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.
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.
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.
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.
It is hard to believe, sometimes at least, just how quickly another year has gone by. I make a point of taking some time out to review how my writing year has gone and what I’d like to see happen in the next one. I’ve found writing things down for this makes it more likely I will take at least some steps to try and achieve what is on my writing wish list.
On Saturday 6th December 2025, I had the great joy of being back at the wonderfully named Theodore Bullfrog in Charing Cross, London, for the annual Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event. This, along with The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, is a major highlight of my writing year.
[Read more…] about Back At The Theodore Bullfrog with Bridge House Publishing
I am fond of short story collections for various reasons, not least of which is the fact they gave me my way into being published. My first story in print was A Helping Hand in the Bridge House Publishing anthology Alternative Renditions back in 2009.
Coming right up to date, I am also pleased to say another short story of mine, The Family Legend, has recently been published in Bridge House Publishing’s Magi anthology. I’m looking forward to celebrating that book at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in London next week, which is always a fun event.
Last Saturday, 25th October, I had the joy of going to Egham for the Association of Christian Writers Autumn Gathering. It is the annual in-person gathering. The other ACW meetings are held on Zoom and are so useful but there is something special about getting together with other writers in person.
[Read more…] about Author News – Allison Symes – Getting Out and About with ACW
It is a great pleasure to welcome John Puzey to Chandler’s Ford Today, as a local author and a member of The Chameleon Theatre Company.
John has recently been published by Authors Reach Limited (which local author and publisher, Richard Hardie, is behind) with his book, Captive Audience. John has recently held an author talk at Chandler’s Ford Library and launched his book on Facebook.
For more on what John writes, check out his website
[Read more…] about Author Interview: Introducing John Puzey – Captive Audience
Given last week’s post looked at Starting a Piece of Fiction, I thought it would be apt to write about ending the said piece of fiction. The beginning of a story has to set up interesting characters and a good premise to hook the reader in, but the ending must deliver on this.
I’ve often found starting a piece of fiction can be more problematic than finishing a first draft. How come? Knowing where to start is a crucial component to any story and every writer knows the opening lines, especially the first one itself, have to be strong enough to hook the readers in to want to read the rest of the tale. So no pressure then!
Writing competitions can be useful in helping you get your short stories and flash fiction into print. There are novel competitions out there too, though the entry fee is significantly higher for these, which is understandable, because you are paying for a judge’s time to read your 100,000 words.
But for this post, I thought I would focus on the short fiction forms as there are more competitions available for them.
I make a point of mixing up what I read in terms of genre and type of story. So as well as reading novels, I read novellas and, naturally for me, flash fiction and short story collections.
It is always a pleasure to return to The Hayes, Swanwick, Derbyshire for my big writing event of the year – The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I spend a fabulous few days in the company of friends, enjoy making new friends, and learn so much from the courses and workshops on offer. I am immersed in the world of writing and it is a wonderful, tiring, and inspirational experience.
This year, the weather was gloriously sunny. We appreciated the air conditioning in the rooms where the workshops were being held, and there were new additions to the grounds at The Hayes. I do not remember seeing the goats before.
[Read more…] about Returning to The Writers’ Summer School Swanwick for 2025
By the time this goes live, I will have just returned from my annual jaunt to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. As ever, a good time was had by all (and far too good a time had by me, writing events have their social side which doesn’t necessarily do that much for the old waistline!).
I learned so much from the workshops and courses. I do think this is one aspect where writing is good for you. You keep learning all of the time and developing your craft. That keeps you on your toes, encourages you to up your game and when, hopefully, publication successes come as a result of this, that too encourages you to keep going and it encourages you to see if you can be published again. At least that has been my experience to date.
It is a great privilege and pleasure to welcome Esther Chilton to Chandler’s Ford Today. Esther is a fellow flash fiction writer, a tutor for the Writers’ Bureau, runs workshops and goes to The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which, naturally, is where we met. She will be running a course on flash fiction there this year.
But as well as writing for adults, Esther also writes for children in the 5 to 7 years old category. Her new book, The Secret Dragon, comes out on 25th July.
[Read more…] about Author Interview: Introducing Esther Chilton and The Secret Dragon
Breaking down why a story works may seem a strange thing to do. Surely you just want to read an enjoyable tale and move on to the next one, ideally having a good mix of genres, classic and contemporary works as part of your “reading diet”?
Well, yes, but if you want to write your own stories, it does pay you to work out what it is you love about those you enjoy reading. You will learn a great deal from this, some of which at least you will be able to apply to your own writing.
Now I’m fond of a good quiz (Pointless, Mastermind, University Challenge etc) and I always count it as a good day if I get the book/author related questions right. I do feel like I’m a numpty if I don’t!
But I also use quizzing techniques when it comes to creating stories. One way I do this is to quiz potential characters. I want to find out just what it is about them which means I should write their story up. I see it almost like interviewing a potential actor for a role. I must get my cast right. If they don’t fascinate me, they’re unlikely to work their charms on potential readers.
Now I’ll put my hands up and admit to being biased about editing. Well, I am an editor so I would be. But my experience wearing a writer’s and editor’s hat (and sometimes both together) is there is no middle ground here. People love it or hate it.
Before becoming an editor, when I found my acceptances were increasing when I put in decent editing work on my own stories, that changed my attitude too. I thought I’d share some thoughts on editing here which I’ve found helpful with my writing. (A lot of them can apply to when I’m editing someone else too).
It is with great pleasure I welcome back Val Penny, author of the DI Hunter Wilson/Edinburgh Crime Mysteries and the Jane Renwick Thrillers, to Chandler’s Ford Today with something different from what she normally writes.
This time Val has a short story with a historical aspect to it included in an anthology. This must be as close as it can get to be the total opposite for the crime novels she is best known for. Naturally there is a fabulous reason for Val doing this. The anthology, called The Ring, is going to be a charity one and the money raised will be going to that excellent cause, The Reading Agency.
[Read more…] about Author Interview: Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring
