Creative Authors, Story Writers - Great Creative Writing! Writing Tips! New Fiction! Creative Writing Stories Online!
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Everyone says they have the best new fiction, poetry creative writing, short stories and lyricists online. Our creative writing, short stories and poems speak for themselves!
By Stuart Leventhal
Drivel, nothing but drivel Words for words sake. The author’s a bore and a fake. Sold his artistic soul to the devil There’s always commercials to make. Now all painting and sketches have been replaced by computer images. Advertisements hang in all of our frames. Singing and dancing’s been outlawed Books and poems set aflame. The only colors we’re allowed to wear Are white, black and grey. Humanity abused the arts they say. And now we all must pay. Less smiles, more frowns. No laughter, no more clowns. All comedians run out of town, on a rail….. Photographers scorned, sculptors warned. Quit or be thrown into jail. Some say reality shows and phone texting were the start of societies decay. Radio and television’s lack of scruples, Caused our precious arts to start to fade away. Now if you’re caught tinkering with words that rhyme. Even during your own spare time. Our courts will consider this a serious crime. Frowned upon with a hefty fine. Vases sit empty, no flowers. Park statues ripped out by the root. Workers toil in silence for hours. What I’d give for the sound of one flute. The right wing burned all the museums down. The left ordered our Theaters bulldozed to the ground. We have Church bells that ring but don’t make a sound. When Bloggers all crowned their own babble profound. The arts we admired, the dreams they inspired, are now all expired. Oh what a shame. The arts are all dead. The arts are all gone. While we all sit around pointing the blame. The book stores and newspapers were the first to close. As the amount of drivel for drivel on the internet rose. Every drone who can moan has a cellular phone. The super highway’s in grid lock from my ex’s text messages alone. Universities and colleges were the next to decline Why spend all that money? Why waste all that time I’ll just order up me, one brain surgery degree Down load it for free, On line! All fun is considered evil, relaxation scorned. A man could get stoned for telling a knock-knock joke. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. Wipe that smile off your face There’s no humming or strumming of fingers allowed in this place. Skipping and hopping could get you banded in disgrace. Babble nothing but babble. We’re all addicted to dabble. even though we have nothing to say. We click on our favorite site and type half the night then come back to type more crap the very next day. And all of us self proclaimed geniuses Experts on everything from Jersey corn to unicorns to political reforms. We got no diploma, no certificates, no licenses…But hey! Everyone should read all the stuff we’ve been itching to say. Drivel, nothing but drivel Words for words sake This poem was written by a flake and a bore Who sold his artistic soul to the devil Another fine, illiterate whore. Story Writer, Anewtale.com is the e writers website for inspirational poems, short, short stories, song lyrics, the best new fiction, creative writing and tips for writing a story on line!
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  YOU VOTED! Creative writing stories online #1 STORY WRITER Loyalty by Rocky Springer
The Police cruiser pulled up outside the English Tudor home. BEEP! BEEP! Two cops climbed out then stood by the car waiting. A petite woman jogged out the front door carrying a small carry-all slung over her shoulder. The young officer took her bag. The older officer opened the car's back door. "Get in Mamm, hurry. We got orders to get you out of here quickly and safely." He glanced around nervously.
