Tag: short story

The Perfect Ending

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Nice one here including a pre-birthday celebration meal out with immediate family. Lovely time had by all. Lady had a great weekend too – plenty of walkies though there is also still plenty of mud. Not that she cares…

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Hope the day has gone well. Hectic here and am glad to be at my desk, sitting down to write. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and even Daisy the gentle spaniel. Good time had by all.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Always fun. Am not looking forward to a visit to the dentist tomorrow even though said dentist is lovely (but it is never a fun visit, is it?).

Need to start work on some stories for competitions I always enter but won’t get much chance before Sunday but I can at least be “brewing” some ideas before then. Thinking time is never wasted.

Hope your Monday has gone well. Busy as ever here but it was lovely to see Lady having a good time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Writing wise, I’ll be catching up with a few writing odd jobs. I’ve long found it’s the best use of my limited writing time on a Monday night.

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

Many thanks to my subscribers for your continued support here – it is always appreciated.

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Hope your weekend has gone well and you enjoy the rest of it! Busy one here but good.

Writing wise, I’m back to editing again and enjoying that. Shortly, I’ll be getting on with my flash fiction Sunday afternoon, always a nice way to wind up the week. I’m focusing on 100 word stories at the moment. I do love the form, especially since they were my introduction to flash fiction in the first place. This length of story makes for a great warm up writing exercise too.

Character Tip: Think about what you like and dislike most in a character you’ve read. Think about why you have these likes and dislikes. Especially if you dislike the character, look in more depth as to why and then work out how you would’ve written the character. You learn a lot by thinking things through like this. I know I don’t like characters who come across as wishy-washy. I won’t write them. But I had to know the character type I disliked here to work out what it is I do like.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Nice weather here.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Setting Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here and this post will tie in nicely with my Getting The Hooks In one too as the best writing exercises “hook” the writer in to want to give them a go. Link up on Friday.

First Draft Tip: I’ve always found it useful to just get the first draft written, rest it, and then edit it later. But if that isn’t your way of doing things, I’d still recommend getting as much of your story down before polishing up anything. It has been my experience better ideas can come as I write my first draft (and the further I get on that first draft the more ideas come) so I note these down separately and look at them later when I’ve had a proper chance to evaluate them all.

But if something really does grip you get that down fast before you forget it (and you do, trust me I’ve made that mistake). You can worry about the exact placing of that idea in your story later. Also the time break once you have got your draft down does give you a chance to decide whether that red hot idea was so red hot after all. They’re not always.

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Flash fiction is especially cheering for me on those days when I seem to be chasing my tail all day because I at least get something creative drafted and when time is very short I go for the 50 or 100 worders.

But it is amazing on looking back at where I’ve used pockets of time like this for odd bits of writing just how much I’ve been able to get done. It does mount up so is worth using these times and if you’re not sure where to start when you have pockets of time like that, why not give flash fiction or flash non-fiction a go?

It has been another hectic Monday. Time to wind down at least a little with a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Bells.

What does the ringing of the church bells mean for my character? Do her memories help her? Find out here.

 

Will be beginning flash fiction Sunday shortly, a bit later than planned but life gets like that at time. What was meant to be a quiet day suddenly isn’t. But the nice thing with flash is I know I can get something written (which always makes me feel better in myself) precisely because I am committing myself to short form writing. I will get something done.

I find topics for flash fiction in various ways. Sometimes I will use the seasons, anniversaries (personal or national etc) and, at other times, I know I will want to write something light/funny so then figure out the best way to do that and which kind of character would suit me best here. I like to have a variety of ways in to writing stories. It keeps things interesting for me, and I hope my readers, and it is good to be able to respond to different writing challenges in the form of prompts etc. It means I’m not stuck. It is a question of working out which idea I want to write up on what day. Always good to have something in hand there.

As ever, I’m looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. I like putting time aside specifically to write flash (though if I get the chance to write some at other times, I do. That doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. It’s always a case of not having enough time to write as much as I’d like to but I know I’m not alone with that issue).

Am currently catching up with reading a flash anthology and am enjoying that. I love those moments when a story has an emotional impact on you and I am getting plenty of those moments with this book. I love to then re-read these and figure out how the author did it. It makes me up my game for sure. Nothing to dislike about that and I get more reading done.

Naturally, I always think about the impact I’d like my own flash pieces to have on readers. It does affect how I present my characters, indeed even the character types I need to have to successfully bring about that impact.

Writing also includes thinking time and, yes, it is useful for flash fiction too.

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Ending

The perfect ending for any story or book I read or listen to must leave me feeling the characters did get what they deserved. I must also feel that not a word could be added to or taken away without it spoiling the story somehow. Those are good challenges for the writers and I’m so aware of these when writing my own stories.

The perfect ending doesn’t have to be a happy one though I admit I prefer those. But it should be appropriate to what the characters have gone through. It shouldn’t come out of nowhere. When you look back at a story, you should be able to spot the clues which indicated this ending was likely. The skill of the writers here is when you don’t see those clues the first go around or, if you do guess at it, they are still able to wrong foot you another way in that yes, the ending was X but it happened via route Y rather than route W.

Twist endings are great here and I still think you can’t get better than Roald Dahl’s short story, Lamb To The Slaughter. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it and I suspect some of you may well remember it when it was adapted for the TV series, Tales of the Unexpected. I also love this story for another reason in that you have a great plot here but also not a word could be added to or taken away from this one.

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Supporting Anthologies

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here. Family travelling about on different days for various things so it was especially nice to get to a lovely, lazy Sunday evening. Lady enjoyed her different weekend too – she had to put up with me taking her out rather than another family member. I managed to get plenty of writing done but didn’t avoid getting soaked, alas!

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Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today. Managed to avoid the rain this morning but, alas, not this afternoon. So we are half wet!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Writing To Themes on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I hope that will be useful. The tips I will be sharing here are ones I’ve used for years and continue to use. If you’re writing short fiction and entering competitions, you’ll come across a lot of set themes, which are all chosen because they’re timeless and writers can get so much from them. More to come with the post on Friday.


