Tag: This World and Others

Favourite Supporting Characters, Why I Write, and Secrets

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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 week. Lady and I have spent a lot of time getting drenched. My gutters were giving an excellent impersonation of a decent waterfall on Wednesday! The good news here is Lady dries of quicker than I do and is never worried about having to be towelled down! She sees it as a chance to have a cuddle. My first two dogs hated the “faff” of being towelled down. Thrilled to be back on the radio again this weekend. Details below. Nice way to end the week.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

22nd September 2023 – CFT – second post

Second post today. I am glad to share Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I name some of my favourite supporting characters and look at the vital roles such characters play.
Can you imagine a good novel or film without them? I know I can’t.

Even in the shorter forms of fiction they have a role to play even if they don’t appear in the story itself but are referred to by the lead character. There will be a reason why the lead character mentions them and it will be a good one. Hope you enjoy the post.

Who would you name as our top supporting character? Do send in your nominees via the (CFT) comments box.

Favourite Supporting Characters

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22nd September 2023 – First Post – Why I Write – Guest Appearance on Jo Fenton’s Blog

Double posting from me today. Am pleased to be on Jo Fenton’s blog today taking about Why I Write. I met Jo at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and I can’t imagine a better subject for a writer to talk about. Many thanks to Jo for hosting me.

Why I Write – Allison Symes

 

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week We’ll be looking at opening and closing lines. These are so important in any form of writing but for flash fiction, they do a lot of heavy lifting because of the brief overall word count. So it is a question of learning how to make the most of these.

Am sharing Favourite Supporting Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be looking at the vital roles of such characters. Well, can you imagine Holmes without Watson, for example? I know I can’t. Link up tomorrow. See above.

On a plus note, Lady and I have managed to avoid getting a soaking today!

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)Always a joy to talk or write about flash fiction

Have spent a lot of the day getting wet again though it was delightful to see Lady and her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, have an absolute ball in the park this morning before the dreadful weather set in. Let’s just say Noah with his Ark would have felt right at home!

Am thrilled to say my story, The Natural Look, will be broadcast on Hannah Kate’s show on Saturday afternoon (23rd September). Will share a link when I have one. Hannah Kate put out a call for autumn themed stories for her Autumn Equinox edition of Hannah’s Bookshelf show on North Manchester FM. Was only too glad to write something and send it in.

I like autumn as a season (despite today’s weather!) so it was apt I wrote an autumn related tale.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Secrets. Find out if Mary Wentworth succeeded in keeping her secret to the very end and what baking like King Alfred (of burnt cakes fame) has to do with it. Hope you enjoy the story (and many thanks to those commenting already on this one).

Screenshot 2023-09-22 at 10-11-14 Secrets by Allison Symes

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week (up tomorrow) is about Favourite Supporting Characters. See above.

For flash fiction, I find a lot of these are referred to by the main character but don’t appear. I have found a supporting character works better for the flash stories which are about 400 to 500 words or so. Mind you, whether the character is the lead of a support, I do have to know why I am writing about them. I have to care enough about them to want to write about them. I have to see their potential. This is why I plan my characters out and that will trigger ideas for stories to put them in.

Character Needs are everything

Am busy getting next author newsletter together. One thing about having these newsletters is they are an excellent reminder of how quickly the year is passing!

Am pleased to say I will be back on the radio on Saturday this week given my autumn related story has been picked by Hannah Kate for her Autumn Equinox special on North Manchester FM. My story is what I call a fairytale with bite so expect a twist and humour. That’s all I’m saying but link to come later.

I’ve also had a couple of rejections in the last few days – all part and parcel of the writing life – but I will revisit these tales and see if I can get them out somewhere else. Nobody wins them all!

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Fairytales With Bite – Magical Reading

I like to know my characters so plan them out rather than the story itself. When I know my character, I have a good idea of the kind of story which would suit then best.

One way of getting to know your character well enough to write them up is to work out what tastes they would have. What would your magical character like to read, for example? Do they like the fairytales or are they keen to read almost anything but those given this forms part of the “day job” reading?

Is reading encouraged in your magical world? Are there libraries? Are there restrictions on what characters can read and why are these in place? I would suspect that apprentices, for example, are definitely not allowed to read spell books given what happened in Fantasia (Walt Disney). Incidentally, I have never seen that film in full, just clips of it (the famous scenes where things are getting out of hand for poor old Mickey Mouse). The music for it is fantastic (Paul Dukas).

So what would your characters read? Would their reading material help them with their magical gifts of do they read just to switch off after a hard day waving the magic wand about?! Who writes the stories in your setting too and what inspires them? Story ideas here, folks!

(Also I must admit I find little details in a story, such as what a character would read, makes that character and story world more real for me so even if this isn’t part of your main plot, you might like to consider putting in relevant touches such as this to add depth to your story).

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This World and Others – Reference Libraries

What kind of records does your magical setting hold? What would they keep in their reference libraries? I must admit I love historical records and history books so those would be my first port of call in any reference library. What kind of history would your setting record? What would it deliberately not have as a record (and how would people find out about it – someone somewhere always keeps an inconvenient record!)? Have records been altered at a later date and, if so, who by and why?

Is history as a subject appreciated in your setting? What kind of archives would your archivists manage?I love the idea of not just written records but oral ones, film clips, sound clips etc. What would your setting have? How could a particular record make a difference to your character’s life/quest? Information makes a huge difference to the success of a quest (the right kind anyway) and it is not unreasonable to assume ti would have to be stored somewhere.

Are your characters allowed access to things like reference libraries or do they have to find alternative ways of getting to it? Can characters access information at home?

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Getting Lines Right

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Had a lovely trip out with other half and the dog on Friday. Did us all the world of good. Looking forward to running a flash fiction workshop for a writing group on Saturday. Plenty of editing work done too so a good week here.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at opening lines and suggest ways to create memorable ones. Hope you find it useful.

Getting Lines Right

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Must admit the temperatures have come back to the level the dog and I prefer – early 20s. Starting to see the autumn leaf colour change. There is a fair amount of Virgina Creeper in my part of the world and it is lovely seeing that turn to red at this time of year. Mind you, the wildflower meadow in our park is still in full bloom so summer hasn’t quite had its last hurrah.

Am looking at Getting Lines Right on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and will run a flash fiction workshop on Saturday morning on Zoom.

Writers’ Narrative will be out again before too long. Written by writers for writers it is packed full of information. If you want to sign up to make sure you get the forthcoming October issue (and future ones of course) do sign up at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

 

Lady got to play with the lovely Coco, Kyaha, and Kitima today. Fabulous “puppy” party had by all. Three happy but tired dogs went home. It is lovely watching them being so pleased to see each other.

