Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move

April 7, 2026Leave a comment

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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 wonderful Easter. Moving Easter services meant a great deal to me. Lady has been out and about enjoying the sunshine and I’m writing away. A good weekend and yes chocolate was involved too!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely day weather wise today.

Writing wise, I’m delighted to share the link to my latest article on Writers’ Narrative. For this month, the theme is travel writing. My take on it? To think about it from a character’s viewpoint.

At some point we have to make our characters move and travel problems will be as real for them as, alas, they are for us. (I faced yet more temporary traffic lights today – no warning given etc!).

Even in a fantasy world where some characters may be able to fly without the aid of machinery, they will face issues such as wind currents and so on. I share thoughts and tips on this including the thought travel brings out the best and worst in us so it can do exactly the same for our creations too.

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

It’s a Bank Holiday here in the UK. I’ve spent a lot of the weekend listening to and enjoying the countdown of the Classic FM Hall of Fame for 2026. I’ve heard two of my choices so far – one went up, the other went down – and have still to hear the third. The third one ended up being a non-mover!

It’s not that easy just picking three pieces of music but it’s fun having a go. And listening to so much lovely music over the Easter weekend has been a joy – everything from classical to film scores to operatic to themes from games (the latter is surprisingly good). I usually write with Classic FM on. It relaxes me and when I relax I write more.

Writing wise, I shared another flash piece over on my Substack page over the weekend. Link here. Have started work on various things I’ll be sharing in one form or another later this month/early next month. Plus I’ve been editing. So the weekend has been productive.

Character Tip: If you’re fleshing out a character outline, give some thought as to what kind of music they’d like and why. It may well show you their likely age, possibly some of their background too, and I’m sure you can make use of that in your stories.

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Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Lovely and cheery church service this morning. Our minister even brought a big chocolate egg for us to share. It went down very well with all!

Writing wise, will be cracking on with flash fiction Sunday shortly.

Congratulations to all who have been accepted for the Bridge House Publishing anthology out later this year. News came out about that yesterday.

Ahead of that will be the release of The Best of CafeLit 15, where my story, Freedom, will be included. Already looking forward to catching up with folk in person at the end of the year.

Writing Tip: Will be reviewing my story for the BHP book because I know its theme may well make it open for other competitions. I’ve nothing to lose doing this and, indeed, have sometimes gone on to have work accepted which was initially turned down elsewhere. The good thing is I now know I’ve the necessary distance now to re-read this story and see what can be done to boost its chances out there.

Hope the Easter weekend has got off to a good start. Weather can’t make up its mind what it wants to do here, not that this stopped Lady and I having a nice time at the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Flash Fiction On Radio for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing tips here too. Am looking forward to sharing that.

Will also be starting work on a super interview to come up on CFT later in May. Good to be kept busy!

Structure Tip: I find this tip as useful for my non-fiction writing as I do for my short form fiction. I have a rough plan of what will be at the start of the piece, what must be in the middle, and from there what must come at the end. The Three Act structure has much to recommend it even when you’re writing short pieces. I find it keeps me on track. I do find having a framework to work to so useful.

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Absolutely gorgeous day today. Lady and I had a quiet time in the park today. Hope to catch up with pals again tomorrow.

My Writers’ Narrative article is out today (7th April 2026) and talks about Travel Writing – Making The Characters Move. So many of the issues, including travel, that we face, we can then apply to our characters.

Now in flash fiction, there isn’t a lot of room for description so if I need to show you my fairy godmother on the move, I’ll show her getting on her broom or tapping her red shoes to go somewhere. Flash uses inference a lot but there does need to be something in the story for readers to be able to make that inference. This is where using tropes can help you – red shoes will remind folk of The Wizard of Oz and brooms, well everyone knows about flying brooms in the magical world. So it is a question of then of picking out the right detail for readers to pick up on. For flash, they don’t need to know the ins and outs of broom transport unless that is the story itself.

It has been one of those rare beasts in the UK – a Bank Holiday Monday which was sunny! Have loved that. But it is still Monday when all is said and done and so it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Colour of Lying.

It seems lying politicians get everywhere when it comes to energy usage, as my fairy godmother character finds out

Hope your Easter Sunday is going well. Good to see some sunshine out. I know it cheers me up no end seeing some brightness especially since earlier today Lady and I were caught in a hail shower.

Weather can change moods then for better or worse but how does it do this for your characters? Could a change in the weather change the outcome in your story and, if so, how?

What other factors would change your character’s mood for better or worse? Who could exploit that, whether or not it is in the character’s best interest?

Definite story ideas there!

I plan as part of my flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow to look through some drafts I’ve been storing as I’ve got ideas for competitions in mind for some of this work. This is why it pays to build up a stock of stories and something I need to get back to doing because I’ve got some to use now, which is fabulous, but I will need to replenish these in due course.

Naturally keeping some stories back like this gives me the necessary distance from them to see the faults and rectify those.

It also pays to draft some tales, every so often, to common themes because you know these will come up at some point and it can give you a head start when you spot competitions you fancy trying.

Goodreads Author Blog – Easter Stories and Inspiring Characters

The Easter story is full of drama – betrayal, injustice, a grim killing – but also hope in the form of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The characters in the story do go through a rollercoaster of emotion from crushing grief to overwhelming joy.

I must admit I like the little moments in these stories. I can picture Mary, literally blinded by grief, mistaking the risen Jesus for the gardener. You just would, wouldn’t you? Grief does things to you like that.

I like the story of Doubting Thomas too. Someone would’ve asked…

All of these tales bring home the very human qualities of these people.

Naturally, you can be inspired by that to create your own characters where the grief hits home for them, the doubts and fears do haunt them, though I must admit I would always like those stories to end on a note of hope. The news is grim enough. Books and stories can take us away from that for a while but you still need to be able to root for the characters. Understanding where they come from is a huge step for this.

And this is what the very best stories do, of course. You get behind the characters because you want them to do well (usually). It’s the hope of that which keeps me reading, for sure.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Easter Stories and Inspiring Characters https://t.co/kIQ1v0Gwxe via @goodreads I look at the rollercoaster of emotions in the Easter Stories and how this can inspire our characters. We mainly want to root for characters as that keeps us reading. pic.twitter.com/0XrwJWGLCh
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 4, 2026

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It has been one of those rare beasts in the UK – a sunny Bank Holiday Monday! Story time though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Colour of Lying. Lying politicians get everywhere when it comes to energy usage, as my fairy godmother finds out.https://t.co/tzxLb1oMXF
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 6, 2026

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I share my new article on Writers’ Narrative. The theme is travel writing this time. I look at it from a character’s viewpoint. At some point we make our characters move. Travel problems will be as real for them as, alas, they are for us, even in fantasy.https://t.co/BFZ6Cd3yxB pic.twitter.com/mCqhv2aJLF
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 7, 2026

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Hope Springs Eternal and Characters

March 31, 2026Leave a comment

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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 the weekend has gone well for you. Sunny but cold now but has been good to get out with Lady. Writing and editing going well. Would’ve liked to have done more at the weekend but various things got in the way of that so onward and upward this week, I hope.

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Hope today has gone well. No chums in the park for Lady today as I had to get her out early so I could squeeze in a wonderful swim. Timetable changes for the Easter holidays but it was well worth going. Feel suitably tired and refreshed at the same time.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Hopes in Writing on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at hopes for writers and how we can use hopes in our characters. Hope you’ll find the post useful.

Next author newsletter is out tomorrow (1st April). Many thanks to all who subscribe.

Character Tip: When we talk about write what we know, this applies directly to characters too. We know what we as a species, and as individuals, can be capable of so we can apply that to our creations. It pays to be honest here about the better qualities we have and the worst ones too. From there, we can create well rounded characters.

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums and a good time was had by all three dogs. Can hardly believe we’re almost at the end of another month.

Writing wise, will be getting on with various blogs during the week and stories at the weekend. Am also editing at the moment and am enjoying the work immensely.