Hope the week has got off to a reasonable start. Lady had a fabulous time with her best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler, in the park today. All three saw their favourite human of all time, “Pete the Treat” as well so it was fair to say the three dogs went home having had a great time and plenty of treats! We were all pleased to see some sunshine too.

Writing wise, the next couple of days will be particularly busy so I’ll be focusing on getting various bits and pieces done. Did manage to get a fair bit done over the weekend. Am also catching up with reading. Am enjoying some great anthologies/collections of non-fiction work at the moment.

Character Tip: Think about what you can learn from how a character speaks. You should pick up something on their level of education, class, and more. How can you apply this to your own characters? The choice of words used makes such a difference here.


Hope your Sunday has been a peaceful one. Am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday, which I’ll start shortly after posting this.

The one regret I do have with my writing is not starting a lot sooner than I did. All the clues were there early on that writing was something for me. I always loved inventing stories during what was called Composition (part of English Language lessons). I did have notebooks and jotted down thoughts and ideas. Goodness knows what happened to them but the signs were there.

Sometimes on reading a story I didn’t like, I would think I would write the character this way instead, all of that kind of thing. But I didn’t get around to actually start writing seriously until I hit a milestone birthday (and in the same year had a significant life event too).

Next month I’ll hit another milestone birthday which will also tell me it will have been thirty years since I finally succumbed to the writing bug. It’s the only bug I’ve ever been really glad to catch!

Tip of the Day: If you want to write, write. It doesn’t have to be perfect. First drafts never are but make a start and see where the journey takes you and have fun with it too. You want to enjoy as much as you can of the process. You also cannot know how long it will take you to get “anywhere” (the definition of which depends on what you want to come from your writing) so the earlier you can start, the better.


Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here. Even saw a little sunshine. Still plenty of mud around and Lady does have a talent for finding it all.

Writing wise, I’m glad to say my latest post Researching for Short Form Fiction Writers (for Writers’ Narrative) is now up on Substack. Link here. Many thanks to all who have subscribed to my Substack over the last few days.

For Chandler’s Ford Today next week, I’m looking at Writing to Themes, which is something I do for Writers’ Narrative, Chandler’s Ford Today and almost all of the story competitions I enter. Post up on Friday for that one.

As ever, am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. As ever, again, the weekend flies by!

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I’ve got one of those days today when I may as well have a revolving door as my front door. Now here’s a story prompt thought for you, knowing we all get days like that. Why not put your character in this situation and see how they handle it? Could make this funny or tragic – whatever mood takes you here. But have fun writing your character into a busy situation and see what they do – it may even prove therapeutic to you!

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. The usual hectic routine for me. Definitely time for a story then. I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Not Such A Good Idea.

Swapping some dark chocolate for something very different has consequences for two friends. A joke doesn’t always work out as planned.


Every writer has their favourite themes and mine often come up in my flash fiction and short stories. But this is another reason why I love competitions where someone else has set the theme. It challenges me to write something different when the theme is not one of my tried and tested favourites (and it often isn’t).

I’ll be looking at Writing To Themes for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and will be sharing some tips I’ve found useful here. I hope it will prove to be useful. But in general terms it pays to practice writing flash fiction and short stories to various themes given these are often repeated (and for good reason too – these themes are timeless).

Managed to dodge a lot of the rain today so Lady and I will take that as a win.

Have a flash piece I am hoping to submit to a competition either tomorrow or early next week. Am also enjoying co-judging a flash fiction competition so, as has happened with editing in the past, I am on both sides of the fence at the same time again here. A nice place to be, mind you!

As you know, I mix up how I find ideas for my flash fiction pieces. Sometimes I will use topics connected with a season, most of the different random generators, books of prompts, story cubes and so on. I’ve been inspired by part of an overheard conversation before now too. The trick, if there is one, is to be open to the idea there are ideas out there waiting for you to work them up into stories. I’ve been inspired by characters I loathe (in a reverse way – I won’t write characters like that, I will write them like this instead and that has sparked a few tales). I’ve been inspired by characters I love.

If in any doubt, read more because it will remind you of what you love in stories and that should hopefully encourage you in your own writing. I find this to be the case and see it as a wonderful bonus for writers. We get even more pleasure from reading!

Goodreads Author Blog – Supporting Anthologies

I’ve had the great pleasure of having my work published in many anthologies over the years and some of my flash fiction work has recently appeared in another one (Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites).

I love reading anthologies too because I get to explore the works of many different authors in one paperback or ebook. Nothing to dislike about that and I’ve gone on to read longer works by authors whose stories I first came across in the shorter forms.

I also “use” anthologies to whet my reading appetite in between novels. I’ve long believed it is good to have a balance of long and short form reading. There are some amazing flash fiction and short stories out there where you do feel another word couldn’t have been added without “diluting” the impact of those tales.

Reading anthologies also helps support the smaller presses who give more authors more chance to have their tales seen and read. That in turn gives us more choice in our reading material. We all win here in supporting the anthologies.

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Short Story Collections

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Hope all is well. How can it be almost December already? Lady has had a good time this week with her two closest chums and we’ve managed to avoid some of the wet weather. (Nobody avoids it all!). Writing is going well and I have just sent in a piece for the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas show coming up soon. Whether it’s picked or not, I know Christmas has begun when I send that in and also at church when we light the first Advent candle.

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Am pleased to share Short Story Collections on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.

I look at the advantages of these from the viewpoints of both readers and writers plus share tips on writing to set themes. Most anthologies I’ve come across do set themes and writing to these is also useful competition for story competitions anyway.

I also (naturally) take the chance to flag up Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing. My story, The Family Legend, is in there. Hope you find the post useful.

Short Story Collections

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Despite it being a grey, drizzly day today, Lady had a lovely time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Short Story Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. As well as discussing the many advantages to reading such things, I share tips on making the most of set themes as most anthologies do set themes. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Bridge House Publishing always set one in keeping for the time of the year their annual anthology comes out (now basically!). Am looking forward to their annual celebration event which is coming up in early December.

Talking of stories, I’ve just had a turn down so will have another look at that story and see if I can work on it and send it somewhere else. I’ve also picked two stories for another competition (where I can send in two pieces for one fee, these are worth looking out for as you get two bites of the cherry) and have started editing those. Am looking to submit these in a week or so I think.

