Story Essentials

May 15, 2026May 15, 2026Leave a comment

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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, as was one photo from the magnificent north-east Scottish coast.

Hope you have had a good week. Lady and I have been out and about and the writing/editing continues to go well so, for differing reasons, we both think we’ve had a good and enjoyable week. Plenty to share further down including thoughts on Story Essentials and useful marketing and character tips.

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Delighted to share Story Essentials on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at the classic structure of story beginnings, middles, and endings. I also look at the other crucial ingredient to any successful story – interesting characters. I share what I think can help make them be interesting to potential readers. The role of character motivations and attitudes plays a huge role here.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Story Essentials

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Hope your Thursday has gone well. Sunshine and showers again. Lady tired out after her exercising today and is currently snoozing as I write this. It’s always good to see a contented dog!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Story Essentials on Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above. I will discuss story structure (the classic beginning, middle and ending), and look at the vital role characters play. Hope you will find the post useful as it is written with any kind of fiction in mind.

Having a story structure in place may sound boring, you just want to get on and write, right? But I’ve found having one saves me a great deal of time in writing the piece and in editing it later simply because I already know the structure will work.

Marketing Tip: The good news here is marketing doesn’t have to be done all at once. What you can do is focus on the marketing you are going to do and ensure all is well prepared for that.

For example, I know I’ll have plenty of marketing to do when Seeing The Other Side comes out. I’ll be looking at launches, perhaps being a guest on blogs and all of that kind of thing. But I can do this a piece at a time. It takes the pressure off. It means I’ll enjoy every part of the marketing I’m going to do (and I believe you as a writer get so much more from this when you enjoy what you’re doing here).

Also marketing is genuinely always an ongoing thing. I’m always going to want to promote my books and anthologies in some way long after they first came out/are due out.

Hope the day has gone well. Mixed bag weather wise again though as I type this, the sunshine is out again. Lots of lovely walking with Lady today.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to interviewing Esther Chilton about her latest children’s book, Myths and Magic, on Chandler’s Ford Today later this month. There will be plenty of interest and tips here. Look out for this towards the end of the month.

Character Tip: Characters make or break a story for me so I have to believe in them to care enough about them to find out what happens. This, for me, means I need to understand their motivations for doing what they are, even if I don’t agree with the actions.

I especially love those characters where some of their back story is dropped in, as that can highlight what drives them. I don’t need to know everything though. I just need to know enough.

And how much is enough? That will depend on the length of the story to a certain extent. If it is a flash piece, I won’t need to know nearly as much as I would for a long short story, novella or novel.

For flash work, I like to use character thoughts to show something of their motivations because these also reveal their attitudes at the time too.

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Have just had news from an ACW friend about a potential competition so hope to look into that over the next few days or so and see if I can do something with it.

Networking helps writers in so many ways and this is just one of them. Nobody can know every single competition there is available but together we can share news of what we do know – it will indeed be news to someone else.

I’ve made good use of tips like this in the past and I do spread the word about the wonderful CafeLit whenever I can too. They were my introduction to flash fiction. It’s paid off!

I look for ideas for flash fiction stories all of the time. I opt for timeless topics as much as possible too. Right now I’m especially enjoying being out and about with the dog so I suspect at some point I’ll write a piece based around a walk which will be life changing in some way for my lead character.

The ordinary things of life can and do spark story ideas. Most of hate having to do housework yet see it as a necessary evil. So you could give some thought to what your characters would consider natural evils they have to cope with in some way. There could be potential for funny stories here too.

As well as using prompts, random generators, proverbs etc., I sometimes look at old scenic photos of mine and then weave a story around that. What characters could live here? What would they do? What issue do they have to resolve?

I think it’s a question of keeping your mind open to the thought there are plenty of ideas out there. The trick is working out which would best suit you and your style of writing.

I’m looking forward to the release of Seeing The Other Side next month, naturally enough. One reason why is having new material to share at Open Prose Mic Nights, such as the one The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick put on. I did read something from the new book last year and was pleased it went down well.

I like to mix up the moods of the stories I read at these things and the word counts too. So I will read a humorous piece, a grimmer one, a short 50 worder, a 100 worder or two and so on, depending on how much time I’ve been given.

Flash works so well for these things. It also makes it easier to stop on a “high” and top tip here, it is always better to come in at slightly under your allotted time rather than to go over it. Going over it at all is not really that fair on others still to read and it is always best to go out leaving your audience wishing they had heard more. For one thing, they can go and buy your book, can’t they?

