This week: The Word - The Beautiful Word Edited by: Legerdemain  
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The Word - The Beautiful Word
Okay, admit it. If you write, you love words. I tell my friends all the time, I love words! Don't you? We love taking an image in our mind and finding just the right words to describe whatever it is. Taking that lump of clay called an idea and shaping it, molding it and firing it into something beautiful.
Hold on. Hold right there. Ever hear of purple prose? Eeks. Let's not go that far. Purple prose takes a word or idea and excessively embellishes it to the point where it becomes meaningless. It gets all pretty-like and completely distracts from the writing. Don't go there, don't describe your character all in one sentence. Don't pluck words from a thesaurus like fruit off a cherry tree.
Some of the best advice to avoid that type of writing is to stick to your story. And stick to your own style and voice. Don't assume your reader needs every detail. Ask yourself what your reader is seeing. Ask a friend to read your work. If they feel like they're rushing to push through your writing because it's too detailed, they should let you know. *looks around WDC* You could probably post a bit for the community to critique, hm?
You can still write with deeply succulent word choices. But you should know where to stop. Sometimes that means delicately dancing on the edge of fanciful. It is the writer's prerogative to write as they wish and engage their readers as they will. Just be mindful.
As always, Write On!
This month's question: What are some favorite phrases you've written? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Excerpt: It had all been fun till about two years ago when she'd caught Troy making out with some groupie-girl after a gig. She'd wanted to high-tail it and quit the band, but they were booked all over the US after their last hit topped the country charts. Instead of leaving, she cleaned up her act.
Excerpt: Seated in the conference room of his law office, Jack Ramsey stared at the Styrofoam cup half filled with cold, stale coffee on the desk in front of him. The wall clock behind him struck one, the sound as loud as a gunshot to the defense attorney.
“I have to think of something,” he mumbled. “In just three hours the state is going to kill Jimmy Slade.”
Excerpt: He didn’t want to see anyone, he hated that visitors sat in the room staring at the bed feeling sorry for him, making him feel he should be the one to put them at ease. After all, they’d travelled so far to come and see him. They didn’t realise, trying to chat and show interest in family news took so much of his remaining strength. Since being in the hospice, Jack took stock of his life.
Excerpt: "I'm sick of you, you know that?" Baylee said as she marched toward the bathrooms. She was tired. Tired of gigging with a jerk, tired of living on the road with a jerk, but most of all, tired of her jerk ex-boyfriend's rude comments. But for now, she had no other choice.
Excerpt: My mind was free—free to feel the music. Never in my life had I played so well. Even Herr Steiner had noticed; if he was indulging me before, today, I became prospective.
Oh, I wish I could keep the violin, but Torah prohibits taking a lost object. I left it where I found it, grateful for a glimpse of my true abilities.
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Excerpt: The city’s skyline glowed against a violet and magenta backdrop, the colors exaggerated by the UV protection in Quinn’s helmet visor. The road opened up underneath them, their motorcycle so fast that the wheels looked as if they floated on the blacktop of the road. The highway was largely empty in the twilight and they weaved through the few cars that drove toward the glimmering city. Above them was the hum and thrum of the cars from the aerial highway. Occasionally, they would see the blot of a vehicle break through the skyline.
Excerpt: Cadoc stood still before the small wooden hut, dappled beneath trees and vines. Lines hung in odd directions, thickly laden with herbs and clothes not fit for rags. He held quiet and did not call out: men spoke of this place in whispers and warnings. A woman stepped slowly before him, her bold smile belying the scraps that scarce hid her curves as she moved, in shadow. Her long hair, blaze-red, rivaled the sun, but her bright green eyes gave that fire shame. Her wild beauty was, even in rags, unmatched.
Her smile twisted like the vines above, inscrutable. "So, a man comes unbidden to my home. You must be brave, to risk the wiles of the witch. What have you to say, handsome warrior?"
Excerpt: They called her Tippie Boo Boo, but that most emphatically was not her name. She would rather be called stupid dog or bad dog. She actually disobeyed to be called by one of those names. The Boo Boo family grew tired of her constant mischief. They even resorted to hitting her with rolled up newspaper. That didn't change her behavior one bit.
