Tag: writing courses

Lifting Up My Pen at Swanwick 2024

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Jen Wilson for taking the photo of me leading the Lift Up Your Pens session about using numbers in fiction.
It is so good to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and a joy to catch up with friends in person. Have learned so much from the courses and workshops so far.

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

Facebook – General

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

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

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

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

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

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The grounds at The Haye are glorious - Swanwick 2024

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

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

Always time for a laugh with fellow writers-1

Goodreads Author Blog – Collections

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

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

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

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

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

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Writing Should Be Fun

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Difficult to say which was my favourite course at Swanwick as I learned so much from each one, which is fab. One course I particularly did just for fun was the Secrets of Comedy one and that was enlightening. The lovely thing is all writers are playing with words and it can be fascinating to find out how that is done in formats and genres you don’t work in (as yet anyway!).

Writing should be fun and there should always be a fascination with how others write. It makes you take a fresh look at your own writing and, hopefully, develop it further and appreciate it more.

I was delighted to draft a short story on the train up to Swanwick. I’ve now edited and polished it and sent it off to the competition I had in mind for it. I’ve got a few pieces drafted at Swanwick to now work on and am looking forward to that.

Let your writing sparkle. Image via Pexels.
Heading to the light. Image via Pixabay.
I’ve never read a book in these conditions, have you? Pixabay image.
My desk is NOT this tidy. Pexels image.
Would love to get lost in here for a while. Pixabay image.
Doesn’t look comfortable to me. Pexels image.
Books invite you into their world. Go! Image via Pixabay.

My Chandler’s Ford Today post this week looks at the benefits of a good writing conference, considering things such as the boost to confidence and how writers see themselves, amongst other thoughts. Link to go up tomorrow. Most pics are by me but I’d also like to say many thanks to Geoff Parkes for allowing me to use some of his great photos in this post.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Story prompts are useful things. Sometimes I’ll use them and enter the competition they’re linked to, sometimes I’ll just see what I can write up and then decide where to try and place it. (Usually, it’s Cafelit! They like quirky there. And I like quirky a lot!).

Occasionally I’ll find a story doesn’t have an obvious home. Then I’ll keep a closer eye out on the competitions and their themes as a suitable one will turn up eventually. Nice thing with that is, after some final editing, I’ve got a story that’s good to go fairly quickly.

The ultimate smartphone maybe?! Image via Pixabay
Is it Time for a Change for the dragon in my story on Cafelit? Image via Pixabay
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
The dark can seem to overcome the light but light will prevail. Image via Pixabay
A blast from the past here perhaps. Pexels image.
Shedding some light… Pexels image.
Clarity and constructive criticism are always useful. Pixabay image.

Have you tried writing a story in a sentence? Give it a go, it can be great fun. You basically need a subject and some sort of action which will show what the character is like (and make you want to read on were the story to develop further). For example, from me:-

1. He refused to cry again.
2. It was her 25th bank robbery in a month.
3. The dragon wouldn’t eat the girl, he was veggie.
4. Enter that book shop and never be seen in this world again.
5. The used car salesman disappeared up his own exhaust.

The great thing with these is you can, of course, expand the story out but equally they can get a reaction from a reader if you do not. Have fun with this, I often do!

The perfect way to relax. All writers love to read. 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.
A truly beautiful book. Pixabay image.
Like being able to store so many books! Image via Pexels
Beautiful books. Pexels image.
I write fairytales with bite as flash fiction and short stories in particular. Image via Pixabay.
Books can make you lose time but what a way to lose it! Music can do the same. Image via Pixabay
This statue reminds me of myself when I was a lot younger. Okay I wasn’t made of stone (I’m still not!) but I did always have my head in a book. (And do so as often as I can now!). Image via Pixabay.
Notebooks, pens, beverages… bliss for the writer. Image via Pixabay.

Goodreads Author Programme – Blog – What Do I Want From a Story?

Call me fussy but there are certain things I want from any and every story, regardless of genre.

1. Intriguing characters.

2. A life or death situation (this can be life or death in the literal sense or a character making the proverbial mountain out of a molehill but it is still life or death to them).

3. Dialogue that rattles along.

4. A sense of place but not too much physical description, please. I just want enough images to form a vision of the whole thing but a few telling details are enough for that.

5. When the story ends, I’m sorry because I’ve loved being “with” the characters.

All of the above is why I read in and out of my genre as I love to find out how other writers achieve these things. And it has added considerably to both my online and physical bookshelves!

Books are wonderful – whether in print or electronic, whether as audio stories or told by a storyteller. Image via Pixabay.
Listening to an inspiring crative writing talk… Image via Pixabay
Some of the strongest ideas have a simple theme. See A Christmas Carol as a classic example. Image via Pixabay.
This, for me, would be a magical place to be. Image via Pixabay
Open a book, open a gateway into another world. Image via Pixabay.
Where good ideas start… but good ideas need refining and editing, Image via Pixabay
Stories reflect all sorts of moods. There is a story to suit everyone out there! Image via Pixabay.
Imagine the wealth of fairytales and other stories in here. Image via Pixabay.
The most important advice of all when it comes to books whether you are just reading them or trying to write your own as well. Image via Pixabay.