fiction

September 28, 2022

New Release H. R. Sinclair-Oscar, The Apprehensive Apparition

It’s a pleasure to welcome
Author H. R. Sinclair here today as part of her tour from with MC Book Tours
featuring her book, OSCAR, THE APPREHENSIVE APPARITION, to be
released the first week of October.

This is a Chapter Book for
ages 5 through 8 but is a delight to read no matter your age. If you’ve ever
enjoyed Casper, then you’ll be glad you got to know Oscar.

Oscar, the Apprehensive
Apparition

By H. R. Sinclair

Chapter Book for Ages 5-8

*Independently published

*ISBN: 9798848409956

*Dimensions: 5×8

*42 pages, black and white
illustrations

*eBook: 3.99

*Print book: 6.99

*Release date: Oct 3

Oscar the ghost dwells
happily in his cozy cottage, where he hides from creatures that lurk in the
dark. After a mysterious message arrives, he must find the courage to go out
and discover what’s waiting for him. Can he do it? Or will the monsters get him?

Oscar, the Apprehensive
Apparition is
available to purchase at the following links:

Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCSTBY2Z

Apple https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6443352338

Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/oscar-the-apprehensive-apparition-h-r-sinclair/1142119998;jsessionid=6D3B1242750AB815B15649BDA04040CB.prodny_store02-atgap11?ean=2940166313034

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/oscar-the-apprehensive-apparition

Meet
The Author: H. R. Sinclair

H.R. Sinclair is a
left-handed hermit prepping for the squirrel apocalypse. She writes fantastical
stories and visits cemeteries for inspiration.

For more about the author
and her work, connect with her on the following sites:

Blog: https://www.iamhrsinclair.com/blog/

Newsletter: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/hrsinclair

Twitter: https://twitter.com/southpawpov

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hrsinclair/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7548000-h-r-sinclair

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/h-r-sinclair

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/iamhrsinclair/_created/

Thanks for stopping by
today during H. R. and Oscar’s visit. Are you a fan of friendly ghosts like
Casper and Oscar?

August 29, 2022

Do You Struggle With Structure In Your Short Short?

An expansive mini-guide for structuring your short story.

Structure and Character in the Short Story

Let’s talk about short story creation and structure.

Word Limits:

· A short story typically has 1500 to a 7500-words. You need to always read and follow submission guidelines when submitting stories.

· Flash Fiction has around 500 to a 1000-words.

*Word count image created in Excel by the author using information from* *Wikipedia* *and the* *Author Learning Center*

These tips tailored for — but not limited, to stories 3000 to 4000 words.

To Start:

· You need a character with a deep need or desire. Something that they will fight or struggle to get or resist. They need an external need/desire and an internal need/desire. This need or want is intertwined with the character’s core motivation for their actions and choices, consciously or subconsciously, good or bad. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

· Your character needs resistance, and by that, I mean something, someone, situation or event, that prevents them from fulfilling their deep need or desire. This resistance generates conflict for the forward story movement.

Clarify and simplify your character’s personality with a one-word description tool to capture character essence while you write. Describe them with one word to help you create a concept in your mind to use as a guide. ex: hopeless romantic, avenging mailman, nervous bank teller, guilty father, cranky bus driver.

Decide on setting. Setting can be snow at Christmas, or in the middle of Walmart, or a rainy day Monday, or waiting for a bus at the bus terminal.

Or a situation can also serve as both setting, location, and generate general conflict ideas: A bank robbery or shopping for toilet paper during the Corvid19 pandemic.

Start a short story as close to the end and in the action as possible.

The Hook

What is a story hook? Why use it? A hook is something that is special about your story that grabs the reader’s attention keeps them reading. A hook is story-based through ideas and concepts directly connect to the story world. Suggested reading: Active Hooks.

In short stories, the hook works somewhat like the inciting incident in novel plotting. You want to grab them in the first couple of lines or by the first and second paragraphs.

Keep your word limits in mind.

Start your story in the middle of the action, or with active dialogue, or active setting as story character or reveal some aspect of your character. Suggested reading: Active Setting

Get rid of thought verbs, to be verbs and excess filler words such as just, really, very, even, then/than, suddenly, and phrases like at or in the moment, just now and so forth. Write with conciseness. Limit your adjectives.

Use strong verbs such as batter, blab, growl, gush, shimmer.

The purpose of a scene is to show a moment in the life of the character within the story world moving toward the story end goal.

Story Movement — Rising Action

The rising action is a series of actionable scenes leading up to the climax of a story.

The word limits of short stories do not leave a lot of room for characterization, setting, and conflict. That means you have to be selective in word choice and limit your conflict.

