Tag: planning writing time

Fiction Acrostic and More

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the weekend has gone well. Finally got the grass cut. Nice to see some better weather this week too – the kind of autumn days I like. Dry, a little cold, but bright. Lady loves these kinds of days too. Writing wise, plenty done over the weekend and am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writes Flash Fiction Group meeting this week too.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal today so has had a lovely time of it.

Writing wise, the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is tomorrow. Looking forward to that. We’ll be discussing linked flash and I’ll be setting some exercise, which I plan to join in with myself as it ‘s a great way to get some extra flash fiction written! Also, I never could resist a decent writing exercise.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out before long (next week! My, does the time fly). To sign up for hints, tips and stories, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. Nice clear, dry and sunny autumn day, the type Lady and I love.
Writing wise, I spend Mondays carrying out various “little bits and pieces” after what is always a hectic day for me. Often that means finishing off blog posts I will be scheduling for later in the month, editing future Chandler’s Ford Today posts and so on.

Doing this frees up sessions in the week where I have more time to write and that is when I focus on longer pieces of work, including creating stories from scratch, and investigating competitions I want to take part in (and that does take time but is well worth doing, you’ve got to be happy with where your story is going), amongst other things.

Planning out how to use your writing time does take time to begin with but I’ve found, in the long run, it saves me time and I do get more done when I look at the week as a whole. It also allows for the fact everyone has days when life gets in the way and you simply can’t write as much as you’d like. That’s okay. There is still the rest of the week (and beyond) to come.

Hope your Sunday is going well. Nice church service this morning followed by a pleasant walk in the park with Lady. And, of course, there is flash fiction Sunday afternoon, one of the highlights of my writing week.

Will be busy again with flash fiction on Wednesday evening as that will be when the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will be held.

Am also busy preparing interview questions for a further author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. Ties in nicely with my Being Interviewed post which will be up on the site on Friday.

Character Tip: You have in mind a character but ask yourself if you could meet them in real life, would you get on with them or not? The answer to that will help you find our more about your potential character, especially if you decide you would dislike or loathe them. There will be reasons behind that, something which can come out in your story.


Hope you have had a good start to your weekend. Finally managed to get the grass cut. Relieved to have it done, it was becoming rather long.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Being Interviewed as my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week. Link up on Friday. I will be sharing thoughts on how interviewers and interviewees can prepare for these things and how to make the best of an interview too. I hope it will be of good use to people.

The post is timely too (not that this is a coincidence) because I will be sharing an interview where I am being questioned. More details before too long. Looking forward to sharing this news when I can.

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Another hectic day though a good one today so am especially pleased to get to my desk this evening. Time to relax with some words….

This is yet another advantage to flash fiction. I can draft a complete story even on those days when I don’t have much time to write. I get something creative done and that always makes me feel better. I suppose it is because I know I have written something I can polish further later on. And I do. Some of those written in this way have gone on to be published later.

Definitely worth making the most of any writing time you do have then as you can get something done, even if it is just notes for a longer session of writing later in the week. It will get you off to a flying start then.

It’s Monday. It has been as hectic as ever. Time for a story break then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Seeing The Point.

Sometimes persuading someone to do something nice as a birthday surprise takes a little emotional blackmail. Find out what and why here.

 

Pleased to share the latest batch of stories from the partial serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. The serialisation ends at the end of this month. The book itself will be out in May 2026 and I am so looking forward to that, as you can imagine. Meantime, I hope you enjoy this latest batch of stories.

I have birthdays and anniversaries to recall this month and these do make good topics for flash fiction or longer short stories.

Which of your characters is celebrating either of these? Is it a significant event? What do they feel about it? Or would they rather forget about the whole thing and why is that?

Would another of your characters be organising celebrations? Are they happy to do it? What does their friendship mean here and how did the two characters get to know each other in the first place?

If the anniversary is a “state” occasion, is everyone in your setting happy to join in with it and what would it commemorate? Is everyone expected to join in regardless of how they feel about it?

Goodreads Author Blog – Fiction Acrostic

F = Fiction can take you into the fantastic or the everyday.

I = Imagination can show you worlds that can never be or more about the one we are in, thanks to fiction.

C = Characters grip you, intrigue you, terrify you, make you laugh, but they all hold your attention.

T = Testing times for those characters are what keep you reading to the end of the story – will they make it through?

