Tag: New YouTube video by Allison Symes

Relatable Characters

Leave a comment

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely one here and even more spring flowers emerging. Good to see. Lady enjoying the better weather too. Busy on the writing front but had a productive weekend, which always pleases me.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Another lovely sunny one here.

Looking forward to going to an Association of Christian Writers Zoom session tonight. The talk sounds interesting.

Won’t be getting much writing done today due to that but I do go to these things, when they’re of interest, when I can. I see all of this as part of what you do when learning your craft, looking to develop further etc. Investment in time for your writing is seldom wasted.

Plus it will be lovely to see ACW friends online again! One of the aspects of the writing life I love is the social side to it – online and in person.

Another lovely day and Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today so win-win all around there. How come it is the end of March already?

Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Will be looking at humour as my topic this time.

Writing Tip: You’re tired. It’s been a hectic day. (Mondays always are for me). The thought of writing much seems to fog your already tired brain. So focus instead on writing little bits.

It’s what I use Mondays for with my writing. I add bits to my newsletter, start drafting blogs and flash pieces (but with no pressure to get these things completed that same day). I see this as building up my stock of material I will complete later on.

And the funny thing? I always feel better for having written those little bits. Creativity is good for you, even in small amounts.

Another lovely sunny day with a promising week ahead. Lady and I plan to enjoy as much of that as we can. Will be “zooming” around again this week as I have an online ACW event to attend on Tuesday evening and will be hosting another ACW group on Wednesday which is one I usually go to for a good old chat about all things science fiction and fantasy related.

Will be sharing What Makes a Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Author newsletter is out again on Tuesday, of course. If you would like to know more about flash fiction and discover tips and story links do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Character Thought: What is the one thing you know your character wouldn’t dream of doing in normal circumstances but you then make them face it? What would their response be? It’s absolutely fine to drop your creations in the mire! I find it great fun but this could, of course, just be me!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post – Relatable Characters. I share thoughts on why my favourite Easter stories resonate with me and also share tips on how we can create our own relatable characters. Hope you find the post useful.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope the day has gone well. Nice one here.

Character Tip: In getting to know your character before writing their story up, think about what would be a nice day for them and why. What would be a horrible day and why?

Both of these things have to have a reasonable chance of happening in your story. Think further about how they would handle each type of day and what that reveals about them. There will be insights here you will be able to use in your story. Your characterisation will be deeper and better for it too.

It’s a lovely sunny Monday but it has been hectic for me and it is still Monday when all is said and done. I share Garfield the cartoon cat’s attitude towards disliking Mondays in general. Time for another story from me on YouTube then. Hope you like my latest here – Craving.

What could my character be hiding in her food shopping she really cannot explain, especially since at her age she should know better? Find out here.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Happy Mothering Sunday to those who celebrate. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday as ever. It’s a nice way to wind down after a busy week and I get more stories written – win-win there!

Most of the competitions I send flash pieces into don’t count the title as part of the overall word count you’re allowed. I am always pleased about this! It helps – a lot! 

But a useful tip for those places which do count the word title as part of the overall count is to reserve three to five words for your title. If you end up using less what you have “left over” could be used for the story itself if you need that.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Pleased to be out in the garden for a bit. Mowed the lawn and kicked the football for the dog. It does make quite a sight but it keeps Lady happy and away from the lawnmower. Am sure she sees it as an outdoor vacuum cleaner (which she also still sees as “the enemy”). I had hoped she’d have grown out of that but alas no!

Looking forward to catching up with friends on Zoom later on.

Writing wise, I’m a fair way towards another flash fiction collection in terms of word count. (Don’t yet know when the third one will be out but I have had the nod on it). Have a couple of stories I want to look at tomorrow as part of my flash fiction Sunday as I have competitions in mind for these. Both stories have now had the required “rest time” so I should be able to read them as a reader would. It’s the only way I find works for me which helps me spot the flaws. Then I can do something about said flaws!

Goodreads Author Blog – Beginnings

While true every story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, the beginning is what writers tend to focus on because we know readers won’t get to the middle yet alone the end if the beginning doesn’t grip them enough. No pressure then!

Also many of us study classic opening lines (from say Pride and Prejudice, 1984 and many more) to help us learn our craft here.

I know what I look for in a beginning, when I am reading, is to have a sense of setting and who the lead character is likely to be. I love stories which start with dialogue as that is like eavesdropping on an interesting conversation (here I can do this legitimately!). You also get a sense of the two or more characters involved in that conversation.

Basically, there has to be something which engages my interest immediately so have that “must know what happens next” moment.

With my own stories, my beginnings are rarely exactly the same as I first drafted them. When I come back and edit I can see how I can strengthen them so I do. Every word matters. I have to look for maximum impact on a reader. Hopefully that means they go on to have a great beginning with my stories and then discover what else those tales contain.

Every writer in history has had to do this. It is why the classics are the classics. Their beginnings have stood the test of time. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if as you read this, you can think of your own favourite beginnings to stories. I’ve done so in writing this.

Of course, I don’t think you can ever beat the classic fairytale opening of Once Upon A Time. That got me into reading fairytales, fantasy, and reading in general so plenty to like there!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Zooming Around and Author Anniversaries

Leave a comment

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Had a fabulous birthday weekend. Lovely to see folks. A huge thanks too for all of the online birthday wishes. Lady had a great time too. Now back to the writing work…

Facebook – General

Looking forward to going to an online book launch later this evening. Lovely way to end a Tuesday!
Will be sharing Springtime in Words and Music on Chandlers Ford Today on Friday. Nice to finally have the weather to go with a post like that!

Hope to have more time this coming weekend to explore more competitions to try. Have a draft story ready for one of the regular ones I go in for so also hope to edit that and submit in a week or so.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again in a few days time. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and many thanks for all of you who subscribe. The support is much appreciated.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hope you have had a good day. Hectic here but then it is Monday. Looking forward to going to a friend’s online book launch tomorrow evening plus I then have the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Wednesday. I will be “zooming” around. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.

Writing Tip: What do your characters do with their spare time? Do any of their hobbies and interests have a bearing on what they do in the story? Do any of your characters take up a hobby or interest which they know will help them later? Does it pay off?

Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday. Enjoying a quiet one after a fabulous do yesterday. So good to see everyone. Lady is still pretty tired from yesterday!

Writing wise, will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly. I hope to have another go at the Andrew Siderius competition being run by Friday Flash Fiction at the moment (they do this annually). This time I will have to write in the 151 words + category. You can only enter one story per category and my story last week was a classic 100 worder.

Busy week coming up. Will be going to an online book launch and the following night I will be leading the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. All will be fun though!