Writing Tip: It’s easy to forget to do this one but do read about what is going on in the industry. It keeps you up to date and may well share news of interesting competitions and so on. The advice is also useful and I’ve often found tips coming in useful for me much later on after I first read about them. They stick in the mind. You come across something and recall advice you’d heard about before. I catch up with writing news while having lunch – win-win there. Food for the creative mind as well as the body here!

And don’t forget Writers’ Narrative gives plenty of good advice every few days on Substack. Do sign up. It’s free.

It’s my turn once again on More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Hope Springs Eternal, which is particularly apt as we enter Holy Week and Easter.

I look at why writers need hope and how you can find this via a supportive writing group. ACW is excellent here, of course. I should add I have been to the two ACW Connect sessions held so far and found these were great opportunities to listen and talk with other ACW members. If you get the chance to go to these online meetings, I would highly recommend it. I do know a little hope and support can go a long way in the writing community.

I also look at how, as you start out in writing, you do need this kind of hope and support but as your own journey goes on, you in turn can become a source of hope and support to other writers. This is a real blessing for both ends of this seesaw.

I also look at why I like hopeful stories as a rule. I know I’m not alone there.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Hope you’ve had a good start to your weekend.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Hopes in Writing for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll look at this from the viewpoint of writers and characters.

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again soon. To sign up for hints, tips, story links and so on, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Hope to get on with plenty of flash and short story drafting tomorrow. It has been another hectic week so will be especially glad to get to Flash Fiction Sunday afternoon!

Writing Tip: Clarity is everything in storytelling and never more so than in the short forms. Part of the editing process for me is going through and checking the impressions I want to give to a reader via my characters are coming across clearly enough.

If I need a character to be ambiguous, I will show this through their dialogue and then back it up with what they are thinking because the two things won’t marry up here. But I want the reader to be able to see that my character is like that. This is the advantage of the written form. A reader can literally read my character’s thoughts and deduce from that whether they’re trustworthy or not.

And if it is a case the character said something and then realised later they were wrong, I’ll either show them apologising or get them to act in a way that shows they know they were wrong. But this will be crystal clear. There will be a natural and clear progression and that is what I like to try to achieve in all of my stories.

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I love the focus on character flash fiction encourages. Without much room for description, I have to take you inside a character’s mindset immediately. Even when the story starts with action, it won’t be long before you meet the character responsible for it and gauge something of their attitudes and actions.

Flash fiction is great for strengthening writing skills. You have got to cut the waffle and that’s no bad thing. That skill is transferable to other types of writing too and I’ve found this to help a lot with my blogging and article writing.

So am I all for flash fiction and flash non-fiction? Oh yes! Why not give it a go? (And if you regularly have a go at writing exercises, you are already in the flash world – welcome!).

It has been another hectic Monday. It’s time for another story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Heavy Handed. This dark tale started life as a sixty word flash fiction exercise. Brief can still give plenty of impact, which is why I love the form.

My character explains their actions against the most powerful man in their world.

We’re racing towards the end of another month and while I’ve managed to get plenty done, there is still plenty I would’ve liked to have done. I think this is true for most writers. Still, it does mean I’m never short of things to write up.

Talking of which, it’s almost time for my flash fiction Sunday afternoon. It’s a lovely way to finish an old week and begin a new one – getting more flash written. I had hoped to spend time this weekend either drafting more stories or picking competitions to enter but that isn’t going to happen. Will try to do better in the coming week. But what does matter is making the most of the writing time you do have and, as long as I’ve done that, I’m reasonably content.

Onwards and upwards with the writing then!

Flash fiction can and does make good use of words which have more than one meaning. The meaning being used will be clear from the story context. I am selecting words for definitive impact.

If I want to lead a reader down a certain path and then throw in a twist, there will be clues early on in the story to show that might happen so a reader can look back over the story and see, yes, this character was capable of doing this. I love this when other authors do it to me and it especially works well in crime fiction, of course.

But I choose words with care because I want to wring every possible use out of them that I can for my limited word counts!

Goodreads Author Blog – Characters Acrostic

C = Characters make or break a story.
H = Having characters to root for, to succeed or fail, is vital.
A = Actions and attitudes should be understandable though nobody says you have to agree with them.
R = Reading the stories should draw you right into the world and mindset of the characters.
A = Any action should have a reaction and consequences.
C = Characters should grip you by the heart.
T = Tension, drama, laughs – what will the characters give you?
E = Endings should be apt for the characters, not necessarily happy ones.
R = Re-reading stories is a sure sign the characters have got to you in a good way.
S = Stories with characters you can get behind – the best tales of all.

And whether you’re reading books, novellas, short stories or flash fiction, all of the above applies!

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Characters Acrostic https://t.co/6HVtQZjLXD via @goodreads I share a characters acrostic on Goodreads this week. This looks at some reasons why I believe characters make or break a story. They've got to grip your readers. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/LlnhOObgsB
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 28, 2026

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More than Writers: Hope Springs Eternal by Allison Symes https://t.co/oPCw4hkn5o This is so apt a topic for Holy Week. I look at why writers need hope and how you can find this via a supportive writing group. ACW is excellent here. I also look at why I like hopeful stories. pic.twitter.com/lJm9ypuirc
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 29, 2026

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It has been another hectic Monday and so it must be story time. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Heavy Handed. This dark tale began as a sixty word flash exercise.

My character explains their actions against the most powerful man in their world.https://t.co/nFQOL88h5N
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 30, 2026

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Templates

March 27, 2026Leave a comment

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Hope you have had a good week. Weather more changeable but Lady has been having fabulous times in the park with her closest chums so all well there. Glad to say my story did go out on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on Tuesday 24th March. Links below

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Am pleased to share Templates on Chandler’s Ford Today. I share thoughts on what you could put in your own template to help you flesh out characters and/or settings. All of the questions I share here will help you come up with story ideas.

I also look at the advantages and disadvantages of templates. I see them as a helpful way in to creating a new character and/or setting. Sometimes it is useful to know the setting first and then you can work out who would populate it. Often settings can almost be like characters in their own right – for example, think of the moors in Wuthering Heights or Dickens’ London as shown in Oliver Twist.

I also mix up the questions I use in templates to avoid them becoming formulaic. Hope you find the post useful.

Templates

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum today – the dogs are always pleased to see each other. It’s lovely to see.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Templates on Chandler’s Ford Today this week – link up tomorrow. See above. I’ll be looking at the usefulness of these things (and also discuss some disadvantages, not everyone gets on with them for one thing). I’ll also be suggesting ideas for your own templates. Hope the post will prove useful.

Am glad to say I now have the link for the Hannah Kate Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM on Mixcloud. I hope to catch up with this myself at the weekend but highly recommend a listen because I love the stories on these shows though I will admit to bias being on the show and knowing someone else who is but it is a good bias to have, I think.

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Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback friends and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. All four dogs went home tired and happy.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later on tonight. Our theme this time is sixty. There are various ways to incorporate that thought into stories and we will be looking at some of those this evening.

I hope to catch up with Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show over the weekend but many congratulations to all of the writers who had work featured here. I always enjoy catching up with these shows and listening to all of the stories – fabulous entertainment.

Writing Tip: Character names can be used to reflect something of their age and likely social status but the main thing to watch when having more than one named character in tale is to ensure the names are different enough so it is easy for readers to tell who is speaking at any given point.

Also it helps not to have the same initials. If Jake and John are in the same tale, it could be easy to confuse these unless there are other clear points of difference such as in the manner each of them speaks and the type of vocabulary they use.

A good editing tip here is when you read through your work, can you tell the characters apart easily? You should be able to do so.

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Earlier this week at the meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, we looked at the theme of Sixty. I chose that to fit in with my special birthday (couldn’t resist it!) but it does lend itself to stories based on diamonds, special birthdays and anniversaries. You can also just use the number itself as part of a story such as part of an address, a sum of money and more.

I also set the group some exercises, one of which was to write to sixty words exactly including the title. My story for that session, to show as an example, is below. Hope you enjoy it.

