Tag: writing competitions

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!

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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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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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Popular Themes – Is There Anything New To Say?

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Hope you had a good weekend. Lady did – she got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback again. I managed to get plenty of writing done, which always pleases me. Full steam ahead for the week to come, I hope!

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric. My post this month is called Popular Themes – Is There Anything New to Say?

I thought it would be an apt topic given a certain saint has just had his renowned saint’s day and there are more than a few love stories around at the moment!

I share my thoughts on the importance of bringing something new to the mix and share how my way in to this is via the character(s).

Hope you find the post useful.

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Hope your Monday has been reasonable. It’s not my favourite day of the week by any means but what was lovely this morning was Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and her Rhodesian Ridgeback pals. A great time was had by all.

It seems the scammers were especially busy earlier today as I spotted a couple within the space of a few minutes. Tiresome, tedious and a reminder, I suppose, we all have to be careful. The golden rule of if it seems too good to be true is right here.

Writing wise, had a smashing weekend getting plenty done with story and article submissions achieved. Hope the rest of this week follows a similar pattern!

Lovely church service this morning. Enjoyed that. Lady also got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal unexpectedly after that and both dogs were so pleased to see each. Very sweet to see.

Sent off a story for a competition. Have picked another one to try (and have got a rough edit of a potential story for it too). Had a good evening writing yesterday!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again before too long. I share news, tips, story links etc. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I’ve found adding bits and pieces to my newsletter throughout the month is the best way to write it. I also allow a few days before it is due to go out to check it and to make sure there is nothing missing. I usually pick a theme for the month. The one for March will be titles, a great form of advertising for your stories if you get them right.

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Hope the weekend is going well so far. Still grim, weather wise.

Writing wise, I’ll be discussing Making the Most of an Author Interview for Chandler’s Ford Today next week and plan to share tips I’ve found useful. Hope you will do so too. I also hope to have further author interviews (more news as I get it) and hope you enjoyed the great one with Gill James, which I shared yesterday.

Character Thought: What would a character of yours usually see as nothing out of the ordinary but another character shows them otherwise? What has brought about the chance of perspective and is the second character right in bringing it to attention of the first character or not? What is the impact of the change of perspective on the first character? Do they handle it well or not?

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Lady hit the jackpot this morning in that she firstly got to play with Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, and then, separately, with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Lovely time had by all. Lady tired but happy. Definitely a good day in her books.

Talking of which, what would be a good day for your characters and could you get some stories from that? A day in the life of can make an interesting take for a story. Works best when kept short so what better format than flash fiction for that?

It’s Monday. It’s cold BUT the sun came out today, hooray! Note to anyone not in the UK – most of us have had several days of grey, murky weather. Okay not unusual for February but it is so nice seeing the sun again! Still time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Listening to Reason.

What do you do when you are fed up with some jerk being incredibly rude to you and in a crowded shopping centre where people are laughing? Well, when you’re in my character’s shoes, you have options you know will silence the jerk and the laughter. Find out what these are here.

 

Will be working on another flash story for a competition which isn’t advertising itself as a flash one but is because it wants a maximum word count of under 1000 words. It pays to look out for these. There are more of this kind of competition than you might think. Also several of the short story competitions have a minimum word count of 1000 words so flash fiction writers could go in for these too if they wished.

It pays to practice reading flash fiction (and indeed other stories) aloud. It is so easy to stumble over something you know well (and even easier on material you don’t!). I use Zoom to record myself when I’m preparing for an Open Prose Mic session or anything like that. It means I go into the event more relaxed than I might otherwise have been simply because I do know I have prepared all I can.

Separately I’ve found reading work out loud, even if not an event, to be useful because it means I can hear how my dialogue comes across and so on. You can hear where the prose seems “heavy” or too complicated and I can then edit accordingly.

Goodreads Author Blog – Flash Fiction

My main writing work is in the field of flash fiction where the longest any story can be is 1000 words. You can pack a lot of characterisation and drama into that limit. As well as having individual pieces published online and in print anthologies, I have two collections of flash fiction books out with a third in the pipeline. The advantage of flash fiction is you get a short sharp read and it can have a huge impact on you because it is so short. It is undiluted fiction, if you like.

Probably the best known of all flash fiction stories is Ernest Hemingway’s famous For sale: baby shoes, never worn. There is a world world behind those few words. Very much punch to the gut storytelling there.

I make a point of reading flash fiction and short story collections in between reading longer works. I want to read from as wide a field as possible and I will always put in a huge plug for the shorter forms of fiction, just as I am doing here! It isn’t just because I’m published in these forms, honest.

Do check out the collections. There are so many fabulous stories to find out there and word count shouldn’t come into your reading choices, I think.

I also think reading long and short forms of writing makes for an interesting reading “diet” for you. I know I love mine!

