Tag: Zoom

Author Interview – Wendy H Jones – A Right Cozy Historical Crime

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.  A huge thank you to Wendy H Jones and the contributing authors to A Right Cozy Historical Crime for various pictures, including author head shots, for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. Captions are in the article itself. Hope you enjoy it.
Hope you have had a good few days. Wonderful sunshine here – have even got my washing out, whoopee! Lady and I have loved being out in the nicer weather with pals. It does lift the spirits. Writing continues to go well. Am waiting to hear later this month about whether a flash piece of mine has been accepted but I hope to get on with some more competition entries soon.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

I’m delighted to share a fabulous author interview on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I share Author Interview – Wendy H Jones – A Right Cozy Historical Crime.

This in depth conversation with Wendy focuses on the delights of combining two great story genres – historical fiction and crime. Wendy also shares wonderful tips highlighting things you need to know if you write in this combined form. I must admit I love both genres and to combine them still further in another great love of mine, the short story anthology, is just bliss.

Wendy also shares what fascinates her about historical fiction, why she picked the short story format for combining two genres (short stories have their challenges just sticking to one genre), and getting the use of language right for the time setting of the stories while still being accessible and much more besides.

Plenty to enjoy here and I heartily recommend the anthology too. It is a great read.

Author Interview – Wendy H Jones – A Right Cozy Historical Crime

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope the day has gone well. Lady and I enjoyed another lovely sunny day with her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums.

Writing wise, do look out for a super interview with Wendy H Jones on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. See above. We’ll be discussing the latest anthology to come from her publishing house – A Right Cozy Historical Crime. Plus we’ll be discussing the joys of blending historical and crime fiction, a match made in heaven given both types of story individually try to get at the truth. There will be much more too. Link up tomorrow for what will be a great read.

If you’re looking for story writing tips, especially for this kind of story, do check this out. The interview is part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Vlog.

And huge congratulations to all of the authors in this cracking anthology.

Another lovely sunny day Lady and I made the most of by catching up with her Hungarian Vizler friend and equally great owner.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to an ACW group meeting this evening – these are always great fun.

Reading wise, I’m focusing on light, entertaining reading. It’s my favourite kind of reading anyway but never more so than when the times are grim. If you want somewhere to start, do check out The Great Sermon Handicap by Wodehouse. If you like humour with bite to it, do check out Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I’d start with the Vimes books.

Writing Tip: Do have a notebook to hand (or an app for your phone handy). Ideas do crop up at odd moments and I know from experience you don’t remember them later. I must admit I don’t have a notebook by my bed for the good reason the moment my head hits the pillow, that’s it, but I do have plenty of note paper and pens elsewhere and I do make good use of these. Also, make a point of reviewing your notebooks from writing events every so often. You will find things you’ve forgotten about but which you could work up into something promising. No prizes for guessing how I know this one!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I like to mix up the mood of my flash pieces and literally go from light to dark and back again here, which gave me a useful title for my debut book!

But in anthologies generally, flash and short story ones, I like to see a mixture of moods. Fiction reflects life even where the setting is out of this world because there will be something about the characters which we understand. So therefore story moods should vary just as ours do.

Mind you, I will always have a soft spot for those tales which make us smile. I think they’re needed more than ever.

There is still time to get a story in to Hannah Kate for her Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM. This goes out live on Saturday 21st March but the deadline for submissions is 16th March. See the link for more information and good luck if you give this a go. I’ve had a couple of festive flash pieces broadcast here and the show is always good fun to listen to. Why not check it out?

It is also good practice writing to a timed limit. You have three minutes maximum and I’ve always found it useful, once I’ve got my story sorted out, to record myself reading it on Zoom. When you end the meeting with yourself (yes, I know it sounds odd), Zoom will convert the file to an mp3 for you so you can play it back and hear how you sound. Just as importantly, it will give you the timing for your story. You can’t go wrong here and it is so easy to do.

Spring Equinox Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM


Hope the day has gone well for you. I plan to start work soon on my presentation for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. This time I know the theme – a certain event is coming up this month and various things can come from that, which can be put to good use for storytelling. Looking forward to working on this presentation – they’re always fun to do but I’m itching to go on this one, which is always a good sign.

Hope to start drafting some more flash pieces over the weekend for competitions later this spring which I always have a crack at. Plus I hope later this year to work on getting another collection together. Am looking forward so much to Seeing The Other Side out there in the meantime. Will keep you updated as and when I have further news to share on that.

Fairytales With Bite – Coming to Life

As I write this, there are more signs of spring coming to life around me. I love this. It’s always cheering to see the daffodils, the blossom and so on appearing (and hearing more of the bird song too).

In your magical setting, what would be the equivalent of our seasons? What would your characters consider to be their natural world coming to life again? What would they welcome seeing coming back? What would they dread? For example, if there is a quiet season when the dragons aren’t around, I doubt if your characters, unless they are other dragons, are particularly going to welcome their return!

What would be your magical setting’s equivalent of the beautiful flowers and trees we see? Are any of these magical in their own right and what good or harm could they do? I wouldn’t like, for example, to come across the magical equivalent of a Venus fly trap especially if it was huge and could take larger prey!

Are there some natural things your characters actively encourage to come back to life when the season is right and why would they do this? How can they do it? (I’m thinking along the lines of what gardeners can do to encourage plants to flourish here). Could it backfire?

Story thoughts there.

This World and Others – Career Breaks

Taking time out to have a career break has become more common in recent years. Sometimes that break leads to someone pursuing a different career altogether when they decide to return to the workplace.

What would be the equivalent in your magical world? Can your characters ever step down from magical roles, albeit briefly? If they can, would this be treated as an extended holiday, a kind of sabbatical? What would happen if your characters decided they wanted a different magical role? Is it feasible for them to change? It is possible if what they’re thinking of changing to would be more useful to your powers that be, they’d encourage this.

Are the careers available in your magical setting dependent on what your character’s species and/or status are? Can anyone break the status quo here?

What would happen if those in power decided they wanted a career break? Could a fairy monarch, say, step down briefly, there be a Regency, and then he/she returns to the throne? Also give some thought as to why they would want this. There will be story ideas there.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ALLISON SYMES ON SUBSTACK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Stories Everywhere

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope the weekend went well. Managed to get plenty of writing and editing done. Also pleased the temperature has come up somewhat. My solitary primrose made it through the snow and frosts! Lady continuing to enjoy getting out and about with her chums and that is how life should be, I think.

Facebook – General

Hope today has gone well. Wet and muddy here today. Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler friend but neither dog nor their owners wanted to be out for long. We weren’t!

Writing wise, I had a lovely time at the online group I went to last night. Am also looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month. Zoom is a fabulous thing though the words ‘you’re on mute’ have gone into the general vocabulary of everyone I know.

Will be sharing Pitching on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday and hope it will be useful. I suspect this topic will be another Marmite one (the other is editing) where writers will love or loathe it. But I still hope the post will be handy!

