Tag: The Lost Coin by Allison Symes

Anniversaries, Celebrations, Nightmare Journeys!

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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. I also took the bookstall display photo from the Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Talking of which….
Had a fabulous time at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event over the weekend, despite a nightmare journey (details below). Was glad to have made it though! I love Zoom. It’s a great tool but there is something special about being able to meet friends and fellow writers in person.
Many thanks to Lynn Clement for the image below taken at the Bridge House Publishing event. Lovely to meet up with her again. I have been her editor. Many thanks also to Paula R.C. Readman for the image of me reading from From Light to Dark and Back Again at the event. So nice to see her again. It has been a few years since we last met in person but then this is the joy of this kind of event.

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Facebook – General

Today is a special day – 36 years to the day since I tied the knot with my other half, who is a rather special gentleman. Will be off out later in the week to celebrate, meal out etc. Funnily enough, it was a sunny December day way back then. Friends who wed the following June had rain all day. One thing you say about the British weather – it is never boring nor can you assume anything.

Writing wise, I have another super author interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today on 15th December. This week’s post will be about Getting the Most out of Themes, which I hope proves useful regardless of what you write.

Nice job later in the week is to narrow down two or three stories I drafted for Flash NANO as there is a competition I want to have a crack at and the deadline is the end of the year. Following my own advice to always take time off an official deadline, I’d like to get my story in this side of Christmas.

Writing Tip: Every so often, just write something for fun. Yes, really. I find it a great perk me up and it often sparks off ideas for other things I do want to see “out there”.

Sometimes I come back to the fun piece and polish it up and submit later. Sometimes I just leave it. But I had fun writing it and it gave my creative writing spark a much needed boost. I think most of us need that kind of boost sometimes.

Especially if you’re tired, and I have found this is often the case at this time of year for some reason (!), just writing something for fun is….well… fun!

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I plan to write in more depth about the Bridge House Publishing celebration event for a just before Christmas Chandler’s Ford Today post (and many thanks to everyone at the event for sharing photos with me and giving permission to use them for that future post!).

Meantime, I was pleased and pleasantly surprised to make a guest appearance along with Debz Brown on Paula R.C. Readman’s blog today. Thank you, Paula. The blog is a great example of the upside of the writer’s life and we all need those!

A Trip to London.

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Weather has warmed up but got wetter here in the south. Does that count as a win? Who knows? Mind you, coming back into a cosy home on returning from walking the dog counts as one of those moments of bliss. Another one is the first sip from a decent cup of tea! It really is a case of the simple pleasures in life.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting the Most out of Themes for Chandler’s Ford Today this coming week plus there will be another super author interview the week after so do look out for these. I am also planning a just before Christmas round up post, appropriately just before the big day and I hope to include a report on the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in that.

Talking of yesterday, it was lovely seeing the selection of books available yesterday. Thought it made a good display. A huge thanks to Gill James without whom none of that would have been possible.

Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on The Lost Coin, my story on Friday Flash Fiction. Link here in case you missed it. I side with Gran in this one.
Screenshot 2023-12-01 at 10-11-56 The Lost Coin by Allison Symes

Nightmare journey up to London for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Points failure (can’t be helped), overtime ban (unfortunate), and only four carriages to London Waterloo on the previous train (stupidity).

That train was packed when it got to my stop. So waited for next one an hour later. They put eight carriages on for that. Whoever thought four carriages would ever be enough for the London run needs their head examining! Then had to change at Basingstoke. Next train to London Waterloo packed to the rafters and only five carriages. So was the next one but I was able to get on that one.

It was such a relief to get to the Theodore Bullfrog and fantastic to see everyone. I was so pleased to see people in person I haven’t seen for a while and it was great to catch up with Lynn Clement, whose The City of Stories, I had the privilege of editing.

There was much convivality over lunch followed by readings and publisher news. I hope to write more about this for Chandler’s Ford Today later this month. Picture below gives a taster!

Writing Tip: Use your own experiences of delays, frustrations etc to fill in how your characters would feel, act, react. Get something positive out of this!

Oh and the journey home was much better and I got to chat to a lovely Swanwick friend as well as we travelled back together!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As I mentioned on my author Facebook page, it is my wedding anniversary today. Anniversaries, of all sorts, are great themes for stories. You can think about whether your characters relish the anniversary in question or try to ignore it and why this is the case. There is a story there!

Also some characters will commemorate something because it holds meaning for them but what if those closest to them don’t share the same meaning? How would that play out in their relationship? Or have they come to an understanding? There are stories there too.

