Tag: Environments

What Makes A Story Work

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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. Image of me at a local book fair taken by my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today, Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Continuing to enjoy the lovely weather, as is the dog. My camellia (a pretty pink) is now beginning to come out. Looks great. Writing wise again have been busy on Zoom but also doing plenty of “bits and pieces” around this. Has been a good writing week to date.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Gorgeous weather here.

Delighted to share What Makes A Story Work for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the role of dialogue and description, what you take in from stories you read, understanding the characters, and much more besides. Hope you find the post useful.

What Makes A Story Work

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3rd April 2025 – 1st post – META protest

Two posts from me tonight.

First up, a protest against outright theft by META. I am standing with #TheSocietyofAuthors against the theft of authors’ books to train AI #dothewritething.

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3rd April – Second post

Just to say I’ll be sharing What Makes A Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

Am looking forward to sharing my next CFT post on 11th April too as it is on a topic every writer will identify with. More details nearer the time.

Have had a good week on Zoom again and an looking forward to another webinar on Storytelling next week. I do think Zoom with its ability to allow people to join in with various writing and other events online has been one of the few positive things to come out of the pandemic. I’d not used it at all prior to that. And it’s thanks to Zoom I’ve rediscovered the joys of PowerPoint, which I use for my Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meetings.

Writing Tip: Do your characters have catchphrases? These can be useful but I’ve found it best to use them sparingly, especially in short form writing. What you don’t want is for readers to get sick of the things. Even the famous comedy characters didn’t use their best known sayings all of the time.

Hope you had a lovely day. Lady had a fabulous “puppy party” with Her Hungarian Vizler friend and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, though it was more a case of Lady and Coco doing the running around.

Will be sharing What Makes A Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. You do pick up so much about this topic simply by reading lots of lovely fiction!

Glad to say my author newsletter went out yesterday. Definitely not an April’s Fool!

Writing Tip: I like to build up a “stock” of flash fiction and blog pieces for later use. I find this pays off a lot during those frantic times when I know I haven’t got much writing time. So when I haven’t a particular writing task to do, I will spend some time writing these because I know it will come in useful later.

So if you are “stuck” for something to write, why not try this? Use a writing exercise or a random generator prompt to start you off (it’s amazing how many of those can also be used for non-fiction).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am back on Friday Flash Fiction but this time with a story, It Was There, which comes in at just over the 300 words mark. It is my second entry for the Andrew Siderius competition FFF are running. You could have one story on one theme for the 100 words category and then use the other theme (two are always set for this) for the longer word count category which is what I have done. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Good time had by both.

This doesn’t just apply to flash fiction, of course, but do ensure you keep to the right word count for competitions you enter. (This may not apply to novel competitions so much though most would be expecting a word count there of 80K to 100K words). What you don’t want is for a good story to not make the cut because of a rule infringement like that.

But I have found it pays to get the story right first and then worry about the word count. Sometimes I’ve had to put a story which is right but cannot make the word count requirement aside and save it for another competition with a higher “allowance”. It happens sometimes. But I usually do get to use that story in another place later on.


Another lovely sunny day. So nice to be out and about with the dog at the moment. She appreciates it too.

Now getting out and about in the fresh air does us good but how could you apply this to a flash fiction story? Could you get your character going out on their normal walk but with something different happening during it? How would they react to this? What would trigger the “something different”?

Equally if your character goes a different way to their normal walking route, why do they choose to do this? Are they trying to avoid something or someone? What do they notice which they might not have done had they stuck to their normal route and how would this impact them? Does it make them change their thoughts about something or someone?

Story ideas there I hope!

Fairytales with Bite – The Natural World in a Magical Setting

When your setting is a magical one, what would the “natural” world look like? Would this be considered to be any form of life which wasn’t magical in some way? Or would it be the natural backdrops against which your stories are set?

