Talks, Stories, Mom’s Favorite Reads, and Swanwick

August 3, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

It has been an interesting few days what with my talk on flash fiction going down well with Byre Writers, some lovely comments on my writing and that talk on Twitter, and looking ahead to seeing friends I haven’t seen in person for two years at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School.

Talking of Swanwick, the image of me reading at the Open Prose Mic Night was taken by the lovely Penny Blackburn. The side image of me reading was taken by the equally lovely Geoff Parkes. All other Swanwick images were taken by me.

I plan to post as normal next week from Swanwick if I can but times are likely to be different. (Looking forward to having these two books in the Swanwick Book Room. Last time I went I only had From Light to Dark and Back Again out).

Facebook – General

Stories – I can’t imagine my life without them. I don’t care if they’re in written form, audio, film, or what have you, though I love them all. What I want is a good story well told which keeps me engrossed until those magic words The End. And for me that means being gripped by the characters and having to find out what happens to them.

The nice thing is stories come in all manner of styles and word counts. It has been a joy to discover flash fiction as a format (and especially since I’ve been published in it!). Styles and fashions in storytelling may come and go but the basic premise of having a story so good you have to finish reading it remains.

I look at some of the older novels I have on my shelves and the levels of description in them would almost certainly go above a flash fiction word count but most of these were written in pre-television and film days when most people, for example, would not have known what London looked like so did need a description to help them get their bearings in the story they were about to read.

The advantage we have as writers now is not having to do that. We can give a reader the salient details they have to know and they can fill in the rest themselves. Most will have an idea of what London looks like (and it is also easy enough to look things up now. Google Maps anyone?!). So we can focus on the things that will drive the story on (and our pace also increases as a result of that. Particularly useful for short form fiction writing of course).

Hope you have had a good start to the working week. (So looking forward to being at Swanwick next week!). Lovely to see Lady play with her pals this morning. Lady now happily curled up on sofa, snoozing.

Just to say the August 2021 edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now out and I have a piece in there about Side Benefits of Writing. See link below for more. Have already submitted a piece for the next issue. It is great fun to write for MFR.
Hope to be sharing further publication news later this month too. Watch this space as they say.

Oh and to flag up Writing Magazine now have a Grand Flash Prize. I hope to have a crack at that one. (First prize is £1000, second prize is £250 and there are other prizes too – definitely worth a go).

Sorry I realised after it was too late yesterday I had sent out my author newsletter a day early. Oops! Mind you, I am finding it hard to believe it is August, given the recent bizarre weather. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it!

On the plus side, this time next week I should be enjoying my first full day at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. Can’t wait for that. Am hoping for good weather (and am looking forward to being out and about on the train again too).

A huge thank you to #JuliaPattison and, separately, #PeterMarshall for your wonderfully encouraging comments respectively about flash fiction and the Byre Writers workshop I ran yesterday. Feedback like this is always welcome but especially so when it comes out of the blue.

Also a huge thank you to the lovely people at The Chameleon Theatre Group for arranging access for me to pictures from their recent comeback production. I will be reviewing their show next week for Chandler’s Ford Today but as well as putting on great shows, The Chameleons take some great pictures too. And I hope The Chameleons have got off to a good start with their charity fundraising for this year which will be for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Service.

Last but not least, thank you also for the great response to my recent CFT post about Wildflowers. It seems to have struck a chord with people but then maybe we all need to take time out to appreciate the natural world more often, especially after the last very trying year or so.

Reviews are subjective but that is the point - no two people will think exactly the same and reviews should reflect that

FINDING IDEAS - Recharging your supply of ideas by mixing up how you find them is a good idea in itself

One of the things I love about writing is you never stop learning and this is good for you

FINDING IDEAS - When your brain fizzes with ideas write them all down, re-evaluate them later

Reviews can be a great way of your readers giving you useful feedback

FINDING IDEAS - Putting a story together is like putting a jigsaw together - do all your ideas fit together well

Always a joy to talk or write about flash fiction

It was a great joy to talk about flash fiction writing to Byre Writers this morning. Many thanks to #KathrynHolme and to all who came to the talk via the wonders of Zoom for making me so welcome. It was great fun.

One of the nice things about flash fiction writing is it is easy to demonstrate and I usually read out a couple of my published works at talks like this to show what flash can do and be. I like to choose stories with contrasting moods to show this. And, while flash is short, its impact is all the greater on a reader because of that. A well-told flash story can “hit the reader in the guts” very quickly indeed!

I like to mix up whether I produce stories to make readers laugh, shudder, or what have you. I like a nice mix of moods in the stories that I read so I like to reflect that in what I write.

In further news, my author newsletter went out earlier today. If you’d like to sign up for this, please head over to my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

And a week from now I should be at the writing highlight of my year – the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School. I plan to put up my FB posts as normal but times will differ and I hope to write up a review of this year’s school for Chandler’s Ford Today later on in the summer to give a flavour of what goes on. What am I looking forward to most? Easy-peasy. Meeting up with friends in person whom I have not seen for two years! Can’t wait.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Amongst the many things I’m looking forward to at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School is the Open Prose Mic Night. I’ve taken part in that a couple of times and hope to do so again. Flash fiction works wonderfully for this as, by its nature, it’s difficult to go on for too long (which is the besetting sin of any Open Prose Mic Night!).

And it is a joy to listen to the other participants. It is wonderful to be read to – doesn’t happen often enough for my liking – and the stories they come up with are amazing. I see that very much as an encouragement and Prose Nights are also a good way to test out material and get used to reading to an audience. That in turn is useful practice for book signings hopefully later on.

It was great listening to the wide range of stories at the Prose night - and the bell made sure none of us overran

The front of The Hayes where Swanwick is held

One of my favourite Swanwick grounds pics

And Penny Blackburn took this one of me from 2019, the last Swanwick held before You Know What hit us all.

Geoff Parkes took this image of me reading at one Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night.

The flower beds have different varieties in each year. Some smaller tubs had strawberries growing in them!

My latest YouTube video is called Not Taking Advice. It follows what can happen when someone doesn’t! Hope you enjoy it.

One of the joys of talking about flash fiction is it is very easy to demonstrate what it is by reading some examples. I did this yesterday for Byre Writers and deliberately mixed up the moods of the stories I read out to show just what flash can do and be.

Another nice thing about submitting regular work for #FridayFlashFiction is I get to read the other stories on there and can genuinely consider this market research! Market research in terms of seeing what other flash authors are doing, the kinds of stories the website likes and so on. That kind of research is never wasted. Best of all, it is great fun.

Oh and talking about flash fiction writing, the latest edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is out. I talk about the side benefits of writing in this issue. The theme I set for this issue for flash stories was coming out of your shell.

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Many thanks to the lovely people at Byre Writers for inviting me to talk to them about flash fiction writing this morning. It is always a joy to talk about flash. I shared some ways “in” to creating a flash story and the advantages of flash fiction writing. Even if you mainly write something else, there are still benefits to be had from flash writing.

Am looking forward to taking two books to the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School’s Book Room next week. When I last went, I only had From Light to Dark and Back Again out. It will be really nice to see Tripping the Flash Fantastic in the Book Room this time as well. (I am also hoping to see some other books in there by Chapeltown writers).

Glad my Oddity, the latest tale on #FridayFlashFiction, is going down well. The feedback is much appreciated. And if you want to find out what flash fiction is out there, do check the website out. You’ll have a good read as well as get a good “feel” for the kind of stories you can produce for flash.

Goodreads Author Blog – What Do You Want To See in Your Favourite Books?

What I want to see in my favourite books are characters I can root for. Even when they’re villainous, I want to understand what drives them to be the way they are. Nobody says you have to like characters but you do need to be able to see where they’re coming from.

Stories can reflect on us. Unrealistic characters will not draw people in to read their stories. Yet a character you can understand, no matter how bizarre they and/or their setting might be, will draw people in to find out more.

I like crisp dialogue which gives me enough information to work some things out for myself. I like enough description so I can picture the scene but I don’t want too much of that. Again, I want there to be some gaps I can fill in for myself.

Above all, I want the “have got to keep reading to find out what happens next” to be there throughout the whole book or story. No dull bits. Life is too short for that.

And at the end of the story or book, I want to feel like I’ve been taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions but for that to be a journey I would happily take again because I loved the story and book.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: What Do You Want to See in Your Favourite Books? https://t.co/WXMIvuAteq via @goodreads I look at what I want to see in my favourite books and stories for this week's Goodreads post. Head over to the post and see if you agree with me. pic.twitter.com/4YLLWoSNco
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 31, 2021

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My latest YouTube video is called Not Taking Advice. It follows what can happen when someone doesn’t! Hope you enjoy it.https://t.co/CTBiPdVqk1
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) August 2, 2021

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Balancing Fiction and Non-Fiction

July 13, 20212 Comments

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

More publication news this week and Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, chats to me on her blog. More below.

Facebook – General

Looking forward to sharing my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday where I’ll be chatting about Youtube for Authors. I’ll share how I use Youtube and why I am finding it useful, creative, and great fun. Going down this route was not something I anticipated doing even three years ago.

Don’t forget my author newsletter goes out on the first of the month so if would like to sign up please head over to my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com – (landing page) – and a big welcome to those already aboard. You receive a welcome email on sign-up along with a link to a giveaway where I share flash fiction stories, a brief piece about flash fiction, amongst other things.

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Hope you have had a good day. Thunder coming in here. Lady okay with it, especially now we’re back at home, but I cannot think of an odder July, weather wise. Glad the weather is supposed to get better from tomorrow but I am not holding my breath!

Glad to say I will be giving a couple of Zoom talks later on in the month so am getting ready for those.

Looking forward to going back to the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August. Will be wonderful to catch up in person with lovely friends I’ve not seen for two years, though am deeply saddened by news of those Swanwickers lost since we last met. The support from other writers here is amazing. It will be nice to be out and about on the train again too (and yes, I have renewed my railcard. I renewed it last year not long before the first lockdown…oops!).

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Many thanks for the lovely comments coming in on my No More Miss Mousy story which is up on #FridayFlashFiction. Great feedback – much appreciated.

Looking forward to sharing my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Friday. I’ll be talking about YouTube for Authors and the idea came from Part 2 of my interview with #HelenMatthews shared here on Friday.

Do you schedule your writing over the course of a week? I have a rough outline of what I want to see done by the end of the week but I can adjust this (and do) as and when the need arises. Friday of course is always CFT day, Sundays are usually when I prepare a flash tale to put up on YouTube and submit something to #FridayFlashFiction. For the rest of the week, I like to write a mixture of fiction and non-fiction and if I manage to do that, I feel it has been a week well spent.

