Tag: The Writers' Summer School – Swanwick

Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Huge thanks to Penny Blackburn, Joy Wood, and Julia Pattison for supplying some images connected to my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Two images of Lady were taken by Adrian Symes. She missed me when I was away! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Have spent my time slowly resuming normal routines, including the writing one, after my return from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Think I am getting there now. Have loved getting back to the park with Lady. The weather’s cooler at the moment and much pleasanter for us both.


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Have been looking forward to sharing my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Well, when I tell you it is Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025, you’ll know why.

I share some highlights from what was an amazing few days in Derbyshire and discuss the courses and workshops I went to – it will give you a good idea of the range on offer here. Plus it was marvellous catching up with friends I only see online the rest of the year.

Hope you enjoy the post and maybe see you there next year.

Returning to The Writers’ Summer School Swanwick for 2025

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Looking forward to sharing Returning to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025 for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Have yet to go through my Swanwick notebook to look up all of the drafts I did in response to exercises set but I hope to do this soon and then rework the pieces concerned. Hope to get at least some of them out somewhere once I’ve had chance to go through them and work on them. It pays too. Once piece I wrote up after a previous Swanwick has made it into my third book, Seeing The Other Side, out next May.

The writing journey is never the same for any two authors. When I started out I was just writing for my own pleasure, just to see if I could get a story down, and doing that kept me going for a long time. But then I felt I should have a go at the writing competitions to see if I could get anywhere there.

Took time but I did get there and in turn that led on to my first story being published in an anthology. That breakthrough moment was A Helping Hand in Bridge House Publishing’s Alternative Renditions which came out in 2009. I can’t believe where the last 16 years have gone either!

Lady had a fabulous time in the park today as she got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again but also ran around with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Lady came home oh so tired but so happy with it. I managed to sneak in a short swim and found that refreshing. Murphy’s Law has struck again by the way. I swear the centre has turned down the temperature of the showers which would have made sense last week when things were so hot. This week it’s cooler…

Writing wise, am slowly catching up with some things I didn’t get chance to look at while at Swanwick.

Author newsletter will be out again before too long so if you’d like to sign up for writing tips (especially on flash fiction), story links, news and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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You can now see the six shortlisted stories for the competition Friday Flash Fiction runs to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival. See the link for that.

Plus the screenshot will tell you more about FFF if you are new to them. It’s a great place for flash fiction writers, especially if you like the 100 word form. Just follow the submission guidelines to the letter and give them a go.

I’d just like to say a huge thank you to all who give me feedback on my stories here. It is much appreciated. 

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group next week. Zoom comes into its own here given the members live hundreds of miles apart (though I am hoping to catch up with some of them in person at the next ACW in person event in October). Will be looking at prompts next week too, which is always a useful topic and one of my favourites. You know you can always get something useful out of a prompt!

Flash Tip: It pays to have a wide range of prompt types you know you can use. It keeps things interesting for you (I always like a flash fiction challenge) and it means you will rarely be stuck for ideas because you know you have all of these different kinds of prompt to try out. And you will know you can do them, which is a real confidence booster.

When I take part in Open Prose Mic Nights I narrow down my selection of pieces to read to one or two. I have a third in reserve. That is usually plenty to cover any time slot you are given. I mix up the moods of the stories as well when I know I can read at least two.

I also practice the ones I know I would like to read. I record my stories on Zoom and play them back so I know my timing is right and I can hear how I come across. I know I have to make myself slow down. It is too easy to race through a piece – that’s the adrenalin pumping of course, but it is then too easy to stumble or garble your words.

So playing a recording back is the single biggest tip I’ve found useful here. I’ve also found it to be a confidence booster because I know I’ve rehearsed. It does pay.

If you get the chance to take part in such nights, have fun. It is a great experience.

Many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the photo.

I was reading Time For A Change from my forthcoming Seeing The Other Side here.

Fairytales with Bite – Story Time

I was blessed to have a mother who loved books and stories and my kid sister and I were read to at bedtime regularly. It is a wonderful way to instill a love of stories in children and that is a gift for life.

So I was wondering which of your characters would have a special story time with their young ones? What forms would those stories take? What stories would they tell?

If they told “scary” stories, who would they be warning their youngsters about? Humans, possibly? What would be the basis of their fairytales and legends?

Naturally, you would invent those fairytales and legends yourself as part of your overall story. (Could be separate interesting material to publish later for one thing).

But no matter how fantastical your setting, your invented stories will still have to have that believability factor. Readers as outsiders should be able to understand the stories your characters tell their youngsters. We should be able to understand their monsters, their “goodies”, their “villains” and so on.

If your work is long form inventing those shorter stories could be a fun side line.

This World and Others – Who Tells The Tales?

Who does tell the tales in your setting? Which tales are allowed to be shared and which are definitely kept under wraps? Are there nominated storytellers in your setting with a specific role to play in your society?

Are the storytellers valued or is their job saved for those who could literally do little else? Not everyone appreciates stories, sadly, no matter what world you’re in.

How are the stories told aside from the obvious oral tradition with bards going from village to village? For example, is what we would know as technology used to create “virtual storytellers”? Perhaps your characters must have credits to access that virtual world. How would they get their credits? How many credits would you need for a story? Are all stories priced the same way or are there special ones which need a great deal more in the way of credits?

