Liberian Literary Magazine January Issue 0115
� they never thought possible . Your characters should be no different . Create characters that are vile , hateful , treacherous or loving , peaceful and clever . Remember , there is not much space , so go for the extremes . There ’ s no time for lukewarm characters . Give the readers some active role . As mentioned , take them along this journey-let them be active participants at every possible stage . Stir up enough emotions to get them fuming or cheering . The best kind of reader is one that is rooting for a character so badly that s / he ’ d get in harm ’ s way to save the character or one that would shot that character down if s / he had the chance .
Give the readers characters they can empathize / identify with . We all have wants , endless too . Your characters are no different . Make them want or not want things ; make them feel things- love , ecstasy , anger , pain etc . Let the characters play out the darkest thoughts , fantasies , contemplations or exhibit kindness , selflessness and make sacrifices that go beyond themselves . Readers don ’ t want characters that come from out perfect words . They want flawed characters ; ones they can see some of themselves in . again , take you readers along with you . Make them feel at ease with the characters ; let them sit back and think or feel , “ I ’ d would have done exactly that …
� Give your readers presents . Remember now , these folks have stopped everything they could possibly be doing right now , in this whole world , just to be here . This is a powerful fact we lose track of or rarely stop to consider . The possibilities are endless , yet , they are here . The least you can do for them is provide them treats , presents , sweets . A good way to do this is to ensure that each you write , advance them to another level or reveal hidden things about the story or characters . This is what I call build a house of bricks . Make each brick count ; valuable from foundation up . Just imagine you are on a trip , don ’ t you stop ever so oft to get snacks , refreshments , take a bathroom break ? So , why should it be any different for your readers ? They are on this journey and actively participating , be generous and offer them reprieves . All sentences must do one of two things – reveal character or advance the action .
� Begin at the end . Silly right ? Okay , maybe not right at the end , but as close to the end of the story as possible . How much of a trip are we going on if I started at the end of the story ? Where then is the rest of the story . These are logical questions , but this is precisely one of the reasons I love short stories . It is …. Short . I thought I said this before ? It does not need back matter , overdressingheck , she is often nude . It is designed to do the exact opposite . Is that not obvious in its name ? Starting at any other place but close to the end creates a lot of work- unnecessary work too I must say ; - [ one can start right at the end , but this works best for flash . We will cover that in a subsequent post .] Regardless of how one defines a short story , the shorter the story , the closer to the end one should start . art as close to the end as possible .
In the next article , we will discuss more tips on making the story better but this time , we look more at what the writer can do to advance the story .
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