Looking forward to sharing Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Will be looking at opening lines especially. Hope it will prove useful to people. Opening lines are crucial hooks for any form of writing but for the short forms especially flash, they really do have to punch their weight. I’ll be sharing some thoughts and tips in my post on Friday. See above.

When I am writing my first draft, I jot down what I think will be a good opening line but I inevitably end up changing parts of it later when I realise with the character in mind, a better opening line would be this rather than what I started with. That’s fine. I just need something to kick me off and I expect to change things. What matters for me always is getting started. The fine tuning happens later.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction is Time Travel. Hope you find it moving. My sympathies here are with both characters.

Screenshot 2023-09-15 at 19-00-56 Time Travel by Allison Symes

I sometimes start a flash fiction piece (and indeed a longer short story) by asking a question or getting my character to do so. It is an excellent hook to lure the reader in because that question has to be answered in some way by the end of the work. So story structure is set up as well here – win-win as far as I’m concerned.

The question has to intrigue in some way (and I look more at this in my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Getting Lines Right which will be live tomorrow – see above). But this can be a simple intrigue.

In my The Recruit (from Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I get my character to ask Can Jim do this? The story then takes off from there given the intrigue is what the answer to that question is, who is Jim, and why does this matter.

BB - Flash with a Dash for TTFF
I often read some examples of my published flash fiction work when I run a workshop on flash. I do this and then break down how I wrote these pieces. When I’ve read author interviews where they do this, I found I learned so much from it.

Understanding why someone has done something with their writing is a great way of working out whether that would work for you or whether with slight adjustments to the technique, you can get something which would suit what you do. I know I have learned so much this way. It’s a fun way to learn too as you get to listen to or read stories too!

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Fairytales with Bite – Magical Malpractice

In your setting, what would count as magical malpractice? If you had a world run by old style evil witches, would they consider any magic used to help others or overturn evil to be magical malpractice?

In a world where there is a balance between evil and good magical powers, what rules does each side stick to (mainly to prevent their world falling apart altogether. For me, that would be the only reason the evil side would agree to any such rules. If their own survival depended on doing so, you would think twice about wrecking that, wouldn’t you?).

How would each side govern its own? What would a fairy godmother, say, have to do to be seriously out of step with her colleagues and her ultimate boss? What would her punishment be? Losing one’s wings could take on a whole new meaning here.

Likewise on the evil side, what punishment would there be for someone who stepped out of line there? It is mind boggling to think what would count as being out of line but there would be something – mainly challenging the boss for power I would have thought.

But there would be a great story in working out how that could happen, what happened to be the being trying it, and if they were being what we would know as a stalking horse for someone else.

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This World and Others – Accountability

Who is accountable for what in your magical setting? Ultimately there will be some “head of state” but what about lower down? How is your world governed? Do “ordinary” beings get to have any say in how this is done?

When things need to change, as inevitably they do from time to time, how is this done? Peacefully or by violent overthrow? Would this mirror what we know here (given we have both types of change of government on our planet)?

In more “ordinary” settings, such as in towns and villages, is there a system of local government? How are things done? Who is responsible for ensuring these things get done? This can take in everything from ensuring people/beings get to eat (and therefore dealing with supplies) to managing the local Council budget. If money isn’t used, what would be?

Where folks have got power, is there a way of ensuring they use these things properly? Even the smallest of villages will have some sort of pecking order. In a magical setting, does the magic help things run more smoothly or make things more difficult? If magic goes wrong, how would that change the running of things? Who would be held responsible for things going wrong?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES


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Benefits of Creativity

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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.
Wow! What a hot week in my part of the world. September has gone barmy AND balmy! Some time ago I bought a laptop stand with its own in-built fan to keep the computer cool. It has proved to be a wise purchase. I just wish I came with an in-built fan. Could do with one right now.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Another hot one here. Hard to believe it is a year today since we lost Queen Elizabeth, a very much missed lady.

Am pleased to share the Benefits of Creativity, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I celebrate the joys of creativity in any form and share some of the benefits of any kind of creative activity. I couldn’t share them all but using more of your brain and keeping your brain active are just two major health benefits to being creative.

With many of the creative arts, there can be opportunities to get your work out there to a wider public too. I have made many friends thanks to being interested in creative writing and I treasure them all. Hope you enjoy the post and whatever form of creativity you enjoy. It is good for you!

The Benefits of Creativity

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I wasn’t sorry I had a swimming session in my diary today. It was lovely in the pool. I was only sorry to have to get out. This was especially nice after an afternoon spent putting wood preservative on a huge fence panel yesterday. Both were good workouts. One was much more fun than the other though!

Time for a rantette (and that should be a proper word): I sometimes get inappropriate comments on my posts. Every writer I know gets them. My specialism seems to be US Generals who all seem to be tragically widowed. Stay well clear, folks. At best this is a phishing exercise. At worse, it is an outright scam designed to trick you, hack your social media accounts etc.

To those who have been putting these things on my timeline, don’t. I delete and block. Where I don’t want to take a post down, I will put out a warning comment to others to advise to stay well clear. You are merely being a pain. I am here as a writer/editor, nothing else.

And those who claim to have tried to friend me in the normal way or don’t want to do that because it seems rude – you are lying. I know you are lying. Go away. You are being rude in putting comments like that on my timeline.

And it would not at all surprise me if I have someone put an inappropriate comment on this post but I thought I would put the word out anyway.

This did happen. I had someone query about the security of my account. Had absolutely nothing to do with this post as I pointed out. I urged them to re-read what I had actually said and pointed out this was a kind of public service announcement against scammers. Do be careful out there, folks. Oh and someone has tried to hack my Facebook account tonight (8th September 2023). Failed because I reported to Facebook I had NOT requested an account change reset. I suspect that someone might have been upset by this post but it is a warning to be vigiliant, always.

I had to deal with a nasty scam case which almost cleared my late father out. All sorted thankfully and Dad was recompensed too. But it has left me with a very loud alarm bell ringing in my head at anything that seems like a scam. I have a zero tolerance threshold for any kind of scam.

Mind you, it was very satisfying when those scammers tired to trick Dad again later. The second time they spoke to me. I was crystal clear in my opinions of them. You can imagine the rest! Dad had no further problems after that. Result!

Every so often I will write stories about scammers. No surprises to hear I always make sure they get their comeuppance. What is fun here is working out how (and I hope readers find that too). But I must admit they are such as joy to write. Well, they do say write what you know, don’t they?

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Hope today has been okay. Another hot one in my part of the world. Managed to get another fence panel painted with wood preservative. Dried within minutes. Fortunately I am under good cover as there are huge trees near by so that was pleasant. Lady stays in – she is sensible with the heat and, more importantly, so are we with her – and I can’t trust her not to try to stick her head in the preservative tin! It is all glamour here – not!

