And don’t let the form die.
Crime, Humour, Fantasy
Love tales that cause a sigh
Celebrate them and read
Anthlogies and mags
Write your own, sow the seed
So the form keeps going.
I love reading and writing short stories (though the challenge of getting to a word count can be frustrating at times). I very much hope to get a short story collection of my work out at some point.
If you want to find out what your “stars”
Are made of, go on, put them through hell.
Stretch them and give them high enough bars
To overcome before they do well.
Give them virtues, also give them flaws.
Show them making a pig’s breakfast out
Of achieving their just, noble cause
Actions show what your tale’s all about.
The best characters are the ones that stick in the memory and all of those tend to have flaws you can identify with as well as being heroic. My hero, Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, is a decent guy but doesn’t bother hiding his prejudices (he’s learning to live with the other species around him albeit somewhat grumpily). And I love the character precisely because he is flawed yet still fights evil, criminality and, if he really could have his way here, stupidity.