Tag: Magi – Bridge House Publishing anthology

New Year, New Books, New Authors

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Hope your weekend went well. Some snow here though not too deep. Am wrapping up with multiple layers so I am waddling with Lady rather than walking with her right now! Hope the first full week back to “normal life” goes well. Pleased to be back writing and editing again. Needed and enjoyed the break but it is good to be back.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler friend and, later, was escorted home by her Aussie Shepherd “boyfriend”. Lady is keeping her socials together, well enough!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Story Inspiration on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Always a timely topic, this one. Writing and editing works are going well – and I’m staying out of the cold as much as possible, all wins here!

Writing Tip: Think about what inspires you to write – favourite stories, favourite types of characters etc – and then look at why you love these things. You will learn something useful from doing this and it will help you as you create your own tales. More in my post on CFT on this on Friday – what I can say now though is this works.

You know I said yesterday (4th January 2025) we hadn’t had snow in Hampshire as yet? Well, it is a clear case of me and my big mouth. We did get snow over night (probably 1 to 2 cm, no more than that). You’ll be pleased to know I won’t apply for any job in weather forecasting! Think that would be best for everyone…

Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today, both of whom were wearing coats. Lady doesn’t really need one (and I am sure she and her predecessors would consider them sissy for a collie/collie-cross anyway). All three dogs had a lovely time despite the cold and yes we owners did keep them moving.

Writing wise, am having a quiet evening getting on with various small writing pieces. Nice way to unwind after what is always a hectic day for me. And I get to stay well out of the cold too. Win-win there, I’d say.

Character Tip: What does your character make of their usual weather patterns? If cold is a regular feature of these, how does your character cope with it? (If they’re a northerner of any sort, they’ll put on their big coat. If they’re a southerner like me, they’ll put on a big coat with a body warmer under it – mind you, it did live up to its name today). How could cold weather help or hinder them? There will be story ideas there. Happy writing!

Hope Sunday has gone well. Bitterly cold and heavy frosts here in Hampshire but no snow (as yet anyway). Hope you are all okay. Lady has had a lovely day in that she saw her “boyfriend”, a lovely Aussie Shepherd, in the park earlier. He has a wonderful thick coat and I shouldn’t imagine felt the cold at all!

Writing wise, I’m making good progress with my editing work. I’ve also got ideas I’d like to develop this year and I hope to share some 100 word stories on Facebook every so often. I’ve enjoyed sharing my Friday Flash Fiction links most weeks and want to keep up writing the good old drabbles regularly.

One enjoyable task this coming week is to start reading the latest Writing Magazine. It came with its annual competition guide and I hope to work my way through at least some of that this year. There are more flash fiction competitions out there than you might think and I do find this guide immensely helpful.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start for you. As I write this I am enjoying a trip down memory lane thanks to Classic FM playing the theme from Animal Magic. Older readers will remember that show!

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Story Inspiration for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. It’s a timeless topic and I’ll be sharing some ways I use regularly to keep triggering ideas. I hope you will find it useful and look forward to sharing that on Friday.

Have resumed my editing work and making good strides with it, including on my own edits for Seeing The Other Side.

Writing Tip: I use an old school diary to note down deadlines for competitions, my own deadlines for when I want to get work finished by, and so on. It pays. I see it as making an appointment with myself and my writing and it has helped me to get more done. For longer work, I can break my task down into “manageable chunks” and put those in the diary. It all helps.

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Tonight, 6th January, is of course Twelfth Night, traditionally the time the Three Wise Men visited Jesus in Bethlehem. My story, The Family Legend, in the recently published Magi (Bridge House Publishing) takes a thought from this story – that at least one of the men were still alive thirty three years later and found out what had gone on in Jerusalem – and I ran with it.

But you too can run with the idea of an unexpected and/or unlikely journey and the characters that do this. There could be some interesting flash fiction pieces here too though I suspect you would probably need the 500 words plus range to do this justice in the very short form.

Hope you try the idea out though. Good luck!

It’s a bitterly cold Monday, the kind where Good King Wenceslas would feel at home. For me it’s definitely time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Looking on The Bright Side.

A fairytale witch finally has to tell the facts of the magical life to her child, who is shocked to find out where their instructions come from. Find out more here.

 

F = Flash fiction – fun to write, easy to read, lots of impact due to its brevity.

L = Language and editing skills develop a lot when you write in this form as you do look for the right word which carries the right amount of weight for what you want to convey. No wasted words here. Where one word will have the impact I want, I’m using that not three or four.

