Tag: Friday Flash Fiction

Building A Book Workshop – Author Interview: Gill James

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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, as was the photo of Gill James at a Bridge House Publishing event.
For those who celebrate/commemorate, may I wish you a Happy Easter. It is lovely to have the sunny weather to go with it! A busy week again this week. I hope you enjoy a fabulous interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Really great idea here. Check it out below.

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Am thrilled to welcome back Gill James to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her Build a Book Workshop. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Find out all about it here.

Author Interview: Gill James – Build A Book Workshop

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Another good day for Lady – she got to play with her pal Coco today.

Will be sharing a wonderful interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today soon. We’ll be discussing Build a Book Workshop which is a fabulous idea. More tomorrow. See above.

Don’t forget the April issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is out. Do check it out – it’s a great read and free!

 

Lady had a ball with her best mate, the lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Good time had by both.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Gill James about Build a Book Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today. Interesting premise. Great answers to questions, what’s not to like? Link up on Friday. Again see above and yes I am really excited about this interview. The premise here is a superb one. Do check out the interview.

Talking of questions, don’t forget you can use these to quiz your potential characters, I often do and will also use the random question generators to help me come up with “left field” questions, which can be a great way of truly finding out what your character is made of! They also stop you using the same old questions over and over again.

I will often use questions to give me ideas for themes for stories and again often they make for good titles too. I find they help me dig that big deeper and that in turn benefits my story and characterisation.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Questions make for good themes τσσ. What questions DO bother your characters and why?"

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be on Friday Flash Fiction this week with my story Which Way? Hope you enjoy it. This story was prompted by the throw of a story dice and, aptly, a picture of a dice came up!

Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 09-12-58 Which Way by Allison SymesIf you do get Writing Magazine the last issue had their competition guide in it. Bear in mind a lot of the short story competitions either have categories for flash as well or their word count requirements fall within flash territory. Well worth checking out.

Don’t forget to check out the Ts and Cs of the competitions too (and that should be easily done by going to the competition’s website where you should be able to see these). You can sign up to Writing Magazine on line – their website says you could get access to their archive here, which would include the last edition with the guide, I would have thought!
Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 20-29-10 Writers Online Membership - Writers OnlineEntering competitions is also good practice for writing to deadlines

I was talking about using questions to help me with my fiction writing over on my author page earlier. Of course, because I am coming up with stories and characters all the time for my flash fiction and short stories, I need to ensure I have a constant supply of idea generators.

This is where the random generators are a blessing. It is also why I mix up the type I use frequently. Doing all of that makes me think outside the box more. That in turn helps fuel creativity and I am always all for that! (Story cubes, the old game of bits of paper in a hat with different words, adjectives on etc and then you pick out pieces at random – these all work too).

Also don’t forget the prompts books (and I will admit to bias here given I’ve contributed to some). Talking of which, I am also in The Big Book of Prompts, and many of the writers who regularly contribute to CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing etc are in there too. Why not see what we’ve come up with for ideas and see what you can make of them? Have fun!

 

Fairytales with Bite – Light and Dark

I’m writing this after what seems to have been the dullest, wettest March on record. Even the recent clock change where the clocks went forward did not appear to make much of a difference. And then the sunshine turned up and now we can believe spring has got here after all! Light makes all the difference.

In your setting, what kind of light would be considered natural? Are your characters affected by light levels the way we can be? What would they have in the way of artificial light for the winter season? Does your setting have a long dark period or a long light one? How would that make your characters behave?#

If you live in a setting where there isn’t a lot of natural light for most of the time, behaviour will be different compared to those who have nigh on perpetual natural light. (Those living in the latter can more obviously get out and about that much more easily. Sleep patterns will differ here too. How would that affect your characters?).

Is dark feared or welcomed? How do your characters manage to do the everyday tasks of life when dark is a way of life for them? Is crime more prevalent in a “dark” world?

You can also explore the issues of light and dark for each of your characters too. What would be their light attributes, which their dark etc? That alone could give you a good character outline ahead of writing your story up.

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This World and Others – Nature

Light and dark are natural phenomenons of course but in your setting what is the natural world like? Is it comparable with ours? How do your creatures (human like or otherwise) cope with light and dark? What are their natural tendencies? Is there prey and predator, for example, and who would be considered to be the “top of the tree” here?

Have your main creations changed the natural world and, if so, how? Are there benefits to what they’ve done? What are the disadvantages and has your natural setting found a way of fighting back against what it hates? There are stories to be had in climate disasters and their aftermath, for example, but a more positive outcome here would be a tale where your characters learn from their mistakes, put them right, and the natural world responds to that. Redemption stories are always welcome! (If only to cheer us up as readers because there is so much gloom out there. We see natural disasters all the time, yes?).

How broad is your natural world? Is there a range of geographical settings? That directly affects what can live in your setting naturally so what kind of varieties of plant/insect/animal life, do you have here? How do these affect how the others can live?
It pays to take time to work this kind of thing out. Setting can so often act like a character in its own right. Think of The Shire, Mordor, Gondor etc in The Lord of the Rings. Each distinct. Each memorable. Each with their own “natures”.

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Anthologies

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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.
Another hectic week, more rain too! Am hoping the weekend proves to be a much needed time to wind down a bit!

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Anthologies, this week’s post on Chandler’s Ford Today. I look at the advantages of writing for them and share some tips on working to themes. Most anthologies do set these and it is good practice in any case given so many competitions do as well. Hope you find the post useful.

