Tag: Writing Prompts

Character Memories and Publication News

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Busy one here but productive. Lady is making good progress too. Writing has gone well. Looking forward to sharing another superb author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today next month and many thanks too for the lovely likes and comments on the publication of Magi, the latest anthology from Bridge House Publishing.

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Delighted to be back on Authors Electric with my latest post Character Memories.

I look at why I think character memories make the character concerned more real for me. I also look at how memories can drive action and attitudes. I also discuss how I use memories a character might have to help me know about them even if those memories don’t end up in the story I tell about them.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope today has been reasonable (well, you have to make allowances for it being Monday). Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler which cheered her up no end. Lady is making good progress and I think giving it another week should see her fully okay again. We hope that will be the case anyway.

As the day went on though, I started to feel unwell and am not feeling fabulous as I write this so it will be an early night for me, I think. I will get some writing done though not as much as I might usually have done because it will cheer me up a bit. Being creative, in any form, is good for you like that. I hope a good night’s sleep will do wonders too. I guess it’s time for the bugs to make their presence felt, unfortunately.

Writing Tip: Never despair when you get those times when you can’t write much for whatever reason. It happens to most writers. I find the best way to handle this is to accept I will just do something and leave it at that until I am able to write to my normal levels.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend. Busy one here. Glad to get to Sunday afternoon and wind down a bit. Can’t believe we’ve hit the halfway stage of Flash NANO already. Will be working at today’s prompt later on.

Lady continues to improve and is feeling happier than she has done though we still need to be careful with her exercise for a while.

Had a lovely Zoom with Swanwick friends yesterday, one of whom I’ll catch up with in person at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event.

A huge thank you too for all the lovely comments and likes etc coming in on my news yesterday of Magi, the latest BHP anthology, being released. See below.

Check out an anthology for Christmas – that could catch on as a saying I think!

Hope today has gone well. Good news – Lady is improving and she got to see her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, on a short walk today. It was lovely to see how seeing her closest chum cheered Lady up a lot. Dogs are good for each other as well as us.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a review of The Business of Murder, the murder mystery play recently staged at the Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church by the wonderfully named Senior Thespians! Link up for that on Friday.

Will also on with the latest prompt from Flash NANO later today.

Publication News: But the big news is I am thrilled to say I am in print again. My story, The Family Legend, appears in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. It is out today – 15th November 2025 – link below.

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Feeling better than yesterday though still not 100%. Writing has proved to be a wonderful distraction. It’s also handy it’s something which can be done in the warm given we had our first full frost overnight. Brr…

Will be working on the latest prompt from Flash NANO later. As ever, I’m enjoying the variety of prompts. It’s always a good idea to mix up the type of writing prompts you use. It keeps you on your toes. It makes you think outside of the box. Also, it’s just plain fun to have a go at different prompts, though inevitably you will end up with favourite types. I would say mine are writing to an opening line or where you have to put certain words into a story. Like those a lot.

Incidentally, if you like books of prompts, why not check out The Big Book of Prompts, published by Bridge House Publishing? I’ve contributed prompts to this book, along with dear friends from Bridge House, CafeLit and Chapeltown Books. This book gives you a prompt for every day of the year too.

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It’s Monday. It has been hectic. I feel under the weather – boo. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Outstanding Effort.

Sometimes monsters can’t believe what they’re hearing but when they win first prize for something which comes naturally to them, maybe they can hide their real attributes for a bit longer.

 

Will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly as I draft pieces for Friday Flash Fiction, my YouTube channel, and the latest Flash NANO prompt.

I need to select some stories, already written in draft form, to look at for potential competitions. I’ve got a couple of competitions I wouldn’t mind entering before the year end. This is where regularly drafting flash helps a lot because I always have something in stock I can pull out and, after good editing and polishing, put in for a competition.

Also hope to get on with a PowerPoint for the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group.


Thrilled to have publication news again in that my story, The Family Legend, is in Bridge House Publishing’s latest anthology, Magi. Always good to have news like this!

I started writing standard length short stories, such as this one, long before I discovered the joys of flash fiction and I happily write both. Most of my standard length short stories are either in anthologies or are submitted for competitions. My flash fiction work usually ends up online or in a future collection (sometimes both!). Plus I do enter flash fiction competitions.

Many congratulations to all who are between the covers with me for Magi. It is good to see some familiar names here and I hope to meet up with at least some of you at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event next month.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Collections Acrostic

C = Collections (short stories and flash fiction) are wonderful ways to try out works by authors new to you.

O = Original stories, often on a theme, inspire so many ideas and make for a truly entertaining read.

L = Lively imaginations at work in collections to make the most of the theme.

L = Love collections for giving authors a voice and also some at least are used to raise money for charity.

E = Enter the worlds of story collections and meet many different characters.

C = Characters which grip you and often short stories and flash fiction make more of an impact because of their brevity.

T = Tension and drama aplenty in the short forms and collections bring so many of them together in one easy format.

I = Imagination let loose for readers to enjoy.

O = Options for collections usually include paperback and ebook so there will be something to suit you.

N = Nothing ventured, nothing gained – why not try story collections as gifts?

S = Story collections are perfect for dipping into when you don’t have as much time as you’d like for reading.

Go on, give them a go! You are bound to find topics and themes to suit.

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Author Interview – Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience

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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 John Puzey and Richard Hardie (Authors Reach) for author and book cover shots and logos for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Fab interview with John too – check it out. Link below.
Hope you have had a good week. Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers event in Egham on Friday and Saturday, though I am only going up for the Saturday. Will be good to catch up with friends again. Lady and I remain unimpressed but not surprised by the weather.