Two posts today as lots to share. I’ll start by saying a huge thanks to the lovely #ValPenny for hosting me once again on her website. Back in March I was talking about my writing journey and today’s post is an update. A lot has happened since March, mainly involving Zoom.

Am also looking forward to catching up with Val in person when we get back to the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School later on in the summer. (I know – summer, she says laughingly but officially it is summer anyway). Will there be enough prosecco to go around I wonder… I’m sure we’ll manage!

Secondly, I am delighted to say the July 2021 edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads is now up on Amazon. I talk about Patience in Flash Fiction Writing. I am their flasher queen after all! Hope you enjoy the magazine. It has a lovely combination of features. Best of all it is free – what’s not to like about that?

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I cover a wide range of emotions in my flash tales and I hope that range shows the depths flash can reach, even with its limited word count. I believe the limitation on word count encourages creativity rather than stifles it because I have to think of better ways of getting something across to a reader to make the most of whatever word count I have chosen to write to for that story. My usual word count range is between 100 and 500 for the shorter pieces and 500 to about 750 for the longer ones. I do write right up to the 1000 words maximum allowed but don’t do this often. The fun for me with flash is keeping the story as short as I can while still having the maximum impact on a reader.

AE - July 2021 - A well rounded character will show us something of ourselves

AE - July 2021 - Great characters will keep you turning the pages

GENRES - Character studies are best kept short so work well in flash

AE - July 2021 - I side with the characters in the character -v- plot debate

Classic Themes never date but put your own spin on them

I always enjoy preparing my videos on YouTube but this one gave me extra enjoyment and I hope it does for you too. My favourite form of writing is what I call fairytales with bite which are often humorous and/or come with a twist in the tale.

Hope you enjoy Getting The Workmen In.

E = Editing is something writing flash fiction has taught me not to fear.
D = Driving me on to make my flash story as perfect as I can make it at the time.
I = Imagination comes into play even here as I work out how to show a reader what they need to see in as few words as possible.
T = Time – allow plenty of it for this, a good edit is not something to be rushed even in a 100-word story.
I = Instincts will kick in as you realise over time what your wasted words are and you start spotting your repetitions quicker – you know to cut these immediately and will get better at doing so.
N = Naming your weaknesses helps you to spot them and overcome them – I have to watch myself for my wasted words and unnecessary punctuation (am a sucker for brackets – see!).
G = Great editing will strengthen your story and help your flash writing have more “oomph” to it which will go down well with readers.

Knowing when to cut and when to leave alone takes time to develop

A sculptor takes time bringing their work to life. For writers the equivalent is the editing stage

Nobody writes a perfect first draft but that is okay

Thinking through my ideas before writing them up stops me going off at tangents and helps with the editing process too

AE - A book or story shouldn't make you want to get the red pen out to it

It is a joy to be talking about flash again in the July 2021 edition of Mom’s Favorite Reads. I set the theme for flash stories for them and write a post around the topic I’ve chosen. Do check the magazine out. It is free and there is a wide range of lovely articles in there.

This time I’m talking about patience. It has taken me time to learn different techniques for writing flash. Also I can get my characters to show just how patient or otherwise they are so it is a good open topic. And I like those – it means stories can be taken in any one of several different directions and I love the freedom of choice there.

And I’m getting to wave the flag for flash fiction. Am always glad to do that!

Less is More is the theme for flash fiction writers

Be creative with how you share information

Flash Fiction focuses on THE important aspect of a character's life

Screenshot 2021-07-10 at 16-53-46 Mom’s Favorite Reads eMagazine July 2021 eBook Publishing, Goylake, Howe, Hannah , Smith,[...]

Goodreads Author Blog – Balancing Fiction and Non-Fiction

I like to read a mixture of fiction and non-fiction though I suspect my reading “see-saw” is tilted more to the fiction side of things. I am reading more non-fiction than I ever have and hope to keep doing this, especially as I am now writing more non-fiction than before too.

My non-fiction reading side is tilted towards history where I’ve always had an interest and I’ve loved many of the Ben Macintyre books. I love the development where non-fiction is using some of the techinques used in fiction writing to grab the reader.

Gone are the days are boring old big reference books. In are non-fiction books which have speed and pace and make you wonder what will happen next. I hope that development encourages more people to read more non-fiction. I know it has worked for me!

By mixing up what you write, you develop skills and find out what it is you really love doing

The writing journey is not a straight line one for anyone

Take time out to review where to send work

Networking will be online for the foreseeable future though good things have come from it

A fascinating article by my friend and fellow Swanwicker @swanwickwriters Allison Symes @AllisonSymes1 is well worth a read today. https://t.co/n000rCkeYv
— Val Penny (@valeriepenny) July 10, 2021

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Balancing Fiction and Non-Fiction https://t.co/xUXBzOnwiG via @goodreads I discuss balancing the two types of reading I like to do in this week's post for Goodreads. pic.twitter.com/JtZh5Emszj
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 10, 2021

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CafeLit, Creativity Matters, and an Interview

July 6, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Screenshot of my stories on CafeLit and Friday Flash Fiction also taken by me and do check out both sites for fabulous tales.

A huge thanks to #PaulaRCReadman for hosting me on her blog this week, more details below. (Screenshot taken by me, Allison Symes, and do check out Paula’s blog).

Many thanks to #WendyHJones for supplying the book cover image for Creativity Matters.

Also thanks to #GillJames for supplying the cover for The Best of CafeLit 10.

As you’ll gather from those last three sentences, the week has got off to a cracking start! (Just a pity I can’t put in order somewhere for more of the same!).

Facebook – General

Now, as promised yesterday, for news on the non-fiction writing front. I am delighted to now confirm my chapter in #WendyHJones’ Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing will be called Why Write Flash Fiction and Short Stories? It’s a great honour to be taking part and I am looking forward to being “between the covers” with a lovely range of fantastic authors here. More details to come soon.

And now I can show you the cover too!

It’s not been a bad start to the week, given my news on the fiction front yesterday!

Not one but two posts from me tonight. And exciting news to come on the non-fiction front tomorrow too!

But tonight I’m focusing on my fiction news. Now I mentioned yesterday The Best of CafeLit 10 is now out and the lovely #Paula R.C. Readman has interviewed me for her blog specifically about my contributions to this book.

A huge thank you to Paula for hosting me and I’m delighted to share the interview here. It was such fun to take part and always a joy to flag up CafeLit!

More flagging up of the wonderful CafeLit tonight with my second post on this page tonight. I’m pleased to say my story, Choices, is now up on site.

This started life as a writing prompt I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group and it was such fun to write up. Hope you enjoy it. My sympathy is entirely with Jamie here.

Am thrilled to say The Best of CafeLit 10 is now available. I have two pieces in here – Breaking Out and Taking Time Out of the Day Job. (Am also thrilled to say I’ll have another story up on the CafeLit website tomorrow and am looking forward to sharing the link for that then – see above.).

A huge thanks to #GillJames and the team here for bringing out such wonderful collections of short stories. Many congratulations to the other authors who are “between the covers” with yours truly. Looking forward to hopefully being able to have a proper Bridge House Publishing/CafeLit/Chapeltown Books celebration get together later in the year. Missed that so much last year cancelled of course due to You Know What.

Hope you have had a good day. It was good to get out in the garden for a while earlier. I would never make any claim to be a “proper” gardener but tidying up where I needed to was strangely satisfying.

A huge thank you for the wonderful responses to When Is Wednesday?, my latest story on #FridayFlashFiction.

The feedback on this site is so useful and much appreciated. This particular story resonates as it is one I have written drawing on direct experience of how dementia can be on people. (My The Pink Rose tackles the same theme from a different angle in Tripping the Flash Fantastic. Hard stories to write? In some ways, yes. I always feel the “punch in the gut” reaction to moving stories but I should. Stories, even the funniest ones, should make you feel something).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Thanks for the great response to my Spring story video on Youtube yesterday. (I plan to write a post for Chandler’s Ford Today soon about Youtube for Authors and a huge thanks to the lovely #HelenMatthews for seeding that idea. I’m looking forward to sharing the second part of a great interview with her on CFT on Friday. Writers talking to each other = bouncing ideas around and fab conversations! And I know a good idea for a CFT post or a flash fiction story when I hear it. These days, I’ve learned to take said idea and run with it).

Mind you, if my heroine ate all the doughnuts in my latest video, she wouldn’t be running anywhere!). See below for the video link. (Am just hoping my Slimming World consultant likes this one!).

As well as my new CafeLit story now being live on site (Choices – see my author page for the link), I’m pleased to now share my latest Youtube video. Hope you enjoy Spring, another acrostic tale. I think my Slimming World consultant would appreciate this one!

And on a dull, wet Monday night here in Hampshire, sharing stories online to me seems a great thing to do! Trust me, it was dull and very wet!

Delighted to have further publication news with The Best of Cafelit 10 now available in Kindle and paperback. I have two stories in here and am honoured as the stories in these collections are voted on by regular readers of CafeLit. Thank you to everyone who voted for my two pieces Breaking Out and Taking Time Out of The Day Job.

I have some lovely tasks to do this week as a result of the book being out. One is to let Amazon know I’m a contributor and get the book up on my Author Central Page. (Now done – see below!).

I also need to contact Goodreads (again now done, see below!) but the other task is to update my records with ALCS, the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society. Plus I need to put my own book order in but these are jobs I will really enjoy doing over the next couple of days or so. Now done. Books on their way! And do register with ALCS if you’re a UK writer with publications out there. More below.

To all writers with publications out there, don’t forget to register with ALCS. You get free membership with them if you’re a member of the Society of Authors but you can join for a one-off lifetime fee of £36.00 if that doesn’t apply to you. Best of all, you don’t pay the £36.00 immediately. ALCS take that from the first payment they give you as you receive your share of monies from copyright licensing. And you can earn money year on year via ALCS. Definitely worth doing!

I mix up the moods of my stories as different characters face different things of course. Also Character A might be of the type to, say, not take a serious situation as well as they should do. Character B in the same situation might over-react to it. Both would be interesting takes on a story. What would make Character A “wake up” and do what has to be done? Can Character B be calmed down and enabled to resolve a situation (which they certainly wouldn’t do while over-reacting to it)?