Anthologies

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Looking forward to sharing my Anthologies post on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. This is a classic case of writing about what you love as well as what you know! Link up tomorrow. See above.

Had a fabulous time at the Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom last night (for the Association of Christian Writers). Great responses to the writing exercises I set. Hope you all get some stories submitted and “out there” as a result.

Don’t forget my monthly newsletter goes out on the first of each month so there is still time to sign up in time for April’s one. Head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com – would love to have you “aboard”. I share tips, writing advice, as well as news.

What I have in the back of my mind here is writing something I would love to receive myself in my inbox for this kind of thing. Mind you, I try to take that approach with my story writing too. I try to keep an Ideal Reader in mind, always, while writing what I love to write.


It’s my turn on More than Writers (the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers). This time I talk about Signs of Spring. This applies to our writing too! Hope you enjoy the post.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I took part in the Andrew Siderius Memorial competition on Friday Flash Fiction last week with a 100 word story. This week I have had a go at the up to 500 words category. Good challenge to mix up the word counts you write to!

Hope you enjoy The Fairy Godmother’s Guide For Finding A New Client, which is one of my longer titles! Sums the story up though.

Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 19-47-23 The Fairy Godmother's Guide for Finding a New Client by Allison Symes

Lady had a fabulous time with her Aussie Shepherd gentleman friend today. Both dogs have a very impressive thundering gallop when they run! Okay, they can send up some seriously impressive mud as well but one cannot have everything!

There is a useful competitions guide (often covering flash too) in the current edition of Writing Magazine but I think the next one is due out at any time so it may pay to grab a copy of the current issue while you can. The guide takes you up to December.

I’m currently prepping a story for a competition and hope to end up submitting that sometime in April.

Don’t forget to look out for Mom’s Favorite Reads due out again soon. I will shortly be setting my challenge for the May edition. See it as a good way to practice writing to a word count of 300 words maximum.

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Damp and grey day here, not that Lady cared. How does the weather affect your characters’ moods? Do they match the weather or do they deliberately go in the opposite direction (if only to cheer themselves up a bit on days like today, say? I find the writing carries on regardless – it is time which is a more relevant factor for me.

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Fairytales with Bite – Humorous Magic – What Could Go Wrong?

What kind of magical jokes would your mischievous characters do and what would be the consequences? In your setting, is magic taken seriously most of the time but with the proviso of something like an April Fools’ Day where folk are allowed to be more playful with their spells (on the understanding nobody gets hurt or made to fall in love with someone they wouldn’t usually fall for)?

I mention the latter as some limits would have to be set to prevent unfortunate consequences which would continue for longer than the period of mischievous magic allowed for. But tricks, jokes – what kind would these be and does your society welcome this as a way of letting off steam every now and again?

If humour is frowned on (it can be closely linked to free speech), how would your characters let off steam? Would there be underground comedy venues? I grew up watching The Goodies. Check out their episode Goodies Rule UK for their take on this – I find this is still funny after all these years. If funny magic is banned, why, who brought in the ban, and does anyone defy it?
Where humorous magic is allowed, who clears up the inevitable mess? There will be someone!

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This World and Others – Treating Magical Accidents

That last line leads nicely into this topic. Where magic is practiced, things are bound to go wrong. See The Sorcerer’s Apprentice for one thing! So who would deal with the accidents? Is there the magical equivalent of paramedics, the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, or any other first responder? Are magical mishaps treated magically or with or traditional kinds of medicine, similar to what we have?

Also, is there any such things as a magical accident insurance company? I could see there being funny stories here, especially with what might go on the claim forms. (Fans of UK comedian Jasper Carrott will remember his routines with insurance claim forms. Hilarious stuff).

Are there particular groups in your setting who would be more prone to this kind of accident, due to either being more clumsy or less experience with magic than other more privileged groups? Would this lead to them being allowed to get more magical experience (if only to keep everyone else safe from them)?

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Purposes of Reading

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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. Pleased to receive my ALCS money (more on that below, if you’re a writer you really should check them out) and Lady has had a superb week in the park seeing so many of her friends. Better weather too. Yay!

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Pleased to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post about the Purposes of Reading. This is the other side of the writing “coin” in that to write well, it helps enormously if you read well too. See the post for why and I hope you enjoy it.

Purposes of Reading

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Delighted to receive my payment form ALCS yesterday (especially nice given it was my birthday! Lovely timing, ALCS!). If you want to know more about ALCS and how they help authors, do check out the website. I get my membership of ALCS as part of my membership of the Society of Authors. I like that – a lot!

One reason for networking being important for writers is you find out about organisations like this through other writers. It is always good to have somewhere to turn to when in need of advice and what ALCS does for authors is a wonderful addition.

Screenshot 2023-03-23 at 20-15-01 ALCS

Many thanks for the wonderful birthday messages on my timeline today. All much appreciated! I am now officially a “Heinz” – of the 57 varieties fame! (Very famous advert which ran for many years saw Heinz boast about having 57 varieties. Well remembered in my part of the world).

Will be sharing Purposes of Reading for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. Loved writing that one. (In fairness I love writing all my posts but anything to do with books, reading, writing etc will always be especially pleasurable to write!).

Writing Tip: When reading, note down what it is you love or loathe about the characters in the story. Work out why you feel the way you do about them. Use that to work out what you would like/loathe to see in your own characters. Are there character aspects in common (you really discover you loathe a certain type of character because…)?