Hope the week has got off to a good start. Lady’s has. She saw her Hungarian Vizler pal and received pets from the shopping delivery guy (I loathe supermarkets).

Writing wise, am looking forward to going to an online writing related group on Zoom this evening so will get some “bits and pieces” of writing and editing done around that. Mondays are always hectic for me so this will be a fabulous way to unwind.

Have started going through the Writing Magazine Competition Guide and have marked up one or two possibles to try out. I hope, later this week, to check the background of these competitions out and maybe start drafting something. I do have a story to write for somewhere else so have started drafting ideas for that.

Hope your weekend has gone well despite the grim weather and even grimmer news. Mind you, I guess this makes me even more glad than I usually am to escape into the worlds of flash fiction and short stories. At least I know my villains will get what they deserve even if it does end up being in a roundabout way.

Am enjoying my usual Sunday flash fiction afternoon. The fact it is cosy indoors helps a lot! On a more serious note, I’ve always loved creating characters and in short form work you get to do this a lot. Know the people (or other beings of choice), know what drives them, and I’m off to a cracking start with a story outline.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. We don’t usually see friends, doggy or otherwise, at the weekend though today was a nice exception when Lady and I caught up with Daisy, a sweet spaniel, and her owner.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Pitching for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Link up on Friday (which will halfway through January already, hooray!).

Though Friday Flash Fiction has now sadly shut up shop, Sunday afternoons will continue to be flash fiction day for me as I can get a reasonable amount of writing done and I do want that to continue.

Character Tip: What is your character’s level of education? It is worth giving this some thought as it will have a direct impact on the vocabulary and type of language they’re going to use, both of which can show so much else about them (such as likely class etc).

Readers won’t need to know the answer to this directly but will pick up on it subconsciously as they read what your characters say and think. Incidentally, that’s another lovely thing about reading – it’s the nearest we get to mind reading. We can read the minds of characters after all!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash is a great way of helping your other writing as by the time you’ve written 200 or 300 words as a flash piece, you should find you’ve “limbered” up enough to get on with other, longer writing work.

Writing exercises set at events or workshops can only give people five or ten minutes at most to respond so you will “only” get a flash piece in terms of word count out of them but there’s no reason why you can’t go on to polish these pieces up and get them published.

Certainly collect them together, polish them up and you could have a collection on your hands.

It’s Monday. It’s January. It’s winter weather. Okay not unexpected but very few enjoy it! Definitely time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The Done List. Collie owners will especially appreciate this one!

Everyone has a To Do list, even when they can’t write them down. Find out why my collie character was happy to get their two jobs done, even though their Mum wasn’t.

Chilly again today. I don’t think Lady was that sorry to get back indoors again. It is during cold spells I really appreciate writing being an indoors job!

Glad to catch up with some Swanwick friends on Zoom last night. Hope to be back on Zoom again later on.

Writing wise, it’s flash fiction Sunday for me so will be cracking on with some new pieces in a while and, later, continuing the editing work on my Seeing The Other Side. All great fun.

Also a nice bit of news. I’ve often sent in pieces, and had them accepted, by Christian Writer, the magazine of the Association of Christian Writers. I now have a column in there called Allison’s Advice (I do like a nice spot of alliteration every now and then and it seems I’m not the only one!).

I’ll be sharing 100 word writing tips here. First one appeared in the magazine I received yesterday. I hope people are going to find the tips useful. It’s lovely getting some flash non-fiction published.

I love mixing up the mood of my stories and think this reflects life in a way. It is a mixture of funny and sad and I like my tales to reflect that. This is where I think a collection can work so well because it can show a range of emotions.

Naturally, I’m biased here, but I’ve always loved story anthologies, long before I became published in them, because I loved the variety of moods they can show. I still love them, of course.

If you write flash pieces over time, would it be worth you seeing if you have enough to get a collection together? The independent presses or self publishing would be the best routes here. But it is possible. Two collections later, with a third due this year, I can confirm it is worth doing.

One of my favourite parts of putting a collection together is grouping the stories. It’s fun as I can group character types or moods of story as I see fit. Okay, my editor may want to change this later and that’s fine but I do enjoy this process.

Goodreads Author Blog – Stories Everywhere

I like the thought of there being stories everywhere. Okay, I’m biased because I love reading and writing them. Inspiration for stories of my own can and does come from various sources too. There’s nothing to beat being inspired by what you love reading yourself, in my view.

Okay, there are stories I try to avoid, most notably the news which is so grim. There is a focus on negative rather than positive stories there and I would like to see a better balance. But I guess knowing this, it does encourage me to read more and escape into the world of books. Nothing wrong about that.

Where you have characters, you have stories. Where you have any society, you have stories. The fun with fictional writing is, of course, in inventing your own. The fun with reading is discovering what other authors have invented.

And the great thing here is the sky isn’t the limit.There are no limits. Fantasy and science fiction especially are great vehicles to explore other kinds of character and societies and I find these fascinating. What can also be fun is spotting the other books and stories which have clearly influenced the author. Quest stories, I think, will have some kind of nod to the ultimate quest story, The Lord of the Rings.

Stories being everywhere is excellent news for all of us who love reading. We will not lack variety or number of stories to enjoy. That’s definitely worth celebrating.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

Winter Stories – Part 2

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Firstly, I hope you have a very happy and peaceful New Year. I slept through it – I was very happy! Writing and editing work has recommenced now but it is a joy to get back to it again. Secondly and most importantly, Lady had a fabulous Christmas and is enjoying seeing her friends again.


Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

I don’t know about you but it really doesn’t feel like a Friday. Still, Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again today and a lovely time was had by all.

What has helped me accept it really is a Friday is it is time for my first Chandler’s Ford Today post of 2026 – Winter Stories.

I share some of what I think count as winter stories, the importance of appreciating reading, and look at stories about stories, including how they can inspire further stories themselves. I also see stories as a link to the past and to the future.

I hope you enjoy the post – it’s a gentle start to a new writing year.

Winter Stories

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Happy New Year! Lady was pleased to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today and I was pleased it was less cold than yesterday so we both came home feeling we had gained something!

It’s good to be back to the old writing routine again, having had a wonderful break (and a calorific one at that!). Glad to say my author newsletter went out earlier today and I will be back on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow with my first post for 2026 on Winter Stories. See above.

Am on both sides of the editing fence at the same time again at the moment. Loving this. The last time this happened for me was back in 2020, the year we all prefer to forget, when I was working on Tripping The Flash Fantastic. Seems a world away now but am so looking forward to Seeing The Other Side coming out this year.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady caught up with her two best buddies, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. We kept the dogs moving. It was far too cold to keep still! Lots of fog too – didn’t really lift. Still, this is one thing I love about writing. It is an activity best done in the warm! Will be listening to Classic FM’s Pet Classics this evening too. (New Year’s Eve). I think it helps the dog but I know for sure the calming music does do wonders for me!

