Tag: writing life

The Joys of Creative Writing

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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 weekend. Not bad here. Writing wise, I’m talking to Jennifer C Wilson on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday about her new book, 31 Days of Writing. Looking forward to sharing that.
Pleased to see numbers for my YouTube channel and author newsletter are growing steadily. Enjoying preparing a presentation at the moment for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group. Always fun to do and the presentations trigger ideas as I prepare these. I’ve followed up on many of these with work inspired by these ideas appearing on YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction in particular. Would like more of the same!

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Facebook – General

Am pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my new post, The Joys of Creative Writing. I’d been planning to write on this topic anyway but having been burgled last month, well let’s just say it gave me extra motivation to write this one! I share why it did and why I feel the creative arts are more important than many realise. Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope your Monday hasn’t been too hectic. Lady got to see her best friend, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, today. Lovely time had by both of them.

The writing life is full of ups and downs. You get better over time I think at coming to terms with that and just getting on with the next story, the next project etc.

Just heard today my submission for the Bridge House Publishing anthology has been turned down. Later on in the summer I will have another look at the tale and see if I can (a) improve it and (b) send it somewhere else.

Often when work has been turned down, I have found the answers to those last two points are yes and yes! I’ve then sometimes gone on to have turned down work published elsewhere. So worth another look, always, is my motto here.

For Authors Electric, my post tomorrow will be about The Joys of Creative Writing. Timely I think! Link up tomorrow. See above.

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Hope you have had a good day. Celebrated our church’s 206th anniversary today, which was lovely. A lot happened in 1818 including the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A timeless book, I think, because it asks a timeless question – just who is the monster? That’s how I see it anyway.

The one positive thing about time seemingly whizzing by at the moment is it means The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick is also rapidly approaching (August).

I’m running a two part course there, Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. So looking forward to doing this but do check out all the other courses on offer too. Bear in mind too there are four part courses, one hour workshops and a lot more at Swanwick including the chance for 1:1s (I’m doing this too this year on the editing theme).

Hopefully see you at Swanwick in August.

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Strange old weather today. Have managed to avoid most of the downpours.

I’m delighted to say I’ll be welcoming Jennifer C Wilson back to Chandler’s Ford Today next week to discuss her forthcoming publication, 31 Days of Writing. This book comes out on the same day as the CFT post. Much to look forward to in the interview including thoughts on publishing via Amazon and much more besides. So looking forward to sharing this.

Writing Tip: For flash fiction and short story writers especially, always double check whether your title is included in the overall word count you are set for competitions. Some places do include it.

What I do with these markets and competitions is to allow five words for my title. I have to have a working title in any case which may or may not change later. But having something in place immediately means you won’t forget this aspect.

If you find later you only need three words for your title, then you will have a couple of “spare” words to put into your story which is especially useful for those places where you have to write to an exact word count. Think of your working title as a kind of place holder. I find this helps a lot.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today. Both dogs so pleased to see each other.

Thought for you: which of your characters would be pleased to see each other and why? What has kept them apart? Which would be horrified to see the other and why? What brought them back together again?

I’m sure there would be some flash fiction stories to be written up based on those thoughts – have fun!

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It’s Monday. It may just be me but it’s been more hectic than normal. It’s still Monday. Time for my latest on YouTube then. Hope you enjoy Forward Thinking. Just what do you do when a silly bet has gone wrong and you now have to pay up… find out here.

 

Wow, halfway through June already. Author newsletter is out again on 1st July. If you’d like flash fiction/short story news, tips, story links etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

I enjoy reading author newsletters as well as writing my own. I like to find out what the news is from my favourite authors and tips etc are always useful. If you’re thinking of starting a newsletter of your own, you might like to check out a post I wrote about this for Chandler’s Ford Today called, surprisingly not (!), Author Newsletters.

Author Newsletters

Have fun mixing up what you do with the writing prompt generators. If you use a word based one, as I often do, change where you put the word you’ve been given. Put it at the beginning, at the end, somewhere in the middle and ring the changes.

There’s nothing to stop you either writing one story with that word at the beginning, another in the middle and so on. What I would do there is change the characters and situations – the common thread would just be the word you’re placing and where you’re placing it. But you would have two or three stories here based on one prompt – I like that idea.

Could you also change the mood of the stories you write here? Could one with your chosen word be a feel good story? Could another with that same word in it somewhere be a tragedy?

Have fun!

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Goodreads Author Blog – Short Form Collections

I read a number of short form collections because (a) I love them and (b) I’ve contributed to many of them in my time and still do, the most recent being the hot-off-the-presses The Best of CafeLit 13. Also my flash fiction collections, From Light To Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic, come into this category too.

Short stories are fantastic for dipping into. They’re also great for helping me make up my mind what longer form work I want to read next. I also like to ensure I have a good reading diet by reading novels, short stories, flash, magazines, ebooks etc. I’ve never seen the point of limiting yourself to just reading in one category!

But the advantage of the short form, flash or standard length short story, is in giving a reader an impact that much more quickly. For twist in the tail stories, you get to the twist more quickly too. I like that.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Light Writing and Leaping Into Writing

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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 few days and also you made the most of having an extra day on 29th February. I used the theme of Leap Years for the ACW Flash Fiction Group this month – odd topics can encourage lateral thinking and a great deal of wonderful creativity came out of our session, especially on the 29 words flash fiction exercise I set. Lady is still waiting for spring. So am I.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Author newsletter out this morning. I look at Seasonal Writing and share a prompt I hope you have fun with!

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And, as it is Friday, it is time for my Chandler’s Ford Today post. This week I look at Light Writing. I celebrate the works of P.G. Wodehouse and Sir Terry Pratchett and discuss why light writing may look easy but is anything but when it comes to writing it.

