Please welcome, Carol!
Carol may have grown up on
Florida beaches, but her heart has always belonged to the mountains. Last year,
she and her husband finally fulfilled her lifelong fantasy. They moved to the
Blue Ridge Mountains. YAY!!!!! If she can curb her endless mountain gazing from
her front door, she might get some work done on her next book. She still can't
believe she lives in an area she loves so much.
Short story writing:
When I was first approached to
write a short story, I was excited and a little nervous. I had the opportunity to be part of an
anthology with a dozen authors that I admired and respected, but could I tell a
full story within 2000 words? All of my
writing career, I've been advised to expand my scenes, add more depth, and
express more emotion. To keep a story
brief seemed to go against everything I'd been taught. Naturally, I viewed this exercise as a
personal challenge. It was time to prove
I was worth my writing salt.
My next hurdle was to come up
with an idea. My stories are generally
set east of the Rockies. This anthology
was to be true to the west. No mountain
settlers for this group. I took another
tentative step out of my comfort zone and settled on the Santa Fe Trail. I'd seen enough cowboy shows to know wagon
trains headed west all the time. I now
had the basis for my story.
As I began to place the
"bones" of my story in place, I have to admit, it was difficult to
not go into massive details. But once I
got past the desire to tell the reader every aspect of the story, I relaxed and
the story flowed.
It's my opinion that a short
story is just that, a quick read that delivers a condensed version of a
full-length novel. And to be honest,
every now and then, I think a short story is just what a reader wants, a good
story without elaborate description.
Between you and me, I can't wait to be part of another anthology.
Where to find Carol A. Spradling
Other books by Carol A.
Spradling:
