This week: Ack! I'm Bleeding! Edited by: Leger~  
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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~ |
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Ack, I'm Bleeding!
This newsletter is based on the thought process of building a short story. My daughter has a business doing horror and special effects makeup. She's done a few films and during October, does a LOT of horror makeup for Halloween parties and Fright Night amusements. One year, a man wanted to be a minotaur and went to her house early on Halloween morning to get his makeup done for a huge office party/competition.
While looking at still photos of all her creations, I started to think about the creative process involved in morphing a human into something else. Obviously...you need a plan. A plan as to what you want the person to look like when you're finished and then plot the necessary steps to get there. That plan is much like a story outline, you need to have some idea of where your story is going, then break down the sections of your story arc into steps needed to reach your goal.
For horror makeup, you need to create special effects like cuts and bleeding. Of course...lots of bleeding. So the treatment starts with building the edges of the cut (introducing your characters), then coloring the wound (building the scene), and then finalizing the look with makeup and realistic paint and blood (plot and story arc). During each step, more of the story becomes realistic to the reader. Then when it is all put together, it comes to life in a story.
Next time you have a story idea, think about turning it into a big bloody cut. 
This month's question: How do you construct your story? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Official Site Contest for October
The task is simple: Write a short story using the image prompt above as inspiration!
October 2024 Prompt: When Technology Goes Wrong
My chatbot is an axe murderer. There, I said it. No, don't hang up on me, dammit, like the local police did. Don't you have people for this kind of thing, a Mulder and Scully for AI and whatnot? I heard what I heard and I saw what I saw. No, a chatbot can't pick up an axe, but you just can't trust those new VR goggles the firefighters are using, and when there's love involved - even the strangest things can happen. But I'm mixing the whole story up. Here's how it started....
This is a Flash Fiction Contest for Horror.
Octobers PROMPT: What does it mean to you to say that God exists or does not exist?
Looking for something to get your creative juices flowing? Look no further than here. What a great contest!
Excerpt: It all started somewhere deep in the roots system leading to inner earth at a busy junction, where shops and vendors tried to hook travelers into one scheme or another. Sap crystal pods, filled with high paying elite citizens, sped overhead and continuous moving foot traffic flowed nearby.
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Excerpt: Krieg took to the air for his nightly rounds. The heavily armoured dragon had been elected vigilante of these mountains many years ago by the by the flights that lived there. He took his job very seriously. Especially at this time of year.
Excerpt: There were few children brave enough to darken the doorstep of Widow Byrne’s house. Fewer still who dared approach on Halloween night. Brother and sister act, Micky and Tessa O’Donnell, whose reputation as general ne’er-do-wells was well-earned, were two such rare souls.
Excerpt: Quite some years ago my wife Marsha and I were able to rescue our son’s birthday cake in a manner that would have made George Peppard and the “A-Team” pretty darn proud. |
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This month's question: How do you construct your story? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Short Stories Newsletter (September 11, 2024)" question: Are you preparing for a busy upcoming holiday season?
N.A Miller  : not much into Halloween... detest a lot of turkey and hate the commercialism of Christmas. I kinda let it pass me by and not takes much notice of the holidays.
Religiously I pay attention to Jesus' Birthday but that's as far as it goes.
gabbie : With a fixed income, it's going to take some doing to prepare for the holidays. My Mom, God bless her soul, made a small cookbook with her recipes in it and gave copies to her church friends and they never said "Thank you". I have no wish to give handmade presents for my friends. An Amazon giftcard will have to do. My closest friend lives a few hundred miles away. It's the age where a note of appreciation will be acceptable.
THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  : I'm trying to be! 
TheBusmanPoet : Nope. Just hoping my wife is still alive to give thanks for us being together still. Holidays mean nothing without your health.
oldgreywolf on wheels : I prepare for Veteran's Day, so I can avoid the packs of morons.
JACE  : I believe I explain my approach in my latest item: "Are You A Procrastinator?" [E]
Kile Johnson : Not really, no.
Jellyfish needs more hours  : Yup - Holiday season starts in September for me - with Greece to start next weekend and then Morocco in November!  . I don't like Winter but holidays make it bearable! 
Jay O'Toole  : Yes. Always. That’s where I live.
The Puppet Master : Yes. Shows, holiday stuff and my parents' 50th wedding anniversary
Charlie Davis : Does my birthday count?
Dragonfly : My most dreaded time of the year. I can jump from October 1rst to January 4th, by passing it all. It would be a dream come true.
Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful responses!   |
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Short Stories: October 09, 2024 Issue [#12774]
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