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Writing Events and An Author’s Dilemma

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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. One photo of me holding Creativity Matters and my flash collections to date was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from Swanwick for my Authors Electric blog. See below.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Slowly getting back to normal after my trip to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Nice to be out walking Lady again. Hope to catch up with some chums in the park later this week.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler chum today. Lovely time had by both. I was back in the swimming pool for a long swim. It was wonderful. Am now suitably tired!

Writing wise, I will be sharing Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025 for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that one. Look out for a couple of pictures of Lady in it too – think of them as a before and after selection.

Slowly resuming my normal writing routine. Am preparing another wonderful author interview to appear on CFT in September. Plus I am preparing to be interviewed myself in October so all go here but fun with it.

It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog. This time I look at Writing Events. It is no coincidence I post this just after returning from my annual jaunt to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, Derbyshire.

Naturally I had a fabulous time there but my post looks at the benefits of writing events, including online ones, for all writers. Hope you enjoy the post (and I hope you have a great time at any forthcoming events you’re attending).

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Lovely to be back at church this morning. Peaceful and thoughtful. Just what was needed after a busy but fun week, I think. Looking forward to writing about Swanwick for Chandler’s Ford Today. Will be cracking on with that later today after spending some enjoyable time composing more flash fiction tales. Will resume competition entries I think from next weekend though I am glad I did get my 750 words story in for the relevant competition before heading off to Swanwick.

Writing Tip: It pays to spend a little time working out what writing time you have where. Most of mine is in the evening though I do have some slots in some afternoons. I always plan out what I will do my writing time. I find it helps me make the most of them. It means I get straight with the tasks in hand when I do get to my desk.


I expect every Swanwicker will be doing what I’ve done since getting home on Thursday – working out what I was doing this time last week! I thought of this today as I was back out creosoting my front fence – oh, the glamour of it all! It was a truly fabulous week away and I plan to write more about it for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Slowly getting back to my usual writing and other routines. Has been great taking Lady out for her walks again (and it may help shift some of the inevitable weight gain most Swanwickers have to face up on getting home again. The Hayes feed you really well!).

Also looking forward to resuming my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Also hope to share news of another fabulous author interview on CFT before long. I will have another interview to share with you later too but this time the interviewee will be me. Exciting times!

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Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. It’s amazing how quickly the weeks whizz by.

Friday Flash Fiction is currently judging its recent competition so is not open to submissions at the moment. Will let you know when that changes. (Do check out the stories on there anyway. There is so much amazing work here and I can’t think of a better way to practice writing 100 word stories regularly).

Flash Tip: The one thing I find most fascinating about any length of story is in my wanting to know what happens. Simple as that. And why do I want to know what happens? I want to find out because I’ve come to care for the character(s) in the story quickly. There’s a good challenge for every fiction writer right there.

For flash fiction writers, you’ve probably got the opening line or two to create a character who readers will want to root for in some way. It’s a great challenge! 
It’s Monday. It has been as hectic as ever. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Writing Woes.

Writers have all manner of writing woes but this one may come as a surprise to the author in my story here. Find out what that woe is here.

 

I forgot to share the link to the latest serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit last Sunday when I was at Swanwick. Good news, it’s double bubble time, folks.

I share below the link to the stories I forgot to share last week plus I share today’s selection. Hope you enjoy them.

I am glad to say I read one of my new stories (Time For a Change) at the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night and it went down well. Now to crack on with my flash fiction writing Sunday afternoon too!

Part 1 Serialisation
Part 2 Serialisation 

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As you know, I love writing prompts (and I picked up loads having gone to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick). Sometimes you come across a prompt where you cannot find an obvious immediate use for it but I have found on making myself dig that bit deeper with it, I can usually get a story from it.

Often these are especially good stories precisely because I have had to dig deeper. I have had to not use what might seem to be an obvious idea.

I also think it good practice to deliberately mix up the prompts I do use though it is always good to have something to fall back on it. I will always have a soft spot for the random words to go in a story kind of prompt but am also fond of the opening line type.

When I get one of the latter prompts, I will make myself list some ideas to come from it. I never go for the first few I jot down either. By digging deeper, my experience has been you can come up with some truly great work in the ideas which are further down on your list.

Goodreads Author Blog – An Author’s Dilemma

There is one dilemma no author minds that much. This is where you go to a writing event and bring home as many or more books than you took of your own to sell! I have done this again this year having just returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

Mind you, my trip this year has also enabled me to add to my growing collection of books signed for me by my author friends. Whenever I pass the shelves these books are on, I smile and recall where I first met the author. I like things like this.

Books are important for more than just the stories or interesting non-fiction between their covers, vital though they are. They can encourage positive memories. For example, I still have The Readers’ Digest Collection of Fairytales. Both volumes were given to me by my late father. I loved looking at those books long before I could read them for myself. Wonderful illustrations and lovely memories to go with them.

Books, stories, memories – lovely things as a rule.

Incidentally, the only thing which did stop me from going completely overboard with how many books I brought back from Swanwick was knowing I was travelling by train and had to be able to put them in my suitcase! Sometimes you need the discipline of that!


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Meeting Up With Other Writers

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was one photo for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. The photo of me being “mugged” by Lady while on a previous holiday was taken by Adrian Symes. He also took the shot of me holding up a copy of Creativity Matters. Always handy having someone on hand for photos!
Not long back from another fabulous few days at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Hope to write more about that for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Getting back to my usual writing routine – a bit at a time in this heat, mind you! Lady was so excited to see me back, which was lovely. It was fabulous taking her round the park again. What I also relished was a welcome return to the swimming pool. In this heat, I never want to get out of it!