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Wilderness

Recently, I’ve had the joy of escaping to a part of the country which can be considered to be Wild Britain – the north-east coast of Scotland. It is a magnificent mix of moorland, mountains, coast, and farmland. Lots of lovely walking done with other half and the dog. A real break from it all.

In your magical world, what areas would be considered to be wild? Is this because of the natural geography, flora and fauna or because the area has untamed magic none of your characters can harness, yet alone control? If the latter, how did the area become magically wild at all? Was there a curse and, if so, what was the story behind it?

Alternatively, are there areas in your magical setting where magic cannot be? If so, how did this happen and has anyone tried to change the status quo here? (Bound to be consequences and interesting stories here from where people tried and failed. Could form the legends in your magical setting’s fictional history).

This World and Others – Calming Areas

I think we all need our areas of calm. For me, this is often in the swimming pool. I can’t get emails or phone calls there! Plus the exercise is beneficial and can help create a sense of calm because it makes me feel better in myself for having done this.

Holidays where I can get away from it all help here too but even in my immediate area, there are physical places, including in my own garden, which are just good places to be.

So thinking about our characters, what calming areas/things to help them would they seek?

Where would they go to get away from things, locally to them or otherwise? What makes these areas special for them and can getting to them for a while be the catalyst they need to resolve the issues they’re facing?

Definite story ideas there.

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Writing Wishes

April 24, 2026Leave a comment

: A very special book in my memory! My first printed story, A Helping Hand, was in here!

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. Gorgeous spring weather here. Lady and I are making the most of it. Writing and editing going well too. Not short of things to do right now!

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Am delighted to share Writing Wishes on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

As I take a brief look at AI and the Human Authored campaign, I also look at other writing wishes, many of which are achievable! Others need working at but that is true for us all, if it is any comfort. Still others are “no-brainers” such as writers always wanting lots of nice stationery. Well, there is always room for one more notebook and pen set, isn’t there?

I also share two useful links for those seeking writing advice (and we all need that).

Hope you enjoy the post.

Writing Wishes

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today. Lovely time in the park.

Today it is St. George’s Day and also Shakespeare’s birth/death days. I can only think of one other who died on their birthday, Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s queen.

It took me ages to “get” Shakespeare at all, though like many of us I’ve used phrases I hadn’t known he invented. It took the pandemic and watching National Theatre Live, along with going to some of those productions in a local school after we were allowed out again, which changed my opinion. I do remain convinced though Shakespeare, generally, is best watched than read (with the exception of the sonnets, obviously). I saw Hamlet via NTL, both the Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant ones. Loved them. My late mother loved him and I’m sure she’d be pleased I’ve finally “got” Shakespeare.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Writing Wishes on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and am ploughing on with the editing. Nice to do this with the windows open though and letting some sunshine in. It’s been months since I was last able to do that!

It has been another lovely spring day today, which Lady and I appreciated. The park was quiet and lovely. Talking of which, how about this for a prompt?

Prompt Thought: Quietness can seem wonderful or threatening, depending on circumstance and character mood. It can also seem oppressive, leading to the threatening feeling. Why not write two stories based on quietness being a wonderful thing for your character and then another tale where it is anything but that? You could also keep the word count for the two stories the same. Am sure you could get two interesting and contrasting stories here and, yes, you could use the same character but in different situations.

Happy drafting! (May well do this one myself at some point. As ever, watch this space).

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Hope the day has been a good one. Lovely weather again and Lady so enjoyed seeing her Hungarian Vizler pal. Later, she met a lovely cockapoo called Roscoe. Lady has had a good day on “the socials”. She is easily the most sociable pet we’ve had (and yes she loves it when we hold parties here so you could call her a party animal too).

Flash fiction wise, I am happily going through my third book and hope to have that done in the next few days. Then it’s back to the publisher. Exciting times.

Plus this weekend I want to dig out an old story of mine and have a look at it for a future competition. I always keep a supply of stories in stock, so to speak, for this purpose. It pays. If a theme is set, I often have a story already written in draft and I can then examine it to see if it could be submitted. Often it can be with some more work done to it, which is fine. I’ve never had a problem with editing!

