Tag: Zoom

Stories To Remember

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the classic author photo of author’s books in the box they came in (The Best of CafeLit 13)! Image of me at Swanwick 2019 reading at the Open Prose Mic Night was taken by a Swanwick colleague. We all help each other out this way. Swanwick is a lovely writing community.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Had lovely time with family on Sunday – Lady loved it too. Have since had manic Monday to follow! Am hoping the rest of the week calms down a bit… Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Having a Superpower for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. I love writing all my posts here but this one was especially fun to write. More on that a little later on in the week.

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Facebook – General

Lady got to play with her two best friends again today so again three happy dogs went home! What was sweet yesterday was, having come in to the park and knowing her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal was a little way behind Lady turned around, sat down and wouldn’t move until said chum joined her!

I’ll be sharing Having a Superpower on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Am glad to say I’ll be welcoming back Jennifer C Wilson to CFT to talk about her new book, 31 Days of Writing, the week after that. More on that nearer the time. Always a pleasure to share author interviews here.

Author newsletter out again on 1st July. If you’d like to sign up to hear news, tips, enjoy stories etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter Tip: I’ve found it useful to have a loose theme to base my monthly newsletter on. As well as sharing useful tips on that theme, I can share links to where I’ve written on the topic in more depth on Chandler’s Ford Today. I aim to keep the newsletter “cheery and chatty” but useful and not going on for too long – all those things are key ingredients I think!

 

Manic day today though Lady did get to see her Hungarian Vizler and Rhodesian Ridgeback chums and they all had a lovely time.

Thought for you: I’ve run late all day today. These things happen to us all. Frustrating, some of it beyond my control etc., but you soldier on right? But what about making this happen to a character of yours? How would they handle it?

You could get a story or two directly from that but also you could use this as an exercise to find out more about your character before deciding what story to put them in. If you knew they tended to panic when things went wrong like this, you could show that in your story. You could also get another character to play on this if they knew what buttons to press here.

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On my wall I have various pictures, all of which have connections to family and/or friends/my past. Writing thought for you: what picture would mean the most to your lead character and why? What does this tell you about your character? If your character has no pictures, why is that? Is that a deliberate choice? Are they trying to get away from a past they don’t want to revisit?

Plenty of story ideas there I hope! If you want some more ideas, do check out the random picture generators. I find the landscapes especially useful as I work out who might live in them or who might want to go there for some reason. Story ideas there too!

448092151_907891608017368_3200174101329249721_nHope you have had a good day. It was great to welcome back Jenny Sanders to Chandler’s Ford Today for the last couple of weeks and I hope to have further author interviews later in the month. Next week’s post though is called Having a Superpower. Those who went to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting recently will recognise this as I used it as a prompt for two exercises, one of which was to write a non-fiction piece on the topic. I’ve done so and it will be on CFT on Friday!

I was delighted to receive my order of The Best of CafeLit 13 yesterday. The joy of opening boxes full of books with your work in them doesn’t go away! It was a joy to add the book to my Amazon Author Central and ALCS pages too.

Writing Tip: Every so often look back at some of your older stories, the ones which were turned down, and see if there is something you could do to improve them now. I’ve done this and have had, sometimes, work published this way. But it is worth reviewing your older stories. Even if you can’t use the stories themselves, you may well see now, after time apart from them, why they might have been turned down and you can learn from that. I have.

Close up of my copies of CafeLit 13

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Flash fiction is a joy to share for things like Open Prose Mic Nights. The stories don’t go on for too long and you can mix up the moods of the tales you pick to read out. These nights are great opportunities to show what flash fiction is and can be. I use Zoom to help me rehearse whatever I’m reading. It is handy being able to play a recoding back and hear the stories as an audience would.

Prior to sending any story anywhere it pays to read your work out loud. I’ve mentioned before that what looks good written down doesn’t always read out loud well. So out comes the editing pen! I’ve also discovered character names can sometimes be more tricky to read out loud than I’d thought so again I change them.

I don’t want readers stumbling over anything like that. This kind of thing can put people off when of course I want to draw them into the world of my story and character. So it really does pay to take a bit of extra time here and read your work out loud. The advantage of Zoom is in being able to play your work back again but it the reading out loud bit which really matters here.

448319348_10161947262462053_7757431296356457753_nIt’s Monday. It’s been manic for me. It’s still Monday. Time for my latest on YouTube then. Hope you enjoy A New Start but does Jemma actually get to have the new start she wants? Find out here.

 

Had a lovely time with family today (a 60th birthday do). Lady came with us and loved it but she always does love family events. So many to make a fuss of her of course!

Prepared a lot of my flash writing yesterday. Another advantage to flash writing is I can still get something written and completed (at least as a first draft) when I don’t have a lot of writing time. I’ve learned over time how to use small pockets of time, such as I have tonight, to make my writing life reasonably efficient. I’ve found I have got more written learning to use ten minutes here, ten minutes there etc. It all mounts up.

Writing Tip: Look at what time you have over the course of a week. I do this. It means I know what I’m doing when. It ensures I meet my deadlines for Chandler’s Ford Today etc. I use a desk diary to plan out what I do when. It helps a lot.

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Good to see the sun back out. One of the fun things about flash fiction writing is, due to its restricted word count, it has to be character led. But you can set those characters in whatever setting you want. I’ve written crime flash, ghost flash, fantasy flash and other kinds of story besides those. I’ve also set flash pieces in the past, in the present day, and well into the future or on an alternative world. All good fun!

What matters for me is finding good ways to create characters. As long as I have ways into creating them, I will have ways into creating stories.

Unless writing for competitions or for sites like Friday Flash Fiction, where I know I am writing to 100 words, I worry about the word count later on. I get the story down first, then edit it later. Sometimes a story simply does work better at 250 words rather than 100 so it just means I may have to find another market for the longer tale.

What matters is getting the character and their story right first.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Stories to Remember

I write this blog during the week where we remembered the 80th anniversary of D-Day. There are stories we really should remember, whether they are in book form, or are in the form of personal testimonies, many of which were heard/seen on the media this week from surviving veterans.

I’ve recently read Double Cross by Ben Macintyre. This tells the true stories of the D-Day spies who were used to deceive Hitler. A great read and one I’m happy to recommend. I also recommend the same author’s Operation Mincemeat, which is the true story of “the man who never was”.

The depth of research in books like these is incredible, rightly so, but the purpose of these books is to show the background to the history we know and to shed light on things which, at the time, rightly had to be kept quiet.

I’ve developed a real love for non-fiction books like these in recent years. My only regret is not discovering them sooner! I do like the development in non-fiction using some of the techniques of fiction to get wonderful information across to readers in an entertaining way. History, and factual books generally, do not have to be boring!

Screenshot 2024-06-08 at 17-57-15 Stories to Remember

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Waiting For Gateaux

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
A huge thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Group for permission to use their splendid photos on my post for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Also thank you to Katrina Lush from my Slimming World group for permission to use her very funny photo as part of that post. See the post itself for more!
Hope you have had a good few days. Weather all over the place again with sunshine, rain, thunder, strong winds etc. Have enjoyed a lovely Zoom meeting this week. I am part of another Association of Christian Writers genre group which meets on Zoom and it is always great to get together and chat. Online meetings work so well.
Looking forward to a break away next week. I will post as and when possible and yes the dog is coming. Lady always has a fabulous time when we’re away – lots of lovely walking in glorious scenery. Looking forward to that.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day and you are all set for a nice Bank Holiday weekend (as it is for the UK).

