Tag: Opening Lines

Once Upon A Time

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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. One image kindly provided by the Hampshire Writers Society where I have been a guest speaker. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy but fun one here and so delighted to hear I’ll be in print again later this year, details below. Lady having a lovely time catching up with her pals and enjoying the lovely weather.

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Am pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time my post is called Once Upon A Time.

I discuss how these famous opening words to classic fairytales can inspire us with our own opening lines. For one thing, they show you don’t need too many words to set a scene, genre, and time scale!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have a good start to the week. Lovely weather here. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today so all is well in her world.

Looking forward to sharing my review of Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor which I went to see performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group last week. The review will be on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. It’s the first time I’ve been to an interactive murder mystery play.

Writing Tip: How easy or otherwise do you find getting into your character’s head so you know where they are coming from here? I find I must be able to do so to understand their motivations properly and be able to write their story up. A few pertinent questions can help here. A good one to always ask is what do you want and why? That alone can give you a good “backbone” for a story.

Publication News
Am thrilled to say my story, The Family Legend, will be in the Magi themed Bridge House Publishing anthology due out later this year. Huge congratulations to all of the other writers who will also be in this book. I share the full list below and it is good to see some familiar names here!

Jane Spirit – A Royal Dilemma
Diana Powell – Adoration
Adam Mizler – Caspar’s Story
Joyce Frohn – Epiphany
Sally Angell – Follow Your Own Star
Michael Rogers – In the Departure Lounge
Margaret Bulleyment – Island Views
Sara Winslow – Lavender
Sara Page – Nativity
Paula Readman – Quizmas Rivalry
Richard Balou – Return of the Magi
Steve Wade – Seosamh, Meryem, the Busker and the Boy
Sharon Keely – Star Over Dartmoor
John Walker – The Census
Allison Symes – The Family Legend
Ian Inglis – The Four Wise Men
Anne Meale – The Gift of Common Ground
Rob Whaley – The Lost Magus of Michigan
Caliman Florentina – The Mysterious Journey of a Soul
Henry Lewi – The Road Trip
Yrev Very – The Second Coming
Liz Cox – They Came from the East Riding on Camels
Sarah Swatridge – Three Wise…Monkeys?
Penny Dale – Travelodge Epiphany

Will share further news such as publication date when I have it. It will be good to be in print again!

Am posting early as busy but enjoyable weekend this time. Hope the weekend is going well for you. Weather forecast for next week looks almost summery which will be nice. Touching to see such a wonderful turnout in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral. TV figures etc will be even higher of course. He will be much missed.

Looking forward to reviewing Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor, recently staged by the fabulous The Chameleon Theatre Group, for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. First time I’ve been to an interactive murder mystery play. It was fun but more on that in my post next week.

Character Tip: What kind of language (and not just swearing!) is your character going to come up with and why? Are there words they always use or words which would never pass their lips?

Give some thought as to why this is and you will find out more about your character, which I’m sure you will find a good use for in fleshing them out more. It is a case the writer always needs to know more about the character than the reader does.

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Am enjoying the sunshine, as is Lady, who got to play with Coco the lovely Labradoodle this morning before it warmed up this afternoon.

Many thanks for the congratulations over my publication news shared the other day. Much appreciated.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow evening. Always good fun.

Flash Fiction Tip: I’ve found it useful to focus on my character and their situation, get that draft down, tidy it up and then and only then worry about the word count. You do need to get your story “right” and I have ended up with a story over the word count of the competition I had in mind but where I really didn’t want to change anything on it. I feel it would spoil something so I simply save that story for another competition instead.

It’s Monday. Okay, it’s a lovely sunny Monday but it is still Monday and time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Pictures.

It is only after her mother’s death Sally discovers why there were never many family photos up at home. Maybe some things were best left hidden after all…

 


Delighted to say one of my longer short stories will be in the Magi themed Bridge House Publishing anthology due out later this year. Meantime will crack on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon!

After the 100 worders, I think my favourite flash category is the 300 words one because that seems to be the word count I write to most often after the good old drabble. It is also a common competition category for flash tales so well practising writing for.

In my collections I have a few stories which are between the 750 and 100 words limit but the majority are either 100 or between 100 and 500. I literally do average out at about 250 or so!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week on Zoom. Will be looking at genres. This is just one aspect to flash I love and take advantage of a lot – the fact I can put my characters anywhere and everywhere in stories so I do.

When I have a competition with a set theme I take time to work out what kind of character would be best suited for it. When it’s an open theme, I work out what theme I ‘d like to write about and then figure out the best fit character from there. You do want a good match up here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Family Stories

What do you think about stories based around families? I loved the Little Women series based on the March family from Louisa May Alcott and still have a very soft spot indeed for Jo. I still have the books (bought from a local newsagent back in the days when they would often stock popular titles. Indeed the Little Women series was part of a “Deans Classic” collection).

I also adored Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series (and again still have a very soft spot for George).

But the novel which always “got” to me was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I loved the whole idea of a story told by the horse and the Gordon family I thought were lovely. (That idea was explored further in the old Southern TV series which was based on the novel and ran with the basic idea while remaining faithful to the spirit of it, not an easy balance to get right, when it was a popular weekend teatime serial and more stories were wanted once they’d finished with the novel itself!).

I don’t specifically seek out family stories though it is funny how many of my childhood favourites are based on them (another one was Heidi).

Mind you, some of the classic fairytales show families which are far from ideal – check out Snow White and Cinderella to name but two!

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope 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.

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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

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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

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Making The Most of a Writing Event and a Great Blogging Week!

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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. Photos of me were taken by Adrian Symes. It is tricky to do the author holding the book picture without camera shake etc.
Hope you have had a good week. Weather up and down though back to sunny and hot at the moment. Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Val Penny on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week – do look out for it. There will be tips on book blog tours too as part of this. Meantime, do check out the THREE blogs I share with you this week!

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How come it is Friday again so soon? Anyway, it’s time to share my latest Chandlers’ Ford Today post and this week I’m looking at the topic of Making the Most of a Writing Event. This is timely given in less than a month I will be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again.

I look why going to writing events is a good idea and share top tips on how to make the best of them. Most of the tips apply to online events as well as the in-person kind. I also share thoughts on what is useful after the event too.

Hope you enjoy the post and, whatever writing events you are going to in the next few months, I hope they prove to be hugely enjoyable and useful.

Making the Most of a Writing Event

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It’s that time again – time for me to share my Authors Electric post. This time I look at Opening Lines. Whatever form of writing you do, opening lines have to lure the reader in and, for the short fiction forms such as flash fiction, I feel they do a lot of “heavy lifting”. You do have to hit the ground running here I think.

I’m also one of those writers who need something to start them off even though that start may well change later. I see opening lines as my way in to a story or article. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and we all enjoyed the sunshine. Coming back home without getting soaked always counts as a win!

