Tag: Hannah Kate

Interviews and Ideas

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush.Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good start to the week. I was pleased to be back on the air over the weekend (link below) and it is also great seeing the lighter evenings. I can sometimes come back with Lady from my evening dog walk without having to use my torch! It is the little things in life which mean so much at times!

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Busy day. How to tell it is cold outside? Go swimming in my local pool. It is the only time the water there feels remotely warm but it does encourage you to get a move on!

Looking forward to sharing my Catch Up – Local Author News – Allison Symes post on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. They do say write what you know!

It does pay to take stock of where you are, writing wise, every now and then. It can also help you plan ahead a bit too. And it will be nice having news to share.

What I can tell you now is that all of the things which have happened, writing wise, for me have been connected in that one thing leads to another and so on.

A writing career is built up over time and networking is nothing to be worried about. After all you’re chatting to other writers who understand your drive to write and the ups and downs of the writing life. It has been lovely when I’ve been able to share useful information for other writers. It is very much a two-way process, as it should be.


Pleased to be able to share a link to my interview on Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM last Saturday but this link gives you the whole show in one go, so to speak. Further down are links to Part 1 and Part 2 of the show.

In other news, you may recall I set a theme of clearing away over on my Facebook book page (From Light to Dark and Back Again). Well, I have used the theme myself. I’ll be sharing my new YouTube story based on this topic over on my book page shortly (see further down) but my submission for Friday Flash Fiction this week was based on this too.

If an idea occurs to you, as it did when I was writing my previous Facebook post, note it down because it is the only way to be sure you’ll end up doing something with it! I am sure there must be some hidden depository somewhere where all the ideas writers forget to write down must end up (it’s where odd socks go as well) – so the only thing to do with good ideas is nail them down and write them up!

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

Hope you have had a good day. I’ll be sharing a “catch up post” with what I’ve been up to recently writing wise for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I like reading catch up posts from other authors. It is always interesting to see where someone is in their writing journey, where they have come from, and then find out where they are heading next! I find that encouraging. The writing journey isn’t meant to be a static one after all. It is also lovely having news to share!

Have spent the weekend preparing future blog posts elsewhere so pleased with that. Will be on to flash fiction writing shortly. I shared a possible theme over on my book page yesterday so will be using it that. What is nice is when a thought occurs to you for a blog post and you realise, hang on, I could get a flash fiction piece out of this as well. Doesn’t happen nearly often enough for my liking but I grab the opportunity with both hands when it does!

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

It was lovely being back on North Manchester FM today for a catch up interview with Hannah Kate. I am on the first hour of her show and the link for this is below. (I am on at about the 27 minute mark but do check out the whole show and the link to the second half of Hannah’s show as this is a wonderful celebration of books, stories, reading, and writing. What is there not to love about those things?).

Great to put in a good word for Mom’s Favorite Reads too and my title there as “flasher queen”! Please see further up for another link where you can access the show in “one go” so to speak.

May be an image of text that says "North Manchester FM 106.6 Listen Again Listen whilst connected downloading our shows is not possible. Home Hannahs Bookshelf Saturday March E 2023 Everything books, writing and publishing Categories Hannahs Bookshelf 1st hour PodHawk BBC News ABOUTME selection url some NAVIGATION 0:00 1:00:00 Return again music download any our programmes. Please do otc broadcast without express permission from home page CATEGORIES 50 и RPM 60sJuox Rewind 90s Rewind Helping History"

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Ideas can be triggered by all sorts of things. What matters here is keeping your mind alert to the possibility that something which has popped into your head is the potential for a story idea!

I’ve found ideas from a wealth of different random generators, proverbs, phrases, story cubes, an odd thought I’ve typed up for a blog post (and I’ve then realised fictional possibilities) amongst others.

What I’ve not done is keep the old notebook by the bed in case I wake up with interesting thoughts. Why? I Because when my head hits the pillow, that is it! I do know that idea can work for writers. I just know it never works for me. And it helps to be aware of that too, mainly because you will then know which sources to focus on for ideas.

May be an image of text that says "Word ordPlay I love the way writing exercises enable me to enjoy playing with words and coming up with fresh deas"

It’s Monday. It’s getting cold again. I have one crocus out in the garden and I hope the forecasted snow doesn’t flatten it! Definitely time for a story. Hope you enjoy Clearing The Air.