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Author Interview: Jenny Sanders Part 1- The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction

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Hope you have had a good week. Weather all over the place again here. Lady not worried as she has been seeing her pals most of the week. Glad to share Part 1 of a fabulous two part interview with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today. Jenny discusses her new devotional book, Polished Arrows. Devotional works are in themselves a specialised (almost technical) form of writing so it is lovely to have it represented on CFT.

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Second post from me today and it’s time to share Part 1 of a fabulous two-part interview with Jenny Sanders for Chandler’s Ford Today.

She discusses her new devotional book, Polished Arrows, with me and shares how she faced the challenge of switching from her children’s story work to what is a specialised form of non-fiction writing. She also shares how she went into devotional writing in the first place and how Robben Island, South Africa (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so long) played a major part in this work.

Part 2 will be up next week. Meantime do enjoy Part 1 and good luck to Jenny on both her launch and book blog tour (this interview and next week’s forms part of that tour).

Author Interview: Jenny Sanders The Polished Arrows of Non-Fiction Writing – Part 1

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31st May 2024 – More than Writers
Double blog post from me today. First blog post is due to me forgetting I should’ve shared something a couple of days ago! Apologies, folks, but my latest post for More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, should have been shared by yours truly on the 29th. Oops! Still better late than never!

This month I talked about Flash Fiction – Advantages for All Writers. Well, they do say write about what you know! Hope you enjoy the post and a huge thank you to all who have already commented on it (bar the one who is doing an advert for something not writing related at all. Grrr…).

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Will be so pleased to welcome Jenny Sanders back to Chandler’s Ford Today for the first part of a wonderful in-depth interview concerning her new devotional book, Polished Arrows.

Amongst other things, we will be discussing the joys and challenges of this kind of specialist writing and how Jenny began writing devotionals in the first place. Her other work is in short stories for children. So quite a contrast there. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Good luck to Jenny too for the launch of her new book. It is always exciting to have a new publication out there.

Many thanks to Jenny Sanders for the author shot below.
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Lady had a lovely time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback friend today so all is right in her world.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight on Zoom. Always good fun. Theme is questions and answers this time. (They are an excellent structure for all forms of writing for one thing).

A question for you though. Have you thought about making your characters answer questions they would rather not face in the course of your story? There could be some interesting ideas emerging from what it is they don’t want to face here and from what happens when they do have to face those questions and deal with them in some way.

Have fun (though I concede your characters almost certainly won’t but then isn’t that one of the joys of writing – to dump your characters right in it and see how they manage? I refuse to believe that is just me).

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It’s the end of the working week. It’s time for a story. Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my Unwelcome News. Just how will Melissa take her “Dear John” letter from Stefan, who has cleared out her bank account, and which of them has the biggest secret? Find out here!
Screenshot 2024-05-31 at 10-15-31 Unwelcome News by Allison Symes


Had a lovely time at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night on Zoom. The questions and answers topic generated plenty of ideas for stories for all of us and I am looking forward to working on some of my ideas from this session in due course. That’s the joy of joining in with the exercises on the night – I too get ideas triggered for me to work on later.

The Bridport Prize competition deadline is 31st May, so you just have time to submit something. Having said that, I would call this last minute.com submitting given I’m writing this on 30th May! There are other competitions out there though.

If you have got a copy of the competition guide Writing Magazine issued earlier this year, it would pay you to have a look through that and mark up the competitions which catch your eye. If you haven’t do check out their website though bear in mind some of their competitions are for subscribers only. Still worth taking a look though especially if you are a subscriber.

Screenshot 2024-05-30 at 19-45-27 Writing Competitions - Writers Online
Hope you have had a good day. Am running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. Will be nice to see everyone. I do set exercises for these meetings and often I will join in with these on the night myself. I love live writing exercises. I’ve recently used some of the ideas I came up with for a previous session here to then write stories which have since ended up on Friday Flash Fiction and on my YouTube channel. Win-win I think there!

I do sometimes prepare an answer in advance for an exercise I’ve set to give an example and I know I’ve learned a great deal from workshops I’ve attended as a delegate where that has happened. But I do love the adrenalin rush when you’re set an exercise and you think now what can I do with this? I’ve learned to not worry about how rough the result is – this is only going to be a first draft and only I will see it – but the thrill of knowing I’ve got something down in answer to the brief is wonderful.

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Fairytales with Bite – Nasty Surprises

Thought this was an apt topic given I had a nasty surprise recently, having been burgled. Give some thought as to the kind of surprises your characters could well do without. Think about how they would handle these (with or without help) when forced to face up to them. Just what would count as a nasty surprise in a magical setting? Could magical powers fail at a crucial moment (and what would trigger that failure)?

Who would be behind the nasty surprises and why are they doing this? What are they hoping to gain (as there has to be something here to make it worthwhile for them to go to the bother of doing this)? Can those nasty surprises be overturned or softened (as in Sleeping Beauty)?

