Tag: This World and Others

Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side

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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. Photo of me with Creativity Matters taken by Adrian Symes. Anolther Creativity Matters image was kindly supplied by Wendy H. Jones. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was of part of my contribution to Creativity Matters. Great book. Do check it out. A huge thank you to my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today for a couple of the photos I use in my post this week.
Hope the week has gone well. Cooler here but much pleasanter for the dog and me. Had a lovely Association of Christian Writers Flash Group meeting on Zoom. Other writing and editing going well.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you’ve had a good Friday. Lady had a lovely time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this morning, long before the weather turned hot again. I was glad of a good swim later on as well. So refreshing.

Delighted to share my latest Chandler’s Ford Today post which is Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side.

This post shares more about what you can expect from my third flash fiction collection which comes out in May 2026 (though I am looking forward to sharing the partial serialisation of it from this July onwards). I also discuss putting a collection together and thinking ahead to book launches.

Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side

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Today (26th June) would have been Dad’s 88th birthday. He’s been gone for eight years now. Can’t imagine where the time has gone.

Lady had a lovely time in the park today with her Hungarian Vizler chum. Both dogs are much appreciating the cooler weather though we will have to watch things on Monday when it is due to heat up again.

Lady didn’t miss the afternoon walks I had to cancel last week because things were too hot. The pavement test is my guide here. Hold your hand on a spot of concrete, tarmac etc where it gets direct sunlight and hold your hand there for several seconds (I go for 20, you do need a reasonable amount of time to be sure if things are okay or not). If it is uncomfortable for you (and it was last for me week!), it’s uncomfortable for your dog. It’s just not worth risking burnt paws and Lady and I happily stayed at home in the shade.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing the Other Side for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow where I will share more about my forthcoming book. Looking forward to sharing that. See above. Plus am looking forward to a friend’s online book launch in just over a month’s time too. Plenty going on I’m glad to say.

Am thankful writing is something I can easily do in the shade!

In other news, writing and editing are coming along well. Am also looking forward to going to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick later this summer. It’s not so far away now.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see Daisy, a gentle older spaniel today. We meet up with her and her owner sometimes and it was lovely seeing them both again today.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later on.
Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Allison Symes – Local Author News – Seeing The Other Side for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See further up.

Will be thinking of another story competition to try soon as I’ve spotted a 750 words one (which comes nicely into flash territory). Will probably have a look at this at the weekend but I am keeping to the promise I made to myself this year I will try and get more work out there.

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It’s Friday. It’s getting hot again in my part of the world. Time for a story to finish the working week with then. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Name Calling. Mark should have realised discretion is the better part of valour – find out why here.
Had a lovely evening with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last night. (Held on 25th June 2025). Good to see everyone. The topic was Perspectives and I was looking at the use of 1st/2nd/3rd person usage in flash fiction. Naturally I set exercises too though we ran out of time to do all of them.

What I found interesting was I wrote a piece for the 1st person exercise. I then rewrote it for the second person exercise. I think the second person usage one is better. More direct. More emotional impact too. Will have a look at this at a later date and maybe submit it somewhere. Good fun to do.

Second person can be a challenge though I think it works well in the short forms precisely because they are short.

I was impressed by the group’s output here though. All great work.

I mentioned this briefly over on my main author page on Facebook, but do bear in mind there are 750 word stories competitions out there (I’ve just spotted one) which don’t market themselves as flash fiction but it is what they are. It is worth keeping an eye out on all short story competitions because some of those will also allow stories from 1000 words onwards so flash fiction writers could have a go at these.

Plus there are plenty of flash fiction competitions which do market themselves as such so why not try some? I have found writing for competitions a great way to improve skills in writing to deadlines, meeting publisher requirements and much more.

Also, to quote a certain supermarket, you do have to be in it to win it.

Fairytales with Bite – Truth Tellers

Truth tellers ought to be welcome in society but they so often are not. There are numerous reasons for this, including truth tellers exposing corruption or refusing to join in with it. You could take that thought and apply it to your own setting.

What would count as corruption in your magical setting? Could it be as simple as refusing to use magic and using what we would know as scientific techniques instead? It can take a brave soul to be the one who puts their head above the parapet.

How does truth get disseminated in your setting? Can it be shared on public media (social or otherwise),or in print, or on the air? What would be truth to your setting but alien to ours?

Who gets to decide what the truth is at all? If this means suppressing the actual truth how does that get done and who carries out the orders? Could you have a character who defies carrying out said orders? Do they get away with it?

When truth is suppressed, how does it eventually get out and what are the consequences?

Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Species

How many species are there in your setting? Do you focus on the main ones? What roles would the minor ones have in your setting? How do they “service” the major species – or is everyone kept apart with each kind doing their own thing for the good of the world as a whole?

Are species recognised as such or do your creations not categorize in this way? What would those in your setting make of other worlds, including ours? Are there some alien species they would never have anything to do with and why have they concluded this? (In a story I’ve written for a competition recently, I have my character reveal magical characters in their setting see Earth as backwards precisely because we don’t have magic).

Do the different species get on with each other or is it a case of each kind only having anything to do with others, with those of their own kind?

How has your world changed/evolved to accommodate the different species here? Did anything unexpected happen? Have the species been forced to co-operate?

Good story ideas there, I hope.

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Celebrating 60 Years of Drama with The Chameleons – A Look Back at the Open Evening

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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. The Creativity Matters image was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones. One image of me with books taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Has become hot here so Lady has had to miss some of her walks (getting too hot in the afternoons basically). Writing continues to go well. Glad I can do that in the cool at least!