My Hero by Allison Symes

I can’t say I like his handiwork but he leaves me gifts. He doesn’t do that for anyone else. He comes and sits on my lap when I feel sad. Then goes out and kills as many mice as he can find and brings them all to me.

I possibly shouldn’t have called my rough diamond Mr Tiddles.

Ends
Allison Symes – 8th March 2026

Word Count including title = 60

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The next best thing any reader can do after buying an author’s book is to review them, of course. A lovely one for my Tripping The Flash Fantastic includes the following quote.

Fabulous collection of poems and flash fiction. Some made me giggle, some made me gasp, all surprised me! I found it a real page turner, as the stories had such unexpected twists and turns!

Many thanks to my lovely reviewer here. Reviews like that reassure an author they’re on the right lines. I look to entertain with my flash and short stories so it’s good to know that is happening!

The great thing with reviews is they don’t have to be long, which is so apt for when you’re reviewing a flash fiction collection.

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Looking forward to joining in with some of the exercises I’m setting for tonight’s meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Always good fun this and I get more drafts down so nothing to dislike there. Hopefully these will end up later on being polished up for competitions. Am hoping to get to write some further drafts over the weekend as there are competitions coming up in May and beyond which I always have a go at and I do like to start early. It means I get enough time to rest my drafts to assess them properly well ahead of deadlines.

I also make a point of mixing up the kind of writing exercise I use because it keeps me on my toes and I get to create more stories this way. I must admit though I do have a soft spot for the opening line kind.

Fairytales With Bite – A New Era

This topic came to mind as I’ve recently celebrated a landmark birthday. You know, the kind of one which marks the end of one decade and the beginning of another.

So how would your magical characters recognize what was a new era for them? Does your setting mark time in a similar way to ours but, if not, how do they do so? How would their eras correlate to what we would recognize as that?

Now I see my next decade as a promising one in that I hope to continue to develop my writing and hopefully have more success with it. But how would your characters see the passing of another decade (or the equivalent)? Do they worry about aging and, if so, why? Would magical powers decrease with age and that is why nobody really wants to think about getting older and what it would mean there? (There are clear parallels with us here).

Is your magical setting a benevolent one or a dictatorship? That would colour the views of your characters as they enter a new era. They may want more of the same or a complete overthrow of the regime. Good story thoughts there.

And a character’s view to aging, whether they’re magical or not, can also highlight other attitudes of theirs. If they worry about aging, could it because they know how older beings are treated? Again, good story ideas there.

This World and Others – Leaving the Past Behind

Landmark birthdays can give cause for reflection as you look ahead to the decade to come and ponder on the one you’ve just left behind. I don’t think it is entirely possible to leave the past behind. You always carry some of this with us and so should our characters. But there are times we want to not be held back by damaging things from our past and that again can often be the case with our characters.

When it comes to magical or alien characters, what kinds of things would they want to confine to the past and why? Would they have the same or similar regrets to us or would theirs be different due to their nature and/or environment?

Leaving the past behind can throw up interesting areas to explore for historians and archaeologists. What would count as archaeological finds on your setting? Would it be anything we’d recognize? Sometimes discoveries from the past can have impact on what is known now. For example, the finding of the remains of King Richard III has done this. Are there things from the past your world and/or characters wish had stayed hidden?

Definite story ideas there.

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Templates https://t.co/1KmAe8IKvS
Am pleased to share Templates on CFT. I share thoughts on what you could put in your templates to help you flesh out characters and/or settings. All I share here will help trigger story ideas. Hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 27, 2026

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New Books For A New Season?

March 10, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Back to the drizzle and the mist here! Still lovely seeing the spring flowers though. Some cheer in the gloom, which I think a good book can also do for you. Lady doing well. We’re all appreciating the lighter evenings. Writing going well and am back to the editing work too.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler pal. Both dogs were trying to eat the mud – argh! Both dogs are old enough to know better. Other than that, they had a lovely time (and probably saw their owners as spoilsports).

Writing wise, I’m back to editing work again, which is lovely, and I hope at the weekend to start work on stories which I want to submit for certain competitions later this year.

Author Interview Tip: Read and listen to as many as you can, even if you haven’t had anything published yet. You will learn from them and remember those authors being interviewed were newbies once too. I always see author interviews as encouraging just on that thought alone.

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Not bad here though the weather isn’t a patch on last week’s delightful few days of sunshine.

Writing wise, I’m glad to report my second flash fiction story is now up on my Substack account. Hope you enjoy my Smashing It. You can find my Substack account at Substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

And if you scroll down to my other page here, From Light to Dark and Back Again, you will see the link to my YouTube story for this week called Clearing Up. There is a link between the two tales, see if you can spot it.

Hope the weekend has gone well. Back to drizzly and murky weather again though.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting The Hooks In for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I’ll be looking at why these matter, some thoughts about placing them in pieces of work (and, yes, non-fiction needs them too), and more. Link up next week.

Will be shortly getting on with flash fiction Sunday. Making good progress on the co-judging I’m currently undertaking too.

Writing Tip: When you’re reading work from other authors, once you’ve enjoyed a good read go back through the tale and see what the stand out moments were for you. You are highly likely to learn something useful here you can then apply to your own creations. Just why are these stand out moments so important to you? Do these reveal something about character and/or pacing etc?

And it’s fun to do too!

Glad to be back on Writers’ Narrative on Substack today. The theme this month is Writing Fiction and my post is Writing Fiction – The Joys of Making It All Up. I share a little about why I write fiction and what its values are. Not everyone appreciates fiction. I had a dear friend who only saw the point of non-fiction and they weren’t the only one to hold that view. I also share useful tips.

Hope you enjoy the post and remember the magazine is free to subscribe to and you receive a wealth of useful information written by experienced writers. Nothing to dislike there!

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Had a nice task today. Have wrapped up and posted my two flash fiction collections – From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic – to the competition organiser whose event I am co-judging. It was a pleasure to sign these copies and get them posted off. I do hope the eventual recipient enjoys them.

Flash Fiction Tip: Make yourself practice writing to different word count lengths for flash. Focus on 100, 250, 300, and 500 words especially as these are, by far, the most common competition brackets I come across in this field. Also it’s fun to do!

You also get to see what the different word counts “look like” whether you just work on screen or print out on paper and that will come in useful later as, with more experience, you will get a feel, when drafting a story, when you’re at or about the “right” word count for the category you’re writing to. You will find, as I have, when you do check the word count, you won’t be out by that much but the practice at writing to these different lengths helps no end with future stories, I find.

Another busy Monday and am so looking forward to enjoying catching up with a lovely online group I go to once a month. I get to listen and chat about history and it is lovely. Meantime, I hope you enjoy my latest story on YouTube – Clearing Up.

The dangers of sitting on high walls are shown up here as all of the King’s Men face a messy cleaning task or do they? Find out here.

If you check out my author page here, you will see my Substack story, Smashing It. There is a link between the two tales. I do this every now and again. Why? For the best reason of all, it’s fun!

Hope you enjoy both of the stories.

Will be getting on with a couple of 100 word stories shortly. I do need to start drafting some longer pieces for competitions soon but the next couple of weeks will be especially busy so I may need to put these on the back burner for the moment. Mind you, that doesn’t stop me thinking about and jotting down potential ideas.

What does make for a great piece of flash fiction? I don’t think there is one single answer to this but I know I like to read about a character who grips me and where the ending is appropriate for them. I like twist endings/humorous punchlines too but I have to feel that everything I read before leading up to these is also gripping and there could be no other ending.

Sometimes I do know a potential ending for a story first so I note that and then work out what could come from it. Once I’m happy with a potential scenario, I get on with my first draft. I do know it has to be the idea which has the most impact on me because I figure it will do likewise for readers and if I’m not gripped by it, nobody else will be.

Drizzly damp day today but Lady still had a nice time over the park.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Getting The Hooks In for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. A huge thank you also to the lovely comments on yesterday’s post – Author Interview – Wendy H Jones – A Right Cozy Historical Crime.