One nasty surprise, of course, could be a formerly reliable character turning to evil ways. What would be behind that? Are they motivated by money, power, or fear of what would happen if they don’t “turn”? Do they end up regretting changing ways here or is it something they wished they’d done years ago? Are there any indications a character like this might turn bad to the other characters in your story? Could early intervention prevent what could be a very nasty surprise indeed?

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This World and Others – Crime and Punishment

In any society in any setting, there will be those who break the accepted rules. There will have to be ways of dealing with that so society doesn’t break down. (Well, not unless that is the point of your story and you are showing how it breaks down etc but even then think about how you would end your story. No resolution to the problem would, to me, seem depressing. There is a place for dystopian fiction but must admit it isn’t my reading choice).

So how would your fantasy settings handle the idea of crime and punishment? Would these be akin to what we have here or something only your world could do because….?

Does your society have the equivalent of a police force (or the wonderful Watch from the Discworld novels)? How effective are they? Are they held in regard by the rest of your society?

What would be considered reasonable punishment for crimes? Indeed, what would be recognized as crimes? Is there a crime, say, of misusing magical power and how could that be proven and what would be done here (especially if the idea is to stop others doing this?).

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Resting Stories and What ARE your characters like?

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Hope you have had a good weekend. Had one of those lovely weekends where I was out in the garden and managed to get lots of writing done. Lady has had a good start to her week, seeing her two closest girlfriends on Monday. It is smashing to see them get on so well. When we’re leaving the park, it does look a bit like “the girls are back in town” as the three dogs walk together!

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Drizzly all day. Never worries Lady though she didn’t get to see her chums today.

In happier news (Lady misses her pals when they’re not in the park), I’ll be running a two part course on editing at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in August. So looking forward to that but I will also be offering 1:1 sessions during that week too. My topics are flash fiction and editing (general tips). See screenshot for more information. Looking forward to this too.

My attitudes to editing became far more positive on realising good edits make all the difference to being published or not. Prior to that, I’d just seen it as a chore. Now I see it as part of the overall creative process but do find I have to get the story written (or blog post) and then edit later. I can’t do the two tasks at the same time. That just doesn’t work for me.


Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see and play with her two best buddies, so she has had a good start to her week. Crocuses are starting to spring up. Lovely to see that.

Writing Tip: Think about what your characters like in terms of what they like to eat and drink, do they appreciate the natural world, what kind of music do they like etc. Also think about what they loathe.

Now put them in a situation where they have to put up with what they loathe, they have no choice. How do they handle this? How do they get out the situation which has landed them in it? Good story possibilities there. Could also take this in a humorous way or a more serious one so give some thought as to what mood you want to convey here.

422035451_828776429262220_1929857604074121295_nToday has been lovely. Nice church service. Sunny, a bit warmer than recently, and more signs of spring on the way. Love days like this. Lady does too.

Don’t forget my next author newsletter will be out on 1st March. How quickly February whizzes by! To sign up for news, tips, links to stories etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com and I will just say many thanks to all of my subscribers. Support much appreciated!

Writing Tip: I’ve talked before about resting stories before editing them but how long should a rest period be? There is no one straight answer to this but I’ve found a couple of days is another for a flash fiction piece.

I tend to rest a longer short story (1500 words upwards) for a week or so. The advice I’ve come across for novelists is to leave your work for at least a month. The reason for resting any kind of story is so you can “escape its world” for a while and when you come back to you will see the tale with fresh eyes, as if coming to it for the first time. That is the way to be objective about your stories.

Newsletter with envelope imageHope you have had a good weekend so far. At least it’s dry today in my part of the world. Managed to get out and do some gardening. Had a lovely task today – to proofread my three stories which will be in The Best of CafeLit 13. That was a joy to do!

I’m looking at Writing Themes and Saints’ Days for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. What on earth is the link there and how can writers make use of it? I will share all on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that. Ideas come from a wide range of sources and this post is an example of one that came as a surprise to me but I trust the post will prove useful to other writers.

Have had a good week. I’ve submitted another story to a different market. Will say more assuming I hear more though this may not be for some time. I followed my own advice and, having checked things out and being happy with what I found, I figured I had nothing to lose. Didn’t cost anything either. There are good reputable free to enter competitions and markets out there. It is just a question of finding them.

In this case, it was from a tweet I saw and I then followed it up. Have done this kind of thing before but previously, on checking things out, I found something I wasn’t comfortable with so didn’t go further with it.

Never be afraid to walk away from a market or competition if you are not entirely happy with it. There are others out there with which you will be happy. You need to think a little longer term here and think along the lines of would I be happy with my work appearing here. If the answer is not an emphatic yes, do walk away.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the views coming in on Likely Story, my latest YouTube story which I posted yesterday. (See below). Much appreciated. Subscribers to my channel are always welcome.