I = Inventiveness by those characters is often what resolves their problems.

O = Originally, stories were told orally – our love of fiction goes back a long way.

N = Novels, novellas, flash fiction and short story collections – plenty of fiction to enjoy.

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Writing Magazines, Author Newsletters, and Notebooks

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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 few days. Will be sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday but I don’t limit myself to five. I regularly use many more different writing exercises, which I also love, but had I written about all of those, I would have a long running series on my hands!
Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing some pals she hasn’t seen for a while, as well as her Hungarian Vizler chum. Back to the drizzly weather here unfortunately.

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Busy day and evening today so am posting early.

Don’t forget the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon. You can subscribe for free at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

What do I love about quality writing magazines?

Well, firstly there is the great advice. Everyone can use those.

Secondly, they remind me I am part of a writing community. Being reminded of that is great especially when you can’t meet other writers in person as often as you’d like. (It’s just one reason I treasure going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, in August).

Thirdly, I do love the author interviews and always learn something useful from them.

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Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see some chums she hasn’t seen for a while and her Hungarian Vizler friend who acts a bit like a mum figure to her.

Have got a busy week ahead of me but it will be fun to go and see Waiting for Gateaux being staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company on Thursday. Review will follow in due course on Chandler’s Ford Today. I have CFT to thank for introducing me to the wonderful world of local amateur theatre.

Did get my competition entry off over the weekend so well pleased with that. Will be thinking about drafting more stories soon. I like to have a stock in so when a suitable or open competition comes up, I have something that could be a contender. Suspect this may need to wait until the weekend though.

438681466_10161844752107053_3183887308183743724_nWhen I’m not writing for a specific deadline (whether that’s a post for Chandler’s Ford Today etc or a story competition), I will take some of the ideas I’ve jotted down in my notebook and then start drafting them as potential non-fiction articles. I know I will find a use for these at a later date. It is lovely to have work “ready to go” when an opportunity arises.

I will also draft flash fiction and short stories from my jottings for fiction ideas, even if I don’t have an immediate home for them, because I know there will be competitions later in the year where they could be placed.

For my regular deadlines, weekly or monthly, I try to stay ahead of myself in that I will have a post out there, one ready to put up, and ideas for ones beyond that. I find it pays. I’m never short of things to write up either.

One of the biggest aids to my creativity has been in getting to my desk knowing what I’m going to be writing. Just as with my fictional openings, for my writing overall, I do like to hit the ground running.

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Hope you have had a good day, More sunshine! Yes, Lady and I have made the most of it again. Got the lawn cut. She played with her football.

Am looking forward to sharing My Top Five Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I evaluate these five, all of which I use regularly. Link up on Friday.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday and going to see the wonderfully named Waiting For Gateaux being performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group on Thursday. Review to follow on CFT in due course but I must say this does sound more fun than Waiting for Godot. A busy week to come then but should be a fun one. (Now if only the news could get better!).

Writing Tip: Every so often I jot down potential ideas for future blog posts for Chandler’s Ford Today, Authors Electric, More than Writers, and ideas for possible articles for Writers’ Narrative. So the jotting down of ideas for future use doesn’t just have to apply to fiction. I find it just as useful for non-fiction.

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Don’t forget my next author newsletter is out on 1st May. Only a week to go, folks! If you’d like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As well as sending out my own newsletter, I subscribe to a number of other author ones too. I enjoy finding out what my favourite writers are getting up to with their books and stories and any tips they share.

Sometimes I will find out about competitions relevant to me I hadn’t known about. No one writer can know it all here. There are loads of writing competitions out there. It pays then to stay in touch with what is going on in the writing world and author newsletters, as well as the writing magazines, are great and fun ways to do this.

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It’s Monday. The rain is back. It is still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is Changing Time. Does Maxran get away with his scheme to make it seem as if he has been on time for once? Find out here and what will happen if he fails. Hope you enjoy the story.

Hope to be submitting a flash piece later on today for a competition. I won’t hear back for some time but I like to get entries in well ahead of official deadlines. Also ensures I don’t forget to send entries in – that is so easy to do. It may be old school but paper diaries work! I use one all the time to plan out when I need to submit stories or articles. I find doing that keeps me on track.

So even if you don’t plan out your stories, you may find it pays to plan out your writing time, competition deadlines etc. I also plan out when to have my newsletter drafted by and give myself plenty of time to add in last bits of news etc. That pays too.