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Hope you have had a good day. Another hot one here but thankfully the morning was much cooler and Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals before it became too hot. No outings this afternoon!

Delighted to share Celebrating 60 Years of Drama with The Chameleons – A Look Back at The Open Evening for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. It was a joy to go to the Open Evening and I even found a Symes family link and odd visitors to the Ritchie Hall where The Chameleons are based. Full report in the post.

Hope you enjoy it and many congratulations to The Chameleons for reaching such a wonderful milestone.

Celebrating 60 Years of Drama with The Chameleons – A Look Back at the Open Evening

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Hope you’ve had a good day and managed to stay cool. Lady had a lovely time in the park while it was cool enough this morning but a quiet afternoon as it heated up considerably after about 2 pm where I am. I took the chance to have a good swim and felt much refreshed for that!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Celebrating 60 Years of Drama with The Chameleons – A Look Back at the Open Evening for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up on that tomorrow. See above.

Writing wise, I am busy editing, preparing blogs and flash fiction, and putting the finishing touches to my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week. Best of all, I keep cool while doing all of that.

Writing Thought: One positive thing about the hot weather where I am at the moment is I need to get up and take drinks more often and later on answer the call of nature. So I guess the hot weather is giving me additional screen breaks! These are important.

I have found I work better (and for longer overall) if I build these mini breaks into my writing sessions. Else you can find yourself getting bogged down and too tired simply due to things like dehydration and eye strain from being at the screen for too long in one “hit”.

All I know from that is it doesn’t help your writing at all.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals this morning before it became too hot. I didn’t take her out this afternoon. She and I were not sorry about that.

Delighted to be back on Authors Electric talking about Themes. I look at how I use these for creating characters and stories and why I find them useful for workshops I run and my monthly newsletter.

I also share a theme I used recently and on which I based an exercise, which I share again here.

Hope you give it a go and find the post useful. 

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my Trifling Around. This one is a fun, summer related piece. Doesn’t even matter if, like me, you loathe trifle (sorry, I never have liked the custard, all the other ingredients would be okay though!). Hope you enjoy it.
One question all writers need to be prepared to answer is the inevitable one – what do you write? I was asked this earlier this week at a group I go to when I mentioned my third book is due out next year. So I told them!

But that meant I know what to say, having given this prior thought. I also know to keep it short. I can always take further questions from people later but a brief summary of what you write is always handy for a writer to have to hand. It’s good practice in flash fiction writing too as you do basically want a one line summary.

An exercise I set for a recent Association of Christian Writers Flash Group Meeting was based on the theme of Tens. The exercise was to write a story in exactly ten words. Nothing more. Nothing less. Why not give it a go?

The point of this exercise, funnily enough, is to give practice in writing straplines for longer works later on. Ten words works well for this.

My From Light to Dark and Back Again has the strapline of A collection of very short stories to suit every mood. Ten words to the full stop! Did I get that done in one go? Oh no.

Also ten word stories are fun and easy to share on social media etc. This is one of those I came up with for that exercise. Hope you enjoy it.

The aliens diverted past Earth, as they’d heard about humans.

Allison Symes – June 2025

Well, you couldn’t blame them, could you?

 

Fairytales with Bite – Good News

I’ve recently had the excellent news my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, will be out in May 2026 with a partial serialisation of the book coming this July. Naturally I reacted pretty well to this news! I also want to say a huge thanks to all who sent congratulations etc via my Facebook page, all much appreciated. 

But my good news led me to wonder what would your characters see as good news and why? What situations could you have where one character sees something as good news and another as anything but? Who would be right?

How would your characters receive any kind of news? Is their technology the same as ours or significantly better or worse? Could the problems with their technology lead to your characters doing something which would usually be frowned upon in their world but where they honestly feel they have no choice?

What news is so important to them they have to “cheat” to get it through? Do they get away with it? What happens when the news does get through? There is bound to be a reaction of some kind which in turn is likely to drive further drama/tension and actions with consequences. (All great for storytelling though!)

This World and Others – Handling The News

There can never be any one great way to handle news, bad or otherwise. It all depends on the individual, of course, but you might like to look at that aspect for finding out more about your characters, which could prove useful for whatever story you put them in.

Do your characters take things calmly or do they make the biggest fuss imaginable over even the slightest bit of bad news? What drives your characters to react this way? Is your character wary of “drama” and so they make themselves react calmly, no matter what? How do they do this? What led them to decide this was the best way to be? There will be stories behind all of that.

As for news via media, who does get to handle it before the public can know about it? Is there government interference here or are the broadcasters genuinely independent? Who does get to decide what news the public gets to find out about?

Even if there is no official “interference” who gets to make the editorial decisions and can they be “bought” at all? What would happen if they broke a story the government would not/did not want to go public?

Handling the news can be tricky indeed.

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Why Write Fiction

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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 so far. Not bad here. Keeping busy writing wise and Lady is having a lovely time at the park. It is the simple things in life….


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with a question which might seem odd for me to ask. My topic is Why Write Fiction and I discuss this in terms of the value of stories.

I also look at how they provide escapism, entertainment, and education and how fiction encourages empathy because you identify with the characters you’re reading about.

Hope you enjoy the post and comments are welcome in the CFT box.

Why Write Fiction

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Despite some damp weather this morning Lady had a lovely time at the park and managed to meet up with her Hungarian Vizler pal. Both were pleased to see each other which is always lovely to see.

