Trick or Treat for Characters and Book Fairs

October 30, 2026October 30, 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 the week has gone well so far. Off to an online launch this week and had a lovely online get together earlier this week. Let’s hear it for Zoom, it makes things possible. Lady has had a fabulous week catching up with her Australian Shepherd boyfriend, her Rhodesian Ridgeback girlfriend, and her Hungarian Vizler chum who is the matriarch of our little pack.

Am very sorry to hear of the death of Sir Patrick Stewart, a great actor and a greater man. Loved him in Star Trek – The Next Generation. When he is assimilated by The Borg is truly scary. He also played a magnificent Scrooge. We often watch his version of A Christmas Carol after watching The Muppet one. Both are excellent and true to Dickens’ original work.

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Delighted to share a timely piece on Trick or Treat For Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I don’t celebrate Halloween as I much prefer the following day, All Saints Day, but I thought I’d look at the topic from a creative writing viewpoint.

I look at characters who play tricks, characters who have tricks played on them, characters who give out treats, characters who receive treats or turn them down (and there are opportunities for blackmail stories in all of these to name one thought). I also look at situations which might be seen as a treat but don’t necessarily turn out that way. I look at situations which could be seen as a trick too.

Lots of lovely story possibilities to come from all of those things which I discuss in the post so I hope you find it useful.

Trick or Treat For Characters

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Lady had a fabulous time with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again today. Smashing woodland walk this afternoon too.

Writing wise, I’m glad to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, discussing Book Fairs. I stress how useful it is to other authors to support these even when you aren’t behind the stalls and what you can gain here too. I’ve made friends at book fairs.

I also share some tips on having useful materials for potential readers to take away even if they don’t buy from you on the day. (I find these things often lead to sales on Kindle later and, even when not, they are still useful in getting word of who you are and what you write out there).

Hope you enjoy the post.

Book Fairs

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Lady had a doubly special time at the park today. First thing she met up with her Australian Shepherd “boyfriend”. Later she met up with her Hungarian Vizler chum and then got to run around with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. We have one tired but happy dog here.

Talking of pets, I will flag up Classic FM are running their Pet Classics again next week where they play calming music to help against fireworks etc. I find it helps, especially if I turn the sound up, draw the curtains. The music also soothes me and I think that helps Lady too. I do wish folk would use silent fireworks. They’re more readily available now. It is the noise more than anything here I think. Mind you, I can think of one piece Classic FM won’t be playing next week – the marvellous but noisy 1812 Overture!

Had a fabulous time at the Association of Christian Writers online meeting last night. Once the formal business of the AGM was done, it was lovely to connect up with various people in breakout rooms and have a good chat.

Tomorrow I’ll be online again to celebrate Hannah Ruth Retallick’s new flash fiction collection, Falling Woman. I hope to interview her for Chandler’s Ford Today soon too – more details as and when.

Talking of CFT, I’ll be sharing Trick or Treat For Characters this week. Link up on Friday. See above. I can promise no pumpkins were harmed in the making of this post!

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Thoroughly enjoyed the online launch for Hannah Ruth Retallick’s Falling Woman last night. Great stories read and lots of interesting discussion. Well done, Hannah.

Look out for news on my online launch for Seeing The Other Side in my newsletter out on Sunday and later in the month here too.

Online Launch Tip: You get to speak a fair bit so have plenty of (non-alcoholic) drink before the event and have something to hand during it, you will be glad of it. Alcohol tends to dry out the throat but if you’re in need of a restorative after the event that’s a different matter!

Also prepare questions and answers in advance. It will give you something to talk about in between readings and people always, for example, do like to know what inspired the writing of a story or the collection as a whole.

Hope today has gone well. Chilly here but dry. Looking forward to going to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s launch of Falling Woman, her latest flash fiction collection later tonight. Always good to celebrate flash fiction.

I’ll share the link to my online launch in November. Am looking forward to that one too! I’ll be reading from Seeing The Other Side and taking questions. If you subscribe to my newsletter, full details will be coming out in that on 1st November. I’ll share the link here later.

I’ve mentioned before flash is great to read to people at events because it doesn’t take long and it is the best way of showing what flash is. Works just as well for online events!

Hope today has gone well. Was pretty dark by half four this afternoon. Not keen on that, to be honest, though I did value the hour’s lie in over the weekend. Oh well, can’t have it both ways, can we?

Not that this has stopped some of my characters trying to have things every which way. Such characters are fun to write up. They’re even more fun to bring crashing to earth! I have examples of these in all of my flash fiction collections.

If you want to find out more about the “nuts and bolts of flash fiction”, do check out my interview by Wendy H Jones as part of the blog tour for my third collection from a couple of months back. The interview was great fun to do and Wendy asked some wonderful questions.

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Fairytales With Bite – Launching

Now this topic has come up because I’m supporting a friend’s online book launch shortly and in November 2026 will be having an online launch for my Seeing The Other Side. Launches are fun and hard work but such a good opportunity for authors to “share their wares”.

In your magical setting, what kind of creative arts exist where characters would want to have launches such as we know them? Is there a magical book industry for example and what kind of works would they publish, other then spell books which could be seen in this world as technical manuals? How would they launch new works?

Are there other careers where launches would be appropriate?

When it comes to “technical developments” such as new spells, who would launch these? Would they have to be registered with your setting’s equivalent of the Patents Office before any such launch could happen? Who would be responsible for testing these?

Now every author I know, including me, would like more reviews for our work. How would your magical writers feel about that? I would hope they would be banned from literally conjuring up their own reviews – that would be almost a kind of AI at work there, I think!

Are there launch parties? Who would get to go to this? What could happen when a launch went wrong?

Plenty of story thoughts there. Happy writing!

This World and Others – Progression

Whatever the career, most would want to see positive progression in it. What would this look like in your fantasy or sci-fi based setting? Is magic allowed to be used to boost someone’s career? Is it only with magic any kind of progression is possible?

What would magical progression look like for your characters and is it dependent on what kind of magical species they are? Are certain types limited to what kind of progression they make and were those limits brought in for understandable reasons or as a method of controlling said certain types? Is any progression made in changing things here? Would anyone want to campaign for positive change here?

As ever in any world, there are always those who want to make more progression for anything but good reasons and are happy to use unorthodox methods to achieve what they want. See Sir Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic for examples of that! There was a film version made which starred the late Tim Curry in the role of Trymon, whose ambitions seem to know no limits. It was a fantastic bit of casting. Do check it out (and read the books!).

On the opposite side of things, are there characters who are happy where they are, thank you, and don’t want to make progression because they’ve seen what has happened to others when they try? What would these characters do in the scenario they’ve got to make progression or else? How would they handle that?

Again, plenty of story thoughts there.

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Questions To Ask Your Characters

October 23, 2026October 23, 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 the week has gone well so far. Blustery rain and storms coming in though there is a brief pause for some sunshine as I type this. Had a lovely time with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this week and Lady caught up with her “boyfriend”, the Australian Shepherd this week so, all in all, we’d say it was an okay week!

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Hope today has been okay. I must admit I prefer Jane Austen to Storm Austen any time. Mainly wet and windy here though Lady and I were grateful for a break in the weather for her morning walk. You do give a few heartfelt thanks when you don’t get a soaking! I know not to take that for granted!

Writing wise, I’m delighted to share Questions to Ask Your Characters on Chandler’s Ford Today and hope you find it useful. I also look at the question of does planning your writing mean it becomes formulaic writing?

I also list some questions which would be useful regardless of what genre you write in and share more specific questions which could be useful for many genres (and I am sure could be adapted for still others).

I also look at exploring traits further and how characters need to be believable. I know a good character (whether they themselves are good or not is another matter) will keep me reading to find out what happens to them.

