  Short Stories
This week: Three Simple Elements 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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| ASIN: 0995498113 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 19.95
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The Three Elements
All stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Sound simple, right? I have this Facebook page called BookBub liked on my news feed. It's pretty cool, it tells you what books are free to download each week. I read a lot. Okay, a LOT. And free books are so awesome. I'm still old-school, I read paperbacks and hardcovers too. But most of the physical books I get are from yard sales, hand-me-downs from friends and stuff I get cheap. Why? I can't afford my voracious reading appetite.
What's cool about free downloads is you don't have stay committed to the book if it's horrible. There's that really cool delete button and away it goes. No finding a friend to dump it off, guilt from putting it in the recycle bin or abandoning it on a train for the next victim to read. What I have found, though, is (besides grammar worse than mine) sometimes the book is a part of a series. Now don't get me wrong, I like series books, but each book or story should still stand on its own. That means it should have the three elements of the story...including an ending! I poke that delete button extra hard when I read 300+ words in a story to find out there's no ending! Sure, I could buy the next in the series, but what if that also doesn't have an ending?
We should take this to heart when writing stories. Every reader deserves a whole story. One with the spelling and grammar checked, and the three elements completed. Now I admit, sometimes a story just doesn't want to have an ending. That's what reviewers and friends are for! Reviewers can help you with suggestions on how to wrap up your story arc. Be sure to put at the top of the story that you're looking for help on a WORK IN PROGRESS. If you set your WIP to comments only, your readers can email suggestions and help you along. For an example, my item - "Shadow Man" has edit points.
Even free accounts allow one item to have "Edit Points" . Check out this very cool option in your item. It places a red edit point number in your item (free accounts are allowed 10 EPs) within your item which allows readers to click and comment in a pop up box. The item owner can then "View EP Data" and read the comments given. Ask your reader to comment on the scene - could they envision the scene?, or your character - did it seem like someone they know?, or even the conflict - was it resolved? Did the reader understand what the conflict was? Edit points allow comments very specific details in your item. Try them out! They're just one of the hidden gems in our toolbox here at Writing.com that will help you ensure the three elements are within your story.
Write on!
This month's question: What tricks or tools do you use to wrap up a story?
Send in your reply below and help your fellow writers!
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| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1943141 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The new girl sat across the circle of folding chairs in the church basement, pupils piercing through Danny from the soft almond shape of her eyes. She drowned in a giant blue flannel, her head wrapped in a kerchief, jeans torn at the knees, the ankles and rear. A bright pink thong peeked from a hole before she sat down. He picked at the tear on the knee of his pant leg, wishing she’d stand again.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1967261 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Captain Hurley and Shep watched, as their ship, the X-25, inched across the orbiting surface of Isonoe VI, searching the planet for any signal, beep, or blip that might indicate that the beacon was true, and that the colony was here to be found.
"I-I think I see it, sir," Shep said, eyes glued to a scanner screen. "I think I see something. Check these coordinates -"
Excerpt: “About 130 meters. I know Bergis is a tough hill, but that distance isn’t going to be enough for you to get on the podium. You might not have noticed, but the field this year is deeper than ever, even with the newbies.”
Excerpt: The teacher was late. Ricky Doucette leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed upon scores of dust particles shimmering within a shaft of sunlight angling into the room— like billions of stars of a micro-Cosmos, he mused.
Excerpt: They say that the first explosion is always the loudest. It’s not. Each one is just as loud, and just as terrifying as the last. But it’s the first one that has the greatest impact. In that split second any sense of peace is obliterated and your subconscious is dragged abruptly back to reality; just in time for the next detonation.
I wish I could say that this was the first time I had been woken up by deafening booms. It seems hard to remember a night that wasn’t lacerated by flashes of light, or filled with the lingering, acrid smell of smoke and sulphur.
Excerpt: This day in San Gabriel was no different than any other day. The boys were playing with an old soccer ball and challenging cars as they passed by. Michael was racing ahead and kicking the ball across to Gus from one side of the street to the other, timing the kick so that the ball would just miss the rear tire and skirt across the street behind the driver. Most drivers weren't even aware they were doing this, but the occasional resident, knowing the boys and their ways, would see them running on the side of the street and lean on the horn a bit to warn them off.
Excerpt: When he first entered Syed’s taxi, Mr Janus was older. If not for that gaunt face creased with wrinkles framing ice-blue eyes below brows the colour of storm clouds, Syed would never have allowed him to bring in the cat. No animals or non-paying passengers. Those were the rules.
Excerpt: Sara was first to hear the peculiar sound, an eerie, repetitive clicking, becoming louder, then receding as freshening breezes eddied about the overhang. The strange sounds, combined with a sudden chill caused by the low-pressure cell moving onto the mountain, prompted Sara to investigate. She moved to the back of the overhang and listened. Several elongated slits in the basalt caught her eye. No larger than sparrow holes, they appeared to extend deep into the rock. The clicking echoed again, this time with a definite organic cadence. Sara glanced at Mona who had also stood and walked to the back of the overhang.
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This month's question: What tricks or tools do you use to wrap up a story?
Last month's question: What points do you like to see covered in reviews you receive?
Zeke  replied: I like reviews that cover structure, grammar and meaning, not to mention spelling of course.
THANKFUL SONALI Now What?  answered: You know, Leger, I want to know if someone LIKED my writing, or my message, or my story, or whatever, or if they didn't like it. It's a very basic reaction I'm looking for, the gut reaction. Through all the diplomacy and the whole balance-positive-and-negative and what have you, I look at a review and ask myself - so did they like it? And for me, there, the star-rating matters. I do look at that. How I respond in each situation (like or dislike) then depends on many other factors, but it's what I want to know.
I like to know people liked my work too. But I like to know why.... Review comments should include "I like this because..." Those are the most useful comments for me.
Quick-Quill  responded: I give in-depth reviews. I love it when someone takes the time to tell me what it was about my story they liked and how it made them feel. What thoughts did it trigger? I also love when someone finds things that didn't work for them. It makes me look at what I wrote from their POV. I may or may not change it depending on my POV, but I like the fact they told me their opinion. If I need to explain it better I'd better head to the woodshed.
 I think we got it.
Joshiahis  sent: I like reviews from a reader's perspective. Everything in my stories makes sense in my own head. If the details are confusing, I'll never know unless someone tells me.
This is why reviews are so important!
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| ASIN: B01FST8A90 |
Product Type: Toys & Games
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Amazon's Price: $ 24.95
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Short Stories: January 15, 2014 Issue [#6105]
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