Tag: Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog

Blog Tours and The Final Blog Tour Reviews for 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. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. The blog tour for Seeing The Other Side ended on Sunday but it was a fabulous experience. Final blog links below plus I will be sharing soon a Chandler’s Ford Today post which looks at the advantages of these things for writers and will share all of my links in one handy place. Lady is doing well. The autumnal temperatures suit her well.

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Hope today has gone well. So enjoyed my swim today. Good to chat with friends there too. I once thought I’d use my swimming time to think of story ideas etc. Not a bit of it – I find my mind just empties and I focus on the swimming. Mind you, that emptying of the mind is incredibly useful, as well as the physical exercise. Writer’s bottom (it spreads!) is real, folks!

Writing wise, I’m ploughing on with enjoyable proofreading work, blogging, and I hope to get back to story competitions from the weekend. Am also putting finishing touches to a presentation I hope to share at an online group next month. Went to their meeting last night for a thoroughly enjoyable talk about an aspect of World War One history I didn’t know much about. History is a vast subject and perfect for fiction and non-fiction writers alike to write about.

Also it won’t be too long before my next author newsletter will be out again so will be working on that later this week. I’ve found adding to it as the month goes on makes it an enjoyable and less pressured way to get the newsletter written. It also gives me the option of adding in late items of news as has been the case for me lately.

To sign up for story links, tips and more, do head over to https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Hope you have had a good start to the week. Quiet one in the park for Lady though hopefully we’ll catch up with pals, human and doggy, later in the week.

Meantime, it’s Monday, always a hectic day for many of us, and it’s time for a story. I share my latest on Substack, which went up on that platform yesterday.

Hope you enjoy On The Late Side. Look out for my YouTube story too this week as it follows on from this one (see further down) but both stand alone.

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13th September – last blog tour post Melanie Robertson- King – Celtic Connexions

The last blog post for the Seeing The Other Side tour comes from Melanie Robertson-King/ Celtic Connexions. Many thanks, Melanie.

I’ve had a wonderful time on this blog tour. A huge thanks go to Lynsey Adams of Reading Between The Lines Book Vlog for organising everything so well.

I’ll be celebrating good blog tours and book events for my Chandler’s Ford Today post next week so do look out for that. As well as sharing the blog links for my tour in one handy post here, I’ll also look at the advantages of such things for writers. It may not be relevant for where your writing is at right now but it may well become relevant. I’ve often found this to be the case for me as my writing has developed. Link up on Friday.

13th September –  Kaz Warrent

The week has whizzed by once again and now it is time to share the final two posts from the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side. First up is Kaz Warrent whose review is on Instagram though I share a screenshot of the review below. Many thanks, Kaz.

12th September – Val Penny Review
Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. All well here and I’m delighted with the latest review for Seeing The Other Side, which has come in from Val Penny. Just a quick extract here:-

This third book of flash fiction stories, Seeing the Other Side, by author Allison Symes is a long-awaited treasure and I was thrilled to be invited to join the tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines.

I write novels and in which an extra word or two is not an issue. Therefore, I am always in awe of poets and flash fiction writers who choose their words so carefully and can portray ideas and stories with delightful brevity.

Seeing the Other Side is a larger collection of stories that either of her previous books, From Light to Dark and Back Again, and, Tripping the Flash Fantastic. However the increased quantity has not diluted the sparkling quality. Each of the stories is a gem with an unexpected twist in the tale.

Many thanks, Val. Do see the link for more details.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Was delighted to receive my second order of Seeing The Other Side. It is a joyous moment when you receive your first lot of books. It’s an even better joyous moment when you receive a second lot through because you’ve had to reorder. So much a nice “problem” to have and I hope to have to put in more orders in due course, naturally.

Am so thrilled with the lovely reviews which came in for the book during the blog tour. I hope to have fun creating some graphics via Book Brush with some quotes from these to use later. I find Book Brush easier to use than Canva to be honest and like BB’s templates – there is a good range of these. But I need time to do that and I hope to have a look at this at the weekend.