Glad to say I am on Gill James’ blog today talking about my involvement with The Best of CafeLit 13. When you send in a story to CafeLit, they ask you to assign a drink to your story. I try to match my drinks to my story moods. You can see what I chose for my three stories in this anthology and much else in the interview.

Good fun to take part in – hope you enjoy reading it. A quick shout out to my other half too for the photos in this. These kinds of shots are difficult to do yourself, what with book in one hand, camera in the other, trying to avoid the dreaded camera shake etc.

 

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I’m delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Time Problems. Some fairy godmother clients aren’t perhaps as grateful as they could and should be. Find out who and why here. Hope you enjoy the story.

Screenshot 2024-07-19 at 09-59-12 Time Problems by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Has been a gloriously sunny and warm day today, much better than earlier in the week when Lady and I had a soaking!

Writing Exercise: Pick a random opening line from a random generator or, if like me you brainstorm ideas for these every so often, go back through your notebooks and find one you like the look of and which you haven’t already used.

Then write a 50 word story to it.

Then have a go at writing 100 words to that line.

Maybe even then write yet another story to this line but this time go up to 250 words.

Once you’ve got at least two stories down, read them out loud (maybe record them and play them back) and see which has the most impact on you. A reader is likely to react in a similar way.

Sometimes I’ve found with this exercise the 50 word one is the best story. Sometimes I do need more words and it is the 100 or 250 worders which I will then submit somewhere. But this is a fun and interesting exercise to have a go at, if only because you find out just how strong (or otherwise) that opening line is.

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A task I am gladly looking forward to fairly soon is working out which new stories of mine I will use as potential reading material for the Open Prose Mic Night at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I couldn’t take part in it last year as it clashed with something else I really wanted to go to but this year’s timetable shows no clashes for me here. Really pleased about that.

I make a point of mixing the moods of whatever I read at whatever venue but also the word counts. So I expect I will end up reading a 100-worder, a 250 type, and maybe a couple of the 50s. It’s a good way of showing the range flash has.

Don’t forget my author newsletter comes out again on 1st August. I share flash fiction tips and stories here, amongst other things. You can sign up at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Fairytales with Bite – The Influence of Fairytales

Fairytales are some of the oldest stories we take in and I recall, with huge fondness, my late mother often reading to me from the Reader’s Digest Fairytale Collections long before I could read these wonderful books for myself. The reason I remember this is so well is my mother read to me consistently and often for many years, even when I was beginning to read for myself.

I owe my love of books and stories to her – very much drummed into me from an early age but something I am grateful for and which feeds into my writing now. Naturally I also watched several of the Disney classic fairytale animated films. All of that has encouraged my love for the form and I write some fairytales myself in my flash fiction and short stories.

But the influence of fairytales goes much deeper than this. Thanks to them, I’ve picked up on the Rule of Three subconsciously. I know in fairytales something happens twice but on the third occasion, something changes and that then usually leads on to the traditional happy ever after ending (Three Little Pigs, anyone?).

I’ve also learned the decrepit looking old man or woman is usually a powerful magical being in disguise and they will be teaching some arrogant so-and-so a hard lesson (The Beauty and the Beast). I’ve also learned to expect justice to be done in some way, and some wrong to be righted in some way (Cinderella).

You then have to learn that doesn’t always happen in life (deep down I knew that even as a kid) but I think one of the comforts of fairytales is it does happen in them.

The other influence from fairytales is they got me reading more of them and then moving on to other kinds of story. All very welcome!

Also fairytales don’t shy away from showing something/someone as being evil. Sometimes the tales act as warnings. Fairytales are honest writing and I love them for that too.

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This World and Others – Access to Books

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite, reading is encouraged to develop when access to books is easy! In your setting, are there such things as libraries? What kind of books would they stock? Can anyone access them? Are there bookshops to purchase your own choices? Again, what would be on offer here?

If you have several communities in your setting, which would each read? For example, I would expect dwarves to read their own histories and legends but are they open enough to read those of other communities such as the elves or the humans they share their world with?

Is the skill of reading universal or limited? Who decides what goes in the libraries and bookshops? (Easy to arrange censorship there).

If your characters can travel around your setting, what would they find in other areas, book wise, they don’t have at home? Do they bring these back with them? Would doing that cause an outcry or would people/other beings welcome the chance to discover things they did not know? Not everyone would welcome that.

Are there any banned books? If so, what and why were these banned and has anyone tried to get around or repeal the ban?

Access to books is something we can easily take for granted. Do your characters do so or do they know they are lucky to have it and make the most of it?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

I’m sharing the link for the November 2023 edition of Writers’ Narrative this time. Its theme was Novels, which was apt for the month of NaNoWriMo (and for flash fiction writers, Flash NANO). I wrote a piece called Writing Novels for this issue, based on my experience of writing novels earlier in my writing life and what I’ve learned from doing that. Do check out all of the excellent articles in here.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Tips and Writing Progress

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a great weekend. Pleased with how mine went – lots of writing and some gardening done (prefer it that way round!). More signs of spring in my garden and elsewhere – do find it cheering. More submissions sent out (in one case recorded and sent out). Good to see signs the daylight is lasting that bit longer. Makes it nicer for Lady’s evening walk.

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Hope you managed to avoid the heavy rain earlier today. Lady and I didn’t! Got a good soaking. March has come in like a lion, as the old proverb says. Can only hope it does go out like a lamb. Mind you, am seeing more spring flowers about so something has got the benefit of all of that rain!

I’m looking at The Task of the Opening Lines for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I like to hit the ground running with my stories and posts and will be sharing my thoughts and tips on opening lines in this post. Hope it will prove useful.

Opening lines don’t necessarily have to be the ones you started with in your first draft either. I often change mine once I’ve had chance to judge my piece objectively. I will often spot a stronger opening line further down so just move things around. Much easier to do this day and age and, yes, I did use to have to literally cut and paste. I really don’t miss that!

Writing Tip: When you’ve got a few minutes and you want to write something but don’t know what and time is short etc., why not grab a notebook and jot down some potential opening lines? What you need is a character, an action, maybe a sense of setting.

For example one of mine is ‘What gave me away?’ Maisie scowled. This is the first line from Visitor Expected (Friday Flash Fiction). You can come back at a later date and work out what could come from your draft opening lines. I like the idea of having something to come back to like this and I get to use up pockets of time for some useful writing after all.

430085170_10161765165057053_271253412308704820_nHope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback girlfriends. All three dogs very happy about that.

Am making progress (finally!) on my long term project and am investigating possible homes for it when I’m ready to submit it.

Making very good progress on a fourth flash fiction book too. A lot of what I do here goes on around the backdrop of my blogging, regular story submissions etc. It means I always have something of interest to work on (I don’t like being bored, life is too short for that). There are certain things I would like to get done by the summer and am on track so far.

