  Short Stories
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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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I'm Stuck!!!
Sometimes writing is like asking the Great Writing Being in the sky to put all the karmic pieces together and give you time to write. And then when you finally sit down to start something fresh, your mind goes blank. If you're like me, you have a million and one ideas written down but somehow when it comes time to formulate an actual plot, sense escapes you.
You can fall back on all the usual ideas, like looking at pictures and vacation ads. Or draw a fantasy world on a sheet of paper. You could also steal a character from one of your earlier stories and write a sequel, unless you killed them off in the previous story.
A good idea would be to make a list. You've all gotten the chain emails, asking you to list certain characteristics or to tell something new about yourself to the blogging community, haven't you? While these activities can be amusing and fun, why not use this idea to start a new idea?
Some list ideas:
 What would you buy if you found a bundle of money?
If you could swap places with someone in the world, who would it be?
If you had your own expense-free jet, where would you go?
What wishes would you give the genie in a lamp?
What new things would you like to learn?
If given the choice to live one healthy year or five sickly years, what would you choose?
What foods would you try?
What would you put in a time capsule for your descendants?
If you met the President, what would you say? (long list!)
If you could travel back in time, who would you like to meet?
What would your dream home / futuristic home look like?
If you suddenly got Dr. Doolittle powers, what would animals say to you?
If guaranteed not being arrested, what pranks would you do?
Okay...so I've made my point. Some of the responses to a list could spur a creative story idea. So try writing a few down, see what happens. Write on!
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Excerpt: My wife and the kids have always been there for me. I can't understand what's happened. I keep asking, why they haven't come, but no one will answer me. All day long strangers surround me and at night they lock my bedroom door. I don't like this place. I want to go home.
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Excerpt: As he did so now, the small opening in the rock about twenty feet above him virtually whispered his name. It appeared to be a small cave, too high for a bear but just right for a mountain lion. Still, he was on an adventure. He couldn’t resist.
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Excerpt: Dan Crowley stood before the stone hearth, quietly contemplating a recently acquired objet d‘art. This new knick-knack, as Dan labeled all the items in his wife's collection of folk-art, was a life-sized wooden head carved from a red oak burl.
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Excerpt: When her back tire jumped the curb, nearby pedestrians quickened their step to get by the threat. Parallel parking was never one of her better traits, and a group of city workers who watched from across the street couldn't have agreed more. Each lurch, bump, and screech brought "Oh!", "Ouch!", and "Oh yeah's!" as they watched the performance from a safe distance. The pothole repairs would just have to wait.
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Excerpt: On her wedding day, Hannah’s friends teased her about marrying a gourmet chef. “You’ll never have to worry about cooking. You have it made.”
Excerpt: It was a dreary December day in 1476 when I got to Bucharest. The carriage Dracula sent to fetch me was old, the gold trim paint chipping along the sides. I hated to see chipped paint. I believed royalty should have more pride in their possessions.
Excerpt: Inside its mahogany case with flamed veneer, the giant grandfather clock's pendulum swung back and forth. Esmeralda squinted at the glass pane over the pendulum. "The giant is licking his lips," she murmured. And, a giant it was, its presence dominating the living area and dwindling the size of the roll-top desk next to it.
Excerpt: It wasn't until the bus had vanished around the corner that Mary Alice realized that she had left her purse in the seat beside her. Her wallet with her license and credit cards and cash, her keys, her cell phone -- all en route to California while she stood on a platform in -- she squinted at the sign in the gathering gloom - in Penfield, Illinois, with nothing more to her name than a t-shirt, a faded pair of jeans, and a light jacket that was quickly becoming inadequate in the chill evening air.
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Excerpt: The sages, the village elders, even the priests, all said it was haunted, but I know now it is. Before the incident I had laughed at those who had told me about the haunted evil temple in the Foxtail Woods. I should have listened, but after years of playing in its empty corridors I wasn't about to believe it was truly haunted or evil.
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Excerpt: The mansion was in full holiday mode the morning of Thanksgiving when Walker came down from his apartment to check on the progress of the day’s celebration. He immediately headed toward the two kitchens, drawn by the tantalizing aromas coming out of them.
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This month's question: What did you write on your lists?
Last month's question: What are some of your favorite terms for ordinary words?
Replies:
spidey  : Great advice in this newsletter! It also reminds me of the very common (sometimes overdone) way of introducing a character: listing hair and eye color. It's important to give a visual to the reader, but reading, "blonde hair, blue eyes" in every piece of writing gets really old! The advice given here can help with that, I think. Great advice! 
KimChi  : Thank you for featuring my work in the newsletter. I enjoyed your take on finding the right words to alleviate repetition as well as boredom for the reader. A thesaurus is our best bud, although looking at our characters with a new perspective works wonders, too.
I like the "old time" names for stores. Haberdasheries, milliners, apothecaries and tailors are being replaced by one-store carries all, at least in America. Mores the pity; they're much more fun and descriptive words than "clothing" or "drug" stores.
diamond_hoop: I'll confess that I have mixed feelings about your "Pump up the Volume" piece. Frankly, OVER-description is a much more prevalent problem than is UNDER-description. Too many writers focus too much of their time on cramming insignificant details down our throat, finding fancy and MANY new ways to describe a setting or character. What typically suffers is the true meat of the story: Plot, Conflict & Resolution, and yes, Setting & Characterization, but the kind of information we really care about (emotions, attitudes, fears and desires), not the color of her hair or his height. If it doesn't advance the story or character, leave it out. Besides, readers enjoy the opportunity to fill in some of those minor details out of their own imaginations
ann : I name ordinary adjectives by their level of monotony. For instance, 'nice' is a 1st grade adjective, while 'tedious' could be a sixth grade adjective. I generally try to have a mixture of 4 grade and on!
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Short Stories: November 26, 2008 Issue [#2734]
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