  Short Stories
This week: About a Guy 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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"Do you want to be right or do you want to be married?" ~ Esther Perel
My favorite stories are character studies, or what I like to call "Just a story about a guy (or gal, as the case may be)": Olive Kitteridge, A Man Called Ove, The Goldfinch, Gone Girl, All the Light We Cannot See, Everything I Never Told You, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, The Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar, Madame Bovary, Lolita, The Invention of Wings, Stuart: A Life Backwards, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, The Girl on the Train, The Book Thief, Ender's Game, Middlesex, Flowers for Algernon, A Gentleman in Moscow, You, The Collector, Into the Wild, Of Mice and Men, The Interestings, Labor Day, Atonement, A Week in Winter, Memoirs of a Geisha, Wonder, Room, The Girl with All the Gifts, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. These are but a few of the books I've read or reread in the past couple of years that fall into this category.
I finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine yesterday, and it really got me thinking about relationships. Actually, relationships have been on my mind a lot lately. I think it all started a month or so back when I began listening to a podcast titled Where Should We Begin? by Esther Perel, a relationship therapist with over 30 years experience. Each podcast is an audio recording of an actual "unscripted, one-time couples counseling session." In a two-day period, I binge-listened to every available episode; it's compelling stuff, and I wanted to hear more.
I visited Esther's website and am still working my way through the videos on her YouTube channel I'm fascinated by the variety of problems people suffer each and every day, oftentimes for years on end, and how these problems chip away at the very foundation of their relationships.
Character studies in the form of short stories, novels, and films speak to us because we relate. We feel their pain and want them to overcome. We're invested, all-in, and we want them to succeed. When I listen to Esther's podcast I'm reminded of my own relationship experiences and those of people I know. Like us, her clients want to feel connected, needed, heard, understood, valued, seen, loved. As writers, our job is to convey what that looks like on a day-to-day basis and over a one-year, five-year, or twenty-year period.
"People cheat on each other in a hundred different ways: indifference, emotional neglect, contempt, lack of respect, years of refusal of intimacy. Cheating doesn't begin to describe the ways that people let each other down." ~ Esther Perel
Have you written a character study? Does your protagonist struggle with a lukewarm marriage and/or infidelity? Does past abuse affect his current relationship? Can she overcome? What does his typical day look and sound like? What is she thinking? Share your thoughts and stories with me and I will include them in next month's edition.
Thank you for reading.
P.S. Everyone who shares their thoughts and/or creative endeavors relating to or inspired by this week's topic will receive an exclusive trinket. I will retire this month's limited-edition trinket at 11:59 p.m. WDC time on December 26, 2017, when my next short stories newsletter goes live.
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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 world lost its colorful luster when she realized he wasn't a real boy...
#1212440 by iKïyå§ama  |
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#1418032 by Not Available. |
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#1321394 by Not Available. |
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The following is in response to "The Story Within" :
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Princess Megan Snow Rose  writes: Somewhere in time is a movie I would love to see and the same with the book. This will be on my to do list. I enjoy time travel and thank you for sharing. I like the girl with the earring painting. I read this story a long time ago. Great newsletter and I am glad I found it.
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QPdoll is Grateful  writes: I like the picture thing, too, except I kind of do that in real life. For example, if I'm out at a restaurant and see an older couple, I think about what their life must be like. What did it use to be like? It kind of adds to my woe of getting older, though. But to think what they might have done with their lives is intriguing to me. To see their hands and wonder about the work they've done. I wonder what they were like when they were younger. Luckily, I've never been caught looking at them.
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Lilli 🧿 ☕  writes: Hi Shannon!
What a great newsletter. Somewhere in Time is a favorite of mine as well... such a love story!
After reading your newsletter, I realize that I have been doing that very thing you describe. I look at people, objects, and isolated incidents and build stories around them. When I lived in Washington DC, I would spend hours in the art museums; swept away into far off places and eras.
Thank you for your newsletter, I enjoyed it!
Kindest Regards,
Lilli
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Dartagnan  writes: I have always loved the art of Frederic Remington. The old cowboys, the Native Americans, the worn out looking horses and bucking broncs. The faces of the old Cowboys could tell a million tales. There were so many other who's art I enjoy like Toulouse-Lautrec. The faces all hide stories that need to be told and can be told in so many ways. Wonderful topic. Thank you.
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bellowsface writes: Hi,
My first time responding to a newsletter, be gentle.
Having read the latest newsletter and being told how a picture draws you to ask for, or see the story behind it i can feel a something in common with this. For me though it has to be a special picture something that grabs me at the time of me looking at the picture. I used to keep a writing ideas file and i have cut pictures out in the past from magazines stuck them to a piece of A4 and wrote my ideas on them for later development. When i have been struggling for ideas and i'd get the file out sometimes i would look at these pictures and the notes by the side and think what were you thinking? I couldn't see what had inspired me in the first place. So for me pictures do fire my imagination but i find that i need to write what i feel and see then, or i lose the muse so to speak. I feel certainly in my case mind and eye are one for a brief moment then poof, the magic is gone.
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willwilcox writes: Yes, the story-within, that is exactly what makes writing so fun for me.
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Sum1's In Seattle  writes: Shannon,
I never cease to be amazed by what can inspire me to write something. While a photograph has never done it for me, I have to confess that I've never looked closely at one. But I have one of my brother, taken five days before he died from Cancer, and may work on something based on it. Thank you for sharing this, I always look for new ways to find something to write.