I also love writing the short forms of fiction because they give me a lovely imaginative “break” from the longer work I’m doing. Plus I can get those shorter pieces out and submitted and hopefully receive publication credits in the meantime too.

Nothing to dislike here but it does mean planning out my writing time. I have found that pays off. Some days I do write more than others. That’s the way of it but what I want to do is make the most of whatever time I’ve got whether it is ten minutes or four hours.

430034332_10161763489227053_427225652607989573_nHope today is going well for you. Lovely to see some sunshine after the frost this morning.

Looking forward to sharing some smashing author interviews on Chandler’s Ford Today in the next couple of months. More details nearer the time. It’s always a joy to host these as I find I learn so much from what other writers do. I’ve picked up lots of tips on time management for one thing – and these have paid off for me too.

Writing Tip: Put yourself inside your character’s head. What can they see and hear? Why do they feel the way they do? When you know what your character is doing and why, it simplifies writing their stories up. You will know what they would do. You will also know what they wouldn’t. Their reactions will seem like second nature to you too. All useful.

431141358_10161761796432053_2620119523481667258_nHope you are having a good weekend. Good to see some sunshine. A huge thank you for the lovely comments coming in on my latest Friday Flash Fiction story, Visitor Expected. Am thrilled even more comments have come in since yesterday. If you haven’t had chance to check the tale out, see the link. I like the Mrs Harrises of this world. Think you will too.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post for next week is on a topic close to my heart – The Task of the Opening Lines. Especially for flash fiction, the opening line is so important. I like to hit the ground running with my openings because that helps me to make the most of my word count and it also helps to hook the reader in immediately. Link up on Friday.

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I like to mix up the flash fiction word counts I write to because (a) it’s fun, (b) it’s a good challenge, and (c) there are a wide range of competitions out there, all of which want differing word counts. So it pays to be able to turn your hand to several of them!

Have just submitted a flash piece and am working on a sub-300 words piece for another competition. Mind you compared with what I write for Friday Flash Fiction 300 words seems a huge amount!

You do get better, over time, at judging word counts when you see something written (on paper or in screen). When I guess, I am usually within 30 words or so. But being able to visualise what different word counts look like is handy as it helps me to gauge for this story I might need three paragraphs, for another I might only need the one. So just knowing that gives me a rough story structure immediately.

429761854_10161765175692053_6716777998577770161_nIt’s Monday. The heavy rain’s back. It’s Monday. It’s time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube -We’re Off.

 

Motivation is vital to the success of character portrayal in any story. In Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I have a character who is out for revenge because their boss put them on a duty they really did not want (Camping It Up). I ended the tale with their revenge carried out but if I had decided to write a longer piece here, I could have had the consequences of that revenge come home to roost for my character. That would have been as understandable and believable as the character’s initial wish for revenge.

When I do use revenge as a motive, regardless of length of story, I always ensure there is a good reason behind it. You have got to understand where your characters are coming from. You don’t have to agree with them though and I often don’t agree with mine!

431237964_841544844652045_7168468588543625191_nI occasionally write flash in poetic form. It’s good fun to do and an interesting challenge. One example of this is Choices in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. The key point is I always work out what the story will be first and then decide whether it would suit a poetic form and, if so, which kind.

I usually go for four or five line stanzas with a simple rhyme scheme as I have a soft spot for rhyme. (I’ve read some spectacular free verse by the way but my preference always has been for rhymes).

The editing challenge here is interesting too as I have to ensure my syllable count is consistent. Where I need to change words to fit that, I still need to ensure it makes sense for the story. Basically the joins shouldn’t show!

Writing a flash piece in poetic form is an interesting writing challenge too. Why not give it a go?

Forms by Allison Symes
This writer says give poetic flash a go.
But do remember you will still need to show
A proper tale with a start, middle and end.
Check all is well with your words before you send
Your story out there into the big, bad world.

Allison Symes – 2nd March 2024

Tripping The Flash Fantastic - by night

Goodreads Author Blog – Taking In Stories

One of the things I love most about stories is there are so many ways to take them in. My favourite will always be the paperback, followed by the hardback, followed jointly by ebooks and audio. I especially love audio books for long journeys and will look forward to hearing some old favourites again when I go on holiday later in the year.

But don’t forget audio itself comes in more than one medium. Stories on radio work astonishingly well, whether they are readings from books or plays (which are scripted stories). Also film and TV can share stories amazingly well.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson got members of my family into that terrific story. They would never have read the book. I had read it, loved it, and thought the film trilogy did the original justice. (Though I must admit I would have liked the films to have included what really happened to Saruman after Sauron’s fall).

I also love the fact adaptations to help breathe new life into classic books. Win-win for the written word there I think.

Screenshot 2024-03-02 at 17-15-32 Taking In Stories

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Getting Lines Right

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Had a lovely trip out with other half and the dog on Friday. Did us all the world of good. Looking forward to running a flash fiction workshop for a writing group on Saturday. Plenty of editing work done too so a good week here.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at opening lines and suggest ways to create memorable ones. Hope you find it useful.

Getting Lines Right

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Must admit the temperatures have come back to the level the dog and I prefer – early 20s. Starting to see the autumn leaf colour change. There is a fair amount of Virgina Creeper in my part of the world and it is lovely seeing that turn to red at this time of year. Mind you, the wildflower meadow in our park is still in full bloom so summer hasn’t quite had its last hurrah.

Am looking at Getting Lines Right on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and will run a flash fiction workshop on Saturday morning on Zoom.

Writers’ Narrative will be out again before too long. Written by writers for writers it is packed full of information. If you want to sign up to make sure you get the forthcoming October issue (and future ones of course) do sign up at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

 

Lady got to play with the lovely Coco, Kyaha, and Kitima today. Fabulous “puppy” party had by all. Three happy but tired dogs went home. It is lovely watching them being so pleased to see each other.

Looking forward to sharing Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Will be looking at opening lines especially. Hope it will prove useful to people. Opening lines are crucial hooks for any form of writing but for the short forms especially flash, they really do have to punch their weight. I’ll be sharing some thoughts and tips in my post on Friday. See above.

When I am writing my first draft, I jot down what I think will be a good opening line but I inevitably end up changing parts of it later when I realise with the character in mind, a better opening line would be this rather than what I started with. That’s fine. I just need something to kick me off and I expect to change things. What matters for me always is getting started. The fine tuning happens later.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction is Time Travel. Hope you find it moving. My sympathies here are with both characters.

Screenshot 2023-09-15 at 19-00-56 Time Travel by Allison Symes

I sometimes start a flash fiction piece (and indeed a longer short story) by asking a question or getting my character to do so. It is an excellent hook to lure the reader in because that question has to be answered in some way by the end of the work. So story structure is set up as well here – win-win as far as I’m concerned.

The question has to intrigue in some way (and I look more at this in my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Getting Lines Right which will be live tomorrow – see above). But this can be a simple intrigue.

