Tag: flash fiction

Fairytales and Pantomime

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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 Richard Hardie for the publicity shot of me at the Book Fair last summer.
Hope the last few days have been okay for you. Weather settling down a bit more. Busy week with the ACW Flash Fiction Group and a pantomime on my agenda this week but both were lots of fun – oh yes, they were! Lady has been playing with her two best buddies so she has had a lovely time and made more friends at my Slimming World group. I don’t normally take her with me for that but circumstances dictated I had to do this for this week and she loved being fussed over. I put a thank you post on our SW timeline and it had over 110 views! Think Lady has a new fan club…

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Fairytales and Pantomime, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at why fairytales do make for wonderful pantomime material and why fairytales and pantomime help to keep each other relevant and in people’s memories. I think that matters.

I also look at why pantomime can encourage a life long love of theatre. Nothing to dislike there! Hope you enjoy the post. This is a lead in to my review of Sleeping Beauty performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. Am looking forward to sharing that next week.

Fairytales and Pantomime

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Early post as am off to the pantomime tonight. Oh yes I am. No. There’s nothing behind me either! I am off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform Sleeping Beauty. Am expecting lots of laughs, excellent performances, and a great time to be had by all. Well, that is exactly what happened for all of their other pantomimes so am not expecting differently tonight!

I hope to review the show for Chandler’s Ford Today next week but my post tomorrow will look at why Fairytales and Pantomime are such a great match up. Looking forward to sharing that one. See above.

Don’t forget my author newsletter goes out again next week. I know, I know. January, for once, has flown by and we are almost into February. This time as well as sharing my news and useful tips, I am also sharing a pdf which I hope will prove useful to the writers amongst my subscribers. Plenty of time to sign up. If you wish to do so, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

While on topic, I’d just like to say a big thank you for all who have signed up to my newsletter and a big hello and welcome to those who have signed up recently.

 

Hope you had a good day. Lady has. Got to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback friends. Me? Housework and going to the dentists! Having said that, dentist is reasonably happy with me (!) and I am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting later on. Zoom is a blessing and the meetings are always great fun.

Will be looking at Fairytales and Pantomime for Chandler’s Ford Today – link up on Friday. See above. I explore why fairytales are brilliant stories to adapt for pantomime. Am going to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform Sleeping Beauty on Thursday. Looking forward to that. Review to follow in due course.

Why do I love fairytales so much? Firstly, they are great stories. Secondly, the most unlikely characters often turn out to be the heroes and I have a very soft spot for that kind of thing. Thirdly, you just know the villains won’t get away with it (so unlike life, sadly). Fourthly, they were one of my first introductions to the wonderful world of stories as a whole. That alone is enough to make me love fairytales.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with If Only, a tale which shows the consequences of the Fairy Queen banning magic from being used in baking. Hope you enjoy the story. Many thanks to all who have commented on this one already.
Screenshot 2024-01-26 at 09-44-55 If Only by Allison SymesAm currently working my way through the excellent competitions guide and handbook which came with the current edition of Writing Magazine. I’ve set a goal to enter more flash and short story competitions this year and am sure this guide will be an enormous help. This is where setting myself some deadlines (and using my diary to help me stick to them) will be useful.

Writing Tip: I know this one isn’t always possible, life has a habit of throwing curve balls etc, but I have found it so useful to block out times in which I will write. Again I use a diary to help me with this. Sometimes that time is a short slot. Today’s slot (Thursday 25th January slot) is as I’m off to the pantomime (oh yes I am!) after dinner tonight so I’ve got about ninety minutes in which to get some writing done.

Knowing this was coming up, I’ve worked out what I can do in that time slot and am doing it. It helps. When life does get in the way – as it does and will – whatever I scheduled for myself to do, I just “rebook” on another day. I find booking myself writing time helps me stick to it and I do get more written. It is worth a go.

It is fine if you can only book fifteen minutes here, half an hour there etc. Pockets of time mount up and I find the smaller slots ideal for drafting some flash pieces to finish off later. I then book myself a longer slot to do that finishing work.

420089602_816851383788058_2462316315740363443_nAs well as flash fiction, I write short stories and have just submitted one coming in at the 2000 words mark – for me, that’s a huge tale! This story was fun to write because I had the word count room to expand my characterisation in a way that suited the tale. I know it has added depth to the story.

But this also reminds me why I love flash so much. The impact of a flash piece can be tremendous precisely because there are not so many words to deliver that in. Flash fiction, for me, is like snapshots – one moment in time. A short story can be two snapshots put together if you like – you can have a couple of moments in time.

Both are wonderful fiction forms and I hope to write more of both in 2024 than I did last year. Onwards and upwards!

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Fairytales with Bite – Spanners in the Works

Troublesome characters are great fun to write and to read. They are the ones who throw the spanners in the works but it is not always for evil reasons. Sometimes they can see the lead character is heading off in the wrong direction so they may cause trouble to make that character face up to this and make the right choices instead.

Maybe causing trouble is the only way to make the lead character face reality. So give some thought to your troublesome characters. Why are they causing trouble? How do your other characters respond to it? Are your troublesome characters being troublesome just because they can or because they have good motives to do so?

A good example here is Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. He was troublesome to put it mildly. Even when he helped the hobbits, it was from mixed motives. Yet he did help them (even if on Mount Doom, he hadn’t intended to do so).

Troublesome characters can add a great deal of tension to your story but there should be good reasons (even if only from the character’s viewpoint) for them being that way. Gollum really thought he was right to want the precious back. Okay he was wrong but he thought he was right. And you can use that kind of thing to portray a character causing trouble because they honestly believe it is the right thing to do.

It is then up to you to work out whether that is the case or not and, especially where not, what your lead will do to overcome all those who cause trouble for them. After all, we wouldn’t want things to be too easy for our lead characters now, would we? The story is in overcoming the problems somehow.

BookBrushImage-2024-1-26-19-3721This World and Others – Problems

What problems do your characters face which are directly caused by your setting? Those problems can come from geography (dreadful terrain to have to journey across) to government dictatorship (not allowed to travel without a legal permit which would be a nuisance, to put it mildly, if your character has to go on a quest. Yes, they can ignore the requirement but at some point I would expect them to be challenged so they have to be prepared to deal with this somehow).

Think also about a character’s own problems. Do they have to overcome fears? Do they have to overcome family/friend objections? Are they going against what their society would expect them to do and, if so, what drives them to do this? There would have to be pressing reasons to do that. Nobody upsets the old apple cart without good cause.