I love creating the flash tales here. I use Book Brush to help with creating the video itself and then use YouTube’s own vast library of audio tracks (free to use etc) to add music. But I create and edit the story itself first. Sometimes I have to think laterally to come up with a suitable video background but that is always a good challenge!

It’s Monday. It’s slowly getting lighter in the evenings where I am. Hooray! More spring flowers emerging. Double hooray! Still Monday though. Still time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Likely Story.


I’ve occasionally started two flash fiction pieces with a similar opening line. See Mishaps and Jumping Time in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. These stories were written together, are meant to follow on from one another, and were fun to do. It meant I could take the character I created for Mishaps, the first story, and get even more use out of him for the second story!

As both of these are humorous tales, there was more fun to be had with two tales rather than just the one. They also worked better as two stories rather than one, there was a natural end point for the first story, which gave me a good start for the second one.

I had in mind from the start how these two stories would look on the printed page later, naturally hoping they would make it into print! It is no coincidence one is on the left page and the other on the right either. Layout can sometimes help your stories have more of an impact too.

So this is another aspect to flash fiction you could use. If you have a character you love, put them in more than one story. Use that to help you sort out your running order for your book in due course. It will flag up to a publisher and future readers this is a deliberate use of the same character.

Also to get the most impact from two or more stories with one “star”, that impact will be the greater for keeping the tales together.

BB - Flash with a Dash for TTFFOne of the things I love about writing for Friday Flash Fiction is that I am effectively given a weekly challenge to produce new writing to a 100 word count. So I do! The themes I can set, it is just the word count which is fixed, and I know now, after a lot of experience, 100 words looks like two to three short paragraphs. You can see what I mean via the link.

I find being able to visualise what the word count looks like enormously helpful. I know I’ve got two paragraphs and the second one of those has to wrap the story up. The first one, of course, reveals what the story is so there, straight away, I have a story structure in place. Love that too.

 

Goodreads Author Blog – Themes in Stories

Do you have favourite themes for stories? I think mostly this is an unconscious thing. I know I like to see justice done, to name one example of a theme, so this is one reason why I love the classic fairytales, where it generally is done.

I also like crime novels where justice is done. (It is one reason why I love the Agatha Christie books).I don’t like the ones where justice is perverted. But I pick the fairytale or crime novel to read based on what I can read of the plot outline and then decide whether it is for me or not. It is funny though how favourite themes do come out time and again in what I choose to read.

As for themes I like to write to, I do like the character who turns out to be more than what others expected. Again I’ve got fairytales to thank for that one, especially The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christen Andersen. It is a good lesson in not judging by appearances, another theme I love reading about/writing for.

The best stories do have timeless themes behind them. Writers will always have something to say about these things. These themes will always have resonance with readers. Certain things about us as a species will not change which is why these themes resonate and why they make such great stories.

Screenshot 2024-02-10 at 17-25-53 Themes In Stories

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Getting the Most From an In Person Workshop

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of my books in the Swanwick Book Room. Almost every author does this! Many thanks to Julia Pattison and Janet Williams for pictures of me at Swanwick and the Book Fair respectively.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has got better as the week has gone on. Nice to be back out walking the dog and she has been glad to be seeing her dog friends again. Our wildflower meadow is looking especially nice right now – see photo below taken by me. (Oh and it’s double blog time as well as both my CFT and Authors Electric posts came out on Friday, 18th August 2023).

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

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

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

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Chandler’s Ford Today

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

Getting the Most From An In Person Workshop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


Fairytales with Bite – Magical Services For Hire

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

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

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

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

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This World and Others – Guilds and Commercial Bodies

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

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

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

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

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September issue due out in last week of August.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

 

 

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Building A Book Workshop – Author Interview: Gill James

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of Gill James at a Bridge House Publishing event.
For those who celebrate/commemorate, may I wish you a Happy Easter. It is lovely to have the sunny weather to go with it! A busy week again this week. I hope you enjoy a fabulous interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Really great idea here. Check it out below.

BookBrushImage-2023-4-7-20-1515Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am thrilled to welcome back Gill James to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her Build a Book Workshop. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Find out all about it here.

Author Interview: Gill James – Build A Book Workshop

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Another good day for Lady – she got to play with her pal Coco today.

Will be sharing a wonderful interview with Gill James on Chandler’s Ford Today soon. We’ll be discussing Build a Book Workshop which is a fabulous idea. More tomorrow. See above.

Don’t forget the April issue of Mom’s Favorite Reads is out. Do check it out – it’s a great read and free!

 

Lady had a ball with her best mate, the lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Good time had by both.

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous interview with Gill James about Build a Book Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today. Interesting premise. Great answers to questions, what’s not to like? Link up on Friday. Again see above and yes I am really excited about this interview. The premise here is a superb one. Do check out the interview.

