Tag: New YouTube video by Allison Symes

Top Ten Tips and Letters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Influences

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

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

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

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

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

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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What I Look For In Stories – Reading/Writing Them

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

Coming soon - more author interviews in my CFT column

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Busy evening tonight so am posting early.

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

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

Writing Advice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Many thanks to all of my subscribers for your support.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Less is More is the theme for flash fiction writers

Goodreads Author Blog – Mixing Genres

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

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

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

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

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

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The Joys of Creative Writing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully see you at Swanwick in August.

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

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

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

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

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

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Author Newsletters

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

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

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

Have fun!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Short Form Collections

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

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

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

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Stories To Remember

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Close up of my copies of CafeLit 13

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Goodreads Author Blog – Stories to Remember

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

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

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

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

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

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Publication News and The Perfect Ending

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Week has got off to a great start with the news The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in there. More below on that. Also the June issue of Writers’ Narrative is out now too. Can’t believe we’re in June already but at least the weather is stating to play along with the idea we’re due some sunshine now!

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Facebook – General

Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. Three very happy dogs went home again after a lovely time in the park. Dogs know what matters!

Writing wise, I’m talking to Jenny Sanders again for Part 2 of a fabulous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Her devotional book, Polished Arrows, was published recently and this week we’ll be talking about marketing, launches, the value of good supportive writing groups, and much more besides. Don’t miss! Lots of tips and useful thoughts here.

Now to give Amazon their due. I contacted them on Sunday to ask them to add The Best of CafeLit 13 to my Amazon Author Central page. I’ve found, from past experience, I need to give them the details and they add anthologies (because I’m not the publisher but am a contributing author). Anyway, it was done yesterday, well within 24 hours.

Have just added the book to my ALCS records too. I’ve found it pays to add new publications (books or articles where there is an ISSN number) as soon as I can to make sure I get it done. Will make a difference to my ALCS payment next year, which is the best incentive to get it done!

 

My three stories in The Best of CafeLit 13 are Cinnamon Comforts, Untaken, and Sweet Dreams. It’s good to be back between the covers with old friends in this anthology and I’m looking forward to catching up with their works here, as well as checking out those authors new to me. I often do read anthologies as you might expect and find them to be a fabulous way to try out works by authors new to me. If I like their work, I will often then try their longer works. This is a great way to discover new writers.

I also like to read collections of short form works in between reading novels. I like to ensure I have a good reading diet of longer works and shorter ones. Anthologies make it so much more convenient to catch up with the latter!

Also if you are writing in the short form, reading books like this can count as part of your market research. It is always good to know what is already out there and from that you can work out where you would fit in. A publisher needs to know where you’d fit in with their lists and you need to be able to show them that you can.

Publication News (as you may have gathered from the above!)

Thrilled to say The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out. I have three stories in here. Will say more about this during the next few days but just wanted to (a) share the news and (b) congratulate the other authors with work in here. Nice to see names and old friends here. Well done, all. (What is especially nice here is the stories are voted for by other CafeLit people so nobody can know their story is going to make the cut).

Will be sharing Part 2 of an in-depth conversation with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Next time we’ll be looking at launches, marketing, and more. Link up on Friday.

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my Unwelcome News, my latest Friday Flash Fiction tale. Just who is the worst here – Melissa or Stefan? Read the tale and see what you think. Link here. (Great fun to write).

 

Delighted to say the June edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is poetry this time and my article looks at The Links Between Flash Fiction and Poetry. There are more than you might think. I also include a flash fiction piece told in poetic form as I sometimes write stories this way and it can work well. I share some tips for doing this too.

My article is on Pages 14/15 but do check out the excellent pieces throughout. For one thing, you can find out if you know who your padawan is! Go on, you know you want to find out!

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day.

Something I mention to members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is to look out for the short story competitions. Many of them either have a lower word count limit of 1000 words (making it the top end of the range for flash fiction writers but still do-able) or have a range of word counts for you to write to.

The Bridport Prize, for example, has a flash fiction category but also has a short story one. No reason why you couldn’t enter both with different tales should you wish.

Another one is the HISSAC Annual Open Short Story competition where they want short stories up to 2000 words and flash fiction up to 500. There will be other competitions out there who will do something similar. Worth watching for.

Competitions are great for making up face up to working to a deadline and if you get listed or win, even better!

447551831_10161932010872053_7782713995846695559_nIt’s Monday. It has been a sunny one too. Still Monday though. Still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my Life Changing Moments. Those who came to the recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting will recognise this as my response to a prompt I set.

Usually when I put my YouTube videos here, they are inserted into the page  and you click and play. Not happening tonight. Please use the link above. Screenshot to just give you an idea but there is more to this story so do check the link out! Thanks.

Screenshot 2024-06-04 at 20-27-49 Life Changing Moments - YouTube

The buzz of being in print never diminishes! The Best of CafeLit 13 is now out and I have three stories included. I also enjoy getting to update my records over on the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and on Amazon. This will be a lovely job to do later this week! Done. See above but most enjoyable tasks to do!

Will be getting on with some flash fiction writing today. Nice way to spend Sunday afternoons! I do more later in the week too but there is something about Sunday afternoons which helps with focus. Well, I know it helps me.