Excerpt: Friggin' corn. Endless golden acres roll by as the Greyhound draws me closer home. Mile after gut-tingling mile. Cornfields give way to pier and beam homes until the bus cruises into town. Closing my eyes, I take a shuddering breath: Maryville, population, 4064. Now, 4063. Mom. The master manipulator. Even in death, she still pulls my strings. Enough to drag me back to Hicksville, USA. Welcome freakin' home, Sally.
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This month's question: What are some favorite phrases you've written? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Short Stories Newsletter (March 3, 2021)" question: How many characters do you allow in a short story?
bobturn: Just enough? In flash fiction, one main character who maybe bounces off a secondary character depending on the plot. The number incrementally increases when forced to do so with extra space and time.
Olivia's on HIGH Carbs  : As many as will come.
Usually, it's just the cast that's needed to make the story go at all, usually two, even when I narrate the story in 1st Person POV.
A sole character struggling or striving is okay, but can turn warped, since it's me who's writing here. 
Two is more interesting, spoken of interpersonal conflict of some sort. I try to keep to less than a handful, otherwise it might get confusing. 
If there are more characters meaning something to the MMC / FMC, like at a family / friends' gathering, I allow a bit more info in the sense of why they're meaning something to the MC(s), but keep that as short as possible as the story show has to go on!
(Good, sorry for all the song quota. My head is still full of songs from the "The Soundtrack of Your Life" I underwent the previous month. )
jdennis  :
Usually only a few (1-4), but a crowd can surround them. In one of my short stories, "I Know What You Did" , the main character became interested in a female attendee at a Trade Show filled with people shoving and shuffling through a Convention Hall. But I brought them together in the end.
Sometimes I feel almost divine.
woolwaulker: Five, plus up to three animals.
Anna Marie Carlson  : Five.
s : I've had as many as 6... but too many and it feels crowded and some characters get shunted into secondary/tertiary roles. The smaller the word count, the less chance you have to make characters people.
Howler of the Moon  : I limit myself to two main characters maximum. There can be other characters sprinkled into the story, but they can't have as much development as the main characters.
I'm keeping this limit in mind when I write my first script.
DevilsBargin : As many as a story requires. Do you really mean to imply that people actually set limits?
elephantsealer : I think two characters is the easiest (I mean it is really not that easy) to write in a short story. The complications and problems would just be between the two characters; and there would be no hysteria when a third character would mess up the problem; then the story would just make its ending much less complicated. Just my thought.
tj ~ endeavors to persevere!  : Two or three seems to work alright but if any more are present they seem to always get into trouble.
Bob : I once wrote a short story for a children's writing where the main character never spoke much at all throughout the story because he had discovered invisibility. He went all over the world collaring the bad cats and evil rulers using his pet control device to harness the dictators of the world. It's hard to have character interaction when the hero seldom speaks. Anyway that's what my teacher told me.
K2  : The most I usually do is around 12 to 13. only to consider teachers, and background characters I use a lot.
dragonwoman : Anyone who reads my work knows I like flash short stories. I've even written a 50 words short story. Problem is, when I try to write something longer I take longer to do it.
My distracting characters end up being killed off or as the villain in the tale if they bug me too much.
kevint: For myself even as a novice, who rarely finds (MAKES) the time to write but who's head works like a full time writer has a mired of unwritten stories and unknown Characters. have found it distracting attempting to write out an story outline and outline to flesh out the various character and the settings.
I just recently rekindled the writing and for the time being just letting the story flow in the form of a free write first draft.
I know where the story or rather where I want the story to go but just want to create the opening of the story on an open format in my portfolio.
I'm using real people situations and real life experiences hoping to cut it up into smaller short stories....And perhaps maybe some poetry.
I guess I'm just hoping to be able to flesh out and/or remove some characters in future edits and revisions.
Quick-Quill  : I had my plot idea but this woman kept asking to tell her story. I guess. She’ll get her story in alternate chapters until her story bisects the main plot.
Jacqueline : I sometimes have up to four characters, in my stories. Though I haven't written for over two years.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your replies! Leger~ |
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Short Stories: March 31, 2021 Issue [#10694]
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