Don’t forget my Why Write Fiction post will be up on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and I plan to share something of the lovely time I had at The Chameleons Open Evening the following week. Their history is a remarkable one.

Pleased to say there will be a smashing author interview coming up towards the end of July too. Always good to have things to look forward to, I find!

 

Hope today has been a good one for you. Has become very warm again today.

Enjoyed a great discussion on an online editing meeting today. We were thinking about what editors (and I would say this applies to writers just as much) can do to help themselves when the weather does get hot. My thoughts here were on ensuring you keep up a good fluid intake (the non-alcoholic kind!) and having more screen breaks. Mind you if you do drink more to keep fluid intakes up, as you should, the screen breaks will follow out of necessity a little while later.

But it is important to think of these things. Not enough fluid intake will lead to concentration levels dropping. As a result, you will feel more tired more quickly so it is worth doing. This is where Lady helps me. I have to take her out every so often so I get a “furry induced” screen break and that usually leads to a good drink for both of us when we get back again.

Writing wise, I do a lot of my writing in the evening, which is usually a lot cooler and that helps a lot too.

But do look after yourself.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Fifty. Find out how Melanie comes to the aid of her neighbour Jane, who is not looking forward to hitting a landmark birthday. Mind you, Jane does have a good reason. Find out what here.

Another reason to read widely and well is it will influence what you write. I love fairytales, history, crime, and many other types of fiction so all of those things come into my flash fiction and short stories (not necessarily all at the same time). Reading inspires your own creativity as well as being the single best way to support the industry you want to be part of.

So investing in books (and I do see them as that) is a good idea. I often test out authors new to me by trying their ebooks first and then there are the libraries. Borrowing from there supports them. There are all sorts of ways to develop your own reading and it will encourage your own writing. I’ve found this to be the case.

We all build on what has gone before. Even Isaac Newton acknowledged this when he talked about if he had seen further, it was because he had stood on the shoulders of giants. It’s just as true for writers.


Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this month. Will be looking at the theme of perspective.

Talking of which, do you find you have a favourite perspective? Flash fiction has encouraged me to write more in the first person but I do try to balance that by ensuring I write plenty of third person stories too. I sometimes write in the second person but limit this as I think it can come across as gimmicky but for short works it can be effective. You do need a strong “you” character for readers to get behind though.


Fairytales with Bite – Everyday Upsets in a Magical World

How are everyday upsets coped with in your magical world? You know the kind of thing – everything from someone not putting the loo seat down (or up) to putting a spoon in the wrong place in the cutlery drawer.

We might moan at our loved ones on this but what would your magical character(s) do?
Would they just moan or would they do something else given they would have the powers to do so? Or are there rules preventing that kind of thing?

Is magic only allowed to be used for specific purposes? Is it banned from being used for settling petty squabbles and how is that policed? What led to the rules being brought in? Story ideas there, I’m sure.

What would count as an upset in your world with regards to the legitimate use of magic? What would count as a break of the rules? Are minor indiscretions overlooked (student pranks etc) or is every break, no matter how minor or otherwise, clamped down on? Who would do that? What happens to those who cheat and how are they found out? What damage could they do if not stopped?

Again story ideas there. I think there would be potential for humour too.

This World and Others – What Magical Worlds Might Envy from the Non-Magical Ones

This might seem like a strange topic. Surely it would be the other way around? But I think there are possibilities when magical worlds might envy those without such powers.

For one thing, would the magical worlds believe the non-magical ones have fewer complications simply because of the lack of that source of power? Would your magical government have to use extra resources policing the system so it isn’t abused (see Fairytales with Bite above)? Who would it have to rein in and how successful are they in doing this?

Also consider the climate of your setting. Has damage been done to it by too much magic going through it (which would be a good reason for your magical government to envy those without it)? What is done or will be done to deal with that damage?

Also would our world have things your magical world might prefer (such as our beautiful environments, especially if theirs has been damaged due to magic)?

Food for thought there, especially if their world had once been as lovely or better than ours.


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Thoughts on Editing

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Mixed bag weather wise but the train is welcome (grass has been looking sorry for itself). Writing wise, lots going on and I hope to share some very exciting news on this soon.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, Thoughts on Editing. Naturally I am biased on this topic given I am an editor but I share useful thoughts and tips on editing anything (yes, really). Hope you find the post informative and practical.

Am off to The Chameleons Open Evening tomorrow (7th June) as they are holding this to celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. Congratulations to them all. They put on some wonderful plays so if you have a chance to get to one or more, do go.

The Open Evening is on from 6 pm to 9 pm and will be at the Ritchie Hall in Chandler’s Ford. All welcome to go and find out more about what it takes to put on a performance. Volunteers always wanted for roles on and off the stage. 

Thoughts on Editing

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Hope today has been okay. Another soggy one but Lady got to play in front of her Hungarian Vizler chum again so all is well with their worlds! Not sorry about the rain. Grass needs it. Relieved it’s not coming down as a torrential downpour which just floods everywhere. Rain coming down at a steady rate means the ground is more likely to make better use of it. Also Lady and I get damp rather than soaked so there is that as well!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

Will be off to visit The Chameleons as they hold their Open Evening to celebrate their 60th anniversary on Saturday evening. Hope to catch up with my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today there as well.

Character Tip: What draws you (or repels you) to the character you’re writing about? There has to be a strong reason why you want to write their story up whether they’re going to be the hero of the villain. This all ties in with character motivation of course but I do think this is a huge driver for any story to be a success, regardless of its length.