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Hope today has gone well. Pretty cold here – the frost was crisp and deep and even! (No sign of King Wenceslas yet though). Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today – nice time had by both.

Writing wise, am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later tonight. Am also hoping to go over my draft story as well so I’m ready to submit that by the end of this week, sooner if possible. Done!

Plus I’m looking forward to having a go at today’s Flash NANO challenge. Am also working on a super author interview I’m looking forward to sharing on Chandler’s Ford Today soon.

Character Tip: You know all of those little niggles we all have and which are far more annoying than they ought to be? Why not write them out of your system and get your characters to have them! How would your characters handle them – like you do, better than you, worse than you? Whatever you go for here, there will be story ideas.


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I finish the week with a light, delicious story on Friday Flash Fiction – Cakes. Hope you enjoy it. Many thanks for the comments coming in on this one already. I think folk like my choices of cakes in this story! See what you think.

What does every published author want other than people to buy and read their books? Why, reviews of course! I treasure mine and a lovely quote from a review of Tripping The Flash Fantastic reads:-

The storytelling was beautiful in so few words which takes the talent and skill of a practiced author.

Many thanks to my reviewer there but I mention this because with Christmas coming up and most of us are going to have some book related presents (we are, aren’t we?), then another present you can give the author is to put a review up. They don’t have to be long but help us all a lot. So please do consider doing this.

I should add I read reviews myself regularly and not just for books so they do make an impact.

Meantime if you want to find a copy of Tripping the Flash Fantastic (and why wouldn’t you!), do check out the link below.


Flash fiction is wonderful for those moments which are complete stories in themselves but too short to be part of anything else. So if you have scenes that cannot form part of your longer work but which you are reluctant to discard, can you turn them into short, sharp flash pieces instead?

The challenge of flash is always to still have a complete story in and of itself within a restricted word count. I love that challenge. I often start with my ending and then work out where the pivot point has to be and from where what at the start would lead to that pivot point. It means I have a structure in place and it makes it far more likely my story will “work”.

I also like the challenge of writing to different word counts within flash. It’s also good practice for entering flash competitions given these come in at different word counts.

I think what you get better at, over time, is working out this story would work best at 100 words while another needs 500 or more.

Fairytales with Bite – Seasonal Magic

Every season, I think, has a kind of magic of its own. For spring, it is the new growth. For summer it is the lovely weather (usually!) and seeing the trees in full bloom. For autumn it is the changing colour of the leaves. For winter, I do enjoy seeing the silhouettes of the trees against the sunset. This often looks magnificent.

But I suppose if we were to pick one season and associate something special with it, it is now in the run up to Christmas and the end of the year. For me, as a Christian, Christmas obviously has a lot of significance but I do appreciate the other side of the festivities too. I love the Christmas films for example (and The Muppet Christmas Carol is the best retelling of Dickens’ classic in my view).

When it comes to your magical setting, what would count as magic, seasonal or otherwise, for them? What would stand out as special for your characters? Also is certain types of magic only used at certain times of year and, if so, what is it and why the restriction on its use? There will be stories behind those thoughts.

Would your setting’s natural world encourage the use (or disuse) of certain types of magic? Would geography/geology directly impact on what kind of magic could be used and when (and possibly how much as well)?

How do your characters adjust to being able to use certain powers only at certain times of the year (or other time period you use)? Does anyone try to cheat this and, if so, what would the consequences be? There are always consequences!

This World and Others – Waters

I love waters in all their varieties – peaceful streams, lakes and rivers, as well as the sea. I think there is a sense of eternity to be felt when I walk along a beach and look at the sea. I guess there is a sense of timelessness here. Is there anything like this in your magical setting?

What kinds of waters would your world have? Would they be anything like we have here? If not, what would your characters drink (I can’t imagine any character not needing to at some point)? Are the waters or equivalent in your world treasured or have they become polluted (perhaps by too much magic entering it)?

Is water supply an issue? If it is, how does your setting overcome this? Has climate change (or the equivalent in your setting) been responsible for this and can it be reversed? Or is water treasured so much its uses are protected and nobody dares goes against this?

Who would manage the waters on behalf of the overall population? Would this be a government managed resource or otherwise? Could your characters be “held to ransom” by whoever does control the waters? Could that be used to restrict the use of magic against whoever does the controlling?

Good story thoughts there, I think.

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Character Memories and Publication News

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here but productive. Lady is making good progress too. Writing has gone well. Looking forward to sharing another superb author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today next month and many thanks too for the lovely likes and comments on the publication of Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing.

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post Character Memories.

I look at why I think character memories make the character concerned more real for me. I also look at how memories can drive action and attitudes. I also discuss how I use memories a character might have to help me know about them even if those memories don’t end up in the story I tell about them.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope today has been reasonable (well, you have to make allowances for it being Monday). Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler which cheered her up no end. Lady is making good progress and I think giving it another week should see her fully okay again. We hope that will be the case anyway.

As the day went on though, I started to feel unwell and am not feeling fabulous as I write this so it will be an early night for me, I think. I will get some writing done though not as much as I might usually have done because it will cheer me up a bit. Being creative, in any form, is good for you like that. I hope a good night’s sleep will do wonders too. I guess it’s time for the bugs to make their presence felt, unfortunately.

Writing Tip: Never despair when you get those times when you can’t write much for whatever reason. It happens to most writers. I find the best way to handle this is to accept I will just do something and leave it at that until I am able to write to my normal levels.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy one here. Glad to get to Sunday afternoon and wind down a bit. Can’t believe we’ve hit the halfway stage of Flash NANO already. Will be working at today’s prompt later on.

Lady continues to improve and is feeling happier than she has done though we still need to be careful with her exercise for a while.

Had a lovely Zoom with Swanwick friends yesterday, one of whom I’ll catch up with in person at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event.

A huge thank you too for all the lovely comments and likes etc coming in on my news yesterday of Magi, the latest BHP anthology, being released. See below.

Check out an anthology for Christmas – that could catch on as a saying I think!

