I've gotten a tentative offer on my collection, All Along the Pacific, though I don't yet have a contract in hand. It may hinge on adding a final, more recent piece to the collection of historic short stories, and here is where I am stymied. I'm not married to the idea of ending the collection on the story that currently happens to be at the back, but it is very difficult, over a year after I initially compiled the stories, to go back and create something that fits the tone and content and adequately sums it up for me. I want it to end with a punch, and maybe that's what's holding me back the most. I'm afraid of letting the rest of the collection down, and I don't want to disappoint my other characters.
Another common error young writers make is telling a story, rather than showing a story. This is probably because many of the short stories they have been exposed to are fairy tales, which have a distant point of view and summary-like narration. They start with phrases like "There once was..." and use direct characterization, like "She was the kindest girl in all the land." When we write, we need to show our stories, using vivid verbs, specific details, and deep point of view. Here's an example of a passage that is told. The action is summarized and the reader feels as if the action is happening far away: It was June of 1943. Eric's older brother had gone away to become a fighter pilot. Eric wanted to be a pilot too, so he got in the family's crop dusting plane and started it up. He flew it out of the barn and crashed it into the old oak tree in the yard. He hit his head. The doctor had to come. His brother came back, injured from the war. The two healed...
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