Hope today has been a good Wednesday for you. Lady showed off in front of her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. The latter looks on Lady playing, almost as if she was being an indulgent granny watching her favourite grandchild! Lady just has a fabulous time (but I am sure she is aware she is showing off!).

Writing wise, am looking forward to going to an online sci-fi and fantasy group (run by the Association of Christian Writers) later this evening. Always good fun. Am making good progress on a longer short story too. Group was great fun. Longer short story on the back burner for the moment. Things have cropped up but I hope to share news of this soon.

I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday – it is always a timely topic especially given I am editing away at the moment and loving it. See above.

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble (100 worder), Starting Over. Find out what role the “umbrella from hell” has to play in Mary’s life here.

I mentioned yesterday about using flash to play with genre (see below) but inevitably my favourite genres come through in my flash fiction stories.

For me, these are what I call fairytales with bite (humorous fantasy, sometimes grimmer fantasy!), historical fiction, crime and many more but I would say these are my main three.

There is often a strong element of justice being done in many of my stories too which crosses the genres but I know for me is inspired by my love of the classic fairytales. The rotters rarely get away with it in those tales. You know the comeuppance is coming. The great thing with flash tales is that comeuppance comes very quickly, sometimes in only 100 words!

One of the things I enjoy most about writing flash fiction is the opportunity it gives me to play with character and, therefore, genre. I can and do set my characters, some of whom are definitely not human, in all kinds of settings and back and forwards in time as well.

What I focus on is making my character believable as I mentioned the other day. Their world may be fantastic. But their actions and attitudes should always be relatable. (Not necessarily agreeable though!).

Fairytales with Bite – Seasonal Magic

In your magical setting, do the seasons, whether they’re the same as ours or not, play havoc with a character’s magical abilities? Does the availability of natural light, or its lack, change what your characters can do or limit their powers in some other way? If it does, can this be overcome by what they would consider artificial means?

Can enemies take advantage of when powers are “down” due to seasonal fluctuations? What would your world do to protect itself against that?

Equally when there is an abundance of natural energy (not necessarily light though this is an obvious one to think about), does that boost your character’s magical powers and how can they make the most of this while this lasts? Can your world take advantage of this against their enemies?

Certainly I wouldn’t think it unreasonable for lack of light or other energy source to have a direct ability on someone’s magical capacity in stories. It an also limit the powers of magic forcing your characters to find other ways to resolve their problems. There will be interesting story ideas to emerge from that.

This World and Others – Times

Time is a major factor in all of our lives and that goes for our characters too. Even the superheroes need their down time. So what kind of down time would your characters need (other than the obvious ones of food, drink, rest) and how would they get this time off?

How is time measured in your setting? Are the lengths of days and nights the same as ours, or are they wildly different and, if the latter why is that the case? This has a direct impact on what could be grown in your setting too and what your characters are likely to be able to eat. It would then in turn have an impact on the kinds of employment in your setting too. If only certain items of food can be grown, your setting would need workers for that, others to process it for the general market and so on.

The way time works in your setting will have an impact on what you characters could get done in a typical “day”. That will have an impact on how long they will need to fulfil their quest or whatever task you’ve set them to do. Of course if they have more time in a day than we do, that could help them a lot!

But it pays to plan out how time will work in your setting.

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History and Stories/Writing for Online Magazines

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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 so far. Mixed bag, weather wise, but Lady has seen her chums most of the week so is happy. Writing and editing going well. Booked for a writing event later in the year (and that kind of thing always makes me smile. Have something to look forward to later).

It’s double blog time. Firstly, Chandler’s Ford Today and, secondly, More than Writers.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, History and Stories. I love history and stories and, of course, history is full of tales. 

Also as a topic, there are wonderful stories in both the historical fiction and non-fiction departments here, so you will never be short of something intriguing to read (and learn from).

I look at untold history too (what could all of those servants from years gone by have to share with us if they were able to do so? Food for thought or fiction writers there!).

I share how it is possible to write historical flash fiction and how you can “drop” history into a story even if you’re not specifically writing in the genre. Plenty to read and digest here. Hope you enjoy the post.

History and Stories

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More than Writers

Am delighted to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post on Writing For Online Magazines.

Well, they do say you should write what you know and given I write for two online magazines… (Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative), I felt this was an apt topic!

I hope you find the post useful as I share useful thoughts and tips about this kind of writing.

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Hope you have had a good day. Weather much nicer today and Lady loved seeing her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals again.

Booked my writing event for later in the year. Will sort out train tickets later (though I have got the ones I need for Swanwick – those arrived last week! Sometimes at least I can get a good discount on booking early so this is not as mad as it may seem, honest. Looking forward to Swanwick and the other writing event already).

Looking forward, much nearer in time, to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom. That happens tonight! (Wednesday 28th May to be precise!).

Writing Tip: Use your own love of stories (and their characters) to work out what you want your stories and characters to be. I know I like characters who do something to try to help themselves, even if they don’t succeed, so will base at least some of my characters on that kind of being. Not all of my characters are human – other beings can try hard and have their failures too! It will be the effort to try to do something which readers will sympathise with.

I’ve never had time for tales where good things happen to the “hero” thanks only to rotten things happening to other characters. I want my people/other beings to earn their successes.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, George The Butterfly Tamer.

The title idea came from an exercise I’ve set so I thought I would go on to see if I could write the story up to go with it.

Hope you enjoy the tale – it’s a mixture of horror and humour (and could be described as one of my fairytales with bite).

