  Short Stories
This week: What Are Your Stakes? Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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This Short Stories Newsletter is dedicated to readers and writers of short fiction and to those who want to know more about the art of telling big stories in small spaces.
This month:
What Are Your Stakes?
Simply put, what do your characters have --or want-- that's worth fighting for? There's always something... |
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Stakes.
No, not steaks!
Every story has them, and recently I've noticed, in my own work at least, sometimes it's easy to either lose track of the scope of the story and its implications, or to muddle through and hope that the conflict within the story was adequate to fuel the thrusters forward into the resolution, but sometimes it doesn't come together as cohesive as we might like.
What are stakes, anyway? For lack of a simpler way to put it, the stakes of your story are like the poker chips your protagonist has on their end of the table; they're assets, resources, ways of life... in some ways these things can be intangibles which can be hard to describe precisely outside of the context of the specific story you're trying to write. They're what your character has to lose if he should fail at his goals or objectives, if that makes sense. If the protagonist does not prevail, what happens?
An interesting way to implement a little self-assessment of your stakes is to apply them to your antagonists as well. Giving your main characters' enemies some skin in the game helps keep conflict believable. It's easier for your readers to buy into a story where the main conflict is two characters whose motivations are operating at cross-purposes, and the conflict this tends to generate is the kind that is beautiful and complex.
Another thing to consider with the assessment of stakes is the scale of the story. Keeping stakes and story goals proportionate will lead to the most balanced stories. If it's a heartwarming story about a team of grannies rallying to rescue their beloved neighborhood bowling alley, the livelihood at stake is minor, but important to the characters; what these characters have to lose is their status quo. An action adventure story where the hero is trying to restore a lost amulet to the volcano temple before the Lava God awakens will have a different kind of stakes; trying to prevent a natural disaster from devastating the entire island? A detective story where a private eye is stalking the trail of a serial killer will have possibly his own life as well as the life of the killer's next prospective victim on his hands.
When a short story isn't quite clicking for you, one of the things to consider is what lies in the balance for your characters. Too much, and the story becomes melodramatic; not enough, and the story becomes a yawnfest. It's important for your readers to feel like they have, well, a stake in the outcome as well.
Until Next Month,
Take care and Write on!
~jay
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This Month's Picks!
A great article on character I found while browsing around, have a look!
Here are the winners and Honorable mentions from the May and June runnings of the Dialogue 500:
May Winner is:
Honorable mentions to
June Winner is:
Honorable mentions to
And a new round due August 31st is posted as well:
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https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Feedback from "Where DOES the Time Go?" :
Mark Allen Mc Lemore  writes:
Yes, Cracked.com, going there now! Thanks, Jay... Wait, what was the point of this NL again? Time management?
Hahahaha. 
Leger~  writes:
Bahahahahaha! You're such a procrastinator!
Me? Well, uhm...yeah. I'll get to it!
It's amazing how all the little details in life can suck away perfectly good writing time. No matter how boring your day seems, folding laundry wants to take precedence over writing! Giving yourself even 15 minutes a day can feel so productive. It's just a matter of forcing yourself into doing it. Like flossing...who likes flossing...but do you want gross teeth? No.
Floss after writing.
seriously, it's the little things that get me every time. I have a bad habit of letting things pile up without really managing them, and then when one of those pileups tumbles I have to scramble and catch the rest. I'm working on it, and I'm better about it than I used to be, but MAN, sometimes things are difficult. I recently bought a Bluetooth keyboard for my phone and I am getting more done because I can actually type there! I keep it in my shoulder bag and during down time and lunch breaks I can get things written.
ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy writes:
Procrastination is such a sin..."for all of us have sinned" as writers. You have given some very practical ideas. One more: set a weekly goal for writing. The Storymistress is now running a paying challenge for one week's goals, then tell if you accomplished it; at Writing.com General Discussion. 1000gps for writing those goals to her. I've found weekly goals cause me to get the proofreading, rewriting tasks done faster. Thanks for driving us to write. ANN
Yeah, SMs's Goals posts are really great-- I hope you're staying motivated!
Turkey DrumStik  writes:
"Listicle" is an awesome word, and I must use it often.
That said, do you have any suggestions for balancing writing time and work? That's been my biggest time/energy suck this first half of the year. Nothing like suddenly taking on new responsibilities!
C'mon now, how long have you known me?  Balancing work with everything else is basically my daily failure. If I figure out any way to do it beyond just forcing myself to forge ahead, it'd be cause for celebration.
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Short Stories: July 24, 2013 Issue [#5803]
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