Tag: publishing

Flash Fiction Collections

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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. One image of me holding Creativity Matters was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes. Two images of the September 2025 cover of Writers’ Narrative were supplied by Wendy H Jones.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady and I have managed to dodge most of the showers but into every life a little rain must fall and we didn’t get away with a soaking altogether! Writing wise, my latest author newsletter went out and I had a lovely time at an ACW group online so good so far. Oh and the September issue of Writers’ Narrative is out too – theme is publishing. Do see further down for the link to it. It’s a cracking read and packed full of useful information.

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Another lovely day in the park today for Lady as it was sunny and she got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again and play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, who never minds being herded by Lady.

Am pleased to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post, which is so much on a topic close to my heart. I discuss Flash Fiction Collections, and the joys and challenges of putting these together.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Flash Fiction Collections

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Lady had a fantastic time in the park this morning. Not only did she get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal, her “boyfriend” Bear, a fabulous Aussie Shepherd, also came out. Haven’t seen him for a bit but dogs never forget their friends, human or animal.

Lady generally prefers to play with other girl dogs but Bear is an honourable exception and the pair of them had a fabulous time while the lovely Hungarian Vizler looked on. We all managed to beat the rain too so that counts as a win.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Plus next week I’ll be interviewing American writer, Joan Livingston, as part of her blog tour for her Finding The Source, the latest in her Isabel Long mystery series. Looking forward to sharing that. It’s a cracking interview.

 

Busy day today. May as well have had a revolving door in my front door today. Did manage to avoid most of the rain though (which was an achievement today to be honest, I think Someone was being kind to me!) and got my hair done so all ended well. Lady also got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was well pleased with that. Lady is sweet here in that she gets so much out of being with her chums.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say the September issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is Publishing and there is so much in here for writers at all stages so do check this out.

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It’s Friday, the end of the working week, and I’m pleased to be back again on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy my latest here – A Hard Bargain.

Someone does get more than they bargained for but will you feel sorry for them, I wonder. 

Have got a story to edit for a competition which I hope to work on over the weekend. (Deadline is towards the end of this month). Story is pretty much there but I need to cut it to 1000 words, which I should be able to do.

I was set an exercise once where I had to write a 1000 word story, then another exercise where I had to cut the first story in half to 500. It was a fantastic challenge. Why not try it sometime? It so sharpens up your editing skills!

Hope today has been okay. Looking forward to taking part in an Association of Christian Writers Group meeting later this evening. It will be especially nice just to see everyone and chat as today has been hectic. It was great fun too!

Having said that, busy days like this are when flash fiction, I think, comes into its own. Not much time to write? Okay. Why not try a 50 words or a 100 words story? Doesn’t have to be perfect at this stage but you will still have written something. I know this always makes me feel better – just being able to do something creative – on days when you can’t do much.

All those little pieces of writing build up over time and could spark off ideas for other work too.

Sometimes a flash piece will spark ideas for a longer short story etc but unless you’d written that piece down, there would be nothing to spark from. So I see little bits of writing as never ever being a waste of time, far from it.

Fairytales with Bite – Fairytale Acrostic

F = Fun to read and to write, the fairytale world is often grim for its inhabitants.

A = Always on the lookout for bears with a grudge (Goldilocks), or old women selling dodgy red apples.

I = Innocence and Infamy collide, usually the innocent get through okay, sometimes with the aid of a fairy godmother.

R = Remember the wizened old man/old lady may well be a powerful magical being in disguise – be sure not to offend.

Y = You can be sure the characters will get their just desserts somehow.

T = This could and should be a terrifying prospect for the villains.

A = Alas, it isn’t, but on the other hand seeing them get their comeuppance makes for great storytelling.

L = Life resumes its usual pattern but with justice done after the expected and usually granted happy ever after

E = Ending.

Allison Symes – 3rd September 2025

This World and Others – Progress

What would count as progress in your magical/more technologically advanced world? Would it be things such as the development of new, better, more reliable spells or equipment to improve technology even further?

