Tag: Seeing The Other Side – 3rd flash collection from Allison Symes

A New Year, A New Promise, A New List (Maybe)

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I hope you had a lovely Christmas and may I wish you a Happy New Year. The round up below consists of posts for pre-Christmas and in between Christmas events plus my usual pieces. I hope you enjoy a bumper read! Lady, naturally, had a fabulous Christmas seeing family and Santa Paws was as generous as ever.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her “boyfriend”, the lovely Aussie Shepherd, Bear, today. They both had a lovely time with Chuckit balls – at least the pair of them had the coats for the bitterly cold weather today.

I am sad to report Friday Flash Fiction is closing in the New Year. I am so grateful to them for their support, for getting me into regularly writing 100 word stories again (which was my way into flash fiction and being published in my own right), and the sheer fun of joining in and reading the other fabulous stories on this site. It will be greatly missed.

Will I keep on writing the 100 word stories? Oh yes. They are a great challenge and fun to write. It is amazing what you can convey in such a short word count.

29th December – More Than Writers

How can the year have gone by so fast? Yes, it is time for my final More Than Writers post for 2025 and I look at A New Year, A New Promise, A New List (Maybe). I discuss why I don’t make resolutions but I do review what I think I might like to achieve writing wise for the coming year.

I share why I think doing this is helpful and the great thing is it doesn’t matter where you are in your writing life. Even if you are just starting out, taking time to review where you are and where you would like your writing to go is a good idea. I also share some thoughts as to what could go on to your “review list”.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

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27th December

Hello again. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Lovely time here. Will be back to my usual writing routine on Monday but thought I’d pop by just to say I hope you received lots of fabulous books as presents. Don’t forget the next best thing you can do for any author is to review their books. Aptly since I’m a flash fiction writer, I will say reviews don’t have to be long. A line or two is great. Make a writer’s New Year – give them a good review!

I’ll be back on Chandler’s Ford Today next Friday too with a post about Winter Stories. Will share that on Friday.

I will be sending out my author newsletter on New Year’s Day too. To sign up for tips and stories and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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24th December – Christmas Eve

Hope your Christmas Eve has gone well. Busy one here but am set up ready to go for tomorrow. Lady is always interested when Mum is busy cooking in the kitchen. I wonder why….

Looking forward to a lovely church service tomorrow and then later catching up with family and favourite films. However you spend Christmas, I hope you have a great and enjoyable day.

It was great to have a quick catch up chat with my Chandler’s Ford Today editor, Janet Williams, this evening. Will be posting again on CFT from January. Tonight, I plan to just write a few odds and ends. I find doing some writing helps me unwind after a a busy day. I think it’s because the writing gives me some time to be creative and I seem to thrive on that.

Happy Christmas! Seems so long ago now but it was less than a week as I prepared this! Mind you, even with Christmas now over for another year, it is ALWAYS worth celebrating the wonderful world of stories.

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Am happily working on an edit of my Seeing The Other Side at the moment, as well as editing for someone else. It was way back in 2020, the year we all prefer to forget, when I was last on both sides of the editing fence at the same time. It’s an interesting and enlightening experience.

Will be co-judging a flash fiction competition from the end of January and am looking forward to donning my judge’s hat again. Judging stories is also an enlightening experience and a great honour to be asked to do.

It’s hard to say what the single thing is I most love about flash fiction writing and reading, but a strong contender would be the impact such stories have on you. There is no dilution of the emotions the stories are meant to produce. You get the pay off for twist stories quickly too and I find I then want to read even more short twist tales, it is like an addiction but this one is harmless at least!

29th December
The time between Christmas and New Year always does seem strange. What I do know though is today, 29th December, is still a Monday and therefore it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Approaching Time.

Even anthromorpic beings with a limited shelf life make the most of the time they’ve got, even when they are parts of Time herself.

 

27th December
Just popping by to write some brief pieces. Have thoroughly enjoyed my time off (and will be off again tomorrow) but it is also nice to be back at the desk for a short while tonight.

One of my nicest tasks when I get back to a proper writing routine will be to start selecting flash and short story competitions to have a go at in 2026. I did enter more competitions this year and want to keep on doing this (as it makes me write more and what isn’t accepted in one place may be accepted elsewhere, that has happened for me before).

I also want to find new competitions to try. It stretches me and my writing and that’s a good thing. It will be a while before I send anything into Friday Flash Fiction but hope to do that again sometime in January when the new editor gives the word to go. Sadly, I received further news since writing this that Friday Flash Fiction will be closing at the end of 2025 but I will keep writing 100 word stories. There are a number of competitions for these so I hope to try some of these.

24th December – Christmas Eve
Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy Christmas. Naturally I hope you receive many wonderful books (including flash fiction collections, of course) tomorrow! Mind you, I am obliged to add flash fiction isn’t just for Christmas!

Joking aside, I will also say a huge thanks for your support this year. I continue to love flash fiction in all of its forms and look forward to getting back to writing more after the Christmas break.

Meantime, I hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year. See you here again soon!

Fairytales With Bite – Festivities

I write this on the evening of Christmas Eve 2025 so naturally festivities are very much to mind at the moment.

Now festivities come in a huge range of forms and are held for various reasons, including personal festivities, religious ones etc. Which type or types would your setting have? How did they originate? Have the way they are celebrated changed over time and what brought about the change?

What do your characters make of the festivities? Do they look forward to them or dread them? Is there the equivalent of the last minute Christmas shop? Are the festivities a time for everyone to “down tools” including magical ones? How would your world ensure it was secure enough during its “down time” or is it secure enough to know it doesn’t have enemies? (Good story possibility there for someone to prove them wrong!).

