D.I.C.E.
Don’t trust your short story to luck, but always keep your eyes on the D.I.C.E.
Description:
Especially with shorter forms of narrative, the setting of the story must be concrete and vivid. Boarding a small plane to do a parachute jump. Navigating a craggy ravine with a stubborn tractor. There’s no time to draw out the context. The reader must get the full picture as soon as the story opens.
Interest:
The hook. The “grabber” (as I think Mark Twain called it). Why should the reader invest even a brief amount of time to read a short story? Only if the stakes are clear as the story unfolds. That’s why our collection of near-death stories is a natural. Maybe everybody wants to avoid thinking about their own death, at least deep in the subconscious core, but at the conscious level we are uber-fascinated by the subject. If you doubt this, check out the plot lines of so many movies and television shows…and all murder mysteries.
Character:
A high-stakes drama set in a powerful setting. Great. But why should I care about what happens to a flat and uninspiring protagonist? The short story writer needs to make him or her come alive and appeal to the reader’s empathy…or disgust. There are several tools available to accomplish this. The character’s own thoughts or the narrator’s own (sparing) descriptions, certainly. Perhaps best, though, are when the character’s words and actions reveal themselves to the reader within the story itself.
Editing:
I think within this group we all know the significance of editing. I thought my own small contribution to our collection was a gem until my editor Dave cut away more rough stone than I thought possible. Of course, we have to be our own first (and sometimes only) editor of what we write. As someone once said, there’s no such thing as good writing. Only good re-writing.
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