I’ll be talking about the Benefits of Creativity for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Link up on Friday.
Will be running another flash fiction workshop on Zoom soon. Looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: Don’t worry about not having as much time as you would like to write. That is true for most of us. And you can still jot down ideas, start a draft in short pockets of time. I do this. Then when I have longer at my desk I have something to work on immediately. I like that. On the busy days, I still feel as if I have written something, which I have. I like that too.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-word tale, Heaven Sent. See if my character thinks what the new new vicar has done is heavenly inspired or not! Hope you enjoy the story.

Screenshot 2023-09-08 at 10-04-53 Heaven Sent by Allison Symes

It is hard to believe that tomorrow (8th September 2023) will be the first anniversary of the late Queen’s passing. She is much missed.

But it led me to think that there are plenty of story ideas to be had/written on the theme of anniversaries. Anniversaries can be happy or sad. They can be something your character wants to remember or not. Maybe an anniversary makes them face up to something and they then take a different path in life. But there are story ideas here.

I used an anniversary of some adult children’s visit to their elderly father in Time for Tea in From Light to Dark and Back Again. Was all as it appeared to be?

Well, naturally I am not revealing that here but I liked the idea of using an anniversary in this way. It doesn’t have to be an “obvious” anniversary either, which gives even more leeway for a story to be created.

From Light to Dark and Back Again - by night

I often use random generators to help me get started on a new piece of flash. What I especially like is when one prompt generated this way gives me two ideas for stories. I just send the resulting tales to different places.

I have found it pays to set parameters for what I generate. I have found limiting myself to say two or three things generated at a time is effective. Stops me feeling swamped too.

It is an odd thing but I have found limits like word count etc encourage creativity rather than stifle it. I guess it is because these things make you focus.

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Fairytales with Bite – The Changing Seasons

In your magical setting, does the changing seasons have an effect on how well your characters can do magic? Is magical power less in the winter, for example, for does the colder time of year (or other way of marking time span) fuel magic? Do your characters on a personal level have times when they know they will do well magically and other times they won’t and this is due to their own biology? What problems could this cause them?

Does your magical setting have changes of season as we know them? Or do they have their own? Or is a question of both? I would have thought there would need to be a planting season and a harvesting season to say the least. Everyone needs to eat. But how would this affect how magic is used? Is it used in the production of food at all? Can climatic seasons override magical seasons?

How do your characters respond to changes in season? How well or otherwise would this affect the outcome of their stories? Could other characters use this against them?

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This World and Others – The Natural World versus the Magical One

Following on from Fairytales With Bite, is your world setting more of a naturally based one or a magical one? What happens when these come into conflict? What is valued the most?

Does the magical element need the natural side to help it exist at all or it is a case the magical side brought the natural one into being in the first place and there is now co-dependency?

Can the natural world overcome the magical one? Earthquakes etc are not great news or anyone. Would magic be able to stop these things? Is your world reliant on magic stopping things like that and could someone exploit this to hold your world to ransom?

Story possibilities there, I think!

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Autumnal Joys

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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 some of the photos in my CFT post.
It has been a right mixed bag weather wise this week. Autumn definitely coming in a bit early but that makes my Chandler’s Ford Today post timely. I’m sharing about Autumnal Joys this time.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Author newsletter out today. Getting these ready monthly is a great way to discover how quickly the year is going! Many thanks and a huge welcome to those who signed up at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Good to have you aboard. A big hello to all of my longer term subscribers too and many thanks for your continued support. Much appreciated.

Am pleased to share Autumnal Joys, my latest post for Chandler’s Ford Today. I share an autumnal story in this too which I hope you enjoy. I chat about the joys of the season and have a brief look ahead to writing “things” coming up over the next couple of months or so. Hope you enjoy the post.

Autumnal Joys

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Glad to say I’ll be running a workshop on editing later in the year. Am looking forward to doing that. Flash fiction has helped me so much with editing as I have learned to spot my wasted words and cut them out. That in turn helps with other forms of writing I do.

Am chatting about Autumnal Joys for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above.
Author newsletter is also out again tomorrow.

Pleased to see reviews coming in for The Best of CafeLit 12. Book reviews do help authors so please consider leaving one. They don’t have to be long either. Other than buying the books themselves, leaving reviews is one of the best things you can do to support writers.

Hope you have had a good day. I was delighted The Lord of the Rings soundtrack did make it to the number one spot on the Classic FM chart on Bank Holiday Monday. Love the book(s) – I have the trilogy in one huge paperback so I guess that counts as one for me! Love the films, love the music, fantastic casting.

Writing Tip: Give some thought as to what makes your character a hero. What makes them care about the outcome of a situation? Is it a life or death one or do they simply not want evil to prosper, even if they could stay out of the situation? What beliefs drive them? How did they develop these?

I’ve long thought Sam Gamgee is a classic modest, understated hero in The Lord of the Rings. He has a strong sense of right and wrong. His friendship with Frodo drives him on. But you can see all of that in the portrayal and we want our characters’ positive attributes to be clear to a reader without spelling everything out.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Two lovely bits of news to share. Firstly, I will be on the Hannah Kate show on North Manchester FM tomorrow (2nd September 2023). I’m taking part in her What Am I Reading slot and share some thoughts on books I’ve recently read. Fun thing to do!

The link below enables you to listen online regardless of where you are. Will be handy for me as I often have to listen later than the scheduled time but that’s fine (and it is so useful being able to do that).

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf, Saturday 2 September, 2-4pm

 

Secondly, I’m back on Friday Flash Fiction with my tale A New Leaf. Hope you like it. Am so pleased it has been made Editor‘s Choice this week too. Lovely way to end the working week.

I’ve chatted before about reading your work out loud because it is a great way to pick up on things that look good written down but which do not necessarily “read well”. This technique is something I’ve developed due to taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights. Naturally I want to rehearse what I plan to read and I have picked up things to improve in those rehearsals.

Another reason I’ve developed this is because sometimes I submit stories for broadcast so I need to know how long they are in terms of time. I read them out and record them on Zoom to give me the time but in playing that recording back, again I get to hear what works and what may need a rewrite because it didn’t flow as well as I thought originally.

371858468_723117366494794_1995778043819982131_nDon’t forget that, despite the September date on the cover, that issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Written by writers for writers, it is a great read. Do check it out. Given this issue is about marketing, it will benefit you, no matter what you write.

I must admit flash fiction is an asset to marketing. How? Because it is easy for me to share a story (often via my YouTube channel) which acts as a marker for what else I do. It also advertises flash in general and I hope gives readers/viewers an entertaining short tale. Win-win there.

 

Fairytales with Bite – Magical History

In your magical world setting, what role does history play in how your characters interact with each other or what the ruling government allows in terms of magic or not? Are witches strictly forbidden from trying to stick kids in an oven, for example?