Who organises the festivities? (I’d want to know who does the catering but I have a vested interest in that one given I do the catering here).

Also a festivity could be a useful break/time of respite for a character who needs it. Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Marking the End of a Time Period

As well as thinking about Christmas as I write this on 24th December 2025, the festive season also includes marking the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

What time periods operate in your fantasy world? Are there periods of time they mark when they pass? How does time operate in your setting? Is it the same as ours or do they not have things such as days, weeks, years?

When it comes to periods of light and dark, which is the greater in terms of length or are they the same? We base our time system on the thought there are twelve hours of daylight, twelve hours of night (especially in mid summer) but what would your world base their system on if they don’t use natural light to base it on?

Now I admit I did use to stay up and see the New Year in but these days I tend to take the view the New Year can come in without me witnessing it as I do appreciate my sleep more! In your setting, would everyone be obliged to mark the passing of a set period of time? How would those commemorations happen? Who did say what the time periods would be at all?

Goodreads Author Blog – Happy New Reading Year

I hope 2025 brought lots of lovely books into your life and that you have an excellent and Happy New Reading Year too.

The time between Christmas and New Year can seem a bit odd, it’s almost as if you’re in limbo, but it is a great time for getting on with reading all of those lovely books you received as presents. (And a lovely New Year’s present to the authors can be to leave them a review here on Goodreads and elsewhere, of course).

The New Year will bring a new book into my life too. In May, my third flash fiction collection (Seeing The Other Side – Bridge House Publishing) will be out and I am looking forward to that, naturally.

Am also currently enjoying editing works for others. It’s a lovely job. Also it makes me think about my own writing and this can be enormously helpful.

I do know, above all else though, I will continue to love and appreciate stories and books. They are some of the best things about humanity. (Okay, folks, I do have to include chocolate and classical music in that list too!).

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Winter Stories

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Hope all is well. Had a lovely weekend singing carols and reading/enjoying readings at two Carols by Candlelight services over the weekend. My next post here will be in a week’s time and will be a bigger round up though I am taking a few days off over Christmas and hope you are too. Do have a lovely Christmas.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals for the last time before Christmas. A good time was had by all and I suspect three lovely dogs will be thoroughly spoiled and enjoy their visit from Santa Paws.

Writing wise, I’m winding down for the Christmas break. There will be a round up post of what I write when and where on my website later this evening, brief posts tomorrow, and then I’m off for a few days.

However you spend Christmas, I do hope you have a wonderful time. I’m looking forward to the break but also to resuming writing when the break is over again. That is the lovely thing with writing. It is a wonderful thing to return to after a needed break, I find. (So unlike returning to the housework etc etc!).

Hope the day has gone well. Hectic here but Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and a great time was had by all three, so that was fine.

I now have the Mixcloud link to the Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM hosted by Hannah Kate recently. If you’ve not had a chance to hear the show so far, here’s your chance.

The range of stories was so good but don’t just take my word for it. Why not give the show a listen? It was great fun to take part in and listen to the other tales.

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Had a lovely time at yesterday’s Carols by Candlelight service. Romsey URC looked stunning (though I was glad not to be the one putting the candles out afterwards!). The music and singing were wonderful and truly sublime. I read the poem The Shepherds at Bethlehem which was lovely. Also loved the recitation of The Not so Perfect Christmas Tree.

Went to my church’s service this afternoon which was more informal with carols, poems and readings, and cracker jokes. A great time was had here too though in a different way! Certainly by the time we finished all of the carols we want to sing (and we sing loads, we get to request carols to sing), we are more than ready for a cuppa afterwards.

Those who went to the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event earlier this month, and who kindly gave me their Christmas cracker jokes because I said our minister could do with new material, well he put it to good use this afternoon! Plenty of groans and laughs – as there should be with these things.

It will be odd not having a Chandler’s Ford Today post next week but there was no way I was posting on Boxing Day! I’ll be back on that (and other things too like flash submissions) in the New Year. The next few days will be spent getting a few writing bits and pieces done and other material written so I hit the ground running when I return to my desk properly in a week or so.

Am also looking forward to getting on with some Christmas reading too.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. I’m looking forward to reading a wonderful poem, The Shepherds at Bethlehem, at a Carols by Candlelight service later this evening. Poetry and flash fiction both rely on using specific words to create specific images (and to make the most of their respective word/syllable/line counts).

No Chandler’s Ford Today post from me on Boxing Day next week (now, admit it, that’s not really a surprise is it!). Will be back on CFT in the New Year. I suspect post-Christmas I will get a little writing done, especially flash pieces ready to submit later, but am looking forward to a break. Am also looking forward to seeing what arrives from my book related wish list for Christmas!

Have been enjoying singing along to the carols and other Christmas songs Classic FM have been playing. In their poll, I voted for In the Bleak Midwinter but it has to be to the Holst tune. I do think though that Christina Rossetti, with her fabulous poem, has added to Christmas, as did Charles Dickens of course with his A Christmas Carol.

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Given most of the carols tell the story of the Nativity in verse form and are well within the 1000 words limit for flash, do they count as flash stories? I think so! I think they also count as “flash poems”.

I have written the odd flash piece using rhyme and it has been fun to do but it will never be my main style. Poetry, for me, is like art – I know what I like when I come across it, appreciate it deeply, and leave those far better suited than me to write it!

Will put up a short post tomorrow and then will be off for a few days. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.It’s Monday. But it’s not just any Monday. It’s the Monday before Christmas, otherwise known as Hecticville, yes?  I do know it’s time for a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Action Replay.

Action replays may have been around for far longer than thought in this fun tale concerning the shepherd left behind from the trip to Bethlehem.

