JUNE IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

The Season for Short Stories

(Part IV)

Have you heard these statements about writers?

“We don’t choose to become a writer. We’re just born that way.”

“A writer is a mysterious creature, fired by inspiration with his head in the clouds.”

“A writer believes in truth and sees the world not as a place but as WORDS that reveal truth.”

A few years ago—well many years ago—when I was teaching a World Literature class for sophomore students, we read an intriguing story about a “stolen” ribbon. The evidence of the theft was the ribbon being found in someone’s pocket. However, the circumstances of how it got there were not accepted as “truth.” You see, the person who was found with the ribbon—and arrested—had seen it fall from the owner’s hand. By the time he’d recovered it from the ground, the owner was nowhere to be found and no one was around to help. So the ribbon was placed safely in his pocket until he could return it to the owner. The conundrum that my students and I discussed was this: HOW does anyone prove they’re not guilty of an accusation without witnesses? Let me assure you, the conversations were lively. And this short story played a major role in helping these young people (and this older one) practice what is known as logical thinking.

Author, Arthur Conan Doyle, was a master in creating webs of intrigue in both short-story and novels. Many do not know that Doyle was medically trained and his practical experience as a doctor (on land and sea) was the foundation for Sherlock Holmes’ methods of deductive reasoning. Doyle turned his personal skills and abilities into mystery writing and the practice of logical thinking that aimed to find the truth for millions of readers.

While the writings of other authors can inspire us to write on any variety of topics, the Season of Spring is also something magical and miraculous—happening all around us. So it is that I encourage us to consider researching what it is that boosts our energy and makes us smile each and every springtime—then, write about it.

• The small creek close to home now has a constant flow of water; cricket and frog sounds seem to come from all directions as I come closer. WHY?
• The cottonwood trees are feathering out with new leaves and children are investigating the trails between them. WHO are these children? What do they hope to discover?
• The orioles have returned to bird baths, joined by finches and red-winged black birds. WHAT is it about their songs that make people want to sing?
• HOW does my neighbor find such unusual flowers for his springtime garden? They have names like Fawn Lilies, Chinese hellebore, and Leopard’s Bane. He always knows WHERE to plant each one.
• WHEN will the spring rain-clouds move away, so I can see the evening sky and the stars and constellations that will shine in the heavens for the next several months? This is a transition that starts in spring. With just a little research a multitude of short stories can be born.

You may have noticed the journalistic tools emphasized in the points above. They are reminders that every writing skill we’ve learned will help us create excellent stories—short or novel length.

By the time you read this last blog entry, we will already have moved into SUMMER (June 20th—6:34 a.m.), but please don’t let that slow the writing that you’ve started this spring! Now is the time to complete those short stories, publish them as a collection and/or use them as outlines for a series of novels. ⚓︎

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene has been writing something since before kindergarten days and continues to love the process. Through her small business—DOYLE WRITING SERVICES—she brings more than 40 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their projects. This is a nice fit as she develops these blogs for Outskirts Press (OP) a leading self-publisher, and occasionally accepts a ghostwriting project from one of their clients. Her recent book release (with OP) titled FIREPROOF PROVERBS, A Writer’s Study of Words, is already receiving excellent reviews including several professional writer’s endorsements given on the book’s back cover.   Royalene’s writing experience grew through a wide variety of positions from Office Manager and Administrative Assistant to Teacher of Literature and Advanced Writing courses and editor/writer for an International Christian ministry. Her willingness to listen to struggling authors, learn their goals and expectations and discern their writing voice has brought many manuscripts into the published books arena.