Favourite thing about creating a character? I think it is that moment when I think “yes, I know you, I’ve got where you’re coming from” because then I know I can write from their viewpoint effectively. I understand what drives them and what mistakes they’re likely to make. Once I’ve “got” this, I can’t wait to write their stories up and that is always a good sign.

 

It’s that time of the month again – time for the author newsletter. A huge hello to those who have subscribed since last time and an enormous thanks to all who support me here. All much appreciated. The theme this time is questioning your characters, something I do all the time. It pays especially when you’re writing a lot of stories and need ways into coming up with characters all the time.

Screenshot 2024-06-01 at 11-39-23 Allison Symes - June 2024 - Questioning Your Characters

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Ending

Is there such a thing as the perfect ending to any story? The only reason I’m not sure about this is because all writers are human and we’re all fallible. No perfect writer = no perfect writing.

I know, looking back on my older stories, I can see ways of improving them thanks to things I’ve learned about writing craft and technique since that time. BUT you can improve on what you do. I can look back at those stories and know they were the best I could do at that time. So am reasonably pleased with them but am more pleased with improvements I have made since that time. Writing is always a case of developing your craft, I think.

For stories by other writers, what I look for is an appropriate ending for their characters’ stories. Yes, sometimes that ending can be ambiguous. (After all, tomorrow is another day from Gone With The Wind is a good example of that kind of ending). But it should be appropriate to all that has come before and as long as it has done that, I’m happy.

Screenshot 2024-06-01 at 20-03-53 The Perfect Ending

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Learning from Author Interviews

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Hope you have had a good weekend. It was a Bank Holiday one here in the UK. Mixed bag weather wise but that’s normal. Lady saw her best chum, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, unexpectedly on one of our afternoon walks. Both dogs relished that.
I’m catching up with my writing again after an unwelcome break (as in break in!) and being so glad to be back doing normal things again. Well, as normal as things get for a writer anyway. Have not yet thought of a flash story where a burglar gets their comeuppance but give me time…!

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Facebook – General

I love conducting author interviews for Chandler’s Ford Today and also enjoy reading those in writing magazines etc. I’ve picked up many useful tips along the way from these. I also find it endlessly fascinating how each writer comes up with ideas, how they approach getting the writing and editing done and so on.

I got into the habit of reading author interviews long before I had anything published. I was interested then chiefly in how writers got their breakthroughs and quickly discovered no two writing journeys are exactly the same.

But I also realised if I was the one being interviewed and asked these questions, I ought to work out just what I would say in response. So I jotted down several questions and worked out what I might say in the event I had stories published (and then later a book) and had these posers put to me.

I’ve found that so useful. It also helped me filter out what I do need to get across when talking about my writing and to leave out those interesting side bits which aren’t relevant to the questions being asked. I also found doing all of this helped with self confidence.

Practicing talking about what you do (and using interview questions you’ve come across as a guide) is a good thing to do. I found it ensured I was able to summarize my books in a line or two. That’s useful too.

Look up author interviews and get a feel for the kind of questions that are asked

Hope you have had a good Monday. Bank holiday here in the UK. My usual hectic day but with the family at home. Usually feels like a strange cross between a Sunday and a Monday.

Writing wise, I’m interviewing Jenny Sanders on Chandler’s Ford Today about her new devotional book, Polished Arrows. This will be a two-part interview and we will be taking a good look at this kind of writing, which is a specialised form of literature. More to come on Friday.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday evening where the topic will be questions and answers.

And don’t forget the June issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out very soon.

Weather back to being all over the place again. Oh well. Glad to see some love-in-a-mist coming up in one of our borders. Lovely name for a pretty plant. First time we’ve planted it. Something cheery to see after a bad week.

I had a quick look at a random theme generator and the topic which came up was redemption.

Interesting one. Fiction wise, you can invent a character in need of redemption and work out whether they obtain that or not (or deliberately refuse to be redeemed. There would be consequences from that. How would that play out?).

Also bear in mind the character themselves may well feel they don’t need redeeming at all but those around them do! Who would be right? The need for redemption is in the eye of the beholder perhaps.

For non-fiction, there could be some interesting pieces about redemption as a theme in art and the artists who created those pieces, just to name one example.

That is just one topic.

Bear in mind you could also combine themes which come up on the generators. Another one which came up on my look through was spaceship. Okay, you could look at who needs redeeming on board said craft! I’m sure there’d be some interesting possibilities there.

What I always look for when I use random generators, story cubes, books of prompts etc is a starting point, a way into creating interesting characters I then want to write up (and dump right in it and then see how “they” get out of that situation).

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It was a pleasure to share on Zoom a one hour talk on editing with the Spiderplant writing group (who are affiliated to the Association of Christian Writers). Many thanks for making me feel so welcome and I hope you found the advice useful. (Many thanks to Rosalie Weller for kind permission to use the photo).

As well as being an author, I’m an editor and judge competitions too. This can be enlightening because it helps me improve my own writing. This is because I can see where mistakes are made (especially on competition entries) and then try to ensure I don’t make the same ones myself.

In other writing news, I will be talking to Jenny Sanders on her new book, Polished Arrows, in an in-depth two part interview which starts next Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to sharing Part 1 then.