Hope today has gone well. Good news – Lady is improving and she got to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, on a short walk today. It was lovely to see how seeing her closest chum cheered Lady up a lot. Dogs are good for each other as well as us.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a review of The Business of Murder, the murder mystery play recently staged at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church by the wonderfully named Senior Thespians! Link up for that on Friday.

Will also on with the latest prompt from Flash NANO later today.

Publication News: But the big news is I am thrilled to say I am in print again. My story, The Family Legend, appears in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. It is out today – 15th November 2025 – link below.

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Feeling better than yesterday though still not 100%. Writing has proved to be a wonderful distraction. It’s also handy it’s something which can be done in the warm given we had our first full frost overnight. Brr…

Will be working on the latest prompt from Flash NANO later. As ever, I’m enjoying the variety of prompts. It’s always a good idea to mix up the type of writing prompts you use. It keeps you on your toes. It makes you think outside of the box. Also, it’s just plain fun to have a go at different prompts, though inevitably you will end up with favourite types. I would say mine are writing to an opening line or where you have to put certain words into a story. Like those a lot.

Incidentally, if you like books of prompts, why not check out The Big Book of Prompts, published by Bridge House Publishing? I’ve contributed prompts to this book, along with dear friends from Bridge House, CafeLit and Chapeltown Books. This book gives you a prompt for every day of the year too.

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It’s Monday. It has been hectic. I feel under the weather – boo. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Outstanding Effort.

Sometimes monsters can’t believe what they’re hearing but when they win first prize for something which comes naturally to them, maybe they can hide their real attributes for a bit longer.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly as I draft pieces for Friday Flash Fiction, my YouTube channel, and the latest Flash NANO prompt.

I need to select some stories, already written in draft form, to look at for potential competitions. I’ve got a couple of competitions I wouldn’t mind entering before the year end. This is where regularly drafting flash helps a lot because I always have something in stock I can pull out and, after good editing and polishing, put in for a competition.

Also hope to get on with a PowerPoint for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.


Thrilled to have publication news again in that my story, The Family Legend, is in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. Always good to have news like this!

I started writing standard length short stories, such as this one, long before I discovered the joys of flash fiction and I happily write both. Most of my standard length short stories are either in anthologies or are submitted for competitions. My flash fiction work usually ends up online or in a future collection (sometimes both!). Plus I do enter flash fiction competitions.

Many congratulations to all who are between the covers with me for Magi. It is good to see some familiar names here and I hope to meet up with at least some of you at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Collections Acrostic

C = Collections (short stories and flash fiction) are wonderful ways to try out works by authors new to you.

O = Original stories, often on a theme, inspire so many ideas and make for a truly entertaining read.

L = Lively imaginations at work in collections to make the most of the theme.

L = Love collections for giving authors a voice and also some at least are used to raise money for charity.

E = Enter the worlds of story collections and meet many different characters.

C = Characters which grip you and often short stories and flash fiction make more of an impact because of their brevity.

T = Tension and drama aplenty in the short forms and collections bring so many of them together in one easy format.

I = Imagination let loose for readers to enjoy.

O = Options for collections usually include paperback and ebook so there will be something to suit you.

N = Nothing ventured, nothing gained – why not try story collections as gifts?

S = Story collections are perfect for dipping into when you don’t have as much time as you’d like for reading.

Go on, give them a go! You are bound to find topics and themes to suit.

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Discovering Favourite Authors

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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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Building On What Has Gone Before

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Hope you have had a good week. Have been enjoying the special music being played on Classic FM this week to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Music, like stories, resonates, speaks to the soul, and can conjure up memories.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and play with Coco, the lovely and lively Labradoodle, a fantastic way to end her “working week”! Good time had by all.

Pleased to share Building On What Has Gone Before for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at literally building on what has gone before (and how that may have inspired fiction), as well as taking a look at how writers build on the past, in terms of stories which we love and the authors from the past who have inspired us. I also discuss knowing how to build on what has gone before.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Building On What Has Gone Before

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8th May – VE Day
It was good to join in with the two minute silence at midday today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Classic FM then came back on air with Nimrod from the Enigma Variations (Elgar) and then the always moving Abide with Me (beautifully sung too). I am only two generations away from those who fought in the war in various ways (my grandfathers) and one away from those needing to be evacuated (my parents).

Writing wise, I will be sharing Building On What Has Gone Before on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. I will look at how we all do this in various ways and how specifically writers need to do it. I thought of this topic a while ago – the timing with VE week I think has a peculiar aptness to it, which was something I had not planned. These things happen sometimes in writing. Always nice when it does. Serendipity I think (and that is one of my favourite words too – sounds lovely for something which usually is a lovely thing).

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous author interview on CFT later in May. More details nearer the time. Next month too I hope to get along to an open evening The Chameleons are holding to celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. It is a good chance for them to show what they do and to demonstrate how they need volunteers not just for on the stage but behind it too.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today and had a lovely time. Lady is always buoyed up when she sees any of her pals. Mind you, so am I!

Don’t forget the May issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Its theme is world building, which can be done for the shorter fiction forms like flash fiction. My article is about that very thing! Do check it out.

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Hope to be back on Friday Flash Fiction soon but what I have loved about it is how it has helped me rediscover my love of the classic drabble form of flash fiction (aka the 100 word story). It was the drabble which was my introduction to flash fiction at all when CafeLit issued a 100 word challenge. I am so glad I took the baton up there!

It has led to two books being published by Chapeltown Books, with a third accepted, my writing for Friday Flash Fiction, being able to enter more competitions because I write flash, running flash workshops (including for the Association of Christian Writers) and so much more besides.

As with all flash fiction I write, I sort out who my character will be first, what their story is, and get the first draft down. I worry about the word count later. I start on that by removing my wasted words first and then look at whether I can improve the way I’ve expressed things. The answer to that one is almost always yes, by the way!

8th May – VE Day

Hope the day has been a good one. Has been lovely listening to stories from veterans and their families on the radio today re VE Day. Stories are made up of moments, the important ones.

