Tag: Goodreads Author Blog

Lifting Up My Pen at Swanwick 2024

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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 Jen Wilson for taking the photo of me leading the Lift Up Your Pens session about using numbers in fiction.
It is so good to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and a joy to catch up with friends in person. Have learned so much from the courses and workshops so far.

Marvellous to catch up with friends and to see the fish in the lake again at Swanwick 2024

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Another lovely day at Swanwick. Enjoyed the sessions on The Write Mindset (Sarah Harlow) and Powerful Public Speaking for Writers (Simon Hall). Always plenty to learn from sessions like these. Sometimes it is just reassuring to know you are on the right lines!

On Tuesday afternoons there is spare time (which is done deliberately) where I hope to catch up with some of my writing. Later tonight I am due to take part in the Open Prose Mic Night and am looking forward to that. It does make a great advert for what flash fiction can be.

One of the beautiful lakes here at Swanwick - you might just spot the fish here - Swanwick 2024

Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the shots of me at the Lift Up Your Pens session yesterday. It was a joy and privilege to lead the Lift Up Your Hearts session this morning, a short devotional session for all denominations.

Was back at Vivien Brown’s Short Story course this morning and then went on to Road to Self-Publishing Success led by Lizzie Chantree. Both packed full with useful information. Plan to get along to Anthologies Collaborations too.

There is so much choice here. It is one of the strengths of Swanwick and you choose how many or how few of those courses you go to. I trust the Book Room is also seeing brisk sales as if there is one thing I know about writers, it is none of us can ever have too many books!

Discussing how we can use numbers in stories as part of Lift Up Your Pens - Swanwick 2024

Glad to say the session for Lift Up Your Pens which I hosted at Swanwick this morning went well. I was looking at different ways of using numbers in stories. There are more than you might think and using numbers at all encourages you to think outside of the box, which is also a good thing.

Thoroughly enjoyed Vivien Brown’s Short Story specialist course, the fist part of which was this morning. I went on to Twist in the Tale hosted by Val Penny which was on before and after lunch. Both of these topics are right up my writing street of course.

But one of the lovely things about creative writing is there is always something you can learn which can help you improve your craft further. Now that is a very good thing indeed!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Am on my way to Swanwick 2024. So looking forward to seeing everyone. Lady, with my other half, saw me off. I expect to be mugged by her when I get back. It’s what usually happens.

Will be talking about Never Fear The Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today. It is timely given my Swanwick course is on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Link up on Friday for CFT (I just love scheduling in advance!).

Am getting back to my old habit of getting some writing done on the train. The notes app which came with my phone is great and proving to be a good replacement for Evernote as I don’t have a need for a paid subscription which they effectively now are.

You can't beat the trusty notebook and pen for work in groups or at events like Swanwick

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Will be taking part in the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night later tonight. Hoping to read from my books and one or two pieces from my stories on Friday Flash Fiction. Did take part in the general knowledge quiz last night – the team came 5th out of 8 though the placings between 5th and 2nd were very tight. Might pay to brush up for next year!

Nice to have a chat with fellow Bridge House authors, Linda Payne and June Webber, today. Always good to wave the flag for a lovely publisher.

From Left to Right below:  June Webber, yours truly, Linda Payne.

Waving the flag for Bridge House Publishing and CafeLit - June Webber, Allison Symes, Linda Payne

Having a fabulous time at Swanwick. I swear you can feel the creativity in the air! The gardens are as lovely as ever, as are the lakes, and I’ve found it refreshing to take walks around the latter at break times. Have never seen the fish so busy in those lakes as I have done this year.

Glad to have caught up with the lovely Linda Payne – she and I are the Bridge House Publishing contingent for this year! Also glad to have caught up with Susan Pope and Vikki Thompson (of the lovely Mermaids writing group. I’ve given a couple of talks for them on Zoom but it is so nice to see the ladies again in person).

Have some ideas from exercises already set but suspect I need to be back at home before I get a chance to write them up though.

But I haven’t forgotten it’s Monday and it is still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest – One Hour. I shared in Lift Up Your Pens at Swanwick yesterday how to use numbers in fiction and one way is to use it as a time. Here’s my response to that!

Many thanks to Val Penny for the shout-out as part of her Twist in the Tale course at Swanwick today. Yes, for flash fiction, you can only have the one twist and that is it because you don’t have the word count room for more. However, it is precisely due to that I find twists in flash fiction have a more powerful impact as there is nothing to “water it down”.

Have put my name in the box for reading out at the Open Prose Mic Night. Flash is a great form for this bcause you can’t take too long. Goes down well with organisers and audiences, that one!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Hope to share some flash fiction at Swanwick again. It is a great format for Open Prose Mic nights as it doesn’t take long and the audience gets to hear complete stories. Have brought new material for this year.

Hope to get some flash written while away too. Am sure some of the exercises I will be set will end up eventually as flash tales.

Always time for a laugh with fellow writers-1

Goodreads Author Blog – Collections

There is a great meme doing the rounds which claims it isn’t hoarding if it is books. I have a lot of sympathy for this viewpoint and confidently expect to add to my own hoard courtesy of the book room at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is my base for a few days.

I also love story collections and have done from an early age thanks to the collected fairytales Reader’s Digest brought out as a two volume set a long time ago.

I’m not unbiased given many of my stories are in collections and I often edit them for others. I love the mixture of tales in these and to be able to dip in and out of the books as I wish.

I often read them in between reading novels. I like to mix up reading the short and long forms. A well curated collection is a joy to read.

Screenshot 2024-08-13 at 09-18-54 Allison Symes's Blog - Collections - August 10 2024 06 07 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the June 2024 edition which was on the theme of poetry. My article looks at the links between flash fiction and poetry. Hope you enjoy it.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Editing, Using Proverbs, and Revisiting P.G. Wodehouse

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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, and pictures of me at Swanwick were taken by fabulous Swanwick friends.
Hope you have had a good weekend. This week is my countdown week to going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Will be posting as usual while I’m there but times will vary. Lady and I both appreciating the weather being cooler than it was last week. Much easier on both of us.

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So nice to be in the swimming pool today for a while. Refreshing but do I think out any story ideas while swimming? Not a bit of it.

If I think of anything at all, it is about how many lengths I would still like to swim before the session ends. Mind you, I do think sometimes that time to not think much at all helps later when I am at my desk again. I’ve had a mental breather as well as the physical exercise of the swim, I guess.

Looking forward to the quizzes (literary and general knowledge) Swanwick stages on different evenings as part of the after dinner entertainment. Always good for a laugh these! I also take part in a meet and greet session – fantastic and great way to meet many new writers!

Writing wise, I hope to come back with plenty of story ideas in my notebook thanks to the courses I go on as I have found, as well as being set exercises directly in a lot of these , the topics themselves usually trigger further creative thought I can exploit later. But then that is the idea here!

Love taking part in the quizzes at Swanwick

Hope the week has got off to a reasonable start for you. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum today and happily showed off her running skills in front of her. Lady appreciates an audience. Not sure the Vizler was overly impressed but that doesn’t stop Lady trying!

When I review a story or blog post, I always ask myself what is in this for the reader because it is the best way I know of ensuring any purple prose which has crept in gets promptly cut out again! I can’t stop myself writing what I call my wasted words – very, actually, and most instances of that – but I know what to look for in my first edit and out these come again. I see this as getting my wasted words out of my system!

My wasted words don’t add anything of value to my piece.

Very doesn’t give the emphasis you might think as often there is a stronger, better choice of word (instead of saying very miserly, why not just say miserly?).

Actually – something usually is or isn’t the thing you’ve put the word actually before so you may as well cut the word out. (I actually went to the market – why not just say I went to the market?).

Sometimes you do need the word that but on reading through my work, if I find the sentence would work as well without it, out it comes.

All of this tightens my work up and improves pace. Naturally it helps with my word count restrictions too.

AWT - I see writing and editing as two separate tasks

Less than a week to go to Swanwick now. Case is down ready to pack. Getting to see writer friends in person that for the rest of the year I only see on online is pretty special. Plus it is just wonderful being able to immerse fully in the writing world for a few days. Lady will be spoiled rotten in my absence and I will be mugged by her on my return – it’s almost a tradition here!