What does your world lack (in any area) and what are they prepared to do to make progress on getting what they need? Would they trade with other worlds? How would this be done? What could they give of value to another planet? Or are they more warlike and would invade to take what they need by force? (This is not meant as a direct comment on what goes on here but you can see the link!).

Is progress seen in more general terms such as becoming less warlike (which would be welcome in any world I’d say)? Would your setting compare itself with others it knows about? How would it react on discovering a world which is more progressive than it is? not everyone would react well after all.

Story ideas there, I hope.

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Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side

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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. Photo of me with Creativity Matters taken by Adrian Symes. Anolther Creativity Matters image was kindly supplied by Wendy H. Jones. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was of part of my contribution to Creativity Matters. Great book. Do check it out. A huge thank you to my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today for a couple of the photos I use in my post this week.
Hope the week has gone well. Cooler here but much pleasanter for the dog and me. Had a lovely Association of Christian Writers Flash Group meeting on Zoom. Other writing and editing going well.

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Hope you’ve had a good Friday. Lady had a lovely time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this morning, long before the weather turned hot again. I was glad of a good swim later on as well. So refreshing.

Delighted to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post which is Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side.

This post shares more about what you can expect from my third flash fiction collection which comes out in May 2026 (though I am looking forward to sharing the partial serialisation of it from this July onwards). I also discuss putting a collection together and thinking ahead to book launches.

Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side

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Today (26th June) would have been Dad’s 88th birthday. He’s been gone for eight years now. Can’t imagine where the time has gone.

Lady had a lovely time in the park today with her Hungarian Vizler chum. Both dogs are much appreciating the cooler weather though we will have to watch things on Monday when it is due to heat up again.

Lady didn’t miss the afternoon walks I had to cancel last week because things were too hot. The pavement test is my guide here. Hold your hand on a spot of concrete, tarmac etc where it gets direct sunlight and hold your hand there for several seconds (I go for 20, you do need a reasonable amount of time to be sure if things are okay or not). If it is uncomfortable for you (and it was last for me week!), it’s uncomfortable for your dog. It’s just not worth risking burnt paws and Lady and I happily stayed at home in the shade.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing the Other Side for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow where I will share more about my forthcoming book. Looking forward to sharing that. See above. Plus am looking forward to a friend’s online book launch in just over a month’s time too. Plenty going on I’m glad to say.

Am thankful writing is something I can easily do in the shade!

In other news, writing and editing are coming along well. Am also looking forward to going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later this summer. It’s not so far away now.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see Daisy, a gentle older spaniel today. We meet up with her and her owner sometimes and it was lovely seeing them both again today.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later on.
Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See further up.

Will be thinking of another story competition to try soon as I’ve spotted a 750 words one (which comes nicely into flash territory). Will probably have a look at this at the weekend but I am keeping to the promise I made to myself this year I will try and get more work out there.

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It’s Friday. It’s getting hot again in my part of the world. Time for a story to finish the working week with then. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Name Calling. Mark should have realised discretion is the better part of valour – find out why here.
Had a lovely evening with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last night. (Held on 25th June 2025). Good to see everyone. The topic was Perspectives and I was looking at the use of 1st/2nd/3rd person usage in flash fiction. Naturally I set exercises too though we ran out of time to do all of them.

What I found interesting was I wrote a piece for the 1st person exercise. I then rewrote it for the second person exercise. I think the second person usage one is better. More direct. More emotional impact too. Will have a look at this at a later date and maybe submit it somewhere. Good fun to do.

Second person can be a challenge though I think it works well in the short forms precisely because they are short.

I was impressed by the group’s output here though. All great work.

I mentioned this briefly over on my main author page on Facebook, but do bear in mind there are 750 word stories competitions out there (I’ve just spotted one) which don’t market themselves as flash fiction but it is what they are. It is worth keeping an eye out on all short story competitions because some of those will also allow stories from 1000 words onwards so flash fiction writers could have a go at these.

