Chandler's Ford Today

Allison Symes

Book Event Tips

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Image Credits:-
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking the images of me at the most recent Hiltingbury Book Fair.

It is with great pleasure I can reveal my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, will be published by Bridge House Publishing on 18th June 2026. I hope to share more news as and when I get it but it does mean, for the first time in six years, I need to start thinking about book launches and events.

Six years ago, I was launching Tripping The Flash Fantastic but thanks to the pandemic, all launches and promotional work had to be carried out via online means only. These were a lifeline, of course, and I still use Zoom regularly for all sorts of things and am very glad to do so. But it will be lovely to have more options this time around.

Having said that, and having been to various book fairs and launches of my own (and others), I have picked up various tips so I thought I’d share these here.

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Local Author News – Richard Hardie – Podcasting – “Know and Tell with Kosmas”

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Many thanks to Richard Hardie for supplying poster images and author head shot. Other images created in Book Brush by Allison Symes using Richard’s images and others from Pixabay. AI shots avoided.

“Know and Tell with Kosmas” is a podcast with one of the largest audiences in India and throughout Asia. It’s run by Kosha Shah Chandaria, a celebrated Indian author, and each month she invites two authors to join her on the podcast to talk about how they started writing books and how they plan them.

She tends to choose authors from the same genre and this month I was lucky enough to be asked to join her and Sohil Makwana, who, like me, writes detective mystery fiction, and is one of the most prolific writers in India.

The podcast is done on Instagram and if you go onto YouTube, it can be accessed at www.youtube.com/@_kosmos_85 you can listen in and see us in all our glory!

The podcast lasted about an hour and from my point of view it was fascinating to hear how another mystery writer undertakes his craft. Amazingly, Sonil and I write in very similar ways, though I suspect he’s more disciplined in how he writes.

Overall it was a fascinating experience and I felt honoured to be asked to represent the UK!

Richard Hardie
Author of the Temporal Detective Agency series.
Book Publishing MD of the Year 2026 (UK): Richard Hardie
Most Innovative Book Publisher 2026 – UK

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Using Old Sayings in Fiction

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Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

There is a lot of truth in the old sayings. One which immediately springs to mind for this month is Ne’er cast a clout before May is out. It is always a good idea to have a coat to hand until we get into June at least! But can we use these old sayings for stories or as themes for stories? Definitely. Because these things are timeless, that will help give your stories longevity too.

This post then will explore a few sayings and suggest some thoughts on what could be done to use them for creating stories. Bear in mind too, these sayings are often open to interpretation. Also, even where they’re not, you can use them time and again for different characters and situations.

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Writing Wishes

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Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

Every writer has wishes. We work hard to try to bring some at least to fruition. But there are other, bigger wishes going on now and most are centred around Artificial Intelligence (AI). Nobody wants creativity destroyed by it. Many are wary of what it can be capable of.

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Character Moments

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Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

I love those moments in any fiction where a character stands out. They say or do something which has resonance and, if at the same time, this can provide a laugh, even better.

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Flash Fiction on Radio

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Images were created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

I was delighted to have another story, Out With The Old, recently broadcast on Hannah Kate’s Spring Equinox show on North Manchester FM recently. It was also a joy to hear the other tales too, especially since another was from a dear friend of mine from the Association of Christian Writers.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Hannahs_Bookshelf/hannahs-bookshelf-spring-equinox-special-21032026/

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Hopes in Writing

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Every writer has hopes – hopes of being published, being read, receiving good reviews, being published again and again, winning the Booker or any other respected writing prizes (I refuse to believe that is just me!), and many more thoughts besides.

But our characters should have hopes too. It will be hopes which will be the driving force behind them wanting to achieve their overall goal and this applies equally to villains as well as the goodies.

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Templates

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

I’ve always thought a story works or fails based on how well the character grips a reader’s imagination. If you don’t care about the characters you read about, why should you read about what happens to them? For this reason, I’m firmly on the side of character in the character versus plot debate.

A great character can do a lot to help save a weak plot but a weak character will only let a great plot line down. So this is why I do like to outline my characters before I write my stories. I need to know enough about them to know I am interested in them (and then a reader is more likely to be too).

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Setting Writing Exercises

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The writing journey can throw up plenty of surprises. I remember going to my first writing event, many moons ago, and feeling terrified at being set my first writing prompt by someone else. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to do it. I did by the way. You do just get on with it. But there was no way on this earth I was sharing that first effort with anyone! I also had no idea what a variety of writing exercises there are. I have found out since!

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Getting The Hooks In

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Hooks are crucial for holding a reader’s interest, regardless of whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction.

They can also be placed in varying places within a piece to give maximum effect. The idea here is an opening hook draws readers in, one somewhere in the middle will keep their interest going, and then another one at the end brings in a satisfying conclusion to the piece.

