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writercises Original Posting Oct. 15, 2018
Alright, it's Oct. 15, halfway through the Halloween contest period (opened Oct. 5, deadline Oct. 25, get those cards and letters to [elided]!) and over here, there's an article about writing short stories! by Sarah Hoyt...
https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/how-to-write-short-stories-part-4-go-for-the-feels/
This is part 4, you may want to go back and review parts 1-3, but... let's see what she says here. The feels short story! A short story devoted to messing with your reader's feelings. Aha, like scaring them? Evoking feelings...
Start with something that you think will excite "feels" in your audience. Pick something that you know people will react to. Kittens, childhood, puppies, innocence...
Outline? Sure...
Start with a character who has sacrificed everything to achieve a goal, losing their soul and joy in the process.
BUT the character gets a chance to do something good, something that reminds them of what they have lost. They try to ignore it.
Push the stimuli, make the character do what they are avoiding. Yes, they are trying to avoid those feelings, but... raindrops keep falling on my face...
And pop! Over the edge...
DO IT! But there are adventures and complications. Drat, why did I start this? Oh, yes...
More dealing with the situation, ignoring the goal.
Payoff! Realization that even though the goal is still there, they really need that feel. Go ahead, pull out the stops and make us cry...
Hum. Halloween? Oh, ho, how about the guy who is so wrapped up in his work that he doesn't even realize that it is Halloween, but... there's a knock at the door, and a little ghost in a sheet lisps, "Twick or tweet, mithter?" And he remembers that day when he went with his brother, wearing a sheet with two holes cut in it...
Well, maybe. Anyway, don't forget! Just ten more days to get that story (or poem! Can't forget the poetry!) in for the 2018 Halloween Contest! Go...
WRITE!
Alright, it's Oct. 15, halfway through the Halloween contest period (opened Oct. 5, deadline Oct. 25, get those cards and letters to [elided]!) and over here, there's an article about writing short stories! by Sarah Hoyt...
https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/how-to-write-short-stories-part-4-go-for-the-feels/
This is part 4, you may want to go back and review parts 1-3, but... let's see what she says here. The feels short story! A short story devoted to messing with your reader's feelings. Aha, like scaring them? Evoking feelings...
Start with something that you think will excite "feels" in your audience. Pick something that you know people will react to. Kittens, childhood, puppies, innocence...
Outline? Sure...
Start with a character who has sacrificed everything to achieve a goal, losing their soul and joy in the process.
BUT the character gets a chance to do something good, something that reminds them of what they have lost. They try to ignore it.
Push the stimuli, make the character do what they are avoiding. Yes, they are trying to avoid those feelings, but... raindrops keep falling on my face...
And pop! Over the edge...
DO IT! But there are adventures and complications. Drat, why did I start this? Oh, yes...
More dealing with the situation, ignoring the goal.
Payoff! Realization that even though the goal is still there, they really need that feel. Go ahead, pull out the stops and make us cry...
Hum. Halloween? Oh, ho, how about the guy who is so wrapped up in his work that he doesn't even realize that it is Halloween, but... there's a knock at the door, and a little ghost in a sheet lisps, "Twick or tweet, mithter?" And he remembers that day when he went with his brother, wearing a sheet with two holes cut in it...
Well, maybe. Anyway, don't forget! Just ten more days to get that story (or poem! Can't forget the poetry!) in for the 2018 Halloween Contest! Go...
WRITE!