Tag: flash fiction workshop

Reading and Writing Seasons

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Janet Williams (my lovely CFT editor) for the image of me at the Book Fair in July. It is a great marketing shot!
Hope you have had a good weekend. It was a mixture of Zoom (running a workshop and having lovely chats with writer friends and family), painting a fence with wood treatment, sunshine, heavy rain, taking the dog out and, of course, writing. Busy but that’s how I like it. Here’s to a good week ahead of us.

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Facebook – General

Posting earlier than usual due to a meeting later. Hope you have had a good day. Have spent a lot of the day getting wet. Only one time was fun – when I was in the swimming pool!

Will be looking at Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Put your thinking caps on and see if you can name some of your favourite supporting “cast” from books and stories as comments are always welcome on the CFT page. Link up on Friday. My problem with this post? Making myself limit the numbers of favourites I could submit! I could have gone on for some time. Best not, I think, but am looking forward to sharing the post.

Writing Tip for Bloggers: Don’t forget you can make use of the random generators (especially those on theme and questions) to trigger thoughts for blog post ideas. I have used pictures randomly generated to trigger ideas for a post as well.

Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post, Reading and Writing Seasons. I look at what I mean by this and discuss how the writing season in particular has its dips but it helps to be aware of these. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Lady and I had a soaking on our trip out today. Boy, did it bucket down. She dries off quicker than I do though!

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on Time Travel, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. If you missed it, do check out the link. Sometimes an image just puts a story idea into my head and that was the case here. The image here was of a photo album. See what I made of that in the story.

I do sometimes use my own photos for this kind of prompt but also the random picture generators. Those are to an extent better as I don’t know what will come up from those.
Screenshot 2023-09-15 at 19-00-56 Time Travel by Allison Symes

Many thanks to the lovely people at the Spiderplant writing group for making me so welcome via Zoom this morning (Saturday, 16th September 2023). It was a pleasure to share my flash fiction workshop with you. I hope you find the hints and tips (which can be applied to almost every form of writing) will prove useful. 

I’ll be looking at Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and am pleased to say there will be further author interviews in the next couple of months. Plenty to look out for then. I love conducting as well as reading/listening to author interviews.

Always plenty to learn (which I think is one of the great strengths of creative writing. It stretches your brain and you always seek to improve on what what you do).

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Have to post a bit earlier than usual today. Next couple of weeks or so are going to be especially busy but this is where planning out my writing time is helpful. I use this to help me work out what time I do have and then I can deduce how I can make the best use of these “slots”.

Drafting flash fiction pieces will come into it. I often use small pockets of time to jot down ideas for those pieces or even the first draft of one, based on say a title idea I’ve already jotted down in a previous pocket of time I had to hand. Overall, I get more written. Like that a lot.

When out and about I tend to use Evernote on my phone for this. At home, it’s back to old school ways with the good old notebook and pen. But however you do it, it is the use of those small pockets of time which can help you (and do help me) to end up with more written than you would otherwise have done.

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It’s Monday. It has been bucketing down. The darker evenings are drawing in. Have had to dig out my boots so I can walk the dog. And it is still Monday. Time for another story from me then. Hope you enjoy my thoughtful piece, A New Life, on YouTube.

One thing I watch out for in my stories (flash and standard short ones) is not to put anything into the story which could date it, unless I am specifically writing a historical fiction piece. Sometimes a story can become a historical fiction piece when real life events overtake it.

My story, Jubilee, in The Best of CafeLit 12 is like that given the background to it was the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and at the time I wrote it, I was looking forward to seeing what those celebrations would be like.

Her Majesty’s sad passing has now made that tale a historical piece but these things happen. What I try to do with stories where this is a possibility is to make the theme a universal one. In this case it was the theme of someone beginning to make new friends after a difficult time in their life. There is never a time when that theme won’t be relevant.

What I won’t do is put products into a story unless I want to use them to convey a certain era. For example, I would not refer to Betamax video or CDs unless I wanted those to reflect what my character owns and give a time setting that way.

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It was wonderful sharing something of the joy of flash fiction writing with the Spiderplant writing group this morning.

Flash has certainly taught me never to fear editing or being edited again, which is handy to say the least. It has also shown up my wasted words and repeated phrases, which are always useful to know as these are the first things I cut on my first edit.

Okay, I wish I could stop myself from writing the things in the first place but the next best thing is to be aware of them so you can remove them later. I take some comfort in knowing every writer has their own pet phrases and words here!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Early Books

Do you recall the early books which were used to introduce you to the joys of reading? I have some memories of the Janet and John books but I was much happier when I was able to choose books of my own to read. I am pleased that now there is far more variety with books designed to encourage the reluctant readers. In my school days, there wasn’t much at all. There was less sympathy too for those who found reading difficult. Some things have got much better.

What amuses me somewhat is when I was bringing up my own child the Spot the dog books were popular. I am sure they still are and we liked them too along with books such as the fabulous The Gruffalo and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. These things will be timeless. These days, said child as an adult loves reading political history. It is hard to imagine a greater contrast in types of book enjoyed!

What matters then is encouraging that love of reading as early as possible, to have help where reading is difficult (there is a book type out there for everyone to love and enjoy, honest, and there is help available for the difficulties), and to nourish the love of stories.

Early books matter. I couldn’t write one myself but I admire those who can. Those writers are building the foundations for a lifetime of happy reading which is such a worthwhile thing to do.

Screenshot 2023-09-16 at 17-55-31 Early Books

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Getting Lines Right

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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. Had a lovely trip out with other half and the dog on Friday. Did us all the world of good. Looking forward to running a flash fiction workshop for a writing group on Saturday. Plenty of editing work done too so a good week here.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at opening lines and suggest ways to create memorable ones. Hope you find it useful.

Getting Lines Right

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Must admit the temperatures have come back to the level the dog and I prefer – early 20s. Starting to see the autumn leaf colour change. There is a fair amount of Virgina Creeper in my part of the world and it is lovely seeing that turn to red at this time of year. Mind you, the wildflower meadow in our park is still in full bloom so summer hasn’t quite had its last hurrah.

Am looking at Getting Lines Right on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and will run a flash fiction workshop on Saturday morning on Zoom.

Writers’ Narrative will be out again before too long. Written by writers for writers it is packed full of information. If you want to sign up to make sure you get the forthcoming October issue (and future ones of course) do sign up at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

 

Lady got to play with the lovely Coco, Kyaha, and Kitima today. Fabulous “puppy” party had by all. Three happy but tired dogs went home. It is lovely watching them being so pleased to see each other.

Looking forward to sharing Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Will be looking at opening lines especially. Hope it will prove useful to people. Opening lines are crucial hooks for any form of writing but for the short forms especially flash, they really do have to punch their weight. I’ll be sharing some thoughts and tips in my post on Friday. See above.

When I am writing my first draft, I jot down what I think will be a good opening line but I inevitably end up changing parts of it later when I realise with the character in mind, a better opening line would be this rather than what I started with. That’s fine. I just need something to kick me off and I expect to change things. What matters for me always is getting started. The fine tuning happens later.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction is Time Travel. Hope you find it moving. My sympathies here are with both characters.

