fiction

Local Author News – Allison Symes – Crossing Fiction and Non-Fiction

July 23, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credits:–

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Many thanks to Wendy H Jones for supplying the book cover credits for Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing.

Many thanks to Gill James at Chapeltown Books for the cover pictures for The Best of CafeLit 10.

Screenshots of Mom’s Favorite Reads, Friday Flash Fiction, and new ACW Flash Fiction Group details were taken by me, Allison Symes.

This summer, I have been kept busy with more Zoom talks. I spoke again to the Dundee City Writers on 19th July and am due to speak to another Scottish group, Byre Writers, right at the end of the month.

This is made possible thanks to the wonders of Zoom and a huge thank you to both writing groups (as I know here and now Byre Writers will make me very welcome!).

I had a lovely time talking about short story writing to Dundee City Writers. I am looking forward to talking about flash fiction writing with the Byre Writers. And there has been plenty else going on too.

Tags: Allison Symes, author talks, Byre Writers, creative writing, Creativity Matters: Find Your Passion for Writing, Dundee City Writers, fiction, Mom's Favorite Reads magazine, non-fiction, publication news, The Best of CafeLit 10, Wendy H Jones, Zoom

Finding Themes

June 11, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Themes, like story ideas, are all over the place. It is a question of having an open enough mind to spot them and then working out which ones you like best. Those are the ones you will put heart and soul into writing up.

[Read more…] about Finding Themes

Tags: am reading, am writing, creative writing, fiction, finding themes, non-fiction, themes

Writing Prompts

May 28, 2021 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

I often use writing prompts to generate stories (standard length and flash fiction) and these come in a variety of forms.

Sometimes a prompt for fiction can be adjusted to generate ideas for future blog posts. (Before you ask, this isn’t the case for this one!).

Effectively, every writing competition with a set theme is a writing prompt – the theme is the prompt!

[Read more…] about Writing Prompts

Tags: creative writing, creativity, fiction, ideas, non-fiction, prompts

Understanding

May 14, 2021 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

Image Credit: All images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

One of the great roles of reading is it can encourage empathy, especially if your first choice for a good read is fictional.

Think about your favourite books (with their excellent covers, of course – see my recent series on those!).

Think about their characters. There will be characters you love to hate, or those you want to see overcome their difficulties and so on. What was it about those characters that made you feel that way (and a well portrayed character will make you feel something)?

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[Read more…] about Understanding

Tags: books, empathy, escapism, fiction, human nature, identifying with characters, non-fiction, reading, stories, understanding, why reading is good for you, working out my characters

Judging a Book by Its Cover – Part 3

April 30, 2021 By Allison Symes 7 Comments

This week I chat to authors from CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing, and Chapeltown Books about the importance of book covers. The variety of book covers is amazing but every writer has one thing in common. We all want our covers to be the best they can possibly be.

The three questions I set my guests were:-

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.

Feature Image – Part 3 – Judging a Book by its Cover. Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay picture.

Tags: Alyson Faye (aka Alyson Rhodes), Amanda Huggins, book covers, book marketing, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, Colin Payn, creative writing, Dawn Knox, fiction, Gail Aldwin, Jim Bates, Paula R C Readman, publishing

Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 2

April 23, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Whether you are traditionally published, self published, or combine the two, as many writers do now, there are two things everyone agrees about.

Everybody needs a good editor. (Nobody sees all the errors in their work. You are literally too close to it). The book cover must be well designed and draw readers in. It is the first advert for the book.

Feature Image – Part 2 – Judging a Book by its Cover. Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay picture.

Tags: Authors Reach, book covers, books, fiction, Jennifer C Wilson, Swanwick Writers' Summer School, Teresa Bassett, Val Penny

Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 1

April 16, 2021 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

Judging a book by its cover is a well known saying. We do judge by looks, even when we know we shouldn’t.There is one realm where the saying is 100% accurate and 100% justified and that is for book covers.

For writers, a book cover is crucial to get right. We all want the best cover possible to showcase our stories.

A good book cover draws people in to read the book.

A bad book cover – people are unlikely to pick the book up to even see if the blurb might be of interest.

