 Short Stories: July 05, 2006 Issue [#1134] |
  Short Stories
This week: Edited by: Diane  
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Welcome to this week's edition of the Short Story newsletter. Each edition of the newsletter highlights issues of concern to short story writers.
~ ~ Diane ~~
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Quick Tips To Avoid Losing A Reader
The length of the short story requires that the author get into the meat of the tale quickly and cover a lot of ground in relatively few words. The goal is to capture your audience's attention and not lose it until after the last word is read. Many writers, even experienced authors, struggle to meet this goal. There is no surefire way to avoid losing the reader, but there are some pitfalls writers should avoid.
First, be careful not to overwhelm the reader with detail. Scene and character description are important, but a tale that starts out with a lot of detail will bog the reader down in minutia and he may never resurface. Sharing detail can be likened to serving a five course meal. Encourage the reader to continue the tale by doling out details one tasty morsel at a time. Drop crumbs here and there to keep his attention. If you give him everything at once, he's likely to get full and turn away before the story is complete.
Second, don't give away the entire story in the first few paragraphs. Short story writing is different from writing an essay. You don't need to tell the reader where the story is going. You must pique his interest with a hint of the story to come and then take him on a journey to discover the full tale.
Finally avoid poor spelling and grammar. Nothing will turn a reader away faster than opening a tale to find it full of spelling and grammar errors. If you don't care enough about your story to present it in the best possible light, why should the reader use his time to sift through the typos and errors to get to the actual point? Visual appeal is important. Clean up the table before you lay out the meal for the reader.
Until Next Time,
Diane
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I've selected a few stories for your enjoyment. Please remember to send the author a review. 
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The editors work hard to make sure the newsletters are informative and enjoyable. We appreciate your responses.
 AXiLeA - "Your ideas and suggestions in this newsletter are simple, yet very interesting. By cleaning and organizing our working space, we can discover forgotten ideas and concepts. After all, what we were looking for may already be there! I'll definitely adopt your idea and create a journal where I can store all the little seeds of creativity. Thank you!"
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