It All Begins In Your Mind

Every short story begins in the mind of the author. By now, you should have read short stories that you like and have carefully studied and paid attention to how your authors developed and built their stories. You must have pondered on probable setups and dialogues.

Inspiration may come to you easily enough although it is more common that it will elude you. Thus, it is advisable that if an idea hits you, take note of it immediately before you forget it.

Telling Your Short Story

Determine the voice of the story. Who will tell the story? Is it a first-person, a second-person or a third-person story? Remember that when you choose the first-person narrator, the story will be limited to what he sees or feels. You will not be able to explore the views, feelings, and thoughts of the rest of the characters of the story.

A Short Story is Short

Long stories have a tendency to drag on and on. Keep your story short, therefore, especially if you’re new to the field. A short story may encompass a single momentous occasion in the life of your character or it can span a single day or just about an hour. Limit the length of your story. The shorter it is, the more interesting it can be.

Plot and Characterization are Important

Short stories are usually composed of three sections – a situation, a problem for your protagonist, and a resolution to the problem. These three parts must have a single theme. Unity and coherence of thought is important. In a short story, you must be careful not to add on elements that are not required and that will become just so much white noise that will detract from what you are trying to say and relate.

Create your protagonist, antagonist and the rest of your characters. Your protagonist should be the most developed character that will elicit the most response from your reader. He or she must be the person to draw out sympathy from your reader.

All of your characters must be real. Turn the figments of your imagination into real, flesh-and-blood people. Give them their favorite foods, their moods, expressions, and hobbies. Pepper your story with small details that will make your characters real to your readers. Give vivid descriptions and dialogues that will give your characters life.

Making your Story Interesting

Create tension and crisis in your protagonist’s life by having him or her repeatedly failing to resolve his or her problem. Don’t give out your ending too soon. Keep your readers guessing until the last possible minute.

Finally, create a very good climax. Resolve the story by having your character settle the problem by ingenuity, wit, intelligence or any other means that would make your reader relate with and admire your character.

Especially, when a person is bored of watching the same lovesick lovers almost lose each other and be reunited somewhere near the end of the movie , the happy and adventurous world of animation gives them something exciting to entertain. Moreover such movies are a great way to get the family together. Unlike other obscene, Hollywood stuff, these movies are made for full entertainment as they can be educational and entertainer both.

Recently a slew of animated movies have come out to capture the audiences of all ages through their all charming, messed-up, comical way.

Another wonderful animated movie, Toy Story won a special Oscar for being a breakthrough film. Moreover the Toy story 3 has been the highest-grossing film of 2010 in the United States and Canada, and the highest-grossing film of 2010 worldwide

The Wall-E, released in 2008, has also incredibly won the audience heart for its computer-animated science fiction. It tells the story of the robot named Wall-E. The robot has been developed to clean up the earth covered in thrash. The movie was elected by Academy Awards for the best animated feature.

There are a number of versions of the fairy theme available in books, from the modern Tinkerbell based Disney Fairies theme to the more traditional Cicely Mary Barker Flower Fairy books. All books can be enjoyed either by older readers reading alone or through parent reading time and are a wonderful window to both a girl’s imagination, love of the earth and their interest in reading.

Tinkerbell was once a simple side-kick to Peter Pan, the hero of James Barrie’s immortal 1904 play and 1911 book. When Disney released the animated film Peter Pan in 1953 he would have no idea that one day Tinkerbell would be in a movie all her own that spawned sequels and numerous books, toys and ornaments. The Disney Fairies line took flight with the release of the Tinkerbell direct to DVD movie in 2008, the first of five planned Disney Fairies films.

There are a number of books based around Tinkerbell, Vidia, Lilly, Rani and the rest of the fairies. The first and most famous was Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine. The book and its sequel Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand have sold millions of copies and are recommended for older, more confident readers.

Random House began releasing a series of smaller chapter books under the banner of Tales of Pixie Hollow. These books are smaller and easier to read though still recommended for competent readers. Comic company Papercutz is also releasing comic interpretations of the Disney Fairies, in the same vein as their Geronimo Stilton comics.

If you are looking for similar more contemporary interpretations of Fairy culture then try the Rainbow Magic series of books by Daisy Meadows, the Fairy Realm series by Emily Rodda, Nina Fairy Ballerina by Nicola Slater or the Emily Windsnap series of Mermaid books by Liz Kessler.