As ever, tomorrow will be flash fiction Sunday and I do plan to share a 100 worder on Sundays on my Substack account. It will be a good challenge for me and I hope enjoyable for you.

It was the 100 worder, also known as the drabble, which got me into flash fiction writing at all so it will always have a special place in my writing heart. And it’s thanks to flash fiction, I have two published books with a third due.

Even if you’re not specifically looking to write flash fiction as your main writing format, it is an excellent writing exercise and can be a useful warm up for your longer writing work. I find this to be the case ahead of writing my blogs and articles.

Also congratulations to all who took part in the 500 Words competition. I understand presentations were made at Windsor Castle by the Queen earlier this week. Well done, all. (What a fantastic way to get into writing, especially flash fiction).

Goodreads Author Blog – New Books for a New Season?

Do you read new books for a new season? I do save certain favourite books for re-reading at other times of the year. One example of this is Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett which I save for harvest time.

But generally I work my way through my To Be Read pile. I usually find it goes down for a while and then by some strange circumstances, such as me going to writing events, I find the pile gets bigger again. This is a lovely problem to have and, given the current troubling times, I think having plenty to read which you know you will like is an enormous blessing.

If you do read new books for a new season, do you try to match the mood of the books/stories you read with the seasons? For spring, I would imagine that mood would be light and bright. For winter, much less so!

Mind you, there is never a season when you won’t need books! There is never a season which won’t be enhanced for you in some way by having new books, whether you buy them or borrow them from the libraries.

For every season, there are books galore to enjoy and I do think that is worth celebrating.

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Glad to be back on Writers’ Narrative on Substack today. The theme this month is Writing Fiction and my post in Writing Fiction – The Joys of Making It All Up. I share a little about why I write fiction and what its values are. https://t.co/iIpE2g5Pad pic.twitter.com/jQskbNggS4
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 7, 2026

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: New Books For A New Season? https://t.co/reN1Bt6l07 via @goodreads I ask if you get new books for a new season and, if so, do you link the season mood to the book mood? Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/AetfCKy6QH
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 7, 2026

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Another busy Monday. Time for a story then.

I hope you enjoy my latest story on YouTube – Clearing Up.

The dangers of sitting on high walls are shown up here as all of the King's Men face a messy cleaning task or do they?

Find out here. https://t.co/6UHj3yUxpV
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 9, 2026

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Where Do You Read?

March 3, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Lovely one here. Plenty of writing, even had more sun, and it was a refreshing one for us here. Plenty coming up this week including a super interview on Friday on Chandler’s Ford Today.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely weather again. Lady and I are so making the most of this. Well, you don’t want to blink and miss it, do you?

Writing wise, I’m sharing a super author interview with Wendy H Jones on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This is to showcase the latest anthology to come from her – A Right Cozy Historical Crime. The interview will form part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Vlog.

As well as flagging up the other authors in this great book, Wendy and I discuss the joys of blending historical and crime fiction. Am so looking forward to sharing this on Friday. Do look out for it.

Hope you’ve had a good weekend and a promising start to the week. Lovely weather here. Lady made the most of it at the park.

Writing wise, I posted my first flash fiction to my Substack yesterday and I plan to do this regularly. To subscribe to my Substack, just head over to Substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

As well as receiving what I post here, you should also receive my articles on Writers’ Narrative. My next one here appears on 7th March, later this week.

Was also delighted to review a flash piece over the weekend and send that in. Will know more about how what does later this month.

Delighted my author newsletter went out earlier today. Many thanks to all of my subscribers and I do hope you find the special pdf which comes with it useful. It was a joy to put it together.

Writing wise, I’ll be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly plus I’ll have article and blog work to do too – all great fun. I like having plenty of writing to do. Literally never a dull moment. Okay, I grant you checking for typos etc is not the world’s most exciting task but given it helps improve my work, I see it as a case of I have got to do it so let’s get it done and done well. Then I can move on to something much more interesting.

Writing Tip: Planning out what you write and when, depending on your other commitments, helps in terms of knowing when you can get the duller side of writing out of the way ahead of doing something much more creative. With the duller bits done, I can go full steam ahead into more creative work and enjoy it more precisely because I have got the duller stuff out of the way. And we all have to do the dull stuff so it is a question, I think, of fitting it in when it won’t get in the way of longer writing sessions. When I have a longer writing stint, I just want to get on with much more interesting work than checking for typos.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Lovely to see some sun out again today. More flowers appearing too.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing a superb interview with Wendy H Jones for Chandler’s Ford Today next week about her new anthology, A Right Cozy Historical Crime. Several other authors are in the book with her and full details about the anthology as well as a wonderful talk about the joys of historical fiction, will be in my post next week.

So looking forward to sharing this one as it combines several loves of mine – short stories, anthologies (they are great books), and historical fiction. This interview will form part of the blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog.

My next author newsletter will be out tomorrow, 1st March, and will have something special to celebrate a significant birthday of mine later on in the month. Do look out for that in your inbox.

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Another hectic day today but I did enjoy a swim and Lady and I both enjoyed the sunshine again. Glad to have sent off a flash piece over the weekend and I shared my first one on my Substack account too. I hope to do more of that in due course.

Why is flash fiction such an addictive form? I suppose it is because having written a 100 word story, say, and it works well, I want to see if I can do this over and over again. The challenge is an ongoing one to have a proper tale with a proper beginning, middle and ending in that word count (or any of the other ranges flash fiction offers up to 1000 words). Also it is such fun playing with genre because I can set my characters anywhere, use the first, second and third persons, and all of that offers up so many more story possibilities.

As ever, it’s a hectic Monday but, hooray, it is at least a sunny one where I am! Much appreciated. Still time for a story though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Apple Seller. No prizes for guessing the inspiration behind this one…

A market stall holder selling apples recalls a strange conversation with an old woman and wonders where Snow White has got to.

Hope the weekend is going well. Mixture of sunshine and showers but I’m seeing more spring flowers emerge every time I take Lady out. That cheers me up no end.

Flash Tip: Read flash fiction collections (and yes I know I’m biased here with two of mine out there) but you will get a good feel for what flash can do and be. You’ll also see how it looks on the page. It can challenge you to raise your game to which is no bad thing, as you’ll inevitably come up with writing you would not have written otherwise. Do check out the independent presses for potential publishers. They are usually more open to unagented writers. I always flag up The Mslexia Indie Press Guide here because it kind of does for the indie presses what The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook does for the bigger publishing houses.

At the end of February already – I suppose you could say it is the “flash” month of the year. Not quite a case of blink and you’ll miss it but it speeds by. What is cheering about it is seeing more evidence of spring coming as the month goes on.

Talking of which, give some thought as to what would help your characters look on the brighter side of life and how this would help them in their story. A story isn’t a story unless there is a point of change and often this is where a character has to do something or change in some way. Their mood and mind set can directly impact on how successful or otherwise they are in changing what has to be changed.

An optimistic character is more likely to see the need for change and implement it. A pessimistic one may well wonder why bother? An optimistic character is more likely to succeed in their quest. They will take the actions and advice needed for this. A pessimistic one may well fail – would they be willing to listen to yet alone take advice which would help them?

Where a pessimistic character may see they need to change, what or whom would help them there?

Goodreads Author Blog – Where Do You Read?

I’m sometimes asked in surveys etc where do I like to read. I love reading in bed just before settling for the night. It’s a fantastic way to unwind, though I grant it is not the time for horror stories, at least it isn’t for me. I also like to read (usually a magazine) at lunchtime.

When away, I usually get to read more during the day. Over the Christmas break, I like nothing better than to curl up on the sofa with a book present and some chocolate (the eating and drinking kinds!).

I suppose a more important question is do you read? I was once at a Book Fair with my table and someone walked past it saying they “didn’t do books”. I had to bite my tongue because I so wanted to ask “what are you doing here then” but deemed it probably wouldn’t help.