Screenshot 2023-09-15 at 19-00-56 Time Travel by Allison Symes

I sometimes start a flash fiction piece (and indeed a longer short story) by asking a question or getting my character to do so. It is an excellent hook to lure the reader in because that question has to be answered in some way by the end of the work. So story structure is set up as well here – win-win as far as I’m concerned.

The question has to intrigue in some way (and I look more at this in my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Getting Lines Right which will be live tomorrow – see above). But this can be a simple intrigue.

In my The Recruit (from Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I get my character to ask Can Jim do this? The story then takes off from there given the intrigue is what the answer to that question is, who is Jim, and why does this matter.

BB - Flash with a Dash for TTFF
I often read some examples of my published flash fiction work when I run a workshop on flash. I do this and then break down how I wrote these pieces. When I’ve read author interviews where they do this, I found I learned so much from it.

Understanding why someone has done something with their writing is a great way of working out whether that would work for you or whether with slight adjustments to the technique, you can get something which would suit what you do. I know I have learned so much this way. It’s a fun way to learn too as you get to listen to or read stories too!

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Fairytales with Bite – Magical Malpractice

In your setting, what would count as magical malpractice? If you had a world run by old style evil witches, would they consider any magic used to help others or overturn evil to be magical malpractice?

In a world where there is a balance between evil and good magical powers, what rules does each side stick to (mainly to prevent their world falling apart altogether. For me, that would be the only reason the evil side would agree to any such rules. If their own survival depended on doing so, you would think twice about wrecking that, wouldn’t you?).

How would each side govern its own? What would a fairy godmother, say, have to do to be seriously out of step with her colleagues and her ultimate boss? What would her punishment be? Losing one’s wings could take on a whole new meaning here.

Likewise on the evil side, what punishment would there be for someone who stepped out of line there? It is mind boggling to think what would count as being out of line but there would be something – mainly challenging the boss for power I would have thought.

But there would be a great story in working out how that could happen, what happened to be the being trying it, and if they were being what we would know as a stalking horse for someone else.

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This World and Others – Accountability

Who is accountable for what in your magical setting? Ultimately there will be some “head of state” but what about lower down? How is your world governed? Do “ordinary” beings get to have any say in how this is done?

When things need to change, as inevitably they do from time to time, how is this done? Peacefully or by violent overthrow? Would this mirror what we know here (given we have both types of change of government on our planet)?

In more “ordinary” settings, such as in towns and villages, is there a system of local government? How are things done? Who is responsible for ensuring these things get done? This can take in everything from ensuring people/beings get to eat (and therefore dealing with supplies) to managing the local Council budget. If money isn’t used, what would be?

Where folks have got power, is there a way of ensuring they use these things properly? Even the smallest of villages will have some sort of pecking order. In a magical setting, does the magic help things run more smoothly or make things more difficult? If magic goes wrong, how would that change the running of things? Who would be held responsible for things going wrong?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES


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The Point of Fiction

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking the image of me at the Book Fair.
Glad to say it has cooled down a bit since last week. Lady isn’t sorry about that either. Pleased to say I’m running a flash fiction workshop again on Saturday courtesy of Zoom. Looking forward to that.

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Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler friend today. The latter doesn’t mind. Lady loves it of course. It is a bit like showing off to Mum given the Vizler is older than Lady. But both went home feeling all had been put right with their worlds at least!

There is an Amazon offer on From Light to Dark and Back Again at the moment. See the link for more details.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover recently my short stories have appeared in almost 20 different anthologies (and when the Bridge House Publishing anthology comes out later this year it will be 20!). Yes, they are on my ALCS listing. I add new books to which I’ve contributed to this listing as soon as I can. It’s easy to do and it helps boost the money I receive from ALCS every March. Win-win there and if you are a published writer not on the ALCS system, do look into it.

11th September 2023
To all who mourn those killed or injured in the dreadful events of twenty-two years ago, my deepest sympathies. We will remember them.

Memories, of whatever kind, can make a wonderful theme for stories, whether these are thoughtful pieces or more humorous ones. Think about why your character remembers what they do (or who of course). Why are they recalling this (or them) now? Is it something they have learned to come to terms with, as best as anyone can? Are their memories reliable? What do other characters in the story think?

Memories are something any reader can identify with – we all have our own so will identify with a character recalling theirs. Great empathy can come from stories like this. The world needs much more empathy. Maybe in a way story writers can play their part here.

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Cooler today. Have had some rain so the air is a little fresher. Lady and I are not sorry about that.
I’ll be looking at Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. I will take a close look at opening lines especially. Looking forward to sharing that. Will be running a workshop next Saturday morning too. All good fun!

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Heaven Sent, my most recent story on Friday Flash Fiction. See link in case you missed it.

The 100 word story (also known as a drabble) was my introduction to flash fiction many moons ago and it is lovely returning to writing them regularly for Friday Flash Fiction. Am so enjoying doing this. Screenshot 2023-09-08 at 10-04-53 Heaven Sent by Allison Symes

Another hot day here. This was on 9th September. Weather changed the next day! We’re all staying as cool as possible. Lady got to see her best friend, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, when it was cooler. Both dogs happy about that. Friends matter!

Looking forward to sharing a workshop next Saturday morning. The beauty of Zoom? No travel on hot sticky days! One blessing for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event being in December is that hot sticky days will not be an issue!

I know now my story for a literal festival competition didn’t make the cut but I will take another look at this tale at some point and see what else can be done with it before submitting it elsewhere. Sometimes I find I need to make amendments. Sometimes I don’t.

Having been a competition judge, I know how difficult it can be to produce a short list. So take heart if your story doesn’t do anything in a competition. See it as another opportunity to refresh it and re-submit it. A turn down doesn’t necessarily mean there was anything wrong with your story but taking the chance to have a second look at it may well help you see where you could strengthen it here, strengthen it there. That has been my experience.

Writing Advice

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My favourite sort of flash fiction is the drabble – the 100-worder – and it has been fantastic getting back to these for Friday Flash Fiction in particular. But I am also very fond of the sub-500 words kind. It is worth practicing writing to this kind of word count as it is a common format for competitions.

Also easy to share (if you wish) on your website, newsletter etc as they don’t up too much space and are quick and easy to read. I save some of mine for this but also put others towards a future collection. Marketing and a first draft for another book in one go here!

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It has been a hectic Monday (though thankfully cooler than last week. Given I’ve been batch cooking today, I appreciated that!). Definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – One Day My Spell Will Come.

 

One of the things I look for in an opening line (which is something I’ll talk more about for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday) is whether it hooks me enough to make me want to read on. It has to provoke the “have got to find out what happens next” moment.

This can be done via something intriguing about the character, setting up a dilemma which has to be resolved, or even setting a question the story would have to answer by the end. In Being Yourself from Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I start with Jane Stephens suppressed the urge to scream. I would hope that would make people want to read on to find out why!

I do know if I’m not intrigued by an opening line of mine, others won’t be either. It is a great motivator to come up with something good!

 

Occasionally I write a flash piece which could be termed as horror. For me, the best horror isn’t all guts and gore but implied menace. The reader can then imagine what that menace looks like etc and does a grand job of this. I do it too when I watch a suspense film. Sometimes at least what I imagine is going to happen next is more scary than what does happen in the movie!