As well as being an interesting study, you may well discover themes you really want to write to/avoid writing about doing this. I don’t particularly like grifter stories where the grifter gets away with it so am unlikely to write any. I know that’s partly due to having to deal with scams for real so that colours my view but I am aware of that. If I wrote a grifter story, you could be sure I would make sure they didn’t get away with it!

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Hope you enjoy my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction called Getting One’s Wings. Fun to write, I hope you find it fun to read.

Screenshot 2023-03-24 at 09-42-13 Getting One's Wings by Allison Symes

I’m talking about Purposes of Reading for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. And I would add here it is important to read widely in your field as well as outside of it. I love reading flash fiction collections (and short story anthologies). I find them inspiring and encouraging and they remind me of why I love both of these fabulous forms of fiction.

If you’re not sure where to start, why not try The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop? See link. (Oh and if you’re wondering if it is a coincidence I’ve flagged up my own two flash collections, it’s not!).
Screenshot 2023-03-24 at 20-36-22 The Bridgetown Café Bookshop
Many thanks for the happy birthday wishes. Much appreciated. Had nice day having hair done as well.

Now what would your characters consider to be a nice day? Can you set them against one another here? A criminal would see it as a good day if they’ve got away with their crime. Someone on the right side of the law would take a different view. And there can be poignant pieces to be written here. A character has a specially nice day and we discover it is going to be their last one etc.

Flash fiction is very good for those moments you want to “capture” for your character. This time meant something to them because… and that is the story. The impact here is how will it make your reader feel. A story should generate a reaction. And especial moments as stories work best when kept short.

May be an image of text that says "With flash fiction, you have to focus on THE single most important aspect of your character's life"

Fairytales with Bite – Birthdays

Topical subject this week given I’ve just had my own birthday! So in your fictional setting how much importance is given to birthdays? Do people celebrate them or is it just another date on the calendar? Is there a birthday “industry” (cakes, cards etc)? Or are only the birthdays of important figures commemorated? If so, who would these be and why have they been chosen? Would these be celebrations everyone is expected to join in with, regardless of how they feel about it?

Now birthdays can be public gatherings so how would the powers that be in your world look on these? Are such gatherings forbidden or limited to a set number? How are birthdays counted? Is the calendar year the same as ours or much longer/shorter?

Another use for birthdays in fiction is to have them as the point where your character realises something has to change. They’re another year older. Life is passing them by. What do they do to change things? How can the birthday be used as a trigger here?

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This World and Others – Celebrations

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone. There is a lot of truth in that. But when it comes to celebrations, for birthdays or anything else, what are your characters’ attitudes here? Do they love to celebrate or do they dread that kind of gathering?

What would your characters celebrate? Do they stick to traditional forms of celebrating or come up with their own thing? If your setting is divided into different settings, are there common celebratory forms or does each “segment” have their own style?

If your character is a more morose type what would they do if forced to take part in celebrations and what or whom could get them to agree to such a thing in the first place? Think about the hold someone might have over them and can your character escape this? Do they use the celebration as a cover for a get-away? (Yes, do think The Lord of the Rings here but what would your character want to get away from? How could the celebration be useful to them?).

If your world is an oppressive one, do the powers that be allow official celebrations or is everyone kept down all the time?
Celebrations have meaning and impact on people which is something your could explore for story ideas. Think about what celebrations have meant for you. What would make your character feel the same way? Could that lead to your character developing empathy?

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Purposes of Creative Writing

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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.
It has been an odd week. I started it being ill, got better, appeared on a blog, and am now looking forward to catching up with friends and family shortly. Proof I suppose it is better to end well rather than worry about a rotten start. Having that said, writers need to start well, do the middle well, and end well. It is a good challenge!

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Purposes of Creative Writing, my Chandler’s Ford Today post for this week. There are many benefits to any kind of creative activity but I look at these from the writing viewpoint. I hope this proves to be an encouraging post! I also look at finding your creativity in this one. I believe everyone has at least one form of creative activity which would suit them. It can be a question of finding it. I also feel creative writers actually have two – we need to be active readers too. Hope you find much of cheer here and do keep on with the writing.

Whether you stay in the same direction or not is another matter. I changed direction to flash fiction and have never regretted that! Whether you seek to be published or not, writing can stretch you, make you come up with pieces you never thought you could produce, and is huge fun.

Yes, there are those days when you would rather throw your laptop out of the nearest window but even there is some comfort. Every writer has felt like that at some point. I find it helps to know I’m not alone when I feel like that. We get days when we still do but you also get those days when you are in the zone, the words fly out of you, stories get produced and published etc.

Purposes of Creative Writing by Allison Symes

 

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Hope you have had a good day. Looking forward to sharing my Purposes of Creative Writing post for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Has been a struggle to get back to writing after a very dodgy weekend but have got there in the end. Have run late all week but not just on my writing it should be said. The writing has been a solace all week (unlike so much else!).

I hope everyone who goes to the Scottish Association of Writers Conference has a fabulous time. I did when I went last year. I ran a flash fiction workshop there and judged one of their competitions for them. It was a delight to meet friends old and new. Weather this year is a bit different, mind you! Keep warm, folks.

One of the joys of conferences is learning more about the wonderful world of writing. I love the fact there is always something you can learn to improve on what you do and to get more from it. No wonder writing is good for the brain, something I cover in my CFT post tomorrow. (Nice to come full circle on a post as well!).