A = Assessing the impact you want your story to have on readers and then working out the best way of doing it before writing anything is, I find, sensible for this format. I want to hit the ground running so to speak here.

S = Settings can be anywhere in time or space or in any kind of world you care to invent. What matters are the characters. People follow what they’re up to even if they’re a three headed purple dragon from the planet Zog. If people care about the dragon, they will read on.

H = Humour is fabulous for flash. It’s fun to end a story with a punchline.

Flash fiction is not new. It has been around for centuries. To name one example, all of Jesus’s parables in the Bible come in at well under the 1000 words mark limit for flash.

The form has had several names including postcard fiction (which I like – you can picture it); short short fiction (which I don’t like – it’s a mouthful); and sudden fiction (this is okay but doesn’t, to my mind, seem an apt term for thoughtful flash pieces).

But whatever you do call it, flash fiction is a fun challenge and I love writing to the various word count brackets within it. The most popular for competitions I’ve come across are the 100, 250, 300, and 500 word ones but the first three of those are the most common.

All of them are great fun so why not give them a go?

Goodreads Author Blog – New Year, New Books, New Authors

Happy New Year and I hope 2026 brings you plenty of books to enjoy. I hope amongst those books will be books and authors who are new to you. One of the great joys of reading is in discovering new stories to enjoy by writers you either already thought you knew well or by authors you’ve not read before. Everyone wins from that one.

I’ve not yet made any plans for my new reading year. I’m currently engrossed with the books I received for Christmas and loving them all. Then I may catch up on my poor neglected To Be Read pile or at least make some inroads into it. I suspect you may well be in the same reading boat, yes? I’ve not yet come across a reader and/or writer who hasn’t got lots of books “on the go”.

I used to feel sad at the thought I know I won’t get around to reading all of the books I would like to read. Funnily enough, I now feel comforted by the thought. Why?

Well, it confirms to me the world will never run out of stories to enjoy and that is a great thing.

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The Perfect Read

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Plenty of writing and editing done so all good here. Lady continuing to make good progress. Getting significantly colder – have had first frosts – but I prefer that to the wet and the mud as, I suspect, does Lady.

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Hope you had a good day. Cold but bright and Lady got to see her two best buddies again, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. Lovely time had by all. I resumed a good swim and enjoyed that. Water felt warm – it never is by the way but it confirms it was perishing outside!

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say my author copies of Magi, the Bridge House Publishing anthology, reached me today. My story, The Family Legend, is in there and it is good to be between the covers again with some very familiar names. Some of them I hope to meet up with next month at the BHP celebration event. It’s always nice to receive a parcel of books with your work in them.

It won’t be too long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out and, in a few days, I will be sending out my latest author newsletter. If you would like to know more about flash fiction, read some of my online stories, and pick up on good writing advice, do sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Hope you have had a good Monday. Hectic here as ever but Lady did get to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler friends today. They all had a great time.

Had a fabulous writing and editing weekend. Plenty done. Just to flag up (and thanks to Jenny Sanders for letting me know) that Hannah Kate is holding her Three Minute Santas again on North Manchester FM. See the link for more details and good luck if you intend having a go. I hope to again, It’s good fun to write festive flash fiction.

Tip: I always record my submissions for Hannah’s show on Zoom and then play them back. I can literally hear how I come across and, just as good, the Zoom recording confirms the time I’ve taken to read my story. All useful as Hannah needs stories which are no longer than three minutes (the clue is there, folks!) and I can ensure I come in just under this limit doing this.

Festive Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

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Hope the weekend has gone well. Lovely church service this morning followed by walking the dog and heading home for lunch. Nice day today too though on the cold side.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon which will begin shortly and include responding to today’s Flash NANO prompt.

Writing Tip: What would I say was the most useful writing tip I’ve received and still use? Difficult to say but on balance I think it has to be the write first, edit later tip.

When I began writing seriously, I spent ages trying to get the first sentence or two right but just ended up getting frustrated. It was much better when I began just getting the story down, having a break from it, and then looking to improve it. I wasn’t interrupting my writing flow. I was treating writing and editing as two separate and different creative tasks. I enjoy them much more, keeping them apart from each other.

I also know now in a way I didn’t back then nobody writes a perfect sentence. Everybody has to edit at some stage so why not enjoy the creative writing first, then work out how to improve it? I also find it much easier to figure out what does need improving (and why) if I can see the whole story. I know what I’ve got to work with for one thing.

