Tag: This World and Others

Starting A Piece of Fiction

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Hope you have had a good week. Lady has – she’s been catching up with her pals. Many thanks for great responses to my posts about the October issue of Writers’ Narrative where I’m the Featured Author. It’s not often you get to be a cover girl in your late fifties but there you go!

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Lady has had a fabulous week in that she has seen most of her friends most of the time this week. I think most of us would count that as a great week.

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Starting A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Hope you find it useful.

Once I get started on a flash tale or short story, I am generally “away with it” (though I do use outlines to help me). What can be tricky can be knowing where to start and this post shares some thoughts and tips I have found useful over many years to overcome this.

I also share a useful template (which is easily adaptable) which, again, I hope you find useful.

Starting A Piece of Fiction

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Will be sharing Starting A Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. The following week, I will, as you will probably have guessed, be sharing a piece on Ending a Piece of Fiction. I hope both will prove to be useful. After that will be a fabulous interview with John Puzey about his book, Captive Audience, so plenty going on at CFT at the moment. John is also a member of our excellent local theatre company, The Chameleons.

Have been busy this week working on a presentation and pitches. Have sent the latter off. The presentation will be for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. So far it has been a non-fiction heavy week but I will be switching to the fiction side again soon.

And Lady had a great Thursday meeting up with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals so she has had a great day, as did her friends.


Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal today – nice time had by both dogs.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Starting a Piece of Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Will be sharing tips I’ve found useful for overcoming hesitant starts to stories. I find once I get started it’s fine. It can be the getting started which can be tricky sometimes. I hope the post will prove useful. See above.

Marketing Tip: Consistency matters. It’s better to focus on a few things you know you can do (and keep doing) than spread yourself too thin. This is why I’m not on every social media platform out there (though that doesn’t preclude me from changing the ones I am on or adding others later). But I know I can post regularly where I currently do so I keep that going. Over time, consistency pays off. Readers know where to find you.

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Am thrilled to be one of two Editor’s Choices on Friday Flash Fiction with my tale, Finding Out The Hard Way. Hope you enjoy it.

Congratulations to Jim Bartlett for his story, Safer, which was the other Editor’s Choice.

Having two stories chosen doesn’t happen often so this was an especially nice surprise today.
We talk about having flashes of inspiration and they do happen but I find they come more often when I am at my desk working out ideas for characters and situations to put them in. Then the flashes can come.

Basically, I’ve got to put the work in, which is fine because I love that.

Where I do a get an idea out of “nowhere”, it usually is because something has been bubbling away in my subconscious for a while and it comes to the surface when I am working on something it could be useful for.

Often that something bubbling will be due something I’ve read so this is another reason to read widely and well, contemporary and classic works, short and long forms, and non-fiction because you want a wide pool to fish from for ideas to bubble like that.

It is also more likely you will get more ideas the more you read (and write).

Another aspect to flash fiction flexibility is mixing up the word count ranges you write to within the overall limit of 1000 words. You do develop favourites over time. My overall favourite will always be the drabble, the 100 worder, as it was my way into flash fiction in the first place, but I often write to 300 and 500 words especially. This is handy as so many flash competitions go to these word count limits. As you can imagine, I’m sure, this is no coincidence on my part!

Also when I have submitted stories for potential broadcasting, I am usually looking at the 200 to 250 word count tops for these, so it pays to practice writing to this kind of count.

You do, with time, get used to seeing/knowing what 200 to 300 words will look like on the page/screen so get better at knowing where to stop your story. You get a feel for what will fit in that word count limit.

I can usually tell at a glance now when I draft a 100 word story for Friday Flash Fiction, by roughly how much I’ve gone over on that first draft (and I always do go over). I’m not usually out by much when I compare my thought to the word count on the screen.

Mind you, that tells me how much I have to edit and I start by removing all of my wasted words (that, very, actually etc). Its amazing what a difference can be made to your word count removing words like that can do.

Fairytales with Bite – Options for Magical Beings

What options do your magical beings have in your setting? Are they born with their powers or do they develop these as they grow up? Which powers come to them as naturally as breathing and which do they have to learn? How would all of that impact on the kind of careers they can have later?

Do your magical creations get any choice at all on their career? Can anyone “rebel” against their “default setting” and do something different? What would the consequences be of that?

Are your characters happy with the skills they are born with and/or go on to develop? What are the advantages and disadvantages of them? Could any of your characters with powers envy those without them and why would that be? (Simpler lifestyle and less complications would be one thought springing to my mind).

This World and Others – Careers

In your setting what kind of careers are available for your characters? Is this dependent on magical skill set (see Fairytales With Bite above) or can anyone go for these careers as long as they’re willing to learn and work hard? How have the careers developed in your world? Is magic an advantage here or not?

Also are there careers not possible in your setting but which are still needed for your society to function?

Could magical power get in the way of these needed careers so your world has to import people /other beings of choice to carry out these vital roles? How does that happen? (There could be many a tale of alien abduction here – at least it would be for a reason that made sense!).

Are there careers your characters are desperate to avoid or get? How can they avoid/get them? Why do they feel this way? Could a story involve a character facing up to having to do a career they don’t want for a greater purpose?


