Authors Electric

 Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. I don’t celebrate Halloween (much preferring the following day, All Saints Day) but I do have a soft spot for a well told ghost story.  My favourite is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (with The Muppet Christmas Carol being my favourite adaptation). I like the redemption theme with this marvellous story and that ghosts are used to bring about a change of heart in Scrooge. Ghosts don’t always have to be scary (though there are dark moments in that book which The Muppets, to their credit, don’t shy away from). I like ghost stories which make me think. One of mine was where a character hadn’t realised they were a ghost, were wondering where their family was, and needed another ghost to show them the truth.  I like stories which encourage empathy for characters and see no reason why ghost stories can’t contribute but, as with any tale, the ghost has to be in the “cast” of characters ...

Image Credits:- Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. One photo from my book event at Salisbury URC was taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Gemma Owen-Kendall for taking the image of me at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick.  There is never a time when books shouldn’t be celebrated but, as authors, we have even more motive to do so. But the challenge is to get across to those who don’t read for pleasure the joys of books and stories and there is something out there for them. There is far more of a range for the reluctant reader now than there was when I was growing up. There is more awareness of need here, I think, and that can only be a good thing.  I admit it is my great hope for flash fiction and short story collections, such as mine, that these could be used to draw in the reluctant reader. I’m not asking someone to commit to too much in one go.   The hope is, of course, having picked up the reading bug, people would then ...

Image Credits:-   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. Photos from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick were taken by Gemma Owen-Kendall on behalf of the school or by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Babs Trevitt for the image of me taking part in the Swanwick Open Prose Mic Night. When this goes out, I would have had my first book launch for Seeing The Other Side at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick . A recent development has been to allow delegates to have their launches as part of the school events in the year of first publication.  I enjoyed this opportunity. It was wonderfully set up by a launch co-ordinator who, amongst other useful things, took pictures on my phone and theirs, so the school and I can use these on social media. See the pictures. Given my last launch was in 2020 when everything was online due to the pandemic, it is a joy to hold in person events again.  Many thanks to Babs Trevitt for taking this photo. I lo...

Image Credits:-   Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One photo from The Writers’ Summer School was taken by me, Allison Symes. Another two were kindly taken by Penny Blackburn at two Open Prose Mic Nights at Swanwick and used with permission. Book cover image is from Bridge House Publishing. AI images avoided. When this post goes live on 18th June 2026, my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side , should have been published by Bridge House Publishing  via their imprint, Chapeltown Books . The book has been a long time in coming and it is a joy to see it out there.  I’ve long thought what a pity it is you can’t bottle the feeling you have when your book comes out to draw on for encouragement and inspiration during the tougher times of the writing life. I’m busy preparing for launches. The book will have a physical launch, so to speak, at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick in Derbyshire in August. It has been a recent development for th...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Images of the north-east coast of Scotland were taken by me, Allison Symes.   By the time this goes out on Authors Electric , I would have just returned from a wonderful week away on the beautiful north-east coast of Scotland, which is somewhere I am always pleased to head. Going here makes me feel as if I have got right away from it all.   But how would our characters have the change of scene which does them the world of good and can be a pivotal story point? Would they have to literally get away from where they are based or would the right conversation with a mentor like character be enough to give them a change of scene in terms of seeing what they now have to do when before they could not? A change of scene doesn’t need to be for something as dramatic as for a quest story, though it is the obvious route to go. A minor change can often be enough to get the character through something.  For example, ...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided.   Fiction reflects life in all its shades of grey (I believe someone once thought there were fifty of those and then considered there were another fifty after that). At either end of the spectrum, fiction has its light and dark sides.  I’ve written both kinds in my flash and short story work. Indeed when I was putting my debut flash fiction collection together, the moods of the stories inspired the title, From Light to Dark and Back Again . This was also useful as the moods of the stories helped me with my ordering for this collection.  I always prefer writing and reading the lighter side of fiction but know that for some of my characters at least, the darker side of the spectrum is where they “fit”. This is due to their being of a darker nature or their situation is such the likely outcome will be on the darker side. The important thing here is it will ring true and that truth matte...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos  Every year is special in some way to us all but I hope 2026 will prove to stand out for all of the right reasons.  I reach a milestone birthday in a few days time after this blog goes out - the big 60 - but it also reminds me of another anniversary.  This year will mark thirty years since I took up the pen seriously. It did take a milestone birthday and another life changing event (the birth of my son later in 1996) to make me realise if I wanted to get stories written and out there somehow, I ought to get on with it!  Despite setbacks, and the proverbial rejections (more than enough to cover several walls and possible The Great Wall of China itself), I’ve kept writing since. This year is also due to see the publication of my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side too. I hope to have physical book launches as well as online ones for this.  When my last book, Tripping The Flash ...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. It is ironic the longest month ever, January, is followed by the shortest, February. Writing wise, it gives me the shortest time to prepare my next author newsletter, due in March, but I discovered long ago the joys of drafting in advance so I add to my draft as the month goes on. I do likewise for my blogs and articles. It takes the pressure off.   I enter a number of reputable flash fiction and short story competitions in the year. It’s fun to do and a great challenge (and I always look for those where it is free or the fee is reasonable).    I’ve found it useful to take a week off any official deadline and make that the day I submit my entry. I pencil into my diary when I need to have my first draft done by, my first edit, my second one, and the final one to check for those pesky typos which have escaped the previous edits. I wish I could say there weren’t any but I’ve found it pays to assume there ...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. I trust it’s not too late to wish you a Happy New Year. January does seem to go on for ever and ever, amen. There is a wonderful Brian Bilston poem about that ( Mnemonic ), which is worth looking up if you haven’t come across this. It always makes me grin. There is a plus side to January. As the month goes on, we are literally approaching the light. The evenings seem longer (especially noticeable if you are taking the dog out).  I like to write and read a mixture of light and dark stories. In the latter, I want there to be some sense of hope. For light stories, I want some “bite” to them. Humorous stories can make you think while they’re entertaining you.  I prefer my characters to be a mixture of dark and light given nobody is perfect and I don’t like wishy-washy, too good to be true portrayals. I suppose this is why I identify far more with Jo March from Little Women than I do with her sister, Beth. I al...