Traveling down highway 56, the woman was checking her makeup in her purse mirror. "So where are you taking me?" "Some place safe." "And, where would that be?" She patted her cheeks with a cotton puff full of powder rouge. "We don't know that Mamm. We're only your escorts as far as the state line then we turn you over to Federal Agents." "Oh." She twisted the bottom of her lipstick to extend the tip. She swiped the lip stick across her upper lip then held the mirror up to see how it looked. SCRREEEECHH!! In her little makeup mirror, she saw a pick up truck speed out, swerving onto the highway behind the police car. "Oh my! They got guns!" "Guess we got company Ralph." The husky, younger police officer in the front passenger seat pulled his pistol then turned around leaning on the back of the front seat. "Lie down on the floor Miss." He pushed her down. BOOOMM! The back window exploded, raining glass all over her back. The older policeman jerked the steering wheel making the cruiser swerve to the right then left while the younger officer tried to aim. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! He fired his pistol through the back window. The driver slammed on the brakes. SCCREEECH!! The police car skidded to a halt. The momentum threw the young officer back banging his head against the front windshield. He dropped his pistol. The pickup truck sped past them. "Uhgg!" The young guy rubbed his head. The driver pulled out his own pistol. "Don't move Larry." "Huh? What's this?" He stared over at the driver. "You're with them Ralph?" "Six hundred thousand dollars, even split three ways, goes a long way Pal." "But what about me? We've been partners for almost eight years and you're gonna just sell me out!?" "No Larry. They just want the girl. I won't let them do anything to you." "Don't be stupid Ralph. I'm a witness. They're not going to just let me walk!" He glanced at the pickup truck which had stopped about twenty five yards ahead. The two men had climbed out of the truck carrying rifles. They walked slowly towards the police car. "Drop the gun!" Shouted the woman. She had pulled her own pistol out of somewhere and was now pointing it at the back of the older cops head. They both stared at the little silver derringer. It was the type which held only two bullets. "Don't look so surprised. I've been a mobster's girl friend for over ten years. I know how to use this thing. So, lay the gun down! And get out of the car!" The older driver lay his gun on the dash then opened the door. The two assassins stopped walking then pointed their rifles at the police car. "You!" She ordered the young cop. "Slide over behind the wheel and back this car up and get us out of here fast!" The older officer stepped away from the car holding his hands in the air. "Look guys, I'm un-armed!" He shouted to the riflemen. "Guess they got the drop on me. I'm sorry." BOOOM! BOOOM! Larry saw his partner's body jerk like a string puppet's as the bullets slammed into him. BOOOM! BOOOM! Larry slid across the seat. He grabbed the steering wheel with his left hand and the gear shift with his right. He shifted into drive then slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. SCREEECHH!!! The tires spun. "Duck down!" Larry ordered, scrunching down behind the steering wheel. He aimed the speeding police car at the two riflemen. BOOOM!! The front windshield exploded. Larry opened his eyes in time to see the riflemen dive to get out of the way of the police car. He jammed on the brakes. The car skidded coming to a halt beside the pick up truck. "What are you stopping for?" The woman glanced back over her shoulder through the back window. She saw the gun men scrambling to their feet. One of them was reloading his rifle. Larry grabbed his partner's gun from the dash. The woman pushed her pistol into the back of Larry's head. "Drive us out of here!" She hissed. Larry stuck his partner's pistol out through the shattered front windshield and aimed down at the truck's front tire. BANG! BANG! He drove the car ahead to the back tire. BANG! BANG! The truck started to sink as the tires deflated. Larry stepped on the gas pedal. SCREECH!! He looked in the rearview mirror and watched the two riflemen shaking their rifles in the air and cursing as they ran to their truck. "You got to learn to trust somebody Lady." He tossed his pistol onto the seat next to him. "Sorry." She slowly dropped her gun hand, so the pistol wasn't pointing at his head. "But trust is what got me into this mess. Besides, didn't we both trust your partner? Look where that's gotten us." "It's a long lonely life, if you try to go through it without trusting anybody." "I'd rather be lonely and alive, than trusting and six feet under thank you." "Well, you can trust me. Okay?" "How reassuring." He reached for the radio's microphone. "What are you doing?" She pointed the gun at him. "I'm calling the station to tell them what just happened to us." "No you're not!" She raised the gun to the back of his head. "Hang that up now! Stupid." "Okay, okay." He dropped the microphone. "What's the matter with you?" "Nick Scaressie's got eyes and ears all over your police department. As soon as he hears that those two morons back there failed, he'll send more after us." "Now that's being a little paranoid don't you think?" "No! Now turn off at the next exit." "Why?" "Because I'm not staying on the same road we were just ambushed on." "Do you even know where this road goes? Cause if we get lost..." He steered the car onto the off ramp. "I don't believe we have a map in the car." "I want to get lost. Don't you get it. There's people trying to kill me." "Listen Lady. My orders are to drive you to the state line and turn you over to the federal agents. And that's what I intend to do." "I'm not meeting any federal agents now. Not after what just happened. How would I know they weren't working for Scaressie too?" "You have no choice but to meet the federal agents. They'll put you in the Witness Protection Program. Otherwise you'll be running and hiding for the rest of your life." "Just keep driving while I try to think." They drove in silence for about an hour down a one lane winding country road. The sun began to set. "You married?" She asked him. "No." "Ever picture yourself like me on the run from the mob and the law?" "No." "Pull in that parking lot." She pointed to a small dark country house Inn with a small neon Vacancy sign lit up in a window. "Park around the back. So somebody driving past won't spot our car." She laid her sweater over her arm concealing the pistol. "We're going to go rent us a room. I want you to register us as Mr. and Mrs. Smith." "Smith, how original." "We're newly weds if anyone asks." He laughed. She continued. "We need a room with a phone. You're going to make a phone call to Nick Scaressie. You're going to tell him that you have me and you want to make a deal with him. Only the price has gone up. Instead of six hundred thousand dollars, it's now nine hundred thousand bucks in small bills." "Do you really think you can pull a scheme like that off?" "I got to. It's gonna cost a lot of money to run away and start a whole new life somewhere." He turned around in his seat to face her. "But do you really think you can pull this scheme off?" "Not alone I can't." She gulped. "But I could with a partner." She handed him the pistol. "You said I had to start trusting somebody. Life's lonely and all that..." He reached over the back of the seat then pulled her to him. Their mouths mashed in a long passionate kiss.