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Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

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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 the week so far has gone well. Lady has had a lovely few days with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and I’ve kept busy with the writing and editing. Also went to a fun ACW Zoom group (on science fiction and fantasy). So not a bad week at all so far here.

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Pleased to share Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Have focused on writing things here. Am sure there are plenty of thoughts here which most writers will identify with!

Hope you find the post useful and encouraging. I think it helps to know you’re not alone as a writer on things like the topics (time taken to get published, rejections, opportunities which may not seem as if they are at first etc) I share in this post.

Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

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Hope you’ve had a good Thursday. Lady had another fabulous time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal (they’ve had a terrific week!) and saw her lovely spaniel friend, the gentle Daisy, too.

Writing wise, I’m sharing Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up for that tomorrow and I restricted the post to just being about writing otherwise the post would’ve been far too long! See above.

Later in the month I’m off to see The Ghost Train (written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame) performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company. I’ll also be off to the Association of Christian Writers in person meeting at Egham where I’ll be pleased to catch up with members of the flash fiction group in person, as well as other ACW members I haven’t seen for a while.

Plus I will have further author interviews coming up on CFT too so plenty to look out for and plenty going on with me at the moment. But then that is how I like it to be.

Lady was overjoyed to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback friend again today. Lots of cuddles were exchanged. Sweet to see.

Pleased to see my author newsletter went out this morning. I was looking at short fiction forms for this one (and that will be the theme of the October Writers’ Narrative which is due out at any time).

I am also looking at Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link for that up on Friday. To prevent the post from being far too long, I have limited the topic to things associated with writing! Am sure you will identify with a lot of what I will be sharing here. Again, see above, and if I hadn’t limited the scope of the post, I really could have written chapter and verse on the topic!

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my Lighting Up. I hope you enjoy the story and would you like Marian as a friend or relative of yours?

Flash gives me the opportunity to have fun with genre as I have written flash crime stories, flash historical ones, flash fairytales, and many more types. I love the variety here. I have to lead with my characters given there isn’t room for much in the way of description though that in turn makes you focus.

I show you what the character needs to show you. The character only gives you the dialogue and internal thoughts you need to make sense of what they are doing and why. But given I can put my characters anywhere, I do take advantage of that. It makes life more interesting for me and I hope for my readers too.

Certainly for the collections, it leads to a good variety of stories. I love reading those as well as writing them so know I want to see plenty of story types in my collections.

Hope the day has been a good one for you. Not bad here. Looking forward to going to an ACW Zoom group tonight – always good fun.

Am pleased to know a few of the Flash Fiction Group will be going to the in person ACW event later this month. It will be lovely for us all to come out of our “Zoom boxes” and meet in person”! Naturally we will put in the word about the joys of flash fiction at some point (and I will be sharing some of this in the October Writers’ Narrative which is due out at any minute I will share the link as soon as I can).

Character Tip: One of the strengths of flash fiction is it does mean you have to focus which is why I recommend for our story to focus on one character and one moment in time, especially if your story will be 500 words or fewer. I like to think of this as not “diluting” your story.

Fairytales with Bite – Natural Light

As I write this in October 2025, the autumn season is well under way. The nights are drawing in, the leaves are changing colour (which is one of my favourite sights at this time of year) and the acorns are coming down rapidly (you should hear the sound as they hit the car roof!).

Now much as I love autumn, it is always a shame to see the amount of natural light fading. While it is lovely to cosy up inside with writing and good books, I also love being able to enjoy the natural light as long into the evening as possible. So this led me to wonder, how does light “work” in your setting? Do they have a sun (or more) as we know this? How are your characters affected the amount of natural light available?

Can natural light be created artificially? Does your setting have electricity as we know it? (I always loved the old character Catweazle describing it as electrickery. For those who don’t know, this was a 1970s UK children’s programme and many have fond memories of it. Catweazle was a time travelling wizard effectively).

How does the geography of your setting, including light and darkness, challenge your characters? How can they use natural light, or the lack of, to their advantage?

There will be story ideas there.

This World and Others – Character Types

How many character types does your setting have and are they anything like what we have here? Are species easy to differentiate? Is there a clear hierarchy in terms of magical power etc? Is there a dominant species and what led to them becoming that way?

I have an interest in hierarchies in settings because I am always looking out for the underdog in a story and seeing what they get up to. I guess that comes from my long love of the classic fairytales where the underdog often turns out to be the hero/heroine.

I also have a soft spot for non-human characters but then I have written from the viewpoint of a mother dragon before now. As long as readers can understand why your characters (of any kind) are the way they are, why they have the attitudes they do, why they act the way they are, then the story will follow through. I also think variety in character types is a good thing. The Lord of the Rings would be much poorer without that.

Why does your setting need the character types it has? I would expect to see geography and climate to have an impact here given we have different species suited to different conditions so it would be odd if a fantasy world didn’t have something similar.

Also give some thought as to how your character types developed the skills, magical or otherwise, that they have? Is there evolution going on here? If there is an overall creator in your world, how do they control how things/characters develop? Is there a limit to how far they can go?