What would your magical characters make of the natural world around them? Do they care for it or treat it with contempt (and is there a natural backlash from that attitude)? Would some of your magical characters care for the natural world – I.e. they would be our equivalent of environmentalists, naturalists etc?

Would your younger characters in the equivalent of schools study their natural world or it is of little interest because it isn’t magical in itself?

Now I would say the natural world is magical in itself when you think about how beautiful it is but would your stars of your setting take the same view?

This World and Others – Environments

What kind of environments does your setting have? Are they similar to what we have? If not, how do they differ? What kind of atmosphere does your setting have? Do your characters need oxygen, water etc? If not, what do they require instead and how are these produced? Are these things produced naturally or do they have to be manufactured and if the latter how is that done?

Do your characters live in what we would consider to be a pleasant environment or is that the privilege of a few? Is your setting’s overall environment better or worse than what we have here, especially in terms of things like pollution? Has your setting been better in the past and, if so, what changed?

What would your world consider to be “science”? It is approved of by those who are magical or do they see this as being too like humanity for comfort? Could there be snobbery against science here? How would the working environment be in your setting if this is the case?

Those who are scientists as we understand the term could have a hard time indeed here in terms of being “socially acceptable” and being able to get anything they do accepted by those around them.

Environments don’t have to be comfortable!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Prompts, Contract News, and An Artful Story

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Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Images from the Share Your Story Writing Summit kindly supplied by the organisers. Image of Wendy H Jones kindly supplied by her.

Hope you have had a good week. Have had exciting contract news in the last couple of days which I share below. (Images of me signing said contract taken by Adrian Symes).

Thrilled to be taking part in a book about writing by Wendy H Jones

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Writing Prompts, my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post. I share a few differing kinds, discuss why prompts are useful, and why it is a good idea to practice them. Hope you enjoy this and find it useful.

A number of my published stories started life as responses to writing prompts so you now know why I am fond of them!

Oh and I’ll get a quick plug in for my monthly author newsletter too as I share writing prompts there too. If you would like to sign up for this, please head over to my landing page right here at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Contract News!

Big news! Thrilled to say I have just signed a contract to produce a chapter on flash fiction for a book #WendyHJones is editing on writing. Look forward to sharing more as and when possible but meanwhile here are the pics of one very happy author!

Don’t forget my Chandler’s Ford Today post is up tomorrow and is all about Writing Prompts. Hope you find it useful. Link up tomorrow. (See above!).

(I couldn’t tell you how many writing prompts I’ve used in my time but they are a fantastic way to kickstart some writing and I have had published stories as a result of using them. What’s not to like about that?!).

Am also thrilled to bits that a dear friend of mine has a piece of flash fiction up on CafeLit. Do check this wonderful online magazine out. There is a wonderful mix of stories and styles here. Yes, yes, I know. I am biased, I write for CafeLit, yes, of course I’m biased but that’s not the same as being wrong! And I’m not here – go on, pop over and have a good read. You really will find several things to suit you here. 

Happy to sign a contract


Sun turned up today – hooray – and Lady got to play with many of her best buddies including the loveliest Rhodesian Ridgeback, a cute mini Jack Russell, a Hungarian Vizler, and a new chum, a lovely Whippet called Sky. Lady went home shattered but happy. Job done there then!

Questions to ask your characters. Bear in mind also if you’re writing non-fiction, if you are using a narrative voice, you can treat that voice as a character, so some of these questions at least may also be worth trying. So what to ask then as part of your outline?