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Am thrilled to be back on Val Penny’s blog today. Many thanks for hosting me once more, Val.
Val put some pertinent questions to me which I loved answering. I talk about flash fiction (of course!), discuss characters, and writing routines. Last but not least I share some advice which I’ve found helpful. Hope you do too.

Screenshot 2023-03-15 at 10-12-50 Conversation with Allison Symes

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You know the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Well, for my story for Friday Flash Fiction this week, I apply that principle to magic. Hope you enjoy Spotting the Magic.

Screenshot 2023-03-17 at 09-40-48 Spotting the Magic by Allison Symes

Am at that stage where I’ve got a couple of possibles for a certain well known competition I enter – now it’s make up my mind time. I could enter both so I may decide on that eventually. Am resting the pieces so I can look at them with a fresh eye. I’ve got a couple of months in hand here but that soon whizzes by and I want to have my submissions in well ahead of the deadline, as I usually do. What is pleasing here is I have earmarked some of my draft Flash NANO pieces for competitions so that’s another reason for taking part in this again. I found it a great way to get a stock of stories together to work on for future use.

May be an image of text that says "Flash fiction illuminates briefly it is a great form for a lighthearted piece. These often work best when kept short."

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom later this month. Ideas and news (competitions etc) are shared. This is handy as no one writer can know everything and we can all help each other here.

Don’t forget I share tips and news on a regular basis via my newsletter. Next one due out on 1st April. That may be April Fools Day but I’m not fooling, honest. To sign up head over to (my landing page) at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

 

Fairytales with Bite – Using Prompts for Fairytales

I often use a wide range of writing prompt. I often use random generators, have recently used story cubes, and I’ve contributed to, as well as used, books of prompts in my time.

But have I used any of these for writing what I call my fairytales with bite? Oh yes. Not all the time. Some prompts work better for certain types of story but things like the random question generator are useful for giving you a direct theme and/or title for your piece. Then you can work out how to get a fantasy/fairytale story out of it!

One such question I’ve used was What’s something you learned in the last week? You can apply that to a magical character easily enough and there is good potential for a humorous piece here.

The random word ones are even easier here given what you usually do with those is put them into a story (of any genre so the sky’s the limit here).

Well worth having a go at – I’ve had a few pieces published this way. I often use these to submit stories once a week to Friday Flash Fiction and to create stories for my YouTube channel. You just want a way in to get started and the prompts are useful here.

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This World and Others – Exploring Your World

How do your characters get around in your setting? Is exploration encouraged or firmly discouraged? Is there a drive to explore at all? Or does that drive come about as a result of urgent need? The hobbits in The Lord of the Rings are the ultimate example of that I think, given they were usually more concerned with second breakfast and/or beer!

You could get stories from transport systems here (and who uses them and, perhaps more pertinently, who doesn’t. What would be the reasons behind that? Does anyone defy the rules? What would be the consequences (there always would be something)?

Where the world has been explored, who did this? Who were they doing it on behalf of? What do your characters think is the most important thing about their world? Are they worried about location or do they prefer to explore the world metaphorically via challenges to standard ideas etc? There is always someone who will want to find out just how far they can go!

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Screenshot 2023-02-24 at 21-11-57 Reader Hub Book BrushMOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE
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Screenshot 2023-02-17 at 20-49-13 Allison Symes

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Not Impressed

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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.
Apologies for a shortened post this time. Sadly I was ill over the weekend/early part of this week but am glad to report am now feeling much better. I did miss being able to write though. It is true – writing can be addictive! Mind you, it has been the thing to cheer me up as I’ve got back to it again.

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A huge thank you for the best wishes expressed yesterday. Am so glad to be well on the mend (though must ‘fess up to sporting a rather unfetching tired and washed out look right now! Better than being ill by lightyears though).

So glad to be back writing again. I do have to be ill not to be able to do any at all! I did manage to submit a story to Friday Flash Fiction yesterday and I will be sharing over on my book page shortly my video for the week. To only be a day out is not bad given the circumstances.

And it is always nice to have something to look forward to doing, creatively, at the end of my day. I suspect it was that aspect I missed the most.

I’ll be talking about Purposes of Creative Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Look forward to sharing that on Friday.

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Apologies for the no-show yesterday, I had an awful weekend, being rather ill! (Lost 6 lbs over one night!). Am feeling better now but very tired and washed out. It will be a few early nights this week for me I think.

Writing tip: Never beat yourself up when you can’t write. I just couldn’t focus on anything over the weekend. These things happen. Look forward to having writing to come back to when you are more up to that again. I know this one works – have just done an unwanted test on this one!

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Hope you have had a good day. Many thanks for the comments coming in on Clearing Away, my latest on Friday Flash Fiction.
I’m going to be looking at the Purposes of Creative Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Am enjoying writing it and looking forward to sharing this on Friday.

When I prepare author interviews for CFT, I take some time in researching the background to the writer in question so I can put pertinent questions to them and find aspects of their work they will want to elaborate on. That makes for a great, entertaining interview. You can do pretty much the same for your character outline. What would your character want to tell you and why is an interesting angle to explore. What do you think your characters would want to keep hidden from you and why is another one.

Screenshot 2023-03-10 at 09-42-10 Clearing Away by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to now be able to share my story video of the week. It was lovely getting back to doing this, after having been ill, and to only be a day out is nice. My story title reflects how I felt about how I ended up spending my weekend – hope you enjoy Not Impressed!