22nd March 2025
A huge thank you for the wonderful birthday messages. Much appreciated. Had a fabulous day with family and friends today. Lady is shattered but then she was hosting a spaniel family member (and yes the spaniel went home very tired but happy too!).

Writing wise, I’ll be celebrating Springtime in Words and Music for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll also be looking at ways of using spring itself in our stories. More on that next week.

Meantime I’m looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. Have another competition entry I want to sort out too.


Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope the day has gone well. Lady had her usual wonderful time over the park. Always good to see that.

Sometimes when I am out and about, I will spot things I think I can use in a story. It’s okay. I’m not a spy, honest. But I will see, for example, an interesting coloured hat, or catch a snatch of conversation I know I can turn into something a character of mine would say and so on. Incidentally, I should add the original people having the conversation would never know I’d used it even if they read my story out loud in front of me and I remembered it was them saying it originally.

Why? Simply because I have one golden rule here – never use anything directly, I am treating these things as prompts and then put my own spin on them. That’s where the creativity comes in.

So if my interesting coloured hat was a purple trilby, I would turn it into a lime green knitted hat – you get the kind of thing. But it will be little details like this which will help make my characters and their stories stand out. Colours and items, not necessarily clothing, can make it easier for readers to picture your setting and your characters.

It’s Monday. It’s been even more hectic than usual my end. Definitely time for another story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Breaking the Contract.

It seems anyone can succumb to the lure of chocolate but for some at least there are consequences…

I know the theme for my Friday Flash Fiction story this week and will be working on that soon. I like to enter a range of competitions and tend to find I have a rough split between those where the theme is set and the other kind where it isn’t. I love both. It’s a good idea to regularly practice writing to both types then you will be ready for any competition coming your way.

One thing about using the random generators (or books or prompts) is it does give you practice at writing to themes not set by you. I plan to have another look for more competitions to have a go at next weekend, when I should have more time. 

Good luck if you are sending in any stories shortly.

22nd March 2025 –

Well, my birthday do went by in a flash, somewhat appropriately given what I write! Great fun.

On a somewhat more serious note, life is made up of good moments and I aim to treasure the ones which come my way.

Now there’s a thought you can use for your flash and other stories too. Which moments would your characters treasure and why? Also which moments are they glad they would never see again and why?

Bound to be some story ideas there.

Goodreads Author Blog – Author Anniversaries – P.G. Wodehouse

Often when we think about author anniversaries, we’re commemorating the birth, sometimes the death, of globally renowned authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens etc. Or it can be the anniversary of when one of their most famous books was first published, you know the kind of thing here.

But 2025 sees a strange author anniversary for one writer and where the events took place within weeks of each other. In early 1975 the wonderful humorous author, P.G Wodehouse was finally knighted. In February 2025, sadly he died. So this year sees the 50th anniversary of these things and the P.G. Wodehouse Society (UK) has been commemorating these. (I’m a member).

I love Wodehouse’s way with the English language. It is simply brilliant and his characters live on in your head long after you’ve finished reading the stories. I even like Wodehouse’s golf stories and I hate the game as I do see it as a good walk ruined! There aren’t many writers who could achieve making someone read about a subject they are really not keen on. Even fewer can make them enjoy it!

Wodehouse’s characters live on in the forms of Jeeves and Wooster, Lord Emsworth, Uncle Fred, and so many more. There are some books of letters out written by the great man too and they’re well worth a read as they’re a fascinating insight into the writing life he enjoyed.

You also get to see his wartime controversy from his viewpoint (and I would add had the Nazis got irony at the time Wodehouse would have been in real trouble. Check out the reproductions of his radio speeches which caused so much trouble and you will see what I mean).

But above all check out his stories, Especially when life is grim, and it is right now, they are a tonic and I happily recommend them just on those grounds.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Author Interviews

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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. Book Fair images taken by Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a great weekend. Nice one here. Making good progress on the writing. Significant editing done too. Hope the week ahead continues to go well for us all. There are more signs of spring appearing all the time too, which always cheers me up.

Facebook – General

Pleased to share my latest post on Authors Electric. This time I look at Author Interviews. It is a great joy to be on both the receiving and setting end of these, given I’ve appeared on other writers’ blogs, have been on podcasts, and, of course, I set many writers questions over at Chandler’s Ford Today.

I discuss how I’ve used author interviews to help me on my own journey to becoming a published writer and how I continue to find such interviews engaging and informative. Hope you find the post useful and thought provoking.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you’ve had a good day. Hectic here but it was good to see Lady playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals earlier this morning.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my Authors Electric post about Author Interviews. See above. Not a coincidence this one!

Hoping to get an article finished and sent off later this evening plus I hope to work on my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Am almost there on it.

Had a productive weekend but Mondays are always one of those days when I don’t get so much writing done due to commitments elsewhere so I use Mondays to do little bits and pieces. These things mount up.

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice to see more sunshine.

Writing wise I’ll be getting on with Flash Fiction Sunday shortly. Later I have editing to crack on with and a presentation to add more to so I will be happily out of mischief for the rest of the day, no problem!

Also have just heard will be off to a murder mystery my local amateur theatre group is performing in April. Will be going to this with my lovely editor from Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to that already. Plus I will have a writing Zoom to go to in early April as well as so plenty going on.

Character Tip: This is where writing what you know can help you in the creation of your characters. We know what we like and dislike in other people so let’s put that to good use as we invent our own people/beings of choice.

We understand what can make people angry, for example, so how can you tap into that when writing an angry character of your own? Look at the reasons why people have the attitudes they do.

There will be something you can use for your fictional creations from that. Understanding motivation helps so much here I think.

Hope you have had a good start to the weekend. Managed to get washing out and dried on the line today – yes, I know it’s sad but it is a win, honestly! Also lots of daffodils now out in one of my borders – daffodils always make me smile as I see them as pretty cheery plants, and they also remind me of Wordsworth.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Do look out for that on Friday. The interview is packed full of useful thoughts and tips and you can also find out how and why competition slogans had an impact on her writing life. Looking forward to sharing that and hopefully catching up with Joy again in person at Swanwick later this year.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady had a fabulous time in the park today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Great time had by all. Hopefully more of the same will take place tomorrow!

I haven’t used dogs much in my flash fiction tales and short stories. I tend to focus on characters who are human or fantastical in some way though my YouTube story this week, Temptation, is one for dog owners to enjoy especially.

But there is nothing to stop us using the qualities most dog owners appreciate in their pets (loyalty, love, faithfulness, mischief making, just being fun to be around etc!) in other types of character for our stories. Just a thought.

To quote The Bangles, it has indeed been a Manic Monday and it is time to share another story of mine on YouTube. Hope you like the short but sweet Temptation. Dogs and their owners will especially appreciate this one.