There won’t be any submissions to Friday Flash Fiction as a new editor takes the helm from January. A huge thank you to the founder and original editor for all of his hard work here. He knows who he is! I must thank FFF for getting me back into writing the drabbles (aka the 100 worders) regularly. They are great fun and a good challenge.

One task for early January will be to list a few competitions to enter for the first quarter of 2026. I would like to try new ones (with a good track record) this year, as well as continue to try and write more than the year before.

Naturally, I’m looking forward to the publication of Seeing The Other Side (Bridge House Publishing), my third flash collection, in May 2026. It will be lovely having another book out again. Plus I have ideas to pitch so hope to get on with those early in January and see what happens. I do know, whatever happens, the writing life isn’t a static one.

I’m pleased to say I have written more flash this year and hope to continue with that in 2026, of course. It has been mainly at the 100 words length (especially for Friday Flash Fiction) but given this was the word count which introduced me to flash at all, this does seem appropriate.

I often think of the carols as flash poems given the word count is limited (even if you do sing, like we did at church last Sunday, all eight, yes, count them eight, verses of O Come O Come Emmanuel). They tell the Christmas story in song.

When it comes to the great When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night, when it comes to the line ‘Fear not’, said he for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind in verse two, I always think well it is no wonder, really, you can’t blame the shepherds here. Anyone would be startled!

But it is thoughts like that which can inspire some fun, festive pieces. One of mine was about a young shepherd worried about leaving the sheep behind when it came to going to Bethlehem. Fun to do.

Goodreads Author Blog – Winter Stories

In my last post prior to Christmas for Goodreads, may I take the chance to wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. I also hope you receive plenty of books as presents!

Do you associate any particular books with the winter season? I do. I always think of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe with its line always winter and never Christmas. Always struck me as sad and horrifying that.

Naturally I associate the Nativity and stories which come from it. There are some fun stories around showing the story from the viewpoint of the animals in the stable etc.

Plus I tend to think of Frodo and company trudging through the snow covered mountains in The Lord of The Rings.

Which stories do you link with winter?

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Growing The Seed and Comfort Books

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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 from an Association of Christian Writers in person event.
Hope you had a good weekend. Great, family party orientated one here. Fabulous time had by all. Lots of laughs. Lady loves these things and is also shattered. Writing wise, it’s back to the desk and I am looking forward especially to sharing the October issue of Writers’ Narrative. See below for more.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady has – she got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback buddy today.

Looking forward to the October issue of Writers’ Narrative due out at any moment. I always look forward to the magazine coming out but this one is special because its theme is Short Form Fiction, a topic which is close to my writing heart of course.

I am the Featured Author this time and enjoyed a fabulous interview by Wendy H Jones, the magazine’s Editor in Chief. I also wrote a separate article breaking down how one of my published flash pieces works and looking at the influences behind it.

So can’t wait to share this with you. Coming soon, as they say!

Oh and my author newsletter is out again tomorrow too. Busy busy.

It’s a delight to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post, Growing The Seed May Take Longer than Thought.

The idea for this one came from looking at the dates in my hymn book. There is often a considerable gap between the words being written and the music for the hymn being composed. Naturally, as writers, we too can wait for longer than we would care for to see our work be accepted etc.

Hope you find the post encouraging. This phenomenon is nothing new. I find it helpful to know I’m not alone here. And, especially if you are starting out, I hope it helps to know this. I can’t think of any writer I know who has not had setbacks, rejections etc (I’ve had loads) but you press on and learn and improve and keep going. 

 

Had a fabulous time yesterday. Plenty of good company, good food, good drinks, and loads of laughs! But now back to the writing desk.

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Hope to put finishing touches to my next author newsletter either today or tomorrow, ready for it to go out again on Wednesday. Having an author newsletter and/or running a monthly workshop really does show up how quickly the year flies by, or so I’ve found.

Hope to get around to looking at competition material next weekend (as do have some ready already ) but also want to draft some fresh material too. (Keeps me on my toes and I always like to have a “stock” in ready for me to look at when suitable competitions come up). There is at least one more competition I want to have an entry in for this year.

I also hope, before too long, to be drafting my festive flash fiction again (and yes it is almost time to be thinking of that again. I sometimes draft such stories in the summer but more often in the early to mid autumn so I have plenty of time to polish work up before sending it anywhere).

Hosted a family event today so posting at a different time. Am shattered thanks to having a wonderful time but then that’s how a good event should be.

Writing wise, I’ll be getting on with flash fiction Sunday tomorrow and I plan to share Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. To stop that post from being far too long (!), I’ll be focusing on writing here.

Flash Fiction Tip: Always focus on the story rather than the word count. I know that sounds odd for me to say but it does matter to get the story right. I’ve sometimes written what I thought would be a 100 words story only to find it works better at 300 words, say. So I save that story for another market.

For flash, it helps to focus on one character and one important moment for them. It is more direct and can save a lot on your word count.

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Good day, less hectic than yesterday, and now time to settle in for an evening’s writing, one of my favourite times of the day.

Flash Fiction Tip: If you’re planning to write a piece which has a twist ending or a humorous punchline, jot that down first and then work out what could lead to it. I find doing this means the twist or humorous punchline comes across more naturally and is more believable to a reader.

I often have ideas for this kind of ending to a story so have found “planning backwards” works a treat here. I have my ending, I know what has immediately led to it, I work out what has led to that and before I know it I am back at the beginning of the story.


It’s another hectic Monday (after a fabulous party weekend). Time to take a little time out and enjoy a story. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – True Friendship.

Beth feels Mary is a true friend after Beth’s break up with her ex but is Beth being honourable here?