Spiderplant advert for editing talk by Allison Symes on 25th May 2024

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Occasionally, I do have scene breaks in my flash stories. These tend to be for the tales which are 750 to 1000 words in length such as my She Did It Her Way, Kind Of (From Light to Dark and Back Again). Most of the time the action of my stories is dealt with in a few paragraphs but this story did need the full flash word count range to show what I needed it to show.

This tale had four characters in it (one was a dog) and another was referred to by the two female, human characters. (The last character was a pushy salesman who fell foul of the dog). I especially enjoyed writing the ending for this story where everything is wrapped up.

A story has to be the appropriate word count length to tell it properly. Sometimes I find a story I thought would come in at 100 words does need more space and can end up as being a 500 words tale instead. That’s fine. I just find another market for it than the one I originally intended.

For me, a story is only complete when everything is wrapped up and I feel not another word could be added without diluting the impact in some way.

Framed Flash CollectionsIt’s Monday. It’s a Bank Holiday but nothing disguises the fact it’s Monday. Garfield, the cartoon cat, famously loathes Mondays. But then he wasn’t about to enjoy a new story from me on YouTube! Hope you like my latest here – First Class. Is Griselda right to be suspicious of posh looking mail coming by first class post and is she in trouble? Find out here.

I talked about random theme generators over on my Facebook author page but wanted to add here there is a huge amount of these things out there. I find it pays to mix up the ones I use as this makes for an interesting challenge. Can I write to what has been generated? It is useful practice for writing to story competition themes as well, I think, because you’re getting into the habit of responding to a prompt which has been set by someone else.

The opening line kind is my favourite because I can use that to kick start a new piece of flash fiction or a short story. Occasionally, if the line is right, it can inspire an idea fora blog post. One I generated for this post reads I am optimistic that…

Now you can write an article or a blog post from that but you could use it for fiction too as a story told in the first person by your character. What are they optimistic about? Are they right?

The important thing is, whatever type of prompt you use, to have fun with them. I’ve created (and had published) many stories and flash pieces which started life this way.

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All stories need a proper beginning, middle, and end, regardless of their word count. I find for flash fiction it helps to visualise my word count. This is where studying sites like Friday Flash Fiction helps a lot. You can literally see what 100 words looks like on screen.

Having got the visualisation sorted, I can then work out when I need to have the character and set up by, leaving myself enough words to show the problem and worsen it for my poor characters, while still leaving myself enough word count room again so I can give a proper finish.

For a 500 word story, for example, that is roughly one page of A4 so I can visualise splitting that A4 into thirds to deal with the three crucial elements of any tale.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Fictional Humorous Worlds

Every story, of whatever word count length, is its own mini world, of course, but I have a soft spot for humorous worlds, especially when the books concerned are part of a series.

My two overall favourites here are Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and practically anything by P.G. Wodehouse. The latter has multiple worlds – the worlds of Jeeves and Wooster, the Blandings world, the Psmith world and so on.

I love humorous writing. It is wonderful escapism. There is always a time and need for that but perhaps never more so than now when the news is so grim. What I love about the book series though is watching how characters develop over them. This is especially true for Pratchett’s Sam Vimes. That character arc is a fascinating one. Compare who he is in Guards! Guards! with how he is in the final book he is in, Raising Steam. It is a fascinating character study all authors can learn from. Feet of Clay and Men at Arms also work as great detective stories too so do check them out.

You could argue Jeeves and Wooster don’t change that much but that is part of their charm. What does change is the chaos around them they have to sort out, especially Jeeves.

But what is consistent about all of these is the laughs! In a troubled world, I so welcome these. I do wish humorous writing wasn’t looked down on though. I learned a long time ago what looks like easy writing took an awful long time for the writer to craft. It’s even harder for humorous writers given humour can be subjective.

Screenshot 2024-05-25 at 18-08-02 Fictional Humorous Worlds

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A Strange Few Days…

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Many apologies this is a day late due to very unexpected circumstances.

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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 and photos from Scotland were taken by me, Allison Symes.
Had a lovely time in Scotland last week. Good to be back home again and Lady was thrilled to catch up with her two best friends early on in the week so she’s not sorry to be back home either. Looking forward to running an editing workshop on Zoom on Saturday and the ACW Flash Fiction Group next week. Did take PC with me while away. Enjoyed doing some writing but also enjoyed not doing as much as I normally would have done. It was good to slow down for a while.
Separately, it has not been a great start to my week back though. Burgled on Tuesday. Everyone, take care. It has been a very strange few days.

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Facebook – General

A huge thank you for all the kind comments, caring emojis etc following my brief post yesterday. Glad to say after the Scene of Crime Officers finished here today, I was able to get on and start clearing up properly. Still got plenty to do but have made a good start and just that is making me feel much better, along with your lovely thoughts and comments.

It is also great to be back to the writing desk again. Especially in stressful times, writing is a creative release. I’ll be sharing my latest website round up a little later on and then I should be “caught up”, writing wise.

I’ll also be looking at Decisions for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and that in turn will be followed by a superb two part interview with Jenny Sanders, whose new book, Polished Arrows, is now out.