  1. What do you really want and why?
  2. What stops you getting what you really want?
  3. Why would your life be complete if you achieve what you want?
  4. How are you going to achieve your objectives?
  5. Have you got other characters to support you and, if so, how reliable are they?
  6. Are you making your life unnecessarily complicated? (Worth asking this one – any complications getting in the way of your character achieving what they want should be those that arise naturally out of the plot. There should be nothing that seems “faked” to increase the tension in the story. The tension should be genuine, the obstacles real and so on.
  7. For a non-fictional narrator, a good question to ask instead of this one is are you communicating as clearly as possible (i.e. go for clarity, not gobbledegook, don’t make your narration unnecessarily complicated? Are you conveying the facts reasonably? Are you backing the facts up with evidence? What are your sources?).
  8. What has driven you to decide this is what you really want?
  9. What if you’re wrong? (How would your character handle that? That could make for a really interesting story).
    Are there limits you won’t cross (and if so what are these? What is your thinking behind this?).
  10. Are there rules you are prepared to break? What would the consequences be? How are you going to limit your risk (or are you not worried about that? Some characters aren’t!).

Now if answering those questions doesn’t generate story ideas, I’d be very surprised!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to say I have another 100-word story on #FridayFlashFiction.
Assumptions is about Mary who thinks she is good at art but is she? Hope you like it.

BookBrushImage-2021-5-28-19-5636



I have very good cause to appreciate flash fiction. It has led to me having two books to my name (From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic). It has led to me taking part in an international summit (the Share Your Story Writing Summit back in March).

It has led to me giving Zoom talks to a WI group and writing groups. It led to me having a book signing in a railway station (yes, really and obviously before You Know What).

It has led to me being on internet radion and being interviewed by the lovely #HannahKate for her Hannah’s Bookshelf show on North Manchester FM.

Then there is the podcast appearance on #WendyHJones’ The Writing and Marketing Show. I’ve also judged flash fiction writing.

Talking of Wendy though, the latest big news is I will be contributing a chapter to her book on writing and naturally I’ll be writing about flash fiction. Am thrilled to bits. Will share more news as and when I can but meanwhile here are the very happy author pics!

(I don’t know whether it is a case of my finding flash fiction or flash fiction finding me but I am truly not sorry for a form of writing I discovered by accident thanks to CafeLit!).

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I sometimes have flash pieces published in the CafeLit anthologies and my Humourless is an example of this in the current book, The Best of CafeLit 9.

It is especially nice to have a flash story published here given CafeLit introduced me to flash fiction in the first place (and I am looking forward to sharing details of The Best of CafeLit 10 later on in the year where again I will have work published).

Do check out the CafeLit site. CafeLit are great in publishing a wide range of fiction, flash and otherwise, and from a diverse group of authors. It is always a joy to see friends’ work on here too.

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Fairytales with Bite – Changes

No world or character should stay static. A story revolves around change. The character does this, then that happens, this is what happens after that and so on. Of course, some changes are far more welcome than others and interesting tales can be generated by working out how your characters would handle the less welcome developments.

But changes shouldn’t be something that come out of nowhere. For example, if your change is where your character faces a magical disaster of some kind, there should be some hint early on in the story that magical disasters are a possibility here. For example if the build up of spare magical capacity can trigger earthquakes, your created world should have that as part of its history. Perhaps your story can then revolve around people not taking the necessary steps to prevent the disaster happening again. This means when your disaster happens your reader will not feel cheated. They know the possibility exists. The possibility happened.

Once the change has happened, there should be change in the characters too. Nobody remains unmoved by changes and that applies to characters too.

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This World and Others – Environments

What kind of environment is your story set in? Is it comparable to what we know here or something beyond the capabilities of our little planet?

Do your characters care about the environment they live in and how does that manifest itself?

Also think micro-environments – the immediate world around your characters. How does that impact on them? What are the threats they face? What are the nice things about their world they love?

Then there are things like political environments – dictatorships or democracy? How do your characters survive or thrive in these? Again, what is similar to here? It will be those things readers will latch on to – it is literally what we know and understand.

What dilemmas do your characters face as a result of their environment? The classic theme is survival in a hostile to life environment where the overall dilemma is to survive but there can be others. For example, if your character has to survive in their environment by killing something or someone, will they and how do they build themselves up to actually do that?

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