What led me into reading at all? Well, I must bless my late mother here because she encouraged reading at an early age and read to my kid sister and I regularly. We also saw her reading. Libraries were (and still are) fabulous places to visit. I developed a love of magazine reading in my teens. That continues but the topic has changed. My focus now is on writing magazines and sometimes things like The Oldie. That will tell you I left my teens behind some time ago!

But what matters is we read and keep reading. It is such a wonderful thing. (And you still can’t beat reading in bed or a comfy sofa for the best location!).

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Where Do You Read? https://t.co/gBhYYKNhUV via @goodreads I celebrate reading and share where I like to read for Goodreads this week. I also look at the importance of early encouragement to read too. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/oAorIrNRQX
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 28, 2026

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As ever, it’s a hectic Monday but it was sunny! Still story time though. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Apple Seller.

A market stall holder selling apples recalls a strange conversation with an old woman and wonders where Snow White has got to.https://t.co/OTKKuIPTX3
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) March 2, 2026

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Writing Events

February 20, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Many thanks to Lynn Clement and Gill James for two images in my Chandlers Ford Today post this week. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope the week has gone well. Lady has had a lovely time with friends. Have had some sunshine which was welcome but more rain which wasn’t! Writing going well. Am drafting various things at the moment.

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Lady had a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler pal today and has had a fabulous week in that she has “partied” with pals all week! You’ve got to admire the stamina…

Writing wise, I’m pleased to share Writing Events as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I look at the benefits for writers of going to events and how I evaluate which ones are the best for me. I also discuss day events and Zoom/online ones. (Am going to one of these later this evening in support of a friend’s book launch so the timing of this is nice).

Hope you enjoy the post and find it useful.

Writing Events

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Hope the day has gone well. Lady had a fantastic puppy party with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle. Cold and drizzly out there but nowhere near as bad as yesterday.

Writing wise, I’ll be discussing Writing Events for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I share what I look for when deciding which events to go to and look at day events and Zoom ones too. Hope you’ll find the post useful. The link goes up tomorrow.

Writing Tip: When I started writing seriously, the thought of networking terrified me. When I realised going to events would mean talking about something I love, writing, with others who love writing too, those fears went. And it got me used to talking about what I do writing wise. What I did do before going to my first ever event was jot a few thoughts on what I could say about what I write. That helped give me more confidence because I knew I had something I could say and then, of course, as you get chatting to other writers, the conversation continues naturally which is wonderful.

18th February – Authors Electric

Despite cold and wet weather, Lady managed to have a great time at the park with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums, and Charlie, the lovely Toller. I can’t speak for the others but I do know Lady and I weren’t sorry to be indoors again.

Writing wise, it’s my turn on the Authors Electric blog and this time I look at The Shortest Time, an apt title for a flash fiction writer. I look at this from the viewpoint of meeting deadlines for competitions, using smaller pockets of writing time well so I can make better use of longer sessions, and, of course, I give my characters the shortest time possible in the format to resolve their issues. No dithering about what to do here!

Hope you enjoy the post.

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Am happily drafting a flash piece I hope to submit in the next week or so. Have got the basics okay but it is a question of now fine tuning the piece and I know I need a few days away from the work to be able to see what needs to be done and where. I’ve mentioned before it pays all writers to draft a piece, rest it for a while, and then come back to it so you can see it with fresh eyes.

The advantage for flash fiction writers here is we don’t need such a long break as, say, a novella writer would. But it still pays to put the time aside here. I always find something I could’ve phrased better etc on coming back to the work again. The distance from that initial creative spark is crucial, I think, to pick things up and make the work even better.

I like to use my characters to show their location. Often it is by showing you what kind of character they are. For example, if I have a dragon or fairy godmother, it’s a reasonably safe assumption to believe they’re in some sort of magical world. If they’re not, I will show them “on location”, almost inevitably confronting/being confronted by another character (and it will be clear enough where they must be based).

Flash teaches you, I think, to work out what the characters can show the readers. You haven’t got the word count room to spell everything out in any case. I must admit I love it when authors leave me to work things out. All I need is the right clues to be able to do that. The challenge to me as a writer is to plant the right clues so readers can do that with my stories without giving it all away.

I don’t use the weather much in fiction because, for me, it always a background thing. Where the weather has a direct impact on what my characters can do and how, then fine I’d write it in. But I don’t want the weather dominating the story (and when such scenes are badly written, they can be ripe for mockery. Love a laugh etc. Don’t want it to be aimed at my writing though!).

Where it can be useful is in showing more about your character. If I want a character to be struggling against the elements, I will probably show something of the clothing they’re wearing (that is often indicative of prevailing conditions). I may get them to moan about the weather to another character. That is something we an call identify with. I don’t generally need to show you the rain my character is struggling through. I will mention the lightning and rumble of thunder though which makes them start.

As with anything in fiction, it is the telling details which will make something stand out. So think about your reader, as well as your character. What would they expect to see? What would they expect to hear? Do use as many of the senses as you can.

Having a character doing the following makes something more gripping to me.

Mary knew she had to get away from the trees. The thunder was happening more often now and yes, there it was, she saw the first flash of lightning. She pressed on towards the cottage. Once there, everything else could wait including her vital message.

Allison Symes – 18th February 2026.

Hmm… now that does sound much more promising than saying something like It was pouring down!

Fairytales With Bite – Signs of Hope

February 2026 has been just as much of a wash out weather wise as January was but there are more signs of hope in February. The natural world is waking up to the thought of spring being not too far away and I’ve loved being out with the dog, despite the rain, spotting things like snowdrops, early crocuses and much more. Also the evenings, when it isn’t raining, are becoming lighter for longer.

What signs of hope would there be in your magical setting? What role does the natural world have against your main magical background? What signs of spring (or the equivalent season) would your characters like to see? Do they even appreciate these things? Do your magical characters appreciate other flora and fauna which are not used for potions etc?

Signs of hope aren’t just confined to the natural world. For example, if your setting has a dictatorial system of government or a wicked magical character in charge, but your characters are moving against all of that, what signs of hope would they have to encourage them to keep going? How would those signs of hope make a difference to the eventual and hoped for victory?

Hope can spur people on in difficult times. How would that play out in your setting?

This World and Others – The Natural World in a Magical Setting

As with Fairytales with Bite above, the role of the natural world in a magical setting is an interesting one. Yes, it will be the source of ingredients for spells and potions but it can be more than that.

I’m thinking of The Ents in The Lord of the Rings here, where they, representing the natural world as the Shepherds of the Trees, rose up against Saruman to try to overcome his wanton destruction of trees etc. The natural world can rebel against ill treatment (and I would say climate change is a warning from our own planet here. I don’t see how anyone can deny it. There have been major changes and it still befits us to take as good a care of our planet as we can – and that’s as radical as I get though to me it is plain common sense).

So how do your characters treat their natural world? Is it valued? Would your magical characters appreciate their natural world for its beauty, health benefits to walking in it etc? Where would your characters go to in your setting when they wanted to get away with it all?

Also, are any of the animals, plants etc magical in their own right? What advantages are there to this for your setting or characters? What would be the disadvantages? What are the dangers? How would the natural magical world clash or co-operate with the magical characters?

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Authors Electric: The Shortest Time by Allison Symes https://t.co/HJknnhe5Qw
I discuss meeting deadlines, using small pockets of writing time, and, of course, as a flash fiction writer, I give my characters the shortest time possible to resolve their issues. No dithering here! pic.twitter.com/Xine2gygUw
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 18, 2026

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Writing Events https://t.co/ZgumIX1IGe
Glad to share Writing Events as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I look at the benefits of writing events and how I evaluate which are the best for me. I also discuss day events and Zoom/online ones. Hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 20, 2026

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Writing To Themes

February 13, 2026Leave a comment

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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 few days. Lady has been having fabulous times with various chums all week. I’ve been very busy with writing and meetings on Zoom. Looking forward to a quieter weekend, to be honest. Will be having a super interview coming up on Chandler’s Ford Today in March (so you can guess from that some of the writing I’m busy with!).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Am pleased to share my latest post on Chandler’s Ford Today on Writing To Themes.

