Writing News and Books For Life

September 10, 2024Leave a comment

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good weekend. It was soggy with me. Time for some autumn sunshine I think. I do love the changing leaf colours at this time of year. Lady doesn’t care much what the weather is as long as she goes out and has a great time (ideally with friends too). Hope to have some news of another book event I’ll be involved in before long too.

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Hope you’ve had a good Tuesday. Weather still damp and dreary here. I do prefer the crisper, drier autumn days!

Had a turn down for one of my stories come in today. Will have another look at the tale and see if I can polish it further and sent it out elsewhere. Have done this before and had work accepted on the second or third attempt. Worth a go.

On the other side of the fence here, I will be putting on my judge’s hat for a flash fiction competition soon. Looking forward to that.

Am also preparing some other submissions as well as editing at the moment so plenty to keep me occupied. I like it that way. I also like the mixture of writing fiction and non-fiction. Both are interesting challenges. I like the variety too.

Lady has had a marvellous start to her week in that she caught up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal, whom she hasn’t seen for a few days, today. The dogs had a great run, a playfight (I know – Lady’s 7 and the Ridgeback is 6 but they still love doing this, overgrown pups that they are), and a massive run around together. Both went home tired but very happy.

Pleased to say there will be further author interviews to come for Chandler’s Ford Today. I have two lined up for the end of September on successive weeks and I will be preparing another one very shortly which will eventually appear in October.

I love author interviews whether I read them, listen to them, or conduct them. I always learn something interesting and I find it endlessly fascinating finding out how other writers find their inspiration, what marketing tips they’ve found most useful etc. We can and should all learn from each other, I think.
I have a page over on CFT and you can find it at the link.

So far today there has been thunder, heavy rain, and sunshine. Wonder what the rest of the afternoon and evening will bring!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. We’ll be looking at marketing, which is always a useful topic.

Flash fiction is good to share as part of an overall marketing campaign. It doesn’t take up much reading time. It gives readers something entertaining and different too. It shows something of your style and work. It makes it more likely they’ll check out what else you do.

What I’ve never found appealing as a reader is the buy, buy, buy approach (it comes across as nagging!) so my own take here is to share something of value such as a flash story, mention my books, and then share tips etc. I think it makes marketing more palatable to me as the writer and I hope to others as potential/actual readers.

Another soggy day. Glad to be in!

Will be looking at Books, Movies, and Music for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. When you’re writing on three wonderful things, the post can’t help but be a joy to write. Am looking forward to sharing it on Friday. It was inspired by the recent Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame.

Writing Tip: I find it useful to prepare bits and pieces for my newsletter throughout the month so towards the end of the four or five week period, I can just edit what I’ve got, put it any final story links and then said newsletter is good to go. Find this useful and jotting down things for my newsletter as and when is another good use of those pockets of time we all get.

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I’ve signed up to take part in Flash NANO once more. It won’t be that long before this starts (1st November). For the last couple of years, I’ve managed to produce something to all thirty prompts. Some have since been published, others I’m saving for a further flash collection, and others I know won’t make the cut. It happens.

What I got from those tales was having a go at the prompt set (some of which were types I’d not tried before) and being able to produce something to it. That cheered me up at the time especially when I was tempted to think I haven’t written a story like this before, I’m not going to do this, but yes, I found I could.

Whether I’ll come back to these later and see if I can do something more with them, I don’t know. I do find with all writing prompts though they are a great way in to my writing work for the day. They almost act like a “warm up” and that is useful in and of itself.

It’s Monday. It’s been as hectic as ever, albeit the weather at least was drier than over a soggy weekend. But given it is still Monday (and I agree with Garfield the cat about Mondays), it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Another Time.

It doesn’t seem like two years since we lost the Queen. Where does the time go?

Time and anniversaries (including the happier ones naturally) are great topics for flash fiction. What does an anniversary mean to your character especially if they’re in a situation where they face it alone? Which anniversaries would they welcome? Which do they go out of their way to avoid?

Also wedding anniversaries have associations – the 40th anniversary being a ruby one, for example. You could take something like the object here and weave a story around that. I did so a little while ago with Ruby on my YouTube channel. See link.

Have submitted an autumn themed story this week. Am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. And I hope to soon have news of a book event where I hope to spread the word about flash fiction – more news when I have it. Plenty going on then and I’m editing too.

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction – The Clock. Also thanks for the comments on it on my Facebook page. Much appreciated. I’ve been talking recently about using numbers in stories and one way to do so is to use the number as a time. Here I went a step further and used the time measuring device instead.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books for Life Acrostic

B = Brilliant “device” for education and entertainment.
O = Original stories coming out all the time plus the classics to enjoy.
O = Other formats suit the book too – ebook, audio, hardback, paperback – something for all.
K = Kindle reading has led me to finding authors new to me and I often go on to buy their paperbacks later.
S = Stories, single or series, set in all worlds and this one – what’s not to like about that?

F = Fairytales, fantasy, and flash fiction – these are three of my favourite book things to misquote The Sound of Music.
O= Originality in the sharing of non-fiction has led to creative non-fiction, which I adore.
R = Reviews – I give them and, like all authors, would like some for my works – reviews do help authors.

L = Libraries are fantastic and encourage a life long love of reading.
I = Imagination fired and not just for fiction – what ideas from the past, as shared in books, have led to new inventions or developments?
F = Frankly, my dear, I think the book is one of humanity’s best inventions to misquote Gone With The Wind.
E = Enjoy your books and I think it is no coincidence some of the best films are based on books (because it has been proven the stories already work!).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the May 2024 edition which had memoir as its theme. My article talked about Using Memoir Techniques for Character Creation.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Books For Life Acrostic https://t.co/qDp7RtlJp0 via @goodreads Hope you enjoy my Books for Life acrostic for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/RoAcB6fHkH
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 7, 2024

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It’s Monday. It’s been hectic, albeit the weather at least was drier than over a soggy weekend. But given it is still Monday (and I agree with Garfield the cat about Mondays), it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Another Time.https://t.co/m1zpo3Z4pf
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 9, 2024

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Story Judging

September 6, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good few days. Autumn coming in rapidly here and Lady and I have had our first soakings of the month! Looking forward to sharing two fabulous author interviews on Chandler’s Ford Today towards the end of the month plus I hope to have news of another writing event in October before long. Meantime, keeping busy writing and editing here. Huge advantage to this is I keep dry!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Lady and I had another soaking this morning. We may have been marginally less wet than yesterday but there wasn’t much in it!

On a much happier note, I’m pleased to share Story Judging for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at where competition judges can tell how much (or little) editing has been done on the pieces they get to read and I share what I think story judges are looking for. I also share handy tips.

Hope you find the post useful and good luck if you are entering competitions. I find they’re a great discipline for helping you to get used to writing to deadlines.

Story Judging

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Lady and I had a real soaking this morning! Hope it wasn’t too bad where you are. Only time I was pleased to get wet today was when I went swimming!

Don’t forget Story Judging is up on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above. Will be back to see The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production in October so will review that in due course for CFT too.

I’ve mentioned before I often use Zoom to record stories and play them back. Well, I was glad I did last night. A story I’ve got in mind for submission has to come in at under the three minutes mark. Discovered mine was over four! Have already edited the piece so hope it will now be to the right time length but I will re-record later and make sure. I’ve found it is the only sure way to make sure my timings are right.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a cracking time in the park with her pal, Coco, and then got to see two other rescue dog pals she sees every now and then. Grand time had by all. Rain held off too so will count that as a win.

I’ve been thinking of music and books a lot recently, partly inspired by the recent Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame chart which they played on Bank Holiday Monday. Wonderful music and many of the pieces relate to books or plays. Shakespeare turned up a few times for that chart. Would like to think he would be pleased about that. (Jane Austen and Charles Dickens were represented in there too).

Character Tip: Why not see what your character’s musical tastes are and why they have them? This could reveal something about their background and/or personality. Also think about a piece of music which would suit your character and think about why it would be that one. (If you pick Jaws, you are either writing about a shark or your character is of the kind I am likely to avoid!).

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It’s Friday. It’s the end of the working week for many of us. Weather here has been frightful too. So definitely time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – The Clock.

Names can reveal a lot about characters such as age and social status. Sometimes I know the character’s job before I know the name but sometimes that occupation inspires my name choice. In Being Yourself (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I knew my character was a librarian and then worked out a name to suit (I came up with Jane Stephens for this one).

Sometimes I don’t need to worry about names at all as I know the story will work best in the first person but even there I can show a character referring to or talking to someone else by name. What they call someone can be enlightening too. Do they use the full name? Do they use a contraction? When they speak the name is it with affection or contempt?