Feature Image – Part 1 Judging a Book by its Cover. Image created in Book Brush using Pixabay photo.

Tags: Association of Christian Writers, book covers, fiction, Fran Hill, Joy Margetts, Maressa Mortimer, publishing, Ruth Leigh, Wendy H Jones

Favourite Writing Exercises and Why They’re Beneficial

January 8, 2021 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

I use a variety of writing exercises to help trigger ideas for stories though a lot of these are also useful for generating thoughts for articles.

Feature Image – Favourite Writing Exercises. Image created by Allison Symes using Book Brush (images there are from Pixabay).

Tags: creative writing, fiction, non-fiction, thinking outside of the box, writing exercises

Introducing Elizabeth Hurst – Historical Mysteries, Romances, and Ghosts!

November 13, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

One joy of going to a great writing event such as the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School is discovering so many wonderful writers and their amazing range of work.

It is my pleasure then to introduce Elizabeth Hurst, another Swanwick stalwart, who writes the Lost Souls series.

Feature Image – Introducing Elizabeth Hurst. Image kindly supplied by Elizabeth Hurst

Tags: A Friend In Need, creative writing, Elizabeth Hurst, fiction, Kindle countdown offer, Lost Souls series, paranormal fiction writing, Siren Spirit, Swanwick Writers' Summer School

A Novel Approach – Jennifer C Wilson In Conversation With Allison Symes

August 21, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

The defining thought for my recent CFT posts has been how writers can pick up on the zeitgeist, long before we know there is one to tap into!

This summer the topic has been about changing direction. Some writers do this a lot, others only every now and again. Some make the change a permanent one, others see the variation as a detour from what they usually write though they will resume that in due course. My recent interviews with Scottish crime writers, Val Penny and Wendy H Jones, are good examples of this.

Another author changing direction is Jennifer C Wilson who has gone from writing ghost stories crossed with history in her Kindred Spirits series to romance with The Raided Heart and is now writing non-fiction with her recently released A Novel Approach.

Jennifer C Wilson’s latest book is her venture into non-fiction writing. Image kindly supplied by her.

Tags: A Novel Approach, creative writing, creative writing guide, fiction, Jennifer C Wilson, Kindred Spirits, non-fiction, The Raided Heart

Mixing Things Up

March 20, 2020 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

I remember as a child sometimes being allowed to mix up whatever Mum was preparing in her big brown earthenware bowl and not just for Stir Up Sunday.

But writers need to mix things up too. Why and how?

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[Read more…] about Mixing Things Up

Tags: creative writing, fiction, mixing things up, open themes, set themes, writing competitions

Introducing Paula Readman: What Books Mean to Her

February 28, 2020 By Allison Symes 5 Comments

Paula Readman and I have publishers in common. We’ve both been published by Bridge House Publishing and Cafelit. We’ve shared the great joy recently of both of us having two stories in The Best of Cafelit 8 and also a story each in Nativity, the most recent books published by Bridge House. Naturally we are both keen on the independent small presses!

Paula R C Readman – image kindly supplied by her

Paula is going from strength to strength and is starting 2020 off in great style with a recently released novella and a short story collection to come later in the year but more on that in a moment.

I learned a long time ago if someone makes something look easy, that same someone will have worked very hard for years to get to that point. This is true for Paula and she’ll share more about this too.

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Tags: books, Bridge House Publishing, creative writing, Days Pass Like A Shadow, Demain Publishing, fiction, marketing, Paula Readman, The Funeral Birds

What Makes A Good Story

December 20, 2019 By Allison Symes 1 Comment

How do you decide something is a good story? Do you judge that by the genre or by the quality of the characters?

For me, the latter is by far the most important criterion. Really good characters stay with you long after you’ve finished reading or listening to the story.

Like the look of this as a reading place. Pixabay

Tags: books, favourite stories, fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction, reading, stories, the Christmas story

Review: Chandler’s Ford MDG Players: ‘Welcome to our village, please invade carefully’

December 2, 2019 By Ben Williams 3 Comments

This year’s performance by the MDG Players is a pastiche of sci-fi storytelling that lampoons radio plays and the stories of Stephen King and John Wyndham. Presented as a radio play, Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully is filled with clever humour and wit that results in a very original, fun way to spend an evening.

