Trevor's Writing

Short Story Starters

2 Comments »6th February, 2009; Category: Fiction, Short Stories, Short Story Starters, Writer's block

It has been far too long since my last set of short story starters was published here. Entries in this series of articles have proved very popular with my readers for several years now.

Use them

I invite you to look through this latest list of short story starters. If anything grabs your imagination, run with it. Borrow my idea and use it for a short story (or even a novel).

Writer’s block

If you are suffering from the dreaded Writer’s Block, these ideas are the ideal way to write yourself out of that slump. Take one of the ideas and just write – anything that comes to mind. Don’t worry if it seems like rubbish. Just write – and soon the words will be flowing again.

New writers

If you are new to writing, here you will find some great ideas to get you going. Don’t worry too much about the technicalities of spelling, punctuation and grammar on your first, rough draft. You can go back over those things later, once you have the main bulk of the story written.

Here they are – more Short Story Starters:

As Alice rounded the corner she could hear the train coming. She…
Before I had a chance to fully grasp what was happening, Ben had whipped out his knife. Seconds later he…
Considering his past record, this latest move was sure to create a new round of controversy. Peter knew this, but he was adamant that he must go on. He…
‘Don’t come in here!’ she shouted. ‘After what you’ve done I don’t want to see you again. Get lost.’
Even as I entered the room I could tell that she was not happy. She had that certain look that spoke volumes. I knew…
‘Fine! You just go ahead and leave – tonight! Good riddance, I say. And don’t think I’ll come running after you.’
Getting over the party was the least of my worries. The cleanup could wait; that mess wasn’t going anywhere. I had to find George and explain. He was probably wondering…

Show – don’t tell

Notice that I start in the middle of the story. Many short stories start in the wrong place. Beginner writers tend to give far too much background detail and the real story starts part way through.

In the example above I have tried to get the action going immediately. Pages of background information is fine if you are writing a novel. Short stories are just that – short. They are tiny glimpses into one scene, two at most.

Beginner and inexperienced writers want to tell everything, going into the minutest of details and their short stories have nothing interesting happening in them. ‘Show – don’t tell’ is a mantra repeated endlessly by teachers of writing. Show the character’s motives through what she does. Show your character’s emotions through what he says (see example 6 above). Notice that I’ve broken my own rule in number 5 above. Sometimes telling is needed; you have to know the rules before you know when to break them.

Good writing.

For more short story starters click here.

Conditions of use:

Feel free to use any of the story starters listed above. Change anything to suit your needs.

Give it your best shot.

Edit your work carefully before sending it off to a publisher or posting it on your blog.

Let me know in the comments section how it went.

If you publish your story on your web site or on your blog let me know so I can make a link to it for others to read.

The secret of becoming a published writer

1 Comment »4th February, 2009; Category: The Writer's Life

If you want to be a published author here’s the secret. Walk over to your desk. Sit on your seat. Now write. And write some more. And keep writing.

I’m not sure where I found this quote but there is quite a large dollop of truth in that quote. You see, it takes persistence to become a published writer. Hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year. There are no short cuts.

Many people are in enchanted with the idea of being a writer, but faced with the sheer effort of writing day after day until they have 50, 100 or 200 thousand words, their dreams fade.

As in many pursuits, there is no secret to success. Hard work, persistence and never giving up are all ingredients to becoming a published writer.

Now – if the dream to be a published writer is still burning brightly, go over to your desk, sit down and start writing.

Good writing – and I guarantee that your hard work and persistence will see you become a published writer.

Australian Children’s author Ivan Southall

No Comments »2nd February, 2009; Category: Authors, Novels, Writing for Children, Young Readers

One of the most influential and respected authors in Australia is Ivan Southall. He was a prolific writer whose main works, mostly for children and teenagers, were published in the 1960s and 70s. He had a profound influence upon me as a teacher and writer. I think I’ve read most of his books; it’s about time I revisit the best of them as I haven’t read any of them in many years, despite taking up space on my bookshelves.