 

Brrr… it’s been getting cold again with more to come next week. How do your characters react to their climate? And are they cold at heart or a warm-hearted person/being of choice by the writer?! (Bear in mind this comes from someone who has written a story from the viewpoint of a mother dragon. My characters are not necessarily human!).

Interactions between characters are great ways of revealing much about them all. Character A gets on well with B but loathes C and finds it is all they can do to be polite etc. Instinctively I want to find out why that is so I read on – job done by the writer there! And these details can show up in how a character speaks, as well as through their thoughts and actions.

May be an image of text that says "Your character's mood attitude should be clear from context. Again they will be showing the readers what they need to know."

Hope you have had a good day. Spent some time clearing my desk today – it needed doing! – but it gave rise to the thought about what your characters might need to clear from their lives. Could be whom as well of course. Definitely flash (and short story) potential there I would have thought.

You could also give some thought as to what they couldn’t bear to clear away and what that is is and what would happen if they were put in a situation where they had to do that. Happy writing (and I hope to have a go at these themes myself later on in the weekend. Will report back). See above!

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Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes a Good Story For You?

For me, a good story is all about whether I care about what happens to the characters or not. If I do, I will read all the way through, whether that tale is 100 words long (classic flash fiction territory, that one!), or a 100,000 words novel. I have got to find out what happens to the characters so I need to be able to identify with them in some way or, at the very least, have empathy for the position they find themselves in.

The plot works for me as long as I can believe in the characters, no matter how fantastical they are (or their setting is). I also love reading (and writing) character dialogue and thoughts which move the story on. You want to feel as if you are in that character’s head and can see exactly where they are coming from.

You want to feel what your character does. That’s the only way to avoid characters being cardboard cut-outs in my view.

Screenshot 2023-03-04 at 21-05-49 What Makes a Good Story for You

 

ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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Using Story Cubes, Workshop News, and Writing Exercises

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

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

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

Have a great (writing/reading) week.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books as Presents

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

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

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

My nomination?

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

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


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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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

March 2023 edition out very soon.

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

Plus many other books, including my flash fiction collections.

 

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Drafts and Depth of Characterisation

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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.
Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate. (Lady has had big hugs today. Mind you, she often gets big hugs!). And it is always a great idea to celebrate our love of books and stories, regardless of what date it is on the calendar.

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Hope today has been lovely, whether you celebrate St. Valentine’s Day or not. Lady had a lovely time playing with her Aussie Shepherd friend. As ever, both dogs went home shattered but happy.

Writing Tip: Somewhere Near Infinity or Thereabouts – Never worry about a first draft being rubbish. It is part of the point of a first draft. Just get something down and then worry about editing. Terry Pratchett has a great quote on this – “the first draft is you telling yourself the story.”.

So true. You have to work out what it is before you can work out what to improve.

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Another busy Monday has sped by – hope your one hasn’t been too bad. Lady got to play with her best buddy, the lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback, so two dogs in my area were happy today!

Looking forward to being interviewed for a “catch up” session with Hannah Kate for North Manchester FM soon. More details nearer the time. A lot has happened since I was last on the show.

Later this week I’ll have another story up on CafeLit. Will be lovely to be back on there again.

Am busy getting my author newsletter up together ready for issue on 1st March. I like being able to add bits and pieces to this as I go through the month. It’s especially useful when something crops up, say, halfway through the month and it gives me a nice news item for the next edition. Mind you, the newsletter is also a good measure of how quickly the year flies by as the time for the next one comes round etc etc!

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

Brrr… it’s turned cold again though glad to see my snowdrops are now out.

Will be looking at Character Creation for Chandler’s Ford Today next time. I’ll be sharing some thoughts on what I’ve found useful here. Link up on Friday.

Looking forward to the next Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction group again soon. These meetings are always great fun.

Glad to say I’ll be having another story up on CafeLit soon and it is one that started life as a Flash NANO piece too, More details later this week.

May be an image of text that says "a new Flash NANO was challenge for me late ast year. Made me stretch my writing- loved doing it."

Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. Many thanks for the comments coming in on How Nice, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. See link if you missed it. Hope you enjoy it. The title – well, you could give it marks out of ten for irony!

Screenshot 2023-02-10 at 09-38-30 How Nice! by Allison Symes

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Flash fiction is to the point though that doesn’t mean it can’t offer depth of characterisation. Far from it in fact. I’ve found because I have to choose what I show a reader, I think more carefully about what I absolutely need to show. And it is in defining what absolute is here, the depth to a portrayal comes in.