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Glad to share a fabulous interview with John Puzey about his new book, Captive Audience. If you love history, do check this interview (and the book) out.

John was inspired to write this by old letters written by his late father who was a prisoner of war in World War Two. The topic of the book is on an aspect of history not often considered. To find out more, and John’s thoughts on writing and acting (he is a member of our local amateur theatre group, The Chameleons), do see the interview. It is a good read.

Talking of The Chameleons, I’m off to see their next production soon too. They are staging The Ghost Train written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame. Am looking forward to seeing this.

Author Interview: Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience

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Hope you’ve had a good Thursday. No pals in the park today but Lady had a good time anyway.

If you love history, fiction, non-fiction or both (as I do), do check out my interview with John Puzey about his book, Captive Audience, for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. His book looks at a very different historical aspect to World War Two, one which I’ve not come across often, and is inspired by letters from his late father who was a prisoner of war. Link up tomorrow. See above.

John will also be sharing thoughts about his writing life and whether his acting career (via our local company, the ever excellent The Chameleons) has any basis for his approach to creating characters. Fascinating stuff. Definitely worth checking out.

Hope the day has gone well. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was pleased about that.

I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tonight. Always fun and we get some flash fiction drafted so win-win. It’s also a good chance to catch up with people’s news too. Due to unforeseen circumstances have had to reschedule this meeting for next week but the rest of this paragraph still applies!

Also enjoyed replying to a very nice email about the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event in December. Looking forward to that one too!

Don’t forget my interview with author John Puzey about his fascinating Captive Audience is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. His book looks at a historical element to World War Two from a very different angle to those often considered here. More on Friday. See above. I found it fascinating finding out how his acting and his writing impact on how he sees characters but do check the interview out.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, That Sinking Feeling. The sharp-eyed amongst you may well spot a connection between this story and my YouTube story earlier this week (Achievement). Hope you enjoy the FFF story too.

Just why is Jill facing a nightmare of a washing up pile and what does Cinderella have to do with it all?

Find out here. 

Have needed to reschedule the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting for next week but that will suit more people and I look forward to that then. These things happen. We’ll be looking at festive flash and will have plenty of time to get some drafts done in time for this year’s season.

One joy of flash which I know I’ve mentioned before is because it is character led, you can set those characters anywhere you want. I do try to take full advantage of that, which is why I’ve written historical flash, crime flash, fairytale flash and much more. Why limit yourself? The only limit I have to contend with is the 1000 words upper limit and you can do a lot with that.

Don’t forget the last ever Flash NANO is due to start soon (1st November). Even if you’ve taken part before, you will need to sign up for this one. Details below. Am looking forward to taking part again. Have always enjoyed the range of prompts. It’s a good challenge. Why not give it a go? The screenshot shows the page when you “click to join”.


Fairytales with Bite – Turning The Tables

One aspect to fairytales I have long loved is that the tables are turned on those deserving of it so every often. The rude prince gets turned into a horrendous beast until true love sets him free. The decrepit old man or woman turns out to be a powerful magical being in disguise and are inevitably trying to test someone’s character. That someone doesn’t always pass, at least immediately.

The story which follows is inevitably about how they do get to pass eventually and who helps them to do so. It’s a story trope which won’t date. For one thing, most of us enjoy a happy ever after ending but where the characters have to work at it to deserve and get that ending.

Turning the tables is a fabulous theme and doesn’t just apply to fairytales of course. But I do see this theme as a major one in fairytales and fantasy. One of the joys of the fairytale world is the “bad guys” do usually get their comeuppance though who the ”bad guys” are is up to you. It’s what I loved about the Shrek films. The ogre, the traditional baddie, isn’t the baddie here – and it works. Shrek has a convincing story.

So give some thought as to who you need to run the tables on and why. Have fun in making this happen! I love writing characters who get their just desserts. But there has to be good reason for why they deserve this. Else it won’t be believable. We need to see your characters doing the kind of things which will lead to them being brought to book. It is such fun to write though.

This World and Others – What Does a Magical World Not Expect?

A magical world is unlikely to be caught out by much I would have thought, but it is not impossible and it can be fun exploring that thought. Would science, as we know it, be a threat to such a world? How could it threaten magic? How would the magical world discover a threat like this existed? What would they do to try to prevent it “polluting” their world? Who or what could possibly introduce it?

Even if an “outside” threat doesn’t exist, give some thought as to what your setting might not expect. This could include such situations as a lowly character, not supposedly able to produce powerful magic, finding a way of doing so. What would be the consequences of that? There are always consequences! Also how does the character do this and did they have help?

Arrogance is a key weakness in so many villains which would make it possible for other characters to take advantage of that and come up with the unexpected. So how would your characters bring about the unexpected and what help do they get to achieve it?

Can magic be used to fight magic here or does the defeat of the villain have to happen by non-magical beings, something which would not/could not in usual circumstances be expected to happen? Could “outsiders” be a key element here? (Nobody expected hobbits, of all beings, to defeat Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, did they? I also refuse to believe that’s a plot spoiler now either!).

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Writing Competitions

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

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
A huge thank you to Joan Livingston, Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog, and Sarah Holbrook for author, book cover and poster pictures for this week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I interviewed Joan as part of a blog tour. It is a cracking interview. Do check it out below.
Hope the week has gone well. Lady has had a lovely time with some of her chums, we’ve managed to avoid some of the rain, and the writing is going well. So all good here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Either way I have options which I always like.

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

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

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

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

Fairytales with Bite – Something Spectacular

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

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

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

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

Definite story ideas there.

