Tag: New YouTube video by Allison Symes

Love Stories and When Writing Doesn’t Love You

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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.  Many thanks to Paula Readman and Adrian Symes for certain publicity shots shared below. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Lovely one here, even saw some sunshine. Writing going well and have finally started submitting competition entries. Have done this before – off to a slow start but then I just keep going. Lady still getting plenty of mud on her at the moment, not that she minds this!

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Hope today has gone well. Lady enjoyed seeing her Hungarian Vizler friend and loved playing with Coco the lovely Labradoodle. Lady has also had a huge walk with me this afternoon. Lady loved it. Has had a great day.

Looking forward to going to a friend’s online book launch on Friday evening. Plus, aptly, I’ll be discussing Writing Events on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. My next post on Authors Electric is out tomorrow and will be about The Shortest Time. More tomorrow on that but it is an apt title for a flash fiction writer. Could be a good story title too…hmm…. Now there’s a thought.

Character Tip: What kinds of characters do you like? Why do you think this is? Now have another look at their stories and watch out for where their good qualities, the ones you love, show up the most. It will almost certainly be in what they do and possibly in the attitudes they show. But how has the author shown you this? What can you learn from this to apply to your own creations?

Hope your Monday has gone well. Lady’s day got off to a cracking start given she saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Lovely to have some sunshine too.

Plenty of writing work done over the weekend so was happy with how that went. Will be getting on with my usual Monday bits and pieces and then look forward to having more writing time as the week goes on. Am never sorry to get Monday behind me though I do get lots done, just not as much as I’d like on the writing front.

Now I have some competition entries out there, I’d like later this week to pick another couple to try and then write stories up for them. There are a couple of big competitions I like to try so will be having a go at those in due course.

And a huge thank you to Jenny Sanders for flagging up Hannah Kate will be having her Spring Equinox flash fiction show again on North Manchester FM. To find out more, do click on the link (and get drafting! Note to self: do likewise!). Deadline is 16th March 2026. Story length is three minutes maximum recording time. I find about 125 to 150 words is about right usually but to make sure I record my final draft on Zoom and play it back so I can hear how it sounds and get the timing right. Zoom gives you the timing which is so handy for things like this.

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


Hope today has gone well. Soggy again here – surprise, surprise not!

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Writing Events for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing some thoughts on residential, day events, Zoom ones too, and discuss what I look for when deciding what to go for here. I also share the general benefits to writers in going to good writing events because there are quite a few benefits. Post up on Friday (and that will be around again before we know it!).

Have finally sent in some story competition entries. Have been a bit slow to get started here but now I have started, I will aim to keep going.

Don’t forget if you have subscribed to Writers’ Narrative, now they’re on Substack, you will receive an article on the topic of the month every couple of days or so. You’ll also be able to easily look up articles you’ve missed. My next one here will be in early March. I must admit I’ve found Substack pleasantly easy to use (and I haven’t always been able to say that for a platform new to me).

14th February 2026 – St. Valentine’s Day

As the rhyme says, roses are red, violets are blue
You love writing but it doesn’t always love you!
Allison Symes – 14th February 2026

Do you ever feel that way? I think most writers can feel this way sometimes. Often it is a case you’re tired. I find a few earlier nights, less writing, a bit more reading, and more sleep help clear this feeling away. We’re not machines (is anyone else tired of being asked to confirm they’re not a robot by the way?).

Creativity of any kind is wonderful for the brain but when we’re tired, it’s time to be kind to yourself. Breaks will help you get back to normal writing activity more quickly in the long run.

I find having evenings when I can’t do much writing a help, funnily enough, because when my writing time does increase again, I’m keen to get back to it and hit the ground running. I use those small periods of time when I can’t do much else for writing admin and other tasks I want to get out of the way. That helps a lot as I reward myself with being creative again when I do have more time.

And I can’t stress enough about getting enough sleep because that kind of thing does help your creative side. Being overtired does get in the way of it and I’ve found that one out the hard way years ago. It’s a mistake I try not to make now. It pays.

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Am looking forward to next week’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.

Will also be sharing something a bit special in my next author newsletter due out on 1st March. Am looking forward to getting that out there. If you’d like to find out more, do sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

One great use for those small pockets of time we all get but can’t do a lot with is to draft a flash piece, say a 50 or 100 worder. The old school method of notebook and pen is wonderful here and I use typing up my drafts from these (as I do after Swanwick each year) as my first edit. But getting something down on paper to work on further later on always cheers me. I know I can do something with this story later on.

I’ve used five/ten minutes productively too. I’m also old school enough to sometimes like getting back to pen and paper too. Mind you, I remember literally cutting and pasting when I worked as a secretary. I’m not at all sorry cutting and pasting on a PC/laptop is far better and easier!

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It has been another hectic Monday. Time to wind down with a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Magical Suppliers.

Has a shop keeper found the best way of stopping the evilly inclined in the magical world? Find out here.

 

Mid-month already though I think February is short-changed because January hogged all the days! Flash fiction Sunday will start for me shortly. Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. Our topic will be On This Day. Incidentally, that would be a great theme or title for a story. Why not give it a go?

F = Flash is fantastic to write and read.
L = Language is there for you to play with for you to make the most of your word count.
A = Adjective usage is something you will hone again to make the most of the word count – your character will race up a hill rather than run up the hill quickly.
S = Story impact will be strong because there is no room for the old purple prose, you do have to stick to the point of the story.
H = Have fun setting your characters in different genres and times – I do.

Flash fiction is remarkably versatile. Restrictions, such as word counts, can do much to encourage your creativity.

Flash fiction, like any kind of storytelling, must have a proper beginning, middle and end. It is just “condensed” to a tight word count. I find it useful, for a 100 word tale, to have my opening paragraph set the dilemma my character faces. The second paragraph shows how they try to overcome it and the last paragraph will show the results.

I’ve long found having a rough structure to my stories helps make them work. I know what I must have achieved by the first third of the story, what the middle must do (and that will help keep things interesting and stop it from sagging), and then a natural lead into the conclusion.

Structure sounds boring but it is a crucial component to all stories.

Goodreads Author Blog – St. Valentine’s Day – Love Stories

I write this on 14th February 2026, St. Valentine’s Day. Love stories are a crucial part of our literature. I’m sure when asked to name love stories, the following will come to mind:-

Romeo and Juliet
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
Gone With The Wind

I must admit I don’t like overly sentimental stories. I want to see a love story as part of the overall plot or where the plot wouldn’t make sense without the love element. I also want to see characters come to the romantic conclusion naturally and for them to make mistakes on the way. This is one reason why I think Pride and Prejudice is such a superb book.

There are love stories within other tales of course. I’ve always loved the love stories of Aragorn and Arwen and Faramir and Eowyn in The Lord of The Rings, though they’re not the main plot for that magnificent work.

I suppose I could say my biggest love story is my love for books and stories generally. That love is a permanent one!

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Supporting Anthologies

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here. Family travelling about on different days for various things so it was especially nice to get to a lovely, lazy Sunday evening. Lady enjoyed her different weekend too – she had to put up with me taking her out rather than another family member. I managed to get plenty of writing done but didn’t avoid getting soaked, alas!