For example, if I need to show a reader a character has issues of trust (for whatever reason) I can show this via action. The character continually checks if a door is locked. They never allow people to be alone in a room etc. I can show those as two different actions in my story and readers will get the point. Definitely a lack of trust here! Dialogue/character thoughts could then show what is behind this.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says "What do you, the writer, ter, think about your character and why?"
 

Monday is with us again and it’s time for another YouTube tale from me. Hope you enjoy Hidden.

 

Can you use repetition in flash fiction given its limited word count? Yes, you can. It can sometimes be useful for emphasis. I’ve used the odd word repeated as part of the same phrase in stories like Bringing Up Baby, from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. I used this to give a “rhythm” to the sentence and it worked well. But it was a case of deliberate and thought out placement here which is why it worked. Sometimes I will repeat an odd word from the title and place that in the story to give a kind of “mirror” effect but again only when I can justify it and place it well.

Screenshot 2023-02-12 at 16-11-30 The Bridgetown Café Bookshop
Many of you will know I’m the flash fiction editor for Mom’s Favorite Reads. As well as the joy of writing my column (with a story to illustrate the theme), it is an absolute joy to read the stories that come in, to give them a light edit, and then see them in the next issue. What is especially nice is seeing where authors have used the telling details that really brings their stories to life.
One or two powerful pertinent details – always better than a wad of description which sends the reader to sleep!

When I’m writing my stories, I am always thinking what does the reader need to know here? If it’s not something essential out it comes. I look for telling details which make an impact too. Sometimes that can be a visual thing. Other times it is a phrase my character comes up with which is memorable but also shows something about them (such as how well or otherwise they were educated etc).

May be an image of text that says "If you are creating your own world for a story, you will need to give some details to help your readers visualise it. IfI want to write a story set in London, I do not need those details. You know what London looks like."

Goodreads Author Blog – Re-Reading

Do you make a habit of re-reading books or is it something you only do occasionally? I can sympathise with the school of thought that says life is so short, read new books, then read more new books etc. But I must admit I do re-read.

There are certain books I simply have to re-read (or in some cases re-listen to) at different times of the year. For example, I have to take in Hogfather by Terry Pratchett in the run up to Christmas. In that case I nearly always re-watch the excellent film adaptation.

The nice thing here is, as well as enjoying old favourites again, I nearly always pick up something new from the repeat reading – a bit of wonderful characterisation that I somehow hadn’t quite picked up on before. A great book can always stand being re-read.

You should be able to get more enjoyment from it each time. Here it is not a case of familiarity breeding contempt, more like familiarity breeding anticipation of more things to enjoy from a well-loved story. What is there not to like about that?!

Screenshot 2023-02-11 at 20-56-33 Re-Reading

 

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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

Festive Flash News and Author and Book Events

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of my two flash collections at the BHP event. Many thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the photo of me reading at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Always tricky doing that kind of thing yourself! 
Weather becoming significantly colder in my part of the world. Lady’s not bothered but is probably wondering why Mum is keen to keep moving rather than let her stop and sniff everything every five seconds or so!

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Glad to report one of my festive flash fiction pieces will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on 17th December. Looking forward to sharing the link to the show later. Glad to hear other friends will also be having their stories on here – well done, all!

Now I will record myself on Zoom every so often to check if a story flows as well as I thought and for things like Hannah’s show, I want to make sure I’ve got my timings rights. (Maximum allowed is three minutes). The lovely thing with Zoom is if you set up a meeting with yourself, record yourself speaking, and then end that meeting, Zoom will convert the file to an mp4 for you. You also get an exact timing.

And in playing back your recording, you can literally hear the ebbs and flows of your story. Worth doing and it is also great practice to read aloud for Open Prose Mic Nights as well.

Last but not least, a big thank you for the anniversary congratulations yesterday. Much appreciated! (See below).

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5th December
Hope you have had a good day. Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. Better half and I can’t believe where the time has gone either.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share the link to the super duper double issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads. Why such a large edition? Simply it is because this is the 50th edition and naturally that had to be celebrated with something special.

I use the theme of Fifty for my article in this issue and I set not one but two flash fiction challenges. One was to write on the subject of fifty up to a word count of 300 words. The second challenge was to write a fifty word story all in, including the title. Do check out the stories that came in – it was, as ever, a joy to be the editor on these.

