Writing short stories / Ailsa Cox.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cox, Ailsa.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Short story--Authorship.

Short story.

Physical Description:

vii, 197 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2005.

Contents:

1 Spinning a yarn 9

Telling tales 9

Plot 11

Creating suspense: 'The Fall of the House of Usher' 12

Tall tales 15

Games and puzzles: 'The Red-Headed League' 18

Structure 22

Writing in the dark 24

2 Capturing the moment 33

The mind's eye 33

Using the senses: 'Bliss' 35

Epiphany: 'The Dead' 40

Playing around with time 43

Stream of consciousness: 'Not Not While the Giro' 46

3 Humour 57

Laughing out loud 57

Irony 59

Character observation 61

The anecdote: 'News' 63

Parody and satire: 'The Hands of Dingo Deery' 67

4 The fantastic 79

Voluntary dreams 79

Altering reality: 'Metamorphosis' 80

Myth: 'The Company of Wolves' 85

Parallel worlds: 'Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' 89

5 What if? 101

SF 101

The unknown: 'In the Abyss' 104

Utopias and dystopias 108

Cyberpunk: 'Burning Chrome' 111

6 Reality 125

The heat of the moment 125

The short story and journalism 129

Social observation: 'Country Living' 133

Memories: 'Family Furnishings' 137

7 Love, sex and shaping a story 147

Sex, love and romance 147

Desire: 'Death Constant Beyond Love' 149

Adultery: 'Lady with Lapdog' 153

Revenge: 'Dr Frankenstein, I Presume' 159

Recognition 161.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-190) and index.

ISBN:

0415303869

0415303877

OCLC:

57670414