Plus there are plenty of flash fiction competitions which do market themselves as such so why not try some? I have found writing for competitions a great way to improve skills in writing to deadlines, meeting publisher requirements and much more.

Also, to quote a certain supermarket, you do have to be in it to win it.

Fairytales with Bite – Truth Tellers

Truth tellers ought to be welcome in society but they so often are not. There are numerous reasons for this, including truth tellers exposing corruption or refusing to join in with it. You could take that thought and apply it to your own setting.

What would count as corruption in your magical setting? Could it be as simple as refusing to use magic and using what we would know as scientific techniques instead? It can take a brave soul to be the one who puts their head above the parapet.

How does truth get disseminated in your setting? Can it be shared on public media (social or otherwise),or in print, or on the air? What would be truth to your setting but alien to ours?

Who gets to decide what the truth is at all? If this means suppressing the actual truth how does that get done and who carries out the orders? Could you have a character who defies carrying out said orders? Do they get away with it?

When truth is suppressed, how does it eventually get out and what are the consequences?

Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Species

How many species are there in your setting? Do you focus on the main ones? What roles would the minor ones have in your setting? How do they “service” the major species – or is everyone kept apart with each kind doing their own thing for the good of the world as a whole?

Are species recognised as such or do your creations not categorize in this way? What would those in your setting make of other worlds, including ours? Are there some alien species they would never have anything to do with and why have they concluded this? (In a story I’ve written for a competition recently, I have my character reveal magical characters in their setting see Earth as backwards precisely because we don’t have magic).

Do the different species get on with each other or is it a case of each kind only having anything to do with others, with those of their own kind?

How has your world changed/evolved to accommodate the different species here? Did anything unexpected happen? Have the species been forced to co-operate?

Good story ideas there, I hope.

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Books and Stories In Culture

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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. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the image of me at Swanwick about to run an editing workshop. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from my local wildflower meadow.
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Pleased to say the temperature has come down a bit – much fresher and nicer for Lady and me. Good to take some pictures of the local wildflower meadow – see one of the posts below for these. It is good to focus on lovely things and I include creative writing in that. Especially when the world at large is not a great place, it is good to escape, for a while at least, into a world I can create through stories. When reading, I escape into a world created for me by other writers. What is there not to love about books?

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Hope you’ve had a good day. It has been a lovely pleasant day and Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal too.

Pleased to say I did manage to submit two stories yesterday. It was a good use of my limited writing time yesterday. As ever, I did pick up on a final error – it is the way of the writing life – but it did mean I could correct that before sending my material in. It does pay to give yourself your own time limit ahead of any official deadline. It gives you the chance to spot and correct things like that.

Good breezy day and much pleasanter as a result. Lady and I appreciated that.

Writing wise, well it is Monday, one of my busiest days of the week so I focus on getting bits and pieces done. Hope to submit a couple of pieces a little later on (all prepped earlier of course and edited).

I often use Mondays as my final day to check all is well and send pieces in. It is a good use of my limited time and frees up longer sessions later on in the week for more concentrated bursts of writing.

You do have to find what works best for you. It takes time to work out what does work best for you but it is worth it, I’ve found. I know what I’m going to be doing when I get to my desk so I can get straight on with it. That saves a lot of time in itself, funnily enough.

Cooler today, Lady and I are not at all sorry about that. It was much pleasanter over the park and the wildflower meadow is looking amazing. See pics.

Writing wise, I’ll be on to flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Always a lovely way to end the weekend. Have a short story to send to a competition once I’ve sorted out my edits but hope do that either today or early part of this week. Am also busy editing at the moment and loving the work.

Character Tip: Physical appearance generally for me is not the most important thing for me to know when creating my characters. I need to know their main traits and what comes from that and then ideas about their appearance might come to me.

Just occasionally does knowing a character is a brunette as opposed to a blonde matter to the story but not often. In life, as in fiction, I try not to judge by appearances, not least because it usually is the least important thing about someone. Attitude matters far more but can be so useful for creating tremendous tales and characters readers remember).