I suspect by now there is a National Day of Something for every day of the year. As well as it being St. George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birth/death days, it appears it is also National Picnic Day (has anyone told the wasps?), World Book and Copyright Day (am naturally all for that), and Allergy Awareness Week. I should imagine though if you have any allergies (I do – asthma and hayfever), you are aware of that all year!

Having said that, there’s nothing to stop you weaving ideas from these days into your flash fiction stories.

For example, a character with an allergy – how does it get in their way? What do they do to overcome it as much as possible?

A character wants to set up a picnic and makes a right mess of it – could be potential for humour here. Do they give up on the idea or are they able to salvage something from the mess? Does anyone else help here?

So story ideas are there, including for flash. It’s a question, I think, of keeping an open mind to possibilities. I like to see these National Days as potential prompt ideas because you can take them that way.

I like to mix up the mood of my flash (and short) stories because I think this reflects life. Much as I’d love to find things funny all of the time, that isn’t possible. There is the darker side of life and I think it is honest to have stories which reflect both sides of life here. Certainly I believe having a mixture of the two types in a collection makes the stories, and the characters, more believable.

I do like to keep a balance in my collections though and this will also apply to Seeing The Other Side in due course.

There are times when I just know from my character outline what mood the story is likely to take. If, for example, I have a character dealing with a sad situation, there will be elements within the story which will show the character being influenced by that. I would then hope to write them going on to rise about things as much as is possible (and probably with help) but I can’t have them immune to what is going on around them. Else they would be a cardboard cut out character.

Characters make or break a story for me and even the most fantastical of creatures still has to be believable in some way. Motivation is key here. I might not understand what a great big dragon’s life is like,not having had experience of being a great big dragon (!), but I can imagine why they may want to terrorise a village. If they’re hungry, say, where would they go to look for food? Something has to drive them and basic needs can be a great way into working out what a character’s motivation would be.

Fairytales With Bite – Journeys

I like journeys. Journeys have purpose. (Okay I loathe traffic jams, cancellations on the trains etc but journeys themselves are generally fine). They are also great things to write stories around. For a magical setting, you’ve got more range as to what kind of transport your characters have to use. The sky could indeed be the limit here!

Journeys can also be enlightening. Why does your character have to go on one? What does it achieve for them? When using magic, how does that help or hinder them? Are there disadvantages to magical transport? How could it compare with what we have here? I’m thinking along the lines of energy usage here. Could your magical setting have issues with “clean” and “unclean” magical energy usage? Journeys would be likely to use up a lot of this.

What does your character think about having to go on a journey, especially if it is not something they would usually do and/or it is to somewhere they would far rather not go? Be fair, would you go to Mordor if you didn’t have to?!

This World and Others – Taking The Long Way

I remember as a kid my Dad taking the family out for day trips and, especially if we weren’t in a hurry, we’d take the long way around to get home after a great day out. It was all part of the trip and we enjoyed it. Would your characters ever choose to do that? Where would they choose to go and why? What would be their long way home?

Where characters have to take the long way out of necessity, what is behind that? How do they manage it? What help do they have along their way? Frodo from The Lord of the Rings needed others to help him. He’d have never have made it to Mordor on his own.

What kind of roads would your setting have? Is the thought of any kind of journey, long or short, something your characters might dread because of the state of the roads and/or transport networks? Would have every sympathy there!

If a character has a choice of a short or long way to achieve their objective, what would make them choose the longer, more complicated way? I would expect there to be good reasons behind that. For example, the short route could have hazards the longer one doesn’t. The longer route is safer but just longer.

Whatever journey your character is going on, what would they face along the way?

Story ideas there!

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Writing Wishes https://t.co/FozmuBRz6w
Delighted to share Writing Wishes on CFT. I take a brief look at AI & the Human Authored campaign & other writing wishes including always having plenty of ideas and nice stationery. Every writer can get behind those two! pic.twitter.com/ygzkX6rCSi
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 24, 2026

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Observations

April 21, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Not bad here. Enjoying more sunshine again. Making good progress on the editing front. Can’t say much at the moment but hope it won’t be too long before I share news. Lady seeing some of her friends but not all of the moment though we look forward to rectifying that when possible.

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Hope today has gone well. Quiet in the park though Lady and I had a lovely peaceful time. Bluebells out all over the place where we are too, including in our garden.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing Writing Wishes on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll also be looking at the Human-Authored campaign being led, in the UK at least, by the Society of Authors as part of this. There are many writers who have wishes about AI! Some can see the usefulness of it, others worry about the effects on creativity. I worry about the effects on editing quality. More on that in the post.