Questions To Ask Your Characters

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Hope today has gone well. It has been chilly but we had sunshine so it was particularly nice at the park. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again too. I had a nice swim later too.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Questions To Ask Your Characters on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Hope you will find it useful.

I find quizzing my characters a useful tool. I vary what I ask, depending on the character type I know I’ll be using, but the joy of this technique is just a couple of questions will give you ideas for your character development, will help you know enough about them to write your story up, and I find can lead to plot ideas which hadn’t occurred to me initially.

As ever, it’s about asking the pertinent questions. More in the post tomorrow but basically you are getting a structure to your story here. Stories which don’t grip me seem to have a weak or non-existent structure, at least to me, so I find this a great aid.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady and I managed to avoid getting wet today and she saw her Hungarian Vizler pal too. Lady also had a fabulous run around with her Australian Shepherd “boyfriend”, the lovely Bear. The two of them went home tired and happy. The Vizler being older “supervises” and a grand job she does of it too.

Writing wise, am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later tonight. It was great!

Later in the week I hope to start preparing questions for two super interviews I hope to share on Chandler’s Ford Today later. I also have some enjoyable “homework” to do for my online launch for Seeing The Other Side in November plus story editing for competitions. So no getting bored here then but that is how I like it.

Oh and I’ll also be working on my next Writers’ Narrative article too. My last one, Darkness in a Flash, received a number of likes and comments which is always appreciated. Writers may not work in the proverbial garret but any more but when you put work out there, you can’t know how it will go down unless someone takes the time and trouble to tell you. Many thanks for all who have, and not just for that piece. I know I’m not the only writer to appreciate this, far from it.

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I hope Storm Austen hasn’t caused too much damage where you are and if you’re staying put with a hot drink and a novel by Jane Austen, I don’t blame you!

I rarely use the weather in flash fiction or short stories because I’m only too aware it is to easy for this to slip into cliche. It was a dark and stormy night…. Well, quite, but it’s not specific enough.

Getting a character to put on two coats, wellies, and assure another they will be only ten minutes and yes they have got the torch which is fully charged etc, all of that is far more interesting to me. I can picture the two characters here. I can hear the voice too.

It’s then a question of finding out whether that character will be back in ten minutes after all or whether this will be where said character will meet a dastardly ending. But I’ve got to read to find that out so the author will have done their job well here.

As with anything in a story, give specific details. It’s easier to picture. Showing us it was bucketing down outside is far more interesting, at least to me, than saying it was raining heavily.

Had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night. It was good to see everyone and we did get to draft a couple of stories on the theme of light and dark. I’ll now rest mine for a bit and come back to them later though I do know they both need tightening up but that’s fine.

A first draft is never perfect. It’s not meant to be. I’ve always loved the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s quote on this that “a first draft is just you telling yourself the story”. Isn’t that a perfect sum up of what a first draft is meant to be?

Flash Tip: Know your character well enough. For a flash piece, you may only need to know one or two details (and character attitude to life would be a good one to know) but it will make all the difference to how convincing your character comes across as to a reader.

Looking forward to working with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening to our theme of light and dark. Plenty of ideas to come from that and I have a soft spot for this given it inspired my first book’s title, From Light to Dark and Back Again. I hope all of us will get a couple of stories drafted this evening.

I suspect most of us have favourite themes we like to write around. I will always have some humorous fairytales on the go but do you find sometimes when you look back at several stories you’ve written, there is an underlying theme?

I’ve particularly noticed this when putting collections together and, for the fist book, when I wasn’t writing funny tales, I was writing stories of justice.

So that tells you I like a laugh and I like to see wrong being righted!

Yep, spot on there.

Fairytales With Bite – Words of Power

All words have power – power to make us laugh, cry, scream etc. But in magical setting, they have even more power.

What words are used specifically for spells in your setting which couldn’t be used elsewhere? Are certain words/spells forbidden (and yes I am thinking of certain ones in the Harry Potter series here). Who would want to defy convention here? There is always plenty of room for tales about good versus evil and words and the power that can be behind them will come into play here.

Who came up with the words of power in the first place and how did they imbue the words with their meaning and practical usage?

If your setting has more than one magical species, are the different kinds allowed to use all of the same words of power or does each species have their own and nobody outside of their group can use these? How is this policed? (I have visions of magical dictionary enforcers here…! Hmm… could be some good funny tales there).

Which words do your characters go out of their way not to use and why? Which would they use in everyday usage and for what spells which they are expected to use?

This World and Others – Controlling Language

Following on from Fairytales with Bite, who are the powers that be who would control the language your species would use, whether it is specifically for magical purposes or not?

Is there freedom of speech as we would know it? Is certain speech forbidden because of the magic it could unleash and how do your characters know it should be forbidden? Or has someone always told them that and there is nothing to back this up? It is so easy to go along with something because that is how things have always been done. Who could be the brave soul in your stories to challenge this/see if there is any justification behind this?

Who lays down the rules for how magical language (as opposed to everyday speech) is used and by whom? Are spell books and the like written in older style of the main language or have these been updated? Old English is considerably different to that used now! The former is not all that easy to read either.

So who decides what can be “translated” to a more modern usage and which items have been deliberately left in a less easy to understand language because that would easily control who had access to it?

Food for thought there and again plenty of opportunity for characters to uncover things which the powers that be might wish they hadn’t.

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Fairytales and Their Impact

October 16, 2026October 16, 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’ve had a good week. Had smashing day out with other half and the dog down in Dorset. Lady made some fans in the very friendly dog cafe we visited and she’s seen her friends so she has had a terrific week so far.

Writing is going well. Looking forward to catching up with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

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Delighted to share a topic on Chandler’s Ford Today, which is close to my writing and reading heart – Fairytales and Their Impact.

I have so many reasons to love fairytales. One of them is being given the two volume set of The Readers’ Digest Collection of Fairytales which collates so many of the original stories. My late Dad gave me this and I still have them, though one of the volumes does have a spine with a lot of tape on it!

Another reason is, naturally, my first story in print was A Helping Hand in the 2009 anthology Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing) which was another look at the Cinderella tale but this time from the viewpoint of the younger stepsister.

My post considers the impact of fairytales on writing craft because they can teach writers so much including the use of the Three Act Structure, clear character definition, only giving you what you need to know, no sentimentality (good and evil are both shown for what they are) and so much more.

Hope you find the post useful.

Fairytales and Their Impact

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Quiet day in the park today with Lady but that may have been useful as I suspect she is still tired from our super day out yesterday. I know I am and even more so after my swim today though it was lovely to chat to regulars there.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Fairytales and Their Impact for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow on a topic close to my heart. See above.

Delighted to have booked my tickets for (a) Hannah Ruth Retallick’s launch of her latest flash fiction collection, Falling Woman, which is later this month and (b) my place at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event in December. It’s always great fun.

Had a lovely day out with other half and Lady in Dorset. Good weather, great walking and a smashing lunch at a very dog friendly cafe. Good time had by us all. Lady made some fans there too!

Did us good which led me to think about what would your characters do when they felt the need to take time out? Where would they visit? Why are these places special to them?

Food for story thought there.

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Have had one of those days when I may as well have put a revolving door on the front door. Likewise for other half. Won’t be sorry to have a quieter weekend.

Loved listening to the Classic FM concert which was staged at the Royal Albert Hall recently. The broadcast went out earlier this week and it was sublime especially listening to Sir Willard White.

Good music can transport you to other worlds. And great stories, including flash ones, can do the same. Maybe this is why I find having classical music on while writing such a help then.

I haven’t used music as a story theme though I did have the great joy of editing a music themed flash fiction collection for Chapeltown Books, which was a joy to do.

Maybe I should give some thought to what kind of music my characters would like at some point because I can see that triggering some story ideas. You can never have too many of them!