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I’ve mentioned before you can have a lot of fun writing flash because, despite the limited word count, there is much you can do with it.

For example, I write across the whole spectrum from 50 words to the full 1000 and pretty much everything in between. I also mix up the genres I write in here and also the moods of the stories. I mix up writing in first and third person. I’ve occasionally used second person too.

But I also mix up the formats I use so sometimes I use acrostics (especially on Facebook and my blog round up). I have also written flash pieces in diary format, as letters, and in poetic form too. At some point I may have a go at flash in tweets because that is do-able.

The important thing in all of this? Having fun with it! You have to enjoy what you write/the process of writing and accept you are in for the long haul.

But the joy of creating something you hope others will enjoy I think is a great thing and feedback from sites like Friday Flash Fiction is enormously encouraging too. You can’t assume anything in the writing life but you can give it your best shot and have fun as you do that.

Being open to improving your craft matters too but that is fun in itself when you have the support of fellow writers. It is my experience the writing community is a tremendously supportive one and it is lovely being part of that.

Fairytales with Bite – Rough Justice

Justice can be very rough indeed in the fairytale world. The prince didn’t expect to be turned into a beast in Beauty and the Beast, did he?

But for a wider fantasy setting, what would count as rough justice? Would it be the misuse of magic for aggressive purposes or would it be the withholding of magic when it could be used to help a character?

Who determines the usage of magic and when that usage spills over into abuse of power? Someone has to set the rules. There would have to be some rules given the lack of them would lead to anarchy, though you could give some thought to who would want to stir that up in your setting.

If someone is after power, which is what characters so often want (just so like us, eh?), how would they stir up that anarchy and then bring it under control again so they could rule?

Often when there is a power struggle, justice and truth are trampled on. Who would bring these things back and how would they do it? Who would ensure justice was just that only without any rough bits?

Story ideas there I think!

This World and Others – Good -v- Evil

One of the things I love about fairytales is they call out evil for what it is. There is a clear divide between good and evil.

It doesn’t mean good characters are flawless – they’re not, any more than we are. It does mean they know what is right and wrong at least at the basic levels and the heroes here, to my mind, are those who are prepared to stand up for what is right, regardless. (See The Lord of the Rings, the Narnia series and so much more for more on that).

In your setting, is the divide clear? Would your readers know who they should be rooting for to succeed? Yes, sometimes you can have a “good villain”. The Sheriff of Nottingham, as played by the much missed Alan Rickman, in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves is one such but it was still right he did not succeed in the end.

The problem with evil winning is it is so depressing. The brute forces win, characters are oppressed, where is the hope in that kind of story? Indeed, where is the story? Frankly, we also see enough of all of that in the news!

So we need characters then who are prepared to stand up against evil. They’re not always going to get it right. Many of them will die. (To paraphrase Lord Farquaad in Shrek, that is a sacrifice the bad guys are prepared to make!).

But the interesting story is when those on the side of good do take up a stand against evil. We want to see what they do and whether it succeeds or not. If they face setbacks, which I would expect, do they overcome those? How do they overcome them? Is the cause of good upheld successfully?

One of the joys of fantasy and fairytales is when good is upheld. It gives hope. Yes, it may be escapism but I’ve never seen the problem with that. I want characters in conflict with each other and the right ones succeeding in the end. I guess I have wanted that ever since I first read the classic fairytales. I’ve seen no reason to change that view!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the November 2023 edition of the magazine which focused on novels. My article is on Writing Novels and I shared what I learned from writing my (as yet) unpublished novel.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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The Clock, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/X4oqRkh6Xr It’s Friday. It’s the end of the working week for many of us. Weather here has been frightful too. So definitely time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – The Clock. pic.twitter.com/FSWmYPUyV9
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 6, 2024

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Story Judging https://t.co/vpIwNFOxMp Pleased to share Story Judging on CFT this week. I ask if competition judges can tell how much (or little) editing has been done on what they read. I share what I think judges are looking for and handy tips. Hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) September 6, 2024

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Random Generators

August 30, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good week. Lady had a wonderful puppy party with not one, not two, but three of her best buddies earlier this week. All of the dogs went home shattered but happy! Writing wise, I have two blogs to share this week with one on competitions (More than Writers) and the other on Random Generators (Chandler’s Ford Today). Hope you find both useful.

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Delighted to share Random Generators as my post on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. This is a topic close to my writing heart given I use a wide range of these and find them so useful for triggering story ideas. I share reasons why these things are so useful to writers and tips for making the best of them. Hope you find the post useful.

Random Generators

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I talk about Competitions and share hints and tips I’ve found useful. Hope you find them useful too.

I also look at what I think judges are looking for in competition entries. Am looking forward to putting my judge’s hat back on in September for a writing group, which is why this topic sprung to mind.

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Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her best pals, the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Coco the Labradoodle. Very tired but happy dogs went home (and before it became so humid this afternoon too so win-win there).

Will be discussing Random Generators on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. I use a wide variety of these and find them all useful. Many of my tales created this way end up on Friday Flash Fiction or on my YouTube channel.

Writing Tip: If you have brainstorming sessions every so often (and I do for titles and opening/closing lines), do put them away for a while afterwards. As with resting a story before being able to edit it effectively, I find I have to rest the ideas I’ve come up with here and it is only with time away from them, I can then work out whether they are “goers” or not. Pleased to say most are and I get on with drafts but inevitably I do have to discard some ideas – this is the way of it.

Sometimes an idea which seemed good at the time was only good enough for that time. The cool light of day, and switching my brain from creative to objective judging mode can be illuminating to say the least. I used to worry when I discarded ideas but have learned over time other, better ideas do occur to you so I no longer worry about this aspect.

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Glad to say my story Fifteen is now up on Friday Flash Fiction. The idea for this one came from my Lift Up Your Pens session at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick recently.

I was discussing using numbers in fiction and one of the ideas I shared was that of writing a story based around a character having a fear of a certain number. Find out why my character Shelley chose this one rather than the more usual thirteen.

I use names in my flash pieces for various purposes. Sometimes I use them to indicate likely age. Sometimes I use them to indicate likely social class. Sometimes a name can combine those two factors. I don’t always use surnames because I often find just the first name gives the detail I want readers to pick up on. But I do ensure the name suits the character.

Occasionally I do use the random name generators (especially those where I can select fantasy names. Many of these generators have different settings and it is worth having a look at them to find which would suit you best). Funnily enough I often don’t use the name generated but what it does do is trigger off an idea of my own from it and I then go with that. As ever with me, it is the getting started which matters!

With the exception of Friday Flash Fiction who want up to 100 words, most of the flash competitions I try have a word count of 250 or 300 words. If you wanted to practice writing to specific word counts, I would recommend the 100, the 250 and the 300. I’d also check out the competition guide Writing Magazine issue as these detail flash competitions as well as standard short story ones.

Don’t forget to check out their website as well for other competitions. Some are subscriber only. Others are open to all. And I will flag up now they are running the Grand Flash Prize again, deadline is the end of the year for that one.

Fairytales with Bite – Favourite Books

Do your fantasy characters have favourite books? Are there tales which are considered classics and which everyone is supposed to read/have read? Would any of these be the same or similar to our fairytales? Indeed, what would they have as fairytales and are ours a poor imitation?

What is the attitude towards reading in your world? Is it encouraged or looked down on? Can anyone access books? What would be the equivalent of libraries/book shops in your setting? Would information found out from books (or something of interest in stories) be of crucial importance to your characters as they deal with their situations?

If your setting has multi species, which would be the favourite books of each and is there any crossover happening here? Is there something with unites the different species? It is one of the things I love about books – they can be a great way to bring people together. So could this happen in your story and what would the outcome be?

This World and Others – Access to Books

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, access to books is governed by whether there are such things as libraries in your settings. If not, how else would people access books? Do your characters ever earn enough to buy their own? Are certain books reserved for select species and why is this, if so?

What would those in authority worry about people finding out from books? Are they right to worry? Has there been any historical precedent for trouble being caused by folk accessing books they should not have done?

Or have books been suppressed in the past, they’re not now, but someone is looking to suppress them again? Who would this be? What are they trying to cover up? Do they succeed? Story ideas there I think!
Meantime I’ll continue to appreciate my own access to books! They are wonderful things.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the April 2024 edition on editing. My article here asks the always pertinent question – Editing: Do You Love It or Loathe It?

