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Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

Postcards from Natalie, by Carrie Laben Read it here in about 30 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… Nat has run off with her boyfriend, Keith. She sends postcards to her little sister, Mandy, back home. The reader learns about Nat through these postcards – from her handwriting, and what she does, and doesn’t,…

Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

Click, by Brian Evenson Read it here in about 20 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… This story is grammatically confusing. We flit from past to present tense within the first section, then back to past tense for the majority of the tale, only to end up back in the present tense again at…

Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

Concerning the Upstairs Bathroom, by Kiera Lesley Read it here in about 15 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… This story is written in the form of a letter from a house seller to its purchaser. As such, it’s written as direct address to the reader (‘you’), using semi-formal estate agent type language (‘I’m…

Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

What the Dead Birds Taught Me, by Laura Blackwell Read it here in about 20 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… The story begins in medias res, immediately drawing the reader into a strange textworld where the narrator has the power to reanimate the dead using her own blood and words written in a…

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About Me

My name is Mina Ma. I’m an English teacher, and a writer of short stories and short creative nonfiction.

I blog about short stories (etc.), because analysing what other writers do helps my own writing.

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