Stories focus on problems and how characters overcome them. I find outlining my characters useful as I work out their traits and the negative/positive qualities coming from those. That will show me how well or otherwise said characters are likely to be at overcoming problems and often gives me good ideas for the problems I will make them face.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Editing Tips

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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. Image of me at the 2022 Bridge House Publishing event taken, I believe, by Lynn Clements on my phone. Many thanks! Also thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me at the editing workshop at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, back in August which I use in my CFT post. Always great having writing friends helping you out here!
Hope you have had a good week. Turning cold here. Time for thick jumpers, hot chocolate, and, when necessary, the heating goes on! Am making good progress on the Flash NANO challenges. So looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event (for the launches of Gifted and The Best of CafeLit 12) which is on 2nd December. Not long now! Will be so lovely to meet up with people face to face.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Editing Tips as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Hope you find it useful. I learned to stop fearing editing when I realised, on getting better at it, I was receiving more publication acceptances. There definitely is a link here!

I discuss editing on screen as well as on paper as part of this post and share what I think the purposes of editing are. It’s not about telling someone off for a typo, honest! Find out more here.

Editing Tips

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Am sharing my thoughts on editing in Editing Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. I take a broad overview at what I cover in my workshops on this topic which is one of those subjects which is always timely and useful. See above.

Looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event coming up soon and, on Zoom, getting together with fellow members of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group next week.

Have drafted some other flash tales which I hope to look at over the weekend. Have got ideas for homes for them too. But the break away from them is crucial for me to pick up on where I can do better. There is always room for improvement.

Sometimes it is a question of a phrase being fine but the odd tweak of a word here and there can make it better still. Is it as good as it can be? I also set myself a date when I will send a story off somewhere because I don’t want to procrastinate and at some point I need to test the market with it. You can over-edit. You can also not edit nearly enough. The battle is getting the happy medium right!

 

Hope you have had a good day. Getting colder (below freezing overnight at the weekend too. Still this is the joy of thick clothes and the lower calorie but still yummy Options hot chocolate!). Not that Lady minds the cold weather – she had a good run.

As you know, some of my stories have appeared in various anthologies over the years. The most recent is Gifted published by Bridge House Publishing. Now they have an excellent online bookshop called The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop. Why not check it out and get some ideas for Christmas presents?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am making good progress on Flash NANO 2023 and I plan to do today’s challenge later on. So far my word count is 6,908 excluding today. This averages out at 300 words a day.

I suspect by the end of the month I will probably end up with between 8000 and 9000 words written. That’s thirty new stories. Thirty stories I wouldn’t have written otherwise.

The nice thing with Flash NANO is even if you can’t do it all of it, you will still get some new stories drafted. And you can vary your word count for each day’s challenge as I’ve done. I’ve written the 100 worder right up to the 1000 maximum so far this time. Looking forward to having a go at the rest of the challenges too.

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

Hope you have had a good day.

One of the joys of a flash tale is ending on a “punchy” closing line. Love doing this. You can check out an example of mine in Reaching The End of the World in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. The title of the story intrigued me when it came to me and I just knew I had to do something with it. I also knew it called for a punchy ending so it got one!

The December issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out soon, as will my author newsletter. You can sign up for the latter at the landing page on my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

 

Am cracking on with Flash NANO 2023. Am enjoying the variety of prompts. I’ve had the odd one where I’ve needed the full 1000 words. Likewise, I’ve had the odd one which has come in at exactly 100 words. The rest have been between 200 and 500 words. It was the same last year but I have expected that given the latter is where I mainly write to, word count wise.

I hope to save some of the drafted stories for submissions. Others, I know, have got a lot of work still needed on them before I think of sending them anywhere but that is the nature of writing for you.

Feedback has been tremendous where I have shared either the draft story or a brief post about what I’ve done with the prompt. I’m enjoying reading the drafts by other authors on the Flash NANO Facebook page too. The sense of community is good and is the thing to keep you going with your own drafts or, at least, I’m finding that to be the case.

Support your fellow writers. It is (a) nice and (b) you will find support come back to you too. What goes around comes around and all that.

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Fairytales With Bite – Supplies

Does your magical world create/supply everything by magic or are there items it needs to create/manufacture/import another way?

My own thoughts here are that the use of magic is bound to drain the energy of those using it and there are disadvantages, as a result, to using it all the time. I also think naturally produced food would be bound to taste better than artificially produced food (and I would see magically produced food as artificial. I like the thought of things being grown organically. I am with Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings when it comes to “taters”, for example!).

So what does your setting do to get in supplies of what it needs to manufacture anything the “old school” way? Who would it trade with? What would it trade in exchange for those supplies?

Equally are other worlds around yours wary because of your world’s use of magic. To get any supplies in at all, does your world have to limit its use of magic to keep everyone else happy? How would the politics of this play out?

Who organises supplies? Who organises the suppliers? Is corruption a problem? Are certain sections of your society denied access to certain supplies or only get shoddier items? Again a political story could come into play here as characters seek to challenge that and change society for the better.

We all need the basic necessities of life. That goes for characters too and the supply issue could throw up some interesting story ideas.

The Lord of the Rings

This World and Others – How Much Do You Need to Know?

When it comes to setting up your world, you clearly need to know much more than the reader will. The reader only needs to know what is vital to making sense of your story and setting. But what is it you do need to know? Only you can know for sure.

I need to know character traits and what has led to my people (and other beings!) having these. There often is a cause and effect going on here. If your character hates poverty because that is how they spent their childhood, it would explain their attitudes towards being driven to gain money and it is then for you to decide if they work honestly to earn enough or they turn to less honest means to make ends meet.

But you will always need to know what makes your characters tick and why. It will have an impact on every aspect of your story because it will impact your characters’ attitudes and resulting actions. Those in turn will lead to consequences and increase the drama and tension in your tale.

But when it comes to how your world looks, what do you need to know? You need to know what kind of landscape your character is going to face if they’re going on any kind of journey. You need to know what the transport system is because that will dictate to your characters how they do get from A to B. You may not need to know every single bit of your world, just the area where your characters are and where they are likely to head.

You may not need to know the political system in great detail but your characters will be affected by whom is in charge overall because they could make life difficult or not for them. So who is in charge and what are their prevailing attitudes?

It really does pay for you to figure out what you need to know first. Once you’ve sorted that out, it makes an outline for your characters and plot easier to do because you have a rough idea at this stage of what your characters are likely to face.

You can then work out how they either overcome the challenges or find other ways of “getting around” them. If they’re likely to face, say, a hostile local government official, can they avoid having to deal with them by going another way if they’re on a journey, say? What impact would having to take a detour have on them and the story outcome? Or can they bypass the official by going above their head to someone more sympathetic?

I don’t outline every single thing because I want to give my imagination what I call manoeuvre room. I do plan the start and likely ending and major staging posts in between. Something has to happen at X before Y can happen. I then work out what that something is. I also know my characters well. I then have fun drafting the story knowing I have a rough road map. I find it reassuring. It also means I have a rough structure in place which will also help the story.