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Winter Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. My next author newsletter is good to go for tomorrow, 1st January, and talking of which, I’ll finish by wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s sad to start the New Year with no more Friday Flash Fiction (see screenshot) but it was wonderful getting back into the world of writing drabbles with them for the last couple of years.

I do hope to share 100 word stories of mine every so often here. And to start, here was one I was going to submit to FFF in early 2026, having written it in December 2025. It does fit in with pantomime season though – oh yes it does!

Hope you enjoy Following.

Following by Allison Symes

‘Which way now? This old map isn’t clear enough. I knew we should have bought an updated one. See, here, the print is all smudged, Hans.’
‘Shall we toss a coin?’
‘Is that all you can come up with, Hans? Didn’t you learn something from last time?’
‘Yes. I learned not to rely on using a trail of breadcrumbs because the birds will eat them. Come on, let’s just go left. It’s the wider path. It looks less overgrown.’
‘Okay but if we come across a gingerbread house again, we are turning and running away immediately, right, Hans?’
‘Right, Gretel.’

Ends
Allison Symes – 21st December 2025

Happy New Year! Had a lovely informal meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group just before Christmas. Our next meeting will be towards the end of the month. Already looking forward to that one plus ACW members have the chance to meet up online later in the month too so I’ve signed up for that one.

Zoom can and does bring people together when in person gatherings aren’t feasible. It’s also a great tool for helping with flash fiction writing in that I use it to record stories I intend to “perform” or send in for potential broadcast. It gives me a way of hearing how I come across and it confirms my timings. All useful stuff.

Hope to start looking for potential flash and short story competitions in a week or so. Looking forward to submitting stories again. You have to be in it to have any chance of winning it after all.

The turn of the old year into a new one is one of those points in time we all remember. But you can use the thought of points of time as something your characters have to deal with.

What moment in time would be a pivotal point for your character and why? It doesn’t have to tie in with the calendar after all. It could be an anniversary date (pleasant or otherwise) and much more. It could also be a driver for what your character does next and naturally there would be consequences from that.

Happy New (writing) Year!

Fairytales with Bite – New Beginnings

I write this on 31st December 2025 with the New Year only a few hours away so I suppose it is a natural time to be thinking about new beginnings. What would make your characters decide they need a new beginning? Would they use a New Year (or equivalent in your setting) to decide this or are they forced to make a new start and how did they get into that position at all?

Does the new beginning live up to its promise? What makes the character change to make the new beginning mean something to them? What do they have to change? Is anyone or anything getting in the way of your character having a successful new beginning? Or is your character made to face up to the need to have a new beginning by another character and what makes them go along with this?

Do you have characters who always make new beginnings but they never seem to work out? Could a friendly fairy godmother help with this and finally help them get the breakthrough they’ve been seeking?

Definitely story ideas there! Happy writing.

This World and Others – Letting The Old Go

New Year’s Eve is an obvious time to let things go. You don’t have the choice. The old year goes, the new one comes in. But what would your characters really not want to let go of, even if they should do so? I have sympathy here. I never want to let go of chocolate even though, strictly speaking, it is something I don’t need to be able to survive.

All successful stories pivot on a moment of change. The character has to change in some way or do something different – the story has to move forward so it can work.

Letting things go, especially those with great meaning to the character, can be a useful symbol showing your character being ready to move on as they let go of anything they feel is holding them back. This can, of course, include other characters, who may or may not be happy about this but what you definitely have here is a story. The conflict here has to be resolved in some way and that can include the first character moving on regardless.

Give some thought as to what your characters wouldn’t like to let go off too and make them face the possibility of having to do so. What would they do? How would they react?

Story ideas there for sure!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

The Perfect Read

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Plenty of writing and editing done so all good here. Lady continuing to make good progress. Getting significantly colder – have had first frosts – but I prefer that to the wet and the mud as, I suspect, does Lady.

Facebook – General

Hope you had a good day. Cold but bright and Lady got to see her two best buddies again, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. Lovely time had by all. I resumed a good swim and enjoyed that. Water felt warm – it never is by the way but it confirms it was perishing outside!

Writing wise, I’m delighted to say my author copies of Magi, the Bridge House Publishing anthology, reached me today. My story, The Family Legend, is in there and it is good to be between the covers again with some very familiar names. Some of them I hope to meet up with next month at the BHP celebration event. It’s always nice to receive a parcel of books with your work in them.

It won’t be too long before the next issue of Writers’ Narrative will be out and, in a few days, I will be sending out my latest author newsletter. If you would like to know more about flash fiction, read some of my online stories, and pick up on good writing advice, do sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you have had a good Monday. Hectic here as ever but Lady did get to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler friends today. They all had a great time.

Had a fabulous writing and editing weekend. Plenty done. Just to flag up (and thanks to Jenny Sanders for letting me know) that Hannah Kate is holding her Three Minute Santas again on North Manchester FM. See the link for more details and good luck if you intend having a go. I hope to again, It’s good fun to write festive flash fiction.

Tip: I always record my submissions for Hannah’s show on Zoom and then play them back. I can literally hear how I come across and, just as good, the Zoom recording confirms the time I’ve taken to read my story. All useful as Hannah needs stories which are no longer than three minutes (the clue is there, folks!) and I can ensure I come in just under this limit doing this.

Festive Stories Wanted for Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope the weekend has gone well. Lovely church service this morning followed by walking the dog and heading home for lunch. Nice day today too though on the cold side.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon which will begin shortly and include responding to today’s Flash NANO prompt.

Writing Tip: What would I say was the most useful writing tip I’ve received and still use? Difficult to say but on balance I think it has to be the write first, edit later tip.

When I began writing seriously, I spent ages trying to get the first sentence or two right but just ended up getting frustrated. It was much better when I began just getting the story down, having a break from it, and then looking to improve it. I wasn’t interrupting my writing flow. I was treating writing and editing as two separate and different creative tasks. I enjoy them much more, keeping them apart from each other.

I also know now in a way I didn’t back then nobody writes a perfect sentence. Everybody has to edit at some stage so why not enjoy the creative writing first, then work out how to improve it? I also find it much easier to figure out what does need improving (and why) if I can see the whole story. I know what I’ve got to work with for one thing.

Hope today has gone okay. Horribly soggy here. Good day for staying indoors and getting on with some writing then!

Writing wise, I plan to share Short Story Collections on Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be sharing the joys and challenges of writing for these plus share tips on how to make the best of any set theme. I hope it will prove useful. After that will be a fabulous author interview – more on that nearer the time.

Looking forward to looking at memories and story ideas resulting from that topic for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

And if you’re starting to think about book related presents, why not check out an anthology? Your recipient will receive a mixed bag of stories and hopefully will discover many authors new to them. Why not check out Magi (Bridge House Publishing)? See link.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I can hardly believe we’re almost at the end of the last ever Flash NANO. Will be getting on with the latest prompt later this evening. Where has the time gone? The variety of prompts have been fantastic and a good challenge.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow evening. The focus will be on memories and how we can use these for flash fiction and flash non-fiction. Our December meeting is always an informal chat with sharing of news and stories. Christmas jumpers, hats etc are optional!