Pleased to finally share my review of Waiting For Gateaux recently performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group. As ever it was a joy to see the show and it is another joy to write about the show for Chandler’s Ford Today. Hope you enjoy the post. Lots of local links on this one, which is lovely. Two of my worlds kind of collided here – find out which in the post, link below.

Review: The Chameleon Theatre Group – Waiting For Gateaux

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Lady had a bonus today – she got to see and play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback chum today. Both dogs happy to see each other unexpectedly like that.

Will be sharing my review of Waiting For Gateaux performed by The Chameleon Theatre Group on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. Already looking forward to their next show in July which will be another comic one. If ever there was a time you could do with a laugh on stage, I suspect this is it given the news continues to be so grim.

I am part of another ACW genre group based around science fiction and fantasy and we were discussing on Zoom last night utopian works as opposed to dystopian ones amongst other things. I can see the point of dystopian fiction. I don’t read much of it. If I do want grim, I will tune into the news!

Generally I like my fiction to entertain and help me escape the world for a bit, regardless of the genre I’m reading. I definitely don’t want unremitting grim. Can get that for real elsewhere, thank you. I also don’t write grim fiction for the same reason. I want to finish my book, whether it is non-fiction or fiction, having had a pleasant time reading it!

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Hope you have had a good day. Hard to believe it’s May already. May is one of my favourite months. Lots of colours and better weather (fingers crossed for the latter!).

Author newsletter went out earlier today. See screenshot for a taster. If you would like to sign up do head over to https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Many thanks to all who have subscribed since the last edition and a huge hello to all of my subscribers. Many thanks for the support.

The theme for the May newsletter was writing exercises, something I adore and use a lot. I like to mix up the kinds I use too. Keeps me on my toes and I end up producing more stories than I might otherwise have done. Nothing to dislike about that!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

It’s the end of the working week for many and a Bank Holiday weekend for the UK. Time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on Friday Flash Fiction – Hiding Place. My character wonders what could possibly go wrong after they come up with a good idea but are they right to think this? See for yourself via the link.

Screenshot 2024-05-03 at 10-03-34 Hiding Place by Allison Symes

Have drafted a poetic flash which I hope to look at over the weekend. Whenever I write these, I sort out what the story is first. Then I work out if it Is suitable for telling in poetic form. Then and only then do I worry about rhyme (I like rhyme in poetry. I also like free verse but I know what I prefer here).

Once I’ve got these basics sorted, I will record myself reading this out loud on Zoom and play it back so I can hear how it sounds. I often do this with prose fiction but I find it even more important to do when writing in a poetic form. I can hear what works and what doesn’t. Then out comes the editing pen again. Then I re-record and play it back again until I am happy with it. I have found doing this pays.

I do find this kind of flash works best when kept short. My current draft comes in about 200 words but I suspect it will end up at about the 150/175 words mark when done.

440791713_10161861104852053_5425516408687705655_nAmazon still has From Light to Dark and Back Again on offer as a paperback. See the link for more details. I don’t know how long they will hold the book at this price. Also do bear in mind you can contact me via my website if you’re interested in having signed copies of either of my flash collections or the anthologies I’ve contributed to over the years. Both of my flash collections are also available as ebooks.

When not working on flash fiction, I am writing various pieces for Writers’ Narrative, Chandler’s Ford Today and so on. My monthly blog pieces do tend to come in at the 500 words mark so would count as flash non-fiction. Most of my CFT and WN articles are 1000 words so are right at the upper limit here too. All good fun to do (and I hope useful to readers).

 

Fairytales with Bite – Changing

Often in fairytales an arrogant character is transformed into something else for a while to teach them a lesson and to learn the value of love. The best known example of that is The Beauty and the Beast, of course.

But in your stories do your magical characters go straight for that or do they try something else on a proud person first before using the transformation option. Also give some thought to your transformed characters. Could any of them prefer to stay in their new “look” and why would that be? Are they granted their wish to stay in the form they’ve become?

When it comes to being changed back again, how do your characters readjust? Do any remnants of their transformed self stay with them for a while? I would hope other characters in your stories realise it is best to change what is wrong (and indeed to recognise what is wrong in the first place) without having to become another creature altogether – it would be quicker and less traumatic I would have thought.

Even without transformation spells, characters do need to change during the course of your story. Something has happened. It changes them. They face a problem. They deal with it. They are changed by what they have had to do here. Most of the time that leads to a positive outcome but not always.

I admire the way it is acknowledged in The Lord of the Rings Frodo Baggins was so changed by what he went through he was not going to be able to stay in The Shire and it was best he went with the elves. It was absolutely the right outcome for him and his character portrayal backs that up.

So give some thought about what changing does to your characters – physically in the case of magical tales but even more importantly to their overall state of being. Are they happier/better off for the change or has the change, unavoidable as it was, left them with scars they have to find ways of living with?

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This World and Others – Making Things Happen

Who and/or what makes things happen in your setting? What would be the driving forces in your world? Would it be politics, as we know it here, or something like creative agencies driving this?

If you have a world dominated by engineers, scientists, inventors etc., that world is bound to be driven by what they come up with. Also does your world welcome their inventions? Are the inventions generally for the greater good? Have any of them gone horribly wrong?

Making things happen is often a good thing. I welcome discoveries in science (medicine especially) because I can see the potential for making lives better for people. But not everyone welcomes new discoveries. For one thing, it means old ones are superseded. Could someone resent that and try to stop the new invention/inventor? What would they be prepared to do here? Could easily see crime stories emerging from that. Making things happen could mean stopping other new things happening at all!

Who would make things happen in the various settings in your world – the political scene, the arts sector, the sports world etc? If your world doesn’t get on with other worlds around it, is there anyone prepared to try to make things happen to improve that? Do their efforts pay off?

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Random Generators and Story Moods

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
It is shaping up to be a good week in that I will be running the Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom for the Association of Christian Writers on Wednesday, which is always fun. The exchange of news is useful to us all too. No one writer can know it all which is why it is important to network, whether it is in person or online or both. I’ve been very grateful for lots of useful information I’ve picked up this way over the years.

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Facebook – General

Looking forward to the Flash Fiction Group meeting (Association of Christian Writers) tomorrow. Always great fun. Will be looking at marketing flash fiction, always a handy topic. Also looking forward to chatting to Swanwick friends on Zoom at the weekend. That’s always great fun too. Ah, the joys of Zoom!

For non-fiction, what draws you in? For me, the topic has to grip immediately and my go-to here is history based. I then pick a book based on the period it is covering. If it is one of my favourite periods (World War Two, the Wars of the Roses, the Elizabethan era (the first one!), then I’ll check out the blurb and if I still like it, it gets bought. Most of my non-fiction books are on Kindle and there can be some great offers here.

For fiction, I turn to crime (make of that what you will!), historical fiction, fantasy and I like a mix of novels and short story and flash collections. I make a point of ensuring I enjoy 99.9% of what I read. Life’s too short to do otherwise!

When writing my own fiction, I focus on getting my characters right (as that, I find, also helps get the plot right) and I want there to be something intriguing about them that will make readers want to find out more.

Lady had a great start to her week as she got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals. Temperature is up and down at the moment. Have just got used to “layering up” as it had turned cold only to find the temperature has shot up again.

Writing Tip: Editing always takes longer than you think so try to allow for that. This is why I take time off any official competition deadline and set my own date by which I have to send something in. It means I have a safety net here should I need it.

My personal deadline date is set at least a week before the official one. I plan when I will have my first draft done by. I also then plan when I will edit said first draft so by the time I reach my deadline all editing is done and it is then a case of having a final check for typos, have I followed the rules to the letter and so on.