Just occasionally I write “two handers” flash tales where two characters interact back and forth. Sometimes these are all dialogue stories but not always. One example of a non-dialogue one is The Pink Rose from Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Here I don’t even name the two characters but you do find out they are mother and daughter, the latter battling for the former for as long as she can.

This kind of tale can be moving and I like to write these kinds of tales in between my lighter humorous stories and my darker ones. I think it makes for a good balance.

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21st May 2024

Apologies, folks, for the lack of a “proper” post tonight. Also for the lack of my usual website round up. Will be back to normal tomorrow, I hope. Have had to deal with family emergency (burglary). It has NOT been a good day. Take care, everyone, and will hopefully be back online properly tomorrow.

Lady was thrilled to see her two closest friends today, the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback. Lovely time had by all. Just every now and then Lady will show affection by licking her friends on the top of their heads. (Neither of my other collies would have done this but then they both preferred just to focus on their humans – us). Lady did so today so I knew she was so glad to see her pals.

Nothing will ever beat the view I had last week when I was writing my Facebook posts but the view out of my office isn’t bad. Am surrounded by trees. Have had some noisy rooks arguing over the water in the bird bath. Goodness knows why. There is plenty in there.

Writing wise, this week will mainly be spent, I suspect, in catching up with blog posts, my newsletter etc. It was great to be away for a bit. It is good to be back too.

Writing Tip: When you’ve had a break from your normal writing routine, take the chance to look at what you missed doing, what you’re keen to get back to etc. Is there anything you didn’t miss? (Am glad to say not in my case).

If the latter gave you pause for thought, maybe it is time to re-evaluate whether that project is worth continuing with. You need enthusiasm to keep going with writing and while there will always be peaks and troughs, taking the time out to think again will help you establish whether you just need a longer break from the project or whether your heart really isn’t in it any more. (Nothing to stop you coming back to it at a later date either but be kind to yourself here).

Writing Advice

Lovely to be back at home, church etc. Lady was glad to get back to “her” park too.

I’ll be looking at Decisions for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be looking at the topic from the viewpoints of character decisions, writing decisions, career decisions etc. Plenty to be thinking about then! Link up on Friday.

Was thrilled to discover I was an Editor’s Choice on Friday Flash Fiction with my most recent story, A Break Does You Good. If you missed it, do check out the link. Many thanks to all for the wonderful comments on this one so far too.

Screenshot 2024-05-19 at 17-16-04 A Break Does You Good by Allison Symes

Am on my way home from a fabulous Scottish holiday. Glorious weather all week. Magnificent scenery.

Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with PowerPoint and Zoom Workshops. I discuss how I rediscovered the former thanks to running and going to the latter!

I also look at the benefits of both of these for where I attend webinars on topics of interest which I could never get to in person. I often register for these things even if I’m not sure if I can get to them at the time allocated as many of those running these will send you a link so you can play a recording back at a more convenient time to you. I’ve found that so useful.

Hope you find the post useful. There are many benefits to these things.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for all the kind responses to my post yesterday after my burglary experience. Very much appreciated and it is such a relief to get back to writing again.

Am looking forward also to the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Plus I’m running an editing workshop for another ACW group this coming Saturday. Good to be busy on something which is fun, writing related, and productive!

I’ve occasionally used a time as an opening line. I used 3 am in my creepy tale, Pressing the Flesh from From Light to Dark and Back Again. The time itself indicates this story is likely to be dark. If I’d set the time at midday, say, the mood of the story would have been entirely different. The darkness of night was needed for this one.

Now this is something you could use to great effect in your own tales. Time can almost be used as a setting in itself here.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction CollectionsIt’s Monday. My first day back at home after a lovely holiday. Am feeling tired! Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Going Out. (Not that I was today!).

 

One of the reasons I love opening lines as a writing exercise is they give me two ways in which to operate.

If a character is mentioned, I can then flesh them out more and work out what kind of situation they’re going to deal with.

If the situation is mentioned (but no character as such, often just a name and not always that), I can work out what kind of character would best suit the situation. Win-win either way here as far as I’m concerned. I regularly use both methods to create stories. What I do know is character and situation have to marry up well though.

Will be running an editing workshop for an Association of Christian Writers group on Saturday. Looking forward to that. Until I have the story down, no matter how I create it, the editing waits. I’ve got to know what I’m working with first.

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Going home after a fabulous week away in the beautiful north-east of Scotland. What does going home mean to your characters? Is it something they look forward to doing or something they fear will never happen or something they dread?

There are so many connotations here. What could you use? What does the reaction show about your characters? Could their reaction get better if it is not a good one to start with and what/whom would make that better?

Will miss the marvellous view across to a huge hill (often with red deer on it, we’ve seen a fair few this week) from my temporary home but will take back happy memories and photos. What would your characters bring back with them when they go home?

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Goodreads Author Blog – When A Story Fails

I’m glad to say a story doesn’t fail for me often. When it does, it is always due to me being unconvinced by the characterisation. Something about the characters doesn’t ring true for me or they manage to aggravate me (Miss Price of Mansfield Park is a prime example of this for me yet I love all of Jane Austen’s other heroines, including the supposedly unlikeable Emma).

