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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