I use the good old fashioned A4 diaries you can get from the Post Office for my planning and it works for me. I have found in writing my plans down I am much more likely to get them done. I also journal a little bit in my diary too – makes things more interesting for me too.

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Weather calmer today, even seeing some autumn sun. Seasons can usefully be indicated in stories simply by what you get your characters to wear. You can also bring in colour to describe the clothing. It is unlikely a story set in my part of the world would have a character wearing a thick orange jumper in the height of summer. (If they are, there will be a reason for it and that will be explained by the story).

This can be an excellent short cut for descriptive passages and you can take it further. If that orange jumper is coupled with, say, a purple pair of trousers, I would want to know why a character would wear such a combination. Are they doing it for a laugh? Are they just outgoing and they show it through their clothing? Only one way I can find out and that’s to read the story. I would also want to know if these items had any bearing on the outcome of the story. (Would you turn up for a blind date wearing that combo? I know I wouldn’t!).

If I had a character wearing shorts, I would assume automatically the story has to be set in the summer. I would need the story to show why that wasn’t the case. But again I would then want to know why the character has chosen to wear shorts in a colder time of year – there will be a reason for it.

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Hope everyone is okay – weather ghastly.

Will be talking about Scene Setting for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. Many thanks for the comments on Facebook about my interview with Jennifer C Wilson re The Joy of Writing Groups and Workshops.

Author newsletter will be out again soon. To sign up for tips, news, story links etc., do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Working out what to read next on my Kindle given I’ve finished Churchill’s Wizards. Sometimes you can have too much choice! It’s a nice dilemma to have though.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Delighted to see some fabulous reviews coming in for The Best of CafeLit 12. My story, Jubilee, is in there. Do check out the reviews and the book at the link below.

It’s Monday. It’s getting darker earlier in the evenings and the UK hasn’t put the clocks back yet. Weather can’t make up its mind whether to be cold or mild. It’s still Monday. Time for a story then. My latest on YouTube is Away on Cloud Nine. Hope you enjoy it.

When I’m taking part in Open Prose Mic Nights and the like, I try to mix up the moods of the stories I’m reading. It’s a great way to showcase what flash can do and be. You usually have three to five minutes for your slot which is more than enough time to read a couple of stories.

I also practice what I’m going to read and good old Zoom helps me ensure I get my timings right. The record yourself and convert the file to an mp4 function is a great tool. Whenever I want to send something in which might be broadcast, I always use that facility. It’s the audio equivalent of not going over a set word count!

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As you know, I sometimes use random generators to help trigger story ideas. A great use for the random question one is to get your character to answer the question. It will show you more about them.

What makes you cry? I generated this question for this post and thought there are a few ideas here.

1. Get the character to answer the question directly.

2. Think about whether the character resolutely will not cry, whatever the circumstances, and what led to that. There will be a significant story there.

3. If something makes you cry, but would not do so for your character, give some thought as to why this is the case.Not quite the same thing as 2 above given some folk just won’t cry for good reasons. It is not their way to “vent”.

Cruelty, for example, can easily make me cry but if my character isn’t moved by it, I want to know why and what would trigger them being upset instead. There has to be something that would trigger tears, surely? If so, what would that be and why aren’t they upset by an “obvious” thing?

It could well be the character is so used to cruelty they have become blinded to it (which is tragic in itself). It would change how they react and interact with other characters too.

4. What makes someone cry (or refuse to do so) will shed some light on what motivates them and this will be useful for you as the writer to know.

Quizzing my characters

Goodreads Author Blog – Favourite Character Types

Stories are all about the characters for me. I like a good plot but if the characters don’t do anything for me, I won’t read on. I need to understand where the characters are coming from, even if I disagree with them. But if they don’t make me feel something, for me there is no point to the story.

Going on from that led me to think about favourite character types. I have some and these are:-

1. The underdog fighting back against the odds. Ranges from Cinderella to action heroes, this type!

2. Righters of wrongs. It’s why I am fond of crime novels. Favourite Poirot for me is Murder on the Orient Express. Favourite Marple for me is Nemesis. There is no question with either of these two that the murderer will get away with it. I like this a lot. I would also argue Elizabeth Bennet counts in this category when she puts down Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

3. The surprise character. This is where someone shows unexpected qualities or without whom the lead character could not succeed in their task. Sam Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings is a great example of this given he shows unexpected courage.

4. The rough diamond character. Sam Vimes from the Discworld series is a prime example of this kind. Despite being a Duke, he’s never going to speak politely, he will fight crime and win. He is the type you want on your side in a fight! Sam Vimes is a cross between a righter of wrong and a rough diamond. Many characters can be more than one type.

Whatever the character type though, I do know I have to be gripped by them and I have to understand them for that to be able to happen.

Screenshot 2023-10-21 at 20-26-11 Favourite Character Types

The author's take on a character type brings the character to life

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Quizzing Your Characters and Autumnal Writing

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Was horrified to hear someone chopped down the sycamore known as Robin Hood’s tree (it was featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). I love trees and have some in my garden. To chop something down for no reason is madness and heartless. Really can’t believe people at times.
What I do have to believe though is in how I portray my characters and one way I use to get this right is to quiz them. I talk more about this in my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week. See below.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today/More than Writers

29th September 2023 – Second Post – CFT
Second blog post from me today and I am back on Chandler’s Ford Today with Quizzing Your Characters. I discuss working out what you need to know and give some pointers as to what you could ask your characters to help you picture them well (and write their stories up with more conviction as a result because you do know them well enough).

If you’re writing in forms where you need to invent characters a lot (as you do with flash fiction/short stories), having a way in to creating characters which works is obviously handy. I have found doing this so useful (and a great time saver when it comes to editing later).

Quizzing Your Characters

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29th September 2023 – First Post – More than Writers

It’s double blog Friday from me this week. First up is Autumnal Writing, my post for More Than Writers (the Association of Christian Writers blog spot). I also share an autumnal story in this which I hope you enjoy. I discuss specific images, the use of the old game of word association, and set you a challenge too. Many thanks also to those who have commented on this one already.

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Two blogs coming up from me tomorrow – Quizzing Your Characters for Chandler’s Ford Today and Autumnal Writing for More than Writers. See above. Have put them in the same order as I shared them on Facebook but hope you find both blogs useful.

Had lovely evening at the Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom last night. Good to see everyone and I hope you all get a good deal from the tips and exercises I set around the topics of opening and closing lines.

I’ve come up with a couple of further ideas myself here which I look forward to working up into drafts in due course. I deliberately set ideas for exercises for these meetings but then have a crack at them myself during the group session. I love live writing exercises like that and I get some drafts done! Win-win.

Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler girlfriend today so she has had a good week catching up with her pals. If ever there is a species to make the most of living in the moment, it is dogs!

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Pleased to say I now have an “all in one go” link for Hannah Kate’s Hannah’s Bookshelf show on North Manchester FM last weekend. My story, The Natural Look, is on there. Link via Mixcloud below.

Lady thrilled to be with her best mate, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, this morning. Lovely time had by all.

Will be on the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group meeting on Zoom later this evening. This particular group works well online given the members of it live several hundreds of miles apart so could never get together in person. The development of Zoom and online meetings like this have been at least one positive thing to come out of the pandemic. (There have to be some positives, right?).

Writing Tip: Read your dialogue out loud and ideally record it and play it back. Ideally, you would do this for the whole story, but if time is short do focus on the dialogue. I have often found what looks good written down doesn’t always read well and hearing your dialogue played back is as close as you will get to a reader’s experience of your writing as they take it in.