Also, does your world have the same fairytale knowledge we h ave or are their tales different? What would these be if so and is there any similarity with the tales we know here? I believe there are various versions of Cinderella, for example, across different cultures and histories here so something like that could be the case in your setting.

What lessons have been learned from history in your setting? Have people learned the hard way what you could do with magic which you really should not have found out? What were the consequences? Has it affected the physical geography of your setting? (Am thinking along the lines of climate change here. Has there been a magical equivalent in your world?).

Are your characters trying to learn from history and, if so, are they successful? Are they better at what they do than their forebears would have been precisely because they have learned from prior mistakes? Are there lessons they should have learned but have not and what are the consequences there? Plenty of story thoughts here.

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This World and Others – Settings

One of the things I love most about fantasy is the setting. The Lord of the Rings, to my mind, can’t be beaten here. I so wanted to live in Rivendell!

The advantage of the films is you could see a re-creation of that. The advantage of the books is you get to picture it for yourself (and yes I think the films got it right).

What I also love about the books is the descriptions came in at the right time and broke up the drama. I found I did need something to break up the pace and of course the setting description literally set the scene for the next drama. Neither did the description go on for too long. There’s much to learn from that.

The other thing to note is not having everything all at once. Information is drip fed into the story. We didn’t need to know about Rivendell until the hobbits got there.

So think about what a reader would need to know about your setting. What makes it stand out? What do your characters love about it? What would they change if they could and why? I love outlines. Even for my shortest flash fiction tales (100 words usually, sometimes 50), I jot down a line or two about what I think I need to know about the character and where they are likely to be to make the story work.

For longer pieces, it would pay to work out how your setting will work. You don’t want to box yourself in later when you find you said characters rely on machines for transport in a world where machines are not known. That’s an extreme example but I have come across oddities where characteristics, even names change, when I’ve judged stories. It’s even easier to do that with a setting if you forget a pertinent detail.

I find an outline helps me approach my first draft with more confidence too because I know roughly where I am going. Having a setting outline means you know your world. That will help you to picture it and your characters in it more effectively.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Exercises

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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 the photo from a local wildflower meadow.
Hope you have had a good couple of days since we last met here. Newsletter will be out again next week. How can it almost be September already? Not that Lady worries. She’s been having a fabulous times with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals for a lot of this week so it has been a good few days for her.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Writing Exercises on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I discuss my nervousness when I was first set them, thinking help, I can’t do this. But I did draft something and later realised that was the idea. Just get something down. You can work on it again later if you wish. I usually do with my writing exercises and some of them have gone on to be published.

I also set a couple of exercises in this post for you to have a go at as well. Hope you have fun with them and find the post useful as I also share why writing exercises are so useful for any writer.

Writing Exercises

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In my Writing Exercises post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week, I will be looking at some of the most popular types I’ve come across. I’ll also have a look at the benefits of practicing writing to these.

Glad to say the writing exercises I set at last night’s Association of Christian Writers Flash Group meeting went well too. And if I get set exercises, as I so often am at things like Swanwick, I am only too glad to give them a go. I get a draft out of it! Sometimes I go on to do more with that draft. Sometimes I don’t but I find it fun just having a go at these things. More in my post tomorrow.

Am so looking forward to the next production from The Chameleon Theatre Group in October. They’re staging Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (adapted by Stephen Briggs). Will be a real treat. Great story. Will be the first time I’ve seen a Discworld play.

What's your story - writing exercises can help you find out

Lady had a lovely time with her two best girlfriends in the park today. Good time had by all.
I’ll be looking at the usefulness of Writing Exercises for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up on Friday. See above.

I’ll be setting some writing exercises for the flash fiction group I’ll be leading later today.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again on 1st September. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Looking forward to sharing further publication news soon too.

Ideas are triggered by writing exercises and the more you do, the more you trigger said ideas

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Puzzled Out. Hope you enjoy it – this is a story where I knew the ending first. And then worked backwards to get to a logical start. Definitely one for puzzle fans.

Screenshot 2023-08-25 at 10-16-23 Puzzled Out by Allison Symes

Have signed up to take part in Flash NANO again in November. This is where you are given a flash fiction prompt for the thirty days of November and you write them up as flash pieces. Last year, I managed to complete the challenge – that’s thirty new pieces to edit and submit somewhere and/or put towards a new collection. I hope to do the same again this year.

I found it great fun to do. I found it useful to write the prompt each day but found with some I had to “carry over” to another day but that was fine. I had something to work with, which is the whole point, The person behind Flash NANO is Nancy Stolhman. More details below.

 

Hope you have had a good day. As well as mixing up the kinds of flash fiction I write in terms of mood and setting, I also mix up the word count length. My overall favourite is the drabble, the 100-worder, but I am fond of the whole range of flash. My next most common category to write in is the 250 to 500 words bracket. I do write some at 750-1000 words but not nearly so often. I usually find if I’m going for a longer work, I will turn it into a standard short story instead (and it ends up at 1500 or so).

For my blogs, all of them are between 500-1000 words or so. For Chandler’s Ford Today I can and do sometimes go up to 1500/1750 depending on what kind of article I am writing. It isn’t always apt to split an author interview in two, for example.

You do end up getting a feel for what kind of word count works best for which item of writing. Practice helps which is why regular writing comes in handy as you get to develop your style of writing and which word count works best for you for certain pieces of work. At least that has been my experience.

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Fairytales with Bite – Once Upon A Time – Acrostic

O = Original characters in an original setting – your magical world won’t be exactly the same as anyone else’s while it will have elements in common.

N = Never mind how your characters feel – drop them right in it and see how they fare.

C = Create characters we will care about in some way – we all love to boo a “good” villain but need to understand why they are being the way they are.

E = Experience will tell – it is not unreasonable for your main character to have a magical mentor of some sort.

 

U = Undertaking – there will be something special for your character to do here and there will be high stakes.

P = Persistence and perseverance – two qualities every hero will need. (Funnily enough the villain needs them to a certain extent too but naturally they usually don’t have enough of these qualities. There has to be a difference between them and your lead).

O = Once upon a time is a classic way to start a tale but you could mix it up by bringing us straight into the action. We will have to read on to find out what happens.

N = Never leave loose ends – there has to be a resolution.

 

A = Always care about your own characters – you are the first to believe in them. You don’t want to be the last!

 

T = Truthfulness in character portrayal pays off – people will believe in your characters if they feel they are or could be true. Knowledge of human nature and what we’re capable of and why can be useful here.

I = Imagination, Imagination, Imagination – why do we read? To find out what the author has imagined for us to enjoy.

M = Memory can be unreliable. If you’re writing series stories, it would pay you to note somewhere what you need to recall about your characters. It’s too easy to change colour of eyes, say, from one story to the next.

E = Enjoy the writing – creativity is fun. Bear in mind editing can be creative too as you seek to strength your story. But do see the writing and editing as two separate tasks. I find that helps a lot.