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Had some drizzle today, cooled the temperature a bit, but has heated up again this afternoon. Lady keeping nice and cool though.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing some local author news in a detailed post for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. No prizes for guessing who the local author will be when I say the post will be called Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side. I’ll be sharing some more information about the book as well as what it means to me to have a third book due. More on that on Friday. After that, I will share news when the serialisation of part of the book starts and, later, more on the book launches I hope to have.

Writing/Marketing Tip: Think about what it is which makes you love to write. It gives you a good topic for conversation with potential readers and other writers whether you meet them face to face or online. It is also a natural way into talking about your book whether it is out, about to come out, or whether you are finishing it off ready to send out there.

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Today has, aptly for me, gone by in a flash but how do your characters handle the passing of time? Are they finding it drags for them or does it race along? What are the reasons for them feeling this way? Bound to be reasons – and potential flash stories too. Hope you have fun with that thought!

It’s funny how quickly Mondays come around again. It’s time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Bringing Things to An End.

A group where confessions can be made anonymously with no fear of disclosure hears what could be its most unusual confession to date. And just where do custard pies come into it? Find out here.

 

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Zoom has proved useful for writing groups and made more of them possible to do at tall.

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Incidentally, Friday Flash Fiction now want submissions sent in between Mondays and Thursdays so I prepare my tale for them on a Sunday and submit it on a Monday evening. Works well, especially since Monday is the day of the week when I know I can’t do much writing. So ”little things to do” such as getting my story in to them is useful and cheers me up. I know I’ve done something useful which is creative.

If you submit work somewhere regularly, it pays to keep on top of what their latest guidelines are because things do change, always with good reason, and it means you’re aware.


It won’t be too long before my next author newsletter will be out. There will be a summer related theme. To sign up for tips, flash tales, news and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Flash is easy to share on social media given it is short, hopefully entertaining or thought provoking, and gives you something of value to share with those who follow you and your work. Even if your work is longer, maybe a flash piece about one of your characters could make a useful “taster” to share. Just a thought.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Stories in Culture

No matter what our own cultures are, there will be books and stories which stand out in them. These will be the books and stories “everyone knows” but may not necessarily have read for themselves. I am so conscious of all the wonderful English language classics I am unlikely to get around to reading though I am determined to get at least some read.

Where this comes in is when you play the great game of spot the influences when reading works by authors you love. A great example of this is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. There are all sorts of “nods” in those.

Another example can be found in the stories of Jeeves and Wooster by P.G. Wodehouse where Bertie Wooster inevitably gets the name of the author and/or the book concerned not quite right. Yet it is clear from context the book and author do exist.

So cultural books and stories can inspire other tales. I like this!

 

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The Benefits of Writing 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 you have had a good week. Lady has – lots of puppy parties. Not been bad for me either – lots of writing done, which is how I like it. Will be having a smashing author interview coming up in the next couple of weeks on Chandler’s Ford Today. More details nearer the time.

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Drizzly today but Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and a lovely spaniel called Daisy whom we see from time to time. Not a bad way to end Lady’s “working” week!

Delighted to share The Benefits of Writing Exercises on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at some of the different types available, the advantages of using any at all, and set one for you to try.

I also share some ways you can set your own writing exercises as well as examine how these things give your imagination a good old work out.

Hope you find the post useful.

The Benefits of Writing Exercises

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Lady is on a roll this week – fourth day in a row with nice weather and puppy partying with her best pals. They’re all living their best lives!

Look out for my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow on The Benefits of Writing Exercises. See above. This is a classic case of talk about what you know as I use these things all the time. I set them a lot too for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group and when I run workshop elsewhere. Many of my stories on Friday Flash Fiction started life as writing exercises I set myself, often using different kinds of prompt.

Themes come in to my writing a lot, especially for non-fiction such as my blog posts and articles. I also use them for my author newsletter. I’ve found that useful as it gives me a “peg” to write the newsletter around and I can target the hints and tips I share here in a better way.

 

Another lovely sunny day and another puppy party though only with the Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback this time Again lovely time had by all.