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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More than Writers: Competitions by Allison Symes https://t.co/6gZdbzmFIh Pleased to be back on MTW, ACW's blog spot. I share tips about competitions I’ve found useful and look at what I think judges look for. Am looking forward to putting my judge’s hat back on in September too. pic.twitter.com/mFi8RA0WM6
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 29, 2024

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Fifteen, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/SAkaZ48yyl The idea for Fifteen came from my Lift Up Your Pens at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I discussed using numbers in fiction. One idea I shared was writing a tale based on a fear of a certain number. pic.twitter.com/zBQVX3QNZT
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 30, 2024

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Random Generators https://t.co/NU11gdsocS Pleased to share Random Generators on CFT this week. This topic is close to my writing heart as I use a wide range of these. I share reasons why these are so useful to writers and tips for making the best of them.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 30, 2024

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Music, Character Tips, and Flash Fiction News

August 27, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for the image of me at Swanwick 2023 above.

Hope you have had a good weekend. It was the last summer bank holiday in most of the UK. Weather got better as it went on, which was nice. Lady doesn’t understand bank holidays though. Misses her friends given normal routines tend to get dropped including by us. Writing wise, I was glad to have received a commended for my story, Demanded, in the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition. Am resting another story for another competition. Hope to submit that over this weekend.

Facebook – General

Hope you have a good day. Bank holiday weeks always feel a bit odd, as if you’re missing a day or are a day out somehow.

Pleased to say Friday Flash Fiction is now open again for submissions. Have just send a story in. Have another story I want to send in for a competition later this week. Plus Hannah Kate is putting out calls for stories for her Autumn Equinox show on North Manchester FM again. Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for flagging that one up. Do follow the link for more details.

Now this is one area where I do always use Zoom to record my stories because I want to make sure my tales do come in at under Hannah’s timing limit and it is the best way I know of doing just that. Good luck if you are having a go at sending something in. Hope to have a crack at this myself later in the week.

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

Hope you’ve had a good Monday (and made the most of the bank holiday if that applied). I’ve enjoyed listening to Classic FM’s Movie Hall of Fame today (26th August 2024) where they counted down the top 100 film themes voted for by listeners.

I voted for The Lord of the Rings soundtrack and was pleased that hit the top spot again. Epic book, epic film, epic soundtrack. Classic stories stay with you, as does classic music. I can’t say a specific piece of music has ever inspired me to write a story but maybe I should try that sometime. It would be a sound prompt!

Character Tip: What kind of music does your character like most and why? Is it something they’ve always loved or something they developed a taste for (the latter is the case for me with classical)? Do they find music helps them to unwind and what would they need to unwind from? I’m sure there are story ideas there!

Hope you’re having a good Sunday. Lovely service this morning. Quiet day the rest of the day. Just what the doctor ordered etc.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again next week. I share news, tips, story links and much else. If that is of interest please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Also, many thanks to those who signed up to the newsletter at Swanwick recently.

I outline my characters but never use all of the information I trigger doing this in the story itself. What it does do is give me enough information to be able to write my characters with conviction. I know what they’re going to be doing and why, so away I go on my first draft. I know I need to know my characters well enough to be able to drop them right in it in whatever situation I choose and that is so much fun!

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Many congratulations to Tom Baldwin who won the Friday Flash Fiction competition with his story, Wedding Day. Congratulations also to the runners-up and those who were Highly Commended and Commended. I was delighted to find my tale, Demanded, is one of the Commended ones. Nice start to the long weekend!

I’ll be discussing Random Generators for Chandler’s Ford Today on 30th August. I use these often because I am always looking for ways into creating story and/or character ideas. I use a variety of these things and have found them all useful. Link up on Friday.

A huge thanks for the great response to yesterday’s CFT post about Swanwick. (Am already looking forward to Swanwick 2025).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

May I welcome all who have subscribed to my YouTube channel, especially since I see the numbers have gone up. Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the stories I share here. If you’re interested in subscribing, just follow the link.

I usually put a new story up on Mondays. It’s good fun to do. I use Book Brush for creating the video – lovely and easy to do too. Having my own channel makes for a nice, visual media addition to my marketing and I also use it to advertise flash fiction and all it can be.

It’s Monday. Okay for a lot of the UK it is the summer bank holiday but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Perfect Timing.

F= Fun format to write for and it helps you to learn to write tightly and to not fear editing.

L = Less is more is the anthem for flash fiction writers – you have to be selective as to what you show a reader.

A = And if you like creating characters, as I do, this is the form for you as you need loads of them!

S = Succinct storytelling, giving readers only what they need to know and allowing them to infer plenty for themselves.

H = Has various divisions – the dribble (50 worders), the drabble (100 words), micro (usually under 300 words), plus the 500 and 750 word forms – there will be at least one to suit you.

Not a great day to be out and about here – has chucked it down for most of the day. Not that this worries Lady. She dries quickly. It is a good day to be indoors writing and reading though!

I like to be inside my characters’ heads for all of my fictional work. I have got to understand where they’re coming from, even though often I don’t approve of their actions and attitudes at all. One huge advantage to outlining a character is you do get to understand them. I’ve found it helps me to portray them realistically, even if they’re a fantasy creature.

In my Time for Some Peace (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) I write this from a mother dragon’s viewpoint and her actions are understandable based on what I’ve shown you about her. But I outlined that bit in a line or two before I wrote the story up.

Goodreads Author Blog – Next on the TBR Pile

Working out what to read next is probably the reader’s most difficult dilemma though it is a lovely one to have. I mix up reading novels with short story and flash fiction collections. I also mix up the genres I read. I also like to mix up the mood of what I read. I also mix up reading classic and contemporary.

At the moment I’m happily reading some of P.G.Wodehouse’s works as I want a lighthearted read. Am loving getting into the stories of Jeeves and Wooster again. Am currently reading Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen and I was delighted to come across a reference to Blandings Castle, the scene of some of my favourite Wodehouse stories with the lovely Lord Emsworth and the wonderful Uncle Fred.

Not just here but in series books, I love those little “nods” to other places the author writes about. I see this a lot in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld too. In the fabulous Maskerade (a spoof of opera and The Phantom of the Opera especially), the Lancre witches come to Ankh-Morpork where so many of the other Discworld novels are set. I love links like that and often I will find my dilemma about what to read next is solved because having read Maskerade again, for example, I wold probably go on to re-read one of the Sam Vimes books, the common link here being that fabulous fantasy city.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time, I share the first edition of the magazine – the August 2024 one. I talked about Boost Your Writing With Flash Fiction. Now that will be a topic which will always be close to my heart, pen, laptop etc!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Next on the TBR Pile https://t.co/UfZS7PhMy8 via @goodreads I share how I often work out what to read next from my TBR pile for Goodreads this week. pic.twitter.com/Vapsevikbc
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 24, 2024

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It’s Monday. Okay for a lot of the UK it is the summer bank holiday but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Perfect Timing.https://t.co/ilHnw7sSjk
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 26, 2024

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Welcome to all who have subscribed to my YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy my tales here. I put new tales up on Mondays. I use Book Brush for creating the video. My channel is a visual media addition to my marketing and I use it to advertise flash fiction.https://t.co/UABhvVRjC1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 27, 2024

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Swanwick 2024

August 23, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thanks to all who contributed to the pictures for my Chandler’s Ford Today post about Swanwick this week. I especially appreciate those of me taking part in events. Always tricky to do those shots yourself!

Hope you have had a good few days. Weather all over the place once again. My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week was a particular joy to write – well, it was on Swanwick 2024 a subject close to my heart. I hope the post gives you a good flavour of what makes Swanwick special for so many writers, including this one.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. For those of us having a bank holiday this weekend, hope it proves to be a good one.

I’m delighted to share Swanwick 2024 as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. This one was a labour of love! I review my week there, share something about what makes The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick so special, and celebrate its 75th anniversary.

I also got to have an almost red carpet moment with fellow Swanwicker, Dave Bromley, but find out more about that in the post. Link below.

Swanwick 2024

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Not great weather today though it didn’t stop Lady having a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler chum this morning. Mind you, I got to reprise my excellent impersonation of a bedraggled rat! Wasn’t quite enough rain to be a fully fledged drowned rat!

My Swanwick 2024 post is up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. If you want to know something about why The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is so special, do check my post out. See above.

My next events will be the Association of Christian Writers’ Autumn Gathering In October and the Bridge House Publishing event in December, both of which I’m looking forward to already.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. I know. It’s hard to believe we’re so close to September, one of my favourite months, (and only one more Bank Holiday to go in the UK before…. Best left there I think).