I share thoughts and tips on the topic given I write to set themes almost always. Even when not doing so for competitions and Writers’ Narrative, I set my own theme, as I have done here. Themes give structure to any piece of writing and are fabulous for sparking ideas for characters and situations.

Hope you find the post useful.

Writing To Themes

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Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler friend today so has done brilliantly in seeing at least one of her closest pals all week this week. (Doesn’t always happen).

Writing wise, I’m sharing Writing To Themes for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. I share tips and thoughts, all of which I hope will prove useful. I’m hard pushed to think of any writer who hasn’t written to a theme at some point, even if they invent the theme first!

Marketing Tip: I put aside some of my writing time to think about ways of marketing. I include my YouTube videos which I share on Mondays as part of this because they show something of my writing style. I like the marketing I do to be as much fun as possible because I then don’t mind doing it and hopefully it will be fun for readers too.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Puppy party over the park today with Lady, the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, Coco, and a lovely Toller called Charlie. Good time had by all. All went home tired and happy.

Writing wise, have a flash story to submit for a competition later today, plus I’m preparing a super interview to appear on Chandler’s Ford Today in March. Love conducting as well as reading/hearing author interviews – always learn something useful from them. All writing journeys are different and this, I think, helps contribute to my finding author interviews fascinating.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. We’ll be looking at On This Day…. Loads of topics for flash (and other) stories to come from that.

Writing Tip: Have put my own advice into play this week as I’ve had a couple of hectic days where I haven’t been able to write much. Lovely but so, so busy, so have focused on writing little bits and pieces, knowing I will find these useful later on. At the end of the day, the important thing is to write, whether you have five minutes or five hours.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Have had a lovely day out in deepest Dorset (super county) with other half and Lady. Even had some sunshine. Does you good to have mini breaks every so often.

Talking of which, why not send a character off for a mini break for a flash tale? Where do they go and what happens there? This would work well for longer fiction, of course, but I like the thought of a short, sharp story on this. One break. One character. One event.

Happy writing!

I mentioned yesterday about flash being strong on impact. It’s also strong on getting right inside a character’s mind for the duration of the tale. There is no word count room to dilute what your character thinks, does, or says.

If I’m showing you a story about a grumpy fairy godmother (as I love to do sometimes), I will need to show you something about what made her grumpy, what she does because of her mood, the consequences and so on.

Everything has to follow through but I cannot go on for too long. I have to show you just what you need to know to make sense of the tale. If you need to work on focus in stories, do try flash fiction. It encourages the development of focus. It has also led me to lose all fear of editing.

Plan to submit a flash piece for a 500 words maximum competition a little later today. Will be good to get that done.

Am thoroughly enjoying the co-judging I’m involved with on another flash competition at the moment.

Flash Fiction Tip: Give thought as to why your story idea would work best for a flash fiction format. What you are looking for here is maximum impact in the fewest words possible to convey that. So it is helpful to focus on one character, one incident, one impact here, I find.

Fairytales With Bite – Days Out

Every so often the other half and I take the dog out for the day. A lovely time is had by all. Does us all the world of good.

So, when your magical characters need a break, where would they go and what would they do? Does your setting have places designed for the day tripper?

How would magical characters ensure they could have a proper mini break from magical work? Also, do your characters happily go on these breaks or are they forced into them due to tiredness making them less effective? Would their bosses insist on the break?

Story ideas there for sure.

This World and Others – Down Time

We all need down time. The same goes for our characters. So how would they spend that down time?

If in things like reading or enjoying music, what would they have which would be comparable with what we have here? What would be different?
Would they have more or less down time than us? Would your characters be prepared to give up all or some of their down time should the need arise? How could they tell this was genuine rather than their bosses sneakily trying to make them work longer?

Where you have different magical species, what down time activities do they have in common? Which would be specific to species?

What stories could there be with a character having down time and something disrupts it? Or where the down time gets in the way of something important?

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Writing To Themes https://t.co/xX4IkPAxg9

I share tips here as I write to set themes almost always. Even when not doing so for competitions/Writers' Narrative, I set my theme, as I have here. Themes spark ideas for characters and situations.

Hope you find the post useful.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 13, 2026

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Supporting Anthologies

February 10, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Family travelling about on different days for various things so it was especially nice to get to a lovely, lazy Sunday evening. Lady enjoyed her different weekend too – she had to put up with me taking her out rather than another family member. I managed to get plenty of writing done but didn’t avoid getting soaked, alas!

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Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler and Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today. Managed to avoid the rain this morning but, alas, not this afternoon. So we are half wet!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Writing To Themes on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I hope that will be useful. The tips I will be sharing here are ones I’ve used for years and continue to use. If you’re writing short fiction and entering competitions, you’ll come across a lot of set themes, which are all chosen because they’re timeless and writers can get so much from them. More to come with the post on Friday.

Hope the week has got off to a reasonable start. Lady had a fabulous time with her best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler, in the park today. All three saw their favourite human of all time, “Pete the Treat” as well so it was fair to say the three dogs went home having had a great time and plenty of treats! We were all pleased to see some sunshine too.

Writing wise, the next couple of days will be particularly busy so I’ll be focusing on getting various bits and pieces done. Did manage to get a fair bit done over the weekend. Am also catching up with reading. Am enjoying some great anthologies/collections of non-fiction work at the moment.

Character Tip: Think about what you can learn from how a character speaks. You should pick up something on their level of education, class, and more. How can you apply this to your own characters? The choice of words used makes such a difference here.

Hope your Sunday has been a peaceful one. Am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday, which I’ll start shortly after posting this.

The one regret I do have with my writing is not starting a lot sooner than I did. All the clues were there early on that writing was something for me. I always loved inventing stories during what was called Composition (part of English Language lessons). I did have notebooks and jotted down thoughts and ideas. Goodness knows what happened to them but the signs were there.

Sometimes on reading a story I didn’t like, I would think I would write the character this way instead, all of that kind of thing. But I didn’t get around to actually start writing seriously until I hit a milestone birthday (and in the same year had a significant life event too).

Next month I’ll hit another milestone birthday which will also tell me it will have been thirty years since I finally succumbed to the writing bug. It’s the only bug I’ve ever been really glad to catch!

Tip of the Day: If you want to write, write. It doesn’t have to be perfect. First drafts never are but make a start and see where the journey takes you and have fun with it too. You want to enjoy as much as you can of the process. You also cannot know how long it will take you to get “anywhere” (the definition of which depends on what you want to come from your writing) so the earlier you can start, the better.

Hope the weekend has got off to a good start. Not bad here. Even saw a little sunshine. Still plenty of mud around and Lady does have a talent for finding it all.

Writing wise, I’m glad to say my latest post Researching for Short Form Fiction Writers (for Writers’ Narrative) is now up on Substack. Link here. Many thanks to all who have subscribed to my Substack over the last few days.

For Chandler’s Ford Today next week, I’m looking at Writing to Themes, which is something I do for Writers’ Narrative, Chandler’s Ford Today and almost all of the story competitions I enter. Post up on Friday for that one.

As ever, am looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow. As ever, again, the weekend flies by!

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I’ve got one of those days today when I may as well have a revolving door as my front door. Now here’s a story prompt thought for you, knowing we all get days like that. Why not put your character in this situation and see how they handle it? Could make this funny or tragic – whatever mood takes you here. But have fun writing your character into a busy situation and see what they do – it may even prove therapeutic to you!

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. The usual hectic routine for me. Definitely time for a story then. I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Not Such A Good Idea.

Swapping some dark chocolate for something very different has consequences for two friends. A joke doesn’t always work out as planned.

Every writer has their favourite themes and mine often come up in my flash fiction and short stories. But this is another reason why I love competitions where someone else has set the theme. It challenges me to write something different when the theme is not one of my tried and tested favourites (and it often isn’t).