Hope today has gone okay. Horribly soggy here. Good day for staying indoors and getting on with some writing then!

Writing wise, I plan to share Short Story Collections on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing the joys and challenges of writing for these plus share tips on how to make the best of any set theme. I hope it will prove useful. After that will be a fabulous author interview – more on that nearer the time.

Looking forward to looking at memories and story ideas resulting from that topic for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

And if you’re starting to think about book related presents, why not check out an anthology? Your recipient will receive a mixed bag of stories and hopefully will discover many authors new to them. Why not check out Magi (Bridge House Publishing)? See link.

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I can hardly believe we’re almost at the end of the last ever Flash NANO. Will be getting on with the latest prompt later this evening. Where has the time gone? The variety of prompts have been fantastic and a good challenge.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow evening. The focus will be on memories and how we can use these for flash fiction and flash non-fiction. Our December meeting is always an informal chat with sharing of news and stories. Christmas jumpers, hats etc are optional!

Have drafted a potential festive flash fiction story which I hope to submit later this week. Still want to pick out some earlier drafts for competitions but hope to get to do that later this week. Deadlines, thankfully, aren’t for a while yet.

It’s Monday. It gets dark far too early for my liking. It has been hectic as usual. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Book Signing.

What secret is Allison keeping from Linda and where does a book signing come into it all? Find out here.

Note: No authors were harmed in the making of this video! Neither am I confessing to something here, honest!

 

I found fairly quickly after getting into flash fiction writing seriously, I did need to have a title as a “peg” to work with. I would say I leave 90% of them unchanged. But I do need something to help me get started and a title is a big help here, even when I know for sure in advance I’m likely to be changing it. It is the way of it too that sometimes as you write, a better idea for a title comes along so I then go with that.

I like shortish titles, especially those which are open to interpretation. You can have a great deal of fun with those in playing with expectations and either delivering on them directly or springing a good twist on your readers. Certainly when I’m reading flash fiction/stories, a title I can guess will be open to interpretation will always grab my attention.

Flash NANO continues apace and I will have a go at today’s prompt later. All good fun (and it has been lovely to receive great feedback on stories I’ve shared on the FN Facebook page. A little encouragement goes a long way as any author would tell you!).

Also congratulations to Hannah Kate for the 10th anniversary of her Hannah’s Bookshelf programme on North Manchester FM. Flash fiction has often featured on Hannah’s show, especially at Halloween and just ahead of Christmas. Flash is a great format for radio – short enough to be entertaining. Not too long to switch people off either!

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Anniversary Special, Saturday 22 November, 1-4pm

 

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Read

Provocative title for this post? Maybe? Is there really such a thing as The Perfect Read?

I think there can be but it depends on what you like to read and your mood as you read it. For example, I will often read something by P.G. Wodehouse in the darker months because I want something lighter to cheer me. It always does and so, whatever I choose by him here, it will be the perfect read.

When I’m reading an author new to me, having been captivated by their blurb, book cover etc, I simply want the book to deliver on its premise. As long as it does that, it will be a perfect read for me. What I don’t want is to have expectations set up and then not delivered on unless there is a superb twist or something like that, which I always love because I never mind when an author wrong foots me like that.

What I don’t want is a promising book but the author wrong foots me by delivering something which comes across to me as dull. (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen does this for me I’m afraid but I do love her other works).

The perfect read, in a more general sense, always occurs for me when I can get behind the characters, whether I’m rooting for them to succeed or fail. (There is nothing quite so satisfying as booing a good villain, even if I only do so metaphorically!).

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Character Memories and Publication News

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here but productive. Lady is making good progress too. Writing has gone well. Looking forward to sharing another superb author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today next month and many thanks too for the lovely likes and comments on the publication of Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing.

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post Character Memories.

I look at why I think character memories make the character concerned more real for me. I also look at how memories can drive action and attitudes. I also discuss how I use memories a character might have to help me know about them even if those memories don’t end up in the story I tell about them.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope today has been reasonable (well, you have to make allowances for it being Monday). Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler which cheered her up no end. Lady is making good progress and I think giving it another week should see her fully okay again. We hope that will be the case anyway.

As the day went on though, I started to feel unwell and am not feeling fabulous as I write this so it will be an early night for me, I think. I will get some writing done though not as much as I might usually have done because it will cheer me up a bit. Being creative, in any form, is good for you like that. I hope a good night’s sleep will do wonders too. I guess it’s time for the bugs to make their presence felt, unfortunately.