Moving away from modern interpretations of the fairy and back to a more traditional approach, the Flower Fairy series is based on Cicely Mary Barker’s original Flower Fairy illustrations, stories and rhymes first published in the early 1920′s. Cicely Mary Barker was heavily influenced by Kate Greenaway and her images are of beautiful children-like fairies in natural settings.

The publishers have hired contemporary authors to reinterpret the tales of various flower fairies and while the images and stories are a little more old-worldy than the more recent interpretations by Disney and Co. they offer an earthy balance. The stories all deal with events that happen entirely within the flower fairy world, which is a very earthy, nature-based setting.

Readers learn about the seasons and the plants that favour particular growing circumstances and how specific changes in the environment effects other aspects of that ecosystem. But it is all very subtle and totally within the natural context of the story.

1.When you start to select a book just turn it to the middle and checkout the comprehension used in the book. Then compare that with your children’s knowledge. Without considering this you will not be able to choose a book for your child.

2. You must think about the sensitivity of your child. Some children may dream of a monster while lying sleeping and some may not. This brings the difference between the children. Some may get afraid and some may not after reading certain books. So it is always better to see the sensitiveness of the child.

3. Decide the violent content of the book. The book contains aliens, monsters and some strange characters and these characters may be killed. So you are in a stage to decide the maturity level of your child, and the maturity level is to be considered in advance.

4. It is better to ask a librarian about the type of book you are about to buy. He may suggest some books with more fantasy things and with lots of fun. He may recommend some books or he could suggest some author names too.

5. Suggest the appropriate books for kids as they grow older. Suggesting books meant for kids will limit there knowledge and the level of knowledge of your child will only be kiddish when he grows older. Thus giving advance books and the books meant for the elders to read will let them to improve their knowledge.

6. The books from award winning companies and from the authors will fetch your child a lot of knowledge. Newbery and Caldecott award winner books will be more informative and this will gain your child knowledge.

7. Nowadays internet search for each and every product is available. It is better to move on to the internet search finally. Internet has lots and lot of books especially on science fiction topics. You may also gather some information regarding books from there.

The battle between good and evil, right and wrong is the main theme of fantasy and of course magical solutions which replace the laws of nature as we understand them. Events occur, things appear, change just because they do. It’s all at the mercy of the author’s galloping imagination. For children in particular this works beautifully. They have very little hard fact for why things work as they do, making believing a fantasy story just another happening in their lives.

These stories are generally about kings and queens, knights, castles, villagers, etc. Peaceful kingdoms are threatened by some great evil and conquering heroes ride forth. It’s not uncommon to see parodies on this theme, poking fun at it’s usual loftiness. For the most part, these stories come from mythology and European legend, particularly Britain. In these stories our heroes are not really facing the “big” battle but rising to the challenge of smaller, more personal forays into fantasy worlds..and quite often having a darned good time doing it. We’ll commonly see a small group of friends and possibly their animal sidekicks working together for the common good. The Wizard of Oz is a fine example of this type of fantasy book.

Fairy Tales could never be left out in the world of fantasy writing and are probably some of the oldest examples. Fairy tales in general deal with a personal transformation of some kind. The ugly duckling becomes the swan, the poor maid becomes a princess and the frog becomes the prince. They are ‘smaller’ stories, but by no means any lesser of a fantasy with any less number of fans. Older works of Hans Christian Andersen to the more modern tales from Jane Yolen and Patricia McKillip fall into this group. Magical Realism of fantasy fiction mostly takes place in the modern world, with magic oozing into one particular character’s life. And often without anyone else seeing the magic…just it’s effects. Like Water For Chocolate – A famous example of Magical Realism.

1. What do they look like?

Some authors would say start by describing who they are rather than what they look like, but to me, a character’s physical appearance always comes first so that’s where I’ll begin.

Take pen and paper and jot down the following physical characteristics: Hair and eye colour, hair style, complexion, age, build, slim or plump. You can do this in 50 words or less. And remember, once you have the basic description, you can always tweak it later. Get a clear picture of your character in your mind’s eye.

2. Background

Where were they born and where did they grow up? Jot down their country of origin, county or state, town, city or village. What were their parents names? What schooling did they have? What jobs have they had, and what job do they have now? Are they married or single? Any children? See all this in your mind’s eye so that their background begins to come to life for you. All this stuff will affect how they think and react to different situations. Jot it down briefly to begin with.

3. Likes and dislikes

What food do they like, are they a drinker? Are they into sport, pets, hobbies? What music do they listen to and what movies do they like? What is their favourite food and what can’t they stand? Do they have pet hates or phobias? Get this all down on paper, but keep it short.

