An English Teacher’s Guide for What Makes Writing “Good” and What To Do If It Isn’t

That’s why, several years into my teaching career, I laid down the Red Pen, thanks to some good advice from a colleague, and changed the way I looked at writing instruction entirely. I had to stop working for my students as their copy-editor. Neither of us wanted me to do that job in the first place. In other words, instead of tearing the writing apart, I had to focus on developing what was already there. If I was going to evaluate someone’s writing, it was just as important for me to identify strengths as it was to identify weaknesses. Maybe even more so.

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Elements of a Short Story

A short story is an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with few characters and maiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot. What we call “coffee break” reading. A short story is more than 7,500 words that can be read in a single sitting. Describes a single event, a single episode, or a tale of one particular character. Does not usually involve major twists and conflicts, and involvement of various sub-plots and multiple characters is not common. A short story is basically fictional prose, written in a narrative style. The narrative style may either be first or third person.

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Working with a Freelance Editor

"Do a second and third rewrite before you show the manuscript to the editor. At the very least, use spell check on the entire manuscript, and then have some friends check for errors. Make it the best you can do on your own so you won’t be paying for a professional’s time to do what you could have done yourself." Patty Zion, from "Working with a Freelance Editor"

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