Dialogue needs to mimic what we’d do in life but not be an exact copy so we cut out the vast majority of the hesitations, repetitions etc. The latter is real speech but is tiresome to read so you just put in a tiny amount of it – it gives the idea and that is all which is needed here.

 

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, The Old Days. Hope you enjoy it. Find out here what my two characters made of their Silver Jubilee school reunion.
Screenshot 2023-09-29 at 10-11-20 The Old Days by Allison Symes

Next author newsletter coming out on Sunday. How can it be almost October already? As ever I’ll share news, tips, and links to stories of mine so a good all round read I think! To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Looking forward to sharing a cracking author interview for Chandler’s Ford Today again soon. I enjoy getting guest authors on here as I’ve always found I learn a great deal from the hints and tips they share. And, of course, it helps with marketing for them and for me/CFT so win-win there.

What I look for in a good interview is a two-way conversation and I always ask questions that have to lead to an “open” response. So there will be no yes/no answers in this neck of the woods, thank you!

 

Hope you have had a good day. Beginning to get blustery here. So glad writing is generally an indoors job!

Many thanks for the comments coming in on Secrets, my most recent tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Prior to the one I put up on Friday 29th September! On the plus side you get two stories in one post this time and if you check my MTW post out, a third one there!

This one is timely because I’ve been cake baking myself this afternoon ahead of a family do. I promise I have not done what my character, Mary Wentworth, does here!

Screenshot 2023-09-22 at 10-11-14 Secrets by Allison Symes

Fairytales With Bite – Storytime Acrostic

S = Select your characters – think about why you want to write these into a story.

T = Time spent outlining your characters (working out what YOU need to know about them) will save time and grief and editing later.

O = Outlining doesn’t have to be rigid; I know I need to know my characters so I outline them rather than the story.

R = Regulate the use of magic in your tales – if everything can be resolved with a wave of the wand, where’s the tension and drama?

Y = Your world, your setting, your characters, your rules but be consistent.

T = Time – how does this work in your magical setting and how does it affect your characters? Can they manipulate it, for example?

I = Imagine what you need to know about your setting and how it works before you write your story. You need enough to get started.

M = Managing your characters can be like herding cats so think about who has to be in your story, why, and what their role is.

E = Endings need to deliver on the promise of your opening lines. Dilemmas need to be resolved, questions answered etc.

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This World and Others – Puzzles Acrostic

P = Physics – how would this work in your setting? Physical geography – what would your reader need to know to make sense of the tale?

U = Understanding what characters can and cannot do. There is no story if one character can do everything. Also it’s unbelievable as we all have weaknesses.

Z = Zed time! Is there anything in your story which you find dull or boring? Worth looking out for this. Your readers will react the same.

Z = Zestful writing will keep the reader turning the pages and the best kind comes from having gripping characters readers care about.

L = Limit your descriptions to what readers must know and drip-feed in information as much as possible. Blocks of description are a turn-off.

E = Envisage your characters and then think of the best way of sharing that with your readers. You want readers to “see” your characters in action.

S = Story, story, story – what is the story? Does it deliver on its premise? If someone else had written this story, would you want to read it? Answer there should be yes.

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WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Getting Lines Right

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Had a lovely trip out with other half and the dog on Friday. Did us all the world of good. Looking forward to running a flash fiction workshop for a writing group on Saturday. Plenty of editing work done too so a good week here.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at opening lines and suggest ways to create memorable ones. Hope you find it useful.

Getting Lines Right

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Must admit the temperatures have come back to the level the dog and I prefer – early 20s. Starting to see the autumn leaf colour change. There is a fair amount of Virgina Creeper in my part of the world and it is lovely seeing that turn to red at this time of year. Mind you, the wildflower meadow in our park is still in full bloom so summer hasn’t quite had its last hurrah.

Am looking at Getting Lines Right on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow (see above) and will run a flash fiction workshop on Saturday morning on Zoom.

Writers’ Narrative will be out again before too long. Written by writers for writers it is packed full of information. If you want to sign up to make sure you get the forthcoming October issue (and future ones of course) do sign up at http://subscribepage.io/WritersNarrative

 

Lady got to play with the lovely Coco, Kyaha, and Kitima today. Fabulous “puppy” party had by all. Three happy but tired dogs went home. It is lovely watching them being so pleased to see each other.

Looking forward to sharing Getting Lines Right for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Will be looking at opening lines especially. Hope it will prove useful to people. Opening lines are crucial hooks for any form of writing but for the short forms especially flash, they really do have to punch their weight. I’ll be sharing some thoughts and tips in my post on Friday. See above.

When I am writing my first draft, I jot down what I think will be a good opening line but I inevitably end up changing parts of it later when I realise with the character in mind, a better opening line would be this rather than what I started with. That’s fine. I just need something to kick me off and I expect to change things. What matters for me always is getting started. The fine tuning happens later.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

My latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction is Time Travel. Hope you find it moving. My sympathies here are with both characters.

Screenshot 2023-09-15 at 19-00-56 Time Travel by Allison Symes

I sometimes start a flash fiction piece (and indeed a longer short story) by asking a question or getting my character to do so. It is an excellent hook to lure the reader in because that question has to be answered in some way by the end of the work. So story structure is set up as well here – win-win as far as I’m concerned.

The question has to intrigue in some way (and I look more at this in my Chandler’s Ford Today post on Getting Lines Right which will be live tomorrow – see above). But this can be a simple intrigue.

In my The Recruit (from Tripping the Flash Fantastic), I get my character to ask Can Jim do this? The story then takes off from there given the intrigue is what the answer to that question is, who is Jim, and why does this matter.

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I often read some examples of my published flash fiction work when I run a workshop on flash. I do this and then break down how I wrote these pieces. When I’ve read author interviews where they do this, I found I learned so much from it.

Understanding why someone has done something with their writing is a great way of working out whether that would work for you or whether with slight adjustments to the technique, you can get something which would suit what you do. I know I have learned so much this way. It’s a fun way to learn too as you get to listen to or read stories too!

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Fairytales with Bite – Magical Malpractice

In your setting, what would count as magical malpractice? If you had a world run by old style evil witches, would they consider any magic used to help others or overturn evil to be magical malpractice?

In a world where there is a balance between evil and good magical powers, what rules does each side stick to (mainly to prevent their world falling apart altogether. For me, that would be the only reason the evil side would agree to any such rules. If their own survival depended on doing so, you would think twice about wrecking that, wouldn’t you?).

How would each side govern its own? What would a fairy godmother, say, have to do to be seriously out of step with her colleagues and her ultimate boss? What would her punishment be? Losing one’s wings could take on a whole new meaning here.

Likewise on the evil side, what punishment would there be for someone who stepped out of line there? It is mind boggling to think what would count as being out of line but there would be something – mainly challenging the boss for power I would have thought.

But there would be a great story in working out how that could happen, what happened to be the being trying it, and if they were being what we would know as a stalking horse for someone else.

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This World and Others – Accountability

Who is accountable for what in your magical setting? Ultimately there will be some “head of state” but what about lower down? How is your world governed? Do “ordinary” beings get to have any say in how this is done?

When things need to change, as inevitably they do from time to time, how is this done? Peacefully or by violent overthrow? Would this mirror what we know here (given we have both types of change of government on our planet)?

In more “ordinary” settings, such as in towns and villages, is there a system of local government? How are things done? Who is responsible for ensuring these things get done? This can take in everything from ensuring people/beings get to eat (and therefore dealing with supplies) to managing the local Council budget. If money isn’t used, what would be?

Where folks have got power, is there a way of ensuring they use these things properly? Even the smallest of villages will have some sort of pecking order. In a magical setting, does the magic help things run more smoothly or make things more difficult? If magic goes wrong, how would that change the running of things? Who would be held responsible for things going wrong?