In my The Recruit (from Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I get my character to ask Can Jim do this? The story then takes off from there given the intrigue is what the answer to that question is, who is Jim, and why does this matter.

BB - Flash with a Dash for TTFF
I often read some examples of my published flash fiction work when I run a workshop on flash. I do this and then break down how I wrote these pieces. When I’ve read author interviews where they do this, I found I learned so much from it.

Understanding why someone has done something with their writing is a great way of working out whether that would work for you or whether with slight adjustments to the technique, you can get something which would suit what you do. I know I have learned so much this way. It’s a fun way to learn too as you get to listen to or read stories too!

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Fairytales with Bite – Magical Malpractice

In your setting, what would count as magical malpractice? If you had a world run by old style evil witches, would they consider any magic used to help others or overturn evil to be magical malpractice?

In a world where there is a balance between evil and good magical powers, what rules does each side stick to (mainly to prevent their world falling apart altogether. For me, that would be the only reason the evil side would agree to any such rules. If their own survival depended on doing so, you would think twice about wrecking that, wouldn’t you?).

How would each side govern its own? What would a fairy godmother, say, have to do to be seriously out of step with her colleagues and her ultimate boss? What would her punishment be? Losing one’s wings could take on a whole new meaning here.

Likewise on the evil side, what punishment would there be for someone who stepped out of line there? It is mind boggling to think what would count as being out of line but there would be something – mainly challenging the boss for power I would have thought.

But there would be a great story in working out how that could happen, what happened to be the being trying it, and if they were being what we would know as a stalking horse for someone else.

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This World and Others – Accountability

Who is accountable for what in your magical setting? Ultimately there will be some “head of state” but what about lower down? How is your world governed? Do “ordinary” beings get to have any say in how this is done?

When things need to change, as inevitably they do from time to time, how is this done? Peacefully or by violent overthrow? Would this mirror what we know here (given we have both types of change of government on our planet)?

In more “ordinary” settings, such as in towns and villages, is there a system of local government? How are things done? Who is responsible for ensuring these things get done? This can take in everything from ensuring people/beings get to eat (and therefore dealing with supplies) to managing the local Council budget. If money isn’t used, what would be?

Where folks have got power, is there a way of ensuring they use these things properly? Even the smallest of villages will have some sort of pecking order. In a magical setting, does the magic help things run more smoothly or make things more difficult? If magic goes wrong, how would that change the running of things? Who would be held responsible for things going wrong?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES


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The Point of Fiction

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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. Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking the image of me at the Book Fair.
Glad to say it has cooled down a bit since last week. Lady isn’t sorry about that either. Pleased to say I’m running a flash fiction workshop again on Saturday courtesy of Zoom. Looking forward to that.

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Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler friend today. The latter doesn’t mind. Lady loves it of course. It is a bit like showing off to Mum given the Vizler is older than Lady. But both went home feeling all had been put right with their worlds at least!

There is an Amazon offer on From Light to Dark and Back Again at the moment. See the link for more details.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover recently my short stories have appeared in almost 20 different anthologies (and when the Bridge House Publishing anthology comes out later this year it will be 20!). Yes, they are on my ALCS listing. I add new books to which I’ve contributed to this listing as soon as I can. It’s easy to do and it helps boost the money I receive from ALCS every March. Win-win there and if you are a published writer not on the ALCS system, do look into it.

11th September 2023
To all who mourn those killed or injured in the dreadful events of twenty-two years ago, my deepest sympathies. We will remember them.

Memories, of whatever kind, can make a wonderful theme for stories, whether these are thoughtful pieces or more humorous ones. Think about why your character remembers what they do (or who of course). Why are they recalling this (or them) now? Is it something they have learned to come to terms with, as best as anyone can? Are their memories reliable? What do other characters in the story think?

Memories are something any reader can identify with – we all have our own so will identify with a character recalling theirs. Great empathy can come from stories like this. The world needs much more empathy. Maybe in a way story writers can play their part here.

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Cooler today. Have had some rain so the air is a little fresher. Lady and I are not sorry about that.
I’ll be looking at Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. I will take a close look at opening lines especially. Looking forward to sharing that. Will be running a workshop next Saturday morning too. All good fun!

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Heaven Sent, my most recent story on Friday Flash Fiction. See link in case you missed it.

The 100 word story (also known as a drabble) was my introduction to flash fiction many moons ago and it is lovely returning to writing them regularly for Friday Flash Fiction. Am so enjoying doing this. Screenshot 2023-09-08 at 10-04-53 Heaven Sent by Allison Symes

Another hot day here. This was on 9th September. Weather changed the next day! We’re all staying as cool as possible. Lady got to see her best friend, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, when it was cooler. Both dogs happy about that. Friends matter!

Looking forward to sharing a workshop next Saturday morning. The beauty of Zoom? No travel on hot sticky days! One blessing for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event being in December is that hot sticky days will not be an issue!

I know now my story for a literal festival competition didn’t make the cut but I will take another look at this tale at some point and see what else can be done with it before submitting it elsewhere. Sometimes I find I need to make amendments. Sometimes I don’t.

Having been a competition judge, I know how difficult it can be to produce a short list. So take heart if your story doesn’t do anything in a competition. See it as another opportunity to refresh it and re-submit it. A turn down doesn’t necessarily mean there was anything wrong with your story but taking the chance to have a second look at it may well help you see where you could strengthen it here, strengthen it there. That has been my experience.

Writing Advice

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My favourite sort of flash fiction is the drabble – the 100-worder – and it has been fantastic getting back to these for Friday Flash Fiction in particular. But I am also very fond of the sub-500 words kind. It is worth practicing writing to this kind of word count as it is a common format for competitions.

Also easy to share (if you wish) on your website, newsletter etc as they don’t up too much space and are quick and easy to read. I save some of mine for this but also put others towards a future collection. Marketing and a first draft for another book in one go here!

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It has been a hectic Monday (though thankfully cooler than last week. Given I’ve been batch cooking today, I appreciated that!). Definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – One Day My Spell Will Come.

 

One of the things I look for in an opening line (which is something I’ll talk more about for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday) is whether it hooks me enough to make me want to read on. It has to provoke the “have got to find out what happens next” moment.

This can be done via something intriguing about the character, setting up a dilemma which has to be resolved, or even setting a question the story would have to answer by the end. In Being Yourself from Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I start with Jane Stephens suppressed the urge to scream. I would hope that would make people want to read on to find out why!

I do know if I’m not intrigued by an opening line of mine, others won’t be either. It is a great motivator to come up with something good!

 

Occasionally I write a flash piece which could be termed as horror. For me, the best horror isn’t all guts and gore but implied menace. The reader can then imagine what that menace looks like etc and does a grand job of this. I do it too when I watch a suspense film. Sometimes at least what I imagine is going to happen next is more scary than what does happen in the movie!