Another busy Monday and so it’s time for another YouTube story from me. This one follows on from my story, On The Late Side, which was on Substack yesterday (see above) but both stories stand alone.

Hope you enjoy Blind To The Obvious.

Despite past history, will Dora finally believe Tom when he says he is trying to do the right thing by her? What will happen if she doesn’t? Find out here.

 

This week has been a thrill in terms of celebrating flash fiction generally via the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side. With that now ended, I hope to resume having a go at various flash fiction competitions. I know there is at least two I would like to try for before the end of the year and may well come across others before that.

I haven’t written so much for competitions this year, which I will try and rectify for 2027, but I think having a new book out, my first in six years, would count as a valid excuse!

One of the joys of flash fiction is there are so many more competitions available now and these can be a great way of getting your name and work out there. I’ve found competitions useful practice for writing to deadlines too, which also comes in useful for longer works!

Thrilled with the latest review for Seeing The Other Side which came in today from Val Penny. The blog tour concludes tomorrow but it has been a fabulous experience. See above.

I’ll be talking about Blog Tours and Book Events for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. As well as sharing the links to my blog tour in one handy post, I’ll be looking at the advantages of these things, especially the blog tours, from a writer’s viewpoint. I hope that will prove useful.

Often I decide on a topic for CFT based on what I know I would have found useful had it been around earlier in my writing career and this is one of those themes.

And, of course, I’m spreading the word about flash fiction in all of this too. Nothing to dislike there!

Goodreads Author Blog – Blog Tours

I’ve recently been on a blog tour for my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side. It has been a fabulous experience and generated some great reviews. It also spreads the word about flash fiction as a fabulous format to read too.

I write non-fiction too and often interview authors as part of their blog tours. I find it fascinating to find out what inspires them and their books. Blog tours are so useful in promotion, of course. I also feel such things also promote the joy of reading and enable more people to find out about more books and in genres they’d not considered before. All useful stuff.

So if you can support other authors on their blog tours, I’d do so. You will find you will end up reading more. This has happened to me. And it’s not as if reading more can ever be a bad thing, right?

Certainly checking out the reviews the blog tours generate has led to me discovering books new to me. Win-win here for the readers, I’d say.

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Out and About in Salisbury

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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. IMAGES OF ME AT A LOCAL BOOK FAIR WERE TAKEN BY MY LOVELY EDITOR AT CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY, JANET WILLIAMS.
Hope all is well. Am slowly resuming normal swimming in terms of distance – am about 80% there. Lady has seen her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this week so is well pleased with that, as was the Ridgeback.
Looking forward to my book event for Seeing The Other Side at Salisbury URC tomorrow, 5th September. Hope to report back on that later.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope the day has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Hasn’t seen either in ages. All three dogs had a super time.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Out and About In Salisbury for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It flags up my writing event at Salisbury URC tomorrow, Saturday 5th September, and celebrates Salisbury itself to an extent. It is a lovely city to visit.

Hope to report back at a later date on how the event tomorrow goes though I hope the Salisbury URC, their book stall and coffee shop and I all do well! I do know it will be fun! And if you are in the city, do pop by and say hello.

Out and About in Salisbury

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Am thrilled to be able to share the following Facebook reel created by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog ahead of my blog tour for Seeing The Other Side. That kicks off from next week from 7th September.

Meantime I have also just sent in a pitch to give a talk at my local library after an interesting chat with them yesterday. Fingers crossed time! Would so love to do something here.

I’ll be sharing Out and About in Salisbury for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow, giving details of my book event at the URC on Saturday. It is all go but in a good way. See above.

Hope the day has gone well. Popped up to my local library. Hope to pitch an author talk to them – they were interested so fingers crossed. Blog tour for Seeing The Other Side starts next week too.

Will be hosting an online group for the Association of Christian Writers later this evening. Was delighted to see in the latest Christian Writer a friend of mine has joined them and got his book in there. Mine has gone out via the ACW newsletter. Hope it gets into the magazine too in due course. It’s a useful membership perk!

