The Thesaurus is Your Friend – Really!

by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker 


Do you ever draw a blank when you’re trying to find just the right word to fit a situation in your fiction or nonfiction writing? It’s on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t think of it. That’s where the trusty thesaurus comes in. Look up the most ordinary or closest word to the one you need, and you’ll find similar words you can then use to narrow down to "le mot juste” – the one that perfectly expresses what you’re looking for.

The thesaurus sometimes gets a bad rap because of writers who get carried away trying to find a more original way to express something and end up replacing good, solid, concrete words with abstract or esoteric words that evoke no emotion and often annoy or confuse the reader. For example, using pretentious words like “abscise” instead of “cut” or “snip,” or “mendacious” instead of “dishonest” or “lying.” But if used judiciously, the thesaurus can be an indispensable guide for helping you enrich your language and imagery and write more powerfully—and keep the readers absorbed in your story. And by avoiding trite, blah, everyday words that have lost their power, you keep your imagery fresh and your story compelling. 

For example, check out how many ways you can say “walked” or “moved.” (Hint – look up the present tense – “walk” or “move.”) You can use an online thesaurus or go all-out and buy the best print one out there – J.I. Rodale’s The Synonym Finder, which, at a hefty 1361 pages long, is without a doubt the most comprehensive thesaurus in book form in the English language. (Thanks to Jessica Page Morrell for turning me on to this indispensable aid for writers.) 

For the verb “walked” for example, Rodale gives us a long list of great synonyms for the verb "walk" to help us capture just the right situation and tone. He just lists them, but here I’ve roughly categorized some of them to suit various situations, and changed them to past tense, to suit most novels and short stories. Can you think of words to add to any of these categories?

Drunk, drugged, wounded, ill: lurched, staggered, wobbled, shuffled, shambled

Urgent, purposeful, concerned, stressed: strode, paced, treaded, moved, went, advanced, proceeded, marched, stepped

Relaxed, wandering: strolled, sauntered, ambled, wandered, roamed, roved, meandered, rambled, traipsed

Rough terrain, hiking, tired: tramped, marched, trooped, slogged, trudged, plodded, hiked

Sneaking, stealth: sidled, slinked, minced, tiptoed, tread softly

Showing off: strutted, paraded

Other situations: waddled, galumphed (moved with a clumsy, heavy tread), shambled, wended

So in general, it’s best to avoid plain vanilla verbs like “walked” or “went” if you can find a more specific word to evoke just the kind of movement you’re trying to describe. But choose carefully! For example, I’d usually avoid show-offy words like “ambulate” and “perambulate” and “peregrinate” (!), or colloquial/slang/regional expressions like “go by shank’s mare” and “hoof it.” 

Also, some synonyms are too specific for general use, so they can be jarring if used in the wrong situations. I had two author clients who seemed to like to use “shuffled” for ordinary, healthy people walking around. To me, “shuffled” conjures up images of a patient moving down the hallway of a hospital, pushing their IV, or an old person moving around their kitchen in their slippers. Don’t have your cop or PI or CEO shuffling! Unless they’re sick or exhausted--or half-asleep. Similarly, I had a client years ago who was writing about World War II, and where he meant to have soldiers and officers "striding" across a room or grounds or battlefield, he had them "strutting." To me, you wouldn't say "he strutted" unless it was someone full of himself or showing off. It's definitely not an alternate word for "walked with purpose" as "he strode" is.

Similarly, be careful of having someone “march” into a room, unless they’re in the military or really fuming or determined. “Strode” captures that idea of a purposeful or determined walk better. And in a tense situation, don’t have your character “saunter” around. Sauntering implies a relaxed, carefree pace. So after you’ve found a few possible words in the thesaurus, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to also check the exact meaning in your dictionary. For that, I recommend Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (mine has 1622 pages).

