Thursday 2 April 2009

More Words of Wisdom


From George Singleton on The Urban Muse

On what people often get wrong in a short story.

- always spending way too much time on the setting for the first, oh, ten pages, before getting to the conflict.

With some younger writers it’s not having a g on their keyboard, so everyone’s spittin’, cussin’, hopin’, and prayin’--even the omniscient third-person narrator.

- For writers wishing to get published now, it might be good to stay away from trick O. Henry-type endings.

Also he says

The best pieces of advice I’ve ever received are probably “Comedy must be serious” and “Just tell the damn story.”

4 comments:

Colm Keegan said...

those youngsters with their bleedin missin Gs do my effin head in.

Emerging Writer said...

I wonder how they know they are the younger writers? Do you put your age on a submission when you're young or do the editors assume older writers don't/ can't/ won't ge' down wid de yout' a terday?

Totalfeckineejit said...

Missing g's -outrageous!And what in the name of all things sacred is a 'trick O Henry 'ending ?Just wanna make sure I use one in future.

Emerging Writer said...

O Henry was the pen name of an American short story writer at the turn of the last century. Any twist you can think of for a short story, he's already done so don't bother.