In my story Pressing the Flesh in From Light to Dark and Back Again, I imply references to Burke and Hare (bodysnatchers) and my character being inspired by that. Yet I do not use anything gory here. To my character their actions make sense and maybe that is the scariest thing of all. Maybe that is where true horror does lie. Certainly we can learn from our own history here when someone believes themselves to be so right they can do anything so go on to do so. You could argue we are seeing it again.

The point of fiction, including horror, is to entertain, helps us escape our cares for a while, but it can also show us something of our human nature. Horror can be brutally honest here. But it doesn’t need to be guts and gore to make us think about what we as a species can be capable of.

After all there are some horrific moments, when you stop and think about it, in the nursery rhymes and fairytales most of us would have grown up with, which most consider would and should act as warnings.
Would still like to know though why Little Red Riding Hood didn’t spot that wasn’t her granny in the dress and cap. Did she honestly think her granny was that hairy? Maybe LRH should have gone and got her eyesight checked at Specsavers! (Other opticians are available, as they say! Probably best known ones here in the UK though).

Advantage to flash is setting characters anywhere

Goodreads Author Blog –

Writing and Reading – The Inseparable Joys

I have long felt writers have two joys in life – writing and reading. Most writers are inspired to write because of the books they have loved reading. Ideas for stories have sparked from what we have read and you develop this urge to write your own. Sometimes that urge can come from reading a “duff” book and wanting to do better. Better though is when an inspried story encourages you to write.

My first venture into print was with a reworked fairytale told from the viewpoint of Cinderella’s youngest step-sister. That came out in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing) in 2009 – my story in there is A Helping Hand.

But without the original faurytale I loved (and still do), I couldn’t have written my tale. We do stand on the shoulders of giants here. We build on what has gone before. And that means we have to read more. Don’t have a problem with that!

What I have found in recent years is that inspiration for stories can come from something I’ve read in non-fiction too. I have welcomed that development as I love reading fiction and non-fiction.

 

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Publication News and Writing Up from My Notebooks

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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.
Hmm…back to the wild and stormy weather again. Am grateful Lady doesn’t mind being dried down when we get in. She sees it as a chance to have a cuddle. I get her dried. Just a pity I don’t dry off so easily and quickly but never mind! Am delighted to have publication news to share this time though.

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Publication News: Am pleased to say I am back on CafeLit with my story Untaken. Hope you enjoy it (and it’s a warning to beware of thorny hedges with special properties – see the tale for more!).

Screenshot 2023-04-11 at 20-17-17 CafeLitMagazine

After a gloriously sunny Easter weekend, it has been an odd day weather wise today. Have had rain, hail, torrential rain, strong winds, sunshine etc. Just need snow now and we’ve got the set. (Has not been unknown to happen either!).

Looking forward to sharing Using Time For Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will also be reprising my role as CFT arts correspondent when I go to see The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production of spring plays later on this month (called aptly enough Spring Trio). More nearer the time.

Many thanks for the lovely comments continuing to come in for Which Way?, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. I do find the feedback on this site useful and encouraging. Also good to see familiar names on here too.

 

For all who celebrate Easter, I hope you had a very happy one!

Am enjoying listening to the Classic FM Hall of Fame as I write. I hope my three choices end up playing on the final day of this, which is tomorrow. They did last year! One of mine was in the top three too.

Publication News: Am also thrilled to find out today I will be in The Best of CafeLit 12, which will be out later this year. Always great to have publication news. (And a story of mine will be on CafeLit as well during this coming week. Looking forward to sharing the link there when I can).

A huge round of congratulations to the other authors will be in CafeLit 12 with me too!

Publication News

Lovely sunny day, Lady had a great time at the park, and loved being able to have lunch with my other half in the garden for the first time in months. Lady loved “hoovering” up too.

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on Which Way?, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. In case you missed it, do check it out here. I rather like my character, Betty, in this. See what you think.
Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 09-12-58 Which Way by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you have had a good day. Lady, my better half, and I all got rather soggy tonight. This is where I am pleased writing is an indoor activity – in the warm and dry!

I did okay in the Classic FM Hall of Fame this year. One of my pieces went down one place, another went up by one place, and the other stayed where it was last year! One of my chosen pieces was Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens. I remember this piece from the old quirky detective series, Jonathan Creek, but I do have another reason for loving it. See link!

It’s Easter Bank Holiday Monday here where I am but it is still time for a story. Hope you enjoy Super Soaker, my latest on my YouTube channel.

 

Have had a lovely Easter Day at church and then came home later to find out I will be in The Best of CafeLit 12 later on this year. (Also thrilled to see friends of mine will be in there too). Now that is a nice start to the week ahead!

I’ve talked about jotting down promising opening lines in those pockets of time everyone gets (aptly) from time to time. I’ll be talking more on that in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week but a good follow up question would be, “Allison, do you actually write up those opening lines into stories?”.

Yes, I do. Some of those stories have ended up in my flash collections (From Light to Dark and Back Again/Tripping the Flash Fantastic). Others have ended up on Friday Flash Fiction, CafeLit or my YouTube channel. But they do get written up. Not always immediately, I admit. That doesn’t matter though. Indeed a break away helps convince me this opening line really does have the promise I initially thought – and that’s a good thing, always.

Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 21-11-21 Allison Symes

Hope you have had a good day. I’ll be looking at Using Time for Fiction for Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday. Always a timely topic!

One thing I think should go into the Murphy’s Law of Creative Writing is when you start a writing session slowly, time seems to drag a bit. You then find your “spark” and get cracking and then time speeds up and before you know it, it is time to stop. I guess time must reflect state of mind here. I do know it can be a pain at times.

Glad to report I will be back on CafeLit next week. Looking forward to sharing another story with you from there early next week.  See above.

 

Goodreads Author Blog – Humorous Books and Stories

I love humorous books and stories. As well as treasuring the works of Wodehouse, Austen, and Pratchett (now there’s a trio for you!), one of my favourite books is The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose compiled by the much missed humorist and all round good person, Frank Muir. (I remember him from the TV show Call My Bluff and he was an early pioneer of BBC radio comedy with his writing partner, the equally missed Denis Norden).

The book is huge (and not to be dropped on your foot if, like me, you have the hardback edition) but it is a riveting read. Also perfect for dipping into when you need a quick “humour fix”. Can’t recommend highly enough.

The reason I mention it is because my late mother taught me to read at an early age and I inherit my love of books and stories from her. The one thing she never really got though was humorous writing. No idea why. Just didn’t work for her at all. The nearest she got to it was with Jane Austen. Yet she read sci-fi, crime, thrillers, Du Maurier, Dickens, all sorts, and fantasy. She loved the Terry Brooks series of fantasy books. Me? It was Terry Pratchett all the way here!

Which humorous books would you recommend? Do you have any “blind spots” with regard to reading?

Screenshot 2023-04-08 at 20-46-23 Humorous Books and Stories

ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE – 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Time, Lines, and a Petulant Goose

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good few days. It’s got off to an odd start for me as the title above confirms.

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Hope you have had a good Tuesday. Had a most enjoyable swim earlier. When I started swimming more often I thought I’d be using the time in the pool to work out story ideas, dream up further ideas and so on. Not a bit of it. My mind tends to go blank when swimming! Make of that what you will!

I’ll be looking at Quizzes and Word Games for my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. I’m fond of word games so this post was a particular pleasure to write. I suppose it makes sense that a writer unwinds by playing with words!

Many thanks for the continuing comments in on Moving On, my latest Friday Flash Fiction tale. The feedback on this site is so helpful.

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Glad to say the August edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now out. Treat yourself to a free read. Plenty of fascinating articles and stories here. I talk about Funny Flash Fiction this time and share useful tips here. As well as setting a flash fiction challenge in my column, I respond to it myself so you get a story from me here too – and do check out the wonderful tales that came in as a result of the challenge.

Screenshot 2022-08-01 at 19-26-15 Mom’s Favorite Reads eMagazine August 2022

Is there ever enough writing time? Probably not but I suspect the answer to this dilemma is working out how to make the best use of the time you have got. In my smaller pockets of time, I’m jotting down blog ideas, story titles, possible opening lines etc. In my longer pockets of time. I’m writing those ideas up! I also plan my week around my Chandler’s Ford Today post. Generally I have that written and scheduled by Tuesday. I then start work on the one for the following week.

I plan my monthly blogs so I have them ready in good time. I like to have those scheduled at least a week before due date. Now life gets in the way sometimes but giving myself this leeway means I still have a few days to get something in and I like knowing that I have this safety net. I rarely have to use that safety net. It is a relief to have it when I do.

So yes I outline my writing time too and have found doing that pays off.

Also my next author newsletter goes out tomorrow. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter has gone out but new subscribers are always welcome.

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Hope you have had a good Saturday. Looking forward to catching up with some Swanwick friends on Zoom tonight ahead of seeing them in person again soon.

Many thanks for the comments in on Moving On, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Don’t forget comments are welcome over on my Chandler’s Ford Today blog post pages as well.

I do enjoy getting my monthly posts together for Mom’s Favorite Reads and am just putting the finishing touches to my piece for September. My piece in the August edition, which is due soon, will be about Funny Flash Fiction, which is is also a joy to write.

Screenshot 2022-07-29 at 09-28-29 Moving On by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Further to yesterday’s post and in breaking news, the goose came back!

Again I was hissed at. The dog turned tail and ran (back into the house). Yours truly scared the goose off into the wooded bit of the garden with the aid of a garden broom. Am not having my dog too scared to go out into her own garden. My herding skills were okay (I have clearly learned something from my collies over the years). Most annoying thing of all – I can’t write this up as a story. It’s a bit unbelievable, isn’t it?!

The goose is fine, Lady is fine, I’m fine, but I still don’t get why this bird isn’t flying – it isn’t injured and its attitude – well it would have that anyway. There is no sign of injury or anything like that. Have shut the garden gate on it so hopefully that will send it back to where it should be at the lakes about a mile away from where I live where there is a colony of geese and ducks.

They say you can’t make it up. Well, as a writer I would dispute that. It is a question of whether you can use the material at times!

In other news, am looking forward to getting my copies of The Best of CafeLit 11.

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It’s Monday. It has been a long, hot day. It has been an odd Monday. I got hissed at by an irate lost Canada Goose in my own garden this afternoon. There are a group of them on nearby lakes and it clearly had got lost. I am betting it is male and didn’t want to ask for directions!

Why the barking of Lady didn’t persuade it here was not a good place to be I don’t know but it did wander off eventually. (Lady would happily have chased it off but one slightly bonkers dog and an annoyed goose did not seem like a good combo to me!).

So as I say it has been a long day. It’s Monday when all is said and done. Definitely time for a story. Hope you like Acting Your Age, my latest on YouTube.

 

PS. Will keep you posted if anything odd turns up here tomorrow. Am hoping not though I suppose I can always get a flash story out of it. See above – The Goose Came Back! Not a typical day or two in the life of a flash fiction writer, I can tell you!

Understanding what makes your characters tick
Wow, another month gone. It won’t be long before I’m writing my festive flash pieces!

Am not kidding. For the short story market, you have to work on these much earlier in the year than I need to on my festive selections. But it still pays to give yourself plenty of time to write and hone your festive flashes so around summer/early autumn is not a bad time to start on that.

I find having a rough schedule to write to means I produce more finished writing. I like that aspect.

While flash is shorter prose, it still takes time to edit and hone. I can get a draft down relatively fast but it is the editing that takes the time. And that is how it should be too, no matter what you write. The writing is in the re-writing.

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Opening lines have to intrigue the reader enough to make them want to read on. This is even more important in flash where you do have to hit the ground running. You don’t have the word count room to expand on things later. In my The Silence (Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I start with It was the perfect way to shut up Mr Know-it-all.

I imply questions here – hopefully the reader will want to find out what the perfect way is, did it work, and who is the character behind this. Sometimes I use questions directly as opening lines but implying them also works well. It is key to provoking reader curiosity, that have got to find out what happens here moment. And then the tricky bit – delivering on the promise to answer here!

This is a key reason why I outline. I set up the question. I want to know in advance what the possible answers could be. It means I know where I am heading as I draft the tale. And I always go for the answer that makes me go “wow” – If I do that, it is likely someone else will. Naturally my hope here is that someone else will be a publisher, editor, or a competition judge!

Tripping The Flash Fantastic - by night

Goodreads Author Blog – Reading Between the Lines

I write as well as read flash fiction and implying happens all the time here. You do get your readers reading between the lines all the time. You just give them what they have to know to be able to do that.

With my reading hat on, I love having to read between the lines. Crime writers do this constantly too – give us clues to work things out and you accept some of them will be red herrings. All great fun.

I don’t want tonnes of description. I just need enough to be able to picture the character and the setting. Specific details often work better anyway. A moth-eaten chair conjures up a stronger image than just saying an old chair. (Well, how old? Are we talking antique here or something that is only 30 years old?). ]

Specific details matter. Whenever a writer put them in, I am looking to see how important these things prove to be later on in the story. They usually are important. At the very least they have significant meaning for the lead character and that’s the important thing (if only because their opponent could use that against them).

I love reading between the lines then. The great stories encourage this I think.

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Opening Lines, Dialogue, and Persistence

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. I use Book Brush for captioning etc. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of Lady.
Hope you had a good weekend. My part of the world is experiencing a heatwave at the moment. Lady and I don’t really “do” heat so won’t be sorry when it cools down again.

BookBrushImage-2022-7-12-20-2651Facebook – General

What do I look for when reading a story by someone else and what can I learn from it for my own writing?

The main thing I look for is how the story made me feel. I then look at why it achieved that. I can then go back over the story (especially if it is a short story or piece of flash fiction) to look at how the author achieved this. It will inevitably be to do with how they portrayed the character.

