weekend. I know of a couple of possibles but it will be a case of having the time to check them out before I draft anything. It always pays to check the details to avoid the risk of being scammed etc. Sadly rogues target any industry including the writing and publishing ones.

Also some competitions have very restrictive conditions which may well make you think twice about going that route. I avoid those who want to take all of my rights, for example, on the general principle I really don’t like this. The author is unlikely to do well out of this.

Having said that, when I’ve found suitable competitions, I love the challenge of getting something into them. It is fun to do. And you do have to be in it to win it after all.

It is possible to write flash without realising it. Any novelist who prepares a blurb or the shorter kind of synopsis will be writing up to the 1000 words maximum (and probably closer to 500 words). It would count as flash!

Any writer who takes part in writing exercises at online or in person events will be writing flash as you never have enough time to write more than about 100-200 words or so in the time you’re given for these things.

So why not look at those pieces you’ve drafted and polish them up and submit them? I was asked last night at the ACW Connect session (which was fabulous) where I submit my flash. Well, I build up stories for collections, of course. I also send them into competitions. I also share some in my newsletter/on my website (all counts as marketing).

Why not see if you can get your flash work out there and see what can be done with it? If you win or are shortlisted, anything like that, it also gives you news to share.

Flash Tip: Think about the purpose of your story. How do you want your readers to feel on reading it? Are you trying to make them laugh, cry, scream etc? From there you can work out the kind of character(s) which would be best suited for the story.

Fairytales With Bite – Starting Over

All of us need to start over at some point, whether it is starting a new job, new writing project etc. Why would your characters want or need to start over? Do they welcome or fear the prospect? How easy or otherwise do they find taking a new path in life? Is there support available?

What do your characters want their starting over to bring to them? There should be some advantages, otherwise why bother? If it is a question of necessity rather than wanting to start over, what brought them to this point? Could they have avoided it? If not, what advantages could they gain from dealing with the position they’re now in? Could something good come of the having to start over again?

Alternatively, is your character the one forcing someone else to start over? If they’re a fairy godmother or similar magical being, they could well need to use magic to bring someone to their senses to force them to face up to something and then change their ways. This is common theme in fairytales. Here, could you look at what was the last straw for your character which made them decide now is the time they are going to make Character X change their ways?

This World and Others – Finding A New Place

If your characters have to start over, as I discussed in Fairytales with Bite, would this involve finding a new place? Where would they go? Where are they coming from? Is the new place somewhere they want to go or are they out of options?

How easy or otherwise is it for your character(s) to find a new place to be? If they can choose where they want to go, given they can’t stay where they are for whatever reason, what would they be looking for? If they find this, does it compensate them for having to leave their old place at all? What does make them have to/want to leave?

In a magical setting, are characters expected to live in certain areas depending on their species? Or are the different species encouraged to live together and how does that work out? If it works out well, what would they do if someone from outside tried to change that? Would anyone be forced to find a new place because of this? (Sadly it is nothing new and we still see plenty of examples of it here).

Also, natural disasters can cause the need to find a new place. What kind of natural disasters could happen in your magical environment? Can the use of magic make things better or worsen them?

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News:  Writers’ Narrative will soon be moving to Substack. Subscription IS still free to the magazine. Have shared a link with an older version of the magazine below. Do enjoy and look forward to the next issue soon.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Pitching

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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 few days. Lady and I have spent most of our time dodging the rain whenever possible and catching up with friends. Writing going well and I’m looking forward to joining in with an online event from the Association of Christian Writers next week too.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Pitching on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Pitching, I suspect, is one of those Marmite topics where writers will either love or loathe it. (The other one here is editing incidentally).

I share tips I’ve found useful for pitching, as well as discussing the importance of keeping accurate records of what you sent where and the result. I also look at some reasons why pitches can be turned down even though you have sent in the best possible pitch for the market.

I hope you find the post useful.

Pitching

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Hope your Thursday has gone well. Dreadful weather here today. Only time I enjoyed a soaking today was when I went swimming. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal though and before the heavy rain came in so we’ll take that as a win.

I’ll be sharing Pitching on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow and hope it will prove useful. See above.