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Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today. Managed to avoid the rain this morning but, alas, not this afternoon. So we are half wet!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Writing To Themes on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I hope that will be useful. The tips I will be sharing here are ones I’ve used for years and continue to use. If you’re writing short fiction and entering competitions, you’ll come across a lot of set themes, which are all chosen because they’re timeless and writers can get so much from them. More to come with the post on Friday.


Hope the week has got off to a reasonable start. Lady had a fabulous time with her best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler, in the park today. All three saw their favourite human of all time, “Pete the Treat” as well so it was fair to say the three dogs went home having had a great time and plenty of treats! We were all pleased to see some sunshine too.

Writing wise, the next couple of days will be particularly busy so I’ll be focusing on getting various bits and pieces done. Did manage to get a fair bit done over the weekend. Am also catching up with reading. Am enjoying some great anthologies/collections of non-fiction work at the moment.

Character Tip: Think about what you can learn from how a character speaks. You should pick up something on their level of education, class, and more. How can you apply this to your own characters? The choice of words used makes such a difference here.


Hope your Sunday has been a peaceful one. Am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday, which I’ll start shortly after posting this.

The one regret I do have with my writing is not starting a lot sooner than I did. All the clues were there early on that writing was something for me. I always loved inventing stories during what was called Composition (part of English Language lessons). I did have notebooks and jotted down thoughts and ideas. Goodness knows what happened to them but the signs were there.

Sometimes on reading a story I didn’t like, I would think I would write the character this way instead, all of that kind of thing. But I didn’t get around to actually start writing seriously until I hit a milestone birthday (and in the same year had a significant life event too).

Next month I’ll hit another milestone birthday which will also tell me it will have been thirty years since I finally succumbed to the writing bug. It’s the only bug I’ve ever been really glad to catch!

Tip of the Day: If you want to write, write. It doesn’t have to be perfect. First drafts never are but make a start and see where the journey takes you and have fun with it too. You want to enjoy as much as you can of the process. You also cannot know how long it will take you to get “anywhere” (the definition of which depends on what you want to come from your writing) so the earlier you can start, the better.


Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here. Even saw a little sunshine. Still plenty of mud around and Lady does have a talent for finding it all.

Writing wise, I’m glad to say my latest post Researching for Short Form Fiction Writers (for Writers’ Narrative) is now up on Substack. Link here. Many thanks to all who have subscribed to my Substack over the last few days.

For Chandler’s Ford Today next week, I’m looking at Writing to Themes, which is something I do for Writers’ Narrative, Chandler’s Ford Today and almost all of the story competitions I enter. Post up on Friday for that one.

As ever, am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. As ever, again, the weekend flies by!

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I’ve got one of those days today when I may as well have a revolving door as my front door. Now here’s a story prompt thought for you, knowing we all get days like that. Why not put your character in this situation and see how they handle it? Could make this funny or tragic – whatever mood takes you here. But have fun writing your character into a busy situation and see what they do – it may even prove therapeutic to you!

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. The usual hectic routine for me. Definitely time for a story then. I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Not Such A Good Idea.

Swapping some dark chocolate for something very different has consequences for two friends. A joke doesn’t always work out as planned.


Every writer has their favourite themes and mine often come up in my flash fiction and short stories. But this is another reason why I love competitions where someone else has set the theme. It challenges me to write something different when the theme is not one of my tried and tested favourites (and it often isn’t).

I’ll be looking at Writing To Themes for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and will be sharing some tips I’ve found useful here. I hope it will prove to be useful. But in general terms it pays to practice writing flash fiction and short stories to various themes given these are often repeated (and for good reason too – these themes are timeless).

Managed to dodge a lot of the rain today so Lady and I will take that as a win.

Have a flash piece I am hoping to submit to a competition either tomorrow or early next week. Am also enjoying co-judging a flash fiction competition so, as has happened with editing in the past, I am on both sides of the fence at the same time again here. A nice place to be, mind you!

As you know, I mix up how I find ideas for my flash fiction pieces. Sometimes I will use topics connected with a season, most of the different random generators, books of prompts, story cubes and so on. I’ve been inspired by part of an overheard conversation before now too. The trick, if there is one, is to be open to the idea there are ideas out there waiting for you to work them up into stories. I’ve been inspired by characters I loathe (in a reverse way – I won’t write characters like that, I will write them like this instead and that has sparked a few tales). I’ve been inspired by characters I love.

If in any doubt, read more because it will remind you of what you love in stories and that should hopefully encourage you in your own writing. I find this to be the case and see it as a wonderful bonus for writers. We get even more pleasure from reading!

Goodreads Author Blog – Supporting Anthologies

I’ve had the great pleasure of having my work published in many anthologies over the years and some of my flash fiction work has recently appeared in another one (Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites).

I love reading anthologies too because I get to explore the works of many different authors in one paperback or ebook. Nothing to dislike about that and I’ve gone on to read longer works by authors whose stories I first came across in the shorter forms.

I also “use” anthologies to whet my reading appetite in between novels. I’ve long believed it is good to have a balance of long and short form reading. There are some amazing flash fiction and short stories out there where you do feel another word couldn’t have been added without “diluting” the impact of those tales.

Reading anthologies also helps support the smaller presses who give more authors more chance to have their tales seen and read. That in turn gives us more choice in our reading material. We all win here in supporting the anthologies.

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Stories In Other Forms/Top Ten Tips For Researching

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Mixed bag here given the weather got in the way of getting certain tasks done but hey it is February (and it isn’t January!). Lady doing well. Writing going well too and the new look Writers’ Narrative is about too. Do check it out.

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Hope today has gone well. Busy one here though it was good to get into the swimming pool today.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing my review of Camelot The Pantomime which was recently staged by my excellent local amateur theatre company, The Chameleons. It’s always a joy to go to these things and a great pleasure to write them up afterwards.

Am about to be a co-judge on a flash fiction competition for a writing group. Looking forward to reading the stories and yes judging stories can often be enlightening as to where you’ve come on your own writing journey. It can also encourage you to “up your own game” when you read high quality entries.

My first post on Writers’ Narrative is now up on Substack. I share Top Ten Tips for Researching and hope it proves useful. Remember it is free to sign up to Writers’ Narrative so do check it out. 

Hasn’t been a great Monday for me (though Lady did have a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler pal) but what has cheered me up has been the new look Writers’ Narrative is now out. Do check it out. My articles on here will be appearing soon.

And in other news, Editor’s Choice: Friday Flash Fiction Favourites is now out on Amazon. I have a few stories in there. Looking forward to my copy arriving later this week as it will be a lovely final hurrah for what was a fabulous website.

Hope your weekend has gone well. Weather has been a mixed bag though at least it is less rainy and stormy than earlier this week!

Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today and the new look Writers’ Narrative is out too. Be sure to subscribe. My first posts now it is on Substack will appear later this week. One huge advantage to the platform move is it is going to make it easier for you to look up topics by title that the magazine has covered. I can imagine that being a blessing to many.