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This World and Others – History and How It is Told

So much depends here on what value your world setting puts on history and who controls the narrative. That seems a familiar tale does it not?! But when history is told, how is it done?

Is it just via books or are there plays, reenactments, and so on? I once went to a historical reenactment in Tewkesbury – good fun but what was interesting was you got a real sense of the smells, the sounds etc which you would not have got had you just read a historical account.

So in your setting, who writes the history? Is it performed? Who would do that? Do they have to stick to the official version of the history or can they put their own interpretation on it?

In your setting, are new historical discoveries ever found? Are these welcome? Not all might be! If something were to put a different spin on a genuinely accepted event, people (as well as their government) are not likely to react well to it.

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Getting the Most From an In Person Workshop

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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 the photo of my books in the Swanwick Book Room. Almost every author does this! Many thanks to Julia Pattison and Janet Williams for pictures of me at Swanwick and the Book Fair respectively.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has got better as the week has gone on. Nice to be back out walking the dog and she has been glad to be seeing her dog friends again. Our wildflower meadow is looking especially nice right now – see photo below taken by me. (Oh and it’s double blog time as well as both my CFT and Authors Electric posts came out on Friday, 18th August 2023).

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Authors Electric
Double blog post Friday today! First up, it’s my turn on Authors Electric. I’m discussing Book Fairs and Writing Retreats. The last month has seen me happily busy with both! I share some thoughts on editing too given I was running a workshop on that for the writing retreat I was on.

Hope you find the thoughts there useful especially as I discuss how to give the Procrastination Monster and the Imposter Fiend a very hard time indeed.

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Chandler’s Ford Today

The second of my two blogs out today is my usual weekly one for Chandler’s Ford Today. This time I look at Getting the Most from an In Person Workshop and I hope you find the thoughts here useful. I share what I look for in a workshop like this whether I run or go to them.

Getting the Most From An In Person Workshop

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It’s been a week since I returned home from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Fabulous time. Glad to be home but also miss Swanwick dreadfully! Will be looking at Getting the Most from an In Person Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today – link up tomorrow. See above.

Am also looking forward to the return of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week. Will be glad to see you good people! Am sure we will get some useful writing done too.

Writing Tip: Plan ahead for markets you’ve got in mind. Entering competitions is good practice for this (and if you get listed or win, even better!). They get you used to deadlines for a start.

But many markets, especially those that are seasonally based, will be thinking months ahead of the season in question. One positive thing here is these seasons come round, literally time and again, so you can always plan a story for another year if you miss the current one.

I do write, for example, festive flash fiction as and when throughout the year. Sometimes I find a home for it in the same year. Sometimes it waits for another year but I do know I’ve got something. I also try to build up a small stock of stories for seasonal use given I know the season will come around again. (Doesn’t have to be the obvious calendar based seasons either. Bear in mind there are holiday seasons for winter and summer. There are seasons in sport etc.).

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Pleased to say the September issue of Writers’ Narrative magazine will be out in the last week of August. Do watch out for it. Am pleased to share tasters in the photos below. Be sure not to miss out. The topic this time will be marketing and the magazine is packed full of useful information for any and every writer.

Am practicing what I preach here too. My Chandler’s Ford Today post will be about Getting the Most from an In Person Workshop. Having just run one at Swanwick now I am marketing the idea of going to them and running them. I’ll be sharing useful tips for getting the most out of workshops whatever side of the desk you are on (and always giving self explanatory post titles is a good marketing start!). Link up on Friday. See above.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Nothing from me on Friday Flash Fiction this time though I hope to rectify it soon but why not treat yourself to a read of some wonderful stories here. Also please note there is a change of deadline for submissions here – see top of page on link and screenshot.

Screenshot 2023-08-18 at 17-24-00 100-Word Stories


It’s worth keeping an eye out on the writing competitions for ideas for themes, even if you don’t enter the competitions themselves. I’ve done this a few times when I’ve spotted the competition too late to enter it but like the look of the theme and think I can use that. I do too.

Proverbs can make great themes and often the topic they suggest will come up time and again so is worth writing stories about. For example, take the proverb a stitch in time saves nine. You can have various characters in situations and settings showing that to be true. (I used this as a a title for a story in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Proverbs are versatile like this). You could use that proverb as the basis for a love story, a crime one and so on.

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Just to flag up there’s an offer on Amazon at the moment on the paperback of From Light to Dark and Back Again. Check out the link below.

When writing flash pieces, I focus on my character as I’ve got to know where they’re coming from (and what is behind that. This is where knowing their major trait and likely attitudes coming from it is so helpful). It is then a question of working out whether I will then use the first person or the third.

I try to mix this up. I have used first person more with flash as it is so immediate but I don’t want to use it all the time. It is not always the best option. I have to figure out what would work best for my character and their situation. But this is good fun!

And for my collections, I had a fabulous time putting the stories together. I hope that comes through in the tales themselves.


Fairytales with Bite – Magical Services For Hire

In your setting, is everyone magical? If not, are there services which people can buy in as and when they need them? Who would run these services? Are there any standards services have to stick to (and what would be the consequences if they didn’t?). What kind of character would need to buy in a service? Is it easy to get the services needed?

If the services doesn’t deliver, is there room for redress? How could a non-magical character get justice here against someone who has conned them? How did your setting develop the need to be able to hire services out? Can the government use these services for their own ends – or is this a way of controlling who can access these things?

Name an industry and you can name a con artist connected with it. There is even more scope for this with a magical industry! But this could form the basis of humorous stories, especially if the con artist is forced to change their ways. If a customer turns out to be someone they know or someone they would like to get to know better, could they still con them?

Where you have things like magical shops, what would they stock? How do they obtain their products? Are products tried and tested? And think about your customers. Why is someone in need of these things? Does the services they buy in make a difference to their mission and if so how? If not, was it a question of bringing in these things as a kind of confidence boost? Also, did it work?

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This World and Others – Guilds and Commercial Bodies

If you have a magical industry, are there guilds and other commercial bodies which control the running of these things? (Best fantasy guilds of all time are the ones Terry Pratchett has in his Discworld series incidentally!). Who would run these things? Are they answerable to the government or do they control the politicians?

Who set the guilds/commercial bodies up in the first place? Did they come into being by consent or were there unpleasant historical episodes which led to them being formed? Did those who control them have to fight their way to the top? Do they still have to fight to stay at the top?

How can people join the builds/commercial bodies? Do they offer apprenticeships? Are there preferred organisations here? Are there ones which people only go for because they literally have no choice? Are the guilds/commercial bodies the same as they they started or have they had to adapt? Were changes welcomed? What rules do they have to stand by? What rules do they find are useful (even if not legally enforceable?).

