Meg's Preface to the Edition

Many thanks to Richard Corum for this advice. It's to help refine basic steps to "A Well-Written Short Story," or rather a scratching post before tampering with genre fiction or more uniquely personal technique. The advice is to work all of these things in, inclusively and appropriately.

1. Point of View

> be consistent, no inadvertantly switching perspective
> avoid repeating characters' names unnecessarily
> don't use "they"
> stay with the main character's perspective

2. Strong, Interesting Main Character

> acts as narrator and participator - action is better than narration
> physical appearance is unimportant
> must know: age, history, desires, values - subtly essential to creating conflict
> for character uniqueness, give parts of yourself, parts of others you know
> know motivation

3. Location

> be absolutely specific to times and places
> keep it alive and well-maintained, use description constantly
> character's reaction to it, not your own

4. Strong, Interesting Second Main Character

> appearance is crucial
> must know: age, history, desires, values
> cannot know: thoughts, feelings (except via dialogue)
> must not be a villain - is a valid human being

5. Conflict/Action

> fundamental desires at odds
> keep it external, unexistential, nonviolent
> stay in the moment

6. Dialogue

> main characters more interesting than minor characters
> show most things, don't tell them

7. Flashback

> describes motivation if at the end
> describes background, history if at the beginning
> various rules:
* return to the point that the flashback began, time mustn't elapse
* flashback must have space and time within narrative, so not in the middle of dialogue
* if you're writing in present tense, use past tense for the flashback
* if you're writing in past tense, use past perfect tense for flashback

8. Minor Characters

> help in background, help in location
> good for talking and avoiding monologue
> avoid getting too "zany next neighborish"

9. Scenic construction

> do a scene, break, do another scene
> don't fill the in-between scenes, unless in flashback

10. Language

> focus strongly on diverse vocabulary and sentence structure
> give concrete details and emotions (not abstract metaphors)
* be proficient with metaphors, verbs are easier
* circle your own and distinguish between good and bad ones
* extended ones are better
* use different transitions, like "it reminded me of ..." instead of "like"
> the rhythm and speech patterns in dialogue should be different from the prose around it