For flash fiction writers, our challenge is to focus on one vital moment. For the longer flashes (say 750 to 100 words) you might have room for two. But given the story will be showing why these things matter to your characters, you don’t want to dilute the impact these things have on them.

Always nice to meet a keen reader. Did so today and sold copies of my books – nothing to dislike there!

Flash Fiction Tip: Think about how you can get your characters to show the theme in action. If I’m writing about dishonesty, say, I will show my character being dishonest. It gets the point across well and doesn’t use up much of your precious word count.

Plus “seeing” the character doing something or “listening” to what they are saying is by far the best way of getting something across. I want to see characters being dishonest, say, rather than being told they are.

Fairytales with Bite – History in the Magical World

What history is there in your magical setting? Would your characters see our fairytales as history or do they have unrelated history and what would this be? I would expect there to have been some magical battles.

Our own history shows there are always clashes between powers and even more so when someone tries to expand what powers they have. (I don’t believe it is a coincidence so many of our greatest fantasy works mirror the kinds of wars we have had over the centuries. Sadly, we have too much source material to draw on). How did these occur and what was the outcome? What could the outcome have been?

As I write this, we’re thinking about VE Day, the 80th anniversary, and there are a number of special events going on around the country at local and national levels.

Would your magical setting commemorate any of its history or do they try to ignore it?

Has your setting learned the lessons for its historical past or does it keep on repeating the same old mistakes? (This does sound familiar territory, does it not?!).

This World and Others – Archive Keeping

Archive keeping is so important. So much history would be lost without it. How does your setting manage its archives? Are these open to the public to inspect? Who handles the archives and in what forms are they? Written, audio, film etc or a combination?

How would your characters go about getting a job in archive keeping? Or are these jobs kept only for the select few the powers that be can rely on to keep certain things quiet?

Would archives in a magical setting “prove” our fairytales to be true? Might not want other beings, such as pesky humans, finding that out.

Could any of your characters use what they find in the archives to change the course of their story, their setting’s history even? If they find something out with potentially damaging consequences to the powers that be, what would they do about it?


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What You Need to Know About Character Creation and Shorter Fiction Forms

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Hope you have had a good week. Have had some writing admin to tackle again but now sorted. Lady has had a lovely time with her pals. Looking forward to the Easter celebrations and a long weekend. Have a good Easter break yourself, whether you celebrate or not.

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Double Blog Time!

18th April 2025 – Good Friday – Chandler’s Ford Today

Second blog post from me today. First one below! This time it is my latest for Chandler’s Ford Today. This time I look at What You Need to Know About Character Creation. (Combines well with my Authors Electric post too! It does too. See below).

I look at the positives and negatives of using certain traits (which is something you can expand further depending on which trait you use for your characters). I also look at attitudes, situations, and dialogue, so I hope you will find plenty of useful information here.

Do have fun creating your characters. I think it is the best aspect to storytelling.

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18th April 2025 – Good Friday – Authors Electric
Double blog post today. First up is my latest on Authors Electric. This month I discuss Shorter Fiction Forms.  Second blog above.

One huge advantage to the shorter forms of fiction is they do make you focus on what does matter for your characters, you don’t have the word count room to do otherwise. But that in turn is a good discipline to get used to for writing any fiction. Hope you find it useful.

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again so all is well there.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post on What You Need to Know for Character Creation will be up tomorrow. See top post.

It is double blog day for me tomorrow given my Authors Electric post will also be up. That will be on the topic of Short Fiction Forms. See second post!

Looking forward to sharing both of those tomorrow so expect two posts. Has been lovely and busy on the non-fiction front!

 

Hope you have had a good day. Squally weather this morning, better this afternoon. Lady did get to see and have a fabulous time with her Hungarian Vizler friend and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle.

Writing wise, I will be sharing What You Need to Know For Character Creation on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See top post.

Following my scam warning post yesterday, I have since heard a few other writers I know have had similar experiences so clearly there is a spate of these things going on at the moment.

Newsletter coming along nicely. To sign up for this do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Theme this time will be on playing with genre in flash fiction, which I‘ll be discussing in further depth later this month for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100 words tale, Appearances. Trying to keep up appearances doesn’t always work out. Find out why here.

Hope today has been a good one.

I sometimes decide on what my next flash fiction story will be by picking a topic to write about. This is good practice for competitions with a set theme too. I then look at the kind of characters which could serve that topic well and then start to flesh them out.

The topic has got to grip me (and that goes for the set theme for competitions too) for me to want to write to it, of course. Not every topic does.

But there are plenty of topics (and set theme competitions) to go around to this never worries me. I think you do have to have a keen interest in the topic of theme to be able to do it any justice at all.

Hope the day has been a good one. Just to flag up the submissions window for Friday Flash Fiction is now open again. Have sent in something this afternoon.

Flash fiction is a lovely thing to share on your website, social media etc to flag up the kind of writing you do. It’s a good way to share something of interest to your subscribers for your author newsletter. It’s fun to do too especially if you love creating characters, which has always been my favourite aspect to storytelling.

Create my “people” (not that I always choose humans!), put them in a situation and find out what happens! And although I outline so I know roughly what is going to happen, I deliberately don’t plan out everything. I like to give my characters room to surprise me and they often do. I love that too.

Fairytales with Bite – Endings which Could Be Beginnings

I write this in the run up to Easter 2025 and it led me to think that, as a Christian, I see Good Friday as an ending (the crucifixion of Jesus) which became a new beginning (the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday).

But it also led me to think we can have endings which could be beginnings for our stories too in any genre but I’m focusing on one of my favourite kinds – the fairytale. How?

Simply by remembering there are two sides to every story. What is one character’s happy ever after ending will bring about a change of circumstances for other characters in the story (which they may or may not welcome of course) and those can be interesting avenues to explore further.

The musical Wicked is based on an alternative look at The Wizard of Oz story and people seem to like this!

My first story in print, A Helping Hand (in Alternative Renditions, Bridge House Publishing, 2009) looks at the Cinderella story from the viewpoint of the youngest stepsister. That character had a distinct view on Cinders as you can imagine. The story was great fun to write and I was thrilled for it to be my breakthrough in print.