Thrilled to discover another review on Amazon for Seeing The Other Side. Many thanks to the reviewers (and those who reviewed the book on its blog tour. I hope to create some graphics for those reviews and share them later. Am looking forward to this as it is both creativity and marketing – that at least is fun!).

Reviews mean so much to an author and they don’t have to be long either so if you can help writer friends this way, I know they’ll appreciate it. I know I do!

Also looking forward to my online launch for Seeing The Other Side in November. If you want to book tickets, they’re free, do check out the link below. Will share this again later on and via my newsletter. Hope to see you there.

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Had a special trip out today which was lovely. Full of those moments of observation which might inspire story ideas later. I usually take a few photos because you can’t recall everything. I just use these as an aide memoire.

What would your characters want to remember from their trips out? What would they be keen to forget?

Story ideas there too.

Fairytales With Bite – Day Trips

Do your characters ever take time out for day trips? Where would they go? Would your setting have a tourist industry as such?

If your setting is a magical one, are your characters allowed to use their normal powers when on down time? Or can they only use self defence ones or anything which helps them survive outside of their usual environment?

If they visit non-magical locations, do they hide their true nature? What would happen if they didn’t? I’d expect chaos and misunderstanding. Not everyone would welcome magical beings to their world, especially if there had been previous problems.

Story ideas there and I think good potential for funny ones too.

This World and Others – Getting Away

Do your characters find it easy to get away from it all? What methods would they use to get away?

For those who can fly, can they just literally take off or do they have to register what we’d know as a flight plan? How would your setting avoid chaos in their skies, especially at peak times?
Would your setting have public transport as we know it? If so is this powered magically or not? What kind of magical species would operate these systems? Are any banned from doing so?

There could be story ideas here as well as from your characters getting away.

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The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Curtain Up

October 9, 2026October 9, 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.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO THE CHAMELEON THEATRE COMPANY FOR KIND PERMISSION TO USE THEIR PHOTOS FOR MY CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY POST THIS WEEK.

Hope you have had a good week. Odd one here. Have been under the weather but now okay. Weather a mixed bag but improving. So I guess things are on the up! Lady doing well too. Hope to have news soon about the online launch for Seeing The Other Side. Watch this space. SEE BELOW AS NEWS CAME IN ON THIS AFTER I PREPARED THIS!

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Am delighted to share The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Curtain Up for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s always a delight to have an evening out to watch my local amateur theatre company at work.

Loved this play – hadn’t heard of it before I went to see it but then theatre is a good way of showing you new stories told in a new way. Hope you enjoy the review, do support your own local amateur theatre company (there are loads of excellent ones out there), and I am looking forward to The Chameleons’ next show, which will be their pantomime, Dick Whittington, next year. Oh yes I am!

The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Curtain Up

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Hope you’ve had a great day. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and a good time was had by all. Nippy out today though.

Thoroughly enjoyed the conversations from the ACW online group I host – we discuss things related to science fiction and fantasy. It was good fun.

Am going to a couple of online launches, one later this month and the other in November. I’ll be going to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s launch for her new flash fiction collection, Falling Woman, later this month. That is being published by Chapeltown Books.

Link for that is https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-book-launch-falling-woman-by-hannah-retallick-tickets-2001712907190

And the second online launch?

That will be on 19th November for Seeing The Other Side by yours truly!

Both events give a great opportunity to celebrate flash fiction. Hope to catch up with you at either or both of these. Link to my launch below.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seeing-the-other-side-by-allison-symes-tickets-2003146968506?af=

Am delighted to share my latest article on Writers’ Narrative, Darkness In A Flash. As we go into October and head towards Halloween, it is natural thoughts turn to stories about ghosts and the darker side of fiction. But can this be done successfully in the short fiction forms?

I say it can, my article explains how, and why you don’t need the gory to make your readers feel the appropriate chills. I also look at the “purpose” of darker fiction too. Fiction does reflect life and that comes in many shades.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful. Many thanks for the likes received so far too.

https://writersnarrative.substack.com/p/darkness-in-a-flash

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Hope you’ve had a good week. Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and then Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, came and joined in too. All four dogs went home tired and happy.

Hope to resume flash fiction writing over the weekend, especially on Sunday. Have got a story in draft which might be suitable for a competition. All I know at this point is it needs work but that’s okay.

It’s being aware of the need for work to be done which matters and then doing it. As ever, the time I’ve had away from it will help me see what needs doing more easily. You do then read the piece with fresh eyes, almost as if someone else had written it, which is the mindset you need to get into for successful and productive editing work.

The advantage of flash is you don’t need nearly so much time away from a piece as a novelist does to be able to see the work clearly enough to see the faults and virtues of your draft (and there will be virtues, honestly).

Happy writing and editing this weekend!

My big news is I now know my online launch for Seeing The Other Side will be on 19th November. Looking forward to that already. Have shared the link over on my author page on Facebook (see above here) but will share again in due course.

Am also looking forward to going to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s launch for Falling Woman which is on later this month. I just love the thought of celebrating not one but two new flash fiction collections coming out from Chapeltown Books.

Flash is the perfect format for when you don’t have much time to read or if you like to be able to dip into stories as and when. Equally what I love about it is having a feast of short fiction to enjoy across a book format. I make a point of mixing up what I read in terms of length and having flash and short story collections about means it is easier to make sure I get my short fiction “fix”.

And if you’re not sure what to buy someone book wise, a flash or short story collection gives them plenty to “dip into” as and when. I’ve always seen my books as a literary equivalent of the mixed assortment! Why should that just be confined to chocolates…!

Quiet one in the park but at least the heavy rain had eased and Lady and I managed not to get a complete soaking. We were mildly damp and given how heavy the rain was first thing, we appreciated this!

Writing wise, I’m hosting an ACW online group this evening so that should be fun. I’m just putting the finishing touches to some blog questions regarding Seeing The Other Side and hope to get those sent off either today or tomorrow. Do plan to get back to competition writing from the weekend onwards. Have a presentation to write for later this month (and am looking forward to presenting another one I’ve already got prepared for an online group I go to on a Monday once a month).

I hope to get a fourth flash collection together but need time to sit down and work on that but I hope to get to that in November. So plenty going on and that’s how I like it.

Flash Fiction Tip: Every so often I draft lines which could work well as opening or closing lines. I decide how I’m going to use it and then draft the story but I often put the line at the end and work backwards to get to a logical starting point.

When I do use it as the opening line, I need a series of “events” which follow from that line to get to a good conclusion, good in terms of serving the story and character well.

But whichever way round I do this, I have to focus on what matters for the character and the story. I have to keep to the point of the story. This is the chief reason I think flash is such a brilliant writing exercise, even if your main writing work is in something else.

Fairytales with Bite – Sparkling Conversations

I love reading and writing sparkling conversations between characters. It is like overhearing an interesting conversation (and you can’t get into trouble for this one either!). You also find out more about the characters from what they say, how they say it and also what is implied. Do they answer a question directly or are they keen to switch topics, say?

Now in the magical world where mind reading could be a “standard” thing, what kind of sparking conversations can your characters have, knowing they won’t be able to hide their real thoughts (at least not easily anyway)? Does it lead to more honesty because they can’t easily hide their thoughts and what kind of troubles could that honesty lead to? Honesty isn’t always welcome, especially by the reigning powers.

When conversations refer to magic itself, are there words or phrases your characters dare not use and how do they stop themselves from doing so (given I would imagine the consequences of saying those things would be severe)?

What kinds of conversations could lead to sparks flying? Who would want to set those sparks flying at all?

Story ideas there for sure. Happy writing!

This World and Others – Languages

Now when I write what I call my fairytales with bite, my humorous fantasy pieces, I get my characters to speak in English. It’s kind of convenient!

If I did need to make up words for, say, a spell, I would probably go back to Old English for inspiration here and ensure the meaning of the word was clear from context. I once judged a competition for the Scottish Association of Writers and many writers used Scots as part of their prose but it was fine – I learned from this and the meaning was clear from context.

