  Short Stories
This week: 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. Feedback is always appreciated.
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CLUNK!
Do you know what that sound is?
Nooooo, it's not me stubbing my toe in the dark.
Nope, it's not my cat knocking something off the table in the middle of the night.
No, not even a flat tire from a passing car.
It's my thesaurus!
What's a thesaurus???
I made a comment the other day that "kids don't even know what a thesaurus is".
Robert Waltz  replied, "Sure they do! All kids know about dinosaurs! The thesaurus is a distant relative of the stegosaurus, and was a staple of the diet of the allosaurus."
Not really.  And while most of us know what a thesaurus is...some of us may not open it and use it.
This newsletter is about expanding your vocabulary. One of the best tools to have on hand, or bookmarked on your browser, is a thesaurus. When writing a short story, avoid redundancy. Suppose you're describing a dungeon. We all know a dungeon is dank, dark and damp. If you're spending the time to describe your dungeon in full detail, you'll need more than three words to surround your reader. They'll need to peer through the miasma and wipe the moisture from their brow. They need to hear their sneakers squelch on the slick floor and the wetness drop and spatter from the ceiling.
As a writer, I find it helpful when I have an image in my mind that I want to write about, to open a thesaurus and pluck some creative wording to add to the simple words that came to mind.
The Ideanary right on this site is a fantastic tool for this. It's under the Site Tools drop down list and is a wonderful, unique tool.
Be careful! Too much of a good thing can be confusing. Less is more. Pick the most appealing and important words for your sentence. Don't sprinkle your adjectives in like croutons on a salad. Make each noun count.
There are also many sites online that will help you expand your vocabulary. Some sites will even mail you a "Word of the Day". I keep many of these bookmarked under "reference sites" on my browser.
Read! You'll pick up new words and learn more about what interests you at the same time. While you're boning up on stalactites and stalagmites, you would find out what spelunking is. Or if you read about archeology, you would find out the difference between a trowel and a mattock, and be able to tell what a shard and a sherd is.
In conclusion, glorify your writing; make it rich and exciting with a deeper vocabulary. Now, write on!
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This item number is not valid.
#1145374 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Room 242, Bed A, please.” Josie requested. She stood in Woodwinds Meadow’s ankle-high grass on the east side of Harrison’s Pond, waiting to be connected to her grandfather’s room.
“Hello.” A weak, raspy voice answered.
“Grandpa? You don’t sound good.”
Excerpt: The sight of the crumbling villa silhouetted on the ridgeline was like that of rain clouds to a farmer in a drought-ridden land. It had been a dry, dusty day of the summer of 1945 and her swollen feet had carried her uncountable miles. The sun was still hovering hesitantly above the horizon this late in the evening, spilling its inky hues onto the darkening sky.
|  | Reflections (ASR)
A man is lost in more ways than one. Mostly an interior monologue. written 3/31/03
#662083 by submariner  |
Excerpt: My subconscious woke me from my unnatural sleep. Try as I might, my lungs would not draw in the delicious air. Opening my eyes, I find that I am submerged, the salt water burning my eyes at the unexpected intrusion.
Frantically, I try to broach the surface. My booted feet connect with a solid object, and pushing with all my force, launch myself clear of the shallow water. Before I can breathe in the fresh, life giving air, I must heave the remaining seawater from my lungs. Realization hits that I am only in a knee-deep pool of water. Neither the recollection of entering the water nor the knowledge of my whereabouts registers in my mind.
| | | Invalid Item
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#1161676 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: She glanced over her shoulder for one last look. I'm not sure it was in my direction, I knew her well enough to imagine the glossy look in her eyes, not even sadness. She must have seen without seeing, at least that's what I wanted to believe, indeed have believed ever since. Her stance was of a person lost to the world, going through repetitive motions, maybe just a reflex, there's a train leaving the station with a loved one on it, so you glance once more in the departing direction.
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#1133731 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Christina Malloy stared out the dirty tow truck window as the swamp swept by outside. The swift blur of trees had a hypnotic affect, quietly lulling her into one of her many mind drifts. She caught herself at the last second, forcing herself back. She didn’t want to get lost right now, she was afraid of what she might see. She reassuringly clutched the small spiral notepad in her lap as she looked over at her escort.
Excerpt: It’s finally happening.
The day that I have anticipated all my life has arrived at last. I can feel the electric excitement coursing through the room as I watch myself in the mirror. I feel the silky kiss of the beautiful peach fabric against my skin. My eyes linger for a moment on my own reflection. I could see sadness and anxiety etched into the lines of a smiling façade.