Talking of questions, don’t forget you can use these to quiz your potential characters, I often do and will also use the random question generators to help me come up with “left field” questions, which can be a great way of truly finding out what your character is made of! They also stop you using the same old questions over and over again.

I will often use questions to give me ideas for themes for stories and again often they make for good titles too. I find they help me dig that big deeper and that in turn benefits my story and characterisation.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Questions make for good themes τσσ. What questions DO bother your characters and why?"

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be on Friday Flash Fiction this week with my story Which Way? Hope you enjoy it. This story was prompted by the throw of a story dice and, aptly, a picture of a dice came up!

Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 09-12-58 Which Way by Allison SymesIf you do get Writing Magazine the last issue had their competition guide in it. Bear in mind a lot of the short story competitions either have categories for flash as well or their word count requirements fall within flash territory. Well worth checking out.

Don’t forget to check out the Ts and Cs of the competitions too (and that should be easily done by going to the competition’s website where you should be able to see these). You can sign up to Writing Magazine on line – their website says you could get access to their archive here, which would include the last edition with the guide, I would have thought!
Screenshot 2023-04-07 at 20-29-10 Writers Online Membership - Writers OnlineEntering competitions is also good practice for writing to deadlines

I was talking about using questions to help me with my fiction writing over on my author page earlier. Of course, because I am coming up with stories and characters all the time for my flash fiction and short stories, I need to ensure I have a constant supply of idea generators.

This is where the random generators are a blessing. It is also why I mix up the type I use frequently. Doing all of that makes me think outside the box more. That in turn helps fuel creativity and I am always all for that! (Story cubes, the old game of bits of paper in a hat with different words, adjectives on etc and then you pick out pieces at random – these all work too).

Also don’t forget the prompts books (and I will admit to bias here given I’ve contributed to some). Talking of which, I am also in The Big Book of Prompts, and many of the writers who regularly contribute to CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing etc are in there too. Why not see what we’ve come up with for ideas and see what you can make of them? Have fun!

 

Fairytales with Bite – Light and Dark

I’m writing this after what seems to have been the dullest, wettest March on record. Even the recent clock change where the clocks went forward did not appear to make much of a difference. And then the sunshine turned up and now we can believe spring has got here after all! Light makes all the difference.

In your setting, what kind of light would be considered natural? Are your characters affected by light levels the way we can be? What would they have in the way of artificial light for the winter season? Does your setting have a long dark period or a long light one? How would that make your characters behave?#

If you live in a setting where there isn’t a lot of natural light for most of the time, behaviour will be different compared to those who have nigh on perpetual natural light. (Those living in the latter can more obviously get out and about that much more easily. Sleep patterns will differ here too. How would that affect your characters?).

Is dark feared or welcomed? How do your characters manage to do the everyday tasks of life when dark is a way of life for them? Is crime more prevalent in a “dark” world?

You can also explore the issues of light and dark for each of your characters too. What would be their light attributes, which their dark etc? That alone could give you a good character outline ahead of writing your story up.

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This World and Others – Nature

Light and dark are natural phenomenons of course but in your setting what is the natural world like? Is it comparable with ours? How do your creatures (human like or otherwise) cope with light and dark? What are their natural tendencies? Is there prey and predator, for example, and who would be considered to be the “top of the tree” here?

Have your main creations changed the natural world and, if so, how? Are there benefits to what they’ve done? What are the disadvantages and has your natural setting found a way of fighting back against what it hates? There are stories to be had in climate disasters and their aftermath, for example, but a more positive outcome here would be a tale where your characters learn from their mistakes, put them right, and the natural world responds to that. Redemption stories are always welcome! (If only to cheer us up as readers because there is so much gloom out there. We see natural disasters all the time, yes?).

How broad is your natural world? Is there a range of geographical settings? That directly affects what can live in your setting naturally so what kind of varieties of plant/insect/animal life, do you have here? How do these affect how the others can live?
It pays to take time to work this kind of thing out. Setting can so often act like a character in its own right. Think of The Shire, Mordor, Gondor etc in The Lord of the Rings. Each distinct. Each memorable. Each with their own “natures”.

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

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Quizzing and Questioning

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It’s not often I start a post using the letter Q (which is generally best saved for getting a high score in Scrabble!).

Image Credit:  As ever, images are from Pixabay or Pexels unless otherwise stated.

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Quizzing your characters can be great fun and often leads to you to finding hidden depths to your creations.

Sometimes you can find your characters are more shallow than you thought initially they would be but you can use that. Shallow characters can be used for comic effect. They can also be a pain in the neck to your lead character.

Work out what their place is in your story. Work out if there is a reason to their being shallow. Do they develop at all? If not, how do they help or hinder your lead?

