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writing competitions

Writing Competitions

September 19, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images

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.

[Read more…] about Writing Competitions

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Tags: am writing, anthologies, benefits of writing competitions, creative writing, flash fiction, short stories, writing competitions

Story Judging

September 6, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images

Later this month, I’ll have the great joy of judging a flash fiction competition for a Scottish writing group (all done via the wonders of email). I enjoy judging and have learned much from the process of doing so in that it has helped me to improve my own work for judging by someone else.

[Read more…] about Story Judging

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Tags: am writing, creative writing, story judging, tips for authors, writing advice, writing competitions

Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023

December 22, 2023 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credits:-
A few this time! A huge thank you to Paula R.C. Readman, Debz Brown, Gill James, Nicole Fitton, Hannah Ruth Retallick, and Lynn Clement for supplying images of me reading at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event. Other photos from that event were taken by yours truly, Allison Symes, as were the screenshots. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. (Always tricky taking publicity shots of yourself as you’re trying to do the actual publicity work!).

There are a few things which have become almost like traditions for me in the run up to Christmas. Certainly they are lovely ways of finishing my writing year.

[Read more…] about Allison Symes – Festive Writing and Round Up 2023

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Tags: Allison Symes, am writing, Bridge House Publishing Celebration event, broadcast news, Cafelit, creative writing, festive flash fiction, Friday Flash Fiction, Hannah Kate, I Do I Don't by Allison Symes, North Manchester FM, publication news, The Christmas Tree Fairy by Allison Symes, Three Minute Santas flash fiction show, writing competitions

Mixing Things Up

March 20, 2020 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Feature Image - Mixing Things Up

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?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

Numbers Into Writing Will Go

January 17, 2020 By Allison Symes 8 Comments

Feature Image - Numbers into Writing Will Go

Numbers in writing? What role do they play? In maths, obviously, but writing?

What possible role could they play in fiction, say? Surely there it is about the prose, how well the characters are created etc. Numbers turn up all over the place in writing.

Numbers into Writing Will Go
Numbers into Writing Will Go – Pixabay

Incidentally, the inspiration for the title comes from an old phrase hammered into me when I was learning  division many moons ago at school. I had to look for numbers that “would go” into another number – e.g.  2 into 4 will go (twice!) and say 2 into 5 will go (twice but with 1 left over). Anyone else remember that style of teaching?

On to the use of numbers in fiction then…

[Read more…] about Numbers Into Writing Will Go

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Tags: creative writing, deadlines, fonts, numbers, publisher guidelines, publishing, word counts, writing competitions

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