 

Brrr…it’s cold out there. Nice to have a quieter day today after my trip yesterday. I hope my next trip will be in January when I’ll be giving a flash fiction workshop. (It will be in person ideally but may need to switch to Zoom. Am happy with both kinds of workshop).

Am looking forward to welcoming back Wendy H Jones to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. She’ll be discussing Deadly Traditions, a cozy mystery at Christmas anthology, with me. I’ll be chatting about how she found writing shorter fiction given she is best known for her own crime series and marketing books in particular. Long and short fiction writing have their own challenges and joys.

Have not yet started work on my editing for my Flash NANO stories. I suspect I’ll get to this after Christmas. I won’t be that sorry about it as I do give myself time away from something recently written so I can come back and judge it objectively later.

 

Am writing this on way up to London for the annual Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. This is being held at the wonderfully named Theodore Bullfrog pub.

Am looking forward to seeing friends and listening to author readings. I’m taking part in that too but it is such a joy to relax and be read to – how often do you get to do that? Audio books are fab but listening to the author telling their tale live as they want it to come across is special and a treat.

Do support author reading events. They’re great fun and give you a chance to escape the world for a bit as well as being another way to support writers.

Update: Did indeed have a fabulous time at the BHP event. Loved the readings from the different authors and it was fun to take part myself. Hope to write more about this for a further Chandler’s Ford Today post. A big thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the picture of me on my phone as I read a story from each of my two flash collections.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to say a festive piece of mine will be on Three Minute Santas on Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM on 17th December. Always a fun show to listen to – and I plan to share the link later. Flash works so well in an audio format.

Flash is also great to share as a reading because you can’t go on for too long yet it makes for a great introduction to you and your writing style. Win-win there!

I am planning to use my Flash NANO stories for a mixture of competitions and for a future collection. Nice to be off to a cracking start there!

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It’s Monday. It’s cold. There is still far too much to do before Christmas but it is time to take a break and enjoy a new flash fiction video. You know it makes sense, to quote Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. Hope you enjoy Fourteen Days, my latest on YouTube.

 

Loved my trip out yesterday and it is always good to wave the flag for flash fiction. I hope to do so again in January when I’m due to run a workshop.

I took the opportunity yesterday to show how flash can mix up the moods so read a humorous tale and a serious one. Both tales have good emotional impact which is what you want from a story. Even as a kid, I wanted to get to the “happy ever after” in the fairytales but I was also intrigued as to how that would happen.

That should’ve been an early flag to me that writing would be what I’d end up doing!

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by nightTripping The Flash Fantastic - by night

Looking forward to reading some flash tales at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event in London today. Nice to be back on the train again too. Always good for people watching and I have had inspiration for stories from things seen/overheard.

These things are always a starting point only as by the time I’ve written and edited my tale, my “unintentional inspirers” would never recognize they had inspired a story.

One key skill for any writer is to be observant and from that to think yes, I could use that. For example, I spotted someone hastily writing out a couple of Christmas cards. So my mind is thinking along the lines of who are these cards for and why it is vital my character gets these written now.

It’s a situation most of us can identify with and has the potential to be a funny tale and/or a heartwarming one. But I needed to spot someone doing this to get my ideas sparking.

(Again thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the picture of me reading).

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Goodreads Author Blog – Book Events

Book events are great fun and if you can get to go to any, please do.

As well as showing support for the authors (which is always appreciated), you may well get to hear readings. Also there will be the chance to get signed copies. These make for fab Christmas presents!

A lot of work goes on behind the scenes setting these up but book events are wonderful for bringing writers and readers together.

Any reader interacts with the author simply by reading their works of course but at events, you may be able to ask questions as you get your books signed.

That can give the writer useful feedback. I’ve had readers say something about my stories revealing hidden depths I hadn’t considered when writing the tale.

Was I pleased? Oh yes! Why? Because the readers had engaged with my stories and showed me they had.

We all love books for various reasons but engaging with stories like that is so special. And it is really nice for an author to find that out a book event.

Screenshot 2022-12-03 at 20-24-03 Book Events
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Book Brush – Reader Hub – Allison Symes

 

Screenshot 2022-12-06 at 21-14-32 Reader Hub Book Brush

Publication/Submission News and The Flash NANO Challenge

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Weather all over the place so far this week. Busy week with publication and submission news and the Flash NANO challenge continues… am never short of things to do writing wise. And that is the way I like it!