Or try looking up the verb “look” in a good thesaurus. Here are some of the synonyms J.I. Rodale lists: see, visualize, behold, notice, take in, regard, observe, study, inspect, examine, contemplate, eye, check out, scrutinize, review, monitor, scan, view, survey, scout, sweep, watch, observe, witness, gaze, peer, glance, glimpse, ogle, leer, stare, goggle, gape, gawk, squint, take a gander, spy, peek, peep, steal a glance at, glare, glower, look down at, look daggers… (and the list goes on). Some of these, and others he lists, are too specific or archaic for general use in fiction, so again, choose carefully. Don’t use “behold” for “look” in your present-day thriller or mystery, for example! And “reconnoiter” works for military situations, but not for everyday use. Also, watch for eyes doing weird physical things, like "his eyes bounced around the room."

Also, don’t start using a bunch of fancy synonyms for “said.” Best to just use “he (or she) said” most of the time, as words like “postulated” and “uttered” and “articulated” can be laughable and distracting, whereas "said" gets the meaning across without drawing attention to itself.

Why not open your own Word file and call it “Thesaurus” or “Synonyms,” then start lists for the verbs you use most in your writing, like walk, move, look, run, etc. That way you can quickly find lots of variations and try them on for size.

Writers – do you have anything to add? Any suggestions for finding just the right word to capture the mood or tone of the scene? Readers – do you have any examples of words that stuck out in your reading because they just didn’t fit the situation?

For a related post, see my my post, "Tone and Mood - Choose Your Words Carefully," and my review of The Emotion Thesaurus, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

Copyright © Jodie Renner, August 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor and the award-winning author of three craft-of-writing guides in her series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Captivate Your Readers, Fire up Your Fiction, and Writing a Killer Thriller, as well as two clickable time-saving e-resources, Quick Clicks: Spelling List and Quick Clicks: Word Usage. She has also organized two anthologies for charity, incl. Childhood Regained – Stories of Hope for Asian Child Workers. You can find Jodie at www.JodieRenner.com, www.JodieRennerEditing.com, her blog, http://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/, and on Facebook and Twitter.  

Fact into Fiction: The Michigan Murders Connections

Guest post by mystery author Claudia Whitsitt

When I began writing The Wrong Guy five years ago, it was because the late 60s and early 70s had played such a profound role in my life. I attended Eastern Michigan University on the heels of the Michigan Murders, the brutal slayings of seven college coeds. John Norman Collins had been arrested, but the atmosphere was still one of uncertainty. As a young college freshman shot straight out of a protected parochial high school cannon into the “real” world, I was naïve, but smart enough to be just plain scared. What if the cops had the wrong guy behind bars?

Our house mother conducted meetings about the importance of using the buddy system whenever traveling on or off campus, and we were advised to carry mace on our key rings, wear whistles around our necks, and lace our keys through our fingers should we find ourselves in a life-threatening situation. Not the typical college experience.

I remember it like it was yesterday. The fear was palpable. What I didn’t realize then, and what I didn’t realize until after I’d written The Wrong Guy—fiction loosely based on these serial murders—was how deeply tied our community still remained to those murders, and how my writing the book would affect those who had lived through those times.

Since the book’s release, many people have spoken to me about their particular connections to the Michigan Murders. I’ve spoken to women who’d sat in front of Collins in college classrooms, played cards with him at their family’s kitchen table, heard stories about Collins warning women not to go out alone after dark, and offering to walk them home. I’ve spoken to someone whose family member discovered one of the girl’s bodies, and to another who attended the trial.

The most profound of all the connections I’ve made in writing the book is with the sister of the first victim. She and I are employed by the same school system. I had no idea that she worked there, and I don’t believe that she was aware that I was writing about the murders that so closely touched her family’s lives until the book was due for publication. When we finally learned of each other, we set up a meeting. It was tearful and touching. I had forged a connection I never intended in the writing of the book. Once I knew of her, I felt guilty for writing about the murders, for bringing her family’s pain to the surface yet again. Could I make something good come out of something so horribly agonizing?

