Category: Short Stories

I … is for imagery

On By TomIn Achievement, Competitions, General, Insight, Novel, Poetry, Review, Short Stories, Uncategorized8 Comments

I[1]  is for imagery.

What is imagery in the context of writing and storytelling?

It is the use of words by the writer to suggest a picture or scene in the mind of the reader. That’s a personal definition, but I think it’s close enough. Let’s look at some examples.

Example 1.

Marcus said: “You can’t do this to me Charlotte.”

“Oh, yes I can,” she replied and laughed.

Example 2.

Marcus said: “You can’t do this to me Charlotte.”

“Oh, yes I can,” she replied, and laughed as she sliced through the safety rope. Marcus screamed until he bounced off the rocks.

 Example 3. From my short story, ‘Simply Irresistible’

‘Mark’s attention was caught by the girl’s white blouse, or more accurately its contents, because the opening at the top provided a glimpse of cleavage and a hint of white lace. Mark raised his left arm pretending to check the time so he could look straight ahead.’

At one time, fictional literature was filled with gushing, flowery prose and carried the reader along on a slow and beautiful journey through the story. The modern reader is more inclined to expect a more rapid pace, and require fewer words to fire up their imagination. They want an interesting, well-told story, but with pace.

In essence, good imagery is about using as few words as possible to conjure up a sense of place, or scene, in the mind of the reader. It can be done in narrative, or effectively within dialogue. As with all passages of writing, don’t just write it and edit it; truly imagine it. If it takes three, four, or more attempts to get it right, just keep on going, because it will be worth it.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll be back tomorrow with my word and thoughts on ‘J’.

 

H … is for hook.

On By TomIn Achievement, Competitions, General, Insight, Novel, Poetry, Review, Short Stories, Uncategorized2 Comments

H[1]

is for hook.

What do I mean by a hook?

A hook will exist in a variety of writing, from articles, t0 poetry, short stories and novels. It is that magnetic word, or group of words, that grips the attention of a prospective reader or browser, and turns that person into a reader.

My own rule for short stories is to create a hook within the first 30 words. It may go over by one or two, but generally I manage to keep it pretty tight.

Example 1:  Opening lines of my short story, ‘Duty Bound’.

‘Gary felt pain throughout his body.  He opened his eyes and gasped.  A small monkey that had been studying him from six inches away shrieked, and scurried along the high branch.’ (31 words) 

Example 2:  Opening lines of my short story, ‘Mary had a little gun’.

‘Standing in the remote, disused warehouse; Mary stared through the broken windows.  Her tortured thoughts drifted back briefly, to life before she became a wife and mother.  She had been a different person then. (34 words) 

When writing a novel, I may not follow the template suggested by the ‘How to …’ books, but I do create a hook within the first 3 – 5 pages. I also create a hook early, and late in each chapter. In a novel, they are better described as cliff-hangers.

I tend not to give the solution to the cliff-hanger too early in the next chapter, preferring in some cases to keep it under wraps for maybe two chapters or more. Some solutions might be kept from the reader for longer, but I make sure the solutions are worthy of such a wait. The key thing is; they must exist to keep the reader going.

A good choice of title, cover, or both, might be enough to capture interest, but the writer must create a recurring interest to keep those pages turning. The story must tease the reader’s inquisitive nature, sometimes allowing the reader to play detective for a while, and then the solution to one issue is overlapped by creating a new one.

Your task as a writer is to entertain and lure the prospective reader into looking beyond the title of the short story, or novel. Tease them into looking at that first page, and then draw them in, line by line, and page by page.

If those hook examples have worked for any of you, those two stories are available on this blog. As always, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you back here for … ‘I’.