My latest on #FridayFlashFiction is a moving one following a couple of light-hearted pieces by me on there but this is deliberate. Stories reflect life so naturally there should be funny ones, sad ones, and so on. What matters for any kind of story is the characters grip you and make you want to find out what happens to them. See above for story link.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Changes in Reading Tastes

How have your reading tastes changed over the years? My big love reading wise will always be fantasy (especially the humorous kind and you can’t beat Terry Pratchett’s Discworld for that) but I have also developed a taste for crime novels (on the lower end of the gory scale) and historical fiction.

I’ve also developed a taste for non-fiction and have enjoyed some of the Ben Macintyre books and London by Peter Ackroyd, books I wouldn’t have looked at only a few years ago.

Having a Kindle has encouraged me to explore more books too and I will use ebooks as a way of testing out books by authors new to me. I’ve also been reading more flash and short story collections. That of course is linked to my writing taking off in that direction. I want to read in the field I am in and am conscious I need to have a good reading diet of classic and contemporary fiction.

What is lovely is having books on my shelves (including the electronic one!) by writer friends. Becoming more involved in writing myself has led me to discovering what colleagues produce and I am reading more types of books and stories now than I’ve ever done.

So where has your reading journey taken you? Have you discovered a love for a genre new to you?

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Changes in Reading Tastes https://t.co/AQ9c5B2JiA via @goodreads I look at how my tastes in reading have changed over the years and why it is important to me to mix up classic with contemporary stories. pic.twitter.com/PlH9m3NHqa
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 3, 2021

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Delighted to have two stories in the recently released The Best of CafeLit10. Many thanks to all regular CafeLit readers who voted for my two stories to be in here – Breaking Out and Taking Time Out of the Day Job. https://t.co/2xa8kIYrGJ
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 4, 2021

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Clubhouse Cafelit 10 Chat: Allison Symes #anthologies #amreading #books #shortstories #cafelit #writing https://t.co/8kVQPuzcT3
— Paula R C Readman🔪⚰️💉☠️ (@Darkfantasy13) July 5, 2021

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My latest story video is now up on Youtube. Hope you enjoy Spring, which is an acrostic flash. Big question – can doughnuts ever be wrong? Find out here! https://t.co/Abz4kZaIXB
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 5, 2021

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Now for news on the non-fiction writing front. I am delighted to now confirm my chapter in #WendyHJones’ Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing will be Why Write Flash Fiction and Short Stories? It’s a great honour to be taking part and I can show you the cover too! pic.twitter.com/6MeergY6CA
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) July 6, 2021

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Genres, Opening Lines, and Publication News

June 29, 2021Leave a comment

https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2021/06/genres-by-allison-symes.htmlImage Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Hope all is well with you. Glad to share two new stories this time – one from Friday Flash Fiction and another from my Youtube channel. Hope you enjoy. Also have publication news from CafeLit and an update about my contribution to Wendy H Jones’ book on Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing so plenty going on. (Images of me signing my contract for the latter were taken by Adrian Symes).

Facebook – General – and Association of Christian Writers – More Than Writers

Delighted to share my blog on More Than Writers, the blog spot from the Association of Christian Writers. I talk about Genres this month and define a few (having fun doing so too!). I chat about why I love ghost stories where the ghost is not the villain, give you pointers regarding major things to look out for in a fantasy novel, and ask you what are your favourite genres and why amongst other things.

So what are your favourite genres and why? Fairytales/fantasy are it for me though I do love crime and historical fiction as well. Is there a book that took you by surprise as to how good or bad it was? For me, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey surprised me in a good way and changed my view about Richard III.

I don’t have any time for the snobbery that can prevail around genre fiction. A good book is a good book and if it is accessible to more people because it is in a certain genre, so be it.

GENRES - Never eat or drink anything in a fantasy world unless you really know what it is

GENRES - With history you can't change the ending unless writing an alternative one

GENRES - Ghosts don't have to be the villains in a spooky tale

GENRES - What every criminal in crime fiction would wish for

GENRES - Writing flash means I can set my characters anywhere

You sometimes have days when there is lots to announce. Today is one of mine!

1. I’ve seen the book cover for Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion For Writing by Wendy H. Jones where I am contributing a chapter on flash fiction and short story writing. Can’t reveal the cover yet. Looking forward to doing so. It looks great. Trust me on that!

2. Delighted to say From Light to Dark and Back Again is now up on the Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop. Oh and the great thing about the bookshop is there are a variety of places to buy from too. See link for more.

3. There will be some fabulous author interviews to come on Chandler’s Ford Today, starting this very Friday, 2nd July, with part 1 of my chat with domestic noir writer, Helen Matthews. (I always learn a lot from reading/listening to author interviews which is why I love having writers on CFT).

4. I’ll be on the More than Writers blog spot tomorrow (for the Association of Christian Writers) with a humorous piece about Genres. Looking forward to sharing the link for that tomorrow. See above!

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Hope you have had a nice Sunday. It was lovely having family over in the garden yesterday (and what change in the weather today – it’s chucking it down as I type this!).

I’ll be sharing the first part of a fabulous interview with domestic noir writer, Helen Matthews, later this week on Chandler’s Ford Today. Looking forward to sharing that. I always learn so much from author interviews and it is a pleasure to be doing them.

I’m thrilled that so many wonderful comments are coming in on my latest #FridayFlashFiction story, Restless. You can check it out at https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/restless-by-allison-symes

Have sent another story in for them and I’m delighted to say I’ll be having another story up on CafeLit before too long as well. So it has been quite a productive weekend.

Hope you have a good week! (I also hope the weather improves somewhat but we shall see).

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Today (26th June) would have been my Dad’s 84th birthday. It’s a strange day in many ways, as you can imagine. I was pleased he got to see my debut published book, From Light to Dark and Back Again, as my late mum only got to see my first printed story, A Helping Hand in Alternative Renditions (Bridge House Publishing). There is a kind of symmetry to that I think.

I occasionally use a character’s memories in my flash tales. The obvious two are The Pink Rose in Tripping the Flash Fantastic and They Don’t Understand in my debut collection.

Flash fiction can be a great vehicle for character studies like these precisely because they work best when kept short. The impact on a reader is greater too because of the brevity. What matters is getting across what is the important thing about the character you are writing about. What is it about them that readers have to know?

(Oh and on a very happy note, I’ve booked my train tickets for the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in August. Can’t wait to catch up with people there).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

When do you know your flash fiction or short story character “works”? When they intrigue you enough to write their stories up is the answer that works for me. As I outline my character and discover more things about them, if they grip me at that point, they should do so for a reader as well so away I go.

Also just a quick reminder I share writing tips and exclusive flash stories over at my author newsletter which I issue monthly. The next one is out on 1st July so if you’d like to sign up for this do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com where you’ll find the relevant sign up form. You’ll receive a welcome email initially with a link to a free pdf download where I chat about flash and share exclusive stories there. (And a big thank you to those who have signed up already – it is great to have you aboard).

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Pleased to share my latest story video here. Hope you enjoy Borrowing.

27th June
Delighted to say I’ll be having a flash piece, written as a result of a writing exercise I set for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group, up on CafeLit on 5th July. That is what I call a result and I look forward to sharing it then.

I love opening lines as an exercise. There are usually at least two or three directions in which to take them too. (That makes me feel like a kid with the keys to the chocolate factory!). I suppose the reason I love them so much is I know I am “away” once I’ve got that line down, and knowing who my character is and what they’re capable of, means I’ve got the opening line and a structure in place. I find that so useful.

Funnily enough it’s not a question of then joining the dots. I still have to show my character developing and changing but my structure means the change is reasonable for the character and so will make sense to a reader.

I can still wrongfoot a reader (and often do) but if you then went back over the story you would find the clues were there to indicate the wrong-footing was possible given what you are shown of the character. (I love this when other authors achieve this with me whether it is a short story or a novel. It keeps me on my toes and I have learned so much about how to place things in a story to achieve this).

Have managed to get another flash pieces “off” this weekend – another one to #FridayFlashFiction. I am having so much fun writing the drabbles (100 worders) again as those are what drew me into flash fiction writing in the first place.

AE - July 2021 - A great character drives the plot

IMPACT - Use strong words for descriptions. Strong questions can help you get there. Pixabay

Practising writing to prompts is useful prep for conferences

One idea for a story is to take a date that is special to you and make it special for your character. The reasons could be the same or the polar opposite. Either way you could write an interesting character study out of this.

Dates mean something for a reason and, especially if you don’t choose the well known ones such as Christmas or Mother’s/Father’s Day, you could show us a character with a unique take on life due to the reason they cherish the date you’ve picked for them.

Also, are there dates your characters would be keen to avoid and what would happen if they can’t get out of whatever is happening on the date in question? There’s potential for comedy and tragedy there – up to you which direction you take it.

But having a special date will reveal something of your character to you as the writer. If that appeals, it will appeal to a reader also. (Also there would be broad sympathy given most of us have dates that mean something to use and not to others).

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Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes a Good Story Ending For You?

Story endings don’t have to be happy ones. For some tales, a happy ending would be inappropriate. But what would you class as a “good” story ending?

For me the ending has to be appropriate for the kind of tale being told and for the character.

It was clear in A Christmas Carol, for instance, that Scrooge would have to change. It was a question there of how it would be done. Had Scrooge not changed, there would have been no point in the visitations of the ghosts and there would have been no story.

So I am looking for change to have happened by the end of the story. Being a fairly positive person, I like these changes to be as upbeat as possible. Failing that, I’ll be happy with a kind of “yes, that’s appropriate for this character”.

What you don’t want is a feeling of disappointment that the story hasn’t been closed off properly. There should be no loose ends. The character should have learned something and moved on from the starting point of the story. If that learning something and moving on is something I can identify with, then that makes it an even better ending for me.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: What Makes a Good Story Ending For You? https://t.co/TRB0NL3gCE via @goodreads I look at what makes a good story ending for me and why it must be appropriate to the character. pic.twitter.com/C3EO2sgFYW
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 26, 2021

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Many thanks, Val. You can find my flash collections at my Author Central page at https://t.co/l8CO9U8mn2 https://t.co/VgEXJRoqYl pic.twitter.com/VbvipoIqfw
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 27, 2021

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More than Writers: Genres by Allison Symes https://t.co/g0liWhuHQd I take a humorous look at genres for ACW this month. pic.twitter.com/fcFgMS0RUZ
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) June 29, 2021

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Snow, Stories, Patience, and Fish

April 13, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Image of Lady wondering why I’m excited about a box of books was taken by Adrian Symes

An interesting title choice I think – see below for how these link up. Two of them are to do with stories I’ve produced this week!

