  Short Stories
This week: Objects Telling Your Story Edited by: Leger~  
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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.
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Objects Telling Your Story
While the grammar police tell us to keep our adjectives under control, you might want to keep a few in your pocket to help your inanimate objects help tell your story. When your character is banging on a door to get access to the wizard, the door is more interesting if it is rusted and scarred. Your reader can envision your character when his shoes are splattered with what looks like blood. We'll travel along effortlessly with the policeman as he runs, following the bloody footprints in the snow.
The problem is when a writer gets carried away. We all want our readers to see the scene as we imagine it, so we start tossing in adjectives like croutons on a salad and what we end up with is a whole basket of bread. Your character doesn't need to bang on the mahogany, rusted and scarred door with the bent iron handle, unless all those details are crucial to forwarding the story. You might need those details if you're trying to create a suspenseful moment or slow the tempo. I'm guilty of frippering up a perfectly good sentence with a bunch of adjectives. I'm learning to cut down to the lean and mean. Okay, maybe not lean and mean but not so tubby and roly-poly. I go through my paragraphs and highlight the adjectives, then decide if they're meaningful or enriching to the story. If not, I delete them and read the result. If the result doesn't change the story, we're good to go.
So remember, adjectives can be like makeup on a woman, a little can enhance her features but too much makes her look like a clown.
This month's question: What tips do you have for trimming adjectives from writing? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Excerpt: Mommy and daddy had brought him to the museum every Saturday for the past five weeks and every week Tommy got more excited about the place. He was four years old and already knew the names of every dinosaur known to man by heart.
Excerpt: They were fishing off the bank that ran along the Causeway called Water Street, just the two of them, a man and a young boy who could not have been older than five or six. The elder had mastered the art of sport, and the younger looked on in adulation and imitated the mans every move. For it was much more than just fishing.
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Excerpt: Ida and the dogs had gnawed on harness leather for as long as it lasted and huddled together for warmth.
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Excerpt: The deer ran towards me, then away a few yards, back and forth several times before I decided I should follow her. I didn't know if it was a good idea or even really why I had run after her when she finally took off, but at the time I felt like I should, so I did.
Excerpt: Officer Ridley dreaded telling his wife what happened at work. There he was, flashing the cruiser's lights, forcing a man driving a suspected stolen car to the curb, just like any other day. Except two days ago, the Captain announced how dwindling funds affected the ruling on cop safety. No more two officers per squad car.
Excerpt: Thank you so much for the dinner invitation, Aunt Louise. You know how Great Aunt Martha enjoys making her squash pies for our family get-together on Christmas, well, I don't think we'll be able to make it.
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Excerpt: “Rudolph. You’re lit again.” Santa laughed.
“I can’t see where I’m going.” The unhappy reindeer pouted. He was way off course. He’d bump that famous nose into a tree if he kept going the way he was headed.
“We’re lucky to have you on foggy Christmas trips. There's a time to shine and a time to let others do it.” Santa saw his famous friend was quite put out at not being able to run like most other reindeer.
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This month's question: What tips do you have for trimming adjectives from writing?
Last month's question: What do you do to build writing stamina?
StephBee  replied: For me it's about time. I have to have time to set aside. I usually come up with ideas while I lay in bed waiting to fall asleep. Writing down notes and sketching maps, developing character bios help me to build the stamina I need when it comes to actually sitting down and writing.
Quick-Quill  responded: My first works were ripped from my heart. I wrote until I no longer had a story to write. Now I have to drag myself to write. When I do the story seems contrived and forced. I'm waiting for my muse to find me something good to write about. So far my critique group has found fault in my story lines.
Elfin Dragon-finally published  said: hmmm, I have difficulty with writing stamina...as arthritis and other ailments plague me. I'd like to see other people's answers. |
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Short Stories: December 13, 2017 Issue [#8653]
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