Wonderful meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night. Amongst other things connected to the theme of Tens, we had fun with writing ten word stories. No more, no less.

Why not give it a go? It’s fun. It’s also useful practice for writing a strapline for any longer work you are writing. Why?

The ideal strapline isn’t too long! Indeed my one for From Light to Dark and Back Again comes in at exactly ten words with A collection of very short stories to suit every mood. Does what it says, folks!

As for my thoughts on ten word stories, here are those I shared last night.

Mary rammed the umbrella from hell into the park bin.

The aliens diverted past Earth, as they’d heard about humans.

Mark refused to swim in the sea, he’d seen Jaws.

Sarah unintentionally shared salad with some slugs and a caterpillar.

The fairy slammed her wand down, beaten by an amateur.

Hope you like those though I appreciate the one involving Sarah may make you wince! I could, if I wanted to, expand these stories further later on and use them as closing or opening lines too.

Will be sharing thoughts on “tens” in flash fiction as part of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening. I prepare my PowerPoints for these meetings during the month (as I do with my newsletters) so there isn’t one big rush as the relevant date is coming up. I like things which take the pressure off. I also find it fun to compile things as I go. Gives me plenty of editing time later in the month too, which is always a good thing.

When I haven’t a lot of time to write, and I am itching to write something (which is my state of mind most of the time!), I will brainstorm, have a go at a writing exercise, or draft a flash tale. All great things to have a crack at when I only have five minutes, ten minutes or what have you. And I get something drafted I can polish up later.

Fairytales with Bite – Putting On a Show

How would your characters hide their real feelings in a magical world where mind reading, telepathy etc are likely to be commonplace? How good are your characters at “putting on a show” here? We all have to cover up true feelings at times (and sometimes for the best of reasons. For example, we’re sparing others who have gone through worse our problems).

But we don’t have to get around magical powers. Your characters may well have to do so. What can they use to help them here? Are mind blocks a thing in your setting or can only those of a certain status use these? Can your characters have filters to limit the scope of telepathy being used on them rather than by them?

Are certain kinds of characters better at putting on a show like this than others and , if so, what are the reasons for these? Plenty of practice perhaps? Survival depending on it? (Is that still the case now or a historical element?).

Plenty of food for story thought there, I hope.

This World and Others – What Society Expects

What does your fictional society expect from your characters and why? Are the same standards applied to all or only to some? Why any discrimination? Could there be good cause for it?

Where do the expectations come from? History (and all the nastier elements of that leading society to realise it has to have certain standards of behaviour to try to prevent these things happening again)? Faith of any kind? How does your society treat those who rebel against it and are they right to take the line they do?

Good story thoughts can come from looking at how your society has developed over time and what/who were the causes for changes? Is your society grateful for those changes and those behind them? Is there anyone who resents/tries to resist these? (I am thinking of the Luddites here who smashed machinery fearing job losses but you could take that idea further and apply it to your setting and people).

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Author Interview – Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring

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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 both Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Vlog) and Val Penny for great author, scene, and book photos for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week.
Slowly getting back to normal after our Northumberland break. Has been lovely to see Lady catching up with her friends here. All overjoyed to see each other again. Resuming the writing routine too and am making progress. I don’t know why it is but the first week back after a break is always the tough one to get through.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady loved seeing her pal Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today so this means she has got to see all of her closest chums this week.

Writing wise, I am so pleased to welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her latest adventure in print. Val has written a short story, Hunter’s Luck, which is part of The Ring charity anthology which is raising funds for The Reading Agency.

Val is well known for her crime novels in the DS Hunter Wilson/Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series as well as her Jane Renwick Thrillers. So writing a short story based around a historical object is definitely something new for her!

In a fascinating interview, Val shares how this project began, her own love of historical fiction, and working on this anthology and more. Do check it out.

Author Interview: Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring

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Another lovely day over the park where Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again. Lady gets so much out of being with her buddies. Mind you, don’t we all?!

Don’t forget a fabulous interview with Val Penny is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Will share the link tomorrow. Do check this out, especially if you’re a fan of short fiction, anthologies, and historical fiction as this interview combines the lot! See above.

Marketing Tip: Think consistency. What can you do regularly to share news about what you write? How can you make it entertaining for your readers so it doesn’t just come across as “buy my book”?

Sharing something of your writing process is a good help here. Many of your likely readers will be other writers and we are always fascinated by the process which works for colleagues. I try to think about what will be of value to readers when I do any marketing.

Sometimes a story about how you wrote something is a good way in here. It is my experience folk never mind this.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend today. Nice time had by both.

Today is the eighth anniversary of Dad’s passing – can’t believe it has been that long.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming Val Penny back to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her short story, Hunter’s Luck, which is in the new charity anthology, The Ring. The book is raising funds for The Reading Agency. More details on the post later this week. See above.

Am always pleased to celebrate short stories and anthologies! Okay the fact I have work in several may mean I have a slight bias here! I maintain it is good bias to have though…

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Thrilled to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Unimpressed. Find out why the Lady Frances Haversham has excellent reason to be unimpressed by someone walking through the wall and what she does about it. Hope you enjoy the story.

As you know, I sometimes take part in Open Prose Mic Nights (always good fun) and flash fiction is a perfect form for this. Doesn’t go on too long. Listeners still get complete stories in the allotted time span. Plus you can mix up the mood of what you read to give a good feel for what flash fiction is and can be.