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Facebook – General

Lady and I spent a lot of the day getting wet. When I went out earlier it was to go swimming! You couldn’t make that up!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Part 1 of a fabulous interview with fellow Mom’s Favorite Reads contributor, Jenny Sanders, over on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Link up on Friday. More interviews to come too.

Progressing well on Flash NANO. Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting at the end of the month. And I’ve proofread my story – Ever Green and Good to Go – which will be appearing in Evergreen, this year’s Bridge House Publishing anthology. More details on that publication as and when I have them.


Busy day as usual for a Monday. Hope things have not been too hectic with you. Pleased to get my usual batch of stories prepared and scheduled/submitted yesterday. Sunday afternoon is flash fiction writing afternoon! The rest of the week is blogging and more flash writing but I do reserve Sundays specifically for getting new material prepared and out.

It is like responding to “live prompt” writing with a very short deadline to meet and I enjoy doing that. I was pleased that something I prepared for Flash NANO will fit perfectly for something coming up shortly so I have gone and submitted it. Also submitted my third flash collection over the weekend so am pleased with weekend’s achievements.

I have some wonderful author interviews coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today so am looking forward to sharing these with you over the next few weeks.

Author Interviews coming up on CFT

May be an image of laptop and text that says "It took a while to find my writing style, voice for fiction and non- fiction but now I know what these are, I can play to their strengths."

Hope you have had a good day. The service at the War Memorial in the village where we go to church was most moving. Remembering and being grateful for sacrifices made is so important.

What would your characters consider important to remember? What does this reveal about them? What stories and poems do they choose to hold dear? Also what would they be prepared to sacrifice and what would drive them to do it?

And remember you can use a character’s memory as a point of conflict with another character. How would that then play out in your story?

May be an image of text that says "Dream Inspire Courage Harmony We should understand where our characters come from even if we don't agree with them. What dreams do they have? Would we dream the same?"

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my In The Blink of an Eye, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. I’ve loved getting back to the 100-worders (aka drabbles) again. These were what first got me into flash fiction writing at all and is a joy to be writing these weekly for FFF.

For Flash NANO, I’ve found my word count has been variable but that’s okay. They’ll be even more variable when I get to edit these pieces! But it will result in, I hope, thirty new stories written by the end of the month and I know I’ll be doing plenty with those.

Screenshot 2022-11-11 at 08-57-23 In The Blink Of An Eye by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am glad my story on YouTube, Time Management, has gone down well. Also thank you for the comment left on this one over on my YouTube channel. Don’t forget you can subscribe to my channel and new subscribers are also welcome. Many thanks to those who already do!

Youtube icon

14th November
You know the drill. It’s Monday. It’s getting dark early. It is still flaming Monday, and it’s time for a new YouTube story from yours truly. I concede I may be a little early with this one given the subject matter (Time Management) but hope you enjoy it anyway!


Flash NANO challenge continues to go well. And I submitted my third flash fiction collection yesterday so fingers crossed time!

Over on my author page, I was thinking about the use of memories for story ideas. Flash can be an ideal form for monologues. So you could focus on one character and one specific memory and how that changed them to create a poignant flash piece. (I did this with my They Don’t Understand in From Light to Dark and Back Again. I think it works well precisely because it has to be kept short and pertinent).

The memory you select has to be something that has changed your character and which would rivet a reader into wanting to find out why the character was changed by it.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections


Flash News: Hannah Kate will be running her Three Minute Santas again on North Manchester FM. See the link for more details but I hope to submit something for this and it is easy to do too. Have since sent something in. Again fingers crossed time!

What I do is prepare my story, edit it, and then when I’m happy, I set up a meeting with myself on Zoom and record it. When you end your meeting Zoom turns the file into a mp4 file for you. Not only can you hear it back, you get the timing for your file too. (And reading your work out is always great for hearing whether your story flows as well as you thought).

3 Minute Santas

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Memory Associations

Books are special for so many reasons. Not least is the fact books have so many positive memory associations for us. I still have my Reader’s Digest Collection of Fairytales which my father bought for me many, many years ago. I think he saved up cigarette coupons to get the books. You could back then!

You went into what was a effectively a catalogue shop (a bit like Argos) and redeemed the coupons. One irony here is I know I did get a recorder thanks to those coupons thanks to Dad’s smoking habit, which I am glad he gave up much later on. Anyway, I still treasure those fairytale books. The spines are taped up because I read them so much when I was younger.

Then there are the books I inherited from my mum. There are the books I bought for myself to start my own collection off. There are the books I’ve written or contributed to and there are plenty of books on my shelves written by friends. I love them all!