Have drafted a potential festive flash fiction story which I hope to submit later this week. Still want to pick out some earlier drafts for competitions but hope to get to do that later this week. Deadlines, thankfully, aren’t for a while yet.

It’s Monday. It gets dark far too early for my liking. It has been hectic as usual. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Book Signing.

What secret is Allison keeping from Linda and where does a book signing come into it all? Find out here.

Note: No authors were harmed in the making of this video! Neither am I confessing to something here, honest!

 

I found fairly quickly after getting into flash fiction writing seriously, I did need to have a title as a “peg” to work with. I would say I leave 90% of them unchanged. But I do need something to help me get started and a title is a big help here, even when I know for sure in advance I’m likely to be changing it. It is the way of it too that sometimes as you write, a better idea for a title comes along so I then go with that.

I like shortish titles, especially those which are open to interpretation. You can have a great deal of fun with those in playing with expectations and either delivering on them directly or springing a good twist on your readers. Certainly when I’m reading flash fiction/stories, a title I can guess will be open to interpretation will always grab my attention.

Flash NANO continues apace and I will have a go at today’s prompt later. All good fun (and it has been lovely to receive great feedback on stories I’ve shared on the FN Facebook page. A little encouragement goes a long way as any author would tell you!).

Also congratulations to Hannah Kate for the 10th anniversary of her Hannah’s Bookshelf programme on North Manchester FM. Flash fiction has often featured on Hannah’s show, especially at Halloween and just ahead of Christmas. Flash is a great format for radio – short enough to be entertaining. Not too long to switch people off either!

North Manchester FM: Hannah’s Bookshelf Anniversary Special, Saturday 22 November, 1-4pm

 

Goodreads Author Blog – The Perfect Read

Provocative title for this post? Maybe? Is there really such a thing as The Perfect Read?

I think there can be but it depends on what you like to read and your mood as you read it. For example, I will often read something by P.G. Wodehouse in the darker months because I want something lighter to cheer me. It always does and so, whatever I choose by him here, it will be the perfect read.

When I’m reading an author new to me, having been captivated by their blurb, book cover etc, I simply want the book to deliver on its premise. As long as it does that, it will be a perfect read for me. What I don’t want is to have expectations set up and then not delivered on unless there is a superb twist or something like that, which I always love because I never mind when an author wrong foots me like that.

What I don’t want is a promising book but the author wrong foots me by delivering something which comes across to me as dull. (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen does this for me I’m afraid but I do love her other works).

The perfect read, in a more general sense, always occurs for me when I can get behind the characters, whether I’m rooting for them to succeed or fail. (There is nothing quite so satisfying as booing a good villain, even if I only do so metaphorically!).

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS’ NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

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

Author Interview: Introducing Esther Chilton and The Secret Dragon

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Esther Chilton for supplying book and author pictures for my interview with her on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Great interview too.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has involved going to see a local theatre production (a hugely funny one too), starting to get ready for Swanwick (will be doing some volunteer sessions so wanted to make sure those were ready), and plenty on the writing front. Lady has had a nice week so far too, getting to see some of her friends. Looking forward to a trip out at the weekend too.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It’s a pleasure to welcome fellow Swanwicker and flash fiction writer, Esther Chilton, to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her new children’s book, The Secret Dragon.

While I am well outside the age range (the books is aimed at the 5-7 bracket!), the blurb and extract intrigues me. I almost wish I was back in that age range again! Do check out the post to read these.

Esther also shares useful writing and marketing tips, the background to how The Secret Dragon came about, discusses her writing journey to date including her work with The Writers’ Bureau, and much else besides.

Many thanks, Esther, for a fascinating interview.

Author Interview: Introducing Esther Chilton and The Secret Dragon

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope today has been okay.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing a fabulous interview with fellow Swanwicker and flash fiction writer, Esther Chilton, about her new children’s book, The Secret Dragon, for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Link up tomorrow. See above.

Off to watch The Chameleon Theatre Company perform Bill Bryson’s Notes From A Small Island later. Am sure there will be plenty of laughs, given all I have heard about the book. Hope to review for CFT in about a week or so.

Writing wise, I’m busy with my usual stories and blogs. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom next week too.

Hope to get plenty of writing done while on the train on Saturday as I go to visit the Jane Austen exhibition in the Dorset Museum in Dorchester.

Hope you have had a nice day. Lady got to show off in front of her Hungarian Vizler pal today so was most happy about that. Her chum looks on indulgently, almost like a proud granny.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming Esther Chilton to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her new book, The Secret Dragon. Also looking forward to catching up with Esther in person at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick which is not far away now.

Am off to the theatre tomorrow night to watch The Chameleon Theatre Company perform Bill Bryson’s Notes From a Small lsland. Should be fun. Will also enjoy catching up again with my lovely CFT editor, Janet Williams.

Writing Tip: When you go out and about over the summer months, try to jot down a few notes of impressions, sights, sounds etc which you may well be able to use in a story later on.

I’m looking forward to seeing a Jane Austen exhibition on Saturday so (a) plan to follow my own advice here and (b) get an article out of it for CFT. But trips out give you a chance to see new things and even familiar ones in your own area in a new way so you may be able to use aspects of that for your writing.

Also bear in mind you can check out the websites of various places. Some have virtual tours which might inspire you too.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Two bits of news here tonight. Firstly, a huge thanks to Rosemary Johnson for a lovely shout out over on her website. This links in with her book launch on 1st August for Past and Present, which was recently published by Bridge House Publishing. I plan to reshare the Eventbrite link for this during the next few days so do look out for that.

Secondly, it is lovely to end the working week with another story on Friday Flash Fiction. I hope you enjoy my latest here, Postcards Home. Is Barry right to worry about Shirley’s intentions here?

I got into the habit of reading my work out loud to hear how dialogue works when I was preparing for my first Open Prose Mic night, many years ago.

It was a joy to find Zoom will convert a recording you make with yourself into an mp4 file (can also get mp3 – audio) so I could play back how I came across.

I found from that I have a tendency to speak a little too fast (I blame the old adrenaline for that!) but it means I know I have to watch for this so I can slow myself down.

I hope to put my name down for the Open Prose Mic at The Writers Summer School, Swanwick again and, if picked, am hoping to get to read some material from my Seeing The Other Side. If that works out, it will be a joy to do it. Always lovely to share new material. It’s fun too.

Am also looking forward to Rosemary Johnson’s book launch via Eventbrite on 1st August for her recently published collection, Past and Present. Always good to hear when people I know have new books out. It’s even nicer when they’re with the same publishing house as me.

Flash Tip: When thinking about your character, ask yourself why would a reader want to find out what they get up to? What is it about them which appeals to a potential audience?

There has to be something a reader will latch on to with your creation. Mind you, they don’t have to like them. I can think of a few of my characters I would never share a cup of tea with, if that were possible!