Am currently re-reading some of the Jeeves and Wooster stories and am loving them. The way Wodehouse plays with the English language is sublime as I discussed over on my Goodreads post yesterday. The Jeeves and Wooster stories makes for perfect summer time reading. Now if only I could arrange a nice large glass of something lovely to go with it…!

Writing wise, today is flash fiction Sunday for me so am looking forward to getting on with those pieces shortly. (I suspect some of Wodehouse’s sentences are longer than some of my flash fiction stories, mind you!).

453988620_10162086259382053_5143743620499132031_nHope you have had a good start to your weekend. Weather a right mixed bag in Hampshire today.
I’ll be looking at Book Title Games for Chandler’s Ford Today next time. Looking forward to sharing that post on Friday, the day before I head off to Swanwick. It’s a fun post, one I really enjoyed writing, and I hope you will like it too. It also celebrates that marvellous Radio Four comedy, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.

Writing Tip: I love word games of many kinds but playing simple games such as Word Association can be an excellent trigger for story ideas. You form links with this game and I’ve had story ideas triggered by that. Worth a go and a lot of fun (and I find a nice way to unwind with words too, outside of reading them of course).

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Can description ever play a part in flash fiction writing, given its limited word count? Yes but I prefer to think of this as putting in the right telling details to help readers make sense of your characters and setting – that and no more.

Readers might not need to know my character drives a run down car but they do need to know said character is not well off. I could show that in letting readers know my character is wearing something frayed with moth holes as they get into their car (and readers will assume rightly from that the car isn’t brand new and is likely to have to be patched up to keep it going). That shows limited income far better than I could describe it in the old sense of spelling it all out.

Also readers can put the links in themselves here and I must admit I love doing this myself when reading stories by other authors. I don’t want them to tell me everything!

Select telling detailsIt’s Monday. It has been busy. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Ruby, one of my thoughtful ones.

I’ve mentioned using proverbs as ideas/themes for stories before but sometimes I will take one and use it as a closing line (or part of one). I’ve done this recently with Provisions on YouTube (link below) and for Time Is For Others To Worry About (Tripping the Flash Fantastic).

When I do this, I work out what could lead to the closing line – I plan from B to A if you like rather than the usual way around. Everything I pick here has to seem reasonable to a reader based on what I’ve shown them of my character and setting.

For the proverb to work well as a closing line, it has to seem as if it was a natural ending to the tale and not something tacked on. But it makes for a great writing challenge – why not give it a go? What could you get out of proverbs for your stories?

It is true every word counts for stories. It is even more true for flash fiction. When I’m writing something for Friday Flash Fiction, I know I’m writing to a 100 words count. Certain competitions I regularly enter ask for 250 words (that is such a common category it is worth practicing).

But for the rest of the time I draft my story. I rest it. I edit it. When happy with the contents I then look at the overall word count. Let’s say my final version comes in at 115 words (and this has happened with me), I will look at the piece again and see if I can genuinely get it 100.

Sometimes I can and I will then save that story for a 100 word market of competition. But sometimes I can’t (without losing something vital) so I save stories like that for a future collection, my website, or a higher word count category for a competition). What matters is getting the story right, then worry about the word count. Also not to try and make something fit when it really won’t.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Revisiting The World of Jeeves and Wooster

Having read a lot of lovely non-fiction recently on Kindle and in paperback, it was time to get back to fiction. I’ve just finished re-reading the marvellous P.G. Wodehouse: A Life In Letters so it was obvious to me next up on my reading list would be his most famous creations, Jeeves and Wooster.

Am so glad to be reading their stories again. Wodehouse’s gift with words is amazing and I struggle at times not to laugh out loud. I only try to resist simply because I read at bedtime and don’t want to disturb anyone. Maybe Wodehouse’s work should come with a warning here!

I also thought Jeeves and Wooster would be the perfect summertime read – I am right on that one. If you haven’t read any, do check them out. They are so funny and the way Wodehouse plays with the English language is sublime.

Screenshot 2024-08-03 at 20-05-06 Allison Symes's Blog - Revisiting The World of Jeeves and Wooster - August 03 2024 12 04 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I thought I’d go back to the first edition of Writers’ Narrative – the August 2023 issue. Am so pleased the magazine will be back in December 2024 and that will be with us before we know it. Meantime do enjoy this edition. My article here is Boost Your Writing with Flash Fiction.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Best Invention Ever – Books!

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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, though photos of me with The Best of CafeLit 13 were taken by other half, Adrian Symes. Thanks also to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me about to run a workshop at Swanwick 2023.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Back to hot sunny weather here. Getting ever nearer to the wonderful Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – so looking forward to that. Lady has been catching up with her pals and having a great time in the park with them. Dogs keep things simple. I like the simple approach myself when it comes to drafting a story. I ask myself whose story is it and then work out the character and away I go from there.

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A hot one day but Lady keeping nice and cool, I’m glad to say. I have a flask of water with me for her which is a blessing.

Will be reviewing Bleak Expectations recently performed by the excellent The Chameleon Theatre Group for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. If you love a Dickens spoof and your own local theatre company put this show on, do go! Locals to my area, if you’ve not seen The Chameleons in performance, you should. You’re missing a treat otherwise. More to come in my post this week.

Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again on Thursday. Yes, I know, how did we get to August already, but there is no getting away with it. But plenty to share in my newsletter so do look out for it. If you’ve not signed up you can at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This month I’m talking about Best Invention Ever – Books! Well, it’s hard to argue with that one, isn’t it?

Regardless of what you like to read, life would be so much poorer without books in it. Hope you enjoy the post. I do ask how can we persuade people there are books out there for them, especially if they don’t come from a background of having always read. I do come from that background and am mindful I shouldn’t take that for granted.

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Lovely sunny day and Lady got to see her Jack Russell pal, Willow, today. Very sweet dog. Lady always pleased to see friends.

Had a lovely Zoom session with Swanwick friends last night but what is nice is the next time we meet up it will be in person at Swanwick. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: I draft my various posts in advance, I’ve found it pays. When I have any spare writing time, I jot down ideas and then start writing those up even if I don’t have a definite date in mind for using said posts. It does mean I always have something “on the go”. It also gives me more time to finish these pieces off. I’ve found that pays too.

Same applies for story writing. Even if I don’t have a definite market or competition in mind, I will draft away because I know I will find a home for these tales later on.

453212528_940839758055886_1379820348304126146_nHope you have had a good weekend so far. Nice to have lunch out in the garden with other half and the dog. Just as well we did, Is clouding over ominously as I write this!

Next week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post will be a review of Bleak Expectations, recently staged by our excellent local amateur dramatic company, The Chameleon Theatre Group. Their last performance of this is tonight, 27th July. Those with fond memories of the Radio 4 show of the same name (which includes me) will love this show as it is based on that and written by the same chap, Mark Evans.

Looking forward to flash fiction afternoon which is a highlight of most of my Sundays. Have a competition entry to finish and send in too this time as well as preparing my usual stories. Am making good progress towards a potential fourth collection too. During the week my writing consists of a mixture of blogging, story writing, and marketing items (such as getting my newsletter ready etc). Never short of things to be writing and that is how I like it.

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Have used one of the prompts I worked on during the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting from my most recent YouTube video which I shared yesterday. I love joining in with the live writing exercises. It keeps me on my toes and I get more flash written – win-win.

All of us share what we prepare on the night. I like to encourage this because it is a good idea to get used to talking about what you write. Helps overcome the nerves in doing so too I find.

Youtube image 2It’s Monday. It’s a hot Monday. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – All Going Swimmingly. Those from the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group may recognise this one from our recent meeting. Knew I’d do something with this tale and here it is!

 

Always look forward to Sunday afternoons. I always write a lot of flash fiction then. I know it sounds almost too horrible to contemplate but it won’t be that long before I am drafting my festive flash pieces. Yes, I know. Not even out of summer yet and I’ve hinted at a certain season coming along!