Sorry, I wasn’t about yesterday. I spent a lot of the weekend being ill. Pity that wasn’t over in a flash!

Moving on, I’ve mentioned before that one joy of flash is being able to draft something when you haven’t got much time. It is also handy when you are not up to writing much. You still feel as if you have got something done and I’ve found that helpful in the past and now. It can be a useful morale boost when you’re not feeling up to much.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

I shared in my CFT post yesterday that one thing I loved about editing for Mom’s Favorite Reads is in seeing how people respond to the challenge I set. They always rise to the occasion! I love responding to challenges (say competition themes) and seeing what I can do with them. I think being made to raise our game here is a great discipline.

It is always nice being able to surprise yourself with what you can come up with here and having the challenge to respond to is a fantastic way of stretching yourself. After all, responding to that CafeLit 100 word challenge made me discover the joys of flash fiction. You need something to respond to in the first place, I think.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says "A fiction writer's challenge is to keep coming up with characters who engage with us. A non-fiction writer's challenge is to keep coming up with topics which engage us. I do both!"

Goodreads Author Blog – Haunting Characters

I occasionally write a ghost flash fiction story. One of my favourite stories of all time involves three ghosts and a miser – I’ll leave you to guess what that one is! And I love a great series of books called Kindred Spirits by Jennifer C Wilson who combines ghost stories and history. (I should add Jennifer is a friend but I would happily read and recommend these books anyway given I love historical fiction and this is an interesting take on it).

But haunting characters shouldn’t just be confined to ghost stories. I want characters to haunt me and stay with me long after I’ve finished reading their story. Some of those that do this for me include Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Sam Vimes, Death (from Discworld), Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee, Jeeves and Wooster, and many others besides. I do love an eclectic mix!

So how can a character haunt a reader then? Simply by being so convincingly portrayed any reader would want to root for them and absolutely have to find to what happens to them. They’ve got to make the reader feel as if they were almost there in the story with them, as it is only when that is achieved will a reader care enough about them.

Screenshot 2023-03-11 at 20-46-06 Haunting Characters

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Catching Up – Author News – Allison Symes

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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. It has been a right mixed bag weather wise – snow, sleet, rain, sunshine – but Lady has taken it all in her stride. My solitary crocus seems to have survived the onslaught, much to my relief. Before you ask, I have planted others but I suspect they’ve been taken by animals feeding on these things. This one crocus comes out year on year and is a delight to see.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Catching up – Local Author News – Allison Symes as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. The first quarter of 2023 has been brisk, I’m pleased to say. Pleased because the writing life is not meant to be a static one. Am also pleased to spread the word for Mom’s Favorite Reads and share some tips I’ve found useful.

Catching Up – Local Author News – Allison Symes

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Looking forward to sharing a catch up post from me for Chandler’s Ford Today where I share recent events and news. See above. There has been plenty going on since my last one. Mind you, the writing journey isn’t meant to be static so I fit in with that well enough. Link up tomorrow.

One tip that has stood me in good stead is to always double check submission requirements, whether it is for an online magazine, a publisher, or a competition etc. Follow these things to the letter (and in the case of Friday Flash Fiction to the comma – see the site (and my screenshot for more on that). Why?

Well, you risk automatic rejection if you don’t, for one thing. There are always good reasons for submission requirements. Sometimes it is to do with formatting.

Secondly, you make the editor’s life that much easier if you follow the rules. Editors, competition judges (and I am sometimes both of these!), appreciate these things (and trust me, I have!).

Thirdly, it can make you look like an amateur if you don’t follow the rules.

Fourthly, if you’re working (or hope to) with a publisher/agent, if you can’t follow the rules, it can make you look awkward to work with and you don’t want to give off that impression, however unintentionally.

So it is worth taking the time here to get these things right.

(In other news, am rather chuffed with myself as I’ve finally managed to score over 600 on an online game similar to Scrabble. I managed to get all seven tiles out on a double treble word score. The likelihood of this happening ever again is remote so am grabbing bragging rights now!).

Screenshot 2023-03-09 at 20-08-57 100-Word Submissions

Well, we did get snow, and Lady had a lovely time but neither of us were that sorry to get back home again.

Where would your characters call home and does home have the same meaning for us as it would do for many of us? Is it something they look forward to returning to or somewhere they just “put up with for now” because they have plans for better?

One of the things I loved about The Lord of the Rings is when Frodo, Sam etc do return to The Shire, they are pleased to be back but it is obvious they have changed. It would be odd if they had not been. And that’s something we need to reflect in our stories if we get characters returning to a place having been through their story.

A character shouldn’t be exactly the same as they were before setting out. Readers expect to see change (and sometimes it can be negative) but there should be something to show they’ve been affected by their experiences during the tale.

May be an image of outdoors and text that says "Hobbiton, home of the Hobbits, in The Lord of the Rings."

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I mentioned I was going to use the theme of clearing away for my YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction stories this week. The YouTube one went out on Monday but today I can share the one now on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy Clearing Away.

Screenshot 2023-03-10 at 09-42-10 Clearing Away by Allison Symes

Just a quick post to say if you find flash fiction books like mine on Amazon saying they’re out of stock – well, they’re not. Most of the indie press such as Chapeltown Books use print on demand (as it saves a small fortune in warehousing and distribution costs and I feel is less wasteful too).

What happens is an order goes in to print your book and you get it shortly afterwards. And do bear in mind you are always welcome to buy from me directly via my website. Just let me know via my contact page (link below). Always pleased to help here! (And I can sign your books for you too).

