by Tina Radcliffe from the September 3, 2018 issueTagline: Leslie was suffering from an empty nest, but Sam filled her heart with a new kind of joy.
Observations: This was an adorable story. I, myself, might be facing an empty nest soon. My own two kids are finally taking steps to move out together. I'm excited to have a room to myself and to get rid of some furniture we'd been holding onto in the hopes they'd take it with them, but I will miss seeing them everyday, not to mention the fact that I will once again be doing all the dishes. LOL
It's been a while since I talked about the three-act structure and how it applies even to very short stories like these. If you look back, most stories have a three act structure. This story, however, only has two. In the first act, we meet Leslie and see her in her "ordinary world," a term that comes from Christopher Vogler's A Writer's Journey, a book I highly recommend for fiction writers. We find out all the pertinent information about her--she's single, she has two grown daughters who just went away to college together, she has a crush on Sam the neighbor.
The second act begins the moment Sam appears. This is where we see the two characters connecting in a meaningful way. (Honestly, I wish I had a Sam who lived next door. I have quite a few home improvement projects I'd like to have done, but my dh is not very handy around the house.)
Another thing I notice--and perhaps it's because I am about to become an empty-nester--is that Leslie is very easy to identify with. When you're creating characters for Woman's World, you want to make them likeable. You want to give them traits or situations that the readers and the characters have in common. And on the pages of Woman's World, you also want to make those female characters strong. You'll never see any doormat women in Woman's World stories. No. They're women who set goals, who take action, who are willing to try new things.
Photo credit: Liz West via Flickr cc license
5 comments:
Kate, I really like this review. Maybe that is because you made it personal and so relatable to your readers. I was also surprised to find that your analysis could well apply to a story of mine that sold recently to WW. It wasn't something I had consciously thought about as I just start at the beginning and write to the end. You may have revealed the magic touch that will open the door to a WW sale for writers who follow your blog.
This was a charming story and very WW worthy.
I loved this story also. Thank you, Kate, for pointing out the two-act structure.
Kate,
For those of us not familiar with it, would you please describe
the three-act structure you mention? Thanks
To me, it means Act 1, you are introduced to the characters, their problem/challenge, and their backstory (any pertinent information about them we need to know to understand the story.) Act 2 the plot thickens. The characters make headway. They might meet each other, they might not. Act 3, things come to a head. Sometimes there's a "black moment" during which their happy ending is in peril, but everything always ends up happily.
Here's a Wikipedia article on it. :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure
I hope that helps
Indeed it does. Thank you, Kate!
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