In my story Pressing the Flesh in From Light to Dark and Back Again, I imply references to Burke and Hare (bodysnatchers) and my character being inspired by that. Yet I do not use anything gory here. To my character their actions make sense and maybe that is the scariest thing of all. Maybe that is where true horror does lie. Certainly we can learn from our own history here when someone believes themselves to be so right they can do anything so go on to do so. You could argue we are seeing it again.

The point of fiction, including horror, is to entertain, helps us escape our cares for a while, but it can also show us something of our human nature. Horror can be brutally honest here. But it doesn’t need to be guts and gore to make us think about what we as a species can be capable of.

After all there are some horrific moments, when you stop and think about it, in the nursery rhymes and fairytales most of us would have grown up with, which most consider would and should act as warnings.
Would still like to know though why Little Red Riding Hood didn’t spot that wasn’t her granny in the dress and cap. Did she honestly think her granny was that hairy? Maybe LRH should have gone and got her eyesight checked at Specsavers! (Other opticians are available, as they say! Probably best known ones here in the UK though).

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

Goodreads Author Blog –

Writing and Reading – The Inseparable Joys

I have long felt writers have two joys in life – writing and reading. Most writers are inspired to write because of the books they have loved reading. Ideas for stories have sparked from what we have read and you develop this urge to write your own. Sometimes that urge can come from reading a “duff” book and wanting to do better. Better though is when an inspried story encourages you to write.

My first venture into print was with a reworked fairytale told from the viewpoint of Cinderella’s youngest step-sister. That came out in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing) in 2009 – my story in there is A Helping Hand.

But without the original faurytale I loved (and still do), I couldn’t have written my tale. We do stand on the shoulders of giants here. We build on what has gone before. And that means we have to read more. Don’t have a problem with that!

What I have found in recent years is that inspiration for stories can come from something I’ve read in non-fiction too. I have welcomed that development as I love reading fiction and non-fiction.

 

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Allison Symes - advertising books and services resized 640At the Book Fair

 

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Taking Part in the Book Fair at The Hilt

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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.
Again thanks to Vie Portland for the Book Fair poster photo in my CFT post. From many moons ago, many thanks to Janet Williams, my lovely editor at CFT, for the photos of me at Chandler’s Ford Railway Station carrying out a book signing. Also thanks to Jen Wilson for images of me at Swanwick signing a book for Val Penny. Am pleased to share again a fabulous picture of me signing a book at Swanwick taken by the much missed Fiona Park who left this world far too soon.
Hope you have had a good week. Busy end to it as I run a flash fiction workshop and go to the Book Fair. Nice way to end the week, mind you. Lady and I have appreciated the cooler weather and even the rain (the latter more so when we’ve not been out in it!).
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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Taking Part in The Book Fair at The Hilt – 8th July 2023 for Chandler’s Ford Today. I’m a great believer in self explanatory titles!

As well as publicity for the event, I look at how things like this support writers and the value and importance of books. If you’re in the area and can pop along, every author taking part including me would be glad to see you!

(Oh and a huge thank you to the writing group I ran a flash fiction workshop for earlier this afternoon. It was lovely meeting you all online and you made me so welcome. Much appreciated and I hope you go on to discover the joys of flash fiction – there are many of them!).

Taking Part in the Book Fair at The Hilt – 8th July 2023

Are there times I don’t get as much writing done as I would like? Oh yes. Happens more often than I’d like. Suspect this is the case for most writers. I don’t fret about it the way I once did though. Why?

Because I know these things can come along in peaks and troughs. Also because on the flip side, there are plenty of times when I write more than I thought I would. Also what matters is writing what you can when you can and, generally, enjoying what you do (at least most of the time).

There was a survey I came across a while ago which showed that while many people wish to write a book only a small percentage do so yet alone go on to be published.

Depressing thought? Not really. If you have the stamina to do the work to write a book, well done. And every writer I know (and the vast majority of those I’ve read) faced rejection after rejection after rejection etc.

I still get turn downs. I always will. It is part of the life but it helps enormously having supportive writing friends who know exactly what it is like and to know it isn’t just you (or them either come to that).

Enjoy your writing – being creative in any way is a good thing. I know it has helped me in so many ways (and did so long before I had anything published).

May be an image of pizza and text that says "Reflection looking back and forward is an important part of encouraging creativity."

I’ll be chatting more about the Book Fair on Friday in my Chandler’s Ford Today post. See above. (Still not too late to book a ticket for that by the way. The event is free but if you pre-book, your name is put into a raffle and you can a £10 voucher to use towards a book of your choice at the Fair).

Looking forward to meeting the writing group I’m running a flash fiction workshop for on Friday. Zoom is a great way to bring writers together.

Will also be off to the next Chameleon Theatre Group performance – Lilies on the Land – later in the month. It’s a historical play based on the Women’s Land Army so should be interesting. I do love stories which are based on historical fact but which show an “imagined” reflection by the characters about what they’re going through. So I expect this to be right up my street, so to speak.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to share Flaky, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Also great to see some familiar names having more stories on this site this week. Well done, all. My tale relates the utter tragedy of attempts to have an ice cream in peace. Hope you enjoy it and many thanks for the fabulous comments coming in on this one already. I have clearly hit a nerve here!

Certain things stick in the mind. Today would’ve been the birthday of one of my grandfathers. What I always remember about him is is his love of the horse racing and quiz shows. He liked to see people win!

So that started me thinking about what I would want my readers to remember about my characters. Having that in mind helps me hone said characters. I can give them a turn of phrase or an attitude which sticks in the mind – it doesn’t have to be some kind of quirky attribute.

I am wary of the latter – these can come across as gimmicky. But an attitude – well, you can usually see why a character has that. These are far more relatable, at least to me.

All authors seek reviews for their work. It helps with publicizing what we do writing wise. And reviews don’t have to be long. This is especially apt for me as a flash fiction writer but a one or two line review is still useful to a writer even if you have written an epic saga! So if you know a writer, do bear this in mind as another way of supporting them. As a certain supermarket says, every little bit helps.

Two favourite quotes from some of my reviews are:-

Allison Symes can pack more into 100 words than most people can into 1000. Politicians take note!
The storytelling was beautiful in so few words which takes the talent and skill of a practiced author.

Both of these are from the reviews for Tripping the Flash Fantastic.

If you’re coming to the Book Fair on Saturday, and want to know more about flash fiction I will be only too pleased to talk. Oh and a huge thanks to those who have reviewed me!

Screenshot from my Amazon Author Central Page.

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Law Enforcement

This can be a fun topic to write humorous flash fiction/short stories about. I’ve written a number about dodgy fairy godmothers breaking their own code of conduct (one was about the Tooth Fairy who decided she needed to carry out a raid and grab some chocolate. Another was about the Tooth Fairy stand-in who resented having to do the round and was taking pliers to deal with a kid she knew wasn’t nice. She was going to carry out her job according to her law ).

It can be so satisfying getting a character to have their well deserved comeuppance in this kind of tale. Plus there is always the option to show how, say, a magical police force does its job. How would they rein in the more dodgy elements in a magical society? How would a court system work? Could powers be taken away from the misbehaving ones and how would this be done? Could they have powers restored later?

