  Short Stories
This week: Digging in the Loo 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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Where do you get your ideas?
Many people are able to make up entire stories in their head in a flash. I'm not so lucky. Generally, something has to trigger an idea, whether it's a person or a scene that niggles at me until I write.
I came across an article about outhouse archaeology. While it sounds pretty disgusting, these archaeologists aren't interested in outhouses that are being currently used. These diggers are looking for loos that are more than a century old. Really old poo apparently just turns into dirt. People used their outhouse pit for more than just excrement, they used it as a sort of dump.
When these archaeologists find a pit that has been used as a dump, they find all kinds of interesting things. Old jars, bone toothbrush handles, dentures, even medicine bottles are good finds in the pits. One archaeologist even found an intact teapot. That started me to wondering...how did it get in there? What would make a person throw a perfectly good teapot down the outhouse hole?
Next time you're reading, whether it's a fascinating article about outhouses or something else, and it begins to intrigue you, think about the possibilities of a story. And, write on!
This month's question: I'm tempted to ask what you've lost or seen in an outhouse  , but I'll go with "What triggers a story in your mind?" Send in your reply below, I'd love to know what you think!
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|  | The Teapot (E)
Inspired by the unbroken spirit of an extraordinary woman facing the end of her days.
#850491 by SusanM  |
Excerpt: "Nice to be here." The girl managed the lie, though she was shocked and appalled by what she’d seen in this place. It was a horrible, hopeless existence that seemed so cold and heartless it made her want to burst into tears. Secretly she’d decided to finish the shift and never return, no matter how generous the pay might be.
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#1926166 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: He started to shout another threat when his upper dentures slipped from his mouth, bounced off his bony knee and landed in the grass.
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#722725 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: When I saw him come into Kroger's, I knew right away he was one hamburger short of a Happy Meal. I'd had my fair share of odd customers while I worked the late shift at the grocery store. However, he had to be the strangest one I'd seen.
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#1464939 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “If he’s going out there, you better tell him what happened to the other bloke, the last one who took a piss in the dark in the shed.” There was a non-verbal exchange between Mick and Ray, which Joel was perceptive enough to detect, but not perceptive enough to understand who was the one trying to hide something.
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#1130977 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Great-grand maw had a bathroom but it was not located on her property. It was an outhouse that belong to the Baptist church a forth of a mile down the road. Great Grand maw went to church there and that‘s also where she used the bathroom. You know what else? That outhouse was only about ten feet from the graveyard.
Excerpt: We stopped off at his car. Jeff had a lot of groceries for a single man. It was probably rude, but I inspected what I could see: bottle of wine, mammoth-sized bag of dog food, French bread, a box of douches ?
| | | Daddy Longlegs (18+)
Rachel, a city-girl with a dread of outhouses. But when you gotta go, you gotta go!
#1767216 by J.K |
Excerpt: She noticed a lonely spider hanging on the small window of the door. She tried to recall what it was called, long legs and a tiny middle part, daddy longlegs spider or something similar. A harmless little creature, although she remembered way back when she started the first grade the kind of a mass psychosis among girls a little guy like that always created. She never was afraid of spiders so she was the one killing them throughout grade school and to some extent in high school too. Rachel the Spider Slayer.
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#1817635 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to create a character that I will remember long after your story ends. A character that brings your story to life, and makes it matter.
Excerpt:
Excerpt: One key part of writing is character development. There are many techniques available to assist writers in developing their characters so readers can connect and come away with a good understanding of the character and their motives. This contest explores those techniques.
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This month's question: I'm tempted to ask what you've lost or seen in an outhouse , but I'll go with "What triggers a story in your mind?" Send in your reply below, I'd love to know what you think!
Last month's question: Do you have trouble reaching word count or trimming to meet word count?
StephBee - House Targaryen  : I usually end up having to trim my word count. It's a bit of a challenge, but I can get it under. What makes me chuckle is when I get review that says: "Wow, this is was good. You should have written more!" 
Jacqueline  : Yes I have trouble reaching word count. And find I have ended up making the story weak.
Prosperous Snow celebrating  : I have encountered both issues in my writing. Sometimes I get into "The Zone" and forget there is a word count limit. At other times, especially when I am tired, I have trouble meeting the count because I am too tired to think. Once I get an idea for a story or a chapter I want to continue typing without stopping, but if I get tired I cannot think and I am too stubborn to stop working on the piece.
J. A. Buxton : I learned to trim my word count by entering The Writer's Cramp quite often when I first joined Writing.com. Before then I tended to ramble, something I still do now and then. However, I no longer write sentences containing up to 51 words as I once did. Thank you, "The Writer's Cramp"
dragonwoman : I just write the story I have in my brain stew, then add or take away, mostly description or unnecessary ands or thes.
☮ The Grum Of Grums : Oh good heavens - a writer who has trouble REACHING the limit. I regularly have to cut 500 words to reach a 1000 word limit, and it's like surgery without an anaesthetic. Dr Johnson said, "Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." That hurts. If this was in hard copy, you'd see tear stains all over the paper.
Quick-Quill  : Word Count Limit is my fear! I write a great story and I ususally go over the limit. Where do I trim? what can I take out that won't remove the reader from the story? Then there is the request- I want to know more. When the contest is done, write more. It was a one time shot. I have a story where its the end. Everyone wants to know what led to that moment. Ahh Ummm Ok some day.
Joshiahis : I have trouble trimming down to a word count. Speculative Fiction is hard to trim when the nature of the genre requires you to somehow show the reader the differences between this new world and the world they know. Many times I've taken a contest prompt and had to drop out because I ran out of fat to trim. It's a hard skill to hone.
Indelible Ink : I'm not sure what it is about word count, but whenever I run into one - and that would include most contests here - I always have an uncanny knack of going 20-25% over. It then becomes necessary to go through the excruciating process of deleting a ton of (what I feel is) vital, critical-to-the-success-of-the-story information.
Funny, but somehow, when the torture is over, the finished product is often better than prior to the trimming. If nothing else, word counts force someone like me to examine just what is really necessary to make my story tick...
Cynaemon : I have no problem meeting word count, or of deleting words if and when I need to. My friends all laugh when I tell them I have to write a story of "X" length. They tell me I can write 500 words in ten minutes. Well, not quite, but close. I just let my characters tell their own story.
Dawn Embers  : I wish I had trouble making it to word counts so I can add more. Most of the time I have to cut to make it, whether it's 869 or a 5,000 word limit. Though I do often get asked in any of them what the rest of the story is... Just am not a short writer (unless you count my short height .)
Jay's debut novel is out now! : oh my goodness, yes, not maximizing on word count is something that drives me absolutely crazy as a contest organizer! I feel like if the host sets a word limit, you should be aiming for +/- within 10% of that limit in your first draft, especially if it's a contest where part of the challenge is the word count. There's almost always something you can cut out if you run over, but I've had so many people who sort of limped across the finish line with stories that were hundreds of words shy of running afoul of the word limit-- and usually, "not wanting to go over the limit" is the number one reason which comes up when one sends a review for these types of stories. Dozens of entries to the Writer's Cramp and the Dialogue 500 I've read could've been MUCH stronger if the author had looked at their word count and said to themselves, "Huh, I've got some breathing room, what more can I do to flesh this out?" In the 500, in particular, since you only have 500 words to begin with, it's wise to make the most of the space you're allotted! Great topic this week, Leger!
Thank you! And thanks to everyone who responded. It was really helpful and interesting to see the responses on the question. And to know you're all reading the Short Stories newsletter!
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Short Stories: November 20, 2013 Issue [#6011]
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