Temptation can attack anyone or anything but especially, in some cases, where cooked chicken is involved.

 

Both of my flash fiction collections with Chapeltown Books have titles which indicate something of their genre and/or mood. From Light to Dark and Back Again very much flags up the mood of the stories. Tripping the Flash Fantastic indicates the genre (flash and fantastic tales/fantasy).

Did I have either of those titles when I began compiling my books for submission? No! Both had alternative working titles. The titles I ended up with came to mind as I was drafting and editing. This happens so I no longer worry about it. I find I have to have a working title for anything I write but am not worried if it ends up changing. I think I just need a placeholder and I work with that.

Most of the time when ideas for alternative titles come up, they are better than the original but it doesn’t always work out that way. When it doesn’t I simply stay with what I first came up with. I always ask myself what kind of impact the title has on me (and therefore on a likely reader) and the strongest impact is always the one I go with.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Friday Flash Fiction is about to run their annual Andrew Siderius competition so do look out for this. I hope to have a go.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later in the month. Will be looking at editing flash fiction for this one. One massive benefit to flash fiction writing is you do learn to improve your editing skills considerably and that can then filter across to other forms of writing you do. I’ve found this to be the case.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Their Moods

Now it’s no secret the books I read often depend on what mood I’m in. When life is grim (and the news even more so), then I will usually go for humorous reads such as works by Wodehouse, Pratchett, and Austen, something I know will make me smile basically. I see it as having something lighter to counterbalance the darker side of life.

But books too have their moods and certain genres play on this to good effect – horror, crime, and thrillers, all indicate the moods of their stories to name but a few.

Now I’m one of those readers where I don’t want the mood the book to match my mood. I like that counterbalance though there are books I will always read regardless of what mood I’m in. For example, I will always find time to re-read Agatha Christie or Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time (which is a fabulous book and the only novel to make me change my view on a historical person, in this case Richard III).

So which books do you use to lighten your mood? Which ones do you read regardless of mood of book or your own mood?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Writing Progress, Word Counts and Anthologies

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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 one image from the 2024 Autumn Gathering run by the Association of Christian Writers. The shot ties in nicely with my belief it is good to write first, edit later. See further down.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely one here. Good weather, able to wear plimsolls and lighter coat rather than boots and heavy dog coat. Nice to see more flowers out. Plenty of stories submitted over the weekend too.

Facebook – General

Hope your Tuesday has gone well. Nice one here and Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum again.

Enjoyed a writing related Zoom last night. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom later in the month. The use of Zoom was one good thing at least to come out of lockdown as it has given alternative ways of having workshops etc and I was especially glad to have these during that dreadful time.

I’m glad to continue to enjoy online and in person writing events. Certainly the Flash Fiction group couldn’t meet in person so Zoom has made more things possible writing wise which I welcome.

Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and it has been another fine day too. So win-win all around there.

Writing wise, I’ve had a productive weekend. Got three stories off to various places. Hope to be drafting more later this week. Made progress on my long term project and I hope to get that submitted this week.

Also later this week, I need to put up a couple of blog posts for different places which are due to appear mid month roughly and latter end of the month respectively. Texts for both need editing and then I’ll create some pictures to go with them but, as with my stories, I draft the blogs and rest them. Then I can see where I need to improve things and there always is something to improve.

I never mind this. It’s the nature of writing.

Another nice day, more butterflies out, and I even spotted a very early bluebell (outside a neighbour’s place). Lady enjoyed her time in the park but this is where I am grateful she does not share one trait with my first dog, Gracie. The footballers were out today and Gracie would have wanted to go on to the pitch to join in. Lady gives them a casual glance and then resumes playing with her own ball, thank you!

Looking forward to starting flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly plus I hope to review and send in a longer short story. Did so too!

One Liner Tip: Ideally keep short and snappy. Think character and action in one short burst, which a reader will know has to led on to something. The reaction from a reader has to be somethlng like now what? Only way to find out – read on, so they do just that to find out what does happen.

For example, how about The dragon blew but no flame emerged. I know I would want to read on to find out what happens next and what does the dragon do?

A lovely sunny day. It was nice to wear lighter clothes, a body warmer and plimsolls (instead of heavy dog coat and boots, makes such a nice change!). I also spotted my first butterfly of the year (believe it was a Cabbage White). Lady loved the weather and her time in the park too.

Writing wise, I will be sharing Writing Competition Tips on Chandler’s Ford Today next week and then after that there will be a wonderful author interview with fellow Swanwicker, Joy Wood. More details on each of these nearer the time.

Have a couple of submissions I want to get out by the end of the weekend. Am also working on a presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month.

Writing Tip: Think about how you can show us your characters in action, so to speak. Rather than get them to run quickly up a hill, get them to race up. You save on word count (important for flash writers especially) but raced is more definite than ran quickly. I can run quickly compared to a snail but that does not say much, I can tell you!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Write first, edit later is one of those tips I wish I’d picked up sooner than I did especially since I now do this all of the time.

For flash especially I just get the story down, sort out any problems with it after having a break from it, and then worry about the word count. I know I have to get the story right first and then I can figure out what to do about the word count.

I often find, when I know I want to write 100 word stories, my first draft usually comes in at 150 or 160 or thereabouts. But usually better ways of phrasing things help me get that count down without losing anything important from the story.

It is the way of it though that I can’t find better ways of phrasing things until I do get that first draft down!

It’s Monday. It’s a lovely sunny one where I am but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then, a darker one this time. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube called Book Ends.

Is Sheila the helpless old lady she seems to be and where do her book ends come into it when she is faced with an aggressive burglar?

 

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice one here.

Drafted a flash piece (a 500 words maximum piece) I hope to submit next weekend. Have stories to review and send in later on.

I am looking through the Flash NANO pieces I drafted last year. One or two I’ve already polished up and sent off but hope to come back to the others in cue course. Most I know I can use.

There was only one I know for sure won’t be seeing the light of day but that’s fine. A duff piece is a duff piece. It was a good exercise to try but nothing more.

How do your characters respond to the seasons? Today has been a lovely spring day where I am and it lifts the mood. How could you use this to help your characters achieve more than they might otherwise have done? Equally can you use geographic and climate conditions to get in the way of your characters and could magic and/or science be used to make this happen deliberately?

Flash Tip: Why not write four stories about one character but set the tales in the four seasons? Compare and contrast your character’s attitude and actions due to whichever season they’re in. Could be some interesting linked flash stories here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Competitions and Their Anthologies

I’ve been privileged to have stories of mine win competitions and appear in anthologies as the prize. Separately, I have had work in other anthologies brought out by independent presses (as these are a great way of highlighting what they publish).

Why mention that? Simply because I want to commend anthology reading. There is the obvious reason I’m in some of course, but I have found reading these books has introduced me to authors I would not have known about otherwise.

