Let's Write a Short Story!: Get Published Sooner with Your First Short Story

This kindlebook of Let’s Write A Short Story by Joe Bunting is an encouraging guide for many people who plan to write short stories for the long-term. Helpful information is also given on various magazine resources and a few websites to turn to for writing mentorship. Another positive benefit to this kindlebook of Let’s Write A Short Story by Joe Bunting; mentorship and encouragement explaining why to write regardless of how the quality of the writing may turn out (similar to a commercial that I had seen online where writer/author David Mamet was referencing similar vital advice related to that topic). I also like the reasons that Bunting gives in relation to why people write. I am fortunate in the fact that my husband and some of my family members and friends are supportive of my writing aspirations. It is just that I enjoy writing as a way to feel more alive even with feeling blessed for what I already have. That reason helps sustain me even when I am publicly judged for what I write from time to time even when I am just coming from the heart while speaking my truth. I just wish that there would have been more details available on what to do if you want to publish under a pen name. The reason for my wish to publish under a pen name has to do with the fact that maybe in a parallel universe, if I looked like the mainstream ideal and acted-personality wise as the mainstream ideal then there would be little risk in me publishing what I plan to write under my real name. I have to refrain from elaborating more yet I have a very good reason on why I must and I intend to attempt publication under a pen name rather than my real name (even though I am logically aware what I am doing by foregoing the goal of submitting a book under my real name and going for a pen name).

* Notice: I bought the kindle version * (December 2012)Beef: I know everyone has different styles of how they read books, some like paper copy and some like the new digital interface. I prefer the digital because of its accessible. Being able to lay it down upon a table and read it eating lunch and not have to hold or grease up pages in order to turn them is a gift. Now i downloaded this to both my phone kindle app and my kindle fire 7'. The display on the kindle fire was to put it mildly 'bad but tolerable'. the display on my rather small phone screen was 'impossible'. The font is not even throughout it as i could get more that three sentences on my fire and sometimes only three words at a time on my phone. yes there is slight exaggeration there but this is a review is it not? Well i wasn't too keen on that limitation as i was forced to constantly flip it and when reading on my lunch my hands are busy. The color scheme was also atrocious as i like to invert my colors to have a black background with white lettering. I feel that saves a smidge of battery life and its just 'how i like it'. The font's colors on a number of pages and chapters where locked into some mode of 'being black only' which prevented me from actually seeing the font with a black background. If this book was about editing it would have immediately gotten a one star for the whole thing. There where a few misspellings and underlinings and editing notes which where not cleaned up prior to shipping/freezing/uploading for sale.- Biased Partial Rating: 1 starNow to the information: I thought the book had some ideas but nothing new for me. I have through my own web-u-cation picked up on my own most of what he was suggesting. I have no published books but do have a 300+ page first draft I'm sitting on and editing in my spare time. My goal in purchasing this book was to create some smaller supplemental stories that would ultimately tie back into my main work. For me there was nothing gained from this book. For you? who knows.- Biased Partial Rating: 2 starI'm not a cruel person and acknowledge that even if the book wasn't for me it might be exactly what somebody else needs to help them along.- Overall Unbiased Rating: 3 star

This book sings with good intentions. It's designed to embolden the uncertain first-timer to write, and that's great. But if you're expecting more than a handful of advice specific to the crafting of short stories (something I, at least, felt I was led to expect from the title), this way lies disappointment.The book feels short, structurally uneven, and at times cobbled together. A good example of the latter being when, three quarters of the way through the book, the section "How to Get the Most of Your Stories" inexplicably builds an argument that, as a /novelist/, you should consider writing /short stories/ to build a platform to promote your /novel/. I found this disconnect from both the earlier chapters and the section heading... disorienting. Weren't we talking about short stories? I'm sorry to say it, but it felt like the passage was being recycled from a blog post without being sufficiently reworked.It should also be noted that something in the tone of the section "8 Literary Techniques of Prize-Winning Stories" feels almost... tongue-in-cheek. It's as if Bunting /knows/ that advising young writers to "have a wide scope", "write long sentences", and "make... allusion[s] to the Bible [and] Moby Dick" in hopes of lending /literary merit/ to their works is a little ridiculous, but... he's decided to do it anyway.I do think the writer's heart is in the right place, but I'd wait to read this one until it's been either A) retitled to better reflect its contents (provided you're interested in them) or B) reworked to include more than the three short chapters that actually address the proposed subject matter: /writing a short story/. Possibly the best approach would be to rework and tighten the three chapters that stick to the subject matter, and reduce the price. It's on their merits that the book warrants three stars.

I absolutely loved the words of encouragement, plus the list of places to submit your stories to . Fifty years out of school can leave you rusty

An enjoyable, fairly short book, packed with information and ideas.There are some issues with kindle formatting. I couldn't reduce the overly large font size, which impeded proper pagination. Towards the latter part of the book, the submission examples were provided as images - which were missing! There were some misspelled words (spellchecker would have found these?), and quite a few of the links in the final appendix did not work (ie, they were not formatted as links). All easily remedied issues.If you are willing to overlook the above, this book is well worth buying, both for the content and the creative encouragement!

The book gives great hints and tips to both new and established writers who are working on short stories.

Dieser Schreibratgeber spezialisiert sich direkt auf Kurzgeschichten. Die darin enthaltenen Ratschläge lassen sich auch auf andere Bereiche des Schreibhandwerks übertragen, nichtsdestotrotz liegt der Fokus bei Kurzgeschichten. Wer sich mit solchen überhaupt nicht beschäftigen möchte, ist hier beim falschen Werk.Die enthaltenen Tipps und Vorschläge sind leicht verdaulich und grundsätzlich auch einfach umsetzbar, stellenweise kann jedoch der stark soziale Ansatz mit der Einbindung von Social Media introvertierte Person abschrecken. Schade, wenn auch verständlich, ist auch der Fokus auf die USA, insbesondere im Anhang. Insgesamt ist Let's Write a Short Story eine runde Erfahrung mit vielen Anregungen, die zum Schreiben von Kurzgeschichten motivieren.

I enjoyed that there was tons of stuff in here I don't think i would have figured it otherwise. Stuff like how to submit stories,who to submit to, the necessity of active participation in the reading side of things in the magazine's you submit to, etc. All very useful i think.