What do you need to know about your world setting

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Triggering Writing Ideas

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me at an editing workshop for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.
Hope you have had a good week. Lady has got to play with pals, get a soaking with yours truly, play with pals again, get another soaking – yes, one of those weeks. Pleased to say the editing workshop for the lovely people at Medway Mermaids went very well. Always enjoy running these workshops and it is good to know they are useful.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Post 2 of 2 from me tonight. Post 1 below. It’s a fact of life you can have days where there is lots going on and other days where there is nothing! Having said that, it is always fabulous to have plenty of news and posts to share.

Am pleased to share Triggering Writing Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s proved to be an apt topic given I talk on Gill James’ blog this week (see below for more) about how I took her theme of gifted for the Bridge House Publishing anthology of the same name and used it for my story in there. An idea was definitely triggered by someone else setting the theme. (This is another advantage to taking part in Flash NANO too).

Hope you enjoy the CFT post and find it useful.

Triggering Writing Ideas

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Bonus Post

Post 1 of 2 from me tonight. Many thanks to Gill James for hosting me on her blog to talk about my contribution, Desperately Seeking Talent, in the Bridge House Publishing anthology, Gifted, which is out and would make a great present for someone. Find out what I love about the short story form as well and why I took the theme of gifted the way I did with my tale. Link to blog here.

Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 10-06-01 Allison Symes talks to me today about her involvement in our Gifted anthology

My sport of choice is swimming. I go regularly and you get to spot other regulars there and start chatting usually as you come out of the pool. (One good thing about it being cold today was it did encourage me to get something of a move on in said pool!). Anyway, one of those regulars complimented me about being consistent and disciplined about my swimming. I find I have to be otherwise it would be too easy not to go, especially during the winter months.

But it occurred to me the need to be consistent is a good thing for writers too. It doesn’t matter what your routine is – writing daily, writing every other day or what have you. It is the regular turning up at your desk to get on and write which matters. It is the regularity of writing which will build up your stories, novels etc. I’ve found this to be the case and know I have submitted far more pieces than I might otherwise have done simply by being consistent. It’s an underrated quality I think.

And if you want some inspiration, I’ll be talking about Triggering Writing Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Great run around by both of them and a massive zoomies session to finish with. Lady came over and “flumped” down in front of me as if to say, ‘Mum, I’m done!’. Takes a lot to do that to a collie!

I’ll be looking at Triggering Writing Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at some of the methods I use here and hope the post will prove to be useful. See above.

Don’t forget the November issue of Writers’ Narrative is out. The theme is on Writing Novels this time and you can find the magazine at the link below. A perfect free read packed full of fabulous advice and interviews.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Maisie. Does Maisie the dog know better than her owner as the world falls apart around them? Find out here. I hope you enjoy the tale and a big thank you for the comments already coming in on this one.
Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 10-04-57 Maisie by Allison SymesGlad to report Hannah Kate is having her Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM again this year. Full details via link here. Do give it a go. It’s great fun.

Top Tip: When you’ve got your story ready, do record yourself on Zoom and play it back to yourself. You will pick up on things like characters stumbling over dialogue etc but also get your timing right. The stories need to be a maximum of three minutes long and I’ve found it so useful to use Zoom here as that will give you an exact timing.

Good luck! Yes, I’ll be having a go again at this myself this year and am looking forward to tackling Day 16 of Flash NANO later today.

Screenshot 2023-11-16 at 16-59-30 🎅 3 Minute Santas 2023 is Open for Submissions! 🎅

Looking forward to having a crack at today’s Flash NANO challenge later on. I have to cut something already drafted in half. I’ve done this kind of exercise before. It’s a great discipline and takes longer than you think too. This time I have to add a specified object in. That will be fun. The object in question, well let’s just say I’m going to have to find a legitimate way of working it in! It wasn’t an “obvious” object but I did work the thing into my story legitimately.

I have used objects in stories before as one kind of exercise and cut a story in half as another but this will be the first time I’ve combined these two.

If I had to nominate a favourite writing exercise, it is the opening line one. Why? Because I can work out what possibilities could come from what has been set and a character to suit it.

I then go for what I like best. It is always the one that has the most impact on me whether it makes me laugh or cry or what have you. I figure if I react like that, readers will too. It is always a good sign when you remember the impact a story has on you.

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Fairytales with Bite – Laughter

In your magical world, is there much in the way of laughter? Do magical students give their teachers many a laugh when getting things wrong as they develop their skills? And that’s just to name one example. I can easily visualise this happening. (The Harry Potter series touches on this too, especially with Ron Weasley and his wand held together with Spellotape).

Does your setting encourage its inhabitants to laugh? Are communities made up of a wide mix of species type or do the different magical types not mix at all? Where folk really don’t get on, the latter is probably the best solution, but a better one is where they do mix and they live and laugh together.

Equally is this something your characters do get on with even though the powers that be may not entirely approve?

Laughter can be a great bridge builder and comedy the source of that laughter so how does this play out in your setting? Laughter can bring about understanding.

Is there one species type that is better at producing laughter than the others? Is this a talent or is it a case everyone else laughs at them and how do they handle that? Laughter makers can also be bridge builders. How could this be put to good effect in your stories?

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This World and Others – Sources of Information

We live in an age where sources of information have never been so readily available. If you don’t know where to find something of this nature, a quick search of the internet is likely to throw up ideas as to where you can find out what you need to know. Plus there are always the reference libraries and museums often have their own libraries. I’ve spent time at a lovely steam railway exhibition looking at their displays and then having a good read in their archives.

So in your world setting, what sources of information exist? Is there an equivalent of the web? Are there papers, media etc and do these operate freely or are they limited in what they can share with the general populace?

Also how well educated are your characters because that will make a huge difference to what they can access even if there are no other restrictions? Who publishes papers and periodicals and where do they get their information from?

Think back to the history of your setting as well. What does everyone “know” (or more accurately think they know) about it? What information in archives backs this up or challenges the accepted view (hence it was archived and kept out of sight!)?

What information would your characters need to make to fulfil their stories?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

WN publicity shot - November 23 mag

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Question Time, A Birthday, and Flash NANO progress

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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. Photo of Lady taken by Adrian Symes. This is Lady’s natural chilled out look!
Hope you had a good weekend. One positive thing about the rain was it did reduce the number of fireworks – Lady and I are not sorry about that. Also Lady had her birthday and she prefers NOT to celebrate with fireworks. Extra treats go down a treat, so to speak!

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Facebook – General

Glad to say today has been a better day. Sunshine nice too.

Don’t forget the November issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is about writing novels and I discuss (on Page 58) what I learned from writing mine. Mine is still unpublished. I hope to return to it at some point. Writing flash has taught me so much about editing and sharpening prose so I am sure I can apply those skills to the novel. As ever, the magazine is packed full of useful information. Do check it out.

Meanwhile I am making good progress with Flash NANO 2023 and look forward to tackling today’s challenge a bit later on. Such a great way to get more flash tales written.