Oh and a sneak peak at a lovely moment from Swanwick. I was delighted to get to present a Swannie to Dave Bromley this year. To find out more about Swannies and what this was all about see my CFT post tomorrow.

I was delighted to present a Swannie to Dave Bromley for his comedy Husbands R Us

Hope your Wednesday has gone well. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening. Also looking forward to sharing Swanwick 2024, my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link for that up on Friday. See above. The next best thing to being at Swanwick is to write about it!

Character Tips: Especially for my flash fiction, I need to know the character well. They are my way into the story. It doesn’t mean I have to know every last detail though. I just need to know enough to help me picture them and envisage the sorts of situations they would end up in and how they would react to these.

So often working out answers to a couple of pertinent questions such as what would you never do and why will reveal a great deal about my character’s attitudes and assumptions and I can make good use of those. I can, of course, make them have to face the thing they don’t want to do but I will know their reasons for this and I think that helps me create a more believable character.

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Friday Flash Fiction is currently closed for submissions, understandably taking a break after their recent competition. I look forward to sending pieces in again to them soon but what I am especially grateful to them for is helping me rediscover the joys of the drabble, the 100 words flash fiction type.

I started in flash fiction writing 100 worders (for CafeLit) but then branched out into writing the longer forms of flash and short stories (which I still write). The discovery of Friday Flash Fiction led me back into writing the 100 worders regularly and I am loving doing this.

I like the discipline of creating a brand new 100 word story for them most weeks of the year. I also appreciate the feedback and support from other writers on the site plus I get to enjoy a thoroughly good read every week. What’s not to like about that? If you would like to check out my stories here do follow the link.

One of my favourite comments about flash fiction comes from the good people at The Bridport Prize who refer to it as “the art of just enough”. I think that’s a great summary of it.

I have it in mind when I’m drafting my stories. I think about what the reader needs to know and give them that and nothing else. They do get the “just enough” so they can make inferences needed, where appropriate.

I know when I’m reading I don’t want the author to spell out everything. I want them to give me enough, regardless of the length of story, so I can figure some things out too. It is always fun going on to find out whether I’m right or not.

Hope you have had a good day – has been trying here. But knowing how I feel when days are trying is something I can transfer to my characters when I put them in trying situations. (I make sure I do of course!).

Drawing on what you know in terms of how you feel when things go wrong or disappointment hits is something you can transfer to your characterisation. It makes for believable characters readers will identify with because they know where the character is coming from and why they are feeling the way they do. We’ve all been there. Our characters can go there too!

One of the great comforts about reading, I think, is when we read characters going through hell and high water and think well at least it isn’t us or we know how the characters feel. Stories are fabulous for encouraging empathy like that.

Do I find it relaxing when I put my characters through the mill? It can be amazingly therapeutic at times but my goal is to ensure it all works out and becomes a good story a reader will enjoy. That’s the challenge and I love rising to it.

Fairytales With Bite – Accountability

With my writing, I find having deadlines makes me accountable. I have to get columns done by a certain date, stories off to competitions and/or markets by a certain date and so on.

Leading on from that thought, in your world, when a task (magical or otherwise) has to be done, who makes sure it gets done and in the right way? Who follows through? Who reports back X has been done in the right way? Who reports back when it hasn’t been?

What you are looking for here are story possibilities from the chain of command which must exist. Even in the most democratic of fantasy settings, someone does have to give the orders, there will be others below them and so on.

There would be room for humorous stories here too. It doesn’t have to be deadly serious. As ever, I will flag up Discworld here where there is no doubt about who is in charge of Ankh-Morpork but so much humour does come from those wonderful novels. I’m especially fond of the Sam Vimes books here. He knows he’s accountable to Lord Vetinari. Doesn’t mean he has to like it though! When Moist von Lipwig comes into the stories, he finds himself accountable to His Lordship and to an extent Vimes as well (see Raising Steam).

So who would you have accountable to whom? How does this work?

This World and Others – Record Keepers

Every society has its history and archives. Some treasure these more than others. Every society has its good and bad history. Some acknowledge this. Others definitely don’t.

In your setting, which records are kept and why? Who can access them? Are there any secret records only a privileged few can ever access? Have any records been destroyed and, if so, which ones and on whose orders?

Are the record keepers treated well or are they kept under the thumb by dictatorial bosses? How did the record keepers get to hold that position in the first place? I would envisage connections working here – the old boys’ network perhaps – especially if there is anything which has to be kept secret from the general public. You would want someone you could trust in positions like that.

Also give some thought as to how far the records go back and in which manner they’re kept? Is technology used or is it all kept on scrolls? When you have a character needing to look something up, how easy or otherwise would they find doing this? Do they find the information they’re after?

Records matter. They’re used for all sorts of things including family history research. Would your characters need to look up some of their ancestors and, if so, why? Would they be pleased or horrified at what they find out?

Story ideas there!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Well, given my editing course at Swanwick recently, I thought the April 2024 edition of Writers’ Narrative on that theme was the best one to share this time! In the magazine my article asks Editing: Do You Love It or Loathe It? Always a timely question!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Friday Flash Fiction helped me rediscover the joys of the drabble, the 100 words tales. I started in flash writing drabbles for CafeLit but branched out into writing longer flash/short stories. FFF led me back into writing drabbles, which I love. https://t.co/NI4JfRPb77 pic.twitter.com/ZX9X2YEFEn
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 23, 2024

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Swanwick 2024 https://t.co/R7lKl8D2rC I’m delighted to share Swanwick 2024 as my CFT post this week. I review my week there, share something about what makes The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick so special, and celebrate its 75th anniversary.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 23, 2024

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Book Title Games

August 9, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for the photo of me at my one hour workshop at Swanwick in 2023 and to Adrian Symes for the CafeLit 14 and my book signing pictures.

About to head off to Derbyshire. So looking forward to seeing everyone again. Will be posting but at different times. Expect to come back refreshed, reinvigorated, and shattered! In my experience that’s a great sign of a fabulous writing event as here will be a lot of creativity going on. Lady will be spoiled rotten while I’m away – she usually is.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share a post which was good fun to write – Book Title Games – on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s amazing what changing a letter or a word in a book title can do to it and its mood! Find out more in the post and why not give it a try?

I also pay tribute to that wonderful BBC Radio Four comedy, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, which often has books in their games, changing the titles just being one of them. Hope you enjoy the post.

Book Title Games

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Hope you have had a good day. Soggy one here. Lady not worried – she got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums today. Good time had by all. On the way home, there is a certain spot where Lady always looks up at me with what I call her happy, shining eyes, as if to say thanks Mum, that was great. Today she did that three times (rather than just once) and kept nudging me to make sure I saw. Now that is what I call demonstrating your pleasure at seeing your friends again. Dogs can be so sweet.

My Book Title Games is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. Hope you’ll have some fun with this one too. The post shares different ways to have fun with words via book titles.

Will be posting as usual from Swanwick from Saturday for a few days but posts will be out at different times. So looking forward to seeing everyone.

Writing Tip: You will often have heard don’t give up and this is true. Writing takes time to develop (and any success in it even longer to achieve). But it is fine to change direction if one way isn’t working out for you.

I did so by switching from the longer form of writing to the shorter. Will I resume my long form writing? Yes. Am working on something now. But I am so glad I have discovered the joys of writing short stories and flash fiction.

Good day today, Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal, and I’ve done most of my packing for Swanwick. (Why is it packing always takes longer than you think?).

Will be looking at Book Title Games as a fun post for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Am looking forward to sharing the link. See above. Hope it inspires some silly but fun alternative book titles with you!

Writing Tip: When do you know a character has “got to” you? For me, it is when I can envisage asking them practically any question and knowing how they would respond and why.

I sometimes outline a character by interviewing them with a few pertinent questions. I don’t believe in Yes/No questions for characters for my guests on Chandler’s Ford Today either! Do give this exercise a try. It can be great fun to do and it’s often amazing what you come up with here.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday and time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Demanded. Just so you know, for the next two weeks while the competition linked to the Edinburgh Festival is on here, there won’t be any comments on any of the stories. Good luck to all entering the competiton too.

Later in the year I hope to take part in Flash NANO again. A flash prompt is given daily for the 30 days of November. I’ve taken part in this for the last couple of years and have found it to be great fun and a good challenge. There are always prompt types I’ve not tried before and I love the way these push me to try new formats. One such was to write a flash story in the form of a police report. Loved doing that.