Being organised sounds dull (okay it is dull, it is not something to get excited about) but I have found it has made me more productive and I welcome that.

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I like to mix up what I get from my story titles. Sometimes I like to intrigue – see The Terrified Dragon (Tripping the Flash Fantastic). The obvious hook there is why would such a beast be scared and of what? Sometimes though I like to keep a title “open” such as Identity (also TTFF). There the hook is to find out what identity is being referred to and why it matters.

So I give good thought to what I want my titles to do. I also like a good mixture in collections of the specific and open titles. Also helps me get a good mixture of moods of story. I try to keep my titles short (usually) as they’re easier to remember. The majority of mine come in from one to five words though sometimes I have gone over that if I need more words to convey the mood I want to set.

I have a working title for my drafts. I find it helps. I do sometimes change that if a better idea occurs to me as I’m writing the first draft. I’ve learned not to be surprised when that happens and just go with it but having that starting point is useful for giving me to something to work to.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Lure of a Great Book

The lure of a great book, for me, is in its characterisation. I have got to want to find out what happens to them. For non-fiction, the “character” is the narrative voice and that has to grip me enough to make me keep on reading.

I find it is the characters I remember and from there the plot line rather than the other way around. If someone says Sam Vimes to me, I will picture his character in the Discworld books, then favourite lines by him or concerning him, the overall story etc. It is in that order though.

Once a book has got me gripped, that’s it. I’m away. To ensure I do get a good night’s sleep, I limit myself to a chapter or two. That can be difficult at times but I cheer myself up with the thought I will be having more to look forward to the following night.

The characters/narrative voice do have to get under your skin. They stay with you after the book has finished too. Now that is the sign of a great book if ever there was one. If I were to ask you to name your five top characters, I am sure you would have no trouble doing that. The problem would be in limiting it to just five.

This is why I think characters are so important. We get behind them, not the plot. We want them to succeed (and fulfil the plot but without the characters the whole thing falls apart anyway).

For non-fiction I tend to recall the authors/narrative voice but when these work really well, I am definitely going to be getting more books by them.

Screenshot 2024-04-20 at 19-49-59 The Lure of a Great Book

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Breaks (and, aptly, A Quick Sandwich)

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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 week. Am off to lovely Northumberland for a few days shortly. Hope to post as normal but that will be time and internet connection dependent! Loved it here when I went before, as did Lady, and autumn is a lovely time to go, funnily enough. Beautiful colours.

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It’s Friday once again and time to share my Chandler’s Ford Today post. This time I look at Breaks.

I look at this from the viewpoint of characters needing breaks too. A story which is all action with no gaps for characters (yet alone readers) to take stock and work out what to do next is (a) a bit too relentless and (b) risks your characters coming across as cardboard cut outs.

We all need time to work out what to do next when faced with a dilemma so a character not doing that will come across as being unrealistic. The trick though is to ensure the “break” is an interesting one and still engages the reader.

I share some thoughts on that here and look at breaks in shorter forms of fiction too. Hope you find it useful.

Breaks

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Lady got to play with her best buddies, a lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Hungarian Vizler, and all three dogs went home tired and happy – job done! Busy packing for my break – naturally Lady’s case gets done first. Must not forget the toys!

Breaks will be up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. I look at how characters need breaks to work out what they’ll do next but the trick is to ensure these breaks are interesting enough to keep the reader hooked. I also look at breaks in shorter fiction and ask if there is such as thing as a lucky break for writers.

Now what fascinates you most about characters? I like to find out what mine can do when push comes to shove and those characters who are not so obviously likeable – well, could there be redeeming features in there somewhere?

I love poetic justice stories (which comes from my love of fairytales) but also tales where someone redeems themselves or is helped to become a better person in some way (my faith has an influence there – redemption or the possibility of it matters to me).

So naturally that comes out in my characters most of the time. Note I say most of the time. I do come up with characters I would loathe to meet in real life. It can be an interesting challenge to write their stories up as I still have to understand where they’re coming from to do them and the tale justice.

Why write those? Sometimes it is to see if (a) I can do it and (b) to explore a different perspective.

This is why you should never judge an author by their characters. Many of us will have characters we don’t like much!

