THE NIGHT WAS…

‘The night was dry, but it was raining.’

It’s been a while since I saw ‘Throw Momma from the Train’. The main reason is that I used to know someone who looked like ‘Momma’ and it freaks me out.

Billy Crystal’s character struggling with the opener to his novel is a real classic. It reminds me of my own writing blocks when I’d be pacing up and down the office floor, dressed in the same pyjamas day in, day out, glass of red wine in hand, the cat looking at me like Spot used to look at Hong Kong Phooey. Ah, those were the days.

But enough about me.

Opening lines are crucial. We need to hook our audience immediately… grab them by the ‘you know whats’ and drag them into your story. It’s a real artform, this writing lark. I was interviewed today and one of the questions was ‘what advice would you give to writers?’, and I hate to admit, but I probably didn’t say anything new. I could have easily came out with my usual rant about how not to approach (I actually think I did), but now that another short story comp is on the go, it is making me think.

 I’m sure I’ve been told several times about writers completing a piece and then going back to the beginning and eaither deleting the first paragraph, or having a drastic rethink. As a Creative Writing tutor (I know about stuff, me) I used to run workshops on opening lines – how to hook an audience and how to get them to stay with your story. I think it’s even more relevant with short stories. If you don’t hook them from the start, they’ll just skip to the next story, and you’ll be lost amongst the rest of the collection and forgotten about. In shorts, you need to make EVERY WORD count. Don’t waste any – don’t drag it out, don’t give the reader an excuse to skip through. Hook them! Intrigue them … leave them wanting to know something … leave them needing to know something.

The next Tonto anthology comp has a 27 July deadline. With Caroline Smailes  (that there writer with that there new-look website) stepping in to judge, we were talking about what we should be looking for in submissions. I’m always reluctant to base competitions on a theme. I think themes are ok for workshop exercises and to me, that’s where they should stay. What if you’ve just completed the best short story in the world, but it isn’t based on my theme? Then you may shoehorn it in, compromise your story in the process, or not enter – and then I’ve missed out on publishing the best short story in the world … and that won’t do. Call me shellfish.

This time round, and as the competition coincides with Tonto’s fourth birthday – it’s a competition to have fun with. And why waste a lovely carnival-themed cover. D’oh! Did I just say themed? What I mean is, it’s great for us to see these submissions coming in where you aren’t trying to second guess what we are looking for. We’re looking for page-turning entertainment; we’re looking for comedy, tragedy and ‘humidity’.

How to enter ‘Even More Tonto Short Stories’.