As the victim’s sister told me, because Collins was ultimately only convicted of one of the crimes, her parents, now in their eighties, have lived without closure for the past forty-five years. August 7, 2012 marked the day that Mary Fleszar’s body was discovered in 1967. She was only nineteen years old. My heart goes out to all the victims and their families.

Have you written a story or book in which you unwittingly brought up painful memories for someone?

If, like me, you discovered that your work created a painful situation for someone else, how would you handle it?

Would you or have you ever changed the course of your writing because you knew your words would affect someone in a negative way?

The Wrong Guy, is available at Amazon in both print and e-book formats. Identity Issues, the first mystery in Claudia’s Issues series, is due out this fall. Claudia can be reached at her website.

Three Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

Guest post by journalist and novelist Terry Ambrose

Marketing. It’s the job authors dread most right after completing a manuscript. Why so much dread? Beyond the fact that it can be incredibly time-consuming, there’s also the issue of results. What worked? How well did it work? How can I get more people to know about me and my book?

About two years ago, I took on a freelance writing assignment with Examiner.com to write about fiction in San Diego. That assignment later expanded into my National Crime Fiction column. I cover everything in crime fiction from events to author interviews to book reviews. Now that I’ve just released my first mystery novel, I look back on my two years of doing author interviews and book reviews and recognize some common differences between those that make it and those that struggle for any recognition at all. Let’s take a look at those differences.

The first difference is also the biggest cliche around, and the reason many readers consider self-published books “second rate.” Most new authors rush their book to publication. They take the mantra of “write a great book” far too lightly and think that because their best friend or their mom loved it, it’s going to be a bestseller. Overstated, perhaps, but close to true. How does a new writer make sure he’s got a good book? Solving this problem couldn’t be simpler—or harder.

Have. People. Read. It.

If you’re really serious about writing a great book, you’ll spend money on a good editor. If you can’t afford an editor, find more readers. Beta readers, i.e., people who will read and give good feedback, are critical to seeing what works and what doesn’t in a novel. The readers who count are those who are distanced from you or who are practiced in giving writing feedback. Find readers who have a good eye for detail and who are, above all, honest. Do this by widening your circle of readers until you’ve found ten people who have no reason to tell you nice things. In all likelihood, those ten people will give you diverse opinions, but at least you’ll see patterns.

Second, before publishing, think about the very basics of marketing. These basics can be summed up in three little words (sorry, another cliche), “less is more.” A good tag line (or log line) is critical. For me, mine became “Hawaii, mystery, and trouble almost too hot to handle.” That tag line goes on every email I send out. I recently heard from a publisher who said that many of their authors don’t include tag lines in their outgoing emails. Is it any surprise that the publisher was complaining their authors weren’t selling?

An author interview can be a great tool to attract readers. It can also be incredibly boring. Here’s a secret from the other side of the book review fence. Do what you can to make the interviewer’s job easier. I know, this sounds self-serving, but if I interview an author or review their book and the author has taken steps to make my life easier, I’m very willing to cover them again. You can make that interviewer’s life easier simply by providing great answers to questions.

Here are two different answers to the question of “why did you write Photo Finish?” 1) I’ve always enjoyed writing and thought it would be fun to write a mystery about a skip tracer and a con artist. 2) Early in my career I was a skip tracer. I never had to steal a car myself, but came pretty close. I also learned that skip tracers and con artists are very similar—both can be great liars—and can create great stories.

If I’m reading those responses, I’m going to gloss over #1, but give answer #2 serious consideration for a full or partial quote.

When I do author interviews, I always ask for a short summary of the book. This short summary should be 25−50 words. What happens when I get one that’s 100-200 words? I start cutting. Just hope I don’t leave out the important stuff.

Preventing someone else from butchering your summary is to have three versions at the ready. Those summaries, in 25, 50, and 100-word versions, should be strong and to the point. Use powerful verbs, not lots of adjectives and adverbs. There are times when I feel as though I should be writing marketing materials for authors that I interview and, believe me, that does not make me want to deal with them again.