4. Character

Now we come to what they are like as a person. What is their temperament? Easy going? Short tempered? Anxious, easily vexed? Are they strong willed or easily led by others? Are they forgiving or do they not suffer fools gladly? Are they loving and outgoing or timid and introspective? Jot it all down and try to build inside your head just what kind of person they are on the inside.

Now bear in mind that not all this information may come out in your story. The reader may never know that your character’s hobby is needle point, or that they grew up in poverty in a Welsh mining village, but you, the writer, will know and this will help you give your character the proper responses, accent and reactions as they brush up against the other characters in your story.

By this time you should know what their name and age is. You may have known that from the start, but if so do you want to change either one now you know your character better?

As a writer you should try to make your characters living, breathing, believable people. And ideally, you want your reader to develop an emotional connection with them. How do you want your readers to respond to them? Do you want the reader to love them, dislike them, be amused by them? Getting the details of the character down on paper as we did above will help you to craft the characters your readers will respond to.

The first paragraph should be a brief synopsis of your novel. No more than 100 words, perhaps 150 words. This synopsis is written in the present tense. You want to hook the agent’s curiosity to read more. It’s a challenge to condense a 100,000 novel down to 150 words, but important you do. Think of the synopsis as a back cover blurb. It gives just enough information to create excitement about the novel. If you need some examples go to the bookstore and look at the back cover blurbs of books in the same genre as yours.

The second paragraph describes the market for your novel and includes the genre. Are you aiming for romance readers, cozy mystery readers or is your book a young adult novel? You can compare your book to other similar books, saying something like “readers of Sandra Brown will enjoy TITLE OF YOUR BOOK. Mention the word count and that the novel is completed.

The third paragraph includes your background as a writer and a brief bio. If you have writing credits make sure you mention them. Many agents don’t consider a vanity/subsidy book or self-published book as a writing credit. If you include the title they will look it up on amazon.com to see who the publisher is.

The third paragraph is where you can describe any special experience you have that could become a publicity hook or gives you an insight other writers might not have. For example if you are a pastry chef and your heroine is also a pastry chef that would be relevant.

End the letter by thanking the agent for their time and consideration and asking if they would like to see the first few chapters or a completed manuscript. The purpose of the query letter is to motivate the agent to ask for the manuscript.

The query letter should be no more than one page single spaced. You could also include a 2 or 3 page synopsis of your novel, but don’t include the first chapter or the entire manuscript.

Successful, prolific writers:

1) Write every day. That’s EVERY day. They sit down, open their veins, and bleed into their computers. Yes, it can be painful, but if you don’t maintain this kind of regularity, rust creeps in. The connection between heart, mind and fingers is broken. And we mistake the struggle for our natural state.

2) Read every day. Reading is priming the pump. It is modeling successful behavior. It is increasing vocabulary, studying plot and characterization, and entertaining the little subconscious demons and angels who actually do the deep work. Never neglect this.

3) Set deadlines and quotas. There is a certain amount of work to be done, on a daily basis. It need not be some huge amount-a page a day will create a book a year!

4) Create a writing space, a place that feels comfortable to them. This is both a physical space (a desk) and a psychological space (created with music, posters, familiar objects, etc.) It may also be a temporal space-a specific time of day or night that they write.

5) Have specific goals. They have committed to being professional writers. This is how they define themselves, and they never forget it. If you accept this definition, then you MUST behave as a professional writer, on a daily basis, or it causes emotional discomfort. They are willing to accept this friendly prod.

6) Don’t listen to the negative voices in their heads. Everyone has them. The voices tell you you can’t, you mustn’t, it isn’t good enough. You must find a way to tell the voices to shut up, to ignore them, or to quiet them. Any flow-based activity will help here: meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, running, Sufi breathing exercises, martial arts…the list is endless. Find one.

7) Are committed to the long-term. They know that if they spend an hour or three a day, every day, for a decade, they will build their career.

Expose themselves to criticism and rejection. In other words, they FINISH their projects, and then SUBMIT those finished projects to editors and agents.

9) Involve other people in their “master mind” group. Successful writers know other writers. And readers. And editors. And agents. They befriend them, recruit them, get feedback from them, and listen to the feedback. This is their “brain trust.” Unsuccessful writers hide in their offices, never finish their work, never send it out to risk rejection.

10) Have W.I.T.—they will do Whatever It Takes to ethically reach their dreams, to become the best they can be. They never quit. They know that success is based less on talent or “who you know” than persistence, hard work, and honesty.