Now in your setting there will be different species, different countries (as we understand the term), different cultures, languages etc. Do you focus on one area, one language or do you get the different species and languages to interact with each other? Is there a kind of universal translator (the Tardis on Doctor Who could translate almost anything and I’m sure Star Trek had something of this nature) or do you get your characters to speak one common language and save their native one for when amongst their own kind?

All of that works but it is a question of picking the one which works best for your creations and then being consistent with it.

I’ve often said clarity is king and it is for writing but what leads to clarity working so well is consistency. The two feed into each other.

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Comedy In Writing

October 2, 2026October 2, 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’ve had a good few days. Pleasant autumnal weather here and Lady has enjoyed seeing her pals, as ever. Had a lovely session with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group and am ploughing on with proofreading work and writing.

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Pleased to share Comedy in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I celebrate comedy in books, films, radios, plays etc (the post was inspired by my recent visit to The Chameleon Theatre Company to watch Curtain Up), and look at comedy moments (which can bring so much depth to characterisation in a book which may not be funny overall).

I look at humour as a natural development. It should never feel forced. I look at humour and perspective too and how humour can ease tensions – that alone can make all the difference as to how things work out for your characters.

I look at humour as a character trait (is your character witty, droll, sarcastic etc?) and invite you to suggest which humorous books work for you and which do nothing for you. Comments welcome in the CFT box, as always.

Hope you enjoy the post. I love humour in fiction and think we can do with much more of it.

Comedy In Writing

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Lovely day in the park with Lady’s Hungarian Vizler pal and later, after a short swim, met up with some of my friends for tea and cake, as you do. So as you can imagine it has been a nice day (the chocolate cake and peppermint tea were wonderful, only one of those things was good for me!) and hope it has been likewise for you too.

Writing wise, my author newsletter went out earlier today and it was lovely to see everyone at last night’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.

A huge thank you to Jacci Gooding for the shout out for me and Seeing The Other Side in her newsletter, which also went out today. That came as a very pleasant surprise.

Last but not least look out for Comedy in Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal. Nice autumnal day, gave blood (if you can, please do, folks) and a special birthday in our household today too so a nice way to end the month.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening. Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Will be looking at Comedy in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Again, see above, and the Flash Group Meeting was fab.

Writing wise, am catching up with various blogs and other pieces of writing I want to get done.

Character Tip: Sometimes I will put on particular outfits to suit a mood or for a special occasion. We all do, right. So can our characters. What would your characters choose to wear for (a) moods and (b) special occasions? There will be stories behind exploring those thoughts.

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Hope today has gone well. Pleasant one here and Lady got to see her Australian Shepherd boyfriend again and, later, her Hungarian Vizler pal. Lady has had a great week on the old social front.

Writing wise, I’ll be trying to get a draft started for a competition I’ve got in mind (but the deadline is the end of the year so I do have some time in hand but I like it to be that way). My next Writers’ Narrative article is due out next week too and I’ll be looking at Darkness In A Flash for that. Well, it is October and the nights are already coming in earlier and we haven’t had the clock change yet.

Character Tip: I often use traits as a way in to getting to know a character well enough before I write them up but sometimes a line of dialogue comes to mind and that shows me their main trait immediately. What would you make of a character who came up with “I told her umpteen times she’d regret getting involved with him.”

I’m hearing a shrill tone of voice, an element of bossiness (is that why the “her” here has not taken what could be good advice?).

What makes me wonder at this point is this speaker a gossip or are they genuinely trying to share some news with someone else who needs to know? I am also wondering what relationship the speaker has with the “her” in this tale (and probably with the “him” too).

But this is good. You want readers to start wondering about things like that – it is the key way to keep them reading. Certainly it makes me want to write the story up to find out more and that’s the best sign of all for a writer.

Great autumnal weather at the moment and am enjoying seeing the slow changing of the colours of many of the trees around my area. (There are lots of holly trees in the area too so not everything changes!).

Talking of changes, these are great trigger points for flash fiction tales. Okay, in the lower word count limit, you would need there to be one point of change with the appropriate consequence. In a standard short story you could have more but I’ve found with flash having to focus on the one point of change means I have a sharper, stronger tale.

I really do have to focus only on what matters for the character as a result of that change. One change = one consequence for the character = no dilution of the impact of that change on the character or the reader.

The change doesn’t have to be something dramatic to have consequences for your character. Something as simple as a bus being late could have consequences for your character. What does the being late do for them at (a) work or (b) for any appointment they were supposed to be keeping? Also how well does your character handle being late at all – some will handle it better than others?

Story ideas there.

Will be looking at outlets (some at least) for flash fiction as part of tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. There are loads of outlets out there and far more choice than when I started writing flash seriously, which is great. You could spend all of your time writing flash pieces for the different competitions out there.

I’ve been writing a lot of drabbles (the 100 worders) for Substack and YouTube recently so may well pick a different word count to write to at the weekend. Picking a word count in advance gives you practice at writing to that count. If you go for the 50, 75, 100, 250, 300, and 500 word counts, you will find many competitions taking these.

I’ve also found picking the word count in advance means I need to think about how the story will look on the screen/page (a 50 worder is basically a paragraph, a 100 worder two paragraphs and so on).

Knowing this in advance means I tend to work out first how my story will end and then work backwards to the beginning. It makes sure each paragraph (or in the case of the 50 worder the one paragraph) does have everything in it to make it a proper story with a beginning, middle and end.

Fairytales with Bite – Special Numbers

This year has seen some special birthdays, you know the ones that end in zero, there’s a special anniversary coming up (likewise with the zero!), and certain dates, regardless of the year, always have significance. That thought can trigger story ideas.

What numbers would be special to your characters and why? What would they be keen to celebrate and/or remember? Equally, which numbers would they go out of their way to avoid? A number linked to a sad date, for example, could trigger memories for your character. Have they come to terms with this and “handle it” or do they go for a policy of avoidance or do other characters help them here?

Your setting may well have special numbers too – for example the date linked to its founding. Do your characters celebrate something like that or feel it is nothing to celebrate?

If your magical characters use numbers in their spells which would they use and what properties do these have as part of those spells? Also in a magical world, could anyone ever be said to be lucky or unlucky with their numbers in life? That is, do they consider certain numbers unlucky like we do with the number thirteen?

This World and Others – Significant Dates

Linking to Fairytales with Bite, how does your setting’s dating system work? Is it similar to ours or totally different? Do they have months as we understand them, for example?

If they mark the passing of time in ways we do not, how would their ways roughly equate to what we do here? I think there would need be some “equivalence” so readers can picture how time is used in your setting and what we would do here instead.

Does your setting mark special dates and, if so, how? Is everyone expected to take part in whatever ceremonies take place here?

What dates would have significance for your characters and why? What would they do differently on these dates?

Also we use the sun and moon to divide up day and night – what would your setting do if it is not based on something similar? I think there would have to be some sense of time and therefore dates and time passing by etc.

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Reading Feeding Into Writing

September 25, 2026September 25, 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.

Busy but fun week. Went to see Curtain Up performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company. Review to follow on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. Lots of writing done. Plus will be having a family do at the weekend – the dog loves these so I expect a very tired Lady on the Sunday!

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Hope you have had a good day. Quiet one in the park but Lady and I had a lovely time. Gorgeous autumn weather at the moment too. We’re making the most of that.

Lovely to catch up with my editor from Chandler’s Ford Today last night when we went to see Curtain Up staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company. Review to follow in a couple of weeks.

Talking of CFT, I’m pleased to share Reading Feeding Into Writing for this week’s post. Given this combines two of my favourite things, writing and reading, you can imagine this was an especial joy to write. I look at past inspirations, love of stories (as this is the gift which keeps on giving), and analysing stories written by others so you can work out what you like and dislike and apply that to your own creations. I also suggest some useful questions to ask yourself here.

