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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/11983
Short Stories: May 24, 2023 Issue [#11983]




 This week: Geek Pride
  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


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Letter from the editor


Geek Pride Day


It's an actual day! I found this and couldn't resist sharing it with my WDC community.

The first Geek Pride Day was organized in 2006 by Germán Martínez, a Spanish blogger. The internet and media attention helped the holiday grow. In 2008, the U.S. began celebrating Geek Pride Day. The holiday celebrates the evolution and growth of geek culture worldwide, embracing the hobbies and interests geeks hold dear. From anime and manga to building gaming PCs and painting figurines, geek culture has entered its golden age.

Geek Pride Day is celebrated on May 25 every year. This international holiday promotes the culture, hobbies, and interests of geeks worldwide. Once a niche movement, geek culture has gone mainstream, thanks to its contribution to popular culture. In recent years, the world has seen increased media based on comic books, novels, role-playing games, tabletop games, video games, and even trading card games. Obscure things like cosplaying are now part of everyday life. These things were seen as childish and sometimes downright shameful in the past, but not anymore.


Who is a geek? Well according to the Oxford dictionary, a geek is a person who is knowledgeable about and obsessively interested in a particular subject, especially one that is technical or of specialist or niche interest. "a computer geek" That term could cover a lot of interests, couldn't it? When an author gets deep into a story and spends a lot of time writing it, are they a writing geek?

Think about it, and Write On.

This month's question: What kind of geek are you? Send in your answer below! *Down* Editors love feedback!


Editor's Picks

WDC SITE CONTEST
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What a Character! : Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. (E)
Create a memorable character using the given prompt for huge prizes!
#1679316 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

Character Prompt for May 2023:
An opsimath is someone who begins to learn or study only late in life.
Write a story about an opsimath of an unusual field or subject matter.


 
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Good Deeds Get CASH! Open in new Window. (E)
Write reviews to win cash prizes!
#1908150 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

You can do a good deed by reviewing any qualifying item* on Writing.Com and you might win! Enter as many times as you want to increase your odds of being selected as a prize winner!

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36 Amateur Writers' Mistakes  Open in new Window. (13+)
Aspects of story craft to work on if you want to pro-publish or to sell if self-published
#2245630 by A E Willcox Author IconMail Icon

Few writers make all these errors, but every writer has made many of these mistakes, even if they have since improved and become a best-selling author. These mistakes are fixable and writing is a constant learning process so don't feel bad if you're a more seasoned writer and still make a few of these errors, because no one's perfect.

 
FORUM
Other Worlds Contest Open in new Window. (18+)
Science Fiction Short Story Contest. Closed
#2078460 by A E Willcox Author IconMail Icon

Try one of three different prompts, with some sort of science fiction element integrated into it, and have a beginning, middle and end. Vignette entries will not qualify

FORUM
Hook of the Book Open in new Window. (18+)
Can you write the most engaging opening sentence for a story?
#2293351 by . . . Jeremy Author IconMail Icon

Use the picture prompt below to create an engaging opening. Your opening should be one or two sentences. No more. Any longer and your entry will be disqualified.

BOOK
The One-Line Lyric Challenge Open in new Window. (13+)
A musically-inspired challenge with writing prompts posted twice a month. Prizes included!
#2293321 by Anni Pon Author IconMail Icon

Write a poem or story and incorporate the prompted lyric somewhere in your work, word for word. This can be the opening line, dialogue, character description, whatever you want. Your entry must be at least 50 words for a poem or 100 words for a story. There's no time limit. Your work doesn't have to be related to the song at all, as long as you include the prompt. Part of the challenge is to see how you can reinterpret and work the lyric into your own work. Take the line in a new direction and get creative with it!


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2289166 by Not Available.

Excerpt: The Temporal Integrity Commission was established in the early 1950s using technology recovered from the 1947 Roswell Crash. Its primary mission was to protect the timeline from both accidental tampering and malicious attempts to change history.

Until a security breach in December 2022, it was the US Government's most closely guarded secret. The NSA dispatched an agent to conduct a thorough security audit at the facility. As part of this audit, the agent was granted access to mission files that did not go according to plan.


The Ghost In My Mind Open in new Window. (13+)
A person faces their biggest fear. Will they survive?
#2283554 by The Puppet Master Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: I have a confession to make: There's a ghost in my head. He won't let me go anywhere or do anything for fear that I will get someone sick. I call him "Bruno".

 
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Ask & Answer


This month's question: What kind of geek are you? Send in your answer below! *Down* Editors love feedback!

Last month's "Short Stories Newsletter (April 26, 2023)Open in new Window. question: How do you get information into your story without an info dump?


Pumpkin Spice Sox Author Icon: Thank you for writing this newsletter I am in the middle of writing a story heavily dependent on family relationships and didn't have a clue how to incorporate my genealogy charts into the story.

~Lifelessons~ Author Icon: I don't like to dump too much at once. I usually use it in dialogue, memory, emotions, and inner thought. Also connecting the dots along the way with added characters, places, and objects. There are so many ways to allow a reader to read at a pace with information through showing rather than telling.

Siobhan Falen Author Icon: I set my info dump to the side for me. I know why they're the way they are. I know what they like to wear, what they look like, what's happened to them in their past. This is a trick I've only recently started doing but I open up a separate document and throw that all in there. Then I pepper the details into the story, using the separate document to make sure I keep the details straight. By peppering it in, you build a layered character who you get to know and not be overwhelmed by information that may or may not be relevant.

keyisfake Author Icon: Research is best but I do ask questions to people who are experienced in a certain field.

TheBusmanPoet Author Icon: Through observation of everything around me and what's in my heart, is how I get mine.

Turkey DrumStik Author Icon: Really specific descriptions/adjectives can help on this front

Bilal Latif Author Icon: Share relevant information only, in easily digestible chunks, ideally while advancing the story (rather than pausing events to exposit). This helps keep the piece engaging rather than boring or confusing.

oldgreywolf on wheels Author Icon: Edit, edit, edit, until your ms imparts content w/o any buttdragging or WTF? sections.

Lili Author Icon: you don't want to pause the entire story for a description. try adding small details as the story goes on. for example; instead of: "i walked into a room and saw a man, he had a lot of tattoos", try: "as i walked into the room i saw a man standing further away, holding a drink with tattoo-covered arms."
i'm sure there are better ways to put in descriptions, but this gives your writing more flow and doesn't create bumps in the sentences.

Dave Author Icon: Sprinkle, sprinkle in plain veracular.

jdennis01jaj: An intellectual conversation. A scientific observation that precludes a realization of great discovery. An action that leads the reader eventually to discover something that just took place. Never underestimate the reader's ability to play into your hands, and let you lead them to a destination of discovery.

s Author Icon: I drip-feed. Then again, editors have taken some out because it was not relevant in any way to the story, the characters, or the world building as presented.

NaNotatoGo! Author Icon: I try dialogue but avoiding info dumps is hard for me.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

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