Writing wise, am busy blogging and drafting and proofreading, as well as marketing, so not sure of things to be getting on with but I like this. I love the variety. Keeps me on my creative toes and that’s never a bad thing. Filled in the feedback form for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick today too. Did appreciate being able to have my book launch there. It was useful.

Marketing Tip: Start small, build up. Find things you know you’ll enjoy doing. I like sharing stories so will always find ways to do that, for example. Carve out marketing time away from your writing time. I say that because you want to enjoy your writing. Without that you would have nothing to market anyway. You also don’t want to resent marketing eating up your writing time either.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Looking forward to tomorrow’s event (5th September) at Salisbury URC for Seeing The Other Side. Next week will be blog tour week for the book and I look forward to sharing the various links. Have now got my pitch into my local library for a talk there but have no idea how long it will be before I hear back but as the saying goes, if you don’t ask etc etc.

I hope over the weekend to submit my story for potential broadcast and on Sunday 6th September I’ll have another story up on CafeLit, which will be lovely.

Flash Tip: Know your character. Know what makes them stand out for you. That aspect of them will resonate with your readers too. You want to feel as if I’ve got to write this character’s story up. If they grip you like that, they will grip others. It’s why I swear by jotting down a few thoughts as to a potential character. I’ve mentioned before I like traits because they are a good way in to likely attitudes and behaviours. You can do a lot with that.

Lady has had a great day, having had a wonderful playtime in the park with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum. The grass is also coming back! It’s much nicer to walk on and it’s fabulous seeing some green reappear.

Writing wise, as well as various things connected to Seeing The Other Side going on right now, I hope to submit a story for potential broadcast over the weekend. Happy with the piece. Just need to send it in.

I always record stories for this kind of thing on Zoom and play them back but doing this also means I know I can’t go over the allotted time span. I know what the time allowed is (three to five minutes usually) and I know what Zoom is telling me I’ve come in at! I also hear how the story sounds and whether I stumble or not. All useful stuff.

There’s also a story I need to edit considerably but hope to work on this over the weekend as well.

Always pleased to have plenty to do.

Flash fiction was something I found by accident.
But it made me a published author with books to my name.
Not every writing accident is a bad one!
The writing life should be seen, I think, as a long term game.
Allison Symes – 2nd September 2026

I’ve learned over time to be open to trying new forms of writing which is how I got into short stories and flash fiction at all. But I had to be willing to give it a go and take the view what did I have to lose?

I take the same view with competitions. Give it my best shot and send something suitable in. If I am shortlisted or win, brilliant. If not, at least I knew I tried. And, as I’ve mentioned before, when I’ve looked at work again, I’ve had another edit on it and gone on to have it published second time around.

There are no shortcuts in writing but there is plenty of support on the way. It’s the biggest thing I love about the writing community. With rare exceptions, it is supportive.

Fairytales With Bite – Musical Magic

Had a fabulous time earlier this week listening to the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame. I suspect many take in classical music without realising it. Enjoy a Spielberg film? Composer will almost certainly be John Williams. I’ve always understood classical to be music which uses all of the sections of the orchestra and most film music does and to great effect too.

I love a wide range of music and think it is truly magical but would this apply in your setting and to your characters? Good music can take you out of yourself but would your characters ever want that? If not, why not?

What would the music be like in your magical setting? Similar to ours or literally like nothing on Earth? Would your setting/characters copy musical styles from Earth once they became aware of them? Could our music be one thing which might make them think better of us and could change a course of action they’d been planning to follow?

Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Appreciation of The Arts

I love music, especially classical. I love poetry especially when it is read to me at Poetry Open Mic Nights. I love writing and reading, especially flash fiction and short stories. I love wonderful paintings (but am of the school of thought I know what I like when I see it). Generally, I appreciate the arts for what they can give us and those who practice the arts. I’ve got a lot of sympathy for the behind the scenes work and practice over years which must happen here.