I bear in mind the women’s magazines will already know what will be in their seasonal specials later this year already so I tend to draft my festive pieces as and when the mood strikes me. I often do this in late summer/early autumn so I know I have pieces to look at and polish before sending them in anywhere. I like having time on my side as much as possible.

453042414_10162062645657053_8222404052672727223_nI sometimes have fun with my flash tales in that I use films I’ve loved as inspiration. For example, my Where The Wild Wind Blows (Tripping the Flash Fantastic) is based on The Wizard of Oz and I use one of the witches for the viewpoint character. It was great fun to do and a different slant on the tale I think.

I have a soft spot for this kind of story writing given my first story in print, A Helping Hand (Alternative Renditions – Bridge House Publishing) is a take on the Cinderella story. Hard to believe that was way back in 2009 – where has the time gone?

The tip I would give here though is always pick a story or film you know almost “inside out”. You need to understand the characters in the, if you like, “authorised” version before you can work out how to write a story suing a different angle based on it.

If you know Cinderella well, you will know the cast of other characters in that fairytale as well, giving you the opportunity to write something from their point of view. As you will know the characters well, your sharing of their viewpoint will come across as plausible to other readers who also know the story well, which is what you are after here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Spoofs

I’ve recently watched a wonderful play (Bleak Expectations) based on the works on Dickens, of course. The show itself was based on a Radio 4 comedy from many years ago and that and the play are written by the same man. There were many wonderful references to lines by Dickens, book titles etc in the play, which I loved. It was great fun spotting them!

But this led to me thinking about spoofs in general. Many are based on books – Bored of the Rings, anyone? (There is also A Midsummer Nightmare out there).

What I hope is the case here is the spoof comes about as a result of a genuine love for the author/books being spoofed. That is definitely the case with Bleak Expectations and if you get the chance to hear the radio series or go and see the play I heartily recommend it. Loads of laughs too! I wonder if any of these spoofs have led to people discovering the authors of the original works? I would like to think so.

One of my favourite moments from the long running Radio Four series, I‘m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, is when they have a books round and usually the players have to add a word to the title or take a word away to come up with a totally different book. I’ve often thought some of the titles they come up with for this would make excellent spoofs.

A well done spoof then, I think, can add to the pleasure of reading in general. Certainly Bleak Expectations has reminded me of Dickens’ titles I need to check out again!

Screenshot 2024-07-27 at 17-20-28 Allison Symes's Blog - Spoofs - July 27 2024 09 20 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the link to the November 2023 edition of the magazine. The theme this time was Novels and my article is called Writing Novels. I share what I learned from writing my first novel. Do check the excellent advice throughout the magazine out.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author’s Voice, Revising, and Parties as Settings

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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 had a good weekend. Lovely one here. Family party which we all loved and Lady was brilliant with our youngest family member (1 this coming week!) and a visiting spaniel. We found Lady crashed out in our hall at about 7.30 pm! I suspect the spaniel crashed out too. This week I’m running a flash fiction group for ACW and am off to the theatre on another evening so all go but should be fun all around.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see Willow, a lovely small Jack Russell, today, and Daisy, a very gentle spaniel. Whenever Lady gets to see any of her pals, she feels her day has not been wasted! Hope to be back in the swimming pool later this week. Missed it today. Was waiting for MOT result on my car today, thankfully it passed.

Writing wise, I’ve redrafted a competition entry. Am now resting it again. Have got it to the required word count simply by tightening up how I’ve phrased things. For short stories (this one has to be 250 words maximum), I do find it easiest to run it out on paper and edit it the old-school way. Doing that for this one highlighted where I could phrase things better and so I have!

Am planning to submit it over the coming weekend (deadline is end August but I want to make sure I don’t forget to do it before heading off to Swanwick).

452637013_10162048436782053_4036150123600301241_nA busy day but changeable weather again. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler though. Lots of affection shown and they both mug the Vizler’s owner for treats. Two happy dogs went home.

Looking forward to sharing a fab interview with Val Penny on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’m also popping in a couple of questions to book blogger, Lynsey Adams, as part of this as she organises Val’s blog tours. Lots of good tips and advice from both writing and book blogger viewpoints. Be sure not to miss it!

In other news, I’m thrilled to say Writers’ Narrative will be back in December, earlier than originally thought. Will share more information nearer the time.

Am counting down the days to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick too. Not that far away now.

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Despite the rain, we had a wonderful family party yesterday. Am recovering today (as is the dog, who was just brilliant. She loves people. She is literally a party animal).

Thinking about your characters, are they the type who love parties or hate them? Are they the type of characters people would be only too keen to invite along to a do or do folk ensure these never get invited to their place? Whatever your answers here, give some thought as to why the answers are the way they are. Story ideas are likely to crop up. To name just one, suppose a character turns up at a party. They have had the invite. It was sent out in error. What happens next?

Also thinking of having a party as a setting, what could happen there to change a character’s life for good or ill? Do they end up regretting going to that do or are so pleased they did go? Potential I think for feel good and humorous stories here. Goodness knows, the world could do with many more of both of those kinds of tale!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Apologies this is later than normal but have had a fabulous day celebrating other half’s birthday with family. Lady and my cousin’s dog, Lily, a lovely spaniel, get on really well and had a magnificent time. They also make excellent biological vacuum cleaners!

Am looking forward to welcoming back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today next week. She’ll be discussing Hunter’s Rules with me, her new book which will be launched at the Harrogate Crime Festival in the next few days. Well done, Val, on that! I’ll also be having a chat with Lynsey Adams as part of this interview about book blog tours and there will be tips shared. So please do look out for this. It will be an excellent and enlightening read.

(What’s nice is I’m due to see Val again on Zoom soon. After that I’ll be meeting up with her in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Looking forward to both of those things!).

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Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again soon. If you’ve missed any of my YouTube stories I do share links for the month in my newsletter. I also share links to anything I’ve had on Friday Flash Fiction for the month.

To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and I will also take this chance to say a huge thank you to my subscribers. Support much appreciated.

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It’s Monday. The weather has been all over the place again. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Selections. Does the genie finally get to meet a non-greedy human? Find out here.

 

It took me a long while to discover what my author’s voice is and what helped me discover it at all was to write and to keep on writing. As I produced more short stories, blogs, flash fiction etc, a style emerged and I realised that was my author’s voice coming through. (Reading my work out loud regularly also has helped me hear my style and voice emerge).

One thing which is underrated, I feel, is the need to have a backbone of steel so you do keep on writing. You accept there will be rejections and disappointments but you also realise this happens to every writer. I’ve found knowing that makes me feel a bit better when the turn downs do come in, funnily enough.

I hope when I mention here I’ve had a rejection it will encourage others to realise that it doesn’t mean you stop writing. What you do try and do is write better, while accepting not everyone will get what you do. You have to allow for subjective tastes too.

The other thing which has helped a lot is reading more widely and in contemporary fiction, as well as the classics and favourites we all know and love. This is why going to writing events and discovering authors and books new to you is such a wonderful aid to any writer because you can’t know in advance always what will inspire your own stories (and it is fun finding this out).

452231899_10162042748972053_1141268187125797544_nI mix up how I decide my flash pieces are going to be. Sometimes I know the mood of the story I want to write. Sometimes I know the theme. Sometimes I have a character making themselves known to me and I have to get their story down.

For competitions, I like the open theme and the set ones. The latter challenge me to write to what someone else has decided here and that is a good discipline and worth practicing.

The former challenges me to think deeply about my theme and characters. Given the competition is an open one, I have to ensure my storyline and characters stand out. They have to be memorable to the judge who is likely to be reading several stories.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Children’s Books

I have a very soft spot indeed for children’s books. My late mother encouraged reading and a love of stories from an early age, something I’ve always appreciated. I have fond memories of children’s classics such as Black Beauty, the Famous Five, Heidi, and, of course, my beloved fairytales.