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES


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Taking Part in the Book Fair at The Hilt

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Again thanks to Vie Portland for the Book Fair poster photo in my CFT post. From many moons ago, many thanks to Janet Williams, my lovely editor at CFT, for the photos of me at Chandler’s Ford Railway Station carrying out a book signing. Also thanks to Jen Wilson for images of me at Swanwick signing a book for Val Penny. Am pleased to share again a fabulous picture of me signing a book at Swanwick taken by the much missed Fiona Park who left this world far too soon.
Hope you have had a good week. Busy end to it as I run a flash fiction workshop and go to the Book Fair. Nice way to end the week, mind you. Lady and I have appreciated the cooler weather and even the rain (the latter more so when we’ve not been out in it!).
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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Taking Part in The Book Fair at The Hilt – 8th July 2023 for Chandler’s Ford Today. I’m a great believer in self explanatory titles!

As well as publicity for the event, I look at how things like this support writers and the value and importance of books. If you’re in the area and can pop along, every author taking part including me would be glad to see you!

(Oh and a huge thank you to the writing group I ran a flash fiction workshop for earlier this afternoon. It was lovely meeting you all online and you made me so welcome. Much appreciated and I hope you go on to discover the joys of flash fiction – there are many of them!).

Taking Part in the Book Fair at The Hilt – 8th July 2023

Are there times I don’t get as much writing done as I would like? Oh yes. Happens more often than I’d like. Suspect this is the case for most writers. I don’t fret about it the way I once did though. Why?

Because I know these things can come along in peaks and troughs. Also because on the flip side, there are plenty of times when I write more than I thought I would. Also what matters is writing what you can when you can and, generally, enjoying what you do (at least most of the time).

There was a survey I came across a while ago which showed that while many people wish to write a book only a small percentage do so yet alone go on to be published.

Depressing thought? Not really. If you have the stamina to do the work to write a book, well done. And every writer I know (and the vast majority of those I’ve read) faced rejection after rejection after rejection etc.

I still get turn downs. I always will. It is part of the life but it helps enormously having supportive writing friends who know exactly what it is like and to know it isn’t just you (or them either come to that).

Enjoy your writing – being creative in any way is a good thing. I know it has helped me in so many ways (and did so long before I had anything published).

May be an image of pizza and text that says "Reflection looking back and forward is an important part of encouraging creativity."

I’ll be chatting more about the Book Fair on Friday in my Chandler’s Ford Today post. See above. (Still not too late to book a ticket for that by the way. The event is free but if you pre-book, your name is put into a raffle and you can a £10 voucher to use towards a book of your choice at the Fair).

Looking forward to meeting the writing group I’m running a flash fiction workshop for on Friday. Zoom is a great way to bring writers together.

Will also be off to the next Chameleon Theatre Group performance – Lilies on the Land – later in the month. It’s a historical play based on the Women’s Land Army so should be interesting. I do love stories which are based on historical fact but which show an “imagined” reflection by the characters about what they’re going through. So I expect this to be right up my street, so to speak.

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Glad to share Flaky, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. Also great to see some familiar names having more stories on this site this week. Well done, all. My tale relates the utter tragedy of attempts to have an ice cream in peace. Hope you enjoy it and many thanks for the fabulous comments coming in on this one already. I have clearly hit a nerve here!

Certain things stick in the mind. Today would’ve been the birthday of one of my grandfathers. What I always remember about him is is his love of the horse racing and quiz shows. He liked to see people win!

So that started me thinking about what I would want my readers to remember about my characters. Having that in mind helps me hone said characters. I can give them a turn of phrase or an attitude which sticks in the mind – it doesn’t have to be some kind of quirky attribute.

I am wary of the latter – these can come across as gimmicky. But an attitude – well, you can usually see why a character has that. These are far more relatable, at least to me.

All authors seek reviews for their work. It helps with publicizing what we do writing wise. And reviews don’t have to be long. This is especially apt for me as a flash fiction writer but a one or two line review is still useful to a writer even if you have written an epic saga! So if you know a writer, do bear this in mind as another way of supporting them. As a certain supermarket says, every little bit helps.

Two favourite quotes from some of my reviews are:-

Allison Symes can pack more into 100 words than most people can into 1000. Politicians take note!
The storytelling was beautiful in so few words which takes the talent and skill of a practiced author.

Both of these are from the reviews for Tripping the Flash Fantastic.

If you’re coming to the Book Fair on Saturday, and want to know more about flash fiction I will be only too pleased to talk. Oh and a huge thanks to those who have reviewed me!

Screenshot from my Amazon Author Central Page.

Fairytales with Bite – Magical Law Enforcement

This can be a fun topic to write humorous flash fiction/short stories about. I’ve written a number about dodgy fairy godmothers breaking their own code of conduct (one was about the Tooth Fairy who decided she needed to carry out a raid and grab some chocolate. Another was about the Tooth Fairy stand-in who resented having to do the round and was taking pliers to deal with a kid she knew wasn’t nice. She was going to carry out her job according to her law ).

It can be so satisfying getting a character to have their well deserved comeuppance in this kind of tale. Plus there is always the option to show how, say, a magical police force does its job. How would they rein in the more dodgy elements in a magical society? How would a court system work? Could powers be taken away from the misbehaving ones and how would this be done? Could they have powers restored later?

What would your society define as magical law and how did they come to decide which laws should be included? I would expect some things here to have been found out the hard way so people realised certain elements had to be included.

You could also look at how characters try to avoid magical law enforcement. Are there petty laws which everyone ignores.

And, yes you can write crime stories in a magical setting. What would be the consequences of being caught for a criminal? How would you confine someone who might be capable of making themselves invisible and slipping away literally unseen, say?

This World and Others – The Justice System

Following on from Fairytales with Bite, you could have stories set entirely in the justice system. Is your setting based on a fair legal system or not? If it isn’t fair, are there campaigners seeking to change that and how would they carry out their campaigns? What interest groups would support them/be opposed? What would they be seeking to change and are they successful?

If you’re writing humorous stories, as I often do, what could be funny about the justice system in your setting which you could exploit here? For example, if you have a system where traffic offenses were dealt with every other Monday, does that open up to the possibility of there being traffic abuses every other day in between? I could see farcical stories emerging from that.

You could also think about key figures in the justice system to write about and do consider those behind the scenes. How would a Clerk to the Court operate in your world? Do they carry more influence than might at first appear to be the case, simply because they can control access to the judge etc?

There are also stories to be had about those on the receiving end of the justice system especially when that has been unfair. How can they clear their names? How robust or otherwise is your setting’s justice system? There are always those determined to commit crimes, bend rules etc so how would your setting deal with these? There would, I think, have to be something to hold people/beings of choice to account.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

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Starting Conversation and Events as Backdrops

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Loved watching the Coronation of King Charles III over the weekend. Loved the Concert too. Liked the balance of music – old and new. Now I write with classical music on in the background. I find it relaxes me and when I am relaxed I write more. Do you write/read with music on in the background or not?

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Facebook – General

Lady had a lovely run around with her Aussie Shepherd gentlemen friend today – before the rain hit I’m glad to say. Good time had by both.

Looking forward to sharing History In Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. It’s a lovely topic to write about. A huge thanks to for all the lovely comments which have come in so far on Starting Conversation, my latest on Friday Flash Fiction. This one clearly hit a chord with people!

Doing anything creative is good for the mind and soul. I think, and it is a joy to come up with stories and blogs. Am almost there on my competition entry. Am currently resting it. Will look at it again in a few days for my final check and then submit it I hope.

