Cutting my teeth on Short Stories

Cutting my Teeth on Short Stories
by: Stephanie Burkhart

Back in 2005, I discovered Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition. There were 10 categories and basically they were looking for short stories up to 4000. I decided to dive in.

In the late 1800's-1900's, short stories had a lot of appeal. Well known short story authors include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Upton Sinclair, and Washington Irving. The appeal, then, as in now, is that it tells a concise story which you can read in a short period of time. Depending on the topic, the ending resonates with the reader, touching on such emotions such as love, disgust, amazement, and hope, just to name a few.

I participated in the Writer's Digest contests because I wanted to master using an economy of words to tell a story. 4K (4,000) words is not a lot. You have to get in, get out, and leave an impression with the reader. Mastering that is a writing skill I endeavored to learn.

Back in 2005, my horror short story, "The Music Box," was an Honorable Mention winner in genre fiction. In 2006, my horror short story, "Red Paint, Crimson Blood," was another Honorable Mention Winner.

In 2007, "The Watch Tower," another horror short was an Honorable Mention Winner. My mainstream/literary short, "Spontaneous Decision" was 8th place that year in that category. I was stunned. On the average, the WD's competition receives 17,000 entries total. They only award the top 100 stories in each category. An Honorable Mention isn't shabby. 8th place? For me, it was the cherry on top of my Sunday.
There is no set word count for short stories, but I've seen them anywhere between 2K-40K ( I would say 35-40K would be closer to a Novella size.)

Short story writing should focus on one or two characters. There's no room for an extended cast. There should be one driving plot device or theme. Anything else could clutter the story.

My latest story, published in the "Be Mused Anthology" is called "Matchmaking Amusement." It's 14K (one of my longer shorts, as I generally try to stay around 4K.) Tristan and Isolde are muses that fall in love. In order for them to have HEA, they have to get their writers, Jane and Antonio to fall in love.



Here's a small excerpt:

Isolde jumped on top of the monitor, her wings beating fast. "Alexi slides off the cliff. John offers his hand. Alexi spits on him and lets go, falling to his death."

"Perfect!" cried Jane. Isolde grinned with pride. Jane's fingers typed so fast, Isolde thought she was watching a NASCAR race. Jane dramatically paused and then typed the last two words slowly. "The end."

Isolde jumped off the monitor and did a happy dance on the maps. "You did it!"

"I'm going to send it off to Gus and wait for his edits."

Isolde stopped dancing, pointed a finger at her human and winked. "While you edit, I’m taking a vacation."

"A vacation? You can't leave now!"

"Why not? There's a difference between editing and writing."

"But—"

"No buts. I've spent eleven months on this project. I need a vacation."

"Where will you go?" asked Jane.

"Ah, I think I'll check out this Berchtesgaden where the book ends at."

Jane pouted. "You can't wait until I’m done with these edits?"

Isolde touched her shoulders with her fingers. "My job is done."

Jane wrinkled her nose. "I guess. Have fun. Send me a postcard. When are you going to leave?"

"Tomorrow."

Jane sighed and leaned forward, smelling the lilacs.

****

Here's a link to Matchmaking Amusements Book Teaser on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxZASQSddfM

Here's a Buy link to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Mused-Muse-ing-Anthology-ebook/dp/B003EV5SWM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1271079794&sr=1-1

Here's a Buy link to Desert Breeze:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-73/Be-Mused--dsh--%3Ci%3EAn/Detail.bok

Available 1 APR - The "Be Mused" Anthology

The Be Mused Anthology is a collection of 5 lighthearted short stories about muses, their writers, and love. It's coming out on 1 APR 2010 from Desert Breeze Publishing. My story in the anthology is called, "Matchmaking Amusement."


The Set up:
In this scene, Isolde, a muse on vacation, gets to Berchtesgaden, Germany and is feeling a little overwhelmed.

*********

Isolde usually traveled by the floo network. Travel only took a matter of minutes, which was very convenient. A floo was usually a fireplace in a train station, hardly noticeable in the human world. As soon as Isolde got out of the floo, she collected her bags and headed toward the public bathroom. The best way to have fun on vacation was to experience it as a human. She closed a stall behind her and sprinkled herself with pixie dust, making sure to cover her luggage. Within seconds she was a tall, slender blonde. Isolde tucked her wings under her clothes, walked out of the stall, and checked her appearance in the mirror. She still had a bit up of a pixie upturn to her nose, and her eyes were shamrock green, the color of all pixie muses. She waved her hand at the mirror. She didn't look too different from a human.

Scarlett Johansen, my inspriation for "Isolde"



Isolde walked out of the restroom and saw a line of services near the front of the train station. Rent a hotel, set up tours, buy day spa packages, etc. Her eyes grew wide and for once she felt like a muse out of her element.

"Have you been here before?" came a warm, masculine voice.

Isolde turned to look and discovered a tall, male muse with an upturned nose and shamrock green eyes -- a pixie muse! He had long, soft brown hair with chestnut highlights and his skin tone was a little darker than most muses, bordering on olive. He had such a rich, inviting smile it warmed her to her bones. She nibbled on her lower lip for a second, realizing he must also recognize her as a pixie muse, took a breath, and flashed him a smile.

"Ah, no."

Chace Crawford, my inspriation for "Tristan."


"You looked a little overwhelmed. Want some help?"

"Sure."

He offered his hand, palm up, in the traditional muse greeting. "I'm Tristan."

*********

Be Mused will be avail on 1 APR 2010 through Desert Breeze Publishing; http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com. It will also be available in the Amazon Kindle store and at All Romance Books.