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Lady got to see Daisy, a lovely cocker spaniel we see from time to time. I returned to the swimming pool for a shortish swim but it was so nice!

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Meeting Up With Other Writers for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It’s an apt post given I’ve just come back from Swanwick though I hope to share specifically more about that next week.

For this post, I look at the many benefits of writing events and getting to know your fellow authors, whether these events are online, in person, or you mix both. I like to do that. Why not get the best of both worlds after all?

Quick reminder for readers in my area – John Puzey will be holding his book event at Chandler’s Ford Library tomorrow, 16th August from 10.00 am, to discuss his new book, Captive Audience (Authors Reach Limited). All are welcome.

Meeting Up With Other Writers

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Am on my way home as I type this. Have had a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. No surprises there! Am looking forward to catching up with my family which will include being mugged by an excitable collie cross!

While not directly about Swanwick, my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week is called Meeting Up With Other Writers. I explore why this is a good idea. Link up tomorrow and I hope to write specifically about Swanwick for Friday week. See link above.

Hope all at Swanwick had good journeys home. Hope to see you there next year.

Update: I was home by early afternoon, which was great. I was indeed mugged by said excitable collie cross. Even got my laundry done. Now back to my writing life – but it will be a slow return to it. So muggy here (but it was in Derbyshire too). Pic below from a previous holiday but when Lady wants a cuddle, she wants a cuddle!


Well, it’s the final full day of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick 2025 and I can hardly believe where the time has gone. My courses today were Effective Listening by Heather Swash and Magic In the Archives by Dr Erica Canela, both of which were fascinating and informative.

The latter also proved to have great acting skills in last night’s Page to Stage, which is our evening entertainment after dinner on the penultimate night of the School.

The performances for that were all wonderful. Scripts are written by Swanwickers and submitted for independent judging ahead of the School taking place. Winners are selected by the independent judges and the mini plays are performed (and directed) by brave volunteer delegates.

The rest of us get to watch some fabulous dramas and comedies. We vote on these at the end. It is always hard to choose the one drama, the one comedy, the one actor in each of these, which stand out for you. They would all be worthy winners. Winners are announced at the farewell event after dinner this evening.

Will I be back next year? Wild horses wouldn’t keep me away.

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The competition Friday Flash Fiction runs to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival ends today, 15th August, so again, for this week, there are no names or comments on the stories.

But I am sharing the link to the latest and last batch of drabbles for the competition, which does include another one of mine. You could enter two stories over two weeks.

Hope you enjoy the tales. There is fabulous work here.

It is true what they say – time flies when you’re having fun. It seems like yesterday when I was arriving at Swanwick. Now I’m heading home.

Pleased to see flash fiction had a good shout out at Swanwick. As well as Esther Chilton’s specific course about it, it cropped up in Della Galton’s short story one too.

Well, flash, for me at least, is the ultimate challenge in the short fiction forms precisely because of that 1000 words upper limit. Having said that, one of my favourite short stories comes in at just under 4000 words and couldn’t be any shorter or longer without something vital being lost. This is how you know when your story is at the right length for it to be the story it is meant to be.

What is that short story? It’s Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl.

Update: Back home, Lady thrilled to bits I’m back, and do read Dahl’s masterpiece. It is a classic story. I first came across it when it was adapted for Tales of the Unexpected.

Sometimes ideas for flash fiction (and indeed other stories) can come from unexpected places. This has proved to be the case for me again today at my final full day of Swanwick 2025. A course on what you can find in archives to inspire your writing (fiction or otherwise) has inspired ideas I hope to write up further once I’ve had chance to come down from the magical creative writing world which is Swanwick. That will take some days I expect!

Fairytales with Bite – Writings in the Magical Worlds

What kind of writings exist in your magical settings? I am thinking outside of things you would expect like spell books. For example, has someone written down the legends which apply to your setting? Did they do this with official blessing or have they written a strictly unauthorised account? Can anyone in your world access these kinds of writings?

What led to someone realising these things had to be written down? Would your world permit books and other writings on things like its geography, its political history and so on? (Could be useful to an enemy though to me it would make sense residents in your setting would understand what their geography is so they can take better care of their world – humans, please note!).

I’ve just come back from a wonderful week at a summer school for writers. Would there be such a thing in your setting to encourage your world’s creative writers? Could your world’s government do something like this to ensure things were written down “in the right way” (and yes there could be sinister implications from that)?

This World and Others – Historical Writings

One of the courses I attended at a recent summer school for writers looked at how what you can find in the archives can inspire your writing (and that includes fiction too). I found the course fascinating. Diving back into history can inspire fictional works. So in your setting what kind of historical writings exist? Who wrote them? Are they accurate?

Are writers encouraged in your setting at all? Can they write as they wish, or do they have to stick to strict guidelines, including on how your world’s history is written about?

What kinds of historical writings exist in your setting? How are they stored? Are these things used in schools and other educational establishments? Or are certain tellings banned? Naturally someone would find a way to access anything banned so how could this apply here? What history do they want to expose in your world? What historical writings are considered dangerous?