I’ve also found reading some of those authors’ short works has encouraged me to engage with their novellas and novels but all because I discovered their work in an anthology first.

Plus I want to encourage short story reading as part of an overall reading “diet”. We celebrate stories here in all their forms so why not check out the shorter forms in a convenient book form?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Writing Tips and Characters and Development

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely to see some sunshine out. And more proof spring really is on its way. Lady has loved that too. Writing wise, have been submitting stories, am prepping another one for a competition, working on blogs and am working on a author interview which will be on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. All good! Hope your week goes well.

Facebook – General

Another lovely sunny day and again Lady had another puppy party with her best pals. All dogs went home tired but happy. Enjoyed my swim too. Good to see more spring flowers out. And yes it is good to be reminded the natural world is far better than anything else, especially at the moment.

The other thing which is better is creative writing, of course, or indeed any form of creative art. Hats off to those who can draw anything because I can’t! Enjoying classical music more than ever at the moment – it does calm.

Writing Tip: Dialogue in fiction has to resemble natural speech but cannot be an exact replica of it. Why? Simply because we all um and ah too much and that would so boring to read in print! The odd one or two, yes, but no more.

Hope your Monday has gone well. Another lovely sunny day today and Lady got to have a puppy party with all of her best pals – the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Hungarian Vizler, and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. All of them had a great Monday! They had a great Tuesday too – see above!

Had a good writing weekend with plenty of work done. Looking forward to the week ahead. Creativity of any sort is good for you, I think. It makes you focus on something positive.

Plan to review a story later this week and then hope to submit it by the weekend. The story is pretty much there but a final review before submission pays off. I see this as my final, final check. Usually it is just to confirm all is okay. Occasionally I pick up an error (the lesser spotted typo!) and I can then amend it, of course. But I factor in time to allow myself to do that and this is another tip I picked up from years back which I continue to use.

Lovely sunny day. Was good to be out and about with the dog, both of us enjoying that.

I’ve picked up a lot of writing tips along the way, as you do, and most of them I still use regularly. Most transfer happily to all forms of writing such as write first, edit later. That one has been a game changer for me.

I remember trying to get each sentence right before moving on to the next and all I managed to do was hamstring myself. I found myself enjoying writing much more when I knew it was okay to write a rubbish first draft, it is what the first draft is for, and it was fine to come back and sort it out later. I’ve not looked back since.

Having enough time away from a piece before judging it properly is another tip I use constantly and again I find it pays off. You can‘t judge something properly the moment you’ve finished writing it.

I found I either I thought it was the greatest thing ever written or, much more often, this is total rubbish, neither of which was true. It was work with promise which needed tidying up, pruning etc. And many of those pieces have gone on to be published thanks to going through that process.

1st March – Newsletter
Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today. I know. How can it be March already? I looked at titles as my theme for this one. I sometimes use those pockets of time we all get to brainstorm ideas for title, opening lines etc. I review them later after a suitable break and write up the ones which still make me feel I have simply got to write this one up.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at The Benefits of Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link to go up on Friday.

Character Tip: We all have certain attitudes towards things, based on personal experience, to an extent how we were brought up, faith (or lack of) and so on. But there will be reasons behind those attitudes so what reasons do your characters have for the attitudes they have? Can anything/anyone make them think again or are they right to take the view they do? Plenty to explore there for story ideas.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you’ve had a good day. Despite the news, it’s not been too bad here.

Flash Fiction Tip: Focus on the lead character and what they do because that is your story. You have to focus on what is the most important thing. I can’t give you chapter and verse in any flash tale, there isn’t the room for it, but I can show my lead character doing one particular thing and that having a pivotal impact on them.

Naturally that will make the reader react but what is fun is deciding what that reaction is likely to be and then working out how to achieve it through your character. So if I want to make a reader smile, I’ll probably get my character doing something a bit daft.

This is one reason I went for a lighthearted story on YouTube yesterday (Socks) aside from feeling we could probably do with some lightheartedness right now.

It’s Monday. It’s a cold but sunny Monday where I am but nothing takes away from it being Monday. Time for another story on YouTube from me then. Hope you like my latest here – Socks. Time for a light hearted one I think!

My character comes up with one plausible explanation for why socks go missing, though it doesn’t seem to please her husband. Find out why here.

Almost time to start my flash fiction Sunday! Have picked a random word from a generator to use as my prompt for this afternoon’s stories. I like doing this because I can often get more than one story out of one generated prompt (or any other kind of prompt come to that) and I can change the mood of the stories too. So I may end up with one funny one, another will be a deadly serious tale, and all from the one prompt. I call this a win!

I have found it to be true the more you write the more ideas come to you. I see this as working the old imagination muscle and it is fun to do. Writing exercises, as I will be talking about in my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week (The Benefits of Writing Exercises), are a great way to work that muscle and are great if you don’t know where to start with your writing. Find a set prompt and give it a go.

Hope your weekend is going well. Pleased to see more daffodils out in my garden and more crocuses emerging too. I have always loved spring but am finding it especially cheering this year to see things like this emerging and reminding me there is a better world out there – the natural one.

Looking forward to Flash Fiction Sunday afternoon – I get quite a bit done in this and it is a highlight of my writing week.

Flash Writing Tip: I find it useful to work out who my character is (broad brush strokes here). For example, I know my character is a lady of a more mature age, likes certain colours in her clothes and other colours for her handbags etc. I then work out the kinds of attitudes they are likely to have.
In this case my character is likely to hate certain colours and won’t wear them.

From there I can work out what kind of events those attitudes could lead them into. Again in this case, I could put this lady into a situation where she must wear a hated colour and cannot get out of it so how does she handle this? Good potential for humour here too but you can mix up the mood as well here.

I can decide if I am going to get a laugh out of my character or take a more serious view in getting her to see how her attitudes can cause conflicts with others and over something relatively silly too. Does she change her ways?

Goodreads Author Blog – Characters and Development

One of the things I love about reading series novels is you can see how characters develop over time. The master on this for me was Sir Terry Pratchett with his Discworld novels. The development of Sam Vimes is magnificent. Start with Guards! Guards! and work your way through to Raising Steam. Men at Arms is an excellent police procedural as well as a funny fantasy and I think it is where you see Vimes come into his own so much more.

Now for short stories and flash fiction this kind of development is harder to do because you literally have far less of a word count to do this in but it is possible. You can have linked flash fiction/short stories where the same character turns up in more than one story, for example. Each flash piece/short story must stand alone but when you read the two more more together you should be able to see how the character has developed, whether it is for good or not.

The advantage to the novel is you can see how the character develops over the course of one novel. A lot can and does happen over one book and even more in a series.