 

Not a great start to my week – it has been one of those Mondays. Lady had the better time of it running around with her best mate, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, this morning. Still, Monday is only one day of the week, thankfully.

Had a fabulous writing session yesterday. Drafted a few flash pieces. The one from the Flash NANO prompt I then submitted to CafeLit. Will report back on what happens with that. Will be sharing my YouTube video over on my book page on Facebook shortly. See below. And I managed to submit something to Friday Flash Fiction too.

I do find writing amazingly therapeutic at times. My session tonight will help me unwind and relax as well as help me be creative. That is good for the soul and creative mind, I find. Hope you find that too. To do something creative and switch off the cares of the day is a good thing.

399885770_766323215507542_5265065045265636181_nNice to see some sunshine. Lady appreciated it too.

Knew this would happen but it never fails to make me smile. Amazon have kindly informed me today I might be interested in Gifted (Bridge House Publishing) when they know I have a story in there!

How do they know? Because they do update my Amazon Author Central page quickly when I let them know I’ve got work out in an anthology and I have to state my contribution to it. (I usually give them story title, page number etc as well as it makes it quicker for them to find me). They are very good on sorting this out for me (see screenshot below). As with the last one, The Best of CafeLit 12, they updated my page within a couple of hours which is all very commendable.

So yes, Amazon, I am interested in Gifted! I’m interested in all of the books on my Amazon Author Central page!

Screenshot 2023-11-05 at 15-09-47 Allison Symes
It’s Lady’s 7th birthday today. We can’t believe where the time has gone either. Lady is the only one of the three rescue collies we’ve had where we do know her birthday as it was on the Dogs Trust paperwork given to us when we adopted her. She enjoyed her usual muddy afternoon walk with my other half today. Downside? Lady has to have a bath. Plus side? Lady doesn’t mind baths. She also sees being towelled down as a chance for a cuddle and she dries quickly. Unlike us I should add!

On to writing matters, am thoroughly enjoying the Flash NANO challenges so far. Will have a crack at today’s one later on. So far, the prompts are not the kind I have come across before either and I relish that. Keeps me on my toes and all that.

I will be looking at The Importance of Remembering for Chandler’s Ford Today next week.

There are a number of flash pieces I want to draft for online websites and competitions so will crack on with those too though this is where Flash NANO comes in so useful. Last year, I was able to use some of the pieces I drafted for this later on, once edited and strengthened of course, and one ended up being broadcast on North Manchester FM on the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate. Would love to do that again – nothing ventured, nothing gained after all!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am enjoying Flash NANO 2023 so much. Great to read the stories people share here. Feedback is always useful. Am varying the word count on mine. My lowest so far is just over 100 words, the highest to date is close to 400 words but this is the flash range where I feel most at home so am not surprised by this.

I write to the story/character demands and worry about the word count later. When writing for, say, Friday Flash Fiction, when I know I will want to write to 100 words, I work out the character and situation which will inevitably be a short sharp piece. What would work best for this?

I always end up writing over 100 words to begin with but the editing process is where I find better ways of phrasing things. It’s amazing what just doing that can do to your word count!

399329835_766882848784912_6869709463164798539_nIt’s Monday. It’s been stressful. I get Mondays like that every now and then. So definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Question Time. This one is based on a question from a random question generator – what was the best compliment you’ve ever received? I’ve got my character to answer that one. Find out what she says and, more importantly, what she does here.

 

Finding the Pet Classics show on Classic FM very soothing. It helps Lady too. Please, folks, if you do go for fireworks, why not go for the no noise ones? You can get these from Asda now and you won’t upset wildlife, pets etc. It is really the colour and spectacle which is the “thing” with fireworks. Or it always was with me when I was a kid anyway. Oh and the jacket potatoes of course. Can’t go wrong with those!

I must admit the only kind of flashes I really like these days are the ones I write myself or read on Friday Flash Fiction, in collections etc. And if I choose to write a scary flash, as I occasionally do, I know my dog isn’t going to be worried by it!

Talking of flashes, many thanks for the comments coming in on Manners Maketh The Fairy. Link here if you missed the story.
Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 10-14-06 Manners Maketh The Fairy by Allison SymesHope you have had a good day. Am enjoying listening to the special pet friendly show on Classic FM at the moment. Lady is busy squeaking her ball (on her 7th birthday) so is clearly not fazed by anything!

One of the things I love about flash (and there are many as you know) is I can’t get bogged down in too much description. There are advantages to having a limited word count! What I want description to do, in whatever I read, is give me a sense of place and why it matters to the story. If it matters, I will read on because I will want to find out how it matters.

If I think description is just waffle, I will skip reading it and jump to where the action is but more likely I will just stop reading. Everything about a story, regardless of its length, has to be there for a good reason. When it is, I read every single word!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Reading

I love reading for many reasons but I can’t deny a big reason is books and stories are so often a comfort read, especially in times when the news is unremittingly grim. Even when reading crime novels, there can be the comfort of knowing the murderer is not going to get away with it. Justice will be served in some form.

I’ve mentioned before I tend to turn to humorous writing for comfort reading – Pratchett and Wodehouse especially. When I don’t feel like reading anything “heavy”, I will also turn to the flash fiction and short story collections. For the latter, it is also a case for me of reading in the field I’m working in so win-win there.

While I don’t read much in the way of romance fiction, I do understand its appeal. Why shouldn’t people have the comfort of a happy ever after/happy for now ending? (I understand the latter by the way but much prefer the former but then I’ve always loved the fairytales!).

So what would you class as comfort reading? Is is a particular author, book, or type of book, or just the act of reading in and of itself?

Screenshot 2023-11-04 at 20-07-06 Comfort Reading

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Random Generators and Story Moods

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It is shaping up to be a good week in that I will be running the Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom for the Association of Christian Writers on Wednesday, which is always fun. The exchange of news is useful to us all too. No one writer can know it all which is why it is important to network, whether it is in person or online or both. I’ve been very grateful for lots of useful information I’ve picked up this way over the years.

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Facebook – General

Looking forward to the Flash Fiction Group meeting (Association of Christian Writers) tomorrow. Always great fun. Will be looking at marketing flash fiction, always a handy topic. Also looking forward to chatting to Swanwick friends on Zoom at the weekend. That’s always great fun too. Ah, the joys of Zoom!

For non-fiction, what draws you in? For me, the topic has to grip immediately and my go-to here is history based. I then pick a book based on the period it is covering. If it is one of my favourite periods (World War Two, the Wars of the Roses, the Elizabethan era (the first one!), then I’ll check out the blurb and if I still like it, it gets bought. Most of my non-fiction books are on Kindle and there can be some great offers here.

For fiction, I turn to crime (make of that what you will!), historical fiction, fantasy and I like a mix of novels and short story and flash collections. I make a point of ensuring I enjoy 99.9% of what I read. Life’s too short to do otherwise!