Writers on writing "I want to write books that unlock the traffic jam in everybody's head." John Updike
"Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow..." Lawrence Clark Powell "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say. But what we are unable to say." Anais Nin "Why do writers write? Because it isn't there." Thomas Berger "Writing is the best way to talk, without being inturupted." Jules Renard "You can make anything by writing." C.S. Lewis "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Mark Twain Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day
provided by The Free Library
The Critic by Stu Leventhal
He’s the critic
Don’t show him something he’s not ready for He’ll write a review, to criticize you That will have the whole art world in an uproar. But I doubt it will have much influence On the public’s point of view. Cause the people love their artists Flaws and all. We respect their selfless battles As they try to answer their call. Art reminds us of the significance of all the things we take for granted big and small. As the artist tries to breathe life into everything we consider illusion. There’s nothing more noble than trying to make some sense, out of life’s confusion. The artist tries to capture the magic of a moment. To record it so it can be experienced by as many people as possible. He plants ideas then waters them so they take root and can grow and someday, hopefully mature. He works to enlighten me and you. So criticize him, what for? The Easy Way To Learn Piano!
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Writing A Story, Writing Fiction, Creative Writing Ideas
by Edward (Dictionary) Itor
Sure, recently the internet has allowed a lot of self-proclaimed, creative writing experts to dominate the field of online literature. And yes, a lot of the esteemed professional creative writers have given up trying to fight the growing trend to publish any blah, blah, quickly typed, unpolished, rushed prose as long as it contains the words their client wishes to rank high for with the search engines. Plagiarism issues have been raised concerning the unchecked use of new writing technologies and software that takes a well humanly written article or short story then spins 50 to 100 versions (usually of poor grammatical quality and terrible flow of thought) by rearranging the original author’s words and sentences adding a few generic passages packed with a webmaster’s keywords. Still, even with all the advancements, nothing in this world satisfies, like reading a few perfectly put together sentences constructed by a real, creative, story writer who's not afraid to bare his/her soul. Advanced language separates the human race from all other species of the world. That is why none of the other arts compare when measuring the impact and awe man feels when encountering a new, well-crafted piece of creative writing. For man knows, in writing lies man’s legacy.
Everyone has stories, be it about high school, first love, a triumph at sports or a personal self- realization moment. To create true art of any kind, you have to expose your guts. A want-a-be story writer needs encouragement. Sometimes we're shy or ashamed to share our story or worried how we'll be perceived after we bare our souls. As a new story writer, one needs to except, deep down that you will be taking a risk every time you press your pen to paper. Stop trying to figure out ways to hold back when writing a story. Don’t disguise the true meaning behind your creative writing. Let your emotions fly! Get prepared to lay yourself naked before your public. Your first book or short story contract is floating just underneath the surface of the lake, waiting for you to lean over the side of the boat to fish it out. Story writer, poet, lyricist; Just don’t lean too far.
“Write what you like to read.” Advises Fran Rice, an Anewtale.com Editor, Poet and Creative Writing Author. “If you like reading mysteries, you’ll like writing a story involving mystery much more than a historic love story. Likewise, if you dig reading romantic, short stories, why choose a fiction tale about mountain climbing as your first subject matter? Unless, it’s about a mountain climber falling hopelessly in and out of love with a woman who’s afraid of heights.”