There is nothing to stop you from (a) taking a character of yours and exploring their story further (it is where prequels can come in for one thing) and/or (b) taking another character from your story and doing something creative with them.

Why not give it a go? Having endings which could be beginnings for new stories is great fun to do. I think it works especially well with fairytales.

This World and Others – Upheavals

Our world is always full of upheavals and is especially this way as I write this in April 2025. But it led me to wonder about the kinds of upheavals your settings might see. Do they make ours look pathetic by comparison or are their upheavals “ a piece of cake” compared with what we have going on here?

What triggers your setting’s overall upheaval? Usually these things start with something small which then build and build. What would be your characters’ involvement in this? Are they the trigger point themselves or do they get caught up in the momentum of events as things build up and then find they can’t escape?

What are the consequences of the upheavals? Does it lead to political or other change or does the upheaval fail and governments crack down harder than ever on any kind of dissent? (This does sound depressingly familiar doesn’t it? The one positive is taking this idea and using it for a story where at least you can decide what the ending will be!).

Also, something positive can come out of things like this. For example, communities torn apart by previous events can come together to fight against a common foe (not necessarily literally though that too is a possibility). Things which needed to be changed are changed and for the better for most. The great thing here is you get to decide what these will be.

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Bridge House Publishing Celebration and Broadcasting News

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Hope you have had a good few days. I’m one of the tens of thousands affected by a water outage – has not been great. Am hoping it will be restored very soon and hopefully by the time this post goes out. Water was finally restored at 11 pm on Thursday 19th December – I so enjoyed my shower on the morning of the 20th!
Writing wise, am now winding down for the Christmas break and will resume normal posts from towards the end of next week onwards. Meantime do have a very happy Christmas and may I wish you all the best for the New Year. (Lady loves Christmas – gets spoiled rotten and she has high hopes from Santa Paws, of course).

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Hope you have had a good day. Joy reigns supreme here as we got our water back at 11 pm last night! I so enjoyed my shower this morning! Would like the Southern Water bosses to lose their unearned bonuses though. Can’t think how they could possibly justify those – and that’s as political as I get, folks.

Nobody around here has a good word to say for SW. We feel sorry for the engineers and the ones handing out the water bottles at the various centres (only three of them for 58,000 people – madness) but the management? Bah humbug as someone once said!

On a much happier note, I’m delighted to share this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post on Bridge House Publishing Celebration and Broadcasting News. I share a round up of the recent BHP event and links to last weekend’s Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM where 23 authors, including me, had their festive flash tales put out on air. Do have a listen. The tales were lovely to listen to and cheered me up no end. My tale, Perspective, is on in the first half of the show (the first link shared in the CFT post).

Bridge House Publishing Celebration and Broadcasting News

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Still no water here. Hoping it will be restored tonight/tomorrow. There are tens of thousands unhappy customers of Southern Water right now including yours truly.

Looking forward to sharing a round up post on Chandler’s Ford Today about the recent Bridge House Publishing Celebration event and the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas Show, where my story Perspective, was broadcast recently – link up tomorrow.

It was good to be in splendid company on the radio show too – I know five of the authors who were part of it and have heard of many of the others. I call this a result!

Loved the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night. It was good to see everyone and I look forward to catching up with everyone again in January.

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Not a great day. I’m one of the tens of thousands currently without water thanks to Southern Water. Have not been able to get through to them, even online, and the earliest re-connect time will, hopefully, be tomorrow! Grrr… Turned out we didn’t get water back until Thursday – water was off for 36 hours.

On a happier note, Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening – it’s our wrap up and chat session for the year. Hopefully some festive flash pieces will be shared too.

Will be sharing Bridge House Publishing Celebration and Broadcasting News on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above.

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No story on Friday Flash Fiction from me now until after the Christmas break but I did want to say a huge congratulations to the winner of their Christmas competition plus the runners-up and all who were Highly Commended or Commended. Do check out the link to the 100 word stories section of the website and enjoy a great read, folks. (Am feeling much more cheerful than I did yesterday as our water supply was restored at 11pm last night).

Screenshot 2024-12-20 at 18-05-26 Friday Flash Fiction - 100-Word Stories

Hope you have had a good day. Still waiting for Southern Water to restore “services”. (So if you are seeing posts saying it has been fixed, well not yet is the true position).

Something I mentioned at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night is, when you’ve got a topic you know will always come up, do jot down ideas for it early. Do get that first draft and polishing done early.

I know there will always be calls for festive flash so I can prepare a lot of work in advance of the actual call here. There are so many topics you can do this with too – there will always be calls for love stories for February, spring stories in March/April etc etc.

So it’s worth keeping an eye out on the calendar then and not just as we approach the year end.

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One week to go to Christmas Day. Am I ready? No but am well on the way. It’s where I am usually at around this time. (Would however like my water supply back, pretty please Southern Water – grrr).

Probably won’t be submitting any further pieces to Friday Flash Fiction until the New Year as they are having a well deserved break. I know I’ll only be writing bits and pieces from the weekend onwards. One of my favourite aspects of the break is getting to spend more time on the sofa with my feet up and enjoying a good book. Always look forward to this as don’t get to do this as often as I would like.

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Fairytales with Bite – Where a Wand Simply Will Not Do by Allison Symes, December 2024

Where A Wand Simply Will Not Do
Where a wand simply will not do is where a fairy needs to cheer her client up first.
Cinders needed this before the wand could be put to work.
The professional fairy will ensure all needs are met and not just by a wave of the wand.
Cinders needed reassurance, then the gown, then the coach etc.
Just a pity the girl had no sense of timing but even then magic isn’t the answer to that.
What Cinders really needed was a decent watch and the sense to check it regularly!
And the fairy godmother needed an updated spell book where poor Cinders did get fur slippers and not glass ones.
Those must’ve been hell to dance in.

Ends
Allison Symes – 18th December 2024

Hope you enjoyed that.

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This World and Others – Winter/Story Festivals

Does your setting have anything like Christmas? (Discworld does – it has Hogswatch. Narnia gets Christmas back of course ). What do your characters do to pass away the time during the long winter months? What would they celebrate? What stories would they recount at these times?