When writing my own fiction, I focus on getting my characters right (as that, I find, also helps get the plot right) and I want there to be something intriguing about them that will make readers want to find out more.

Lady had a great start to her week as she got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals. Temperature is up and down at the moment. Have just got used to “layering up” as it had turned cold only to find the temperature has shot up again.

Writing Tip: Editing always takes longer than you think so try to allow for that. This is why I take time off any official competition deadline and set my own date by which I have to send something in. It means I have a safety net here should I need it.

My personal deadline date is set at least a week before the official one. I plan when I will have my first draft done by. I also then plan when I will edit said first draft so by the time I reach my deadline all editing is done and it is then a case of having a final check for typos, have I followed the rules to the letter and so on.

I use the good old fashioned A4 diaries you can get from the Post Office for my planning and it works for me. I have found in writing my plans down I am much more likely to get them done. I also journal a little bit in my diary too – makes things more interesting for me too.

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Weather calmer today, even seeing some autumn sun. Seasons can usefully be indicated in stories simply by what you get your characters to wear. You can also bring in colour to describe the clothing. It is unlikely a story set in my part of the world would have a character wearing a thick orange jumper in the height of summer. (If they are, there will be a reason for it and that will be explained by the story).

This can be an excellent short cut for descriptive passages and you can take it further. If that orange jumper is coupled with, say, a purple pair of trousers, I would want to know why a character would wear such a combination. Are they doing it for a laugh? Are they just outgoing and they show it through their clothing? Only one way I can find out and that’s to read the story. I would also want to know if these items had any bearing on the outcome of the story. (Would you turn up for a blind date wearing that combo? I know I wouldn’t!).

If I had a character wearing shorts, I would assume automatically the story has to be set in the summer. I would need the story to show why that wasn’t the case. But again I would then want to know why the character has chosen to wear shorts in a colder time of year – there will be a reason for it.

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Hope everyone is okay – weather ghastly.

Will be talking about Scene Setting for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Many thanks for the comments on Facebook about my interview with Jennifer C Wilson re The Joy of Writing Groups and Workshops.

Author newsletter will be out again soon. To sign up for tips, news, story links etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Working out what to read next on my Kindle given I’ve finished Churchill’s Wizards. Sometimes you can have too much choice! It’s a nice dilemma to have though.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to see some fabulous reviews coming in for The Best of CafeLit 12. My story, Jubilee, is in there. Do check out the reviews and the book at the link below.

It’s Monday. It’s getting darker earlier in the evenings and the UK hasn’t put the clocks back yet. Weather can’t make up its mind whether to be cold or mild. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is Away on Cloud Nine. Hope you enjoy it.

When I’m taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights and the like, I try to mix up the moods of the stories I’m reading. It’s a great way to showcase what flash can do and be. You usually have three to five minutes for your slot which is more than enough time to read a couple of stories.

I also practice what I’m going to read and good old Zoom helps me ensure I get my timings right. The record yourself and convert the file to an mp4 function is a great tool. Whenever I want to send something in which might be broadcast, I always use that facility. It’s the audio equivalent of not going over a set word count!

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As you know, I sometimes use random generators to help trigger story ideas. A great use for the random question one is to get your character to answer the question. It will show you more about them.

What makes you cry? I generated this question for this post and thought there are a few ideas here.

1. Get the character to answer the question directly.

2. Think about whether the character resolutely will not cry, whatever the circumstances, and what led to that. There will be a significant story there.

3. If something makes you cry, but would not do so for your character, give some thought as to why this is the case.Not quite the same thing as 2 above given some folk just won’t cry for good reasons. It is not their way to “vent”.

Cruelty, for example, can easily make me cry but if my character isn’t moved by it, I want to know why and what would trigger them being upset instead. There has to be something that would trigger tears, surely? If so, what would that be and why aren’t they upset by an “obvious” thing?

It could well be the character is so used to cruelty they have become blinded to it (which is tragic in itself). It would change how they react and interact with other characters too.

4. What makes someone cry (or refuse to do so) will shed some light on what motivates them and this will be useful for you as the writer to know.

Quizzing my characters

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Character Types

Stories are all about the characters for me. I like a good plot but if the characters don’t do anything for me, I won’t read on. I need to understand where the characters are coming from, even if I disagree with them. But if they don’t make me feel something, for me there is no point to the story.

Going on from that led me to think about favourite character types. I have some and these are:-

1. The underdog fighting back against the odds. Ranges from Cinderella to action heroes, this type!

2. Righters of wrongs. It’s why I am fond of crime novels. Favourite Poirot for me is Murder on the Orient Express. Favourite Marple for me is Nemesis. There is no question with either of these two that the murderer will get away with it. I like this a lot. I would also argue Elizabeth Bennet counts in this category when she puts down Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

3. The surprise character. This is where someone shows unexpected qualities or without whom the lead character could not succeed in their task. Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings is a great example of this given he shows unexpected courage.

4. The rough diamond character. Sam Vimes from the Discworld series is a prime example of this kind. Despite being a Duke, he’s never going to speak politely, he will fight crime and win. He is the type you want on your side in a fight! Sam Vimes is a cross between a righter of wrong and a rough diamond. Many characters can be more than one type.

Whatever the character type though, I do know I have to be gripped by them and I have to understand them for that to be able to happen.

Screenshot 2023-10-21 at 20-26-11 Favourite Character Types

The author's take on a character type brings the character to life

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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The Writing Community

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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 all is well with you. About to head off for a break in gorgeous Northumberland. Will be taking laptop with me. Have laptop, will travel, will write, and I suspect I’ll get some done via good old Evernote on the phone on the journey up there. I’ve taken to the idea of using pockets of time for writing, whether it is to brainstorm or draft a story or blog post. Those pockets mount up. Amazing what you can get done.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to be sharing The Writing Community on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. This is something so worth celebrating and something I deeply appreciate. It has added richness to my writing life and I have learned so much useful information too. It’s lovely being able to share some of that information back again. There are always new writers glad of this.

I share some useful website links (Society of Authors, Alliance of Independent Authors, Writer Beware, and Hampshire Writers’ Society). I also look at the usefulness of writing magazines which can help you feel part of a wider writing world and a few thoughts on online communities.

I do follow some on Facebook but deliberately don’t follow them all. (Not enough time basically but being selective about what you would like to give to a group as well as receive from it is a good idea anyway). Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

The Writing Community

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When did I realise I wanted to write? It has been in the background of my life for a long time. I always did love composition lessons at school but it didn’t occur to me for decades I might do something with this. It took a significant birthday and the birth of my son to make me realise if I wanted to see a book out there with my name on the front cover, it would be a great idea if I sat down and got on with it!

In all seriousness, my only regret, writing wise, is not starting sooner than I did because I had no idea how long it would take for me to find my feet, learn my craft, learn to come to terms with rejections, improve my craft more, get better at submitting the right story to the right place to increase my chances of acceptance etc.