I’m off to the pantomime (oh yes I am) with my CFT editor later in the month to watch the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Company. They’re staging Camelot The Pantomime. It should be fun and I plan to review it in due course. Those reviews are always fun to write.

Writing Tip: Every so often, I will check out the random generators and deliberately try one I haven’t used before. It’s a case of seeing what I can do with it. I can usually come up with something but the idea of trying something different here is to knowingly keep myself on my writing toes. And I get to produce stories I wouldn’t have produced any other way so I see that as a win.

Hope today has gone well. Lady had a fabulous time in the park. She saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and her “boyfriend”, the lovely Aussie Shepherd. Great time had by all. Lady has shown her Ridgeback pal how to herd. Not sure the Shepherd knew quite what to make of that!

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to an ACW event online next week, the idea being it will help ACW members around the country connect and chat. Should be fun. Am busy writing various pieces including future Chandler’s Ford Today posts. I’ve drafted a couple of shorter flash pieces I hope to find a home for in due course too.

Writing Tip: Do you care about your characters? Do you root for them to succeed or fail (sometimes, at least, that’s apt for villains)? Do your characters make you want to find out what happens to them?

The answers to all of those should be a definite yes, naturally, because if your creations don’t grip you, they won’t do so for potential readers.

So there has to be something about your characters which makes you care, which is another reason why I like to outline “my people” so I get to know them a bit and, from there, I can start to care for them.

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One random generator I find especially useful is the random question one. What it comes up with can often give great ideas for themes and you then take that in the direction you want. One of my examples is below and I hope you enjoy it.

Theme: What’s something about you today that the old you would find surprising?

Changing My Life by Allison Symes

I open the red box which was in my wardrobe. I stored a letter in it years ago. My reopening date was to be my next birthday ending in zero.

I open the letter. I was to name on opening it five things I’d changed since writing it.

I’ve lost weight. I now swim. I’ve updated my clothes and look fabulous. I’ve discovered Fairtrade chocolate. Last but not least, I lost an abusive husband.

I feel happier than I have in years. He won’t feel the same. He won’t feel anything.

I buried him at the bottom of the garden.

Ends
Allison Symes – written on 11th January 2026.

Why not give the random question generator a try and use the questions as themes? I’ve written many stories this way.


Flash is a great joy to write and a continuing challenge, which is something I love about it. I have to find ways to keep on inventing characters and situations and it is fun to do. It is also nice to mix up the word count ranges I write to, though my favourite will always be the 100 worders. Well, as they were my way into flash fiction at all, it’s understandable they will always be my favourite, I think.

When I’m at workshops or events such as Swanwick, I enjoy taking part in the writing exercises which are set at these things. I try to polish up as many of my first drafts here as I can and see if I can do something with them. I have gone on to have pieces published doing this.

When I set exercises for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, I either take part in the exercises on the night (I love live writing) or I have prepared something as an example. I still get more flash drafted so win-win here!

Flash is a wonderful tool for improving your writing overall. I’ve learned to spot my wasted words and so cut them out later. I’ve yet to work out a way of not writing those wasted words at all but so far that’s beyond me. I do know what to cut though and my first edit is off to a flying start thanks to that.

It also teaches you to think about what matters to your stories and characters and to focus on this alone. That’s no bad thing either. After all, this is what we need to share with readers first and foremost.

Anything that doesn’t move your story on in some way should be cut because why is it there if it isn’t a vital component?

Fairytales with Bite – Games

What kind of games would be played by your characters in your magical setting? Do they play games at all to unwind?

Games can teach us so much about winning and losing graciously. They can also encourage team spirit and co-operation. So where and how would your characters develop all of that if games were not a “thing” in your setting? Or is co-operation not a “thing” either and how would disputes get resolved in your setting to avoid absolute chaos?

Games can also be used to teach skills. What skills would be useful to your characters to learn this way?
Is magic allowed to be used in games or would that be considered cheating? Who would police things to ensure cheating was spotted and stopped?

We also talk about games as in playing games with people in a more dishonest way, usually to try to get something we want by underhand means? What games would your characters stoop to for something like this and do they get away with it?

Story ideas there for sure. Happy writing!