There is a positive to this though. Knowing what I dislike in character portrayal means I make sure I don’t write this kind of thing for my own creations. I like to know my characters well enough to know what drives them and how they would act/react in any circumstance.

If I understand motivation, I am far more likely to read on to find out what the characters go on and do. It doesn’t mean I have to agree or like what they do but I do have to see where they are coming from.
For me, a story works when the character convinces me. The story is nothing without a convincing character as far as I am concerned.
Screenshot 2024-05-22 at 20-59-18 When A Story Fails

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Headed North

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Hope you have had a good few days since the last post. Other half, Lady, and I are having a wonderful time in the far north of Scotland. Glorious weather. Equally glorious scenery. My writing desk this week looks across to a stunning view of a pine forest with a huge hill behind it. Seeing red deer and birds of prey around the cottage and there is a lonely cuckoo out there who could really do with shutting up but isn’t.

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Facebook – General

Lovely day at Golspie today. Walked through the town along the coast path, into a magnificent bluebell wood, which came out by Dunrobin Castle, and then back along the coast path back to where we’d parked. Enjoyable walk and the castle does look a bit like something Disney came out with – check out those turrets!

Writing wise, am happily enjoying a fabulous view as I write my posts. Won’t be getting so much done this week but I am one of those writers who have to write something most days. Decided my postcard writing yesterday evening counted as some non-fiction flash!

Am enjoying the change of scenery immensely. It is glorious out there. I don’t have a bad outlook at home, to be fair, but there is little which could beat the scenery here.

Am looking forward to running an editing workshop on Zoom for an Association of Christian Writers group shortly after I get back home again. Will be running a longer two part course on editing for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August.

Don’t forget there is still time to enter The Bridport Prize competition for flash fiction and short stories. I’ve entered the flash fiction one again. Deadline is 31st May so still time to polish your stories and get submissions in.

Dunrobin Castle

Late post tonight. Had a fabulous day today. Went to the top end of Scotland today with a wonderful day spent at the glorious Dunnet beach. See the photo for Lady’s beach ready look. Have seen red deer opposite where I’m staying and plenty of birds of prey.

Don’t forget to add in non-fiction to your reading lists. Not only are there many fabulous books here, I’ve often found something in a non-fiction book then goes on to spark off an idea for a story. You read of an invention here, say, and then an idea occurs as to what could be invented in a similar or better line in your magical setting, for example, and would your characters welcome this development. What would the clashes be here? Not everyone welcomes “improvements” or sees them as such.

Writing Tip: Do you understand what drives your characters? I find knowing motivation is vital. I can see where my people are coming from. I can see from this what they would do and what they would not. The whole story for me hangs on this.

This is Lady's beach ready look

Am having a lovely time in the far north of Scotland. Lady is having a great time too – see the photo! Lots and lots of walkies going on for all three of us.

Aptly, I’ll be talking about Journeys for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I look at how these “work” in fiction and non-fiction and talk about how every story is a journey in and of itself. Link up later this week.

Am hoping to use some of my holiday snaps to inspire story ideas. I do sometimes use landscapes to trigger story ideas. I work out who would live in these landscapes and from there deduce what crisis they might face. The landscape itself may also worsen the crisis faced.

Lady having a lovely time at LairgWhen this goes out, I shall be heading north on my holidays. Looking forward to a much needed break with hubby and Lady. Hoping the weather stays good (not that it worries us much. Being dog owners does get you used to being out and about in most weathers).

Appropriately I’ll be talking about Journeys for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be looking at fictional journeys and the fact every story is its own complete journey. For one thing there has to be a starting point and an ending, same as any journey. More on that on Friday.

Don’t forget the May issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is memoir and I often use some memoir techniques when it comes to creating characters. For example, I interview my characters to find out what their response would be to the questions I throw at them. This can be enlightening. Attitudes will emerge from what I think those responses would be and it shows me more of what that character is likely to do and say.

I also read memoir in the form of diaries and letters from various people and find these fascinating. Am currently re-reading the wonderful P.G. Wodehouse: A Life In Letters. Lovely book and many insights into his writing craft. Highly recommend.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am getting so much gorgeous Scottish fresh air I’m not doing so much reading as I thought I would. Head hits the pillow and away I go. But I am enjoying the reading I am doing and blessing the Kindle for saving on packing. Am getting in plenty of stories despite all that though as am listening to a lot of audio books as we tour the far north of Scotland. You can get a lot of listening done when on the A9!

Pleased to still get my flash fiction writing done on Sunday. Am hoping some of my holiday photos will inspire ideas for stories when I have time to go through them on my return home. Landscapes can inspire ideas for characters who live in them. Certainly when I outline a character first, I may well have images of my photos in my head if I want to “place” my character somewhere specific.

Also note to self: check out more flash fiction competitions when I get home and see if I can some stories submitted. Have sent something in for The Bridport Prize. Have something I want to work on when I get back which I hope to send into CafeLit. But it is time to go through the Writing Magazine competition guide again on my return as there are loads of flash competitions out there and I know some of them will take my fancy. If you don’t know about them, you can’t enter them.

I also like to try new competitions (having checked their background out first of course) as I find this stretches me and I end up writing stories I wouldn’t have otherwise written.