The best writing comes from your own experiences, yearnings and emotions. But, you say, some of us are private individuals, what then? Your readers will see through anything less than giving them everything; blood, sweat and tears. They sense immediately, when you try to pawn off contrived emotions. But luckily, story writer, there are ways to open up and pour everything into your art while still keeping one's dignity and holding on to a secret moment or two to treasure for yourself. Write fiction!
Change the setting to three hundred years in the future and write a sci-fi. Keep your readers guessing which character is the real you. The best advice for new and experienced writers is still and always will be, write about what you know. If you're like me, a very private person then maybe fiction is the way to go. This way you can pour all of your emotions into your tale without admitting to the world you had a crush on the girl who sat in front of you in tenth grade history class.
In other art forms, such as clarinet playing, there are ways to open up and pour everything into your music while still keeping one's dignity and sense of privacy. But your true fans can see the anguish in your face as you blow out the strained and contorted high notes that are your trademark. This is what keeps them coming back to hear more. And they trust you, any night of the week, not to disappoint them. Writing a story or especially when writing fiction, the story writer gets to let all his/her frustrations out. But, you can’t really hide all your demented pathologies behind the cloak that it’s all just a made up story, a fantasy and your imagination ran away with itself. If you did a good job, you left a piece of your soul on that page! Non-fiction creative writing is even harder to draw blood with your prose and still stay objective. To become a really great story writer, like any artist one has to get used to and come to terms with wearing one’s heart out on one’s sleeve. It is part of the price we scribes pay to enjoy our craft.
The most important rule of literature is that there is no rules of literature, just guide lines. All the so called rules of writing fiction and nonfiction are constantly being revised and updated. A lot of the rules of literature and creative writing were developed by publishers, bookstores and libraries to be able to categorize writing works because they need to have some kind of order and structure to be able to smoothly run their businesses and keep track of trends. Writings that are similar need to be grouped together for practicality purposes. For teaching, education and analyzing purposes the groupings must be well defined. But then, we create the debates on who’s definitions do we use to define the groupings and the members of each group. When a new novel comes out, who decides whether it is a romance, a sci-fi, or a mystery? Certainly there are plenty of books and short stories that have elements of all three genres. The boundaries of genre are meant to be crossed. Thus, the definitions of creative writing are meant to be stretched and molded to the story writer’s means. The rules can be overlooked and when necessary, totally ignored. Write your stories, using whatever methods, creative writing style or means that work. Concentrate on communicating your message to your reader, clearly and concisely. Leave the problem of categorizing your creative writing topics and creative writing ideas to the rest of us.
So, how do I start my short story, book or creative writing project?
Authors start their stories in numerous ways. Some, simply jump right in the pool and start writing whatever is on their mind at the time. They know they are going to edit and revise it all later, so why procrastinate. Other authors pride themselves on painstakingly crafting the perfect first sentence of their creative writing project. They strive to build a sentence that’s strong enough it will carry them and their readers through the next few opening paragraphs and maybe even the whole first chapter. To get an idea at how diverse, the beginnings of books are, just go to any shelf in a bookstore and read the first few lines of book after book on a single shelf, in any category. You’ll probably find no two starts alike. Most authors pride themselves on coming up with genius, cute little ways to jump start their short stories and novels. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The English novelist, Charles Dickens’s (1812-1870) opening to “A Tale of Two Cities.” is arguably the most famous and most quoted opening line in literary history. Yet, almost every teacher of writing will advise you not to open your story by using author narrative. It’s boring they say and self-indulgent! I tend to agree most of the time. My favorite way to start any short story or novel has always been, right in the heat of action. Let’s engage our reader right from the very first words and get his heart pumping right out of the gate. But, if you think you have an author’s narrative voice that can rival the great Charles Dickens, go for it! Go for it! Go for it!
Dialog is an easy and great way to jump right into a new tale. I don't recommend a long winded drawn out conversation where you don't identify the people talking except through the words they exchange with one another. But I certainly don't have the audacity to say it can't be done. The only rule usually applied to the start of a story is to make sure you catch the reader's attention and make them yearn for more. Strong dialog definitely has that power.
Granted, you need to come up with something that sets your short story apart from all the other short stories piling up in a magazine publisher or fiction editor’s in-bin. They receive so many short stories you have to write something that’s going to make their eyes open wide with marvel, their mouths drop open in surprise, their breathing stop for a second or better yet, a tear flow uncontrollably out of the corner of their pompous eye.