I sometimes have fun trying to spot the turning point in a character. Sometimes the odd line will prove to be really important to the story later on and I like trying to guess what these might be. Sometimes I guess correctly.

A lot of the time I haven’t so I go back through the piece to see if I can work out whether I should’ve guessed correctly. You can learn a lot from doing things like this, including how to plant your own red herrings when the need arises!

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Wow! What a warm Monday! You’ll be glad to know Lady is fine, drinking plenty, and staying out of direct sunlight. It’s about the only time she is ever remotely sensible, not that I am sorry about this. She got to see her best mate, the Ridgeback, briefly this morning before it really heated up, which cheered both dogs up.

I suspect her buddie, like Lady, has spent the rest of the day curled up somewhere cool, pausing every now and then to get up and have a good drink. It truly is a dog’s life…

I mentioned last week I’d found a title for my “X” feature for this week’s In Fiction series for Chandler’s Ford Today. Drum roll please… it is going to be (E)xcellence in Fiction – now before you all start shouting at me and saying I am cheating here, let me just say one thing.

You’re quite right!
Am I sorry? No!

I did consider other options such as X-Ray Vision and Other Special Gifts In Fiction. Now I could have written a post on that but obviously It would be heavily weighted in favour of sci-fi and fantasy writing so I thought a broader topic more people can get more out of would be the better idea. Link up on Friday.

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Writing Tip:

Keep it simple is a good maxim to go by for writing dialogue. I occasionally have a pompous character who won’t use contractions or will use complicated words and everyone else around them is wondering what on earth they’re going on about. Keeping the dialogue simple helps increase pace. Your characters can share information more quickly.

It is especially important in fiction for characters to get to the point – readers want to find out what happens after all. We all know those who “go around the houses” a bit in their speech – that’s fine for people we know. It’s not fine in stories. Readers will switch off. When you need a character like that, use the verbosity every so often. Readers will get the idea this character is like that but at the same time won’t be bored to ears by them either. They know to expect it.

I find the more verbose characters work best for humorous pieces (and ideally the story is on the relatively short side too. You don’t want to run the risk of the joke wearing thin long before the reader gets to The End).

Characters can bring each other up to date with story events via dialogue

Hope you have had a good Saturday. It was still well into the 20s temperature wise late last night. Thankfully Lady tends to crash out after a busy day and she loved her time down in the West Country yesterday.

The other half and I decided a day out would do us all the world of good and we had a fabulous time. Nice coastal breeze too. (We always carry water for Lady wherever and whenever we go out, including our local park, so she always has plenty to drink. She enjoyed some paddling yesterday – as indeed did I!).

Comments still coming in for Respect, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Many thanks, everyone. It seems people agree with my character’s attitude to nobody disrespecting her cat! See the link in case you missed the story – and beware the cat!

Do you have a particular kind of character you love to write about? I like the feisty underdog type of character. You know, the one most would overlook or dismiss as being unimportant yet who turns out to be the most important of all. I think this love comes from my love of fairytales and my faith too. (See Matthew 23: 12 – For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted).

Many stories revolve around a “turn around” in fortunes and so often with fairytales, the attitude of the main character will often dictate what happens to them. In Beauty and the Beast it was the arrogance of the prince that got him turned into a beast in the first place.

So what can you do with your characters that acts as a “had this coming” moment and can they redeem themselves or be redeemed someone else? Being redeemed I think for me gives a truly happy ending/happy new beginning.

20220708_122648Screenshot 2022-07-08 at 17-15-37 Respect by Allison Symes

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am delighted to say I’ll be giving a flash fiction workshop online in September. Looking forward to doing that. I share news and tips on flash fiction writing via my author newsletter as well, which goes out on the first of the month. If interested, please head to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com where you can sign up.

I used a random noun generator to help me write my latest YouTube story, Crumbs! Link to video below.The words which came up were cookies and road. I love using the random generators as they’re great ways to get prompts for stories you might not otherwise have thought to write. I also like to mix up which ones I use and all of them are helping me to increase my productivity so win-win there.

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It has been a very hot Monday on 11th July 2022, hasn’t cooled down much since. Time to relax a bit. Hope you enjoy Crumbs! which is my latest YouTube video.

How many stories had I written before getting into print for the first time in 2009? I don’t know to be honest. I wasn’t keeping count of all those rejections! However, it would not surprise me if it was a considerable number.

Where I could get feedback, some competitions offered it, I always took it. I learned a great deal from that, as well as from reading writing advice columns in magazines and reputable websites. Listening to/reading author interviews was also enlightening here.

I was, and still am, greatly encouraged by those stories of people taking a long time to get into print and then they do it. I then became one of those people!

So it pays to persist, it pays to read up on your craft, go to writing events etc. The one thing nobody can give you is the determination to do all you can to improve what you do which greatly enhances your chances of publication. (It is a question of chances.

Always be wary of anyone guaranteeing publication – vanity publishers thrive on this – they’re trying to sell you your dream – and boy do they charge!).

This is where the support of writing friends is invaluable and why again going to writing events, and any opportunity where you can get to meet other writers is such a good idea. What is nice now is there are more opportunities out there – online magazines are now a “thing” as is the independent press. Then there’s print on demand, reputable self publishing services, and places to go to for advice (the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors).

Good luck!

 

I first got into print back in 2009 with a re-telling of the Cinderella story in A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions published by Bridge House Publishing. That was a standard short story but I have re-told fairytales in flash fiction too.

Sometimes I’ve taken a character from a fairytale and shown something of what has happened to them before the “big event” related in the standard fairytale. My Living the Lie is an example of this (Tripping the Flash Fantastic). It looks at the beast in Beauty and the Beast before he goes on to meet her. This kind of story is great fun to do.

And there’s a wide range of fairytales to choose from where you could do this. If you ever wanted to know what happened to a minor character in a story, here’s your chance to do so – you write that story!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Opening Lines

When I have small pockets of time I jot down ideas for potential opening lines for future flash fiction/short stories of mine. It is a good use of time and the opening line is so important in hooking a reader in to reading your story and your books.

So it is worth jotting down ideas for me to work on at a later date. And it is opening lines which draw me into reading a book at all. Every writer knows they’ve got to polish these up and get them as good as possible.

It was a truth universally acknowledged – just that section of Jane Austen’s opening to Pride and Prejudice drew me in. Why?

Firstly, I wanted to know what that truth was.

Secondly, the word universally implies agreement but it also opens up the possibility someone somewhere won’t agree (and I wanted to find out if I might be that someone. I can only find out by reading on).

Thirdly, there is already a hint of irony here and in only six words. Now that is quality writing!

There has to be a sense you’ve got to find out what happens next. That’s how I know an opening line will work for me. If the opening line works, it is highly likely the first page, the first chapter will and so on and before I know I’ve read the book!