I also think it shouldn’t be looked down on as any less worthy as literary fiction, say. I also look at reading being a form of communication between writer and reader and light reading can encourage that communication in a way the “heavier” tomes simply cannot. See what you think – link below.

(Also glad to say there will be more author interviews coming for CFT in due course).

Light Writing

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Two posts from me on my author Facebook page today (29th February 2024). First up, I am delighted to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This one is a rare beast as I only get to do a post here once every four years given my day here is the 29th of each month! Normally there isn’t a 29th February!

This post is all about Leaping into Writing and I hope you find it an encouragement. Many thanks to all who have commented so far on this one. Sometimes a topic can set off resonances with other writers and this one seems to have done so, especially when I discuss small wins. For more see the link.

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29th February – Second Post – more on March WN

Second post from me today. I mentioned briefly yesterday the March issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. (See further down).

My piece on Writing for Children is on Page 16 and my Writing for Anthologies is on Page 38. Do check out the whole magazine, it is free, and I strongly recommend subscribing so you don’t miss out on excellent writing advice for writers at all levels.

To mention just some of the articles in this edition, you will find:-

How to Develop a Children’s Book Series (Jennifer Navarre)
Publishing an Anthology (Wendy H Jones)
Writing For Children – What a Privilege (Jenny Sanders)
The Power of Writing Collaboratives (Morna Milton-Webber)

And there are many more besides. Time to put your feet up and have a good read? That’s a good idea if ever I heard one!

 

Delighted to discover via my copy of The Author (the quarterly journal from the Society of Authors), I can set up a member’s profile page. Have had a pleasant time this afternoon doing just that. Can’t share the link (you have to be a member to access) but it was nice being able to set up a gallery of useful pictures. I have shared below the screenshot from that.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening.
And am thrilled to say the March edition of Writers’ Narrative is now out. See above. Will talk more on this tomorrow (I did, see further up!) but meantime do have a fabulous read. Theme this time is on Writing For Children and I have a piece in the magazine on that and also on Writing for Anthologies.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today. I do share links to my stories on Friday Flash Fiction and on my YouTube channel as part of this. It makes a handy “one stop shop” so to speak.

Talking of Friday Flash Fiction, I am thrilled so many lovely comments have come in already on my latest one here. I hope you enjoy Visitor Expected too.
Screenshot 2024-03-01 at 09-40-46 Visitor Expected by Allison SymesDelighted to say the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting went well on Zoom last night (meeting held on 28th February 2024). My topic was Leap Year Flash and it produced some wonderful creativity.

One of the exercises I set was to write a 29 word story (with one other word to be used for the title – Flash NANO set a 30 word exercise only last year). I loved the 29 word stories folk came up with. Good fun to do. It’s an excellent writing exercise and links into the topic of Leap Year and our extra day on 29th February nicely too.

Do give it a go. See this as having a line where you set up a story and another line or two at most to resolve the story. One of my examples from last night’s meeting is below.

Unfair
Jenny seethed. How like her mother to swan off to a do in a silk gown and leave her to do the chores. Had she not heard of Cinderella?
Ends
Allison Symes – 28th February 2024

Always a joy to talk or write about flash fiction

Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a fabulous time with her best buddy, the lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Looking forward to talking flash at the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening.

Had a great time over the weekend drafting stories (one of which is a flash tale) for submissions (and I have ideas on where to submit these pieces). Will be looking again at these tales over this coming weekend, having had a few days away from them. It is the only way I know to be able to judge my work more objectively and see what needs fixing. There always is something but that is fine – I just get on and do it!

Oh and I had a nice surprise too – lovely comment on my books page on my website today.
Newsletter will be out again on Friday. To sign up do head over to said website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Fairytales with Bite – Why I Love Fairytales

I’ve loved fairytales since I was a small child. My late father bought me The Reader’s Digest Collection of Fairy Tales, a wonderful huge two volume set with fabulous colour illustrations. I still have those books. One of them has the spine bound up with tape! I used to love hearing the stories read to me and, later, loved being able to read them for myself.

I also like the fact that in most fairytales kindness is rewarded and justice is done. The arrogant are brought down several pegs and the ill-treated end up living a full and proper life well away from those behind the ill treatment. (Usually something horrid happens to them!).

I knew even as a kid real life isn’t always like this. Fairytales can be escapist but there is nothing wrong with wanting kindness to prevail, even though, so often, the real world has other ideas.

I also like the way those who underestimate older people are brought down because said older people are normally powerful magical beings in disguise. The disguise is a test. Those being arrogant fail said test and are then made to see the error of their ways. (See Beauty and the Beast especially on this one).

Fairytales confirmed to me love and kindness are important, they are vital, and that message is as relevant as it ever was.

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This World and Others – Fantasy Settings – Advantages and Disadvantages

I love fantasy, especially the humorous type, and the best of the lot is Discworld by the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett. Fantasy settings have their advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages include the writer can’t get it wrong because they make it up and they decide on the rules. I like this – a lot.

You can also bring in magic or other powers into your setting and use these to create things we don’t have here but which could be echoes. For example, you could use magical transport and in some ways that transport will resemble what we have here, it will just be powered differently.

You could also show the disadvantages of magic (and compare that to the misuse of power which goes on here. Fantasy is great for making points and reflecting on what we do know here).

The disadvantages are people can be derisory of fantasy simply because it is made up and nothing like we have here. My answer to that is fantasy is not meant to be a documentary. I think the rise of steampunk is interesting given it takes inventions from the Industrial Revolution and puts a twist on them. Jules Verne’s Around the World In 80 Days could only happen with the invention of the hot air balloon. Some would see that as steampunk.

You also do need to think about how your world would work and be consistent with whatever rules you decide need to be in place to make it work.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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