The rising action begins at the beginning of any story. Actions and choices, when presented with resistance, move your character toward the story’s high point. (Novels structure refers to this as the climax — turning point.)

Short stories, unlike novels, will only have two or three of these moments until the turning point because of word limits.

Conflict In Story: Resistance

The purpose of all conflict in stories is to move the story forward toward the end story goal or scene story goal.

Conflict is NOT something random happening or daily routine.

Conflict is anything that stands in the way of your character reaching their greatest desire or need creating change within the character and/or outside the character or story world.

Conflict is generated and sustained through the choices and actions your character takes when blocked by the resistance, keeping them from the thing they desire or need most.

The High Point or Climax

The climax is somewhere in the middle of ANY story. Everything after that will be falling action moving the character toward the resolution or end story goal.

The climax is the highest pivotal moment or emotional point signifying a change in direction or heart in the story. It is the moment when your character realizes how much they have to lose.

It also clarifies and solidifies all rising action to this point leaving, no doubt why this is happening or happened.

The character is all in — no turning back win or lose.

In short stories, this is often the dark night of the soul too or followed, in short, by the dark night of the soul because of limited word counts. The falling action then is the events that move the story toward the end goal or resolution.

Falling Action

Falling action occurs after the climax and sets a tone opposite of rising action cueing the reader the end approaches.

In a short story, you may have two or just one falling action moment, conflict — resistance, before the resolution. The falling action is the journey to the wrap-up. You tie up loose ends giving the reader closure for the story.

A Summary of Short Story Structure

The beginning = Setup a character with a problem in setting
The rising resistance = A character faced with choices and prevented from reaching or achieving their deepest desire or need. (Obstacles to overcome internal and/or external.)
The climax = This is the highest point in the story. It is created by the rising action forcing the character to go all-in with no turning back.
The falling action = The journey and resistance to reach the end tying up all unfinished elements moving to the story resolution.
The resolution = The problem is solved through the characters, choices or actions, achieving their deepest desire or need or accepting the loss. All loose ends are resolved. It may also show a brief glimpse of the character in this new world created by their journey and choices.

Here are some free tools to help you create characters and guide story structure.

· Cheat Sheet: Character Creation & Short Story Structure.

· Bonus extended character creation cheat sheet using astrology for creating more 3-dimensional characters and in-depth worldbuilding.

· What makes a good flash fiction piece?

August 25, 2022

What Is the Difference Between Fiction and Nonfiction?

How to use short story to take your reader on an adventure no matter what genre you write.

How to use short story to take your reader on an adventure no matter what genre you write.

I’m in love with reading. It’s the reason I write.

My mother taught me to read before I started Kindergarten. She would take me to the library weekly. Mama allowed me to read whatever I wanted within reason. I read Gone With The Wind at age seven.

I remember sitting in my mother’s deep walk-in closet with a flashlight. I sat on this old-timey sewing machine at the very back of her closet that had a rocking footplate to operate it instead of a motor. I loved disappearing into my cave to read for as long as I could until mama started looking for me.

Reading gave me freedom and taught me many things. Having no siblings, books were the friend I spent most of my time with since I was a child. I was never bored. It was the beginning of my lifelong love affair with stories and words, especially fiction.

I traveled the world. I learned about life and love. I had great adventures.

What is the difference between fiction and other types of story?

The thing that makes fiction, fiction, is that it’s made up. It is not real. Life elements, principles, and situations can all be used to tell the story and presented as reality, but it is still all made up.

For one example, you see this in adult fairy tales and fables. Over the last five years, the retelling of fairy tales for adults has been a fad, and still extremely popular. The author uses real-life to present a life lesson or moral delivered as an entertaining story or a vehicle to capture real life in an immersive way, but it is all fictional. The twist is the use of modern times and conventions.

Here are some of my favorite fictional short reads:

A favorite short story duo, Heroes Wanted by Katharina Gerlach.
Short Stories: A favorite fairy-tale retelling, In this series, The King’s Mechanic, is one of my favorites, but all retellings are great fun.
Kindle Short Reads on Amazon is a place to find popular short stories to read.

Story form through the character point of view in nonfiction.

Nonfiction is facts and often includes references. In the story form, nonfiction includes essays, memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies. These story forms are often told in the storytelling format you find in fiction.

The difference is, these stories are based on actual events even though some facts may be exaggerated for story effect and entertainment. It is possible to present reality as a short story.

What is a short story?

It is a small slice of a character’s life, a moment in time, an incident.

