 Short Stories: September 11, 2013 Issue [#5876] |
  Short Stories
This week: Alternate Endings Edited by: Shannon  
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Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week.
Read on for your chance to win a 25k awardicon and merit badge of your choice! |
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It's happened to us all: after spending hours, days, even weeks reading a book we come to the end and shout, "What! Are you kidding me? It can't end this way!" We feel cheated--robbed of our time and our trust. "If I'd written this story, I'd've...."
On September 7, 2013, Sean Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's grandson, appeared on NPR's To the Best of Our Knowledge to discuss his new book, A Farewell to Arms: The Hemingway Library Edition. Ernest Hemingway said he'd written 39 alternate endings to his classic novel, but Sean found a total of 47 in his grandfather's paperwork. Many people are dissatisfied by the book's conclusion, but Hemingway believed it to be the best possible outcome for his story.
I'm rarely 100% sure of how I will end a particular piece, and there have been times I wished I could rewrite the ending of other people's stories. I've even toyed with the idea of writing alternate endings to some of literature's most famous (and infamous) works of art. What if Holden Caulfield got the help he needed and became a counselor for troubled teens? What if Isherwood Williams really wasn't "the last American"? What if Count Fosco had survived the assassination attempt? What if Dorothy never returned to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry? Writing an alternate ending or final chapter for someone else's work forces you to ask "What if?" and it's an excellent exercise to practice in your own writing.
Here is your chance to rewrite history, literally. Most of us are familiar with the classic novel Lord of the Flies. The book's twelfth and final chapter is titled "Cry of the Hunters." I want to pretend that chapter doesn't exist and it's up to you to come up with a satisfactory ending for William Golding's masterpiece. You game?
Your story must be:
 Newly-written for this contest.
Rated 18+ or below.
2,500 words or less. Word count must be provided at the bottom of the item.
Received by me no later than 11:59 p.m. WDC time on September 25, 2013. Create your entry as a Static Item and keep it in your portfolio. Email me the item ID number in bitem format and write "Contest Entry" in the email's subject line. For help using the bitem format, please refer to "Newbie Hyperlinking 101 - Bitem Format" [E].
Edited only until the deadline.
Any entry not following these rules will be disqualified.
Only one entry per person, please.
I want the transition to be a smooth one. Your short story must be a logical extension of and conclusion to Golding's novel, but I also want it to stand on its own so that someone who has never read Lord of the Flies and doesn't know this is an alternate ending would think it's just another short story. I know it's a tall order, and that's why I'm offering a 25k awardicon PLUS a merit badge of the author's choice to the winning entry.
Good luck, and thank you for reading.
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I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. Please do the authors the courtesy of reviewing the ones you read. Thank you, and have a great week!
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The following is in response to "Short Stories Newsletter (August 14, 2013)" :
dragonwoman  says, "You've inspired me, time to google my own hometown and see what comes up. For a start, anyway." Yay! I'm glad you found the NL helpful. 
An apple a day....  says, "I've often heard the expression, look around you for a story, but never related it to the history of the area. This is a great idea and one I will have fun trying since I like history and research  . Thanks, Shannon." Thank YOU! I hope you share what you find with the rest of us (in story form, of course). 
WriterGirl88  says, "Thank you for the inspiration this week, Shannon! I've been wanting to write stories about the area I live in, but I guess I didn't think it was interesting enough. Now I'm going to Google to see what I can find!" Awesome! If a story results, please submit it to the NL so I can share. 
Quick-Quill  says, "Oregon along with Plaid Pantry (7-11 type place) have printed playing cards with information of unsolved crimes in the Portland/Vancouver, WA area. Each card has a picture of the victim and a description of what happend or where they were found, including addresses. It's a great idea, I just bought the 2nd edition (I didn't know about the first). My sisters tell me this is fodder for stories or a book. Who knows, I wrote one Novel about an unsolved mystery." Ooh! That sounds like a veritable wellspring of ideas! A little morbid, and I'd use caution so as not to offend or further hurt the family members, but it sounds like another tool you can add to your toolbox. 
PandaPaws Licensed VetTech says, "That is a wonderful idea about researching things around you. I have always been a Civil War history buff and now I am trying to write poems about it. There is a world of knowledge surrounding us... all you need to do is open your mind! Maybe someday I will write a historical fiction piece!" Yes! That sounds amazing, and I'm glad you liked the newsletter. 
shaara says, "Great idea for creativity. I often pick up one of my Science News magazines. Their articles always set me down a new path. But to research crimes in my state. Maybe. I wonder if there have been any local alien sightings????? FOFL" You never know! Stranger things have happened, I'm sure. And for the record, Fire in the Sky scared the bejesus out of me. 
brom21 says, "I agree with you that stories can come from anywhere. I personally find a ton of creative material from the Bible. All that content about angels and heaven makes for great high fantasy. There is also good stuff to write from in the classic stories like the Garden of Eden and Noah’s flood. C.S. Lewis did a great job in using this method of creating. I live in Las Vegas near area 51 which is a gold mine for alien/government conspiracy type stories. Stories about the old West are also born from old Nevada. Simple things such as photographs are good inspiration as we all know. Thanks for the knowledge!" Yeah, Area 51! I lived in Beatty, NV for about 18 months, so I've seen Area 51 (or driven by it) many times and always wanted to check it out but didn't feel like getting shot in the process. LOL Thanks for reading! 
glynisj says, "Shannon, I've been to Idaho, although it was just to speed through it on the highway going from Seattle to Denver. I'm going to have to take a closer look at your state. I didn't realize that so much has happened there." It's a pretty popular place with more going on than one would expect. You should come visit sometime! It's beautiful here. Thank you for reading and commenting! 
The following is in response to "Short Stories Newsletter (September 12, 2012)" :
werden says, "I have another take on your story. The way I see it, the woman was just as much fault as the man. Did she really need to call him on his remark? To call him an a$$ in front of 6-7 strangers? Would not the better thing to do is simply let it go? Was she perfect? Did she never say anything stupid in her life? If so then that would be a story in of itself.... you meeting the only perfect being in all creation. Was she his wife? Girlfriend? Or just a woman who happened to respond to a comment made by a man she didn't even know? What would the man's response be if he read this story and knew who you were talking about? Could he be a participant on this website? Was his remark really worth all this? After all he was simply shooting the breeze? Did you ever say anything that was brain dead and wish you hadn't later? I am sure you have. We all have." It's been a year since I wrote that newsletter, so I had to reread it to find out why you're so upset. I smiled as I did because I remember that night well. As it turns out, we ran into the man the following morning. He and the woman (who turned out to be his wife) approached my husband and me while we were outside cooking breakfast. They apologized--first the wife for "running us off", then the husband for "saying anything that might have offended you". I said, "There's nothing to apologize for, but ... I'm a writer, and the slave conversation gave me an idea. I'd like to use it in a newsletter due later this month." They asked what the newsletter would be about, and I said it would be a newsletter reminding other writers to pay attention to their surroundings--to make what they see and hear their own and incorporate it into their own work. They agreed as long as no names were used, and we shared a cup of coffee together.
All that being said, I think you missed the point of the newsletter, which can best be summed up by its final paragraph: As writers, words are our livelihood. Pay attention to not only the words you use in your stories, but those that come out of your mouth and the mouths of the people around you--especially the ones that make you cringe. Do you agree? Disagree? Why? Can you use them in a story? If nothing else, listening closely to the cadence of conversation will make you a better writer when it comes to writing dialogue.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. 
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