Here’s the link to my short story, published in the Foundling Review this week:
Foundling Review, Issue #1, May 2010 – HAIRSPRAY
Reader’s reactions to this piece have been interesting. As a writer, I don’t believe in coercing readers to feel a certain way about a story. The words should speak for themselves, and it’s the readers’ right to take away what they will. I hope that’s what makes the story fun… that it can be interpreted in different ways depending on what the reader wants to see.
Something to ponder: HAIRSPRAY was also accepted by a horror magazine. Would you have had a different take on it had you read it there?
Short stories are damned hard to write. Telling a story in so few words is really hard for me, but I’d like to get better at it. I’m considering an advanced short fiction class this summer if the first draft of the current WIP is finished. It would be nice to try something different. (Something that doesn’t have chapters would be a start.)
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The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Great story!
I actually did something quite similar in my novel that didn't sell so I "got" it from the first sentence.
The Tell-Tale heart is one of my faves too.
Thanks Jen! You know, one of these days I'd like to write a true horror novel, something with ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Don't know if that would sell but it would be fun to write!