Writing Tip: When thinking of topics of your own to write about (for fiction or non-fiction), play a quick game of Word Association first and list all the words you can think of connected to your topic/theme. As you write more words down, you will find more possible connections and ideas for your piece.

31st January 2026

Well, we’ve got there. Finally it is the last day of January! Naturally February will go by in a flash as it always does. January has been a funny old month with more downs than ups this time, unfortunately. I do hope things have been better for you. On the plus side, the writing is going well and, especially when times are not as good as I’d like, I do find writing to be wonderfully therapeutic.

Writing wise, I’ll be reviewing Camelot The Pantomime which was recently staged by our excellent local amateur company, The Chameleons. That post will be live on Chandler’s Ford Today from Friday next week. It is always a pleasure to go to their shows and a joy to write the reviews.

My author newsletter will be out again tomorrow, 1st February. Writing a monthly newsletter is a literally timely reminder of how quickly the year goes by. I do sometimes use the seasons as good topics to write pieces about for the newsletter. There are calendars of events on this day out there which can also be inspirational both in terms of the event itself giving you something to write about, but those things can also suggest wider themes to write about too. Well worth checking out (and just as useful for fiction as non-fiction). For example, if a topic is about a historical event, you could just as well write a story about it as write an article.

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Flash is a wonderful vehicle for exploring ideas. Occasionally, what I think will make a great flash tale proves to need a longer word count and I find myself with a longer short story instead. That’s fine. I can find a different market for that.

But when you have a story where you want the maximum impact for the minimum amount of words, flash fiction is the way to go.

It’s Monday. It’s not been a great one for me this time. So I too definitely feel in need of a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Staying At Home.

When can a deliberately missed opportunity be the best thing of all? And does the dog agree? Find out here.

 

From the longest month ever to the shortest one but it lovely to be in February at last. I get to spot more signs of spring for one thing.

When you think of this month, certain topics spring automatically to mind as possibles to write about. Nothing wrong with the love theme but think about what you will bring to it which will make your characters and story stand out.

I know I have to care about the characters in some way for their stories to have any chance of succeeding with me and that goes for long, as well as short, form work.

Talking of short form work, it’s time I got on with Flash Fiction Sunday Afternoon!

January cannot be said to be a “flash” month given it doesn’t go quickly! Still, we’re almost there now. By the time I post this, there’ll only be a few hours to go!

My author newsletter is out again tomorrow and, amongst other things, I share an exclusive 100 word story in it. I hope to find another home for further 100 word stories in due course. The Friday Flash Fiction Editor’s Choice book is due out in February. Now out. See above. I have stories in there and will share the link once I’ve got it. Am looking forward to getting this myself. I do know from the quality of the stories on FFF the book will be an excellent representation of that.

I am still keeping Sundays as flash fiction afternoon because I still need to write plenty of material for other collections and competitions, of course. It’s also a great way to wind up the week/begin the next one (either works!) as far as I’m concerned.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories in Other Forms

I like taking in stories in various forms – books (paperback, hardbook, ebook and audio). I listen to some (audio books and radio plays etc). I sometimes get to watch them. I include the film adaptations here including Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of The Rings.

But I also get to watch plays staged by my local and excellent amateur theatre company. I’ve just seen their most recent production, the wonderful Camelot The Pantomime, which was such fun. The joy with pantomimes is they are usually based on the classic fairytales and/or British legends so you’re reminded of those stories too.

But my local theatre company have also staged plays such as All My Sons by Arthur Miller and the stage version of Blackadder amongst many, many others. The range does go from funny to tragic and I have loved all of them. These plays have brought stories to me in a different way. Many of them I would not have taken in via any other medium. Some, such as Blackadder, I’ve seen via TV and audio. I did wonder how that would work on the stage but it was wonderfully done (and yes it included the iconic last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth).

So if you want to try stories in a different way, why not check out your local amateur theatre company? When their production is based on a book, you can then read that too after having seen it acted out for you.

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WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

See above links for February 2026 Writers’ Narrative. With Substack, the articles will appear every few days. But you can easily search for articles you’ve missed and so on.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK

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A New Chapter

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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 your weekend went well. Not bad here. Spotted first snowdrops out in the garden – spring really is on the way at last. Have news to share about Writers’ Narrative moving to Substack and I discuss being open to opportunities too. More below. Lady is now back to her full self after her X-ray too.

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Had to get the dog out early today but Lady didn’t mind. Any time is a good time to go to the park. Dogs really do keep life simple.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to working on the topic of Ways and Paths with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. Am hoping we will get to draft some useful flash pieces to polish up at a later date. It will also be lovely to see everyone again since the last meeting was our informal just before Christmas gathering. Yes, it does seem ages ago now.

Will be reviewing Camelot The Pantomime which is being staged by our excellent local theatre company, The Chameleon Theatre Company, after seeing the performance on Thursday. It should end up being my first Chandler’s Ford Today review for this year plus my first one for February, which as a month I much prefer to January. It’s shorter for one thing and as it goes along you do see even more evidence spring is on its way – oh yes it is.

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals so her week has begun well.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing my next author newsletter soon. The good news here, folks, is that does mean January is almost over! I’m working on blogs and a couple of stories for competitions at the moment. I hope to start submitting stories again from next weekend onwards. It also won’t be long now before I’m a co-judge for a flash fiction competition for a writing group and am looking forward to that. Judging stories is always a privilege, joy, and an enlightening experience.

The ACW Flash Fiction Group meet on Wednesday and I’m off to our local theatre’s pantomime on Thursday so it promises to be an interesting week.

My news today is about Writers’ Narrative moving across to Substack. I now have an account there as well and you can find me at Substack.com/@AllisonSymesWriter1

For the moment at least, it will be mainly my Writers’ Narrative work on there but I may develop other ideas on Substack in due course. As ever, it is a question of finding the time but there are possibilities here which I would like to explore in due course.

My first two articles for Writers’ Narrative on Substack will be appearing in early February. I’ll share more nearer the time about these.

Writing Development Tip: I see things like my news as part of my ongoing Continuing Professional Development as a writer. Inevitably there are “teething” issues to begin with but these do soon settle down (it’s my experience there is always someone you can ask for help and who will help!) and you end up with more strings to your bow, writing wise, as a result precisely because you have stretched yourself to try something new. After all, I could easily not have responded to CafeLit’s 100 words challenge and therefore missed out on the joy of flash fiction.

So I try and see new things as opportunities to explore. Most of them work out really well. Occasionally I come to the conclusion something isn’t quite right for me but unless I give it a go, how can I know?

It’s important to be open to writing opportunities. It’s how I’ve become a flash fiction writer, a competition judge, an editor, and write for Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Lady back to her playful self after a trying week for her.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I hope that will prove useful (and the post is effectively an update on earlier CFT posts on this topic).

In other news, Writers’ Narrative is moving to Substack and there will be a final “hurrah” from Friday Flash Fiction. The Editor’s Choice anthology is coming out on 2nd February 2026 and I do have stories in there. Meantime do check out the reel below for a quick look.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1259365916073203

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I love a good title which can be taken in more than one direction for all of my stories, flash or otherwise. Especially for flash, the title can do some “heavy lifting” in indicating the story’s likely mood without using up my word count allowance.