I rehearse my stories using Zoom to help me. I play back my recordings so I can hear how I come across. When I first did this, the playback made me realise I was speaking too fast so now know this is something I have to watch for and not do.

I may not be able to “see myself as others see me” (to paraphrase Robert Burns’ “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”) but I can hear myself as others would hear me. That is so useful.

Anniversaries, sad, happy, historic or what have you, can make great themes for stories. Also have you thought of giving your characters anniversaries which mean a great deal to them and cause them to act in certain ways on certain days.

Story ideas there, I’m sure, especially if other characters have to get to the bottom of why Character A is behaving the way they are on a certain Sunday, for example. Could work as funny tales too. Your main character could have an anniversary about something ridiculous – what are the reasons for it? Do they realise it is ridiculous? Does another character have to show them this?

Fairytales with Bite – Resuming Work

Resuming work after any kind of break, especially a well needed one, is hard. Doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in for this to be true. So how would your magical characters get back to their normal routine after a holiday or even if they’ve been deployed somewhere else for a while? Are they glad to get back or has their break away made them restless for something better? (It may be they think it is something better but this isn’t necessarily the case of course).

How do those they return to welcome their return? Are they glad or are they wary of how your character will be towards them now? Do they have cause to think this? I always thought Frodo moving on into the west with the elves made sense in The Lord of the Rings. He had been damaged so much he wasn’t going to be able to settle in The Shire, whereas Sam Gamgee could. He had someone to return to as well, which made a huge difference.

Assuming all goes well on the resumption of work, how does the break away, for whatever reason, impact on your character? Has it made them better at what they do? Could your magical employers send people off for breaks, knowing they need them every so often so this is something everyone does and is therefore used to doing?

Story ideas there, not least because there could be a character or more who refuses to have a break, feeling they don’t need it or fear it for reasons of their own.

This World and Others – Leaving Your Life Behind

Having a career or any other kind of break can make you feel as if you are leaving your life behind, even if it is for a short while, even it if is for something good like a holiday. How do your characters handle this or is it a case they definitely want to leave their lives behind? What has driven them to feel that way? Does the break help them?

When your characters has to leave their life behind, what is the driving force behind that? Are they successful? What kind of new life do they make for themselves? Is magic involved at all? To help them escape or is it that they’re escaping from?

What are the consequences of leaving a life behind? Who else is impacted by this? Do they try to get your characters back again? Are they successful?

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Inspiration Ideas

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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. Lovely time had here – made the most of the glorious weather. Writing wise, am busy preparing the next author newsletter and a fabulous author interview for Chandler’s Ford Today. More details on that next week. Meantime, I write on (and that is just how how I like things to be).

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Pleased to share Inspiration Ideas on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Hope you will find it useful.

I share tips on making the most of being out and about over the next few lovely weather months (well, they usually are most of the time, can’t say fairer than that!). The best thing of all is the tips I share here apply just as well if you’re not venturing far from home this summer. The idea behind all of the tips shared here is to spark your inspiration and that is always useful.

Inspiration Ideas

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Lady and I again spent plenty of time in the glorious fresh air and sunshine today. Had a fabulous time. Not too hot, pleasantly warm – just how we both like things. Has tired us both out nicely too.

Writing Tip: Think about how you can use how the good weather makes you feel for characters in your stories. Also could the weather get in their way at all?

Could good weather (dry, pleasantly warm, lots of light etc) be a disadvantage to them? Are they of a species sensitive to light levels for instance? How do they manage their “condition” here? Light isn’t always avoidable! How can your characters here get on with other species for whom light isn’t an issue?

Lady and I were out and about enjoying another glorious day. Hope you have had a good day too. Spring is at its finest right now, I think.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Inspiration Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This post will include hints and tips for making the most of being out and about this spring and summer too. See above.

Next author newsletter will be out before we know it. To sign up for writing tips, news, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter Writing Tip: I find it a great help to write sections of my newsletter during the month. It avoids a last minute rush (and forgetting to do one at all). I also find it useful to think of a rough theme for the month as that will give me ideas for the different sections I write. I also love newsletters which have a theme running through it and find these grip me more when reading them.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my new tale, Rivalry. Two fairies are up for a top godmother job. One of them has a wand which keeps backfiring but she knows this is no coincidence. Who will prevail and get the top job here? Are more dirty tricks involved? Find out here.

Hope today has been a positive one for you.

I like to mix up themes for those places where I submit flash fiction regularly. I deliberately write lighter pieces, darker ones and then go back to light again. I like a good mixture in which I read here, as well as what I write myself.

When I am deciding on the mood of a piece, I start by outlining my character because I need to find out why they would be best suited for a light or dark piece. There should be good reasons behind your character’s approach to life (and therefore what they are likely to do and say).

Hope you have had a good day.

Don’t forget my two flash collections (From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic) are available via Amazon but you can also get them from The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop. This is the online shop for my publishers and this link (see below) also means you can buy from independent booksellers such as The HIve (UK) and Barnes and Noble (US).

Wherever you buy from, and not just for me, do leave a review. Brief is fine (and for flash collections suitably appropriate I’d say!).

Fairytales with Bite – Getting Away From It All

One of the joys of getting away from it all is to have a break from the normal routine. So what would your magical characters do to get away from their normal routine? Where would they go? Can they really escape their magical work? Or would it be a case of reducing their magical usage to the bare minimum so they recharge that way? At least they wouldn’t be on call all of the time…

Are there special places the magically inclined can go to recharge? How would these places be protected from those who would want to take advantage of magical characters being on their “down time”?