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Books at Writing Events

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Books at Writing Events

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

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

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

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

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Balancing Writing and Reading

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Image Credits:-
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Hope you had a lovely weekend. Great one here. Was so pleased Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present went well on Friday night. Had a lovely Zoom call with Swanwick friends on Saturday. Talking of which, I am now busy getting ready to head off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick at the end of this week. So looking forward to that. Lady will be well cared for and will mug me the moment I’m home again!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodreads Author Blog – Balancing Writing and Reading

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

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

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

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

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Light and Dark and Reading Moods

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Two images of me, one with Lady and the other with me holding books, were taken by Adrian Symes.
Hope you’ve had a good weekend. Very hot (30 degrees +) so have focused on keeping Lady as cool and comfortable as possible. (At one point my other half was able to measure the temperature on our manhole cover just for interest – it was 51 degrees C, yes 51!). Good weekend for writing though and I’ve found another competition for me to submit a piece to, which I hope to get done later this week.

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1st July 2025 – Newsletter
Hope you’ve had a good day. Got Lady out earlier today. Not sorry about that as it has heated up considerably since lunchtime. I did enjoy my swim this afternoon though!

Author newsletter went out again today. Many thanks for all who support. It is much appreciated.

Had some lovely news from another newsletter I subscribe to – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick one. They set a competition for a six word story on the theme of Hesitation. I was one of the joint winners with another colleague here. My entry is below. Hope you enjoy it.

Decisions by Allison Symes

Have the dagger. Should I? Macbeth.

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A scorching day but Lady had a lovely, short time in the park this morning before it heated up too much. She and I have drunk plenty of water today too. Will be glad when it cools a bit. Lady will feel the same way.

Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Can hardly believe it’s almost July but the newsletters do show the passage of time only too well! Next issue of Writers Narrative should be out any moment too. Will share the link once I have that. See further down – I was right here!

Writing Tip: Ensure your working conditions are as comfortable as possible. It does have a direct impact on how well or otherwise you work. Right now, I’m ensuring I drink plenty of squash, water etc. Once good thing about this is it ensures I have to have a screen break later on. Too easy to forget to do that.

Pleased to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my blog about Light and Dark.

I look at how contrasts work so well in fiction and light and dark are perhaps the obvious ones to use. Plenty of interesting stories can come from these though especially if you show a character following a redemption arc, going from dark to light.

Hope you enjoy the post and you do write some wonderful tales based on the theme.

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Getting warm again though Monday is going to be the “big one” to watch out for. I suspect Lady and I won’t be going out much.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Stories in Times of Trouble for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. The story I rewrote as an exercise during the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom earlier this week is one I’ll be looking at and then I’ll see if I can find a home for it.

It is always lovely to finish a piece off, find a suitable competition, and get the work submitted. It is satisfying even if the story doesn’t do anything in the competition. But you have to be in it to have even a chance of winning it.

Entering writing competitions is excellent practice in writing to deadlines too. I check out the background of the competition to ensure I’m happy with it (the fees aren’t exorbitant, it has a good track record and so on). It just pays to be aware there are scams out there but there are plenty of genuine writing competitions to have a try at so why not give them a go?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to report the July issue of Writers Narrative is now out. Amongst the many excellent articles in here, I share a piece called Developing Productive Writing Routines That Work For You. Have a fabulous read (especially since it far too hot to do much else right now!).

 

A scorching Monday where I am. Lady and I have kept as cool as possible. But it is still Monday and that means it is time for another story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Worst Habit.

Confession can be good for the soul but possibly hazardous to life and limb as the latest fairytale client finds out here.

 

My next author newsletter will be out on Tuesday. How can it be almost July already? (Mind you, we do have the heat to go with it in the UK at the moment).

I share news, tips, links to my online flash tales and much else besides here. I especially hope you will find the tips useful with your own flash (and other) writing. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

And now to crack on with flash fiction Sunday, well at least it is for me!

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Hope the weekend is going well so far.

One of the reasons I love flash fiction (and there are so many reasons to do so) is you get a complete story world in a short word count. It makes the form, I think, addictive to read as well as write. Given I love inventing characters, I get to do this all of the time, naturally, so that’s another reason to adore flash writing.

I’ve always had a very soft spot indeed for any story, of whatever word count, where the character voice grips me from the start so I then have to finish reading the story and can’t bear to put the tale down until I have finished it.

With flash that’s more convenient, given I can only go up to 1000 words maximum. I can’t see anyone finishing The Lord of The Rings in one sitting now, can you? And sometimes at least you do just want a satisfying read which doesn’t take too long.

Goodreads Author Blog – Reading Moods

I have various reading moods. Sometimes I want a huge novel to read. I want the complete epic story and that’s that. Sometimes I want quick satisfying reads, which is where short stories and flash fiction come in. Mind you, it helps I write the latter two fiction forms. It does mean I’m biased but in the best possible way of course!

I deliberately mix up the word count lengths I read to as I want a variety of tales to enjoy. I also mix up the genres I read. So for a while, I will read crime, then move on to something else and so on. I often use the short fiction forms as my reading material between reading the novels. I like to see them as appetizers!

I rarely read dystopian works on the grounds the news is gloomy enough but I love lighthearted reads, especially during the summer months. Wodehouse is ideal here I think.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

See July edition above but to keep things interesting please see below a back issue.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview – Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Family do over the weekend which I’m looking forward to and Lady is as well as naturally she will be spoiled rotten! Writing wise, getting plenty of “bits and pieces” done so all well there.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am so pleased to welcome fellow Swanwicker, Joy Wood, to talk about her great series of books on Chandler’s Ford Today.

As well as sharing her writing journey to date, Joy shares useful writing and marketing tips and what she thinks about editing amongst other topics. She also shares how competition slogan writing kickstarted her writing career, which is an interesting way into novel writing!

