  Short Stories
This week: Your Epitaph Edited by: Legerdemain  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com short story author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the short story author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
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Something Unusual
New social phrases emerge all the time in society language and never make it to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Some of the word definitions can be downright funny and could add humor to a story. Like the word "pretext". In the Urban Dictionary, one of the meanings for the word "pretext" is "To pretend to text someone or reply to someone's text message to avoid awkward situations. This happens most often when talking to someone you don't really know or when you don't want to look weird while waiting for the bus." Pretty funny!
We all have those awkward situations. And writing them into scenes can break tension and add humor to your story. A little entertainment is always good. Even an epitaph can be funny:
Here lies the body
of Jonathan Blake
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake
Here lies the body of Emily White,
She signalled left, and then turned right.
Here lies Dr Keene, the good Bishop of Chester,
Who eat up a fat goose, but could not digest her.
Or sweet romantic poem:
If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye,
For I have left my heart with you,
So don't you ever cry.
The love that's deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You'll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.
When writing your story, think about using something unusual to change the tempo of your action, or to break emotional tension in your scene. Plus it's a lot of fun researching. 
This month's question: What do you use to break tension in your stories? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Excerpt: Once I walked these cobbled stones of Paris with the lithe and joyful steps of a young man at peace with himself. Those were troubled times I know and yet as naïve as I was, I knew and expected nothing of the dangers that were to befall me. My footsteps now seem heavy-laden with the accumulation of hatred and bitterness over the years. Each step leads me closer to the place of happiness and yet misery.
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Excerpt: "Son!" Claude yells grabbing the thin flaky item from the child's hands, moments before Ansel put it in his mouth. Worried Claude says a little too harshly, "What are you doing? I told you many times not to eat this chip."
Excerpt: I grabbed his hand with gusto and pressed back in response to his tightening of his grip. There was a squelching sound between us and our hands slipped and slid against each other as we massaged them together. It was almost erotic. I gave him my most carnal smile. His nostrils flared.
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#2088209 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: A few minutes later, the gurgling returns and reaches a climatic state of pressure. Unable to resist the swelling force I let one slip. Similar to a church or a library, nearly total quietness makes a museum a bad place to pass gas. Ah! My burst was muffled!
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#2083383 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Look at the people around us. What do you see? Tell me who attracts your attention first.”
Excerpt: Everyone in the room sat expectantly. Master Jokule had just been buried and his final testament was about to be read. Faybiss was hopeful he might hear exactly what he expected. He was Jokule’s most favored apprentice, after all. Everyone knew it.
Excerpt: There is something wrong here, I can feel it. The young girl thought as she treaded through the forest. She knew her father would scold her for entering it. There were stories of wild horses that had gone vicious with grief. The horse to us is our friend, it is the wind. We are fire, it is a part of our very being, and the wind is our friend. But those poor horses that lost their riders... Shani shivered at the thought.
Excerpt: The task is simple: get inspired by the photograph above and write a short story using this inspiration!
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This month's question: What do you use to break tension in your stories? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Does the news inspire you? Even stories of bad things happening?
Quick-Quill  responded: The novel I'm writing(rather rewriting) originated from a single page news article back in the early 1980's. Now that I'm serious about rewriting it I find that over the years of transfering it from word processor to different writing progams, I've lost some of it. However the story is still alive. Sometimes the truth isn't enough to make the story, you have to add conflict.
GaelicQueen  answered: One of my first flash fiction stories I submitted to WDC was based on a news article published two years ago. A cat named Tara saved her human child from being mauled by a neighbor's dog. "TARA, TARA, TARA"
Zeke  replied: The news inspires me to understand that the media is trying to control the world.
dragonwoman sent: Sometimes. Often it is with despair, pain or outrage. Other times pride in the human race and the beauty of nature. This often finds its way into my work if only briefly.
Thanks to everyone for your responses. I appreciate your feedback and knowing someone is reading my newsletters 
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Short Stories: July 27, 2016 Issue [#7775]
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