How does commerce come into the lives of your characters? Does it help them or get in their way?
Thinking about these things can help you picture your world as all settings will need to have employers and employees. Where you have got those you have a financial system of sorts behind them. This is where the guilds could come in and there could be good stories to be written about what goes on within their organisations.

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September issue due out in last week of August.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

 

 

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Diary of a Swanwicker

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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 from Swanwick.
Had a a fabulous time at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick – more details in my Chandler’s Ford Today post. Many thanks to Julia Pattison for taking the shot of me at my editing workshop at Swanwick. Now back to the real world again!
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Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share Diary of a Swanwicker as my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Couldn’t be anything else really! I hope this gives you a good flavour of what The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is all about. There is something magical here and I loved catching up with old friends, making new ones, and enjoying the range of courses on offer. A huge thank you also to those who came to my one hour workshop on editing.

Diary of a Swanwicker

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Safely home once again. I loved catching up with friends and making new ones at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Now to come off cloud nine for a bit and to get back to the usual writing routine.

Yes, I do find a writing routine helpful. I agree with P.G. Wodehouse who advised writers to “apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair”. Well, he wasn’t wrong, was he? It is the way to get things done!

What I do though is adapt my routine. There are some days of the week where I am especially busy and I know I won’t get so much writing done. That’s okay. All I do is save those shorter writing sessions and use them for shorter pieces of work because I still feel by the end of my session, I have got something useful done. I have too – whether it is a draft of a flash fiction piece, jotting own ideas for article and blog ideas, outlining thoughts for a future short story etc.

Part of the reason behind this for me is in the past I have had significant caring responsibiities. Alas my people are now gone but I had to learn to use what time I had as opposed to what time I would like to have for writing. The habit has continued. And those two types of writing time rarely marry up incidentally. So rather than beat myself up about I’d only do this if I had more time, I focus on what I can get done in the time I know I have. It’s a more positive outlook and outcome.

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Many thanks to all who came to my Lift up Your Pens pre-breakfast writing session this morning. It was a good turnout given the disco last night didn’t start until 10! I don’t do disco or fancy dress so thought it best to sit that one out but the costumes I saw were fantastic and I knew a good time was had by all who did go. Collected my books this morning so will pack them up to go home later. How has the time gone by so quickly? Will br sharing Diary of a Swanwicker on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday so do look out for that. See above. Good time had by all! We wrote too!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to share The Lakes, my latest on Friday Flash Fiction. A shout out must go to Val Penny because her Perfect Plotting specialist course at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick helped inspire this story. And it is a story, okay. I’ve not got any plans to do what my character is thinking of in this tale. I hope that means you have to check the story out now!

Screenshot 2023-08-11 at 11-01-33 The Lakes by Allison Symes

Lovely to get home to my guys and I was right on something else. I was mugged by my very excited dog when I got off my last train! There was a small chorus of “ah” from others on the platform. Always lovely to know you’ve been missed. Also, you don’t forget 18 kilos of dog hurling themselves at you!

Great to spread the word about flash fiction at Swanwick. Incidentally flash ifs often set as a kind of writing exercise. It was in the Rediscovering Your Writing Mojo session I went to during the time I was away. Loved doing that I can tell you. I’ve got a story drafted to work on thanks to that!

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Many thank for all the positive feedback on my editing workshop this week. Much appreciated. Also the feedback for where things could be better still etc. This is precisely how writers learn and I always appreciate this. Can’t believe how quickly the time has gone but have made the most of the last full day here in Sunny Derbyshire. Nice to have sold books (and bought some!) – I don’t think there is a writer anywhere with an empty To Be Read pile.

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Fairytales with Bite – Magical Places

Many writers would consider The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick (The Hayes) is a pretty magical place with almost a week packed with workshops and courses.

But what would your characters consider to be their magical place? Even in a fantasy setting your characters would have somewhere that was special for them. Where would this be? Why is it special? Do they appreciate a break away from magical work?

In a magical setting, would characters consider any thing (such as nature) magical precisely because it doesn’t involve the stuff! Where would your characters go to escape their cares for a while? Even in a magical setting, are there places which are seen as more magical and what special powers do these places have compared to “ordinary” magic?

If someone needed magical help, which places would they go to and why? What would be the charges and consequences of seeking this kind of help? Are any magical places banned due to unethical practices etc?

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This World and Others – World Issues

Whatever your word setting there will be issues to face. For some it will be case of preventing hunger due to failed crops. For others, it will be working out ways to live in peace with hostile neighbours. What issues does your setting face and how does it deal with them? Bear in mind, they may not necessarily deal with them successfully.

Take the issues we face here and transfer them to your setting. How would things work out there? What ethical and other dilemmas would your characters have to face up to? Ratchet up that tension!

Your world’s geography may have a direct bearing on the kinds of issues it faces. For example, does it lack water? Or does it have too much of the stuff? Do countries/other blocks co-operate to deal with the issues the world as a whole faces or is this a source of conflict? Either could lead to interesting stories (for example, how did the co-operation happen? Someone had to be brave enough to make the first move).

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES


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Lilies on the Land and Podcast News

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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 ever, a huge thanks to The Chameleon Theatre Group for kind permission to use their photos (and some of their direct quotes about the recent play by them) in the Chandler’s Ford Today post. Both make for a more rounded article! Image of me signing books at Swanwick was taken by the late and much missed Fiona Park.
Off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, at the weekend. Has been a busy summer what with the Book Fair too but that’s all to the good. Delighted to have received my copies of The Best of CafeLit 12 too – always a nice feeling when your books arrive!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share my review of Lilies on the Land which is the latest production staged by The Chameleon Theatre Group. It is always a pleasure to review their productions for Chandler’s Ford Today and this is no exception.

See what I think here and do check out the links. They will bring back memories for many and those interested in history will find some of the links especially useful. The play is about the Women’s Land Army and their stories about their efforts in World War Two. Sublimely written by The Lions and well performed (but then I’d not expect anything less from The Chameleons).

Review – The Chameleon Theatre Group – Lilies on the Land

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I mentioned the other day I was amused when Amazon thought I might be interested in The Best of CafeLit 12. Well, for that they did it for the Kindle version of the book. Today they did this again for the paperback! Not long afterwards, my copies of the book arrived! Hmm… talk about timing!

Talking of timing, I am kind of going back in time for tomorrow’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I’m reviewing Lilies on the Land, the recent production from The Chameleon Theatre Group. See above.

The play looks at the stories of the Women’s Land Army. The play was moving but see what I thought of the play in tomorrow’s post. There are some useful history links for those who want to know more about the WLA too and a great link with a certain very famous episode of a well known TV sitcom. Link up tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing this.

Podcast and Publication News

Am delighted to say I have a story, A Summer Retirement, Maybe on The Casket of Fictional Delights. As well as the tale appearing on the website, I am thrilled to say it is on their podcast too.