Jim
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Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: Pictures! Movies! How I love both. I think my favorite contests are those with picture prompts. They inspires me the most. And I love movies because I love to put my own characters into the different scenarios to see what they might do. Yes, a bit of fan fiction, I suppose. But it's fun to imagine and create. But those scenarios also help me to create my own individual worlds down the line for my characters. Sort of like watching events around the world and a bit of historical fiction. So much fun!
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eyestar~* writes: VEry cool! I love that movie and its concept! It is interesting how photos or paintings can lead us on a merry dance...or not. I find some pics draw me in more than others so there is something for every taste!  Thanks for sharing the Ted link too. Inspirational editorial as usual!
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BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful  writes: Sometimes you have to wonder.
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GaelicQueen  writes: I find pictures on Pinterest interesting and short stories will come to mind. I use them often for picture prompts to leap into a story.
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Osirantinous  writes: Somewhere in Time sounds like my kind of love story! I'll definitely check it out; love that time/history doesn't stop us! I think I might be slightly the opposite though - rather than seeing stories in the pictures, I see my characters in images and I've been known to buy old photographs or portraits that bear resemblance to them. I love the thought that someone long ago 'is' my character.
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dragonwoman writes: I have always been drawn to "The Scream" but have yet to use it for inspiration for a story although some of them involve a certain amount of screaming on my part :}
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brom21 writes: My favorite paintings are ones of scenery, particularly undersea worlds. I also like pictures of space and clouds. They give me fuel and nostalgia to draw up fantasy pieces-my genre of choice. I often create stories about heaven and other dimensions and realms from such pictures. I loved the subject of this newsletter. Thanks.
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Bikerider  writes: I saw the movie, Girl With a Pearl Earring, and now I'll look for Somewhere in Time. Like you, I like old photographs of people, like the one the camera zooms in on at the end of movie, Moonstruck, an photo of an old couple obviously taken in 'the old country,' as so many immigrants call the country they left to come to America. As for the wrinkles, I see them each morning when I shave. Just sayin.
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Jeff  writes: I really enjoy delving into the stories behind paintings. One of my favorite topics in the art history classes I took in college was analyzing which famous works were done out of artists' own inspirations, and which ones were commissioned by wealthy patrons. I found the ones for wealthy patrons fascinating, especially when there was intrigue or a larger story behind why the family had it commissioned, or how the artist worked something into the commission that the patron didn't ask for. 
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wrightmaster writes: Sometimes I have had ideas for storylines from objects, like the fossil I found decades ago on a deserted beach in Scotland just by letting my imagination wonder about what that creature had seen etc. Other times from images of places or people I might get snippets of ideas. :)
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LinnAnn -Book writer  writes: I realy liked somewhere in time too. The ending was so sad, watching him die. Fortunately a happy ending. lol don't you just love those?
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CJ and Muse writes: I love old photos too... got some really nice ones from Mum when she went to an estate sale, they were tucked into a cigar box with some odds and ends. As a kid I loved looking at my great grandma's old pics of the family and town, the family has been in the area for 100 years or so, facinating how things change, how people lived. Really should dig up the pics... Thanks for the read
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Beacon's Anchor  writes: I just read newsletter and I am going to watch Somewhere in time. Now can I have the trinket please.
thanks
Stacie
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ruwth  writes: Shannon,
Evergreen trees...
The story I have included here [see submitted items below] is a 55-word story about the day I spread my father's ashes under a large evergreen tree on the college campus that had been his home for many years. From that day to this, I see trees differently. From that day to this, I see trees...
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River writes: The editor's picks are fantastic this month! I'm going to be busy reading and reviewing! As always, this is a good newsletter. 
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Jayne  writes: Excellent piece on finding the story in an image. I do the same thing, but of course not with every piece. And every now and then one doesn't so much intrigue me, it more or less weirds me out and I want to have nothing to do with it. It's rarely the same ones other people don't like, so I have no real explanation for it. Those would probably be good horror stories!
I also paint, and for me it works the opposite way as well - a word or a sentence can trigger a visual story in my mind that I can also lay down on canvas. It's nice to have both mediums to work in.
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~ Aqua ~ writes: Wow - what an interesting topic!  I have to admit, I have never seen at photographs with the eye of looking beyond it. I am not much of a person who likes to watch portraits and photos for long time, inspecting them closely. I see them from far. However, I do this with the fictional characters that I really love, they can be from movies, seasons, anime, manga etc. I make up stories about that, with them. It's fun!
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sindbad  writes: This is a nice and nostalgic take on things that we cherish and have very intimate attachment to. I agree with your views, and feel such things are no more available in today's time. Overall an elaborate and interesting article you have here.
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dragonwoman writes: I am particularly inspired by old pictures, especially those that are somewhat macabre. A group I belong to on Facebook,'Bizarre, Peculiar, Odd and Strange' is particularly good for my writing in that way. The pictures often include a write up about the subject, but if I think I want to use it to write something, I don't read it.
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HWinB.C. writes: I like this Newsletter piece. I have always been intrigued about time travel, even as a child. The mainstream science tells us it can't be done, but I disagree. If they were to say, it shouldn't be done I could find the statement more agreeable.
There has been a plethora of time travel stories since the late 20th century and the 21st century has included the science in which it can be accomplished. The first two shows at the top of my head are Fringe and Continuum. After watching shows like this, it makes me ponder if the evolution of technology traveled from the future back to our time, instead of us moving towards the future.
The technology world tells us "the future is now" as everything gets plugged into an A.I. and our environment is augmented by the Internet of Things which offers to plug humans in as well. Facebook is offering glasses for 100 dollars to plug into its site in a virtual world.
I wonder how we, as writers, will fictionalize a virtual world.
HWinB.C.
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Short Stories: November 29, 2017 Issue [#8584]
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