Facebook – General

Many thanks for the great responses to my post yesterday.

Happily drafting more stories for what I hope will be my third flash fiction collection. I’m almost there at the word count requirement but know the draft needs a heavy edit (or several) so plenty still to do there.

Am also revising my non-fiction project. Generally happy with it but am tweaking at the moment. Next stage there will be to draw up a list of publishers I want to approach with it. Am hoping to get that out for submission in the next couple of months or so and I’d love to be able to submit the third flash book by the end of the year. Yes, that is my 2021 taken care of nicely!

I find once I get started on a writing session, it is like someone has fired the starting gun and off I go. It can be the getting started that can be tricky, especially if you’re tired etc as I mentioned yesterday.

My tip here is be gentle on yourself, don’t commit to too much, and on days when I feel like that, I focus on small amounts of writing I can polish up later. There will be places for a 100 or 200 word story later, that’s for sure, and I feel better for having got something down I know I can send off later.

Still no snow today so that’s promising! (I know, I know! Famous last words and all that. We’ll see!).

Not impressed with the recent wintry conditions in the UK. Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay photo.

Snow again this morning. Other than that, it has been an okay but busy Monday. Hope you have had a good day.

Glad to hear Just a Minute on the air again. It’s not the first time they’ve used guest presenters but it is odd that the much missed Nicholas Parsons is no longer part of this wonderful game.

I’ve mentioned before I tend to write less on a Monday given it is one of my busiest days and tiredness takes its toll. But that’s fine. I know I’ll make up for it during the rest of the week. I don’t set myself a word count per day. I just want to write daily and there will be some fluctuations. It is a case of going with the flow. And that’s fine too but it has taken me some time to get to that point and to learn not to be too hard on myself.

Lady helps out! Image by Adrian Symes.

Still can’t believe how cold it is. Doesn’t feel like April at all. Oh and we had snow again today. Thankfully not for long but I suspect it will still be a while before our heating goes off!

Writing wise, I start my new Chandler’s Ford Today series on Friday. Called Judging a Book By Its Cover, this three-part series will see a range of guest authors and myself share our latest covers and talk about what we think of these. We also share some useful tips. Looking forward to sharing that later in the week.

Don’t forget I do have an author newsletter now. I send this out monthly and share exclusive stories and writing tips here. To find out more sign up (and receive a free giveaway) at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Am busy preparing the newsletter for May, working on my third flash fiction book, and editing my non-fiction project.

And the best thing of all about writing?

I get to write in the warm!

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Delighted to say I have another piece, Patience, up on Friday Flash Fiction. Day late sharing (sorry!) but if you like your stories on the darker side, this is one for you. And it is good to be writing drabbles again. Some of my most recent flash pieces have been on the longer side so it is great to be back to my first flash love here. After all it was the CafeLit 100 word challenge that drew me into writing flash at all!

Lady has had a good day. Got to see her best buddie, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, on our way back home from the park so on a convenient corner, well out of the way of anyone, the two dogs had a playfight – as you do. Two tired and very happy dogs went home! (Would love to know how dogs can chew each other’s ears without causing any damage incidentally).

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the views on my Fish Out of Water story video which I posted yesterday. (Coming up below!). These mini-tales are great fun to write and then put into a video format like this. I like to mix up the mood of what I produce here and it was more than time for a lighter piece.

Incidentally, talking of mood, I should add that character mood does not necessarily match author mood. This is just as well for (a) all my author friends who write crime, (b) all my author friends who write horror, and (c) me when I’m having an off day! Also, thinking of some of the characters I’ve come out with in my time, it is just as well my mood would never match theirs!

Never assume a character’s mood is the same as their author’s one! Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay photo.

Hope you enjoy my latest story video on Youtube. Fish Out of Water is one of my lighter tales. Well it is From Light to Dark and Back Again here! Also pleased to say I’ll be having another story on CafeLit next week, which will be one of my longer flash tales. More details on that nearer the time but it’s lovely to have an acceptance at the start of the working week!

One thing I am loving about submitting drabbles to #FridayFlashFiction is the feedback on my stories. Many thanks, everyone, for that. For my latest story, Patience, I have deliberately not specified the creature that is the “lead” in this.

This isn’t a word count issue, funnily enough. I am going for effect here. One of my earliest introductions to horror was the film Duel which I think was the first directed by a certain S. Spielberg Esq. It works because the plot is simple, scary, and you never see the enemy. I think it would have lost something had we been able to see who the enemy was.

This is another reason why I don’t always give a gender to the non-human creatures that turn up in my stories from time to time. “It” for me conveys a sense of horror when used in this context.

Sometimes the creature in a story is best left unspecified. Doing that can be a more scary effect for a reader than if you spell everything out.

Hope you’ve had a good Saturday. Still cold!

When do I know a flash story is going to “work”? When I know the characters convince me is the answer to that. If they convince me, they should convince other readers. And to convince myself, I’ve got to want to read their story and find out what happens! How can that be for the person who wrote the story?

Simple. I put the story aside for a while and then come back to it after a week or so. Only then can I look at it with fresh eyes and assess it as a beta reader might.

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Goodreads Author Blog – The Greatest Characters

The greatest characters in any story are for me the ones where I’ve got to find out what happens to them. Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings is an obvious one for me here, as was Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (especially after the sacrifice scene).

But characters who back up the main leads grip me too. I have a very soft spot for Sam (and Frodo would have failed in his mission without him). I also have a soft spot for Lucy in the Narnia Chronicles.

Any great character, for me, is one where I can identify with them in some way. They’re not perfect. Good. Neither am I. They have virtues I aspire to and flaws I’m glad I don’t have as well as some I know I do! But they come across as fully created beings I want to find out more about even if they’re not human.

Great characters for me include Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Sam Vimes and Granny Weatherwax throughout Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (though he makes my skin crawl with his miserly ways at the start of the story).

Great characters can also be redeemed as Scrooge shows and the theme of redemption is a powerful one.

So who would you nominate as your greatest characters?

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https://t.co/OPNVoEOhi7
Pleased to say I have another tale, Patience, on Friday Flash Fiction. If you like your stories on the darker side, this is for you. It's good to write drabbles again. Recent work has been on the longer side so it's good to be back to my first flash love! pic.twitter.com/cDAvIGx94D
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 10, 2021

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Snow, Subverting Expectations, and Traffic Rivals

April 6, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

A nice mix of topics tonight I think!

My latest story video coming up further in the post.

Facebook – General

More snow flurries today. Central heating back on. Thick cardigans etc not being packed away just yet.

Glad to report my new Chandler’s Ford Today series, Judging a Book by Its Cover, will follow on from my Story Types post this Friday and will run for the remaining three weeks in April. Looking forward to sharing this week’s post and the series in due course.

Enjoyed listening to a poetry special on Hannah’s Bookshelf earlier today (I do love catch up listening!) and the imagery created was fantastic. Particularly enjoyed the lines from two poets. One was “thick as a Bible” (I have images of an old family Bible we had that was huge) and, in a separate poem, “Van Gogh stars”. Both just fantastic word portraits. Great examples of two poets making every word punch its weight.

This is one similiarity between poetry and flash fiction. I was not surprised to hear that some of Hannah’s guest poets had also taken part in her flash fiction shows. I don’t know how many flash fiction writers go on to be poets. Is there a correlation there, I wonder?

I do know that when I read the poetry columns in things like Writing Magazine, I pay particular attention to how the words are used and the tips for making every word count. That kind of information is useful no matter what you write.

It’s all about the impact on the reader.

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Brrr… it has been cold today! Had the odd snow flurry too (and yes odd is an appropriate word given I was just getting used to spring being here and then wham the snow turns up again!). Despite all of that, I hope you have had an enjoyable Easter Monday.

Managed to sub another flash fiction tale over the weekend to #FridayFlashFiction. There have been some wonderful comments on my two stories on the site so far so a big thank you for those. Made good progress on my third flash fiction collection too.

Am putting the finishing touches to a new series on Chandler’s Ford Today to be called Judging a Book By Its Cover. Looking forward to sharing this and the wonderful contributions from my guests for this too. Meanwhile, this week my CFT post will be about Story Types.

What was nice was over the weekend CFT’s lovely editor, #JanetWilliams, sent an email to the regular contributors that she had received from a fan of the site. That was lovely and I know the feedback was appreciated and not just by me. (Ties in with my post last week about Reviews nicely too – constructive feedback is invaluable).

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4th April – Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!

Delighted to see this came up on my timeline as a memory today – from four years ago.

My, how the time flies. From my first book launch for From Light to Dark and Back Again. (See photo below of the notebook and pen).

Look what came up on my timeline – a memory from 2017.

So much has changed in that time! I hadn’t heard of Zoom or Facebook Live when my first flash collection was launched. I hadn’t envisaged having my own Youtube channel, being interviewed on the radio, talking to a WI group, or taking part in an international writing summit either!

Memories like this remind me the writing journey is a continuous one. Sure, there will be times when you feel you are going nowhere or have headed straight into a cul-de-sac. But there are those wonderful moments when you know you are progressing. Progress can be anything from having something published to simply getting more work out there over the course of a year than you’ve done before or trying a new market and seeing what happens.

What matters I think is enjoying as much of the journey as possible and developing what you do in a way that you love doing. You are your own first reader so it is crucial you enjoy what you write.

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Hope you have had good Holy Saturday.

Many thanks for the positive comments, tweets etc about my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week called Reviews. I’m not too surprised this one has struck a chord! I can’t say I review every book I read but I do review the majority. I also find reviews useful for anything from books to my groceries. The range of reviews usually gives a pretty good idea of whether I’m likely to like something or not.

A big thanks also for the lovely comments on my two stories on #FridayFlashFiction.

Enjoying listening to the Hall of Fame countdown on Classic FM. That’s my listening for the weekend sorted. I often pick classical/classic like pieces when I’m creating my story videos for Youtube. They have an impressive audio library and often I’m looking for a particular mood when creating my video. Can’t say I’m too surprised it is the classic section I head most often to look for the right mood music.

Looking forward to sharing details of a new Chandler’s Ford Today series soon too.

WRITING DOES - I don't know what it is about classical music that makes me relax as I write, I just know it does

Books can make you lose time but what a way to lose it! Music can do the same. Image via Pixabay

Music, whether writing it or playing it or both, is just one form of creativity - image via Pixabay

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I love a wide range of music but especially classical - Pixabay

Classical Music Score - image via Pixabay

A magical night out at a classical music concert. Image via Pixabay.