Most places don’t include the title as part of their word count limit, though it pays to check this always as some places do include it. I always allow up to five words for a title usually so if a word count limit has been given as 50 words, I will make sure my prose comes in at 45. The only exception to this is if the title is excluded and the market still then wants 50 words to the dot.

An open title gives the writer plenty of possibilities to play with and I love that aspect. I want my stories to be an entertaining read. I want to be entertained as I write them too. I think it matters that writers enjoy (most of the time) what they do. It is what helps to keep you going after all.

It’s Monday. It’s been hectic as usual. It’s so good to be sat down at my desk. Definitely time for a story then.

I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Upside Down.

Marbella teaches Risbanda the value of working out at the gym rather than just working at magic all of the time but does Risbanda appreciate it? Find out here.

 

I’m looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. We’ll be looking at Ways and Paths, which is a fabulous topic to write stories, of any length, around.

Am also delighted my first Allison’s Advice column for Christian Writer, the ACW quarterly journal, is now out. The magazine landed on my door mat recently. Appropriately it is a flash non-fiction piece coming in at around 100 words, as future columns will be too.

A lot of the themes and questions generated by random generators can also be put to good non-fiction use.For example, for this post I’ve generated the question What are you a natural at?

For flash fiction, you could write a story where your lead character shows the answer to this question and it makes a huge difference to the story outcome.

For non-fiction, you could write a piece answering the question for yourself or from the viewpoint of a historical figure.

January is almost over, honestly, and it will soon be time for the next author newsletter from me. I will be sharing an exclusive 100 word story in this. To find out more, and to receive useful writing hints and tips (which can be applied to all branches of fiction, not just flash), do sign up via my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow and I finally hope to get around to marking out some more flash and short competitions to try. This week has been busy, next week’s will be as well, and I usually find the weekend is the best time to go through the competition guide and see what I like the look of here.

Next week will see me go off to the panto (oh yes, I will be!) and leading the next session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Both of these will be great fun but in different ways!

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Goodreads Author Blog – A New Chapter

New chapters turn up in life of course. Writers’ Narrative, whom I write for, is moving platform to Substack. In my writing, new chapters crop up a lot though the best, to date at least, was the discovery of flash fiction and being published in that form.

When it comes to reading, with the exception of Terry Pratchett who didn’t use chapter breaks for his Discworld series (he did for his Young Adult books), I do appreciate chapters. They give me a breather when I’m reading a lot. They give me somewhere to read to ahead of sleeping. Yes, I often do give into the temptation to just read one more chapter and before you know it, the clock has moved on alarmingly! We’ve all been there.

I generally prefer shorter chapters. I suppose this may come from being a flash fiction and short story writer. Anything over 1000 words will seem long to me! But I also prefer them because I like a good pace to my own stories and those I read and short chapters help a lot with that.

A new chapter is always, I think, an exciting part of a book when you’re reading it for the first time. It holds all the promise of you finding out what does happen next.

As for story collections of the kind I write, each story acts almost like its own chapter but I hope they encourage reading on to find out what happens next in the next story.

 

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Hope you enjoy the above back issue of Writers’ Narrative. Will share the latest issue when I can. Meantime have a good read. It is a fabulous magazine but you don’t just have to take my word for it!

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What Makes A Story Real

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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. Many thanks to Paula Readman for taking an image of me with From Light to Dark and Back Again. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the weekend went well. Not bad here. Looking forward to attending a Zoom social event with the Association of Christian Writers this week. Lady is hoping to catch up with her friends in a different way of course!

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Hope the day has gone well. Looking forward to a lovely online meeting with fellow members of the Association of Christian Writers later on today. Should be fun. Am always up for a good chat with other writers!

That thought makes me smile as I remember going to my first ever writing event many years ago (over on the lovely Isle of Wight too) and being such a nervous newbie. I knew nobody. By the end of the event, that changed! I’ve always found the writing community to be incredibly supportive and continue to appreciate this. It has been a great joy to go to various events over a lot of the country since.

Marketing Tip: I’m a big believer in scheduling mainly because I do blog a lot. But you can do this with aspects of your marketing too. I think ahead a little about themes for my newsletter, for example. I can then start drafting my newsletter a little bit at a time over the month so there is no mad rush to write it right at the end of the month ready for it to go out on the first.

Talking of which, it won’t be long before my next newsletter is due out. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

It won’t be that long before you can find out what the theme for my February newsletter will be!

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Hope your week has got off to a good start. Busy one as ever here though Lady did enjoy seeing her Hungarian Vizler pal today.

Writing wise, I’m writing various bits and pieces, some of which I’m preparing ahead of tomorrow when I have a lovely ACW event to go to online. It will save me a great deal of time tomorrow (which I’m looking forward to “spending” chatting with other ACW members!).

Looking forward to going to Camelot The Pantomime which is being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company. Their pantomimes are always good fun – oh yes they are. It will be interesting to see just how much make up the Dame gets to wear this year. It usually is pretty impressive.

Character Tip: I don’t tend to use how a character looks as a way into getting to know them. Their traits and attitudes are more important to me but that doesn’t mean I only use those. If I have a character, for example, suddenly start using a lot of makeup when they normally wouldn’t, there will be a story idea there for me to follow through on.

I’m delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my first post of the year, Approaching The Light. While it is true January does seem to be the longest month ever (and do check out Brian Bilston’s Mnemonic for more on this), on the plus side as the month goes on we are literally approaching the light(er) evenings.

I also discuss liking (as well as writing) light and dark stories. Life has both elements so I think fiction should do too. Too much dark is too grim for me. Too much light can be sickly sweet for me. Neither option is good! I also look at redemption stories and light and dark in our characters for this post.

Hope you enjoy it.

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Hope today has gone well. I cleared up a load of autumn leaves. It makes for a great workout, trust me on this. Lady, naturally, “supervised”.

Will be looking at Spoofs for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’m fond of a good spoof and you can find them in different art forms too. I’ll look at some of these and discuss what makes for a good spoof in my post. Am looking forward to sharing that. As you can imagine from the title, it was a fun post to write.

Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing my first Authors Electric post for the year and will be looking at Approaching the Light. This topic suggested itself because as January goes on (and doesn’t it just!), you do start to see the lighter evenings and the promise of spring coming again. See above.

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Flash is great fun to write as you can set your characters anywhere you want and in any period of time. I try to take full advantage of that, though inevitably, certain favourite genres of mine do crop up regularly in my writing. I will always have a soft spot for humorous fairytales/fantasy tales.

I like to mix up the moods of what I write too. I do write light and dark tales which inspired the title of my first book, From Light to Dark and Back Again. It reflects life, my tastes in fiction etc.

Characters, like us, do have to work for their success, in whichever form that comes so their stories should reflect this. It inevitably won’t be all sweetness and light (which to me is far too twee to read yet alone write. I want my stories to have some bite to them).

