Sharpen Your Writing Skills with Short Stories

by

Joy Nord

Going to write a novel someday? Who isn’t—but how do you begin?

The July 2 meeting of the San Gabriel Writers’ League will feature league member Joan Hall. She will discuss the topic, “How to Sharpen Your Writing Skills with Short Stories.”

Hall suggests you compare it to running a marathon before you’ve tried walking around the block. Stop procrastinating and try it out first as a short story. The smaller scale allows you to practice all those elements writers talk about: characterization, point of view, setting, motivation, and conflict. Better yet, it won’t tolerate wasted words or wandering plot. Complications, subplots, and layering can be inserted later when and if you turn it into a novel.

But who knows, maybe you’ll distill these elements into the little gem a short story should be. The first novel Joan wrote took her several years to write and rewrite. The second took less than one year. In the meantime, she had a chance to enter short stories in contests and even publish a few.

Former English teacher, Joan is now a freelance author and editor, writing instructor and speaker. Her manual, Rx for Your Writing Ills and “Demystifying Writers’ Demons” column, carried by various writer newsletters, have helped countless writers. She is a columnist of both travel and humor for the Williamson County Sun. She has published numerous stories and articles in magazines as diverse as Texas Highways, American Jails, The Elegant Texan, and Byline writers’ magazine. Her historical nonfiction books are Grand Old Texas: Theaters That Won’t Quit, Ghostly Tales from Americans Jails, and Just Visitin’ Old Texas Jails. Her urban fantasy and paranormal novels are Arturo el Rey and The Shadow of Excalibur. She is also the editor of PageTurners, an online cooperative newsletter.

Joan is also promoting her Novel Spin off - Short Story Contest, which gives writers an excellent way to promote themselves and show their talent. For details visit Joan’s website at www.joanuptonhall.com  

This program is designed for all genres, so please mark your calendar and join us for a night of fun at the Georgetown Public Library. Social time begins at 6:30 p.m. with a   short business meeting at 7:00 followed by our speaker.