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Being Interviewed

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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 image in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones but added to by me thanks to the wonder that is Book Brush! Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good few days. Has turned cold and bright here but Lady and I love autumn days like this. Writing going well. Had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group where we looked at linked flash. I’ve written more of that for my Seeing The Other Side. Good fun to do.

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Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, Being Interviewed. This has come about because I am about to be interviewed for Writers’ Narrative in the forthcoming October edition about Short Form Fiction. More news on that next week.

Meantime, this post shares hints and tips about preparing for interviews, even if you are not published yet, or if this kind of thing seems a long way off. There is much to learn from author interviews right now.

I also look at what I think makes for a good interview and discuss prep work needed by interviewer and interviewee alike.

Hope you find the post useful.

Being Interviewed

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Another lovely autumn day at the park for Lady and I. We hope to catch up with her best buddy tomorrow.

Writing wise, don’t forget my post on Being Interviewed, which is full of useful tips, will be out on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

It’s also not long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative is due out but, meantime, why not check out the current issue, which is full of useful information about publishing. 

 

Hope today has gone well. An odd one for me as today would have been my late parents’ wedding anniversary. Lovely autumn day, another one of the kind Lady and I love though, so a joy to get to the park though we didn’t see any doggy chums today. Also looking forward to ACW Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. It was good!

Will be sharing Being Interviewed on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I share tips and thoughts on handling interviews which will be useful, even if you have not been published yet and this kind of thing seems a long way off. (It may well come around sooner than you think!). See above – and I was glad I prepared for interviews ahead of actually having them. It paid. See CFT for more.

Writing Tip: You know your character. You know what drives them. Do you know what kind of vocabulary they would use? Would they have any pet phrases which could reveal something about them? Do they have any pet phrases which others could use “at them”? I can think of some my late parents did use with me. Am not saying what! But you could use this kind of thing to give even greater depth to your characters and make them seem more real to your readers.

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Friday Flash Fiction is taking a short break from submissions and won’t take any until after 3rd October. Do see the screenshot and I hope all at FFF enjoy a well earned break.

But if you want a great read do check out the link as there is plenty to enjoy here.

In other news, I’ve booked my ticket for the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in December. It will be great to catch up with fellow flash fiction and short story writers here. Looking forward to this already. 

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out next week. I share tips, flash fiction story links, news, and much more. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

A huge thank you to all of my subscribers – the support is much appreciated.

There is another flash fiction competition I want to make sure I have a go at before the end of the year so hope to start work on a piece for this over the weekend.

Also delighted the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday on the theme of linked flash went well. People had plenty of cracking ideas here and I hope they go on to write the stories up.

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What makes your character’s irritable, other than things like tiredness, not feeling well, overwork etc? What would happen if they had to face something which would trigger their irritable mood but they couldn’t react in the normal way they would do? Perhaps they are trying to impress someone so know they have to rein the irritability in somehow.

How do they do it? Does it pay off? If they can’t keep the irritability in, how would the other character react? Would they prefer your lead character to just be honest in the first place?

Definite story ideas there.

Fairytales with Bite – Celebrations

Shortly, I’ll be hosting a family celebration – everyone is looking forward to it – but what would this kind of thing look like in your setting, especially if magic is involved or could be involved? I must admit I love the opening of The Lord of The Rings with Gandalf’s fireworks. Rightly these are spectacular.

So how would your magical characters celebrate anything? How would the governing powers arrange state celebrations (or commemorations for that matter. Sometimes a commemoration can involve an element of celebration especially if you are recalling a moment of deliverance, say).

Would your characters use magic or any other form of power they have to help with their celebrations? Are certain powers only used for this kind of thing and who developed these things and the rules for their usage?

How long do the celebrations go on for and does everyone have a good time (I personally would hope they would!)?

This World and Others – Official Events

Linking with Fairytales with Bite above, how would official events be run? Are these all sombre occasions or is there a mixture of celebratory and commemorative events? What would be the history behind these things? Is magic involved in running these events of would that be deemed inappropriate if, say, one event involved remembering the misuse of magic and the consequences of that?

Are all of your characters pleased to take part or witness these commemorative/official ceremonies or do any of them see it all as a waste of time/public money/both? Do any of your characters protest/otherwise try to disrupt these things and, if so, what are the consequences? Would the “general public” (in whatever forms they are!) be against for for them?

Are there events your characters feel should be commemorated officially but are not and, if so, why was that decision taken and by whom and can it be changed?

Story ideas there!

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As I shared the September 2025 issue above, I thought I’d pick out a back issue for this spot. All great reading.

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Writing Competitions

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Hope you have had a good few days. Wet, wild and blustery here. Writing going well. Am so glad it’s generally an indoors job when it comes to this time of year! Lady has got to see all of her chums already so is pleased with how her week is going.

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Delighted to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post where I talk about Writing Competitions. I look at the benefits of these and share tips, including things to watch out for when you are thinking about entering competitions. And, yes, do watch out for scams.

Hope you find the post useful. I sometimes write the kind of post I wish I had to hand when I was starting out as a writer all those many moons ago and this one does fall into that category.

Writing Competitions

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post – Writing Prompts. As I write a lot of short fiction (short stories as well as flash fiction), I am always glad for prompts which help me come up with ideas and tales I would not have created in any other way. Good prompts encourage lateral thinking, which is always useful. I share other advantages to using prompts and hope you find the post useful.

