 Short Stories: December 23, 2015 Issue [#7386] |
  Short Stories
This week: Holiday Inspirations Edited by: 🦄🏳️🌈Sapph  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to share my personal thoughts and ideas of what can make (or break) a short story. In doing so, I hope to inspire new, creative stories and to help short story writers improve their craft.
Today's Topic
Holiday Inspirations |
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This time of year is typically a pretty good point to set a short story and it's something that we see quite a bit of. Whether there's someone at a family Christmas get together or co-workers at an office New Year's party, this time of year is an inspiration for coming up with story settings and plot points. That's one of the problems though, isn't it? Since it's so common, we know what to expect and there isn't always that much branching out from the norm.
I'm a fan of always pushing yourself to do more, be more, and follow what you want to do with your life. This is something that can be taken into stories that are set around the holidays. How can you make this story more than what we expect it to be? What if you were to write it through a holiday tradition that is different from your own? That would give you a look at something different and a fresh twist on that holiday topic because you've never done it before. You could flip the holiday and make it opposite day where everything is exactly the opposite of how it should be with your character being completely confused.
Now, I'm not saying that going traditional is always the worst thing because it is tradition for a reason. There can be something said for a story that follows those norms while bringing a new spice to the old story that will invigorate your reader. The only thing is that it should be done in a way that will keep them engaged and wanting to continue reading your story. If you're following the norm and it's the same old thing as usual, then it's not being successful and is falling into the rut.
There are a number of ways to be able to bring inspiration into your stories from the holiday season but it is an art to be able to move away from the common writing of the holidays and bring something new to the table. What kind of stories have you written or read that do this? This is something I would like to challenge you to do with a holiday story, whether it's for yourself or for a contest. What kind of inventive holiday story can you come up with this year?
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My question for you this time: What are some stories you've written or read that put a twist on holiday inspiration? Are you willing to give it a try if you haven't done it before?
Question from before in ("Short Stories Newsletter (October 28, 2015)" ): Have you ever created a mindmap for a story before? Would you ever give it a try?
blunderbuss replied: Many thanks for the newsletter. That could be a useful tool. Most of the planning for my stories goes on in my head and I usually jump straight in over mulling it there for a while. But although I have the beginning and the end, the middle isn't so easy. So, a storyboard like the one in the newsletter could be just the way out of that 'sticky' part!
Patrece ~  replied: I think mind mapping is an awesome tool. I have never used it for writing, but would definitely give it a try. It can be super helpful in many areas of life! Thank you for sharing!
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