This week: Who Are We? 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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Who are We?
Some of us are novelists, some comedians, and some of us merely enjoy the written word. We enjoy twisting the ordinary into something extraordinary. For me, short stories are something I play in. I love making a scene, having someone smile, or sharing something that made me feel sorrow.
Do you like to think of your readers smiling and nodding as you share an anecdote? Do you love to crawl down around in the dark and find the fright? Take a moment and consider your strengths. Look at your reviews and see what your readers focus on when reviewing your stories.
Have you tried a different genre? I often find that when I try to write for a genre I don't normally choose, I either bomb out completely and have to rewrite or I discover a fun sandbox to play in. Try some of the daily contests in our community, grab a prompt and see what you can come up with.
All of us have different reasons for writing. But write we must. And hopefully, someone else will enjoy it too.
Write On!
This month's question: Have you tried unfamiliar genres? What happened? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback! |
Excerpt: I'm Dave Grant, a marine engineer. This is my story.
Excerpt: This contest will be different each time I post it--different genre, different prompt, different rules, different requirements, etc., depending on my mood and schedule.
Excerpt: People always say they wish their wishes would come true. Few people realize that the stories of the consequences of wishing on monkey paws or accepting three wishes from a jinn aren't the only ways wishes can bite you in the butt. Even when your wish comes true through perfectly natural means like hard work or perseverance consequences are far from uncommon.
Check out this daily contest, win gift points!
Excerpt: Qaza Matli was my name. It was a duty to serve the passengers of the Ayubian Empire to the abandoned deserted city of Tokura. I was but a humble boat captain long forgotten, for no one knew my identity nor what my ethnicity was. I waited as the new passengers stood in the docks. Seagulls squawked above me. Fishermen carrying boxes of alive octopuses and crabs walked the pier. Merchants shouted in their sing-song voices for customers. Usually, mothers and fathers look to feed their children the best fish the sea could provide. Tokura was a large, magnificent booming city when I had been a child. My dhow had been parked at the harbour and I would watch as the city declined from greatness to an abandoned nightmare from the years I had lived in this port.
| |  | Will-a-Wisp (E)
A one-legged man in the forest with Willa-nearly loses his way. (700 words)
#2268227 by Joto-Kai  |
Excerpt: Gripping the sweat-slick walker I hopped along behind as Willa led me deeper into the night and the woods. Never allowing myself to question, I tried to drink in the moment, to admire the way the leaves rolling ahead of us reflected the fire in her hair and the earth tones of her overskirt.
Excerpt: Arch Druid Nimithar exited the spiraling azure portal coming from the realm of the faery folk. He smiled at the darkening sky. Nimithar loved storms. The scent of moist air and the colorful rainbow afterwards always brought him an inner stillness and awe of God’s amazing creation.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2262668 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “I’m not trying to be anything,” the other man said. He sat next to Avery, a man not much older. “I’m Rick, and I’m just whatever you need me to be.” He pushed his square, wire-framed lenses up his nose and then spread his hands apart, palms up.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2272994 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: I've been in plenty of escape rooms before. The rules are simple: find clues around rooms to help you find your way out. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. But this escape room was not the same. If you lost, the consequence wasn't just going home knowing that you didn't win. No, it was something much worse.
Something like death.
The task is simple: Write a short story using the photo prompt as inspiration! |
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This month's question: Have you tried unfamiliar genres? What happened? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: What details or features do you add or delete when editing a short story?
Bikerider  : When I write a short story, I think it's important to show the reader the conflict by the third paragraph. I also try to show the story world, letting the reader 'see' where the story takes place. Finally, I agree with your newsletter; giving the reader a good 'look' at the character without overdoing it is important. I edit out long descriptions that I think are unnecessary to the story after I finish the ending.
Osirantinous  : Thanks for including "The LGBT Writing Contest - now judging"  . As for details or features I'm adding or removing in a short story - first up, it's usually words. I find I have to write the story in its entirety first and then start cutting back to fit the word limit. And I find that it helps the story because I'm cutting out the chaff and hopefully making the story tighter and more to the point.
Elfin Dragon-finally published : Short stories are often my downfall. My mind gets on overdrive and they end up being long stories or the beginning of novels. But if I can...What I edit are often conversations because I've used too many words to say a particular thing. Or I've got a "he said, she said" thing going on which I don't need. Or sometimes I edit, or add, descriptions for the scene because I've either added too much or not enough.
Angel Wolf  : I usually delete double negatives, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences, and add correct punctuation and capitalization wherever I may have missed it.
joemjackson : I defiantly look for bad grammer.