The limited word counts limits word choice, so there is no room for a lot of embellishment, character building, or description. You must pick only one or two active verbs and adjectives to create your impressions.

The trick is turning it into a tale that entertains with the other points woven in, so it flows like a story told from a character point of view. You have a character, a setting, and a conflict in which the character must use their own wits and resources to escape or avoid. It will have a beginning, middle, and end.

The thing to remember is that a personal essay or an informative blog post is not a short story.

You are speaking in your own voice, not the characters. Yes, you are telling a story to capture your reader, but it is not presented from a character point of view. You are telling it as if you are speaking directly to your audience.

Whether you are telling a fictional or nonfictional story many of the elements, viewpoints, conflict, and story arcs all work the same. Learning to tell a good fictional story can also help you tell a better nonfiction story.

A short story tells a story that hooks your reader, engages them, takes them on a journey, away from the here and now into the story world.

Use story format to pull your reader into the story world. Show the character arc whether it’s you or a fictional character, describe your setting, use the conflict to move your story forward to its ending.

Invite the reader on an adventure that takes them away from their mundane world.

A few nonfiction short stories I have enjoyed. (These are not affiliate links.)

The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told by Mark Paul based on true historical events.
Brady Silverwood 9 For Nine, present in first person. He tells the story of how running saved him.
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. This is nonfiction and a personal manifesto.
A memoir told in first person, a novel. The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom. This is not a short story, but compelling in the reading.
Memoirs of a Geisha, a novel. This one was made into a movie. It is not a short story, but it is a memoir in story form.

Here are my tips to help improve your short stories.

Juneta Key is the fiction columnist and editor of The Ninja Writers Pub. She manages accountability for Ninja Writers LLC. She founded and hosts the Write-In Saloons. She offers coaching in story development, short story, world building, and Scrivener, Scapple-mind mapping your ideas via Writer’s Gambit Fiction Consultations. Juneta is an admin and moderator for Insecure Writer’s Support Group, (IWSG) Facebook & Goodreads Book Club. She’s co-founder of Storytime Quarterly Blog Hop, and co-owner of Stormdance Publications which publishes themed anthologies. Her WIP is Ghost Pirate, a space opera, from the Starlight Galaxy series.

August 25, 2022

4 Things You Can Do To Help Guide Short Story Structure

All stories should contain a guiding structure creating a spine shaping a clear beginning, middle, and end for the reader’s satisfaction.

All stories follow a basic story structure with a beginning, middle, and end. It is an innate expectation that we learned in childhood from the first time someone told us a story, fictional or personal, or we read a book or watch a television program or cartoon.

The trick to structuring short fiction is making the most of fewer words to get the story told.

There are many story structure types that work, at least, for the bigger stories over 3000 words. All tangible things have some sort of frame, skeletal form or load-bearing points to support the reality of its existence. This can be literally or metaphorically. It’s true for a story too.

For storytellers these are some of the most common forms of structure: The 3 act structure (Act I, Act II, Act III), the 3 act structure with the two-part middle (Act I, Act II part 1, Act II part 2, Act 3), the 5 point plot structure, the 7 point plot structure, story beats and so on, but it is hard to make those work and work well in shorter fiction.

But, what about flash fiction and short stories?

You still need to provide some form of story structure so the story makes sense, and your readers can follow it. You also need to end shorter fiction with an ending that will NOT disappoint or leave your reader dissatisfied.

If you missed it, I wrote an article about what it takes to make a good flash fiction.

What makes a good flash fiction piece? Article on Medium

To answer that question, we need to understand what flash fiction is about. It is a short story under 1000 words…

4 Points To Start With

Start with a character in trouble with an immediate problem/threat/obstacle to resolve. (This can be emotional, and people related e.g. romance and family connections. The key is writing it in active voice using active verbs, phrases, and action words for short fiction.)
Start as close to the end as possible— limited word count makes this necessary. The bulk of your words will go to middle. That is why you want to Hook’em.
Give your character a strong need or desire that fuels their motivation and write toward that goal. (Make a list of every obstacle you can think of that will prevent them from reaching or achieving this deep desire/need and problem.)
In the end it must feel like an end and make your reader happy they took time to read your work: Thrill’em, Wow’em, Surprise’em, Shock’em, Make’em laugh or just be darn right clever and/or witty.

The Beginning…

In flash fiction, you want close to 75% of your words to go toward the middle splitting the last 25% for use in the beginning and end.

That is why you want to Hook’em. Put a question in their mind, or make them curious about what comes next, start with a pivotal moment or unusual situation, a quirky character, situation or tone of story. (6 Tips For Engaging Readers on Kobo by Paul Bernstein.)

