writing advice

Writing Events and How to Make the Most of Them

August 14, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Images from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to the school for kind permission to use the poster photo for my launch there.

I’ve just come back from a wonderful few days at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. I hope to report more on that next week, including details on how my book launch there for Seeing The Other Side went. But it was the thought of the launch which led to the idea for this post.

Writing events didn’t come into my creative life at all to begin with. The thought of going to any terrified me but as it became clearer to me, writing wasn’t going to just be a hobby, I knew I needed to network, to learn more about the industry and so on. So that meant writing events would need to be something I got used to.

Tags: am writing, Association of Christian Writers, Cafelit, Continuing Professional Development, networking, Society of Authors, The Writers' Summer School - Swanwick, workshops, Writer Beware, writing advice, writing classes, writing event tips, writing events

Author Interview – Val Penny – Murder in Gilmerton

August 7, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Val Penny and Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Vlog) for supplying author photos, fabulous shots of Edinburgh, and book cover shots. Other images created in Book Brush using their images or Pixabay ones. AI images avoided.

It is with great pleasure I welcome back Val Penny, Scottish crime writer, to Chandler’s Ford Today. This interview is part of a blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams of Reading Between The Lines Vlog.

A lot has happened since I last chatted to Val, not least of which is her change of publisher to Joffe Books. They are reissuing Val’s back catalogue and Murder in Gilmerton is one of those books to be reissued.

Tags: am writing, author interview, back story, book events, crime fiction, DI Hunter Wilson, Joffe Books, Murder in Gilmerton, publisher changes, the writing life, Val Penny, writing advice

Reworking Stories

July 31, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. AI shots avoided.

Reworking stories is something I do all of the time given I don’t think anyone has ever written the perfect first draft in one go. I know I don’t!

I love the much missed Sir Terry Pratchett’s view “the first draft is just you telling yourself the story”. Spot on and the second draft is where you get rid of all of the things you realise you don’t need. Then comes the next draft and so on. Eventually, you end up with a finely honed piece of work which is ready to submit somewhere.

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Tags: am writing, creative writing, editing tips. editing on screen, fiction, improving stories, printing out to edit, reworking stories, the writing challenge, writing advice, writing tips

What I Look For In A Writing Guide

July 3, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

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

Over the years, I’ve collected a number of excellent books on the craft of writing. I still refer to many of them. The ones I tend not to refer to much are those where I thought I might go down a particular path in writing but have not gone on to do so. I’m loathe to ditch these books, simply because I know how writing journeys can change and it’s not impossible I might come back to these things later.

Tags: am reading, am writing, Continuing Professional Development, creative writing, On Writing by Stephen King, writing advice, writing advice books, writing tips

Using Dates in Fiction

June 26, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

I sometimes use random generators (and there are loads of them) to trigger ideas for stories. There are historical event generators which come up with what happened on a certain date in history to name just one example. There are random date generators too, separate to the historical ones.

Tags: am writing, characterisation, creative writing, fantasy, historical fiction, science fiction, settings, telling details in fiction, using dates in fiction, writing advice

Deadlines

June 5, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:- Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

Deadlines are a fact of the writing life and apply equally to non-fiction as well as stories of all lengths.

Douglas Adams, renowned for his The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, famously said he loved the sound deadlines made as they “whooshed by”. Hmm… I do feel sorry for his editor and publisher here. Someone has to meet printing schedules etc. Clearly, Douglas Adams left that for someone else to worry about!

Having said that, you would get short shrift if you tried that now. You would have to be a very big name indeed to get away with that and I’m not convinced even by that. There is a greater awareness of how the book market works. Everyone wants their books out in time for the Christmas market and, for certain books, the summer holiday one. You definitely have to meet deadlines to have any chance of achieving this.

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Tags: am writing, competitions, deadline tips, deadlines, deadlines as aids to marketing, the writing life, writing advice, writing productivity, writing tips

A Change of Scene

May 22, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of a splendid Scottish loch.

I’ve just returned from a wonderful break in the north-east of Scotland. The scenery there is amazing. Naturally, the change of scene has been rejuvenating (as were the winds!). One highlight here was as we drove through the Cairngorms National Park to get to where we were staying, we saw plenty of snow still on the mountains. In the valleys below them were fields of oilseed rape in full bloom. Quite a contrast!

Now fiction reflects life. So if we need our metaphorical batteries recharging, it is likely our characters will need something similar themselves. Even superheroes have weaknesses (Kryptonite, anyone?) and/or need time to recharge before getting on with their acts of derring do.

