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This week: Significant Objects Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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This issue:
Significant Objects
Using different elements to reinforce story development.
How do you use the material significance of objects in your stories? |
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How do you use objects as symbols of change in your stories? I was recently thinking about the first story I ever posted on this here website (for the curious, that's A Normal Guy ! It's uh, a little musty, but whatever.) I originally wrote it in my senior year of high school (and at the time it was posted here, i was still in said class, so.... LOL).
Now, this story was written to a prompt that was specifically about using two objects to symbolize different aspects of the same character, using them to show places of growth or change. In that story, the objects I chose from the options available in the class were a kitchen spatula and a ukulele. I elected to make the spatula a flexible object, much like an actual spatula-- at the beginning of the story, it's part of Neil's wild adventures, and by the end, it's part of Neil's effort and attempts to act his age.
Objects can be used as shorthand for a number of meaningful pieces of information that help us to better understand a character or a scene. Sometimes these are really obvious elements (Chekhov's "gun on the mantle" not withstanding, it is solid advice to make the mentioned props of your story have emotional weight, resonance, and consequences for your characters.) Objects like clocks, watches, or other timepieces can reflect not only the passage of time or history, they can say a lot about the character who possesses them-- is it well-worn? New? Expensive? Objects don't have to be emotionally significant for this to still have an effect.
In addition to character and setting, objects can be used meaningfully to covertly or outwardly express or reinforce themes. Finding ways to use the significance of an object to a character's development can tie into this nicely. Objects could be obvious-- a ruler in a setting about school, say, or a book in a library-- or they could be meaningful for their incongruity with their related scenery. A dashboard hula dancer in a car, for example, could be an incongruous image if the people in the car are driving somewhere that's emotionally distressing or having a difficult conversation neither of them really wants to have. Creating contrasts through the objects your characters interact with is another useful tool that helps create layers of meaning in your work.
How have you used objects in your stories? What sorts of emotional resonance have you imbued into them as a result?
Until next time,
Take care and Write on!
~j
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This month finds me in high gear due to slush season (a hundred and twenty stories and counting, and those are just the ones I'm reading, let alone the dozen other slushers over there!) -- and this has made me curious:
Are there places aside from Writing.Com that you like to go to read short stories? Do you prefer to read what you find here? What great short stories have you read lately?
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Short Stories: September 14, 2016 Issue [#7864]
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