Naturally she discusses the joys of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, something we both love, here too. Plenty to enjoy here – hope you enjoy the post.

Author Interview: Introducing Joy Wood, Storyteller

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Hope you have had a nice day – lovely sunshine here. Good temperatures too. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal again today.

Am notching up another year on the clock on Saturday. Many thanks to all who have donated to my birthday fundraiser for this year. I’m supporting the Salvation Army.

Do look out for a fabulous interview with Joy Wood on Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. See above. Looking forward to catching up with Joy in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later this year.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to play with her Hungarian Vizler, Rhodesian Ridgeback, and Labradoodle pals today. Marvellous time had by all. Nice weather too.

Looking forward to sharing my interview with Joy Wood, a fellow Swanwicker, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will be a great read – do look out for it.

Writing Tip: Give some thought as to what the hook for your story is – that is, try to ask yourself what would make you want to read it had it been written by someone else. It’s a good question to ask as it means you’re thinking of what your readers want and that is a great thing to focus on. It helps against waffle tendencies!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share my story Best Served Cold on Friday Flash Fiction. You will see that it has the topic of Revenge in the corner. This is because this is my entry under the 100 word category for the annual Andrew Siderius competition Friday Flash Fiction runs. 

Next week I hope to submit a story on the other theme for this year but that will have to be at a longer word count. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one. It’s another example of where I’ve used a well known phrase to generate an idea for a tale. 

Good luck too to all who are entering the competition this year.
Flash tales are great for humour (think short, snappy tales with a punchline). They’re also great for specific moments where a character has something important to share but doesn’t need a lot of word count space in which to do this. As a result those specific moments have a more powerful impact I think. I call these “punch to the gut” tales and they can reflect all moods.

I like to mix up my word counts within flash. My favourite will always be the 100 worders because those were my first introduction to this fabulous form of writing.

But another one to have a go at is the 250 worder and some competitions are using this word count limit, The Bridport Prize springs to mind here. You can obviously pack more into this word count limit so it gives you the chance to show more of your character and what they are made of, which has always been my favourite aspect to storytelling.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. Focus will be on editing. Flash fiction writing teaches you a great deal about this but it is a major benefit of writing in the form regularly. It can transfer to other forms of writing you do and I’ve found this to be the case for my blogs etc.

Also because you do have to keep an eye on the word count, you are always looking for better ways of phrasing things so you make yourself dig deeper to find that better phrasing. That in turn encourages your creativity, another good thing!

Fairytales with Bite – Legacies

We often think of legacies as gifts etc left in wills and so on but legacies can mean so much more than that. We all have those legacies, often resulting from family traditions, upbringing and so on, which form a major part of who we are and why we are that way, so why not apply this to potential characters?

It means digging deeper into fleshing out your creations but that will help you create more rounded characters. You may well find you can do more with those characters as a result.

So why not give some thought as to what your characters have “inherited” from their past which will directly effect the way they are in the story you’re going to put them in? This kind of thing will be a major part of what motivates them.

That in turn is what readers will latch on to because we understand this. We know what drives us. We know why we are driven this way. Some of that can be from our past, (as well as being from things like greed, lust for power etc).

This World and Others – Tales of Old

What would your setting consider to be tales of old? Are these cherished or an embarassing part of their history which they can’t quite shake off?

Are the old tales useful for a tourism industry (so much the case in my part of the world – all of our historical castles etc have stories attached to them, some of which are gruesome to say the least. In any other circumstance, these are the stories you would keep quiet about because they’re not something you’re proud of but the tourist industry finds them useful!).

How old does your world consider to be old? Where I am, it would be anything over 50 years old, I think, but that may be me being biased given I am over 50!

Who decided which tales could be kept from olden times and which have been deliberately forgotten/suppressed? Are the tales of old ever re-enacted (stage, film, for historical purposes etc) and who would stage these things? Are these things obligatory for the populace to see every so often? Could these things be used as a way of educating the populace especially if literacy rates are low?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

Many of the Cafelit, Bridge House, and Chapeltown authors contributed to this book by Gill James. There is a prompt for every day of the year.
My latest published story is in The Best of Cafelit 6.
Where my stories are in print. Image by Allison Symes
Six of the seven books my stories have appeared in (okay in the case of Limerick Nation, one limerick!). Baubles is the other book. Image taken by me.
My tale Evergreen – Never Old and Good to Go – is in this collection from Bridge House Publishing
Image from Bridge House Publishing
I contributed to this. Image from Bridge House Publishing
Nativity. Image supplied by Gill James, Bridge House Publishing
Transforming Being. Image by Bridge House Publishing.
Image from Bridge House Publishing

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Swanwick 2024

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thanks to all who contributed to the pictures for my Chandler’s Ford Today post about Swanwick this week. I especially appreciate those of me taking part in events. Always tricky to do those shots yourself!
Hope you have had a good few days. Weather all over the place once again. My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week was a particular joy to write – well, it was on Swanwick 2024 a subject close to my heart. I hope the post gives you a good flavour of what makes Swanwick special for so many writers, including this one.

Swanwick 2024 - Open Prose Mic Night and Lift Up Your Pens

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. For those of us having a bank holiday this weekend, hope it proves to be a good one.

I’m delighted to share Swanwick 2024 as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. This one was a labour of love! I review my week there, share something about what makes The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick so special, and celebrate its 75th anniversary.