The first thing that may pop into your mind is shock literature. Give them something, so way out there that they can’t ignore it or forget your pen name. While this may get their attention and get you noticed, you’ll quickly be forgotten unless you can follow up with your audience and deliver some real quality content too. Surprise us, Story Writer, by all means but don’t just shock us for shocks sake.
There’s a whole school of writers who believe you should never start a new writing project by trying to write the beginning or opening of your story first. They know from experience that by the time you finish writing a three hundred page novel or even a twenty five page short story, things will have changed in your new tale to render those first few pages obsolete. Due to the importance of the opening words of a story, an experienced story writer plans to write the first few pages or at least the first few paragraphs last, after the whole work is finished. This type of story writer starts his/her creative writing projects by making an outline of the whole story. They claim an outline helps keep their creative writing topics and ideas organized and focused.
I, myself, like to free form (creative writing at its purest) Just write! And, I’ll usually start any new piece in 5,6 or even 8 or 9 different ways, all at the same time. I use as many different styles and start by just writing whatever comes to mind until I run out of steam. The, I lay that notebook down, pick up a new notebook and free form in a whole different manner, using completely different styles or techniques. Once I have some volume created, I’ll take all the different versions and try to put the best of each start together. Sometimes, I have to change the tense or just add a few words or sentences to join two starting pieces. Sometimes, I find, to my delight that I’ve created parts that can be utilized in the middle and endings of my story too. And, of course, some of these early free form, writings will be so out there, they won’t fit with any of the other stuff. That’s okay. I won’t throw out any of them! Maybe when I get time, I’ll use one or two to start a whole new tale.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Ah...at long last! Welcome fellow starving artists. When we wretched authors first decide to put pen to paper, we revolutionaries wish to startle the world with our wit. Full of vim and vigor, we aim to chastise the world’s leaders and reduce the wealthy and affluent to guilt ridden wretches, who will voluntarily donate all their ill-gotten riches to charity then dedicate the rest of their lives, repenting at a secluded monastery. We've all been to the libraries filled with rooms and shelves stuffed with books that no one person could ever possibly hope to read even a fraction of. We glance at the names and forgotten titles of the creative writers who came before us and their books no one remembers. We see the library card that tells us, this hard back hasn't been signed out in 18 years. Yet we still have the audacity to feel we have something to add to this mountain of neglected reading, something to say that's not been said yet. It all starts as fun, doesn’t it? That first poem, short story, song lyric we shyly show our parents, best friends or lover. "What do you think?" We ask nonchalantly, hoping they don't see our heart is out on our sleeve. "I love it." Is the universal reply. They always want to encourage us, no matter how bad the piece is. We see that look they give us that no one can disguise. They're seeing us through different eyes. They're realizing there's more to us, quite possibly parts of us they'll never get to know. It's a flash of envy and worry and awe. Writing is all of these things.
There are no guarantees. We dream of someday being a famous, rich story writer and then we'll sell the movie rights and be even richer! As we write, we realize what we're giving up, for this creative writing craft that has addicted us. We no longer write for the pay check. We don't write for the praise or title; story writer, author, poet, lyricist, that people have given to us. Critics are ignored. We write, picturing readers reading our words. Sometimes we picture a teenage boy reading one of our short stories or novels and we want to make him believe and approve and be satisfied when he lays our book aside. Other times we'll picture an older retired man reading night after night, our novel at his bedside. We strive to please all of them even the young woman who may stumble upon our creative writing twenty five years after we're dead, forty years after we wrote it. Logic tells us we can't please them all. Still we must try. Win or lose, we are a story writer and we must go on writing. The criticism hurts. The rejections hurt. I wouldn't wish this affliction on my worst enemy. Unfortunately, it's an infliction I share with most of my friends and almost all of the people I admire. Welcome, Story Writer, Good luck and keep writing, for there is no, more noble of a profession.
Everyone has stories, be it about high school, first love, a triumph at sports or a personal self- realization moment. To create true art of any kind, you have to expose your guts. A want-a-be story writer needs encouragement. Sometimes we're shy or ashamed to share our story or worried how we'll be perceived after we bare our souls. As a new story writer, one needs to except, deep down that you will be taking a risk every time you press your pen to paper. Stop trying to figure out ways to hold back when writing a story. Don’t disguise the true meaning behind your creative writing. Let your emotions fly! Get prepared to lay yourself naked before your public. Your first book or short story contract is floating just underneath the surface of the lake, waiting for you to lean over the side of the boat to fish it out. Story writer, poet, lyricist; Just don’t lean too far.
