 Short Stories: September 25, 2024 Issue [#12755] |
This week: Rearrange, Rephrase, Revise Edited by: Shannon  
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Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week.
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"Books aren't written--they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it." ~ Michael Crichton
You've labored over the story for weeks, leaving your heart and soul on every page. Your spouse and favorite cousin say it's the best thing they've ever read. You fantasize about winning awards and traveling the country to be interviewed about your work. You submit your darling to a literary journal and receive a rejection letter. The publication was kind enough to point out what they didn't like and ways for you to improve the piece, but you're shattered, embarrassed, and so dang confused! How could your spouse and cousin be so wrong?
Many writers say writing short stories is more difficult than writing a novel because you have much less time and space to tell it. The maximum word count is 2000 for many WDC short story contests. How can you tell an entire story in 2000 words or less?
There are many ways to build a story; here are 12 main story structure types:
 Classic Story Structure
Exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
The Hero's Journey
The ordinary world, call to adventure, refusing the call, meeting the mentor, crossing the threshold, tests/allies/enemies, approach to the inmost cave, the ordeal, reward, the road back, resurrection, and return with the elixir.
The Three-Act Structure
The setup, confrontation, and resolution.
The Seven-Point Structure
The hook, plot turn 1, pinch point 1, midpoint, pinch point 2, plot turn 2, and resolution.
The Snowflake Method
Write a one-sentence summary of your story; expand the one sentence into a paragraph that describes the story in greater detail; expand that paragraph into a one-page story synopsis; create a one-page description of each major character and a half-page description of each minor character from their POV to include everything there is to know about that character (name, motivation, goal, physical appearance, quirks, fears, birthday, hobbies, how the character will change by the end, etc.); if you're writing a novel, expand your one-page synopsis into a four-page synopsis; create a detailed list of your scenes using your one-page (or four-page) synopsis as a guide; and write your first draft.
The Five-Act Structure
Introduction/exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
A Disturbance and Two Doorways
The disturbance (conflict), the first doorway (the first way out and no return to life as-is), the second doorway (the second way out and the door of no return - leads to a major crisis/setback or a clue/discovery).
The Story Cycle
A simplified adaptation of the Hero's Journey which includes the protagonist's zone of comfort, the protagonist wants/needs something, entering an unfamiliar situation, adaptation to the unfamiliar situation, obtaining the object of desire, paying the price for achieving their goal, returning to the familiar world with newly acquired knowledge/power, and applying that knowledge/power.
Freytag's Pyramid
Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution/denouement.
Inciting Incident
Centers around a single unexpected event that propels the protagonist from his/her ordinary life - starts with the status quo followed by an inciting incident, response, journey, climax, and resolution.
Fichtean Curve
A narrative structure that tells a story via episodic events that gradually build to a climactic crisis (think mystery novels) — characterized by rising action, climax, and falling action.
Save the Cat
Opening image, theme stated, set-up, catalyst, debate, break into two, B story, fun and games, midpoint, bad guys close in, all is lost, dark night of the soul, break into three, finale, and final image.
Explaining any of these strategies in depth would be too much to unpack here, but you can examine one or all of these methods more closely by doing a simple Google search. If you're looking to learn the basics of story structure they are a good place to start.
As an aside, I recently stumbled across another way to build a story: Antonya Nelson's 9 Steps for Story Writing.
1. Write a story about something that happened to you
2. Write the same story from a different character's point of view
3. Create a ticking clock
4. Create props/objects
5. Create a transitional situation
6. Add a world event
7. Add binary forces
8. Freytag's Pyramid
9. Experiment!
Now that you've written the story it's time to edit. Revision is the bane of many a writer's existence. The writing process is hard, and cutting scenes, dialogue, and/or characters that you put so much work into can be painful. We become attached, but revision is a necessary evil - something that must be done to improve the finished product.
For those who'd like to try an editing checklist, click here. If you prefer an interactive online revision checklist, check out The Autodidacts.
Read your story aloud. Record yourself reading it aloud and listen to the recording to identify weaknesses. Revision can be tedious and time-consuming, but you owe it to your story (and your readers) to ensure it's the best it can be.
Do you have a short story you'd like to share with the WDC community? Do you have a revision process that others might benefit from? Every registered author who shares their ideas and/or creative endeavors relating to or inspired by this week's topic will receive an exclusive "Revision" trinket. The image used to make this month's trinket was created by yours truly. I will retire this month's limited-edition trinket in November when my next short stories newsletter goes live.