But whatever type of fiction you go for, it should be the characters who grab you and make you keep on reading. I know they do for me. I want to see how they develop and change even if I don’t always agree with how they do so.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Story Endings and Why I Love Creative Writing

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Wet and stormy again here though crocuses are emerging in my garden. Plenty done writing wise which I’m very pleased about. Hope the rest of the week continues to be productive.

Facebook – General

You know I said yesterday Writers’ Narrative was due out soon (see below!), well I was right. It’s out now! Do check out the magazine below.

The theme this time is historical fiction. Plenty of wonderful articles in here sharing useful insights. Time for a good drink and a great read I say. You can find my piece on pages 16 and 17 where I look at how historical fiction can be written for the shorter forms of writing too.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hope you have had a good start to the week. Park so muddy this morning. Lady didn’t worry thought (she never does!) and focused on having a nice time with her Hungarian Vizler pal. Quite right too.

Writing wise, I had a lovely weekend, submitting stories and picking others to edit for competition entries later. Also drafted articles and got on with my longer term project (well, one of them anyway).

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again on Saturday. Yes, it is almost March already! To receive news, tips, story links, prompts etc do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Also Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon. I was right – see above!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope your Sunday has gone well. Nice quiet one here though the wind is getting stronger. Storm due later.

Why do I love creative writing, fiction or otherwise? There is no one answer to that but my love of reading made me want to write stories of my own. Basically, I wanted to see if I could do it and I soon discovered writing is addictive (albeit in a good way).

My love of reading non-fiction has led to me wanting to and then going on to write non-fiction articles and posts. And, of course writing is a creative outlet. I suspect most people have at least one way of being creative and I soon found that writing was the one for me.

Best of all has been getting to make so many writing friends. All of us understand the need to create stories and articles without having to explain why. When we get together in person or online, that is lovely. We do pick up from where we left off!

It will be a little while before I go to my next writing event though, as well as running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this coming week, I’m going to attend an event ACW are putting on in early April, which I’m sure will be encouraging and useful.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Had some sun today which is lovely and have potted the first crocus emerging in my garden.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing The Writers’ Wish List for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. (Well, it will be this writer’s wish list but there will be plenty to agree with and maybe add to via the CFT comments box on Friday!).

Delighted to be Editor’s Choice on Friday Flash Fiction this week with my Best Advice tale. Link here in case you missed it yesterday and a huge thank you for all the lovely comments coming in on this so far.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow too. I have been submitting a number of stories recently which is great. I need to take some time out to look for other possible competitions and I hope to do this tomorrow too. I make a point of checking out the competition background just to reassure myself all it as it should be before I send anything anywhere.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope today has been good for you. Lovely to see some sunshine. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and an old friend, Daisy, whom we haven’t seen for a while.

Writing Tip: You can show something of your characters’ general attitude to life by showing how they react to minor annoyances, you know the kind we all have.

Do they swear like the proverbial trooper when they stub their toes or do they express their annoyance in a less fortnight manner?

How do they react in certain weather conditions? What brings out the worse of them here (and bear in mind in a fantasy story you could have another magical character deliberately make them face this situation knowing it will cause them to react badly).

It’s Monday. It’s been stormy (overnight) and so muddy in the park. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – People Watching.

Just another woman working away in a cafe over a chocolate brownie and tea or is there something more sinister in her work? Find out here.

 

Finding topics for my flash fiction and short stories varies. I use the random generators. I use books of prompts (some have been published by Bridge House Publishing. I’ve contributed to those and there is now a Big Book of Prompts available – see link below).

I also use story cubes. Sometimes a topic is set by the competition I want to have a crack at and sometimes I use a competition theme even if I don’t enter it. (This is usually due to my having discovered the competition a bit too late to enter it but I can still use the topic and get a story out of it. I can find another home for it later).

I like having a variety of methods to “get into” a story (though my all time favourite is working out who my lead character will be and then finding a lovely situation to dump them in – great fun!).


Flash can be punchy, moving, funny, and anything in between those things. You can set your characters anywhere and everywhere including in time, in this world and others you make up. The word count can vary from a few words to a few hundred but as long as you don’t go over 1000 at a time, it’s fine.

You can bring out flash collections, share individual pieces on websites like Friday Flash Fiction, and there are competitions specifically for the form. And you wonder why I love flash fiction! (The fact it is responsible for me finally having books to my name has a great deal to do with it too!).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Endings

A story doesn’t keep its implied promise of a good read until a reader reaches the end of it and then even the magic words The End are no guarantee it was a satisfying read.

A great story ending ties up loose ends and has an appropriate conclusion for the characters involved. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a happy ending but it does have to be “right” for what we have come to know of the characters and the plot line. It has to “fit”. Otherwise a reader will feel “jarred” by that ending and will wonder whether the book or story was worth their time reading it after all, something no author wants to encourage.

Sometimes when I write my short stories and flash fiction, I have the closing line immediately. I have sometimes entered competitions where they give you the closing line and you then work out what must have come before that.

I enjoy this exercise. It makes me think from B to A rather than A to B. I deliberately make myself start stories this way first every so often to encourage my own creative thinking. The huge advantage of course is I know what the ending is going to be. I have an outline (a very rough one) from that alone.

I like to read books and stories where I feel the ending couldn’t have been different from the ones which have been given. To me that is a successful story.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

As the March issue is hot off the press (see above), so to speak, I thought I would share the February issue again here. Double bubble here, folks. Hope you enjoy both magazines. Do subscribe. Link above and in the magazine itself.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Popular Themes – Is There Anything New To Say?

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Lady did – she got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback again. I managed to get plenty of writing done, which always pleases me. Full steam ahead for the week to come, I hope!

Facebook – General

Delighted to be back on Authors Electric. My post this month is called Popular Themes – Is There Anything New to Say?

I thought it would be an apt topic given a certain saint has just had his renowned saint’s day and there are more than a few love stories around at the moment!

I share my thoughts on the importance of bringing something new to the mix and share how my way in to this is via the character(s).

Hope you find the post useful.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope your Monday has been reasonable. It’s not my favourite day of the week by any means but what was lovely this morning was Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and her Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. A great time was had by all.

It seems the scammers were especially busy earlier today as I spotted a couple within the space of a few minutes. Tiresome, tedious and a reminder, I suppose, we all have to be careful. The golden rule of if it seems too good to be true is right here.

Writing wise, had a smashing weekend getting plenty done with story and article submissions achieved. Hope the rest of this week follows a similar pattern!

Lovely church service this morning. Enjoyed that. Lady also got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal unexpectedly after that and both dogs were so pleased to see each. Very sweet to see.

