Short Stories: July 17, 2024 Issue [#12645]
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 This week: You Do You
  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

This newsletter aims to help the Writing.com short story author hone their craft and improve their skills. I would also 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



Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

You Do You

We all have different passions in our lives. And of course, some of those passions are reflected in our writing. Some of those passions are very...passionate!

Luckily, we belong to a site that allows us to express our passionate writing and display it for others to read and review...as long as we rate the item correctly and follow the site's terms of service These are rules you agreed to when creating an account in our community. Even long-term members should give this agreement a read, once in a while. It is listed as Terms of Service at the bottom of every WDC page.

Tons of short stories are created every day on our site, providing us with endless reading. You might not enjoy every topic or genre, and that's okay, you're able to filter out what you don't care to see. Not interested in the 18+ type of stories, okay...filter that out. You can do so in your Account Settings under Content Rating Blocker.

If you're open to viewing all that's offered on the site, jump right into the "The Shameless "Plug" PageOpen in new Window. and see who needs eyes on their items. Or click the Read And Review link in the Community fly-out list in the left column. Those items offer nice gift point incentives for you to build up your gift point bank by offering awesome reviews!

Remember, if the content isn't something you enjoy or find distasteful, just move along. No need to write a hateful comment or review. It's not fair to yuck on someone else's yum. You can always review for grammar and storylines. Either way, it's great to keep active on the site and help other members.

And as always, Write On!

Leger~

This month's question: Do you review content you're not personally fond of? Send in your answer below! *Down* Editors love feedback!


Editor's Picks


WDC Site Contest for July
 
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Rhythms & Writing: Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. (E)
Use the music provided to inspire your writing!
#2002964 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

Music prompt: "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs

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Let's Hurt Tonight Open in new Window. (13+)
Don't walk away, don't roll your eyes; if this love is pain...
#2320665 by Amethyst Angel 🍁🙏 Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: An old flame. How had he acquired this photo? As far as I knew, he owned nothing from his years in foster care. I smiled to see Pierre happy, his curly sandy hair and kindly green eyes as sweet twenty years before as they were still. I'd never seen a picture of him from those days.

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Motherlode Open in new Window. (18+)
Mattí and her German Shepherd try to survive in the aftermath of the final war.
#2115320 by Dee Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Mattí burrowed into the rubble with the same skill and effort as a dog burying a bone. Her calloused hands moved over the top of one another, while chunks of debris flew over her shoulders in puffs of dust-laden clouds around her.

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Little Ships Open in new Window. (ASR)
The miracle of Dunkirk is remembered by an old survivor.
#1616299 by JACE Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Like the American general, Douglas MacArthur, I had returned. The fog of old age could not stem the memories that rose in my mind, like the tides on a beach south of Dunkirk almost seventy years ago. I experienced a lifetime in those few weeks they called the miracle of Dunkirk.

 Human Can Feel Open in new Window. (13+)
Out of Control Congrats! Your story won today's issue of The Writer's Cramp!
#2323601 by THANKFUL SONALI Library Class! Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: I couldn't think why I'd volunteered for this, but maybe I just wanted to make a good impression on the Principal. Being the junior-most teacher in the school isn't easy, and one has to grab every opportunity one gets to shine.

 The Big Diners' Club: Jack Open in new Window. (18+)
Jack finds true love, and his body finds its true destiny, in a small town dining club.
#529853 by fat_hiker Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Scanning the main street on his second pass, he suddenly saw a place he'd not noticed the first time: it seemed only to be 'a hole-in-the-wall', slotted between an Ace Hardware and a bedraggled five-and-dime store, but the door bore the inscription "Big Diners' Club." An odd choice for a name, the young business counselor thought, as he got out of his old Chrysler and straightened his dark tie.

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The Harmony of Silence Open in new Window. (13+)
The silent ones come to raid the orchard.
#2290623 by J.B. Ezar Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: The silent ones came to the orchard at the ferret’s hour.

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Sunlight on Treetops Open in new Window. (13+)
A chance for romance at the Texas Renaissance Festival.
#2139326 by Satuawany Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: I tugged on Judas's arm, but when I reached for Ash's I missed. I caught it the second time, and nodded toward a woman outside one of the shops. “If I were going to garb up some year, that's the kind of thing I'd wear.”
Fake leaves in orange, red, and yellow danced through the girl's hair, twisted around her torso, and twined down all four limbs. Judas looked at the girl longer than necessary; Ash looked at me. “You'd be cold.”

“I'd just wear more leaves.”


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How to Create a WdC Will/Succession Plan Open in new Window. (ASR)
Don't let your contests, activities, interactives, MBs, etc. die after you do-Rehome them.
#2280691 by Schnujo's Doing NaNoWriMo? Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: WHAT A WdC Will or Succession Plan is a written plan in your port to let SM know what to do with the items you've left behind when you have passed away or left the site due to a permanent illness or injury.

 
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter!
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

This month's question: Do you review content you're not personally fond of? Send in your answer below! *Down* Editors love feedback!

Last month's question: What kind of technology do you use in your stories?