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

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

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

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

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


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

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Writing Events and An Author’s Dilemma

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. One photo of me holding Creativity Matters and my flash collections to date was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as were the photos from Swanwick for my Authors Electric blog. See below.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Slowly getting back to normal after my trip to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. Nice to be out walking Lady again. Hope to catch up with some chums in the park later this week.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler chum today. Lovely time had by both. I was back in the swimming pool for a long swim. It was wonderful. Am now suitably tired!

Writing wise, I will be sharing Returning To The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick For 2025 for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that one. Look out for a couple of pictures of Lady in it too – think of them as a before and after selection.

Slowly resuming my normal writing routine. Am preparing another wonderful author interview to appear on CFT in September. Plus I am preparing to be interviewed myself in October so all go here but fun with it.

It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog. This time I look at Writing Events. It is no coincidence I post this just after returning from my annual jaunt to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, Derbyshire.

Naturally I had a fabulous time there but my post looks at the benefits of writing events, including online ones, for all writers. Hope you enjoy the post (and I hope you have a great time at any forthcoming events you’re attending).

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Lovely to be back at church this morning. Peaceful and thoughtful. Just what was needed after a busy but fun week, I think. Looking forward to writing about Swanwick for Chandler’s Ford Today. Will be cracking on with that later today after spending some enjoyable time composing more flash fiction tales. Will resume competition entries I think from next weekend though I am glad I did get my 750 words story in for the relevant competition before heading off to Swanwick.

Writing Tip: It pays to spend a little time working out what writing time you have where. Most of mine is in the evening though I do have some slots in some afternoons. I always plan out what I will do my writing time. I find it helps me make the most of them. It means I get straight with the tasks in hand when I do get to my desk.


I expect every Swanwicker will be doing what I’ve done since getting home on Thursday – working out what I was doing this time last week! I thought of this today as I was back out creosoting my front fence – oh, the glamour of it all! It was a truly fabulous week away and I plan to write more about it for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Slowly getting back to my usual writing and other routines. Has been great taking Lady out for her walks again (and it may help shift some of the inevitable weight gain most Swanwickers have to face up on getting home again. The Hayes feed you really well!).

Also looking forward to resuming my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. Also hope to share news of another fabulous author interview on CFT before long. I will have another interview to share with you later too but this time the interviewee will be me. Exciting times!

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Am looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. It’s amazing how quickly the weeks whizz by.

Friday Flash Fiction is currently judging its recent competition so is not open to submissions at the moment. Will let you know when that changes. (Do check out the stories on there anyway. There is so much amazing work here and I can’t think of a better way to practice writing 100 word stories regularly).

Flash Tip: The one thing I find most fascinating about any length of story is in my wanting to know what happens. Simple as that. And why do I want to know what happens? I want to find out because I’ve come to care for the character(s) in the story quickly. There’s a good challenge for every fiction writer right there.

For flash fiction writers, you’ve probably got the opening line or two to create a character who readers will want to root for in some way. It’s a great challenge! 
It’s Monday. It has been as hectic as ever. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube – Writing Woes.

Writers have all manner of writing woes but this one may come as a surprise to the author in my story here. Find out what that woe is here.

 

I forgot to share the link to the latest serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit last Sunday when I was at Swanwick. Good news, it’s double bubble time, folks.

I share below the link to the stories I forgot to share last week plus I share today’s selection. Hope you enjoy them.

I am glad to say I read one of my new stories (Time For a Change) at the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night and it went down well. Now to crack on with my flash fiction writing Sunday afternoon too!

Part 1 Serialisation
Part 2 Serialisation 

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As you know, I love writing prompts (and I picked up loads having gone to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick). Sometimes you come across a prompt where you cannot find an obvious immediate use for it but I have found on making myself dig that bit deeper with it, I can usually get a story from it.

Often these are especially good stories precisely because I have had to dig deeper. I have had to not use what might seem to be an obvious idea.

I also think it good practice to deliberately mix up the prompts I do use though it is always good to have something to fall back on it. I will always have a soft spot for the random words to go in a story kind of prompt but am also fond of the opening line type.

When I get one of the latter prompts, I will make myself list some ideas to come from it. I never go for the first few I jot down either. By digging deeper, my experience has been you can come up with some truly great work in the ideas which are further down on your list.

Goodreads Author Blog – An Author’s Dilemma

There is one dilemma no author minds that much. This is where you go to a writing event and bring home as many or more books than you took of your own to sell! I have done this again this year having just returned from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

Mind you, my trip this year has also enabled me to add to my growing collection of books signed for me by my author friends. Whenever I pass the shelves these books are on, I smile and recall where I first met the author. I like things like this.

Books are important for more than just the stories or interesting non-fiction between their covers, vital though they are. They can encourage positive memories. For example, I still have The Readers’ Digest Collection of Fairytales. Both volumes were given to me by my late father. I loved looking at those books long before I could read them for myself. Wonderful illustrations and lovely memories to go with them.

Books, stories, memories – lovely things as a rule.

Incidentally, the only thing which did stop me from going completely overboard with how many books I brought back from Swanwick was knowing I was travelling by train and had to be able to put them in my suitcase! Sometimes you need the discipline of that!


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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event and Three Minute Santas

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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 had a good weekend and Storm Darragh didn’t do too much damage where you are. Has calmed a bit today (Monday 9th December) but bitterly cold. Had a fabulous time at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event on Saturday 7th December, despite the weather, and I hope to write more about that for a Chandler’s Ford Today post for 20th December. Meantime many thanks to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt and Lynn Clement for the two selfies featured below. I interviewed Debz recently for CFT and I was Lynn’s editor on her The City of Stories (Chapeltown Books).