Being hooked on red reading early on encouraged my development into reading adult books. No such thing as a YA category in my day – I would’ve loved it and I think it is a superb idea. I collected the works of Agatha Christie via Odhams Book Club (remember them, anyone?) and still have these now. But without my love of reading the children’s books, would I have gone on to read the Queen of Crime? I doubt it.

Someone has to hook you into reading in the first place and this is where the children’s authors come in. It has long been a belief of mine that all writers of books for adults owe a huge debt to the children’s writers. They do grow our audience for us.

It was a great joy, when I became a parent, to select children’s books and, later, to see my child pick their own. (That’s a good thing to encourage too). I was especially fond of the children’s treasuries of stories (as my child was) precisely because there were lots of tales to dip into. They are the perfect books for that.

Each generation needs its children’s writers. It also needs its adult writers. I don’t know if any survey has ever been done on this but it would not surprise me much if it was found 90% + of all readers say they owe their love of reading to loving books as a child.

Screenshot 2024-07-20 at 21-25-41 Allison Symes's Blog - Children's Books - July 20 2024 13 23 Goodreads
WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

The fabulous news is Writers’ Narrative will be back in December 2024, earlier than anticipated. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the edition from June 2024 which focused on poetry. My article explored the links between flash fiction and poetry. There are more than you might think!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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The Writing Life, Writing Blurbs, and Killing the Mood

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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.
What a soggy start to a new week! Oh well at least Lady dries quickly. Writing wise, I’m looking at Making the Most of a Writing Event for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and it won’t be long before I am their arts correspondence once again as I’ll be off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production, Bleak Expectations, soon. Well, the weather is certainly bleak at the moment but I am expecting plenty of laughs as the show as it is based on the radio show of the same name which went out on air some years ago. Should be fun.

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Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. Lady and I didn’t get soaked today so we’ll take that as a win.
Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Maybe summer, my theme for this, will be back by then? I can but hope!

Writing Tip: I draft presentations such as the one for the ACW group well in advance and then go through it nearer the time, having rested it for a bit. As with my story writing, that gap gives me time to see if I’ve missed anything and/or if there’s anything useful I could add in and so on. It pays off.

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Lady did get to see one of her chums, the Hungarian Vizler, today despite the awful weather. We all hope it is better tomorrow. Has anyone got Noah on speed dial?

Am preparing drafts for future flash fiction competitions. Deadline – end of August so I will aim to have something submitted by just before I go to Swanwick or shortly after I get back again. Will ensure I have time to spare and I always like that.

Then I will look out for autumn deadlines for flash competitions. After that, it will indeed be time for the festive flash season again. Yes I know. (Have not spotted anything to do with that particular season yet. It is a matter of time though! I remember always getting fed up when I was a kid when I spotted the Back to School signs in the shops and I’d only just broken up for the six weeks break. I swear this is worse now).

Will be interviewing the lovely Val Penny for Chandler’s Ford Today again soon. More details nearer the time.

Am also busy editing at the moment but the great thing with all of this? I stay in the warm and dry to do it!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Saw a lovely kite in the shape of a US plane flown in our park today. Looked fabulous when in flight. Lady doesn’t know what to make of kites so stays well clear which is no bad thing. We also get red kites in our area. You can tell when they’re about. The smaller birds disappear!

Writing wise, will be enjoying flash fiction Sunday today. I always start a story with the question who am I going to write about because for me a story is all about the character, who they are, and what happens to them/because of them. Even when I’m given or I generate a potential opening line, I am thinking who would be the best character to “serve” that line.

When it comes to my Chandler’s Ford Today or Writers’ Narrative posts, I think along the lines of what would serve a reader best. So, whatever I write, I have the reader in mind all the time and that’s good. I’ve found it helps me focus on only those things the reader needs to know or would find useful to know.

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Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Mixture of sunshine and soggy here.

Will be looking at Making the Most of a Writing Event for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and share useful tips on this. A lot of those tips will also apply to online events. Timely one to write about given in August I’ll be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I also hope to get to an Association of Christian Writers day event in October too.

I remember – too many years ago to count now! – going to my first ever writing event and being so nervous about it. But I had a lovely time, learned loads, met my now publisher there too (and neither of us could have foreseen that one). Have not looked back since. If there is a writing event of use to me I can get to I’ll go!

As well as being a delegate at Swanwick, I am also one of the course tutors. I’m running a two part course on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Looking forward to this and every aspect of Swanwick week. I come home refreshed, reinvigorated, and absolutely shattered. Now that is a sign of a great writing event!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Happy with a draft flash for a competition I’ve got in mind to enter next month but have already seen where I can sharpen it. A bit more of a gap resting it and I will see more to sharpen but that is the nature of the beast.

Where I’m happy with the draft is knowing I’ve got the character voice right and am always happy when I’ve got that nailed down. Everything else is then looking at whether I’ve expressed things as well/as tightly as I can and there is always something I can tweak usefully. But the first draft is exactly that.

Shakespeare didn’t write a perfect first draft. I know I won’t either! It is all in the edit, folks!

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It’s Monday. It’s a wet Monday. So wet even Noah is wondering whether it’s time to set sail again. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Killing the Mood.

 

Despite being used to write to tight word counts, writing the blurb (say for my Tripping the Flash Fantastic page on Amazon) still took time to craft.

I focused on what led me into writing flash fiction at all, then picked some highlights from the book to share, and flagged up it was a follow up to From Light to Dark and Back Again. I did this in under 70 words but it took ages to hone it down that tightly.

Was worth doing though. It sums up everything a potential reader has to know and having that in the back of my mind helped a lot.


Allison Symes loves reading and writing quirky fiction. She discovered flash fiction thanks to a Cafélit challenge and has been hooked on the form ever since. In this follow-up to her “From Light to Dark and Back Again”, Allison will take you back in time, into some truly criminal minds, into fantasy worlds, and show you how motherhood looks from the viewpoint of a dragon. Enjoy the journey!

Once you’ve got a potential line or two like this down for your own books, read them out loud. Hear how they flow. Can you simplify your lines without losing anything important? Editing comes into this too!

 

Given the weather is so changeable again – yes, I know it’s July, someone needs to tell the weather systems this – why not take the chance to catch up with your reading? At least that’s not weather dependent!

I love reading flash fiction as well as writing it and am often inspired by the wonderful stories I come across. Every writer needs to feed their own imagination and the best way of doing that is to read widely, in and out of your genre, and do include non-fiction.

Sparks for story ideas have come from non-fiction articles for me before now. Keep your imagination pool wide and deep and always topped up is my motto!

The other huge advantage to being a writer who reads well is you know what works well for you when you read something by someone else. You can work out why that is too. You can then apply that to your own writing. Win-win there I’d say.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Reading Acrostic

R = Read widely and well – every writer is advised to do this but why leave it just to writers?
E = Enjoy a wide range of genres and discover the wonderful world of non-fiction.
A= Authors cross all ages and genres in their work so why not discover their crated worlds?
D = Discovering a genre and/or writer new to you, whose work you like, is a great joy.
I = Imagination, inspiration, intricate plots, immense and amazing characters – what’s not to like?
N = Novels, novellas, short story and flash fiction collections – why not try them all?
G = Gives you good opportunities to read contemporary works as well as the classics.

Screenshot 2024-07-13 at 17-14-03 Allison Symes's Blog - Reading - An Acrostic - July 13 2024 09 13 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

The link below this time is to the October 2023 edition of the magazine which had a horror theme to it (well, it was Halloween month!). My article here was on Writing Horror: The Telling Details.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Questions To Ask Your Characters and Using The Weather

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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 the photos of my lovely dog, Lady, and pictures from the local wildflower meadow which is always stunning.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely family meal out here. The calendar may say July but outside it is definitely saying autumn! Hope things are better with you. Not that Lady minds. She’s pretty good about accepting the need to have paws wiped etc after a rainy walk out. I must admit though I am a bit put out I am back in my walking boots though – in July!

BookBrushImage-2024-7-9-19-5735Facebook – General

Another soggy day but Lady got to meet and play with a lovely Golden Retriever called Winston. Good time had by both.

Had a lovely Zoom meeting last night on a topic I love – history. Looking forward to the next ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later in the month. Can’t help but think I may have been optimistic in choosing summer as a theme!