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Just going to flag up that Amazon have an offer on the paperback of From Light to Dark and Back Again. See link. Many thanks to all who have reviewed both of my books – reviews are much appreciated. More are always welcome, of course. Yes, I do review books myself. It is another way of supporting the author. The nice thing is reviews don’t have to be long either but they do have to be honest ones!

Screenshot 2023-03-10 at 21-07-08 Allison Symes

Fairytales with Bite – Problems Acrostic

P = Problems a character must overcome; cause of great drama and tension.
R = Real issues even in a magical world should be something a reader can sympathize with your character about.
O = Onward and upward but just how does your character do that – with magical help or without?
B = By the end of the story the problem must be resolved in some way but not necessarily happily.
L = Let your character work things out for themselves, even if they end up concluding they’ve got to call help in.
E = Extra help should be seen to be merited (after all, why should someone have a fairy godmother drop in?).
M = Make the problem help your character develop in some way, that will bring about a point of change, which all stories need.
S = Sympathy, struggles, stress – your characters should go through two of these to get the first!

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This World and Others – Typical Problems Your World Faces

What are the typical problems your world faces? Are these seasonal? Have they taken steps to make things better or are other things getting in the way of that happening?

If it is a question of your world not wanting to face up to the problems they’ve got, why is that? Is it a question of the problems being so huge they can’t tackle them or a lack of resources? Could they team up with other places to help them sort these issues out or is that where the real problem lies – they can’t get on with anybody, nobody wants to help them etc?

If the underlying problems are to do with the environment, are there characters in your story who are trying to do something to make things better? What can they achieve? Can they change others’ attitudes?

Plenty of story thoughts there. And bear in mind the problems might be exactly what your character needs as a challenge to get the best of them. We generally see problems as to be overcome. Your characters can do and it can develop what they are capable of doing, even if at the beginning of the story (and throughout it) they doubt what they can achieve. People will be glued to finding out what your character can do, how they overcome their doubts etc.

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

Screenshot 2023-02-17 at 20-52-45 Reader Hub Book BrushMOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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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

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

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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Using Story Cubes, Workshop News, and Writing Exercises

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was my photo of my much missed Bearded/Border collie cross, Gracie, my first dog.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has started with an interview (to go out later this week) and Lady has been getting to play with her best friends, so she’s happy too! Hope all well with you. Lovely to see signs of spring in my part of the world – does give a good lift to the spirit.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Despite it being bitter out again, Lady had a lovely time running around with her Aussie Shepherd gentleman friend today. Both dogs had a fabulous time. Definition of a gentleman here? Simple! A dog that doesn’t pinch another dog’s ball even when said dog easily could – Lady appreciates touches like that! She was also thrilled to see her pal, Coco.

Looking forward to sending our my author newsletter tomorrow. I do enjoy putting these together.

Delighted to say I’ll be running another Zoom workshop later in May and am looking forward to that too. Always love to spread the word about flash fiction.

I’ve talked before about using those odd pockets of time we all get to help your writing along. I like to mix up how I do this. Sometimes I’ll jot down title ideas. Sometimes I’ll note down promising opening or closing lines. Other times, I’ll start drafting a flash fiction tale I’ve already got in mind. I like variety here too.

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Busy start to the week as usual but it has been a reasonable Monday. Hope your day has been good too.

Loved the catch up interview with Hannah Kate – the broadcast goes out on Saturday, 4th March. More details and a link when I get it. Looking forward to sharing that.

Have been using the story cubes again for ideas for this week’s submissions to Friday Flash Fiction and for my YouTube channel. Great fun to use. This week I only used one of them. I’ll be sharing the results for my new video over on my book page shortly. See below.

But I wanted to say I love mixing up the way I approach finding ideas for stories. I think it stretches me and I also know that if one particular way isn’t doing something for me during any one week, then another way will, and I find it reassuring to have that kind of safety net. It is why I like practicing writing to different kind of prompts. Stands you in good stead!

Why not consider putting your own spin on writing prompts to generate more ideas

 

 

 

Hope you have had a good day. Am looking forward to being interviewed by Hannah Kate from North Manchester FM later today. That interview will form part of her show next Saturday, 4th March. Will share the link to the show once I have it.

I’ll be looking at Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them for Chandler’s Ford Today next week so look out for that on Friday, 3rd March.

And before that, on Wednesday, 1st March, I’ll be sending out my latest author newsletter full of news, tips, and story links. Please sign up if interested at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Have a great (writing/reading) week.

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There is an environmental theme for my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction though that hadn’t been my intention when writing the story. The basic idea came for this one from a story cube showing a cute picture of a bee! Hope you enjoy Buzzing Around though I will confess I prefer bees to wasps.

My first dog, Gracie, one got a bee into her mouth. Thankfully she opened her mouth and a rather soggy bee came out and flew off. Not sure who was more relieved – the bee or me! I never trusted Gracie anywhere near insects after that!

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Looking forward to running another Zoom workshop in May. Do let me know via my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/contact/ if you think this might be of interest for your writing group. Zoom has made more things possible for writers and I’ve appreciated this directly. (Flash works especially well for a workshop like this given it is is easy to share examples – and it makes for a great way to advertise what flash can do and be).