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#1188043 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Norman Wood woke and rubbed him arms against the chill that had seeped into the trailer as he slept. He wondered what time it was listened to the sounds of the night. Almost nothing seemed to be stirring in the world outside. A truck labored down the dark highway a few miles away, but that was only sound he heard. He'd worked late and was too tired to cook, so he stopped for a cheap take-home meal. After drinking a few beers he flopped on the couch and fell asleep. Now the small trailer he rented was dark and very chilly. The street light tacked to the telephone pole next to his car was lit, but the glare of the bare bulb was weakened by fog that had rolled in.
| | | Invalid Item
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#1211987 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Strange things can happen under the northern lights in early autumn in the depths of the wilderness.
A Man travels alone in the wilds. He wanders alone through pine forests and hikes the shores of cold streams as the sun glitters on clear waters. He has felt a calling, a pull to this place and he is not sure why.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#179673 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Forty years ago, this couldn't properly be called a town. No, it was mostly a collection of small houses and a post office, held together by the general store. We didn't even have a hotel or a town council. Everyone knew each other, because everyone had to walk here to get their supplies. Rather than turn right back and go home, people would sit and talk for a spell. The men talked of crop failures or successes and who was new in town, and the womenfolk traded recipes and gossip. That's when most of us here (and he gestured around the table at the friends that surrounded him) got to know each other and got in the habit of sharing fellowship here.
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#1211652 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Alice stood beside Sam's coffin, hoping that if she stood there watching him long enough he'd breathe, blink, or talk, telling her that she's having a nightmare.
"Mom, the service is over. We have to take Dad to the cemetery for burial." Dana held her mother's arm as she led her out to the car.
"A few more days, Dana, and we would've been celebrating our sixtieth wedding anniversary. How can I go on without the man I've lived with for almost six decades?
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 This month's question: How do you enrich your vocabulary?
Last month's question: What do you do with stories that stall?
Thanks to everyone who replied, here's what they had to say:
vivacious  : What do I do with stories that stall? I place them in a box called "The trunk of not so good stories." I never delete them, because I'll never know when something will click later on.
The 5Ws though, I haven't considered. Thanks for the advice. I know it will help empty my trunk some.
patheral: Most of my stories that stall get filed away for future reference. I have a short attention span, which is why I write short stories, and if a story isn't done within a certain amount of time, I lose interest in it. I'll revisit them later and see if they can be rescued. If not, they're filed away again to be revisited another day.
Vivian  : Hi, Leger. What do I do with stories that stall? First I set it aside and leave it for a time, maybe weeks or months, maybe a few days. I let the story work in my subconscious as I write other things. Often in time the solution "pops" into my conscious mind, and I can finish. Sometimes, I never can do anything with the stalled story. ~~ Viv
Mojo : Thanks for this newsletter. I have run into this blank screen for more times than I can remember and Had often said that I was not good at writing. 2 years is a long time to put aside a project and yet I have been there. I think I'll dig into some old boxes. mojo
Anne Light : Thanks for this wonderful newsletter. Stories stall out regularly, and I do (almost) all you suggested, and until inspiration strikes again, I consider it displacement activity. You set my mind at rest. I'll go through my list, analyze, revise, listen to music, ignore the story - stare at the screen, hit the keys at random, and consider it part of the game!
Best wishes, Anne
sharifahusin: What I always do when my story does not flow; when it stalls, is that I stop altogether. I would keep the piece of paper and look at it some time later and see what new ideas pop up. If none, I throw it away altogether, for I believe a new idea will always come.
StephBee - GOT Survivor  : I loved your tips for writing. Editing is so important. I think one has to be a good self-editor as well as a good writer. Two thumbs up. Great advice!
karabu: This is a newsletter to print out and keep for reference. Thanks so much. I tend to want to give up when my stories flounder instead of staying focused and attacking it in an orginized way. This reminder will help me over and over again, I know.
janellecharon: Usually when a story of mine stalls, it's because I didn't plan enough and something doesn't add up or it's not very well written (usually the latter). In either case my solution is to go back and reread it from the beginning as if I'd never read it before, and ask myself: Am I interested in the characters and what's happening to them? And does everything make sense in the context? It's usually pretty easy to spot my problem (or problems) doing that. Fixing them, however, is another beast entirely.
Cheers, Janelle |
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Short Stories: February 07, 2007 Issue [#1529]
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