THE "DIFFERENT" STYLE OF WRITING

As a personal preference, short stories need to be twisted. The definition of twisted is to take a perfectly predictable story plot and subject it to something . . . different.

That's why I like sci-fi, horror, and fantasy: all of which are easy for throwing in twists. It can be done in fiction too (albeit with some more effort). And I don't mean plot twists, wherein all you do is throw in a bit of a surprise (like Luke Skywalker finding out that Darth Vader's his father).

I mean write the story so that it's frggin' DIFFERENT to its very core, and then reveal that fact at some point in the story (that's why Star Wars made so much damned money - it was just different throughout: from the Jedi to the Ewoks).

But for those of you not wanting to create your own full-fledged universes, fear not. A different story can start with a relatively mundane situation . . . and then just go off into the weird. Readers love that feeling of twisted surprise – if you do it right.

For example: I wrote a piece called “A Timely Assist”. A National Guardsman’s stuck in a patch of Iraqi desert with a leg wound. A bunch of insurgents are driving after him in a pair of jeeps. They want him as a hostage to behead. Knowing this, he sets up into a prone shooting position, reloads his last full clip and vows to survive this (somehow). He’s just about to open fire when . . . a British dude asks him if he happens to have a working radio. Startled, the guardsman turns around to find he’s got six armed British commandos standing around behind him . . . and they’re all ghosts! And things get really different from there.

When sitting somewhere, trying to figure out a concept for a different story, cram two things together that have no business being together (like British ghosts with guns). Mix ninjas and zombies (I did that once). Mix aliens and politicians (I did that once, too).

Or, frame a different story in the context of a “What if?” scenario that didn’t fit the regular story mold. For example: I did a story called “Gizmo Sleuth” some years back. It had a 1930’s pulp feel to it. And I asked: “What if there was a super hero; who was part-detective, part-mad genius?” I mean, he’s beating up Nazis, thwarting a rival mad genius, and flat-out saving the day on anti-psychotics!

Writing a love story? Murder? Crime Tale? Same thing, folks.

Fart an unusual story spin out of the creative recesses of your minds.

Then tell it differently.

And please make it twisted.

It’ll make the story better.