And it does take time. I think though there is a good side to this. I appreciate my acceptances more than if they had come to me “easily” I think. I now have a great deal more appreciation of how hard writers work to bring out works for us to enjoy. I also appreciate the editor’s craft more too. Mind you, I ought to, being one myself! I also appreciate more why every writer needs a good editor!

370051565_745095310963666_2820144343510089716_nHope you have had a good day. Definitely feeling the autumn chill now. Am celebrating The Writing Community in my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. That’s something which is always worth celebrating! See above.

Writing Tip: I find three to five word titles ideal for most of my stories. There are always exceptions to any rule (bear in mind my first book, From Light to Dark and Back Again, has seven, count them, seven words in it!) but most of the time the shorter the title, the easier it is to remember and to share on social media, especially where there is a limited character count.

I will use pockets of time to jot down ideas for future potential titles. I come back to these later and any that still grab me, well those are the ones I flesh out characters for and then go on to write my first draft. The time away from my initial ideas is a good test to see if something is likely to work. If I find myself thinking why did I come up with that, it is highly unlikely I’m taking things any further!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction. My latest story here is called Being Engrossed. Find out what kind of trouble that leads my character, Stephen, into! Glad to say there are some smashing comments coming in on this one already. I do appreciate the feedback I get from FFF (and this ties in nicely with my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week which celebrates The Writing Community!).

Screenshot 2023-10-06 at 09-28-46 Being Engrossed by Allison Symes

There are many things I love about flash fiction. I like the way I can put characters anywhere I want in terms of genre, time period etc. I love coming up with lines which I know will make great twist endings or humorous punchlines. I love working out how I could get to those closing lines literally so, yes, it is like putting a puzzle together.

This may well be one of the joys of crime writing for the author as well. They know what’s happening so it is a question of working out how to put it together so it hooks the reader. And that’s the challenge for every writer, regardless of what form we write in – how do we hook the reader?

For me, it’s always about intriguing characters and interesting situations to dump them in. I so enjoy putting my characters through the mill and finding out how they manage.

385773827_745096554296875_202221957929432612_nRemorse and regrets can make for an interesting character study story. I do this with My Girl in Tripping the Flash Fantastic, where my take on Queen Anne Boleyn is sharing her thoughts on the eve of her execution. All I came up with for her in this story is based on plausibility.

It would not be unreasonable, for example, to be thinking of her young daughter and what would happen to her. We also know Queen Anne did pray a lot (and she would’ve done then).

But this kind of story gives you an opportunity to have your character reflect on their life (whether you use a historical character or make one up) and this can have huge resonance with a reader. Also works best when kept short so flash is ideal for this.

BB - Flash with a Dash for TTFF

Fairytales with Bite – Away Trips

In your magical setting, do your characters get sent on “away trips”? If so, are these missions to spy on other worlds and why would this be done? For example, would a magical world send their spies to Earth to keep an eye on what we are doing with what we call science? Would they be looking to steal our best ideas and use them for their own purposes on their own world?

Equally do your magical characters get to have “jollies” where they can just go away and enjoy themselves? What would they have done to serve their world to justify getting something like that? Where would your average fairy godmother go when she wanted a holiday? Can all beings in your world have these trips or are they just for the select few?

What would the benefits be to your characters of having these trips? If they are allowed to visit other worlds, such as ours, does that trip away change their attitudes towards (a) their own lives at home and (b) their previous views on other worlds? What could the consequences be? If you are told that Species X is evil and you discover that they’re not, what would you then do on your return to the place where you have been lied to?

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This World and Others – To Boldly Go or to Stay Right at Home?

Sorry couldn’t resist the nod to Star Trek here (and is that the most famous split infinitive in history – I think it may well be!). Does your setting encourage its characters to explore and, if so, are there limits as to where they can go and what they can do?

If your world encourages exploring other worlds, do they like what they find out? Do they adapt useful ideas for their own use? Or does finding out about other worlds fuel hostility if they (a) disapprove of what what other world is doing or (b) that other world is doing better than they are.

“Simple” motivations such as jealousy can be put to good use here to set characters on a course of action which will have consequences and increase drama in your story. If you knew your world was going to be resentful, would you give them a watered down account of what you found out when you went exploring? Do you get found out and, if so, what would the consequences be?

I mention consequences a lot. All stories are based on cause and consequence and change. Having characters explore outside of their normal boundaries has great potential for stories as those characters bring new ideas home. Not everyone welcomes new ideas!

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Screenshot 2023-09-25 at 12-14-31 Writers' Narrative eMagazine October 2023

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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Facebook – General

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
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Workshops, Courses and Being at Swanwick

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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 from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were also taken by me. 
Many thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the one of me at my editing workshop. Have had a wonderful time here. And will continue to do so for the next couple of days. I will be sharing more about this in my Chandler’s Ford Today post later this week.

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Thoroughly enjoyed the final two sessions of Val Penny’s Perfect Plotting. Packed full of useful information. Enjoyed Whose (Story) Line Is It Anyway? after lunch. This was led by Zana Lamont. Then it was time for my workshop – Editing – The View From Both Sides of the Fence.

It is lovely catching up with friends I only “see” online the rest of the year and to have a good natter over breakfast, tea breaks, lunch, dinner etc, I also appreciate not having to cook anything or clear up. Many of us here feel that way!

It was especially nice to catch up with a fellow member of the History Writers group, Linda Brown, in person, something which meets online once a month. And it is good there is a contingent from the Association of Christian Writers here as well.


Many thanks for the support at the Lift Up Your Hearts session this morning. This is a short reflective session for all denominations and it was lovely. We were in good voice!

Thoroughly enjoyed the Rediscovering Your Writing Mojo sessions this morning led by Esther Chilton. Am off to the Author Business Foundations sessions led by Kate McCormick (aka Elizabeth Ducie). Sadly, I won’t be taking part in the Open Prose Mic Night session tonight as it clashes with The Big Quiz. The quiz is such fun and I can’t miss that.

Mind you, at the end of the Mojo course, we all got to write a piece of flash fiction so I shared my draft when we were asked if anyone wanted to read out so I did get a little bit of flash fiction prose reading done! I hope to polish this story up and submit it somewhere later.

First full day at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Went to Perfect Plotting by Val Penny – always a useful topic and the course is led by someone who is expert here. There is always something to learn here. Am then off to Amazon and Kindle Publishing and later still Comedy – a Whistle Stop Tour. This is just on the first full day, mind you!

And for a while it stopped raining too. Win-win all round!

Am back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. It is the highlight of my writing year. It will be lovely to catch up with old friends and hopefully make new ones. I love the range of courses and workshops. I suppose the real treat for me here is being able to have a few days fully immersed in the writing world.