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Whenever I’m on holiday, I like to have a good nose at the visitor books. (Self catering is the option for us with a dog). I also do put comments in myself. But you get glimpses of where people enjoyed visiting while they were at the cottage or what have you before you went in and it can give you ideas of where you might like to explore whilst you’re away too.

Flash fiction is all about glimpses too. Due to its word count restriction, you can only give a glimpse of what a character is like as you unveil their stories. But glimpses can be powerful things. The challenge for the flash fiction writer is to give the right kind of glimpses so readers can form their own conclusions about the characters and how the story plays out.

Oh and I almost forgot it is Monday but it still time for a YouTube story. Hope you like my latest on here – Something Funny About Her Next Door. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Flash moments can happen in life. On my way up to Scotland, I met a couple with their lovely and distinctive looking dog twice at two different service stations a good one hundred miles plus apart. Lady was happy to meet them too.

Now we know coincidences like that happen in life. But, unfair though it may seem, they can’t happen in the stories we write. If there is a chance a character will meet another one again, there has to be something hinted early on that this is a possibility. You can’t just “throw it” at a reader. Readers have to accept this could happen because you have laid out the tracks to show it could happen.

424905627_10161880024617053_3122651101340406517_nWill enjoy writing my flash fiction stories this week while “on location” on holiday with my other half and Lady. Have laptop, will travel. There is WIFI at the other end!

I do sometimes use the random picture generators to trigger ideas for stories but have also used my own photos. I prefer to use landscapes when I do this. I can visualise them when I am trying to visualise a setting for a character.

Having a sense of place can be useful even if it doesn’t end up in the finished story. It just helps me to picture everything I need to be able to “see” and then I can write away. I will occasionally use some description from a photo when I need a reader to know something specific. So I am hoping I will take lots of lovely photos this week which I can use to inspire story ideas once I’m back home again.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Rooting for Characters

A successful work of fiction has me rooting for its characters throughout the book. I have got to care about what happens to them or be eager to see some deserving character get their long overdue comeuppance. Either works!

So to root for characters then I have to be able to get behind them and to understand at least something of what makes them tick. I don’t have to agree with all they do or say but I must be able to see why they are the way they are.

Be honest now. When someone asks you about your favourite books, you will recall the author (most of the time anyway), the title (most of the time), but,most importantly of it all, it will be the characters which linger longest in the mind. Just say Pride and Prejudice to me and I immediately think of Elizabeth Bennet. (Okay I may have certain images of a certain actor emerging from the lake thanks to a BBC adaptation but I know I’m not alone in that one!).

The best characters in any books are the ones we understand. Sometimes they’re the characters we would like to be. After all Sam Gamgee is honourable and brave and so, so loyal in The Lord of the Rings, all excellent qualities to aspire to, yes?

I honestly feel characters make or break a story.

Screenshot 2024-05-11 at 21-18-59 Rooting For Characters

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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What Is In Your Writing For A Reader?

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Hope you have had a good weekend. It was a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and yes we got the rain – traditions continue to be upheld there! Looking forward to a Scottish holiday coming up soon but I hope to still post as am taking laptop with me. Writing is a joy. Where I do take a break is in getting to do more reading than I would usually do at home – love that aspect of holidays.

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Facebook – General

Lovely to see some spring sunshine today and Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback so we both count that as a win-win.

Every so often I write slice of life flash pieces, one of which is They Don’t Understand from From Light to Dark and Back Again. It also counts as a monologue where my character unveils more of his life – and you find out what a life it was. These kinds of stories work best when kept short. The emotional impact of them is more keenly felt by doing that. Besides one huge advantage of writing any kind of flash fiction is it teaches you fast to get rid of the waffle.

Looking forward to sharing Questions and Answers in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. These make a useful structure and I use them a lot. There will be more author interviews coming up later in May and early part of June and I am hoping to conduct more after that.

I love talking with other authors here. Always something of interest to learn. You never known when it might become useful for you. What I love about writing is you are always learning – great brain exercise.

 

Am delighted to say the May edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme for this month is memoir. My piece is on Using Memoir Techniques for Character Creation and that can be found on Page 14 but do check the whole magazine out. There is an excellent range of pieces on why people should read memoir, 21 tips for writing memoir, and much else besides. Remember it is free to subscribe. There is a link to do so inside the magazine itself.

Screenshot 2024-05-06 at 17-13-52 Writers' Narrative eMagazine May 2024

Changeable day weather wise here. Not that Lady worries.

Will shortly be working on my Sunday flash fiction writing. Always look forward to this. I read a lot of flash fiction as well as write it and it is a good idea to read well in your chosen field as well as doing so outside of it. All good writing inspires and what writer doesn’t welcome an inspiration boost every now and then? Reading is the way to get said boost!

I love reading the flash pieces on Friday Flash Fiction and it is a great way to see what 100 word stories look like on screen as well as seeing just what range of tales emerge. It is seriously impressive. It also helps you see where your work could fit in. What’s not to like there?
Screenshot 2024-05-05 at 15-16-33 100-Word Stories

May 4th 2024 – Hope you have had a good day, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan! (Well, today is your day, is it not?).