 

I’m delighted to share the latest – and the last – installment of Seeing The Other Side, which is being serialised on CafeLit. I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories serlalised here. Plenty more to come when the book comes out next May. This will be my my biggest flash fiction collection to date and I am so looking forward to seeing it out there. Meantime, do enjoy the last crop of stories for now.

Have hosted a family party today. Great fun. Now, have you given thought to using parties as a backdrop to your flash fiction stories? Is your character at a party for themselves or someone else? How do they feel about being there? Can the party be a moment of change for your character?

Story ideas there, I’d say. Also open to mood here. This kind of tale could be funny or tragic. Or anything in between simply due to how your character feels about being at that party.

Goodreads Author Blog – Comfort Books

Often when the weather is gloomy, or the news is grim (and right now both of those things apply), I will turn to what I consider to be my comfort books. It’s when I will often turn to Wodehouse, Pratchett, Austen, knowing I’m going to need something to make me smile.

Ironically, something to make me smile doesn’t preclude serious issues. Pratchett was a master of tackling these with humour in his Discworld series. (Do check out his Raising Steam. It has a strong take on terrorism especially that done in the name of faith).

One of the purposes of reading, for me, is to escape. I’ve never seen any harm in books written for “just entertainment”. Indeed, I feel there is a snobbery about books like this, which would include my own, and naturally I am against that. The important thing is people read. Some of my special memories are associated with books too so there is comfort in them too.

Sometimes that is just what you need.

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Fiction Acrostic and More

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Hope the weekend has gone well. Finally got the grass cut. Nice to see some better weather this week too – the kind of autumn days I like. Dry, a little cold, but bright. Lady loves these kinds of days too. Writing wise, plenty done over the weekend and am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writes Flash Fiction Group meeting this week too.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Fiction Acrostic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Discovering Favourite Authors

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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. Some images of me holding books were taken by Adrian Symes. One image relating to Creativity Matters was by Wendy H. Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Blustery and busy one here. Plenty of writing done, which is just how I like it to be. Lady and I dodging a lot of the rain but not quite all – seems fair to us.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Not bad here. Enjoyed my swim. Can’t believe we’re halfway through the month already. Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. That, and my monthly newsletter, tends to confirm to me how quickly time goes by.

Mind you, that would make a great theme for a story. Why does time pass quickly for your character? Are they glad of this or not? What are the reasons for them feeling the way they do about this?

Today has been one of those “could’ve been worse” days. Had a lovely time in the park with Lady. She got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle plus, last minute, Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal too. Lady was also a huge hit with my supermarket shop delivery (I loathe going into those places).

Thought I’d take advantage of the strong winds to get my washing done and it was almost finished when the heavens opened and yours truly (and washing) got a right soaking. On the plus side tonight, I know I shan’t be spontaneously combusting any time soon!

So I am very glad to get to my desk tonight and put all of that behind me.

Story Submission Tip: Don’t forget if you submit stories to Friday Flash Fiction, their submission window is now from a Monday to the end of Thursday. As well as always checking you know the rules of submission for anywhere (online or in print), do look out for the fact these do change from time to time so ensure you’re up to date. It happens (and always for good reasons).

Hope Sunday has been peaceful for you. Lady and I just managed to avoid the heavy rain today. Whether we’ll be so fortunate on her evening walk later remains to be seen.

Had a lovely Zoom session with fellow Swanwickers last night.

Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Will be taking a look at linked flash.

Character Tip: If your character is grumpy one, is there a reason behind the grumpiness? Are they ill, struggling with other worries, or feel they are being put upon to much by others? Give some thought to this and you will soon have a story outline to follow up. Indeed, you could get three different ones here.

Sometimes it is the small victories which mean the most. I managed to catch a break in the changeable weather today and finished wood treating my fence. I consider this to be a win! Lady was less impressed, mind you.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Writing Competitions for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday.

Looking forward later this evening to seeing some Swanwickers on Zoom. Always a lovely time had by all here.

Writing Prompt: I love opening line prompts so thought I would set one for you to have a go at. Hope you have fun with this.

The mirror shattered on seeing her face.

Hmm… may well have a go at that one myself!

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I love the fact that I can create a flash fiction story quickly. Okay the polishing up and editing takes far longer but I can get the first draft down in no time and this is lovely because I have certain days, especially Mondays, when I can’t write a lot. So in drafting a flash tale, I know I have written something.

Being creative in any way always cheers me up. And given all writing exercises set at events and workshops are flash fiction by their nature, because you don’t have a lot of time in which to draft something, why not turn them into something you can submit somewhere?

It’s Monday. It has been a hectic, soggy one for me. Definitely time for a story then.

Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Turn Around. The inspiration for the title came from a certain Bonnie Tyler song – Total Eclipse of the Heart. The words turn around feature in that. Had no idea why I had that in mind but I know an inspiring title idea when I get one so I’ve used it. Hope you enjoy the story.

What does one anthropomorphic being do when they’ve caught another one doing something they shouldn’t? Find out here.

Isn’t it amazing how quickly the days speed by? Here we are at Sunday once again and it’s time for my flash fiction afternoon. It’s also time for me to share the latest part of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest batch of stories.
As ever, I am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow and I hope to share the latest installment of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit too. Done. See above. That serialisation stops at the end of the month and then it will be a question of waiting for the book to come out next May. I do hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far here though.

Don’t forget there is such a thing as flash non-fiction too. Many blogs might fall into this category if they’re under 500 words long. How about this for an idea? You have a story published (hooray!). Why not write a short piece sharing how you wrote it and what inspired you. That could be interesting material for your website and easy to share on social media too.

Yes, I have done this kind of thing myself and will, hopefully, be doing this again soon, but I will share more news on that when I have it.

Goodreads Author Blog – Discovering Favourite Authors

How did you discover your favourite authors? I suspect we all have several ways here.

I discovered the works of P.G. Wodehouse thanks to the television series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, as many have done. Everything about that adaptation was wonderful including the titles and theme music. So apt. (Do check it out. I suspect you may be able to fine some of this in YouTube).

I found Sir Terry Pratchett thanks to a mooch around my local independent bookshop, now sadly long gone due to retirement by the owner. But I found Jingo here. Liked the look of the cover. Bought it. I then read everything by Pratchett I could get!

As for Jane Austen, my late mum had some of her works at home and then Pride and Prejudice was set as a school read. Loved Austen ever since (with the exception of Mansfield Park).

As for The Lord of the Rings, I just knew, from what I’d heard about the books, I wanted to read it so went and got myself a copy. Wonderful.

Knowing about the books is so important and this is where libraries, authors, reading groups etc play such a wonderful role, as do the bookshops.

Let’s celebrate all of these and look forward to finding more favourite authors in the future.

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Weather and Reading Moods and Book Orders

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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.

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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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Stories In Holiday Locations

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. One Creativity Matters image kindly supplied by Wendy H. Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the weekend went well for you. Autumn has come in rapidly especially on Sunday. Not sorry about the rain but the darker evenings are already noticeable. Lady not especially bothered. The evenings are her curl up time no matter when they come in time wise. Writing going well and am busy editing too.

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Managed to avoid most of the rain today and then went and had a swim! Make that make sense…! I did have a good time in the pool though and it was good to catch up with some regulars there.

Writing wise, I am busy with blogging (for posts due later this month) and editing, as well as my usual column for Chandler’s Ford Today etc. I do like a good variety of writing projects to work on. They don’t have to be all done at once!

Friday Flash Fiction is now open for submissions again so I managed to get a 100 word tale sent in yesterday.

Flash Tip: I often use prompts to trigger story ideas but have found it pays to mix up the kinds I use. It challenges me to respond to more and different kinds of prompts, which is fun to do. I also get more stories written.

Well, it’s been a blustery start to September. No pals out for Lady to see today though we hope to make up for that as the week goes on. We were pleased to miss most of the showers though. Mind you, it is good to see the park grass starting to look like grass again.

Writing wise, I’m thrilled to say I’ll be interviewing American crime writer, Joan Livingston, for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. More details on that nearer the time. Plus I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for this week’s post – well, they do say write what you know.

Pleased to say my author newsletter went out again this morning. Won’t be long before I start thinking about ideas and themes for the next one.

31st August – Bonus Post – CafeLit Serialisation – Seeing The Other Side
Quick bonus post. Hot off the presses, so to speak, is the latest serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side over on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest batch of stories.

Lady and I have been dodging the showers today (most of them anyway) but it is good to see the grass looking better than it has done for weeks.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out tomorrow. To sign up for news and tips do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

As ever, many thanks for the continued support with the newsletter. It is a joy to put it together and I hope you get plenty from it.

Character Tip: If you ever wondered why writers are always encouraged to read more, one superb reason for doing that is you get to know a wide range of characters across different genres. As a result, you soon get to know what you dislike and like in character portrayal and can then apply what you like/avoid what you dislike in your own creations. Besides which, it’s fun!

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Hope the weekend has got off to a good start for you. Wet here though we do need the rain.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday. (Well, they do say write what you know).

Have had a busy week in getting interview questions back – that was fun to do. Am also looking forward to receiving interview questions back from a lady I’ll be interviewing for CFT soon. Am also putting the finishing touches to my newsletter. Hard to believe we’ll be in September come Monday.

Writing Tip: When I’m thinking about a new character, I want to know what drives them more than anything else. Why?

If they are honest no matter what so that trait drives them, I will put them in a situation where that could get them either sacked or promoted, for example. I then give the character the dilemma of whether they are going to follow through or not. They know the costs of continuing to be honest so will they do it?

But whichever way they jump, it is going to cost them. And it is that I think, readers will relate to because we have all faced our own dilemmas, had our own regrets and so on. I think characters should too. I think it is important to be able to relate to a character.

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Hope today has gone well. Plan to look into further story competitions to have a try at later this week but one I must make a note to do is the Writing Magazine Grand Flash Prize. Deadline is 31st December so will start thinking about potential outlines for something here later this month, I think. I’ve kept my promise to myself to enter more competitions than last year but there is still three months to go so I figure I can get some more in before then!


It’s Monday, the start of a new month too, but still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a new story from me on YouTube then. Hope you like my latest here – Impressions.

Justin loved his girlfriend’s glossy hair but was surprised to see the source of it. Find out what that was here.

F = Flash is a fun and challenging form to write;
L = Leaving a lasting impression in few words.
A = Any genre can be used for flash fiction.
S = Starring characters of all backgrounds, human or otherwise.
H = Have fun experimenting with the form – it is addictive so be warned!

Looking forward to my flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. (I know Friday would be a better, alliterative day but I’ve too much on then!). Spending the afternoon crafting some flash pieces pleases me a lot, especially since I have got off to a head start this week, thanks to drafting a couple of 100-worders at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Wednesday night. Haven’t yet decided on further competitions to try but hope to do that during the coming week.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories In Holiday Locations

Do you like stories set in holiday locations? I’m not specifically thinking about holiday reads as such, though they’re fine, but more along the lines of a regular character being taken out of their usual locale for a vacation. Naturally something happens on that vacation to drag them back to their usual day job.