Hope you find the post a good read and useful.

Happy reading and writing!

Reading Feeding Into Writing

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a fabulous time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal today. Both dogs had a great run and came home tired but happy.

Writing wise I’m sharing Reading Feeding Into Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on that tomorrow. See above.

Next week I’ll be meeting again with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group and the next issue of my newsletter will be out (I know, I know, how can it be so close to October already?).

Tonight though I’m off to see The Chameleons perform Curtain Up. Looking forward to this. They always stage excellent productions and this is a comedy, which ticks all of the right boxes for me. I could do with a laugh basically!

Hope today has gone well. Quiet one in the park though a lovely autumnal day, the kind Lady and I like best.

Writing wise, hope to get various bits and pieces written tonight as I won’t be writing much tomorrow. I’m off tomorrow night to see The Chameleon Theatre Company perform Curtain Up, which looks fun. Will be nice to catch up with my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today here too as we usually see our local amateur theatre company’s productions together. It makes for a great evening out. Review to follow in due course. Watching plays is another fabulous way to take in stories too!

Talking of reviews, every author including me greatly values these. As well as the obvious validation aspect, we can use quotes from the reviews in further marketing. I hope to do this soon with some of the fabulous reviews I received during the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side though I suspect this may need to wait a week or so.

The next few days will be especially busy but I would put a call out for more reviews to go up on the usual sites because this is the second best thing you can do for any writer, other than buy their book.

The great thing is reviews don’t have to be long – a line or two is fine.

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Busy but fun family day coming up tomorrow so will get back to flash fiction writing on Sunday. I suspect I may have to have a crack at further competitions from later next week. I have a definite one in mind, which I usually have a crack at, that I definitely want to do before the end of the year, which is racing towards us. (I know!).

Flash Fiction Tip: There is lot to be said for keeping it simple. It helps with word count. Keeping it simple will mean going for two direct words rather than five, for example.

Having said that, I sometimes want to write a character who does go “around the houses” when they speak. I can show them being long winded in the first couple of lines of dialogue they say. After that I can get them to “tail off” or have another character interrupt them (because by that time the other character will get how long winded this character is and will want to interrupt them or risk being bored by them all night).

I’ve had one of those days today where I’ve not had time to do much, I’ve had lots of things on, and the front door would probably have been better as a set of revolving doors. It is, to quote my dear mum, one of those days where I’m meeting myself going backwards.

So not much time to write today either but this is where flash can come into its own because I can either write about it as I am here or get a couple of lines down which might be a promising opening to a new story. Snippets of time to write mount up so it is worth using them to write something.

Years ago, when I had some caring responsibilities, I found ten minutes writing here, another ten minutes there could often be the only writing I could do in a day. But over the course of just a week, I found I could get a story drafted, maybe two.

And I found because I knew time was limited I just got to my desk and hit the ground running so to speak. Sometimes a lack of time can do wonders for your focus.

Am looking forward to catching up with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. We’ll be looking at various ways in which to get our flash pieces “out there”.

Building up publication credits with your short form writing can also help when submitting queries for longer work to publishers and/or agents because it shows them (a) you take your writing seriously, a track record does mean something, and (b) someone else decided they liked your work enough to publish it. Well worth doing.

I’ve been pleased over recent years to see more flash competitions about and even some of the short story ones allow submissions at 1000 words so there are options. The biggest issue is picking which competitions to try because you’re unlikely to get to do them all.

But as ever always check out the background of the competition and make sure you’re happy before sending anything. It pays to do your homework there. Once you’ve found the competitions which are right for you and are “sound”, good luck! You to have to be in it to have any chance of winning it after all.

Fairytales With Bite – Guest Lists

Guest lists and who should/shouldn’t be on them are not the easiest things to handle. Even in the fairytales, this isn’t always correctly done – see Sleeping Beauty for the classic example of that. Even when right not to invite someone, as in that case, surely basic precautions should have been taken to avoid the “revenge of the uninvited” scenario! Mind you, I guess that would have meant no story…

Thinking about your characters, who would they want to have on the guest lists of their special events? Who would they never invite and why? Bound to be story thoughts there.

Also what kind of special events would your characters have or like to be able to have? If they do manage to have their events, what would they do if the uninvited turn up? There’s bound to be someone wanting to cause a scene for your character here – what is behind all of that? Is your character right to feel the way they do or not here? Could the uninvited have justified reason to be upset with your character?

For important state like events, who would be on the guest lists for those? Who would your governing authorities not want to see turn up?

Also who gets the job of compiling guest lists? It’s not an easy one. It’s too easy to upset someone without meaning to either with this. So could your character be given this job as a test for them? If they can handle this well, could they then go on to handle even more important jobs?

Plenty of story thoughts there, I think.

This World and Others – Ceremonials

In your setting, what kind of ceremonials does it have? Does this depend on the “country” in your world or is it a one world government kind of system? Are the ceremonials used to commemorate things deemed important to remember (such as our Remembrance Day events)?

Ceremonials tend to be stately and formal but could your setting have a kind which is less so? I’m thinking along the lines of a “friendly ceremonial” for, say, youngsters becoming adults, doing well in exams etc, and all done publicly deliberately to encourage others to follow the same route in life.

What is the history behind the ceremonials? Does anyone object to them? What would happen to them if they did so publicly? Would they be going against general public opinion or are they on track with the public but not with the government and they are the ones prepared to speak out, no matter what?

Again, story ideas there, happy writing!

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Celebrating Books and Blog Tours and Book Events

September 18, 2026September 18, 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 week. Weather changeable but Lady has caught up with her Hungarian Vizler pal this week and I’m doing better with my swimming. Writing and proofing work continuing to keep me busy but that is how I like it so all well there!

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18th September 2026

Second blog post from me tonight is my regularly Friday night Chandler’s Ford Today post. This week I look at Blog Tours and Book Events, both of which have been uppermost on my mind recently! I look at the advantages of these for writers, share tips, plus I share links to all the blogs I was on recently for my tour with Seeing The Other Side.

Again, a huge thank you to all who hosted me and to Lynsey Adams of Reading Between The Lines Book Vlog for organising things so well.

Hope you find the post useful. Even if this isn’t for you yet (and I stress the yet), it may become so later. I remain grateful for all of the writing advice I receive earlier on in my writing life which is so much a help to me now.

Blog Tours and Book Events

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18th September 2026 – Authors Electric

It’s double blog day for me today. First up tonight is my latest post on Authors Electric on Celebrating Books. As you can imagine, this one was a particular joy to write. There is never a time where you shouldn’t celebrate books either!

I look at reluctant readers, my hopes the shorter fiction forms might help draw them into reading, and there’s a word of encouragement too. It isn’t all doom and gloom on the getting the younger generation to read front, far from it. More in the post on that.

Hope you enjoy the post before then celebrating by reading more books! (Okay, okay, I’m biased here but it is a good thing to be biased about, yes?).

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Hope today has gone well. Quiet one here but lovely all the same. Sometimes you just need that, right?

It will be a double blog day from me tomorrow as, not only will I have my Chandler’s Ford Today post to share, I’ll also be sharing my Authors Electric post. Plenty of thoughts and tips from both, which I hope will prove useful. See above for both.

I’m not sure what my greatest joy from storytelling as a writer and a reader is as I think there are so many, but one which would be pretty high on my list would be the way great stories take you into others worlds (including this one funnily enough) and into characters.

Stories can be fabulous for generating empathy as you read and understand a character. Other worlds can show you what life is like on the other side (a theme I have shown in my Seeing The Other Side – there is a reason for the title!).