Need to look up some writing competitions to have a crack at – these are good for making you write to a deadline and often to a theme as well. They’re also good for getting you into the habit of submitting work to someone who will truly evaluate it independently.

How do I know the latter? That’s because I have been (and still am) a competition judge. All entries are submitted to the judges anonymously so we really can’t tell who has written what. I’m looking forward to putting my judge’s hat on again in the summer and autumn for flash fiction in both cases. Will be fun.

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Hope you have had a less soggy day than Lady and I. She dries off better and quicker than I do. No danger of a suntan here – rust might be a possibility though!

Writing Tip: If you are going to use the weather in your stories, be specific about it. Let us know your character has got a drenching rather than became slightly damp. You can show us how that drenching changed the character’s mood.

I would be specially interested to know if they were happy about it given that is not most people’s reaction to getting soaked. Has the character got other troubles which put the drenching into perspective, for example? Could the drenching help them in some way (it gives them a good excuse to get out of something, say)?

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Anyone would think it was autumn around here – strong winds, heavy rain etc. Still on the plus side the wildflower meadow is in full bloom at our park – it’s a joy to see. Lady approved too!

Good questions to ask your characters when you’re trying to discover more about them could include the following:-

What would you like to do if you could get away with it and why?
What would you never do even if circumstances allowed you to do so?
Who would you consider to be a hero and why?
What do you think is the most important thing in life and why?

Answering those would give you a good outline. It’s often the reasons why which reveal much about a character.

If my character decided they would love to rob a bank but, only because they know they could get with it, because they were once sacked by a bank, then you’ve got a clear, understandable motivation of revenge (doesn’t mean you have to approve!), and you could write a great story based on this. Knowing the likelihood of getting away with it is remote, do they find other outlets for their need for revenge instead?

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Has been a strange blustery day where I am. Hope it has been much better with you. Managed to get the lawn cut before the rain came in – will take that as a win.

I’m looking at the topic of Writing Fitness for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. More details nearer the time but I will touch on issues such as screen and other breaks and being ready for the ups and downs of the writing life. (Oh and another author interview to come towards the end of the month).

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow as I get a fair amount of flash written then. Lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Just over a month away to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – so looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: Do, as part of your editing, check there are no plot holes. Is everything tied up which should be? It is easy to over look something so make sure all marries up as it should. All should make sense, even in the most fantastic of settings.

What you are after here is to avoid anything which might make readers think “but…”. What you want them doing is rooting for your characters to succeed or fail. That way they will keep reading with nothing to jar their reading enjoyment.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

More rain. Should have guessed. Wimbledon’s on! If anything is guaranteed to bring out the rain, it is the tennis.

My favourite all time moment from SW19? There could only be one. It is when Andy Murray won the title for the first time. Had the great joy of ringing my Dad, who was a life long tennis fan and had been waiting for a British champion all his life, who was all over the moon about it.

Now how do I link that to writing flash fiction? Easy peasy! Flash focuses on the important moment of a character’s life. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is the figuring out of what is the most important moment which can be tricky so I ask myself questions here. What does my character have to achieve by the end of the story and why? Get that sorted and I have my outline. I have what I know I’ve got to focus on.

Flash Fiction focuses on THE important aspect of a character's life

It’s Monday. It’s more like October than July at the moment out there. It’s definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Routine. When all is change and turmoil around him, can Larry keep his job? Will his routine ever be the same again? Find out here.

 

Hope you have had a good weekend. Will be looking at the theme of summer for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. I hope summer will be back by then! It’s more like autumn where I am at the moment.

If you are ever stuck for a theme to write to, do check out the random theme generators. These can be useful for getting you started on something. I’ve found the broader the theme, the more I can do with it.

A theme like summer I can take in all sorts of directions from holidays to someone hating summer because they have the world’s worst case of hayfever to stories which focus on legends and/or sports associated with the summer season.

Another good place to start with themes is looking at what interests you. I love music of a wide variety but classical is my favourite. So I could base a story on a character who loves or hates classical. I could use a classical concert as the backdrop to a story.

So often it is getting started on a story which is the issue so having a wide variety of “methods in” is useful. This is why I use the random generators, story cubes, books or prompts, my own photo, all sorts of things. Sometimes I will look for the theme or something which is an intriguing opening line so I can work out how I would follow on from said line.

Mixing things up is fun and keeps you on your toes. That in turn encourages further creativity.

AE - July 2024 - Writing something down helps trigger further creativity for me

A favourite theme of mine for flash stories is someone not being all they appear to be. Sometimes the character is a magical one who has absconded from their old life to live somewhere else, usually here on Earth. (The Past – Ready Or Not? is one example from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. And yes I did have the old “coming, ready or not” phrase used in childhood games of Hide and Seek in mind for the title here).

What I do is give small details to indicate to the reader my character is hiding something. Those small details add up so the reader can work things out.

Sometimes my character is as human as you and I are but they know someone who isn’t. That can cause issues because they don’t want the neighbours finding out about their dodgy connections – see my What The Neighbours Think as an example of this and how my character handles this.

Again it is the small telling detail which packs a great deal of punch here. My character wonders what it is about her that attracts the oddballs. From that you know said oddball is going to turn up/has just turned up and my character has to handle it/keep things quiet as they see fit.

What I don’t do is give lots of details about the hidden past/dodgy connection. The reader doesn’t need to know all of that. They do need to know how my character is going to deal with it and an idea of what it is they have to handle at all.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

Goodreads Author Blog – Books of Letters

I love books of letters. I have books of letters by Evelyn Waugh (his own and those he exchanged with Nancy Mitford) and P.G. Wodehouse on my shelves (real and electronic). Yes, the letters do shed insights into the writing life which are fascinating and useful. I also have a book of letters by Jane Austen and I must finish reading that so this post has proved useful in reminding me to do so!

I do so wish Agatha Christie had done this though. Am sure her letters would have been insightful. Having said that, her The Moving Finger does have its plot focus around a string of poison pen letters so she brought them into her fiction at least!

What I like about letters are they do show something of the writer and the recipient. I’ve made use of this as a wiring technique in my Punish The Innocent (From Light to Dark and Back Again). Good fun to do and it makes for a freshing change of story format but one I think best done sparingly. You do have to have strong characters to carry this off successfully.

Maybe that is why more writers haven’t produced books of their letters. They would rather get their characters to show you something of themselves rather than of the writers themselves. What do you think?

Screenshot 2024-07-06 at 16-05-01 Allison Symes's Blog - Books Of Letters - July 06 2024 08 04 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Am sharing the bumper January/February 2024 issue of the magazine this time which looked at new beginnings AND romance writing. I looked at New Beginnings for Characters and asked Flash Fiction Romance:  Is It Possible? for this edition.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Top Ten Tips and Letters

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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 weekend. Nice one here. Am busy on both writing and editing projects at the moment and am loving them all. I do like knowing what I’ll be working on when I get to my desk. Some days I have more time than others but I’ve learned to plan out my week so I see my writing and editing as a case of what have I got done over the course of a week, rather than judge it day by day. It also means I use the smaller pockets of time more efficiently too. I know what I’ll be saving those odd ten minutes here, ten minutes there for.

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Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Pleasant time in the park with Lady though she didn’t get to see her chums today. Hopefully will make up for that tomorrow.

Am almost at the end of re-reading the great P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters on my Kindle. Will have the happy dilemma of working out what to read next soon. Having read non-fiction for a while, I will almost certainly turn to something fictional and I suspect Jeeves and Wooster will be in the offing. Just sometimes I only want to read something which I know will make me laugh. Wodehouse always delivers there.

Occasionally, I’ve written short stories, even flash fiction, in the form of a letter. For flash pieces, I have needed to write up to the full word count allowed (1000) but that’s fine.

What I like about the letter format is you have two characters immediately, the writer and the letter recipient, and you can tell much about them by what is written and the attitude coming through the text. (See my Punish the Innocent from From LIght to Dark and Back Again – all I will say is there is a lot of attitude on display here and rightly so given the situation the character is in).