All writers need to know there is support out there. All of us have had and continue to have rejections and setbacks. But there is nobody like another writer to understand the joys of the writing life. It is a case of finding your tribe here, I think.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It was sunny Derbyshire when I rang home this morning. It is less so now but it has stayed dry at least. Wouldn’t place on any bets how long that will last, mind you.

I gave my workshop – Editing – The View From Both Sides of the Fence – this afternoon. Writing flash fiction regularly has taught me so much about editing. And I discuss being on both sides of the fence because I have been edited as well as having carried out editing work at one and the same time. I can see where editors come from. I can understand the authors’ viewpoint too.

Was thrilled at the turnout for my workshop. Thanks, everyone. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for the photo.
I was set an interesting writing challenge at the Write on Cue session led by Anita Belli last night at Swanwick. We had to select objects to write a story around and mine was a Monopoly piece. The result is my latest story on YouTube – The Silver Boot. Hope you enjoy.

 

So good to be back at Swanwick. The grounds, as ever, are glorious, and it has been wonderful catching up with so many friends already. Looking forward to the courses today. Always a feast to choose from. And with any topic, pretty much, I can find something to apply to either my flash fiction writing or my blogging, sometimes both.

Sometimes information proves to be useful much later on but what I do know for sure is the world of writing is a fascinating one, there is always something to learn, and that is good for us all – to keep on learning.

Will naturally be waving the flag for flash fiction and short stories at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick over the next few days. Will be a joy to do so too.

There is usually an Open Prose Mic night here and it is a fabulous platform for the short form. You do only have a few minutes and the golden rule here is you can come in under time but not over it. Flash fits so well here and people do get to hear complete stories. Win-win here!

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories In Other Formats

I recently had the great joy of watching Lilies on The Land, which was staged by our local excellent amateur theatre company, The Chameleon Theatre Group. I then reviewed it for online magazine, Chandler’s Ford Today.

Lilies was an interesting play because it is a story made up of stories, all based on the real life experiences of the Women’s Land Army (aka the land girls). The stories were collected via letters, interviews etc and The Lions wrote Lilies based on this information.

It is a great case of non-fiction inspiring fictional work. The Lilies characters were invented but based on solid fact. Some fictional liberty was taken in enabling the characters to communicate with each other. But it all worked so well. It was believable. All stories must have that believability even if set in the most fantastical settings.

Let’s hear it for stories in all formats inspired by non-fiction!

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

 

 

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Turning the Tables, Mom’s Favorite Reads, and Publication News

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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 start to the week. Looking forward to sharing a wonderful interview on Friday and it is nice to have publication news again too. Also, we have had sunshine here – spring has finally turned up!

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Delighted to say I’ll be having another story (a flash piece) up on CafeLit next week. More details nearer the time but news like this always cheers. I find it useful to submit stories regularly to different places, including my YouTube channel.

Doing this builds up publication credits and I enjoy sharing the links to stories on my author newsletter. Who doesn’t like a free read after all? Also said publication credits backs up my books (From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic) so win-win there too.
Screenshot 2023-04-04 at 20-48-24 Allison Symes - YouTubeWoo-hoo, welcome to spring! Got my washing out on the line today – it is always the simple pleasures in life I appreciate most!. Gorgeous sunny day today, much enjoyed by Lady and I. Hope you have had a cracking start to your week.

I write for a number of blogs and online magazines and I love the different challenges each sets. But this is where scheduling is vital for me. I plan out when I am writing X piece for Y, also giving myself enough time to rest a piece and then edit it before submitting it (naturally in good time for the deadline).

And what helps me schedule effectively? The good old-fashioned A4 sized diary! So using a pen and paper still comes into my writing processes. I like that.

May be an image of text that says "I use my diary to note down what I am writing when and to record how I'm doing. Has helped make me more productive."

Hope the weekend has been a good one for you. Bit of a mixed bag here. Poorly again (but thankfully it was brief) on the Friday night, spent Saturday recovering, and now back to my full self, happily writing away, Looks like we might see some sunshine this week. Do hope so. Lady would welcome it too.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. We’ll be discussing her Build a Book Workshop book. Later this week I hope to flesh out some stories I drafted during the Flash Fiction group meeting on Wednesday night for submission – definitely want to get these somewhere!

Have a great writing and reading week. Am currently reading and loving 1000 Years of Annoying the French. It‘s a different way of looking at history, that’s for sure!

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Pleased to say the brand new edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now out. Grab yourself a wonderful, free read. I’m talking about New Life – Transformation as the theme for this month’s flash fiction column given the link with Easter in April. Hope you enjoy the piece (and the great fiction and non-fiction pieces that came in as a result of my challenge this time).

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Do you find music evocative? Have you used that to help you get in the right mood to write a specific story? I tend to use classical music to relax to as I write and find that really helpful. I write more when relaxed. But music doesn’t change what I write – and I like that too because the one to change anything is me (later an editor/publisher as and when needed – always is by the way. There are inevitably some changes to be made before a book sees the light of day).

For the historical fiction writers amongst you, do you use music to help you get the right era set in your mind as you write? I can see a use for that. Mind you, given historical includes anything aged over 50 years, that has to include me too!

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It’s Monday again (though it has been lovely to have a sunny one!) and time for another YouTube story from yours truly. Hope you enjoy Still There. This story started life as a response to a throw of my story cube dice. See the tale for why this is so appropriate!

 

Flash fiction is great for turning the tables on a character. I love doing that. (Who said authors had to be nice, by the way? If a character deserves what’s coming, that is precisely what they get from me!). It is why punchline endings and/or twist endings work so well in this format. The reader doesn’t have time to get bored before “wham!”, they’re at that punchline/twist ending.

But the reasons for turning the tables should make sense. I’m not going to drop a character in it just for the sake of it. There has to be a good reason for it, even when my character doesn’t have it coming.

May be an image of tree, road and text that says "Make your twist a strong one. Twists, well delivered ơη, are superb hooks. love it when a twist catches me out and I ook back at the story and see the clues WERE there."

The latest edition of my author newsletter went out earlier today. I enjoy compiling these and I aim for a good mix of news, tips, story links etc. Talking of news, I’ll be glad to welcome back Gill James to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday where she’ll be talking about her book, Build a Book Workshop. Now this combines two of my favourite things – books and workshops – so this will be a special joy to share! (Just add in chocolate and I would have hit the jackpot!).


Goodreads Author Blog – Animal Stories

Do you like animal stories? I have a very soft spot for the classic tales like Black Beauty. Anna Sewell was an early campaigner against animal cruelty with this wonderful book. I also love Aesop’s Fables. The Tortoise and the Hare will never date. I sometimes write animal stories in my flash fiction. I think it can work well there given flash is so short and the impact is greater due to that.

I also liked Fantastic Mr Fox and Watership Down (though it is probably best if those characters don’t mix!).