There are books I associate with reading at certain times of the year. There are those I dip back into occasionally but I am just glad to know they’re on my shelves somewhere. For me a home isn’t a home without books in it. They are a great comfort.

So which books have great associations for you? Which books could you not bear to part with under any circumstances?

Screenshot 2022-11-12 at 20-08-03 Book Memory Associations
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Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
A huge thanks to Gill James for the YouTube clip in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Also thanks to Lynn Clement for her fab author-editor-publisher photo which is part of this post. Other photos in this post were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.
Hope you have had a good week. Have been busy on the flash fiction front with stories submitted for competition as well as in my usual outlets. And I have news on another story of mine which will be broadcast soon.

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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m pleased to share the link to my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today which is called Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing. I look back at the recent Zoom and in-person events and discuss why events like this matter. I also share some tips on writing to a theme in this post. This is relevant as BHP set the theme for the next anthology at the celebration event.

It was great to meet up with friends old and new at both the Zoom and in-person event though I am sure the Christmas tree at Waterloo Station by the world’s second most famous clock (after Big Ben, though I know that’s the bell rather than the clock!) has shrunk. Check the pictures out and see what you think!

Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing

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Have started on the Christmas cards! I guess it counts as writing…

I enjoy writing them but it is the getting started on them which can be tricky but now I am underway and know I will now finish them. It is exactly the same thing for me when it comes to writing flash fiction tales! Get me started and away I go!

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week will be Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing where I take a look back at both the Zoom and in-person event. Always a lovely way to finish the writing year.

And apologies – I forgot to share my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction which came out last Friday. It’s a fun one too. Just what will Alison do with the witch who has crashed into her bungalow? Find out with my story The Best Remedy.

A huge thanks to all who have commented on this one already – it was a joy to reply. I do appreciate the feedback on this website. It is so helpful. Like most writers, so often you never hear back so to get thoughtful feedback is very much welcomed.

Screenshot 2021-12-09 at 19-43-00 The Best Remedy, by Allison Symes

BROADCAST NEWS

Hope you have had a good day. I now have a list of all the writers who will be taking part in Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas flash fiction show on North Manchester FM on 18th December between 2 and 4 pm. See screenshot below (and thanks to Hannah for putting this up). I plan to share a link to the show later too. Well done, all.

How do I go about writing a piece of festive flash fiction? Without giving anything away about my story for the show, I will say I decide on the character I am going to write about first, work out where they are set, and, often, putting those two things together gives me an idea as to what the story is here.

And you can have a lot of fun with the setting – for example with one of my flash pieces that ended up in Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I started with the idea the story had to be set in Santa’s factory and the character had to be an assistant who was concerned about his boss. (That ended up being called The Help).

Really looking forward to listening to Hannah’s show and not just because I’m part of it, honest! I loved the mix of stories from last year and listening to the variety of tales was lovely so very much want to do that again!

Screenshot 2021-12-08 at 16-07-14 North Manchester FM Hannah's Bookshelf, Saturday 18 December 2-4pm - Hannah KateTripping the Flash Fantastic Small.jpg

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Been a busy week on the flash fiction front. I’m going to share two stories from Friday Flash Fiction as I know I forgot to share one “properly” and you get the links to two stories in one go. Hope you enjoy them both. See links below.

Am thrilled my festive flash piece will be on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on 18th December 2021 between 2 and 4 pm (UK time) on North Manchester FM. Will share the link later.

And I’ve sent in a piece this week for the Writing Magazine Grand Flash Prize competition. Fingers crossed time for that one.

There is still time to enter this competition – the deadline is 31st December. Maximum word count is 500 words. Fee for entry is £10.00 if you’re a WM subscriber, £15.00 if not. First prize is £1000, second prize is £250.00, third prize is £100.00. I’ve mentioned before I always check competition fees against the prize on offer. I would expect a higher entry fee for a higher prize and this one seems fair enough to me.

https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/the-best-remedy-by-allison-symes
https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/specialist-subject-by-allison-symes

 

Don’t forget I regularly post flash fiction videos on my YouTube channel. Subscribers always welcome! I also have my two book trailers on here for From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic. These both include a story to give a flavour of what I write. Hope you enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCiePD4p_vWp4bz2d80SJA

Screenshot 2021-12-10 at 19-22-29 Allison Symes - YouTube

F = Festive Flash Fiction is fun to write.
L = Light-hearted and not too long, ideal for a busy time of year.
A = Animals, workers in Santa’s factory, fairies, elves – there are all kinds of characters to write up.
S = Satisfying short stories that raise a smile – that is the point of festive flash I think.
H = Have fun writing it and reading/listening to it!