Screenshot 2023-05-05 at 10-07-28 Starting Conversation by Allison Symes

Lady got to see her pal, the lovely Hungarian Vizler. Got out at the right time too. The rain was heavier later. Am now watching the Coronation Concert on catch up. Enjoying what I’ve seen so far. Loved the Coronation Choir. And the combination of the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera, The Royal Colleges of Music and Art for the sonnet from Romeo and Juliet was wonderful. Certain things are timeless – Shakespeare is one of them. My late mother would have wondered why it took me so long to find that out. I got into Shakespeare late but at all thanks to National Theatre Live. Must try and get to some more of those.

Writing Tip: Give yourself more time than you think you need to get a story ready for submission to a competition. There is always something last minute you need to change. I get around that last minute business by making my last minute about a week to ten days ahead of the official deadline. Works for me. Am practicing what I preach here as I hope to get my entry in for a well known competition soon.

Pleased to say I’ve had the joy of proofreading my entry for The Best of CafeLit 12 and getting that back to Bridge House Publishing. That is always a joyous job to do!

May be a graphic of lighting and text that says "Like these three points but I would also add in a reminder that editing takes longer than you think at times. 1) Dream 2) Set goal 3) Action"

Hope you have had a good day. Nice to see the sun come out. Mind you, it was raining for the last Coronation so maybe this is a British tradition being upheld again.

Looking forward to giving another flash fiction workshop in just over a week’s time. Zoom is a blessing here (though I am happy to do in person workshops too as long as the distance is “do-able” for me). I love going to workshops too and always learn something useful from them. Sometimes it can be a case of you getting to see something from a new angle and that can help transform your writing or take it to another level. Have had direct experience of that.

It’s difficult to say what the single most important piece of writing advice is but the one I’ve consistently found to be the most helpful is to write first, then edit later. I did try editing my work as I went along when I first started out but quickly realised I was boxing myself in. It’s when someone else said about editing later and it’s okay for the first draft to be rubbish that I changed my approach here. I have never regretted doing so. The nice thing with this tip is it is useful whether you’re a planner or a pantser. Just get that story down. Tidying up can happen later.

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Loved watching the Coronation. Found the service deeply moving. Pity about the weather but I guess the rain does make this a peculiarly British event! Not going to let rain get in the way. Favourite moment: other than the crowning in itself, I loved the conductor of the orchestra in the Abbey. He was almost throwing himself into his work. Reminded me of the late Sir Patrick Moore’s exuberance when playing the xylophone (younger readers may need to look that one up). I love people who clearly love their job!

I’ll be chatting about history in another way for my post for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I’ll be looking at History in Stories and it is amazing how often this comes up and not just in the obvious historical fiction category either. Looking forward to sharing that next Friday.

Many thanks for more wonderful comments coming in on Starting Conversation, my latest tale on Friday Flash Fiction. In case you missed it, do check out the link below (and the other stories on that site – it’s a great read).
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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Strange day weather wise here – sun, rain, thunder, sun again. I don’t use the weather a lot in my stories. Just as well really. If I used a British day in my flash stories, after a day like today, I’d probably be using up a lot of my word count limit!

I am also wary of anything that could read like boring description. The art of description is for it to come alive in your reader’s mind so, for me, showing how a character is effected by weather conditions is far more interesting than writing about the weather itself.

May be a graphic of text that says "H Character needs are everything."

It’s Monday. Okay, it’s a special Bank Holiday Monday after the Coronation of King Charles III. Still time for a story though (and aptly too given he wrote The Old Man of Lochnagar, which I remember being read by HRH as he was then on Jackanory, a UK children’s story programme).

Hope you enjoy One Go. Would you do what my character does here?

 

I’ve always loathed any kind of bullying and sometimes my stories can reflect that. In Tripping the Flash Fantastic, I had a great deal of fun with my story Enough is Enough which shows someone who has struggled with her weight taking matters into her own hands and finding her own way of responding to those who’d made her life a misery. Am not necessarily endorsing my character’s actions by the way but I do understand where she is coming from and that is crucial for whatever kind of character you write. You’ve got to know where they come from. Then your readers will.

May be an image of text that says "Flash with a Dash of History, Crime, Fantasy, and Dragons Tripping the Flash Fantastic by Allison Symes carefully crafted collection story worlds"

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Coronation of King Charles III today turns up in stories as a kind of historical backdrop. Certainly readers will be able to date the timing of the story accurately! And yes historical events themselves can be written up as fiction or can be referred to by characters as part of their stories. None of us live in a vacuum. Character don’t either so referring to their past events or what may be for them current events makes sense.

For flash fiction writers, using a historical event makes an excellent shortcut for staging your story. There is so much you wouldn’t have to say. Think of the word count saved!

I could refer to today’s events without having to tell you all that went on or what my characters were likely to be wearing etc. I could pick specific moments to show you through my characters but you would work out what was going on around them without me having to spell it out. You’d have an idea of the era/event already. One of the tricks of flash, if I can call it that, is to tap into what can be inferred and use that to save the word count for what a reader cannot work out.

May be a graphic of text that says "With flash fiction, you have to focus on THE single most important aspect of your character's life"

Goodreads Author Blog – Commemorative Reading

I thought this was an apt topic for the week of the Coronation of King Charles III. I read commemorative reading every now and then. For example, I enjoyed Andrew Marr’s book Diamond Queen, which was brought out to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth.

I enjoyed the commemorative programme for the Coronation of King Charles. Lots of interesting historical pieces in there but then I am a fan of historical works, fiction and non-fiction.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is the only novel that has ever made me change my mind about a real historical figure – in this case Richard III. It’s a short volume. The narrative is based on a detective confined to hospital and he does a “theoretical investigation”. Well worth checking out. Triggered my reading more about Richard III too.

Commemorative reading places you in time and can act as research material. I can use this for inventing characters for my own stories. I can set them against a particular time period and have some of the reading material to hand to help me flesh out details my readers would need to know.

Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 20-48-47 Commemorative Reading

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Review – Spring Trio – The Chameleon Theatre Group

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Group for sharing their pictures for my Chandler’s Ford Today post this week.
Hope you have had a good week. Am looking forward to watching the Coronation on 6th May. I discuss below how pictures, including those of crowd scenes, can be used to inspire ideas for stories. I expect some tales may well emerge from this weekend’s events! Hope you find the tips useful.

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Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

It is a real joy to share Review – Spring Trio – The Chameleon Theatre Group as my Chandler’s Ford Today post for this week. My lovely editor, Janet Williams, and I went to see the trio of plays just over a week ago and were thoroughly entertained by the mixture of comedy and drama on offer. This is one of the pleasures of live theatre – you get to see some real gems. I also look at twists in this post as these came up a lot in these plays. Hope you enjoy the flavour of the evening I’ve shared here. It was lovely to write it!

Review: Spring Trio – The Chameleon Theatre Group

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Had a nice surprise today in that I was given a nice plug on Write On, Rosemary Johnson’s blog. Rosemary and I know each other though the Association of Christian Writers but this plug came out of the blue. Thanks, Rosemary. Am so glad the writing prompts are proving useful.

I use prompts all the time (and have contributed to some books of prompts published by Bridge House Publishing) and find them to be a great way to trigger story ideas. Occasionally I’ve used things like the random question or theme generator to trigger an idea for a blog post.

What I do find pays is mixing up the type I use. It keeps me on my toes (never a bad thing that!) and it makes you think in different ways too. When I took part in Flash NANO last year, one prompt I’d not tried before was writing a story in the form of a police report. What happened? I had great fun writing the story and it ended up being broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Three Minutes Santas show on North Manchester FM last December. I call that a win!