This World and Others – Arts and Crafts

One lovely thing about humanity, I think, is our arts and crafts. There is a huge range of them, of course, and often they are beautiful things. I admire anyone who can knit or crochet well, for example. Their finished works look amazing. (Also see tapestries for more of the same – beautiful objects, beautiful just because they are). I admire anyone who can draw or paint well – skills which are well beyond me but I do appreciate the finished articles.

Which arts and crafts would be found in your setting? Can anyone enjoy these? Or are certain arts and crafts limited to certain species? There may be good reason for that if so, such as the way your creations function may dictate what they can and cannot do here.

Would your characters have/go to arts exhibitions? Would their arts and crafts include the imaginative use of magic (for the public good of course)? How would your characters carry out their arts and crafts? Could they deliberately not use magic here to make the most of enjoying arts and crafts the “manual” way?

Which arts and crafts would your setting have which we either don’t have here or carry out in a different way? Could arts and crafts be used to build bridges between different communities in your setting?
And even if it is just something your lead character would do to unwind, which art or craft do they find the most helpful and why? Just answering that will tell you more about them, which in turn can impact on how you show them to us via your story.

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Stories Everywhere

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Hope the weekend went well. Managed to get plenty of writing and editing done. Also pleased the temperature has come up somewhat. My solitary primrose made it through the snow and frosts! Lady continuing to enjoy getting out and about with her chums and that is how life should be, I think.

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Hope today has gone well. Wet and muddy here today. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler friend but neither dog nor their owners wanted to be out for long. We weren’t!

Writing wise, I had a lovely time at the online group I went to last night. Am also looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Zoom is a fabulous thing though the words ‘you’re on mute’ have gone into the general vocabulary of everyone I know.

Will be sharing Pitching on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and hope it will be useful. I suspect this topic will be another Marmite one (the other is editing) where writers will love or loathe it. But I still hope the post will be handy!

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Lady’s has. She saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and received pets from the shopping delivery guy (I loathe supermarkets).

Writing wise, am looking forward to going to an online writing related group on Zoom this evening so will get some “bits and pieces” of writing and editing done around that. Mondays are always hectic for me so this will be a fabulous way to unwind.

Have started going through the Writing Magazine Competition Guide and have marked up one or two possibles to try out. I hope, later this week, to check the background of these competitions out and maybe start drafting something. I do have a story to write for somewhere else so have started drafting ideas for that.

Hope your weekend has gone well despite the grim weather and even grimmer news. Mind you, I guess this makes me even more glad than I usually am to escape into the worlds of flash fiction and short stories. At least I know my villains will get what they deserve even if it does end up being in a roundabout way.

Am enjoying my usual Sunday flash fiction afternoon. The fact it is cosy indoors helps a lot! On a more serious note, I’ve always loved creating characters and in short form work you get to do this a lot. Know the people (or other beings of choice), know what drives them, and I’m off to a cracking start with a story outline.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. We don’t usually see friends, doggy or otherwise, at the weekend though today was a nice exception when Lady and I caught up with Daisy, a sweet spaniel, and her owner.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Pitching for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday (which will halfway through January already, hooray!).

Though Friday Flash Fiction has now sadly shut up shop, Sunday afternoons will continue to be flash fiction day for me as I can get a reasonable amount of writing done and I do want that to continue.

Character Tip: What is your character’s level of education? It is worth giving this some thought as it will have a direct impact on the vocabulary and type of language they’re going to use, both of which can show so much else about them (such as likely class etc).

Readers won’t need to know the answer to this directly but will pick up on it subconsciously as they read what your characters say and think. Incidentally, that’s another lovely thing about reading – it’s the nearest we get to mind reading. We can read the minds of characters after all!

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Flash is a great way of helping your other writing as by the time you’ve written 200 or 300 words as a flash piece, you should find you’ve “limbered” up enough to get on with other, longer writing work.

Writing exercises set at events or workshops can only give people five or ten minutes at most to respond so you will “only” get a flash piece in terms of word count out of them but there’s no reason why you can’t go on to polish these pieces up and get them published.

Certainly collect them together, polish them up and you could have a collection on your hands.

It’s Monday. It’s January. It’s winter weather. Okay not unexpected but very few enjoy it! Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Done List. Collie owners will especially appreciate this one!

Everyone has a To Do list, even when they can’t write them down. Find out why my collie character was happy to get their two jobs done, even though their Mum wasn’t.