“Write what you like to read.” Advises Fran Rice, an Anewtale.com Editor, Poet and Creative Writing Author. “If you like reading mysteries, you’ll like writing a story involving mystery much more than a historic love story. Likewise, if you dig reading romantic, short stories, why choose a fiction tale about mountain climbing as your first subject matter? Unless, it’s about a mountain climber falling hopelessly in and out of love with a woman who’s afraid of heights.”
The best writing comes from your own experiences, yearnings and emotions. But, you say, some of us are private individuals, what then? Your readers will see through anything less than giving them everything; blood, sweat and tears. They sense immediately, when you try to pawn off contrived emotions. But luckily, story writer, there are ways to open up and pour everything into your art while still keeping one's dignity and holding on to a secret moment or two to treasure for yourself. Write fiction!
Change the setting to three hundred years in the future and write a sci-fi. Keep your readers guessing which character is the real you. The best advice for new and experienced writers is still and always will be, write about what you know. If you're like me, a very private person then maybe fiction is the way to go. This way you can pour all of your emotions into your tale without admitting to the world you had a crush on the girl who sat in front of you in tenth grade history class.
In other art forms, such as clarinet playing, there are ways to open up and pour everything into your music while still keeping one's dignity and sense of privacy. But your true fans can see the anguish in your face as you blow out the strained and contorted high notes that are your trademark. This is what keeps them coming back to hear more. And they trust you, any night of the week, not to disappoint them. Writing a story or especially when writing fiction, the story writer gets to let all his/her frustrations out. But, you can’t really hide all your demented pathologies behind the cloak that it’s all just a made up story, a fantasy and your imagination ran away with itself. If you did a good job, you left a piece of your soul on that page! Non-fiction creative writing is even harder to draw blood with your prose and still stay objective. To become a really great story writer, like any artist one has to get used to and come to terms with wearing one’s heart out on one’s sleeve. It is part of the price we scribes pay to enjoy our craft.
The most important rule of literature is that there is no rules of literature, just guide lines. All the so called rules of writing fiction and nonfiction are constantly being revised and updated. A lot of the rules of literature and creative writing were developed by publishers, bookstores and libraries to be able to categorize writing works because they need to have some kind of order and structure to be able to smoothly run their businesses and keep track of trends. Writings that are similar need to be grouped together for practicality purposes. For teaching, education and analyzing purposes the groupings must be well defined. But then, we create the debates on who’s definitions do we use to define the groupings and the members of each group. When a new novel comes out, who decides whether it is a romance, a sci-fi, or a mystery? Certainly there are plenty of books and short stories that have elements of all three genres. The boundaries of genre are meant to be crossed. Thus, the definitions of creative writing are meant to be stretched and molded to the story writer’s means. The rules can be overlooked and when necessary, totally ignored. Write your stories, using whatever methods, creative writing style or means that work. Concentrate on communicating your message to your reader, clearly and concisely. Leave the problem of categorizing your creative writing topics and creative writing ideas to the rest of us.
So, how do I start my short story, book or creative writing project?
Authors start their stories in numerous ways. Some, simply jump right in the pool and start writing whatever is on their mind at the time. They know they are going to edit and revise it all later, so why procrastinate. Other authors pride themselves on painstakingly crafting the perfect first sentence of their creative writing project. They strive to build a sentence that’s strong enough it will carry them and their readers through the next few opening paragraphs and maybe even the whole first chapter. To get an idea at how diverse, the beginnings of books are, just go to any shelf in a bookstore and read the first few lines of book after book on a single shelf, in any category. You’ll probably find no two starts alike. Most authors pride themselves on coming up with genius, cute little ways to jump start their short stories and novels. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The English novelist, Charles Dickens’s (1812-1870) opening to “A Tale of Two Cities.” is arguably the most famous and most quoted opening line in literary history. Yet, almost every teacher of writing will advise you not to open your story by using author narrative. It’s boring they say and self-indulgent! I tend to agree most of the time. My favorite way to start any short story or novel has always been, right in the heat of action. Let’s engage our reader right from the very first words and get his heart pumping right out of the gate. But, if you think you have an author’s narrative voice that can rival the great Charles Dickens, go for it! Go for it! Go for it!