You can also take anniversaries to be the dates commemorating historical events and this can apply even if you’re writing sci-fi/fantasy. What important dates would your worlds expect their peoples/beings of choice (!) to commemorate and what form of celebration would take place? Stories there too.

Also there is bound to someone who does not go along with the general flow here – who are they? Why are they not joining in?

Happy writing!

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Just to flag up Friday Flash Fiction are running their annual Christmas competition. You can send two 100 word pieces in over two weeks and I’ve sent my first one in. Full details in link. The idea is you send one piece in during this week and another next week (final date is 15th December). It’s good fun. Why not give it a go? They won’t be taking the longer flashes during this period because obviously they’ve got to focus on the competition entries.

And if you’re quick, you’ve still got time to submit something to the Hannah Kate Three Minute Santas show as long as your story is in by midnight tonight – 4th December 2023. Her show with the chosen selections will go out on 16th December. Again see the link but you really do only have hours left on this one. This is one problem with doing a round up post after a deadline! I have submitted a story to this show. Will let you know how it does.

Last but not least it is time for a Monday flash fiction tale on YouTube. My latest story here is Never Going Back. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Am looking forward to going to an Advent Carols service later this afternoon. Carols in themselves often summarise the story of the Nativity in not that many words. Flash hymn writing maybe?!

It was great to catch up with many fellow flash fiction writers in yesterday’s Bridge House Publishing celebration event. Bridge House also includes CafeLit, Red Telephone, and Chapeltown Books. Yesterday’s event saw a great crossover of writers present – from the novelists to the short story writers to the flash fiction authors (and many of us do more than one of these).

The short form of story telling is fantastic because it makes you keep coming up with interesting characters. I’ve always loved inventing people so this is a win-win for me. There are opportunities out there with competitions, online magazines, and so on to get your work out there. You do wait a long time for the “pay-off” from a novel! Having said that, the big strength of the novel is being able to show a reader a complete world. For the short forms, writers have to condense that.

Whatever kind of writing you do or love reading, it all leads to fabulous stories. Something to get right into, I think, especially at this darker, wetter time of the year! Curl up with a good book (novel, novella, collection)? Don’t mind if I do!

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Loved the Flash NANO challenge. Probably after Christmas I will take a closer look at these though I’ve got a couple of possible contenders for a competition I need to enter by the year end.

So my focus will be on working out which is the strongest one here, polish that up, and submit it before Christmas. It never pays to leave things to the last minute for this sort of thing. You will miss mistakes if you rush. Have done this myself in the past. Learned from it. Not done this since!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Post Christmas Reading

I know what you’re thinking. Surely it’s a bit early for this blog! Not if you’re like me and you’re already planning your post Christmas read for that lovely period after 25th December until 2nd January.

Normal life has not yet resumed and there is more time to take it a bit easier. For me that means more reading and writing.

I’ve put in my book request list and am looking forward to the nice dilemma of what to read first. It is the only time I don’t stick to my book pile in strict order. Christmas given books are bumped right up the queue!

Am so looking forward to this and I hope your post Christmas read is a joy too.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Screenshot 2023-11-07 at 20-05-56 Writers' Narrative eMagazine November 2023Screenshot 2023-11-07 at 20-07-28 Writers' Narrative eMagazine November 2023

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Remember, Remember – Author Interview: Richard Hardie

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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 Richard Hardie for logo, author, and book cover pics for a marvellous interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week.
It has been a very cold week here, with some snow and sleet showers. Not that Lady worried as she got to run around with her best friends all week. I just put on extra layers and my big coat! Looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event on 2nd December. Will be lovely to see everyone again. (And it’s indoors out of the cold!).

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to interview Richard Hardie for Chandler’s Ford Today again. He is the author of the Temporal Detective Agency series (aimed at YA though I must admit despite not qualifying on that score for some considerable time, I find the books a great read too!). Today he launches his third book in the series, Remember Remember. This follows Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords.

Richard discusses with me the challenges and joys of writing series fiction, his publishing company, Authors Reach, and what they have been up to since our last interview, and how Richard manages to keep details for his characters correct from book to book. This is a major consideration for anyone writing series. Plus there is much more useful information and great insights into the writing life here.

Many thanks, Richard, for a great interview. Link below.