Good music to be enjoyed by everyone is a good wish

Let the writing flow and if music can help it along even better! Image via Pixabay

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

A big thanks for the wonderful response to my story video, Traffic Rivals, yesterday. (Video below). I adore writing the very short flash tale, especially quirky ones like this, and story videos are a great way to share said mini tales.

Lady and I were not impressed with the snow today. The weather’s being quirky too.

It pays to mix up how you come up with story ideas. For one thing, it will keep things interesting for you.

With Traffic Rivals, it was a case of working out why a witch would take action against a speed camera. After all it wasn’t as if someone was going to dare book her for speeding, was it?! So I then came up with the answer to why she might care about the thing and the story took off from there. Even for a two-line tale, some initial thinking about who, what, why always pays off.

A stalwart character in the fairytales. Pixabay image.

A fairytale castle but fairytales can be grim - Pixabay

There can be reality behind fairytales. Image via Pixabay (and image used as part of book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again)

How the very best fairytales start… Image via Pixabay

Fairytales may or may not be set in a fantastic world but they can shed light on human motives and actions - Pixabay

I write fairytales with bite as flash fiction and short stories in particular. Image via Pixabay.

Delighted to see more subscribers to my Youtube channel. Welcome everybody! And I’m pleased to share my latest short story video which is about a witch’s attitude to a fellow witch and speed cameras. Hope you enjoy!

4th April – Easter Sunday

I’ve talked about wasted words in flash fiction before and one of mine is the word “very”. Why do I consider it to be a wasted word? Simply, it is because it adds nothing of value to a story. Something either is or isn’t something.
The very in front of a word doesn’t strengthen impact.

For example, “I was very cold” is a statement of fact but “I was freezing” shows you how the narrator is feeling. By cutting out words you don’t need, you will have a tighter writing pace and there will be a more immediate feel to it too. Freezing is also a stronger image. You can picture it. “Very cold” can mean different things to different people after all.

Photo by Immortal shots on Pexels.com

Many thanks for the great response to my post yesterday about using intriguing titles to get me started on a new flash fiction story. The Terrified Dragon is not the only time I “subvert” an expectation in my titles. Well, you wouldn’t expect a dragon to be scared, would you?

I use the technique again for Punish the Innocent in my From Light to Dark and Back Again. Have fun brainstorming title ideas that would draw you in. Then and only then work out what stories could come from them and write up the one you like the most, the one that makes you react the most. It will have the same effect on a reader.

You can also do this with well known proverbs and phrases. Change one word in these and see what you can do. I often use a notebook and pen for brainstorming. That just works for me but it also means if I’ve only got a couple of minutes before, say, I have to go out (I know – possibly not right now but bear with me on this!), I can jot down some ideas to work up later. Well worth trying.

My reading from FLTDBA at our local railway station. Picture by Janet Williams

My two book covers

Enjoying writing the follow up to FLTDBA. Image by Allison Symes

Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes a Book Special For You?

It’s always good to start with a leading question, isn’t it?

Okay then, maybe starting with two of them is then!

Seriously, what does make a book special for you? For me, it is always about the characters. I have to want to know them and come to love or loathe them as the case may be but they’ve got to intrigue me enough to make me want to read their stories.

I’ve got to understand their needs and motivations, though I don’t necessarily have to like or agree with them.

And if at the end of the story, I feel sorry that I am “leaving” the characters behind, that is a good sign. Those characters really have got to me – the way they should do.

The characters don’t have to be human. I can understand the rabbits in Watership Down. Their needs, their quest is an understandable one. But there absolutely has to be something I can latch on to about whoever leads the story. It is their journey I’m following after all.

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: What Makes a Book Special for You? https://t.co/qp3kdyFcNr via @goodreads I look at what makes a book special for me. It is all about the characters. I share a few thoughts on this and what it is about the characters that matters to me. pic.twitter.com/r217hJcsOq
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) April 3, 2021

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Reviews, International Summits, Newsletters – a lot going on!

February 16, 2021Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m in the process of setting up an author newsletter. I plan to issue this on the 1st of every month, starting in March.

And the sign up is right here on this very website on my landing page. Screenshot of what you can expect to see below. And there’s a giveaway when you sign up too.

Facebook – General

Hope your Tuesday has gone well. Lady’s claw is continuing its slow progress to breaking through. It is just under the skin now so it really is a question of time before it comes through.

Lady is the Doctor Who dog – she regenerates claws! This will be the second one…! (I do hope there is not a three strikes and you’re out rule here. I’d equally be happy if Lady never rips her claws again!).

I’ll be sharing the link to the final part of my Launches in Lockdown series on Friday. When I write series for Chandler’s Ford Today, I usually stick to three parts but there was so much useful information in this one, I knew it had to be extended. A big thanks to everyone for their positive comments on this series and I hope it proves useful to those planning their launches this year. (Can’t wait to go to book events in person again mind you!).

Am busy getting ready for a couple of recording sessions coming up over the next week or two. I’ve had one dummy run with a Zoom session to myself. I recorded it, practiced screen sharing, and discovered that when you end the meeting to yourself, Zoom converts the recording to an mp4 for you. This is going to prove useful I think.

I used to use Audacity for recording short stories and flash tales so I could play them back. It’s a good technique for literally hearing what works and what does not. Good to see Zoom means you can bring that technique in for video too!

Chandler's Ford Today post reminder picture(1)

Delighted to share a screenshot of Big Al and Book Pals’ recent review of Tripping the Flash Fantastic which is now on Amazon.com (USA). There are three UK based reviews there too. Many thanks, everyone.

Now I know for a lot of people, including me, Monday is just one of those days you usually want to get behind you! So what do you write or read to wind down? Monday is one of those days where I have a lot of manual tasks to do so by the time I get to my desk in the evening, I’m reasonably tired. So now is not the time to get on with something challenging and stretching. I need more of my wits about me for that!

What I do instead is draft. Lots and lots of drafts. Some of these drafts will end up as posts for Chandler’s Ford Today, Authors Electric, More Than Writers, etc. Others will be draft flash fiction stories I will polish up at a later date.

What I have learned to do (though it took me a good while to get there) is to recognise what days of the week are best for which kinds of writing work I want to crack on with and I base that on what I know I am likely to feel by the time I sit at my desk.
Doing this has meant I’ve learned to use my time productively. Drafting something for later use is never a waste of time and also gives you a supply of material to work on when time is short later on. You’ve almost given yourself a head start here. So win-win here and I like that! (It makes me feel better about Mondays too!).

I must admit I was hoping the rain today would bring the temperature up somewhat but err… no! It is still perishing out there. Lady’s new claw is just under the skin now and we did have to go back to the vets on Friday for additional pain relief for her. Imagine that this is the equivalent of a toddler cutting a tooth and you get the idea. Once the claw is through, all will be well, but for the next few days it is going to be gentle exercise and lead walking. Lady will be okay with that but she is the kind of dog who does have to have some exercise of some sort. We just need to modify what it is at the moment but hopefully not for long. Am looking forward to seeing her running around again in her usual bonkers manner with her best buddie in due course!

As you can imagine, what with the international summit coming up and my setting up an author newsletter (see below for more on this – there are a few times having a date led blog doesn’t pay off as it leads to spoilers but never mind!), things have been rather busier than normal on the writing front. I’m also preparing for an interview the week after next and preparing a talk I’m due to give on Zoom in March. All exciting stuff.

The writing journey is an odd one in that you can never know for sure where you’re going to end up but it can be a lot of fun finding out! And that I think is the spirit in which to approach it too.

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Announcement – Author Newsletter with Giveaway

Am delighted to announce I am in the process of setting up my own author newsletter! Called Allison Symes – Flash Fiction/Short Story Writer and Blogger, it very much does what it says on the tin! I will be issuing this monthly on the 1st, with the first coming out on 1st March.

I plan to share my writing news here obviously but also flash tales and favourite writing tips. And if you sign up, there is a free giveaway you can download from the Welcome to My Newsletter email you will receive. See https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/ for more. (I’ve now made the sign up page the one you land on when you come to my site, instead of the About page, as that seemed to make a great deal of sense to me!)

Now confession time! I have been toying with the idea of an author newsletter for some time but the thought of setting it all up “threw” me a little and I put doing it off, as you do. (And it’s not as if I’m ever short of things to do, writing wise, far from it). So why the change of heart?

I am thrilled to say I will be taking part in an international writing summit. This will be “out” towards the end of March and I will be sharing links etc much nearer the time. But I have needed something to draw people to my website as a result of this summit and so this is the push I’ve needed to make me set up an email list and a newsletter. Sometimes writers need a helping shove in the right direction!

Fans of the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and #JohnLamont’s excellent course there will recognise a GOYA moment when they see one and this is another one for me. And as for what GOYA means? Let’s just say “get on with it then” is the gist of it!

I’m looking forward to the summit and a new venture for me – the author newsletter. Am excited and nervous about it at the same time. Wish me luck (and thank you if you do!).

(Oh and I will have more news to share very soon too. There is a lot going on at the moment!).

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Many thanks for the responses to my story video, Friday’s Child Virtue and Vice. The basic idea for this story of using a nursery rhyme as the basis for a tale came from Gill James’ Prompts book (the 2020 one and yes there is a 2021 one out too – do check both out). I’m one of the contributors for these books and they serve as excellent starting points for generating stories.

The Youtube videos have proved particularly good for the one and two line stories (and that in turn can make for great advertising for the other writing work you do). And they’re easy to share on Twitter etc. (That in turn has just reminded me to put my latest on there!).

Flash fiction illuminates briefly but with sharp focus

CHARACTERISATION - Conflict should arise naturally from the characters

Social media - something all writers need to get to grips with

FLASH - Ideas will spark others, something else I love flash fiction for - Pixabay

CHARACTER RESEMBLING - outline the character and off you go

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Online marketing and social media became even more important for writers and publishers in 2020

Hope you like my latest story video – Friday’s Child Virtue and Vice. As ever I produced the video using Book Brush, uploaded it to Youtube and then added one of their free to use audio tracks. Just as I have to think laterally sometimes with Pixabay pictures for my Chandler’s Ford Today posts, I’m now learning to think laterally about choosing a suitable audio track for my one and two line stories.

When editing flash fiction, what am I looking to achieve?

Firstly, to cut out all wasted words.