I am blown away by the quality of this podcast of my story – do give it a listen – and a huge thank you to the wonderful people who have produced this.

Also a big thanks to Alyson Rhodes for telling me about the Casket in the first place. (You’ll find the link to the podcast on the right – handily under a great big Hear button!).

A Summer Retirement, Maybe

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to say I am back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest story, Shallow, Moi? Hope you enjoy it. Comments are currently switched off due to there being a competition in connection with the website.

Members of the Flash Fiction Group (ACW) may well recognise the title as one I came up with during our recent session on titles. This title is a good example of the title setting the mood for the story,.

Screenshot 2023-08-04 at 10-06-26 Shallow Moi by Allison Symes

Am all packed, including my flash collections, ready for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Will be posting as usual next week but timings will vary. I suspect that may be true of my train journey too!

The Best of CafeLit 12 reached me today – I have a flash piece called Jubilee in there. Am also looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in December. This is always a great way to round up the year.

Sometimes I will think of a title for a flash piece. Sometimes I will think of a character. Either way works. I have to have a hook to write to and it will either be an intriguing title that makes me want to find out what happens. Or I am intrigued by the character and want to find out what they do and what happens to them. The important bit is being intrigued!

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Only a few days to go before I set off for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Did most of my packing today. I do like to wave the flag for flash fiction.

Thrilled to be on a podcast with one of my flash fiction stories for the first time. You can find my A Summer Retirement, Maybe over on The Casket of Fictional Delights. I make no apologies for repeating the link here (it is also on my author page on Facebook) because the quality is so good, I do want to shout about it ! Enthusiasm is a great asset for writing!

I’ve talked about the joy of being read to before but this is the first time I’ve had one of my own stories read to me. I would like more of this to happen!

A Summer Retirement, Maybe

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Fairytales with Bite – Travelling

This topic was a good one for me this week as I’m off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick soon. This is the highlight of my writing year.

Going back to our magical settings for our stories, how would your characters get about? Not everyone would get on with broomsticks, for example. I wouldn’t for a start. Not the most comfortable of seating arrangements and the thought of cold cross-winds does nothing for me! I could see characters having problems with their navigation here!

You could think about whether anyone is entitled to fly or whether it is restricted, are there any environmental concerns and so on. But characters to have to travel (especially on quests!) so how would they do this? What are the pains of their mode of travel? What are the advantages, if any? Is it a question of having no choice?

If someone tries to invent a new way of travelling how successful or otherwise are they? What problems would they have to overcome to get their idea “out there”? And what could get in the way of your average traveller here? What are the joys of travelling in your setting? It would be good to think there were some!

I love train travel though this image seems to invite you to ride by rail into another world - Pixabay
This World and Others – Transport Networks

What does your setting have in the way of transport networks? Are things geared up to encourage or discourage travelling? Who would run these things? How well are they run? If individuals have to sort out travelling, how would they do this? What vehicles (and I would include animals in this category) could they access? Is it easy to travel around your setting?

If your world has never had a transport network, what might happen which would make them require one and how would they set one up? Would they see what other worlds, including our one, would do first?
How would characters get to/from where they work? Most would work away from home, even if the distance isn’t great. Even the seven dwarves had to commute to a certain extent even if they walked, singing as they went! That was their transport network…a commute and a sing song!

Off on my travels again

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Apologies for the size of the image. Having issues with resizing photos for tonight’s post. Mind you, for the record, I still prefer the original Twitter symbols. Let’s hear it for the blue bird!

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Welcome to Writers’ Narrative Magazine

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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 Wendy H Jones for supplying the Writers’ Narrative magazine publicity shots for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview. Many thanks to Janet Williams and Richard Hardie for the photos of me at the recent Book Fair.
It has been a busy week what with the launch of Writers’ Narrative and the recent release of The Best of CafeLit 12. Am also looking forward to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is coming up soon. It was also a delight to watch The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latrest production, Lilies on the Land. Review to follow in due course. In dog news, Lady has had a ball with many of her friends this week so all is well there too.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am thrilled to welcome back Wendy H Jones to Chandler’s Ford Today for an in-depth interview called Welcome to Writers’ Narrative Magazine.

Wendy is the Editor in Chief and I am part of the editorial team. The magazine is written by writers for writers and covers all aspects of the writing world. Definitely not one to miss. Do check out the CFT post for more information (and handily there is a subscribe link in the post. Even better news, it is free to subscribe).

Welcome to Writers’ Narrative Magazine – Interview with Wendy H Jones

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Posting early today as am off out later to see The Chameleon Theatre Group stage their latest production, Lilies on the Land, which is a play about the Women’s Land Army. Should be interesting and it covers a side of history which is often overlooked. I’ll be reviewing this for Chandler’s Ford Today next week.
Meantime, I’ll be sharing my post tomorrow where I interview Wendy H Jones about new online magazine, Writers’ Narrative. Looking forward to sharing that. See above.

Not long now either before I am off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Can’t wait to catch up with friends and meet new ones. I’m running a one hour workshop on editing here plus carrying out a couple of volunteer short sessions (pre-breakfast – people have to be keen!).

Great to see everyone at last night’s Flash Fiction Group meeting (Association of Christian Writers). Fab time had by all and there was plenty of creativity going on – well done, all and I hope you have fun with the writing exercise I set you.

Back to changeable weather today but Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler friend so she’s had a good day and her chum never minds this.

Many thanks for the huge and great response to yesterday’s post about Writers’ Narrative magazine. I’ll be interviewing Wendy H Jones, the Editor in Chief, for Chandlers Ford Today on Friday. See above. Do look out for that. There will be plenty of insights shared and useful information about how to submit for the magazine as well. Looking forward to sharing that.

I’ll be getting my author newsletter out next week. If you would like to sign up for tips, hints, advice, news etc do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Having a Ball. Dog sympathisers will especially like this one I think. Hope you enjoy it. I had so much sympathy with my lead character (and I’m not sorry for the pun there either!).

Screenshot 2023-07-28 at 10-11-21 Having a Ball by Allison Symes

Do you like writing exercises? I love them and usually set at least one at the flash group meetings I lead for the Association of Christian Writers once a month. I find writing exercises encourage creativity, they make me think outside of my usual box(es), and I produce work I would not have otherwise have produced.

Most writing exercises suit flash fiction – such as writing to an opening or closing line. They’re also good practice for writing stories for competitions. Many of them issue a set theme, sometimes a title, and if you are used to producing things to a prompt, it is handy here.

You’re not going to be fazed by the challenge. You see it as just another prompt. Still need to produce your best work though – and I must admit I love the ongoing challenge of that.

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I was amused to receive an email today from someone I know who chose to write their missive as a flash fiction story – the writer did a great job! But I have used letters in flash fiction for more serious purposes. My Punish the Innocent from From Light to Dark and Back Again tells a story of criminality/vengeance/justice in the shape of a short letter. Letters can be a useful format in flash – you have to keep them short to make them work!

