I love reading writing tips or articles about a writer's process. There's always a small nugget here or there that makes me go, "Of Course! How come I didn't realize that?". When I first started writing I absorbed everything like a sponge. Nowadays I need to let the sponge dry out a bit before I take in something new, because not every tip works for me. You need to take what works for your process and discard the rest. And finding a process that works for you is something that comes from just sitting down and writing and writing and writing. You'll find your perfect process if you keep at it.
And here's your writing tip essays for today:
With a hat tip to Michael Bracken we have "10 Tips for Writing Short Stories" by Amanda Lohrey http://theincblot.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-tips-for-writing-short-story-by.html
"Personal Writing Checklist" by Mark Charen Newton http://markcnewton.com/2011/03/15/personal-writing-checklist/ While Mr. Newton is talking about novel writing in this post, many of his checklist items also work great for short story writers.
"How Long is Your Story?" by Deborah J. Ross http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/03/15/how-long-is-your-story/ Finding the right length is always difficult for me. I've started out to write a flash piece of about 500 words and wound up with a 3000 word short story. A story just has to run its course. If you cut it off too soon to fit into a word length, it just doesn't feel finished and if you're padding to fit a word count it feels bloated. And I know, finding markets for longer stories is difficult.
3 comments:
Amanda Lohrey's list is the first I've seen that makes me agree without qualification.
Changing the POV has saved many stories. And I wish I could let stories sit longer. I always regret sending them out too early. But the one about your mother--no. My mother always regretted that neither Megan nor I wrote uplifting stories.
I agree, Al, it's a good list!
I have trouble letting them sit, too, Patti. I have an eighty year old Aunt who has been very supportive of my writing, but I don't write to please her, and have only sent her copies of stories I know she'll enjoy. She'd be appalled by some of the things I write. :)
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