Secondly, with that done, I want to read the story and see how it “flows”. This is the stage where I’ll choose a stronger phrase to replace one that doesn’t have quite the impact I wanted. (And often it is a case of getting the story down and then and only then will I come up with stronger phrases etc. I’ve learned to accept that this is just the way it is with writing for me and is a major reason why I do have to get the story down first. I can’t edit as I go. I’d tangle myself in knots because my imagination seems to work this way. It needs something to “feed on” and then gets back to me later with something like, Madam, this idea is stronger, put that one down instead. But I’m okay with that. It is what the edit is for after all!).

I then look at the story again and analyse the impact it has on me. If it makes me feel the way I wanted that story to make me feel, then it will do so for others too.

Then I submit the story!

Of course there are rest periods between these editing stages but that’s okay. I’m drafting other stories, blog posts etc., during those times. (This is why I love having more than one thing on the go writing wise. I’m never stuck for something to work on).

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I’ve announced on my author page on FB tonight two exciting developments. I’m taking part in an international writing summit which will be from about 18th March onwards. I’ll be sharing links and more details as I get them (and that will probably be in the first week of March).

Naturally I shall be talking about flash fiction, my big writing love. The summit is being recorded via Zoom.

The other development is due to this summit as I needed something to giveaway to send people to my website. So I’ve set up an email list and am currently creating an author newsletter which I plan to issue on the 1st of the month, starting on 1st March.

The giveaway (a pdf file with flash fiction stories on it amongst other things) is on a link via my Welcome to My Newsletter email people receive after signing up.

As for the newsletter itself, I plan to share flash tales there as well and favourite writing tips, as well as my latest news.

See https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/ for more. Hope to welcome you aboard! The link takes you to my new landing page, which is the sign up page (as mentioned above).

Am nervous and excited about these new ventures. Wish me luck (and thanks if you do!).

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Goodreads Author Blog – Listening to Books

Do you listen to audio books? I do sometimes, mainly on long car journeys (and there will be a time when we can do such things again!). I love the Terry Pratchett Discworld audio books for these. Great story lines and plenty of laughs – what’s not to like about that combination?

On a long haul trip to Scotland, we can get through one complete audio book on the way up and another one on the journey home! I think Going Postal, Raising Steam, and Men at Arms work particularly well but I won’t pretend to be unbiased here. These are probably my three favourite Pratchett stories.

What are your favourite audio books? Do you like funny or serious tales for these? Fiction or non-fiction? I must admit I’ve not tried a non-fiction audio book? Any thoughts on these and are there any you would recommend?

I do know audio is a great way to get stories in to people who may not sit down and read a hard or paperback so let’s hear it for the audio book (some pun intended!). I also love the way Talking Books make stories more accessible too.

And at the end of the day the story is the important thing. What you want is to find the format that suits you. (In my case, paperbacks, Kindle, and audio).

Books can be one major key to knowledge - image via Pixabay

Reading widely will inspire your own writing and here seems a good place to start

CafelLit is a wonderful online writing community and very supportive. Image created by Allison Symes using Book Brush.

The Library at Leeds Castle - via Pixabay

Books illuminate and fiction is made stronger by using non-fiction to support it - image via Pixabay

The fantastic world of books must include non-fiction too - image via Pixabay

Books invite you into their world - image via Pixabay

Reading can make you feel as if you are in your own bubble - Pixabay image

The most recent Bridge House anthologies.

Launches in Lockdown – https://t.co/xPOODa1dEA Delighted to share the penultimate part of my zeitgeist series for CFT. Thanks to my guests this week – @Darkfantasy13, @SunriseCalls, and @troutiemcfish (Paula Readman, Dawn Knox, and Amanda Huggins). Fab tips here. Thanks, ladies!
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 12, 2021

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liked Allison Symes's blog post: Listening to Books https://t.co/R2fo3AJvI0 via @goodreads What are your favourite audio books? Fiction or non-fiction? See my thoughts on the topic for this week's Goodreads blog. pic.twitter.com/b1SECkyInY
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 13, 2021

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Am delighted to say I'm setting up my author newsletter! Called Allison Symes – Flash Fiction/Short Story Writer and Blogger, it does what it says! This will be monthly starting on 1st March. I plan to share news, flash tales, and tips.
See https://t.co/JUatcX743z for more.
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 13, 2021

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My latest story video on Youtube. Hope you enjoy. https://t.co/e1eJie4IrY
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) February 16, 2021

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Introducing Dawn Knox – The Chronicles Continue.

November 27, 2020Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Images of Dawn Knox/The Macaroon and Basilwade Chronicles/The Great War/play photos were all supplied by Dawn Knox. Many thanks to her.

Image of Wendy H Jones kindly supplied for her.

And a big thanks to the organisers of the Facebook Group, Christmas Book Hub, for creating the wonderful bookshop image for their page, which currently features Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Very very happy to give them a shout out!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m delighted to welcome #DawnKnox to Chandler’s Ford Today for the next two weeks as we discuss her writing journey, celebrate her new book, the hilarious The Macaroon Chronicles, and look at her varied career which includes playwriting. Dawn will be sharing her thoughts about writing and also chats about the joys and pitfalls of writing humorous prose.

It is always a great joy to chat to a fellow flash fiction and CafeLit/Bridge House Publishing writer and I’m looking forward to catching up with Dawn and many other colleagues at the BHP celebration event (online) on 5th December.

Will so miss seeing everybody in person but at least Zoom gives us the chance to meet online. And I can’t wait to share Part 2 of Dawn’s fab interview next week.

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Brrr…. It’s getting chilly out there not that Lady noticed. She had a fab run with a lovely Saluki/whippet cross this morning. Lovely to see them both having a great time.

Have been having fun with Book Brush again. This is my latest effort.

Really looking forward to sharing Part 1 of my interview with Dawn Knox on Chandler’s Ford Today. Look out for this tomorrow. Dawn is a delight to chat to and I always learn something useful from interviews like this.

No two writers have the same writing journey and I find it endlessly fascinating what has worked for one, what has worked for another and so on.

Dawn will be discussing her latest book, The Macaroon Chronicles, which is hilarious. If you need a cheerful read, do check this out.

Am catching up with some non-fiction reading at the moment. I’m reading London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd. It’s a hefty tome but a fascinating read and I just love the idea of writing a biography about a city. Interesting approach to take on it.

Whether what I learn from this fab book filters into my writing later on remains to be seen but I do know non-fiction can often spark ideas for story writers. An interesting fact here and there can trigger story ideas so don’t overlook reading non-fiction as part of your overall reading “diet”.

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Had the perfect dentist’s appointment today. No. It wasn’t at two-thirty (tooth hurty – veterans of the old gag circuit will easily recognise that one!). I got out with nothing having to be done! So win-win immediately there…

Looking forward to “going” to the Bridge House Celebration event on 5th December. Normally this would be in London but of course it will be a Zoom session only for this year. The event is FREE but you do need to register. See https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/launch-and-celebration-event-tickets-127841763155 for more details. Hope to see you “there”.

These events are always great fun and, if ever there was a year we could all do with some of that, this year is it.

Personally speaking, what is lovely is being able to celebrate The Best of Cafelit 9, where I have two stories published; Mulling It Over, the new Bridge House annual anthology where I have a standard length short story published; Transforming Communities, where I had a 1000 word story published (this was the Waterloo Arts Festival writing competition book); and, of course, Tripping the Flash Fantastic.

With no physical book events possible, social media comes into its own with online launches

The advantage of an online launch is you can combine different types of media to hopefully make a good impact

quote calligraphy under cup of lemon tea

Despite everything else going on in 2020, publication wise it has been a good year. And there’s more to come. A little later on the three ebooks from the last three years of the Waterloo Arts Festival will be published in one single paperback. Am looking forward to sharing details about that in due course.

This year has been a good one for professional development too in terms of video making, setting up the Youtube channel, revamping the website, appearing on Chat and Spin Radio, appearing on #WendyHJones’ The Writing and Marketing Show. And Book Brush has been a revelation too.

The flip side? I have so desperately missed meeting up with writer friends in person at Swanwick, Winchester, the Association of Christian Writer events, and the Bridge House/Waterloo Arts Festival celebration days.

Let’s hope for better things for 2021 but I guess if this year has shown anything, for me at least, it has been doing what you can when you can and making the most of things like Zoom.

Oh and keep on writing and submitting of course!

Happy writing!

From Light to Dark and Back Again

I enjoy being part of a number of writing groups etc on Facebook. These groups are a lovely way to meet other writers, albeit only online in some cases, and I always learn a lot from them.

I am part of the Christmas Book Hub – see https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookhub/permalink/1003208640189243/ for more.

#PatriciaMOsborne, one of the founders of this, is someone I know from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and I’ve had the pleasure of chatting to her for my Chandler’s Ford Today posts in the past too.

Now I mention this for two reasons:-

1. If you want to create a book buying list for Christmas, do start here!

2. There is a wonderful banner for this Facebook page – of books in a Christmassy shop window. The books on this change every so often and my Tripping the Flash Fantastic is on there at the moment.

The artwork for this is wonderful and it is a great pleasure and privilege to see my book on there. A huge thanks to the organisers behind this page on behalf of all of the authors on here. Online things like this are always useful but never more so than now during what has been such a strange year for us all.

And it is a timely reminder to say that do DM the authors on this page, including me, if you would like to know more about buying signed copies of our books.

We would be so pleased to hear from you!

I’ve mentioned my love of mixing up the kind of flash fiction stories I write before. I do think one of the great strengths of flash fiction is because it needs to be character led, you can get to set that character anywhere you want in genre and time period, past, present, and future.

The crucial thing is to have a character who is worthy of being written up! Even if you don’t plan any other writing, I do think giving thought to what your lead character is going to be (or likely to be, I know things can change in the editing), is important.

If you want to write a story about a financially astute character but discover the way you’ve portrayed your lead, they’re more likely to be as astute as a chocolate teapot, then you have an issue (though it could make for a wonderfully funny or tragic piece, depending on how you wanted to “play” it).

But things like that should be a conscious decision by you as the writer. You can’t rely on “happy accidents”. You can rely on some forward planning though!

Good ideas these but another good tip is to set your own deadline ahead of a competition one

WRITING PROMPTS - Whether you use prompts or not, there's no getting away from the editing

CHANGES POST - Improving your writing takes time and practice - image via Pixabay

WRITING DOES - couldn't have put it better

MY NANOWRIMO - Setting a goal AND working out steps to achieve it has helped me a lot

WRITING PROMPTS - I hope your posture is better than that shown here though!

SEASONS IN WRITING - I don't have a prescriptive job list but DO plan my writing out to make the best of the time slots available to me

Many thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews so far for Tripping the Flash Fantastic. They are much appreciated and I was delighted to see two new ones in today.