Will be sharing The Benefits of Writing Exercises on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I regularly use many different kinds of writing exercises and always managed to get stories from them. More later in the week. See above.

Character Tip: Names can reflect a good deal about a character, including likely social background and age.

But bear in mind names can come in and out of fashion. You can, however, use that to your advantage. The only thing you would need to watch for is to ensure if you use the name Ethel, for example, make sure there is something else in your story to indicate the era in which she is set. Mind you, I’m not sure Gertrude is coming back any time soon! So you could use that to good effect. It would indicate her likely era.

My name gives a good indication of my likely range of birth dates. So you can play with things like this too to give an indication of your character’s age without necessarily spelling it out.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Sock It To Them. Every so often I will use a phrase or proverb as a title and then see what I can do with it as a story. Also thought it might be good to have a lighthearted piece this week given what is going on elsewhere.

The alert will notice I’ve used socks as a theme this week given my YouTube story on Monday is called Socks. So I haven’t just used a well known phrase for story ideas this week, I’ve used clothes too, making this an object prompted piece writing too.
I write some seasonal flash fiction (especially at Christmas time) but could, I know, do more with this. The problem is remembering to do it! I have written some more lighthearted pieces recently for Friday Flash Fiction and my YouTube channel.

I thought this was apt given the grim state of the news but also because we are going into lighter times seasonally, at least in my part of the world. It has been lovely seeing the lighter evenings so I thought lighter tales would go with these nicely enough!

I do look out for certain competitions or invites to send stories in for potential broadcast which work around the seasons. But do bear in mind you can use this as a theme anyway. Perhaps once a quarter pick a a story to reflect on the season you are in. Equally you can write a story say in winter but use it to look ahead to the more hopeful times of spring to come.

I love finding those moments which show a great deal about a character without my having to spell everything out. I can use names here (as I discuss over on my Facebook author page – see above). But you can also use things like style of dress, whether women were expected to wear hats or not (and if so you could indicate class by what kind they wore), and much else besides.

I refer to these things as the telling details. Next time you read a novel or a short story look out for the telling details you think the author used to show something about their character. Agatha Christie does this brilliantly with Poirot. All the little details showing his fastidiousness confirm this trait and add “layers” to his character portrayal. Doesn’t necessarily take a lot of words either.

For flash fiction, if you write linked flash, you could do this over the course of two or three flash pieces.

Fairytales with Bite- Spells and Their Usage

In your setting, are there limits to what spells can be used when? Also are there limitations as to who can use them? Does training have to be carried out? Now there are renowned fictional magical schools of course, but thinking beyond that, where could your characters go to develop their skills and spells further? Are there codes of conduct? Who drew them up and why and what would happen to anyone breaking this? Plenty of scope for stories there.

Also give some thought as to what the spells can do? Is there anyone trying to extend or modify what they can do here and is this for good or sinister purposes?

Now I’ve always imagined that any magical being would drain their powers every time they use a spell, the amount depending on how powerful/important the spell was. I think this is reasonable given anyone using any kind of power is likely to find themselves drained after using said power a lot. Even if they’re not drained as such, the equipment used to carry out the spells will be – the equivalent I suppose of us needing to recharge our mobile phones, computers etc after heavy battery usage.

But having some kind of limitation will be a means of giving non-magical or less powerful magical characters a chance to survive in the world in which you’ve set them. It would also be good if spells didn’t do everything. What about characters who invent things to complement magic or do something magic alone cannot? Would they see this as the equivalent of our science?

This World and Others – Science and Magic

Following on from Fairytales with Bite, do science and magic co-exist in your setting or are they in conflict with each other? Can the conflict be resolved? Who would do so and why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of both in your setting? Sure to be story ideas there.

Give some thought too as to what developed first. Did science spring from magic to resolve those things magic cannot do? Or did science, as we understand it, come first and magic developed either as a sideline or in opposition to it?

Have you got characters who love both and happily use both? Do they use their skills in either or both to help their home world or are they just interested in any form of power and what do they intend to do with these things?

