Tag: reading

Moving Books

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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. Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking two images of me at one of the Hiltingbury Book Fairs.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here and it includes a Bank Holiday. Lady is hoping to see more of her friends this week and I remain thrilled to bits my third book, Seeing The Other Side, is due out on 18th June 2026. Onwards and upwards it is then!

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Hope today has gone well. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler friend today – all well there.

Writing wise, I’m back on to editing for a client, as well as getting various bits and pieces together which will appear over the next month or so. All hugely enjoyable tasks plus, naturally, I hope to share more news of Seeing The Other Side in due course. So looking forward to that coming out.

Character Tip: There are various ways to start creating a character. Ironically, I don’t find pictures that helpful while I know many other authors do. I’m more drawn by how my character sounds in conversation, which will also show me a great deal about their attitudes to life and educational level/class. That conversation will come from what I believe their main trait will be.

Creating a character can be a bit like putting a jigsaw together. Get a corner piece and away you go! For me that corner piece is the trait and then I get the second corner piece of something my character is likely to say or think.

Hope you’ve had a good day. It has been a Bank Holiday Monday where I am. Still hectic mind you.

So time for my Substack story of the week and I hope you enjoy this one – Last Silly Thing. Idea for this one came from a random question generator which asked what was the last silly thing you did. There is no way I’m revealing that one but I can get a character to do so!

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Lovely church service this morning followed by a quick walk in the park with Lady and a quiet writing and editing afternoon. Much to enjoy about Sundays from my viewpoint! And I’ll be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday soon too….

Hope to submit a story I’ve worked on recently to a competition later today. Then it’ll be time to pick another competition to have a go at. I like to keep my hand in!

Writing Tip: I’ve mentioned before how useful it can be to have a stock of stories to hand for when competitions of interest come up, as they do, but where to start here? My thought would be to write stories around timeless themes (which is where the proverbs and sayings will prove useful), because these will always come up. There will always be competitions based around the themes of love, justice, revenge, and things like that. You can also think about genres here too. There will always be competitions around ghost stories, crime stories, history stories and more.

It’s important to write what you genuinely love though. I love most genres (and read in them) so writing to them when the occasion demands it seems a natural thing to do for me. I’m not so keen on horror, for example, so won’t write to that. (The nearest I’ve ever got to that was a dark, by my standards, ghost story and there I was looking at what could drive the character to be the way I portrayed them. I had no problem with approaching the story that way).

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here though rain has now come in. Not that this bothers Lady.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Book Event Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I hope it will prove useful. Am looking forward to more events myself when Seeing The Other Side comes out.

Delighted to receive my copy of Christian Writer, the journal of the Association of Christian Writers, in the post today. Aside from anything else, we don’t always get post on a Saturday these days! Anyway, I have a column in Christian Writer called Allison’s Advice and I write a 100 word flash non-fiction piece for it on aspects of writing. My column this time shared a few thoughts on learning to love editing (or at least see it as the useful and crucial thing it is).

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Did get my flash competition entry off over the Bank Holiday weekend so was pleased about that. Have just received an email about another potential one. It is one I’ve tried before but have had no joy but you have to be in it to win it, yes?

I hope to get back to some longer short story competitions too but am putting this on the back burner for the next couple of months. Once my Seeing The Other Side is out, there will be plenty to do there but I am looking forward to that immensely.


It has been a busy Bank Holiday Monday here (though Lady was delighted to get to see her “boyfriend”, a lovely Aussie Shepherd). I do know it is time for a story on my YouTube channel though. Hope you like my latest one here – Past Mistakes.

Magical mistakes have led to my character learning and surviving but she now faces the test of her life. Find out more here.

 

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly and I have a competition to submit for too. My entry for that was a flash piece I drafted a while ago, left “to brew”, came back and edited it and strengthened it. It’s now ready to send in but the break away did help me see flaws clearly when I came back to it.

I hope to write up some of the prompts I set at last week’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting. There was time for one of the exercises on the night and I’ve drafted something for that, which I think has promise. But I do want to try to have a go at some of the other prompts. There are some interesting characters to write stories around and that kind of prompt always draws me in.

As you know, I do believe a successful story hinges on how well readers root for the characters in it.

One of the joys of re-reading my Seeing The Other Side when I was proofreading it recently was to rediscover the stories in there. I write a great number of tales so it is impossible to remember them all. But I do tend to remember the characters. They’ve always been the kingpin of any form of fiction. If they grip me, the story will. It’s a good challenge to remember as I write my own tales.

Character Tip: Think about what makes your character stand out for you. What do you love about them? What do you loathe? The reasons why behind your answers here will tell you more about those characters and will reveal something of their motivations, which is always useful to know.

If you loathe a character because they’re dishonest, you can then look at why they’re that way. Were they driven to it? Did they do this as a survival technique? Were they determined not to be deceived by anyone else again?

Whichever way you look at it, there are story ideas here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Moving Books

I’ve long thought any story, any book (including non-fiction), should move you in some way for it to “work properly”.

For non-fiction, the “moving” bit comes from helping you to discover something you didn’t know or where a different interpretation, one you’d not come across before, is shown. Here the moving bit is enlightenment, if you like, or you agree/disagree with the different interpretation. It will still have made you think though!

For fiction, the success of any story is for the characters to move you enough to make you care about what happens to them. I’ve long found if I don’t care about the character, I won’t be finishing the story.

There are various ways to bring characters to life so they can move readers. Sometimes it is getting them to face a life or death quest (The Lord of the Rings is the godfather of this kind of fiction for me). Sometimes it is when two characters are clearly meant for each other but they have to overcome difficulties (Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion for me here).

But something about the characters has to appeal. I admired Frodo’s courage, Elizabeth Bennet’s determination not to settle for second best, and Anne Elliot accepting she made a mistake when rejecting Wentworth all those years ago.



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Writing Wishes

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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 you have had a good few days. Gorgeous spring weather here. Lady and I are making the most of it. Writing and editing going well too. Not short of things to do right now!

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Am delighted to share Writing Wishes on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

As I take a brief look at AI and the Human Authored campaign, I also look at other writing wishes, many of which are achievable! Others need working at but that is true for us all, if it is any comfort. Still others are “no-brainers” such as writers always wanting lots of nice stationery. Well, there is always room for one more notebook and pen set, isn’t there?

I also share two useful links for those seeking writing advice (and we all need that).

Hope you enjoy the post.

Writing Wishes

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today. Lovely time in the park.