Sent off a story for a competition. Have picked another one to try (and have got a rough edit of a potential story for it too). Had a good evening writing yesterday!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again before too long. I share news, tips, story links etc. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I’ve found adding bits and pieces to my newsletter throughout the month is the best way to write it. I also allow a few days before it is due to go out to check it and to make sure there is nothing missing. I usually pick a theme for the month. The one for March will be titles, a great form of advertising for your stories if you get them right.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope the weekend is going well so far. Still grim, weather wise.

Writing wise, I’ll be discussing Making the Most of an Author Interview for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and plan to share tips I’ve found useful. Hope you will do so too. I also hope to have further author interviews (more news as I get it) and hope you enjoyed the great one with Gill James, which I shared yesterday.

Character Thought: What would a character of yours usually see as nothing out of the ordinary but another character shows them otherwise? What has brought about the chance of perspective and is the second character right in bringing it to attention of the first character or not? What is the impact of the change of perspective on the first character? Do they handle it well or not?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady hit the jackpot this morning in that she firstly got to play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, and then, separately, with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Lovely time had by all. Lady tired but happy. Definitely a good day in her books.

Talking of which, what would be a good day for your characters and could you get some stories from that? A day in the life of can make an interesting take for a story. Works best when kept short so what better format than flash fiction for that?

It’s Monday. It’s cold BUT the sun came out today, hooray! Note to anyone not in the UK – most of us have had several days of grey, murky weather. Okay not unusual for February but it is so nice seeing the sun again! Still time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Listening to Reason.

What do you do when you are fed up with some jerk being incredibly rude to you and in a crowded shopping centre where people are laughing? Well, when you’re in my character’s shoes, you have options you know will silence the jerk and the laughter. Find out what these are here.

 

Will be working on another flash story for a competition which isn’t advertising itself as a flash one but is because it wants a maximum word count of under 1000 words. It pays to look out for these. There are more of this kind of competition than you might think. Also several of the short story competitions have a minimum word count of 1000 words so flash fiction writers could go in for these too if they wished.

It pays to practice reading flash fiction (and indeed other stories) aloud. It is so easy to stumble over something you know well (and even easier on material you don’t!). I use Zoom to record myself when I’m preparing for an Open Prose Mic session or anything like that. It means I go into the event more relaxed than I might otherwise have been simply because I do know I have prepared all I can.

Separately I’ve found reading work out loud, even if not an event, to be useful because it means I can hear how my dialogue comes across and so on. You can hear where the prose seems “heavy” or too complicated and I can then edit accordingly.

Goodreads Author Blog – Flash Fiction

My main writing work is in the field of flash fiction where the longest any story can be is 1000 words. You can pack a lot of characterisation and drama into that limit. As well as having individual pieces published online and in print anthologies, I have two collections of flash fiction books out with a third in the pipeline. The advantage of flash fiction is you get a short sharp read and it can have a huge impact on you because it is so short. It is undiluted fiction, if you like.

Probably the best known of all flash fiction stories is Ernest Hemingway’s famous For sale: baby shoes, never worn. There is a world world behind those few words. Very much punch to the gut storytelling there.

I make a point of reading flash fiction and short story collections in between reading longer works. I want to read from as wide a field as possible and I will always put in a huge plug for the shorter forms of fiction, just as I am doing here! It isn’t just because I’m published in these forms, honest.

Do check out the collections. There are so many fabulous stories to find out there and word count shouldn’t come into your reading choices, I think.

I also think reading long and short forms of writing makes for an interesting reading “diet” for you. I know I love mine!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Publication News and Character Voice

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Good one here despite the weather. Managed to get some stories submitted for competitions. Hope to look at a good competition guide I have to pick others to have a try at soon. All good for encouraging the imagination.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Murky and grey again today but not as cold as yesterday. Lady and I weren’t sorry about that.

Don’t forget I’ll be interviewing the great Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her new book, Natascha’s Story. Gill is author, editor, and publisher and is the brains behind CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing, Chapeltown Books and more.

As well as discussing writing for the younger end of the children’s market. Gill will be sharing thoughts and advice which will be useful to any writer so do check this out when the post goes out later this week.

Writing Tip: If you’re thinking of having an author newsletter, think about what you would want to see in it if you were receiving it rather than writing it. Seeing things from the viewpoint of your audience is so useful (and for your fiction and non-fiction writing elsewhere too).

As well as the content itself, think about how you would want the newsletter to look. Keep it uncluttered but with plenty of interesting things for your reader such as text boxes, bullet points, photos (suitably sourced of course so either use your own or use a free to use photo site such as Pixabay), and white space to make it a pleasure to read.

Gaps (white space) matter because what you don’t want is a huge block of text hitting your reader in the eye. Trust me, it’s off putting and won’t make readers want to read on.

Publication News – 10th February – Freedom on CafeLit
It’s a lovely start to the week for me as I have a new story up on CafeLit called Freedom. Hope you enjoy it. Find out here if Goldilocks really is a reformed character or not.

Hope the day has gone well for you. Busy one here so it is now especially nice to be back at my desk and start writing. Have a couple of stories to review this evening ahead of submitting them for competitions.

Character Tip: How do I know when I have got my character’s voice right? It’s when I can write their dialogue knowing this is exactly what they would say given the circumstances I’ve put them in. Everything rings true.

Sure, later, I’ll tidy that dialogue up as there will be things to strengthen and correct but I will know I’ve got the voice right. This is another reason why I need to know their major trait because a lot of their attitudes and therefore what would say and think comes from that.

Another grim and drizzly day. Lady and I made it around the park in record time. Even she wasn’t sorry.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing a fabulous author interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Amongst other topics, we’ll be discussing the joys and challenges behind her latest book, Natascha’s Story, which is aimed at they younger end of the children’s market. Plus Gill will be sharing wonderful writing and marketing tips plus much more besides. Do look out for this next Friday. Plenty for writers of all genres to enjoy.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to have got stories reviewed and submitted over the weekend. This coming weekend, I hope to look through and pick a couple of other competitions to try.

Plus I will need to think about stories for competitions I usually enter soon too. With competitions coming up in May, June etc it is about now I will look through stories I’ve already drafted and check to see if any are suitable. Often I find something which is and so polish that up and send it in.

Sometimes I will think not and create something new but I do make sure I write new stories throughout the year so I always have a stock to refer to like this. I’ve found it pays (and it is lovely when I find a story which will suit a competition theme – think square peg and square hole here! Very satisfying whether or not it goes on to do anything in the competition itself. You can only give these things your best shot and you do have to be in it to have any chance of winning it).

It has been a grey murky Monday,. But I was cheered by having a story up on CafeLit today (see my other page for the link to that – see above). But of course I am also cheered whenever I share another YouTube video. Hope you like my latest on here called Proportion.