I also got to have an almost red carpet moment with fellow Swanwicker, Dave Bromley, but find out more about that in the post. Link below.

Swanwick 2024

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Not great weather today though it didn’t stop Lady having a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler chum this morning. Mind you, I got to reprise my excellent impersonation of a bedraggled rat! Wasn’t quite enough rain to be a fully fledged drowned rat!

My Swanwick 2024 post is up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. If you want to know something about why The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is so special, do check my post out. See above.

My next events will be the Association of Christian Writers’ Autumn Gathering In October and the Bridge House Publishing event in December, both of which I’m looking forward to already.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. I know. It’s hard to believe we’re so close to September, one of my favourite months, (and only one more Bank Holiday to go in the UK before…. Best left there I think).

Oh and a sneak peak at a lovely moment from Swanwick. I was delighted to get to present a Swannie to Dave Bromley this year. To find out more about Swannies and what this was all about see my CFT post tomorrow.


Hope your Wednesday has gone well. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening. Also looking forward to sharing Swanwick 2024, my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link for that up on Friday. See above. The next best thing to being at Swanwick is to write about it!

Character Tips: Especially for my flash fiction, I need to know the character well. They are my way into the story. It doesn’t mean I have to know every last detail though. I just need to know enough to help me picture them and envisage the sorts of situations they would end up in and how they would react to these.

So often working out answers to a couple of pertinent questions such as what would you never do and why will reveal a great deal about my character’s attitudes and assumptions and I can make good use of those. I can, of course, make them have to face the thing they don’t want to do but I will know their reasons for this and I think that helps me create a more believable character.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction is currently closed for submissions, understandably taking a break after their recent competition. I look forward to sending pieces in again to them soon but what I am especially grateful to them for is helping me rediscover the joys of the drabble, the 100 words flash fiction type.

I started in flash fiction writing 100 worders (for CafeLit) but then branched out into writing the longer forms of flash and short stories (which I still write). The discovery of Friday Flash Fiction led me back into writing the 100 worders regularly and I am loving doing this.

I like the discipline of creating a brand new 100 word story for them most weeks of the year. I also appreciate the feedback and support from other writers on the site plus I get to enjoy a thoroughly good read every week. What’s not to like about that? If you would like to check out my stories here do follow the link.
Screenshot 2024-08-23 at 19-24-27 Friday Flash Fiction - Search Results

One of my favourite comments about flash fiction comes from the good people at The Bridport Prize who refer to it as “the art of just enough”. I think that’s a great summary of it.

I have it in mind when I’m drafting my stories. I think about what the reader needs to know and give them that and nothing else. They do get the “just enough” so they can make inferences needed, where appropriate.

I know when I’m reading I don’t want the author to spell out everything. I want them to give me enough, regardless of the length of story, so I can figure some things out too. It is always fun going on to find out whether I’m right or not.

Allison Symes - Flash Fiction Collections

Hope you have had a good day – has been trying here. But knowing how I feel when days are trying is something I can transfer to my characters when I put them in trying situations. (I make sure I do of course!).

Drawing on what you know in terms of how you feel when things go wrong or disappointment hits is something you can transfer to your characterisation. It makes for believable characters readers will identify with because they know where the character is coming from and why they are feeling the way they do. We’ve all been there. Our characters can go there too!

One of the great comforts about reading, I think, is when we read characters going through hell and high water and think well at least it isn’t us or we know how the characters feel. Stories are fabulous for encouraging empathy like that.

Do I find it relaxing when I put my characters through the mill? It can be amazingly therapeutic at times but my goal is to ensure it all works out and becomes a good story a reader will enjoy. That’s the challenge and I love rising to it.

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Fairytales With Bite – Accountability

With my writing, I find having deadlines makes me accountable. I have to get columns done by a certain date, stories off to competitions and/or markets by a certain date and so on.

Leading on from that thought, in your world, when a task (magical or otherwise) has to be done, who makes sure it gets done and in the right way? Who follows through? Who reports back X has been done in the right way? Who reports back when it hasn’t been?

What you are looking for here are story possibilities from the chain of command which must exist. Even in the most democratic of fantasy settings, someone does have to give the orders, there will be others below them and so on.

There would be room for humorous stories here too. It doesn’t have to be deadly serious. As ever, I will flag up Discworld here where there is no doubt about who is in charge of Ankh-Morpork but so much humour does come from those wonderful novels. I’m especially fond of the Sam Vimes books here. He knows he’s accountable to Lord Vetinari. Doesn’t mean he has to like it though! When Moist von Lipwig comes into the stories, he finds himself accountable to His Lordship and to an extent Vimes as well (see Raising Steam).

So who would you have accountable to whom? How does this work?

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This World and Others – Record Keepers

Every society has its history and archives. Some treasure these more than others. Every society has its good and bad history. Some acknowledge this. Others definitely don’t.

In your setting, which records are kept and why? Who can access them? Are there any secret records only a privileged few can ever access? Have any records been destroyed and, if so, which ones and on whose orders?

Are the record keepers treated well or are they kept under the thumb by dictatorial bosses? How did the record keepers get to hold that position in the first place? I would envisage connections working here – the old boys’ network perhaps – especially if there is anything which has to be kept secret from the general public. You would want someone you could trust in positions like that.

Also give some thought as to how far the records go back and in which manner they’re kept? Is technology used or is it all kept on scrolls? When you have a character needing to look something up, how easy or otherwise would they find doing this? Do they find the information they’re after?