Today it is St. George’s Day and also Shakespeare’s birth/death days. I can only think of one other who died on their birthday, Elizabeth of York, Henry VII’s queen.

It took me ages to “get” Shakespeare at all, though like many of us I’ve used phrases I hadn’t known he invented. It took the pandemic and watching National Theatre Live, along with going to some of those productions in a local school after we were allowed out again, which changed my opinion. I do remain convinced though Shakespeare, generally, is best watched than read (with the exception of the sonnets, obviously). I saw Hamlet via NTL, both the Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant ones. Loved them. My late mother loved him and I’m sure she’d be pleased I’ve finally “got” Shakespeare.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Writing Wishes on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and am ploughing on with the editing. Nice to do this with the windows open though and letting some sunshine in. It’s been months since I was last able to do that!

It has been another lovely spring day today, which Lady and I appreciated. The park was quiet and lovely. Talking of which, how about this for a prompt?

Prompt Thought: Quietness can seem wonderful or threatening, depending on circumstance and character mood. It can also seem oppressive, leading to the threatening feeling. Why not write two stories based on quietness being a wonderful thing for your character and then another tale where it is anything but that? You could also keep the word count for the two stories the same. Am sure you could get two interesting and contrasting stories here and, yes, you could use the same character but in different situations.

Happy drafting! (May well do this one myself at some point. As ever, watch this space).

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Hope the day has been a good one. Lovely weather again and Lady so enjoyed seeing her Hungarian Vizler pal. Later, she met a lovely cockapoo called Roscoe. Lady has had a good day on “the socials”. She is easily the most sociable pet we’ve had (and yes she loves it when we hold parties here so you could call her a party animal too).

Flash fiction wise, I am happily going through my third book and hope to have that done in the next few days. Then it’s back to the publisher. Exciting times.

Plus this weekend I want to dig out an old story of mine and have a look at it for a future competition. I always keep a supply of stories in stock, so to speak, for this purpose. It pays. If a theme is set, I often have a story already written in draft and I can then examine it to see if it could be submitted. Often it can be with some more work done to it, which is fine. I’ve never had a problem with editing!

I suspect by now there is a National Day of Something for every day of the year. As well as it being St. George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birth/death days, it appears it is also National Picnic Day (has anyone told the wasps?), World Book and Copyright Day (am naturally all for that), and Allergy Awareness Week. I should imagine though if you have any allergies (I do – asthma and hayfever), you are aware of that all year!

Having said that, there’s nothing to stop you weaving ideas from these days into your flash fiction stories.

For example, a character with an allergy – how does it get in their way? What do they do to overcome it as much as possible?

A character wants to set up a picnic and makes a right mess of it – could be potential for humour here. Do they give up on the idea or are they able to salvage something from the mess? Does anyone else help here?

So story ideas are there, including for flash. It’s a question, I think, of keeping an open mind to possibilities. I like to see these National Days as potential prompt ideas because you can take them that way.

I like to mix up the mood of my flash (and short) stories because I think this reflects life. Much as I’d love to find things funny all of the time, that isn’t possible. There is the darker side of life and I think it is honest to have stories which reflect both sides of life here. Certainly I believe having a mixture of the two types in a collection makes the stories, and the characters, more believable.

I do like to keep a balance in my collections though and this will also apply to Seeing The Other Side in due course.

There are times when I just know from my character outline what mood the story is likely to take. If, for example, I have a character dealing with a sad situation, there will be elements within the story which will show the character being influenced by that. I would then hope to write them going on to rise about things as much as is possible (and probably with help) but I can’t have them immune to what is going on around them. Else they would be a cardboard cut out character.

Characters make or break a story for me and even the most fantastical of creatures still has to be believable in some way. Motivation is key here. I might not understand what a great big dragon’s life is like,not having had experience of being a great big dragon (!), but I can imagine why they may want to terrorise a village. If they’re hungry, say, where would they go to look for food? Something has to drive them and basic needs can be a great way into working out what a character’s motivation would be.

Fairytales With Bite – Journeys

I like journeys. Journeys have purpose. (Okay I loathe traffic jams, cancellations on the trains etc but journeys themselves are generally fine). They are also great things to write stories around. For a magical setting, you’ve got more range as to what kind of transport your characters have to use. The sky could indeed be the limit here!

Journeys can also be enlightening. Why does your character have to go on one? What does it achieve for them? When using magic, how does that help or hinder them? Are there disadvantages to magical transport? How could it compare with what we have here? I’m thinking along the lines of energy usage here. Could your magical setting have issues with “clean” and “unclean” magical energy usage? Journeys would be likely to use up a lot of this.

What does your character think about having to go on a journey, especially if it is not something they would usually do and/or it is to somewhere they would far rather not go? Be fair, would you go to Mordor if you didn’t have to?!

This World and Others – Taking The Long Way

I remember as a kid my Dad taking the family out for day trips and, especially if we weren’t in a hurry, we’d take the long way around to get home after a great day out. It was all part of the trip and we enjoyed it. Would your characters ever choose to do that? Where would they choose to go and why? What would be their long way home?

Where characters have to take the long way out of necessity, what is behind that? How do they manage it? What help do they have along their way? Frodo from The Lord of the Rings needed others to help him. He’d have never have made it to Mordor on his own.

What kind of roads would your setting have? Is the thought of any kind of journey, long or short, something your characters might dread because of the state of the roads and/or transport networks? Would have every sympathy there!

If a character has a choice of a short or long way to achieve their objective, what would make them choose the longer, more complicated way? I would expect there to be good reasons behind that. For example, the short route could have hazards the longer one doesn’t. The longer route is safer but just longer.

Whatever journey your character is going on, what would they face along the way?

Story ideas there!

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Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move

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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 you have had a wonderful Easter. Moving Easter services meant a great deal to me. Lady has been out and about enjoying the sunshine and I’m writing away. A good weekend and yes chocolate was involved too!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely day weather wise today.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to share the link to my latest article on Writers’ Narrative. For this month, the theme is travel writing. My take on it? To think about it from a character’s viewpoint.

At some point we have to make our characters move and travel problems will be as real for them as, alas, they are for us. (I faced yet more temporary traffic lights today – no warning given etc!).