Fairytales with Bite – Sharing News

Aside from what might be considered the equivalent of our media (social or otherwise), how do your magical characters get to share news?

Is telepathy a reality in your setting? Are there any controls over its usage? Can only certain species use it? What would happen if a banned species gets to develop/use telepathy themselves? What is there in place to prevent sensitive information being shared this way?

If telepathy isn’t a thing, what other magical means of sharing news would your world use instead? Would your world consider copying what we have here in terms of technology (because they could see that as a form of magic)?

Also, are the “old school” ways of sharing news still going? Think of things like the town crier, messengers sent out from villages to gather information, and those who come to villages as part of their duties. Could the sharing of news be used as a kind of barter system between different species and/or settlements in your world? If this was a settled pattern, what or whom could disrupt that and why would they do so? Is it for the best they do or are there evil plans afoot?

Also, whatever the way news is shared, is the news itself generally considered reliable? Can it be verified and who would do that?

This World and Others – Media

Wherever there is news, there would be some sort of media to spread it. Who controls that media? Is magic used in running it and, if so, who controls that and ensures it is used properly? Is the media available to all? What do your characters make of it?

Are your characters involved in producing it/presenting it? How critical or otherwise is the media in your setting of the powers that be?

Has your setting copied what media types we have here or is there something they have which we could never reproduce here? What matters here, I think, is your readers can make sense of this kind of “technology” so they can see how it would work without necessarily going into all of the details of how. Just give readers enough to see how it could be if your world existed and they had this/that capacity…

As for media itself, any form of power, including this one, can be used for great good or evil, of course. It will be how you exploit that thought which will make for gripping stories. Can your characters make use of the media they’ve got to help their cause or must they do everything they can to ensure the media doesn’t get wind of their story until the proper time?

Can your villains exploit the media for their own purposes and cause further problems for your leads?

That could be fun to find out!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Author Interview – Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to both Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Vlog) and Val Penny for great author, scene, and book photos for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week.
Slowly getting back to normal after our Northumberland break. Has been lovely to see Lady catching up with her friends here. All overjoyed to see each other again. Resuming the writing routine too and am making progress. I don’t know why it is but the first week back after a break is always the tough one to get through.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Lady loved seeing her pal Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today so this means she has got to see all of her closest chums this week.

Writing wise, I am so pleased to welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her latest adventure in print. Val has written a short story, Hunter’s Luck, which is part of The Ring charity anthology which is raising funds for The Reading Agency.

Val is well known for her crime novels in the DS Hunter Wilson/Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series as well as her Jane Renwick Thrillers. So writing a short story based around a historical object is definitely something new for her!

In a fascinating interview, Val shares how this project began, her own love of historical fiction, and working on this anthology and more. Do check it out.

Author Interview: Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Another lovely day over the park where Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again. Lady gets so much out of being with her buddies. Mind you, don’t we all?!

Don’t forget a fabulous interview with Val Penny is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Will share the link tomorrow. Do check this out, especially if you’re a fan of short fiction, anthologies, and historical fiction as this interview combines the lot! See above.

Marketing Tip: Think consistency. What can you do regularly to share news about what you write? How can you make it entertaining for your readers so it doesn’t just come across as “buy my book”?

Sharing something of your writing process is a good help here. Many of your likely readers will be other writers and we are always fascinated by the process which works for colleagues. I try to think about what will be of value to readers when I do any marketing.

Sometimes a story about how you wrote something is a good way in here. It is my experience folk never mind this.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend today. Nice time had by both.

Today is the eighth anniversary of Dad’s passing – can’t believe it has been that long.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming Val Penny back to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her short story, Hunter’s Luck, which is in the new charity anthology, The Ring. The book is raising funds for The Reading Agency. More details on the post later this week. See above.

Am always pleased to celebrate short stories and anthologies! Okay the fact I have work in several may mean I have a slight bias here! I maintain it is good bias to have though…

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Thrilled to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Unimpressed. Find out why the Lady Frances Haversham has excellent reason to be unimpressed by someone walking through the wall and what she does about it. Hope you enjoy the story.

As you know, I sometimes take part in Open Prose Mic Nights (always good fun) and flash fiction is a perfect form for this. Doesn’t go on too long. Listeners still get complete stories in the allotted time span. Plus you can mix up the mood of what you read to give a good feel for what flash fiction is and can be.

I rehearse my stories using Zoom to help me. I play back my recordings so I can hear how I come across. When I first did this, the playback made me realise I was speaking too fast so now know this is something I have to watch for and not do.

I may not be able to “see myself as others see me” (to paraphrase Robert Burns’ “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”) but I can hear myself as others would hear me. That is so useful.

Anniversaries, sad, happy, historic or what have you, can make great themes for stories. Also have you thought of giving your characters anniversaries which mean a great deal to them and cause them to act in certain ways on certain days.

Story ideas there, I’m sure, especially if other characters have to get to the bottom of why Character A is behaving the way they are on a certain Sunday, for example. Could work as funny tales too. Your main character could have an anniversary about something ridiculous – what are the reasons for it? Do they realise it is ridiculous? Does another character have to show them this?

Fairytales with Bite – Resuming Work

Resuming work after any kind of break, especially a well needed one, is hard. Doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in for this to be true. So how would your magical characters get back to their normal routine after a holiday or even if they’ve been deployed somewhere else for a while? Are they glad to get back or has their break away made them restless for something better? (It may be they think it is something better but this isn’t necessarily the case of course).

How do those they return to welcome their return? Are they glad or are they wary of how your character will be towards them now? Do they have cause to think this? I always thought Frodo moving on into the west with the elves made sense in The Lord of the Rings. He had been damaged so much he wasn’t going to be able to settle in The Shire, whereas Sam Gamgee could. He had someone to return to as well, which made a huge difference.

Assuming all goes well on the resumption of work, how does the break away, for whatever reason, impact on your character? Has it made them better at what they do? Could your magical employers send people off for breaks, knowing they need them every so often so this is something everyone does and is therefore used to doing?

Story ideas there, not least because there could be a character or more who refuses to have a break, feeling they don’t need it or fear it for reasons of their own.

This World and Others – Leaving Your Life Behind

Having a career or any other kind of break can make you feel as if you are leaving your life behind, even if it is for a short while, even it if is for something good like a holiday. How do your characters handle this or is it a case they definitely want to leave their lives behind? What has driven them to feel that way? Does the break help them?

When your characters has to leave their life behind, what is the driving force behind that? Are they successful? What kind of new life do they make for themselves? Is magic involved at all? To help them escape or is it that they’re escaping from?

What are the consequences of leaving a life behind? Who else is impacted by this? Do they try to get your characters back again? Are they successful?

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Favourite Kinds of Story

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Images of me with books taken by Adrian Symes. Handy having that facility!
Hope you have had a good weekend. Weather continues to be lovely here. Good writing weekend. Will have news soon of a change. More to come later.

Facebook – General

Hope you have had a nice day. Gorgeous weather again and Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal. Lovely time had by both dogs (and their owners, as we appreciate the lovely walking weather as opposed to getting soaked during the winter months!).

