  Action/Adventure
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Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The Carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality
~Emily Dickinson
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die" - a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
~Mark Twain
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October is the month of Halloween, of goblins and trick-or-treaters. A topic closely related to Halloween is death. In this issue, we will discuss writing short stories relating to death, but maybe from a different perspective than the normal season ponderings.
Death affects people in many ways. The prospect of facing death alters a person's life, often radically. No doubt, the horror/scary stories written for this season give a vivid description of the types of horrifying death and the terror involved. For this newsletter, I want to focus on how the prospect of ensuing death or the aftermath of the death of another can be the inspiration for a story.
We have often heard it stated that we should write about what we know. I think this is good advise. Often, there are stories waiting to be written from our own experiences or from the experiences of people we know or have known or even from the places we have lived.
Small towns are a venue for good stories. In a small town, everyone knows the history of a house, whereas in a large city, few people may be familiar with what happened in a neighborhood in the past.
I once lived in a small town a few miles from the city where I now reside. Before I moved into the house where my family resided, a woman was killed in the driveway of that house during a party. She was slain by her husband who then drove out onto a country road and committed suicide. The house where the couple lived was a few blocks away from the house where I resided, and it was believed that the ghosts of the couple dwelled in that house. The people who moved in after the deaths of the couple told many stories of voices and movements within the house. To make the prospect for a story even more inviting, recently my daughter and her family moved back to the small town - they are renting the house where the ghosts were once reported to reside.
I can also recall another experience where the death of another had bearing on me. Well, it wasn't really a death, but at the time it seemed real. I had a dream one night that I opened the trunk of my car and found the lifeless body of a man. The dream was so real that for days, I was afraid to open the trunk of my car. When I finally mustered the courage, the trunk, much to my delight, was empty.
Sometimes, the death of another can bring good experiences. I remember a pastor of a church I once attended relating his experience. He had recurring dreams of running through the fields with his deceased father. In relating the dream, he described the view of what he believed to be Heaven.
Many of us have similar experiences or have heard the stories of those who faced imminent death or the possiblity of death. Similar experiences do not always affect one person the way they may another. These experiences are stories waiting to be written from a personal perspective. Now, we need to write the story. Here are some tips for beginning a story that I have found in my research.
Go with the flow
You have a great idea for a story, but you can't get past the first sentence. Eventually you just give up or forget it. Don't let that happen. Once you have an idea for a story, just go with it. Write it down or type it up as soon as possible. Get down as much as possible, just let the inspiration flow. If you can't think of the first sentence, just write down what you'd like to happen at the start, or even just put down a reminder to work on the start later, and get down the parts that you are thinking about. Go as detailed as you like in some parts, or just use point form. The more ideas you get down, the more easy it is to keep your story on track, and you'll have reminders of your ideas there for later on!
http://www.legendofzeldaseries.com/main.php?page=writingideas.html
Editing is not writing. Editing is an essential part of the publication process (and these columns would be horrible if not for the stellar assistance of my long-suffering editor <name deleted here>), but it's not writing. Always do your writing first. Edit at the end of the day, after you have accomplished your writing goals. When you edit, make changes on the spot. Don't wait until tomorrow and try to decipher your notes, and don't waste your precious writing time for a new day making changes to something you already wrote.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/fb/20050104a
Editing is very important, but write down the storyline first. I usually edit my stories several times after the first write. In some instances, my edits have been mere revisions, while other edits have been complete rewrites. Once you have the storyline down, you can begin sharpening the story.
Remember, as a writer, you have a great resource - your imagination. Be creative when you write the story. In death, not all facts are known. You have much freedom to be creative. Today, with access to online search vehicles, the research for the topic of death is readily available.
Death evokes many emotions - from fear, for some, to joy for others. The aftermath of death also brings a variety of reactions and responses.
For the action/adventure writer, these are stories waiting to be written, for all of life is an adventure. Most of my action/adventure short stories touch upon the topic of death in some way, for death is a topic that involves all of humanity in one way or another.
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Here are some stories relating in one or another to the topic of death.
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Read the following stories, but please do not send a review. The stories were written by a member of Writing.com who is now deceased. For a greater appreciation of his stories, you may also want to read his bio-block.
A new contest to encourage reading WDC Newsletters:
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https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Larry, a brilliant editorial on writing about young people. You made some excellent points I had not considered before.
Thank you for an inspiring read!
Puditat
Puditat  
Great Newsletter, Larry! Now I am excited about your new Tread Barefoot Contest - I might just give it a shot!
Keep up the good work!
Countrymom
COUNTRYMOM-JUST REMEMBER ME 
Just to say Thank You for including Bald Billy's Leg in this weeks newsletter. Your comments and consideration are greatly appreciated. I hope you and others will find enjoyment in all of my works. Peter Yule. (Have you read Another Kind of Cat?)
Peter Yule
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Action/Adventure: October 24, 2007 Issue [#2027]
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