Most places would have some sort of winter event – usually connected with showing the light in some way – so what would your setting have here? What special foods and drinks would there be?

Does everyone join in with the festivities or are there those who are deliberately excluded or choose to avoid the events? Why would either of these cases be?

When it comes to storytelling for festivals, are there writers who are banned? If so, who and why? Are there stories everyone expects to hear? What are these and how did they come to be part of your setting’s heritage?

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Top Flash Fiction Writing Tips and The Benefits

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Hope you have had a good few days. Weather has turned bitterly cold. Even had some snow. Not that Lady worried. Writing wise, looking forward to sharing further author interviews on Chandler’s Ford Today. Am just putting some finishing to some flash pieces I hope to send off to competitions shortly. Wish me luck!

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Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today to talk about a topic very close and dear to my heart – Top Flash Fiction Writing Tips and the Benefits. I look at focusing on the character, using the first person, and not worrying about the word count immediately amongst other things. Hope you find the post useful.

Top Flash Fiction Writing Tips and the Benefits

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22nd November 2024 – Esther Chilton – Guest Spot
Not one but two posts from me on here tonight.

Many thanks to Esther Chilton for inviting me to be a guest writer on her blog. See link below. Great opportunity to talk about flash fiction and to share a YouTube link to one of my favourite flash pieces of mine, Calling the Doctor. I used this as the trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again.

Hope you enjoy the post and the video.

Guest Writer Spot

Screenshot 2024-11-22 at 10-05-26 Guest Writer Spot Esther Chilton

Colder today than yesterday, Even had snow which lay for a while. Melted by lunchtime. Went for a swim. When the pool water feels like you’re getting into a warm bath, you know it’s perishing cold outside. It was like that today! No pals out for Lady today though she did enjoy her usual time at the park. Dogs are great believers in making the most of the simple pleasures of life.

Will be looking at Top Flash Fiction Writing Tips and The Benefits for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Cracking on with Flash NANO. Am putting finishing touches to some flash pieces I want to get out for competitions in the next couple of days.

Not long now until the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Looking forward to that and catching up with everyone. Lovely way to finish my writing event year.

Busy putting next newsletter together as well.

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Another cold one today – the gloves came out. (No – not boxing ones!). Lady didn’t care. Too busy running around and having a fabulous time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. We’ll be looking at festive flash, which is always great fun to write. I have finally drafted some and hope to do more next week.

I do usually set exercises when I run workshops. I’ve long appreciated being on the receiving end of exercises set for me by other tutors. I’ve always got something useful out of exercises. Some pieces which started life this way ended up being published.

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Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with Wishing Well. Tony is skeptical about Hannah’s feeling it is right to make a wish at the well but is he right to be so scathing or does Hannah have a point? Find out here.
Screenshot 2024-11-22 at 10-02-41 Wishing Well by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Highlight of the day today was having an Options hot chocolate when coming in from my afternoon walk with the dog. It really is all about the simple pleasures of life.

Talking of which, what would your characters count as their simple pleasures? What would they do/how would they react if these were taken away from them? Could be some interesting stories there.

Also what would they be prepared to do to ensure nobody could ever take these simple pleasures away at all? Would these simple pleasures get in the way of them having relationships with others or could a shared simple pleasure lead to a romance story?

Hope you can make use of those thoughts. Will be giving some thought to them myself!

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Hope your writing day has been a good one. Looking forward to tackling Day 20 of Flash NANO shortly. Can’t believe where the time has gone on this already. Have loved all of the challenges.

Character Tip: Motivation matters, of course, but what drives your character to have the motivations they do. Are they doing what they are to defend themselves or loved ones, out of fear, out of greed or what have you?

The drivers here will be what determines whether your characters can keep going or not. The more vital the driver is (at least to the character) the more drama and tension there will be in your story, the more readers will be gripped to discover whether your character does keep going or not.

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Fairytales with Bite – Fantasy Flash

F = Flash fiction can be used for many genres including fantasy.

A = As you are following the adventures of the characters and they can be set anywhere.

N = Not a lot of world building needed, you haven’t the word count room for it, but give enough details so readers know where your characters are.

T = Telling details are what are needed here – a hint of the world your character is in, a hint of any special powers your character has and so on.

A = Always know your character well enough to know what motivates them whether you write about a fairy, an alien being or a dragon (I’ve written for all three!).

S = Story is the main focus – what is your story, what is the change, what does your character do and what are the consequences? Why does it have to be on the world you’ve created?

Y = Your character needs to grip us throughout, even in a small word count story, so how will they do that? What is it about them that appeals? No matter how alien your character, readers will still need to understand where they are coming from and what motivates them.

 

F = Flash has to be brief and to the point so what aspects of your character could use this as a strength?

L = Lively characters, an intriguing opening, a gripping middle, and a powerful ending – no pressure then!

A = Always focus on getting the story down worry about word count later.

S = Set your story aside for a while after those drafts and then come back after a break to evaluate it properly.

H = Have fun drafting your story. Later have fun editing it and sharpening it. Have fun creating your characters and as much of your setting as you can show us but remember you do only have 1000 words for flash.

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This World and Others – Food Production

I’ve not yet come across a story where the characters don’t need to eat. (I loved the hobbits and their wish for second breakfast in The Lord of the Rings). So regardless of your setting, food has to be produced somehow. What would your world use as sources of meat? (Yes, that can be especially grim and could be a source for ideas if you want to write horror).

What would your world grow as cereals and other crops? Would we recognize their farming methods? Is their equipment the same as ours, or more or less advanced than our own? Do the main characters in your story have any involvement with food production and could their role prove pivotal to the overall plot?