Remember, Remember: Author Interview – Richard Hardie

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I am so pleased to welcome back Richard Hardie to Chandler’s Ford Today this week to talk about his new book, Remember Remember. This is the third in his Temporal Detective Agency series. The series is aimed at Young Adults but there are many who no longer qualify as such who also enjoy these books! Richard and I will also be chatting about marketing and other topics as part of this interview. Link up tomorrow (and Richard’s Facebook launch starts at 1 pm UK time tomorrow too). Interview above.

Two days to go to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event. So looking forward to seeing everyone.

I cannot believe today is the last day of Flash NANO 2023. I will be having a go at today’s challenge (aptly a thirty word story one) later on this evening. Have so enjoyed taking part in this again and the feedback and support on the Facebook page has been wonderful. Thanks, all, and also to Nancy Stohlman for setting all of this up.

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Pleased to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This month I talk about Story Formats. What would be your favourite – the hardback, paperback, ebook, audio book? I welcome different formats and see them as ways of getting people into reading at all. Comments welcome over on the MTW page. (Let’s take the opportunity to celebrate the written word in all its formats!).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Author newsletter out earlier today. I know it’s early to wish everyone a Happy Christmas but my next one isn’t until 1st January which would be a tad late, I think!

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with The Lost Coin. Hope you enjoy it. See what you make of my Gran character in this. Is she harsh or does her grandchild deserves what happens in this one because they ….. Well, no spoilers here. Link here for you to check it out! And many thanks to those who have already commented on this one.
Screenshot 2023-12-01 at 10-11-56 The Lost Coin by Allison Symes

Had a fun time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom last night. We drafted some stories based on the festive theme. Glad to see some of our group taking part in the Flash NANO challenge too. Hard to believe we’ve reached the end of that already.

Once I’ve completed tonight’s challenge – a 30 words only story – I will have written 46, 586 words over the month. This is not far short of the 50,000 set for NaNoWriMo writers. Am pleased with this.

I didn’t have an overall target in mind when I began this. I just wanted to respond to each day’s challenge. Some of my stories were towards the upper end of the flash range but most were in the category I most write to – the 100 to 500 words count.

Am NOT surprised at that but what Flash NANO proves is all those “little” bits of writing do add up! So don’t worry about only having short times in which to write. Have fun. Get something written. Edit later. You can get more achieved than you think by using pockets of time like this.

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Don’t forget my author newsletter is out again on Friday, 1st December. (Just where does the time go?!). If you would like to sign up for tips, news, story links etc, please head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Meantime, I am looking forward to tonight’s ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom. There will be more than a hint of a festive flavour about our flash writing this evening! It was great fun too!

 

No acrostics are ages so here are two in one go! Hope you enjoy them. The second one sets some interesting questions for potential stories.

Fairytales with Bite – Festivities

F = Fairies, including godmothers, need to let their hair down every so often, you know.
E = Energy is drained by the continual use of magic.
S = Slippers, glass or otherwise, take a great deal of creativity energy – it’s not just a quick spell and away you go.
T = Time to have a party then for friends and colleagues so what does your average fairy do here?
I = Innovation is key – they invent spells to conjure up delicious food and drink without them having to lift a finger to do it.
V = Variety matters too – there will be spells for music, brightly coloured lights and so on.
I = Invitations are treasured for a fairy’s party – you know you’ve made it when you get one.
T = Timings of said parties are flexible but all start at midnight, it’s a traditional and a nod to Cinderella.
I = Imaginative dress is expected of the guests but this isn’t an issue – just don’t turn up as a wicked stepmother and you’ll be fine.
E = Expect to have a good time and an even better sleep when you eventually go home.
S = Strictly RVSP and no red apples whatsoever to be seen anywhere at a fairy’s festive do – it spoils the tone, you know.

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This World and Others – Traditions

T = Traditions are a bedrock of any society so what would your setting have?
R = Revere the traditions or do your characters ignore or despise them?
A = Are there traditions based on religious or other festivals and does everyone take part?
D = Dancing – is this allowed in your setting and, if so, what form does it take?
I = Invented traditions – who invented them and why; what were they seeking to replace and why?
T = Timings of traditions – are these celebrated/commemorated all year or just in certain seasons?
I = In your world’s traditions, what would people do, eat, drink, and why these things in particular?
O = Ongoing traditions – why have people wanted these to continue?
N = New traditions – have your characters taken well to these and what purpose do they fill the old ones couldn’t?
S = Solemnity in traditions or super fun or a mixture of both? Which would your characters prefer and why?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

WN publicity shot - November 23 mag

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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