Will be looking at Writers and Stationery – A Match Made in Heaven for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that. (I could’ve titled this one Stationery Addicts Anonymous!).

Looking forward to going to a storytelling webinar tomorrow night. Plus I have an editing forum meeting during the day. Another busy week on Zoom!

7th April – Guest Blog Appearance

Hope you’ve had a good day. Lovely weather here and Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so had a lovely time at the park with her chum.

Delighted to say my Tripping the Flash Fantastic is part of a feature over on Sandra’s Book Club today. Check out the details on the link. Nice start to the week (and don’t forget you can buy copies of both of my flash fiction collections from me via my website and also via The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop, which is Bridge House Publishing’s online book shop. Naturally you can get them from Amazon too).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hope your Sunday has been a lovely, restful one. Not bad here. Lovely church service and lunch, now an afternoon of writing – all very much what this doctor orders! Will be getting on with flash fiction Sunday shortly. Incidentally even when I have some down time words still come into it – have a lovely couple of word games on my phone!

Character Creation Tip: I like to know main traits when thinking up characters because behaviours and attitudes come from those things but I do use both the negative and positive aspects of these traits. There is always a flip side to a trait regardless of which way around you start!

For example, if you have a character who is honest, are they honest to the point of being brusque? Who could they upset that way? Definitely story ideas there.

So take a trait and “flip it”. See what you can get from these things by taking both the positive and negative views of it. It mixes things up, is a better balance (given nobody is perfect) and you can get your other characters to react to whichever aspect of that trait you show.

Hope your weekend has got off to a good start. Lovely weather again here. So nice being out in the garden today.

Writing wise, I am looking forward to sharing next week’s Chandler’s Ford Today post especially as it is on a topic I really should have written about before! And what could that possibly be?

Simple! I’ll be talking about Writers and Stationery – A Match Made In Heaven – and it so is! I can’t think of any writer I know who could tell me exactly how many books they have or how many notebooks and pens etc they have. I know I can’t do that either! Fun piece to write. Link up next Friday.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Plan to explore how we can use genres in flash fiction for the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month.

Especially if you lead with characters, as I do, you can set those characters anywhere. I’ve written crime flash, historical flash, fantasy flash and much more.

It is one of the joys of the shorter fiction forms that it is easier to do this, plus you have different places to submit to, including competitions so you can have a great deal of fun playing with genres like this. Yes, you do have to “obey the rules” for each genre bit it is do-able.

It’s Monday but it is a lovely sunny one so that’s good. Still Monday though and time for another YouTube story from me. Hope you like my latest on here – Wake Up Call.

When you know you’ve messed up, you know why you messed up, and it doesn’t help at all you’re a fairy godmother.

 

I’ve mentioned before because I write a lot of flash fiction, I need to have various ways by which I can create characters and trigger story ideas. It’s not a bad idea to mix up the way you do things here because I find it keeps my fiction writing life interesting for me and, I hope, readers.

There are a huge variety of random generators to choose from, plus well known proverbs and phrases, but how about this for another way into creating stories?

There seems to be a National day for almost anything. Today, 6th April, is the day for, amongst other things, National Carbonara Day, (which sounds wonderful), National Teflon day (will that stick, I ask myself), and, in the UK, today is the start of the new taxation year. It isn’t widely celebrated that one!

But how about using these things in stories? Could your character be creating a carbonara for someone special or doing to to cheer themselves up after a horrendous day? Could romance bloom in amongst the tax ledgers! You could also set stories using the national day event as a backdrop. Could it complicate things for your characters in some way or make life easier? Your call but story ideas for sure here.

Congratulations to all who won or were listed in the Andrew Siderius competitions recently run by Friday Flash Fiction. Enjoyed reading these.

Looking forward to my usual flash fiction Sunday afternoon tomorrow. I find it a lovely way to create after church, walking the dog, and lunch. Should be getting back to the 100-worders tomorrow too. I sent in a longer flash for the above competition which was fun to do but anything over 100 words wise now story wise seems ever so long to me! Flash fiction does do this to a writer.

Having said that, I have written at the other end of the spectrum too. The one category I’ve not yet had a go at is the “mid-range”, the novella. Wouldn’t rule it out though. And it is possible to have novellas told via flash fiction with each story (acting as its own chapter) up to 1000 words, each story standing alone, but there also being an overriding arc you can follow through to the end, just as you would for a longer work.

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Kinds of Story

I love a whole range of stories and books so it is hard to pick just one overall favourite but we all have those we turn to time and again, especially if life is grim. Right now I know I can’t bring myself to read dystopian fiction. If I want dystopian I’ll watch the news!

I’m a great believer in books being a wonderful source of entertainment. This doesn’t stop them from being thought provoking as well, far from it, but at the end of the day, I want a rattling good yarn I know I can enjoy again and again if I so wish. So where do I turn to for these?

My picks are the classic fairytales, anything from Discworld by the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett, anything by Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse. Always worth re-reading! Then there are the classic works of Jane Austen, crime novels generally, historical fiction geenrally, and The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.

What I look for and find in all of these and many others are stories which take me away from my troubles for a while. Books shouldn’t be underrated for their capacity for this. I do think right now they can be wonderful escape for so many of us.

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


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

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Relatable Characters

Leave a comment

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely one here and even more spring flowers emerging. Good to see. Lady enjoying the better weather too. Busy on the writing front but had a productive weekend, which always pleases me.

Facebook – General

Hope you’ve had a good day. Another lovely sunny one here.

Looking forward to going to an Association of Christian Writers Zoom session tonight. The talk sounds interesting.

Won’t be getting much writing done today due to that but I do go to these things, when they’re of interest, when I can. I see all of this as part of what you do when learning your craft, looking to develop further etc. Investment in time for your writing is seldom wasted.

Plus it will be lovely to see ACW friends online again! One of the aspects of the writing life I love is the social side to it – online and in person.

Another lovely day and Lady got to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today so win-win all around there. How come it is the end of March already?

Author newsletter out again tomorrow. Will be looking at humour as my topic this time.

Writing Tip: You’re tired. It’s been a hectic day. (Mondays always are for me). The thought of writing much seems to fog your already tired brain. So focus instead on writing little bits.

It’s what I use Mondays for with my writing. I add bits to my newsletter, start drafting blogs and flash pieces (but with no pressure to get these things completed that same day). I see this as building up my stock of material I will complete later on.

And the funny thing? I always feel better for having written those little bits. Creativity is good for you, even in small amounts.

Another lovely sunny day with a promising week ahead. Lady and I plan to enjoy as much of that as we can. Will be “zooming” around again this week as I have an online ACW event to attend on Tuesday evening and will be hosting another ACW group on Wednesday which is one I usually go to for a good old chat about all things science fiction and fantasy related.