I’ll be looking at Writing To Themes for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and will be sharing some tips I’ve found useful here. I hope it will prove to be useful. But in general terms it pays to practice writing flash fiction and short stories to various themes given these are often repeated (and for good reason too – these themes are timeless).

Managed to dodge a lot of the rain today so Lady and I will take that as a win.

Have a flash piece I am hoping to submit to a competition either tomorrow or early next week. Am also enjoying co-judging a flash fiction competition so, as has happened with editing in the past, I am on both sides of the fence at the same time again here. A nice place to be, mind you!

As you know, I mix up how I find ideas for my flash fiction pieces. Sometimes I will use topics connected with a season, most of the different random generators, books of prompts, story cubes and so on. I’ve been inspired by part of an overheard conversation before now too. The trick, if there is one, is to be open to the idea there are ideas out there waiting for you to work them up into stories. I’ve been inspired by characters I loathe (in a reverse way – I won’t write characters like that, I will write them like this instead and that has sparked a few tales). I’ve been inspired by characters I love.

If in any doubt, read more because it will remind you of what you love in stories and that should hopefully encourage you in your own writing. I find this to be the case and see it as a wonderful bonus for writers. We get even more pleasure from reading!

Goodreads Author Blog – Supporting Anthologies

I’ve had the great pleasure of having my work published in many anthologies over the years and some of my flash fiction work has recently appeared in another one (Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites).

I love reading anthologies too because I get to explore the works of many different authors in one paperback or ebook. Nothing to dislike about that and I’ve gone on to read longer works by authors whose stories I first came across in the shorter forms.

I also “use” anthologies to whet my reading appetite in between novels. I’ve long believed it is good to have a balance of long and short form reading. There are some amazing flash fiction and short stories out there where you do feel another word couldn’t have been added without “diluting” the impact of those tales.

Reading anthologies also helps support the smaller presses who give more authors more chance to have their tales seen and read. That in turn gives us more choice in our reading material. We all win here in supporting the anthologies.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Supporting Anthologies https://t.co/XMoJ7QhLcq via @goodreads I celebrate short form anthologies for Goodreads this week and share why I feel they deserve supporting. We have more choice of reading material for one thing! Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/TISeUj9f0x
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 7, 2026

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Hope Monday has been okay but good news – it's story time. I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Not Such A Good Idea.

Swapping some dark chocolate for something very different has consequences for two friends. A joke doesn't always work out as planned.https://t.co/bRAFc1d6s2
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 9, 2026

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Review – The Chameleon Theatre Company – Camelot The Pantomime

February 6, 2026Leave a comment

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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. A huge thank you to Daisy Wilkins (Dazoo Art) for kind permission to use pictures, on behalf of The Chameleon Theatre Company, from Camelot the Pantomime in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hope you have had a good few days. Lady has enjoyed seeing her friends. Mud avoidance not possible at the moment though! Glad my copy of Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites has now reached me and I’m enjoying it very much. I have a few stories in there too.

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Lady caught up with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals again and all three went home tired but happy.

Talking of which, I came home tired and happy after seeing Camelot The Pantomime recently staged by the always excellent Chameleon Theatre Company. I review the pantomime for my post on Chandler’s Ford Today this week and hope you enjoy it. The Chameleon pantomimes are always worth seeing but they do stage other plays during the rest of the year so if you are in my area, watch out for these. I’ve taken in far more stories than I would otherwise have done watching The Chameleons on stage.

Oh and you know the old song from South Pacific, There’s Nothing Like a Dame? Great song, I have wonderful memories of a certain Morecambe and Wise sketch which used it, and it is always true for pantomimes, including Camelot.

The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Camelot The Pantomime

Soggy day today but Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals and Daisy the sweet spaniel. Lovely but muddy time had by all.

Writing wise, do look out for my review of Camelot The Pantomime, recently staged by The Chameleon Theatre Company, for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. It was great fun to watch the show and a real pleasure to review it. After a difficult week for various reasons (including Storm Chandra), it was such a tonic to see this. The review will share the “flavour” of the show which I hope you will enjoy. For me, it was also a chance to take in a story in a different format and I always welcome that. See above.

Many thanks for all who’ve liked my recent article on Writers’ Narrative on Substack. Articles will appear in your inbox (if you’ve subscribed to the magazine) every few days. Another one of mine will appear later this month.

Top Tip: For all of my articles, I prepare in advance as much as I can even when I know I can’t write the whole thing up until later. For example, if I need to research a particular topic but cannot do so immediately, I will make a note on my Scrivener file to remind me to check the references out and list them so they are easy to find. So I have these things to hand when I do then have the time to do the research. These notes are in with my draft article.

It’s what I love about Scrivener. It’s so easy to keep things together and even move things around as I need to. I went through a stage when Word kept crashing on me so when I discovered Scrivener, where I’ve had no problems at all, I was only too glad to move over to it. The nice thing is when I need to “compile” a Scrivener document to a Word format (for story competitions where I have to upload a file in docx format), it is so easy to do. I can also “compile” to pdf and many other formats and I’ve found that useful too.

But making a note at the time of what I need to research (and the links) at a later date saves me so much time.

Hope today has gone well. Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum and Daisy the lovely spaniel. All three dogs had a lovely time in the park. Nice to see some sunshine about. Think we all appreciated that.

Writing wise, have now received the stories for judging for the flash fiction competition where I am a co-judge. Looking forward to reading the stories. Whether you judge stories or not, every time you read fiction you will learn something which can be useful to your own writing – what you like, dislike etc in characters, for example.

Reading/Writing Tip: If you keep a notebook to hand when you read, why not jot down what you like/dislike about a character and why. A line or two would be enough. These notes will build up over time and may well assist you in creating your own characters. You, having been the reader, will know what it is you want to see from characters. Your notes will confirm this.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Today, 6th February, would’ve been the Accession Day for the late Queen Elizabeth the Second. Her life and her role in it changed in a moment. While knowing this would happen at some point, it came far earlier for her than expected.

Now how about applying that thought to some characters. Make them face things they are half-ready long before they truly are. How do they manage? How does it impact on their life? What problems does it cause given they were expecting this situation/role later than they inherited it? There will be good story ideas to come from that. Also there’s nothing like having a character face the unexpected (at all or early) to increase the tension/drama in your story.

Flash is a constant challenge given I have to keep on inventing characters but, given this is my favourite aspect to storytelling, it’s a challenge I love. For me, characters are the reason I keep reading any length of story. I’ve got to want to see what happens. The lovely thing with flash, of course, is you get to see what happens quickly. I love that too.

It does mean I have to work out what I need to know about my characters first before I share them in stories. I have to focus on what matters for the story only. Everything else has to be cut out. That in turn helps me meet the word count requirement.

Delighted to say my copy of Editor’s Choice – Friday Flash Fiction Favourites arrived today. Am looking forward to reading that. Good to see familiar names here (and often with more than one Editor’s Choice too, so well done all).

Have started sending in competition entries towards the end of January/beginning of February. I’ve started a little later than last year on this (various reasons for that) but am pleased to have made a start.

Competitions stretch me and it is always a great challenge to rise to a set theme.

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Fairytales With Bite – The End of the Working Week

I suspect most of us are glad to get to the end of the working week, even if we love our jobs. By the time we get to Friday, we’re usually more than ready for a break. (I salute all those who work shifts by the way, not something I could do).

But how would your characters, magical or otherwise, feel about what would be their working week? What would they do to unwind ready for the daily grind to begin again on their equivalent of Monday? Is it a case of switching magical usage off altogether and “discharging”? Or it is a case of using magic for more relaxing purposes instead of their daily work? What would their work be? If your setting is run on magical systems of any kind, I would imagine they would need “engineers” and “maintenance”. Someone has to carry out those roles.

How would time work in your setting? Would it have a week as we know it, or is their equivalent longer or shorter? Who decided who would work when? How did your world realise their workers would need a break to recharge? Nobody, even with magical powers, can keep going all of the time. There would be a price to pay there.
In the UK our weekends really began as a result of campaigns to have Saturday afternoons off in the Victorian era. That gave workers that time and Sundays off. What would have happened in your world to trigger a change in their working patterns? How has your magical world benefited from the changes? Did they have magical campaigners here?

