 Short Stories: December 19, 2007 Issue [#2129] |
  Short Stories
This week: Edited by: Ms Kimmie  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
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
Short Story writing, while it can be engrossing, frustrating, and sometimes difficult, is still, through the good and the bad writing, fun. If it wasn't, we wouldn't do it. The more you learn about your medium and how to play with it, bend it, twist it, and make it come to life, the more fun it becomes. In this edition, the Editorial will give you ideas on how to strengthen your writing. The Editor's Picks section will highlight related stories from authors who have captured the essence of the topic and whose stories can serve as added inspiration in your own storytelling. Lastly, the Ask and Answer section is where you get to voice your opinions or ask questions on anything to do with short story writing. And don't forget to submit your own stories for consideration in upcoming newsletters.
Have fun! 
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Reflections
Another year is drawing to a close. Now is the time when festive stories of the holidays abound. The temptation to feature such stories was strong, because I completely adore Christmas. I love the carols, the movies, the decorations, and saying "Merry Christmas!" to everyone I meet. I enjoy the lead-up, the busy malls, finding just the right gifts for everyone on my list, and the satisfaction that comes from completion of goals.
But--this time of the year brings not only joy and lightheartedness with it, but also serves as a time of reflection. Another year is coming to a close and with it, an assessment of how the year played out. Was it what we hoped it would be? Was it better? Worse?
Reflection is fodder for writers. It can inspire creative, fictional stories, or it can be impetus for true stories. As most of you know, "short story" doesn't necessarily equal "fiction." Many short stories are true stories. They can be funny, painful, inspirational, or serve as warning. They can warm our hearts or give us spine shivers.
Time may pass without our active awareness of it, but soon Dick Clark's protégés will be counting down the seconds to the one time of the year when we collectively acknowledge Time's journey. When next I write a newsletter, it will be 2008. It'll be a whole new year, a fresh start, and will bring with it, an opportunity to start those things left unstarted, finish the unfinished, and remind us of how far we've come. We writers can reassess our approaches to writing by penning new stories with old perspectives, old stories with new perspectives, or jumping off literary limbs that once seemed out of reach. We can be our best and worst selves through the stories we'll tell, and it all begins with a little reflecting.
I hope you'll take this opportunity to reflect, write stories, fiction or nonfiction, based on what you've learned about life, about yourself, and about the world.
Enjoy the festive season and this golden opportunity for self-reflection from your writerly perspective.
Ms Kimmie
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Next month, I will be featuring true stories, and fiction based on true tales. This month, I leave you with, as the song goes, "a few of my favorite things." The following are stories I've read over the past year, and that stood out from the others in how they were written, how they made me react, and how they made me feel. I loved reading these and I hope you willl too.
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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!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Michael Matthews 
I'm real new here so please bear with me. The reason I joined this [site] is that I have written three fictional short stories. The first won third prize in a community college writing contest, the other two need help but I seem to have lost my touch. How do I get you to read the stories and get your opinion (I'm tough, I can take it...I hope). Honestly, I'd like to know from those in-the-know, if there is any hope for this small-town, country-boy (not John Walton, jr.) I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for your help in this matter.
Good question. There are various ways to garner feedback from the Writing.Com community. Make good use of the drop-down menu at the top left of your screen. Take a look through it, familiarize yourself with the various areas and you'll find all sorts of treasures. There are lists where you can post your latest story and announce to the world that you have a story to share. There are forums that offer reviews, contests you can join where hosts, fellow contestants and the curious will find your work and offer you feedback. You can review the works of others and they in turn may review your work. The possibilities for exposure are boundless!
However, the first thing you'll need to do is upload a story. If you click on the "Getting Started" link at the very top left of your screen, you'll find the tools that will walk you through the basics of getting your stories onto the site so you can reap the benefits offered by this wonderful community of writers.
In response to the October edition on sentence structure and pace.
kelly1202
Great newsletter, Kim! I enjoyed reading it and have printed it off for future reference.
katherinerose
Thank you Kim - I really loved your newsletter. I am putting you in my favourites. Looking forward to your next article.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and more importantly, were able to use the information. It's a good feeling when you look at your work and feel good about what you've written. If I can help in that, I'm happy to do it!
Zeke 
I agree, sentence structure is absolutely vital to a successful story. Machine gun sentences denote action while longer explanatory ones denote suspense in many cases.
The editing reviews are where most of us can polish our sentence useage.
Thanks for the reminder.
Zeke
Thanks for your reminder, Zeke, that editing reviews are valuable tools in writing. People don't waste time reviewing work they don't enjoy on some level. Knowing that and then applying the solid suggestions offered by peers can help writers build good stories into great ones.
Strange Wulf
I already use that difference in flow when I'm writing. I'm not sure if it's instinctive or something I just picked up (maybe both), but it's proved useful.
However, one should also note that you can use this to create the opposite effect as well, at least in the longer parts. It's a bit like going into "bullet time" and slowing things down immensely. You pause in the action to note details that, considering what's going on, the hero probably shouldn't pay attention to. It's a lot like the scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" or "We Were Soldiers", slowing things down when the action's intense.
When done right, you might not relieve the reader's tension at all!
I agree to an extent. Balance is essential and knowing when to change the pace can be critical to the success of a story. You reminded me of the movie Hunt for Red October. I saw it in the theatre when it first came out, and that movie was instrumental in teaching me about the value of pace. There is one part, near the end, when the tension is built up to such a great extent, I was, literally on the edge of my seat. And that tension went on -- and on -- and on some more. I couldn't take it. I was as taut as an overly-stretched guitar string and as close to breaking. I couldn't handle it, and finally let out a deep sigh, sat back and removed myself emotionally from outcome. I don't think that was the effect the director was aiming for, but it was inevitable because the scene had been stretched to breaking. Had it been just a minute shorter, I could have stayed engaged and enjoyed the climax but the build-up was overdone. That's where pace comes in!
Vivian 
Thank you for a newsletter concerning using correct sentences. Too often, when I'm reading something, I cringe because of the convoluted sentences that confuse the reader. ~~ Viv
Bernie Thomas
Man ... I loved your narrative here. Took me back to my own campfires as a child.
Well done.
Bernie
faithjourney
Thanks for the newsletter on storytelling. I thank my granddaddy for me becoming a writer - it was through listening to his stories of days during WWII that gave me a love for hearing, and subsequently telling, stories. I hope with the Internet we are spreading this tradition around the world!
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the article.
I would like to take a moment to address a reader's concern about citations and editorials. I can't use this person's name, or any direct quotes from the email because it was sent to me privately. However, this reader was quite upset that I didn't properly cite my sources when writing the article on sentence structure and pace. Dear Reader, there were no citations because I didn't use outside sources. As an editor out in the world, most of my work is in academics and non-fiction. In such writing, citations are an essential part of the work. However, when writing an article based on your experiences, and gleaning from teachings from Elementary school through to Senior High and College, and from observations in life, there are usually no specific books to be cited. I didn't quote anyone else's writing. I didn't steal the ideas of another writer. Rest assured that when I obtain information for my articles from someone else's work, I give credit where credit it is due. In this case, as there were no outside sources used, no citations were necessary. Thank you for your concern, and for the inadvertent compliment that my writing is professional enough in your estimation that I must surely have used some other expert's voice. Now, Dear Reader, you can put your mind at ease.
Happy Holidays Everyone, and Write On!
Ms Kimmie
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