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Another month, another author newsletter is out there. You do spot how quickly the year goes by when you realise it is time another newsletter went out.

Writing Tip: Every so often have a brainstorming session. Write something just for the fun of it. Put one side. Then when you get one of those days when you are struggling to get into your writing, dig out your notebooks and have a look through. Pick something out and see if you can write it up further.

I use brainstorming sessions to come up with titles and opening/closing lines in particular. When I go back through my notes, I then have a choice of interesting titles or lines to use. I then jot down what could come from that title or the line I’ve picked. Before you know it I’ve got an outline and from there I’m on to my first draft. Well worth a go.

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Hard to believe it’s the end of June already. Author newsletter out again tomorrow.

Will be talking about Employing Kipling’s Serving Men for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. They’re useful for any form of writing and my post will explain more, plus share examples. Link up on Friday.

Delighted to say I’ll be going to see Bleak Expectations in July with my lovely CFT editor. This will be the latest production by The Chameleon Theatre Group and is based on the hilarious radio show from years ago on Radio 4. Yes, it does send up Dickens. Am expecting there to be lots of laughs as there were from the radio show. Looking forward to seeing and reviewing the show in due course.

Lovely to catch up with friends on Zoom last night. Looking forward to seeing them (and many other friends) in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. It’s getting nearer!
449464369_10161990168442053_4486270875338545614_nHope you are having a lovely weekend so far.

Glad to say I am back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my post title easily sums up my theme – Top Ten Tips! Hope you find them all useful. I know I do.

All of these I’ve picked up over time (it helps I’ve been writing since the last Thesaurus Rex, the wordy dinosaur, left the planet). I continue to use all of the tips too.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Don’t forget flash fiction lends itself well to seasonal writing. My main focus there is on festive flash and before you groan at the thought, I will say it won’t be too long before I start thinking of ideas for this year’s festive selection from me. Indeed for the magazine market those festive stories for this year have already been picked.

I have sometimes written autumn themed stories but the advantage of all seasonal writing is you can prepare them in advance. If you’re putting a collection together you could group your seasonal stories with a few tales for each period you’re writing for. Bear in mind there are seasonal writing competitions so having something stories to hand to look at and polish sounds like a good idea to me.

449776729_10161995376942053_2939031652275405182_nIt’s Monday. It’s been hectic as usual. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Traffic Jam. Those at the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will recognise this as a picture prompt I set them (the duck in the road). This is what I did with that prompt!

 

Hope your weekend has been a lovely one. Has been here. Enough going on to enjoy. Enough time to chill too – the perfect weekend as far as I’m concerned. Goes for Lady too as she’s gone off for a nap as I write this.

Flash fiction makes great use of inference due to its restricted word count but this is a huge advantage to a writer. It makes you think about what can be inferred and how you do that. It makes you think about what a reader needs to know so they can infer what you want them to infer. That last bit is also useful for crime writers when it comes to planting the old red herrings!

In my Serving Up a Treat (From Light to Dark and Back Again), I don’t spell out everything my character has gone through or what they have done. I do give enough information for anyone to work both of these things out and from there to deduce what they feel about my character.

This tale worked especially well in the first person. You can only see what my character shows you and “they” get to select what is shown. I like to take advantage of this in my flash tales. It keeps a reader wondering about my character too (and the only way to find out more is to read on of course).

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Occasionally a film or part of one inspires a flash fiction story. My The Haunting from From Light to Dark and Back Again is inspired by a certain detail in that fabulous Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers. Do watch the film if you haven’t – it is one of my must sees – and the cast and script are simply brilliant. The stageshow of this film was also very good when I saw it a few years ago.

But one detail from the heroine of this film led me to writing my story. If you’ve seen the film, you will spot what it is. If not, I hope you enjoy the story anyway. I always make sure any of my stories “stand alone” if people aren’t aware of references etc and am always appreciative when other writers have done this. If I do get the reference, it gives me additional enjoyment from the story. If not, I enjoy the story anyway.

But if you like your films, selecting a detail to inspire you like this could give you story ideas and without it being fan fiction either. There is no mention of The Ladykillers in my The Haunting. Doesn’t need to be. My story stands alone. Those who know the film will pick up the inference. Still works as a tale even if not.

Flash works so well as a format because the limited word count does mean you have to infer a lot. But you as the writer can make good use of that. Using your inspirations in this way can be a great source of further ideas for stories which will be unique to you – they’re your inspirations!

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Influences

One aspect to reading I love is when I think I can spot which stories have influenced the writer. Sometimes it is obvious to spot these. (This is especially true for the well done spoof). Sometimes the influence is portrayed in a subtle manner (and I always feel a bit pleased with myself when I spot this type).

Stories do influence us even if we’re not always conscious of it. My love of fairytales means I know I will expect justice to be done in some way (and that applies to most crime fiction too). I pick up on the Rule of Three in all manner of books and stories thanks to what I have learned from fairytales. Something happens twice. Something happens with a change on the third occasion and that change usually leads to the traditional happy ever after ending in fairytales.

Notice I say usually there. My first reading of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christen Andersen came as a shock precisely because it didn’t follow what, by then, I had come to see as the usual pattern. Andersen’s ending of this tale is appropriate for the character as he has portrayed her (which is something else I’ve picked on subconsciously thanks to my love of reading. Naturally I ensure the endings I create for my characters are appropriate to them as I have portrayed them).

So think about what books you love. What influence have they had on you? It may well be more than you thought, especially if you’re a writer too.

Screenshot 2024-06-29 at 17-14-14 Allison Symes's Blog - Story Influences - June 29 2024 09 14 Goodreads

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Please note the next edition of Writers’ Narrative will be out in 2025. The magazine has had to take a break. What I will share here is links to back copies of the magazine. First one up is the April 2024 edition on a subject close to my heart – editing. Do check these out. Plenty of excellent material to enjoy.

 

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What I Look For In Stories – Reading/Writing Them

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Hope you have had a great weekend. Lovely summer weather continues here. Looking forward to sharing another author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. This time I’ll be talking to Maressa Mortimer about her latest book, Downstream, which is a cracking read. Always plenty to learn from author interviews, I find. There will be more to come in July too.

Coming soon - more author interviews in my CFT column

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Busy evening tonight so am posting early.

Writing Advice I’ve Found Most Helpful: Could write a series on this, I’m sure, but I think the number one top tip here is to write something first, then edit it. See these as two separate creative tasks. I’ve got to know what I’m working with in the first place before I can figure out how to improve it (and there will always be things to improve!).

I edit on paper but also on screen so for the latter I do what I can to make the text look different. It helps with spotting errors. I also know to look for “missing words”, the thing I could’ve sworn I typed up but on closer inspection find I didn’t. Happens to us all but it helps a lot to be aware of this kind of error so you know to look for it.

Writing Advice

A lovely start to the week as Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal before the heat took hold this afternoon. Great to see them having a lovely time.

Now Writers Narrative is taking a break for a while but there is plenty to read and enjoy in the back issues. Every so often I will pick one and share it here. Naturally since we are still in June, for this post, I’ll share the current edition, which is on the theme of poetry. I look at the links between flash fiction and poetry in my article here – there are more than you might think. Hope you enjoy.

Hope your weekend is proving to be sunny again – lovely weather here. Lady loves it as it is pleasant but not too hot.

What do I look for in stories I read? Generally I want to be entertained and to care about what happens to the characters. Am not into highbrow books for the good reason I’m not highbrow! Indeed at under 5’ tall, I am anything but highbrow! I want to see interesting plots, threads followed through properly etc.

What do I look for in stories I write? I want to be entertained (because if I’m not, who else would be?). I want to care about what happens to my characters (and I adore giving just deserts to those worthy of it – that is such fun). I want a good storyline/plot and yes for threads to be followed through properly.

Even in flash fiction, there can be threads. These come in more towards the upper end of the flash limit range and you don’t have so many of them. Having said that, they’ve still got to be tied up properly or the reader will feel cheated or, worse still, feel what was the point of that then? You never want readers to feel that about your stories.