(Good news: you are never going to run out of prompt types to use – there are thousands if you consider all of the different random generators, proverbs, sayings and other things which can be used as prompts, some of which, like photos, you will have on your own phone).

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a lovely one, getting to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals and all before the rain came in so we all count that as a win.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing Writing Competitions on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above.

Plus I will have further author interviews coming up on CFT in October. Will share more nearer the time.

Looking forward to going to see The Ghost Train which will be performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company in late October, aptly for the Halloween weekend. This was written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame. Will be interesting (and a great performance I’m sure).

My next Authors Electric post is out tomorrow. I’m looking at Writing Prompts this time, which is a favourite topic of mine (and a useful one I think). Again, see above. Has been a busy week on the blogging front!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s Friday, the end of the working week for many, and time for another story. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Getting Better With Time.

I’ll be looking at linked flash for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting next week. For my Seeing The Other Side, I have written more examples of this and found it great fun and a good challenge to do. It’s where focusing on character helps. A good character with a strong voice can be used more than once, which is what I love about linked flash.

One compelling reason to focus on character when writing flash, in particular, is I do want to see and experience the story through their eyes because that is what I want a reader to see and experience. It is also more direct and immediate and that is one of the strengths of flash fiction.

It can help cut word count considerably too because it will be what the character needs to show you that you will focus on – no room for any kind of waffle.

Even when you have a character prone to waffling, they will have to rein it in for the purposes of the story. You will just need to show a “little waffle” but that will be relevant to the character portrayal so readers will understand that. You just can’t go on at length, which is no bad thing!

Fairytales with Bite – Changing Seasons

This year in the UK at least we seem to have gone straight into autumn after a long hot summer with pretty much no or little warning of big drops in temperature and heavy rainfall. Often there is a small period of adjustment weather wise as the seasons change.

In your magical setting, are the seasons the same as ours? If not, how do they differ? How do your characters respond to the changing seasons? I love autumn, my late maternal grandmother did not.

How is daylight affected by the change in the seasons? How would things like clothing, the food your characters would eat, and general activities change as the seasons do?

Are there things your characters look forward to in each season or are there aspects they dread? Could things like magic be affected by the change in atmospheric conditions as the seasons change? Are there specific laws your characters have to follow at certain times of their year? Why were these introduced (public safety could be a good route to explore here)?

There are certain things I look forward to in each season here. I love to see new life appear in spring, love the nice holiday feel to summer, adore the changing colours of the leaves of autumn, and feel the silhouettes of non-evergreen trees in winter time have their own specific beauty.

What would your characters pick and what does this reveal about them to you? Could you use what you find out in further stories?

This World and Others – Geographical Considerations

In your magical setting, what role does the geography play? Is it constant (generally as we know, though we have exceptions like active volcanoes)? Can it be affected by the magic being used in it or is it immune? If it was affected, were the changes in it useful or not? Has that led to rules being brought in about the use of magic and where and when it can be used?

Naturally geography will play a role in how well or otherwise your characters do on any journey or quest they undertake. Certainly it can give them added complications. How would your world arrange things like its transportation system to overcome geographical complications for getting around (mountains do tend to get in the way!)?

Are there certain geographical areas which are uninhabitable and what could make a character have to go through that area to get to somewhere else? How would they manage this? How did those areas become uninhabitable if they were not always like that?

Story ideas there I hope!

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Author Interview: Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

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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 thank you to Joan Livingston, Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog, and Sarah Holbrook for author, book cover and poster pictures for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I interviewed Joan as part of a blog tour. It is a cracking interview. Do check it out below.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady has had a lovely time with some of her chums, we’ve managed to avoid some of the rain, and the writing is going well. So all good here.

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I’m delighted to welcome Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series, to Chandler’s Ford Today for an in-depth interview regarding her latest book in the series, Finding The Source.

The interview is part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

In a cracking interview, Joan shares insights as to how she developed her series and lead character, Isabel Long. In a nice link, given I live in Hampshire, Joan explains how her background as a journalist, including writing for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, influenced her writing.

She also shares how she manages to get the right amount of back story into a novel, given not everyone will come to her work with the first book in the series. Plus she shares three wonderful tips on writing and another three on marketing, which will help any writer. And there is much more too. Do check the interview out.

Introducing Joan Livingston and the Isabel Long Mystery Series – Finding The Source

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Lady was overjoyed to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum today. They’ve been best friends for a long time and we haven’t seen her for a while so the two dogs were overjoyed to see each other again. This is one thing I love about dogs like these two – the friendship is always there. Humans could learn a lot from dogs at times.

Writing wise, don’t forget to look out for my author interview with Joan Livingston on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. It’s a fabulous one but don’t just take my word for it. See above.

This evening (11th September 2025), I’m supporting a friend’s book launch on Zoom. That’ll be fun. It was and interesting with it.

Will have news to share concerning the next edition of Writers’ Narrative but in the meantime why not check out the current issue, which is packed full of wonderful advice about publishing.