Even in a fantasy world where some characters may be able to fly without the aid of machinery, they will face issues such as wind currents and so on. I share thoughts and tips on this including the thought travel brings out the best and worst in us so it can do exactly the same for our creations too.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

It’s a Bank Holiday here in the UK. I’ve spent a lot of the weekend listening to and enjoying the countdown of the Classic FM Hall of Fame for 2026. I’ve heard two of my choices so far – one went up, the other went down – and have still to hear the third. The third one ended up being a non-mover!

It’s not that easy just picking three pieces of music but it’s fun having a go. And listening to so much lovely music over the Easter weekend has been a joy – everything from classical to film scores to operatic to themes from games (the latter is surprisingly good). I usually write with Classic FM on. It relaxes me and when I relax I write more.

Writing wise, I shared another flash piece over on my Substack page over the weekend. Link here. Have started work on various things I’ll be sharing in one form or another later this month/early next month. Plus I’ve been editing. So the weekend has been productive.

Character Tip: If you’re fleshing out a character outline, give some thought as to what kind of music they’d like and why. It may well show you their likely age, possibly some of their background too, and I’m sure you can make use of that in your stories.

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Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Lovely and cheery church service this morning. Our minister even brought a big chocolate egg for us to share. It went down very well with all!

Writing wise, will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly.

Congratulations to all who have been accepted for the Bridge House Publishing anthology out later this year. News came out about that yesterday.

Ahead of that will be the release of The Best of CafeLit 15, where my story, Freedom, will be included. Already looking forward to catching up with folk in person at the end of the year.

Writing Tip: Will be reviewing my story for the BHP book because I know its theme may well make it open for other competitions. I’ve nothing to lose doing this and, indeed, have sometimes gone on to have work accepted which was initially turned down elsewhere. The good thing is I now know I’ve the necessary distance now to re-read this story and see what can be done to boost its chances out there.


Hope the Easter weekend has got off to a good start. Weather can’t make up its mind what it wants to do here, not that this stopped Lady and I having a nice time at the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Flash Fiction On Radio for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here too. Am looking forward to sharing that.

Will also be starting work on a super interview to come up on CFT later in May. Good to be kept busy!

Structure Tip: I find this tip as useful for my non-fiction writing as I do for my short form fiction. I have a rough plan of what will be at the start of the piece, what must be in the middle, and from there what must come at the end. The Three Act structure has much to recommend it even when you’re writing short pieces. I find it keeps me on track. I do find having a framework to work to so useful.

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Absolutely gorgeous day today. Lady and I had a quiet time in the park today. Hope to catch up with pals again tomorrow.

My Writers’ Narrative article is out today (7th April 2026) and talks about Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move. So many of the issues, including travel, that we face, we can then apply to our characters.

Now in flash fiction, there isn’t a lot of room for description so if I need to show you my fairy godmother on the move, I’ll show her getting on her broom or tapping her red shoes to go somewhere. Flash uses inference a lot but there does need to be something in the story for readers to be able to make that inference. This is where using tropes can help you – red shoes will remind folk of The Wizard of Oz and brooms, well everyone knows about flying brooms in the magical world. So it is a question of then of picking out the right detail for readers to pick up on. For flash, they don’t need to know the ins and outs of broom transport unless that is the story itself.

It has been one of those rare beasts in the UK – a Bank Holiday Monday which was sunny! Have loved that. But it is still Monday when all is said and done and so it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Colour of Lying.

It seems lying politicians get everywhere when it comes to energy usage, as my fairy godmother character finds out

 

Hope your Easter Sunday is going well. Good to see some sunshine out. I know it cheers me up no end seeing some brightness especially since earlier today Lady and I were caught in a hail shower.

Weather can change moods then for better or worse but how does it do this for your characters? Could a change in the weather change the outcome in your story and, if so, how?

What other factors would change your character’s mood for better or worse? Who could exploit that, whether or not it is in the character’s best interest?

Definite story ideas there!

I plan as part of my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow to look through some drafts I’ve been storing as I’ve got ideas for competitions in mind for some of this work. This is why it pays to build up a stock of stories and something I need to get back to doing because I’ve got some to use now, which is fabulous, but I will need to replenish these in due course.

Naturally keeping some stories back like this gives me the necessary distance from them to see the faults and rectify those.

It also pays to draft some tales, every so often, to common themes because you know these will come up at some point and it can give you a head start when you spot competitions you fancy trying.

Goodreads Author Blog – Easter Stories and Inspiring Characters

The Easter story is full of drama – betrayal, injustice, a grim killing – but also hope in the form of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The characters in the story do go through a rollercoaster of emotion from crushing grief to overwhelming joy.

I must admit I like the little moments in these stories. I can picture Mary, literally blinded by grief, mistaking the risen Jesus for the gardener. You just would, wouldn’t you? Grief does things to you like that.

I like the story of Doubting Thomas too. Someone would’ve asked…

All of these tales bring home the very human qualities of these people.

Naturally, you can be inspired by that to create your own characters where the grief hits home for them, the doubts and fears do haunt them, though I must admit I would always like those stories to end on a note of hope. The news is grim enough. Books and stories can take us away from that for a while but you still need to be able to root for the characters. Understanding where they come from is a huge step for this.

And this is what the very best stories do, of course. You get behind the characters because you want them to do well (usually). It’s the hope of that which keeps me reading, for sure.

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A New Chapter

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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 your weekend went well. Not bad here. Spotted first snowdrops out in the garden – spring really is on the way at last. Have news to share about Writers’ Narrative moving to Substack and I discuss being open to opportunities too. More below. Lady is now back to her full self after her X-ray too.

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Had to get the dog out early today but Lady didn’t mind. Any time is a good time to go to the park. Dogs really do keep life simple.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to working on the topic of Ways and Paths with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. Am hoping we will get to draft some useful flash pieces to polish up at a later date. It will also be lovely to see everyone again since the last meeting was our informal just before Christmas gathering. Yes, it does seem ages ago now.

Will be reviewing Camelot The Pantomime which is being staged by our excellent local theatre company, The Chameleon Theatre Company, after seeing the performance on Thursday. It should end up being my first Chandler’s Ford Today review for this year plus my first one for February, which as a month I much prefer to January. It’s shorter for one thing and as it goes along you do see even more evidence spring is on its way – oh yes it is.

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals so her week has begun well.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing my next author newsletter soon. The good news here, folks, is that does mean January is almost over! I’m working on blogs and a couple of stories for competitions at the moment. I hope to start submitting stories again from next weekend onwards. It also won’t be long now before I’m a co-judge for a flash fiction competition for a writing group and am looking forward to that. Judging stories is always a privilege, joy, and an enlightening experience.