Meantime I continue with my regular flash fiction writing. I have found it to be true the more you write of anything, the more useful material you produce. That in turn I have found means it is more likely some of this at least will find a publisher somewhere. Rejections are a fact of life for any writer but the more you write, the more you can polish and submit and that has to increase your chances.

One of the things I love most about flash fiction is it has to be character led due to its restricted word count. I haven’t the word count room for lots of description so I have to focus only on what readers need to know (and leave them to infer other things from what I have revealed). This is a great writing discipline for other forms of writing and not just for fiction. I’ve found it has paid off for my blogs and articles elsewhere.

It does mean I can mix and match my character moods though and I do just that when it comes to reading out at things like Open Prose Mic Nights. I want a story/character to produce a smile, another to give pause for thought and so on. It makes a great advert for what flash fiction can be and do. I like that too.

Fairytales with Bite – Conferences

I’m writing this post as I prepare for one of the highlights of my writing year – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. And that led me to wonder about the kind of conferences you might find in a fairytale setting.

Do fairy godmothers go on retreat to recharge the old batteries when they’ve had enough (for a while) of helping unfortunate clients? Do they go to conferences where they can improve their wand/magical techniques? Do they have to go to these things to help with their Continuing Professional Development? What would be taught at such conferences?

Do fairy godmothers and the like relish the chance to get together with others in their profession, seeing it as a chance to share tales of woe and success, or do they dread it? Does having to go to these things mean they have to face up to fighting the magical equivalent of Imposter Syndrome? (Practically every writer I know goes through this at some point, and often more than once, but I think it is linked to the creative arts in general – you always wonder if you’re good enough).

Do the delegates appreciate good accommodation, wonderful food, and a great time? (You will gather from this a little of what Swanwick is lIke!). Or are they relieved the conference is over for another year? They’ve done what they’ve had to by requirement of higher powers and that’s it.

Story ideas here including from the viewpoint of those who run the conferences. Do they dread the latest intake? Could be some funny tales here.

This World and Others – Thoroughfares

I like the word thoroughfare. It has a nice sound to it and conjures up to me images of old roads and streets in cities like York and Winchester. Here in the UK we still have Roman roads in existence (Watling Street is probably the best known). As well as creating new roads, the Romans also built over those already in existence so thoroughfares go back a long way.

I have a soft spot for old maps (including old editions of the A to Z) because these too can show how things have changed over time.

Now in a magical setting, what would count as a thoroughfare? Is it like we know here? (There is one obvious one – the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz). But how about thoroughfares for those who can fly? Would they have the equivalent of motorway lanes but just set in the sky? Who worked out “lanes” here and are they policed?

Just as we have traffic regulations, how would that kind of system work for your characters as they move around your setting’s roads and streets (even if they are set in the sky)? Are there some thoroughfares no respecting magical being would ever go down and why would that be? (Potential for a horror story there especially if even magical beings are scared by it!).

Who set out the street system in the first place and what obstacles did they have to overcome to do it? Has it proved to be a blessing or a curse?

Which would be your main character’s favourite thoroughfares and why do they love them? That could reveal aspects to your character’s personality and something of their background too.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the November 2023 issue of the magazine which focuses on novels. My article in here is Writing Novels and based on my experience of writing my first book (still unpublished though I would like to get back to it at some point). Fabulous magazine as ever packed with useful advice regardless of where you are at on your writing journey.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Do you find writing during the summer months easier or harder to do? Whatever the answer, why not try flash fiction? Short stories (up to 1000 words maximum) also make for a great warm up writing exercise ahead of longer projects. pic.twitter.com/WyQhG8M86W
— ACW (@ACW1971) August 7, 2024

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For my flash pieces, I usually start by knowing my character. Discovering their major trait flags up the situations in which those traits would show up well. That gives me a rough outline for my first draft and away I go, filling in the gaps. pic.twitter.com/IrwOaHbEX4
— ACW (@ACW1971) August 8, 2024

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It’s Friday. Time for a tale. Hope you enjoy my latest on FFF – Demanded. For the next two weeks while the competition linked to the Edinburgh Festival is on, there won’t be comments on the stories. Good luck to all entering the competition. https://t.co/ElPVy8ni6L pic.twitter.com/vp57D79NNy
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 9, 2024

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Book Title Games https://t.co/jQJRhK7XVT Pleased to share a post which was fun to write – Book Title Games – on CFT. It’s amazing what changing a letter or a word in a book title can do to its mood! Find out more in the post and why not give it a try? https://t.co/jQJRhK7XVT
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 9, 2024

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Bleak Expectations – Review – The Chameleon Theatre Group

August 2, 20241 Comment

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were pictures of Swanwick used in a collage below. Photos of me holding The Best of CafeLit 13 were taken by Adrian Symes.

A MASSIVE thank you goes to The Chameleon Theatre Group for kind permission to use their photos (taken by Stuart Wineberg) as part of my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week.

Hope you have had a good few days. Just over a week to go for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. So looking forward to catching up with many friends again and hoping to make still more. Have booked to go on the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering so that will be something to look forward to in October. Lady, meantime, is not that sorry we’ve had some rain and the temperature, while still high, is a little cooler.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to share my review of Bleak Expectations, recently staged by the fabulous The Chameleon Theatre Group. As you might expect from a title like that, this was the most marvellous spoof of Dickens and it was wonderfully performed by my local amateur theatre company. There were so many laughs and a great storyline. See the review for more.

If you remember the Radio Four comedy of the same name, yes, this play is based on that and written by the same writer, Mark Evans. So much to enjoy here so if you get a chance to see the play locally to you, do go.

The Chameleon Theatre Group – Bleak Expectations – Review

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Sent author newsletter out this morning. Doing this monthly means you soon realise how quickly the year is going by. The theme for this one was Special Swanwick though I also share some thoughts on Making the Most of a Writing Event (and share the link to my recent Chandler’s Ford Today article on that).

As well as looking forward to Swanwick, I’ll be off again in the autumn to go to the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering too. Looking forward to catching up with friends at both of these (and hopefully making new ones too).

I’ll be reviewing the recent performance of Bleak Expectations staged by the wonderful The Chameleon Theatre Group on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Do look out for it. See above.

I share some thoughts on what makes a good spoof as well as part of this. And if you get a chance to go and support your own local amateur theatre company, please do. I’ve seen some fabulous performances from The Chameleons I would’ve missed out on otherwise.

Screenshot 2024-07-25 at 17-25-44 Chameleon Theatre Company of Chandlers Ford drama pantomime and comedy

Another hot day though not so warm as yesterday. Lady continues to keep cool though she was pleased to see her Hungarian Vizler chum this morning. Our park has lots of trees around it so plenty of shady spots. It wasn’t just the dogs who appreciated that.

Am currently working in short bursts with my French windows open. Helps a lot, as does keeping supplies of water, squash etc up, to aid concentration. It’s an odd thing the heat can make you tired but also stop you from sleeping! What is that about? Thankfully no issues here but every sympathy to anyone who struggles with this.

Writing Tip: Especially at the moment, if you’re finding it easier to write in short bursts, this is the time to have a go at some flash fiction writing. Perfect for short slots of time too. I like to mix up writing to 100 words (my all time favourite) to 500 words and most word counts in between. There are competitions for these too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Two things here tonight.

Firstly, am delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Summer Stings. Hope you enjoy it.

Secondly, the annual competition which is liked to the Edinburgh Festival begins on Friday Flash Fiction from tomorrow, Saturday 3rd August and runs all the way through to the 16th August. You can submit one story per week (I.e. one from 3rd to 9th August and another from 9th to 16th August). They are only taking the 100 word stories for this competition.

The longer flash submissions will resume after the competition finished but do watch out for this on the website nearer the time. They will say when they’re open for the longer flash pieces again. And if you have a go at the competition, good luck!

Hope you’ve had a good day and managed to not get caught out by the thunderstorms. Lady and I just got back from a short afternoon walk and then the heavens opened again and again etc. I like writing flash. Not so keen on getting caught out in flash storms, mind you.

Time is an interesting theme to write about for flash fiction because you can do so much with it. I have used it in titles. I’ve written Time into a story as a character. When I’ve written pieces which nod back to the Cinderella story, time plays a major role there.

Plus you can use time as a proverb (time waits for no man is just one. I’ve used that one twice and got two different stories from it). I’ve also written two different stories with the same time travelling alien as the lead character, who gets into bother whether he goes forwards or backwards in time. All good fun to do.

But a broad theme like time is handy because you can jot down different thoughts to come from it and at least one is bound to appeal to the type of story you like to write. Below is just one of my stories based on time.