What would your society define as magical law and how did they come to decide which laws should be included? I would expect some things here to have been found out the hard way so people realised certain elements had to be included.

You could also look at how characters try to avoid magical law enforcement. Are there petty laws which everyone ignores.

And, yes you can write crime stories in a magical setting. What would be the consequences of being caught for a criminal? How would you confine someone who might be capable of making themselves invisible and slipping away literally unseen, say?

This World and Others – The Justice System

Following on from Fairytales with Bite, you could have stories set entirely in the justice system. Is your setting based on a fair legal system or not? If it isn’t fair, are there campaigners seeking to change that and how would they carry out their campaigns? What interest groups would support them/be opposed? What would they be seeking to change and are they successful?

If you’re writing humorous stories, as I often do, what could be funny about the justice system in your setting which you could exploit here? For example, if you have a system where traffic offenses were dealt with every other Monday, does that open up to the possibility of there being traffic abuses every other day in between? I could see farcical stories emerging from that.

You could also think about key figures in the justice system to write about and do consider those behind the scenes. How would a Clerk to the Court operate in your world? Do they carry more influence than might at first appear to be the case, simply because they can control access to the judge etc?

There are also stories to be had about those on the receiving end of the justice system especially when that has been unfair. How can they clear their names? How robust or otherwise is your setting’s justice system? There are always those determined to commit crimes, bend rules etc so how would your setting deal with these? There would, I think, have to be something to hold people/beings of choice to account.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research

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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. Photos of Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to colleagues who took images of me on my phone about to run the workshop on editing there in 2022.
Hope you have had a good week. Loved running the workshop on Monday. I’ve had some lovely feedback on that too. Weekend will be a bit odd. On Sunday it will be the anniversary of my Dad’s passing (six years) and I’ll be ordained as an elder in my church. Mixed emotions especially as he would’ve loved to have seen that service (as would my mum and late in-laws). Lady and I have relished the emergence of consistent sunshine this week though. Not before time we think!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today. My post this week is called The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research. All writers need to carry out research (yes it goes for fiction too) but the advantages we have now are easier access to a wider range of material and a greater appreciation of keeping and treasuring records of the past.

Hope you find the post useful. I share tips on researching and useful questions to ask yourself as you do. It is too easy to get sidetracked on to an interesting section of research which is not needed for your story or article.

The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research

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It’s my turn to be on Authors Electric and this time I talk about Story Shapes. What do I mean by that? Well, I often use linear shapes in my writing – a straight sharing of a story where I start at A and finish at Z, but I also write circular ones too. This is where my end line repeats the opening line (or has strong echoes of it). The repetition is deliberate and works so well for poignant stories. But can shapes apply to blogs too? Check out my post and see what you think. Hope you enjoy it.
Screenshot 2023-05-18 at 09-48-22 Story Shapes by Allison Symes

Another lovely day here and Lady got to play with three of her girlfriends today – the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Hungarian Vizler, and a lovely Labradoodle. Very much a girls morning out in the park!

Am pleased to say I’ll be running a one hour workshop at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, in August. I’ll be looking at editing from both sides of the fence given I’ve been edited and have been editing at the same time at different points in my career. For more details on the school, do see their website.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in already on News, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. If you’ve ever had round robin letters, you may well sympathise with my character, Wilma, in this one!
Screenshot 2023-05-19 at 09-49-56 News by Allison Symes 
Hope you have had a nice day. Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler chum so Lady definitely has had a good day. (And her pal never minds the showing off so all well there).

I’m talking about The Joys and Pitfalls of Writing Research for Chandler’s Ford Today (link up tomorrow). See above. Do I need to research for my flash pieces? Simply, yes and often.

For a crime flash tale, I might need to find out what poisonous plants would be found in a garden (and I have researched that one!). For historical flash pieces, I need to get dates etc right if I use them. I sometimes need to know if something was available at a certain time period.

Research comes into fiction, as well as non-fiction, writing in all sorts of ways and it is great we have a wider range of materials available for research purposes. More in my post tomorrow.

But bear in mind a story has to ring true for a reader even if it is set in a bizarre setting. Using facts from what we know here on Earth (especially for world building) can help give that sense of “this could be real if this world existed somewhere”. So yes research is needed for fantasy too!

May be an image of text that says "ਜਗ |could happily while away many hours researching in here!"

Many thanks to Medway Mermaids, the writing group I presented my flash fiction workshop to on Monday for some wonderful feedback. Very much appreciated.

“It was comprehensive and informative, giving writers an excellent guide to the art of writing short fiction”.

Now that is a quote I am proud to share!

One problem all authors have is that most of the time we work alone. We don’t always know how our work is going down with others. So feedback is useful (and it is something I appreciate from Friday Flash Fiction as well).

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Fairytales with Bite – Inspiration

What inspires your characters to take the actions they do in your stories? Is it a question they have no choice but to do whatever it is you’ve set them – it is life or death for them here – or because they are motivated to help someone else in need of help? (Sam Gamgee did not have to go with Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. It is just as well that he did).

When your fairy godmother is looking for a suitable spell or to create something suitable to help a client, what inspires her? Does she base her creation on years of experience, stick strictly to the books, or is happy to add her own special ingredients given she knows they’ll give her magic that bit of “kick” she feels her client needs?

What inspires your characters to keep going when it would be the easiest thing for them to give up and go home? (And even more so when they could go home and nobody would blame them!).

Also think about what inspires you from the classic fairytales. For me, a big one here is seeing wrong being righted as we all know that so often doesn’t happen in life, unfortunately. But the thought of that inspires me to write my own fairytales with bite where I can ensure wrong definitely is righted! Good fun to do too!

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This World and Others – The Creative Industries

Industry can sometimes seem as if it is a negative word. It conjures up images for me of factories and works back in the Victoria era where conditions were often not that great.

On a more positive note, we talk about the creative industries. What does your setting have in the way of these? Are the arts celebrated? Do they bring in significant income for your world? (They do for the UK, for instance).

What creative industries would your characters be involved in? Are they involved in these willingly or is it expected of them because they’re following a a family or tribal tradition? The kind of thing which goes “your grandfather was a musician, your father was too, so guess what you’re doing!” There is potential for humour here if the unfortunate character really cannot play a note no matter how hard they try.

What is the attitude of your setting’s governments to the creative industries? Do they welcome them or view them with suspicion given they can be a vehicle for free expression? What would happen if there are clashes here? Who would win? On the face of it you might think it would be the powers that be and in the immediate term that might be the case. But the creative industries live on for centuries. People look back at events. Views change and the arts can help change them so I wouldn’t see this a s a clear cut thing at all.

Do your characters take part in the creative industries just for fun? If so, what is their main work and how do they find the arts helps them?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

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Starting Conversation and Events as Backdrops

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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.
Loved watching the Coronation of King Charles III over the weekend. Loved the Concert too. Liked the balance of music – old and new. Now I write with classical music on in the background. I find it relaxes me and when I am relaxed I write more. Do you write/read with music on in the background or not?

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Facebook – General

Lady had a lovely run around with her Aussie Shepherd gentlemen friend today – before the rain hit I’m glad to say. Good time had by both.