Chilly again today. I don’t think Lady was that sorry to get back indoors again. It is during cold spells I really appreciate writing being an indoors job!

Glad to catch up with some Swanwick friends on Zoom last night. Hope to be back on Zoom again later on.

Writing wise, it’s flash fiction Sunday for me so will be cracking on with some new pieces in a while and, later, continuing the editing work on my Seeing The Other Side. All great fun.

Also a nice bit of news. I’ve often sent in pieces, and had them accepted, by Christian Writer, the magazine of the Association of Christian Writers. I now have a column in there called Allison’s Advice (I do like a nice spot of alliteration every now and then and it seems I’m not the only one!).

I’ll be sharing 100 word writing tips here. First one appeared in the magazine I received yesterday. I hope people are going to find the tips useful. It’s lovely getting some flash non-fiction published.

I love mixing up the mood of my stories and think this reflects life in a way. It is a mixture of funny and sad and I like my tales to reflect that. This is where I think a collection can work so well because it can show a range of emotions.

Naturally, I’m biased here, but I’ve always loved story anthologies, long before I became published in them, because I loved the variety of moods they can show. I still love them, of course.

If you write flash pieces over time, would it be worth you seeing if you have enough to get a collection together? The independent presses or self publishing would be the best routes here. But it is possible. Two collections later, with a third due this year, I can confirm it is worth doing.

One of my favourite parts of putting a collection together is grouping the stories. It’s fun as I can group character types or moods of story as I see fit. Okay, my editor may want to change this later and that’s fine but I do enjoy this process.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories Everywhere

I like the thought of there being stories everywhere. Okay, I’m biased because I love reading and writing them. Inspiration for stories of my own can and does come from various sources too. There’s nothing to beat being inspired by what you love reading yourself, in my view.

Okay, there are stories I try to avoid, most notably the news which is so grim. There is a focus on negative rather than positive stories there and I would like to see a better balance. But I guess knowing this, it does encourage me to read more and escape into the world of books. Nothing wrong about that.

Where you have characters, you have stories. Where you have any society, you have stories. The fun with fictional writing is, of course, in inventing your own. The fun with reading is discovering what other authors have invented.

And the great thing here is the sky isn’t the limit.There are no limits. Fantasy and science fiction especially are great vehicles to explore other kinds of character and societies and I find these fascinating. What can also be fun is spotting the other books and stories which have clearly influenced the author. Quest stories, I think, will have some kind of nod to the ultimate quest story, The Lord of the Rings.

Stories being everywhere is excellent news for all of us who love reading. We will not lack variety or number of stories to enjoy. That’s definitely worth celebrating.

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Story Inspiration

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Hope the first full week back after the Christmas and New Year break has gone well. Lady has been pleased to catch up with her friends. Weather is what you’d expect for January! Writing and editing are going well and I have booked my big writing event for later in the year, which has cheered me no end.

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Hope your Friday has been a good one. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and her Aussie Shepherd boyfriend, who, by far, had the best coat of anyone for coping with the bitter weather today.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Story Inspiration for Chandler’s Ford Today this week and hope you will find it useful. I look at various useful “hunting grounds” where inspiration is likely to strike (and has done for me many times). These include books of lists, prompts, Kipling’s honest serving men and much more besides.

I hope you find these thoughts useful to encourage your own inspiration as it never does any harm to encourage that as much as possible.

Happy writing.

Story Inspiration

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Hope today has gone okay. Bad weather coming in this evening as I write this. Keep safe. Lady saw her two chums, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, again today. Thankfully it was only light rain this morning. I don’t think any of the dogs would’ve been that sorry to get back indoors again.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Story Inspiration on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. I hope it will prove useful as I share some good ways to find inspiration. I always feel it is better to hunt for it than wait for it to come to you. There are various good “hunting grounds” for inspiration, some of which I’ll be sharing tomorrow, and which I hope will add to your “store” of places to look for sources of story ideas.

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her best buddies, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Ice and snow pretty much gone, just in time for the storm to come in tomorrow! Oh well, at least the temperature has gone up somewhat.

Writing wise, am looking forward to meeting up again later in the month with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. We’ll be looking at Ways and Paths as a topic. Plenty of story ideas to come from that and I hope we will start drafting some on the evening.

