Allison Symes tell us about her involvement with The Best of CafeLit 13

 

How did you first get to know CafeLit?

I found CafeLit online. I started submitting stories, went on to have tales accepted, and have ended up in several of their Best Of anthologies. I like the way this has worked out!

 

I am delighted to have three stories in The Best of CafeLit 13. Am also pleased to see new and familiar names in the book with me.

 

What do you like about it?

I like the range of stories CafeLit take. I like to read a mixture of stories in terms of word count, genre, quirkiness etc so it is fabulous CafeLit reflects that on the website and in their books. I also love how it gives new writers a voice and can help build them up. I know. I am one of them.

 

Tell us a little about the story or stories you have in the volume.

I am delighted to have three stories in CafeLit 13. My tales are Cinnamon Comforts, Untaken, and Sweet Dreams. All three come within the flash fiction category as all are under 1000 words.

 

Cinnamon Comforts is a story about an old fairy godmother who is worried about what happens to those like her because her government see sending old fairies like her out to face dragons as a great way to cut the pension bill. So my story explores how Clara deals with this issue and where cinnamon comes into it all.

 

Untaken is about a legend attached to a well and what happened to a man who thought he could challenge that legend. Has a distinctive light horror element.

 

Sweet Dreams has my character discussing her love affair which involves a dentist, a disapproving mother, and chocolate!

 

All three stories were great fun to write. I love mixing up the moods of my own stories and to have three different tales in terms of mood selected for the anthology is a great privilege.

 

Why did you pick that particular or those particular drinks? 

For Cinnamon Comforts, the drink almost picked itself. What else could it be but cinnamon tea (which is lovely)?

 

For Untaken, I chose sour wine as the drink as there is a darker side to this tale. It definitely isn’t sweet so I was looking for the opposite of sweet when it came to selecting a drink.

 

For Sweet Dreams, I chose a chocolate milk shake since chocolate comes into the story and I wanted a sweet, fun drink here.

 

Do you have a favourite “Creative Cafe”?

Not at the moment though I am fond of using train station cafes to write in when I’m out and about if I’ve got a long wait for my train. Mind you, on a long train journey, the train itself can act like a cafe.

 

I went to Scotland for a writing event a couple of years ago, where I was a judge for a competition and was running a workshop, and found the long journey, aided by refreshments along the way, made for a great trip and plenty of writing was done. I would like to be able to have a mobile writing cafe like that again.

 

Do you write in cafes? Every so often, yes. Usually when I’ve got a long wait before I have to be somewhere else or waiting for a train.

 

What are you working on now? 

Am currently working on a long term non-fiction project. I’m also drafting a potential fourth flash fiction collection. I usually have flash and short stories “on the go” for competitions, online sites etc.

 

I write a weekly column on topics of interest to writers for online magazine Chandler’s Ford Today so I am always preparing something for that. I also edit and am working on that too.

 

Later in the summer and autumn I will be judging flash fiction competitions again, which is fun and interesting to do. It can be enlightening as well!

 

Do you have any writing news? Forthcoming or recent publications? Events?

I’m pleased to be running a two part course at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick this August called Editing as an Author, Editing as a Competition Judge. This is an extended version of a one hour workshop I ran at Swanwick in 2023 and feedback on that was very good.

 

For the longer course, I have set editing exercises for people to try. Having a longer time slot makes that possible.

 

I hope to be at a local book fair later in the autumn too. The book fair had its debut in 2023 and was a huge success. Over 100 people came to it and there were good brisk book sales, including mine I’m glad to say. Every author who took part last year is hoping that will happen again this year! Just as importantly, as there is no local bookshop anymore, this fair is a great way of bringing books to my area.

 

Allison Symes – Links

 

Website – https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Facebook Author Page - https://www.facebook.com/Allison.Symes.FairytaleLady

Chandler’s Ford Today – Allison Symes Column - https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/author/allison-symes/

Allison Symes talks to me today about her involvement in our Gifted anthology

 

How did you interpret the word “Gifted”?

I took the meaning to be talented. That in turn led me to wonder about having a story about a character who has talent but is also horribly accident prone. It is clear she needs to find her true calling and without doing too much damage in the meantime. Her boss’s assistant is petrified of what my character can do but the boss finds uses for it.

My character is indeed gifted but not in the way she, or those closest to her, anticipated. The nice thing was this lent itself nicely to a humorous tale, which I always love writing. I love open themes like "gifted" because you can take something like this in so many different directions.

 

How did you find out about our call for submission?

By attending the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in London last year where the theme was announced. I then looked out for the submission date via the website. Having said that, knowing what the theme was so early did mean I could get drafting something earlier. I always appreciate things like that. Gave me more time to polish my draft up too before I had something ready to submit.

 

What are the merits for you of the short story form?

Short stories are wonderful forms in their own right. They capture moments. They give the pay-off so much more quickly than a novel can. They tell tales which, at best, would be a scene in a longer work and, just as likely, would not make it into a book at all.  

I enjoy writing a mixture of flash fiction (1000 words or fewer) and short stories (1001 words plus). I like being able to write different genres in these forms. I’ve written humorous tales, crime ones, ghostly types, and have loved being able to “play” with writing in the first person and the third in the shorter form.

It’s always a joy submitting stories (and even a bigger one when they’re accepted). I love the challenge of continually coming up with interesting characters and situations. Keeps me on my writing toes!

 

Tell us a little about you as a writer?

