This week: Kindle Creativity 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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"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you."
~ Anonymous
Writing.com Support says "Doing something different can often help inspire something new in you!" One of my favorite things to do on this site is enter contests, especially the official contests: "Journey Through Genres: Official Contest" [E], "Quotation Inspiration: Official Contest" [ASR], "Short Shots: Official WDC Contest" [ASR], and "What a Character! : Official WDC Contest" [E]. Granted, it's been a while since I entered any WDC contests, but for years they were one of my favorite things to do on this site. They challenged me to think outside the box by using a quote or a photo as story inspiration. And they had a deadline, which forced me to write, edit, and submit a 2000-word short story in 31 days or less. In short, they made me a better writer.
Today I'm going to share a few ideas I've used myself to stoke the fires of creativity and rekindle the imagination.
Vintage Photos
I love vintage photography: daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes des visites, cabinet cards, antique handpainted photographs ... there's something fascinating about seeing the faces of persons long dead – a little glimpse into their lives and loves.
I'm sure we've all heard of Ransom Riggs and his famous book series that started with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, but did you know the books were inspired by old photographs?
"Mr. Riggs’s attraction to haunting photographs eventually became the catalyst for his first novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2011), a surprise best seller, whose plot was inspired by the dozens of vintage snapshots featured in its pages, which add to its uncanny atmosphere.
"It was in 2009 that Mr. Riggs, a graduate of the University of Southern California’s film school, stumbled on a trove of vintage snapshots at a flea market and felt the stirrings of an obsession."
Just like contestants who participate in "Short Shots: Official WDC Contest" [ASR], Mr. Riggs used photographs to build stories filled with magic and wonder.
Google "vintage photographs" for a shot (sorry, I couldn't resist) of inspiration.
Oddities
What do 3D pavement illusions, bleeding trees, parasitic wasps, fake lawyers, 21-year-old chickens, and brain embolism-inducing hickeys have in common? Well, they're all true stories that can be found on Oddity Central , of course!
They say truth is stranger than fiction. Browse the articles (there are currently 745 pages with 15 items per page). Click on the titles that most interest you to read the whole story. Who knows, maybe one of these truths will inspire you to write truly amazing fiction. 
All That's Interesting
This site is one of my favorites; it has a little bit of everything: paintings that are allegedly haunted, this day in history, amazing archaeological finds, breaking scientific news, and true crime from around the world. All That's Interesting boasts "something interesting to read every day," and they deliver. You're bound to find something here to spark your creativity.
Atlas Obscura
This site is also one of my favorites. "An explorer's guide to the world's hidden wonders," Atlas Obscura takes readers around the globe to discover its most obscure mysteries. To start, scroll all the way down the site's main page. It's loaded with things like "The Loneliest Road in Every State in America," "False Crypts of Brashears Cemetery," "Paranormal Roadtripper's Nightmare Gallery," and "The Magic Spells That Herded Medieval Bees." Click on "Search the Atlas" (upper left) and type "place of the day" to see featured stories and places. Sign up for one or all of their newsletters (daily newsletter, weekly newsletter, Gastro Obscura twice-weekly newsletter, Atlas Obscura Courses newsletter, and Atlas Obscura Small Group Trips newsletter) to get a daily, weekly, or semiweekly dose of the obscure. If you can't find inspiration here ... well, you're just not looking hard enough. 
Vintage Newspapers
Chronicling America is a digitized vintage newspaper site that's free to the public. Maintained by the Library of Congress, the site encourages users to "Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1770-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present."
From the main page, you can click on any newspaper title, which opens a new page. On this new page, you can click on "All front pages" (middle right of the page) to see every front page of that newspaper that is digitized in the archive. Click on any front page then the + sign to zoom in enough to read.
It's a pretty amazing resource and a veritable treasure trove of ideas.
Have you used any of these sites as inspiration? Do you have a story you'd like to share with the WDC community? Every registered author who shares their ideas and/or creative endeavors relating to or inspired by this week's topic will receive an exclusive "Halloween 2023" trinket. The image used to make this month's trinket was created by yours truly. I will retire this month's limited-edition trinket in December when my next short stories newsletter goes live.
"Everything you ever wanted is one step outside your comfort zone."
~ Anonymous
Thank you for reading.
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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!
|  | The Building (13+)
Curiosity gets the better of me as I noticed a strange building in downtown Seattle.
#1559221 by Riot  |
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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The following is in response to "Life Is Just a Fantasy" :
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Madelyn Silver & Gold Stone  writes: Thank you for this newsletter! I love fantasy novels and Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors. I had no idea about these videos, thank you for linking to them. I've always admired that he was the one chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series and I believe he did an admirable job of matching his style to Robert Jordan's to finish that epic series. It was his set of Mistborn books that first opened my eyes to weaving together science and fantasy (in my opinion) for how he chose to showcase the characters' abilities. It inspired me to look further into my own fantasy projects to see how I could push the limits of what I thought I knew of 'magic' and how it could be handled.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  writes: I have a lot of fantasy items.
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Sunny  writes: Great newsletter.! Full of information, helpful, and is a keeper. I really enjoyed your newsletter.
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Jeff  writes: I love the fantasy genre. Lately, I've been reading a lot of books with different magic systems in them, and I've always had a particular affection for epic series that span multiple books. My favorite fantasy series in recent memory are The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (the first book in the series is The Name of the Wind), and The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence by Scott Lynch (the first book in the series is The Lies of Locke Lamora).
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sindbad  writes: Hi, Shannon. "Life is Just a Fantasy" is indeed an informative piece that also reflects the mindset of great and famous authors in the field of fantasy and the motivating crux in their work. All this conflict and creativity in the realm of fantasy is so very well expressed. sindbad
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In response to "Science Fact" Elfin Dragon-finally published writes} Hey, I'm back from a long hiatus. And man, will the Saudis ever stop creating weird stuff? The Line reminds me of movies like "The 5th Element", "Priest", and "Dredd".
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In response to "Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction" Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: You think we're barbaric today and wonder where we got it from. Now we know. Of course the barbaric medical practices remind me of a scene in "Star Trek V: The Voyage Home". The crew had gone back in time and was in a hospital trying to find Chekov. He also thought our methods were barbaric.
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Princess Megan Snow Rose  writes: I enjoyed this newsletter. I love fantasy. I have written about unicorns, mermaids, vampires, dragons, fairies and anything supernatural. I love Lord of The Rings and anything fantasy. This newsletter is a good reference and has a lot of supernatural, fantasy elements. This holds the reader's interest. Thanks for writing this.
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In response to "Life Is Just a Fantasy" tj-Merry Mischief Maker  writes: “The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”
— Tom Clancy
With this in mind, I have to assume fantasy then has to be more like reality.
I enjoyed the newsletter, thank you.
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In response to "Life Is Just a Fantasy" the last cicada  wrotes: The Wilderbeast
I entered this story to World Weavers' Championship
World Weavers' Championship
I'm highlighting World Weavers' Championship because it seems to fit the Short Story Newsletter's Fantasy theme. WWC covers World Construction and Conflict (have to be believable). WWC also focuses on developing older stories. I had to go through my portfolio to find one that fit the rules which I have to say actually put a smile on my day in that I found one so old that, while reading it, I was surprised by my own story  Talk about dusty.
Thank you for the Newsletter. I hope my comments reach you safely.
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Short Stories: October 25, 2023 Issue [#12233]
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