Looking forward to sharing History In Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. It’s a lovely topic to write about. A huge thanks to for all the lovely comments which have come in so far on Starting Conversation, my latest on Friday Flash Fiction. This one clearly hit a chord with people!

Doing anything creative is good for the mind and soul. I think, and it is a joy to come up with stories and blogs. Am almost there on my competition entry. Am currently resting it. Will look at it again in a few days for my final check and then submit it I hope.

Screenshot 2023-05-05 at 10-07-28 Starting Conversation by Allison Symes

Lady got to see her pal, the lovely Hungarian Vizler. Got out at the right time too. The rain was heavier later. Am now watching the Coronation Concert on catch up. Enjoying what I’ve seen so far. Loved the Coronation Choir. And the combination of the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera, The Royal Colleges of Music and Art for the sonnet from Romeo and Juliet was wonderful. Certain things are timeless – Shakespeare is one of them. My late mother would have wondered why it took me so long to find that out. I got into Shakespeare late but at all thanks to National Theatre Live. Must try and get to some more of those.

Writing Tip: Give yourself more time than you think you need to get a story ready for submission to a competition. There is always something last minute you need to change. I get around that last minute business by making my last minute about a week to ten days ahead of the official deadline. Works for me. Am practicing what I preach here as I hope to get my entry in for a well known competition soon.

Pleased to say I’ve had the joy of proofreading my entry for The Best of CafeLit 12 and getting that back to Bridge House Publishing. That is always a joyous job to do!

May be a graphic of lighting and text that says "Like these three points but I would also add in a reminder that editing takes longer than you think at times. 1) Dream 2) Set goal 3) Action"

Hope you have had a good day. Nice to see the sun come out. Mind you, it was raining for the last Coronation so maybe this is a British tradition being upheld again.

Looking forward to giving another flash fiction workshop in just over a week’s time. Zoom is a blessing here (though I am happy to do in person workshops too as long as the distance is “do-able” for me). I love going to workshops too and always learn something useful from them. Sometimes it can be a case of you getting to see something from a new angle and that can help transform your writing or take it to another level. Have had direct experience of that.

It’s difficult to say what the single most important piece of writing advice is but the one I’ve consistently found to be the most helpful is to write first, then edit later. I did try editing my work as I went along when I first started out but quickly realised I was boxing myself in. It’s when someone else said about editing later and it’s okay for the first draft to be rubbish that I changed my approach here. I have never regretted doing so. The nice thing with this tip is it is useful whether you’re a planner or a pantser. Just get that story down. Tidying up can happen later.

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Loved watching the Coronation. Found the service deeply moving. Pity about the weather but I guess the rain does make this a peculiarly British event! Not going to let rain get in the way. Favourite moment: other than the crowning in itself, I loved the conductor of the orchestra in the Abbey. He was almost throwing himself into his work. Reminded me of the late Sir Patrick Moore’s exuberance when playing the xylophone (younger readers may need to look that one up). I love people who clearly love their job!

I’ll be chatting about history in another way for my post for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be looking at History in Stories and it is amazing how often this comes up and not just in the obvious historical fiction category either. Looking forward to sharing that next Friday.

Many thanks for more wonderful comments coming in on Starting Conversation, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. In case you missed it, do check out the link below (and the other stories on that site – it’s a great read).
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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Strange day weather wise here – sun, rain, thunder, sun again. I don’t use the weather a lot in my stories. Just as well really. If I used a British day in my flash stories, after a day like today, I’d probably be using up a lot of my word count limit!

I am also wary of anything that could read like boring description. The art of description is for it to come alive in your reader’s mind so, for me, showing how a character is effected by weather conditions is far more interesting than writing about the weather itself.

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It’s Monday. Okay, it’s a special Bank Holiday Monday after the Coronation of King Charles III. Still time for a story though (and aptly too given he wrote The Old Man of Lochnagar, which I remember being read by HRH as he was then on Jackanory, a UK children’s story programme).

Hope you enjoy One Go. Would you do what my character does here?

 

I’ve always loathed any kind of bullying and sometimes my stories can reflect that. In Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I had a great deal of fun with my story Enough is Enough which shows someone who has struggled with her weight taking matters into her own hands and finding her own way of responding to those who’d made her life a misery. Am not necessarily endorsing my character’s actions by the way but I do understand where she is coming from and that is crucial for whatever kind of character you write. You’ve got to know where they come from. Then your readers will.

May be an image of text that says "Flash with a Dash of History, Crime, Fantasy, and Dragons Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection story worlds"

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Coronation of King Charles III today turns up in stories as a kind of historical backdrop. Certainly readers will be able to date the timing of the story accurately! And yes historical events themselves can be written up as fiction or can be referred to by characters as part of their stories. None of us live in a vacuum. Character don’t either so referring to their past events or what may be for them current events makes sense.

For flash fiction writers, using a historical event makes an excellent shortcut for staging your story. There is so much you wouldn’t have to say. Think of the word count saved!

I could refer to today’s events without having to tell you all that went on or what my characters were likely to be wearing etc. I could pick specific moments to show you through my characters but you would work out what was going on around them without me having to spell it out. You’d have an idea of the era/event already. One of the tricks of flash, if I can call it that, is to tap into what can be inferred and use that to save the word count for what a reader cannot work out.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Commemorative Reading

I thought this was an apt topic for the week of the Coronation of King Charles III. I read commemorative reading every now and then. For example, I enjoyed Andrew Marr’s book Diamond Queen, which was brought out to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth.

I enjoyed the commemorative programme for the Coronation of King Charles. Lots of interesting historical pieces in there but then I am a fan of historical works, fiction and non-fiction.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is the only novel that has ever made me change my mind about a real historical figure – in this case Richard III. It’s a short volume. The narrative is based on a detective confined to hospital and he does a “theoretical investigation”. Well worth checking out. Triggered my reading more about Richard III too.

Commemorative reading places you in time and can act as research material. I can use this for inventing characters for my own stories. I can set them against a particular time period and have some of the reading material to hand to help me flesh out details my readers would need to know.

Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 20-48-47 Commemorative Reading

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Review – Spring Trio – The Chameleon Theatre Group

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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. A huge thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Group for sharing their pictures for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week.
Hope you have had a good week. Am looking forward to watching the Coronation on 6th May. I discuss below how pictures, including those of crowd scenes, can be used to inspire ideas for stories. I expect some tales may well emerge from this weekend’s events! Hope you find the tips useful.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It is a real joy to share Review – Spring Trio – The Chameleon Theatre Group as my Chandler’s Ford Today post for this week. My lovely editor, Janet Williams, and I went to see the trio of plays just over a week ago and were thoroughly entertained by the mixture of comedy and drama on offer. This is one of the pleasures of live theatre – you get to see some real gems. I also look at twists in this post as these came up a lot in these plays. Hope you enjoy the flavour of the evening I’ve shared here. It was lovely to write it!

Review: Spring Trio – The Chameleon Theatre Group

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Had a nice surprise today in that I was given a nice plug on Write On, Rosemary Johnson’s blog. Rosemary and I know each other though the Association of Christian Writers but this plug came out of the blue. Thanks, Rosemary. Am so glad the writing prompts are proving useful.