As well as writing flash fiction/short stories, I blog regularly. I write weekly  for online magazine, Chandler’s Ford Today, often on topics of interest to writers, and I often interview authors too. I blog for Authors Electric and More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers.

I write for and am part of the editorial team for Writers’ Narrative, which is written by writers for writers.

I also run flash fiction and editing workshops.

I was one of the winners of the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition three years in a row. I was impressed with how the fifteen winners each year came up with such different stories when we were all writing to the same theme and word count.

I have had my flash stories broadcast on North Manchester FM on the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate and often have 100-word stories published on Friday Flash Fiction.

 

Do you have any more forthcoming publications or events?

I have submitted my third flash fiction collection to Chapeltown Books and am happily drafting a fourth. I am taking part in Flash NANO again where, for the month of November, I am given thirty prompts, one a day, to respond to - am finding this fun and challenging as I did last year. I also love the whole idea of having thirty new stories to edit and polish after November! You are also encouraged to post on the Facebook page associated with this how you are doing and, if you wish, excerpts of your drafts. Great way to interact with other writers.

Am looking forward to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in London in December. I hope to be back at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick next year. In 2023 I ran a workshop there and am hoping to get to do that again.

 

Author Bio

Allison Symes, who loves reading and writing quirky fiction, is published by Chapeltown Books, CafeLit, and Bridge House Publishing. Her flash fiction collections, Tripping The Flash Fantastic and From Light to Dark and Back Again are out in Kindle and paperback.

 

Website:   https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/

 

Books:       http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent

 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@allisonsymes

Allison Symes talks to us about being invovled with The Best of CafeLit 12

  

 

Many thanks, Gill, for the invite to take part in your blog about The Best of CafeLit 12. I was delighted to have my story, Jubilee, included in the latest CafeLit anthology.

 

What inspired you to write your story 'Jubilee' ?

Invitations were issued to write a story based around the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and it was a joy to write my tale. I wanted the celebrations to be a positive turning point in the life of my character, Dorothy. I also wanted her to show her family she was still capable of producing surprises. She gets to do both here.

But it was the Jubilee celebrations which turned things around for Dorothy. Without them, she would not have moved on. It was also lovely to write a story with a specific time marker acting as a frame for my story. I don’t often get to do that and it means this story is also historical fiction due to that.

 

How did you get to find out about CafeLit?

Initially online. I’ve been writing for CafeLit for some time and it is always a joy to have work on site with them. It is even more special when a story of mine is selected for their print anthologies. I also enjoy seeing familiar names and new names in the books. It’s a great balance.

 

Do you enjoy reading short stories? What’s special / important about them?

Yes. I love short stories and flash fiction and am published in both. There is something about the short form which captures the moment. I love that. You have these moments which could never be expanded out for a novella or novel but would make a charming short story or piece of flash fiction. You have stories working here which could not work in any other format. A moment in time can be lost in the sheer scale of a novel. I also think short stories and flash fiction can be great ways of encouraging the reluctant reader. They may be more tempted to read something short as opposed to something long, at least to begin with. The idea is to get them hooked on to reading.

 

Tell us a little more about your writing. 

As well as writing flash fiction/short stories, I blog regularly. I write a weekly column for online magazine, Chandler’s Ford Today, often on topics of interest to writers (which can be found at http://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/author/allison-symes/).

 I also blog for Authors Electric and More than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers.

I write for and am part of the editorial team for Writers’ Narrative, which is written by writers for writers.

 I also run flash fiction and editing workshops.  I sometimes judge story competitions too.

I was one of the winners of the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition three years in a row. I was impressed with how the fifteen winners each year came up with such different stories when we were all writing to the same theme and word count.

I have had flash stories broadcast on North Manchester FM on the Three Minutes Santa show hosted by Hannah Kate.

I have also appeared on Wendy H Jones’s The Writing and Marketing Show podcast. One appearance there was specifically on flash fiction and it was a joy to be able to talk about that in more depth.

The buzz of being published is a great joy, an ongoing one too!

 

Author Bio

Allison Symes, who loves reading and writing quirky fiction, is published by Chapeltown Books, CafeLit, and Bridge House Publishing. Her flash fiction collections, Tripping The Flash Fantastic and From Light to Dark and Back Again are out in Kindle and paperback.

 

Website:   https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/

 

Books:       http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent

 

 

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@allisonsymes

 

Some Other Writers’ Blogs: Allison Symes

 

Allison writes a lot of articles for Chandlers Ford Today.

She writes about many topics to do with writing.  She’s actually interviewed me several times on the site. We’ve talked about:

-          One of my non-fiction books, a handbook for writers who work with schools

-          Writing historical fiction

-          Networking  for writers

-          Teaching creative writing  

-          My work as a publisher

Take a look here..

Her specialism is flash fiction and she has several articles about this including:

-          Interviews with other authors

-          The nature of flash fiction

-          Her own collections

See here her articles on flash fiction.

Allison is a great fan of the Swanwick Writers conference and always adds some information about it to this site. If you’re undecided about whether this conference is for you or not you may find these articles helpful. Allison gives plenty of information about the last three conferences: what happens, how useful and enjoyable that is and also shows us plenty of photos and video clips. Do take a look here.    

Allison is also a member of the Association of Christian Writers and give sus information about that as well here.  

Allison now runs some very successful workshops on creative writing and on writing flash fiction in particular. She writes about this here.

Yes, Allison offers us plenty of interesting material on this site and in fact there are all sorts of interesting articles elsewhere on the blog.  Take a look.