  Short Stories
This week: Titles Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Titles
If one of your characters has a title, you should know how your other characters should greet him / her. Knowing how to refer to an official or dignitary can show respect, or lack of respect and lend credibility to your story. If your character is greeting an Earl, he shouldn't say "Hey, Mr. Chuck!" He should say "Hi, Lord Charles." I found a chart on a website that proves to be helpful.
Title --- Spoken Greeting
President of the United States --- Mr. (or Madam) President
Former President --- Mr. or Mrs. Jones
Vice President --- Mr. (or Madam) Vice President
Cabinet Members --- Mr. (or Madam) Secretary
United States Senator --- Senator Jones
Ambassador --- Mr. (or Madam) Embassador
Foreign Embassador --- Excellency; or Mr. Embassador
Judges --- Justice, Madam Justice or Judge Jones (m or f)
Dalai Lama --- Your Holiness
The Pope --- Your Holiness or Most Holy Father
Cardinals --- Your Eminence or Cardinal Jones
Bishops --- Your Excellency or Bishop Jones
Dukes / Duchess --- Your Grace or Duke / Duchess Jones
Marquess / Marchioness --- Lord / Lady Jones
Earl --- Lord / Lady Jones
Countess (wife of an earl) --- Lady Jones
Viscount / Viscountess --- Lord / Lady Jones
Baronet --- Sir John Jones
Wife of Baronet --- Lady Jones
Knight --- Sir John
Wife of Knight --- Lady Jones
Military Personnel --- (Rank) Jones, such as General Jones
Research your characters, however minor and be sure your language and emotion matches their station. This will always lend authenticity to your story. Even if your genre is fantasy, if there is a heirarchy, you need to use titles and ranking. This way we know who is the boss! 
This month's question: What fun titles have you given your characters?
Send in your reply below!  Editors love feedback!
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Excerpt: "Well, your majesty, I have just laid with your wife - the queen." The man proclaimed quite confidently. The king however looked very confused and almost angry.
Excerpt: She was called Geria, and she had been queen for a hundred days. She had battled the Tescquens for Earth, and she had won, but the crown held little victory for her. She was lonely. Being the conquered and then the conqueror left no time for personal matters.
Excerpt: Kiitz'zt sprinted though the foliage as fast as his four injured legs could carry them. He had the odd creature tucked under his arm and pressed tightly to his side. The creature clung to him and panted for breath, but made no other sounds. How strange. He had caught them before and they had always struggled and made lots of noise. In fact they usually squealed and thrashed like dying tree gliders, but not this one. It seemed to trust him. And stranger still, he trusted it.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1709414 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Grouchy looked up at the knight standing before him. He looked like all the other knights that had been lining up all day to apply for the job. Grouchy sighed, wondering what this one's complaint would be. He had never known a whinier lot than the arrogant, obnoxious knights he'd had the displeasure of interviewing today. He was beginning to wonder if they would ever find one that could get the job done.
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#1465736 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Sitting in front of a sacked mosque, the watcher strained weary eyes against the rising sun obscuring the Temple of Solomon. A new day in the Holy Land did little to stave off the chill. The beggar-in-disguise pressed his rags, newly acquired from a deceased contributor, tighter around his slim frame.
Excerpt: "But it rises over the heel stone." Her voice was shrill with some combination of excitement and pleading. "On the equinox!" I hated it when she got that way. This was definitely not how I was hoping to spend my last Spring Break. We should have stayed in London.
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This item number is not valid.
#1669913 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: "I told her to expect me," he muttered. He turned to the beautiful young woman sitting next to him, half hidden by shadows, half illuminated by the full moon. "Please don't be angry, my queen. This should only take a few minutes."
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#1630327 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Mr. Edmund Dwyer, QC, shook my hand as I left his office telling me not to fret. That was very kind, but then he was not looking forward to spending the next eight years in jail! "Behave, and you'll be out in six years!" he added, to encourage me!
| |  | Bob (13+)
A humorous short story about...well, Bob.
#945322 by Harry  |
Excerpt: Long, long ago in a place far, far away there was an age of chivalry, a time of royalty, of gallant knights and fair ladies who were always getting themselves in distress and needing to be saved (seems like a clever dating technique to me, but whatever), of wizards and magic, and, of course, of dragons needing to be slain. It was a land of castles, fine clothing and jewels, great feasts, and live dinner entertainment with much dancing and music making...but not for Bob.
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This month's question: What fun titles have you given your characters?
Last month's question: What phrases did you use as a teen?
pinklacebows replied: I am an Eighties child and Nineties teen so we had awesome, nerd, geek, rad, totally rad, tubular, cool beans, Chucks (Converse shoes), no offense to anyone but Keds were called "white girls" from where I am from. Ahhhh that was a fun time down memory lane.
atwhatcost answered: I've been working, reworking, and reworking the same short story for over a year now. It will be published, some day, but not ready yet. Now I know when it's set - from spring to winter of 1965 - I'm going bonkers with the proper slang. Peachy keen!
"Hey, Man!" was in then. Groovy was never hip (nor heap), even if it was used then. 1965 was beatniks. The Beats were on their way out, and hippies had yet to arrive. Bummer, which, for the record, wasn't quite cool to use for a few more years. Dig it? ;)
Payal~is~Happiness  responds: When I was in College, we were a gang of 5 girls. We use to talk anything and everything below the sky. And we use to say ," Don't Picturise", purposely after each statement. This would compulsively send the other one on a virtual fantasy ride..  :D
selo says: I'm 16 and I live in a fairly urban area, so I'm guilty of using all kinds of slang. In my area, "thaniel" means stupid, and "ping" means that you disagree with something.
LJPC - the tortoise comments: Hi Leger! You're so right about using time-appropriate idioms to lend authenticity to stories. Writing historical fiction is quite difficult due to this facet. It takes time to do the research, but the results are well worth it. I'm amazed by some of my friends on WDC who write great historical fiction. I grin whenever I see words and expressions I don't know and think about all the work that went into finding the information.  -- Laura
Thanks Laura, and thanks to everyone who responded to the newsletter. Editors LOVE feedback! |
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Short Stories: September 29, 2010 Issue [#3991]
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