I use prompts all the time (and have contributed to some books of prompts published by Bridge House Publishing) and find them to be a great way to trigger story ideas. Occasionally I’ve used things like the random question or theme generator to trigger an idea for a blog post.

What I do find pays is mixing up the type I use. It keeps me on my toes (never a bad thing that!) and it makes you think in different ways too. When I took part in Flash NANO last year, one prompt I’d not tried before was writing a story in the form of a police report. What happened? I had great fun writing the story and it ended up being broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Three Minutes Santas show on North Manchester FM last December. I call that a win!

Screenshot 2023-05-05 at 20-09-42 Inspiration When Working on a Story

It has been a gloriously sunny day here today. Lady and I appreciated it. Lady appreciated playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal too. Good time had by all.

Looking forward to sharing my review of Spring Trio on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Always enjoy seeing The Chameleon Theatre Group at work. Like the mixture of comedies and dramas. More on Friday. See above.

Talking of reviews, don’t forget these help authors so if there is a book you’ve loved, do drop a quick line to say so in the usual places.

Had a nice surprise yesterday. I receive the Bridge House Publishing newsletter and in that is a link to CafeLit. I discovered my story, Untaken, was the fourth most read on CafeLit in April. Well done to those above and below me here! Very nice viewing figures. That was lovely to know so many thanks, #GillJames, for sharing that.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Starting Conversation. The Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group may well recognise this as my response to a prompt I set them recently! A huge thank you also for the wonderful comments coming in on this tale already.
Screenshot 2023-05-05 at 10-07-28 Starting Conversation by Allison Symes

One kind of prompt I should try and use more often is the picture one. You can do this with objects and put them in a story. You can also use pictures of landscapes and wonder who would live there. Crowd scenes are good too as you can pick an individual out to base your character on and then write about them or write a story about why the crowd are gathered. (I suspect there may be Coronation stories coming up here!).

You can use your own photos too and set your character in the scene they show. What would your character be doing? What are they trying to achieve? Is the scene they’re in a help or a hindrance? Two characters could see a scene in opposite ways. What conflict could that lead to and how is is resolved?

May be an image of text that says "There's nothing to stop you taking a prompt and putting your own spin on it to generate still more story or article ideas."

Looking forward to giving a flash fiction workshop in a couple of weeks time to a writing group. Always fun to do! And it’s another example of Zoom making things possible. Where transport/distance means in person isn’t viable, Zoom is the answer! I’ve loved the fact that this has got me back into using PowerPoint again. I hadn’t used it in years until Zoom transformed things here. Given PowerPoint and bullet points go hand in hand, it’s ideal for flash. Well, I’ve got to write to a short word count, yes?

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Fairytales with Bite – Job Hunting

How do your characters find jobs in your magical setting? Or it is literally a question of stepping into a dead fairy godmother’s shoes here? Not even fairy godmothers go on for ever (magical accidents and dragons can happen to the best of them) so I assume your setting would allow for training to happen to bring up the next generation. Would employment automatically follow that training?

For other roles, consider who else might work in a training establishment. Someone would need to cook, clean, prepare magical ingredients etc. How would these people get their work? Is it a question of who you know here?

For the non-magical beings in your story, what work would they do? How easy or otherwise would it be for them to find gainful employment?

Equally is your character being hunted for a job they really don’t want to do? Can they get out of it? If not, how do they manage?
Story idea potential there I think. (This is where we can use our knowledge of the working world to flesh out our story world and that can be useful. Dreadful bosses/colleagues can occur in fiction as well as in life – as can good ones).

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This World and Others – Employment Types

What kind of employment can your world offer your characters? Is it similar to what we have here or something specific that could only happen in your setting? What kind of tools/equipment /technology would your characters be expected to be able to use? What are these things for? And are jobs allocated on merit or on status?

So could there be a character who would love to do Job X but knows they can’t because they’re from a certain social class which never does a job like that. Could they be the one to break the mould here?

Is employment divided between, say, magical and non-magical or is it just down to the job itself? For the latter, you could have, say, clerks working for the government who do have magical skills and those who do not. How would they get on? Would the magical abilities come in useful at work at all and that is why they are employed here? Do the non-magical lot have special qualities/skills which compensate here and are useful in another way?

What would count as manual labour? What would be considered “high end” employment? Do employment types change over time? (Not much call for abacus makers in our day and age, for example. Technology changes employment so much).

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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The Writing Life and The First Day

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated, many created via Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Another wet week of “walkie” sessions with the dog since I last posted. She dries off quicker than I do! Starting to spot spring bulbs sending shoots up though, which is lovely.

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Last Tuesday, Lady and I, by the end of the day, looked like bedraggled rats. This Tuesday we’re looking more like mildly moist mice! I guess we’re heading the right way.

Have booked my train ticket for the workshop I’m going to be running later this month. Really looking forward to doing that. I love going to workshops too and alway learn so much from them. Looking forward to booking my train tickets for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later on in the year too.

Part of my reading “diet” includes the writing magazines because, as well as competitions I might enter, I find out more about the industry and that is always worth doing. And you never know when a bit of advice which isn’t useful to you right now proves to be very helpful indeed later on in your writing journey. It happens. It has happened to me a number of times.

May be an image of text that says "WHAT'S NEXT Good question! One thing I've learned 1S the writing journey is a continual one."

Hope you had a good day. Lady got to play with her two best girlfriends today and we didn’t get soaked so both of us considered that to be a win! Looking forward to running a flash workshop later this month. I do set exercises as part of my workshops and the advantage of these is they help illustrate the points being made. Also later you can finish these off at home and I hope go on to submit them somewhere.

People do take different approaches to the same theme. I discovered how true this was when I was one of the winners three years in a row for the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition. We all had to write to the same theme and word count yet 15 different winning authors took very different approaches to the topic set. That was enlightening for me! It was also encouraging because a good theme, open to interpretation, should spark off plenty of ideas.

May be an image of ‎text that says "‎زایS I've found writing exercises incredibly useful for recharging my stock of story ideas.‎"‎

Lady and I got a bit of a soaking earlier – she dries quicker than I do! I’ll be looking at some Writing Pitfalls for my next Chandler’s Ford Today post – link up on Friday. Am also looking forward to taking part in another author’s blog – more details nearer the time as it is not until March but it is good to be in early!

Have also got a smashing interview lined up with a writer friend of mine showing publication can happen at any age. Really looking forward to sharing that. I do think it is one of the lovely things about writing – there is no retirement age. You can start writing at whatever age and publication can and does happen at any age. More on that nearer the time as well. Have been catching up with some blogging posts to appear later in the month as well.

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Today has been more hectic than I’d have liked but I appreciate my time at the writing desk even more on days like these. Writing gives me time to be creative, to forget the other worries, and to invent characters and situations. On tiring days. I particularly like to get lots of “little bits” done such as finishing off a blog post, finding suitable pics for it and so on. On days when I’ve got more time, that’s when I get the word count up significantly.