Pleased to say I have had a a good response to my review of Waiting for Gateaux, my Chandler’s Ford Today post from yesterday. My next one on there will be all about Questions and Answers in Writing and how writers, fiction or non-fiction, can make use of these. Link up on Friday.

Writing Tip: Always ask yourself what is in your writing for your reader. It will help you focus. It also means you do know your intended audience (or likely one anyway) and it makes editing simpler in that you will cut out what doesn’t benefit the reader in some way.

Just doing the latter will improve your writing so much. I’ve forgotten who said it but there is a lovely quote about not writing the boring bits readers skip. It is useful to have that side of the coin in mind as well for those drafts. If it is useful to the reader in some way, it won’t be boring.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As well as mixing up the kind of flash tales I write in terms of genre, I like to mix up the word counts I write to as well. For Friday Flash Fiction, it is nearly always the 100 word count I work to though I do occasionally send them in a longer piece.

But for my stories for my YouTube channel, I like to write across a range of about 50 words to 300 or so. And every so often I will come across a competition I like the look of so I stick to their word count requirements. It is good practice to regularly write across the word count range. It’s fun too.

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Following on from my post yesterday (see below), I DID do something with my haunted teapot story idea, which came about as a way of showing how you could use Kipling’s famous six honest serving men (and my What If additional question) to outline a story idea.

So then it’s a wet Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK and it is time for a story. Just what can I do with a haunted teapot? Find out here with my latest on YouTube – Time For Tea.

 

Kipling’s six honest serving men give all writers a classic outline, these being What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who. I’d also add in What If – now there’s a classic question for you. The nice thing with these is a brief one liner for each of these will spark possibilities for a story. For example:-

What – Author needs an idea.
Why – For her daily Facebook post to share something useful to other writers in particular.
When – Right now!
How – By using a well known writing tip from Kipling to show how that tip works in practice.
Where – To be shared on Facebook.
Who – By author.
What If – She adds in a question of her own and uses that to expand the outline.

Now apply that to a potential character and situation.

What – Haunted teapot.
Why – Previous owner renowned for drinking tea by the gallon, tea was her life, can’t quite let go.
When – New owner finds previous owner haunting that teapot when they move in.
How – New owner was going to use the teapot for making their own tea and discovers the ghost as she lifts the lid on it.
Where – In the kitchen.
Who – New owner and previous owner – new owner flees one way screaming, the previous one flees the other way, nobody else was ever meant to use that teapot.
What If – That teapot haunts anyone who ever uses it. Someone has to smash it to break the curse on it. New owner comes back and does so. Sets ghost of previous owner free and vanishes.

Get the idea? And I may well do something with that story outline. Watch this space. Will let you know if anything comes from it. I did do something with it – see my YouTube story above.

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One thing you can do with flash fiction is to write linked flashes where the same character(s) appear in more than one story. I’ve done this with my third flash collection (which has been given the nod by my publishers but I don’t have a publication date yet). It was fun to do and I would like to do more of this.

It means you can develop the character(s) a bit more over the course of two or more stories without exceeding your word count limit. You can also have Character A in one tale, Character B as the lead in the second one where Character A is either referred to or effectively plays a cameo role, and then have Character A lead again in a third story.

Linked flashes also lend themselves well to novellas in flash too where you have a 20,000 words + book where each chapter is it is own flash fiction tale but there is an overriding arc developing throughout the stories leading to a conclusion, as you would have in a novel. Not something I’ve tried. Is something I wouldn’t mind trying at a later date though.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Fiction Acrostic

F = Fantastic for the range of genres to choose from.
I = Imagination let loose in history, crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and so many more.
C = Characters whose journeys you follow, willing them on to succeed or fail, as appropriate.
T = Timeless truths are often conveyed in stories and books and are more easily remembered too.
I = Inspiration from so many fields of fiction to current writers and to those yet to come.
O = Opening up so many worlds, there will be at least one fiction genre to suit you.
N = Never ever be stuck for something to read – the world of fiction is an expanding and wonderful one.

Screenshot 2024-05-04 at 17-27-04 Fiction Acrostic

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Faith In Stories

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Weather still chilly but sun is appearing more often. I’ll take that. Really enjoyed the play I went to see last week – review on that coming up on Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today. I have CFT to thank for introducing me to the joys of local theatre and National Theatre Live. Must try and catch some more of the latter again soon. I see theatre as enacted stories – another way of taking tales in.

BookBrushImage-2024-4-30-20-320Hope you have had a good day. Enjoyed a great swim this afternoon and caught up with friends there.

I’ll be reviewing Waiting For Gateaux, recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group, for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that.

Author newsletter goes out again tomorrow. (1st May 2024). How come it is the end of April already? (Lovely to see all the bluebells out in my part of the world though).

Writing Tip: If you do have or are thinking of having an author newsletter, do have items you can always share which will be useful to people regardless of whether or not you have any news to share.It pays to plan out what you will do with your newsletter long before you set one up. I have done this with mine and find it pays off.

I often find I have lots of items of news at once and then none at all for a bit so I will share what I have when I have got it but also share advice and tips useful to writers. There is no use by date on those!