Will be sharing What Makes a Story Work on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

Author newsletter is out again on Tuesday, of course. If you would like to know more about flash fiction and discover tips and story links do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Character Thought: What is the one thing you know your character wouldn’t dream of doing in normal circumstances but you then make them face it? What would their response be? It’s absolutely fine to drop your creations in the mire! I find it great fun but this could, of course, just be me!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Am delighted to be back on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post – Relatable Characters. I share thoughts on why my favourite Easter stories resonate with me and also share tips on how we can create our own relatable characters. Hope you find the post useful.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope the day has gone well. Nice one here.

Character Tip: In getting to know your character before writing their story up, think about what would be a nice day for them and why. What would be a horrible day and why?

Both of these things have to have a reasonable chance of happening in your story. Think further about how they would handle each type of day and what that reveals about them. There will be insights here you will be able to use in your story. Your characterisation will be deeper and better for it too.

It’s a lovely sunny Monday but it has been hectic for me and it is still Monday when all is said and done. I share Garfield the cartoon cat’s attitude towards disliking Mondays in general. Time for another story from me on YouTube then. Hope you like my latest here – Craving.

What could my character be hiding in her food shopping she really cannot explain, especially since at her age she should know better? Find out here.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Happy Mothering Sunday to those who celebrate. Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday as ever. It’s a nice way to wind down after a busy week and I get more stories written – win-win there!

Most of the competitions I send flash pieces into don’t count the title as part of the overall word count you’re allowed. I am always pleased about this! It helps – a lot! 

But a useful tip for those places which do count the word title as part of the overall count is to reserve three to five words for your title. If you end up using less what you have “left over” could be used for the story itself if you need that.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Pleased to be out in the garden for a bit. Mowed the lawn and kicked the football for the dog. It does make quite a sight but it keeps Lady happy and away from the lawnmower. Am sure she sees it as an outdoor vacuum cleaner (which she also still sees as “the enemy”). I had hoped she’d have grown out of that but alas no!

Looking forward to catching up with friends on Zoom later on.

Writing wise, I’m a fair way towards another flash fiction collection in terms of word count. (Don’t yet know when the third one will be out but I have had the nod on it). Have a couple of stories I want to look at tomorrow as part of my flash fiction Sunday as I have competitions in mind for these. Both stories have now had the required “rest time” so I should be able to read them as a reader would. It’s the only way I find works for me which helps me spot the flaws. Then I can do something about said flaws!

Goodreads Author Blog – Beginnings

While true every story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, the beginning is what writers tend to focus on because we know readers won’t get to the middle yet alone the end if the beginning doesn’t grip them enough. No pressure then!

Also many of us study classic opening lines (from say Pride and Prejudice, 1984 and many more) to help us learn our craft here.

I know what I look for in a beginning, when I am reading, is to have a sense of setting and who the lead character is likely to be. I love stories which start with dialogue as that is like eavesdropping on an interesting conversation (here I can do this legitimately!). You also get a sense of the two or more characters involved in that conversation.

Basically, there has to be something which engages my interest immediately so have that “must know what happens next” moment.

With my own stories, my beginnings are rarely exactly the same as I first drafted them. When I come back and edit I can see how I can strengthen them so I do. Every word matters. I have to look for maximum impact on a reader. Hopefully that means they go on to have a great beginning with my stories and then discover what else those tales contain.

Every writer in history has had to do this. It is why the classics are the classics. Their beginnings have stood the test of time. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if as you read this, you can think of your own favourite beginnings to stories. I’ve done so in writing this.

Of course, I don’t think you can ever beat the classic fairytale opening of Once Upon A Time. That got me into reading fairytales, fantasy, and reading in general so plenty to like there!

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Springtime in Words and Music

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Many thanks to Janet Williams (my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today) for taking the photos of me at a local Book Fair. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Have had a lovely time on Zoom this week at an online book launch from a fellow ACW member and then on the next night I followed on with the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group. Lady has had a smashing week too in that she has seen plenty of her friends.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Lovely day in the park though Lady had to put up with just me today. Having said that, we both had a lovely time.

Pleased to share Springtime in Words and Music as my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. I discuss books I associate with the season (well some of them anyway) and share some thoughts as to how we could use spring as a season in our writing. Plus there are some lovely music clips courtesy of YouTube.

Hope you enjoy the post. Thought it would be a nice one to wind down a working week with and the writing thoughts I hope “spring” story ideas off in you!

Springtime in Words and Music

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


Will be sharing Springtime in Words and Music on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. Link up then (see above) but in the meantime if you fancy a fantastic read (and why wouldn’t you?), why not check out the April 2025 edition of Writers’ Narrative, which came out today (27th March 2025).

The theme is Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, a theme I love as many of my flash tales are fantasy related. And yes it is possible to write fantasy in the shorter forms of fiction. My two articles in this month’s magazine are Flash Fiction Fantasy and Writing Fantasy in Short Forms of Fiction.

Do check out the wide range of articles in here which look at all aspects for writing in these genres.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady had a fabulous puppy party this morning with her best friends the Hungarian Vizler, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, and the lovely Labradoodle. Some very tired but happy dogs went home again!

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom this evening. We’ll be looking at editing flash fiction, always a useful topic.

Enjoyed going to an online book launch by a fellow ACW member last night.

Will be celebrating Springtime in Words and Music for Chandler’s Ford Today. Link up on Friday. Pieces like this are always a joy to write. See above. It was a pleasure to write this one. Need more positive things right now, yes?

Has been a nice week so far. Hope to look at competitions again at the weekend as I am actively trying to submit more flash pieces to more competitions this year. Not doing badly so far.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Something a bit different this week. Friday Flash Fiction are currently running the Andrew Siderius competition. Last week I submitted my 100 word entry. This week I use the other theme in the 151 to 500 words category as you can only enter one story in each category and only use one of the two themes for each tale you send in. It is about the only time of year when I do enter longer stories for FFF.

Hope you enjoy my It Was There (which comes in at just over 300 words).

As ever do check out the other tales, the 100 words and the longer ones, on this site. Makes for a great read!

Pleased to report I have two articles in the latest edition of Writers Narrative. (April issue out today – see my author page for the link – see above). One of those articles looks at Flash Fiction Fantasy and I often do write flash pieces on a fantasy theme. It can be done!

I know when you think of fantasy it is easy just to think along the lines of a three part epic (The Lord of the Rings, anyone?!) but I often write fairytales with bite which come in at well under 1000 words so it can be done.

What I do is select the relevant telling details to flag up this a fantasy piece and I often do this via the characters. For example, I will often show you a fairy godmother at work so that flags up immediately this has to be a fairytale/fantasy piece. I can show a spell being cast or someone being on the receiving end of that spell and again it flags up this has to be a fantasy piece.

So if you like fantasy but want to write the short form, you can do it and have a lot of fun with this. I do.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

There is more to editing flash fiction pieces than just trying to get to the required word count, as I’ll be exploring with members of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this evening.

I learned to appreciate editing much more than I had done on realising good editing was helping me obtain more acceptances for flash and short stories. It has also helped to know no one writer ever gets it right first go and, for me at least, it is easier to edit the whole thing so I can see what it is I have to work with than try to do it a paragraph at a time etc.