I think the strength of animal stories is when they are well done, you see things from a different perspective. You certainly do with Black Beauty. As with any fiction, I like the character to be well portrayed and what they come up with to be reasonable in terms of what we know about them and their character. In the case of animal stories, what we know about their behaviour patterns too should fit in with the tale being told.

Screenshot 2023-04-01 at 19-54-14 Animal Stories

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Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them

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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. Looking forward to my interview with Hannah Kate going out on air on 4th March. Find out below how a technical hitch added useful material to my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Trust me, this does not happen often!

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Screenshot 2023-03-01 at 16-17-49 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf Saturday 4 March 2-4pm - Hannah Kate

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Pleased to share Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them For Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Am relieved too. There was a technical hitch earlier in the week and I had wondered if I would be able to post at all. Still, do see what use I made of this incident in the post itself. In some ways it was timely! I share my thoughts and tips on deadlines, which are a normal part of the writing life. It is just a question of how we handle these and I hope my tips prove useful. I know I have found them so.

Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them

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Hope today hasn’t been too hectic. Pleased to have another Zoom workshop booking in for May. These are great fun to prepare and do. Also got my name down for books to go into the Book Room at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August – pays to do that early mainly because it makes sure I don’t forget to do it! So looking forward to seeing everyone at what is my writing highlight of the year.

Technical hitches are a pain, right? Well, for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week, one such thing has helped me prove a point in my text for Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them! Not something I expected either – find out how when I share the post tomorrow. Also proves material can come to you in unexpected ways. See above.

One thing I discovered early on as a writer was how much I didn’t know about the writing industry and how important it was I rectified that. I did so by joining the Society of Authors. I wanted someone expert in the field to turn to when I needed advice and that so paid off for me. They stopped me signing up with a vanity publisher which would have cost me thousands. I had no idea what vanity publishers were or even that they were out there. I know now.

Time spent in finding out about the writing industry and being prepared to ask questions is never wasted time. I’ve always seen this as steps taken to help me avoid the rogues, find out useful links and connections, and to help me develop my writing.

Never be afraid to ask awkward questions. They can save you a small fortune.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Came across a few of these in the early days of my writing career."

I’ll be talking about Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I share thoughts and tips and hope people will find it useful. See above. I find deadlines useful, other writers loathe them, but I believe you can use them to help your creativity.

Glad to say the March edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now out. March sees International Women’s Day on 8th March so this issue of Mom’s celebrates women. You’ll find my flash fiction column on Page 60 and do check out the fabulous stories in based on the theme. This particular topic of Celebrating Women was great for flash non-fiction too and I was glad to see examples of that come in too.

 

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It’s Friday. It’s the end of a busy working week (for many of us). Time for another story of mine from Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy Learning The Trade where my character explains their career choice to a disappointed parent.

Screenshot 2023-03-03 at 09-59-08 Learning The Trade by Allison Symes

As well as taking part in pen Prose Mic Nights when I can (flash is ideal for these, you can’t go on for too long so that pleases the audience too!), I will read a flash piece or two as part of any workshop I run.

Why? Because it is the ideal way to demonstrate what flash can do and be. I mix up the pieces I choose. I like a mixture of funny and those which definitely are not!

Flash is a great vehicle for storytelling moods. I can mix these up along with my characters and what they get up to in my tales, which is something I love doing. I can and do set my characters, and their moods, anywhere I wish.

Flash is liberating like that. It’s only the upper word count you need to watch.

May be an image of sky and text that says "One advantage to flash fiction writing is I can set my characters anywhere. I do too!"

Pleased to share the link to Hannah Kate’s website. I’ll be on her show on Saturday (between 2 and 4 pm) on North Manchester FM. You can get to the Listen Again service via her website though I hope to have a link to share after the weekend. Naturally I’ll be spreading the word about flash fiction again!

When I was first on Hannah’s show back in 2021, I had to pick three books for inclusion in her Library at the End of Days/Apocalypse Books feature. It was hard picking the three books I had to save no matter what but it really made me think about what I picked and why. (I’d still pick the three I have too). Go and have a look at the fabulous collection of books on there. It is impressive!

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 4 March, 2-4pm

 

Fairytales with Bite – The Perfect Ending

Would you say the perfect ending was the traditional happy ever after of the fairytale world? I would say it could also be considered a new beginning. Part of me also wonders what would happen once the “magic” has worn off. Now I appreciate this kind of tale would not be aimed at children but I like alternative renditions where you see “after the happy ending” played out where people have to work things out as we have to do and this time without the intervention of the fairy godmother!

Having said that my first story in print was called A Helping Hand (Bridge House Publishing – Alternative Renditions – 2009) where I do get the fairy godmother sent back to Cinderella’s youngest stepsister because she wasn’t so unkind as the elder one. That was fun to write. I was so thrilled it was published.

So think about what would make a perfect ending for your characters. Is it really all about the magic, the glitz and the glamour, or for when all that has settled down and your characters have to get on with life by themselves?

For me the perfect ending for any story is when the loose ends are tied up. You know what has happened to the characters. The problem/conflict in the story has been resolved satisfactorily (though that doesn’t necessarily have to be happily. Some of your characters are bound not to be happy at how things turned out – the villains especially!).

But it should feel as it not another word could be added or taken away without spoiling the tale in some way, The story should linger with you too. Then you may have the perfect ending!

Alternative Renditions Small

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This World and Others – Resolutions to Conflicts

Conflict is the bedrock of storytelling. A conflict happens. Characters deal with it. There is resolution of some kind. But how does your world handle a conflict which has been imposed on it by outside sources? Is there such as thing as the United Nations? Or are conflicts always “slugged” out and whoever has the biggest army etc wins? (Must admit I find that thought depressing and limiting for storytelling reasons. If there is no hope of any other outcome, where is the story? It becomes a tragedy only at best I think. I prefer stories which have at least some prospect of hope even if it is isn’t actually delivered during the tale).

This is where knowing some of your world’s history helps. If your setting has a series of dreadful conflicts, did that lead to the founding of peace organisations and the like? Who would be behind these? How did they get these set up? There would be stories here since they would be found to face opposition from the “hawks”. That would be another conflict to resolve!

But stories like that can show so much about character, determination to do right by society as a whole etc. You could show how your world has evolved and got better thanks to having these things, despite opposition.

If your setting is facing a threat to its existence, how would it resolve that one? Would it have problems getting people to fight for it or would they be queueing up to do so? How can it deal with the threat? This is where I think a basic outline would help you to work things out.

I’m not talking about a detailed plan but notes on what your character are likely to come up with/be able to do to resolve the conflict. That kind of outline can help avoid “boxing yourself in “ as you try to work out how a character would resolve an issue. You’ve got some ideas from the get-go, even if you end up not using them as you initially jotted them down. I often find better ideas occur to me as I am writing a first draft but I do find notes a useful way to get started.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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