Middle…

The middle in any story will house the largest part of your total word count.

For short stories, use active verbs and active descriptions with no frills which help cut unnecessary usage of words. Limit descriptive words and let the readers imagination do the rest. If you choose the right word you only need one or two at most. Google active verbs and active description to find all kinds of lists free online to use.

You need high stakes e.g. life and death intensity or at least to your character. (The antagonist or conflict needs to be part of the obstacle preventing your character from achieving that deep need or desire.)

Now to contradict myself a little because you know life is really an oxymoron.

It does not have to be life and death stakes as long as there is conflict — something preventing your character from doing what they need to do or forcing them to do something they don’t want to do.

Not all stories are do or die, but it does make them fun.

What is Conflict in the Short Story or Flash Fiction? Article on Medium

What was the story question or problem you introduce in the beginning of your story? Did you answer or solve it? Tie up your loose ends. In a short story you don’t have room for more than one, or sometimes two, loose ends. Readers want satisfaction, closure. They want to be surprised, make them laugh, thrilled them, or give them the emotional touch…

Find Your Ending in Flash Fiction and Short Stories? Article on Medium

One of the best courses I have ever taken involved learning how to write flash fiction by Holly Lisle. Free 3-week flash fiction course. This is an affiliate link.

I hope you found this useful. I am still learning myself. I found I enjoy sharing what I learn. My focus and investment right now are in short fiction. Learning to create good shorts that are fun and people enjoy is a top priority, because I have partnered with another writer to create themed anthologies at Stormdance Publications. It has been a fun and rewarding adventure.

Here are my tips to help improve your short stories.

Juneta Key is the columnist and editor of The Ninja Writers Pub fiction section on Medium. She is the manager of the accountability program for Ninja Writers LLC and founder and host of the Write-In Saloon. She is the CEO of Writer’s Gambit Fiction Consultations, and offers coaching in fiction story development, short story, world building, and Scrivener. As an author Juneta is an admin and moderator for Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG), Facebook community & IWSG Goodreads Book Club. She is a co-founder of Storytime Quarterly Blog Hop, and co-owner of Stormdance Publications which publishes themed anthologies. Her current novel project is the Ghost Pirate, a space opera from the Starlight Galaxy series.

July 6, 2022

#IWSG Insecure Writer’s Support Group July 6th

Sign Up And Become a Member
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

July 6th Hosts

IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Janet Alcorn, PJ Colando, Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton!

July 6 question – If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?

In A Galaxy, Far Far Away….

There once lived a girl who became an x-wing pilot and she owned a lightsaber (for real about 8 of them). The Force was strong with this one. She decided to never grow up and collect all things Star Wars until the collection ran her out of her room and had to be rehoused to its very own room She watch every movie and read everything Star Wars. She even owned all the mechanical, specs, and game worldbuilding hardbacks of Star Wars too. Then they change the universe somewhat and came out with new ones, and yes she had to have those too.

She participated in, created stories lines for group RPG’s and fan fiction. She ran several RPG’s in the universe from 1999 through 2015. It is what made her want to write for a living. It still does. She writes fan fiction occasionally.

The collections consist of R2D2’s, C3PO’s, Jar Jar Binks, Boba Fett Grown, The Maldorian, Gro Gru (he’s so cute), a 1980 full movie marque of The Empire Strikes Back framed in wood and glass, several lifesize standups, several Wookies various sized and make sounds, and a large Millennium Falcon and X-Wing, plus lightsabers, and more… All the expanded universe books, now known as The Legacy books. Yes she has read every one of them over the years, including graphic novels and children books about the universe.

OKAY!!

I am a Star Wars Nut, so I would live in the world of Star Wars. I would be many things, an x-wing pilot, a Jedi, a smuggler, maybe a bounty hunter. I would build robots, and work on spaceships. I would join in races through asteroid belts, and be a blockade runner, maybe a privateer, or run a bar on the fringe on a small unknown planet, or a gambling establishment in Cloud City. Yup, I’d live in Star Wars.

And if I decided to take a vacation from Star Wars I would take an extended trip to and around Hogwarts, say Hello to Harry Potter and gang. OR become a Dragonrider of Pern and there I might have spend a few years as I loved that world before there was a Star Wars. I still want my very own Dragon!!!

There are other worlds I might visit on vacation too, but those are ones that pull at my heart and dreams.

Elizabeth Mueller

Elizabeth Mueller Has Joined The IWSG Admin Team! Check Out Her Website And Blog And Say Hi From The IWSG!
Http://Www.Elizabethmueller.Com/

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