Reading does so much for your vocabulary and is a fabulous way to keep your brain active. Writing also does this and I know I enjoy the challenge of coming up with new creations and situations in which to put them.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady was delighted to catch up with her Hungarian Vizler pal and I was, as ever, pleased with the lovely job done on my hair by the fantastic Hannah. A good day here then and some sunshine too.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Blog Tours and Book Events for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. As well as summarising recent events for me regarding Seeing The Other Side, I’ll be sharing useful thoughts and tips on the advantages of these things for writers. I hope if they don’t prove useful for you now, they will do later. (I’ve been so grateful for advice received like this earlier in my writing life, which is paying dividends for me now).

Have signed the recent Society of Authors petition regarding AI and author rights.

Am also currently trying to set up some events local to me regarding my new flash fiction collection. Fingers crossed time.

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Hope the week has been a good one. Not bad here. Calmer after the excitement of the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side naturally but the breather is welcome too. I do hope to have other events for the book and will share when I have news (though it is unlikely to be before October now, not that this is so far away now).

Hope to pick a competition to have a go at over the weekend if I can. Next few days will be especially busy – family stuff coming up (all good!). But I do want to get back into sending things in for competition. It’s the single best way I know of practising writing to deadlines and that comes in handy in other areas of the writing life too.

The 100 word flash fiction piece, also known as the drabble, will always be my favourite form in which to write because it is what introduced me to flash fiction. It should have come with a warning those – this form is addictive! I found having discovered I could write to 100 words, could I do it again, again, again etc. Could I write to 50 words? Could I write exactly to the 1000 words upper limit?

Flash demands you’re exact so you have to consider word choice well. Have my characters shared what they needed to in the most appropriate way for their type and the story in the word count required?

Thinking about word choices has stood me in good stead for my other writing and my editing work. I find I almost automatically want to cut words which aren’t adding anything of ~~real~~ value – see what I did there?

With flash fiction, I find the best way in is to start with the character. Who are they? What do they want? Why must I tell their story? That is such a good foundation for any length of story.

Just as people come in all shapes and sizes, so do characters and writers can have fun with that. Indeed, you don’t even have to stick to the human race, I often don’t, but I do have to understand why my characters are the way they are. Otherwise I can’t write about them with any kind of conviction. I have to believe in my characters. I don’t necessarily have to like them or agree with them.

I’ve also found with such a wide variety of potential characters, a wide range of plots come with them. Some might say that’s handy. Some might say it’s coincidence. I don’t. I’ve long believed characters drive the plot rather than the other way around. Certainly that thought has worked, and continues to work, for me.

Fairytales With Bite – Secrets

Secrets are fun to write stories around. I’ve written many flash pieces and short tales where a secret is revealed or someone is covering up something they don’t want anyone else to know.

But it doesn’t have to be a great dramatic secret. A wish to avoid embarrassment can be enough of a motive to keep something secret, even if it is harmless or would seem to be to most. It would be the fact is isn’t unimportant to the secret keeper here which matters and which will drive the story – will they be found out? If so, what are the consequences? If they get away with it, how do they do so and what are the consequences from that?

In the fairytale world, secrets can revolved around someone’s magical abilities. Would someone try to keep quiet just how magical they are and what are their motivations here? Is it to surprise someone else (in a good way or not) or are they worried if the full extent of their powers are known, they might be pressurized to use them (and if so for whom and how)? Good story ideas would come from those thoughts.

The magical setting you’ve created may well have secrets of its own. Are there areas where magic can’t be performed because of something that happened there centuries ago? How would that be found out and, once this secret was discovered, how would it challenge your characters? I could see this discovery coming at an awkward moment and not being especially good news for your characters.

Secrets can be deadly, especially so in a magical setting. Again, plenty to write about there, I think.

This World and Others – Surveillance

Hand in hand with secrets can come the need for surveillance. In a magical setting, how could this be done effectively by the authorities given most, if not all, characters will have magical powers which could well include at least some element of mind reading?

Would your authorities have to resort to what we know as technology to get around that? Equally can they limit how much mind reading powers your characters can have to try to prevent any rebellions against them?

Which characters would your authorities want to keep under surveillance and why? Are the reasons justified? Have mistakes been made in the past thanks to surveillance not being carried out?

Do the “ordinary” characters in your setting know they are under surveillance – the government makes it clear they watch everyone – or are they unaware? How would this affect daily lives in your setting?

Food for thought there!

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Using Autumn In Your Writing and More Blog Tour News

September 11, 2026September 11, 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 week. Lady has caught up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal twice. The blog tour for Seeing The Other Side has gone so well so far, even inspiring some fan art. There’s a first! More below.

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It has been another busy day on the blog front but more on that in other posts. I’ll start this evening with my usual Friday evening link to this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post.

This time I look at Using Autumn In Your Writing and I share plenty of ideas for how you can do that, including using the senses with the season in mind. I also look at using autumn as a setting and autumn memories and little details. The latter can have such a powerful impact on a tale. It is often what readers remember. I discuss how time changes everything in this season and there are story ideas to be had from that thought alone.

I hope the thoughts here prompt many story ideas for you. It was an especial joy creating the pictures in Book Brush for this one. Autumn is a lovely season and the images reflect that.

Using Autumn In Your Writing

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11th September – latest on blog tour – Anita D Hunt

Next up on the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side is fellow Swanwicker, Anita D Hunt, with a smashing review. Will just share a short extract here. Naturally I’m very pleased about it!

Seeing The Other Side is a varied collection of short fiction that demonstrates just how many directions a story can take when the author has only a limited space in which to tell it.

There is plenty of variety here, both in subject matter and tone. Some stories are light-hearted and amusing, while others take a darker turn, and there are plenty of opportunities for the reader to see situations and characters from a different perspective — very much in keeping with the title.

Many thanks, Anita.

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10th September – Donna Morfett

Today’s review for the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side comes from Donna Morfett via Instagram. Sadly I’m not on that platform but I have two links to share including to a Facebook link. It is a great review and I was especially pleased with the following extract from it.

This is quite the eclectic collection of flash fiction…. A wide range of topics covered including fairytales and seemingly ordinary encounters… I dipped in and out of it over time and always came away smiling. What better review could I give?

Many thanks, Donna.

In other news, don’t forget my Chandler’s Ford Today post is up tomorrow. I will be discussing Using Autumn In Your Writing. My posts are timely! I’ll be sharing thoughts as to how you can use the season for your writing and I hope you do end up writing many stories as a result. I hope to as well! See above.

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9th September – Vanessa Knipe blog for me and the fan art!

Second blog post for Seeing The Other Side comes from Vanessa Knipe via her The Grass Is Greener blog and I can claim a first here. For the first time I’ve inspired some fan art! Am thrilled by that but to find out what it is and why Vanessa did it, you will have to click on the link.

Meantime here is an extract with which, naturally, I’m very pleased!

Review of Seeing the Other Side

What is it about?
In a book with no overarching theme, there’s something for everyone and for every mood. This is a book of Flash Fiction. Each piece is very short and yet still contains a complete story. I admire people who can write Flash Fiction. To me, it’s one of the hardest formats. Each word has to carry the weight of the story. There can be no redundancy. No having an off day in word choice.
So, it’s all very short?

Allison Symes in Seeing the Other Side is a master of the format. Every story has all a reader could want to reach a satisfying end.

Are stories this short worth the effort?
Very much so. They can be a quick mood booster…. The collection is an eclectic mix of fantasy and science fiction that works well together.

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9th September – Sheena McLeod
Day 3 of the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side has two wonderful reviews from Sheena McLeod and Vanessa Knipe. First up this evening is the link to the review from Sheena via her blog called All About Books.

To say I’m delighted with the review is an understatement! Do check it out via the link. Meantime, I’m especially fond of this extract from the review. No prizes for guessing why!

Allison is a master of the short story – each one feels complete, with a beginning, a middle, and often a surprise ending, spanning a range of moods.