Come the weekend, I hope to be working on a short story for a competition I have in mind but my editing work is taking priority at the moment so that may have to be pushed back for a week. It is fun having lots of interesting work to do, mind you! I just want more hours in the day but then I suspect that’s true for most of us.

Hope you’ve had a good start to the week. Lady has. She saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle.

Writing wise, I’m ploughing on with my editing and making good progress. Hope to make even more progress later tonight!

And as it’s Monday, not my favourite day of the week it must be said, it is time for a story I shared on my Substack account yesterday. Hope you enjoy Talking It Out. Do you feel any sympathy for Mary here?

Hope your weekend has been a good one. Loved my day out at Salisbury yesterday. Glad to be at home today.

Looking forward to getting on with flash fiction Sunday in a while and after that getting on with further editing on my Seeing The Other Side. There comes a point with flash where you know you can edit a piece and tighten it further in terms of word count but you then lose something of the “flow” of the story. That’s where I stop. I don’t want to lose that “flow” so, assuming all else is well, I would far rather leave a flash piece at 125 words, say, rather than cut back too far to get it to 100 words.

I’m always thinking about the impact of my stories on potential readers so don’t want anything to weaken that.

Had a lovely day out in Salisbury at the URC where there was a study on Women in the Bible. Very interesting and may spark story ideas. So many of these women showed great courage, which in itself is a great theme to write around. It was also great to catch up with folk I know here.

Bus replacement service was fine though I will always prefer the train. Bumpy roads meant I couldn’t write on my phone app on the bus. I drafted this while enjoying peppermint tea in a Salisbury coffee shop. Someone has to do it…

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Writing Wishes for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Looking forward to sharing that plus I hope to get plenty done on editing work later.

And, last but not least, I share Light and Dark in Fiction, my latest post on Authors Electric. I look, amongst other things, at how both kinds of fiction can reveal great truths though one is more likely to leave you with a smile on your face than the other! Hope you enjoy it.

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Getting out and about with the dog regularly gives opportunities for noticing things going on in the natural world and we are blessed to live close to parks and woods so I’m getting to see plenty of bluebells, the lilacs coming into bloom and so on.

So can you use these things in flash fiction (and indeed in other kinds of fiction)? Of course.

They can make an excellent backdrop for your character. Your character may equally be glad of a break in the fresh air given their circumstances. Some time in the natural world could give them what they need to go back and do what has to be done to hopefully improve said circumstances. Or you could take the colours and scents you come across and write a story around those – who notices them and why? What makes these things stand out? Is your character so glad to escape something, they are relieved to see these things?

Happy writing!

It’s Monday and it has been as hectic as ever. Time for another story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Hope, Hoax and Cake.

Emily Winters finally won the village cake competition but did she do so fairly and squarely? Of course not. Find out what happened here.

One word themes make excellent topics for all kinds of fiction including flash. These themes come up time and again for competitions and what markets are looking for. To name a few:-

Love
Justice
Revenge
Misunderstanding
Hope

There are many, many more but these topics are timeless. The good news on that is for writers, it means we can always use them.

One thing about getting out and about is spotting those moments you know you can do something with story wise.

For example, on the replacement bus service to Salisbury I was on today, there were two people busy chatting when I got on the bus. They were still nattering an hour later when we all got off at Salisbury and no pauses to speak of in between! I do feel there could be a humorous flash pieces out of that. Watch this space!

I also find I start wondering about backgrounds and settings when I go out anywhere. Again, this is a potential source for story ideas. So make the most of your trips out!

Goodreads Author Blog – Observations

One of the lovely things about fiction is when you come across observations which show up something about us. Jane Austen was fantastic here, as was Terry Pratchett. The best of these observations are always done subtly. You almost take these in without realising it.

Over time, as a writer, you learn to look out for these so you can figure out how to do this for your creations. Best of all, this is fun because you get to do even more reading. Nothing to dislike there!

Of course, some of the observations at least can be sharp ones. Often humorous fiction does this best, I find.

So when you lose yourself in a good book (and as often as possible), it is amazing what you can be taking in. Writers are inspired by what has gone before. We build on what has gone before. There will always be a need for stories and those observations, which make us think when we spot them, will continue to make us think.