Records matter. They’re used for all sorts of things including family history research. Would your characters need to look up some of their ancestors and, if so, why? Would they be pleased or horrified at what they find out?

Story ideas there!

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Well, given my editing course at Swanwick recently, I thought the April 2024 edition of Writers’ Narrative on that theme was the best one to share this time! In the magazine my article asks Editing: Do You Love It or Loathe It? Always a timely question!

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Never Fear The Editing

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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 and some Swanwick photos were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Val Penny for arranging for one photo to be taken and to then send it on, more below.
Had a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I will write about it in more depth for Chandler’s Ford Today soon. Am home again inspired, encouraged, and shattered! Am listening to Classic FM for the first time for a few days and am finding it especially soothing.

BookBrushImage-2024-8-16-20-88

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am on way home from the fabulous The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick as I draft this. So good to catch up with so many writing friends. I keep in contact with many via social media and some via Zoom but you cannot beat getting together in person.

Many thanks to all who came to or gave feedback on my two part editing course and/or the Lift Up Your Pens session I led on Sunday morning. I looked at different ways of using numbers in fiction for that. If, however, you would like more on editing, do check out my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week aptly called Never Fear The Editing.

Never Fear The Editing

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The week at Swanwick passes so quickly. Many thanks to all who came to my Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge two part course today.

I’ll be discussing more on editing for my Chandler’s Ford Today post tomorrow too. Glad to get together for fellow Association of Christian Writers for a group photo today which was taken on Val Penny’s phone by a staff member of The Hayes.

The ACW contingent at Swanwick 2024

The ACW contingent at Swanwick 2024

Another wonderful day at Swanwick though I am glad the temperature has cooled somewhat. My Chandler’s Ford Today post will be up again on Friday where I’m talking about Never Fear The Editing. See above.

In something that is no coincidence whatsoever, my editing course at Swanwick is tomorrow and will be on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge.

Had a fabulous time at the third part of Vivien Brown’s Short Story course. I had great fun killing off one of the characters we had to create on Monday as part of the homework exercise that was set. I do believe in killing my fictional darlings!

Then I was off to SpellBound Books and their talk in Pitch to a Publisher. I will be back for Part 2 of this later today. I’ll be finishing the afternoon with a Show Don’t Tell workshop, the topic is always useful.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

As well as discussing editing at Swanwick this week, it was lovely to answer questions about flash fiction too. I loved advertising flash through the Open Prose Mic Night too. A huge thanks to Penny Blackburn for the photo.

Meantime if you would like to read some flash, why not check out my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Stuck?

Reading at Open Prose Mic Night - Swanwick 2024 - many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the pic

Reading at Open Prose Mic Night – Swanwick 2024 – many thanks to Penny Blackburn for the pic


Screenshot 2024-08-16 at 16-59-14 Stuck by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Pleased to share how flash fiction writing has helped my editing skills as part of the two section Editing course I ran at Swanwick today. Hope I have persuaded some of the joys of editing too!

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Had a wonderful time at the Open Prose Mic Night here at Swanwick last night. I read a selection of pieces from my two books, CafeLit 13, and printed some of my tales out from Friday Flash Fiction to read too. It made for a nice selection and I came in at under the five minutes mark, as is required. (This means it is more likely everyone who would like to read gets a go!).

I was also pleased to be asked for some advice on flash fiction this morning, as well as, later, being complimented on my stories. Thank you to those concerned. Feedback like this is invaluable because most of the time writers are working away on their own of course.

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Fairytales with Bite – Where Magic Can Be Found

In your fantasy setting, can magic be found anywhere or is it limited to specific locations? If the latter, is there a geographical reason for that? Does your fantasy setting ever have interaction with non-magical species or worlds? If so, do “your people” hide their skills or use them to dominate others?

Are there those who have seen and experienced the awful side to magic (all forms of power can be abused so that applies here too)? Do they do all they can to fight it? What can they right back with?
If there is “raw” magic in the geography itself, can that be “mined” by anyone? Are there rules governing its use?

Where magic can be found as a theme can be taken in positive or negative directions. So what do your characters make of magic and why? Story ideas there!

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This World and Others – Creativity and Collaboration

I’ve not long returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is a fabulous week where delegates find themselves immersed in the world of writing, There is a lot of creativity and collaboration! Many of the workshops and courses, including the one I ran on editing, are interactive in that exercises are set, feedback is given there and then and so on.

So what would be your world’s equivalent of this? Would this kind of creativity and co-operation be confined to what we know as the humanities/creative arts?

Of course here you often see these wonderful attributes in things like engineering, science etc where the great discoveries, engineering achievements and so on can’t possibly be achieved by one person but where a special someone (like Isambard Kingdom Brunel) is needed to kick start the process off. By this I mean they achieve great things but also enable others to do so building on what they have done.

So who would your special characters be here? What have they contributed to your world? What obstacles did they have to overcome? Plenty of story ideas there.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the September 2023 issue of the magazine with its focus on marketing, always a timely and useful topic. I talk about Marketing Your Books and Writing for Online Magazines for this one.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Lifting Up My Pen at Swanwick 2024

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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 Jen Wilson for taking the photo of me leading the Lift Up Your Pens session about using numbers in fiction.
It is so good to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and a joy to catch up with friends in person. Have learned so much from the courses and workshops so far.