Mike Standing (A Minion), Lester Parry (Gryvook), and Mike Slatcher (Uljabaan)

The plot is simple – the village of Cresdon Green, Buckinghamshire, is a normal English town that has just happened to be slowly invaded by aliens. It starts with a dome being placed over the village and then Uljabaan, an alien trying desperately hard to impress his superiors, attempting to blend in with the villagers. Whilst some embrace the aliens, others, led by the rebellious Katrina Lyons, want to see the aliens gone. Hilarity ensues. [Read more…] about Review: Chandler’s Ford MDG Players: ‘Welcome to our village, please invade carefully’

Tags: acting, arts and crafts, Chandler's Ford, community, Dovetail Centre, drama, entertainment, event, fiction, humour, local interest, MDG Players, Methodist Church, review, social, theatre, Winchester Road

What Books Mean To Me – Part 3

October 18, 2019 By Allison Symes 6 Comments

Thank you to my guests in this series, especially for answering my first question. I can’t think of any writer who would willingly just save one book!

I conclude with contributions from Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit colleagues, discover what two fine Scottish crime writers would save if push came to shove (that’s an apt expression given what they write!), and will finally answer the questions myself. [Read more…] about What Books Mean To Me – Part 3

Tags: books, creative writing, fiction, libraries, reading

What Books Mean to Me – Part 2

October 11, 2019 By Allison Symes 7 Comments

It was a great pleasure last week to start this series on What Books Mean to Me. Now I write, I have realised how important reading well is for developing my imagination. [Read more…] about What Books Mean to Me – Part 2

Tags: books, creative writing, fiction, non-fiction, reading

What Books Mean To Me – Part 1

October 4, 2019 By Allison Symes 7 Comments

Any writer will say to write well, you must read well (and widely). Every writer I know is as happy to talk about the latest great book they’ve read as well as what they’re working on. Why would you write if you didn’t love books and stories in the first place? There are two sides to this coin.

Image Credit: A big thanks to my guests for supplying photos. Unless otherwise stated, the book and library pictures come, as always, from those magnificent people at Pixabay.

Tags: books, creative writing, fiction, reading, writers

Swanwick Writers’ Summer School

August 23, 2019 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credit: Unless stated otherwise, all photos were taken by Allison Symes

I’ve recently returned from my annual trip to the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, which is based at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. I had a fantastic time learning from the courses and workshops, meeting up with old friends and making new ones. [Read more…] about Swanwick Writers’ Summer School

Tags: creative writing, fiction, non-fiction, support and encouragement, Swanwick Writers' Summer School, writing conferences, writing courses, writing workshops

Titles

July 26, 2019 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Janet and I will have seen The Chameleon Theatre Group’s latest production, They Came from Mars and Landed Outside the Farndale Avenue Church Hall in Time for the Townswomen’s Guild’s Coffee Morning, by the time this post goes live. The play is written by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Junior and I look forward to sharing a review next week.

This production easily has the longest title of any play I’ve seen but it is a great illustration of one of the prime purposes of a title for any piece of writing. That is, it should give you some idea of what to expect! No doubts here – this title practically screams out “sci-fi spoof” at you! I love a good spoof so this ticks all the right boxes for me. [Read more…] about Titles

Tags: creative writing, fiction, non-fiction, The Chameleon Theatre Group, titles, using titles

Writing Legacy

June 21, 2019 By Allison Symes 3 Comments

I had the great joy of being at the Winchester Writers’ Festival on Saturday 15th June and a lovely time was had by all. As ever, I learned a great deal from the courses I attended. I also loved chatting to friends, old and new, including Scottish crime writer, Val Penny, author of the Edinburgh Crime Mysteries, who I interviewed for CFT a little while ago. [Read more…] about Writing Legacy

Tags: Barbara Large, creative writing, encouragement, fiction, inspiration, non-fiction, Winchester Writers' Festival, writing legacy

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