Two good examples of this happen to Jane Marple, Agatha Christine’s fabulous creation, with At Bertram’s Hotel and A Carribbean Mystery. The latter leads on to my favourite Marple book – Nemesis. And that too involves a holiday – a coach trip in this case. Excellent books, all of them. Also makes a nice change of murders not happening in Marple’s St. Mary Mead!

Even in fantasy, holiday locations can crop up. In Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld for example, Sam Vimes is sent on what is meant to be a holiday in Snuff but naturally he uncovers something rotten in the state of the countryside and simply has to sort it out.

Do you prefer main characters to be in their usual setting or do you like it when they are taking out of it for a while? All I want is a good strong storyline with characters I care about, regardless of where they are set, but these books are great examples of what I see as holiday books.

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Key Story Elements

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Hope you have had a good weekend. It was back to creosoting the fence here but I was thankful for cooler weather in which to do that. Have had some lovely comments in on my recent Chandler’s Ford Today post about Swanwick. I was deeply touched by those. Thank you, folks.

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Hope you have had a good day. Not bad here.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. To sign up for tips, news, story links, and more do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter tip: I find having a monthly theme helps because I can share tips related to the theme, writing prompts related to it and so on. It gives the newsletter a focus. It also means I can prepare the newsletter during the month so there isn’t one mad rush to finish it and get it out on time.

Mind you, I am a big fan of scheduling and do this all the time for my Chandler’s Ford Today posts so it makes sense to me to prepare as much as I can in advance here too.

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Despite it being a bank holiday in my part of the world (the next one is a certain day in December, folks – argh!), Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal. A good time was had by both dogs. Bank holidays always seem a little odd to me as for most of them I am doing mostly the sane stuff as I would do on any other Monday but there you go. Certainly the writing continues as normal.

The next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is on Wednesday so am looking forward to that. We’ll be looking at prompts, useful for any form of writing, I think.

Writing Tip: Never worry about how much time you have for writing. As long as you write regularly, what you do write will mount up over time. I’ve found this to be the case and you end up getting more done than you might think, especially if you look at your writing over the course of a week or so (rather than daily).

24th August – Bonus Post – CafeLit Serialisation – Seeing The Other Side

Bonus post. As I posted my other posts earlier than normal, I forgot to share the latest part of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit.

The posts don’t appear there until 4pm each day as the idea here is you get to read stories at this time with tea/coffee, cake etc. Lovely idea (just wish I had more time for the cake and didn’t put on what seems like half a stone just by looking at cake but there you go!).

Anyway, here is the latest installment. I do hope you enjoy the stories.
Hope today has been a lovely peaceful Sunday for you. It has been here. Lady is currently happily curled up having had a couple of lovely walks and play times. Hopes to catch up with her pals during the week.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Stand Alone Books for Chandler’s Ford Today this coming week. Link up on Friday.

Have started work on editing a story I’ve drafted for a competition. Will probably aim to have this sent out in the next couple of weeks.

Looking forward to reading Christian Writer, the quarterly journal of the Association of Christian Writers. Copy landed on my mat yesterday. Also looking forward to going to their in person event in Egham in October. My railcard is getting good usage so far this year! The good news from Lady’s viewpoint is I will be back in time for dinner so she won’t be too unhappy about Mum going off somewhere for this one.

Hope today has gone well. Quiet one here – back out creosoting the fence. Am making good steady progress. Sometimes you come across descriptions which are perfect. Well, our fence was described as being made from rough cut timber. They were right about the rough bit!

The next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group is next week so am looking forward to that. I hope to resume preparing work for competitions from next week too. I have set it as a goal to enter more competitions this year. I have already fulfilled that compared with how many I went in for in 2024 but I would like to do more before the end of the year.

I’ve got a story in draft for a competition (due in towards the latter end of September) so will focus on that one first. Always good to have something to work on like this. Makes me up my game and certainly I have produced more stories than I would have done otherwise.

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Flash fiction is a great thing to share if you have an author newsletter. It gives something hopefully entertaining to your followers, doesn’t take up too much room, and who doesn’t love a free story to read? Win, win, win there. All part of my marketing too.

No author newsletter? Well, how about writing a short story to share on your website for your followers there. It is a lovely way to give back for the joys writing gives us, I find.

And talking of flash fiction, hope you enjoy this one.

The Party by Allison Symes – 26th August 2025
Out of the thirteen guests who were dressed as ghosts for the party, only one could walk through the walls, leaving the remaining twelve screaming.
Ends

It’s a Bank Holiday Monday where I am. It’s been a hot one too. But it does mean it is time for a beginning of the week story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Liberating Luck.

A witch cannot believe her luck on managing to escape a magic lamp nor on whom she managed to get to take her place in it. Find out who that was here. Is the witch right to celebrate her luck?

 

About to crack on with flash fiction Sunday, which is something I always look forward to – it’s a great way to end the week and I get more stories drafted. I can polish them and find a home for them later.

Congratulations to the winner, the runners up and the short listed for the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition.

The 100 words (drabble) category for flash fiction is a popular one for competitions so it is worth practicing writing to this word count. I’ve found the form to be addictive and hope you do too! They’re also great for sharing on your author newsletter etc as they don’t take up too much space and give people a quick, entertaining read.

One element to flash fiction which can be overlooked is that it gives you skills you can use for any form of writing. I’ve found this to be the case. You tighten up your editing skills, for one thing.

You learn to look for phrases which convey the meaning you want but do so in fewer words. You focus on specific images rather than risk anything which could come across as vague.

No room for wordy description here. I have to show you a character and/or a setting quickly so must focus on the telling details which will bring those to life for you. This means I have to be able to picture it first. Anything getting in the way of that is cut.

Goodreads Author Blog – Key Story Elements

I lost count years ago of how many books and/or stories I’ve read.