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Facebook – General

Wow! Am not referring to the bitterly cold wind again today (though it did make me gasp) but to the fact Hannah Kate will have 23 authors, yes 23, on her Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on Saturday, 14th December. This has to be a record but it will give plenty of wonderful stories to listen to. I’m also delighted to say I know five of the other authors who will be on the show!

Given the weather is unlikely to be much better at the end of this week, having a Saturday afternoon in listening to stories seems like a great idea to me. The show starts from 2pm. See link for more details.

Huge congratulations to all authors whose stories have been chosen. I’m looking forward to listening to all of the tales.

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf 3 Minute Santas Special, Saturday 14 December, 2-4pm

 

Bitterly cold, though less blowy, today. Not that Lady worried. She was thrilled to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today. I was glad to get back in the warm (despite being layered up to the maximum!).

Many thanks for the lovely responses to my two posts yesterday about the Bridge House event. Much appreciated. I plan to write more about it for Chandler’s Ford Today for 20th December. This week’s post will be What I Look For In a Good Story and I heard plenty of those read out on Saturday afternoon!

Writing Prompt: Whenever I go anywhere, I use Google Maps to help me plan out best routes to my destination from Tube stations etc. Saves a lot of time. What would your characters do when going somewhere new? Are they the type to “wing it” or would they want to map things out?

What facilities would they have to be able to do something like this? Something more basic than what we have here or something far more advanced? Am sure there are stories here but also in how any maps are produced and could they be “hacked” by an enemy.

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Had a wonderful time in London yesterday. So good to see everyone again. Enjoyed listening to the author readings and taking part in the same. Train was held up on the way back because the one in front of us hit a tree on the track. It held us up for an hour which I didn’t think was too bad given the circumstances. Not sorry to be at home today though as it’s still very gusty here.

Ironically last year I ran late for the Bridge House event because of issues with the trains. This year, despite the storm, the trains were running reasonably well in my part of the world and I was one of the first to reach the Theodore Bullfrog pub. (And where more appropriate venue for a writers’ event than a pub, I ask you!).

Writing Prompt: A seasonal one too! Take one of your Christmas tree decorations. What meaning does it have for you? Then hold that thought and apply it to a character. Who gave them the decoration or did they inherit it from a loved one? What’s the story behind it?

And many thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the image below.

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Saturday 7th December 2024:  Am on my way to the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Even managed to get an earlier train. Appreciate there are likely to be delays given the storm. Do take care out there.

Looking forward to catching up with friends, taking part in the author readings, and finding out the latest BHP news.

Will be sharing what I look for in a good story in next week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. I do know I will be hearing plenty of good stories today!

Update: Now back home again and I heard many marvellous tales! Many thanks to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for the picture.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal unexpectedly today and a lovely time was had by both dogs in very chilly conditions.

Pleased to discover there are five authors I know, along with myself, who will have work on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM on Saturday 14th December.

Do listen out for it. It will showcase some fabulous festive flash fiction. There are 23 authors involved in all, yes 23, so there will be a great range of styles and stories. And all of us had a maximum of three minutes.

The great thing with flash? None of us can go on at length. It defeats the object of the format!

Less is more, indeed.

Less is More is the theme for flash fiction writers

It’s Monday. It’s a cold one. It’s a Monday after Storm Darragh. Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Reassurance.

After all, it’s always good to know someone has your back when you’re in need of reassurance, regardless of who you are.

 

Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Given the weather is still awful, I am so glad writing is something to be done indoors in the warm.

As well as catching up with longstanding Bridge House friends yesterday, including someone I’ve edited for them, I met up with one of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group at the Bridge House event and a dear friend from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.

There is something lovely about the writing community in that we often cross paths in different ways. What united us yesterday was Bridge House and, of course, an overwhelming love for the written word. Something positive to think about on a grotty weekend weather wise I think.

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Saturday 7th December 2024: I heard plenty of excellent flash fiction pieces and extracts from longer works read out at today’s Bridge House Publishing Celebration event. Open mic reading is a fabulous way to celebrate the format.

Delighted four members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group including me will have stories broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Three Minute Santas show on North Manchester FM next Saturday, 14th December.

Am looking forward to hearing them all. I hope to be able to share a link later including in my last CFT post before Christmas (which will be on Friday 20th December).

Many thanks to Lynn Clement, author of The City of Stories which I had the privilege of editing, for the picture below.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Book Moments

I’m sure we all have favourite book moments which “make” the whole story for us. I know I have far too many to list here though sometimes, with films, you get something which adds to the original tale.

One great example of this is the song Marley and Marley from The Muppet Christmas Carol. I still think that is the finest adaptation of Charles Dicken’s wonderful novella.

But what great films can do is add something special. This can only be done when you’ve got superb stories to work with in the first place, mind you! Am sure Dickens would be pleased and it is fabulous to think A Christmas Carol has never been out of print. I don’t think it ever will be.

Screenshot 2024-12-07 at 20-38-12 Allison Symes's Blog - Favourite Book Moments - December 07 2024 12 37 Goodreads

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Author Interview – Introducing Hannah Retallick

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to Hannah Retallick for supplying many of the images in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week and to Wendy H Jones for creating some fabulous images for the December 2024 edition of Writers Narrative, which I’ve incorporated into a Book Brush collage below. Do check out the magazine itself – link below.
Hope you have had a good week to date. Storm Connell early in the week followed by bitterly cold days – it has been a mixed bag of a week here, weather wise. Lady has been running around so the cold doesn’t worry her. Writing wise, am thrilled to announce Writers’ Narrative is back – see more below on this. Written by writers for writers, it is well worth checking out. And it’s double blog day given my Chandler’s Ford Today and More than Writers posts are both out on the Friday.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

29th November 2024 – Post 1 – CFT

Quick bit of news just before I share double blog posts – lots going on today.. Am pleased to say I sent in a prompt for Flash NANO and Nancy Stohlman has chosen mine to be today’s one. I haven’t written up the prompt myself yet but do plan to do so later on and see what I can do with it!