Scifiwizard Retired : Repetitive dialog or narration. I still have a bad habit of that.
Starling : I try not to add every small movement of the character. Such as: "She walked to the table and picked up the mountains of papers, all of the pens and pencils, and her brown leather messenger bag off the table in the middle of the room. Picking up the ultra-strong sunglasses, she headed out the door." (44 words)
Instead, you can write: "She retrieved the overstuffed leather messenger bag from the center table, put on the recommended sunshades, and walked out into the double-sun day." (24 words)
You have given all, or maybe even still too much information the reader needs. Depending on information you have already given in the story, you might even be able to cut some of this sentence out.
TheBusmanPoet : Not in short stories but in all of my poems I try to fix grammar and punctuation. If I find a better word that fits, I will delete the original one for the new and improved word. I may go over it a few times to make sure it sounds right and is correct. Sometimes I do good other times not so good but hey we're only human not robots.
THANKFUL SONALI 17 WDC YEARS!  : Editing?  
tj ~ endeavors to persevere!  : Add any details that are imperative to understanding the story and delete any that are not.
s : Mainly delete extraneous words. A short story will generally lose 10%-15% of its word count once I tighten up the words. And for those who have seen the stupidly long stories in my port, yes, they were even longer before editing.
This is not adverbs/adjectives. This is doubling up on info told in 2 different ways, descriptors that mean nothing in the long run, getting rid of terms about 'seeing' and 'turning', getting rid of actions that could be better implied, getting rid of passive voice, etc.
Consider the story start: "Angela was waiting for Bob, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She was 5 foot 4 and 110 pounds, with long red curly hair and a thin waist. Bob was almost 6 feet tall and was muscular in his 180 pounds. They were a perfect couple, all their friends said." This is paraphrased from 3 different things I have read here at WdC.
But maybe it should be: "Angela's reflection was all she focused on as she waited for Bob, taking in her thin, if not slightly short body and long curly red hair. Bob was taller and muscular, and yet their friends still said they were a perfect couple."
Not only is it 9 words shorter, but it feels like part of a story and not just an info dump or a tinder profile.
In short stories, especially when selling them, word count and tightness matters. It took me a long time to get my head around what that meant, but my sales indicate I am getting there slowly but surely.
Paul  : I throw away anything that does not advance my story and look for more powerful or appropriate or supportive or just better descriptions of what my story is trying to say for many other words. Having always believed that English is totally illogical and impossible to understand in any predictable manner I’m finding the process of learning it at 80 a daunting task. Not impossible, but I feel like Sisyphus pushing a big rock up a hill. Periodically it decides to roll back as his did and I have to start over. I will never understand punctuation, I think they’ll find that commas were the cause of my demise. But, there are editors that specialize in it and sell the ability.
I don’t understand the concept of “Tool” in your previous question. Two people meet in some manner for whatever reason and say, “Hi, I’m ????. Then you talk. Conversation is easy, I love writing dialog.
I’m an actor too and live stage is a passion of mine. If you want to learn how to talk to strangers take an improvisation acting class. It is a safe environment to work in, it’s a family when it’s done right. But, there is no better teacher than standing in front of friends and not knowing what to say next. I’ve heard it said that the fear of being on stage and forgetting a line is worse than the fear of death. I can absolutely assure you that is true. You think writers block is bad? It’s a relaxing experience in comparison.
When I read or watch a performance, stage, movie, whatever, I want to Live in the story. If I can’t it’s junk. When I write I stage it and I walk through the scene and imagine an audience. All the moves I describe are real because I’ve just done them in my mind. All the dialog plays mostly as real because I become both parts and talk from what I think their mind would respond with. As an actor you’re called on to “Become” a different person so when you say the words on stage their believable. If I can’t suspend my disbelief you're just reading text and it comes across as dead-pan. That’s called ‘presentational acting.
So, at some point could you explain what “Tool” means in this usage? I see an image of me holding a screwdriver and pliers to fix a sentence. When they tried to teach me how to diagram a sentence was when I gave up on English ever making any logical sense.
Hi there! The question in "Short Stories Newsletter (March 30, 2022)" was "What tools do you use to start a dialog between characters?" - some of it was discussed in the newsletter, such as dialog to forward the story or body language to indicate how the characters are going to interact. The point was to show dialog and conversation aren't the same. There are a lot of ways to indicate feelings or show your reader where your story is going without necessarily talking. |
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Short Stories: May 25, 2022 Issue [#11373]
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