The ACW Flash Fiction Group meet on Wednesday and I’m off to our local theatre’s pantomime on Thursday so it promises to be an interesting week.

My news today is about Writers’ Narrative moving across to Substack. I now have an account there as well and you can find me at Substack.com/@AllisonSymesWriter1

For the moment at least, it will be mainly my Writers’ Narrative work on there but I may develop other ideas on Substack in due course. As ever, it is a question of finding the time but there are possibilities here which I would like to explore in due course.

My first two articles for Writers’ Narrative on Substack will be appearing in early February. I’ll share more nearer the time about these.

Writing Development Tip: I see things like my news as part of my ongoing Continuing Professional Development as a writer. Inevitably there are “teething” issues to begin with but these do soon settle down (it’s my experience there is always someone you can ask for help and who will help!) and you end up with more strings to your bow, writing wise, as a result precisely because you have stretched yourself to try something new. After all, I could easily not have responded to CafeLit’s 100 words challenge and therefore missed out on the joy of flash fiction.

So I try and see new things as opportunities to explore. Most of them work out really well. Occasionally I come to the conclusion something isn’t quite right for me but unless I give it a go, how can I know?

It’s important to be open to writing opportunities. It’s how I’ve become a flash fiction writer, a competition judge, an editor, and write for Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Lady back to her playful self after a trying week for her.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I hope that will prove useful (and the post is effectively an update on earlier CFT posts on this topic).

In other news, Writers’ Narrative is moving to Substack and there will be a final “hurrah” from Friday Flash Fiction. The Editor’s Choice anthology is coming out on 2nd February 2026 and I do have stories in there. Meantime do check out the reel below for a quick look.

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I love a good title which can be taken in more than one direction for all of my stories, flash or otherwise. Especially for flash, the title can do some “heavy lifting” in indicating the story’s likely mood without using up my word count allowance.

Most places don’t include the title as part of their word count limit, though it pays to check this always as some places do include it. I always allow up to five words for a title usually so if a word count limit has been given as 50 words, I will make sure my prose comes in at 45. The only exception to this is if the title is excluded and the market still then wants 50 words to the dot.

An open title gives the writer plenty of possibilities to play with and I love that aspect. I want my stories to be an entertaining read. I want to be entertained as I write them too. I think it matters that writers enjoy (most of the time) what they do. It is what helps to keep you going after all.

It’s Monday. It’s been hectic as usual. It’s so good to be sat down at my desk. Definitely time for a story then.

I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Upside Down.

Marbella teaches Risbanda the value of working out at the gym rather than just working at magic all of the time but does Risbanda appreciate it? Find out here.

 

I’m looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. We’ll be looking at Ways and Paths, which is a fabulous topic to write stories, of any length, around.

Am also delighted my first Allison’s Advice column for Christian Writer, the ACW quarterly journal, is now out. The magazine landed on my door mat recently. Appropriately it is a flash non-fiction piece coming in at around 100 words, as future columns will be too.

A lot of the themes and questions generated by random generators can also be put to good non-fiction use.For example, for this post I’ve generated the question What are you a natural at?

For flash fiction, you could write a story where your lead character shows the answer to this question and it makes a huge difference to the story outcome.

For non-fiction, you could write a piece answering the question for yourself or from the viewpoint of a historical figure.

January is almost over, honestly, and it will soon be time for the next author newsletter from me. I will be sharing an exclusive 100 word story in this. To find out more, and to receive useful writing hints and tips (which can be applied to all branches of fiction, not just flash), do sign up via my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow and I finally hope to get around to marking out some more flash and short competitions to try. This week has been busy, next week’s will be as well, and I usually find the weekend is the best time to go through the competition guide and see what I like the look of here.

Next week will see me go off to the panto (oh yes, I will be!) and leading the next session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Both of these will be great fun but in different ways!

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Goodreads Author Blog – A New Chapter

New chapters turn up in life of course. Writers’ Narrative, whom I write for, is moving platform to Substack. In my writing, new chapters crop up a lot though the best, to date at least, was the discovery of flash fiction and being published in that form.

When it comes to reading, with the exception of Terry Pratchett who didn’t use chapter breaks for his Discworld series (he did for his Young Adult books), I do appreciate chapters. They give me a breather when I’m reading a lot. They give me somewhere to read to ahead of sleeping. Yes, I often do give into the temptation to just read one more chapter and before you know it, the clock has moved on alarmingly! We’ve all been there.

I generally prefer shorter chapters. I suppose this may come from being a flash fiction and short story writer. Anything over 1000 words will seem long to me! But I also prefer them because I like a good pace to my own stories and those I read and short chapters help a lot with that.

A new chapter is always, I think, an exciting part of a book when you’re reading it for the first time. It holds all the promise of you finding out what does happen next.

As for story collections of the kind I write, each story acts almost like its own chapter but I hope they encourage reading on to find out what happens next in the next story.

 

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Hope you enjoy the above back issue of Writers’ Narrative. Will share the latest issue when I can. Meantime have a good read. It is a fabulous magazine but you don’t just have to take my word for it!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Broadcast News and Judging Stories

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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 lovely weekend. Family came down to visit so had a fantastic and busy time – we went to see a local lights festival. Lady loved seeing the family too. She is very much a “people” dog! Writing and editing are going well. Will be wrapping up for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday 19th December and then will be back in the New Year.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today so both dogs were pleased at that. Later on our evening walk Lady, other half and I came across her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. The two dogs were so excited to see each other, sweet to see.

Character Creation Tip: You know your own likes and dislikes. Why not take those and swap them around for potential characters?

For example, if you love sprouts, get your character to hate them and then face a situation where they have no choice but to have some of the things. Could be a good fun story there but the general point here of taking what you know (your likes and dislikes) and using them for characters should be the means of generating plenty of story ideas for you.

Have fun!

Delighted to say the bumper December issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Pleased to have two articles in here – Real Characters, Please and Why Should Fiction Writers Read Non-Fiction?

The theme of the magazine is Diversity Matters and there are plenty of fabulous articles to enjoy, all of which will help you with your own writing in some way.

Hope you enjoy the magazine, all 52 bumper pages, link below. Plenty here to keep you busy for a bit!

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Have had a fabulous weekend with family visiting. Went to see a local light festival. That was great but the parking was abysmal. Traffic guidance (which was indicated by a sign saying there was police approved traffic control) was non-existent. Once parked though, we had a great time at the event itself. It was impressive.

