Marilyn's Musings

I am not a short story writer--I've written two, hardest writing I've ever done. I wrote them for anthologies and they were published, but it wasn't something I enjoyed doing. At this months Sisters in Crime, there was panel of experts who told about writing short stories. All five have won prizes with their stories, some have won many prizes and gone on to have their stories published. JoAnne Lucas talked about writing a short mystery and said it should have a crime or the intent of committing a crime. She also added that it must have dialogue. Mary Redmond won a prize for the first story she ever wrote--in fact it was her first try at fiction. She sadi to let your mind wander and let the story com. Kate Anderson said in order to win a short story contest you must follow the rules of the contest. Use basic formatting. You should have a great opening line. Researching can give you the idea for a story. JoAnne said to keep track of your submissions, where you sent ...