But how do your characters appreciate the arts? Do they appreciate them at all or think they’re just for the “snobs”? What art forms are there in your setting? Could comparisons be made with what we have here or would they be far beyond us here in terms of scale, technical ability etc?

Do they have art forms which can only be on their setting due to its nature/your characters’ natures? What would humans make of these if they discovered your setting?

Can art help improve relationships between species? Could an appreciation of the arts change behaviours, attitudes, promote understanding etc?

Again there are story ideas there.

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New Season, New Books and Blog Tour News

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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. BLOG TOUR POSTER FOR SEEING THE OTHER SIDE FROM LYNSEY ADAMS OF READING BETWEEN THE LINES BOOK VLOG. TOUR STARTS NEXT WEEK, 7TH SEPTEMBER 2026. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Finally had some proper rain. Already the grass and plants are looking better. Looking forward to my book event for Seeing The Other Side at Salisbury URC on 5th September. Am hoping the weather stays dry for that one because while I’ll be indoors, footfall is better when it isn’t wet!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Not bad here. Had the best swim in terms of distance since my fall. Really enjoyable. Okay, I’m not going to break any speed records right now but that wasn’t the idea and recovery continues to go well, I’m relieved to say. Being in the water has helped too.

Am delighted to share the poster for the blog tour for Seeing The Other Side. Many thanks to Lynsey Adams of Reading Between The Lines Book Vlog for this and to the lovely folks who will be hosting me soon. Am so looking forward to sharing the links.

Meantime I’ve a book event to prepare for on Saturday at Salisbury URC. Am looking forward to that too.

Also author newsletter out this morning. It’s a good reminder of how fast the year is going!
Hope to submit a story for potential broadcast later this week too.

Have enjoyed a bank holiday Monday (most of the UK bar Scotland has had one today, scary thought is the next one is Christmas!) enjoying the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame.

Delighted to hear The Lord of the Rings soundtrack came in at No. 1 again. I voted for it but do feel it has everything – classical, choral, opera, Enya and Annie Lennox. What more could you want?!

Today has been a treat for the ears and Lady had a treat too – she played with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal for the first time in a while today. Both dogs so excited to see each other. It is so sweet to see.

Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Will share some details about my blog tour for Seeing The Other Side tomorrow. Lots going on. See above.

Meantime, and as it is Monday, it’s time to share the story I put on my Substack platform yesterday. Hope you enjoy my Menace.

Who will you sympathise with – Mrs Wilkins, Mrs Lake or my narrator?

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Hope the weekend has been a good one. Good to see some rain. Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly.

Am making good progress on some proofreading work too. So looking forward to next Saturday’s book event for Seeing The Other Side at Salisbury URC. Will be writing about that for Chandler’s Ford Today this week too.

Have also got a couple of places where I’d like to submit some flash fiction so hope to start some drafts later today.

Character Tip: What makes you want to write about the character you’ve got in mind for a story? What is it about them that intrigues you? Are they “strong” enough to deliver the impact you’d like your story to have on potential readers?

I’ve mentioned before the first person the characters have to grip is you, their creator, but it is worth repeating. Usually with me I can hear a character’s voice in my head and something about their attitude/what they say is enough to make me think yes, this character has got sparkle, this one is definitely worth writing up.

Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post, Summer Writing. Do you find your writing winds down during the summer months? I find it is a season of peaks and troughs.

I find I need to take some time out to calm the buzz I have on returning from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. A day or two later and I’m raring to go again. I don’t think the heatwave this year has helped either despite my following all the advice on hydration. There are times you need to step back and be kind to yourself. For me, summer is one of them.

I’ve always found lots of “little bits” of writing keep my creative mind “ticking over” until I’m ready for the full writing work schedule again. Writing flash helps here. I know I can get something written in, say, fifteen minutes. I feel better for having written something.

My post goes on to share ways in which you can use summer in your writing. I also associate summer with “light” so want “light” reading. Light reading I think is misnamed. Lighter reads can still look at issues but they are primarily there to entertain and I’ve never seen anything wrong with that.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Summer Writing

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Had some late news come in yesterday but am thrilled to say my Truth Hurts will be on CafeLit on Sunday, 6th September. It has been a while since I last had something on there so am pleased about this. Will share the link later this week.