Then there’s the author bio. This should also be written in a couple of different lengths. I’ve had writers send me page long bios telling me more than I ever wanted to know about their history. In one case, I think I pulled one or two sentences, shortened those, and still felt like I had nothing of real importance to tell readers.

The third most basic mistake that I see made is that authors don’t have a website with their own domain name for reviewers or potential readers to go for information about them. Your domain name and website are your online business card. So, buy your domain name, they’re cheap, and make sure it’s easy to say and to remember.

I know, there’s really nothing new in this post. There are no magic solutions to help you skyrocket to the top of the sales charts. Believe me, if I knew those solutions, I’d use them first, share later. But, the problems I’ve mentioned here are not uncommon. Mix and match any way you like and the bottom line is always the same. These things happen far too often.

Every time an author does an interview, or someone offers to write a review of an author’s book, it’s an opportunity to increase that author’s name recognition. So the question becomes, how do you want people to remember you?

What do you think? Have you had a bad interview or review experience either as an author or a reader? Do you think that new authors do a good job of marketing, or not?

Find out more about Terry and his books here. 

And The Silver Bullet of Book Marketing is...

By:  Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced books for over 750 authors and imprints.

This week's entry is from our Social Networking Genius  extraordinaire, Steve (Stephanie) Nilles, who holds down the fort on Tweeting and Facebooking, Pinteresting and other "stuff" over at Booknook.biz, and has taught me all I know about Twitter, et al.  She will be guest blogging for me while I recover from a shoulder problem, and to provide a different perspective than I usually have.  Take it away, Steve:

I'm not an agent, publisher, or aspiring novelist. I'm a working musician. About a year and a half ago, while taking a month-long break from the road, I happened upon part-time work for a well-established and traditionally published mystery writer who was just starting her own e-pub company. I have since edited manuscripts and provided marketing assistance for an ebook producer, as well as for mystery, science fiction, romance, children's books, and nonfiction authors, ranging from the seasoned and well-known to the obscure writer pushing his very first novel. Predictably, my work in publishing has drawn enlightening parallels to my work in the music business. In short, publishing seems to be about 20 years behind the music industry, at least in terms of adjusting to a preference for digital. And as an outsider temporarily peering into a world of energetic bordering on frantic writers and publishers, I've found the clamoring for the magical marketing plan that will give birth to the next Amanda Hocking, H.P. Mallory, or John Locke to be … amusing.

The obvious explanation for what now makes being a musician or author nearly impossible is that “everyone can do it.” Perhaps screenwriter Aaron Sorkin put it best in a particularly wry interview: Interviewer: "Look, I don't want to step on your toes, you don't want to step on mine. We're both writers."  Sorkin: "Yes, I suppose, if we broaden the definition to those who can spell."

As technology provides limitless tools for distribution, self-promotion, and even production of the artform itself, the internet has, as Mark Bowden puts it, "replaced everyman with every man." From art of every medium to the once revered science of journalism, press critic A.J. Liebling's 1960s fear of a dystopia with only one newspaper, "a city with one eye," has been replaced by a city with a million eyes.

Much like a writer, when I tell a stranger that I am a "musician," I'm painfully aware that my self-proclaimed title conjures up images of a dramatic and self-medicated kid, sulking in her bedroom and writing break up ballads in her diary. I am a 28-year-old that has spent 23 years playing music, 15 of those years nearly 5-10 hours a day. I'm on the road 8 months out of the year. I play 150 gigs a year. So imagine my displeasure at sharing the semantics of a vocation with an overnight YouTube sensation who recorded a 4 song EP in a basement with a Fisher Price tape recorder.