Work out what you think you need to know about your characters. You should find that leads to other questions but the more you can envisage your creation, the better it is for you to write them into existence. Because you know them well, you will write about/for them with conviction and something of that does come through to your readers.

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It’s my turn on the Association of Christian Writers’ blog More Than Writers. This time I discuss Feeding Your Writing. (For gardening fans, I will say now it doesn’t involve Baby-Bio, though I admit I love the image from Pixabay below. Given some of my flash fiction is fantasy based this is particularly apt!).

I share some thoughts as to how you can feed your writing and why it is so important. Hope you enjoy.

 

I’m going to be sharing Part 2 of The Chameleons Say Hello series for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Their Spring Quartet production, due to be staged in April, is now off, unfortunately but understandably. The Ritchie Hall where they perform does not have a big stage. It is amazing what The Chameleons achieve given the limited space but it does make the 2 meter rule nigh on impossible to achieve. (I’m still in awe at the amazing set they built for Blackadder).

Do check out the interview later in the week and the previous one (there’ll be a link back in the post I put up on Friday). The interviews make for a great look at life behind the stage.

Being the nosey parker that I am, this kind of thing always fascinates me. The world of books can show you different life experiences, real or imagined. Interviews can also you aspects of life that you won’t experience directly but are fascinating to read about nonetheless.

And I hope it is not long, relatively speaking anyway, before The Chameleons get to entertain us again ON the stage.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’ve just discovered a new random generator – a random question one! I think I could have some fun with this.

Firstly, you could use the questions to help you develop your characters. Quizzing characters is a great way to finding out more about them before you write their story.

I’ve always found that this leads to better depth of characterisation. I need to know Character A loathes cheese because they were forced to eat it at school because cheese is somehow going to feature in my tale and it will be a major issue for them. Now that’s just a very random example but you see the point.

Secondly, you can use the questions as titles and/or themes.

Thirdly, get your character to answer the question and make that the story!

For example, one question that came up when I found this was:-

If you inherited or won a million pounds/dollars etc, what’s the very first thing you would do with the money?

Now there is definitely a story in that! I shall explore more of this generator. Really pleased to have found it.

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Following on from yesterday’s post, I did write a story based on the random question generator question I shared with you yesterday. Will polish and submit that in due course.

Having another look at the generator, I’ve found you can change category of question as well. That will be useful.

Another thing which will be useful from this is you can ask yourself WHY you have answered the question the way you have.

For example, the question that has come up tonight for me is “If you could start a collection of one kind of item, what would it be?”.

(In my case, books. I already have a good collection but that’s not a good enough reason to stop buying books! All I’m limited by here is budget and, for print books, shelf space! Oh and while I think about it, a big thanks to all of my writing friends for writing wonderful fiction. I’d always been a little bit lacking in reading contemporary fiction. Classics not a problem, contemporary was. Not any more it isn’t! One of my little pleasures in life is walking past my book case with my friends’ books on and even more so at the moment given I can’t see any of them for goodness knows how long. You good people know who you are! Well done and thanks, all!).

Now as well as answering that question directly for a character you’re creating, look at WHY the character would collect antique cuckoo clocks or whatever it is you have chosen. Are they trying to compensate for something they felt is lacking in their life? Are they fixated by time? What problems could that cause them? Have they a deep appreciation for the cuckoo (and yes the possibilities for a funny story are there!)?

So dig deeper. Answer the question. Then look at why. See what you come out with. There will be stories in the answers to the “why” question as well as to the “what” one! Try it and see. Have fun.

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Moving on from random things, which kind of writing competition do you prefer? One with a set theme or one which is open?

I love and take part in both but must admit I do prefer the set theme. It provides a framework for me to work to and I find that useful. It also forces me to think outside the box a bit more because I don’t want to go with a take on the topic that is likely to be a very popular one.

Whatever take I do use is something I want to be able to make unique. So, okay, there’s no new love story in the world for example, but that won’t stop them being written and rightly so. What is wanted is your unique take on a love story and your voice coming through and appealing to an editor.

Taking part and being one of the winners of the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition has been a joy due to this aspect. One theme. One maximum word count set for us all (1000 words so handily just counts as flash fiction!). Fifteen winners. Fifteen different stories and styles. A jjoy to be part of. An even bigger joy to read the collection of stories (and if you want to know more, do check out my Amazon Author Central page – the two collections to date are Transforming Being and To Be…To Become).

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At what point do I know if a story has come to life?

For me, it’s when I can anticipate the character reactions and actions based on the set up I’ve created for them.

If, say, I’ve created a character who is greedy, I can anticipate them carrying out some action which will help them satisfy that greed. (It doesn’t mean I have to like them OR their actions!). The anticipation should be realistically based on how I’ve portrayed the character.

Sometimes a character surprises me but it will still be in keeping. For example, my character could be greedy for money but what if they’re NOT keeping the money for themselves? What if they’re helping someone else or they’re being blackmailed?