Time to get on with some more reading then!

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Authors Electric: Light and Dark in Fiction by Allison Symes https://t.co/VXFFEBsoua
I share Light and Dark in Fiction on AE. I look at how both kinds of fiction can reveal great truths though one is more likely to leave you smiling than the other! Hope you like the post. pic.twitter.com/SCcR3IQ1N5
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 18, 2026

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Observations https://t.co/DGkT889wP7 via @goodreads It's amazing what observations you can take in when reading, which is the topic for my Goodreads post this week. Hope you enjoy the post. Carry on reading and making observations! pic.twitter.com/GNoN8c7Q0f
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 18, 2026

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As it’s Monday, not my favourite day of the week it must be said, it is time for a story I shared on my Substack account yesterday. Hope you enjoy Talking It Out. Do you feel any sympathy for Mary here? https://t.co/usN2TheJgA pic.twitter.com/wTsdmH29pW
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 20, 2026

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It’s Monday, another hectic day. Time for another story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Hope, Hoax and Cake.

Emily Winters finally won the village cake competition but did she do so fairly and squarely? Of course not. Find out what happened.https://t.co/zyr4dzSMCQ
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 20, 2026

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The Importance of Titles

April 14, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Not bad here. Lady enjoyed catching up with a pal over the weekend which she doesn’t usually get to do. I’m busy writing and editing, including on my third book, Seeing The Other Side. Hope to have more news on that before too long.

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Hope today has gone well. Weather changeable though it didn’t stop Lady from having a good time in the park. No pals today, hope to catch up with them later in the week and, before you ask, yes I am my dog’s social secretary! Most dog owners are!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Character Moments for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Meantime I plough on with editing (client) and proofreading (my third book). Not short of things to do!

Also looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group later this month and thoroughly enjoyed the online writing group meeting I went to last night. You can still get about even if it is just by Zoom!

Hope your working week has got off to a good start. Changeable weather here though Lady still saw her Hungarian Vizler pal so all well there.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to an online writing meeting this evening. Always good fun. Am making good progress with the editing of a client’s book and my own. I’ve been on both sides of the editing fence at the same time before. It’s always an interesting experience and you do learn a lot from it.

Was delighted to share another story of mine on my Substack account yesterday. To subscribe please head over to the following link – https://substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

Scroll down and you will find several flash pieces of mine on here now.

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Hope you’re enjoying a nice peaceful Sunday. Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Also have some interesting work to do regarding my forthcoming third flash fiction collection. Will share more later but am so pleased about this as you can imagine.

Did manage to submit my story for the competition I mentioned yesterday. Good to have that done. Did I find some final things to correct before submission? Oh yes – a minor adjustment needed – but this is why I put in a final, final check to look for things like this. It pays. After all, you want your story entry to have the best possible chance out there.

I get my first draft done, rest it, look at it again and it as this point I pick up the vast majority of errors and correct them. I rest the story again and when I come back to it this time, I am specifically looking for typos, grammatical errors, missing words etc. Just ahead of submission I double check I’ve laid the story out as the competition requires and things like word count are fine. I find all of this useful because you never do pick up everything on one sweep. Well, at least I don’t!

Looking for specific things on each sweep means you’re more likely to find them too.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start for you. Windy but sunny here and Lady managed to meet up and play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle today. We don’t usually see anyone we know at weekends so Lady has rightly taken that as a win.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Character Moments for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Will be sharing useful tips and it is on a topic I love writing about – creating characters, the stars of our story shows.

Hope to submit a story for a competition over the weekend and then start working on another story which I’ve already got in draft form. Plus there will be flash fiction Sunday to look forward to as well. As for today, Saturday, it’s blogging and editing time! Now to crack on…

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Hope at the weekend to pick a draft story to work on for another flash competition. Know I won’t get much chance before then. Am enjoying the process of proofreading my third book. Hope to share more news on that fairly soon.

I always look for impact in fiction, regardless of its length or whether I’m reading it or writing it. I need to care about the characters enough to want to find out what happens to them. This is what drives my belief that if you get the characters right, the plot will develop naturally from them.

I don’t really want a clever plot. I do want characters I want to root for and and then I’ll enjoy finding out just what they get up to and how much of a mess they make of things on the way to whatever the ending is going to be.

It’s another hectic Monday and, therefore, story time. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Rebranding.