Also how eager or otherwise are your magical characters about returning to their normal lives again? Did the down time do them good, make them more efficient than before etc? How would that impact on their usual roles?

This World and Others – Exploring Other Worlds – Encouraged or Not?

Does your alien (sci-fi or fantasy) world encourage the exploration of other words or is this strongly discouraged? What are the reasons for the attitude here? Has exploration ever taken place and did it go well or otherwise? Sure to be story ideas there!

What similarities does your setting have with Earth? Could humans ever reach your setting (via time travel, portals, or extending our current scientific abilities for space travel?). Or has your world taken steps to ensure that cannot happen?

How have they encountered humans before to make them want to take those steps – or are they relying on things they have heard about us? We may not be considered the best species everywhere! Mind you, many of us here don’t believe that either or at least feel we could do a lot better than we are!

Where exploring other worlds does happen, which are considered worth exploring by your home setting and why? What is your setting hoping to achieve or gain from this? Again, sure to be story ideas there.

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Building On What Has Gone Before

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

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

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

Hope you enjoy the post.

Building On What Has Gone Before

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

8th May – VE Day

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

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

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

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

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

Fairytales with Bite – History in the Magical World

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

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

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

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

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

This World and Others – Archive Keeping

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

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

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

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


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Review – The Chameleons – Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor

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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 those lovely people at The Chameleons (especially Daisy Wilkins) for their kind permission to use their wonderful photos in my CFT post this week. Also thanks to various Swanwick friends for taking various photos of me book signing etc at that wonderful place!
Hope you have had a good week. Has been a good one here weather and writing wise. New issue of Writers’ Narrative is out, I have writing news, and am relieved my first author newsletter went out okay on the new service provider. Always a bit of a nerve wracking moment this! Think it looks good too as I took the opportunity to freshen up the newsletter look. See screenshot below.

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Am delighted to share my review of Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor, which was recently performed by my local excellent amateur theatre company, The Chameleons. Hope you enjoy the post. It was a joy to see the show and to write about it.

The Chameleons are also celebrating their 60th anniversary this year so will be having an open evening later in the year for locals to find out more. I hope to get along to that in due course.

Review – The Chameleons – Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor

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Delighted to share the May 2025 issue of Writers’ Narrative which has the theme of Worldbuilding. My article in here is on Worldbuilding and the Shorter Fiction Forms. Do check out the excellent range of articles and interviews here. Have a great read (and remember it is free to subscribe as well. What’s not to like there?).

 

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Another glorious day and Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals so it was just perfect for her. I also enjoyed a fantastic swim today – perfect conditions for it. I can’t always say that!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this evening. It was a good session!

Author newsletter out again tomorrow (how can it be almost May already?).

Have a story I want to get out for a competition at the weekend and am working on edits for another one. Managed to get the edits done and sent the story back to the publisher.

Last but definitely not least, look out for the next issue of Writers’ Narrative, It is due out very soon. I wasn’t wrong, was I?  See above! I will share the link when I have it. 

Meantime do check out the back issues which you can find via the publisher’s link. Plenty of great and useful reading here.
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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my The Camera Never Lies. This is a good example of my writing to a well known phrase and seeing what I can do with it. Hope you like this one.

Lady had a lovely time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler pal. I had another fantastic swim today too.

Had a good session at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group last night on Zoom.

Writing News: In other news, I’m pleased to announce I am now the ACW Flash Fiction Adviser. Paid up ACW members (and those who buy the quarterly magazine, Christian Writer) will see details of all of the advisers, including me in there. Looking forward to sitting down with Christian Writer which came through my letter box today. (1st May 2025).

Lovely day today. I don’t always use the weather and the mood it can generate to help me with my stories though occasionally I have. More often, I’ve written darker pieces on beautiful spring days and lighter hearted tales on dark wintry ones. That of course may just be me being quirky and writing “against” the prevailing mood from the weather!

I focus much more on the mood of my characters and why they are in that state in the first place. There is always something! Great stories can result from exploring that, especially if the cause turns out to be other characters, as it so often is!

Fairytales with Bite – Wishes

I suspect Cinderella might have one specific wish when her fairy godmother deigned to turn up. She would have wished said godmother had turned up a lot earlier than she did. A lot of upset would have been avoided to put it mildly! I’ve wondered if good old Cinders, prior to her wedding, could look at her rats, lizards etc in quite the same way again when they were returned to their normal forms. (You could also wonder if the animals saw her in the same light too!).

If you have characters doling out the wishes are they able/allowed to grant their own? If not (and I would hope not as you can see the corruption possibilities immediately!), when they do need a wish granted, who would they turn to and why? Is this official or does your character have to go the “back streets” route here and are they found out?

Are there rules about what characters can wish for? Is anything banned outright?

If your world setting is able to survey what other worlds do, can they copy the other worlds’ “sciences” and adapt them to their own magical world? It could look like magic there and be ordinary “run of the mill” stuff on the world they’ve copied it from. Could anything go wrong with this? Or does the magical world get new material they can genuinely use? Is there anyone who wishes they’d found this sooner?!

Also ask what would be the downside to wishes being granted or withheld? There could be some interesting story thoughts here. Would be bound to generate reactions and therefore actions in your characters.

This World and Others – Work and Recreation for the Magically Inclined

What would work look like for your magical characters? For example, do they create the spells they use or are they reliant on the work of others long before them to give them the material they need here? If they develop spells themselves, how do they do this? Are they reliant on natural materials in their world to create these things (think witches and eye of newt! Have always felt sorry for the newts here)?