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Fairytales with Bite – Twists in Fairytales

Twists work so well in fairytales. The hero/heroine is probably going to be an unlikely one – for example, it’s not often you get a talking cat in footwear being the star of a story!

You know that the villain is going to get their comeuppance at some point, which for me that was one of the joys of fairytales when I was a kid. Even then I knew the world wasn’t fair. Somehow in fairytales things mainly are righted where they need to be. What you don’t know is how exactly that comeuppance is going to happen – and there is plenty of manoeuvre room for good twists there. It also keeps readers glued to the page – you have to find out how the villain gets stopped.

Even though you know magic is going to be involved somehow, the twist there is will it work as it is supposed to do or will another magical character thwart it (as happens in Sleeping Beauty).

So we can think about what twists we can put into our magical stories. Some thoughts here, which I hope inspire ideas, include:-

  • The magical element going wrong.
  • The supposed hero proving to be anything but and not worthy of magical help – how will they be taught a lesson? Will they learn and be redeemed or will someone else, more worthy, become the hero instead? The latter often comes into play when you have three characters in a story. It is usually the youngest son out of three brothers who proves to be the hero eventually.
  • Having your story set in a place where magic cannot happen so other ways of dealing with problems have to be found. That is going to be a problem for your average fairy godmother wanting to assist a client. How will they assist instead or will their client have to resolve their own problems?

Have fun with your twists, readers will pick up on that (I know I do when I read stories like that), but ensure the twist is logical for the story. The twist has to be something a reader can look back through the story and think yes, that could happen here.

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This World and Others – Characters and Their Motives

Motives make the character seem real to a reader. The motives don’t have to be good ones but a reader should be able to understand why your character has them. Basic motives won’t change much regardless of your setting. Sentient beings will need food, drink, shelter, security, the ability to reproduce etc, but where you can bring in variety is in how these things are achieved in your setting.

Let’s say your setting bans war, any kind of fighting (if only!), etc, how would characters with conflicting needs resolve this instead with one major way of resolving issues taken away from them?

Motives can change over time too so that is something which can be reflected in your setting and characters. The desire to reproduce lessens with age (as does the ability of course for example so your Character A can go from wanting this to not wanting it at all). How does the change of motive affect them and those they are closest to?

Conflict comes from two characters wanting different things but again there has to be good reasons for those characters wanting what they do and why they feel the other is wrong. Ideally your readers will be able to empathise with both characters (though will usually root for one in particular to succeed. I do this all the time!).

All of this is why I like to outline my characters and know what their major traits are before I try to write them up into stories. I really do have to know where they are coming from so I can picture them and hear their voice. I’ve found it has paid me to work out what I need to know. Every writer will have differing ideas about what they need to know but it can be fun to experiment to find out what you need to know.

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Back from London, Festive Flash Fiction, and Random Name Generators

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Image Credit:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos of the Theodore Bulldog pub in Charing Cross. Yes, I’ve been out and about again. More to come on that on Friday’s post. Also thanks to Lynn Clement for her author and book cover pictures. Thanks to Adrian Symes for the author pic of yours truly. (I am rubbish at selfies incidentally).
Hope you have had a good weekend/start to the week. Wild weather in Britain right now. Am thankful writing is generally an indoor activity.

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Facebook – General

Am so pleased to say a festive flash fiction piece of mine will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s show on North Manchester FM on 18th December. More details nearer the time (and I hope to share a link to the broadcast later too). I just love the sound of her Three Minute Santas flash fiction special – definitely had to send something in for that one.

Huge congratulations to Rosemary Johnson, who will also have a story of hers broadcast on the show. Looking forward to listening to that and the show full of stories. (That is such a lovely thought, isn’t it?).

In other news, I will be looking back at the recent Bridge House Publishing events (on Zoom and in the in-person one) for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on Friday.

Allison Symes - Chandlers Ford Today headerAlways a joy to talk or write about flash fiction


Yesterday, I used a random name generator to trigger thoughts for a story for Friday Flash Fiction this week and for my YouTube channel. I only picked first names and it came up with Alison! (Yes, really and spelled the usual way rather than mine with the double l. My late parents could not have foreseen the invention of email and the need for me to spell out my name in full each and every time to ensure I get any email at all!).

