Our last article looked at common mistakes with characters, but now we look at what writers are already doing particularly well and celebrate the worlds they have been able to create thanks to great characterisation. We will use our latest issue, Firewords9, to illustrate this and give real examples of great character development.
As always, good writing does not follow a prescribed tick list but...
Good characters really pop off the page, even when a story is driven more by plot and action. This can be achieved in a variety of ways (some of which we will look at in the next article) but sometimes writers struggle. Reflecting on the submissions received for Firewords 9, it is clear to see how important characterisation is.
Here, we talk about the three most common mistakes in character creation we see. It is not an exhaustive list but we hope you find it a good place to start. Even if you are full of confidence, do any of these apply to you?
For me, short stories and poetry take a lot of time and dedication to polish up to a standard whereby anyone but my nearest and dearest can read them. It was therefore surprising to me that, after writing the majority of this article, I could sit back and understand that my best story ideas do not come from a place where I’ve painstakingly honed my skill (as if!). All the stories that I love (and stick with) originate from a place of fun...
This week, I am extremely excited to be writing an article about the illustrations used in Firewords. I deal with the proofreading and editorial side of each issue so I approach the illustrations as an enthusiastic reader. This article will come from the eyes of a novice. It will describe what illustrations can bring to the ordinary reader who wants to enjoy a good story or poem at bedtime, over a cuppa, on the train on the way to work or relaxing on a park bench.
To demonstrate this, I have used a few examples from the recently published Firewords 8. Unfortunately I cannot mention all our artists below.
Each edition of Firewords has a particular theme and this is encapsulated by the cover. It sets the tone for each story and poem, no matter if it is dark or light-hearted. Take the cover of Firewords 8 by Luisa Rivera, for example...
In part 1 and 2 of this series, we looked at the beginning and the middle of effective short stories. Now it’s time to jump to the ending.
All we hope to do here is give examples of the kind of endings you could use. However, whatever you choose will completely depend on the entire context of the story you have written. The list below is quite comprehensive but endings come in all shapes and sizes, so something completely different may better suit your piece. For each ending, we’ll also be using example stories from the latest edition of Firewords.
This kind of ending is one that takes the reader completely by surprise. Often (though not always!) the success or failure of this kind of story hinges on hoodwinking your reader. Here a real challenge arises...
Those of you who read our article about the middle of short stories and how important it is to keep reader engagement will remember that we touched on the significance of strong verbs. These can be replaced by writers who think it is more effective to use adverbs say, for example, ‘He laughed heartily’, when using one great verb to say ‘He guffawed’ would in fact be far more effective. Like everything in the world of writing, there is no hard-and-fast rule as to when to replace an adverb with a verb but we did think it was an area that was often overlooked and was worth revisiting.
I will firstly make a comparison between well-chosen verbs and adverbs, and then mention why I believe it is important to make the right choice when deciding on the verb to use...
Writing with a good degree of sentimentality is a tricky thing for any writer to do well. There is a fine line to walk between being sickeningly sweet and turning your back on emotion altogether. These two pitfalls, which we see regularly, are:
In the last episode of the Firewords podcast we talked all about the submission process and everything it involves. The following question was one we received afterwards, asking us to delve deeper on a specific point.
“You mentioned past publishing credits briefly in this week’s podcast but I just wanted to ask a few follow-up questions as it’s something I’ve been struggling with lately. I haven’t had work published in many magazines yet, so will this make me look less desirable as a writer that editors will want to publish? And when I do build up more credits, should I just list them all when submitting?” - Sarah A
In short, ‘no’ to both questions. However...
This week’s article is going to come with a mainly editorial, rather than writer’s, hat on. It’s important to know that we expect some short stories to be submitted to other publications as well as to Firewords. We don’t think it’s right for a journal to demand any kind of exclusivity before they have even read a piece, which is why we accept simultaneous submissions. A writer wants to utilise their time effectively and capitalise on their chances of success, so if an editor is too slow to read it and misses out, then too bad.
First off, what are simultaneous submissions? It means a writer is submitting the same piece of work to multiple publishers at the same time but is offering exclusive rights to the ‘winning’ publication, so when they receive an offer of acceptance then they must be willing to negate all other publishers’ offers...
It’s great to write from your own experience; true events that are unique to you and that no one can take away. This is not about perfectionism in writing but about having fun and enjoying the memories of experiences you have had, even if doing so is far from perfect. Only last week, I wrote about my own fond memories from my travels. The trip itself was one that many people have done before but my experience was nonetheless unique. For me, this was due to a relationship and the strength of character I saw in my travelling companion.
Beware, though. This emotional connectivity did lead me to a certain degree of clinginess. I did not want to edit my piece once it was written, did not want to cut it down, and I did not want to take out any passage, whether it be about a fox-bred dog or a crying child. I was too emotionally attached to the real life events and I only loved it because of the personal connection...
While I will go on to say what makes the most effective cover letter, it is important to remember that your short story will speak for itself. The ‘greatness’ of a cover letter may slightly colour the editor’s preconceptions and help to either add or detract from how memorable your writing is, but shouldn’t have any bearing on the acceptance or rejection of the piece (and, if it does, it is a reflection on the editor of the publication you are submitting to rather than any reflection on you).
Why even have a cover letter, then? Well...
We received the following email from one of our mailing list subscribers recently and it outlined a problem that we know will affect many writers out there.
‘From the feedback I've had, I know that my writing is of a good standard but often fails to stand out, or lacks 'an edge.'