I include flash and short story collections here deliberately, partly because I write them, have featured in them but, in any case, they are still as much of a book as a novel or novella. They’re just a different format, that’s all, and I’ve found them useful for another reason.

If I like an author’s short work, it’s a good bet I will like their longer works too. So sometimes I have tried out an author’s short form work before buying any of their novels.

But regardless of story type, every work of fiction has to have key story elements. For me, these include characters I can relate to, an interesting plot, and an ending which fulfils the promise of the book.

I have to feel that the ending was right. If there was a twist (and I love these), I need to be able to look back at the story on a second reading and see how it could only be this twist and it had to be the way the writer portrayed it.

No matter what the setting, the characters have to be believable too. There has to be something in their portrayal I can relate to and naturally this acts as a wonderful challenge for me to do the same with my own creations.

Reading encourages writing. Writing encourages reading. Behind it all is a love of story and the key story elements are what readers crave and what writers long to create.


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Books at Writing Events

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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 were most of the photos takem at The Hayes, Swanwick.
A big thank you to Madalyn Morgan for taking images of Joy Wood and I holding up From Light to Dark and Back Again, which I signed for Joy. Also huge thanks to Penny Blackburn who took the shot of me reading Time for a Change at the Open Prose Mic Night. That story will be in my Seeing The Other Side out in May 2026.
Talking of which, I didn’t have time to share last week’s partial serialisation over on CafeLit but plan to share a double helping on Sunday, 17th August. So there will be plenty of reading! Am having a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Learning so much from the workshops and courses. Enjoying catching up with friends whom, for the rest of the year, I only see online. It is whizzing by, as usual. 

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My, does Swanwick week fly by. At Tuesday already!

I went to the Writer Beware! course led by Gerald Hornsby and Anita Belli. Such useful information. It pays to be aware of the industry you are going into (or hope to get into) and to be aware of the potential options you have for your writing.

Sadly though, and not just for publishing, where there are options, there are scammers all too willing to prey on your hopes and dreams. You DO need to now what you sign up for/buy into and courses like this are excellent at awareness raising.

After lunch, I went to Reviewing the Situation led by Julia Pattison, before having some free time before dinner, which I used for my writing. It is lovely to be back doing walks around the glorious lakes here too. Peaceful for me but the fish are so active this year. There are some small goats and cattle around The Hayes grounds too.

Enjoyed Sharon Cook’s Life Happens – Write It! Great insights and some exercises I am sure I can bring into my flash fiction. I’ve often found any kind of non-fiction inspires story ideas, which is one reason I read non-fiction regularly.

Also continued with Della Galton’s course on Writing Short Stories to Make Money. Plenty of fab advice and I hope to turn what I drafted as exercises here into flash pieces once I get home again.

Hope to go to the Poetry Open Mic night later too. I did – see further down. Having a fab time catching up with friends here.

Started the day running the Lift Up Your Pens pre-breakfast session. Talked about positive and negative traits and how we can use those to create characters. Also looked at using the positive and negative aspects of the traits chosen. There can be downsides to positive traits and something positive can come out of the negative ones. All good ways to create character and story ideas.

Will be at the flash fiction course run by Esther Chilton this afternoon and then on to Fulfilling Fillers run by Maggie Cobbett. Later tonight there will be the Open Prose Mic Night, which is always good fun.

Am on my way to a major highlight of my writing year, The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Am so looking forward to seeing everyone again.

I know roughly the courses and workshops I’ll go to but one lovely thing about Swanwick is you don’t need to prebook these. So you can change your mind. I tend to follow the four part full courses through, though I know others who mix these so they get a flavour of all of the courses on offer.

I hope to get a Chandler’s Ford Today post out for next Friday but it will be time dependent. Did manage to prepare this. See further down. My daily Facebook posts will come out at different times but I will be fully immersed in the writing world for a few days, which is one reason Swanwick is so special for me.

Update: Now here, just finished unpacking, just off to have a fabulous time!

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Loved listening to the various readings from the Poetry Open Mic Night. Thoroughly entertaining and it confirmed in my mind I am no poet! I admire hugely those who can write in this form. Lovely mix of styles and moods too. Congratulations to all who took part.

Will be getting to share a Chandler’s Ford Today post this week – it will be about Meeting Up With Other Writers and why this is such a good thing to do. I hope to write specifically about this year’s Swanwick the week after.

Plus I am planning to turn some of my draft exercises into flash fiction from the courses here this week. Most of them have the potential for this so I will see them as useful first drafts! I have gone on to have polished up work, which started life as an exercise, published too.

Flash Tip: Mix up the type of exercises you do for flash fiction. Deliberately make yourself have a go at six word stories, 500 word ones, 100, 300 etc. It gives you more scope for competitions. I often see 100 word competitions. The next most popular categories I’ve seen are the sub 300 and sub 500 worders.

Though I am at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, having a thoroughly fabulous time, I have managed to create my usual Monday story for YouTube. Hope you like it. Aptly for Swanwick week, I’ve called this one Writing It Out.

Sometimes you really do want to catch the post person, find out why here.

I enjoy walking around the lakes at The Hayes when I am at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. The fish are especially active in them at the moment. There is something peaceful and calming about looking at this.

Prompt Idea: What would make your characters calm and peaceful after hard work or if they have had an otherwise strenuous time of it? Can they get to have said peaceful and calming moments? What would they do to make sure they did get the break they needed?

One course I will go to at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick will be the flash one led by Esther Chilton. I recently interviewed her for Chandler’s Ford Today. Did go to Esther’s course. It was great. Fabulous to chat in person too.