Meantime why not check out the CafeLit website? Link here takes you to the Read Our Stories page. There is a great mixture here of flash fiction and short stories, across a wealth of genres, from newbie to more experienced writers. A new story appears at 4pm just in time to enjoy with tea/coffee and cake of course!

Had a lovely productive weekend writing. Have a draft ready for some polishing and then submitting later this week. Also received some good news about a CafeLit submission of mine – more on that tomorrow.

But as it is Monday, a busy one as always, it is time for my latest YouTube story. Hope you enjoy Plausible Deniability.

To be told you should master plausible deniability is one thing but does my character manage it? What cause could they have to want to do so? Find out here.

 

Have selected a competition to have a go at for some flash fiction. It’s the first time in a while I’m getting some stories out there but it has been so lovely to be focused on having a new book out and all that needs to be done around that. Thankfully, there is no use by date here though I hope to set up events relating to Seeing The Other Side later on.

Sometimes the competition theme will indicate a likely mood of a story, sometimes it is wide open, as is the case for the one I’m shortly going to be trying. So I will take a little time out to think about the mood of the story I want to write for that theme. I like to mix up writing lighter and darker stories. Suits my style and reflects my reading tastes too.

Flash Tip: It’s fun to mix up using first, second and third person for flash. I use all three, though the second is the one I use the least often. It can be highly effective though. Depends on how well your narrator comes across here so you do want a strong, interesting character to stand out here.

I found when I was writing more and more flash, I was falling into the habit of using the first person so have deliberately rebalanced to make sure I get plenty of the third person in too. Now when I’m thinking of a story, I will also convince what “voice” the story would work best in – first, second, or third. Some ideas naturally lend themselves to one so I will go with that.

How can it be almost September already? Well, that reminds me my next author newsletter will be out again next week. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I hope to report back on how my Salisbury event goes for the October issue but plenty going on for the September one, along with my usual story links etc. The newsletter is always a joy to put together and if I have one top tip for marketing it is to enjoy what you do. It makes it more sustainable for you in the longer run. It also means it doesn’t feel like a chore.

Flash is wonderful for sharing as part of an overall marketing schedule which is why I put stories regularly on Substack and YouTube. More to come on both of those platforms tomorrow and Monday.

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GOODREADS AUTHOR BLOG – New Season, New Books

September is just around the corner as I write this and is very much the start of a new season. I have a soft spot for autumn. I love the changing colours of the leaves and the one good thing about the darker, longer evenings is they do give you the perfect excuse to read and/or write more! (And if you can do that while drinking scrumptious hot chocolate even better!).

September in many ways is the kick off point for new books coming out. There will be lots of events in the run up to Christmas (and I’ll be holding some too for Seeing The Other Side, which is lovely. My last launch for Tripping The Flash Fantastic was in 2020 when everything had to be online. I’ve been enjoying getting out and about in person again and hope to do more of this over the next few months).

I also can’t think of a better way to welcome in a new season than to do so with new books or with books new to you, whether you buy them or borrow them. I’ve sometimes done the latter and then loved the borrowed book so much then went on to buy my own copy.

There is never a wrong time for new books and to treasurer the older ones.

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Author Interview: Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

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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.
A huge thank you to Joan Livingston, Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog, and Sarah Holbrook for author, book cover and poster pictures for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I interviewed Joan as part of a blog tour. It is a cracking interview. Do check it out below.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady has had a lovely time with some of her chums, we’ve managed to avoid some of the rain, and the writing is going well. So all good here.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m delighted to welcome Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series, to Chandler’s Ford Today for an in-depth interview regarding her latest book in the series, Finding The Source.

The interview is part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

In a cracking interview, Joan shares insights as to how she developed her series and lead character, Isabel Long. In a nice link, given I live in Hampshire, Joan explains how her background as a journalist, including writing for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, influenced her writing.