I’ve also learned to see writing and editing as two separate creative tasks, It is lovely when as I edit a story, I can see it “tightening up” and becoming a stronger piece for it. There is a creative element here, honestly.

Fairytales With Bite – Keeping Busy

Keeping Busy
A fairy’s work is never done.
Dawn to dusk, always on the run.
Checking on clients old and new
Having many spells on the brew.
Recording how these things work out
Being honest by sharing doubt
If ideas are useful or not.
It’s never good when a new spell
Blows up the roof and creates hell!

Allison Symes
26th March 2025

This World and Others – Working Weeks

Naturally most of us are used to a standard working week of Monday through to Friday. But what would a working week look like in your setting? Are there weeks as we know them or does your setting measure time in a totally different way? What does work look like to your characters? Are their jobs similar to what we know here? What jobs would be different because your setting is literally alien?

As in any setting, there will be those who love their work, those who hate it, and those who work just to meet needs (which can also include cultural expectations as well as financial requirements). There will be those who work hard and those who do the bare minimum, the ones you know could do more but don’t. So how would characters like that work in your setting? How about writing some “industrial” stories set in your world? There could be potential for humour and/or drama here. Work is something we all understand so a story set in the world of work should be relatable.

And there are stories to be written about those characters who leave their working week behind altogether to do something unexpected? Why? What happens? What is the outcome? If they return, are they welcomed back? Do others understand why they did what they did? How would your characters handle any resentment because they didn’t keep going with a normal working week and left their colleagues to it all?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

Do see the link to the April 2025 magazine given above.

 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Writing Progress, Word Counts and Anthologies

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was one image from the 2024 Autumn Gathering run by the Association of Christian Writers. The shot ties in nicely with my belief it is good to write first, edit later. See further down.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lovely one here. Good weather, able to wear plimsolls and lighter coat rather than boots and heavy dog coat. Nice to see more flowers out. Plenty of stories submitted over the weekend too.

Facebook – General

Hope your Tuesday has gone well. Nice one here and Lady saw her Hungarian Vizler chum again.

Enjoyed a writing related Zoom last night. Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom later in the month. The use of Zoom was one good thing at least to come out of lockdown as it has given alternative ways of having workshops etc and I was especially glad to have these during that dreadful time.

I’m glad to continue to enjoy online and in person writing events. Certainly the Flash Fiction group couldn’t meet in person so Zoom has made more things possible writing wise which I welcome.

Hope you have had a good start to your week. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback pals today and it has been another fine day too. So win-win all around there.

Writing wise, I’ve had a productive weekend. Got three stories off to various places. Hope to be drafting more later this week. Made progress on my long term project and I hope to get that submitted this week.

Also later this week, I need to put up a couple of blog posts for different places which are due to appear mid month roughly and latter end of the month respectively. Texts for both need editing and then I’ll create some pictures to go with them but, as with my stories, I draft the blogs and rest them. Then I can see where I need to improve things and there always is something to improve.

I never mind this. It’s the nature of writing.

Another nice day, more butterflies out, and I even spotted a very early bluebell (outside a neighbour’s place). Lady enjoyed her time in the park but this is where I am grateful she does not share one trait with my first dog, Gracie. The footballers were out today and Gracie would have wanted to go on to the pitch to join in. Lady gives them a casual glance and then resumes playing with her own ball, thank you!

Looking forward to starting flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly plus I hope to review and send in a longer short story. Did so too!

One Liner Tip: Ideally keep short and snappy. Think character and action in one short burst, which a reader will know has to led on to something. The reaction from a reader has to be somethlng like now what? Only way to find out – read on, so they do just that to find out what does happen.

For example, how about The dragon blew but no flame emerged. I know I would want to read on to find out what happens next and what does the dragon do?

A lovely sunny day. It was nice to wear lighter clothes, a body warmer and plimsolls (instead of heavy dog coat and boots, makes such a nice change!). I also spotted my first butterfly of the year (believe it was a Cabbage White). Lady loved the weather and her time in the park too.

Writing wise, I will be sharing Writing Competition Tips on Chandler’s Ford Today next week and then after that there will be a wonderful author interview with fellow Swanwicker, Joy Wood. More details on each of these nearer the time.

Have a couple of submissions I want to get out by the end of the weekend. Am also working on a presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group later this month.

Writing Tip: Think about how you can show us your characters in action, so to speak. Rather than get them to run quickly up a hill, get them to race up. You save on word count (important for flash writers especially) but raced is more definite than ran quickly. I can run quickly compared to a snail but that does not say much, I can tell you!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Write first, edit later is one of those tips I wish I’d picked up sooner than I did especially since I now do this all of the time.

For flash especially I just get the story down, sort out any problems with it after having a break from it, and then worry about the word count. I know I have to get the story right first and then I can figure out what to do about the word count.

I often find, when I know I want to write 100 word stories, my first draft usually comes in at 150 or 160 or thereabouts. But usually better ways of phrasing things help me get that count down without losing anything important from the story.

It is the way of it though that I can’t find better ways of phrasing things until I do get that first draft down!

It’s Monday. It’s a lovely sunny one where I am but it is still Monday when all is said and done. Time for a story then, a darker one this time. Hope you enjoy my latest on YouTube called Book Ends.

Is Sheila the helpless old lady she seems to be and where do her book ends come into it when she is faced with an aggressive burglar?

 

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice one here.

Drafted a flash piece (a 500 words maximum piece) I hope to submit next weekend. Have stories to review and send in later on.

I am looking through the Flash NANO pieces I drafted last year. One or two I’ve already polished up and sent off but hope to come back to the others in cue course. Most I know I can use.

There was only one I know for sure won’t be seeing the light of day but that’s fine. A duff piece is a duff piece. It was a good exercise to try but nothing more.

How do your characters respond to the seasons? Today has been a lovely spring day where I am and it lifts the mood. How could you use this to help your characters achieve more than they might otherwise have done? Equally can you use geographic and climate conditions to get in the way of your characters and could magic and/or science be used to make this happen deliberately?

Flash Tip: Why not write four stories about one character but set the tales in the four seasons? Compare and contrast your character’s attitude and actions due to whichever season they’re in. Could be some interesting linked flash stories here.

Goodreads Author Blog – Story Competitions and Their Anthologies

I’ve been privileged to have stories of mine win competitions and appear in anthologies as the prize. Separately, I have had work in other anthologies brought out by independent presses (as these are a great way of highlighting what they publish).

Why mention that? Simply because I want to commend anthology reading. There is the obvious reason I’m in some of course, but I have found reading these books has introduced me to authors I would not have known about otherwise.

I’ve also found reading some of those authors’ short works has encouraged me to engage with their novellas and novels but all because I discovered their work in an anthology first.

Plus I want to encourage short story reading as part of an overall reading “diet”. We celebrate stories here in all their forms so why not check out the shorter forms in a convenient book form?

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.