Certain issues you care deeply across are likely to surface in your fiction too. It’s no coincidence that in most of my tales some sort of justice is always seen to be done for those characters deserving that.

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It’s Monday. It’s still January. It’s definitely time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Nicknames.

The receptionist of an exclusive club where nobody gets in without an invite with their name and nickname on it is confronted by someone without this. The character is forceful but will the receptionist stand her ground? Find out here.

Flash encourages focus, as I was discussing yesterday, simply due to its word count restriction. You haven’t got the word count room to go on at length. Over time and with practice, you become better at leaving out wasted words, finding better ways of phrasing things etc., and all of that tightens your writing considerably.

Even better, learning all of this is useful for whatever other writing you do. I’ve found it helps me with my blogs and articles. Plus it is an excellent warm up writing exercise ahead of your main work. You can always use the random generators to trigger a prompt to get started.

And if you are writing longer works, you might, later, want to write some short pieces to share with readers of your newsletter, website etc. A scene with a favourite character which you had to cut from the main work might be turned into a short, stand alone piece. It can act as wonderful additional marketing material and your readers will feel as if they are getting extra from you too.

Hope you enjoyed my Changing My Life 100 words story I shared here yesterday. See previous round up post. The 100 words flash format (also called drabbles) is a great challenge but it is wonderful for twist and punchline endings especially.

It is also long enough to let you think something about a character with the ending either confirming what you thought or surprising you. I do know I wouldn’t want to cross my character from yesterday (whom I deliberately didn’t name – it’s more chilling that way sometimes).

Often with the drabble, I do know the ending first. I can work out the details leading up to that ending and focus only on what you need to know to make sense of the story. I’ve often talked about flash fiction making you focus. The shorter the word count, the more intense that focus is, but it can lead to powerful, emotional storytelling. You’re not diluting the impact basically. It is “in your face” so to speak.

Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes A Story “Real”

What makes a story real for me, regardless of its genre, is when I believe in the characters. They have come to life to me on the page (or via the screen or via audio etc) and so I want to find out more about them and what happens. If I don’t “get” the characters, I’m unlikely to read on.

Now those characters don’t have to be nice but even with the villains, I still have to see why they are being the way they are. I don’t have to agree with them though! But I don’t believe in any character who does something or says something “just because”.

Every story, even the shortest flash fiction such as the ones I write, has to have a logic about it, even if it is set in a fantasy land. There have to be characters and situations readers will “get” even though we can never be part of the fictional world the author has created.

A story also feels real for me when it “plays out” properly. Even in flash fiction, you can have the Three Act Structure. The acts just aren’t so long, that’s all! But there does have to be a proper beginning, middle, and end. I have to feel as if the characters ended up in a situation which was appropriate and satisfying.

I do prefer happy endings but have read stories where the endings are open to question on that front. Frodo, from The Lord of the Rings, doesn’t get the happy ending Sam did. Rightly so too. It was apt for Sam, not for Frodo but that’s the point. The two characters are realistic. Their story arc is right for them.

I like to see a “right” story arc, regardless of the length of story. Stories fall flat otherwise, for me. What do you think?

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Stories Everywhere

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Hope the weekend went well. Managed to get plenty of writing and editing done. Also pleased the temperature has come up somewhat. My solitary primrose made it through the snow and frosts! Lady continuing to enjoy getting out and about with her chums and that is how life should be, I think.

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Hope today has gone well. Wet and muddy here today. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler friend but neither dog nor their owners wanted to be out for long. We weren’t!

Writing wise, I had a lovely time at the online group I went to last night. Am also looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Zoom is a fabulous thing though the words ‘you’re on mute’ have gone into the general vocabulary of everyone I know.

Will be sharing Pitching on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and hope it will be useful. I suspect this topic will be another Marmite one (the other is editing) where writers will love or loathe it. But I still hope the post will be handy!

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Lady’s has. She saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and received pets from the shopping delivery guy (I loathe supermarkets).

Writing wise, am looking forward to going to an online writing related group on Zoom this evening so will get some “bits and pieces” of writing and editing done around that. Mondays are always hectic for me so this will be a fabulous way to unwind.

Have started going through the Writing Magazine Competition Guide and have marked up one or two possibles to try out. I hope, later this week, to check the background of these competitions out and maybe start drafting something. I do have a story to write for somewhere else so have started drafting ideas for that.

Hope your weekend has gone well despite the grim weather and even grimmer news. Mind you, I guess this makes me even more glad than I usually am to escape into the worlds of flash fiction and short stories. At least I know my villains will get what they deserve even if it does end up being in a roundabout way.

Am enjoying my usual Sunday flash fiction afternoon. The fact it is cosy indoors helps a lot! On a more serious note, I’ve always loved creating characters and in short form work you get to do this a lot. Know the people (or other beings of choice), know what drives them, and I’m off to a cracking start with a story outline.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. We don’t usually see friends, doggy or otherwise, at the weekend though today was a nice exception when Lady and I caught up with Daisy, a sweet spaniel, and her owner.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Pitching for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday (which will halfway through January already, hooray!).

Though Friday Flash Fiction has now sadly shut up shop, Sunday afternoons will continue to be flash fiction day for me as I can get a reasonable amount of writing done and I do want that to continue.

Character Tip: What is your character’s level of education? It is worth giving this some thought as it will have a direct impact on the vocabulary and type of language they’re going to use, both of which can show so much else about them (such as likely class etc).

Readers won’t need to know the answer to this directly but will pick up on it subconsciously as they read what your characters say and think. Incidentally, that’s another lovely thing about reading – it’s the nearest we get to mind reading. We can read the minds of characters after all!

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Flash is a great way of helping your other writing as by the time you’ve written 200 or 300 words as a flash piece, you should find you’ve “limbered” up enough to get on with other, longer writing work.

Writing exercises set at events or workshops can only give people five or ten minutes at most to respond so you will “only” get a flash piece in terms of word count out of them but there’s no reason why you can’t go on to polish these pieces up and get them published.

Certainly collect them together, polish them up and you could have a collection on your hands.

It’s Monday. It’s January. It’s winter weather. Okay not unexpected but very few enjoy it! Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Done List. Collie owners will especially appreciate this one!

Everyone has a To Do list, even when they can’t write them down. Find out why my collie character was happy to get their two jobs done, even though their Mum wasn’t.

Chilly again today. I don’t think Lady was that sorry to get back indoors again. It is during cold spells I really appreciate writing being an indoors job!

Glad to catch up with some Swanwick friends on Zoom last night. Hope to be back on Zoom again later on.

Writing wise, it’s flash fiction Sunday for me so will be cracking on with some new pieces in a while and, later, continuing the editing work on my Seeing The Other Side. All great fun.

Also a nice bit of news. I’ve often sent in pieces, and had them accepted, by Christian Writer, the magazine of the Association of Christian Writers. I now have a column in there called Allison’s Advice (I do like a nice spot of alliteration every now and then and it seems I’m not the only one!).

I’ll be sharing 100 word writing tips here. First one appeared in the magazine I received yesterday. I hope people are going to find the tips useful. It’s lovely getting some flash non-fiction published.