Had a lovely surprise today – an unexpected review for Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Kelvin M Knight (who discovered the book through the book shop the Association of Christian Writers have on their website. As a long term member, and former Membership Secretary for ACW, I can have my books advertised on their online book shop). Many thanks to Kelvin and to Susan Sanderson for forwarding the review to me.

This was a lovely boost. If you ever needed a reason to write a review for another author, do consider that aspect! Writers work alone, it is the nature of the job, but having good feedback every so often helps enormously.

What I love about ACW is it supports Christians who write obviously Christian material but also people like me who are Christians writing in the secular market. I appreciate both sides of this and I know it is invaluable to all members.

TRIPPING THE FLASH FANTASTIC by Allison Symes – A Review

Fairytales with Bite – Holiday Season

Does your fantasy setting have tourism? If so, what would it consist of? Where would your favourite fairy godmothers go on holiday? Is there anywhere they wouldn’t go?

After all, everyone needs a recharge now and again. Would they stay in what we would recognize as hotels or would they go in for the poshest self catering cottage imaginable? Do they get to switch the magic off for a while or are they expected to be be on call at any time or have to arrange for someone to take over their duties for a bit?

In your setting, when would most go on holiday? Does it tie in with seasons as we know them here? Which of your characters looks forward to holiday season and which dreads it and why?

Are holidays decided on because magical powers diminish when in constant use and that dictates when a break has to happen? How would your world defend itself against enemies who might look to take advantage of that low power period?

Our own lives tend to work in seasons. We have periods when busy, others when not, and still others when we take a break so how would this work out in your setting?

This World and Others – Tourism

Is tourism a major factor in your world setting? Is it seen as a good or bad thing or a bit of both? Who benefits from the tourists? Who finds tourists to be nothing but a pain in the neck? What kind of revenue is brought in by what tourists spend?

Does your world confine itself to only accepting other magical beings or would it welcome humans and other species visiting? Is tourism promoted or does your world try to keep it quiet, reluctantly accepting it will happen, people do move around, but they’re not going to encourage it to develop further? What would be the reasons behind that attitude?

Has tourism ever caused problems, such as pollution, in your setting? What happened and what did occur to put it right? That, of course, could be your story.

How would your characters get to tourist destinations? If flying is involved, can your characters do this themselves so they can take themselves off to their own destinations or would they have to charter someone, with appropriate equipment, who can do this for them? (Would we be talking the magical equivalent of a plane here or a massive flying carpet or some sort of portal device which other characters would control?).

Definite story ideas there.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the September 2023 magazine which is on the theme of the timeless topic of marketing. I have two articles in this issue – Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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TRIPPING THE FLASH FANTASTIC by Allison Symes – A Review @AllisonSymes1 https://t.co/ytGPNrceuJ
— Susan Sanderson (@suesconsideredt) July 31, 2024

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Am delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Summer Stings. Hope you enjoy it.https://t.co/esx19FgVCe pic.twitter.com/OwsoBLxuG1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 2, 2024

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The Chameleon Theatre Group – Bleak Expectations – Review https://t.co/aUzYFtSMKp Delighted to review Bleak Expectations staged by the fabulous Chameleon Theatre Group. This was a marvellous spoof of Dickens, wonderfully performed. There were so many laughs and a great storyline.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 2, 2024

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Author Interview: Val Penny – Hunter’s Rules and Lynsey Adams – Book Blog Tour Organiser

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Val Penny and Lynsey Adams for images associated with their interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

Funny old week again. Lovely sunshine followed by heavy rain – the British summer is in full swing! Had a lovely time watching The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production – review to follow on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. Do check out your local amateur theatre companies. I’ve seen some splendid shows staged by The Chameleons. You may well be in for some good surprises here with your own companies. Also I see plays as staged stories so that and the idea of supporting local theatre all at the same time is a fabulous one I heartily endorse.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

So pleased to welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today. We celebrate her Hunter’s Rules, which was recently launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival. Well done on achieving something so prestigious, Val!

In this in depth interview, Val shares with me the joys of coming back to write about familiar characters, writing straplines, what she loves about book blog tours and crime fiction, and much else besides. Plenty of useful thoughts and advice here – do check this out.

I also have a brief chat with Lynsey Adams who organised Val’s book blog tour. Lynsey shares a few tips on what authors should think about when planning their own book blog tour. Again do check this out.
Am sure you will find plenty of information which is useful and entertaining from both ladies. Thank you both for taking part in this.

Author Interview – Val Penny – Hunter’s Rules and Book Blog Tour Organiser interview – Lynsey Adams

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Am off to see Bleak Expectations, the latest show to be staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group, tonight. Looking forward to that and catching up with my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today too. Plays are staged stories when all is said and done so I see these as another way of taking in wonderful tales I might not come across another way. Nothing to dislike about that!

Writing Tip: When you’ve enjoyed a fabulous tale of any word count, why not look at it again and work out what it was you especially liked. If the characters gripped you (as I would hope they would), work out what it was which made them “do” that to you. What made them stand out? How did the author achieve that? Which details were key in getting the character across to you that way? There will be something!

Another thought – re dialogue. Now we know that fictional speech can only replicate real speech but it has the advantages of having far fewer hesitations and repetitions in it because we don’t want our readers to nod off due to boredom. But if you’re tempted to abbreviate fictional speech think about how it will look on the page/on the screen to your reader. It still has to “look right” to read right.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady managed to see her Hungarian Vizler friend and Gertie, a lovely Golden Retriever, whom we see from time to time. Lady went home shattered but happy (as one of her favourite tricks is to suddenly get a burst of energy and run around pals showing off as she plays with her toys. I have no idea if that impresses them but it impresses her).

Am off to the theatre again tomorrow for a Chandler’s Ford Today works outing! My lovely editor and I will be seeing Bleak Expectations (a stage play based on the hilarious radio comedy of that name) being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group. Review will follow in due course. Am expecting plenty of laughs and Dickens based jokes. Should be a lot of fun. If you can, do check out the radio show. I thought it was fabulous.

Talking of CFT, I’m talking with Val Penny about her Hunter’s Rules and Lynsey Adams about book blog tours on Friday. Lots of useful information from both ladies. Be sure not to miss it and well done to Val for having her new book launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival too. See above.

As for this evening, I’m running the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later. Theme is summer. Jury is out as to whether summer has turned up. I have had the sun back out today so I would give a cautious thumbs up to this one (given I know the rain is back for me tomorrow!).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my new story, Life Dreams. What does someone, whose species uses dreams to communicate, do to avoid being caught by them and dragged back to their own planet? Find out here!

Do look out for Friday Flash Fiction’s annual Edinburgh Festival competition (it runs in conjunction with the actual festival). See screenshot but more details will be put on the website soon. The FFF competition runs over two weeks. Worth having a go. It is free to enter. You can enter one 100 word story per week for the fortnight the competition is on so two stories in all.

The 100 word category is a popular one for competitions. It is a great discipline for sharing what matters to your characters. You give the reader what they need to know and the rest they can infer. Well worth practicing regularly (which is one reason why I submit stories to FFF often!).

Writing to closing lines is great practice for coming up with punchlines or twist endings. Every so often one of my brainstorming sessions will be to do this. (I also use such sessions for coming up with title ideas and opening line possibilities).

Once I’ve got some closing lines down, I rest them for a while before having another look and seeing what I could use. Inevitably there will be some discards but there will be ideas which literally stand the test of time with me. I then have the fun of working out how I could get to that closing line. The line will throw up different possibilities and I go with the one which appeals to me the most.

For example, if my closing line was And the day had started so well too, I could use that line to produce a humorous story. I could also use it to produce a sad or slice of life tale. I would then decide what mood I wanted to write to and then figure out what character could serve my purposes here. All good fun and then I write my first draft.

But what I am keen on is to ensure that lovely closing line I’ve got seems like the only way to end my story. It has to seem natural and not tacked on though that is true for any line for any length of story.

Fairytales with Bite – Agencies

In your fantasy setting, what agencies exist? Is there one, for example, to train fairy godmothers to an acceptable standard? Is there a law and order agency (and, if not, why not? Who would ensure criminal magic did not run riot here?). Who runs the agencies and are they accountable to higher powers? How do those higher powers operate?

Within the agencies themselves, what hierarchies exist and how did these come about? There would be potential for humorous stories here I think as well as dramas. Where you have organisations you have the competent, the incompetent, and those who muddle their way through. You could have fun here!

How would your characters fit into that kind of set up? Could one of your “muddling” characters develop something which proves to be brilliant? How would they handle their unexpected success, given others wouldn’t have expected it either?