Double blog day once more and this time I start with a stunning interview with Hannah Retallick on Chandler’s Ford Today. We celebrate her new (debut) short story collection, Something Very Human.

Hannah shares with me so many useful thoughts and tips any writer will find useful so do check the post out. Hope you find it useful and entertaining – I did!

Hannah and I are both short story and flash fiction writers. We’re also both published by Bridge House Publishing. We discuss the joys of writing in the short form, fiction wise, and look at marketing and writing routines amongst other topics.

Author Interview: Introducing Hannah Retallick

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29th November 2024 – Post 2 – More than Writers

Double blog day part 2! I’m delighted to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers with a timely piece called Light in the Darkness. Timely, of course, since we go into Advent at the weekend. Hope you find the piece encouraging and inspiring.

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Two pieces of great news to share tonight:-

1. Am sharing a fabulous interview with Hannah Retallick about her debut story collection, Something Very Human (Bridge House Publishing), on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. Hannah shares so much useful information, tips, and thoughts useful to writers so do check this out. See above.

2. Am thrilled to say Writers Narrative is back with the theme of cozy marketing and writing. My piece is about festive flash fiction which, given its nature is fun and lighthearted, is a very cozy read indeed! Check out the magazine below (and there’s a free to subscribe link within the magazine itself).

 

Brrr… a cold one today. Storm Connell has done some damage – most evident in the afternoon and evening walks I take with Lady. Flooding, parts of tracks swept away etc. Had to do a detour tonight. Having said that, she did get to have a good time with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal this morning. The park just gets soggy. Think I’ll be living in my boots now until next March (if early 2025 proves to be good), next May (if it doesn’t!).

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom later this evening.

Will be sharing a fabulous interview with Hannah Retallick on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Be sure not to miss it – lots of useful and interesting thoughts for all writers. See above.

Will be a double blog day on Friday given my post on More Than Writers will also be out and I will be looking at Light in the Darkness for that one. Apt as we go into Advent. Again see above. Has been a busy week!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale here Fitting In. This one I would describe as a fairytale in reverse. Just what does happen to the Fairy Kingdom’s clumsiest fairy ever? Find out here.
Screenshot 2024-11-29 at 09-48-00 Fitting In by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Many thanks to all who came to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom last night. The theme was festive flash fiction. I talk about the same topic for Writers’ Narrative this month which I am so glad to say is back. Its focus this issue is on cozy marketing and writing. Festive flash fiction fits in perfectly here given it is the ultimate, I think, in lighthearted reads – short, often funny, and definitely light, something I think is needed at that this time of the year. Link given up above.Screenshot 2024-11-28 at 16-32-08 Writers' Narrative Magazine December 2024 by scottandlawson - Issuu
As well as providing an interesting varIety of prompts, taking part in Flash NANO does mean you end up drafting stories in varying moods and genres. What will I do with these later? I hope some will go into a future collection. Others I will reserve for competitions.

Word count length has varied for the month – most have come in at the 500 words or fewer count. I have had a couple at the 100 word mark or so. None of this surprises me but I do find Flash NANO invaluable for (a) getting more flash written and (b) taking me out of my comfort zone with some of the prompts. The latter is good because it makes me “up my game”. No bad thing that.

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Fairytales with Bite – Mix Up by Allison Symes

Mix Up
It never pays to be in too much of a hurry.
It will only lead to trouble and worry.
As one fairy godmother, once of such great renown,
Found to her utter chagrin, it got her down.
Picking up the wrong wand by such a clumsy mistake
She turned a client into a fancy cake
Which was then scoffed by a so hungry and fast young elf
The fairy godmother was besides herself
With tremendous grief, ridicule, and later, with pain.
She became the Fairy Queen’s appointed bane.
She was then banished to Earth, speedily, just like that.
Now she can’t magic a rabbit from a hat.

Ends
Allison Symes – 27th November 2024

Hope you enjoyed that one.

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This World and Others – Borrowing From Other Worlds

How advanced is your setting? Does it have technology to travel to other worlds (openly or otherwise)? If so, does it like what it sees and does it “borrow” anything? The other world may not have anything taken from it but copying is an ancient business. So is the outright theft of a good idea!

So what would your characters bring back to their home world and how would these things be put to use? Does everyone back at home welcome the new “things” or are they fearful of them? Could they have good cause to be? There is potential for a humorous story in having a character bringing back all sorts of things, which never work out properly when he/she/it gets back home again.

Also give some thought if the world they’ve pinched ideas from get to travel across universes themselves, could they ever come to your character’s home world and discover what they’ve done? Could make for interesting clashes (and even more so if both worlds are trying to improve relations. Something like this could scupper that. What would the consequences be?).

Could other worlds borrow from what your setting has to offer and how could this come about? Who discovers your character’s home world in the first place and was it something they were deliberately seeking to do or something which they stumbled on accidentally?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Am so pleased Writers’ Narrative is back. Do see the link further up the post.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Prompts, Flash NANO Update, and Defining a Good Read

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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, as much as possible anyway given the antics of Storm Bert. High winds and rain here but grateful not to have flooding and snow.
Looking forward to sharing a fabulous author interview with Hannah Retallick on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to catching up with her in person (and Debz Hobbs-Wyatt whom I interviewed recently) at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration event soon.

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Hope Tuesday has been a good day. Busy one for me so am posting early.

