Hallo everyone! I’m Shalene, the newest of the Shimmery people. I squinkled (a method of extreme coaxing) my way into the Shimmer slush pile a few weeks ago. Ever since I’ve been diving in and out of stories, gulping down first sentences, middle-paragraphs, and endings, burbling like a happy beluga.

I’m reading everyone’s work.

I’m loving it.

And now that I’m a little bit settled in and getting comfortable, I’m getting delusions of grandeur—in short, a wish list of what I’d like to see more of in stories, and I’ve even provided litmus tests so you can figure out if your story contains these elements.

Things Shalene Wants in Stories:

1.   Wooing 

Reel me in with the first few paragraphs of your story. Keep me interested, engaged. I’m going to read your story three or four times anyway, but if I have trouble looking past the first few pages, then probably a casual reader won’t make it to the end. In general establishing a concrete situation (who, what, where, why) is much more compelling than nebulous (if beautifully written) sensations that force the reader to really work to figure out what’s going on.

Litmus test: Give a friend who likes reading the genre you’re writing the first few pages of a story. Tell ‘em someone else wrote it. Ask them if they want to read more.

2.   Reason

One of the challenges of speculative fiction is that the world exists within your head and the reader can’t make any assumptions about what does and does not hold about your world. It’s your job to make understanding the world as easy as possible for your reader. Lay out what is different and explain how it works.

So, Googity is a ghost and slapped the king of ghosts upside the head during a moment of insanity induced by too much grape juice.

Okay, is Googity insane, or would do most ghosts go loopy after drinking grape juice? And if they get loopy, how does ghost society view Googity’s actions? Understandable given circumstances, but shocking? Beyond the pale?

Litmus test: Give an honest friend (the kind who tells you what your haircut really looks like) a highlighter and your story. Tell ‘em to highlight the parts where they lose interest. Right there is where things have stopped making sense, or you’ve info-dumped which leads to 3.

3.   Simplicity

The other challenge of speculative fiction is over-explaining. Too much information about your world and you risk boring the reader. (Tolkien fans may disagree. They also read The Two Towers.) The reasons why things are happening in the world is important, but rule of thumb only include the bare minimum needed to make the story understandable.

Okay, Googity slapped the king because grape juice makes most ghosts lose control of their inhibitions.

No need to explain this is because the sugar in grape juice causes ghosts severe gastrointestinal distress, so the juice flows towards the brain, and ultimately gets lodged in the axons and make it impossible for the neurotransmitters to fire. (Do ghosts even have axons? Ugh. See all the horrible questions this raises.)

Just make sure character motivations are in place, and cause and effect are in place.

Litmus test: See 2.

4.   Friendship

Yeah, I’m kinda introverted and all, but part of the pleasure of reading is hanging out with characters, relaxing into a story and enjoying the people no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Make your characters come alive. Give them emotions the reader empathize with, quirks that will flesh them out, preferences and habits.

Googity slaps the king. Does he spend the next few months communicating with his friends via messages in bottles because he’s too embarrassed to leave the house? Does he parade down the street with a big sign on his chest: “Slapped the King! I’m da ghost!”? How does his best friend Mizt react? What about Googity’s neighbor, Julk?

Litmus test: After your friend reads the story ask them to describe the characters to you. The characters who get mixed up or forgotten are the ones who didn’t have much of a presence.

5.   Heartbreak 

Go ahead. Don’t be shy. Make me love your story so much that I ache when it’s over, that the echo of your writing lingers in my memory long after you are finished.

There are no rules on how to do this. My only suggestion is write with great joy. Write because it matters to you, not because you want to see your name in print, or you think stories about ghosts named Googity will sell. If it seems like work, or if it isn’t fun, stop and come back later. Write about Googity because you have something to say about being or doing something stupid, regretting it and moving on. The most memorable stories have themes that strike a chord within people. Love. Loss. Redemption.

Litmus test: A couple weeks after you’ve asked your friend to read your story, ask them what they remember. The more they remember the more of an impression it’s made.

Also, give your friend cookies. They deserve it.

Happy writing!