Food for story thought there, I think.

This World and Others – Respite

Linking in with Fairytales with Bite above, how would your characters get their respite from their magical or non-magical work? Would there be sports, dancing etc and would they resemble anything we have here? If your characters prefer to listen to music or read books (or do both together), what would be available for them?

If your characters need a longer period of respite, how would they take this? As an official holiday, a sabbatical, or would they take unpaid leave? What would trigger them to have longer respite periods? Also, what would holidays look like in your setting, is everyone entitled to them, when would they be taken and how long for?

Could you set your characters in stories where they are away from their normal routine, enjoying some needed respite, when adventures intervene and how would your characters handle this? I am fond of crime stories, especially those by Agatha Christie, and you know when she sends Poirot or Miss Marple somewhere something is going to happen which means they need to use their detective skills again. Could you do something similar with your magical characters? What kind of adventures would interrupt their respite?

There could be potential for humorous stories here too.

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The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Camelot The Pantomime https://t.co/i57TE84tPB
My review of Camelot is my CFT post this week. You know the song There’s Nothing Like a Dame? I remember the Morecambe and Wise sketch which used it, and it is always true for pantomimes!
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 6, 2026

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Stories In Other Forms/Top Ten Tips For Researching

February 3, 2026Leave a comment

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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. Mixed bag here given the weather got in the way of getting certain tasks done but hey it is February (and it isn’t January!). Lady doing well. Writing going well too and the new look Writers’ Narrative is about too. Do check it out.

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Hope today has gone well. Busy one here though it was good to get into the swimming pool today.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to sharing my review of Camelot The Pantomime which was recently staged by my excellent local amateur theatre company, The Chameleons. It’s always a joy to go to these things and a great pleasure to write them up afterwards.

Am about to be a co-judge on a flash fiction competition for a writing group. Looking forward to reading the stories and yes judging stories can often be enlightening as to where you’ve come on your own writing journey. It can also encourage you to “up your own game” when you read high quality entries.

My first post on Writers’ Narrative is now up on Substack. I share Top Ten Tips for Researching and hope it proves useful. Remember it is free to sign up to Writers’ Narrative so do check it out.

Hasn’t been a great Monday for me (though Lady did have a lovely time with her Hungarian Vizler pal) but what has cheered me up has been the new look Writers’ Narrative is now out. Do check it out. My articles on here will be appearing soon.

And in other news, Editor’s Choice: Friday Flash Fiction Favourites is now out on Amazon. I have a few stories in there. Looking forward to my copy arriving later this week as it will be a lovely final hurrah for what was a fabulous website.

Hope your weekend has gone well. Weather has been a mixed bag though at least it is less rainy and stormy than earlier this week!

Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today and the new look Writers’ Narrative is out too. Be sure to subscribe. My first posts now it is on Substack will appear later this week. One huge advantage to the platform move is it is going to make it easier for you to look up topics by title that the magazine has covered. I can imagine that being a blessing to many.

Writing Tip: When thinking of topics of your own to write about (for fiction or non-fiction), play a quick game of Word Association first and list all the words you can think of connected to your topic/theme. As you write more words down, you will find more possible connections and ideas for your piece.

31st January 2026

Well, we’ve got there. Finally it is the last day of January! Naturally February will go by in a flash as it always does. January has been a funny old month with more downs than ups this time, unfortunately. I do hope things have been better for you. On the plus side, the writing is going well and, especially when times are not as good as I’d like, I do find writing to be wonderfully therapeutic.

Writing wise, I’ll be reviewing Camelot The Pantomime which was recently staged by our excellent local amateur company, The Chameleons. That post will be live on Chandler’s Ford Today from Friday next week. It is always a pleasure to go to their shows and a joy to write the reviews.

My author newsletter will be out again tomorrow, 1st February. Writing a monthly newsletter is a literally timely reminder of how quickly the year goes by. I do sometimes use the seasons as good topics to write pieces about for the newsletter. There are calendars of events on this day out there which can also be inspirational both in terms of the event itself giving you something to write about, but those things can also suggest wider themes to write about too. Well worth checking out (and just as useful for fiction as non-fiction). For example, if a topic is about a historical event, you could just as well write a story about it as write an article.

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Flash is a wonderful vehicle for exploring ideas. Occasionally, what I think will make a great flash tale proves to need a longer word count and I find myself with a longer short story instead. That’s fine. I can find a different market for that.

But when you have a story where you want the maximum impact for the minimum amount of words, flash fiction is the way to go.

It’s Monday. It’s not been a great one for me this time. So I too definitely feel in need of a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Staying At Home.

When can a deliberately missed opportunity be the best thing of all? And does the dog agree? Find out here.

From the longest month ever to the shortest one but it lovely to be in February at last. I get to spot more signs of spring for one thing.

When you think of this month, certain topics spring automatically to mind as possibles to write about. Nothing wrong with the love theme but think about what you will bring to it which will make your characters and story stand out.

I know I have to care about the characters in some way for their stories to have any chance of succeeding with me and that goes for long, as well as short, form work.

Talking of short form work, it’s time I got on with Flash Fiction Sunday Afternoon!

January cannot be said to be a “flash” month given it doesn’t go quickly! Still, we’re almost there now. By the time I post this, there’ll only be a few hours to go!

My author newsletter is out again tomorrow and, amongst other things, I share an exclusive 100 word story in it. I hope to find another home for further 100 word stories in due course. The Friday Flash Fiction Editor’s Choice book is due out in February. Now out. See above. I have stories in there and will share the link once I’ve got it. Am looking forward to getting this myself. I do know from the quality of the stories on FFF the book will be an excellent representation of that.

I am still keeping Sundays as flash fiction afternoon because I still need to write plenty of material for other collections and competitions, of course. It’s also a great way to wind up the week/begin the next one (either works!) as far as I’m concerned.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories in Other Forms

I like taking in stories in various forms – books (paperback, hardbook, ebook and audio). I listen to some (audio books and radio plays etc). I sometimes get to watch them. I include the film adaptations here including Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of The Rings.

But I also get to watch plays staged by my local and excellent amateur theatre company. I’ve just seen their most recent production, the wonderful Camelot The Pantomime, which was such fun. The joy with pantomimes is they are usually based on the classic fairytales and/or British legends so you’re reminded of those stories too.

But my local theatre company have also staged plays such as All My Sons by Arthur Miller and the stage version of Blackadder amongst many, many others. The range does go from funny to tragic and I have loved all of them. These plays have brought stories to me in a different way. Many of them I would not have taken in via any other medium. Some, such as Blackadder, I’ve seen via TV and audio. I did wonder how that would work on the stage but it was wonderfully done (and yes it included the iconic last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth).

So if you want to try stories in a different way, why not check out your local amateur theatre company? When their production is based on a book, you can then read that too after having seen it acted out for you.

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See above links for February 2026 Writers’ Narrative. With Substack, the articles will appear every few days. But you can easily search for articles you’ve missed and so on.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Stories In Other Forms https://t.co/w0prAXiiBj via @goodreads I look at stories in other forms, including pantomimes, for Goodreads this week. It is a joy to read stories, listen to them AND watch them acted out on stage. Hope you enjoy the post. pic.twitter.com/Tvm38Z2dOf
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) January 31, 2026

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It’s Monday. It’s not been a great one for me. So I too definitely feel in need of a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Staying At Home.

When can a deliberately missed opportunity be the best thing of all? And does the dog agree? Find out here.https://t.co/Hb4E3PbetX
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 2, 2026

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My first post on Writers’ Narrative is now up on Substack. I share Top Ten Tips for Researching and hope it proves useful. Remember it is free to sign up to Writers’ Narrative so do check it out. https://t.co/I6kc06Z6Ms pic.twitter.com/XXvCRqZXtw
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 3, 2026

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