With writing prompts, you are bound to find favourites. Nothing wrong with that. I love opening line prompts in particular. But one of the joys of Flash NANO is in not knowing what is coming your way and then discovering prompt types new to you.

Inevitably some of these you will love while others will be less to your taste but it is helpful knowing this. If you come across them again, you know which ones to have a crack at! They will be the ones you know you can get behind because you enjoy the prompt type.

I am sure somehow some of an author’s enjoyment of writing does percolate through to their published stories. I know when I am reading, I can often sense certain passages where it is clear to me the writer had a wonderful time writing it. The words flow, the characters gel, all comes together well and we can get this from our responses to writing prompts too.

Worth having a go at writing prompts then because you never know what you can come up with unless you try them out.

PROMPTS - One use of a picture prompt

Hope the week has got off to a calmer start after the havoc of Storm Bert over the weekend. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals so enjoyed that.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday.

My next author newsletter will be out again at the end of the week – how can it be almost December already? To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

A huge thank you to all for the support and feedback for where I have shared stories on Flash NANO but also, for the rest of the year as well, on Friday Flash Fiction. All much appreciated, I can assure you.

Storm Bert still causing havoc. Mainly branches down here and some localised flooding in areas known for it. Wish people would drive more carefully though. You would think they would, wouldn’t you?

On to much happier thoughts then.

Am delighted to say I will be welcoming Hannah Retallick to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. She just just launched her debut short story collection, Something Very Human (Bridge House Publishing). Hannah has also won or been listed in some very prestigous flash fiction competitions too so it will be a joy to talk to a fellow flash fiction writer and Bridge House Publishing author. Plenty of interesting thoughts being shared too so do look out for this.

Second bit of excellent news – Writers’ Narrative will be back shortly. Am looking forward to sharing more details on that as soon as I can but I can say it is on its way. Plenty of interesting articles for anyone interested in the world and craft of writing.

Author Interviews coming up on CFT

I hope Storm Bert hasn’t done too much damage where you are. Take care. Very windy here but we only have the rain. Not sorry about that.

Writing wise, I have sent in a flash piece to one of my regular submission places at this time of year. Have still got three others to sort out but hope to do this soon. Will probably form part of my usual Sunday afternoon flash fiction writing session. Am pretty happy with the stories themselves but I always like to do a final read through and check. It pays. Sometimes I spot something last minute.

I’m a great believer in avoiding last minute scenarios wherever possible – it saves so much stress – but when it comes to story submissions, that last minute check through is so useful. It’s something I’ve developed from much earlier on in my career when I made the mistake of sending something off and later spotting errors. Too late to correct the story, too late to call said story back. I swore at the time! I then swore again that I’d not do this again and I’ve stuck to that ever since.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Busy one today so am posting early. As well as flash fiction, there is such a thing as flash non-fiction. I like that too. Pretty much all of my posts here and many of my blogs would count as flash non-fiction because they’re under the required word count (up to 1000 words maximum and some markets will set lower than that, say at 750 words).

I have found in writing flash fiction the techniques I’ve learn in tightening up my writing has transferred over to my non-fiction work too. Not a bad thing that. Working out what my wasted words are, the ones I immediately cut on my first edit, is useful for any kind of writing I do.

Image - Allison Symes - Flash challenge is to get your character to answer the question I've set

The random generators by themselves can trigger thousands of ideas and some can be used for non-fiction work tooIt’s Monday. It’s a Monday after a dreadful storm. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Name Change. I suspect many of you will identify with this one. Just sometimes a name change really is needed, especially for writers coming out with the unexpected. Find out what here.

Wow, am working my way through the Flash NANO prompts and I can’t believe we’re up to Day 24 of the challenge already. But have come up with a 100 worder which meets the theme. Have also written my other flash pieces which I usually do and submit or schedule on Sunday afternoons. So have been busy but all with fun things to write!

Am looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday. Theme will be festive flash fiction and exercises will be shared. Hope to get some drafts done myself.

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Hope all well with you especially given Storm Bert is giving the UK a hammering. Incidentally, given I loved Sesame Street, I do assume we will be getting Storm Ernie in due course. Just hope he’s not as bad as Bert is proving to be.

One of the joys of editing is when you spot something useful you could add to your tale, giving a strong image or, for something I’ve done recently, giving a memory which I hope, in time, will provide a smile. Can’t say more than that, as story is “out there” now, but one detail made all of the difference here and put a grin on my face. Didn’t spot this on my first draft though.

So editing is worthwhile and productive, honest! There is something special when editing can open your eyes to see something which will strength your story. I love those moments.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Definition of a Good Read

I should have thought of this topic before given this is the Goodreads blog! So what do I define as a good read then? Is it dependent on genre?

For me the answer to that last question is a firm no. For me a good read is one where I am so gripped by the characters I have to read on to find out what happens to them. It’s not a bad definition of a good read now, is it?

Those characters can be hobbits, middle aged women like me, women from the past, men from the past, and occasionally a monster. I have a lot of sympathy for Baron Frankenstein’s “creature”. Mary Shelley asked the timeless question here of who is the monster and it isn’t the “creature”in my view.

So the author’s job then (and this is a challenge to me as a writer myself) is to come up with characters a reader will get behind and to make us care for those characters. It’s not enough to like them. We as readers have to care deeply. It is that which keeps us reading.

Drama only means something if we care about the characters caught up in it. Humorous writing will only make us laugh if we care about the characters who are making us laugh, whether they’re doing this knowingly or not.