I grew up on Roald Dahl’s short story collections and have loved short stories ever since. Though in a shorter-form flash fiction format, Allison Symes delivers everything I look for.

Allison Symes knows her craft. She writes in vivid prose that makes every word count. I recommend this collection to anyone who wants to read or write flash fiction. I now eagerly await her next collection.

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11th September 2026
Another busy day but a good one. More on the blog tour (see my author page on that) with more to come on the weekend. The tour finishes on Sunday and I am so pleased with how it has gone. Also it is a fabulous way to flag up flash fiction generally, I think. The tour has been another way to bring it to people’s attention.

Flash is made up of moments in character lives. I have a soft spot for the funnier side of that but there is room for the thoughtful and darker too. I write all of that. Flash stories can have so much impact because they are so short. There can be no dilution of any emotional impact.

Sometimes I will write a story based around a character’s memories. Naturally those have to be gripping enough to keep folk reading but this kind of story does wonders for encouraging empathy.

And can’t we all do with much more of that in this world?

Hope today has gone well. Lady had a smashing time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums. Hopefully there’ll be more of the same tomorrow. All three dogs missed each other during the heatwave.

So thrilled to have another smashing review in for Seeing The Other Side. See my Facebook author page for more on that. (Or just see above!). I hope to write a Chandler’s Ford Today post soon about the advantages of a good blog tour from an author’s viewpoint and to have a one stop shop with the links where my book has been featured.

Am so pleased flash fiction is being celebrated in this way. It is a great format and does wonders for your writing.

Flash Tip: Focus on the story first (and for me that always means leading with the character). Once you know what the story is, you can then work out how to improve phrasing etc which will also help with your word count.

Lovely day in the park today with Lady. She had a fabulous play session with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Both went home tired and happy. Job done there then.

Delighted to share two smashing reviews for Seeing The Other Side on my Facebook author page here. (See above). Looking forward to seeing what comes next. Would I do a blog tour like this again? You bet.

In other news, I’ll be sharing Using Autumn In Your Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll share tips and thoughts here. I expect I’ll end up using some of these for some flash pieces in due course! Again, see above.

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Touring

I’m currently having a wonderful “magical” book blog tour with my Seeing The Other Side and that inspired this topic, which I hope will trigger story ideas.

In your magical setting, are your characters expected to stay within certain areas or is magical touring encouraged? If generally your characters do stay put, can they tour other parts of your world when they have the equivalent of our holidays? Where would they usually be and which places would they like to tour? Is transportation magical and/or accessible to all? Are there places your characters would never wish to tour and why? There will be stories behind that!

Would your setting have the equivalent of a magical tourist board or a company who arranges tours for others? I could see there being stories here, especially if things went wrong. Those could be tragic or humorous depending on your character and set up. There could be stories set around the employees here as well as around those who use the services provided.

I must admit when I’m on my holidays I do like to have a good look around at the area in which I’m staying. Do your characters do the same? Have they developed favourite places to go over the years? Have they got to know some of the characters who live in the places they visit?

Again, there could be good stories here.

This World and Others – Exploring Other Worlds

Does your setting have relationships with other worlds at all or does it keep itself to itself? Would other worlds want to develop relationships with them and how welcome or otherwise would that be?

If your setting is an open one, can any of your characters explore other worlds on their own account or do they have to do so via “official means”? Are there worlds their home planet bans them from visiting?

What good or otherwise comes out of your characters exploring other worlds? There could be plenty of potential for diplomatic incidents. There could be plenty of potential for bridge building between worlds and species here.

How would your characters get to explore other worlds? Would they use spacecraft, whether similar to our own or not? Would they use portals or a combination of these things?

Plenty of thoughts to unpack there which could lead to stories.

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Out and About in Salisbury

September 4, 2026September 4, 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. IMAGES OF ME AT A LOCAL BOOK FAIR WERE TAKEN BY MY LOVELY EDITOR AT CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY, JANET WILLIAMS.

Hope all is well. Am slowly resuming normal swimming in terms of distance – am about 80% there. Lady has seen her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this week so is well pleased with that, as was the Ridgeback.

Looking forward to my book event for Seeing The Other Side at Salisbury URC tomorrow, 5th September. Hope to report back on that later.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Hasn’t seen either in ages. All three dogs had a super time.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Out and About In Salisbury for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It flags up my writing event at Salisbury URC tomorrow, Saturday 5th September, and celebrates Salisbury itself to an extent. It is a lovely city to visit.

Hope to report back at a later date on how the event tomorrow goes though I hope the Salisbury URC, their book stall and coffee shop and I all do well! I do know it will be fun! And if you are in the city, do pop by and say hello.

Out and About in Salisbury

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Am thrilled to be able to share the following Facebook reel created by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog ahead of my blog tour for Seeing The Other Side. That kicks off from next week from 7th September.

Meantime I have also just sent in a pitch to give a talk at my local library after an interesting chat with them yesterday. Fingers crossed time! Would so love to do something here.

I’ll be sharing Out and About in Salisbury for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow, giving details of my book event at the URC on Saturday. It is all go but in a good way. See above.

Hope the day has gone well. Popped up to my local library. Hope to pitch an author talk to them – they were interested so fingers crossed. Blog tour for Seeing The Other Side starts next week too.

Will be hosting an online group for the Association of Christian Writers later this evening. Was delighted to see in the latest Christian Writer a friend of mine has joined them and got his book in there. Mine has gone out via the ACW newsletter. Hope it gets into the magazine too in due course. It’s a useful membership perk!

Writing wise, am busy blogging and drafting and proofreading, as well as marketing, so not sure of things to be getting on with but I like this. I love the variety. Keeps me on my creative toes and that’s never a bad thing. Filled in the feedback form for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick today too. Did appreciate being able to have my book launch there. It was useful.

Marketing Tip: Start small, build up. Find things you know you’ll enjoy doing. I like sharing stories so will always find ways to do that, for example. Carve out marketing time away from your writing time. I say that because you want to enjoy your writing. Without that you would have nothing to market anyway. You also don’t want to resent marketing eating up your writing time either.

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Looking forward to tomorrow’s event (5th September) at Salisbury URC for Seeing The Other Side. Next week will be blog tour week for the book and I look forward to sharing the various links. Have now got my pitch into my local library for a talk there but have no idea how long it will be before I hear back but as the saying goes, if you don’t ask etc etc.

I hope over the weekend to submit my story for potential broadcast and on Sunday 6th September I’ll have another story up on CafeLit, which will be lovely.

Flash Tip: Know your character. Know what makes them stand out for you. That aspect of them will resonate with your readers too. You want to feel as if I’ve got to write this character’s story up. If they grip you like that, they will grip others. It’s why I swear by jotting down a few thoughts as to a potential character. I’ve mentioned before I like traits because they are a good way in to likely attitudes and behaviours. You can do a lot with that.

Lady has had a great day, having had a wonderful playtime in the park with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum. The grass is also coming back! It’s much nicer to walk on and it’s fabulous seeing some green reappear.

Writing wise, as well as various things connected to Seeing The Other Side going on right now, I hope to submit a story for potential broadcast over the weekend. Happy with the piece. Just need to send it in.

I always record stories for this kind of thing on Zoom and play them back but doing this also means I know I can’t go over the allotted time span. I know what the time allowed is (three to five minutes usually) and I know what Zoom is telling me I’ve come in at! I also hear how the story sounds and whether I stumble or not. All useful stuff.

There’s also a story I need to edit considerably but hope to work on this over the weekend as well.

Always pleased to have plenty to do.

Flash fiction was something I found by accident.
But it made me a published author with books to my name.
Not every writing accident is a bad one!
The writing life should be seen, I think, as a long term game.
Allison Symes – 2nd September 2026

I’ve learned over time to be open to trying new forms of writing which is how I got into short stories and flash fiction at all. But I had to be willing to give it a go and take the view what did I have to lose?