One aspect to writing I consider wonderful is you never stop learning. Regardless of anything else, learning, and being open to learning more, is so good for the brain.

It has also been, and continues to be, a great joy to see how the flash fiction world has expanded in recent years. More people are aware of it and it can give more publication opportunities.

I’ve found flash techniques have sharpened my writing skills considerably. I’ve also lost all fear of editing.

Both of these things help any writer, regardless of what your writing work is.

Goodreads Author Blog – Books at Writing Events

When this post goes live, I will be at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick again. It is a major highlight of my writing year because I get to spend a few days fully immersed in the writing world with wonderful folk who understand the drive to write.

The School also has that most wonderful of things – a Book Room. Authors can put their works out there for sale and I am looking forward to seeing my two flash collections in there again. I’m looking forward even more to Swanwick 2026 when my third book, Seeing The Other Side (Bridge House Publishing), will be in there too!

Naturally I shall be a customer too! It is a lovely privilege to support other writers like this and I do get my purchases signed for me too. I am always thrilled when someone asks me to sign a copy of my books for them.

So if you are going to writing events this summer, and I hope you are, I hope you bring back plenty of signed new material so you have lots of good reads to be getting on with.

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Balancing Writing and Reading

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Great one here. Was so pleased Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present went well on Friday night. Had a lovely Zoom call with Swanwick friends on Saturday. Talking of which, I am now busy getting ready to head off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick at the end of this week. So looking forward to that. Lady will be well cared for and will mug me the moment I’m home again!

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Lovely time out with the dog and then, later, in the swimming pool. Refreshing but tiring (for both things!).

Looking forward to sharing Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This will take a look back at the recent exhibition I visited.

There will be a second CFT post coming out on Friday from me. I’m flagging up a forthcoming local author event by John Puzey in our excellent local library.

Looking forward to attending an ACW group meeting tomorrow. Plus I have started packing for Swanwick. Couldn’t resist doing that any longer!

Hope you’ve had a good day. Windy and wet here though not as bad as further north. Hope everyone is okay. Has brightened up this evening.

Busy day as always on a Monday so it is a relief to get to the desk and write for a while. Will focus on “bits and pieces” tonight. It’s a lovely way to unwind after a hectic day and I often get useful writing admin done. It frees up my time later in the week for longer bouts of writing.

Just to flag up Friday Flash Fiction are running their annual Edinburgh International contest to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival. Full details can be found at the link. The contest runs for two weeks and you can submit one story per week. Usual 100 words limit for this competition. They’re not taking any other longer submissions during this period so you will need to wait for the contest to finish before you can do that again. 


Very much with the blessing of publisher and author here, I am delighted to be able to share the YouTube link to Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present short story collection. This was held on Friday 1st August and Rosemary shares two stories from her book, which I am sure you will enjoy.

We also have an in depth conversation about how she came to write the book and much more. Plenty of interest for writers and readers here. Hope you enjoy it and many congratulations to Rosemary once again for the publication of her collection.


Hope you have had a good day. I was back to creosoting my fence today. Much preferred going to see the Jane Austen – Down to the Sea exhibition at The Dorset Museum last week with colleagues from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading. Talking of which, I will be sharing a review of that exhibition on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Also the countdown is now on for me. It’s a week to go before I am back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Looking forward to seeing everyone again and learning so much from the courses and workshops.

Pleased to report the online launch for Rosemary Johnson’s Past and Present (Bridge House Publishing), which was held on 1st August, went well. BHP hosted the event, I was compere, and a wonderful discussion and readings entertained the audience. It’s exactly how you want an online launch to go. Well done, Rosemary. Fantastic start to a weekend I’d say! See above for more.

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Hope to get my 750 words story submitted to a competition before I head off to Swanwick. Not sure what stories I will be able to write etc next week so, as ever for this wonderful week I will play things by ear. I am sure I will come home with lots of ideas for future stories from the courses I go to though as in previous years!

It’s Monday. As ever, it has been a hectic one. Definitely story time then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Not Looking Up.

There are advantages to humans having smartphones as my alien character discovers in this story. Mind you, the birds are a different matter. Find out why here.

Will be getting on with my usual flash fiction Sunday shortly but, firstly, I wanted to share Part 4 of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side which is now live on CafeLit. Hope you enjoy the latest selection.
Secondly, it is now less than a week to go for when I am at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. The case is out!

Many thanks for the kind comments in on my Clock Watching which was Editor’s Choice for Friday Flash Fiction yesterday. Much appreciated.

Am looking forward to my usual flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. As well as what I usually do, I have a story for a 750 word story I want to put my final edits to (with the idea being I will probably submit it just ahead of my going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick next weekend).

Flash Tip: I’ve mentioned before that one advantage to writing flash fiction is it makes you focus on what matters to the character, that and nothing else. In the word count limit we have, it does have to be one focus.

So when I outline my character I ask what matters most to my character. I then put them in a situation where this “comes out” and readers get to see what my character does to handle the situation or other character which means so much to them.

Goodreads Author Blog – Balancing Writing and Reading

I would be most surprised if any author doesn’t find it tricky, at least sometimes, to balance their writing and reading lives. I know I do.

One way I get around this issue to ensure I do read at lunchtimes – usually a magazine – but it all counts! I can sometimes be far too tired at bedtime to read then.

I do sometimes find if I have had an intense period of writing, I will read less. Or I will read something totally different to what I’ve been working on. So if I’ve been writing a lot of fiction, I will crack on with my non-fiction reading. If I fancy fiction but have been writing lots of short stories and /or flash, I will read a novel.

As well as being a good idea anyway, because you get to read more, mixing up the types of reading I do helps here. It means I am nearly always reading something, And that is always a good idea!

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