This week: Character Inspiration Edited by: Leger~  
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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.
This week's Short Story Editor
Leger~
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Character Inspiration
There's been some brilliant characters in novels I read, and some awesome ones in movies. While a person can't hijack an entire character for your story, you can look at what you loved about that character and add those attributes to your character.
It is hard in a short story, to give a huge amount of background to your character without using a lot of word count and if you're in a contest, there's generally a limit. So distill down what qualities you love and plump up your character. While some of you are pounding through NaNoWriMo, remember you can edit after you win and add some special characteristics. Editing doesn't always mean removing words, it can mean adding or clarifying what you wrote.
Also, every character doesn't have to be brilliant. The shopkeeper that moves through the scene should be bland and keep the focus on your main characters. Grandma can hand out sweets to the children but doesn't have to pull a gun on your protagonist. The same with the scene, it can be ordinary and let the spotlight shine on the characters.
So, in summary, let other characters inspire you, don't copy them. And as always, Write On!
This month's question: Do you add attributes to your characters in edit? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Give this holiday crossword a try!
Excerpt: I followed the ancient Irish Soul Cake recipe exactly. I blended the flour, cinnamon, sugar and lemon zest while the yeast, sugar, and milk creamed into a frothy cloud. I’d never met my grandmother, but I found her recipe years after her death. I’d forgotten it, but for the past week an inner voice compelled me to make the cake for All Hallows Eve.
Excerpt: "I love it when I am right!"
I looked up in time to catch the hurled newspaper full in the face. "Especially," Moon grinned at me, "when it means everyone else is wrong!"
My companion had the high forehead of a genius, and the narrow face of a criminal; when he grinned, malice invariably lit up his eyes. Children instinctively recoiled from him, and even brave men were known to cross the street when they saw Moon striding down the sidewalk at them on a winter's evening.
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Excerpt: She wasn’t the most beautiful dog, but it turned out that she was the smartest dog, by far.
Excerpt: I longed for home. What I wouldn't give to go back. To be back in my own time, my own place. Three days. I had been here for only three days, but they felt like a century.
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Excerpt: I wore morning like a black armband. 4 a.m. Dad was in the kitchen making coffee on the wood stove. I sat on the step stool beside flesh-devouring heat. Filmy frost on the pane above a dull white sink screened a dark day. A blue pair of leather gloves lay in my lap. The dirty boots he gave me pinched my toes.
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Excerpt: We all know gays love nothing more than houses and Halloween, so when Dr. Christopher Malik saw the Dormus Veritatis shaded by the hills of Redwater County, he’d called his real estate agent and snatched it up. He didn’t even ask Brandon; didn’t need to. He’d already pictured his husband’s stereotypical but natural gay-gasp, and six weeks later, the couple, their nephew, and their dog moved in. With only a couple of weeks before Halloween, they started decorating as they’d unpacked.
Excerpt: Jennifer couldn’t believe what happened as she walked out of the conference room. How could I be so gullible? Feeling a headache coming on, she poured two ibuprofen tablets into her hand, popped them into her mouth, and gulped down a glass of water. She slumped down in her office chair and stared out the window.
Excerpt: Saki was dreaming. A sound like breathing, yet deep and slow beyond anything within experience, disturbed his slumber.
He rose. Stumbling to the window, he pushed aside the curtain. Rain, splattering the window, obscured his view. Saki strained his eyes to find the source of the sound. Dread filled his heart as it grew in volume. He backed away as the throbbing rattled the window. The walls quaked and shuddered.
Excerpt: There are no set rules on how many words are allowed in your chapter. If your first chapter is interesting and keeps the reader reading, word count won't be an issue. A wordy chapter that doesn't go anywhere, might need trimming. You won't be judged on word count but how you make your words count! Short or long, your first chapter is important. Set the tone, introduce your protagonist, set the scene, create a sense of what your main character is up against (conflict, obstacles, challenges.)
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This month's question: Do you add attributes to your characters in edit? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Short Stories Newsletter (October 12, 2022)" question: How would you describe a favorite scary scene?
s  : My favourite scary scenes are hard to put into a simple paragraph. The writing is tight and involves all 5 senses. It has been built through the course of the book, not just plonked down out of nowhere. There is a protagonist I care about and I don't want to see bad things happen to them, but know they have to. The source of the horror makes sense in the context of the story and is not there for the sake of being there. There is a lot that goes into a scary scene.
In films, there is all of the above, plus a look, a visualisation, that suits the horror. Having said that, so few horror films succeed beyond the gross-out, the jump-scare or the copying of what has come before that I don't rate many (especially modern) horror films highly at all.
brom21 : Horor is not my genre but I am sure I could cook up something eerie. But I do shy away from gore and pieces that are too dark. I do love the mystery and mounting suspense that comes with moderate horror. In light of that, I am looking forward to horror/suspense without over the top, gore and darkness. Thanks for the NL!
TheCaptain  : for me, true horror is in the suspense, the unseen and the unknown.
What's that noise? Is it something being blown over in the garden? Is someone trying to break in? Do I go and check it out? Should I grab my hockey stick just in case I need to hit something?
elephantsealer : She curled within her blanket, her heart pounding hard against her breast. It was not just a noise she heard that woke her up. It was the voice of Jimmy, my Jimmy who passed away months ago. Don't do this to me, jimmy, I whispered; you promised before you collapsed and lost conciousness, an arrow in your heart. She felt the beginnings of cold sweat as it drenched her face and trickled down her neck, down to her back. The bones in her face tingled hard, pressed against her throat. Stop it now, Jimmy; stop it this instant...
In the coldness of the morning hour, she was tangled tightly in her blanket, her face ashen, her eyes unseeing, her mouth agape, her tongue hung loosely...
Amarantine : Whenever the impossible becomes possible.
Happy to write : Stay away ,horror and stuff is not my thing really life has been horrific enough at times.
s : There are so many! But the things they have in common are a sense of dread through word choice and sentence structure, a character we (the reader) feel something for and care about.
I think my all-time favourite is not from a short story, but from the novel Pet Sematary. The first time Louis is led over the brambles by Jud, past the cemetary to the one beyond, carrying the dead cat, Church. The description of the plants as bones, the cries of the loons and all of Louis' physical responses is so well done.
In a short story, maybe 'Gig Marks' by Ed Ferrara when the dead kid appears in the car.
Thanks to everyone for your responses, it's much appreciated! |
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Short Stories: November 09, 2022 Issue [#11654]
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