I find you do have to go with the flow and everyone has days when the flow is slow or has been temporarily dammed. It helps to focus on the word “temporarily” here. There will be better writing days. Sticking with writing and accepting some days are worse than others in terms of what you get done is an underrated attribute but one I think all writers need to develop.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Looking forward to running my first flash fiction workshop of the year later on this month and to meeting up again with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group not long after that. I often prepare PowerPoint presentations for the latter. It’s funny how I hadn’t used PowerPoint in years but with the growth in the use of Zoom, it has come into its own again. Good fun to do and easy to share if you want to do so.

I believe the growth in flash fiction has come about as a result of people reading more on screens – the very short form of writing is ideal for this. Flash may be short but it needs as much crafting and editing as any other form of writing – loads in other words! This is why I’ll get a story down, rest it, go and write some more tales, then come back to the first one.

Then and only then can I see how I can make it better and there is always room for improving a tale. What can be tricky sometimes is working out when enough is enough on the editing. At some point you have to let your story “out there” and see how it does. This is where deadlines are handy. They make you do this!

BookBrushImage-2023-1-10-20-5043It’s Monday. It’s still dark far too early out there. It’s cold. It’s been a tough, busy day. It’s Monday. And it’s time for my YouTube story. My latest is called Friends. Hope you enjoy it. (Short and sweet this one).

 

Hope you have had a good day. How easy do you find coming up with titles for your flash pieces? I use a variety of ways for this. I use random generators as those can often spark title ideas. I use proverbs sometimes directly as a title, sometimes as inspiration for a title (especially if I want to “subvert” a common phrase as I did with my story Punish The Innocent). I like to keep my titles relatively short (though there are always exceptions to any rule. It is just that most of the time shorter titles are easier to recall).

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Many thanks, everyone, for the lovely comments coming in on my first story for 2023 for Friday Flash Fiction, The First Day. It was nice to start with New Year with a feel good tale. Looking forward to my “flash fiction Sunday” tomorrow which is when I get a lot of flash written.
Screenshot 2023-01-06 at 09-18-42 The First Day by Allison Symes

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Blurbs

I must admit it is the book cover which draws me to a book (whether it is online or via a bookshop unless I know of the author. Know I like their work, can’t wait to snap up the next they bring out etc). But after that it is the book blurb which draws me into buying the book or leaving it on the shelf. I like something crisp and snappy to lure me in but they’re not the easiest things to write. You can be sure what you see on the book is the result of several drafts!

But the end result is usually well worth it. Every writer needs to be able to sum up their book in a line (as it gives you something to tell people without going on for too long – and that is an art still).

Sometimes I’ve come across quizzes and the like where you have to guess the book from the blurb that’s been given to you and that can be fun.

As a flash fiction writer having to stick to a tight word count, I guess I may have an advantage here. Writing tight can help you produce those blurbs or at least be less nervous of coming up with something short and snappy.

Screenshot 2023-01-07 at 20-42-44 Book Blurbs

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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Favourites

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. For my CFT post this week, one photo was also taken by me and another is a family heirloom shot. Hope you have had a good week. Not bad here. Busy week on the blogging front and I’ve two stories to share here. Hope you enjoy.

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

It has been a busy week on the blogging front (and a huge thank you for the lovely comments coming in yesterday on my More than Writers piece – see below). Tonight though it is time for my weekly spot on Chandler’s Ford Today and this time I look at Favourites.

My piece last week on Looking Back was a reflective one following the Queen’s death but I thought it would be nice to have a kind of follow on post which was lighter in tone.

Favourites takes a cheery stroll down Memory Lane and I share some thoughts on favourite sweets, books, music etc. Do join in with your comments too. Hope you enjoy the post.

Favourites

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29th September – More than Writers

It’s my turn on the More than Writers, the Association of Christian Writers blog spot. This time I talk about Season of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness – definitely apt for the time of year! – and apply it to the writing life. Hope you enjoy it and find it encouraging.

Hope you have had a good Wednesday. Busy, busy, busy this week as getting ready for a family do at the weekend. Lady loves these and will be spoiled rotten. That may have some connection as to why she loves family events…

Was sorry to hear of the death of Brother Andrew of Open Doors fame (an organisation which helps persecuted Christians. It is a sad truism if you have one group of persecuted people, there will be others being persecuted too. It saddens me a lot that we are still having the debate on religious freedom in this day and age – it should be a “given” and yes that includes the right not to believe. It should be a conscience issue).

Moving on to writing matters, I’ve set my monthly challenge for Mom’s Favourite Reads for the November issue and the October edition will be out very soon. I’ll also be sending out my author newsletter on Saturday. Am finishing the final touches for that one. I tend to add bits and pieces throughout the month. It helps!

May be an image of ‎text that says "‎When I've quizzed my characters enough, I write their stories up. An outline is a necessity for me. 10 - اهاهاا‎"‎

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday and that must mean it is time for another story on Friday Flash Fiction.

This one is called Going Home and was inspired by a picture prompt I used when setting exercises for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group last week. Hope you enjoy the tale and would you do what my character is here? Do check out the other fabulous stories on this site. It is a great read and lovely way to have a good “fix” of contemporary flash fiction.

Screenshot 2022-09-30 at 09-25-38 Coming Home by Allison Symes

Many thanks to the lovely people at Elgin Writers for making me so welcome at last night’s flash fiction workshop on Zoom. It was great to meet you and and glad you found the workshop useful.

Another aspect to flash fiction writing is many of the techniques used for it will help you with other forms of writing. For example, you learn to think laterally to make the most of your word count and to write “tightly”.

You can apply that across the board. No more wasted words. No more descriptions which add little of value to your story and the characters. Learning to write with your Ideal Reader in mind and thinking about the impact of your story from the first word. All good stuff here.

May be an image of text that says "WHAT'S YOUR The short form -standard or flash -is is excellent for improving writing skills."

Flash has done so much for me from being published to tightening up my writing (and I am sure that has led to the being published scenario!). It is fun, great for when you don’t have huge amounts of time to write (because it means you can write something).

It has done wonders for my appreciation of good characterisation too. It is my belief every writer can benefit from practicing flash writing and is something I often cover in my workshops.

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Rivals

Sparks should fly between magical rivals but how can they stop their magic from destroying themselves given they will face the problem of the other being capable of matching their “firepower”? It is why they’re rivals after all.

What do they use instead of magic to get the upper hand? How to those around them cope with the rivalry and what are the consequences of it for their followers and opponents?

How do those higher up from them deal with these rivals or do the latter take care to ensure they don’t trouble the authorities? The latter would be wise but actions have reactions and consequences which can often spread wider than intended. Could there be any circumstances where the rivals are forced to work together?

Story ideas can also come from exploring what led to the rivalry in the first place. Also whether any of them want the rivalry to end (for reasons of regret at the outcomes of it? Wanting friendship instead?). Even where the rivals themselves are happy to keep things going, are there others determined to put a stop to it and how do they do it?

You could also look at how things develop when rivals do become friends instead. Not everyone would welcome the change. (Who could be exploiting the rivalry to their own ends here and have vested interests in seeing it continue?).

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This World and Others – Growing Seasons

How does your fictional world produce its food and are the growing seasons like ours on Earth? If not, why are theirs different and what do they have in the way of light and water for their agriculture? Do your main species grow food or is that the work of robots etc?

Thinking more laterally, we all have seasons in life where we “grow”. We learn a lot, often through hardships etc. Can you explore that idea for your characters? What is it they have had to learn the hard way?