Marvellous to catch up with friends and to see the fish in the lake again at Swanwick 2024

Facebook – General

Another lovely day at Swanwick. Enjoyed the sessions on The Write Mindset (Sarah Harlow) and Powerful Public Speaking for Writers (Simon Hall). Always plenty to learn from sessions like these. Sometimes it is just reassuring to know you are on the right lines!

On Tuesday afternoons there is spare time (which is done deliberately) where I hope to catch up with some of my writing. Later tonight I am due to take part in the Open Prose Mic Night and am looking forward to that. It does make a great advert for what flash fiction can be.

One of the beautiful lakes here at Swanwick - you might just spot the fish here - Swanwick 2024

Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the shots of me at the Lift Up Your Pens session yesterday. It was a joy and privilege to lead the Lift Up Your Hearts session this morning, a short devotional session for all denominations.

Was back at Vivien Brown’s Short Story course this morning and then went on to Road to Self-Publishing Success led by Lizzie Chantree. Both packed full with useful information. Plan to get along to Anthologies Collaborations too.

There is so much choice here. It is one of the strengths of Swanwick and you choose how many or how few of those courses you go to. I trust the Book Room is also seeing brisk sales as if there is one thing I know about writers, it is none of us can ever have too many books!

Discussing how we can use numbers in stories as part of Lift Up Your Pens - Swanwick 2024

Glad to say the session for Lift Up Your Pens which I hosted at Swanwick this morning went well. I was looking at different ways of using numbers in stories. There are more than you might think and using numbers at all encourages you to think outside of the box, which is also a good thing.

Thoroughly enjoyed Vivien Brown’s Short Story specialist course, the fist part of which was this morning. I went on to Twist in the Tale hosted by Val Penny which was on before and after lunch. Both of these topics are right up my writing street of course.

But one of the lovely things about creative writing is there is always something you can learn which can help you improve your craft further. Now that is a very good thing indeed!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Am on my way to Swanwick 2024. So looking forward to seeing everyone. Lady, with my other half, saw me off. I expect to be mugged by her when I get back. It’s what usually happens.

Will be talking about Never Fear The Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today. It is timely given my Swanwick course is on Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. Link up on Friday for CFT (I just love scheduling in advance!).

Am getting back to my old habit of getting some writing done on the train. The notes app which came with my phone is great and proving to be a good replacement for Evernote as I don’t have a need for a paid subscription which they effectively now are.

You can't beat the trusty notebook and pen for work in groups or at events like Swanwick

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Will be taking part in the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night later tonight. Hoping to read from my books and one or two pieces from my stories on Friday Flash Fiction. Did take part in the general knowledge quiz last night – the team came 5th out of 8 though the placings between 5th and 2nd were very tight. Might pay to brush up for next year!

Nice to have a chat with fellow Bridge House authors, Linda Payne and June Webber, today. Always good to wave the flag for a lovely publisher.

From Left to Right below:  June Webber, yours truly, Linda Payne.

Waving the flag for Bridge House Publishing and CafeLit - June Webber, Allison Symes, Linda Payne

Having a fabulous time at Swanwick. I swear you can feel the creativity in the air! The gardens are as lovely as ever, as are the lakes, and I’ve found it refreshing to take walks around the latter at break times. Have never seen the fish so busy in those lakes as I have done this year.

Glad to have caught up with the lovely Linda Payne – she and I are the Bridge House Publishing contingent for this year! Also glad to have caught up with Susan Pope and Vikki Thompson (of the lovely Mermaids writing group. I’ve given a couple of talks for them on Zoom but it is so nice to see the ladies again in person).

Have some ideas from exercises already set but suspect I need to be back at home before I get a chance to write them up though.

But I haven’t forgotten it’s Monday and it is still time for a YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest – One Hour. I shared in Lift Up Your Pens at Swanwick yesterday how to use numbers in fiction and one way is to use it as a time. Here’s my response to that!

Many thanks to Val Penny for the shout-out as part of her Twist in the Tale course at Swanwick today. Yes, for flash fiction, you can only have the one twist and that is it because you don’t have the word count room for more. However, it is precisely due to that I find twists in flash fiction have a more powerful impact as there is nothing to “water it down”.

Have put my name in the box for reading out at the Open Prose Mic Night. Flash is a great form for this bcause you can’t take too long. Goes down well with organisers and audiences, that one!

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

Hope to share some flash fiction at Swanwick again. It is a great format for Open Prose Mic nights as it doesn’t take long and the audience gets to hear complete stories. Have brought new material for this year.

Hope to get some flash written while away too. Am sure some of the exercises I will be set will end up eventually as flash tales.

Always time for a laugh with fellow writers-1

Goodreads Author Blog – Collections

There is a great meme doing the rounds which claims it isn’t hoarding if it is books. I have a lot of sympathy for this viewpoint and confidently expect to add to my own hoard courtesy of the book room at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which is my base for a few days.

I also love story collections and have done from an early age thanks to the collected fairytales Reader’s Digest brought out as a two volume set a long time ago.

I’m not unbiased given many of my stories are in collections and I often edit them for others. I love the mixture of tales in these and to be able to dip in and out of the books as I wish.

I often read them in between reading novels. I like to mix up reading the short and long forms. A well curated collection is a joy to read.

Screenshot 2024-08-13 at 09-18-54 Allison Symes's Blog - Collections - August 10 2024 06 07 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I’m sharing the link to the June 2024 edition which was on the theme of poetry. My article looks at the links between flash fiction and poetry. Hope you enjoy it.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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