I was saddened to hear late last year that Ivan Southall had died, aged 87 after a short battle with cancer. He is best known for his novels Hills End, Ash Road, Josh and To the Wild Sky. He wrote 30 novels and many other books, some for adults. He was a four time winner of the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award, just four of many awards in his lifetime. His works have been translated into at least 20 languages.

Southall’s writing was exciting and he often put his characters in difficult and dangerous situations, often without adult help. I found his writing to be very lyrical, pushing the boundaries of what many regarded as good literature for children.

Before his writing career began he was a pilot in the RAAF during WW2, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross in the process. His early books draw heavily on his war time experiences.

Vale Ivan Southall, 1921 – 2008.

Writing fiction

4 Comments »31st January, 2009; Category: Fiction

“Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything.”

Ivana Trump, upon finishing her first novel.

Say that again, please?

Yes, well … I think that’s what fiction is, something made up in the writer’s imagination.

That is what I love about writing fiction; you can make up interesting characters, imagine beautiful (or dangerous or horrible) settings, create compelling plots and generally let your creative juices loose, flowing in interesting directions.

I love it when characters take over the story and you have no idea where they will take the reader – and you as the writer.

I love it when the plot I have in mind or on my outline page suddenly twists away, taking unexpected lane ways, leading me on a merry – or dangerous – chase through a land unknown.

I am delighted when unplanned, unexpected and delicious endings pop out on to the page.

The foundation of fiction

Despite the imagination being the driving force behind all fiction, I believe it is important to realise that all fiction also has one foot in reality. Every story, even wild, out-of-this-world fantasy and SF, has to have an internal logic based on reality. If something is too illogical, the reader will switch off or stop reading.

Sure, some stories need a certain suspension of belief (eg a talking animal, and ogre who falls in love or an alien who speaks English), but once that is achieved successfully, the writer can blaze ahead.

The characters must also ring true to themselves, the setting must be based on places the readers can imagine and the plot must be feasible. I find more and more that I draw on real places, real people and real events for writing fiction. Many of my stories are based on true events; my imagination draws on those events and asks, “What if..” Using this technique my imagination can run off in all kinds of directions.

An example: some time ago my brother told me of a skeleton he found on a sandhill on his farm. All we know from the investigating detective is that the man was shot in the head twice and that he was not an Aborigine. I used the discovery of this unfortunate man and came up with a 4000 word crime and murder mystery story. My lecturer gave me a high distinction and she is a hard but fair assessor.

Let your imagination soar, and good writing.

Writers and their critics

No Comments »29th January, 2009; Category: Master of Arts course, Quotes, The Writer's Life

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics
is like asking a lamp-post how it feels about dogs.”

~ Christopher Hampton

The writer of the above quote has obviously had a few poor, perhaps even devastating experiences with critics. His statement is therefore quite understandable.

Over the years I have had a few critics of my writing. Nothing as distressing as to make a statement like that, but disappointing at the time. The important thing about critics is one’s reaction to their criticisms. Most writers I suspect are like me and have a difficult time remembering that the critic is talking about your writing, not you. To depersonalise the criticism and then to take a cold, hard look at the criticism is often the path to becoming a far better writer.

This idea has been drummed into me over the past year while I have been working on my Master of Arts in Creative Writing. Most pieces of writing, be that non-fiction, fiction or poetry, that we were asked to produce had to be presented at a workshop. The lecturers, tutors and fellow students were the critics. Having your writing critiqued like this was very confronting at first.

After a few sessions I became very comfortable with the process. I quickly discovered that I could no longer be precious about what I wrote. If ten other people are all saying that something stinks, I’d better rewrite it. We often get too close to our work. It becomes ‘our baby.’ How dare anyone say anything negative about it!

If, however, only one or two people say something is not working, I learned to listen, look at the issue raised and then make a decision on whether I needed to rewrite. Often I would make minor changes, sometimes I went with my gut feeling and left it unchanged. The final decision was always mine as the author.

Critics and critique groups can play a very important role in helping writers improve the quality of their writing. I’d encourage all writers to find one or several trusted people they can use to critique their work. Family and close friends are not recommended, unless they are writers themselves. Unless they truly understand what is at stake they are better left out of the equation until the work is published. Then encourage them to buy a copy.

Good writing.