Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company! discussion

Ever had a great teacher? Ever thought "Wow if I ever teach, I would love to use their skills and what I've learned over the years to talk about things to encourage writing."

I had an amazing English teacher funnily enough from my Freshman year then for my final year of High School. I thought she was amazing!

So if you ever want to tell or teach others how you like to tell your stories here on WSS, go ahead. Do you use terminology (man vs. man plots?, imagery, do you use experience like the smell of flowers to convey something deeply beautiful..? etc.), do you have creative ways about what you do?

What would you like people to know just in case people can learn to tell their story.

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Open-minded discussions please. No one is incorrect or wrong here.
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So now go ahead. "Teach" us....!

Note: We are still following the old WSS rules also.

-No posting original threads. Us mods will be glad to give credit if you message us as we will post for you. Do not post as the first action! PLEASE

-On this particular one, if you ever had a desire to teach, ask us what you expect in this folder... If you want us to cover something especially here in the folder, message us. We are here to listen and decide things and help you, not just be moderators! :D

People differ innately in their styles of learning, so what will seem a good teacher to one person may not to another.

It seems to me that with stories (or poems), the situation is complicated not only by the motives and impulses (conscious and unconscious) of the writer but by the circumstance that readers differ intrinsically in their response to what they read. Five readers reading the same story may have surprisingly different responses to it.

M wrote: "...but by the circumstance that readers differ intrinsically in their response to what they read. Five readers reading the same story may have surprisingly different responses to it."

I feel like those are some of the best kinds of stories! Ones that can open the most kinds of discussions. :D

C. S. Lewis once had a group in college that was free of people telling whatever story they wanted to tell. They sat by a fire and read aloud anything they were working on. Then they discusses and spoke about what they wrote. Maybe they gave advice too so maybe I'm going off on a tangent, sorry.

Just re-reading your comment M got me thinking of that now, lol.

Al wrote: "........I do think learning the basics is beneficial if someone has a story waiting to be written, and I believe there is no right way to get it out on paper either."

True. I would sometimes "release my feelings" through writing. I would either get frustrated at my mom, be greiving about a death (I have written about 2 that I posted on here because of deaths to people close or close enough in my life "Goodbye Baby" is one, and "A Time to Live" is very loosely based on a guy I was friends with who died of suicide). I think writing sometimes is therapeutic. But it is also meditative I mean to the point you hope your characters could do something better than get p o'd like something I would do usually lol.

C. J. wrote: "C. S. Lewis once had a group in college that was free of people telling whatever story they wanted to tell. They sat by a fire and read aloud anything they were working on. Then they discusses and ..."

The Inklings! Just in case anyone wondered what I was talking about.

Al wrote: "Also, I think a story can be told or written by either "pantsing" or planning it, sometimes both. I used to write with only a very skeletal i..."

I wonder though, did Goodreads come up with the "planner" or "pantser" thing? I was so confused to hear those 'meme-y'-sounding terms. Did they come up with calling it that or is that a popular online thing I didn't know anything about, lol?

I have tried to be one who starts a story without knowing its ending. I ended up not using it because it seemed too weird. It was supposed to be about a character that finds faith but i also found it.... off. To the point it disturbed me a little, haha...

So I have been before and after that fun experience... lol... been a planner through and through.

Though I can't say events haven't changed on the spot so I am partially the latter versus a complete planner where I think there's no growth for the writer. It's good to actually come up with a different idea later, because sometimes even the way a story ends is better than what I thought of originally. And it's a relief to "find" that new ending too!

Never underestimate the potential influence of a teacher. When I was a freshman in college, something happened that changed my life. I seemed to have no talent for anything, but a professor I respected expressed confidence in my ability to write. As if overnight, my aimless life was endowed with purpose. Apparently, there was something I had been put on this earth to do! (It turned out that what I was put on this earth to do was grade essays, type paychecks, operate a lawn mower, and drain cocktail tumblers, but that’s a different story.)

Al wrote: "I think NaNoWriMo came up with it and I use it because I
suppose it fits..."

The last time I did NaNoWriMo I kinda broke the rules and continued a novel I've been working on for years. Then I had a personal OCD fit and got frustrated at the twenty or so damn mistakes I didn't know how to edit.... then I quit early on lol.

Al wrote: "I do have a question. Anyone find they can't write without a nice big cup of coffee or tea? (Or something stronger?) I feel that maybe a story can't be written without one or all of those.

I love to drink coffee in the morning. Now it's my new thing if I get up and want to do stuff especially with keeping the discipline on wanting to put something down (on paper or screen) and I do devotions and stuff on my blog! So that inspires definite writing. Coffee is my (addiction) love and go to when I want to get the brain cells a-workin'! :D

You would think that by now I would have developed something in the way of an ability to plot stories. It hasn’t happened. I still have to write a story in order to find out what happens in it. The same is true with poems. On the other hand, my motive for writing a story or a poem is the thrill of finding myself in unexplored territory. It’s the opposite of the way I go about writing a business letter, in which I know beforehand everything that must be said, and the challenge is merely to say it effectively as I can.

M wrote: "You would think that by now I would have developed something in the way of an ability to plot stories. It hasn’t happened. I still have to write a story in order to find out what happens in it. The..."

That's why I think you fly by the seat of your pants, M! You're a born storyteller but most importantly, willing to grow and change during it and I think that's awesome about you. :)

Thank you, C. J.!

Thank you, Alex! As an exercise, I’m going to see if I can plot a story for this week, then write it from a rough outline.

My interest is in figuring out what makes the characters tick, so an opening that lets me know it will a psychological novel is the kind that would hook me.

Al wrote: "C. J. wrote: "............"I'm a NaNo addict and it's completely fine to work on a novel you've been stumped on. That's what Camp NaNo is for.

Good to hear Al. I didn't know I was still following the rules, lol!

Good to know. Thanks again Al!