Also have a story to get on and draft for a future submission. Plus I’m beginning to go though the Writing Magazine Competition Guide for possible places to try.

Looking forward to joining in with another ACW genre group online this evening. It’s always good fun and a great chance to socialise. Zoom continues to be a blessing when you can’t get together with other writers in person. Though I am looking forward to my big annual event in August – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – as well. Thinking about that cheers up a gloomy January for me somewhat!

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My way into flash fiction writing was the 100 word story, also known as the drabble. CafeLit issued their 100 word challenge and I responded to it and haven’t looked back since.

Flash Tip: I’ve often found the best way into writing a 100 worder is to focus on the ending first. How do I want the story to end – with a laugh or with something else which will move readers in other ways? Is a line of dialogue to bring the story to an end the right way to go or should I finish the tale with an “event” which must finish the tale?

Once I have a rough idea of the likely ending, I can work backwards from there to the likely beginning. Knowing a likely ending also shows me the likely lead character who will be finishing the story. I can then work out more about them.

Having the tight word count means I have to only focus on that which is relevant but this is a good thing. I’ve found writing the 100 worders does encourage tighter writing elsewhere and helps me fight any tendency to indulge in purple prose.

As well as flash fiction, there is such a thing as flash non-fiction. Many blogs would count as this given often they come in at about the 500 words mark.

But have you given thought to writing a short piece sharing how you came to write one particular story, say? This would be of interest to other writers and your readers. Works best when kept tight but could give you excellent additional material to add to your website/blog.

Counts as part of your overall marketing, of course, as well.

Glad it’s warming up a bit outside. Spotted a primrose out in my garden just around Christmas time. Is still out. Seems to have survived the frosts and snow – at least so far. (Am putting the qualifier in because I recently said we hadn’t had any snow and, guess what, overnight we got some so I don’t want anything happening to that poor little primrose!).

Now, we all face tricky conditions at time but this can be fabulous for our characters. It is perhaps just as well they cannot tell their creators what they think of them for this. I do love dropping mine in the mire as much as I can.

So what traits do your characters have to help them handle the situations you put them in? Are they already resourceful or do they have to learn how to be so? Many great story thoughts to come from that, I think.

Traits are an invaluable way of gauging a character. You could also use them to figure out how they could develop others.

For example, if your character’s main trait is honesty, would they develop bravery to ensure honesty in their world continued? Would they fight to save what was good in their world and stop it from being obliterated by the greedy?

(And if anyone’s thinking there are parallels with what’s going on here right now, you’d be right but we can use some of this at least as inspiration for story ideas. When you know what’s driving someone, you can get stories out of that).

Fairytales With Bite – Resuming Normal Life

It always takes a little while to resume normal life after any kind of break and perhaps more so after a break like the Christmas/New Year one. Am slowly resuming normality myself!

But how would your characters get back to what is normal for them? How long would that take them and what does count as normal for them? What kind of breaks would they expect to be as part of their overall life?

What official breaks does everyone in your setting have to take? Are they appreciated or resented? Could the events themselves be “commercially exploited” (and that does tend to lead to resentment in some quarters)?

Do any of your characters use official breaks to get out of something they ought to be doing? Does that work or does it cause further problems later on? Does anyone resent having to resume normal life again?
Could enemies of your setting use the break to cause havoc and how would they do this?

Story ideas there, for sure.

This World and Others – Routines

I must admit I do like routines. I have one for my writing and have had this for years. Every so often I adjust it to take in new writing/editing work etc but, on the whole, I’ve found it useful to help me make the best of the time I have available for writing and/or editing on any one day. But I know not everyone likes routines. There are many who would find them restrictive.

What would your characters make of routines? Are there those who thrive on them (and if so, how)? Are there others who would feel routines are like straitjackets? What would happen if you have a character of each type stuck together and they have to work out some sort of routine to get them though to the time when they’re free to do their own thing again?

Does your setting have a routine in terms of characters have to work at certain times, relax at certain times etc? What would its views be on those who don’t follow the general pattern here? Could a setting with a fixed routine face enemies who would exploit the disadvantages of being too rigid? What would the enemies be seeking to exploit on your setting itself?

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