Screenshot 2023-05-05 at 20-09-42 Inspiration When Working on a Story

It has been a gloriously sunny day here today. Lady and I appreciated it. Lady appreciated playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal too. Good time had by all.

Looking forward to sharing my review of Spring Trio on Chandler’s Ford Today later this week. Always enjoy seeing The Chameleon Theatre Group at work. Like the mixture of comedies and dramas. More on Friday. See above.

Talking of reviews, don’t forget these help authors so if there is a book you’ve loved, do drop a quick line to say so in the usual places.

Had a nice surprise yesterday. I receive the Bridge House Publishing newsletter and in that is a link to CafeLit. I discovered my story, Untaken, was the fourth most read on CafeLit in April. Well done to those above and below me here! Very nice viewing figures. That was lovely to know so many thanks, #GillJames, for sharing that.

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Am pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest tale, Starting Conversation. The Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group may well recognise this as my response to a prompt I set them recently! A huge thank you also for the wonderful comments coming in on this tale already.
Screenshot 2023-05-05 at 10-07-28 Starting Conversation by Allison Symes

One kind of prompt I should try and use more often is the picture one. You can do this with objects and put them in a story. You can also use pictures of landscapes and wonder who would live there. Crowd scenes are good too as you can pick an individual out to base your character on and then write about them or write a story about why the crowd are gathered. (I suspect there may be Coronation stories coming up here!).

You can use your own photos too and set your character in the scene they show. What would your character be doing? What are they trying to achieve? Is the scene they’re in a help or a hindrance? Two characters could see a scene in opposite ways. What conflict could that lead to and how is is resolved?

May be an image of text that says "There's nothing to stop you taking a prompt and putting your own spin on it to generate still more story or article ideas."

Looking forward to giving a flash fiction workshop in a couple of weeks time to a writing group. Always fun to do! And it’s another example of Zoom making things possible. Where transport/distance means in person isn’t viable, Zoom is the answer! I’ve loved the fact that this has got me back into using PowerPoint again. I hadn’t used it in years until Zoom transformed things here. Given PowerPoint and bullet points go hand in hand, it’s ideal for flash. Well, I’ve got to write to a short word count, yes?

May be a graphic of text that says "Powerpoint with its ClipArt and charts has come back with a vengeance for use with Zoom. So easy to share ơη screen. Makes presentations more interactive. 1"

Fairytales with Bite – Job Hunting

How do your characters find jobs in your magical setting? Or it is literally a question of stepping into a dead fairy godmother’s shoes here? Not even fairy godmothers go on for ever (magical accidents and dragons can happen to the best of them) so I assume your setting would allow for training to happen to bring up the next generation. Would employment automatically follow that training?

For other roles, consider who else might work in a training establishment. Someone would need to cook, clean, prepare magical ingredients etc. How would these people get their work? Is it a question of who you know here?

For the non-magical beings in your story, what work would they do? How easy or otherwise would it be for them to find gainful employment?

Equally is your character being hunted for a job they really don’t want to do? Can they get out of it? If not, how do they manage?
Story idea potential there I think. (This is where we can use our knowledge of the working world to flesh out our story world and that can be useful. Dreadful bosses/colleagues can occur in fiction as well as in life – as can good ones).

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This World and Others – Employment Types

What kind of employment can your world offer your characters? Is it similar to what we have here or something specific that could only happen in your setting? What kind of tools/equipment /technology would your characters be expected to be able to use? What are these things for? And are jobs allocated on merit or on status?

So could there be a character who would love to do Job X but knows they can’t because they’re from a certain social class which never does a job like that. Could they be the one to break the mould here?

Is employment divided between, say, magical and non-magical or is it just down to the job itself? For the latter, you could have, say, clerks working for the government who do have magical skills and those who do not. How would they get on? Would the magical abilities come in useful at work at all and that is why they are employed here? Do the non-magical lot have special qualities/skills which compensate here and are useful in another way?

What would count as manual labour? What would be considered “high end” employment? Do employment types change over time? (Not much call for abacus makers in our day and age, for example. Technology changes employment so much).

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Using Story Cubes, Workshop News, and Writing Exercises

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was my photo of my much missed Bearded/Border collie cross, Gracie, my first dog.
Hope you have had a good week. Mine has started with an interview (to go out later this week) and Lady has been getting to play with her best friends, so she’s happy too! Hope all well with you. Lovely to see signs of spring in my part of the world – does give a good lift to the spirit.

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Hope you have had a good day. Despite it being bitter out again, Lady had a lovely time running around with her Aussie Shepherd gentleman friend today. Both dogs had a fabulous time. Definition of a gentleman here? Simple! A dog that doesn’t pinch another dog’s ball even when said dog easily could – Lady appreciates touches like that! She was also thrilled to see her pal, Coco.

Looking forward to sending our my author newsletter tomorrow. I do enjoy putting these together.

Delighted to say I’ll be running another Zoom workshop later in May and am looking forward to that too. Always love to spread the word about flash fiction.

I’ve talked before about using those odd pockets of time we all get to help your writing along. I like to mix up how I do this. Sometimes I’ll jot down title ideas. Sometimes I’ll note down promising opening or closing lines. Other times, I’ll start drafting a flash fiction tale I’ve already got in mind. I like variety here too.

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Busy start to the week as usual but it has been a reasonable Monday. Hope your day has been good too.

Loved the catch up interview with Hannah Kate – the broadcast goes out on Saturday, 4th March. More details and a link when I get it. Looking forward to sharing that.

Have been using the story cubes again for ideas for this week’s submissions to Friday Flash Fiction and for my YouTube channel. Great fun to use. This week I only used one of them. I’ll be sharing the results for my new video over on my book page shortly. See below.

But I wanted to say I love mixing up the way I approach finding ideas for stories. I think it stretches me and I also know that if one particular way isn’t doing something for me during any one week, then another way will, and I find it reassuring to have that kind of safety net. It is why I like practicing writing to different kind of prompts. Stands you in good stead!

Why not consider putting your own spin on writing prompts to generate more ideas

 

 

 

Hope you have had a good day. Am looking forward to being interviewed by Hannah Kate from North Manchester FM later today. That interview will form part of her show next Saturday, 4th March. Will share the link to the show once I have it.

I’ll be looking at Deadlines – How to Make the Most of Them for Chandler’s Ford Today next week so look out for that on Friday, 3rd March.

And before that, on Wednesday, 1st March, I’ll be sending out my latest author newsletter full of news, tips, and story links. Please sign up if interested at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Have a great (writing/reading) week.

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There is an environmental theme for my latest story on Friday Flash Fiction though that hadn’t been my intention when writing the story. The basic idea came for this one from a story cube showing a cute picture of a bee! Hope you enjoy Buzzing Around though I will confess I prefer bees to wasps.

My first dog, Gracie, one got a bee into her mouth. Thankfully she opened her mouth and a rather soggy bee came out and flew off. Not sure who was more relieved – the bee or me! I never trusted Gracie anywhere near insects after that!

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Looking forward to running another Zoom workshop in May. Do let me know via my website at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/contact/ if you think this might be of interest for your writing group. Zoom has made more things possible for writers and I’ve appreciated this directly. (Flash works especially well for a workshop like this given it is is easy to share examples – and it makes for a great way to advertise what flash can do and be).

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It’s Monday once more. But I managed to do the evening dog walk without having to use my torch – hooray! – for the first time since at least November! It is the little victories which mean so much! This is another story which has come about as a result of using story cubes, in this case just one of them. Hope you enjoy L-Plates.