Think about what you could talk about here as well – for example your writing process, what you have found useful to you, favourite stories of yours and why you like them and so on. You’re engaging with your readers directly here so make it fun and useful. I try to go for a bright cheery style with mine. Okay if you write horror, that style might not be so apt (!) but there has to be something of value to your readers for them to keep reading what you send out.

Newsletter with envelope imagePleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I’m talking about Faith in Stories where I look at having belief in the process of creating your tales. I share what the biggest single thing any writer can do to help themselves (reading, no surprise there) and discuss why it helps. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Nice quiet day here. Lovely way to wrap up the weekend.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter is out on 1st May. If you’d like to subscribe head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

When I draft a new story, I start with the character(s) but have different ways of bringing them into being. I use a simple template a lot where I jot down a name, their species (where apt), their main trait, and anything else I think I might need to know.

Sometimes I write down something I just know they would say or think and then work out what it is that makes me feel this because that will indicate the underlying trait of this character I will want to bring out more in the story itself.

Sometimes I write down a line of dialogue or internal thought and then work out what kind of character would come up with this. All are fun ways to create characters.

When it comes to competitions, especially those with a set theme, I like to work out what kind of character would best serve that theme. When there is an opening line competition, again I would work out what character would come up with this line, or if it is a description, what character would be noting this and then work out why it is important to them.

But for all stories, regardless of who writes them, for me it is all about the character. I have got to get behind them to want to read on and I take the view most readers will take the same view with my creations.

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Hope you are having a good weekend so far. Nice quiet one here. Lady got to see an old pal, Miller, today. Dogs do get so much from being with their pals.

Am looking forward to reviewing Waiting for Gateaux for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. Will also be having a smashing author interview coming up on CFT towards the end of May which will continue into the early part of June.

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on my most recent Friday Flash Fiction tale, Deception. In case you missed it, please see the link.

Also the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out soon. Do look out for it if you subscribe.
Screenshot 2024-04-26 at 10-12-54 Deception by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’m fond of poetic justice stories and flash fiction suits these well. You set up the situation. You show the character who is either on the receiving end of said poetic justice or is the one to dish it out. You finish by delivering on that justice in the last line.

One example of this is my The Circle of Life from From Light to Dark and Back Again. This one is just under 100 words and I get my character to share their story in the first person where they show you what they want to do something about and why and then finish with how they are going to do it. Let’s just say those on the receiving end of the plans here deserve it.

It was a fun and satisfying story to write and I hope readers like it but the important point here is if you have set something up in your tale, you must deliver on it. Else there is no point. What I love about flash fiction is the restricted word count means you do have to ensure everything in your story is necessary. You haven’t the space for anything irrelevant. This does wonders for your story pacing too.

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by nightIt’s Monday. It’s been a long day. It’s time for a story. (Plus side it isn’t raining this week!). Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Something. The lead character may seem familiar to all fairytale lovers.

 

Am happily working my way through some of my own answers to exercises I set for the ACW Flash Fiction Group back in March for story ideas for my YouTube channel and Friday Flash Fiction. Am looking forward to tackling what I came up with for the April session in due course as well.

The March session involved possible opening and closing lines (two of my favourite writing exercises as my recent Chandler’s Ford Today post on the topic highlighted).

The April one saw the return of my character creation template and there are at least two possibles here I am keen to get to work on soon. When a character possibility grips you like that, it is a great feeling. Mind you, I feel the same way when I read a story by another author and I really “get” their character. Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is a classic example of that as are Jeeves and Wooster from P.G.Wodehouse’s fabulous works.

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I was looking at genres and flash fiction for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Wednesday night. As flash has to be character led (no room for lots of scene setting basically so you must lead with characters), you can set those characters wherever and whenever you want. Those characters don’t have to be human either.

I also use a simple template to help me create some potential characters. I put those ideas aside for a while and then come back to them later. If the ideas still grab me after that break, I will write them up. I know there are at least two from Wednesday’s session I drafted I will come back to at some point. Looking forward to doing that.

But it is the time away from your jotted down ideas which matters. You need objectivity and time away from your notes helps you get that. The positive thing for notes like this and for draft flashes that time away doesn’t have to be a long one. I usually find a few days is enough. What matters is your being able to come back to your work and be able to see it as if for the first time. It is that which will help you see the strengths and weaknesses of your ideas. You can then of course do something about the latter.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Holiday Reading

Am looking forward to a break away in May but I already know what my holiday reading will be. It will be whatever I am currently reading on my Kindle. The ebook comes into its own for this kind of thing, of course. No packing of heavy books. No limitation on what you can take to read either. All I must remember to do is pack my charger (especially since it does my phone as well!).

I don’t read what is normally known as holiday reading. Not really my genre though I can appreciate why the lighter reads are wanted for the summer season. (They’re even more important to cheer people up if the weather is a wash out as it can be in the UK).

For me, my light reads are the humorous books I love – Wodehouse and Pratchett works especially. I usually get to listen to some Pratchett audio books on the journey to and from my destination so get some extra stories in that way.

All counts as holiday reading in my book, some pun intended! I’m just listening to the tales rather than reading them but audio books are fantastic inventions. I get to take in even more stories and revisit old favourites -nothing to dislike about that.

Screenshot 2024-04-27 at 17-57-08 Holiday Reading

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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