 

Lady and I didn’t manage to avoid the rain altogether though she did get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and played with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Neither Lady nor Coco cared about the rain. Both had a super run around. Thankfully, both dry off easily enough, which is more than can be said for their owners!

Writing wise, I’ll be talking with Joan Livingston, author of the Isabel Long Mystery Series, about her latest book, Finding The Source, for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This is part of the Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog book blog tour. The interview is packed full of cracking information and insights. Be sure not to miss it. See above. Plenty of interest to readers and writers of crime fiction here too.

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It’s a delight to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest 100-worder, The Green Pin. Katie discovers the green pin slipped under her door by someone unknown has huge significance for her. Find out what that is and how Katie reacts here. Hope you enjoy the tale.

I’ve made no secret of my love of writing prompts and use many kinds to trigger ideas for my own writing. They’ve all paid off. But the lovely thing as a flash fiction writer is the fact I can use each prompt and get different stories out of it.

For one thing, I can write my prompt to 100 words, 250 words, 500 words, etc.

I’d have the choice of using the same character for each story or making up different ones.

If I use one character throughout, I can show more of their story with the increasing word counts.

If I use different characters, I could use the prompt itself as a common link and so have some linked flash written.

Either way I have options which I always like.

Though flash is necessarily on the short side, it doesn’t mean there are any limitations to the themes it can tackle. Indeed by focusing on the character, flash fiction can show the reader the big themes and the impact on those characters. As the word count is limited, the impact isn’t diluted.

One of my tales from From Light to Dark and Back Again is called They Don’t Understand and is what I call a slice of life tale where my character looks back on his life. You can see the impact losing his wife is having on him as he relates their joint story together. He doesn’t have to spell everything out.

The joy and strength of flash is inference and it is a powerful tool here. For this kind of story, I think it is the best way to go. The character’s voice grabs your attention, there are no boring bits, he focuses on what you need to know, and it doesn’t go on for too long.

Neither does he tell you the theme – he shows it.

Fairytales with Bite – Something Spectacular

The trouble with any magical setting is what would count as something spectacular? Mind you, do your characters see magic as something ordinary and would see something like our science as being something spectacular?

I guess this is a matter of perspective but what perspective would your characters have? Do they agree with the overall consensus here or do they think differently?

What would your world consider as a spectacular development for them? Would it be a case of being able to do more with the magic or other powers they have or to develop something which is different to that so they have alternative sources of power to use?

And what would the general public make of it all? Who would be behind the spectacular development? What drove them to do it? What obstacles do they have to overcome?

Definite story ideas there.

This World and Others – What Passes For Normal Around Here?

Now I think this would be a great title for a novel or short story. If your setting is a magical world, just would be considered normal? It would be different from what we would think here.

There are always those who think outside of the box so their definition of normal is likely to be different from that held by the majority. How would the “misfit” get on given this? Or would they be encouraged given your setting’s great inventions tend to come from those who do dare to be different?

Also did your world’s definition of “normal” change over time (and maybe partly due to different inventions coming along changing life and attitudes?). If your world interacts with other species/planets, how has that changed their definition of normal?

Plenty of food for thought for stories there, I think.


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As I’ve shared September’s issue above, I thought I’d share a back issue of this fabulous magazine here.

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Flash Fiction Collections

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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 image of me holding Creativity Matters was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes. Two images of the September 2025 cover of Writers’ Narrative were supplied by Wendy H Jones.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady and I have managed to dodge most of the showers but into every life a little rain must fall and we didn’t get away with a soaking altogether! Writing wise, my latest author newsletter went out and I had a lovely time at an ACW group online so good so far. Oh and the September issue of Writers’ Narrative is out too – theme is publishing. Do see further down for the link to it. It’s a cracking read and packed full of useful information.

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Another lovely day in the park today for Lady as it was sunny and she got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again and play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, who never minds being herded by Lady.

Am pleased to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post, which is so much on a topic close to my heart. I discuss Flash Fiction Collections, and the joys and challenges of putting these together.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Flash Fiction Collections

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Lady had a fantastic time in the park this morning. Not only did she get to see her Hungarian Vizler pal, her “boyfriend” Bear, a fabulous Aussie Shepherd, also came out. Haven’t seen him for a bit but dogs never forget their friends, human or animal.

Lady generally prefers to play with other girl dogs but Bear is an honourable exception and the pair of them had a fabulous time while the lovely Hungarian Vizler looked on. We all managed to beat the rain too so that counts as a win.

Writing wise, I’ll be talking about Flash Fiction Collections for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Plus next week I’ll be interviewing American writer, Joan Livingston, as part of her blog tour for her Finding The Source, the latest in her Isabel Long mystery series. Looking forward to sharing that. It’s a cracking interview.

 

Busy day today. May as well have had a revolving door in my front door today. Did manage to avoid most of the rain though (which was an achievement today to be honest, I think Someone was being kind to me!) and got my hair done so all ended well. Lady also got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was well pleased with that. Lady is sweet here in that she gets so much out of being with her chums.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say the September issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. The theme is Publishing and there is so much in here for writers at all stages so do check this out.

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It’s Friday, the end of the working week, and I’m pleased to be back again on Friday Flash Fiction. Hope you enjoy my latest here – A Hard Bargain.