Now that would change the course of the story BUT the greed still makes sense. The actions to satisfy that greed makes sense. It’s the motivation that will change what a reader thinks of the character and that is a good place for a surprise to come in I think.

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What Is It About Reading You Love The Most?

Hmm… could write chapter and verse on this one. I mean, where do you start? But here goes:-

My great love is characterisation so the success of a book to me is dependent on how well the characters appeal to me.

To be honest, much as I love Jane Austen, I’m not keen on Mansfield Park. I much prefer the more rounded Austen heroines in Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion etc.

My second great love here is when the book makes me forget time and the world around me because I’m too engrossed in the world of the story. Now that is an undisputable sign of a great story.

I love it when reading shows me worlds I have not known, including right here on Planet Earth. Good non-fiction comes into its own here.

I love it when I discover new genres. I’ve always loved fairytales and still do, but finding the wonderful worlds of well written historical fiction, crime stories etc., has been fantastic.

I love following the development of characters in series novels. It is like catching up with old friends when you come across them in Book 2 etc and discover in this one they’ve married someone they weren’t dating in Book 1! (You’ve got to find out why, right?).

And, like so many writers, I’ve got a soft spot for quietly overhearing conversations (well, you never know when you’ll hear something interesting that could spark an idea for a story of your own!), reading dialogue in fiction is exactly like that.

Reading helps me unwind, entertains me, informs me – what is there not to like?!

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MAKING TIME AND WRITING CONFERENCES

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Why is it you never have as much time as you’d like for reading and/or writing? Time flies when I write, it drags when I’m doing the housework! There’s probably some natural law about this somewhere…

It’s important then to make the most of the time you do have. Never despise the fact you might only write or read for 15 minutes a day because those pockets of time mount up. At the of a week, you would have had 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes) and you can complete a short story, some flash fiction etc.

 

Books paperback and ebooks via Pixabay

Books – love them, don’t mind the format. Image via Pixabay

REAL WRITING POST - Books take us to the heights

Great characters = great books. Image via Pixabay.

REAL WRITING POST - Let your characters live

Books should keep you gripped and that is down to the characters. Image via Pixabay

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A huge but lovely library. Image via Pexels

Even in the heart of a big city, books are a great form of escape - image via Pixabay

Books are a fantasic form of escapism. Image via Pixabay

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What do I like most about going to writing conferences? Difficult to say but I love the interaction with other writers and it is always good to know it’s not just you that’s faced rejections countless times. Also great to be able to celebrate any good publishing news with others and for them to do the same back. It is vital, I think, to know others do know the same frustrations with writing you feel and experience the same joys with it too.

Naturally, there is what you learn from the courses too, but I think you can’t beat the “buzz” of inspiration that comes from these things. You go home again looking forward to drafting out those new thoughts and ideas that came to you, maybe even try a new style of writing. The encouragement that comes from a good writing conference is invaluable for those times when writing doesn’t come easily or for whatever other reason, you’re not able to write as much as you’d like to.

A beautiful home for lovely books. Image via Pixabay.
Great way to relax. Now where are those biscuits? Image via Pixabay
Love this image! Image via Pixabay
The joy of writing. Image via Pixabay.
Some of the books I’ve appeared in and FLTDBA of course. Image by Allison Symes
Books can make you lose time but what a way to lose it! Music can do the same. Image via Pixabay

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Will be off out on the train again this coming weekend so am automatically seeing it as “draft some more flash fiction stories” time! The great thing about writing is you are never short of things to create, edit, edit again, submit, receive rejections on, submit, receive acceptances on etc.

I must try and get some more work off to competitions this year. I have been shortlisted in a couple, which always gives me a buzz, but need to get back to this again. One great thing about competitions is having different themes to work to – I never mind a set theme. The challenge there is in coming up with something which meets the criteria but is engaging and different enough to hook the judge. (If you’ve hooked them, you’ve hooked potential readers).

Golden rules of competitions?

1. Make sure it is a genuine competition. Check out the background of it first.

2. Assuming it is a genuine competition, follow the rules. Stories ARE dismissed if rules are broken. (To do otherwise isn’t fair on other entrants who have stuck to them).

Oh and if you’re entering writing competitions, have fun, good luck and remember if nothing happens this time, you have still written a story that may suit a publication elsewhere. Waste nothing (but be prepared to rewrite).

 

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One of the great things about flash fiction is that a few telling details can conjure up a whole world very quickly. It really is a question of feeding your reader the right information so they put two and two together. (Sometimes of course you throw in the odd red herring!).

The Truth in FLTDBA is a good example of the right detail being a pivotal part of the story. I don’t directly tell you this is an aliens from another world story. I tell you the name of the spaceship the alien flies in and you take the rest from there.

