  Short Stories
This week: You Had To Be There Edited by: NaNoNette  
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| Hello short story writers and readers. I am NaNoNette , and I will be your guest editor for this newsletter. |
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You Had To Be There
Is it ever okay to tell a reader "You had to be there."?
The writer is responsible for telling the story.
A few years ago, I read a story here on Writing.Com that was written by a newbie. I chose to read and review his item based on one of the newbie welcome activities, so I felt compelled to write him a review although I would have normally not stayed long enough in his piece of writing as it was quite unclear what he was writing about.
In the story, the basic premise was something funny that happened in a bar. That's about how much I got from the almost 1,000 words in the story. Trying my best to write a polite review that was at the same time not lying about the quality of the writing, I sent a review with a one star rating.
In my review, I told the writer exactly why the story was only worth one star. I pretty much highlighted every single area where I was unsure what he was describing, where the people in the story were in relation to each other, and also his spelling and grammar needed a lot of fixing.
He took the one star and the critique well. He went back and worked on the story. This is really a best case scenario for someone who just got a very critical review. A few hours later, he emailed me and said he worked on his story and if I would go back and read it again.
So I did. I read the whole thing again.
He fixed all of the spelling and grammar issues that I mentioned in my review.
He added a little detail here and there.
I still didn't know what HAPPENED. Meaning, his story still made no sense the way it was written. There simply wasn't enough detail, description, or anything that I could visualize.
Unhappy with the result, I increased my rating to two stars and sent him a second review that the story still wasn't a story or even a scene.
His reply after that second review was, "You had to be there."
I don't think we continued our conversation about his story after that. "You had to be there." is not a story. It doesn't help me, the reader, to know what it was like to have been there. It's the writer's job to write in a way that those who weren't there get a glimpse of the events through the eyes and words of the writer.
Because, could you imagine a newspaper that was filled with articles that said, "Something happened in the White House today. You should have been there." ???
When you write, remember that:
 your reader does not know you.
your reader does not know your family.
your reader does not know your sense of humor.
your reader WAS NOT THERE.
It is your job to create a short story from a scene from life, or from something you made up out of your own imagination in a way that your reader THINKS THEY ARE THERE.
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| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1843406 by Not Available. |
| | | Invalid Item
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#2091302 by Not Available. |
| | | I Am the Storm (18+)
Her forest is diseased, her memories are lost, and her companion is not what he seems.
#2091150 by K Renée  |
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#2086788 by Not Available. |
| | Going Back (13+)
A shaft of April sunlight broke through the clouds, bathing his head in sudden warmth.
#2090755 by deemac |
| | | Invalid Item
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#2077791 by Not Available. |
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For my last Short Story newsletter "Complete Your Short Story" , I got the following replies:
Quick-Quill  wrote: I found a class in the Horizons Academy teaching the steps to turn short story writers in to novel writers. I've taken the class a few times so once wasn't enough.
Those classes are great! The Horizons Academy is a great benefit to this site. |
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Short Stories: August 03, 2016 Issue [#7774]
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