Screenshot 2024-11-23 at 17-06-21 Allison Symes's Blog - Definition of a Good Read - November 23 2024 09 06 Goodreads

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Good news, folks. Writers Narrative will be back very soon, packed with great articles. More news when I have it. Meantime, this time I share the November 2023 edition which focused on Novels. I discuss Writing Novels, based on my experience of writing one which remains unpublished to date but from which I learned a great deal.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Author Interview: Debz Hobbs-Wyatt – If Crows Could Talk Part 1

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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 were the photos from the Book Fair at The Hilt. Many thanks go to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for supplying book and author shots for her Chandler’s Ford Today post with me this week. Also in that is a lovely shot of Debz, myself and Paula Readman, which was taken on Paula’s phone. Lovely to see that one again.
Hope the week has been a good one. Mixed bag here between fun things such as going to see The Chameleons, feeling unwell and perking up again, and getting to do more writing than I normally would, thanks to having to be at home for a bit rather than be out and about. Lady has had a smashing week, including a proper puppy party on Wednesday. It was a sight for sore eyes!

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Delighted to share Part 1 of a a super interview with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt who joins me on Chandler‘s Ford Today to discuss her new novel, If Crows Could Talk (Walela Books). She also shares wonderful thoughts on writing short stories to hone your craft and about writing for joy. This makes a huge amount of sense given nobody can know for sure how things will turn out with their works. You do have to enjoy the process and what you write. You are your own first reader.

She also shares what inspired her to write If Crows Could Talk and the need to outline so you know your story arc. Do check out the interview. Link below and congratulations, Debz, on the new book!

Part 2 next week (and after that a review of The Chameleons’ I’ll Be Back Before Midnight. Lots going on at CFT at the moment with more to come too).

Author Interview: Debz Hobbs-Wyatt – If Crows Could Talk – Part 1

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Off to the theatre later to see The Chameleons perform I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, a thriller. Plan to review later. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. Has had a good week – it’ll only be tomorrow when she won’t see any chums.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. If you want to sign up to receive tips, news, story links etc , do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Had a lovely session at the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group yesterday. We were looking at tips on how to make the best of Flash NANO and writing prompts generally. If you’re taking part in Flash NANO or NaNoWriMo, both of which start on 1st November, good luck and I hope you get a lot done. What I love most about Flash NANO is having 30 new stories to edit and polish after the month is up. I can take my time doing that.

 

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady had a smashing one at the park – a real puppy party, She played with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals but the lovely Coco, the Labradoodle, came out as well. The dogs were so pleased to see each other and a good run around was had by all.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting this evening. Will be looking at tips on Flash NANO and writing prompts generally. Always a useful topic.

And I’ll be sharing Part 1 of a super interview with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt about her book, If Crows Could Talk, on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. See above.

Meantime, talking of CFT, many thanks to my lovely editor, Janet Willams, for taking the snaps of me at the Book Fair at The Hilt last weekend. Always tricky trying to get his kind of shot yourself!

At the Book Fair at The Hilt - image from Janet Williams

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to share my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Awkward Questions. You should be able to spot the influences in this one! It was great fun to write. Hope you enjoy it.

Screenshot 2024-10-25 at 09-31-11 Awkward Questions by Allison Symes - Friday Flash FictionI’m a huge fan of writing prompts and like to mix up the types I use. It means I don’t stick to my favourites all of the time. It would be easy to do that. As I write a lot of flash, I need ideas all of the time so am always looking for ways in to finding said ideas. Prompts are enormously helpful here, I use them as a way in to creating characters and situations I can put them in, and they give you practice in writing to a topic set by someone else. That’s handy if you enter competitions.

464436170_1007316088074919_8476569138769536874_nWhile it is still a little way of yet, I am pleased I’ve booked my train tickets for the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event in London in December. Always good fun and it is lovely hearing people read their stories Hope to read some of mine too. Always good to have something to look forward to at the close of the year!

I also need to start drafting some festive flash but I hope to make a start on that from next week. Also looking forward to Flash NANO which starts on 1st November. Had 30 new draft pieces from it last year and hope to achieve the same again this time.

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Fairytales With Bite – Nights Out

What would count as a good night out in your setting? Which of your characters would love that kind of thing? Which would dread it? What would they be prepared to do to get out of having a night out? Could be some humorous tales there.

What would your average fairy godmother or wizard do when they want a night off from the magic?

What would be the equivalent of the cinema? What would they listen to if they went to a concert? Do they visit other worlds, including ours, when they want an evening of entertainment and what do they do to ensure they’re not spotted by said inhabitants of those worlds? (You just know there’d be fallout, though it might be easier for them to blend in better around Halloween!).

Does your world have celebrations everyone is expected to take part in and, if so, what forms would these take? What similarities would they have to our national events? Where would these be alien to what we know here? And if visitors from other worlds, including ours, could see these things, what would they make of them?

Story ideas there!

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This World and Others -The Entertainment Business

Our entertainment business is vast taking in film to music to writing and much more besides. What would it look like in your setting? Are there similarities with ours? Are there things which could only exist on the world you’ve set up? Is the entertainment business regulated and who does the regulating? Did anything happen to make these regulations necessary?

Who works in the business? Is it considered an honourable profession or is it only for those who couldn’t make their magical abilities work properly and they’ve had to fall back on show business?

What would your fantasy setting make or our pantomimes and things like that? Would they see them as insulting the magical world or a humorous spoof?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the September 2023 edition, which looked at marketing. I had two articles in here – Marketing Your Books and Writing For Online Magazines.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Double Blog Day: ACW Autumn Gathering and Supportive Writing Groups and Writing Prompts

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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 were the photos for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Many thanks to Paula Readman for taking the image of me reading at another book event – the Bridge House Publishing one back in December 2023. (Looking forward to going to this year’s one too. Am hoping for much better luck with the trains this time!).
Hope the week to date has been a good one for you. Am looking forward to taking part in the Book Fair on Saturday 19th October. It made its debut last year and I am so pleased it has come back again. Will look forward to meeting the other authors taking part too. Lady has spent most of the week playing with her two closest pals so she’s had a good week too.