Some very strange creatures are in books. Image via Pixabay
What new worlds and scenes will books show you? Image via Pixabay
The wonderful world of stories. Image via Pixabay
Time to have another home perhaps? Good stories to be had here! Image via Pixabay
Let your stories have impact. Image via Pixabay
Use flash fiction techniques to help you develop other forms of writing so you grow as a writer. Image via Pixabay
Fantasy may look at other worlds but often reflects on our own. Time is different too. Music can interpret worlds too. Think of classic film scores like that for The Lord of the Rings. Image via Pixabay.

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I use a variety of methods to generate stories including setting myself an opening line and taking the tale from there. I sometimes set myself a closing line and work out the story from a “backwards” point of view. Agatha Christie did this too.

What I’ve not done, and I guess I should give it a go at some point, is set myself an “in the middle” line and work either side of it! I do know of one competition a year at least that does set a middle line like that and I should imagine it’s an interesting challenge.

I’ve been brainstorming ideas for a third flash fiction collection and some of the lines I’ve come up with I will definitely save as closing lines. I’ll have a go at setting one or two as middle lines and see how I do!

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Flash fiction can be used to reflect moods (your own and that of your characters). My story, They Don’t Understand, is an example of that. It is a poignant piece about an older man looking back at the life shared with his wife. I would also describe this as a character sketch.

I do sometimes write pieces that would never make a standard length short story (1500 words or so) but make ideal reflections on character (circa 100 to 300 words) and make an interesting sideline to my “standard” flash fiction stories.

I like character pieces as a good one will make you reflect on what the “star” has shared with you in the story and make you ponder as to whether you would do the same.

Good advice – and it applies to our characters too. Image via Pixabay
Not arguing with this! Image via Pixabay
Good advice. Image via Pixabay.
Or you could ask some simple questions! Image via Pixabay.
You can’t beat the trusty notebook and pen for interview notes. Image via Pixabay.
Stories reflect all sorts of moods. There is a story to suit everyone out there! Image via Pixabay.
Books are wonderful – whether in print or electronic, whether as audio stories or told by a storyteller. Image via Pixabay.

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I write flash fiction so my first priority is to tell an entertaining story yet keep the word count down.

One great way of doing this is to give the reader the information what they need to know, but no more than that. They are the ones who put two and two together. For example in one of my stories I mention the name of the spacecraft the alien narrator flies. It is all you need to know to get the gist of the story.

Great books across the genres have been doing this for years, long before flash came on to the scene (though I think flash, as a format, is the “flagbearer” for this now).

I love Agatha Christie, as I’ve mentioned before, for the puzzle element to her stories. I like authors who give me space to work things out (and later in the story I find out whether I was right with my conclusions or not). I also think those books are more memorable because you and me, as readers, are taking an active part in those books as we read them.

I also like P.G. Wodehouse for the details he seemingly without effort puts into his story. He sometimes refers to the meals being offered. I think that’s a great way to draw people into the story, it also gives an idea of the wealth and status of the characters.

Escape with a good book. Image via Pixabay.
Flash fiction for impact. Image via Pixabay
Let the writing flow and if music can help it along even better! Image via Pixabay
What is your story? Image via Pixabay
Two formats for reading – why limit yourself?
The virtual library. These days ebooks and emagazines are available at libraries. Chandler’s Ford library are running surgeries about them. Image via Pixabay.

 

 

 

 

 

The old way of writing a story! Image via Pixabay

WHEN IN DOUBT…

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

In When In Doubt, I suggest some things you can do if you are in doubt about characters, your plot, and/or writing competitions.  Hope the tips help.  Re the writing competitions, I also give some pointers as to what to look for especially if the fee seems to be steep.  Sometimes this is genuine.  You would expect to pay more for a novel competition as you are paying the judges’ for their time in reading your book.  Golden Rule:  always check it out and if in doubt ask other writers, writing organizations like the Society of Authors and see what reports there are about the competition on the net.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

Murphy’s Law for Writers looks at how the infamous Law, which says if anything can go wrong it will, applies to writers.  I look at writing conferences, powercuts and deadlines amongst other things.  For example when it comes to powercuts, Murphy’s Law would be:-

Powercuts:  Never happen at a convenient time for anyone.  Yours will happen just as you were about to save a mammoth writing session.  You will lose it and have to redo it.  (This will only happen the once though as after that you will become paranoid about it happening again and will be selecting back up options every five minutes!).

Can you think of anything to add?

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I look at three letter acronyms for writers tonight.  For example, FBP = Forgot Backup, Powercut.  Yes, there’s a theme tonight!  Always back up work frequently.  I once lost a whole evening’s work when I forgot to do this and a power cut hit.  Never again (I can’t stop the power cuts but I can back up!).

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Don’t let power cuts take your ideas. Back up your work frequently.  Image via Pixabay