Appropriately for a flash fiction collection, I will stress reviews don’t have to be long and they are a great way of supporting authors. (This year we are even more grateful than we usually are for that kind of support. I have missed being able to go to writing events dreadfully. Fingers crossed for next year!).

Do I review books myself? Oh yes. One of the things I love about the writing world in general is there is a lot of give and take and that is only right. All of us know the pains and pleasures of bringing stories/books/articles to life etc. All of us appreciate the support from others but it is good when you can give support back. I like to see it as paying it forward and back.

Fairytales With Bite – Twists and Turns

Fairytales are full of twists and turns, which is another reason to love them. You know, after you’ve read a few (and/or listened to them when you were a kid), that the underdog will somehow come out on top, usually with the aid of a friendly fairy godmother or talking cat or some such thing.

Fairytales are great because you accept that magic is part of the setting and it is a question of finding out who is going to use it, whether they’ll use it to do good or not, whether it backfires etc etc. But you also know the character being helped this way has somehow got to be worthy of it. Fairy godmothers don’t just turn up for anybody!

So when planning your own fairytales/magical realism/fantasy stories, think about what your twists and turns are going to be. Magic is going to be around but don’t overdo it.

I know as a reader I like to see characters who are trying to improve things for themselves, who are being thwarted or held back through no fault of theirs, and then hey presto the fairy godmother turns up. It is also not a bad thing to show the downside of magic.

As with any source of power it can be abused so think about how that might happen in your creations and what your characters could do to overcome this (assuming of course they want to and they’re not the ones abusing the magic! In the case of the latter, I would like to see some sort of “back fire” happen so said characters have to behave in a better way and/or don’t get away with what they’re doing and/or are thwarted by other characters).

Expect the unexpected is a good motto here but as the writer think about how this could play out in your stories. Plan what your twists will be and how they will be executed. What clues will readers have to look back on and think later “I should’ve spotted that”?

And just as life is full of ups and downs, so your stories should be. But the nice thing with stories is you can make them end on a good note! Stories can be arranged!

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This World and Others – What Is Normal?

Now there’s a leading question but it is a vital one. Whether your created world is a fantasy one or set here firmly on Earth, you do need to work out what is going to be normal/perceived as normal by your characters. (Readers of course may well think entirely differently!).

So what kind of setting are you using? If here on Earth, will be in an Earth we would recognize? You could of course set up an alternative based on certain aspects of history being changed.

If X happened instead of Y, what would Earth look like as a result? The series The Man In The High Castle was based on that. If you’re using a fantasy setting, what aspects would appeal to readers? Which wouldn’t? Which are necessary to the successful running of that setting?

For your characters themselves, would we recognise their behaviours as normal? If not, why are they different and in their setting, is their behaviour considered oddball or not?

Working out details like this early on can save you a lot of editing and rewriting later on so I think it is worth doing. Even if you don’t want to plan to the “nth” degree, wanting to see where the story and characters take you, I still think it pays to jot down a few basic notes.

Character A is capable of this because…. The setting is this because…. What you jot down here really is an aid for you and I am all for things that help make the writer’s life smoother!

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Running Orders, Book Brush, and the Brechin/Angus Book Festival

November 17, 2020Leave a comment

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General

Smashing autumnal walk with Lady today. Hard to tell who is more tired out of the two of us though!

Happy with the progress on my kind of NaNoWriMo project yesterday as I had one of those lovely moments where the words just flowed and it was just a question of keeping going with it. (That is the definition of the ideal NaNoWriMo really isn’t it?!). I’m adding new material now and enjoying it so hopefully future readers will do so too.

Am really enjoying playing with Book Brush. Latest effort below.

Oh and talking of CFT, my post this week will be a Local Author News one about yours truly in connection with the Brechin/Angus Book Fest I’m taking part in over the weekend. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/808280536653169 for more details on the Festival, which is part of Book Week Scotland. I will also flag up more news here as I get it. (Oh and I also flag up my Youtube channel on my CFT post but more on that on Friday).

After Saturday’s deluge, and a world record time set by me for walking Lady (20 minutes, bare minimum, both of us returned looking like drowned rats), it was a relief to have a dry, reasonably mild day today.

Sight of the week and probably the year: Lady’s best buddie, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, having a wonderful run and play fight with another Ridgeback – 100 kgs of dog between the pair of them. Wonderful sight. Just stay well out of the way! Lady decided to leave the pair of them to it and focused on her Chuckit ball, probably wisely.

Delighted to say I’ve been playing with Bookbrush again and for the first time have used the video function. Hope you enjoy the very short story that goes with this. Naturally this went up on my Youtube channel earlier today (I do love scheduling!). (Have also included the video here).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXGNt9XndN8

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCiePD4p_vWp4bz2d80SJA

– Last Request by Allison Symes

Have spent time this afternoon doing some “housekeeping” on my website.
My About page is now my Home page and I’ve added new material to it, including those lovely images I created yesterday using Book Brush. (A big thanks for all the positive comments about those). Am so looking forward to using Book Brush more.

There is now a direct link to my Youtube channel on the About page too.
I like to add material to the website every so often to keep it fresh, of course, but it is easy to forget to do the housekeeping side of it such as removing things no longer relevant, finding better pictures than the ones you had originally and so on.

I’ve also tidied up my Books page too. I’ve not yet found a way of changing the URL slug for the Books page from Home to Books but will sort that out in due course I hope.

The ideal of a website is to make it easy to navigate, eyecatching, and fun for both you and your visitors.

Hope you enjoy the tidy up!

I went out with the dog once today. It was enough! So glad to be back at my desk. Still no watering of anything will need to be done for some time in my neck of the woods!

Many thanks to #LizHurst for her fab interview with me on Chandler’s Ford Today yesterday (Friday, 13th November, see previous post).

I’ll be talking about the Brechin/Angus Book Fest for my post next Friday. The fact I’m taking part in it is NOT coincidence! 😀😀

I’ve also been experimenting with graphics for my books (using Book Brush). See throughout this post for various images created since the weekend using this.

This kind of marketing is fun! Hope to be doing more of this. This has come out of a Zoom event I was at on Friday night where I learned so much. Many thanks to #WendyHJones and #KathleenSweeney for running this.

Below are some of my earliest attempts at creating book adverts. Just need to replace the spaniel with my Lady for the dog one! Mind you, I suppose I could avoid telling Lady….

Book Brush 3D TFF image 1 but not square

From Light to Dark and Back Again

Having a lot of fun experimenting with Book Brush. Latest effort for Tripping The Flash Fantastic below.

One thing I have learned though creating Feature Images for my Chandler’s Ford Today posts is to keep them simple and avoid over-complicating things. Great tip for writing flash fiction there too!

I like to hit the ground running with my stories, which is why I often use the first person as that encourages this approach.

It is often said for story writing that you have to get straight to the action and hook the reader immediately. That is true but flash helps you sharpen that skill which you can then adapt for any other writing you do.

Even for non-fiction you need to draw the reader in immediately.

Looking forward to sharing more about the Brechin/Angus Book Fest as and when I can later this week. I’ll be writing about it in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week as well.

Hope your Monday has been okay. I’ve posted a mini flash story, Last Request, on my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCiePD4p_vWp4bz2d80SJA

Good fun to do and I love the bats and that’s all I’m saying about that here!

paper bats and spiders on orange background

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

I love many things about flash fiction but one of the major ones is that it is more flexible than it might at first appear. I’ve written stories across the spectrum from six words to the maximum of 1000.

I’ve written in the first person, the third person, and shown things from the viewpoint of a mother dragon (see my trailer for Tripping The Flash Fantastic).

It is a great format in which to have fun with your writing. If a story works well at 100 words, I leave it there. If it needs more and ends up at say 500 words, that’s fine.

I also think it is good discipline to practice writing to different word count lengths. For one thing, it means you can have a stock of stories in store ready to send to different competitions and markets depending on their requirements.

Happy story writing!

As well as selecting the stories for my flash fiction collections, thought has to go into the running order too. That isn’t an always obvious thing to decide.

For TTFF I deliberately kept two historical stories together as one is from the viewpoint of Richard III (Getting It Right) and the other is told by his niece, Elizabeth of York (Not Knowing). Those two were going to go together from the offset.

But I didn’t put all of the historical ones together in one batch. There are others later in the book.

I also look at the mood of the stories too. I like a mixture of funny, poignant, scary (think light horror – that’s as far as I go) and back to funny again. I also try to end a collection on a positive note too. Kind of “that’s a wrap, folks”!

Did I get the running order right immediately? Oh no!

Did I expect to? Definitely not!

But it is worth taking your time over. You want to think of the impact your stories will have on your readers and that helps a lot with working out an appropriate running order. I did the same for From Light to Dark and Back Again. It makes, I hope, for smooth seamless reads and an even more enjoyable reading experience for your reader.

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Well, I’m glad I don’t write stories which match the mood of the weather. Anything I’d come up with today would have been unremittingly grim!

Now you know I like the good old random generators for triggering story ideas. I’ve used random number, word, noun, and adjective generators to good effect. Ta da – I’ve found another one!

Welcome to the good old random object generator. Yes, really.

This particular site has four categories – All, Outdoors, Clothing, and Office.

You can select a number of items though I have found with all of the generators, you are better off selecting up three or four and no more.

So how can I use the random object generator in my flash fiction, I hear you cry?

1. The object has to be in the story somewhere.

2. The object has to have special meaning to a character in your story.

3. If you’re a crime writer, how about making the object either something to be stolen or the murder weapon?! (In my selection tonight, a pillow came up. I’m sure you can think of a way of using that in a crime story!).

But you get the idea. Have fun!

Photo by Ali Naaz on Pexels.com

Photo by Dids on Pexels.com

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Photo by Secret Garden on Pexels.com

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Goodreads Author Blog – Effective Blurbs

The book cover is usually the thing that attracts my attention to a potential new read, of course, but following that comes the blurb.

I like a blurb that is (a) short, (b) intriguing and (c) gives an idea of what the story is about without giving everything away.

My blurb for Tripping the Flash Fantastic reads as “Allison Symes loves reading and writing quirky fiction. She discovered flash fiction thanks to a Cafélit challenge and has been hooked on the form ever since. In this follow-up to her From Light to Dark and Back Again, Allison will take you back in time, into some truly criminal minds, into fantasy worlds, and show you how motherhood looks from the viewpoint of a dragon. Enjoy the journey!”