Whoever controls food supply wields a great deal of power, no matter what world this is on, so that could be used to good effect in a story. Naturally climate chance could also be factored into a tale involving food production. What would the impact be on the world you’ve set up?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This time I share the October 2023 of the magazine on the theme of horror. I look at Writing Horror: The Telling Details. And yes it is possible to write horror flash fiction. I’ve written some though mine is at the less dark end of the market.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Update – Allison Symes November 2024 – Book Fairs, Autumn Gatherings, Flash NANO, and More

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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. Many thanks to Janet Williams, my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today, for taking some of the photos I include in this week’s post.
Hope you have had good few days. Lady has had a fabulous time with her two best dog friends. Writing wise, I share an update on what I’ve been up to recently. Am continuing to make good progress with Flash NANO 2024 and, as ever, am enjoying the wide variety of prompts from that. It is a good challenge!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal again today and has had a good time all week with her chums, bar Tuesday when she just had to put up with me.

Pleased to share Allison Symes – Author Update November 2024 – Book Fairs, Autumn Gatherings, Flash NANO and More for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I do love a title which does, to quote the old Ronseal wood treatment advert, “what it says on the tin”!

Every now and again I like to write an author update of what I’ve been up to – easiest to do this in one summary post. Next week I’ll be sharing writing tips and after that there will be more author interviews so plenty to look forward to here. If you want to know more about Flash NANO (and it still isn’t too late to join in by the way), I do share more information and the link in this CFT post so do check it out.

I also look back at the Book Fair, the ACW Autumn Gathering (briefly as I did write a separate post about that) and look ahead to the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event next month. I also celebrate local authors in my look back at the Book Fair.

Allison Symes – Author Update November 2024 – Book Fairs, Autumn Gatherings, Flash NANO and More

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Lady has had a super day. Got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal this morning and later this afternoon got to do her usual second walk with her best buddie, the Rhodesian Ridgeback. They even came off the lead for a bonus play time in the green area on that walk. The dogs loved it and it was sweet to watch them play. Dogs keep things simple. This all came as a nice surprise and was one of those cheer you up moments. And that was just for the Ridgeback’s owner and me!

Will be sharing a round up of what I’ve been up to lately, as well as looking ahead to the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event next month, for my post on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. Has been a busy but enjoyable time. See above.

Character Tip: You know your character. You’ve got your set up. All great stuff. Now throw something into the mix you know will throw your character and see what they do. Have fun here. It will reveal aspects to their character you haven’t already worked out or suspected.

And it is fun finding out just what your characters will do to get themselves out of the mire. To me, it’s one of the best bits of story writing – drop my characters in it and find out what they do!

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Hope you have had a lovely day. Nice cold but sunny autumn day here. Lady did get to see and play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. All is right in her world.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing an author update for me on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above. There will be more author interviews to come at the end of the month/early December. I’ll also be making a guest appearance on another writing blog later this month – more details nearer the time.

Loving the Flash NANO prompts so far and looking forward to having a go at today’s one shortly. A huge thank you to all who have commented on the stories I’ve shared on the private Facebook page here. Much appreciated.

Author newsletter will be out again on 1st December. I share tips, news, story links and more there. If you would like to sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and thank you to all of my subscribers for your ongoing support. Again much appreciated.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale The Last Memory. Hope you enjoy it. It’s a different take on a famous fairytale.

Screenshot 2024-11-15 at 10-17-45 The Last Memory by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Happy birthday to His Majesty.

Now birthdays in themselves can be a useful theme for a flash fiction story or several. Why?

Firstly, you can look at what your characters think about birthdays and theirs in particular. Do they bring back good or painful memories? Is their birthday a chance to put things right or to move on from whatever has been holding them back?

Secondly, what do other characters in your story think about your lead? Would they celebrate their birthday with them or not? There could be a lot of interesting material here, especially if they would never celebrate the lead’s special event.

If your setting is in a fantasy or sci-fi world, are birthdays commemorated at all? If not, what is celebrated instead? Would we recognise any elements of them?

Also does a birthday coincide with another event – the start of a quest (it did with The Lord of the Rings with Gandalf turning up to celebrate Bilbo’s 111th birthday) – or with a national event. If the latter, are good or bad things associated with that and what does your character make of it being their birthday too? Does it change how they celebrate?

Plenty of story ideas to come from a birthday then!

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Three quick flash fiction tips I hope you find useful:-

1. Focus on the lead character and what the reader needs to know about them (including of course what the character wants).

2. Cut out anything which doesn’t help with the above point unless it does move the story on in some way. Ask yourself if it is necessary. If it is, fine, you’ll easily justify it. If not, out it comes. No word count room to waste so you do need to be ruthless with cutting things like that out. It is a good writing discipline if it is any comfort. Learning to tighten up your writing will help with the other forms of writing you do. I’ve found this to be the case.

3. Once you’ve got the draft done and have rested it, read it out loud. The good thing with flash is this doesn’t take long. In reading it out loud, you will hear the rhythm of your story, you will hear if the dialogue works or it it makes you stumble and so on.

Top Tips

Fairytales with Bite – Spells Acrostic

S = Spells are not all they are cracked up to be at times.
P = Princess at risk of death is sent to sleep for a century instead.
E = Even godmothers can get things wrong – glass slippers to dance in? Really!
L = Life forms are not all they seem – just ask The Beast – magic was not his favourite thing when he was transformed.
L = Luckless apprentices realise too late they need to know how to make a spell stop, what a pity he missed that bit!
S = Spells have their downside!

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This World and Others – Literature and Its Role In Your Setting

Does your setting appreciate its literature? If your setting doesn’t have written records or anything like that at all, what would it have instead? How are these things valued by your characters?

If there are books, stories etc., are they similar to the format in which we have ours or is everything, say, in an audio format only? What kind of devices would your world have to store them? Technological advances can make some forms of recording information obsolete so anything stored the “old school” way might be hard to recover and/or transfer to modern ways. How would your setting overcome this issue?

Would your world have favoured authors, past and present? Would they have banned ones? Would your world import literature from other settings, including Earth? What would they make of our books and stories?

Especially in the sci-fi and fantasy sections, has anything our writers have come up with any bearing to your character’s setting? If so, does it worry your authorities Earth writers have got some things right here ore are they relieved we are far from the truth?

Do your characters appreciate books and what do they prefer to read? Is that something most would like or do they dare to be different?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the April 2024 edition of the magazine which looks at a topic I adore – editing. My article asks Editing:  Do You Love It or Loathe It? Well… what answer would you give to that?

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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