I take the same view with competitions. Give it my best shot and send something suitable in. If I am shortlisted or win, brilliant. If not, at least I knew I tried. And, as I’ve mentioned before, when I’ve looked at work again, I’ve had another edit on it and gone on to have it published second time around.

There are no shortcuts in writing but there is plenty of support on the way. It’s the biggest thing I love about the writing community. With rare exceptions, it is supportive.

Fairytales With Bite – Musical Magic

Had a fabulous time earlier this week listening to the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame. I suspect many take in classical music without realising it. Enjoy a Spielberg film? Composer will almost certainly be John Williams. I’ve always understood classical to be music which uses all of the sections of the orchestra and most film music does and to great effect too.

I love a wide range of music and think it is truly magical but would this apply in your setting and to your characters? Good music can take you out of yourself but would your characters ever want that? If not, why not?

What would the music be like in your magical setting? Similar to ours or literally like nothing on Earth? Would your setting/characters copy musical styles from Earth once they became aware of them? Could our music be one thing which might make them think better of us and could change a course of action they’d been planning to follow?

Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Appreciation of The Arts

I love music, especially classical. I love poetry especially when it is read to me at Poetry Open Mic Nights. I love writing and reading, especially flash fiction and short stories. I love wonderful paintings (but am of the school of thought I know what I like when I see it). Generally, I appreciate the arts for what they can give us and those who practice the arts. I’ve got a lot of sympathy for the behind the scenes work and practice over years which must happen here.

But how do your characters appreciate the arts? Do they appreciate them at all or think they’re just for the “snobs”? What art forms are there in your setting? Could comparisons be made with what we have here or would they be far beyond us here in terms of scale, technical ability etc?

Do they have art forms which can only be on their setting due to its nature/your characters’ natures? What would humans make of these if they discovered your setting?

Can art help improve relationships between species? Could an appreciation of the arts change behaviours, attitudes, promote understanding etc?

Again there are story ideas there.

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The Joy of Responding To and Setting Writing Exercises

August 28, 2026August 28, 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 week. Have resumed gentle swimming after my fall. Seems to be helping. Lady has caught up with one of her friends this week and I’m looking forward to my book signing in Salisbury next week. All go but I like it that way.

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Am delighted to share The Joy of Setting and Responding to Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Naturally I put this into practice for this week’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group!

I list my favourite writing exercises, what I have got out of giving them a go (published work in many cases for one), and share plenty of useful tips for getting the most of any exercises you’re set.

I also look at life on the other side of the fence here in that setting writing exercises is a great way to make you think outside of your usual “comfort box”. You want something you know people can do but will also be a challenge (and they’re a challenge to me too because I ensure I do them too, it’s a great way to get more flash written).

Hope you find the post useful, whichever side of the writing exercise fence you are on. I regularly switch sides here!

The Joy of Responding to and Setting Writing Exercises

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Nice day. Another gentle swim today went well.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share a link to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s Substack post about If You Keep Missing Writing Errors, Try This. All sound, sensible stuff and something every writer needs. Many thanks to her for a shout out to me for a tip I share here. It’s one I’ve often shared here but it bears repeating.

One thing I was chatting about last night with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group was to write first, edit later, and to see the two things as separate, different creative tasks. This ties in nicely with Hannah’s post because if you do give yourself the time away from a piece before coming back to edit it, you are much more likely to pick up on the mistakes. Time away does help and while you’re resting a piece, you can of course be drafting another one!

As for draft writing, the group and I drafted some flash fiction pieces last night. Naturally I’m resting mine for the moment!

Talking of writing exercises, which I love, my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow will focus on The Joy of Setting and Responding To Writing Exercises. I’ll be sharing plenty of useful thoughts here so watch out for it. See above.

Hope the day has gone well. Lady was delighted to catch up with her Hungarian Vizler pal today. The dogs haven’t seen much of each other recently thanks to the summer holidays and the heatwave so this was nice to see.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing The Joy of Setting And Responding To Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on Friday. See above.

Talking of writing exercises, I have set some for tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group and yes I plan to have a go too.

And I’m getting lots of spam emails regarding Seeing The Other Side. Am deleting the lot. Only thing to do. Talking of the new book, I hope to share news about the blog tour for it before too long so watch this space.

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Hope your day has gone well. Had some proper rain earlier. I got caught in it on the way back from an appointment. Was torn between wishing it had held off for ten more minutes or delighted it had come down at all! I suspect I might get a flash fiction story from a character caught in the rain at some point…!

Want to draft a flash piece over the weekend to submit to Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM in due course. As the weather has started to turn autumnal, it is timely her call for stories for her Autumn Equinox show is timely.

Looking forward to being in Salisbury next weekend for my book event for Seeing The Other Side and not long after that there will be the blog tour. Plenty going on.

Had a lovely evening with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday. Many thanks, folks. Yes, we did draft some flash pieces. I hope to return to mine in a few days or so. One nice thing about groups like this is we all share news which is amazingly handy at times.

One such bit of news came from Jenny Sanders who highlighted the fact Hannah Kate of North Manchester FM is looking for flash stories for her Autumn Equinox show. See the link for more details but I’ll be looking at having a go at this later this week. The show itself goes out on Saturday 19th September but the deadline is by midnight on Monday 14th September.

Top Tip: When I submit stories to Hannah Kate’s show and I’ve polished them up as much as I can, I record them on Zoom. I hear how they sound. I can make sure I’m not speaking too fast or too slow. And Zoom gives you the timing of your recording so you can’t get that wrong. I’ve also found a word count of about 150 words or thereabouts works well here.

Autumn Equinox Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

Flash is remarkably flexible given its restricted word count. I think a major factor in this is it has to be character led (as you have little room for much in the way of description so the characters have to show everything).

Characters can be put into any situation and time. I have a lot of fun here which is why I’ll always recommend flash for all writers even if it’s never your main work. I think it is a no-brainer for anyone who loves creating characters.

The discipline of writing to a tight word count pays off for other forms of writing. I’ve found this to be the case for my blogging, for example. It is much tighter now than it used to be.

Fairytales With Bite – Pride Before A Fall

We all know the saying. It’s a great theme for a story. Sadly it proved to be true literally for me last week when I took a tumble. Thankfully only painful bruising but my ego took a bit of a tumble too. (I tripped over a service cover in the pavement – these things are never level and I just didn’t lift my foot high enough).

In the magical world, how could pride come before a fall? I’ve written flash pieces on this where an arrogant younger magical being is shown she is not the be all and end all by a much older, wiser magical being. Good fun to do.

But you could show pride in a magical development by the society as a whole only for the thing to go horribly wrong. What would the consequences be? Would your society be honest, admit to it and clear up the mess or would they try and cover up the fact anything went wrong at all?

Good story possibilities there, especially since I think if they went for the cover up route, there would be bound to be a whistleblower somewhere, concerned about public safety perhaps?

Happy writing!

This World and Others – Necessity is the Mother of Invention

You may have noticed I’ve got a bit of a thing about old sayings this week. But they do make great themes for stories and, in many cases, can be used for titles too. These sayings are timeless so your story ideas shouldn’t date either.

In a magical world, you could have fun writing about what needs to be invented and why, whether the thing is invented or not and who by and what problems they had to overcome, and whether anyone else tries to stop the invention. Plenty of story ideas there.

I must admit I have a soft spot for stories when the most unlikely being comes up with something useful. I guess that is a hangover from my love of the fairytales where the most unlikely character often turns out to be the hero.

So what would your world need to invent? Would it invent something to stop it having to copy something from a planet they despised such as our own dear home? How well or otherwise do things work out?

As for the creative minds behind all of this, are they respected, feared, mocked or what have you? Not everyone appreciates geniuses and even they do it’s often after someone’s life time. Could that happen in your setting?

Food for thought there.

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