Process
My First Foray into Publishing Short Stories Online
First let me admit that I have a terrible memory. Because of my anxiety, my mind loves to focus on awkward and painful memories. The failures instead of the triumphs. How far back should I go? My elementary school scribbles were just glorified spelling and penmanship exercises. I mostly remember the short stories and essays I wrote for my advanced placement English class in the eleventh grade.
By Leslie Writes2 years ago in Writers
Examining My First Story
The recent fairytale challenge on Vocal had me digging deep into my computer’s memory to find a story that I wrote almost twenty years ago. It was a short story about a young girl who finds a coin in her washing machine on a very hot summer day. She makes a wish on it and it comes true; the temperature drops by twenty degrees! With a second load of laundry, she finds another coin in the machine and makes a wish on that one as well. That second wish is for an awesome thirteenth birthday.
By Rae Fairchild (MRB)2 years ago in Writers
Development and Delay
The first piece I ever wrote to something resembling completion was a short superhero story I did back in middle school. It was the first of a lot of stories and characters in a large super hero universe that I wound up scrapping due to how derivative and repetitive it was. This was one of the more original stories, a simple short about a telekinetic superhero tracking down his arch nemesis who could throw and manipulate fireballs. It ended with a showdown at a shipyard with the hero trapping the villain in a shipping container. It was simple, direct, and focused entirely on the epic battle rather than the headache inducing processes of worldbuilding and character development.
By Javert Boudreau2 years ago in Writers
The Modern Short Story Format
Part 1 of "How to Write Short Stories" ========================================= Let's get this out of the way: there is no one correct way to write a successful short story. Highly acclaimed short stories exist that ignore every single direction you will see in this series of how-to articles. Short story writing is an art, not a science, and definitely not something that should become a simple cookie-cutter task.
By Paul Pence3 years ago in Writers
How to Write Travel Articles - Part 1
Travel articles don't have to be difficult. If you're gifted, perhaps the words will just flow from your fingertips. But sometimes they don't, and trying to start with a blank page and writing an article in final form may seem too daunting. Here's how to make write your travel articles in simple steps, one step at a time, until you have an article you are proud of.
By Paul Pence3 years ago in Writers