Dialog is an easy and great way to jump right into a new tale. I don't recommend a long winded drawn out conversation where you don't identify the people talking except through the words they exchange with one another. But I certainly don't have the audacity to say it can't be done. The only rule usually applied to the start of a story is to make sure you catch the reader's attention and make them yearn for more. Strong dialog definitely has that power.
Granted, you need to come up with something that sets your short story apart from all the other short stories piling up in a magazine publisher or fiction editor’s in-bin. They receive so many short stories you have to write something that’s going to make their eyes open wide with marvel, their mouths drop open in surprise, their breathing stop for a second or better yet, a tear flow uncontrollably out of the corner of their pompous eye.
The first thing that may pop into your mind is shock literature. Give them something, so way out there that they can’t ignore it or forget your pen name. While this may get their attention and get you noticed, you’ll quickly be forgotten unless you can follow up with your audience and deliver some real quality content too. Surprise us, Story Writer, by all means but don’t just shock us for shocks sake.
There’s a whole school of writers who believe you should never start a new writing project by trying to write the beginning or opening of your story first. They know from experience that by the time you finish writing a three hundred page novel or even a twenty five page short story, things will have changed in your new tale to render those first few pages obsolete. Due to the importance of the opening words of a story, an experienced story writer plans to write the first few pages or at least the first few paragraphs last, after the whole work is finished. This type of story writer starts his/her creative writing projects by making an outline of the whole story. They claim an outline helps keep their creative writing topics and ideas organized and focused.
I, myself, like to free form (creative writing at its purest) Just write! And, I’ll usually start any new piece in 5,6 or even 8 or 9 different ways, all at the same time. I use as many different styles and start by just writing whatever comes to mind until I run out of steam. The, I lay that notebook down, pick up a new notebook and free form in a whole different manner, using completely different styles or techniques. Once I have some volume created, I’ll take all the different versions and try to put the best of each start together. Sometimes, I have to change the tense or just add a few words or sentences to join two starting pieces. Sometimes, I find, to my delight that I’ve created parts that can be utilized in the middle and endings of my story too. And, of course, some of these early free form, writings will be so out there, they won’t fit with any of the other stuff. That’s okay. I won’t throw out any of them! Maybe when I get time, I’ll use one or two to start a whole new tale.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Ah...at long last! Welcome fellow starving artists. When we wretched authors first decide to put pen to paper, we revolutionaries wish to startle the world with our wit. Full of vim and vigor, we aim to chastise the world’s leaders and reduce the wealthy and affluent to guilt ridden wretches, who will voluntarily donate all their ill-gotten riches to charity then dedicate the rest of their lives, repenting at a secluded monastery. We've all been to the libraries filled with rooms and shelves stuffed with books that no one person could ever possibly hope to read even a fraction of. We glance at the names and forgotten titles of the creative writers who came before us and their books no one remembers. We see the library card that tells us, this hard back hasn't been signed out in 18 years. Yet we still have the audacity to feel we have something to add to this mountain of neglected reading, something to say that's not been said yet. It all starts as fun, doesn’t it? That first poem, short story, song lyric we shyly show our parents, best friends or lover. "What do you think?" We ask nonchalantly, hoping they don't see our heart is out on our sleeve. "I love it." Is the universal reply. They always want to encourage us, no matter how bad the piece is. We see that look they give us that no one can disguise. They're seeing us through different eyes. They're realizing there's more to us, quite possibly parts of us they'll never get to know. It's a flash of envy and worry and awe. Writing is all of these things.
There are no guarantees. We dream of someday being a famous, rich story writer and then we'll sell the movie rights and be even richer! As we write, we realize what we're giving up, for this creative writing craft that has addicted us. We no longer write for the pay check. We don't write for the praise or title; story writer, author, poet, lyricist, that people have given to us. Critics are ignored. We write, picturing readers reading our words. Sometimes we picture a teenage boy reading one of our short stories or novels and we want to make him believe and approve and be satisfied when he lays our book aside. Other times we'll picture an older retired man reading night after night, our novel at his bedside. We strive to please all of them even the young woman who may stumble upon our creative writing twenty five years after we're dead, forty years after we wrote it. Logic tells us we can't please them all. Still we must try. Win or lose, we are a story writer and we must go on writing. The criticism hurts. The rejections hurt. I wouldn't wish this affliction on my worst enemy. Unfortunately, it's an infliction I share with most of my friends and almost all of the people I admire. Welcome, Story Writer, Good luck and keep writing, for there is no, more noble of a profession.