Oh well. Great to catch up with the family though and it won’t be too long before we meet up again which will be lovely. (A riotous time is usually had by all including the four legged members of the family).

Next weekend will be busy too as will be taking part in Carols by Candlelight services and reading a beautiful poem at one of them. Looking forward to that.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing A Year In Flashback as my last Chandler’s Ford Today post for 2025. That will be up on Friday.

I did manage to get to listen to Three Minute Santas with Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM yesterday before the family arrived. Loved all of the stories. Am looking forward to congratulating via Zoom those members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group who also had stories on here. We’ll be having a round up meeting on Wednesday sharing chat and stories, a great way to finish our year.

Character Tip: What would your character make of our Christmas celebrations, especially if they were not from this world? Could be some fun stories to write following that prompt. Have fun!

Am posting early today as am delighted to have family come down today. We’re off to see a local festive lights show this evening. Should be fun.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing my last Chandler’s Ford Today post for 2025 next Friday, 19th December. I’ll take a look back at my writing year and look ahead to the next one too.

Broadcast News: Am enjoying listening to Three Minute Santas on North Manchester FM as I post this. (Well, I was at the time, honest!). The show is hosted by Hannah Kate (as part of her Hannah’s Bookshelf programme) and I know I am going to love listening to the festive stories. There will be some from members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, including me, too.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf 3 Minute Santas Special, Saturday 13 December, 2-4pm

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash is easy to share on social media and your website so can be an excellent marketing tool. I like to share some flash stories every so often, including the regular ones I share here, simply to show something of my writing style to potential readers. Besides which, I like doing this because it is fun!

I love it when other authors share their stories (or snippets). The tales in themselves are entertaining but you can learn so much from what other writers do. The writing community is very supportive here and I think a lot of that is because we know ideas spark other ideas. There will be never be just the one Christmas ghost story, for example (though Dickens did write a magnificent one in A Christmas Carol) but that particular famous tale will have and will continue to spark other story ideas.

What could our story ideas spark in others? I hope lots of other ideas that only those writers could come up with! I like to see this as contributing to the big world of stories out there. Also, we do build on what has gone before. I continue to be inspired by the classic fairytales for a start.

It’s Monday. It’s dark though I am enjoying seeing the Christmas lights when I walk my dog in the evening. Brightens the place up no end. Still time for a story though. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Who What When.

Discover who fell down a chimney, what happened when a collie became involved, and when this is going to happen. Hope you enjoy this fun Christmas story.

 

With my judge’s hat on, how do I pick a potential winning flash fiction story?

I look at how well the character grips me and then how do they deliver on the premise of the story. I am expecting the character to make me feel something/react to what they do (and it should be apt for the story of course). If the character stays in my mind after I’ve read the story, then that is a good sign and of course it is a challenge to me to make sure my characters do just that for my readers.

There should be heart and feeling in a story regardless of its length, I think. I’ve got to care about what happens to the characters after all.

Will be winding down the writing as we approach Christmas and intend to have a few days break. I appreciate the time off yet when I get back to my desk that’s no hardship and this is a good place to be. I am phenomenally grateful for discovering flash fiction. It is such fun to write and read.

Would like to try competitions new to me in 2026 (having ensured they’re reputable first, of course), as well as keeping up a reasonable number of entries. I do know my recent turndown is a story I would like to try and place elsewhere. Ironically, I am being a story judge myself again soon and again in February.

Does being a story judge sometimes help me with my own flash and short story contenders? It can do. I do know with my judge’s hat on I am looking for that special something which makes a story stand out. If I remember the story, that’s a good sign and it is a challenge to me to make sure my own are memorable too.

Goodreads Author Blog – Have a Lovely Reading Christmas and New Year

I hope the Christmas season brings you plenty of lovely new books to read. I put my list in early. Yes, there is always a list! There would be something wrong if I didn’t have plenty of books on my wish list.

Did you use to get annuals as part of your Christmas presents? Do you still get them even? My son used to love The Beano Annual (and yes I often took a peek or several, having loved many of the characters in there). D.C. Thomson are a fabulous publisher. My annual these days is the thoughtful The Friendship Book, which has been a yearly fixture for decades now.

As well as the books I’m looking forward to, I love the Christmas story itself. I also take part in Carols by Candlelight services and have read some wonderful poems based around the Nativity, which I hadn’t come across before. Beautiful words to read and the poems conjure up tremendous imagery, as do the carols, especially my favourite In The Bleak Midwinter (has to be the Holst tune though).

I suppose that’s what I love about words, stories, and books the most. They really do take you places through the power of your own imagination.

I’m looking forward to having my imagination re-fired by the books I find under the tree this year!

I hope to post again next week but in case that cannot happen, I will wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year and hope books to continue to play an important part in your life. I cannot imagine a world without books. Nor do I ever wish to be able to!

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Couldn’t resist putting the above magazine back in here too. This has been one of the highlights of my writing year.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview – Introducing Heather Beveridge/Hetty Waite – Evolve

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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 Heather Beveridge (who writes as Hetty Waite) and Lynsey Adams of Reading Between The Lines Book Vlog for supplying author, book cover and other photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have a good week. Mixed bag weather wise though Lady has seen all of her chums this week, including a couple we haven’t seen for a while. Have sent in my final competition entries for the year so glad to have that done. Other writing going well. Am so looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event on Saturday, 6th December too.

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Had a lovely day out with other half to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. Lady loved the trip out too. And that was despite the weather. We had a lovely lunch in the aptly named Windy Corner Cafe, where dogs are welcome, and Lady loved it. As well as being spoiled rotten, she also enjoyed looking around at the other diners, probably hopeful for titibits, but she does love people in general and loves being nosy. Can’t think where she gets that from!

Writing wise, I’m delighted to welcome fellow Swanwicker Heather Beveridge, who writes as Hetty Waite, to discuss her new book, Evolve. This is book two in her The Chromosone Trilogy, a YA dystopian series.
Plenty to enjoy here.

Heather/Hetty discussed what led her to write her trilogy, the joys and challenges of doing that, plus she looks at the usefulness of writing events, especially The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

Author Interview – Introducing Heather Beveridge/Hetty Waite – Evolve

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again and all three had a lovely time.

In writing news, I was sorry to hear of the death of Jonathan Telfer, former editor of Writing Magazine. This was announced in the current issue, which reached me yesterday.