Someone does get more than they bargained for but will you feel sorry for them, I wonder. 

Have got a story to edit for a competition which I hope to work on over the weekend. (Deadline is towards the end of this month). Story is pretty much there but I need to cut it to 1000 words, which I should be able to do.

I was set an exercise once where I had to write a 1000 word story, then another exercise where I had to cut the first story in half to 500. It was a fantastic challenge. Why not try it sometime? It so sharpens up your editing skills!

Hope today has been okay. Looking forward to taking part in an Association of Christian Writers Group meeting later this evening. It will be especially nice just to see everyone and chat as today has been hectic. It was great fun too!

Having said that, busy days like this are when flash fiction, I think, comes into its own. Not much time to write? Okay. Why not try a 50 words or a 100 words story? Doesn’t have to be perfect at this stage but you will still have written something. I know this always makes me feel better – just being able to do something creative – on days when you can’t do much.

All those little pieces of writing build up over time and could spark off ideas for other work too.

Sometimes a flash piece will spark ideas for a longer short story etc but unless you’d written that piece down, there would be nothing to spark from. So I see little bits of writing as never ever being a waste of time, far from it.

Fairytales with Bite – Fairytale Acrostic

F = Fun to read and to write, the fairytale world is often grim for its inhabitants.

A = Always on the lookout for bears with a grudge (Goldilocks), or old women selling dodgy red apples.

I = Innocence and Infamy collide, usually the innocent get through okay, sometimes with the aid of a fairy godmother.

R = Remember the wizened old man/old lady may well be a powerful magical being in disguise – be sure not to offend.

Y = You can be sure the characters will get their just desserts somehow.

T = This could and should be a terrifying prospect for the villains.

A = Alas, it isn’t, but on the other hand seeing them get their comeuppance makes for great storytelling.

L = Life resumes its usual pattern but with justice done after the expected and usually granted happy ever after

E = Ending.

Allison Symes – 3rd September 2025

This World and Others – Progress

What would count as progress in your magical/more technologically advanced world? Would it be things such as the development of new, better, more reliable spells or equipment to improve technology even further?

What does your world lack (in any area) and what are they prepared to do to make progress on getting what they need? Would they trade with other worlds? How would this be done? What could they give of value to another planet? Or are they more warlike and would invade to take what they need by force? (This is not meant as a direct comment on what goes on here but you can see the link!).

Is progress seen in more general terms such as becoming less warlike (which would be welcome in any world I’d say)? Would your setting compare itself with others it knows about? How would it react on discovering a world which is more progressive than it is? not everyone would react well after all.

Story ideas there, I hope.

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Double Blog Day – Stand Alone Books and Out and About with Jane Austen (again!)

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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, as were the photos from the Dorset Museum for my More Than Writers post this week.
Hope the week has gone well so far. Weather becoming changeable, a good reminder we are rapidly heading into autumn (in my part of the world anyway). I like autumn. Love to see the leaves changing colour. Lady doesn’t mind which season she’s in though can find the high heat of summer trying. Have had to cancel some of her walks during the heatwave this year.
Writing wise, had a lovely session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this week. Will have a smashing author interview coming up too plus I too am being interviewed so lots going on.


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29th August 2025 – 1st post – More Than Writers

It’s double blog time again for me and the first one I’m sharing today is my More than Writers post for this month. This is the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers and this time I’m talking about Out and About with Jane Austen.

I look specifically at what writers can gain from going to exhibitions like this and why one particular thought I had here is a good challenge for all writers. If you can, do get down to The Dorset Museum in Dorchester as this exhibition is on until 14th September and is worth going to see.

(A longer version of this post was on Chandler’s Ford Today recently but for More than Writers I wanted to look at things writers especially can learn from such things, as well as to celebrate the life and times of Miss Austen, of course. Don’t think you can do that often enough incidentally!).

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29th August 2025 – 2nd post – Chandler’s Ford Today

Second blog post from me today and this time it’s my Chandler’s Ford Today one. Again I look at something well worth celebrating – Stand Alone Books.

I share what I like about such books. I’m not unbiased here as I write them too. My flash fiction books are different from each other and each can be read alone, though naturally I would love people to read both of them and to get my third when it is out next May as that will be different again!

I also look at the joys of writing such books and naturally I look at the challenges too.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Stand Alone Books

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It’s double blog day again for me tomorrow so do look out for two posts from me. I will be sharing my latest on More Than Writers (the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers) which is about my recent visit to a Jane Austen exhibition in Dorset. I specifically look at what writers can get from going to things like this. The second will be my usual Chandler’s Ford Today post where I will be looking at Stand Alone Books. See above for both.

Writing Tip: Always have in mind your potential audience for what you are writing, as well as the reason why you writing it. It helps with focus. I wrote a longer piece for CFT about Jane Austen which was to give a general overview of the exhibition a little while back with the idea to encourage potential visitors to go to said exhibition (and if you can get to go before it ends in mid September, I would). My post tomorrow for More than Writers narrows my focus down as to what writers can learn from this kind of event (and there is plenty too). So one idea, two articles, two different areas of focus – and this works. 