 

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

18th October 2024 – Chandler’s Ford Today

Every so often I have a double blog day and today is one of them. I will shortly share the link to my Authors Electric post on Writing Prompts but first and foremost, it’s time to share my latest on Chandler’s Ford Today. This week I talk about the ACW Autumn Gathering and Supportive Writing Groups.

I share some of the experience of last Saturday’s ACW writing day but also useful tips if you’re thinking of joining a writing group. Hope you find the post useful here.

Oh and if you are in the Chandler’s Ford area tomorrow, do come along to The Hilt at the Hiltingbury Recreation Ground. The Book Fair is back and is from 1 pm to 5pm, it is free entry, and there is a wide range of authors taking part, including yours truly. Hope to see you there.

ACW Autumn Gathering and Supportive Writing Groups

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18th October 2024 – Authors Electric

Second post tonight as it is double blog today for me today! I’m back on Authors Electric today talking about Writing Prompts, a favourite topic of mine. I use a wide variety of prompts and find them invaluable. I discuss some of the prompt types I use as well as how to make the most of the random generators. Hope you find the post useful.

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One happy Lady today as she got to play with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals once again. All of us happy as it stayed dry today, unlike yesterday when it poured down. Managed to avoid a lot of it but not all – it is amazing how wet you can get in a three minutes shower!

Will be discussing the ACW Autumn Gathering and Supportive Writing Groups for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I’ll be sharing tips and thoughts on what to look for if you’re thinking of joining a writing group, as well as celebrating a marvellous ACW event last Saturday in Rugby. Link up tomorrow. See above.

It will be double blog day tomorrow incidentally as my Authors Electric post on Writing Prompts is also out on 18th October. Plenty to look forward to reading and I hope you will find both blogs useful and entertaining. Again see above.

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16th October – bonus CFT post

Delighted to share a bonus post on Chandler’s Ford Today advertising the Book Fair at The Hilt on Saturday, 19th October between 1 pm and 5 pm. All welcome. Entry is free. Come and support your local authors (and get some book buying done early for You Know What coming up in December!).
Am so pleased to be taking part in this again – hope to see you there!

BOOK FAIR AT THE HILT – SATURDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2024

 

In separate news, I’m delighted to say I will have a super duper two part interview with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt about her new novel, If Crows Could Talk, coming up on CFT at the end of the month/early November. More details nearer the time.

Author Interviews coming up on CFT

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s good to wrap up the week with a story and I hope you enjoy my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Getting There. See how my character coped with her unfaithful Ron, but is all as she would wish it to be now? Find out here.

Screenshot 2024-10-18 at 18-39-43 Getting There by Allison Symes - Friday Flash Fiction

Hope you have had a good day. I’ve now sent in the results to the flash fiction competition I was judging. Good fun to do. Looking forward to the Book Fair on Saturday too, It will be nice to catch up with the other authors too, some of whom I met for the first time last year. This time I’m on the list to give a short talk about who I am, what I write, and naturally I will share some flash fiction as part of that.

A busy week coming up next week too with the next Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom on Wednesday and I’m off to our wonderful local theatre on Thursday too. As the year starts to wind down, the writing life winds up! But it gives me more opportunities to spread the word about flash and I’m always happy to do that.

Always a joy to talk or write about flash fictionLooking forward to spreading the word about flash fiction at the Book Fair at The Hilt on Saturday. See link to bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post which shares more info.

I’ve often found at events like this demonstrating what flash fiction (a) entertains, (b) shows what flash is so effectively and (c) can lead to sales! Nothing to dislike there! Hope to see you there if you’re in the area. And there will be plenty of other authors represented too. Last year, there was a good selection ranging from YA fantasy, flash (of course), non-fiction, women’s fiction and much else, and that should be the case again this time.

If you’re not in my area, do support your local author events. There will be plenty coming up in the next couple of months (can’t imagine why!).We always appreciate the support, regardless of what we write.

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Fairytales with Bite – Special Books

I still have two very special books – The Reader’s Digest Collection of Fairytales, a two volume set given to me by my late father. The fairytales are the originals collected and written by Hans Christen Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Perrault and so on. One of those books has its spine bound up by tape, I read it so much!

But recalling these led me to wondering what books would your magical creations consider special to them?

Would it be their study books? Would it be what we call fairytales but which they would see as their history, maybe? Would it be a book which was especially helpful to them in developing their craft?

Do any of your magical creations write their own books? Have they contributed to your world’s literature, magical arts etc?

Just what would be their special books and how have they helped your characters develop? There are story ideas there.

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This World and Others – Ways of Researching

Often when I’m drafting a story, I may need to do a quick bit of research to check something. I once needed to find out what poisonous plants I could reasonably expect to find in a garden. Honest, guv, it was for a story and nothing else. I suspect most crime and horror writers internet search histories would not beat too much scrutiny!

Where would your characters go when they needed to research something to help with their work, quest etc? Do they find materials easy to access? Are there libraries and archives as we understand the terms or, if not, what would be the nearest equivalent to these things? Records are kept everywhere after all!

How would they research? As well as books and scrolls, could they interview people/beings? Would there be something along the lines of the web so all could easily research? Are there areas they would be stopped from researching and, if so, what and why and who does the stopping? All ideas there.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

This time I share the October 2023 edition of the magazine. The focus was on horror. My article is Writing Horror: The Telling Details. Often it is specific details which will give your readers “the chill factor”. Select them well!

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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