In other writing news, I’m sharing a fabulous in-depth interview with fellow Swanwicker, Heather Beveridge, who writes as Hetty Waite, about her new novel, Evolve. This is Book 2 in her The Chromosone Trilogy and follows her first book, Mutate.

Heather/Hetty shares her writing journey to date, the role The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick has played in this so far, writing and marketing thoughts/tips, and discusses what she loves about dystopian fiction. There’s much more in the interview too. Link up tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing that. See above.

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Hope you have had a good day. Cold but dry and bright here. Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her Hungarian Vizler, Rhodesian Ridgeback and Labradoodle pals (the ever lovely Coco there). Also got to see the sweetest Jack Russell around, a lovely dog called Willow, whom we haven’t seen for a while. All of the dogs love her. Lady came home tired and happy. Dogs do get something positive out of socialising with each other. It always seems to give Lady a good buzz.

Mind you, I’m like that when I get together with other writers which I’m looking forward to doing again at the weekend! So I expect to be “buzzing” on my way home!

Busy editing and writing. Looking forward to going to an ACW genre group tonight. Always good chat and a lovely way to unwind. Have got my final stories in for competitions. Will probably look out other competitions to have a crack at early in the New Year, hopefully, but glad to get these ones sent in. As ever I took time off the official deadline to give me the time to check all is as it should be and to still send my stories in good time. It is amazingly (and horrifyingly) easy to miss something on a submission. Have made that mistake and I do my utmost not to do it again.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction are currently running their Christmas competition so you will see no names or comments on the stories. I have sent in a story and hope to do so again next week as you can submit one story a week for two weeks for this.

Do check the wonderful range of stories already in. Have had a good read already.

Festive flash is great fun to write. I alway go for the lighthearted angle – well, we need plenty of lightheartedness in winter, I think. It is about the only seasonal writing I do but always look forward to getting around to it for another year. Occasionally I have had great ideas for this in mid-summer so yes, I write them then. At other times, it is closer to October/November. But all great fun.

In my time, I’ve had Santa pulled over for speeding and, in a separate story, Santa facing disaster as the elves go on strike.

Do you think that would put me on the naughty list?

Have just sent in final flash fiction competition entries for this year. At the beginning of 2025, I did want to enter more competitions than in 2024 and I have done that. I’ve written more overall too so am very happy about that. Okay, I would have liked better results but you do have to be in it to even stand a chance of winning it so I am pleased I’ve given myself more chances this year at least.

Hopefully in the New Year, Writing Magazine will be issuing their competitions guide. I have found that useful, as ever, this year. I think as well as trying more competitions in 2026 than I have this year, I would like to try more competitions with different word count requirements. I would see that as a good challenge.

Fairytales With Bite – Wishing On a Star

I remember the old Rose Royce hit of Wishing On A Star and When You Wish Upon a Star from Disney’s Pinocchio. Don’t mind the songs but have always felt the concept of wishing on a star to be somewhat wishy-washy. I’d far rather admire the beauty of the stars in the night sky.

But what about our characters? If they could wish on a star (or other astronomical object), what would they wish for and why?

If they are magical characters, why are they not granting their own wishes or getting others to do it for them? I can understand there being rules to stop folk abusing their own magical powers but how effective are these and can your characters find a way around them? What would the consequences be? As I’ve said before, there are always consequences but that is where our stories take off.

If your characters aren’t magical but their world setting is, who could they turn to for magical assistance when they need it? What would they need to be able to do or prove to show what they are after isn’t unreasonable and magical assistance would be justified? Rather than wishing on a star, to quote Ghostbusters, “who are they gonna call?”

Also are your characters of a practical nature and how would they handle things when they do need to turn to magic to help them, rather than rely on their own skills? Not everybody would handle this well but whatever they’re facing has to be dire enough for them to turn to this avenue of help.

Good story thoughts there, I think.

This World and Others – Astronomy

Now I admit I love the stars. They look stunning against the night sky. But my knowledge about them is limited. I can just about recognise The Plough!

In your setting, what stars or other astronomical bodies would your characters regularly see? Would they study astronomy as we know it? Would it be compulsory for them to study it? Would they get to travel to other stars/worlds and how would this be done? Could they possibly come into our universe and Milky Way?

What technology would they have to be able to study the stars “properly”? Would they have anything like our space telescopes or would they have something far beyond that? Who would be behind the technology? How did they develop it?

Also your setting’s literature about its own universe – what are the theories behind it? Do they believe in a Creator? What do they think is behind the creation of the stars? Do they treat the stars and their own environment with respect?

Am sure there are story ideas to develop further here.

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Book Buying Season

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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, as was one photo for my Authors Electric post.
Hope the weekend went okay. Wet, windy and wild here in Hampshire. Time again for lots of soakings for the dog and me and plenty of warm towels to snuggle up with! Am so thankful writing is generally done indoors!

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Lady and I made the most of some sunshine this morning (which we were so glad to see after yesterday) and had a lovely time in the park. Even better was meeting up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum – zoomies followed!

Writing wise, will be working on the first part of my blog round up for this week and editing work.

Looking forward to drafting some flash pieces with the ACW Flash Fiction Group tomorrow night. (I do always set exercises but they are fun ones, honest!).

It’s also not long now before the last Flash NANO starts and am looking forward to that. I understand there will be something else from November 2026 but will have to wait and see what form that takes. I like the idea of having a month working on flash prompts though. It helps output a lot!

Lady and I set a world record time for getting around the park this morning – the weather was awful. At one point, I did think I was going to have to thumb a lift from Noah – there would have been room in the Ark for the pair of us, I’m sure.

Writing wise, am ploughing on with blogs and editing. I hope later this week to pick a story I’ve already drafted and look at it with a view to entering it in a competition.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday. Also looking forward to seeing some of the group at the ACW in person event on Saturday at Egham. It will be good to catch up with friends in person once again. I confidently expect to come back with more books to add to my TBR pile!

Wet and wild here in Hampshire today, unfortunately. Still in some ways it means it is the perfect day to stay inside and get on with some writing.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with local (to me) author, John Puzey, about his latest book, Captive Audience, on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. John is a stalwart member of our local amateur theatre group, The Chameleons.

Stepping into the lives of characters is nothing new for him. This book was inspired by letters from John’s father when he was a prisoner of war in World War Two. Do check out the interview especially if you have any interest at all in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction. Link up on Friday.

Pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post, Book Buying Season. Well, it is timely given a certain event is only a couple of months away now. I also look at why I think this season is also Author Event Season and I hope all of these go well for anyone holding them. I have a couple of events coming up later this month and in December where I hope to sell books. I also look at the biggest challenge to all writers in this post.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope today has gone okay. Not bad here. Almost time to start thinking about drafting some festive flash fiction. When I am ahead of myself, writing wise, I have been known to do this in July but not this year!).

Will have the joy of proofing a story of mine which will be in an anthology soon. Will share more news on that book before too long.

Editing a piece of flash fiction takes time. Okay, it cannot be as long as for a novel, say, obviously, but where the editing skill comes in here is working out what you can take out without spoiling the story overall. I have left pieces at a longer word count before now when I’ve felt the flow of the story works better with those “extra” words in it. I have to consider how the story flows. It’s not just about getting it to the “right” word count.

It’s Monday. It has been so stormy here – the rain has been torrential. Definitely time for a story I think. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Achievement.

The wandmaker finds out how Jill, a young fairy, earned enough money to get a wand upgrade, where Cinderella’s story comes into it all, the role of the kitchen sink, and cheery songs.

 

Time for an acrostic I think, on this wet and wild Sunday afternoon. Well, why not? Hope you enjoy this one.

F = Fantastic format for anyone who loves creating characters and a wide mixture of genres in which to put them.

L = Length is anything from a few words up to 1000 maximum and plenty of categories across the range.

A = Attitudes and actions of your characters come across clearly in this sharply written format.

S = Stories can cross time, space, dimensions known and unknown and so much more – it’s just the word count which has a limit.

H = Have fun experimenting with characters and genres here as writing flash will tighten up your other writing too, removing all fear of editing.

Hope the weekend has gone well so far. I’ve resumed my usual autumn workout in clearing up oak leaves in front of my home. We have some superb and very old oaks and I don’t mind clearing up. It keeps me warm, I love the trees, and it means I get very good value for money out of my Garden Waste collection service each year!

The changing colours of the leaves (and their falling) shows up the passing of time so well and we need to show this to an extent in our stories. We expect to see characters change in our tales, no matter how short or long the stories are, and regardless of the time span of those tales. Without the change, whether it’s due to internal or external conflict or both, there is no story after all.

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Acrostic

Haven’t written an acrostic for a while. Hope you enjoy this one.

S = Stories spring surprises with characters who keep you gripped.

T = Tall tales, flash fiction, short stories, novels, novellas – there is something for everyone across so many genres.

O = Originally stories were told in oral form but now we have print, audio, ebooks, which is all to the good, something for everyone again.

R = Re-reading favourites is always a joy, as is discovering new authors and new stories.

Y = Young or old or anywhere in between, there are stories for you.

Have a fantastic read!

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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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.

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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.

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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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Weather and Reading Moods and Book Orders

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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 weekend. Had busy weekend getting plenty of writing and editing done, which always pleases me. Also managed to wood treat another two fence panels – it’s all go here! Lady enjoyed her weekend walks too.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. I had a lovely swim and my book order for topping up my supply of From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic arrived today. So pleased with that. I only ordered them on Saturday. Print on demand works, folks!

Don’t forget you can order from me (as well as through Amazon and The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop – see link below).

Just contact me via my website 

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Hope you’ve had a good start to the week. Lady and I had a lovely time in the park and hope to catch up with pals, doggy and human, later in the week.

Writing wise, I’ve had a busy weekend. Am almost there with my story for a competition. It just needs a final read through and then I’ll sent it out, probably mid-week. Looking forward to going to an online group meeting later tonight and there is an online book launch by an ACW connection I hope to get to on Thursday. So plenty going on.

As well as a fabulous author interview with Joan Livingston on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday, I plan to have further author interviews with one pencilled in for the end of October. It’s always great to chat to other authors and I always learn a great deal from what they share in such things. I hope you do too.

Plus I’m being interviewed soon and will share more details on that nearer the time. It is lovely to be on the other side of the fence too.

Lovely church service this morning. Nice quiet afternoon ahead working on flash fiction. Great way to spend a Sunday. Happy to have booked my train tickets for the in person Association of Christian Writers event in Egham at the end of October (booked the actual event ages ago). Looking forward to going to this and catching up with folk again.

Also put in a book order for my two flash fiction collections from my publisher. Will look forward to when that box comes in the post. Naturally, I’m looking forward to putting in my first order for Seeing The Other Side next year too. Update:  Book order arrived on the Tuesday. See above. Very pleased.

Writing Tip: Even if you don’t enter competitions, do make a note of themes some of them set. There’s nothing to stop you using these as prompts for your own use at a later date. I’ve sometimes come across a competition too late to enter it but I can use the theme as a prompt later so I still get something from this.

Do read winning entries in writing magazines etc as much as you can and try to figure out what makes that story work well enough to win the competition. It pays. If you think it is down to, say, wonderful dialogue, look at what makes that seem wonderful for you. What was it that grabbed you about it?

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. I managed to paint another two fence panels with wood treatment. It’s all glamour here, I’ll have you know!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joan Livingston of the Isabel Long Mystery series on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. She’ll be discussing her latest book in the series, Finding the Source, as part of a blog tour set up by Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog. Looking forward to sharing this. Plenty of fabulous information and a great read. Link up on Friday.

Am busy editing a story I hope to submit for a competition towards the end of next week too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I like to have fun playing with genre when I write flash so I mix up the genres I write in for the form. I love humorous fantasy but I do have a soft spot for some work on the darker side. I also love crime fiction so some of my flash pieces are crime stories. It’s a challenge writing to the word count limit but hey that’s the fun of the form!

Of course the focus with flash has, for me at least, to be on the character so where I set them and what I get them to face is up to me and that is so much fun to do. Naturally I get to drop them in the proverbial mire a lot and that is fun too!

Writing isn’t always fun. It is hard work but I do think it is important to enjoy as much of the process as possible. (That goes for marketing and editing too). I think having fun with your writing – most of the time anyway – matters. You need to be able to love what you do writing wise to keep going with it.

It’s Monday and you know what that means. It means it’s time for a start the week story. My latest on YouTube is Leaf In The Puddle. Think this one will have resonance for many but why not see what you think.

Memories can be triggered by simple things such as a toddler dragging a leaf through a puddle, as my character finds out here.

 

As ever, am enjoying flash fiction Sunday afternoon. Plus I’m pleased to share the latest installment of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest batch of stories.