Has Glenda blown things out of proportion or have she and Dave really got a witch stuck in their chimney, broomstick and all?

 

I enjoy submitting stories regularly to Friday Flash Fiction because it has (a) got me back to writing 100 word stories regularly and (b) I like having a deadline (to be in for the following Thursday) to stick to as I find having any deadline means I am more likely to get something written and submitted. 

Competition deadlines are useful for the same reason. You know you have to meet the date to have any chance at all.

Many thanks too for the comments in on my latest story on FFF – Come Back.
It’s going to be flash fiction Saturday afternoon for me this week as I’m out at a village/church event tomorrow. I do hope the weather picks up a bit in time for that!

The challenge of flash fiction is in coming up with so many different and interesting characters. It is the bit I enjoy the most as I’ve always loved creating people for stories.

The first thing I need to know is what makes my character tick because from that I can work out whether they’ll be interesting enough to write about. It is a bit like casting the right person for the right role in a play. Get it right and it will work seamlessly. If you don’t, however, readers/audience members will find your character hard to believe/get behind. (And you as the writer will find to harder to write the story up with any enthusiasm).

When I know what makes my characters tick, I want to feel like I cannot wait to write their stories up. This is a great sign. It shows you that you do have something to work with here and you will be more inclined to get on and do it.

Certainly this has been my experience. So a little time taken out to work out the character first pays dividends, I find.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books, Books, Books

Of all the inventions created by mankind, books are one of the best. I cannot imagine a world without books. Nor do I wish to be able to do that.

Books entertain, educate, inform, can show us plenty about this world we won’t get to find out any other way (not all can travel as freely as they’d like for example), and take us to worlds which will never exist but which are fun to visit for the purposes of a story. I’m thinking Middle Earth and Discworld amongst many others for that!

I never mind about the book’s format. I just want a good story for fiction. For non-fiction I want an interesting narrative which keeps me gripped by the subject. Most of my books are paperback (my favourite format) but I cherish my hardback, audio books and ebooks just as much. All have their advantages.

I have various books I re-read during the course of a year, though for some if I have the story as a film, I will take the story in again that way. I often rewatch Hogfather by the late great Sir Terry Pratchett. I can then read another book by him or another author, having taking in a story I know I will want to take in again at the right time of year, in this case just ahead of Christmas.

But I fervently believe you have to have the books in the first place!

And if you want to check out books and authors new to you, why not check out what your local library has to offer? They are full of the most marvellous books, books, books!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Questions, ALCS, and Publication News

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a nice weekend. Weather was lovely on the Sunday. Pleased my snowdrops are coming out. These are always one of the first signs of spring on the way. Had a fabulous time at the pantomime last week (oh yes I did!) and am looking forward to sharing more about that on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. It’s a joy to support local theatre too.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady had a fantastic one in that she unexpectedly got to see and play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Two tired and happy dogs went home!

Writing Tip: Questions are useful for story writing.

Firstly, you can use them as a title. The fact it is a question will help intrigue readers because the story will have to answer it and there is only one way to find out if that happens – read the story.

Secondly, you can use the question as a theme for your tale so it may not appear in the text itself but you will use it as a structure to help you write it.

Thirdly, you can get your character to ask the question and then have them or another character answer it but you will see there is a structure built in right away. I like questions in stories just for that reason.

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. It’s not my favourite day of the week though today was okay and Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal so she was pleased.

Just a quick note to writers who have articles in magazines with an ISSN number (such as Writers’ Narrative which had its February issue come out on Friday – see link below if you missed it).

Don’t forget if you are a member of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) you can list your articles here and these will add up to what ALCS will distribute in due course. More information about who ALCS are, what they do for writers, and how you can join up can be found at their website at https://www.alcs.co.uk/

A little admin and you can earn some money from articles you write for ISSN numbered magazines so do consider this.

 

Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Nice to see some sunshine. Lady and I have appreciated it when out and about.

Writing wise, I’m planning to share a review of Cinderella as performed by the excellent Chameleon Theatre Company as my post on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. There will be a fabulous author interview the week after that.

As ever, have enjoyed a big stint writing stories as my flash fiction Sunday afternoon though some inevitably end up being longer short stories. I say inevitably because sometimes a character develops and I know I need more than 1000 words in which to explore their story properly. That’s fine. I will just find a suitable market for that story in due course.

1st February – second post

Second post from me tonight is to say I’m thrilled the new edition of Writers’ Narrative has come out and the theme is on non-fiction. I have two pieces in here. One is Writing Non-Fiction: Hints and Tips and the other is Using Fictional Techniques for Non-Fiction.

The magazine is packed full of wonderful articles and useful information but don’t just take my word for it. Check it out at the link below and remember it is free to subscribe to it. Apologies link is in twice this week but it IS a fab read. Don’t just take my word for it though!

1st February – 1st post
Two posts from me on here tonight. First up, just to say my author newsletter went out today. I was looking at the idea of using popular themes for this one. Hope you find it useful.

If you don’t already subscribe, it is easy to do so. Just head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to all of my subscribers, your support is much appreciated.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to say I will have a new flash fiction tale on CafeLit next week. Will share more details nearer the time.

As well as writing flash fiction, I of course, read it and am currently enjoying a wonderful book full of marvellous pieces (Flash Fiction Magazine bring out book length anthologies. Well worth a look).

Naturally, you can also check out mine at my Amazon link which is https://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent

It’s Monday. It has been murky. It is cold. It is still Monday. You know what that means. It is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Mistaken Identity.

Stella was sure she’d recognized Mary but the woman insisted she was called Jane. But if Stella was right, Mary was in the wrong place in the wrong time and why is there a gunshot?

 

I often set exercises for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Some of these I prepare my answers to in advance because sometimes it is useful to see an example already laid out. Others I write my answers to on the night because I love the adrenaline rush of writing to a prompt given with little notice. I find I just want to get on with getting a story down. I know I can improve it later.

And that is the secret to these things. Don’t worry about getting it perfect. That can come later. Just get something written to the prompt. Everyone knows this is a just a very rough first draft. Nobody gets it perfect first go. That thought has cheered me a lot over the years and it still does!

Hope you have had a good day. Cold and murky but at least the dog and I didn’t get a soaking today. We always count that as a win.

Am building up a nice compilation of stories for a potential fourth flash fiction collection. Will add to that when I enjoy my usual flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow!

Am currently resting a longer story for a competition but hope to review that and get that sent off in the next week or so. I so welcome email submissions. When I started out, everything had to go by post. Email for this kind of thing save so much time and money and you know for sure your story has reached its destination okay.

Having said that, every so often I receive a lovely letter in the post from a dear friend -and there is something so special about that. (You can’t beat postcards either).

