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.
Wet and windy weather over the weekend, hope all okay with you. Even Lady wasn’t impressed. Other than thunder, she’s not fazed by the weather as a rule. Writing wise, getting plenty done and am looking forward to going to an online book launch later this week too.
Facebook – General
Am off to an online meeting of the Association of Christian Writers later this evening so am posting early. Will be nice to see everyone again.
It’s half term week here so off for an early swim too but it was nice to get that done though Lady was a bit bemused I also had to get her to the park early.
Writing wise, don’t forget it’s nearly time for my next author newsletter, yes the November one, how can it be that time already?
To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com
This time I’ll be sharing some thoughts on using light and dark in fiction, which I also worked on with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last week. But it’s a timely topic and there is plenty to get from it so I hope the thoughts and tips I share in my newsletter will prove useful.
Another murky, wet and windy day today. Lady and I crossed the park in record time. Even she wasn’t sorry to get home. The rest of the day was the usual hectic Monday so that must also mean it’s story time.
Hope you like my latest which I first shared on Substack yesterday – Surprised. I especially enjoyed creating the image for this one. Hope it and the story makes you smile.
Look out for my YouTube story for this week too – the two are linked.
Hope the storms have blown over where you are. Those winds have dried out most places here but there’s a lot of tree debris down. Thankfully no trees down here. Must remember to take the dog out earlier given the clocks went back last night though I must admit I did enjoy the extra sleep.
Writing wise, I’ll be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly and then back to blogging. All done where I can stay cosy and warm too! Have a book launch to go to this week (online) and an ACW event (again online) on Tuesday evening.
Next month will be busy too as I will be back at Salisbury URC for their Christmas Fayre and just ahead of that will be my publisher’s online launch for Seeing The Other Side. I will share a link to that nearer the time (and also via my newsletter).
Character Tip: What would make your character laugh? What influences their sense of humour? If they had one but don’t now, what happened? What changed? Where the sense of humour is fully functioning, how would your characters show this in your stories? As well as amusing other characters, can they make your readers smile too? I hope so!
Hope you’ve managed to avoid the worst of the weather today. I hope anyone who has lost power soon gets it back. Hunkering down out of a storm is easier to come to terms with when you’ve got power, heating etc, and lots of hot drinks and good books to read and/or write.
Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Trick or Treat For Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Looking forward to sharing that one.
My author newsletter will be out again soon and you can sign up at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com
Newsletter Tip: I’ll often share pictures created in Book Brush (which uses Pixabay images) as part of my newsletter and I will take the chance to add additional tips in the text boxes I can put on these. It gives readers more tips they can use and makes the image stand out too.
It’s easy enough to do too. I avoid AI images but Book Brush clearly marks this out, which is useful. So give some thought as to how to make your images enhance the text because a reader will get more out of both of these things if you can do that.
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
Ran out of time to look at editing stories for competitions at the weekend but this coming one should be quieter so I hope to get to those then.
Plus I have a couple of flash fiction pieces from last week’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group I want to work on too.
And I’m off to Hannah Ruth Retallick’s online launch for her new flash fiction collection, Falling Woman, later this week so it will be a good few days on the flash fiction front!
Flash Fiction Tip: There are always open competitions around so it pays, when you have time, to draft stories to your favourite themes and put them aside for a while.
As well as resting them properly, when you come back to them, and there is no obvious other home for them, why not try submitting them to suitable reputable competitions? If you win, fabulous. If you’re listed at all, again fabulous. You’ve nothing to lose here except some time and a reasonable fee.
Another hectic Monday (and another stormy one too) so that means it’s time for my latest YouTube story – Dropping By. This one links to my Substack tale, Surprised. Both were great fun to write.
Meantime, check out Dropping By here.
Just sometimes you have to put your foot down with your sister, even though she is a witch. Find out what happens here.
I sometimes look up the What Happened on This Day kind of websites and have sometimes picked up useful writing prompts from them. For example, if an invention was patented on a certain day, I could give some story thought to what would be the magical world’s equivalent of the invention and the inventor.
Looking at your own photos from your phone can trigger ideas too. Landscapes, for instance, make me think who could be living there, possibly out of sight of humans.
Ideas are around us. The tricky bit is picking out the ones which we know we can do something with. I find photos with humans in them do nothing for me idea wise and I think that’s because I want to imagine my characters for myself. Having something I could use as a starting point for a setting is okay though. I can then picture the characters from there.
Ghastly day weather wise out there but a good day for staying in to read and/or write. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow and I hope to include editing some stories I’ve got in mind for competitions as part of that. Looking forward to a flash fiction launch for Hannah Ruth Retallick this coming week too for her Falling Woman.
Let’s hear it for flash fiction! It is a fantastic format in which to write and an ongoing challenge. Each story has its own challenges to overcome, whether you’re writing to 50 words or 500.
I’ve also got a couple of stories to edit from Wednesday’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group though that will have to wait for a while. Mind you, it is always good to have something to look forward to writing wise as well.
Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Reading
As I write this in late October 2026, the UK has had the first of its autumnal storms. I was a bit miffed one of them was named Storm Austen. I associate Austen with the lovely Jane and her fabulous works, especially Pride and Prejudice. She certainly doesn’t deserve to have a storm share her name. Mind you, there has been a Storm Allison as well and I’m not impressed by that either.
The one positive thing about bad weather it it is the perfect excuse to stay in and read. Now I like comfort reading at the best of times, you know the kind of books you turn to time and again when you need them, but especially during the darker times of the year. If I want dark stories, I’ll put the news on, but for fiction, I want something which at least gives some hope (and ideally some smiles too).
I love Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. So funny, insightful, gets some good digs in too, all of which is done without lecturing the reader and via characters you want to get behind (though in the case of Death you might want him to stick to making a fuss of cats and enjoying a curry). The best fantasy, and that very much includes this series, makes you think about us. When you can do it and make people laugh, even better.
I also find comfort reading via Austen, Wodehouse, and the lighter short stories and flash fiction, all of which have influenced my own writing. The more I read, the more I am inspired by. This is just one reason why writers are always encouraged to read in and out of their own genres. You never know what ideas will spark from what so the wider you reader, the more of a pool your imagination has got to fish from.
And comfort reading will keep you reading, I find. I have to be in the right frame of mind for a challenging book and I want to read to be entertained first and foremost. Being made to think too is fine but I want a riveting good story first.