I love mixing up the mood of my stories and think this reflects life in a way. It is a mixture of funny and sad and I like my tales to reflect that. This is where I think a collection can work so well because it can show a range of emotions.

Naturally, I’m biased here, but I’ve always loved story anthologies, long before I became published in them, because I loved the variety of moods they can show. I still love them, of course.

If you write flash pieces over time, would it be worth you seeing if you have enough to get a collection together? The independent presses or self publishing would be the best routes here. But it is possible. Two collections later, with a third due this year, I can confirm it is worth doing.

One of my favourite parts of putting a collection together is grouping the stories. It’s fun as I can group character types or moods of story as I see fit. Okay, my editor may want to change this later and that’s fine but I do enjoy this process.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories Everywhere

I like the thought of there being stories everywhere. Okay, I’m biased because I love reading and writing them. Inspiration for stories of my own can and does come from various sources too. There’s nothing to beat being inspired by what you love reading yourself, in my view.

Okay, there are stories I try to avoid, most notably the news which is so grim. There is a focus on negative rather than positive stories there and I would like to see a better balance. But I guess knowing this, it does encourage me to read more and escape into the world of books. Nothing wrong about that.

Where you have characters, you have stories. Where you have any society, you have stories. The fun with fictional writing is, of course, in inventing your own. The fun with reading is discovering what other authors have invented.

And the great thing here is the sky isn’t the limit.There are no limits. Fantasy and science fiction especially are great vehicles to explore other kinds of character and societies and I find these fascinating. What can also be fun is spotting the other books and stories which have clearly influenced the author. Quest stories, I think, will have some kind of nod to the ultimate quest story, The Lord of the Rings.

Stories being everywhere is excellent news for all of us who love reading. We will not lack variety or number of stories to enjoy. That’s definitely worth celebrating.

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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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A New Year, A New Promise, A New List (Maybe)

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I hope you had a lovely Christmas and may I wish you a Happy New Year. The round up below consists of posts for pre-Christmas and in between Christmas events plus my usual pieces. I hope you enjoy a bumper read! Lady, naturally, had a fabulous Christmas seeing family and Santa Paws was as generous as ever.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her “boyfriend”, the lovely Aussie Shepherd, Bear, today. They both had a lovely time with Chuckit balls – at least the pair of them had the coats for the bitterly cold weather today.

I am sad to report Friday Flash Fiction is closing in the New Year. I am so grateful to them for their support, for getting me into regularly writing 100 word stories again (which was my way into flash fiction and being published in my own right), and the sheer fun of joining in and reading the other fabulous stories on this site. It will be greatly missed.

Will I keep on writing the 100 word stories? Oh yes. They are a great challenge and fun to write. It is amazing what you can convey in such a short word count.

29th December – More Than Writers

How can the year have gone by so fast? Yes, it is time for my final More Than Writers post for 2025 and I look at A New Year, A New Promise, A New List (Maybe). I discuss why I don’t make resolutions but I do review what I think I might like to achieve writing wise for the coming year.

I share why I think doing this is helpful and the great thing is it doesn’t matter where you are in your writing life. Even if you are just starting out, taking time to review where you are and where you would like your writing to go is a good idea. I also share some thoughts as to what could go on to your “review list”.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

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27th December

Hello again. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Lovely time here. Will be back to my usual writing routine on Monday but thought I’d pop by just to say I hope you received lots of fabulous books as presents. Don’t forget the next best thing you can do for any author is to review their books. Aptly since I’m a flash fiction writer, I will say reviews don’t have to be long. A line or two is great. Make a writer’s New Year – give them a good review!

I’ll be back on Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday too with a post about Winter Stories. Will share that on Friday.

I will be sending out my author newsletter on New Year’s Day too. To sign up for tips and stories and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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24th December – Christmas Eve

Hope your Christmas Eve has gone well. Busy one here but am set up ready to go for tomorrow. Lady is always interested when Mum is busy cooking in the kitchen. I wonder why….

Looking forward to a lovely church service tomorrow and then later catching up with family and favourite films. However you spend Christmas, I hope you have a great and enjoyable day.

It was great to have a quick catch up chat with my Chandler’s Ford Today editor, Janet Williams, this evening. Will be posting again on CFT from January. Tonight, I plan to just write a few odds and ends. I find doing some writing helps me unwind after a a busy day. I think it’s because the writing gives me some time to be creative and I seem to thrive on that.

Happy Christmas! Seems so long ago now but it was less than a week as I prepared this! Mind you, even with Christmas now over for another year, it is ALWAYS worth celebrating the wonderful world of stories.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am happily working on an edit of my Seeing The Other Side at the moment, as well as editing for someone else. It was way back in 2020, the year we all prefer to forget, when I was last on both sides of the editing fence at the same time. It’s an interesting and enlightening experience.

Will be co-judging a flash fiction competition from the end of January and am looking forward to donning my judge’s hat again. Judging stories is also an enlightening experience and a great honour to be asked to do.

It’s hard to say what the single thing is I most love about flash fiction writing and reading, but a strong contender would be the impact such stories have on you. There is no dilution of the emotions the stories are meant to produce. You get the pay off for twist stories quickly too and I find I then want to read even more short twist tales, it is like an addiction but this one is harmless at least!

29th December
The time between Christmas and New Year always does seem strange. What I do know though is today, 29th December, is still a Monday and therefore it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Approaching Time.

Even anthromorpic beings with a limited shelf life make the most of the time they’ve got, even when they are parts of Time herself.

 

27th December
Just popping by to write some brief pieces. Have thoroughly enjoyed my time off (and will be off again tomorrow) but it is also nice to be back at the desk for a short while tonight.

One of my nicest tasks when I get back to a proper writing routine will be to start selecting flash and short story competitions to have a go at in 2026. I did enter more competitions this year and want to keep on doing this (as it makes me write more and what isn’t accepted in one place may be accepted elsewhere, that has happened for me before).

I also want to find new competitions to try. It stretches me and my writing and that’s a good thing. It will be a while before I send anything into Friday Flash Fiction but hope to do that again sometime in January when the new editor gives the word to go. Sadly, I received further news since writing this that Friday Flash Fiction will be closing at the end of 2025 but I will keep writing 100 word stories. There are a number of competitions for these so I hope to try some of these.

24th December – Christmas Eve
Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy Christmas. Naturally I hope you receive many wonderful books (including flash fiction collections, of course) tomorrow! Mind you, I am obliged to add flash fiction isn’t just for Christmas!

Joking aside, I will also say a huge thanks for your support this year. I continue to love flash fiction in all of its forms and look forward to getting back to writing more after the Christmas break.

Meantime, I hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year. See you here again soon!

Fairytales With Bite – Festivities

I write this on the evening of Christmas Eve 2025 so naturally festivities are very much to mind at the moment.

Now festivities come in a huge range of forms and are held for various reasons, including personal festivities, religious ones etc. Which type or types would your setting have? How did they originate? Have the way they are celebrated changed over time and what brought about the change?

