I’m writing a short story and the key event has occurred on about the 9th page. I’m writing in 12-font, single space format but I haven’t checked the word count yet. I’m not dividing it up by chapters, just chunks of narrative. I was originally planning for it to be about 20 pages, but now I’m thinking I’ll push to more like 25 to 30. Is this too long to be considered a ‘short story’? Should I trim it down? Or is this just fine?
Short Story
~ 1,000 – 7,500 words
Novellette
~ 7,500 – 20,000 words
Novella
~ 20,000 – 50,000 words
Novel
~ 50,000 -110,000
I’m working on a story plot & I’m wondering if my idea is plausible based on police procedures.
Hypothetical situation: Johnny sees Billy attacking someone to the point where Johnny is in fear for the victim’s life. Johnny tells Billy to stop, but he doesn’t, and Johnny ends up killing him. The victim and another witness can varify that Johnny killed Billy to save the victim.
What I’m wondering:
Would police arrest Johnny on the spot?
Would Johnny just be taken in for questioning?
Would the prosecutors press charges against Johnny?
Would the witnesses be taken in for questioning also, or interviewed at the scene?
Thanks!
I had a real life case almost identical to that scenario.
In your example, Johnny would be immediately detained and taken in for questioning. He would be advised of his Miranda warnings, because he is undoubtedly in custody (he is not free to go). If he is smart, he will waive his rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present, and he will tell his story. His statement will be reduced to type written form. That is what happened in my real life version.
The witness and the the victim would also be taken in for questioning, and detailed typed statements taken.
While the interviews are in progress, the crime scene unit will be scrupulously documenting the scene and collecting physical evidence. They will be in contact with the interviewers and anything that is discovered which verifies or contradicts the statements will be carefully scrutinized.
Another team of investigators will be researching Billy’s, Johnny’s, the victim’s and the witness’ backgrounds. Do they have criminal records, if yes, for what. What are their reputations in the community. What are their relationships?
Billy’s body is taken to the Morgue, where a forensic pathologist will do an autosy and determine the cause and manner of death, Of course, the manner will be "Homicide" because he was undoubtedly killed by another. Does the condition of the body verify or refute the statements of the accused, victim and witness?
When all of the interviews, autopsy and scene processing are done, the detective assigned will run the case by his supervsior, and then by the District Attorney. The DA will make the decision to charge or not. Nobody will be allowed to go any place (including the victim and witness, who are of course there "voluntarily")
When the DA makes the decison that it was a justifiable Homicide, committed in defense of the life of another, the police will cut everybody loose.
Just a couple things to note. In real life, Homicides are slow work, and labor intensive. Nobody gets intervewed at the scene, they all get taken back to Homicide for statements. Statements are all written or typed out, not just taken verbally. Some states take taped statements, but in ours, we want them signed before anybody leaves Homicide. In this scenario, Johny will clearly get a "walk". But, suppose he beat Billy far beyond what was necessary to save the victim? Then it is for sure he would get arrested and at a minimum get charged with manslaughter.
In my similar case, the bad guy was dispatched by a single knife wound while he was choking and beating his elderly landlord. The stabber was out in less than eight hours. In two days, I caught two jobs that were both ruled justifiable homicides by the DA. I got a lot of teasing out of that.
Please don’t be mean or give answers that are childish.
There are websites that offer free ebooks. You can find a list of the free and legal sites here: http://best-ereaders.blogspot.com/
You don’t need an ereader (like a Kindle) to read them; all you need is your computer.
If you’re looking for paper-and-ink books, your best bet is probably one of the free classified papers you can find at grocery stores. Penny Saver is one. Look for ads of people giving away books, often by the bag. Be sure to check around for used bookshops and bookshops with used books sections.
If you’re strapped for cash, try putting up ads at local churches, asking for books for kids. Tell them your situation and you might just find a few books headed your way. =D
This is my first book based on a love story how to publish it?
Well, you have two choices. The easy path is to self-publish and may be a viable option if you are not interested in seeing your book in stores or selling it commercially. Self-publishing tends to appeal to authors who only want a few copies of their book for keepsakes or to give to family and friends. It is not at all recommended to anyone who wants to sell large numbers of books, or to see their book available in stores.
The second and more difficult path is to find a traditional publisher. You’ll need to research publishers who are interested in books like yours – for example it would be a waste of time submitting a romance novel to a publisher who is interested only in science fiction. You can research publishers by using a book called "The Writer’s Marketplace" (the title varies in different countries,) which is available in most public libraries and contains an index of various publishers and their requirements. Only a handful of publishers will accept unsolicited manuscripts, so you may wish to find an agent who will do this on your behalf.
Usually, agents and publishers will ask to see the first three chapters of your book and will advise on their website how they like the manuscript to be formatted (more often than not they’ll ask for a manuscript that is double spaced, with 3cm margins). Publishers receive many manuscripts per year and of these will only publish a small few, so competition is quite fierce. Don’t be alarmed if your manuscript is rejected – most are. It can take many years before a book is published. Try to stand out from the crowd by submitting only your best and most original work.
The advantages of using a traditional publisher is that you’ll have a team to design a cover and market your novel. Your book will be available in stores and may even hit the international market.
Best of luck with publishing, whatever path you choose.
It’s a little story I didn’t make up but my teacher told me to finish it. It’s about a hungry fox called Reynard that sees 2 fishermen in a car, he makes them believe he’s dead, so when they get him on the car to sell his skin, he eats all the fish they had. At the end he talks to them saying he only ate 2 fish, the fishermen ran but cannot catch him and he finally takes the car and runs away with the fishing pole. I don’t know how I could end the story it’s for tomorrow please help me.
say Fox got fish pin bones caught or struck in its throat , and finally it was caught by the fisher men .end it with moral of " do not cheat others ".
in between u add some more imaginary things
"Honour your mother and father" I think this is proof that it’s just a story parents told their kids so they would behave themselves. Then it just got carried into other generations by their kids telling their kids and so on. I think religion are just made up stories that was invented thousands of years ago to teach kids morals.
No.
Exous 20:8-11
SDA
I’m not really sure how to structure a short story… Most of the short stories I’ve read haven’t explained much until the end and ended on a cliff hanger. But I’m just wondering if most short stories are like that? Like, set in a strange place with strange creatures and you don’t know what’s going on but little bits get revealed throughout it.. And how long is an average short story, from a book like Prom nights from Hell?
Short stories vary in length. I have read published works which are 4 pages and some 10 pages long. At school my short stories did not exceed 6 so in my opinion that’s typical. A short story’s structure in brief is a beginning, a middle/body and an ending. Not all stories are cliff hangers too.
Beginning could be the setting or characters or a dialogue. You are going to give the reader the what the story is about or at least a hint. In the body you spice it up with character development and conflicts which lead up to a climax. Then you wrap it up with the conflict being resolved or not or it could be partially resolved.
Hope this helps.
I am looking for one of those websites that will read the stories to you, and all you have to do is turn the page. My kids like hearing the character voices.
Sandra that is not what I asked, please be considerate to the question.
and for the record, I do read to my children.
www.starfall.com
Remember a kitten) and after mom warns her she doesn’t change. A giant girl appears and picks up the little girl, puts her in her pocket wrapped in a dirty handkerchief. Eventually the little girl learns her lesson. Can anyone remember the name of this story?
I have no idea on what your talking about!
Sorry- Good Luck though
well, i love to read books, especially story books.
if there is, what is the requirements to get that job and what they do?
You could become a Literature Professor, I suppose.
Requirements- PhD in literature (analysis, I’d think)
Duties- teach at a university, publish articles and books arguing about literature, its role in history, its meaning, etc