You may not want one hugely powerful magical being running everything. It would be bound to drain powers etc. So how would the ones at the top of the tree farm out jobs for others to do and where could your characters fit in to this?

Would the agencies be your world’s major employers and how easy or otherwise is it to get a job with them? Does it depend on the “old boys’ network” and could someone break that if so?

Story ideas there I think.

This World and Others – Who Does What?

Wherever there is a setting, no matter how far away or fantastical it is, you have administration! It does get everywhere. To be fair, a job has to be done, someone has to do it (and therefore has to organise how they do it).

I’ve always loved the quote about Death from the Discworld novels by the much missed Terry Pratchett. The Archchancellor refers to Death as a Professional fellow with a job to do. And if you read the Death novels here you will discover there is an immaculate system of hour glasses and books. There is a reason why Death has a huge desk!

So for your characters who does do what job? Is it based on their species, their class status, or a mixture?

Do certain species have certain talents so your setting rightly deploys them for the jobs requiring those skills? How did those talents develop in the first place? Who organises your setting? Discworld has the Patrician and the Guilds. Who runs your world? Are they good at it? Is there any threat to their position? Do they give the most awkward jobs to the ones who might challenge them? Do they give offers others cannot, dare not, refuse? (Good way of dealing with enemies!).

If your characters are nowhere near the seat of power, and perhaps glad to be so, what would they do? What would they be expected to do in usual circumstances? If those change, what would your characters have to learn to do (and quickly)?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the May 2024 issue which was about memoir. My article is about Using Memoir Techniques for Character Creation.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Life Dreams, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/mYH2ONTHoJ Delighted to be back on FFF with my story, Life Dreams. What does someone, whose species uses dreams to communicate, do to avoid being caught by them and dragged back to their own planet? Find out here! pic.twitter.com/PGFyVvaN6E
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 26, 2024

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Author Interview – Val Penny – Hunter's Rules and Book Blog Tour Organiser interview – Lynsey Adams https://t.co/H4miuL2TnT Pleased to chat with Val Penny about her Hunter’s Rules (launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival). I also talk with Lynsey Adams who shares blog tour tips.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 26, 2024

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Making The Most of a Writing Event and a Great Blogging Week!

July 19, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Photos of me were taken by Adrian Symes. It is tricky to do the author holding the book picture without camera shake etc.

Hope you have had a good week. Weather up and down though back to sunny and hot at the moment. Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Val Penny on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week – do look out for it. There will be tips on book blog tours too as part of this. Meantime, do check out the THREE blogs I share with you this week!

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

How come it is Friday again so soon? Anyway, it’s time to share my latest Chandlers’ Ford Today post and this week I’m looking at the topic of Making the Most of a Writing Event. This is timely given in less than a month I will be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again.

I look why going to writing events is a good idea and share top tips on how to make the best of them. Most of the tips apply to online events as well as the in-person kind. I also share thoughts on what is useful after the event too.

Hope you enjoy the post and, whatever writing events you are going to in the next few months, I hope they prove to be hugely enjoyable and useful.

Making the Most of a Writing Event

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It’s that time again – time for me to share my Authors Electric post. This time I look at Opening Lines. Whatever form of writing you do, opening lines have to lure the reader in and, for the short fiction forms such as flash fiction, I feel they do a lot of “heavy lifting”. You do have to hit the ground running here I think.

I’m also one of those writers who need something to start them off even though that start may well change later. I see opening lines as my way in to a story or article. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and we all enjoyed the sunshine. Coming back home without getting soaked always counts as a win!

Glad to say I am on Gill James’ blog today talking about my involvement with The Best of CafeLit 13. When you send in a story to CafeLit, they ask you to assign a drink to your story. I try to match my drinks to my story moods. You can see what I chose for my three stories in this anthology and much else in the interview.

Good fun to take part in – hope you enjoy reading it. A quick shout out to my other half too for the photos in this. These kinds of shots are difficult to do yourself, what with book in one hand, camera in the other, trying to avoid the dreaded camera shake etc.

Screenshot 2024-07-17 at 17-24-37 Gill's Blog Allison Symes tell us about her involvement with The Best of CafeLit 13

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I’m delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Time Problems. Some fairy godmother clients aren’t perhaps as grateful as they could and should be. Find out who and why here. Hope you enjoy the story.

Has been a gloriously sunny and warm day today, much better than earlier in the week when Lady and I had a soaking!

Writing Exercise: Pick a random opening line from a random generator or, if like me you brainstorm ideas for these every so often, go back through your notebooks and find one you like the look of and which you haven’t already used.

Then write a 50 word story to it.

Then have a go at writing 100 words to that line.

Maybe even then write yet another story to this line but this time go up to 250 words.

Once you’ve got at least two stories down, read them out loud (maybe record them and play them back) and see which has the most impact on you. A reader is likely to react in a similar way.

Sometimes I’ve found with this exercise the 50 word one is the best story. Sometimes I do need more words and it is the 100 or 250 worders which I will then submit somewhere. But this is a fun and interesting exercise to have a go at, if only because you find out just how strong (or otherwise) that opening line is.

A task I am gladly looking forward to fairly soon is working out which new stories of mine I will use as potential reading material for the Open Prose Mic Night at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I couldn’t take part in it last year as it clashed with something else I really wanted to go to but this year’s timetable shows no clashes for me here. Really pleased about that.

I make a point of mixing the moods of whatever I read at whatever venue but also the word counts. So I expect I will end up reading a 100-worder, a 250 type, and maybe a couple of the 50s. It’s a good way of showing the range flash has.

Don’t forget my author newsletter comes out again on 1st August. I share flash fiction tips and stories here, amongst other things. You can sign up at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Fairytales with Bite – The Influence of Fairytales

Fairytales are some of the oldest stories we take in and I recall, with huge fondness, my late mother often reading to me from the Reader’s Digest Fairytale Collections long before I could read these wonderful books for myself. The reason I remember this is so well is my mother read to me consistently and often for many years, even when I was beginning to read for myself.

I owe my love of books and stories to her – very much drummed into me from an early age but something I am grateful for and which feeds into my writing now. Naturally I also watched several of the Disney classic fairytale animated films. All of that has encouraged my love for the form and I write some fairytales myself in my flash fiction and short stories.

But the influence of fairytales goes much deeper than this. Thanks to them, I’ve picked up on the Rule of Three subconsciously. I know in fairytales something happens twice but on the third occasion, something changes and that then usually leads on to the traditional happy ever after ending (Three Little Pigs, anyone?).

I’ve also learned the decrepit looking old man or woman is usually a powerful magical being in disguise and they will be teaching some arrogant so-and-so a hard lesson (The Beauty and the Beast). I’ve also learned to expect justice to be done in some way, and some wrong to be righted in some way (Cinderella).

You then have to learn that doesn’t always happen in life (deep down I knew that even as a kid) but I think one of the comforts of fairytales is it does happen in them.

The other influence from fairytales is they got me reading more of them and then moving on to other kinds of story. All very welcome!

Also fairytales don’t shy away from showing something/someone as being evil. Sometimes the tales act as warnings. Fairytales are honest writing and I love them for that too.

This World and Others – Access to Books

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, reading is encouraged to develop when access to books is easy! In your setting, are there such things as libraries? What kind of books would they stock? Can anyone access them? Are there bookshops to purchase your own choices? Again, what would be on offer here?

If you have several communities in your setting, which would each read? For example, I would expect dwarves to read their own histories and legends but are they open enough to read those of other communities such as the elves or the humans they share their world with?

Is the skill of reading universal or limited? Who decides what goes in the libraries and bookshops? (Easy to arrange censorship there).

If your characters can travel around your setting, what would they find in other areas, book wise, they don’t have at home? Do they bring these back with them? Would doing that cause an outcry or would people/other beings welcome the chance to discover things they did not know? Not everyone would welcome that.

Are there any banned books? If so, what and why were these banned and has anyone tried to get around or repeal the ban?