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Tags: am writing, characterisation, characters, creative writing, scene breaks, using scene changes, writing advice

Story Essentials

May 15, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

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

The essentials for any story are to have a proper beginning, middle and end. This conveniently helps with this post as it automatically gives me three sections to write about. But the following thoughts will apply to any fiction, regardless of length, and, as writers, we will always be looking to improve our skills. For a story to grip a reader, there has to be something for the reader to be gripped by!

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Tags: am writing, characters, creative writing, fiction, story beginnings, story endings, story essentials, story middles, writing advice, writing tips

Using Old Sayings in Fiction

May 1, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

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.

Tags: am writing, believable characters, characters, creative writing, fiction, using old sayings in stories, writing advice, writing tips

Writing Wishes

April 24, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

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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Tags: AI, Alliance of Independent Authors. Human-Authored books, am writing, concerns about AI. editing and editors, finding ideas, The Society of Authors, the writing life, writing advice, writing competitions, writing support, writing wishes

Hopes in Writing

April 3, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

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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Tags: am reading, am writing, believable character hopes, characterisation, creative writing, fiction, the writing journey, writing advice, writing hopes

Templates

March 27, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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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Tags: am writing, asking questions of your characters, creative writing, fiction, planning characters, planning out writing, Scrivener, setting templates, templates, writing advice, writing tips

Getting The Hooks In

March 13, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

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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Tags: am writing, creative writing, fiction, holding reader interest, hooks, non-fiction, writing advice

Writing To Themes

February 13, 2026 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

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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Tags: am reading, am writing, creative writing, fiction, non-fiction, themes, writing advice, writing tips, writing to themes

Short Story Collections

November 28, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Book cover images from Bridge House Publishing/Chapeltown Books.

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.

Tags: am reading, am writing, anthologies, Bridge House Publishing, building up a writing CV, Cafelit, creative writing, short stories, short story collections, themes, tips, writing advice

Ending A Piece of Fiction

October 17, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

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.

Tags: am writing, closing lines, creative writing, knowing the story ending first, story endings, story structure, writing advice

Starting A Piece of Fiction

October 10, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

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!

Tags: am writing, characterisation, creative fiction, creative writing, creativity, fiction, story structure, story templates, writing advice, writing process

History and Stories

May 30, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One image taken by me, Allison Symes, at The Hilt Book Fair.

History is full of stories, which is one reason I love it. Of course, history is said to be written by the winners. There is truth in that but every so often someone will come along and come up with alternatives to the “orthodox” version. Josephine Tey did this in fiction regarding Richard III with her marvellous The Daughter of Time, which The Richard III Society credits as being a major reason for many people joining them.

[Read more…] about History and Stories

Tags: am reading, am writing, Annette Carson, historical fiction, historical non-fiction, history, Josephine Tey, Philippa Langley, Sharon Penman, social history, technological history, telling details, The Daughter of Time, The Maligned King, The Princes in the Tower, The Sunne in Splendour, using history in stories, writing advice

Inspiration Ideas

May 16, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos

One of the great things about getting out and about during the spring and summer months is this can give you plenty of inspiration for your writing. You don’t have to go far from home necessarily either. How come?

Partly the reason is you are doing something different. That in itself can inspire you to think differently and be more open to creative ideas. Even just walking the dog gets me out and about, gives me screen breaks, and it gives me opportunities to spot things I might get to use in stories later.

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Tags: am writing, creative writing, ideas, inspiration, taking breaks from writing, using breaks for inspiring writing, writing advice, writing tips

Building On What Has Gone Before

May 9, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

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

In all walks of life, we build on what has gone before. Well, there is no point in reinventing the wheel, so to speak. One person’s discovery often does lead to someone else taking that discovery and doing something special with it.

Isaac Newton confirms this thought with his quote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Tags: am writing, author interviews, building on what has gone before, creative writing, inspiration, learning from other writers, writing advice, writing tips

writing advice

Image Credits:-

Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Images from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to the school for kind permission to use the poster photo for my launch there.

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Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Val Penny and Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Vlog) for supplying author photos, fabulous shots of Edinburgh, and book cover shots. Other images created in Book Brush using their images or Pixabay ones. AI images avoided.

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Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. AI shots avoided.

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Image Credits:-

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

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Image Credits:- Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.

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Image Credits:-

Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of a splendid Scottish loch.

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Image Credits:-

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

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

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

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

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Image Credits: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Book cover images from Bridge House Publishing/Chapeltown Books.

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One image taken by me, Allison Symes, at The Hilt Book Fair.

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