Screenshot 2022-07-12 at 08-32-42 Opening Lines

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Genres, Opening Lines, and Publication News

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https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2021/06/genres-by-allison-symes.htmlImage Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Hope all is well with you. Glad to share two new stories this time – one from Friday Flash Fiction and another from my Youtube channel. Hope you enjoy. Also have publication news from CafeLit and an update about my contribution to Wendy H Jones’ book on Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing so plenty going on. (Images of me signing my contract for the latter were taken by Adrian Symes).

AE - July 2021 - Whether you love or loathe the characters, they should make you feel something


Facebook – General – and Association of Christian Writers – More Than Writers

Delighted to share my blog on More Than Writers, the blog spot from the Association of Christian Writers. I talk about Genres this month and define a few (having fun doing so too!). I chat about why I love ghost stories where the ghost is not the villain, give you pointers regarding major things to look out for in a fantasy novel, and ask you what are your favourite genres and why amongst other things.

So what are your favourite genres and why? Fairytales/fantasy are it for me though I do love crime and historical fiction as well. Is there a book that took you by surprise as to how good or bad it was? For me, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey surprised me in a good way and changed my view about Richard III.

I don’t have any time for the snobbery that can prevail around genre fiction. A good book is a good book and if it is accessible to more people because it is in a certain genre, so be it.

You sometimes have days when there is lots to announce. Today is one of mine!

1. I’ve seen the book cover for Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion For Writing by Wendy H. Jones where I am contributing a chapter on flash fiction and short story writing. Can’t reveal the cover yet. Looking forward to doing so. It looks great. Trust me on that!

2. Delighted to say From Light to Dark and Back Again is now up on the Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop. Oh and the great thing about the bookshop is there are a variety of places to buy from too. See link for more.

3. There will be some fabulous author interviews to come on Chandler’s Ford Today, starting this very Friday, 2nd July, with part 1 of my chat with domestic noir writer, Helen Matthews. (I always learn a lot from reading/listening to author interviews which is why I love having writers on CFT).

4. I’ll be on the More than Writers blog spot tomorrow (for the Association of Christian Writers) with a humorous piece about Genres. Looking forward to sharing the link for that tomorrow. See above!

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Hope you have had a nice Sunday. It was lovely having family over in the garden yesterday (and what change in the weather today – it’s chucking it down as I type this!).

I’ll be sharing the first part of a fabulous interview with domestic noir writer, Helen Matthews, later this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to sharing that. I always learn so much from author interviews and it is a pleasure to be doing them.

I’m thrilled that so many wonderful comments are coming in on my latest #FridayFlashFiction story, Restless. You can check it out at https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/restless-by-allison-symes

Have sent another story in for them and I’m delighted to say I’ll be having another story up on CafeLit before too long as well. So it has been quite a productive weekend.

Hope you have a good week! (I also hope the weather improves somewhat but we shall see).

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Today (26th June) would have been my Dad’s 84th birthday. It’s a strange day in many ways, as you can imagine. I was pleased he got to see my debut published book, From Light to Dark and Back Again, as my late mum only got to see my first printed story, A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing). There is a kind of symmetry to that I think.

I occasionally use a character’s memories in my flash tales. The obvious two are The Pink Rose in Tripping the Flash Fantastic and They Don’t Understand in my debut collection.

Flash fiction can be a great vehicle for character studies like these precisely because they work best when kept short. The impact on a reader is greater too because of the brevity. What matters is getting across what is the important thing about the character you are writing about. What is it about them that readers have to know?

(Oh and on a very happy note, I’ve booked my train tickets for the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August. Can’t wait to catch up with people there).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

When do you know your flash fiction or short story character “works”? When they intrigue you enough to write their stories up is the answer that works for me. As I outline my character and discover more things about them, if they grip me at that point, they should do so for a reader as well so away I go.

Also just a quick reminder I share writing tips and exclusive flash stories over at my author newsletter which I issue monthly. The next one is out on 1st July so if you’d like to sign up for this do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com where you’ll find the relevant sign up form. You’ll receive a welcome email initially with a link to a free pdf download where I chat about flash and share exclusive stories there. (And a big thank you to those who have signed up already – it is great to have you aboard).

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Pleased to share my latest story video here. Hope you enjoy Borrowing.

 

27th June
Delighted to say I’ll be having a flash piece, written as a result of a writing exercise I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group, up on CafeLit on 5th July. That is what I call a result and I look forward to sharing it then.

I love opening lines as an exercise. There are usually at least two or three directions in which to take them too. (That makes me feel like a kid with the keys to the chocolate factory!). I suppose the reason I love them so much is I know I am “away” once I’ve got that line down, and knowing who my character is and what they’re capable of, means I’ve got the opening line and a structure in place. I find that so useful.

Funnily enough it’s not a question of then joining the dots. I still have to show my character developing and changing but my structure means the change is reasonable for the character and so will make sense to a reader.

I can still wrongfoot a reader (and often do) but if you then went back over the story you would find the clues were there to indicate the wrong-footing was possible given what you are shown of the character. (I love this when other authors achieve this with me whether it is a short story or a novel. It keeps me on my toes and I have learned so much about how to place things in a story to achieve this).

Have managed to get another flash pieces “off” this weekend – another one to #FridayFlashFiction. I am having so much fun writing the drabbles (100 worders) again as those are what drew me into flash fiction writing in the first place.


One idea for a story is to take a date that is special to you and make it special for your character. The reasons could be the same or the polar opposite. Either way you could write an interesting character study out of this.

Dates mean something for a reason and, especially if you don’t choose the well known ones such as Christmas or Mother’s/Father’s Day, you could show us a character with a unique take on life due to the reason they cherish the date you’ve picked for them.

Also, are there dates your characters would be keen to avoid and what would happen if they can’t get out of whatever is happening on the date in question? There’s potential for comedy and tragedy there – up to you which direction you take it.

But having a special date will reveal something of your character to you as the writer. If that appeals, it will appeal to a reader also. (Also there would be broad sympathy given most of us have dates that mean something to use and not to others).

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Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes a Good Story Ending For You?

Story endings don’t have to be happy ones. For some tales, a happy ending would be inappropriate. But what would you class as a “good” story ending?

For me the ending has to be appropriate for the kind of tale being told and for the character.

It was clear in A Christmas Carol, for instance, that Scrooge would have to change. It was a question there of how it would be done. Had Scrooge not changed, there would have been no point in the visitations of the ghosts and there would have been no story.

So I am looking for change to have happened by the end of the story. Being a fairly positive person, I like these changes to be as upbeat as possible. Failing that, I’ll be happy with a kind of “yes, that’s appropriate for this character”.

What you don’t want is a feeling of disappointment that the story hasn’t been closed off properly. There should be no loose ends. The character should have learned something and moved on from the starting point of the story. If that learning something and moving on is something I can identify with, then that makes it an even better ending for me.

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