Writing Tip: Never despair when you get those times when you can’t write much for whatever reason. It happens to most writers. I find the best way to handle this is to accept I will just do something and leave it at that until I am able to write to my normal levels.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy one here. Glad to get to Sunday afternoon and wind down a bit. Can’t believe we’ve hit the halfway stage of Flash NANO already. Will be working at today’s prompt later on.

Lady continues to improve and is feeling happier than she has done though we still need to be careful with her exercise for a while.

Had a lovely Zoom with Swanwick friends yesterday, one of whom I’ll catch up with in person at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event.

A huge thank you too for all the lovely comments and likes etc coming in on my news yesterday of Magi, the latest BHP anthology, being released. See below.

Check out an anthology for Christmas – that could catch on as a saying I think!

Hope today has gone well. Good news – Lady is improving and she got to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, on a short walk today. It was lovely to see how seeing her closest chum cheered Lady up a lot. Dogs are good for each other as well as us.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a review of The Business of Murder, the murder mystery play recently staged at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church by the wonderfully named Senior Thespians! Link up for that on Friday.

Will also on with the latest prompt from Flash NANO later today.

Publication News: But the big news is I am thrilled to say I am in print again. My story, The Family Legend, appears in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. It is out today – 15th November 2025 – link below.

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Feeling better than yesterday though still not 100%. Writing has proved to be a wonderful distraction. It’s also handy it’s something which can be done in the warm given we had our first full frost overnight. Brr…

Will be working on the latest prompt from Flash NANO later. As ever, I’m enjoying the variety of prompts. It’s always a good idea to mix up the type of writing prompts you use. It keeps you on your toes. It makes you think outside of the box. Also, it’s just plain fun to have a go at different prompts, though inevitably you will end up with favourite types. I would say mine are writing to an opening line or where you have to put certain words into a story. Like those a lot.

Incidentally, if you like books of prompts, why not check out The Big Book of Prompts, published by Bridge House Publishing? I’ve contributed prompts to this book, along with dear friends from Bridge House, CafeLit and Chapeltown Books. This book gives you a prompt for every day of the year too.

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It’s Monday. It has been hectic. I feel under the weather – boo. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Outstanding Effort.

Sometimes monsters can’t believe what they’re hearing but when they win first prize for something which comes naturally to them, maybe they can hide their real attributes for a bit longer.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly as I draft pieces for Friday Flash Fiction, my YouTube channel, and the latest Flash NANO prompt.

I need to select some stories, already written in draft form, to look at for potential competitions. I’ve got a couple of competitions I wouldn’t mind entering before the year end. This is where regularly drafting flash helps a lot because I always have something in stock I can pull out and, after good editing and polishing, put in for a competition.

Also hope to get on with a PowerPoint for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.


Thrilled to have publication news again in that my story, The Family Legend, is in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. Always good to have news like this!

I started writing standard length short stories, such as this one, long before I discovered the joys of flash fiction and I happily write both. Most of my standard length short stories are either in anthologies or are submitted for competitions. My flash fiction work usually ends up online or in a future collection (sometimes both!). Plus I do enter flash fiction competitions.

Many congratulations to all who are between the covers with me for Magi. It is good to see some familiar names here and I hope to meet up with at least some of you at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Collections Acrostic

C = Collections (short stories and flash fiction) are wonderful ways to try out works by authors new to you.

O = Original stories, often on a theme, inspire so many ideas and make for a truly entertaining read.

L = Lively imaginations at work in collections to make the most of the theme.

L = Love collections for giving authors a voice and also some at least are used to raise money for charity.

E = Enter the worlds of story collections and meet many different characters.

C = Characters which grip you and often short stories and flash fiction make more of an impact because of their brevity.

T = Tension and drama aplenty in the short forms and collections bring so many of them together in one easy format.

I = Imagination let loose for readers to enjoy.

O = Options for collections usually include paperback and ebook so there will be something to suit you.

N = Nothing ventured, nothing gained – why not try story collections as gifts?

S = Story collections are perfect for dipping into when you don’t have as much time as you’d like for reading.

Go on, give them a go! You are bound to find topics and themes to suit.

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Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

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Hope you have had a good week. Lady has seen her friends, I’m making good progress with various writing tasks, and sometimes we’ve ducked the rain so I’d call that a good week! Oh and I have publication news too with more details to come in my next round up on Tuesday, 18th November.

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I’m delighted to share my review of The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley (best known as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army, such a wonderful programme). This was recently staged by my local excellent amateur theatre group, The Chameleon Theatre Company.

