  Short Stories
This week: People are Strange Edited by: Shannon  
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Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week.
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"People say I make strange choices, but they're not strange for me. My sickness is that I'm fascinated by human behavior, by what's underneath the surface, by the worlds inside people." ~ Johnny Depp
My brother's wife recently had a falling out with her business partner. It's my understanding the two women have been friends for years and recently opened a coffee shop together; a few short months later they were at each other's throats. "What happened?" I asked my brother. He snorted. "She's psycho! No, seriously. She's a nutjob." He wouldn't go into detail, but his comments got me thinking: isn't everyone a little crazy in their own way?
Last weekend I spent an afternoon in the park, perused Barnes & Noble for a few good books, went grocery shopping for the week, and explored the mountains on my 4-wheeler. Everywhere I went I saw "strange" people doing "strange" things: in the park, a man repeatedly paced the same stretch of grass while talking to (and answering) himself; in the bookstore, where there's an unwritten rule to be quite as if you're in a library, a woman sang snippets of different songs based on words she'd overheard in other people's conversations (e.g. when someone mentioned what a beautiful day it was, the woman sang the opening line of It's a Beautiful Morning by the Rascals); in the grocery store, as I shopped aisle by aisle from the dairy department to the produce section, I meandered behind a woman who picked hundreds of things off shelves only to return them seconds later before leaving the store emptyhanded; while riding my quad in the mountains, I came upon a couple picking berries in the nude.
When I see things like this I wonder Does that man in the park have a place to sleep? Does that lady sing in response to other people's conversations every day, even at work? Is the woman in the supermarket penniless? Does the nude couple live up there somewhere and always walk around naked?
When I'm driving home after work I wonder where all the other motorists are going to or coming from. Did they just attend a convention? Have dinner with family? Attend a funeral? Get married? Get divorced? Visit a friend in the hospital? Observe your surroundings. Ask questions. Imagine What If.... How can you incorporate what you find in your writing? Attribute it to a character? Mold it into a scene, a chapter, a story?
Inspiration surrounds you. Open your eyes to the possibilities.
"Looking in the mirror is very strange; we see only what we choose to see, good or bad." ~ Bonnie Langford
Thank you for reading.
P.S. Every registered author who shares their ideas and/or creative endeavors relating to or inspired by this week's topic will receive an exclusive trinket. I will retire this month's limited-edition trinket at 11:59 p.m. WDC time on Tuesday, September 4, 2018, when my next short stories newsletter goes live.
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I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. I occasionally feature static items by members who are no longer with us; some have passed away while others simply aren't active members. Their absence doesn't render their work any less relevant, and if it fits the week's topic I will include it.
Thank you, and have a great week!
|  | Parasite (13+)
A mother suffers from extreme postpartum depression, has strange thoughts about her son.
#1418443 by wiggy  |
| | "UNGH!" (13+)
A Family Reunion Around The Christmas Dinner Table Takes A Strange Turn
#2021019 by Angus  |
| | | The Doctor (ASR)
A strange little tale about a strange doctor living in a strange time. Hmm, how strange.
#886588 by Thomas |
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The following is in response to "Inspiration, Please!" :
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Warped Sanity  writes: No wonder you became a writer, Shannon. I'm sure there was some crazy bad stuff that went on in your growing up, but on the positive side with little entertainment, you had to be more imaginative.
In many of the stories I write, the personalities of the character's match people that I know or once knew in real life. And, well, horror can be therapeutic where this is concerned because you can get revenge without going to jail for it.
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Quick-Quill  writes: Your NL intrigued me. While my folks were not survivalists, they had same ideologies your folks had. We had no TV, didn't go to movies, dances or plays. My parents did allow us to go to Disneyland right after it opened, because my uncle paid for it. I know a lot of the "write what you know" comes from that fundamental upbringing, but also the thirst for a knowledge of life outside that box. "WHAT IF?" is my mantra.
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Prosperous Snow celebrating  writes: Writing about childhood memories, especially the traumatic memories, is called writing therapy or poetic therapy. I have practiced this type of therapy for a number of years, and I know it helps me deal with bad memories. I can't say how well it would work with someone else. I can only testify how something works with me.
