The Short End Part II

Now that you've tried writing a short story from a memory of your life, it's time to add all the technicalities. The next time you write a short story, you'll have these in mind, plus the practice of writing short and you should find a huge improvement from one to the other.

• Make sure your sentences are clear and written as concisely as possible. Your hook should be within the first few sentences, if not the first one.
• Adverbs and Adjectives: If you look at my first ever 'book'(novella length story)every single verb had an adverb, every noun an adjective. I thought it looked literary. Uhm..no. Highlight them in different color than your other edits. If you have more than two colors on each page, you have too much. (A general rule, which of course can be broken sometimes-though I try not to.)
• Passive verbs and Gerunds: Those passive verbs. The ones that tell us the action rather than show it. They are easy to slip in and before you know it you have 'was' 'were' 'had been' everywhere. Yes, sometimes those verbs are necessary. Again highlight each one in a different color than your adverbs/adjectives and other edits. This gives you an immediate visual to go back and see which passives can be rearranged to be more active. The temptation is to use those ING words to cover up passive voices. That's another no-no. Be sure they aren't beginning every sentence. IE: Walking to the door, she.... Spinning in his chair, he flipped over....etc. etc.. 
• Conflict. Every story must have conflict. Even short ones. And in every story, a character must overcome this conflict and perhaps show a change or growth of some sort by the end. The readers needs to feel that your main character is human, then courageous/independent/brave by the end. We all need someone to sympathize with and root for.
• Characterization. The challenge in short stories is that your character's err.. character must be shown immediately and weaved in and out of the story with dialogue and reactions. Unlike a novel, you don't have the luxury of unfolding the traits of your main character slowly.
• Do you have a distinct beginning, middle and end? That is crucial to any story, no matter how short or long. 
• Does each conversation, scene, movement add to the forward motion of your story? Drive your plot home with words that count.

There is a new writing prompt at the top of my blog, feel free to use it-or any of them that I provided. Let me know if you like having that there or if it's just something else to scroll through. :0)

Technical Trudging

Happy Thursday! I haven't been able to get out all week. My car is still sounding funny, despite the few solutions that the court jester has tried to make it sound dignified. After I finally accepted the Universe's odd way of gifting me, I've gotten a lot of writing done. Housework and stuff I was going to organize to make dad's job a little easier.....not so much.

Today, I wanted to talk about technicalities in our writing. Verb usuage, dangling participles, passive voices, adverbs, gerunds, comma's and semicolons; it's enough to make the most intelligent writers doubt themselves. And then don't forget about characterizations, plot movement and setting descriptions. Somehow it must all be weaved together to tell an incredible story.

When I first started pursuing writing as more than a hobby, I found such a wealth of information on the internet, through agent blogs, websites, editor interviews, etc.. I love that we have this ability at our fingertips. But like all things, too much can be a bad thing.

I found myself struggling under the weight of all these rules and technicalities. I would agonize over the "was" in my sentence for minutes before coming up with a better verb. I would delete more than I typed. I went through several months of writing nothing, my brain so intent upon catching every error in the first draft. I found writing to be a hassle, a trudgery instead of fun. I bet you've never had that experience. HA! If you have found yourself in this predicament, stop for a moment and close your eyes. (Ok-you'll have to wait until you are finished reading this post-then close your eyes.)

What made you start writing? I think I've shared before that it was my great grandmother's pride in my little Christmas poem that opened up a world of writing for me. I wrote all day, constantly creating poems, stories and journaling. I loved to write. I loved the feel of the pen rolling across the paper as I put down my words. MY WORDS. I would escape into my own world and write it furiously for hours. Yes, before typing-I would write longhanded for hours.

How did you feel when you were writing? You know what? These two questions are the most important in a writer's life, in my opinion. Because to get beyond the technicalities, we need to remember when writing was our freedom. Remember that pride of an A on your creative essay? Re-visit it. Your teacher would give you an A right now, despite the was's and adverbs. Because you have a talent. Remember that giddy excitement when you sit down to write your story. Remember the freedom that words pouring onto a page offered for you and anyone that read it.

This is the stuff our stories are made of. The foundation of a house isn't pretty. Our foundations in writing won't be perfect. It's the first pouring. But, in order to pour it-we have to ignore the rules until it is dried. Then it is time to revisit the technicalities. The rules that make our stories stronger, tighter and better. Much like the plaster/sheetrock, carpet and roof make the house stronger to live in and more desirable.

So, have fun with your writing. Forget all about the rules for a few minutes, or you will stunt your creativity. Creativity doesn't follow rules. I learned this the hard way.  Like, when I used to sit and write for hours. Revision follows rules, we'll worry about it then, okay? 

Nano Progress: 19,119