"There is no great writing, only great rewriting." ~ Justice Brandeis
Thank you for reading.
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I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. I occasionally feature static items by members who are no longer with us; some have passed away while others simply aren't active members. Their absence doesn't render their work any less relevant, and if it fits the week's topic I will include it.
Thank you, and have a great week!
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The following is in response to "The Controversial Oxford Comma" :
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severed head  writes: I admit, I am a complete sucker for the Oxford comma. Grammarly hates it (but I hate Grammarly in return, so turnaround's fair play) and MS Word struggles to recognize it at times, but it works to clarify things so much better.
Long live the Oxford comma!
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Dr. Jeffyll, or Mr. Hyde?  writes: I generally make a habit of using the Oxford comma (for the stated purpose of avoiding confusion), unless the specific phrasing of a sentence makes it unnecessary or seem cumbersome.
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Beholden   writes: Excellent article on the Oxford comma. It reflects exactly my opinion (and usage) of the thing - I use it when it's appropriate and not when it's not. And, since I'm the writer, my decision is always right! ;)
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  writes: I have plenty of stories.
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Lilli Munster 🧿 ☕ 🎃  writes: Oh, I adore the Oxford Comma and will use it forever! Thanks for a wonderful newsletter and for providing great examples to promote its use.
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Jtpete 1986  writes: I live, breathe, and write using the Oxford Comma. Writing with it is the easiest to do.
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Princess Morticia Megan Rose  writes: I am not always good at using commas but I do my best. I will go back to a story a few months later and edit it. I feel the story line, spelling and words are more important then commas but I don't ignore them on purpose. I just don't always know when commas are supposed to be used. This is well written and the video is helpful and I will try to improve on using commas. Good call on this.
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Annette  writes: I like the Oxford comma. To a point that I find it disturbing when it's not there. Apparently, old-fashioned journalists don't use it, but from what I learned in journalism class, it's actually more nuanced. The Oxford comma can change the meaning of a text very significantly, which is important in legal documents. That's why I like to use it to keep things separate whenever I need to.
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Pol-TIGGY-st  writes: This was a very helpful newsletter. English is not my first language and I learned at school that you don't put a comma before and or but. Imagine my confusion when I came across the Oxford comma!
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~Brian K Compton~ writes: I'm primarily poet and you know what I would tell Oxford or the English language what they can do with a comma. Or, in my case, not. The ambiguity of language older writes compared with the better paced and less elaborate sentences make reading more enjoyable. An extra comma just looks like something that got on the screen and won't wipe off. Poets cheat with line breaks, dashes (Emily Dickinson) and other punctuation that expresses or lends something to the read. So, how much depends on a comma? Let the conjunctive do its work.
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Sticky Draconic Vampire saysHH  writes: The comma makes a difference and the parent one is a perfect example of why to use it.
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Detective writes: I'm definitely pro Oxford comma. It can certainly help clarify things and prevent confusion.
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Fearlycia Lee ☮  writes: Thank you for this wonderful newsletter, Shannon. Honestly, I lean towards the Oxford Grammar side because it does clarify things. I didn't learn this in school, believe it or not, because our education system is so bad, they didn't think that including the Oxford Comma in our English syllabus is important.  I learned it only after a few years working. Unlike many others, I did not take any literature classes and like mentioned, our education system, especially when it comes to the English language, is horrible! Regardless, though it took me quite a few years to accept it, now that I have more understanding, I say aye to the Oxford Comma! 
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dogpack howling & prowling  writes: Comma is a character that can be confusing and even run a reader from a story if in its use things get mixed up almost to insanity. I will not allow this character to cause chaos and drive me or anyone else crazy. I use commas as appropriately as possible without going over the comma speed limit. I don't want to get a comma ticket from the comma police. I appreciate the comma information, the trinket information, the invitation to write about the comma, and hope I use the comma character appropriately. Comma abuse or neglect as I understand it is a capital offense. Please don't put me in comma jail because I am still learning.
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sindbad  writes: Hi, Shannon.
Oxford comma and its significance so beautifully described here is worth appreciating your ingenuity and ability to express difficult and rather confusing topic to a simple and creative end. As a reader, I have got this embedded in my subconscious: the importance of Oxford comma...sindbad
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