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Princess Megan Snow Rose  writes: You asked what inspiring things we could write about. John Dillinger and Al Capone hang around where I live but I wasn't born at the time. John Dillinger would drive by my grandparents house and wave at them. Capone buried dead bodies by my grandparents and they claim there are ghosts there. We have a Swamp Angel from years ago but no body will talk about her. These are inspiring things. I get inspired by Jane Austen, TV Shows and sometimes dreams if I dreamt about something. Sounds like you had an isolated childhood and living in Alaska. There would be intriguing stories there. I get inspired by legends and scary stories and haunted houses. I am inspired. This is a good newsletter. I will be thinking about Alaska.
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Bikerider  writes: Hi Shannon. I enjoy reading your newsletters, and this one was a great subject for a newsletter. While my childhood was no picnic, it didn't involve the kind of isolation you describe about yours. I have written only a couple of stories about my early life, mostly during my time in the army and Vietnam, but I have written several stories about my grandparent's life, especially my grandmother whose life ended tragically. Your newsletter has inspired me to dig into past memories and come up with a story or two.
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BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful  writes: Sometimes another author's story can inspire you. Another writer over on Deviant Art, whom I follow, started writing stories about werewolf police officers. This inspired me to recycle an interactive, which was supposed to be about the Devil and God going on vacation in Las Vegas that went nowhere, and restart it as an interactive were alien werewolves show up on Earth. I hope some brave soul will add to it.
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Jeannie  writes: My childhood was nothing like yours, Shannon. I really felt sorry for you and your siblings on losing those beautiful pets you lost, because they angered your father on their minor misdeeds.
Living in Alaska, your family really had to learn to be self-sufficient. This made each of you stronger as you grew up. Yes, you should write you memoirs on your family life. It sure wouldn't be boring! I really admire your mother, she gave you and your siblings the best life that she could, never realizing you were poor.
Your summer camp experience was so different from mine, too. I have happy memories of making new friends, lots of laughter, and learning how to do things together such as swimming, boating, and other team games. Whoever headed up the summer camp thought you needed to beware of certain things that do happen such as watching movies about people being beheaded for not denouncing Christ.
This could be why your father and mother thought Social Security Cards were the mark of the mark of the beast. Most parents love it when their child wants to get a job. I know mine did! Your parents had their reason and stuck to it, mostly out of fear of the unknown.
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dragonwoman  writes: I have written several stories and a couple of poems about things that happened in my family. I have toyed with writing something lengthy about my childhood, since I'm one of seven children. Tentatively called "I'm The One In The Middle" then of course, there are my years as a military spouse.
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Jeff  writes: I have a hard time drawing on my past for inspiration for my writing, mostly because I had a pretty uneventful upbringing. I suppose in that sense it would be ideal fodder for literary fiction where the characters are dealing with existential issues like wanting more out of their life or dreaming of a more exciting life somewhere else... but self-reflective literary fiction isn't really my thing. Of course, that's not to say that I don't draw little bits and pieces of my background and tweak them to fit the types of things I prefer to write! 
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Lilli 🧿 ☕  writes: I also enjoy book recommendations! I'm going to pick this one up today! It sounds interesting and I love reading memoirs! And from the looks of it - you should write yours!!! Captivating NL! Thank you!
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Trish writes: This is a wonderful newsletter. I especially enjoyed the story about growing up in Alaska and the hardships during that time that you really didn't notice were hardships at the time. I grew up poor, but because of my wonderful parents, I wasn't aware of it and had a wonderful childhood. I will look forward to your next great newsletter.
Trish
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Being Diane writes: I must admit most of my writing comes from personal experience. When something happens in my life the words just flow. I am a natural born storyteller so a novel I'm working on is Northern Born but Southern Bred. This comes from being born in Detroit, MI and my grandmother and mother being reared in the Deep South, Mississippi, and Alabama. Life is full of experiences and I can also draw stories off of great friends and the many enemies I've helped in life and they've let me down. I will place in the novel, the names have been told to expose the reality of the characters.
I want to tell you this newsletter is so good and I enjoyed reading everyone's opinions on how they get their ideas. I haven't thought of my dreams but that's a real plus to me. I am going to start again the morning pages I did from a book I read for my Creative Writing class in college. Keep up the great work. This Newsletter is a saver. Diane
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Short Stories: August 08, 2018 Issue [#9038]
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