This mirrors the Three Act structure though the hook in itself isn’t enough to keep things going. The golden rule, if there could be said to be one, is there should be no boring bits, nothing readers might be tempted to skip.

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

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Many thanks to Wendy H Jones and Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog) for images for this interview. Many thanks to the other authors in the anthology for their author head shots. Other images created in Book Brush using their images or Pixabay ones.

It is with great pleasure I welcome back Wendy H Jones to Chandler’s Ford Today. As part of a book tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between the Lines Book Vlog, I quiz Wendy about the latest book to come from Wendy’s publishing company, Scott and Lawson – A Right Cozy Historical Crime. This volume is part of a series of Right Cozy crime books (the others so far are A Right Cozy Christmas Crime and A Right Cozy Culinary Crime).

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Catching Up

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Do you like the prospect of catching up? I guess it depends on context. I’m not fond of those times when I’m catching up with the housework, say. But when it comes to catching up with my reading and writing, that’s different. I have no problems with either of those.

I thought I’d use this post as a “catch up” one with my writing matters. A few things have been going on since I last wrote this kind of post.

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Writing Events

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Image Credits:- 
Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Many thanks to Lynn Clement and Gill James for two photos included here. Other images (especially of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick) were taken by me, Allison Symes.

Hopefully later this year, I will be off once more to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and I expect to take in a couple of other writing events. It took me ages as a new writer to pluck up the courage to go to my first writing event where, ironically, I ended up meeting the lady who would become my publisher. Neither of us could have known at the time.

Why go to writing events at all? What benefits are there for writers? Does it pay to work out what it is you would like to achieve by going to a specific writing event? I hope the following helps.

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Writing To Themes

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Themes crop up all the time in creative writing. Many story and article competitions set a theme. Many writers have a theme in the back of their minds when creating a story or piece of non-fiction writing. Indeed, my theme here is to share tips about writing to themes.

For Writers’ Narrative magazine (which can now be found via Substack), there is a monthly theme the core contributors, including me, write around.

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The Chameleon Theatre Company – Review – Camelot The Pantomime

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Many thanks to Daisy Wilkins (Dazoo Art) for kind permission to use their photos on behalf of The Chameleons. Other images created in Book Brush using their images or ones taken from Pixabay. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

One lovely thing about January, to escape from the fact is it does seem to go on forever, is it gives Janet and I the chance to get to the pantomime again – oh yes it does!

This time, on Thursday 29th January, we went to see The Chameleon Theatre Company perform Camelot The Pantomime, which was written by Ben Crocker. For more information, and a chance to read some of the script, do check out the link.

As you can imagine from a title like this, the pantomime was huge fun. (Images of Monty Python did come to my mind when I saw that title).

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Top Ten Author Newsletter Tips

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My most recent marketing development has been to have a monthly author newsletter. I started this on Mailchimp but as they stopped their free plan, I moved over to MailerLite. The transition was painless, I’m glad to say, and there are certain things I can now do which I couldn’t on Mailchimp. The important one is being able to schedule my newsletters. I schedule pieces all the time including for Chandler’s Ford Today so I appreciated coming across this feature.

I enjoy putting my newsletters together and work on them throughout the month so there’s no last minute rush to get a newsletter out. It also gives me time to add things as more news and ideas occur to me. It also gives me plenty of time to review my draft ahead of scheduling it so it is good to go on the first of each month.

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Spoofs

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I have a soft spot for a good spoof. This is because I love stories, films etc., which make me laugh. I also think there is a huge need for these especially at times when the world seems unremittingly grim as it is right now. The dictionary definition of a spoof is something which mimics something else to comic effect and often uses exaggeration to get the laughs.

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Pitching

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Other than the word “marketing”, the word “pitching” can be enough to make a writer’s blood run cold. Why? In both cases, it is because we all know it has to be done. We also all know we would far rather be writing.

We also know with pitches we do open ourselves up to rejections. Indeed, it is common to have far more rejections than acceptances for any kind of pitch.

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Story Inspiration

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

One reason I love conducting, reading, and/or taking part in author interviews is because I often learn what inspires a writer and/or a particular tale of theirs.

Inspiration comes from many sources, which is immensely encouraging to any writer, but it does pay to know where the great “hunting grounds” are for it. It pays not to rely on it coming to you but by actively seeking inspiration, you are in with a much better chance of finding it.

This post looks at inspiration “haunts” I’ve found repeatedly useful and I hope you’ll find them useful too.

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Winter Stories

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I hope you had a lovely Christmas break and may I wish you a very Happy New Year.

One of the things I love about the period between Christmas and New Year is having more time to catch up on reading. The rush of Christmas is over and there are a few blissful days before normal routines kick in again and I use that time to enjoy books. Winter is the perfect time for this, isn’t it?

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