For fiction, think about what your potential audience will get from your story, whether it is to be entertained, or made to think about something (though there is no reason why you can’t do both of those things as a good story will always have me asking myself whether I would act as the character did or not). What is the focus of the story? Why will your character appeal to readers?

Hope the day has gone well. Had some welcome rain today. Actually had to towel the dog down for the first time in weeks.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening.
Am also looking forward to sharing a wonderful author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today in September. Am also working on interview questions for myself at the moment. Am almost there on them. More news later on that one. But plenty going on, I’m glad to say.

Don’t forget the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out again soon too. It is free to subscribe to so why not check it out? It is written by writers for writers and covers so much but why not see for yourself?

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Hope the working week has gone well. I can now share what were my two entries for the recent Friday Flash Fiction competition and, once again, heartiest congratulations to Sue Clayton, who won with her tale Per Annum, plus the runners-up.

My two pieces were:-
Making It Up
Faith and Flowers

Hope you enjoy these two but do check out the other tales here. I’ve had a fabulous read doing so and am sure you will too.

Had a lovely session of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday. Was pleased we all got to draft some stories. I joined in with this too and now have two pieces to polish up and submit somewhere. All good!

It’s funny how your perspective can change over time. I remember being terrified of writing exercises. Would I be able to write something? I was sure it would be absolute rubbish if I could get something down.

Now I rarely pass up the opportunity to have a go at any writing exercise. I know the first draft will need work so I can forget about the rubbish bit. It’s fine for it to be rubbish. Nobody writes the perfect first draft but there will be something I can take from my initial draft and make better still. And that has the possibility of going on to be published or do well in a competition. Everything to go for then as far as I’m concerned.

With flash, you can have fun playing with genres as well as the moods of your stories within any one genre, so why not give it a go? If you usually write funny flash, why not try writing a more moody one (and vice versa)?

I like to mix up the word counts I write to though for Friday Flash Fiction it is usually the classic 100-worder I send in with an occasional trip to the longer flash category allowed. But elsewhere when I’m entering competitions, my usual word count is 300 words or fewer. It is by far the most popular word count category I come across.

Mind you, I also come across competitions which don’t advertise themselves as being flash ones but are. For example, Writing Magazine does run a 750 word story competition. Also many of the short story competitions will allow you to send in something at 1000 words, the top end of flash so there is a kind of crossover point here which flash writers could take advantage of.

Certainly it would be worth having a go at these, even if you don’t enter the competitions. Why? It would give you useful practice in writing to the top end of flash.

Fairytales with Bite – Being Creative

How would creativity manifest itself in a magical world? Would it mean inventing things without the use of magic etc or would it mean developing and creating new kinds of spells or both? Would there be a writing world here, an artistic one etc? How would stories be told in your world? Are there any creative things your magical setting copies from Earth and why did they pick these things to ape?

Is creativity valued or is it seen as secondary compared to doing an honest day’s “magical work”, say? Not everyone appreciates creativity here so it wouldn’t be unreasonable for some in your setting to take the same view. That could give other characters of yours difficulties if they were of a creative persuasion. Mind you, you could be creative in turning that into a good story!

This World and Others – The Unexplained

Our world has much which is unexplained. How would this apply to your setting? Especially if your setting is more advanced than ours in terms of technology, science, magic even, what would remain unexplained to them?

Would this cover your setting’s natural world? Just think of how much we don’t know about our oceans, for example. What would your world’s equivalent be here?

I am always amazed at the pictures sent back by the space telescopes. What would your world’s equivalent be here too in terms of the technology here but also what planets and star systems surround them?

When it comes to your world building, there will be things you need to know but which the readers of your works may not. Can you cover all you need to know so there is nothing or very little unexplained to you?

Knowing how your world works (or at least enough of it to get your started) will save you much rewriting later on. If you know your setting has a form of power we don’t know here, for example, your working out how this would work, how it is supplied etc will add credence to your tale.

You can never just wing it but you don’t necessarily go into details to the nth degree either. What you do need to know to be able to show the reader what they need to know is what is key here.

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Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025

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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. 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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Meeting Up With Other Writers

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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, 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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Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester

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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. Am about to head off to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again. Lady has been catching up with some of her pals. Am busy writing and editing. Two CFT posts for you this week too, see below for more. Photos from The Dorset Museum and their Jane Austen – Down to the Sea exhibition were taken by me, Allison Symes.


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

8th August 2025 – 1st post – John Puzey

Busy day. First up is my first post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I share a post about John Puzey’s library event coming up on 16th August. He will be discussing his new book, Captive Audience (Authors Reach Limited). John is well known in my area as a member of the Chameleon Theatre Company too. I hope the event goes well. Full details of time etc in the post.

Author Event – John Puzey at Chandler’s Ford Library – Captive Audience – 16th August 2025

8th August 2025 – CFT post – Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester

My second post for Chandler’s Ford Today is Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester where I review my recent visit to a special exhibition at The Dorset Museum. The exhibition called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea was enlightening. I share more of my thoughts as to why in the post. If you do get a chance to go to this, I highly recommend it. The exhibition is on until 14th September 2025.

