THE FAMILY PET
I had a lot of fun writing this story story. It was written for the 2018 Spring Writing Contest, sponsored by the workshopping community at The Write Practice. All contestants were given a free e-book and asked to use it. It’s called The Story Grid. There’s this fascinating guy named Shawn Coyne. He is a world class editor with 25+ years experience and came up with a way to check a story, scene by scene, and make it a successful novel. Instead of keeping this formula to himself, he wrote a book on it, so writers could check their own work and…well…make their story work.
I don’t know the guy personally, I am simply grateful of the many things I have learned about writing. If you are stuck writing a story of your own, know that you personally are not broken. You just need to give your story a tune up. If you sign up with your e-mail on his website, he’ll send free videos right to your inbox: https://storygrid.com/
You can read my story here on the Short Fiction Break Website:
WHISPERING WILLOW ISLAND
This short story was written for the 2017 Fall Writing Contest. The prompt asked writers to use “Fall + Love.” A few months before hand, I had read a news article about ‘Punishment Island’ in Uganda and that inspired this story. While writing the 2nd draft, my husbands aunt had unexpectedly died in her sleep. This also influenced my story. I learned to let my writing be inspired by real life. To embrace all the gritty, dark and beautiful parts.
I think of writing contests as a marathon, not a race. Everyone who crosses the finish line at a marathon is a winner. Sure you will have a first, second and third place winners. But the people still cheer and applaud every single person that finishes. Even though us constants were working with the same prompt, I loved how every story was completely different. We still helped each other with our writing by using the ‘workshop’ for our stories. Meaning, we posted a draft on a closed forum and received feedback on how to make the story better.
You can still read my story here on the Short Fiction Break Website:
SHADOW IN THE LENS
This was my first short story I ever wrote. It was a part of the 2017 Summer Writing Contest. I believe the prompt was, “You see a creature on your way to work. You are the only one who can see it. What do you do?” There was also a 1,500 word limit. Myself and other contestants were required to ‘workshop’ our story. Meaning, we posted a draft on a closed forum and received feedback on how to make the story better. It took several drafts, but I finally polished it to the best of my ability. In those few short weeks of work-shopping this story, I had learned so much about writing and the art of story telling. I also found many other writers that were kind, helpful, allies. We were all competing in the same contest, however, we were all learning how to become better writers.
You are welcomed to read my story here on the Short Fiction Break Website: