This week: Your Personal Twist Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Your Personal Twist
I often find myself sticking characters or scenes into my stories that I've experienced, or heard about. But in going through the edit process, I also find I take too many shortcuts. I know the character, I know the story, I know the different steps of the scene that happened. But in the process of writing it down, relating it to my story's character, I take shortcuts. Or I find it's not so funny when you can't "see" what I saw.
I either end up rewriting, or expanding the scene to fit what was in my head. And still, sometimes it doesn't fit. The real thing was a one off and now the copy is well, kind of crappy. So when you're using a real conversation or a real scene, be careful and have someone read it who isn't familiar with the real thing. See if the story rings true and projects what you want it to.
Your beta reader hasn't experienced the character or scene already. They're forming a picture in their head from only what you paint into your story. So make sure your colors are true and bright, that you capture your reader's imagination and they "see" what you want them to see.
And as always, Write On!
This month's question: Do you find it hard or easy to interject your personal experiences into stories?
Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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#2210262 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: My earliest memories are of family dinners. A distinct one occurred after my first day at St. Jerome Primary School.
Excerpt: Kids today won’t understand the desire to twist a phone if you can’t strangle the person on the other end of the line. After taking 20 some odd calls explaining to people how to copy and paste passwords, I am so over humanity. I’m not optimistic I’ll feel any better even with Christmas only being two weeks away. I’ll end up telling my relatives how to copy and paste gift tags at the rate things are going.
Excerpt: The drone of the engines was loud. Muffled explosions threw Sergeant Wilson against his seat straps. He grunted and adjusted his belt. It was the night of June 5, 1944, and electricity was in the air. Across the plane, paratroopers exchanged hushed words between nervous glances at the sidewalls of the plane. Next to Wilson, a young private muttered a prayer. Suddenly a green light clicked on.
"Thirty seconds to drop!" bellowed the crewman.
Excerpt: I grew up in Southern California. But it wasn’t quite the sunny, carefree California most people envision.
Excerpt: Prince Michael of Carponol lay in bed his whole body soaked in sweat. He tossed and turned in a fever filled delirium. He had remained in a semi-comatose state ever since being thrown from his horse two weeks prior to the announcement of his engagement to Princess Amelia for Valantia. The Queen's personal physicians said his injuries healed successfully. They couldn’t understand why he hadn’t made a full recovery by now.
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This item number is not valid.
#2207879 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Morning sunlight shined through a window as Kuma sat on the edge of a bed, a sleeping girl beside him. The stuffed bear only had his thoughts as the child slept. She was the one that picked me. Thought the bear as he looked as the sunshine that bathed the room in light.
Excerpt: I pulled up to the gates of the old family house in a somewhat unimpressed manner. I parked. Sat in the car. I did not want to leave the comfort of this small enclosed space, it felt protective, safe. I never understood people who disliked small spaces.
Excerpt: Along with setting and plot, character is a fundamental element of storytelling. |
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This month's question: Do you find it hard or easy to interject your personal experiences into stories?
Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: How do you network on WDC? Did it give you a positive experience?
Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight  : I've never been able to network anywhere online or off...too anxious. 
bettysk: Here on WDC for a long time. Even though I am not very sociable, if I ever need help, I always get a helpful hand. Usually persistence and honesty are a virtue.
Writer_Mike  : Umm, Tehuti? I'm not sure how to break it to you, but - you're kinda doin' it now.  Every reply to every post, every post to your Newsfeed, brings you into contact with like-minded scribblers. See? It's so easy, you don't even have to try to do it - it just happens!
Shadow Prowler-Spreading Love  :
I use reviews as a way to connect with people. Every single person who takes time to review something I've written gets a response. Sometimes that leads to a conversation which in turn leads into a friendship. When I give reviews, sometimes I will include a question, leaving the door open for communication if the person chooses. Both ways have helped me to build relationships thought WDC. I've only been a member a short while, and already I have quite a few people here that I would call Friends.
s  : I don't network much. Truth be told, I don't get a lot out of WDC. I dislike competitions, occasionally a newsletter will have some new information or a new way of looking at things, I read a lot (and review very little - I only review works I am going to give 3 stars or more to), and there's a few fora I enjoy participating in, plus I've bought a few books from writers here. I'm here out of habit more than anything else, really.
I would have no idea how networking here would help me aside from possibly boosting sales of my books a little.
[And, to the spell-checker here, "fora" IS the correct plural form of "forum"...]
shepherd46: I network on WDC mostly with reviews and emails. There are many nice and talented people here in WDC!
D. Reed Whittaker  : Echoing some of what Steven said, except I like contests, networking/establishing relationships is difficult without realtime contact - Zoom, Skype. It would be nice to talk and see one another. I can only guess at the complexity to establish sufficient number of genre/sub-sub-subgenre rooms to make meaningful connections.
Our size probably makes any attempt at realtime communication impossible. Still, it may be the only viable networking mechanism. Happy to work with anyone who wants to give it a try. I'm in Utah - Mountain Timezone.
GaelicQueen  : I review stories, comment on newsletters. Yeah I'm networking.
Sumojo  :Taking part in the 30 day blogging challenge last month was a first for me. Meeting the other participants was a joy. I recommend this as a way of interacting with others on WdC. Next one in March, hope to meet you there
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Short Stories: March 04, 2020 Issue [#10058]
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