My 28 years notwithstanding, I think I've amassed an interesting cross section of experience witnessing the worlds of music-making as well as book publishing, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that what works in music works in publishing--whether you're writing what one of my clients calls The Great American Novel or the next paranormal romance Kindle millionaire-maker. If we define "success" as "consistently selling books" (and I have yet to find a better definition), the most successful authors I've worked for have one and only one thing in common: they spend all of their time writing more books. And each book is better than the one that came before it.

Sure, there are marketing shortcuts. But the old adage "live by the media, die by the media" rings true. About a year ago, I was helping with the marketing of a very cute and unique mystery with a chick lit bent. A genre book with a fascinating twist, it seemed a marketing no-brainer. We pushed social media, tried various angles to introduce it to target readers on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. Paid promotions resulted in temporary boosts of sales from 20 to the hundreds overnight. We ran a genre-specific blog tour. All these contributed, over time, to 50-plus amazon reviews at an average of 4.6 stars, and to positive reviews in a couple of publications we did not pitch to with an ideal readership demographic. As marketing boons calmed down, the book settled at selling 20-30 books a day. At first. We've continued to push the book via social media and advertisements, but six months later, the author has written nothing new. And its sales have dwindled to 1-2 books a day.

Contrast this with a literary black comedy that was released around the same time. Although beautifully written, it seemed it would be difficult to market, as it fit into no overt niche. But the marketing plan employed has been similar to the one outlined above. The book currently has 20-some amazon reviews with a 4.8 star average and is consistently selling 15-30 books a day. Why? It is the author's eighth book, and she has since written and published two others, each as beautifully-written as the eighth. And press procured for the most recent books, whether solicited or not, have markedly boost sales of all other books.

There are other attractive shortcuts and marketing go-tos. Launching a KDP Select Free Campaign, if done so correctly can help an indie author to the tune of thousands of free downloads a day, with fall off of a noticeable boost in sales. One popular thriller author I’ve worked for has had a good deal of success with handfuls of free days, which boost the sales of the other books in that particular series, as well as their Amazon rankings. But I've never seen this sales boost last longer than a week, and I've never seen the sales numbers exceed 20 in a day. I should also note that the writer I mentioned, an Edgar and Macavity nominee, has to date written 12 books across 3 series, spanning 20-odd years. And he’s still producing new work.

Paid promotions at least guarantee that your book will make some sort of appearance on a website, as opposed to investing exhaustive time into submitting your book to bloggers for review--they almost never review your book, let alone respond to your request, and even when they say they will, they almost always forget, or by the time your book is scheduled to reach the top of their queue, their blog will have mysteriously disappeared... I've seen some Kindle sites' paid promotions generate tens to hundreds of sales overnight, but victory is perpetually a flash in the pan. Sales always die down to where they were previously within the week.

Best-selling author Kristen Lamb addresses the importance of writers focusing on writing in her blog entry The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors. "Even in traditional publishing," she says, "it usually takes about three books to gain traction. In traditional publishing, this takes three years because we are dealing with a publisher’s schedule. In self-publishing, we can make our own schedule, but it still takes THREE BOOKS MINIMUM. I know there are exceptions, but most self-published successes hit at about book three. The ability to offer multiple titles is a huge part of why John Locke became successful." Lamb also discusses the dangers of self-publishing before an author is ready, jumping in before understanding basic business principles, and misusing free campaigns.

In both music and publishing, there’s something to be said for distinguishing between adapting to change and reinventing the wheel. Artistic and entrepreneurial endeavors that prove to be successful long term require long, hard work. No amount of technological innovation is likely to erase this axiom. Yet whenever I’m asked to begin working with a new author, I’m repeatedly amazed at his or her inability to grasp the concept of patience. Writer and publisher Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses this in terms of self-publishing, specifically: “The readership—and the income—will grow exponentially if the writer continues to produce work. One day, the indie writer will wake up and realize she’s making $1,000 per month on a single title, and that amount spread out over a year is more than she would have gotten as an advance for a first novel … If she’s a good storyteller (and her book has a decent cover and is copy edited, and if she keeps writing and publishing new material), she’ll make a living wage over time.” Rusch even goes on to suggest that promotion in publishing, be it in the traditional or indie realm, is utterly pointless: “I buy [books] because of word-of-mouth, just like every other reader on the planet. That’s why traditional publishers only spend advertising dollars on the bestsellers. They’re not informing you of a new writer. They’re letting you know that a favorite writer has a new book. They’re relying on word-of-mouth and habit. So indie writers who promote their book instead of writing the next book are wasting their time. The more books you’ve written, the more books you’ll sell. That’s how it works. That’s how it’s always worked.” 