Joy Author Icon: Love this! Like your mother, I don't "cell-phone" speak, either! I bet my kids --who aren't kids for being in their fifties-- would be so shocked if I started to. My cell is only a year and a half old, so it can do many things, but I use it very sparingly. I only check WdC on it, when I'm about to go to sleep at night and away from the computer. You're right, however, in that our stories have to grow in tandem with the technology. I guess mine will have to wait until my next lifetime.

Samuel Max Author Icon: My main character of my story is one of the only characters who uses a cell phone besides one of his other family members, but only on rare occasions; so while I in my daily life do use a cell phone every day, he instead only uses his phone to call or text sparingly.

brom21 Author Icon: I primarily write fantasy. So, there is not much technology. I have tried my hand with sci-fi a few times. The first one that comes to mind is when I used an interdimensional travel device. I kind of mixed my main genre with sci-fi when the device was actually pulling in angelic beings into the apparatus itself. It was interesting to try sci-fi for a change, but there must be some factual background to write sci-fi. With fantasy it is basically letting your imagination run wild. lol. Thanks for the NL!

MikeDK Author Icon: I write historical fiction, so I have to ensure that the technology I use is common during the period I am writing about.

Cadie Laine - gobble, gobble Author Icon: Right now in my stories the characters have cell phones but interact with each other more personally. Eventually, they may text or "be on their phone" more but right now the phone is out.

Beholden Author Icon: Your latest NL is particularly relevant for me because I never managed to get into the cell phone thing. My wife has given me one of her old ones but I only use it to find out what the weather forecast is - and I have a perfectly good computer that does the same for me anyway. So it's rare for my characters to have cell phones - I'm not sure I know enough about them to hand them them out to everyone I invent. If I have to (as in Tut's Cell for instance), I check the details with my wife. Can't be making silly mistakes in such a well known area, can I? ;)

Timothy Otto Author Icon: I don't text at all. I have a cellphone and a landline. The cell is for emergencies. -Tim

The Puppet Master Author Icon: usually just stuff that's common nowadays. Computers, cars, cell phones, unless its a period piece. Then I use stuff common to that era.

Allan Charles Author Icon: For some reason, I keep putting chips in peoples’ brains. *Laugh*

Amethyst Angel 🍁🙏 Author Icon: Depends on the era. I use phones and such as a way to anchor a story in the real modern world, because I'm impatient when it comes to "world building" or setting.

s Author Icon: I try not to be too specific, but mobile phones, computers, GPS, Internet, gaming systems, security systems and SMS have all appeared in my stories.

The reason for a lack of specificity is that it can date a story. Having general and generic items can exist in the 21st century and not s certain clutch of years.

Unless, of course, I am setting a story in the 1980s. Then anything goes. Commodore-64! IBM-486! New CDs! Laser discs! Woo-hoo!

cenvil Author Icon: I'm a fantasy lover.
Especially my worlds mostly don't use tech as they have magic to do it all.
So tech is hardly something that I worry about.
Though I do wonder about introducing some tech from and ancient civilization in one of my novels :)

oldgreywolf on wheels Author Icon: As appropriate.

BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful Author Icon: Depends upon what technology level the society is at. Might stick with Medieval level stuff, might go Modern, of Futuristic, or even a mixture. Then there's the post-apocalyptic stuff.

Mouse says gobble gobble Author Icon: all kinds..... In one of my stories I wasn't going to use cell phones then figured out that it would be easier to just let them have it

Mr. Mans Author Icon: well, in my universe(s) Technology is legit anything. believe it or not there are people who haven't even gotten past the stone age, while the neighboring country is far past our tech, into floating buildings and robots with sentient minds. I like it this way because I can add lots of diversity and different interactions.

jackson Author Icon: Mostly, Just the technology of common sense for the time period in which the story takes place. My characters are the common people of the time in which they live. They use the tools available to them, but basically, they rely on their wits to survive.

Detective Author Icon: It depends on when the story’s set and occasionally the genre. I try to at least have the technology that would be the most logical for the story.

deemac Author Icon: Where a story prompt allows me to choose an era, I much prefer the extra challenge of a time when communication was more difficult than today. For me, that provides more opportunity for intensifying relationships and heightening drama.

TheBusmanPoet Author Icon: Off the top of my head, I don't think I do. I can't recall ever using any.

Indelible Ink Author Icon: I prefer to wallow in ignorance and stick with the Stone Age (pre-cellphone)

GeminiGem🐾 Author Icon: I wrote a Sci-Fi story, once. It has some made-up technology in it like space transports, chips in brains, dog-to-human speech translator modules. That last one was my original idea, at least as far as I know. There aren't usually many dogs in Sci-Fi stories, are there?

Other than that, I usually avoid technology in my stories, although I'm not sure it is on purpose. I might mention driving/riding in a car, but that's about it.

bobconstable: Depends on the setting.

Jaycin Alexis Author Icon: I find myself writing in modern times a lot so of course I use modern technology, assuming this means like electronics and whatnot. However, I've only kind of made one story and I'm working on another one so maybe I'll use different technology in the new one.

Thanks to everyone for your responses! Leger~

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