This is why when I’m editing my stories, I always ask what does the reader get out of this? It’s a good question to ask. The challenge to me is to make sure I can answer it.

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Hope you are having a nice weekend so far. Great weather. Lady got to see our neighbour’s retriever at the park and the pair had a lovely run around. Normally they’re barking at each other either side of our fences! It does sound like a conversation. I wonder if the pair of them are rating their owners…hmm…

It’s a busy time at the moment but am loving it. I will be interviewing Maressa Mortimer about her latest book, Downstream, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ve read the book. It’s a gripping read but I’ll let Maressa herself tell you more about it when the interview goes live next week. Be sure not to miss. Again there are lots of tips and useful thoughts for other writers.

Talking of which, I’ll just say a huge thank you to Jennifer C Wilson for what she shared here on CFT yesterday – all excellent stuff and if you like writing prompts do look out for her 31 Days of Writing. Prompts are an excellent way to kick start or reinvigorate your writing mojo.

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Hope you have had a good day. Continuing warm here. Lady keeping nice and cool.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow on Zoom. Will be looking at writing the 50 and 100 word flash tales. So apt given the 100-worders were my way into discovering the fabulous world of flash fiction and they remain one of my favourite categories to write to. Writing for Friday Flash Fiction regularly has reawakened that love of the good old drabble!

If you’re thinking of getting into writing to specific word counts like this, have a good look at the websites which publish them. I find it helps to be able to visualise what a 50 or 100 word story looks like, something I’ll be discussing with the group tomorrow.

It’s Monday. It’s sunny and lovely – hooray. However, it is still Monday. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Provisions. See how I make use of a well known phrase here!

Wow, the month is rattling on, is it not? My author newsletter will be out again on 1st July. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to all of my subscribers for your support.

Also please do check out my author services page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/author-services-allison-symes/

As well as writing, I judge competitions, run workshops on editing and flash fiction writing, and, of course, I am an editor. Many thanks to Yvonne Walus for her recent wonderful testimonial on this page re the latter. I am also happy to give talks online or in person depending on distance. Do contact me via the contact form on my website if any of this is of interest.

And what has fuelled all of this? My love of writing, especially flash fiction which has taught me so much about editing and writing craft. In some ways it it the gift which keeps on giving and I appreciate it a great deal.

Screenshot 2024-06-24 at 21-01-28 FacebookScreenshot 2024-06-23 at 14-12-50 Author Services – Allison Symes – Allison Symes Collected WorksLooking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. We’ll be looking at writing 50 and 100 words flash fiction, two of the most popular categories. The 100 worders will always have a special place in my heart as it is thanks to them I discovered flash fiction in the first place.

There are a number of competitions for them too and, if you like to share stories every so often on your social media to show a little of what you do writing wise, as I do, these are ideal for that. Don’t take too long to read. Entertaining (hopefully!) for readers too. Win-win there, I think.

I’ll be busy judging flash and short stories over the summer and autumn and am looking forward to doing that. Plus I am hoping to get to read some of my flash fiction (including from CafeLit 13 and Friday Flash Fiction) at Swanwick if I can. I like to mix up material I share this way in terms of mood and will have a good selection here.

Less is More is the theme for flash fiction writers

Goodreads Author Blog – Mixing Genres

Do you enjoy books which mix genres? I do. I’m a huge fan of the Discworld series from the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett. The Sam Vimes novels in that series cross fantasy with crime stories and successfully meet the needs of both genres here. They work as stand alone crime novels too. Highly recommend Men At Arms and Feet of Clay in particular here. Really good detection tales.

I see the mixing of genres as an inevitable thing. Why? Because I’m focused on whether or not I care for the characters. I’m focused on finding out what happens to said characters. If they’re in a fantasy world I want to find out how that changes what the characters do. They will have challenges to face in that world they wouldn’t have in a non-fantasy world. I want to see how that plays out.

Also a character doesn’t live in a vacuum, any more than we do, so their setting is bound to have a bearing on their stories. It has been said the Harry Potter stories cross boarding school tales with the magical world. Well, why not? Why shouldn’t a world like that have its own education system? To me, it would be odd if there wasn’t something like that. Therefore it makes sense to have stories based on this premise.

So mixing genres then? No problem at all for me. I find it gives me an ever wider choice of books to read and I’m all for that too.

Screenshot 2024-06-22 at 17-44-37 Allison Symes's Blog - Mixed Genres - June 22 2024 09 44 Goodreads

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The Joys of Creative Writing

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Not bad here. Writing wise, I’m talking to Jennifer C Wilson on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday about her new book, 31 Days of Writing. Looking forward to sharing that.
Pleased to see numbers for my YouTube channel and author newsletter are growing steadily. Enjoying preparing a presentation at the moment for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group. Always fun to do and the presentations trigger ideas as I prepare these. I’ve followed up on many of these with work inspired by these ideas appearing on YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction in particular. Would like more of the same!

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Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my new post, The Joys of Creative Writing. I’d been planning to write on this topic anyway but having been burgled last month, well let’s just say it gave me extra motivation to write this one! I share why it did and why I feel the creative arts are more important than many realise. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope your Monday hasn’t been too hectic. Lady got to see her best friend, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Lovely time had by both of them.

The writing life is full of ups and downs. You get better over time I think at coming to terms with that and just getting on with the next story, the next project etc.

Just heard today my submission for the Bridge House Publishing anthology has been turned down. Later on in the summer I will have another look at the tale and see if I can (a) improve it and (b) send it somewhere else.

Often when work has been turned down, I have found the answers to those last two points are yes and yes! I’ve then sometimes gone on to have turned down work published elsewhere. So worth another look, always, is my motto here.

For Authors Electric, my post tomorrow will be about The Joys of Creative Writing. Timely I think! Link up tomorrow. See above.

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Hope you have had a good day. Celebrated our church’s 206th anniversary today, which was lovely. A lot happened in 1818 including the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A timeless book, I think, because it asks a timeless question – just who is the monster? That’s how I see it anyway.

The one positive thing about time seemingly whizzing by at the moment is it means The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is also rapidly approaching (August).

I’m running a two part course there, Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. So looking forward to doing this but do check out all the other courses on offer too. Bear in mind too there are four part courses, one hour workshops and a lot more at Swanwick including the chance for 1:1s (I’m doing this too this year on the editing theme).

Hopefully see you at Swanwick in August.

Screenshot 2024-06-16 at 16-24-40 Short Courses Swanwick Writers' Summer School

Strange old weather today. Have managed to avoid most of the downpours.

I’m delighted to say I’ll be welcoming Jennifer C Wilson back to Chandler’s Ford Today next week to discuss her forthcoming publication, 31 Days of Writing. This book comes out on the same day as the CFT post. Much to look forward to in the interview including thoughts on publishing via Amazon and much more besides. So looking forward to sharing this.

Writing Tip: For flash fiction and short story writers especially, always double check whether your title is included in the overall word count you are set for competitions. Some places do include it.

What I do with these markets and competitions is to allow five words for my title. I have to have a working title in any case which may or may not change later. But having something in place immediately means you won’t forget this aspect.

If you find later you only need three words for your title, then you will have a couple of “spare” words to put into your story which is especially useful for those places where you have to write to an exact word count. Think of your working title as a kind of place holder. I find this helps a lot.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. Both dogs so pleased to see each other.

Thought for you: which of your characters would be pleased to see each other and why? What has kept them apart? Which would be horrified to see the other and why? What brought them back together again?

I’m sure there would be some flash fiction stories to be written up based on those thoughts – have fun!

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It’s Monday. It may just be me but it’s been more hectic than normal. It’s still Monday. Time for my latest on YouTube then. Hope you enjoy Forward Thinking. Just what do you do when a silly bet has gone wrong and you now have to pay up… find out here.

 

Wow, halfway through June already. Author newsletter is out again on 1st July. If you’d like flash fiction/short story news, tips, story links etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I enjoy reading author newsletters as well as writing my own. I like to find out what the news is from my favourite authors and tips etc are always useful. If you’re thinking of starting a newsletter of your own, you might like to check out a post I wrote about this for Chandler’s Ford Today called, surprisingly not (!), Author Newsletters.