====================

Thanks, Steve.  For those of you that like jazz, our Steve is a smokin' musician.  Warning:  ADULT lyrics and music, don't go to the page with your kids in the room, but her lyric, "facebook is a gateway drug to stalking" should be used in a bestselling  novel!   Visit her site at:  http://www.stephanienilles.com , and will start work on her new Album in about 3 weeks.  

Back to the Present

The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

Reviewed by Marlyn Beebe.

When her mother committed suicide, Jac L'Etoile turned her back on the family business (the House of L'Etoile is one of the most storied perfumeries in France), moved to the United States and eventually created a Mythbusters-type television series. Now her father Louis has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and is unable to continue his craft.  Jac's brother Robbie is taking over, but the business is in severe financial trouble.  Jac wants to sell the rights to some of Etoile's signature scents, but Robbie disagrees.  He's certain that there is a secret fragrance that triggers olfactory memory, allowing people to remember who they were in previous incarnations, and that Giles L'Etoile who began the company in the 18th Century, has hidden the formula somewhere on the L'Etoile property in Paris.

Robbie hires Griffin North, an Egyptologist, to translate the hieroglyphics on some shards of pottery that Giles brought back from Egypt, hoping that they will provide a clue.

Psychiatrist Malachi Samuels believes in reincarnation and the controversial theory that knowing about past lives helps people avoid repeating mistakes they'd otherwise make over and over.  He's part of a group that will do almost anything to acquire the L'Etoiled fabled scent, which will make regression infinitely easier.

Racing to find the formula before the creditors take over, Robbie disappears, leaving an unidentified man lying dead on the floor of his office. Where is Robbie?  Is he a murderer?  Who's the dead guy?  What happened to the pieces of pottery:?

These are all questions that Jac must find answers to when she rushes home upon learning of her brother's disappearance.

There are a lot of threads in this book,  and though they appear completely disconnected, they come together to form a brilliant and tightly woven story.  The language is as lush and powerful as the scent that was created to accompany the book.  (As one of those who pre-ordered the book through the publisher, I received a sample.)

M.J. Rose has researched all the different aspects of the plot thoroughly, and proves it in the Glossary at the end. 


FTC Full Disclosure:  I purchased a copy of this book.

Fresh Baked

By Peg Brantley


Gayle's post yesterday left me wondering…

If there is an entire cadre of tropes (look at Gayle's post if you want the definition), then what are the notes that are fresh? What themes or devices excite you as a reader?

In Red Tide I had a pill-popping FBI agent who 'took the cure' during the story. Tropish, but readers seem to love him. The detective in the story I'm working on now loves to listen to jazz. It's not overdone, but it's there. Jazz and Twizzlers. And story number three features an emotionally wounded man who suffers bouts of depression. (L.J. will be happy to know that number three does not involve a serial killer plot.)

But if those are staid and tropey, what engages readers today?

Could it be something related to the main protagonist's career? Reporters and lawyers are a dime-a-dozen, but what about neurosurgeons or trash collectors? Could the clerk at your local Walmart find herself embroiled in something messy that doesn't involve a wretched collection of strange looking shoppers via an email? (Or maybe it could.)

Would a physical challenge present as new and fresh? Maybe the main character is blind or has muscular dystrophy. Maybe he's eighty-nine years old.