I’m planning to use the story cubes again to generate story ideas for YouTube and Friday Flash Fiction this coming week. Last time I just used three of them and picked the images from there. Today I’m probably just going to use one.

It’s another way of changing your parameters! I do this all the time when using the online random generators. I find setting limits encourages creativity. It makes you think laterally. But you can mix up how many you set and I find doing that useful too. Keeps me on my toes. Keeps things interesting. If it’s interesting for me, it should be for readers too.

May be a cartoon of text that says "Story cubes and random generators are excellent ways to generate ideas. However, it is a good idea NOT to have your posture like this though when writing! 一"

What is your attitude to writing exercises, especially when you’re set them at workshops, writing events etc? I love them. I see them as a challenge to rise to but I never expect what I come up with to be perfect straight away. This is my chance to get a first very rough draft down on something which I can polish up later.

If you get the chance to share some of what you’ve written do so. Nobody is going to judge you. Nobody is expecting the perfect bit of prose “straight out of the traps” so to speak. But feedback can be really useful and get you off to a head start when you do get to sit down and polish up what you’ve come up with here.

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Goodreads Author Blog – Books as Presents

Do you prefer people to buy you books as presents or would you rather choose your own? I like to do both. Yes, I know, wouldn’t everyone?

What I do for birthdays etc is give people a list (two or three books) but because I know others will give me money or book tokens I get to use the latter to pick my own choices not on that list. Seems like a great arrangement to me. (And I am so thrilled book tokens have not gone the way of the dodo. Support these, folks. Get book tokens for the ones you love who love books. Keep these wonderful things going!)

There is something special about picking your own books. There is something just as special about giving people a list and looking forward to finding out what they picked for you. Either way you get books out of it! There is plenty to love about that!
Now if you could give one book to a fictional or historical character, what would it be and why?

My nomination?

My historical character? Richard III.
The book I’d give him? The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey so he can find out for himself not everybody believes he was a villain.

Screenshot 2023-02-25 at 20-54-00 Books as Presents


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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

March 2023 edition out very soon.

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES
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Plus many other books, including my flash fiction collections.

 

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Zoom and Writing Formats

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope all is well with you. Hectic week so far (and it’s only Tuesday as I type this!) but this is where getting to my desk to write works wonders. The moment I’m doing something remotely creative I relax – and that is a good thing! Okay the hard work comes in later when I’m editing and polishing and submitting work but the joy of getting a new story or blog post down, even though I know there is work to be done on it, is a great feeling.

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Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom tomorrow. I’m talking about Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop for Chandler’s Ford Today this week – let nobody say my timing is off! I do set homework when I run workshops (nothing to be scared off, honest!) – and yes I do it myself as well after the session I’ve led. Makes me draft some more flash pieces too!

Zoom and Powerpoint work well together

Mondays are always hectic for me (as they are for so many of us!) so it is with relief I get to my desk and get on with some writing. It is the kind of day where there isn’t a moment spare but once at my desk, I can focus on something creative and I find that relaxing.

Looking forward to being interviewed at the end of the week by Hannah Kate for her show on North Manchester FM. More details about broadcast nearer the time. (Due in early March but that will be with us before we know it).

On tiring days, I focus on flash writing and drafting blog posts etc. It’s a good use of the time I’ve got available and makes me feel as if I’ve got something useful done. That helps a lot. When I’ve a longer writing slot, that is when I go for the longer pieces and getting collections together etc.

It’s taken me a while to match writing time available to work I can do but I have found I’m more productive for doing this. It’s also more sustainable. I know I’m always going to have busy Mondays so making the best of what I’ve got here writing wise makes a great deal of sense.

Never beat yourself up on what you can’t do but focus on what you can – it is a more positive approach and will make you feel better too.

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Hope you have had a good day. I’ll be looking at Making the Most of a Zoom Workshop for next Friday’s Chandler’s Ford Today post. It’s timely as I’ll be running the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group this week on Zoom on Wednesday! I often use Zoom for family get-togethers too. It has been one of the better things to come out of the pandemic.

Am busily getting my next author newsletter ready. Do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com if you would like to sign for tips, news, useful post links, story links etc. I base my newsletter on the kind of thing I know I would want to receive in my own inbox so hope people find it useful and entertaining. That’s the aim anyway!

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It’s my turn once again on the Authors Electric blog. This time I talk about Writing Formats – Diaries and Letters. I’ve used both formats in my flash fiction writing, though have needed towards the upper limit for that to do this. Hope you enjoy the post. They’re interesting forms to tell stories in and have been used as such for a very long time. Will you give them a go?

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Since getting involved with Zoom workshops, I’ve rediscovered the joy of PowerPoint. Ideal for flash fiction presentations I must say. Short text, on a slide – yes, that works. Funny thing is I hadn’t used it in years. Good to be reacquainted with it though and am putting it to good use. I used to record my stories on good old Audacity to hear how dialogue worked etc. I now tend to use Zoom for that as it helps me with timings as well (useful if I’m submitting a piece for potential broadcast etc).

May be an image of 1 person, phone and text that says "Reading work out loud is a simple way to ind out if dialoque works as well as you thought. If you stumble, a reader will τσσ."

It’s Monday. It has been a hectic Monday. It’s still dark out there! (Well, it is where I am as I write this!). Time for a story then. This one was inspired by three images which came up on three story cubes I threw. Someone kindly gave me a set recently and I thought I’d have a go with these. Will definitely use again. Hope you enjoy Bee Happy.

It was fun writing a flash acrostic for yesterday’s post (see below), I sometimes write stories in this format too. Works well for flash fiction as acrostic stories work best when kept to either one word or two shortish ones. (I’ve occasionally written to three words such as a story of mine called Talk The Talk).

As with letter and diary formats, which I talked about for Chandler’s Ford Today, recently, (and for Authors Electric even more recently!), this kind of writing is fun to do every now and again. They all make for excellent writing exercises too as they challenge you to do something a little different. Wouldn’t want to do them all the time as (a) not always suitable for your characters and (b) you could risk it looking gimmicky. But as an occasional thing, they’re great! Why not give them a go?

May be a cartoon of text that says "I've been known to interview my characters to find out what they are capable of. Another good technique would be to write a diary from their viewpoint. What would they want to write down?"

F = Fun to write, the very short form of fiction has plenty of challenges.
L = Learning to select what a reader has to know is one of these challenges.
A = Another is in learning to select the telling detail or two which will save you a lot of description and word count as a result.
S = Still has to be a proper story with a proper beginning, middle, and ending.
H = Have fun with characters in different genres and across the word counts for flash, just don’t go above 1000 words.

May be an image of sky and text that says "Where will your fiction take your readers? This world or somewhere else?"

Goodreads Author Blog – Libraries Acrostic

L = Love your library – they’re wonderful places to explore books.
I = Imagination stretching happens right here as you explore books you might not buy/read otherwise.
B = Books, great and small; books for all.
R = Reading is encouraged and cheered on here.
A = An amazing range of book types can be found in your library – check them out.
R = Read in and out of your genre if you’re a writer; it’s not a bad idea for non-writers either!
I = Inspect sections of the library new to you and don’t forget the wonderful world of non-fiction.
E = Entertainment and education – all to be found here.
S = Support your local authors if they’re having events in the library, many do.

Screenshot 2023-02-18 at 20-27-21 Libraries Acrostic

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ALLISON SYMES – BOOK BRUSH READER HUB

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MOM’S FAVORITE READS LINK – CHECK OUT THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING MY FLASH FICTION COLUMN HERE –

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AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL PAGE – ALLISON SYMES

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