This week: Itch, Scratch, Itch 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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Itch, Scratch, Itch
I've been researching a little on geneology, and then of course, things spiraled down to forensics. I read a lot of stories, and with modern technology, science has provided a way to identify a person from a tiny microscopic bit of evidence. A hair, saliva, or a flake of skin can possibly provide answers to the big "whodunit". This got me spinning the muse-wheel and thinking about how this could fit into a story.
Even animals can leave evidence. Dogs can get ichthyosis and be all flakey and crumbly. Dry skin in humans can be called xerosis or xeroderma. So the next time you need to leave evidence in your story, your character can itch a spot on their head, leave a hair and some skin, then voila you've got proof. Not only are crime scenes scoured for fingerprints, but much of the area is swabbed by forensic scientists for microbial evidence.
I'm always nattering on about research for your stories. But it's true, follow things that interest you, pick up some basic knowledge, and store that away in your head. It's amazing where that will pop up in a story. And even if it doesn't point to the guilty party, it would be a lovely red herring to drop into a mystery.
Give that some thought and as always, Write On!
This month's question: Where do you leave your clues to the mystery? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Quote Prompt for September 2022: "I've always loved the first day of school better than the last day of school. Firsts are best because they are beginnings."
-- Jenny Han
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The subject of this fortnight:- Poets remain in a different world! (Prose Item only).
Journalistic Intentions is a contest and journalling playground. Each round will have different types of prompts, and participants will choose 8 out of the 16 that are given. Prompts will be different each time. YouTube selections, hilarious fake email addresses, and photos are all fair game. Those who join the fun are encouraged to try out new forms of writing in their entries. Want to write poetry? Do it! Feel inclined to debate a point? I welcome that! Feeling like sketching out a script? Let me get some popcorn because I really want to read that.
Excerpt: The woman stood on the beach and stared silently out across the North Sea. Fifteen years she had made the trip to this coastline. Always on the same day. There was more kinship between her and the boundless ocean than she had ever possessed with her family. Theirs was a melancholy connection.
Excerpt: I didn’t kill Michael Pierce.
I admit our relationship wasn’t what you’d call friendly. Pierce had degrees in astrophysics, exobiology, geology, archaeology, and superiority. I’m just a glorified computer tech.
Excerpt: As I pulled the door closed behind me, I took a longing look at the solitary cup of Bucky’s “Special Pumpkin Spice Premium Coffee” sitting all alone on the desk. I almost gave in to the urge to go back and rescue the coffee, but I had promised Mr. Weathersby I would be over as soon as possible. So, I pulled the door shut and locked it.
Excerpt: Detective Hall drove over to Elmer Jones’s place to find out why Elmer’s neighbor, Joyce Root, became excited about what Bo dug up. On arrival, he spotted her sitting at a picnic table. She stood to shake hands and asked, "Who would bury money along with a gun? Does that make any sense to you?"
Excerpt: It was the middle of another cold winter morning in the small town. The snow in the backstreet behind the shops covered the ground and the trashcans. The ice cold breeze that blew down the backstreet didn't stop Thetford and Coralett from standing in the cold just to spend a little time together. Twenty-one years old and madly in love, the cold was the last thing on their minds as they held each other and whispered to each other how they missed each other and how they wished that they could spend their every waking moment together. As it always is with young love, the two forgot about reality and their daily worries as they were together, but the moment came to an abrupt end when the backdoor of Coralett's family's takeout restaurant was opened from the inside and her Dad saw them together.
“How many times I gotta tell you to stay away from that boy!”
Excerpt: "But that's what the psychic told me, honey," Britt Larson says as she powders her nose in the bathroom mirror. "You cheated on me with my best friend, Janet Dawson. I always suspected it, the way you drool over her whenever we play Bridge with her and Drew." |
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This month's question: Where do you leave your clues to the mystery? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Short Stories Newsletter (August 17, 2022)" question: What type of conflict do you favor in your short stories?
s  :
Any, really, except internal, personal conflict. I'm not saying those stories are not good, they just don't do it for me.
Serena Blade : Any that are interesting. where there is a purpose. not something where the writer mentions something that has no purpose to the story. if that makes sense.
Kymela Tejasi  : I like mysteries as short stories like Father Brown.
Leslie Loo : Something unexpected, I guess.
THANKFUL SONALI 17 WDC YEARS!  : I like internal conflict - person wrestling with their own emotions.
elephantsealer : I like mystery, of course, although any kind of conflict would be just as difficult to write...
joemjackson : How about intergalactic space conflicts where civilizations throw planets at each other.
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Short Stories: September 14, 2022 Issue [#11560]
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