Incidentally, I have sometimes used the letter format for a flash story. Why not give it a go and see what you can come up with? They’re fun to write. This format is also a great way of ensuring you do have a strong character voice because it is vital to have that to make this format work. You do have to know the kinds of things your character would come up with. But that is huge fun to work out!

Goodreads Author Blog – Watching Stories

I’ve just enjoyed watching a fabulous pantomime, Cinderella, staged by my excellent local amateur theatre company. It was a wonderful evening’s entertainment (oh yes it was!).

Most of the stories I enjoy I do take in via books of various formats – paperback, ebook etc – but there is a case to be made for watching stories on the stage, via film, and listening to them too via radio and audio books.

But watching stories I think is especially interesting. Is what you are seeing on the stage or via a film matching up with what you’ve already imagined if you’ve already read the book or story the production is based on?

For Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the answer to that was yes. The pantomimes are faithful to the original fairytales too though they do bring in extra characters like Buttons. But nothing spoils the original story. And that matters. In an ideal world, those who don’t read much will watch stories and maybe be tempted to check the original books out. I would like to think this happens, at least sometimes.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Link shared above. Hope you enjoy the magazine.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Creating Characters, Famous First Lines, and Writing Tips/Exercises

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the weekend was okay. Stormy weather here – thunder, hail, the works. Perfect weather for staying inside and getting on with the writing though. Even Lady hasn’t been sorry to get back home from her walks the last couple of days or so. Am seeing more signs of spring emerging though which always cheers me.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. I had a great swim but now it’s more than time to be back at the desk again.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out on Saturday. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Looking forward to sharing my blog post, Getting There, on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers tomorrow.

Writing Tip: Flash fiction comes in a great range of word counts and formats up to the 1000 limit. Why not have a go at a one line story? It can be done! Here is one of mine.

Glenda, not having wish granters encroaching on her patch, thank you, and having sealed the genie back in his lamp, grinned as she kicked the wretched object into the sea.
Allison Symes – 28th January 2025

Have fun drafting one-liners like this. Sometimes you could extend them for a longer story. Equally leave them as one-liners and share on posts or via your website as extra reading for your audience (but just bear in mind they will count as being published. I only share here or via my website what I am happy not to share elsewhere).

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. Weather frightful. Caught in hail though thankfully it didn’t last long. Lady did manage to play with her pal Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, so that made the world all right for both of those two.

Very pleased with writing done over the weekend. Have sent a story off for consideration. Picked a story I wrote a while ago which I know could suit a competition. And I did manage to get plenty of blogging done too (to appear at future dates). Also enjoyed Flash Fiction Sunday. Will share my new piece for YouTube shortly over on my book page.  See further down.

Today I’ve completed a survey for the Society of Authors regarding my thoughts over AI. I don’t fill in every writing survey I am sent but this one definitely warranted my attention. They’re emailing all members about this so if your belong to the Society it might pay to look out for this. I saw it as a chance to have my say.

Stormy again here. Took Lady around the park in record time today and even she wasn’t sorry to get back home again. This is about as common as gold dust in these parts – I.e. not at all. Keep safe, everyone.

Looking forward to starting flash fiction Sunday soon. Plus one of my two story competition drafts I have now edited and I hope to submit this later on before turning my attention to the other one. And, yes the gap away did help me spot something which could be strengthened. The break away from a piece of work does pay off.

Busy week coming up but I am looking forward to seeing my local theatre group, The Chameleon Theatre Group, perform Cinderella later this week. That will be fun.

Hope the weekend is going okay.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Adaptations for Chandler’s Ford Today next week, ahead of my going to see an adaptation of Cinderella performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. A review for that will follow. Am looking forward to doing that as the show, I know, will be such fun and I’ll enjoy writing the review because I try to convey something of that fun in the write up.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out again soon. I discuss all things related to flash fiction and short stories, share tips, story links and more. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I need to create characters continually for my flash and short stories, though I do sometimes re-use some in linked tales. This is why I find a simple template useful for this. I can then add or take away from that template as I see fit which in itself helps me create characters who are not formulaic.

For example, for one template, I might “ask” my character what would they never want to do (and then almost certainly I would make them face having to do that thing in a story. Great drama).

For another one, I might “ask” what they find funny and what they don’t and again set them in a situation where this comes out and moves the story on. There will be consequences from what they find funny or not. I will make sure of that.

But in writing down the question to “ask” I find I have to answer it and I also get to start hearing my character’s voice in “their” response.

It’s Monday. It’s stormy. There has been hail. There has been a soggy dog walker (me!). Definitely time for a story then Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube -Being Careful Enough.

When you go to so much trouble to make a new life for yourself on your new world, you know you can’t be careful enough. You know there are portals out there designed to drag you straight back to what you consider to be hell. Find out here how Shiraz, who decided to name herself after a grape, fights back against all attempts to drag her “home”.

Writing Thought/Exercise: Why not have something unexpected arrive in the post, yes good old snail mail, to your character? What is it? Why is it unexpected? Is the delivery a welcome one or not?

Earlier this week I had a pleasant surprise arrive on my mat – a certificate from the National Blood people enclosing my “I’m a 75 donor” certificate and badge. Will happily plug them too – if you can give blood, why not do so? Lives are changed by it (and there are story ideas here too. You could tell a tale about the donor or recipient or both.).

Sometimes with a flash piece, I start with a title (often having picked one to work up from my notes. I use pockets of time to brainstorm ideas for titles, opening lines etc. It pays. It also means I know I can always find something I am likely to want to write up). The title often gives me clues as to the kind of character needed to fit it.

Sometimes I start with a drafted opening line which then usually inspires ideas for the title and the character to fit it.

It’s not a bad thing I mix things up like this. It is good practice for competitions given some of those give you a set opening line to work with, for one thing. For another, it keeps me on my toes and it means I have more than one way into crafting a new story.

Goodreads Author Blog – Famous First Lines

Famous first lines (such as It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) are often used to show writers how to hook your readers from the start. I like to think of it as hitting the ground running. And it I something I try to do with my flash fiction and short stories.

I know when I’m reading I want that first line to draw me in either by setting up an intriguing setting or a character whom I simply have to know more about. Only one way to do that of course – read on.

Naturally that sets a challenge to me to make sure I’m doing something similar when I’m writing. But then this is why writers do have to be good readers too. You do learn from what you read. Gives us the perfect excuse to get our heads in a book as often as possible – I like this!

Of course the best first line in the world cannot support the whole of the following story on its own – the rest has to be pretty good too – but as a way of drawing readers in, you can’t beat it. People look at book covers, the blurb, and the first line. If they like all of that, they are more likely to buy the book.

And from a reader’s viewpoint, great first lines stay with you.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Next issue due out any moment. Hope to share in next post.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.