I wasn't always a writer. I was lazy. Writing wasn't something I found appealing; stories didn't pop up in my head randomly. Video games were always my style. I mean honestly, who wouldn't want to jump out of a Spartan ship and take on the Covenant army as Master Friggin Chief throughout a series of five games?
But then I realized those games came from someone's head. Every game does. Every movie does. Every play does. Every book does. Everyone has a spark in their head about an idea that they just have to put on paper. When that pen starts moving or when those fingers hit the keyboard as if just shot with adrenaline, a whole new world opens that you get to say you created.
My creative writing classes have taught me one thing: every story is a good story. Hemingway once said, "Write the truest sentence you know." One true sentence is all you need. It can be a pile of crap, but it's your crap that you can twist however you want. One true sentence can be that driving force of your story that will reach every demographic out there.
"The first line, the first word, the hook." Picture that as the first sentence in your short story. Where would you take it? What direction do you want the story to go in? The development of characters has a range that we, as readers and writers, can't even compute.
That eight-word opening hooked me like fresh bait. Short stories have such a limited audience compared to novels that suck readers in daily. They're a dime a dozen. Everyone looks at novels. But how often do people scroll through the pages of short stories on Amazon? So many talented writers self-publish their stories that they wrote in their spare time during a lunch break, late night beer, in between classes, or even when they have their early morning brew.
"The first line, the first word, the hook." I stole this line from a short story on Amazon called, "The Bookseller: A Somnium Chronicles Short Story." This book grabbed my attention right off the bat. Not only that, it opened my eyes to other short stories that could just as easily be, if not more, engaging. The author, M. Blake Adams, does what so many authors wish they could do: brings words to life. His ability to take two seemingly average characters and convince the reader that these could actually be real people is nothing short of impressive, and that's a hard feat in just twenty pages.
M. Blake Adams is one of the few authors whose work has made me want more than what was given. I wanted more of Gabriel. I wanted more of Zechariah. I wanted to know more about Amelia. It's the love story that believable enough to picture but shy's away from the traditional sap we're cursed with in current stories involving young romance. This gives us what we aren't often graced with, hope. That last line leaves you hopeful.
Read it. Read it again. When you think you've read it enough, read it again. Because the author has way more to offer that he's surely going to display soon enough.