Naturally a growing season also indicates there has to be a dormant one so again look at your characters. What periods of their lives would they consider to be dormant and why? What brought them out of that?

Growth does indicate effort – how much effort do your characters like to contribute? (Not everyone is keen on huge efforts after all, especially if there is no obvious or quick reward for it!).).

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The Writing Life, Schedules, and Fact or Fiction

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. The autumnal weather has really set in here in the UK. I look ahead this time to a flash fiction workshop I’m running, discuss the writing life, including when work is turned down, and ask if you like fact or fiction or both.

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Facebook – General

Am looking forward to running a flash fiction workshop for Elgin Writers via Zoom tomorrow night.

As well as my Chandler’s Ford Today post coming up on Friday, I’ll also be blogging for More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. Link to that is due to go up on Thursday. I’ll be looking at Seasons of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness for that one and the impact of this on writers.

For the various blogs I write for, I work out a writing schedule so I draft my pieces in good time. Again, as with my fiction, I give myself enough time to edit properly before submitting the posts. It pays to do that. Often I have had useful additional ideas to strengthen a piece on having another look through my original draft.

You have to give your imagination time to work. And imagination still comes into play with non-fiction writing, even if it is a case of asking myself have I presented the information in the best way possible? Sometimes changing a bit of the running order can help something I’ve said stand out more so creativity I think comes into play there.

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Hope you have had a good start to the working week. Strange weather here today – sunny, blustery, windy, cold – a right old mix. Not that Lady cared. She got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today so she (and her pal) were happy.

For Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I’m looking at the topic of Favourites. I wanted, after a rightly more thoughtful piece last week, to show that reflection can have its positive side too. I enjoyed my trip down Memory Lane for this week’s post and hope you do too as I look at favourite books, films, sweets etc. As ever comments are very welcome in the CFT box. Link up on Friday.

Heard today my flash story didn’t make it on to the listings for The Bridport Prize. At some point, I’ll take another look at my entry, see what I can do to improve it, and submit it somewhere else. I’ve mentioned before I have gone on to have work published doing this.

Rejection doesn’t have to be the final word. It can be the chance to polish a piece of work up and try it out there in the big bad world once more. (Incidentally I’m sure I’ve heard later than usual for this – I hope that means something positive!).

I have found you get more used to this kind of thing and that helps. It is all part and parcel of the writing life. Having been on the other side of the judging rostrum, I know it isn’t easy for judges to make their selections. And that’s how it should be. The stories should be as good as possible.

And there is nothing to stop you submitting the piece elsewhere. Another judge may think differently about your work but do take the chance to review your story before sending it out again. I’ve found ways of strengthening a piece when I’ve done this and I’m sure that is what has led to the story then going on to be accepted elsewhere.

 

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Good For Something, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Feedback is very welcome and the support from the writing community on this website is great. Do check it out.

Every writer needs some sort of affirmation that their writing is hitting the right note with readers. We know we’re not going to please all of the people all of the time. Nobody does that. What we’re after is knowing we are pleasing someone! So it is a joy to receive feedback and I enjoy giving feedback too.

There is nobody like another writer who will understand the ups and downs of the writing life. Added reason to go to writing groups, courses etc and meet up with other writers. I’ve made many friends this way (bless you, all!) and I hope to continue making other writer pals along my own writing journey.

Screenshot 2022-09-23 at 08-55-01 Good For Something by Allison Symes

Today would have been the 62nd wedding anniversary of my parents. Do you use special dates in your fiction at all?

I’ve sometimes written stories involving a birthday. I ought to try and do more with anniversaries as that can cover all manner of things – weddings obviously but also the anniversary of when you met someone special, a historical event and so on.

Also your characters can give a date meaning so stories could be found from exploring that meaning and whether your character treasures it or dreads it but can’t avoid it.

You can also use a a date as a deadline for your characters and put time pressure on them. Okay not so dramatic as a countdown in minutes but you could give them less than 24 hours to achieve something.

You could also think about something that makes a date special for you but would have not meaning to anyone else and try the same kind of thing with your characters. The date can be their driving force to do something because…. Fill in the blanks!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day. Lady and I got a bit of a soaking (I say bit because it could have been worse!) earlier. Not that she worries – one good shake off her coat and she’s done (according to her anyway!).

Looking forward to giving my flash fiction workshop to Elgin Writers via Zoom tomorrow night. I often read a couple of my flash tales as part of things like this. The best way to show what flash is, and can be capable of doing in terms of impact on a reader, is to read some.

Often when I am at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, it take the opportunity of picking up flash collections there to add to my own reading list. Love reading them and I learn a lot from them myself.

You do need to read widely but I would also say you need to read in your genre as well as out of it. Best of all, it’s fun and I find doing this inspiriting. There is never a time when being inspired is ever a bad idea (at least not when it comes to reading books and stories!).

 

It’s Monday. It’s been a blustery day weather wise. It’s getting darker earlier. We haven’t even turned the clocks back yet here in the UK. Definitely time for a story and here is my latest on YouTube. Hope you enjoy Glad to Get Away. Members of the ACW Flash Fiction Group may recognize this as this tale is based on an exercise I set last week based on the closing line.

 

One of the joys of leading the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group is setting exercises. Usually I prepare my “answers” in advance to give an example of what can be done with the topic I’ve been talking about. I’ve found having examples has helped me a lot when someone has set a writing exercise for me. It gives you a kind of rough route map and I’ve always found that useful. I then get on with a draft knowing I am heading in the right kind of direction. I don’t want to be “way out” on this.

This time I did something different (and it will certainly be something I will do again). This time I set the exercises but didn’t prepare my answers. I wrote “live” when the others at the group did so we all had rough drafts to take with us and work up into something. So I have a few drafts to work on which will be fun to do.

Time away

Don’t forget I issue an author newsletter on the first of the month where I share tips (many of them as relevant to flash fiction as to standard length short stories), links to my flash stories, and so on. If you’d like to sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com – would be glad to have you aboard!

Just occasionally when I set an opening line writing exercise or respond to one, I come up with a line which makes a story all by itself. Those are great for sharing on Twitter. Sometimes I go on to extend the story out but it is lovely to have the choice here.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Fact or Fiction?

A good book is a good book regardless of whether it is factual or not. I was late to the party when it comes to reading non-fiction but I am glad I’ve discovered the form, I’m also fond of those stories which are based on truth – historical fiction is wonderful for this. I was sorry to hear of the death of Dame Hilary Mantel. I loved Wolf Hall.

The best non-fiction books often read as if they could be a novel (and this is where creative non-fiction is a genre I definitely want to read more of). The irony here though is that fiction can share truths which non-fiction cannot because those truths can’t be “scientifically” verified.

I love it when a character “rings true” and I can put myself in their stead and think yes I would’ve done that too. Of course you sometimes come across a character where you almost want to shout at them “don’t do that”. That’s the fun of fiction though! You can get behind the characters. You don’t necessarily need to agree with all they say and do.

The best non-fiction will show you aspects of a historical character you might not have considered before. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is fiction but it is a rare example, for me, of doing just that for Richard III.

Screenshot 2022-09-27 at 21-08-13 Fact or Fiction

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