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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for the photo of me at my one hour workshop at Swanwick in 2023 and to Adrian Symes for the CafeLit 14 and my book signing pictures.

About to head off to Derbyshire. So looking forward to seeing everyone again. Will be posting but at different times. Expect to come back refreshed, reinvigorated, and shattered! In my experience that’s a great sign of a fabulous writing event as here will be a lot of creativity going on. Lady will be spoiled rotten while I’m away – she usually is.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share a post which was good fun to write – Book Title Games – on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s amazing what changing a letter or a word in a book title can do to it and its mood! Find out more in the post and why not give it a try?

I also pay tribute to that wonderful BBC Radio Four comedy, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, which often has books in their games, changing the titles just being one of them. Hope you enjoy the post.

Book Title Games

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Hope you have had a good day. Soggy one here. Lady not worried – she got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums today. Good time had by all. On the way home, there is a certain spot where Lady always looks up at me with what I call her happy, shining eyes, as if to say thanks Mum, that was great. Today she did that three times (rather than just once) and kept nudging me to make sure I saw. Now that is what I call demonstrating your pleasure at seeing your friends again. Dogs can be so sweet.

My Book Title Games is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. Hope you’ll have some fun with this one too. The post shares different ways to have fun with words via book titles.

Will be posting as usual from Swanwick from Saturday for a few days but posts will be out at different times. So looking forward to seeing everyone.

Writing Tip: You will often have heard don’t give up and this is true. Writing takes time to develop (and any success in it even longer to achieve). But it is fine to change direction if one way isn’t working out for you.

I did so by switching from the longer form of writing to the shorter. Will I resume my long form writing? Yes. Am working on something now. But I am so glad I have discovered the joys of writing short stories and flash fiction.

Good day today, Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal, and I’ve done most of my packing for Swanwick. (Why is it packing always takes longer than you think?).

Will be looking at Book Title Games as a fun post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Am looking forward to sharing the link. See above. Hope it inspires some silly but fun alternative book titles with you!

Writing Tip: When do you know a character has “got to” you? For me, it is when I can envisage asking them practically any question and knowing how they would respond and why.

I sometimes outline a character by interviewing them with a few pertinent questions. I don’t believe in Yes/No questions for characters for my guests on Chandler’s Ford Today either! Do give this exercise a try. It can be great fun to do and it’s often amazing what you come up with here.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday and time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Demanded. Just so you know, for the next two weeks while the competition linked to the Edinburgh Festival is on here, there won’t be any comments on any of the stories. Good luck to all entering the competiton too.

Later in the year I hope to take part in Flash NANO again. A flash prompt is given daily for the 30 days of November. I’ve taken part in this for the last couple of years and have found it to be great fun and a good challenge. There are always prompt types I’ve not tried before and I love the way these push me to try new formats. One such was to write a flash story in the form of a police report. Loved doing that.

Meantime I continue with my regular flash fiction writing. I have found it to be true the more you write of anything, the more useful material you produce. That in turn I have found means it is more likely some of this at least will find a publisher somewhere. Rejections are a fact of life for any writer but the more you write, the more you can polish and submit and that has to increase your chances.

One of the things I love most about flash fiction is it has to be character led due to its restricted word count. I haven’t the word count room for lots of description so I have to focus only on what readers need to know (and leave them to infer other things from what I have revealed). This is a great writing discipline for other forms of writing and not just for fiction. I’ve found it has paid off for my blogs and articles elsewhere.

It does mean I can mix and match my character moods though and I do just that when it comes to reading out at things like Open Prose Mic Nights. I want a story/character to produce a smile, another to give pause for thought and so on. It makes a great advert for what flash fiction can be and do. I like that too.

Fairytales with Bite – Conferences

I’m writing this post as I prepare for one of the highlights of my writing year – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. And that led me to wonder about the kind of conferences you might find in a fairytale setting.

Do fairy godmothers go on retreat to recharge the old batteries when they’ve had enough (for a while) of helping unfortunate clients? Do they go to conferences where they can improve their wand/magical techniques? Do they have to go to these things to help with their Continuing Professional Development? What would be taught at such conferences?

Do fairy godmothers and the like relish the chance to get together with others in their profession, seeing it as a chance to share tales of woe and success, or do they dread it? Does having to go to these things mean they have to face up to fighting the magical equivalent of Imposter Syndrome? (Practically every writer I know goes through this at some point, and often more than once, but I think it is linked to the creative arts in general – you always wonder if you’re good enough).

Do the delegates appreciate good accommodation, wonderful food, and a great time? (You will gather from this a little of what Swanwick is lIke!). Or are they relieved the conference is over for another year? They’ve done what they’ve had to by requirement of higher powers and that’s it.

Story ideas here including from the viewpoint of those who run the conferences. Do they dread the latest intake? Could be some funny tales here.

This World and Others – Thoroughfares

I like the word thoroughfare. It has a nice sound to it and conjures up to me images of old roads and streets in cities like York and Winchester. Here in the UK we still have Roman roads in existence (Watling Street is probably the best known). As well as creating new roads, the Romans also built over those already in existence so thoroughfares go back a long way.

I have a soft spot for old maps (including old editions of the A to Z) because these too can show how things have changed over time.

Now in a magical setting, what would count as a thoroughfare? Is it like we know here? (There is one obvious one – the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz). But how about thoroughfares for those who can fly? Would they have the equivalent of motorway lanes but just set in the sky? Who worked out “lanes” here and are they policed?

Just as we have traffic regulations, how would that kind of system work for your characters as they move around your setting’s roads and streets (even if they are set in the sky)? Are there some thoroughfares no respecting magical being would ever go down and why would that be? (Potential for a horror story there especially if even magical beings are scared by it!).

Who set out the street system in the first place and what obstacles did they have to overcome to do it? Has it proved to be a blessing or a curse?

Which would be your main character’s favourite thoroughfares and why do they love them? That could reveal aspects to your character’s personality and something of their background too.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the November 2023 issue of the magazine which focuses on novels. My article in here is Writing Novels and based on my experience of writing my first book (still unpublished though I would like to get back to it at some point). Fabulous magazine as ever packed with useful advice regardless of where you are at on your writing journey.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Do you find writing during the summer months easier or harder to do? Whatever the answer, why not try flash fiction? Short stories (up to 1000 words maximum) also make for a great warm up writing exercise ahead of longer projects. pic.twitter.com/WyQhG8M86W

— ACW (@ACW1971) August 7, 2024

For my flash pieces, I usually start by knowing my character. Discovering their major trait flags up the situations in which those traits would show up well. That gives me a rough outline for my first draft and away I go, filling in the gaps. pic.twitter.com/IrwOaHbEX4

— ACW (@ACW1971) August 8, 2024

It’s Friday. Time for a tale. Hope you enjoy my latest on FFF – Demanded. For the next two weeks while the competition linked to the Edinburgh Festival is on, there won’t be comments on the stories. Good luck to all entering the competition. https://t.co/ElPVy8ni6L pic.twitter.com/vp57D79NNy

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 9, 2024

Book Title Games https://t.co/jQJRhK7XVT Pleased to share a post which was fun to write – Book Title Games – on CFT. It’s amazing what changing a letter or a word in a book title can do to its mood! Find out more in the post and why not give it a try? https://t.co/jQJRhK7XVT

— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 9, 2024