The Bad Economy Hits Home

Yesterday, after a morning of blogging, I walked to Pittsburgh’s “Little Italy” and stopped in Nico’s at the corner of Friendship and Pearl for a few beers and some friendly conversation.

Several people were there, two who had just lost their jobs.  Martha has worked in an office position at the University of Pittsburgh for many years.  She was recently called in and simply released.  On top of that her husband is in the hospital in the ICU because of a recent car accident.  He was at a stop light when another driver plowed into him from behind.  He and Martha have two pre-teen girls.

Then Corday lost his job.  He’s been a professional truck driver for years with an unblemished driving record.  He was just released.  It’s the first time in his adult life that he’s been unemployed.  His wife just had a breast removed because of cancer.  She’s recoverying after also having reconstructive surgery.  They have two very young children.

Martha and Corday are both over fifty years old.

Even with all my problems, the visit to Nico’s reminded me of how fortunate I am.

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53 Short Stories & A Very Short Novel

Looking for some reading material for the weekend?  You’ll find it here in the Gazette.  The Gazette publishes some of the best flash fiction, very short fiction, short shorts and sudden fiction on the Internet.  And for those of you who like longer fiction just click on the A Very Short Novel tab at the top of the page for “Honeypot” by yours truly.

If you want the real skinny about the student bar scene around the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland, you’ll love “Honeypot.”

How To Create Life-Like Characters

As writers we all know how important characterization is.  No discerning reader wants to read a story with a bunch of flat characters in it.  Who cares about flat, unbelievable characters?  I know I don’t.  Flat characters are a waste of time.  But life-like round characters are a wonder.  They make us weep.  They make us laugh.  They make us want to jump for joy.  How can a flash fiction and very short story writer create believable, life-like round characters?  Give your characters a flaw.

Have them struggle mightily against this flaw.  This flaw could be the thing causing the conflict in the story.  Or it could be the thing that keeps your characters from solving the conflict in the story.  Either way, your characters will seem more real to your readers because as much as we all want to believe in our own goodness, deep down inside we all know we have flaws.

When we readers root for life-like round characters, we’re really rooting for ourselves.

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