Hello, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood writer, and I have a problem with a short story I just wrote. I don’t know what’s missing and I need your help to figure it out.
The story is called OPTION RIGHT and the simple truth is it’s not quite good enough. I just re-wrote it moments ago and I’m pretty sure it’s missing something, like most short stories are missing something before they’re finally done.
If you don’t pitch the football, you can run out of options fast——in war and high school football.
As it is, I give this story the grade of B or B-minus and that’s not good enough. But it’s also not unusual. I’ve been writing short stories for forty years or so and it can take forever to get them right. (By right I mean good enough to let go or to give up trying.) It can take years or even decades to get a short story right if you live that long and care that much.
This is where you come in because you are the crowd and I figure I can crowd-source whatever’s missing. And I also promise to share whatever the crowd comes up with, and try to finish the story (for good I hope) based on your suggestions.
For the record, OPTION RIGHT is the second time I’ve written about my fictional high school for the family saga I call the BOOK OF O’KELLS. (You can read my first one, SCHOOL OF LOVE, right here on my web site.)
Thanks for your help. I hope you can sign up to be a member of my MC2 Community here for free newsletters and updates, or subscribe to my WRITE GOOD! newsletter on Substack.
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