As ever, I am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. Lovely way to spend the afternoon. (And if you want to read a lot of flash fiction, and why wouldn’t you, do go and check out the Friday Flash Fiction website).

Don’t forget the wonderful CafeLit also shares flash fiction, along with the longer short stories, so plenty to read there. I plan to share the latest installment of my Seeing The Other Side from CafeLit tomorrow. Done. See above.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Weather and Reading Moods

Does the weather change what you choose to read at all? I must admit as we go into autumn here in the UK with the longer darker evenings drawing in so rapidly, I do find myself more drawn to the lighter side of fiction. P.G Wodehouse comes into his own here – his works always put a smile on my face. There is a wonderful book of letters from him edited by Sophie Ratcliffe which is also a fantastic read. This is aptly titled P.G. Wodehouse – A Life In Letters. It does do what it says on the cover, folks!

I guess it is the light levels with me, As the light drops, I want fiction to amuse me. I don’t have a lot of time for dystopian fiction as it is (and even less so now, the news is grim enough) but I want books to lift my mood, cheer me, up, entertain me, so the weather and the seasons can have a bearing on what I read when.

One thing I am liking right now is I play some word related games on my phone and naturally there are adverts, which I generally ignore. Having said that, Amazon are showing some really good adverts about encouraging reading by showing how books bring stories to life. They did this last year in the run up to Christmas. Between now and then is the biggest market for book sales. Wish Amazon did these adverts all year around though as this is always true – books do bring stories to life.

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Author Interviews

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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. Book Fair images taken by Janet Williams. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a great weekend. Nice one here. Making good progress on the writing. Significant editing done too. Hope the week ahead continues to go well for us all. There are more signs of spring appearing all the time too, which always cheers me up.

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Pleased to share my latest post on Authors Electric. This time I look at Author Interviews. It is a great joy to be on both the receiving and setting end of these, given I’ve appeared on other writers’ blogs, have been on podcasts, and, of course, I set many writers questions over at Chandler’s Ford Today.

I discuss how I’ve used author interviews to help me on my own journey to becoming a published writer and how I continue to find such interviews engaging and informative. Hope you find the post useful and thought provoking.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Hectic here but it was good to see Lady playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals earlier this morning.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my Authors Electric post about Author Interviews. See above. Not a coincidence this one!

Hoping to get an article finished and sent off later this evening plus I hope to work on my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Am almost there on it.

Had a productive weekend but Mondays are always one of those days when I don’t get so much writing done due to commitments elsewhere so I use Mondays to do little bits and pieces. These things mount up.

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice to see more sunshine.

Writing wise I’ll be getting on with Flash Fiction Sunday shortly. Later I have editing to crack on with and a presentation to add more to so I will be happily out of mischief for the rest of the day, no problem!

Also have just heard will be off to a murder mystery my local amateur theatre group is performing in April. Will be going to this with my lovely editor from Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to that already. Plus I will have a writing Zoom to go to in early April as well as so plenty going on.

Character Tip: This is where writing what you know can help you in the creation of your characters. We know what we like and dislike in other people so let’s put that to good use as we invent our own people/beings of choice.

We understand what can make people angry, for example, so how can you tap into that when writing an angry character of your own? Look at the reasons why people have the attitudes they do.

There will be something you can use for your fictional creations from that. Understanding motivation helps so much here I think.

Hope you have had a good start to the weekend. Managed to get washing out and dried on the line today – yes, I know it’s sad but it is a win, honestly! Also lots of daffodils now out in one of my borders – daffodils always make me smile as I see them as pretty cheery plants, and they also remind me of Wordsworth.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Do look out for that on Friday. The interview is packed full of useful thoughts and tips and you can also find out how and why competition slogans had an impact on her writing life. Looking forward to sharing that and hopefully catching up with Joy again in person at Swanwick later this year.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady had a fabulous time in the park today with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Great time had by all. Hopefully more of the same will take place tomorrow!

I haven’t used dogs much in my flash fiction tales and short stories. I tend to focus on characters who are human or fantastical in some way though my YouTube story this week, Temptation, is one for dog owners to enjoy especially.

But there is nothing to stop us using the qualities most dog owners appreciate in their pets (loyalty, love, faithfulness, mischief making, just being fun to be around etc!) in other types of character for our stories. Just a thought.

To quote The Bangles, it has indeed been a Manic Monday and it is time to share another story of mine on YouTube. Hope you like the short but sweet Temptation. Dogs and their owners will especially appreciate this one.

Temptation can attack anyone or anything but especially, in some cases, where cooked chicken is involved.

 

Both of my flash fiction collections with Chapeltown Books have titles which indicate something of their genre and/or mood. From Light to Dark and Back Again very much flags up the mood of the stories. Tripping the Flash Fantastic indicates the genre (flash and fantastic tales/fantasy).

Did I have either of those titles when I began compiling my books for submission? No! Both had alternative working titles. The titles I ended up with came to mind as I was drafting and editing. This happens so I no longer worry about it. I find I have to have a working title for anything I write but am not worried if it ends up changing. I think I just need a placeholder and I work with that.

Most of the time when ideas for alternative titles come up, they are better than the original but it doesn’t always work out that way. When it doesn’t I simply stay with what I first came up with. I always ask myself what kind of impact the title has on me (and therefore on a likely reader) and the strongest impact is always the one I go with.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Friday Flash Fiction is about to run their annual Andrew Siderius competition so do look out for this. I hope to have a go.

Also looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later in the month. Will be looking at editing flash fiction for this one. One massive benefit to flash fiction writing is you do learn to improve your editing skills considerably and that can then filter across to other forms of writing you do. I’ve found this to be the case.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books and Their Moods

Now it’s no secret the books I read often depend on what mood I’m in. When life is grim (and the news even more so), then I will usually go for humorous reads such as works by Wodehouse, Pratchett, and Austen, something I know will make me smile basically. I see it as having something lighter to counterbalance the darker side of life.

But books too have their moods and certain genres play on this to good effect – horror, crime, and thrillers, all indicate the moods of their stories to name but a few.

Now I’m one of those readers where I don’t want the mood the book to match my mood. I like that counterbalance though there are books I will always read regardless of what mood I’m in. For example, I will always find time to re-read Agatha Christie or Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time (which is a fabulous book and the only novel to make me change my view on a historical person, in this case Richard III).

So which books do you use to lighten your mood? Which ones do you read regardless of mood of book or your own mood?

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