What do your characters make of the festivities? Do they look forward to them or dread them? Is there the equivalent of the last minute Christmas shop? Are the festivities a time for everyone to “down tools” including magical ones? How would your world ensure it was secure enough during its “down time” or is it secure enough to know it doesn’t have enemies? (Good story possibility there for someone to prove them wrong!).

Who organises the festivities? (I’d want to know who does the catering but I have a vested interest in that one given I do the catering here).

Also a festivity could be a useful break/time of respite for a character who needs it. Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Marking the End of a Time Period

As well as thinking about Christmas as I write this on 24th December 2025, the festive season also includes marking the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

What time periods operate in your fantasy world? Are there periods of time they mark when they pass? How does time operate in your setting? Is it the same as ours or do they not have things such as days, weeks, years?

When it comes to periods of light and dark, which is the greater in terms of length or are they the same? We base our time system on the thought there are twelve hours of daylight, twelve hours of night (especially in mid summer) but what would your world base their system on if they don’t use natural light to base it on?

Now I admit I did use to stay up and see the New Year in but these days I tend to take the view the New Year can come in without me witnessing it as I do appreciate my sleep more! In your setting, would everyone be obliged to mark the passing of a set period of time? How would those commemorations happen? Who did say what the time periods would be at all?

Goodreads Author Blog – Happy New Reading Year

I hope 2025 brought lots of lovely books into your life and that you have an excellent and Happy New Reading Year too.

The time between Christmas and New Year can seem a bit odd, it’s almost as if you’re in limbo, but it is a great time for getting on with reading all of those lovely books you received as presents. (And a lovely New Year’s present to the authors can be to leave them a review here on Goodreads and elsewhere, of course).

The New Year will bring a new book into my life too. In May, my third flash fiction collection (Seeing The Other Side – Bridge House Publishing) will be out and I am looking forward to that, naturally.

Am also currently enjoying editing works for others. It’s a lovely job. Also it makes me think about my own writing and this can be enormously helpful.

I do know, above all else though, I will continue to love and appreciate stories and books. They are some of the best things about humanity. (Okay, folks, I do have to include chocolate and classical music in that list too!).

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Winter Stories

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Hope all is well. Had a lovely weekend singing carols and reading/enjoying readings at two Carols by Candlelight services over the weekend. My next post here will be in a week’s time and will be a bigger round up though I am taking a few days off over Christmas and hope you are too. Do have a lovely Christmas.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals for the last time before Christmas. A good time was had by all and I suspect three lovely dogs will be thoroughly spoiled and enjoy their visit from Santa Paws.

Writing wise, I’m winding down for the Christmas break. There will be a round up post of what I write when and where on my website later this evening, brief posts tomorrow, and then I’m off for a few days.

However you spend Christmas, I do hope you have a wonderful time. I’m looking forward to the break but also to resuming writing when the break is over again. That is the lovely thing with writing. It is a wonderful thing to return to after a needed break, I find. (So unlike returning to the housework etc etc!).

Hope the day has gone well. Hectic here but Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and a great time was had by all three, so that was fine.

I now have the Mixcloud link to the Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM hosted by Hannah Kate recently. If you’ve not had a chance to hear the show so far, here’s your chance.

The range of stories was so good but don’t just take my word for it. Why not give the show a listen? It was great fun to take part in and listen to the other tales.

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Had a lovely time at yesterday’s Carols by Candlelight service. Romsey URC looked stunning (though I was glad not to be the one putting the candles out afterwards!). The music and singing were wonderful and truly sublime. I read the poem The Shepherds at Bethlehem which was lovely. Also loved the recitation of The Not so Perfect Christmas Tree.

Went to my church’s service this afternoon which was more informal with carols, poems and readings, and cracker jokes. A great time was had here too though in a different way! Certainly by the time we finished all of the carols we want to sing (and we sing loads, we get to request carols to sing), we are more than ready for a cuppa afterwards.

Those who went to the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event earlier this month, and who kindly gave me their Christmas cracker jokes because I said our minister could do with new material, well he put it to good use this afternoon! Plenty of groans and laughs – as there should be with these things.

It will be odd not having a Chandler’s Ford Today post next week but there was no way I was posting on Boxing Day! I’ll be back on that (and other things too like flash submissions) in the New Year. The next few days will be spent getting a few writing bits and pieces done and other material written so I hit the ground running when I return to my desk properly in a week or so.

Am also looking forward to getting on with some Christmas reading too.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. I’m looking forward to reading a wonderful poem, The Shepherds at Bethlehem, at a Carols by Candlelight service later this evening. Poetry and flash fiction both rely on using specific words to create specific images (and to make the most of their respective word/syllable/line counts).

No Chandler’s Ford Today post from me on Boxing Day next week (now, admit it, that’s not really a surprise is it!). Will be back on CFT in the New Year. I suspect post-Christmas I will get a little writing done, especially flash pieces ready to submit later, but am looking forward to a break. Am also looking forward to seeing what arrives from my book related wish list for Christmas!

Have been enjoying singing along to the carols and other Christmas songs Classic FM have been playing. In their poll, I voted for In the Bleak Midwinter but it has to be to the Holst tune. I do think though that Christina Rossetti, with her fabulous poem, has added to Christmas, as did Charles Dickens of course with his A Christmas Carol.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Given most of the carols tell the story of the Nativity in verse form and are well within the 1000 words limit for flash, do they count as flash stories? I think so! I think they also count as “flash poems”.

I have written the odd flash piece using rhyme and it has been fun to do but it will never be my main style. Poetry, for me, is like art – I know what I like when I come across it, appreciate it deeply, and leave those far better suited than me to write it!

Will put up a short post tomorrow and then will be off for a few days. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.It’s Monday. But it’s not just any Monday. It’s the Monday before Christmas, otherwise known as Hecticville, yes?  I do know it’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Action Replay.

Action replays may have been around for far longer than thought in this fun tale concerning the shepherd left behind from the trip to Bethlehem.

There won’t be any submissions to Friday Flash Fiction as a new editor takes the helm from January. A huge thank you to the founder and original editor for all of his hard work here. He knows who he is! I must thank FFF for getting me back into writing the drabbles (aka the 100 worders) regularly. They are great fun and a good challenge.

One task for early January will be to list a few competitions to enter for the first quarter of 2026. I would like to try new ones (with a good track record) this year, as well as continue to try and write more than the year before.

Naturally, I’m looking forward to the publication of Seeing The Other Side (Bridge House Publishing), my third flash collection, in May 2026. It will be lovely having another book out again. Plus I have ideas to pitch so hope to get on with those early in January and see what happens. I do know, whatever happens, the writing life isn’t a static one.

I’m pleased to say I have written more flash this year and hope to continue with that in 2026, of course. It has been mainly at the 100 words length (especially for Friday Flash Fiction) but given this was the word count which introduced me to flash at all, this does seem appropriate.

I often think of the carols as flash poems given the word count is limited (even if you do sing, like we did at church last Sunday, all eight, yes, count them eight, verses of O Come O Come Emmanuel). They tell the Christmas story in song.

