Help me with

Chatterbox: Inkwell

Help me with

Help me with short stories, please!!!

 

Ok, so basically, I stink really badly at writing short stories. They tend to a) have terrible pacing or b) sound like a really boring history book if I get too much on the narative side. I have trouble making my climaxes exciting, and I'm horrible at making up plots. In short, the only thing I can write well is poetry. For some strange reason, I'm better at things like Round Robins. But I stink at my own short stories. I want to fix all that. The only thing I know to do is to write anyway, story after story, until I'm good at them. The problem is that that, for me, is a form of torture ancient Rome would have loved to learn about. And that, like I said, I can't make up good plots. I'm sure all of you have got to have stupendous advice - most of you could trump me any day in the realm of short stories and, from reading excerpts on here, already have. Please help!!!

 

-EH

submitted by Emily H. :), age 13, Sparks, NV
(June 14, 2009 - 10:00 pm)

back to the Inkwell

I am not really any better than what you described, but what I try to do when coming up with plots is just look at things around you, it surprises me how many ideas you can come up with by just observing the world around you!

submitted by Nitehawlk, age 3.25, Somewhere out t
(June 15, 2009 - 1:24 pm)

I try.... the best way I've found is to rewrite fairy tales without something that plays a big part - say magic, or take out the stepsisters in Cinderella. That's fun. Or have any of you  seen the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick? The concept is this guy walked into the office of a children's book publisher and said, "I've written fourteen stories and illustrated each. I brought one drawing from each to show you to see if you like my work." So the publisher loves them and tells Harris Burdick to bring the stories and the rest of the drawings the next day. Burdick leaves the fourteen drawings and says he will. The publisher never sees him again. Tries to track him down. Can't. Many years later shows the drawings to a friend, who publishes them in this book. Each drawing is amazing and has a caption and the title of the story it comes from. It's seriously awesome.....

But I digress. The point is, I try. And there are a few other good sources. And this post is actually mainly for the purpose of bumping the thread to the front page. :P

 

-EH

submitted by Emily H. :), age 13, Sparks, NV
(June 15, 2009 - 11:29 pm)

Well... for short stories I read about something called the ABDCE formula. If I remember correctly, and I may not, mind, that stands for Action, Background, Development, Conflict/Climax, Ending. I think. Anyhow, the idea is that you start with a hook that will pull the reader into the story- hence, action. Then you give the background details- Delia is eleven years old, with brown hair and glasses, and enjoys fencing, or whatever. Development is self-explanatory- you develop the characters and the plot. Then there emerges conflict (Delia's teacher, say *draws on own life* sends a Delia to the office in a Catholic school for saying God bless you to a kid who sneezed), which leads to conflict, where Delia, uh, *draws on own life again* gets very confrontational to her teacher and is told to write "God bless you" five hundred times. Then there is a resolution, where, um, Delia actually does write GBY five hundred times, is told by parents not to turn it in, and does anyway on the last day of school. That'd make a relatively decent short story. If you'd like to use that idea, feel free to, it isn't "copyrighted" because it actually all happened, to me, except for the turning it in on the last day of school, because I'm not that stupid.

Anyhow, sorry if that was an ounce rant-esque, and I hope the ABDCE formula helps.

submitted by Mary W., age 11.44, NJ
(June 16, 2009 - 3:14 pm)

So you got in trouble for saying 'God bless you' and then had to write it out five hundred times? I've heard of writing things a hundred times and three hundred times, but FIVE hundred. Yikes.

Anyway, Emily - your short stories. Mary gave a pretty good technique there. If you've ever tried to write a novel, think of it being the same process, only condense the plot a little so you don't start trying to fit a novel-length story into ten pages. If it ends up as more as a novel, make it a novel and give me some tips on finishing mine. ;) Good luck! 

submitted by Lena
(June 16, 2009 - 5:37 pm)

You go to a Catholic school and your teacher made you go to the office for saying God bless you? That's ridiculous that any teacher would do that, especially at a Catholic school.

submitted by Maddy, age 15
(June 16, 2009 - 11:37 pm)

I thinnk that the punishment of writing stuff is really stupid. Really! What good would it possibly do anyone, even the writer? *rants*

submitted by Emily L., age 13, WA
(June 19, 2009 - 4:14 pm)

I am bad too :( I really want to write a book 'cause I have this awesome plot, but I'm not the best writer.

submitted by MJ-Hi fellow Mary!, age 13, Georgia
(June 16, 2009 - 3:31 pm)

Hi, MJ!! *waves* I'm sure you're a brilliant writer... sometimes it just takes time and effort. :)

submitted by Mary W., age 11.44, NJ
(June 16, 2009 - 6:36 pm)

Of course it's ridiculous, Maddy. :)

submitted by Mary W., age 11.44, NJ
(June 17, 2009 - 3:55 pm)

You're actually on the right track, with continually writing. However, you don't need to torture youself with it! Writing should be fun, not a chore. One piece of advice is to read plenty of short stories (and long ones!) so you get an idea of what works (and what doesn't) when writing a story. I would also recommend the book Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine, and the website.  If Admin doesn't let that website link through, then google Write SF by Jeffery A. Carver. The book is absolutely fantastic, and although the website is focused on Science Fiction and Fantasy writing, it has a bajillion great story tips in general. Furthermore, to write stories, you have to observe. Look at the world around you. Plot and characters are everywhere, whether it's a snippet of converstaion you hear, a what if? that floats into your head while staring out the window, or your mysterious next door neighbor. WRITE DOWN YOUR IDEAS as soon as you get them. I cannot tell you the number of times I've had a brilliant inspiration, only to loose it by the time I sit down at the computer.

Hope some of this is useful, and good luck!

submitted by Allison P., age 12
(June 17, 2009 - 9:45 am)

That site looks cool, Allison. I'll look at it more later.... Thanks, everyone. And Allison, it's not so much of a chore. I like to write. I just don't like (as in, like, REALLY HATE) reading what I've written - that's the painful part. :P And it's hard to improve your writing if you never read it.... Hence I do read it. Sorry if this is disjointed. Long day. 

 

-EH

submitted by Emily H. :), age 13, Sparks, NV
(June 17, 2009 - 7:50 pm)

Maybe you should try writing from different perspectives. Writing in the first person helps to put you in the character's place and makes things more interesting. It keeps off the "boring history" thing even if you do have a lot of narrative. Or, maybe you could write a story about two friends, alternating perspectives... I might do that! The other thing is, write about stuff you're interested in. For instance, my stories tend to be about fairies and mermaids and so on. I could never do a sports story. That's a couple of tips. I hope they help!

submitted by Emily L., age 13, WA
(June 17, 2009 - 6:52 pm)