Also can good come from both to benefit the setting and characters? Can they feed into each other, for good or ill?

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The Writing Game – and What to Watch For

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Image Credit:  Pixels/Pixabay. A HUGE thank you to my lovely guest authors in my new Chandler’s Ford Today series for their photos.

MAJOR NEW CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY SERIES

I’ll be sharing Part 1 of a major new Chandler’s Ford Today series called The Writing Game – and What to Watch For. The series will be packed with useful advice. It is particularly useful for new writers or those seeking publication. More experienced writers should find plenty of useful tips too. More on this in a moment but I wanted to give a big shout out to all of the lovely authors who are taking part in this.

Richard Hardie, Brenda H Sedgwick, Francesca Tyer, Teresa Bassett, and Maggie Farran for Part 1 – tonight’s post.

Dawn Kentish Knox, Gill James, Amanda Baber (aka Amanda Jones), Paula C Readman, and Amanda Huggins for Part 2 – next Friday’s post, appearing 31st July.

Jacci Gooding, Jennifer C Wilson, Val Penny, and Wendy H Jones for Part 3 – the following Friday’s post, appearing 7th August.

See the slideshow below. Do check out the posts, not just for the great advice given by everyone, but to discover for yourself what a wealth of talent there is here. The genres represented here cover such a wide range of writing – think romantic fiction to horror and so much in between too!

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You will gather from the above I am rather proud of this new series. Guilty, as charged! BUT this is the kind of series I would have lapped up when I was starting out as a writer. My guests and I all hope you find it useful and entertaining. Now to business!

Am pleased to share the link to my new CFT series – The Writing Game and What to Watch For. This is a three-parter and it’s the kind of post I would have lapped up when I was starting out as a writer.

Many thanks to the guest authors today and to the others who are taking part in the next two posts. Between us all, we have a wide range of experience in writing and cover a fantastic range of genres.

There is everything from YA fantasy to romantic comedy to horror. There’s flash fiction (I know, guess who!) to short stories to novelists. There are the traditionally published to those who have deliberately self published and have done a fantastic job doing so.

The tips and advice given here will be particularly useful for new writers or for those who have written for a while, but are now seeking advice about publication.

But, having said that, I’ve always found it to be true you learn so much from listening to or reading what other writers have to say so I’m sure there will be plenty of good “pickings” for more experienced writers too.

I very much look forward to sharing the next two posts on this topic. Today’s fab authors are #RichardHardie, #BrendaHSedgwick, #FrancescaTyer, #TeresaBassett, and #MaggieFarran.

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Am looking forward to sharing Part 1 of my new series on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow.

Called The Writing Game – and What to Watch For, I set guest authors three questions. These questions are:-

1. Which tip over the years has proved most useful to them?

2. What do they know now that, with hindsight, they wished they’d known when they started writing seriously?

3. What do you think a new author should most be wary about?

My guests have come up with fabulous answers to these and we all hope the three part series will provide a wealth of useful advice.

Naturally I answer the questions myself, one over the next three weeks, and share another Top Tip I’ve found invaluable over the years.

Guests come from Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, the Association of Christian Writers, Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit/Chapeltown, the world of self publishing, and some fantastic local (to me!) authors. Between us we cover a huge variety of genres including non-fiction.

Link up tomorrow. And a huge thank you to my guests for their great contributions and photos.

I’ve switched back to the old Facebook and lo and behold I can now add pictures! I was more disappointed not to have ANY responses to my Report a Problem comments to be honest. Still back to service as normal here. I’ll stick with the old school then! On a more positive note:-

Enjoyed the follow up Zoom creative writing workshop this afternoon (Wednesday 22nd July). Have a promising funny flash fiction tale from it so will work on that at some point as it needs some editing to sharpen it up. Both workshops have shown me new ideas for finding story ideas so will make good use of those I’m sure in time.

It has also been a while since I had to write something in ten minutes so it was good to get back to that kind of thing again. It keeps you on your writing toes which is always good.