Screenshot 2023-02-28 at 21-02-19 Contact


It’s Monday once more. But I managed to do the evening dog walk without having to use my torch – hooray! – for the first time since at least November! It is the little victories which mean so much! This is another story which has come about as a result of using story cubes, in this case just one of them. Hope you enjoy L-Plates.


I’m planning to use the story cubes again to generate story ideas for YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction this coming week. Last time I just used three of them and picked the images from there. Today I’m probably just going to use one.

It’s another way of changing your parameters! I do this all the time when using the online random generators. I find setting limits encourages creativity. It makes you think laterally. But you can mix up how many you set and I find doing that useful too. Keeps me on my toes. Keeps things interesting. If it’s interesting for me, it should be for readers too.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Story cubes and random generators are excellent ways to generate ideas. However, it is a good idea NOT to have your posture like this though when writing! 一"

What is your attitude to writing exercises, especially when you’re set them at workshops, writing events etc? I love them. I see them as a challenge to rise to but I never expect what I come up with to be perfect straight away. This is my chance to get a first very rough draft down on something which I can polish up later.

If you get the chance to share some of what you’ve written do so. Nobody is going to judge you. Nobody is expecting the perfect bit of prose “straight out of the traps” so to speak. But feedback can be really useful and get you off to a head start when you do get to sit down and polish up what you’ve come up with here.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books as Presents

Do you prefer people to buy you books as presents or would you rather choose your own? I like to do both. Yes, I know, wouldn’t everyone?

What I do for birthdays etc is give people a list (two or three books) but because I know others will give me money or book tokens I get to use the latter to pick my own choices not on that list. Seems like a great arrangement to me. (And I am so thrilled book tokens have not gone the way of the dodo. Support these, folks. Get book tokens for the ones you love who love books. Keep these wonderful things going!)

There is something special about picking your own books. There is something just as special about giving people a list and looking forward to finding out what they picked for you. Either way you get books out of it! There is plenty to love about that!
Now if you could give one book to a fictional or historical character, what would it be and why?

My nomination?

My historical character? Richard III.
The book I’d give him? The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey so he can find out for himself not everybody believes he was a villain.

Screenshot 2023-02-25 at 20-54-00 Books as Presents


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MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

March 2023 edition out very soon.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
Screenshot 2023-02-07 at 20-52-16 Allison Symes

Plus many other books, including my flash fiction collections.

 

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Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop

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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. Mine has been very busy but am looking forward to being interviewed over the weekend via Skype. That will be fun. More to come on the results of that next week I hope.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s Friday once again and time for my Chandler’s Ford Today post. This week I’m looking at Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop. I discuss the importance of preparation, rehearsing your material, and focus. I also look at mixing up your material (in terms of having text, pictures, other items so it is not one huge block of text if you’re using things like PowerPoint). Hope you find the post useful.

Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop

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I’ll be talking about Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Link up then. See above.

Do I find it useful having a day of the week to stick to for my posts here? Oh yes. I can plan my writing week around it, which is useful. It also helps with my focus as I get my CFT post done and then work everything else around that.

Lovely to see everyone at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom last night. We were talking about the long and the short with regard to flash fiction. Lovely time had by all.

And the other lovely thing about Zoom? It’s a great word to get out in Scrabble if you can! I’ve only managed it once!

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)

Hope you’ve had a good day. Now I’ve mentioned before I like to know my characters well enough to write their stories up. What matters here is working out what you need to know. This will vary from writer to writer. Some will need to know what a character looks like. I don’t.

I do need to know their traits (and from that I will often work out physical description though I must admit for a lot of my tales this aspect doesn’t matter much at all, I focus on attitude and action). I often ask my characters a few pertinent questions. You could also name some of the things they like/dislike and work out why they feel this way about these things. That is a great way to often get to the bottom of what makes someone tick.

May be an image of text that says "9.. Understanding what makes US tick is crucial for understanding what makes your characters tick."

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It’s great to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my tale Buzzing Around. This one has a sting in its tale, aptly.
Screenshot 2023-02-24 at 09-24-27 Buzzing Around by Allison Symes

When it comes to competitions (flash and short story ones), I like the open theme ones but my preference is for a set theme. Why? I find a set theme gets my brain whirring as to the different possibilities I could do with that theme. I also like to rise to the challenge of writing to that theme. What I do like the set theme to be is open to interpretation though.

I’ve just set a theme for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group (and before you ask it is Things You Miss – have fun with this, I intend to!). I like a theme which I could take in different directions and yet still meet its requirements. The challenge there is to come up with something which stands out (which is why it is a good idea to write down ideas, at least six of them, before you pick one to write up. It will be the ones which are further down on your list which are likely to be unique).

May be an image of text that says "Jot down ideas based on a theme. Jot down several and discount the first two or three. Those will be the 'obvious" ideas."
I write my story first and then worry about the word count as a general rule. When I know I’m writing to a specific count for a specific market, I will often write my closing line first and then work backwards to get to the start. I also know now roughly what 100 words is going to look like on page or screen so I then focus on what I really have to get across to my reader for this tale.

May be an image of outdoors and text that says "Storytelling shows us so much about ourselves good and bad. It is also so therapeutic."

Fairytales with Bite – Calendars

I know I’d be lost without my calendar/diary. But do your characters take the same view? Does your fairy godmother book in her clients or does she turn up “on the fly”, so to speak? (I’m certain she did the latter for Cinderella – that poor kid had suffered for years before said fairy godmother deigned to turn up).