Times change even in Fairyland much to the disgust of the local wicked witch. Find out why she is disgruntled here – and what did happen to her wand?

I was talking over on my most recent Goodreads post about the importance of titles (see below) and, for flash fiction, they can help a writer convey mood without using up any of their precious word count allowance, given most places don’t include the title as part of that. (Do keep an eye out for this though – some places do include it. I always double check things like that to make sure I don’t get it wrong. I also allow about five words for a title when I have markets who include the title in the word count. I then know what I’ve got for the prose).

Inspiration for title ideas can come from proverbs and sayings and can also double up to be your theme. I find short is generally better. Short titles are easier to remember and if you share things on Twitter/X, you don’t use up so much of your character allowance either.

I also find having brainstorming sessions for possible titles not only useful but fun. I know I have things to come back to later to write up into potential tales. It is good to have that kind of back up and where notebooks/journals are brilliant. I’m old school enough to still like the thought of pen and paper coming into the process somewhere.

I read in my field of flash fiction as well as write in it, naturally. There are many wonderful flash fiction and short story anthologies out there but I am going to recommend Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction. I’ve just finished reading it and it has a superb collection of styles and moods, the one unifying factor being they are all at 100 words long. Pleased to see some great reviews coming in for the book too.

I have a few stories in there and it is great to recognize many familiar names in the book with me. Why not check it out? It is perfect for dipping in there and a great study of what flash fiction is and can be.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Importance of Titles

Oscar Wilde may well have talked about it being Earnest who was important but, for any writer, titles are essential to get right. They are your first hook for potential readers.

Working in the short forms of fiction as I do, I will use titles to do some “heavy lifting” for me in that I can use them to set moods, give an indication of what is likely to follow and so on. I can do that without using up any of my word count allowance, especially for flash fiction, as most places exclude the title from their word count limits.

But when it comes to reading, does a good title draw you in? I know they do for me. I was intrigued by The ABC Murders (Agatha Christie) and had to read the book to find out the relevance of the title to the plot. It is a cracking Poirot story by the way.

Other titles which are more “open” such as Christie’s Nemesis (Miss Marple) make you wonder who/what the nemesis will be and who/what justifies facing that nemesis. Again, you have to read to find out.

Certainly when I’m buying books, if I already know the author then I have some idea of what I’m looking for but, for a writer new to me, it will often be the title which will lure me into looking at the cover and the blurb.

So titles matter. They can be tricky things to get right too.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: The Importance of Titles https://t.co/W2JPjAeoPj via @goodreads I discuss titles whether I'm setting them for the stories I write or am deciding on a new book to buy. They do matter and are so tricky to get right. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/yvGjW1nWUK
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 11, 2026

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It’s another hectic Monday and, therefore, story time. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Rebranding.

Times change even in Fairyland much to the disgust of the local wicked witch. Find out why she is disgruntled here – and what did happen to her wand?https://t.co/Hfkk9ryIb7
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 13, 2026

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Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move

April 7, 2026Leave a comment

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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 wonderful Easter. Moving Easter services meant a great deal to me. Lady has been out and about enjoying the sunshine and I’m writing away. A good weekend and yes chocolate was involved too!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely day weather wise today.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to share the link to my latest article on Writers’ Narrative. For this month, the theme is travel writing. My take on it? To think about it from a character’s viewpoint.

At some point we have to make our characters move and travel problems will be as real for them as, alas, they are for us. (I faced yet more temporary traffic lights today – no warning given etc!).

Even in a fantasy world where some characters may be able to fly without the aid of machinery, they will face issues such as wind currents and so on. I share thoughts and tips on this including the thought travel brings out the best and worst in us so it can do exactly the same for our creations too.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

It’s a Bank Holiday here in the UK. I’ve spent a lot of the weekend listening to and enjoying the countdown of the Classic FM Hall of Fame for 2026. I’ve heard two of my choices so far – one went up, the other went down – and have still to hear the third. The third one ended up being a non-mover!

It’s not that easy just picking three pieces of music but it’s fun having a go. And listening to so much lovely music over the Easter weekend has been a joy – everything from classical to film scores to operatic to themes from games (the latter is surprisingly good). I usually write with Classic FM on. It relaxes me and when I relax I write more.

Writing wise, I shared another flash piece over on my Substack page over the weekend. Link here. Have started work on various things I’ll be sharing in one form or another later this month/early next month. Plus I’ve been editing. So the weekend has been productive.