And I really have loved the haiku exercise that was set so to finish for tonight…

When the midweek blues
Hit home always remember
Two days – it’s Friday!😊

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am listening to the theme from Dick Barton Special Agent on Classic FM as I type this. I don’t remember the original series (though it is repeated every so often on Radio 4 Extra) but the music IS very evocative.

It was great fun choosing the music for the book trailer for FLTDBA. I went for Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens as I saw it as quirky music for quirky fiction.

I’m currently drawing up a shortlist of suitable choices for Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Finding a piece that reflects either one specific mood of story OR has different moods within it which reflects the variety in the book is not always easy. But it is still great fun to try to do!

And of course it combines my two great loves – classical music and stories!😊I just need to find a way of somehow getting chocolate, prosecco, and a decent cup of tea into the mix!😆

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My CFT series The Writing Game – and What to Watch For, which starts tomorrow, has a wealth of advice, especially for new writers or those who are seeking publication whether that is immediately or after having written for a number of years first.

I didn’t start out seeking publication myself. I wanted to prove to myself I could write and it was a long time before I actively sought to be published. I don’t regret doing that. I learned a lot. My ONLY regret with writing is not having started at all a lot sooner than I did.

One thing I could’ve added to this was be open to the types of writing you do. As I’ve mentioned before, it is how I discovered flash fiction. Also, taking part in writing exercises on Zoom this week, has reminded me of the importance of using different ways to trigger story ideas. You need to keep an open mind and to use things that are not immediately obvious story material. But it pays to look into different writing exercises and see what you can do with them. It’s fun too!

(I shall be writing more haiku for a start!).

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A writing exercise I took part in via a Zoom workshop today involved two objects (given from a list) and drafting a story about them. I’ve got a rough draft of a funny flash tale from that. Good fun to do.

It struck me that it was useful the list was set by someone else. There is a certain amount of the “you’ve got to get on with it then” syndrome here.

Could you scupper yourself by choosing your own objects? Possibly. The temptation would be to stick to the things you know you could write about. The whole point of the exercise is to make you think outside of the box and stretch yourself here.

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Fairytales With Bite – Quirky Characters

There are those who might feel that the reason I love quirky characters is because I am one! Hmm…

So what is it about quirky characters that appeals to me so much, both in terms of reading about them and writing them myself?

Humour – there’s usually a lot of humour, often irony, involved here. That appeals directly ever since I first came across irony in Pride and Prejudice which I read at secondary school many, many moons ago. That book was an eye opener for me in terms of how irony can be used (and the best kind is subtle with it too). It paved the way for me to appreciate more direct irony in the works of Terry Pratchett and P.G. Wodehouse, to name but two, later on

The Unexpected – The irony (!) here is you expect the unexpected from quirky characters. You’d be a bit disappointed to say the least if they didn’t come out with something. Often this is the pivoting point of the whole story too. What is fun is trying to guess what they come up with.

Memorable – You remember quirky characters. It’s why I’ve always loved Jo March in Little Women and George in The Famous Five. Again I wanted to find out what they could do and whether they could surpass what had gone before. It kept me reading! The trick for a writer is to achieve the same thing. It is also the challenge! What is it that makes your characters memorable?

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This World and Others –

Elements of Worlds I Love to Pick Up On When Reading

In fantasy and science fiction, the created world can be a character in its own right. (The very name Mordor to me will always imply evil, for example). I don’t need to know the nuts and bolts of that created world. I just need to know what the main characters think of their world and that shows up in how they react to it.

The kind of information I do need is basic common sense stuff. If everyone in the world flies everywhere, how do they do it? What problems does that cause? How do they deal with traffic congestion at peak flying times (and I refuse to believe there isn’t any!)?

I needed to know in The Lord of the Rings that it was highly unusual for hobbits to go on adventures and they certainly weren’t considered as hero material by anyone one else in Middle Earth. I didn’t need to know the ins and outs of daily life as lived by a hobbit.

So what do you like to know when it comes to reading alien worlds? What does your reader know to know to make sense of the world you’re showing them?

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