 

Windy, wild, and the acorns are flying off my oaks. Suspect there will be some busy squirrels tomorrow gathering them all up. Suspect there will be some excited dogs including Lady wanting to chase the squirrels. I’ve heard a squirrel’s cry. It is quite harsh. I wonder if they’re swearing at the dogs in squirrel language? Could be!

I’m looking at Breaks for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on Friday. Again see above. This was an interesting topic to write about as it made me think about why we do need breaks for our characters but still need to be able to keep our readers engaged with the story.

I’m busy wrapping up some blogs for later on in the month as I want to get those scheduled before I head to Northumberland. Scheduling is useful and I sometimes use it for tweets too. I will often draft blogs for different places well in advance of my due date and have found this pays. Nearly always there will be something I would like to change or add to before I schedule and that’s fine. I’ve given myself the time to do that.

Do you plan your writing time? I’ve found it useful because there are certain days of the week when I know I can’t write much but I always feel better if I get something done. So I use those times for smaller pieces of work yet have still been creative and productive. That matters to me.

May be an image of text that says "? Give yourself plenty of thinking time. Is your chosen topic giving you plenty of different angles to use to write to?"

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It’s Friday storytime once again. On Friday Flash Fiction this time is my drabble called A Quick Sandwich. Hope you enjoy it (the story that is and, if you’re having a quick sandwich yourself as you read this, that too!).
Screenshot 2022-10-07 at 08-58-14 A Quick Sandwich by Allison Symes

Ideas for stories can come from all sorts of places but for me, sometimes it is an image from a film I’ve seen that is the trigger for a new flash piece.

My Where The Wild Wind Blows from Tripping the Flash Fantastic is an example of that. The film influence here is The Wizard of Oz where the farmhouse crashes on the witch. So even odd scenes can be used to trigger flash fiction ideas. I don’t want to say a lot in these tales which is why flash is the perfect format for them.

So think about scenes which have stayed with you. Any possibilities of a flash tale told from the viewpoint of an alternative viewpoint looking on the scene with interest? Someone whose voice has not been heard?

You can have a lot of fun here – good luck!

Tripping The Flash Fantastic - by night

Sometimes I draft titles to use later on – it is a good use of those small pockets of time when you know you can’t get much done. It also means when I do have longer at my desk, I’ve got something to work up into stories. I find a good title can be a creative spark in and of itself in that I then need to think of the characters and plot line that can do it justice.

And it’s a good warm up writing exercise too – five minutes jotting down title ideas. They don’t have to be perfect. Nothing is on a first draft. But it’s a great way to get you stared on something and I find having the titles encourages lateral thinking. I am literally thinking now what can I do with this? I want to avoid the obvious so I dig deeper and I’m on my way to something which will be unique but fits the title. For competitions, this is invaluable. Judges like stories that stand out.

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Fairytales with Bite – Misfire Acrostic

MISFIRE

M = My, that wand is on the blink again.
I = I only got it serviced last week.
S = Said it was fine for its age but was that wizard referring to my wand or to me?
F = For goodness sake, that wand has gone and blown up my daffodils.
I = I wouldn’t have minded that so much if it had taken out those dratted weeds as well.
R = Right, that’s it, I’m off to the shops and trading this thing in.
E = Except… except it has conjured up a perfect cream tea…hmm… maybe I’ve been hasty, I’ll go to the shops tomorrow.

Allison Symes
5th October 2022

Hope you enjoyed that. Acrostics are fun to do with flash fiction. Best for when the word you use is relatively short. (Can make an interesting writing exercise – why not give it a go and you can always use a random word generator to come up with the word itself to write to).

I also love acrostics like this for amusing little scenes of everyday magical folk like my annoyed fairy godmother character narrating the above.

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This World and Others – Service Engineers

The above acrostic made me wonder about those unsung heroes or villains, the service engineers. Someone has to service the magical equipment out there.

Why call them villains? Well, I am a little biased here given I had one not turn up on me. Would that happen in your fictional world? What would the consequences be, especially in a magical setting?

And what could go wrong with the magical equipment? I suspect my story wand above simply had a mind of its own. Not sure any service engineer could sort that one out but what could they do?
Is their profession highly regarded or are they considered to be the lowest of the low – those magical beings who didn’t have the talent to do something better?

And what would happen to your lead character whose wand or other equipment did give out at a critical moment? How could they recover their position?

I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of their service engineer the moment they got back to the shop to complain but that could make for a fun story (albeit probably not from the engineer’s viewpoint!).

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