Short Stories: February 17, 2010 Issue [#3556]
<< February 10, 2010Short Stories Archives | More From This Day | Print This IssueFebruary 24, 2010 >>

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Short Stories


 This week:
  Edited by: Leger~ Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

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~ Author Icon


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

Story Ideas


At a loss for a story idea? Try the news.

While it would be difficult to write a story that details a life story exactly, sometimes news about the crazy things people do can spark a story idea. Family anecdotes aren't always as charming and cute as the family thinks it, but with a little inspiration, they could become a character idea or a scene for your story.

Just searching the words "crazy news" or "bizarre news" can garner some pretty wacky stories. Like the off-broadway show about the bubble man. Not an older version of the bubble-boy but a perfomer who uses soap bubbles. Who knew a person could make a living with bubbles? How about the story of a frightened, shivering dog which was rescued after floating 75 miles on an ice floe down Poland's Vistula River and into the Baltic Sea. Or the man accused of stealing and swallowing a two-carat diamond ring worth about $20,000 who ends up coughing it up in the police station.

Need a character name? Some new celebrity baby names for 2009 were: Sparrow, Mars Merkaba, twins Jesse James and Journey Jette, Otis Tobias, Satyana, Atlas, Stella Luna, twins Adele Georgiana and Roman Stylianos, Kenzo, and a daughter named Vita. Give you some ideas?

So next time you say, "I can't think of anything to write!” try the news.


Editor's Picks


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#1312693 by Not Available.

Excerpt: The year we moved to the suburbs of Atlantic City was the happiest time in our lives. My eighteen-year old twin sisters, Betty Sue, and Suzi Que, blondes with brains, great bodies and good looks, were making big bucks as waitresses at Harrah’s. I was making good money driving an airport limo, and meeting lots of celebs and hot chicks. Now, I’m no Prince Charming, but at twenty-two with a Porsche and a pocketful of change, I didn’t need ads in the Personals. And our daddy, Big Diddle, a very talented veteran card counter, was hauling wheelbarrows of money away from the blackjack tables.

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The Sunset Adventure Open in new Window. (13+)
Kaylee & Jacob travel down a long path with the mosquitoes
#1644272 by Lornda Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Kaylee stopped and grabbed at the back of her pants. “Those mosquitos are so bad--I just got bit on my butt! That’s two times now!”

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1645448 by Not Available.

Excerpt: High school was one of the memorable chapters of my life. I’ve had so many first times during those times. The most remarkable was the first time I fell in love.

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This item number is not valid.
#1645406 by Not Available.

Excerpt: When I smelled the all too familiar scent of his body, it was early, while I waited for the coffee to brew. I was turning on my computer. I knew something had changed in the air between us. Almost two-thousand five hundred miles of space had shifted and it spoke to me - an olfactory message ran through me as fiercely as the winds that blew across Lake Champlain.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1631300 by Not Available.

Excerpt: Little Johnny never went into the basement. His parents had never told him no—had, in fact, tried to get him down there many times. It was the basement itself that kept him out. It was more of cellar than a basement, really: dirt walls lit by a single bare bulb; a dirt floor; a decayed wooden door, always locked, set into the back wall. The rickety steps leading down were only just usable, with the nails and screws coming loose everywhere, and the old, rotting wood beginning to crumble.

"I Hate Early Morning Visitors" Open in new Window. (13+)
Lou Ryan, 1930's Private Detective, in the Windy City.
#1387741 by Ẃeβ࿚ẂỉԎḈĥmas Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: "It's my wife, Estelle. She's been acting kind of cagey lately. I am afraid she is mixed up in some unsavory business. I want you to follow her and find out what it is."

 The Antique Pitcher Open in new Window. (E)
This is a short story about a crystal pitcher that was given to me by my mother-in-law.
#1645080 by Victoria Oliver Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: One piece that won’t get rotated, though, is the antique cut-glass pitcher my mother-in-law gave me. It is incredibly beautiful, even though it has a hairline crack down the side, and there are a few small chips on the top. You really can’t see the flaws, and I can’t use it because it would leak, but it is still beautiful as a display piece. What is more beautiful, though, is the story of how I got it. Really, how my mother-in-law got it.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1595586 by Not Available.

Excerpt: Were they asked, Those who did not know him well, which was just about everyone, would tell you he was one of the meanest men they had every met. They would warn you, “Stay away from that one. Draw a wide berth. He’ll kill you quick as look at you.”

 Tasks of a Codependent Open in new Window. (13+)
My mother died yesterday. At 1:04 pm. That’s when the paramedics pronounced her...
#1623682 by Cindy Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: My mother died yesterday. At 1:04 pm. That’s when the paramedics pronounced her, but she was dead well before that. She was cold when I found her. Her head had rolled back and to the left. Dark brown eyes stared straight ahead and a spot of drool crusted on the side of her gaping mouth.


 
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Ask & Answer

This month's question: How do you use real life stories in your writing?

Last month's question: What natural elements are your favorites to use in writing?


Bakhtawar Author IconMail Icon replied: Hello! My personal favourite is wind, it can be used in so many different ways! as well as fire as it symolizes most of the human acts. passion, love, hate, desire to achieve something, desire to prove what you really are to the world.

And thank you very much for these informative letters, they are of HUGE help........Rythemic Beats!

NanoWriMo2018 Into the Earth Author IconMail Icon responded: Symbolism is really a great way to strengthen your writing. thanks for this helpful NL!

andrewyue Author IconMail Icon sent a reply: Wind is good for me,because I am in the mainland, in my place, there is not exsit storm, so wind is good. The air is nesesary to me, because I want to survive, but the air in my place is not good, because the air is very dry. In my place there is a big earthquake happen last year, higher than Haiti.


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