Author Newsletters

Have fun mixing up what you do with the writing prompt generators. If you use a word based one, as I often do, change where you put the word you’ve been given. Put it at the beginning, at the end, somewhere in the middle and ring the changes.

There’s nothing to stop you either writing one story with that word at the beginning, another in the middle and so on. What I would do there is change the characters and situations – the common thread would just be the word you’re placing and where you’re placing it. But you would have two or three stories here based on one prompt – I like that idea.

Could you also change the mood of the stories you write here? Could one with your chosen word be a feel good story? Could another with that same word in it somewhere be a tragedy?

Have fun!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Short Form Collections

I read a number of short form collections because (a) I love them and (b) I’ve contributed to many of them in my time and still do, the most recent being the hot-off-the-presses The Best of CafeLit 13. Also my flash fiction collections, From Light To Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic, come into this category too.

Short stories are fantastic for dipping into. They’re also great for helping me make up my mind what longer form work I want to read next. I also like to ensure I have a good reading diet by reading novels, short stories, flash, magazines, ebooks etc. I’ve never seen the point of limiting yourself to just reading in one category!

But the advantage of the short form, flash or standard length short story, is in giving a reader an impact that much more quickly. For twist in the tail stories, you get to the twist more quickly too. I like that.

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Stories To Remember

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the classic author photo of author’s books in the box they came in (The Best of CafeLit 13)! Image of me at Swanwick 2019 reading at the Open Prose Mic Night was taken by a Swanwick colleague. We all help each other out this way. Swanwick is a lovely writing community.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Had lovely time with family on Sunday – Lady loved it too. Have since had manic Monday to follow! Am hoping the rest of the week calms down a bit… Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Having a Superpower for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I love writing all my posts here but this one was especially fun to write. More on that a little later on in the week.

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Lady got to play with her two best friends again today so again three happy dogs went home! What was sweet yesterday was, having come in to the park and knowing her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal was a little way behind Lady turned around, sat down and wouldn’t move until said chum joined her!

I’ll be sharing Having a Superpower on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Am glad to say I’ll be welcoming back Jennifer C Wilson to CFT to talk about her new book, 31 Days of Writing, the week after that. More on that nearer the time. Always a pleasure to share author interviews here.

Author newsletter out again on 1st July. If you’d like to sign up to hear news, tips, enjoy stories etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter Tip: I’ve found it useful to have a loose theme to base my monthly newsletter on. As well as sharing useful tips on that theme, I can share links to where I’ve written on the topic in more depth on Chandler’s Ford Today. I aim to keep the newsletter “cheery and chatty” but useful and not going on for too long – all those things are key ingredients I think!

 

Manic day today though Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums and they all had a lovely time.

Thought for you: I’ve run late all day today. These things happen to us all. Frustrating, some of it beyond my control etc., but you soldier on right? But what about making this happen to a character of yours? How would they handle it?

You could get a story or two directly from that but also you could use this as an exercise to find out more about your character before deciding what story to put them in. If you knew they tended to panic when things went wrong like this, you could show that in your story. You could also get another character to play on this if they knew what buttons to press here.

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On my wall I have various pictures, all of which have connections to family and/or friends/my past. Writing thought for you: what picture would mean the most to your lead character and why? What does this tell you about your character? If your character has no pictures, why is that? Is that a deliberate choice? Are they trying to get away from a past they don’t want to revisit?

Plenty of story ideas there I hope! If you want some more ideas, do check out the random picture generators. I find the landscapes especially useful as I work out who might live in them or who might want to go there for some reason. Story ideas there too!

448092151_907891608017368_3200174101329249721_nHope you have had a good day. It was great to welcome back Jenny Sanders to Chandler’s Ford Today for the last couple of weeks and I hope to have further author interviews later in the month. Next week’s post though is called Having a Superpower. Those who went to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting recently will recognise this as I used it as a prompt for two exercises, one of which was to write a non-fiction piece on the topic. I’ve done so and it will be on CFT on Friday!

I was delighted to receive my order of The Best of CafeLit 13 yesterday. The joy of opening boxes full of books with your work in them doesn’t go away! It was a joy to add the book to my Amazon Author Central and ALCS pages too.

Writing Tip: Every so often look back at some of your older stories, the ones which were turned down, and see if there is something you could do to improve them now. I’ve done this and have had, sometimes, work published this way. But it is worth reviewing your older stories. Even if you can’t use the stories themselves, you may well see now, after time apart from them, why they might have been turned down and you can learn from that. I have.

Close up of my copies of CafeLit 13

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Flash fiction is a joy to share for things like Open Prose Mic Nights. The stories don’t go on for too long and you can mix up the moods of the tales you pick to read out. These nights are great opportunities to show what flash fiction is and can be. I use Zoom to help me rehearse whatever I’m reading. It is handy being able to play a recoding back and hear the stories as an audience would.

Prior to sending any story anywhere it pays to read your work out loud. I’ve mentioned before that what looks good written down doesn’t always read out loud well. So out comes the editing pen! I’ve also discovered character names can sometimes be more tricky to read out loud than I’d thought so again I change them.

I don’t want readers stumbling over anything like that. This kind of thing can put people off when of course I want to draw them into the world of my story and character. So it really does pay to take a bit of extra time here and read your work out loud. The advantage of Zoom is in being able to play your work back again but it the reading out loud bit which really matters here.

448319348_10161947262462053_7757431296356457753_nIt’s Monday. It’s been manic for me. It’s still Monday. Time for my latest on YouTube then. Hope you enjoy A New Start but does Jemma actually get to have the new start she wants? Find out here.

 

Had a lovely time with family today (a 60th birthday do). Lady came with us and loved it but she always does love family events. So many to make a fuss of her of course!

Prepared a lot of my flash writing yesterday. Another advantage to flash writing is I can still get something written and completed (at least as a first draft) when I don’t have a lot of writing time. I’ve learned over time how to use small pockets of time, such as I have tonight, to make my writing life reasonably efficient. I’ve found I have got more written learning to use ten minutes here, ten minutes there etc. It all mounts up.

Writing Tip: Look at what time you have over the course of a week. I do this. It means I know what I’m doing when. It ensures I meet my deadlines for Chandler’s Ford Today etc. I use a desk diary to plan out what I do when. It helps a lot.

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Good to see the sun back out. One of the fun things about flash fiction writing is, due to its restricted word count, it has to be character led. But you can set those characters in whatever setting you want. I’ve written crime flash, ghost flash, fantasy flash and other kinds of story besides those. I’ve also set flash pieces in the past, in the present day, and well into the future or on an alternative world. All good fun!

What matters for me is finding good ways to create characters. As long as I have ways into creating them, I will have ways into creating stories.

Unless writing for competitions or for sites like Friday Flash Fiction, where I know I am writing to 100 words, I worry about the word count later on. I get the story down first, then edit it later. Sometimes a story simply does work better at 250 words rather than 100 so it just means I may have to find another market for the longer tale.

What matters is getting the character and their story right first.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Stories to Remember

I write this blog during the week where we remembered the 80th anniversary of D-Day. There are stories we really should remember, whether they are in book form, or are in the form of personal testimonies, many of which were heard/seen on the media this week from surviving veterans.

I’ve recently read Double Cross by Ben Macintyre. This tells the true stories of the D-Day spies who were used to deceive Hitler. A great read and one I’m happy to recommend. I also recommend the same author’s Operation Mincemeat, which is the true story of “the man who never was”.

The depth of research in books like these is incredible, rightly so, but the purpose of these books is to show the background to the history we know and to shed light on things which, at the time, rightly had to be kept quiet.

I’ve developed a real love for non-fiction books like these in recent years. My only regret is not discovering them sooner! I do like the development in non-fiction using some of the techniques of fiction to get wonderful information across to readers in an entertaining way. History, and factual books generally, do not have to be boring!

Screenshot 2024-06-08 at 17-57-15 Stories to Remember

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