Anyway, I will share on my book page shortly the YouTube story I’ve come up with based on my mysterious Alison. Link further down. Will let you know on Friday if the other story was taken by Friday Flash Fiction.

Good fun to do and I don’t recall using a name generator before. The one I used allowed you to set first name only, first name and surname, and even concoct a life story for the name generated. I might have a look at that at some point but I do think it much more fun to concoct the life story myself – that is the story! (I must admit though I am a little curious as to what the generator might come up with).

 

Quiet day today. Bitterly cold again too. Looking forward to seeing how Doctor Who pans out tonight. It is about the only programme I watch live now. Am interested to see how the story threads tied up with this series given it ends this evening. Naturally I am bound to take an interest in that.

I will be thinking soon about my end-of-year post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I usually wrap up with some festive stories, limericks etc. Great fun to do.

And I am pleased to say the latest issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now now – do see the link. The magazine is packed full of wonderful items and it is free! What is there not to like about that?

Am thrilled to see my two flash fiction collections showcased here as one of MFR’s authors. And this month I talk about Festivities. I share a festive related flash piece here and a big thanks to those who sent in flash pieces on the theme. They are a joy to read.

Screenshot 2021-12-05 at 17-01-01 Mom‘s Favorite Reads eMagazine December 2021

https://moms-favorite-reads.com/2021/12/04/moms-favorite-reads-emagazine-december-2021/

Have been to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in London today. It was lovely to see so many friends in person again. The ones who couldn’t make it – you were missed!

I’ll chat about this more for my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week but when I say the event started with a wonderful lunch at the Theodore Bulldog pub, you can guess what a fabulous time was had by all!

Many thanks for the great comments already in on Specialist Subject, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction.

On a more serious note, I will flag up I block anyone who posts on my threads asking for friendship. You make a friend request properly or not at all.

Usually I take the original post down but the latest comment came in on my post yesterday sharing the link to my story.

I thought this time I would take the chance to call this behaviour out. At best it is phishing and I don’t want to know. I’m here to talk about writing, share links to where I have work published etc.

I am a little amused so many widowed US generals and Army surgeons want to be my friend though!

Anyway, please be aware, folks.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I had a lovely surprise at my Slimming World group tonight. Back in 2017, I held a book signing at my local railway station for From Light to Dark and Back Again. I was chatting to someone tonight who remembered it.

I was hoping to do the same again for the launch of Tripping The Flash Fantastic last year but You Know What scuppered that. I do hope to have another launch at this location again at some point as the community people who are behind looking after the local stations are all for it and I found it worked really well.

It was easy to show people what flash fiction is by reading some and that did lead to sales. Also flash fiction is perfect for a quick read – when you’re out and about on the train or bus, well it would fit in very nicely there. But I was touched that my event was remembered. That means a lot.

It’s the start of the working week. It’s story time once again! Hope you enjoy my latest YouTube video called Clearing Up Again. Find out why Alison would never be surprised at a teddy bear’s picnic. (Alison is the name generated by a random name generator. I often use these to trigger ideas “outside of the box” for stories. I don’t recall using one for names before though I have used random noun, adjective, questions, and even number ones before).


The latest issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now out. My column here is about Festivities and I share various ways in how this theme can be used to produce excellent flash fiction stories, as well as sharing one I’ve written. And do check out the flash stories people wrote to this theme. There is a wonderful mix here. And it is a free read – there is never a time when that isn’t good news. If you like a good mix of articles and stories, check out Mom’s Favorite Reads.

 

Good to see flash fiction celebrated as part of the Bridge House Publishing celebration event today.

It was especially nice to catch up with Lynn Clement, author of The City of Stories, which was recently published by Chapeltown Books. I edited this one and interviewed Lynn for Chandler’s Ford Today but it was so nice to meet up in person once again.

And if you want to write but don’t know quite where to start, why not try the shorter forms of fiction? There are indie publishers out there who take collections and writing the shorter forms will help you hone your skills for longer narratives.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books Acrostic

B = Bound to be several styles of book to suit you in terms of genre and format.
O = Original, captivating stories of all word counts are out there waiting for you to discover them.
O = One book or a series? Your call and there are many wonderful examples of both.
K = Kindle – a great and cheap way of discovering authors new to you.
S = Stories – one of the very best things about humanity. Think of the imaginations behind them.

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