When it comes to the great When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night, when it comes to the line ‘Fear not’, said he for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind in verse two, I always think well it is no wonder, really, you can’t blame the shepherds here. Anyone would be startled!

But it is thoughts like that which can inspire some fun, festive pieces. One of mine was about a young shepherd worried about leaving the sheep behind when it came to going to Bethlehem. Fun to do.

Goodreads Author Blog – Winter Stories

In my last post prior to Christmas for Goodreads, may I take the chance to wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. I also hope you receive plenty of books as presents!

Do you associate any particular books with the winter season? I do. I always think of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe with its line always winter and never Christmas. Always struck me as sad and horrifying that.

Naturally I associate the Nativity and stories which come from it. There are some fun stories around showing the story from the viewpoint of the animals in the stable etc.

Plus I tend to think of Frodo and company trudging through the snow covered mountains in The Lord of The Rings.

Which stories do you link with winter?

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Broadcast News and Judging Stories

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Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Family came down to visit so had a fantastic and busy time – we went to see a local lights festival. Lady loved seeing the family too. She is very much a “people” dog! Writing and editing are going well. Will be wrapping up for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday 19th December and then will be back in the New Year.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today so both dogs were pleased at that. Later on our evening walk Lady, other half and I came across her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. The two dogs were so excited to see each other, sweet to see.

Character Creation Tip: You know your own likes and dislikes. Why not take those and swap them around for potential characters?

For example, if you love sprouts, get your character to hate them and then face a situation where they have no choice but to have some of the things. Could be a good fun story there but the general point here of taking what you know (your likes and dislikes) and using them for characters should be the means of generating plenty of story ideas for you.

Have fun!

Delighted to say the bumper December issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Pleased to have two articles in here – Real Characters, Please and Why Should Fiction Writers Read Non-Fiction?

The theme of the magazine is Diversity Matters and there are plenty of fabulous articles to enjoy, all of which will help you with your own writing in some way.

Hope you enjoy the magazine, all 52 bumper pages, link below. Plenty here to keep you busy for a bit!

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Have had a fabulous weekend with family visiting. Went to see a local light festival. That was great but the parking was abysmal. Traffic guidance (which was indicated by a sign saying there was police approved traffic control) was non-existent. Once parked though, we had a great time at the event itself. It was impressive.

Oh well. Great to catch up with the family though and it won’t be too long before we meet up again which will be lovely. (A riotous time is usually had by all including the four legged members of the family).

Next weekend will be busy too as will be taking part in Carols by Candlelight services and reading a beautiful poem at one of them. Looking forward to that.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing A Year In Flashback as my last Chandler’s Ford Today post for 2025. That will be up on Friday.

I did manage to get to listen to Three Minute Santas with Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM yesterday before the family arrived. Loved all of the stories. Am looking forward to congratulating via Zoom those members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group who also had stories on here. We’ll be having a round up meeting on Wednesday sharing chat and stories, a great way to finish our year.

Character Tip: What would your character make of our Christmas celebrations, especially if they were not from this world? Could be some fun stories to write following that prompt. Have fun!

Am posting early today as am delighted to have family come down today. We’re off to see a local festive lights show this evening. Should be fun.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing my last Chandler’s Ford Today post for 2025 next Friday, 19th December. I’ll take a look back at my writing year and look ahead to the next one too.

Broadcast News: Am enjoying listening to Three Minute Santas on North Manchester FM as I post this. (Well, I was at the time, honest!). The show is hosted by Hannah Kate (as part of her Hannah’s Bookshelf programme) and I know I am going to love listening to the festive stories. There will be some from members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, including me, too.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf 3 Minute Santas Special, Saturday 13 December, 2-4pm

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Flash is easy to share on social media and your website so can be an excellent marketing tool. I like to share some flash stories every so often, including the regular ones I share here, simply to show something of my writing style to potential readers. Besides which, I like doing this because it is fun!

I love it when other authors share their stories (or snippets). The tales in themselves are entertaining but you can learn so much from what other writers do. The writing community is very supportive here and I think a lot of that is because we know ideas spark other ideas. There will be never be just the one Christmas ghost story, for example (though Dickens did write a magnificent one in A Christmas Carol) but that particular famous tale will have and will continue to spark other story ideas.

What could our story ideas spark in others? I hope lots of other ideas that only those writers could come up with! I like to see this as contributing to the big world of stories out there. Also, we do build on what has gone before. I continue to be inspired by the classic fairytales for a start.

It’s Monday. It’s dark though I am enjoying seeing the Christmas lights when I walk my dog in the evening. Brightens the place up no end. Still time for a story though. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Who What When.

Discover who fell down a chimney, what happened when a collie became involved, and when this is going to happen. Hope you enjoy this fun Christmas story.

 

With my judge’s hat on, how do I pick a potential winning flash fiction story?

I look at how well the character grips me and then how do they deliver on the premise of the story. I am expecting the character to make me feel something/react to what they do (and it should be apt for the story of course). If the character stays in my mind after I’ve read the story, then that is a good sign and of course it is a challenge to me to make sure my characters do just that for my readers.

There should be heart and feeling in a story regardless of its length, I think. I’ve got to care about what happens to the characters after all.

Will be winding down the writing as we approach Christmas and intend to have a few days break. I appreciate the time off yet when I get back to my desk that’s no hardship and this is a good place to be. I am phenomenally grateful for discovering flash fiction. It is such fun to write and read.

Would like to try competitions new to me in 2026 (having ensured they’re reputable first, of course), as well as keeping up a reasonable number of entries. I do know my recent turndown is a story I would like to try and place elsewhere. Ironically, I am being a story judge myself again soon and again in February.

Does being a story judge sometimes help me with my own flash and short story contenders? It can do. I do know with my judge’s hat on I am looking for that special something which makes a story stand out. If I remember the story, that’s a good sign and it is a challenge to me to make sure my own are memorable too.

Goodreads Author Blog – Have a Lovely Reading Christmas and New Year

I hope the Christmas season brings you plenty of lovely new books to read. I put my list in early. Yes, there is always a list! There would be something wrong if I didn’t have plenty of books on my wish list.

Did you use to get annuals as part of your Christmas presents? Do you still get them even? My son used to love The Beano Annual (and yes I often took a peek or several, having loved many of the characters in there). D.C. Thomson are a fabulous publisher. My annual these days is the thoughtful The Friendship Book, which has been a yearly fixture for decades now.

As well as the books I’m looking forward to, I love the Christmas story itself. I also take part in Carols by Candlelight services and have read some wonderful poems based around the Nativity, which I hadn’t come across before. Beautiful words to read and the poems conjure up tremendous imagery, as do the carols, especially my favourite In The Bleak Midwinter (has to be the Holst tune though).

I suppose that’s what I love about words, stories, and books the most. They really do take you places through the power of your own imagination.

I’m looking forward to having my imagination re-fired by the books I find under the tree this year!

I hope to post again next week but in case that cannot happen, I will wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year and hope books to continue to play an important part in your life. I cannot imagine a world without books. Nor do I ever wish to be able to!

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Couldn’t resist putting the above magazine back in here too. This has been one of the highlights of my writing year.

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