Why not give it a try? What is so important your character has to write to someone (especially if your story is set in an age where they could phone, email etc)? What would they reveal? The nice thing with this format is you can get clues as to what the receiver must be like from the way the character writes to them. That can be so telling.

What is the tone of your character’s letter? Forthright, judging, humorous? Plenty of story ideas here and I find it makes a pleasant change from writing direct prose. There is something intimate about a letter and you can get your characters to show this kind of thing too. Best not done too often – anything can look gimmicky if done too often after all , but if you want to mix up your writing, this is a good exercise to try.

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Fairytales with Bite – Food and Drink

Even the most powerful fairy godmother must take time out to recharge the batteries via food and drink. So what would she consume? Presumably not a suspiciously shiny red apple but other than that what would you feed her with? Would you base requirements on what we have here? Or would magical beings have to eat some sort of magical food and what would this be?

Would your characters prepare their own consumables or would others do this for them?

Food and drink are major parts of our lives naturally, but would your magical beings consider them to be necessary evils? What is their attitude towards having to eat/having to drink? Do they see it as tiresome, for example? Your average evil being would consider these things as a waste of time when they’ve got evil to be getting on with (while recognising they could use food and drink against their enemies).

Is there an industry devoted to producing these things and who would run this? Is government control exerted over it to make sure only what is approved can be consumed? Are there banned substances here? Why was any ban brought in?

Is there such a thing as food allergies here? What form would those take on a magical being? Which of your characters loves their food ? Which are the fussy eaters? Could envisage funny stories here – someone who is fussy has to learn not to be.

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This World and Others – The Hospitality Industry

Most of us experience various parts of the hospitality industry. I love visiting a local pub/restaurant, for example. What establishments would exist in your world? Whom would your world be hospitable to? Whom would they never offer any kind of hospitality towards? Are characters of lower standing expected to visit certain kinds of establishment, saving the best ones for the higher up? Does the hospitality industry encourage tourism in your world and who would take advantage of this?

Are the ones working in this sector respected or looked down on? How much regulation from central or local government (or both) goes on? Is food easily sourced? Does the industry have inspectors to ensure standards are maintained/improved as necessary? Who would work in the industry? Is magic allowed to be used as part of the job?

If you have personal experience of working in this sector, what could you bring into your fiction for a hospitality industry set on another planet? What problems would be the same? Which would differ?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Websites – Why A Writer Needs One

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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 Wendy H Jones, Editor in Chief of Writers’ Narrative, for supplying the images of the new online magazine (due out very soon, folks. Don’t miss it). Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking the image of me in “full flow” at the recent Book Fair.
Have had a good week, hope you have too. Lady has got to show off her ball retrieving skills in front of her Hungarian Vizler friend for most of the week so she has had a good week too (and her friend looks on indulgently almost like a proud Mum!). Oh and it is fabulous to be able to share publication news again – more below.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am delighted to share Websites – Why A Writer Needs One for Chandler’s Ford Today. I share tips I’ve found useful in developing my own website. The good news is you don’t have to do everything at once here. I hope you find the post useful.

Websites – Why A Writer Needs One

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Am delighted to say The Best of CafeLit 12 is now out. Many congratulations to all of the writers with work in here, many of whom I know well. That’s a second joy right there! The first joy? Being in there myself, of course, with my story, Jubilee. (There will be a third joy later on at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event In December – looking forward to that already).

 

I’ll be talking about websites for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Every writer needs one but I share tips and how I started out (simple) and then moved up as and when I needed to do so. More later in the week.

Writing Tip: What does your character want? What drives them? What gets in their way? Answers to those three questions alone will give you a basic outline. Outlines don’t need to be complicated.

I’ve found taking a little time to figure questions like this out saves me a great deal of time later on. I’ve got the structure in place so it is then a question of whether I’ve written the story as well as I could do. It is then and only then I look at my phrasing etc. Inevitably there are things I can tighten up but I know I won’t have to worry about the structure. That alone for me is worth having a outline for.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my new story, Doing Time. Hope you enjoy it. (And a huge thanks to those who have kindly commented on this one already).

Screenshot 2023-07-21 at 09-55-45 Doing Time by Allison Symes

Many thanks for the comments coming in on my Authors Electric post for July where I talked about Books Which Worked and Those Which Don’t. Not the snappiest title I’ve ever come up with, I admit, but it doe get to the heart of the matter! If you missed it first go, please check it out here.

Another benefit to flash fiction writing here – you get used to the word count and so much of that is applicable to blogging as well!
Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 10-08-08 Books Which Work and Those Which Don’t by Allison SymesI outline flash fiction tales as well as my longer short stories. The outlines for flash are merely shorter but they help me get my structure right from the start (as I mentioned over on my main author page on Facebook earlier).

When I write the ending first (for a humorous punch line tale or a twist one), I just outline backwards to get to a logical starting point. I only outline what I need to know. What a writer needs to know will vary but knowing your character well is a good failsafe.

Knowing your character well enough means you will have a a greater understanding of what motivates them and that in turn will drive their actions and reactions.

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Fairytales with Bite – Crime Solving in the Magical World

Where you have power, you have abuse of power. In the magical world there needs to be a system in place where the powerful cannot just ride roughshod over the others in their world. If they could, there would be no stories, other than bleak ones about how they got their own way all the time. Would be a depressing (and I suspect boring) read.

So there needs to be a way of holding them to account. There needs to be at least one way of dealing with crime. Abuse of power so often leads to that too!

So what kinds of magical activity would be considered criminal? How was this decided on? Who upholds standards here? Is there such a thing as a magical police force and, if so, are they given extra powers to keep the rest of the magical world in check? How are they themselves held to account? Would they have detectives as we know them and what kinds of cases would they need to resolve?

There is potential for humour there too. How would those charged with dealing with magical crime interact with each other? How would the general population regard them?

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This World and Others – Unique Qualities

Think about what unique qualities your world has. How would these impact on the way your characters lead their lives? Are those qualities imposed on the world due to geographical factors? Or are these qualities which have developed as a result of political actions, including warfare?

What unique qualities do your characters have in your setting? Have they needed to develop these to cope with their environment? For example, if the land is unstable, does that mean your characters have had to be able to fly by their own powers? How have they had to adapt where they live (presumably not on the ground)? Would that put pressure on available spaces to live?

Think about what makes your world attractive to you to write about – can you keep this going? There has to be something which appeals to you and which will continue to appeal. Do study other series (the Discworld one by the late great Terry Pratchett would be a great place to start). Definitely outline what makes your world stand out – its advantages and the disadvantages. That will throw up things your characters have to find ways of dealing with and there could be great stories in that alone.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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