Or do they use things like metalwork, woodwork etc to create their implements and other things they need to work with and use them to make anything else needed?

When it comes to time off, what do your magical characters do? After a long day working, granting wishes, what would your average fairy godmother like to do when she can hang up the old wand for the evening?

Are there “clubs” for the magically inclined to relax and recuperate or would your characters just prefer to be at home? Would they use magic to help them with domestic chores ore are they only too glad to leave the magic behind after a hard working day?

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Honest and Dishonest Characters

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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. Lady has had a fabulous time with her closest friends. I’ve had a lovely trip to the local theatre and good writing news which I hope to share before too long.

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Delighted to share Honest and Dishonest Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Fun piece to write especially given literature is full of excellent examples of both types of creation. I look at some of the aspects you need to consider when creating these and share thoughts and tips. Hope you find it useful.

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24th April
Am off to see The Chameleon Theatre Group perform Sudden Death at Thornbury Manor later this evening. Will review it for Chandler’s Ford Today in due course. The audience get to interrogate the cast as part of the performance which should be good fun. Have not been to an “interactive” murder mystery play before. Looking forward to reporting back later.

I see going to plays like this as another way of taking in stories. It’s not a bad idea to try to visualise your own stories as if someone was acting them out.

It can be a good aid to ensuring your dialogue sounds right, helps you cut down description (for a play you would see this as a visual set – can your readers picture your scenes easily enough?), and will show you whether all of your characters are playing a vital role in the story or not. If one or more doesn’t seem to have “much to do”, do you really need them in the tale?

Hope you have had a good Wednesday. Lady had a fabulous time in the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. Came home tired but happy.

Don’t forget my next Chandler’s Ford Today post is upon Friday when I’ll be looking at Honest and Dishonest Characters. Fun piece to write which I hope you will find useful and thoughtful. See above.

Marketing Tip: Consistency matters. I find it useful to focus on those social media outlets and marketing tasks I know I can keep going. So select what you would enjoy most and stick with that.

I like preparing an author newsletter and my YouTube videos, for example, so I have no problems being consistent with producing these. As much as possible, your marketing as well as your writing should be fun for you too. (Or as much fun as possible most of the time anyway!).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Same Old Thing.

Hope you enjoy it. Good to finish the working week with an enjoyable tale I think. Do check out the rest of what is on FFF – you will have plenty of good reading here.

24th April
Hope today has gone well. Am off to see my excellent local theatre company perform an interactive murder mystery. Should be fun. Led me to think though all of our stories should be interactive in that they should engage your readers so they are gripped by the situation and world you are showing them. No pressure then!

I do believe we are our own first readers though and if I’m not gripped by my characters, I can’t honestly expect anyone else to be.

Have come across another flash competition I may have a go at which specifies a character count rather than a word one (and yes it is linked to X or Twitter as I still prefer to think of it as).

Today, 23rd April, is both the birthday and anniversary of death day for William Shakespeare. Not sure what he would have thought of flash fiction given the length of his plays! But in the wonderful writing world, there is room for all word counts and styles (which is yet another reason to love being part of the overall writing community).

Writing Thought: Why not take one of Shakespeare’s famous quotes and use it as a theme for one of your own stories, flash or otherwise? What could you make of “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” as a theme, for example? Shakespeare was right on that one but could you come up with a tale which proved otherwise?


Fairytales with Bite – Crime in the Magical World

I love the Vimes novels within the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s magnificent Discworld series. The entire canon is superb but the Vimes books stand out for me and books like Men at Arms are excellent detective stories in their own right (and the fantasy setting makes them stand out more).

So thinking about your own magical/fantasy setting, which crimes could happen with in it? Are the crimes solved by magic or with good old fashioned police work (the Pratchett approach, which for me makes the books more real).

If you use magic to solve the crimes, bear in mind the criminals would almost certainly have used crime to commit their nefarious deeds so how can more magic overcome that?

You will need to give thought as to what magic can do and not do in your setting. There should be advantages and disadvantages to using it/not using it (as this will give more issues for your characters to think about as they work out what to do and will help increase tensions in your story).

Also think about the crimes which could only be committed in a magical world, what would these be? What is done to try to prevent them? Is there any kind of magical crime prevention agency and/or a detective one? Who could police the use of magic and what powers would they have to enforce this? How did the rules for the use of magic come into being in the first place?

This World and Others – Social Issues in the Magical or Sci-Fi World

Where magic or where science beyond what we know here exists in your setting, which social issues arise from them? Do these things create a have and have not society? If so, how is that handled? Are there any attempts to make things better for the have nots? Are there classes of citizens who are gifted with this kind of magic and/or science and do they share it or hoard it?

Has your magical/scientific setting over time benefited from the developments discovered or created? If so, how? Do these benefits help all? Those with the skills – are they revered or hated? Would others in your setting have good cause to fear them?

If your setting can survey other worlds, such as Earth, are there ideas we have they do not? Would they be prepared to steal them? If so, how would they go about this without drawing attention to the fact there was was an alien invasion going on (might cause panic!) or do they not worry about that? Have they raided other worlds before?

Scientific developments especially can cause two reasons – welcome and rejection. People can fear what they don’t understand so how would your setting’s people overcome this so new developments weren’t misunderstood or misrepresented?

The trouble with misunderstanding or misrepresenting something is the panic and resulting actions from that panic which in turn could cause social issues( rioting, maybe?).

Food for story thought there I hope.

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