Anything 'new and fresh' will one day fall out of disfavor due to overuse. But right now I'm curious (and maybe a little desperate)… what unique protagonist characteristics are sending you over the moon? What attribute do you want to see that's missing in your current reading choices?

Trope-on-a-Rope

By Gayle Carline

Trope: A common or overused theme or device (Merriam-Webster).

On Facebook, I have many more friends than in real life. (I suspect this is because they only have to put up with me in small doses and can hide me when they've had enough.) I've ended up with a lot of friends that were suggested to me, so I can't really tell you how we met. All I can tell you is, as a writer who wants to sell books, I hesitate to refuse anyone my FB-friendship.

I've only unfriended one person, a gentleman from Ghana who was lovely, but needy. Every time I checked into Facebook, he wanted to chat with me (via Instant Message). Nothing inappropriate, but it certainly felt like I was being stalked. Was he awake 24/7, waiting for my little green ball to indicate I was online? Of course, since I've unfriended him, I've discovered that when the Mayan calendar runs out and the Earth switches position in the Milky Way and all the poles reverse and geological havoc ensues, the only safe place to be will be Ghana. Damn.

But I digress.

One of the friends I did meet on Facebook is a man named Jim Thomsen from Washington State, who is currently a freelance editor and really funny. If you can find him, tell him I sent you. Unless you're a looney toon. Then, please don't even try to find me.

Lately he's been assembling tropes that weary him. One is the cops/lawyers/private detectives who are into old blues/country/jazz music and drive ancient, battered pickup trucks. Another is the sad-sack middle-aged male who is misunderstood by everyone except the hot, soulful, wounded woman in her twenties, who lures him out on a reckless, self-destructive adventure that refuels his narcissistic rejuvenation.

I concur. The hooker with the heart of gold, the incredibly smart, incredibly strong, incredibly damaged action hero, and even the stereotype of trying to turn a stereotype on its ear (let's make the blonde chick smart), are all beginning to bore me. Or maybe they're not beginning, they've already succeeded.

Here's the thing about tropes: How long does it take for one to go away? If you stop creating hookers with hearts of gold, at what point does that stop being a cliche?

What tropes would you like to put a stake through? And do they have a statute of limitations?

Time For A Quick Thrill?

By Jenny Hilborne

I don’t what you were expecting, but I’m talking about short stories. How popular are they? 

Until recently, I’d never been much of a fan, the main reason being there’s not enough story to become vested in the characters. The few I’d tried to read were poorly developed and left me cold. I imagined it must be harder to write a short than to write a novel; for me it would be like attempting a sprint when I’m a long distance runner. I write full-length novels, where I have pages and pages to develop my plots and characters.

Recently, a story idea popped into my head, a simple concept I didn’t think I could develop into a full novel, but certainly one I couldn't let go, and thought I turn into a short story. Except, I can’t write short stories, or so I thought. Questions immediately arose: how short should it be? What formula, if any, do I have to follow? Do the same rules apply to a short as in a novel? I tasked myself to write the thing, and worry about the “rules” later, if at all. To help the creative process, I poured myself a large glass of wine – it served a secondary purpose in that I could drown my sorrow if I sucked.

Well, color me converted. I loved writing the short, False Pretense, I enjoyed the challenge in attempting a new style, and found it an incredibly liberating exercise, free from the restrictions of writing a full-length novel. For starters, it took me five hours to complete instead of a year. I drank to that (knew the wine would come in handy). I had one simple story line and no complex sub-plots to weave in; few characters; a much shorter timeframe for the course of the events, and discovered I had the makings of a character I could later use in a novel.

I learned a few things. Shorts are a break from routine and a good exercise, a challenge for a writer to try something new, especially new writers daunted by writing a full-length novel and unsure if they have enough material. A short is a quick and inexpensive way to wet a reader’s appetite for a new author.

I’m sure I broke some rules when I wrote my short, but I don’t think it matters. I have a new respect for shorts, and will seek them out to read. Perfect for a busy schedule.

What’s your take on shorts?