I've been told a few times by editors/judges that I write competently, can show (not tell), and have the necessary skills to produce a good piece of work. However, I always seem to be missing that vital spark, or opening hook, or twist, or whatever it is that they are looking for in a winning piece. So, time and again, I'm applauded for my efforts but I never quite make the cut.’
If this applies to you, too, then read on and hopefully we can help...
This article is the second of a three part series where we look at common flaws in the submissions we receive. If you missed it, part 1 was on the misuse of speech marks. Next up we cast a critical eye on sentence fragments.
Let’s keep this simple, for a moment. A fragment is part of a sentence, but not a full sentence. A complete sentence has, at least, a noun (acting as the ‘subject’) and a verb (used as the ‘predicate’, to tell us more about the ‘subject’; for example, what it is or what it does).
Examples of real sentences:
This article is the first of a three part series where we shine a light on the most common mistakes we see in submissions. We want to try to help you avoid them, but also find out why these errors are so common. First up is the most frequent mistake we see: incorrect speech marks.
Are they speech marks, inverted commas or quotation marks? Whatever you want to call them, these little symbols are hugely important to the reading experience. Errors in their usage can take a number of forms...
Here, I talk about worldbuilding as being the creation of an alternative reality and world rather than a reality built on Earth. The problems with worldbuilding within a short piece of fiction come because there is barely enough words to build the story you want in the current world, let alone a place that is not immediately recognisable. It works so well in novels because you have the space to gradually immerse the reader.
As you build an alternative world to this one, it becomes difficult for the reader to relate to the characters within it. There can often be a lack of empathy, an emotive void, which would otherwise be picked up by similarities we would find with characters on Earth. If your reader is a devoted sci-fi fan, they are more likely to forgive problems with your fictional world, but for someone like me, who isn’t a big fan of the genre, a world that I can’t relate to, or characters I can’t get my teeth into, are likely to lose me.
Have you ever had to deal with people saying ‘At least short story writing is easier than novel writing’? Dan and I write short stories as well as publish them and this comment is one we hear often. On the surface, this is an understandable assumption to make. Short stories involve far fewer words than novels (so easier, right?) and, in a lot of cases, short fiction tells part of a story rather than trying to deal with the whole thing.
Well, enough is enough. Flip these ‘positives’ on their heads and you get a different picture...
From experiencing both sides of the rejection process, I know that they are not easy to give or receive. I’ve written some short stories that I felt were pretty good and they have been knocked back by magazine after magazine. Now, after being heavily involved in Firewords, the reasons for some of our rejections led to our previous blog, ‘Why Your Rejection Letter Means Nothing’. This might help you understand where journals come from when they decide not to publish, but today I’m interested in what you can do with this information and how you can use it when moving forward.
If you were an eagle-eyed reader of Issue 6, you may have noticed an error on page 8: A poem has been attributed to Cody A. Conklin but the poem fails to appear in the magazine!
Well done if you were one of the few who recognised the printing mistake. We would love to blame the ‘Secrets’ theme of Issue 6 for the mysterious omission but, in fact, it is our fault and should have been picked up during the proofing stage. That said, we are happy and excited to report that the poem will be published in Issue 7. It will join many other strong poems that have been carried forward from the last submission round, thanks to the numerous high-calibre pieces which were received.
Cody has been most gracious in accepting our apologies. We cannot wait to share his poem with all our readers and are thrilled to be currently looking for the short stories that will accompany it.
This calls for a blog post on not beating yourself up after making a mistake - watch this space!
The artwork above is by Linda Yan, which was created to accompany Cody's poem as well as one by Steven E. Gonzales.
In this series of blogs we meet the team who bring you Firewords, starting with our Editor-in-Chief, Dan Burgess. (Interview by Jen Scott, Associate Editor.)
Dan Burgess is a name many of you will be familiar with. Although I work with him daily, he can be a fairly reticent character (sorry, Dan). Now this is my chance to interrogate question him – bearing in mind that he’ll get his own back later when it’s my turn to be interviewed!
Hello! I’m originally from Yorkshire but have lived all over the place. I find it hard to stay still. Currently I’m in Newcastle but will be moving to Toronto, Canada, next month. My day job is as a graphic designer, which means I solve problems visually, whether that be branding for a company, print design or even some screen based stuff. It’s a fun job that is different every single day, which is why I love it. Firewords fits in at all other times: before work in the early hours, after work and at weekends. It’s pretty all consuming but is definitely worth it.
Do you have a wee girl or boy at home who likes to fling their arms around wildly while singing about letting go? Did you get cabin fever over the festive period, stuck in a house with little sisters or grandchildren playing the movie on repeat?
Ok, perhaps we set ourselves up for this one when we introduced a Winter theme for Issue 4, but still, we were amazed by the number of submissions received (of all genres) that touched on the plot of Frozen. Perhaps Disney has punctuated this movie with subliminal messages encouraging its audience to go away and write, although all we noticed was a rather perturbed looking reindeer.
Let’s face it, with such an array of writers out there, it is almost impossible to come up an idea that is original in the truest sense of the word. It can be a great writing tool to use the world around us as inspiration, and often the created world will sneak in. The problem comes when the idea being coined in fact comes from a source that is both memorable and iconic. Touching-things-that-turn-to-ice is right up there with vampires-that-shimmer-in-the-sun. We can borrow and tweak within reason, but some things are off limits.
Ironically, Frozen itself took inspiration from the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen. Could you spot the resemblances in the finished movie? Probably not. The professionals went in, pulled the plot apart and left us with something markedly different. So next time you are inspired and feel creativity fluttering in your belly like a bluebottle against a window, stop and think. What makes your piece different to others that come before it? And is this difference enough?