Was it easy to write that? Not particularly! The stories were easier to do but many authors find that. It is hard to capture the essence of your work without giving too much away. After all, the idea is to entice the reader in to read your book, not leave them feeling as if they have read it all from what you’ve put on the back cover!

Is it worth taking time and trouble over to get right? Oh yes.

Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What is it about your book that they would want to know to make them want to find out more? It is all about triggering interest and from that a wish to know more.

Happy (blurb) writing!

Books can be magical and World Book Night aims to share that magic - image via Pixabay

Photo by Ricardo Esquivel on Pexels.com

Photo by Olenka Sergienko on Pexels.com

Photo by Emre Can on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Photo by Ivo Rainha on Pexels.com

REAL WRITING POST - If your characters are real enough, entering their world is simple

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

True but what makes your book unique, what could be YOUR niche

Themes pour out of good books - image via Pixabay

Twitter Corner

Delighted to share here some images I've created using Bookbrush. This kind of creativity/marketing is fun! pic.twitter.com/ppnnufoQfN
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) November 15, 2020

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Youtube, Bookshop, and Falling Over!

November 3, 2020November 3, 2020Leave a comment

It really has been one of those weeks, folks!

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General

Am pleased to announce I have set up a Youtube channel. See the link here.
Naturally the first thing I put on here was the book trailer for Tripping The Flash Fantastic! Also on here are the book trailer for From Light to Dark and Back Again and a video of me reading Judgement Day which I used at my recent cyberlaunch.

I hope to create and put more videos on here on a fairly regular basis. One great thing about flash fiction stories is they make great adverts for trailers and the like.

Hope you enjoy this – and watch this space, as they say! I have linked my channel to this Facebook page, my website, my Twitter feed, my Linkedin page and my Chandler’s Ford Today author page, my Amazon Author Central page, and my Cafelit author page, so you can click through to any of those from here.

I was also pleased with the way the banner has worked out as I really wanted “my” castle from the book cover for TTFF to show well here.
Definitely my marketing bit for today I think!

Hope your Sunday has been okay. Is getting wild, wet, and windy here in Hampshire this evening. Not that I needed much encouragement to stay indoors at my desk writing away but bad weather does help there!

Have started work on the project I’m using as a kind of NaNoWriMo. I say kind of because it’s not a novel, I’ve written some of the material already, and I’m hoping to use November to get the project restructured (which it needs) and to add material to it after that. I would like to get a complete first draft done by the end of the calendar year and maybe think about submitting it come Spring 2021.

Good fun playing with my Youtube channel. I’m hoping to add material to that every week or so and it will encourage me to be creative with how I do this. That’s never a bad thing!

Have a good reading and writing week!

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Quick heads up and thanks to #AlyRhodes for flagging up Bookshop, who represent many indie bookshops throughout the UK. Sales made through Bookshop raise funds for said indie bookshops so win-win and an alternative to Amazon should you want that.

Delighted to see both From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping The Flash Fantastic are on Bookshop (though there is no cover image for the latter).

And don’t forget I am very happy to sign copies of either/both of my books and get them out to people in the post. Just DM me and we can take things from there.

Pleased to say I’ve uploaded another of my story videos to my Youtube channel. Putting My Face On is a short piece (even by my standards!) that I first put on this very website back in February. Hope you enjoy. See the link here.

I hope to put story videos and the like here on a fairly regular basis. Flash fiction works brilliantly for this kind of thing and it is another way of getting a story across!

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From Light to Dark and Back Again

I’ve been busy setting up a Youtube channel and now have my first videos on it – the book trailers for From Light to Dark and Back Again, Tripping the Flash Fantastic, and a reading of Judgement Day from TTFF.

I will be putting more stories on here in due course. Flash tales work really well for trailers and naturally I hope the YT channel will draw people to this website etc as well.

Moving on from there, a big thanks for the wonderful response to my story, Finding My Feet, which went up on Cafelit yesterday. I love writing funny fairytales like this. I think they can also be a bit of a tonic at times. And boy do we need something that can cheer us a little right now. Stories, for me, are wonderful works of escapism (which is why tales about pandemic are unlikely to go down that well with me. Nothing wrong with the tales. Just not for me and that’s fine).

Stories “just” for entertainment have value and merit and even more so now, I think.

Happy reading and writing!

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One of the joys of flash fiction writing is in having to come up with so many different characters. Inventing my own people has always been my favourite bit of story writing so win-win here.

What I look for are characters who engage with me as if I’m hooked by them, then there’s a good chance readers will be! (It at least ups my chances there!).

For a character to engage with me there has to be something about their voice that draws me in. They don’t necessarily have to be likeable. I can think of a few of my characters I wouldn’t want to meet on a dark night (!) – and that must be even more true for my crime and horror writing friends!😂

I’m looking for traits I sympathise with or situations where I would ask what would I do given these circumstances. Then there are the characters who are greedy, for example, (where I don’t like them at all) but I can drop them right in it and the consequences of that greed are brought home. Plenty of stories there!

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Hope your Monday has gone reasonably well. Mine got off to a bad start when I tripped over as I was walking home from the park with Lady and her best buddie, Khaya, the Ridgeback, and Khaya’s human mum.

What was lovely was the way the two dogs came up and gave me a lick as if to say ‘we’re sure you’re not meant to be on the floor like that”. Quite right, girls, I wasn’t. Huge thanks to Khaya’s mum too.

Nothing broken but one seriously miffed author (at herself) has made sure she HAS stayed upright for the rest of the day! (And I swear I had only been drinking tea before I went out with the dog!).

Now that trip happened in a flash – and it’s true what they say about seeing things in slow motion. I knew I was going to fall, I also knew I couldn’t do anything to stop it (the most annoying bit of all) but it led me to think.

If you could take one moment of your character’s life and “slo-mo” that, what would it be and why?

Worth thinking about and I’d be very surprised if there isn’t a story idea or two in there. (And I’ve got a blog post out of a wretched fall so win-win!). Oh and I definitely wasn’t tripping the flash fantastic either!

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Am working on my non-fiction book as my major project for November. It is an interesting challenge and so different from flash fiction writing but both in their way need to get their message across.

The message in any story is, for me, whether I can understand the character and what they are doing and why. If I can, then I will have read the story through to the end, as I would have had to find out what happened to said character and if any guesses I made at the start of the tale proved to be correct or not. Always a great guessing game that one!

My natural flash limit is the under 500 words kind of tale. I haven’t set out to do that deliberately. It’s just where I seem to gravitate to. Of course, for the non-fiction book I need a lot more than 500 words! Still onwards and upwards….

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Goodreads Author Blog – Book Adaptations – When They Work…

I’m sure we’ve all seen film adaptations of books that we’ve loathed (”not true to the book” etc) but what about the ones that work?

The Ian Fleming Bond books I think transferred well. Some of them have had pretty good audio adaptations too. I was sorry to hear about the death of Sir Sean Connery today who did sterling work there! Also loved his roles in The Hunt For Red October and The Untouchables, amongst many others.

A good film adaptation will bring a book to life for viewers and may even encourage them to go and read the book for themselves. A Muppet Christmas Carol is upfront about telling viewers to do exactly that right at the end of the movie.

For me, The Lord of the Rings adaptation brought to life for me The Shire etc as I had seen it in my own imagination when reading the trilogy. It remains my favourite adaptation.

I accept that not every element in a novel is going to make it to the big screen version for various reasons but what you do want is to be true to the spirit of what the book’s author intended. As long as a film does that, it is going to work.

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Twitter Corner

Just to say I’ve set up a Youtube channel today. Am putting book trailers etc on this. Will be sharing stories here too. Good fun to do. Hope you enjoy. https://t.co/7zDgOfQOSz
— Allison Symes (@AllisonSymes1) October 31, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

It has been an interesting few days what with my talk on flash fiction going down well with Byre Writers, some lovely comments on my writing and that talk on Twitter, and looking ahead to seeing friends I haven’t seen in person for two years at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School.

Talking of Swanwick, the image of me reading at the Open Prose Mic Night was taken by the lovely Penny Blackburn. The side image of me reading was taken by the equally lovely Geoff Parkes. All other Swanwick images were taken by me.

I plan to post as normal next week from Swanwick if I can but times are likely to be different. (Looking forward to having these two books in the Swanwick Book Room. Last time I went I only had From Light to Dark and Back Again out).

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – What Do You Want To See in Your Favourite Books?

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

More publication news this week and Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, chats to me on her blog. More below.

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Balancing Fiction and Non-Fiction

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Screenshot of my stories on CafeLit and Friday Flash Fiction also taken by me and do check out both sites for fabulous tales.

A huge thanks to #PaulaRCReadman for hosting me on her blog this week, more details below. (Screenshot taken by me, Allison Symes, and do check out Paula’s blog).

Many thanks to #WendyHJones for supplying the book cover image for Creativity Matters.

Also thanks to #GillJames for supplying the cover for The Best of CafeLit 10.

As you’ll gather from those last three sentences, the week has got off to a cracking start! (Just a pity I can’t put in order somewhere for more of the same!).

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Changes in Reading Tastes

https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2021/06/genres-by-allison-symes.htmlImage Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General – and Association of Christian Writers – More Than Writers

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes a Good Story Ending For You?

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Image of Lady wondering why I’m excited about a box of books was taken by Adrian Symes

An interesting title choice I think – see below for how these link up. Two of them are to do with stories I’ve produced this week!

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – The Greatest Characters

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

A nice mix of topics tonight I think!

Facebook – General

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – What Makes a Book Special For You?

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m in the process of setting up an author newsletter. I plan to issue this on the 1st of every month, starting in March.

More details in one of my posts further down (along with what has led to this – a big development for me, which I’m so thrilled about).

And the sign up is right here on this very website on my landing page. Screenshot of what you can expect to see below. And there’s a giveaway when you sign up too.

Facebook – General

Announcement – Author Newsletter with Giveaway

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Listening to Books

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Images of Dawn Knox/The Macaroon and Basilwade Chronicles/The Great War/play photos were all supplied by Dawn Knox. Many thanks to her.

Image of Wendy H Jones kindly supplied for her.

And a big thanks to the organisers of the Facebook Group, Christmas Book Hub, for creating the wonderful bookshop image for their page, which currently features Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Very very happy to give them a shout out!

Facebook – General – and Chandler’s Ford Today

From Light to Dark and Back Again

Fairytales With Bite – Twists and Turns

This World and Others – What Is Normal?

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated.

Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General

From Light to Dark and Back Again

Goodreads Author Blog – Effective Blurbs

Image Credit:-

All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing.

Facebook – General