Character Tip: If you’re fleshing out a character outline, give some thought as to what kind of music they’d like and why. It may well show you their likely age, possibly some of their background too, and I’m sure you can make use of that in your stories.

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Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Lovely and cheery church service this morning. Our minister even brought a big chocolate egg for us to share. It went down very well with all!

Writing wise, will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly.

Congratulations to all who have been accepted for the Bridge House Publishing anthology out later this year. News came out about that yesterday.

Ahead of that will be the release of The Best of CafeLit 15, where my story, Freedom, will be included. Already looking forward to catching up with folk in person at the end of the year.

Writing Tip: Will be reviewing my story for the BHP book because I know its theme may well make it open for other competitions. I’ve nothing to lose doing this and, indeed, have sometimes gone on to have work accepted which was initially turned down elsewhere. The good thing is I now know I’ve the necessary distance now to re-read this story and see what can be done to boost its chances out there.

Hope the Easter weekend has got off to a good start. Weather can’t make up its mind what it wants to do here, not that this stopped Lady and I having a nice time at the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Flash Fiction On Radio for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here too. Am looking forward to sharing that.

Will also be starting work on a super interview to come up on CFT later in May. Good to be kept busy!

Structure Tip: I find this tip as useful for my non-fiction writing as I do for my short form fiction. I have a rough plan of what will be at the start of the piece, what must be in the middle, and from there what must come at the end. The Three Act structure has much to recommend it even when you’re writing short pieces. I find it keeps me on track. I do find having a framework to work to so useful.

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Absolutely gorgeous day today. Lady and I had a quiet time in the park today. Hope to catch up with pals again tomorrow.

My Writers’ Narrative article is out today (7th April 2026) and talks about Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move. So many of the issues, including travel, that we face, we can then apply to our characters.

Now in flash fiction, there isn’t a lot of room for description so if I need to show you my fairy godmother on the move, I’ll show her getting on her broom or tapping her red shoes to go somewhere. Flash uses inference a lot but there does need to be something in the story for readers to be able to make that inference. This is where using tropes can help you – red shoes will remind folk of The Wizard of Oz and brooms, well everyone knows about flying brooms in the magical world. So it is a question of then of picking out the right detail for readers to pick up on. For flash, they don’t need to know the ins and outs of broom transport unless that is the story itself.

It has been one of those rare beasts in the UK – a Bank Holiday Monday which was sunny! Have loved that. But it is still Monday when all is said and done and so it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Colour of Lying.

It seems lying politicians get everywhere when it comes to energy usage, as my fairy godmother character finds out

Hope your Easter Sunday is going well. Good to see some sunshine out. I know it cheers me up no end seeing some brightness especially since earlier today Lady and I were caught in a hail shower.

Weather can change moods then for better or worse but how does it do this for your characters? Could a change in the weather change the outcome in your story and, if so, how?

What other factors would change your character’s mood for better or worse? Who could exploit that, whether or not it is in the character’s best interest?

Definite story ideas there!

I plan as part of my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow to look through some drafts I’ve been storing as I’ve got ideas for competitions in mind for some of this work. This is why it pays to build up a stock of stories and something I need to get back to doing because I’ve got some to use now, which is fabulous, but I will need to replenish these in due course.

Naturally keeping some stories back like this gives me the necessary distance from them to see the faults and rectify those.

It also pays to draft some tales, every so often, to common themes because you know these will come up at some point and it can give you a head start when you spot competitions you fancy trying.

Goodreads Author Blog – Easter Stories and Inspiring Characters

The Easter story is full of drama – betrayal, injustice, a grim killing – but also hope in the form of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The characters in the story do go through a rollercoaster of emotion from crushing grief to overwhelming joy.

I must admit I like the little moments in these stories. I can picture Mary, literally blinded by grief, mistaking the risen Jesus for the gardener. You just would, wouldn’t you? Grief does things to you like that.

I like the story of Doubting Thomas too. Someone would’ve asked…

All of these tales bring home the very human qualities of these people.

Naturally, you can be inspired by that to create your own characters where the grief hits home for them, the doubts and fears do haunt them, though I must admit I would always like those stories to end on a note of hope. The news is grim enough. Books and stories can take us away from that for a while but you still need to be able to root for the characters. Understanding where they come from is a huge step for this.