I share a little of what the play is about (but no spoilers!) and look at the wonderful use of sound and lighting which made this play especially atmospheric. I also look at how good costuming does wonders for giving a real sense of time and place. Plus the acting was great.

Really good theatre should leave you feeling as if you have left the real world for a little while and this certainly did that for me. Hope you enjoy the review. It was a pleasure to see the play (and I was curious to see it too because of who it was written by, having long been a fan of Dad’s Army).

Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

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Has been a mixed bag of a day. Lady did see her best buddies, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback, but later in the day, Lady was not wanting to put weight on one of her back legs. Visit to the vet (who was lovely). We think it’s a strain/a touch of arthritis (Lady is nine now) and we have to lead walk her only for short periods for the next couple of weeks and see how Lady gets on. Lady has had the odd strain before and this kind of treatment helps enormously so we hope and pray the same will be the case again. What Lady won’t like is not being able to run after a ball for a while…

In much happier news, I’m reviewing The Ghost Train recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up tomorrow. See above. The week after I’m reviewing again but this time that will be The Business of Murder, recently performed at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church. No reviews for ages and then two at once…

Am very happy to say I’ll be putting in a book order soon. How come? Well, another of my short stories is about to come out in the latest Bridge House Publishing anthology called Magi. More on that at the weekend.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Good time had by all and we even had some unexpected but most welcome sunshine.

Writing wise today, I hope to get plenty of “bits and pieces” done. I’ve a blog to finish and schedule and a review where I want to finish writing the text plus, of course, I will have today’s Flash NANO prompt to respond to as well. I’ve also an interview to prepare – always good fun to do these. I do like a good variety in my writing life.

Hope to have some more publication news soon too. See above! (More to come in my next round up).


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Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Recall. Occasionally I write a flash story with rhyming elements and this worked well for this tale. It suited my character’s narrative style. Do see what you think (and a huge thanks for the lovely comments coming in on this so far).

Am happily cracking on with the Flash NANO prompts and will have a go at today’s one shortly. I do love the variety. It is why I mix up the writing prompts I use generally. It keeps me on my toes and encourages further creative thinking. I also don’t want to ever just have to rely on one prompt type – why limit yourself?

I like to use the random generators (and there are so many of those, trust me you won’t run out of ones to try), books of prompts, story cubes, as well as going back through my notebooks every so often to pick up on ideas I jotted down during writing events. (It’s too easy to forget about those the moment you get home!).

Will be thinking about memories in flash fiction for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. November is a month of memories for all sorts of reasons. (Many churches, including mine, have a memories service this month where we recall loved ones – it’s always a moving service).

Memories can drive action (from a character being determined to never do what someone in their past did or to do something better than they did). Memories can often form interesting narrative non-fiction articles – and that is the theme of this month’s Writers’ Narrative. Do check it out if you haven’t already – link below.

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Fairytales with Bite – Behind The Scenes

What goes on behind the scenes in your magical setting? There could be plenty of story ideas here from looking at what goes on behind the scenes in magical government, other magical establishments, but also how villages etc are run. Are there dominant families, for example? Are they beneficial overseers running the village well or do they make everyone else’s lives miserable?

When it comes to learning magical or other skills needed in your world, what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to training students? Can all benefit from this kind of tuition or is it limited to certain species only?

When fairies are sent out on missions to help others, how is it decided which fairy does what? Are there rivalries going on here? How is infighting dealt with or are your characters expect to “slug it out”?

In your setting, how were things set up in the first place and why was it done in this way? Who ensured things behind the scenes were set up the way they wanted? Was this truly in the best interest of your magical world?

Definitely story ideas there!

This World and Others – Staging

We can all think of those who stage things for their own benefit (and not just in the political world, though I suspect it is rife there!). In your magical setting, who would do this? There would be those who wield obvious power but lower down the scale, you can find those who would be manipulative if they had the chance to be so and get away with it.

So who would set things up for their benefit? How do they get away with it? Is what they stage ever challenged?

When it comes to entertainments in your magical setting, what forms do these take? Who would carry out the creative staging needed here? Is it appreciated by the general populace? Is magic used to help this process or is it expected other means would be used instead? (If you use magic everyday as the day job, you may well want something different when it comes to arranging your entertainment, else it would be what we’d know as a busman’s holiday).

When it comes to staging for political reasons, what is someone hoping to gain from this and why do they feel the need to do things this way?

Story ideas there too!

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