Access to books is something we can easily take for granted. Do your characters do so or do they know they are lucky to have it and make the most of it?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

I’m sharing the link for the November 2023 edition of Writers’ Narrative this time. Its theme was Novels, which was apt for the month of NaNoWriMo (and for flash fiction writers, Flash NANO). I wrote a piece called Writing Novels for this issue, based on my experience of writing novels earlier in my writing life and what I’ve learned from doing that. Do check out all of the excellent articles in here.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Gill's Blog: Allison Symes tell us about her involvement with T… https://t.co/VMEMKZ1LBr
Pleased to be on Gill James’ blog re The Best of CafeLit 13. They ask you to assign a drink to stories you send in. I match my drinks to story moods. Here I chose 3 drinks for my 3 tales. pic.twitter.com/1WBWhr97RD
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 17, 2024

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Authors Electric: Opening Lines by Allison Symes https://t.co/JNt4Kg1wg5 Opening lines must hook the reader. For short fiction forms, they do “heavy lifting”. I’m one of those writers who need something to start with though that start may change later. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/hY3s7glHvr
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 18, 2024

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Time Problems, by Allison Symes – Friday Flash Fiction https://t.co/5AyHyaLUx7 I’m delighted to be back on FFF with my latest tale, Time Problems. Some fairy godmother clients aren’t as grateful as they could and should be. Find out who and why here. Hope you enjoy the story. pic.twitter.com/qYgZcFeOUV
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 19, 2024

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Making the Most of a Writing Event https://t.co/IUfj1Re06k I’m looking at Making the Most of a Writing Event for CFT. I look at why going to writing events is a good idea and share tips on making the most of them. Most tips apply to online events too. Hope you enjoy the post.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 19, 2024

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Writing Fitness

July 12, 2024Leave a comment

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good week. Getting nearer to that wonderful week of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Mixed bag weatherwise. Hope it improves for Swanwick week. Hope it just improves! Lady made a new friend earlier this week so she’s had a good few days and doesn’t care if she gets wet! It’s okay for her. She dries off quicker than I do.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Writing Fitness for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at the value of screen breaks, being prepared for the ups and downs of the writing life, accepting you are in for the long haul with your writing, and how taking that approach can make it easier to take rejections as well as it is ever possible to take these things. Hope you find the post useful.

Writing Fitness

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Lady and I appreciated the sun this morning after what has been a wet week so far. It is apt I’m listening to O Sole Mio on Classic FM (O My Sunshine) as I write this post too.

Do look out for my Writing Fitness post on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Also my next author newsletter will be out on 1st August. Yes, I know, how can it nearly be August already? You can sign up to said newsletter for news, tips, and stories at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing Thought: When you put down the old pen, or shut up the old laptop, and resume reading for pleasure, do have a look at how the authors are presenting their dialogue, moving their story on and so forth.

One of the joys of creative writing is I think writers have two joys here. We have the joy of inventing our own tales but we also all love reading. And the second joy is we can learn from what other authors have done and have a fabulous time reading while learning, I definitely see that as a win-win.

Well, the sun did put in an appearance today, for which Lady and her chums, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler, were all grateful. First day this week Lady and I haven’t got wet.

I’ll be looking at aspects of Writing Fitness for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday, including looking at the value of screen breaks and preparing yourself for the long haul in writing. See above.

My favourite aspect to creating stories is in inventing characters who come to life as I outline them and find out more about what they would do and say (and what they would never do or say. That can be remarkably enlightening in itself).

When it comes to creating blogs and posts like this, my favourite moment is in having an idea to write about and then seeing its use to writers. I always find that a good moment because I then write away happily. I focus on tidying things up later.

But I have to see a use for writers here because I want these posts to be useful to me too. I also see this as a way of giving back because I’ve learned a lot over the years from useful posts myself so like the idea of giving back in some way.

But whatever I write, it is the getting started which is the key moment for me because once I have started, away I go.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I find it useful to be able to visualise what 100 word stories look like on screen (where most of mine usually find a home so it pays me to know this!) and one great way of doing that is to check out the 100 word stories page on Friday Flash Fiction. See link. Do take the chance to have a great read. Flash encompasses all moods and genres. It is a major reason why I love writing it and reading it. Enjoy!

Screenshot 2024-07-12 at 17-34-26 Submissions - Friday Flash Fiction

I like to mix up how I present my flash tales every so often. I’m not reinventing the wheel here but it is nice to sometimes share a story in the form of an acrostic, a poem, a letter, an all dialogue piece, as well as in the “usual” prose layout. Keeps it fun and interesting for me and I hope it does for readers too.

I love reading as well as writing pieces for collections and anthologies. Those stories which stand out because they are using a different format always grab my attention. Partly I want to find out if the different format works. It nearly always does because the writer has rightly focused on ensuring it is apt for their character and situation.

In my Punish the Innocent (From Light to Dark and Back Again), I use a letter format because my main character has to leave information for another one in this way as it is the most appropriate medium. Without giving too much away, my second character here has to receive the information after a certain event has happened involving the main star here. The latter doesn’t want to be stopped from what they are intending so a letter, timed to only arrive after the event concerned, is the way to go with this one.

So if you use a different format, ask why you need it. Ask why it has to be this format. Ask why it has to be the appropriate one for your character. If you can answer all those in the affirmative, go for it and good luck!

Ending a flash fiction piece has its own joys and challenges. I do love ending a story on a punchline or a twist. They’re fun to write and a great place to leave the story. The tale has revealed all it needs to – the end, that’s it.

The challenges come from ensuring the punchline or twist (and sometimes you can have a punchline which is also a twist) arises naturally from the characters and situation I’ve put them in. Nothing must seem contrived or forced. A reader has to be able to feel the ending was the appropriate one for this situation.

This is one reason why I find a simple outline so useful. I have Character A, they’re in this situation, how would that be resolved? I can then jot down ideas for the ending and I go with the one which makes the strongest impact on me. A story and character has to be able to make me react to it, no matter how short or long the tale might be. I have to care about the outcome. If I care about that, readers should do too.

Fairytales with Bite – Magic Wands Plus

M = Margo so begrudged having a second hand wand.
A = All of her fairy colleagues had brand new tools.
G = Granted, Margo’s mother was always fond
I = In Margo’s view of making her the butt at fairy school.
C= Considered it vital for making her develop backbone.

W = Wishing on a star was a complete waste of time.
A = And spell books could always be misread.
N = Never mind, Margo’s mother said, your wand is sublime.
D = Doubting this, Margo put it to the test and found it led
S = Straight to Margo outperforming everyone in her year.

P = Performance does not depend on having the latest gadget.
L = Learn, Margo’s mother said, updates are not all they’re cracked up to be.
U = Understanding now, Margo buried the hatchet.
S = Success came to her by studying hard and the hidden strengths of her old wand.

Ends
Allison Symes – 10th July 2024

Hope you enjoyed that. My sympathy here is with Margo’s mum given updates are indeed not always what they’re cracked up to be. They never come in at good times either but that may just be me.

This World and Others – Inventors

Which three inventions would you say were the best? There are so many to choose from but my nominees are:-

The invention of literacy going on to include the development of print.
The invention of medicine.
The invention of photography because I love seeing all those wonderful images coming from space and that all started with being able to capture things on film in the first place.

In your setting, which are the inventions your world could not do without? Which inventions do they wish hadn’t come about? (There is always something there. We didn’t need the “invention” of pollution to name but one).

How does your setting treat its inventors? Are they honoured or treated with suspicion? Not everyone welcomes the clever. Often people can be fearful of new inventions and those behind them.
Is your setting keen to develop further or does it want inventions to be within set limits? (Makes it easier to control, doesn’t it?).

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the December 2023 edition of the magazine with its focus on Finishing Strong. That is always a timely topic.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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One tip I’ve found repeatedly useful is to read your work out loud, especially for dialogue. What looks good written down may not always read “well”. If you stumble over a character’s speech, so will your reader, but that’s what the edit is for – to fix things like that. pic.twitter.com/wfbPDanehO
— ACW (@ACW1971) July 10, 2024

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When I’m editing, I always ask myself is this necessary to my story, blog, article, or what have you. If I can’t answer yes, then I know where I’ve got to cut something out or make it become necessary. pic.twitter.com/14D4jcpgx2
— ACW (@ACW1971) July 11, 2024

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I can’t edit as I go. Never have been able to do this. What helps me is to see writing and editing as two separate creative tasks. Get the story down first. Then improve it. There will be things to improve. pic.twitter.com/BARmbH7X82
— ACW (@ACW1971) July 12, 2024

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Writing Fitness https://t.co/BhDnmH38Pb I look at screen breaks, being prepared for ups and downs of the writing life, accepting you are in for the long haul with writing, and how that can help you take rejections as well as it is possible to do. Hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 12, 2024

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I find it useful to visualise what 100 word stories look like on screen (where most of mine usually find a home so it pays me to know!) and one great way of doing that is to check out the 100 word stories page on Friday Flash Fiction, See link below.https://t.co/Jvd2WGpy87 pic.twitter.com/fgct13ArV6
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 12, 2024

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