And this is what the very best stories do, of course. You get behind the characters because you want them to do well (usually). It’s the hope of that which keeps me reading, for sure.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Easter Stories and Inspiring Characters https://t.co/kIQ1v0Gwxe via @goodreads I look at the rollercoaster of emotions in the Easter Stories and how this can inspire our characters. We mainly want to root for characters as that keeps us reading. pic.twitter.com/0XrwJWGLCh
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 4, 2026

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It has been one of those rare beasts in the UK – a sunny Bank Holiday Monday! Story time though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Colour of Lying. Lying politicians get everywhere when it comes to energy usage, as my fairy godmother finds out.https://t.co/tzxLb1oMXF
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 6, 2026

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I share my new article on Writers’ Narrative. The theme is travel writing this time. I look at it from a character’s viewpoint. At some point we make our characters move. Travel problems will be as real for them as, alas, they are for us, even in fantasy.https://t.co/BFZ6Cd3yxB pic.twitter.com/mCqhv2aJLF
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 7, 2026

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Setting Writing Exercises

March 20, 2026Leave a comment

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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 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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Authors Electric: Special Years by Allison Symes https://t.co/4nnuMKSJdj I have a special birthday soon, which links to my writing anniversary. It's hard to believe when starting out breaks will come. You need grit to keep going. It pays to remind yourself to keep going! pic.twitter.com/wZbmKTtnO7
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 18, 2026

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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. https://t.co/hXRMiqYoDC
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 19, 2026

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Setting Writing Exercises https://t.co/5ZtgkWjN9U
I hope this will prove useful to those running writing groups and/or authors who set exercises in newsletters to engage with readers/writers. I share tips, examples of different exercises, and why mixing things up is a good idea.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 20, 2026

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Getting The Hooks In

March 13, 2026Leave a comment

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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 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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Getting The Hooks In https://t.co/8zvetJYbJo

Am pleased to share Getting In The Hooks for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at the importance of delivering on the hook’s promise, look at their role in non-fiction and writing exercises, and more. I hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 13, 2026

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New Books For A New Season?

March 10, 2026Leave a comment

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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. 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!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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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Glad to be back on Writers’ Narrative on Substack today. The theme this month is Writing Fiction and my post in Writing Fiction – The Joys of Making It All Up. I share a little about why I write fiction and what its values are. https://t.co/iIpE2g5Pad pic.twitter.com/jQskbNggS4
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 7, 2026

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: New Books For A New Season? https://t.co/reN1Bt6l07 via @goodreads I ask if you get new books for a new season and, if so, do you link the season mood to the book mood? Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/AetfCKy6QH
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 7, 2026

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Another busy Monday. Time for a story then.

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. https://t.co/6UHj3yUxpV
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 9, 2026

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Catching Up

February 27, 20262 Comments

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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. 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!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

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?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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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ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK

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Catching Up https://t.co/smxrjrlkP3
Delighted to share Catching Up on CFT. This is a news round up. Plenty has happened since my last writing update. It pays sometimes to reflect on your writing journey. Mine has taken me in directions I never expected but I'm glad of it all.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 27, 2026

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“Lent” and Borrowed

February 24, 2026Leave a comment

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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.

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!

Facebook – General

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.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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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: A very special book in my memory! My first printed story, A Helping Hand, was in here!

: Six of the seven books my stories have appeared in (okay in the case of Limerick Nation, one limerick!). Baubles is the other book. Image taken by me.

: Transforming Being. Image by Bridge House Publishing.

: Where my stories are in print. Image by Allison Symes

: My latest published story is in The Best of Cafelit 6.

: My tale Evergreen – Never Old and Good to Go – is in this collection from Bridge House Publishing

: Many of the Cafelit, Bridge House, and Chapeltown authors contributed to this book by Gill James. There is a prompt for every day of the year.

: Lovely to see my books on a bookshop shelf!

: I contributed to this. Image from Bridge House Publishing

: Image from Bridge House Publishing

: Image from Bridge House Publishing

: I was in this Bridge House anthology. Picture taken by Allison Symes

liked Allison Symes's blog post: "Lent" and Borrowed https://t.co/gbSzGthxFy via @goodreads I look at lending books and borrowing them for Goodreads this week. I also discuss books and memories. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/FscrNI654K
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 21, 2026

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Hope you like my latest tale 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? https://t.co/2rfJ8TSsaR
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 23, 2026

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