She also shares how she manages to get the right amount of back story into a novel, given not everyone will come to her work with the first book in the series. Plus she shares three wonderful tips on writing and another three on marketing, which will help any writer. And there is much more too. Do check the interview out.

Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

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Lady was overjoyed to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum today. They’ve been best friends for a long time and we haven’t seen her for a while so the two dogs were overjoyed to see each other again. This is one thing I love about dogs like these two – the friendship is always there. Humans could learn a lot from dogs at times.

Writing wise, don’t forget to look out for my author interview with Joan Livingston on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. It’s a fabulous one but don’t just take my word for it. See above.

This evening (11th September 2025), I’m supporting a friend’s book launch on Zoom. That’ll be fun. It was and interesting with it.

Will have news to share concerning the next edition of Writers’ Narrative but in the meantime why not check out the current issue, which is packed full of wonderful advice about publishing.

 

Lady and I didn’t manage to avoid the rain altogether though she did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and played with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Neither Lady nor Coco cared about the rain. Both had a super run around. Thankfully, both dry off easily enough, which is more than can be said for their owners!

Writing wise, I’ll be talking with Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series, about her latest book, Finding The Source, for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This is part of the Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog book blog tour. The interview is packed full of cracking information and insights. Be sure not to miss it. See above. Plenty of interest to readers and writers of crime fiction here too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s a delight to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-worder, The Green Pin. Katie discovers the green pin slipped under her door by someone unknown has huge significance for her. Find out what that is and how Katie reacts here. Hope you enjoy the tale.

I’ve made no secret of my love of writing prompts and use many kinds to trigger ideas for my own writing. They’ve all paid off. But the lovely thing as a flash fiction writer is the fact I can use each prompt and get different stories out of it.

For one thing, I can write my prompt to 100 words, 250 words, 500 words, etc.

I’d have the choice of using the same character for each story or making up different ones.

If I use one character throughout, I can show more of their story with the increasing word counts.

If I use different characters, I could use the prompt itself as a common link and so have some linked flash written.

Either way I have options which I always like.

Though flash is necessarily on the short side, it doesn’t mean there are any limitations to the themes it can tackle. Indeed by focusing on the character, flash fiction can show the reader the big themes and the impact on those characters. As the word count is limited, the impact isn’t diluted.

One of my tales from From Light to Dark and Back Again is called They Don’t Understand and is what I call a slice of life tale where my character looks back on his life. You can see the impact losing his wife is having on him as he relates their joint story together. He doesn’t have to spell everything out.

The joy and strength of flash is inference and it is a powerful tool here. For this kind of story, I think it is the best way to go. The character’s voice grabs your attention, there are no boring bits, he focuses on what you need to know, and it doesn’t go on for too long.

Neither does he tell you the theme – he shows it.

Fairytales with Bite – Something Spectacular

The trouble with any magical setting is what would count as something spectacular? Mind you, do your characters see magic as something ordinary and would see something like our science as being something spectacular?

I guess this is a matter of perspective but what perspective would your characters have? Do they agree with the overall consensus here or do they think differently?

What would your world consider as a spectacular development for them? Would it be a case of being able to do more with the magic or other powers they have or to develop something which is different to that so they have alternative sources of power to use?

And what would the general public make of it all? Who would be behind the spectacular development? What drove them to do it? What obstacles do they have to overcome?

Definite story ideas there.

This World and Others – What Passes For Normal Around Here?

Now I think this would be a great title for a novel or short story. If your setting is a magical world, just would be considered normal? It would be different from what we would think here.

There are always those who think outside of the box so their definition of normal is likely to be different from that held by the majority. How would the “misfit” get on given this? Or would they be encouraged given your setting’s great inventions tend to come from those who do dare to be different?

Also did your world’s definition of “normal” change over time (and maybe partly due to different inventions coming along changing life and attitudes?). If your world interacts with other species/planets, how has that changed their definition of normal?

Plenty of food for thought for stories there, I think.


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As I’ve shared September’s issue above, I thought I’d share a back issue of this fabulous magazine here.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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