If your characters do plan their appointments, do they do this on the basis of magical urgency? I’ve often wondered what Cinder’s fairy godmother was getting up to before she did arrive – I suspect there are stories there!

How does your magical setting base its calendar – on a system similar to our own? If not, how do they organise their time structures – do they have days, weeks, months etc?

Also, can anyone book an appointment with a magical being in your setting? Or can only certain people qualify and what would be the criteria here?

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This World and Others – Special Appointments

Special appointments could be a great honour. Equally they could be a sign your character is in real trouble. Who would make the special appointments and why? If you’re about to be summoned to see your world’s most powerful magical being, this may not be good news. Who could be on the receiving end of that and how have they ended up here? Could be comic potential here too.

But even the most powerful magical being will have a weakness somewhere – could they end up having a “special appointment” with someone who knows what this is and can exploit it?

Now here in the UK manufacturers can have a “By Royal Appointment” status otherwise known as the Royal Warrant. In your fictional world, is there an equivalent to that?

What special appointments would your characters welcome and which would they dread? Working that out can show you great insights as to what your characters are made of and where that comes from. All useful for characterisation.

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Character Creation

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of a day out in Dorset.
Delighted to have publication news to share and I hope you find my Character Creation post for Chandler’s Ford Today especially useful. Also spent today (17th February) out and about with better half and Lady. Lovely time had by all. (Weather not bad for time of year – overcast but dry and mild. Got to blow a few cobwebs away!).

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today – Character Creation. I share thoughts on identifying with your characters, ask if outlining stifles creativity, and discuss why a good knowledge of human nature is crucial for successful character creation. Hope you find the post useful.

Character Creation

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Publication News: Am thrilled to be back on CafeLit with a story which started life as something I wrote as part of the Flash NANO challenge I took part in last November. Now CafeLit like authors to nominate a drink to be associated with their story. I didn’t have any problems with this one. It had to be cinnamon tea for my tale, Cinnamon Comforts. Hope you enjoy it. (I highly recommend cinnamon tea by the way – lovely!).Screenshot 2023-02-16 at 19-30-01 CafeLitMagazine
Looking forward to sharing some thoughts on Character Creation for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. One thing about writing flash fiction is you get to create characters a lot but as inventing people and other beings is my favourite aspect to storytelling, this is not a problem!

I find in getting to know my characters story ideas suggest themselves. It is a case of seeing that this kind of character would work best in this kind of story. I love it even more when I hear my characters “speak” before I put a word of dialogue down on my screen. If ever I needed confirmation this character has come to life, then this is it. And if my characters seem real to me, they will do so for a reader too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you enjoy my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – The Right Call. See if my character did do that!
Screenshot 2023-02-17 at 17-09-06 The Right Call by Allison Symes

Hope you’ve had a good day. I’ll be chatting about Character Creation for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see further up) and share a few thoughts on this. I get to create a lot of characters for my flash pieces though I have sometimes used the same character in more than one tale. Characters, for me are the driving force behind any story, regardless of length. If I’m not interested in them and what happens to them, it is highly unlikely I’ll be reading much of the story!

May be an image of text that says "You don't need to plan to the "nth" degree but you do need to know your characters well enough to write their stories."

I use the random generators a lot to help trigger story ideas though I was recently given a set of story cubes. I’m going to see what I can come up with using those. One thing I can see immediately is that, as well as using using all of those cubes, I could just use some of them and get more stories that way too.

Equally I could just pick one and use what is on that for an idea. I like options though I do find parameters increase my creativity. There is something about limitations which makes you think more creatively and that is a good thing.

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Fairytales with Bite – Kindness

The fairytale world values kindness (see how often the kind are rewarded with magical gifts/help etc) but the world itself often isn’t kind at all. How do your characters navigate that? How do they continue to be kind when maybe it would not be in their best interests to do so, yet they want to remain true to themselves?

Which characters deliberately “arm themselves “ with spells/magical equipment that can nullify the evil effects of others? See Sleeping Beauty for more on this. That fairy godmother was prepared and ready to deal with the evil one. This interests me as it shows shrewdness and a willingness to recognize evil and the need to thwart it as much as possible. That fairy godmother was worldly wise enough to see its failings and willing enough to confront what was wrong. She was no “twee fairy”!

I like to see kind characters having the benefit of others being kind to them (such as in Cinderella where the fairy godmother helps Cinders because she is kind). At the end of the story, I want to see kind characters win through but also using other qualities to help them do that. I don’t want passive, kind characters having others do all of the work for them here. They do have to earn their reward in my eyes.

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This World and Others – Ethics

Does your fictional world have any kind of ethics as we would know them? What is the driving force behind your world’s political system? Are there ethics the ordinary folk are expected to follow and those higher up can do as they please? Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen that!

How did your setting develop these ethics – through religion or tradition founded another way? Has your setting abandoned ethics for any reason and, if so, why? Equally has it adopted any form other worlds, say? Why did they decide to do this and which ethics did they adopt? What guidelines are given to the ruled over by their rulers? How easy or otherwise it is for ordinary folk to challenge ethics they disagree with?

Does your world’s media have any influence on what ethic should be followed/ignored?

What would be the consequences for a character who deliberately goes against what is accepted in their world? They say “follow the money” when it comes to looking for suspects for crime cases and I’ve not doubt there is a lot of truth in that. But you could say “follow the ethics” as well to see if your characters have a well hidden nicer side to their nature.

You could also follow the ethics to see who is saying one thing but doing another. We’ve all seen that before too!

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