Mind you, I plan to go back to the museum anyway later in the year because it holds a wide range of other interesting exhibits which I didn’t get chance to see so a return trip is definitely called for. (For one thing, I wouldn’t mind visiting the Thomas Hardy room here).

Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester

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8th August 2025 – third post – Two year Writers’ Narrative anniversary

Another post here tonight sees me, along with the rest of the Writers’ Narrative team, celebrating the second birthday of this excellent magazine. But don’t just take my word for it. Why not check it out?

It is written by writers for writers and is packed full of interesting articles and amazing tips. See the link below to the most recent issue. (There is a subscribe link inside the magazine itself and it is free to subscribe to so nothing to dislike there!


Lady was pleased to see her other best buddy, the Hungarian Vizler, today. Nice time had by both.
There will be two Chandler’s Ford Today posts out from me tomorrow. See above for both links.

One is to flag up a local author event. John Puzey (who will be known to many in my area as a member of The Chameleon Theatre Company) is having an author signing event at the Chandler’s Ford Library on 16th August to discuss his book, Captive Audience, which is published by Authors Reach Limited. The post shares full details. All are welcome. Brief blurb below.

Behind the wire and the watchtowers, three prisoners of war begin their journey to fame. An adventure of escapism and escape, set against the backdrop of war-torn Italy and the lure of post war stardom.

The second post will be my usual one for a Friday and I’ll be sharing Visiting Jane Austen in Dorchester where I’ll review the recent exhibition I went to see. That runs until 14th September 2025 and if you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Links for both posts up tomorrow.

Lady got to play with her best buddy, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, today so all well there.

Writing/Character Tip: Can you summarise your main character in one line? Why not give that a go? It helps you get to their “essence” and is a good way, when you read your story back, to check that is coming out in your tale as you would want so your character makes the maximum impact on your readers.

It will show you too why you want to write this character up. There should be something about them which “nags” you to write their story up after all. If they grip you, they will grip your readers but that essence will show you why they grip you in the first place.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Friday Flash Fiction are currently running their annual two week competition which ties in with the Edinburgh Festival. So I am sharing the link here to the 100 words story page so you can have a wonderful read. I have submitted a story this week but no names or comments here until the competition is over. But do enjoy the tales. I have had a fabulous read and am sure you will too.

In other news, and an update to an earlier post this week, I did manage to get my 750 word story submitted, just ahead of Swanwick. 

Hope you’ve had a good day. Not bad one here.

Had a lovely time at yesterday evening’s ACW group I go to most months. Was pleased to put in the word for Writers’ Narrative too! You can’t always know when marketing opportunities come up and some of the best ones are by word of mouth. I also put in a good word for the Authors Licensing and Collection Society (ALCS). Both WN and ALCS are worth checking out but you need not just take my word for it!

Flash Tip: Another advantage to the tight word count flash demands is you haven’t got room for any waffle whatsoever. So words like whatsoever would automatically be taken out of any flash fiction story of mine! You do get better at spotting words which aren’t really needed (and really is so often another one!).

But this is the purpose of the first edit after all – to get rid of wasted words and to ensure the story makes sense. Then it is a question of polishing up and proofreading. I see these as three distinct stages. All have a purpose. All help me make my stories as good as I can make them.

Hope today has gone well. One thing I will especially look forward to at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which happens soon (hooray!), is getting to take part in writing exercises.

I enjoy these things and know I will end up with some draft flash fiction pieces from them. Nothing to dislike about that! I have polished up some of my stories from these things in the past and had them published (CafeLit and I can think of at least one which will be in my third book, Seeing The Other Side, due out next May).

So is there a point to writing exercises?

Definitely!

Fairytales with Bite – Going Away

In your magical setting, do any of your characters go away to do what we would know as Continuing Professional Development? If so, is it compulsory they do this (annually maybe) or is it a volunteer thing?

I am about to head off for a few days of writing workshops and courses. It is a big highlight of my writing year. Not least because I get to meet up with writing friends I only see online for the rest of the year. So what would be the equivalent in your setting?

Wouldn’t necessarily be writing of course. Is there a fairy godmother school somewhere where said godmothers can improve their craft work? That could be fun to witness. Certainly I could see potential for humorous stories there. Also would there be a social side to this and what would happen there?

So where would your characters go? Why is the location for the courses etc the one which has been picked for this? If magic is flying about, you could see the point of setting workshops etc nowhere near any major populations!

Could be some fun stories here.

This World and Others – Workshops and Courses

Linking with Fairytales with Bite above, which workshops and courses would your characters go to? Would they have any choices or are there specialist ones they absolutely must do on a regular basis? Who runs these? What standards are expected of the courses themselves and how would your characters qualify to get to go to them at all? Is there the magical equivalent of OFSTED or any other body which holds educational establishments to account here?

Who decided there should be magical workshops and courses? What led them to that and do they teach them? What obstacles did they have to overcome to persuade others learning like this was essential (as not everyone would see the need. Sadly not everyone sees the need for education, especially for women, even now).

What do your attendees make of the courses they go to? Could one of your attendees learn something at one of these courses which will change their lives, for better or for worse? How would that play out?

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

As I’ve shared the August 2025 edition above, please find below an older issue of the magazine.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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