Do you like writing or reading short stories? Have you heard of Story Chat?
My guest, Marsha Ingrao, has an invitation for you.
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A Short History
Last October, I asked Hugh Roberts if he wanted to write a guest post for me. He agreed. We both thought a short story for Halloween would be fun.
When Hugh’s story got lots of comments, we thought it would be fun to do a summary post, turning the post into an event with a Book Chat ambience.
Authors Win
Story Chat helps authors. They get double promotion for their story and their overall story-writing ability.
● First, the story itself is published by someone other than themselves, so it’s put in front of a brand new audience. That is a big deal that looks good on a resume if authors try to publish the traditional way.
● Secondly, they get free feedback on the first published post. They have a chance to see the story from their reader’s perspective and interact with them and listen to what they say to each other.
● Third, they get additional exposure when the recap is published. There are usually more comments on this post as well. There is always a resurgence of interest in the original post at this time, too, because after reading the recap, some people want to go back and re-read the story either because they missed it or missed a certain point that someone else caught.
Story Chat Attendees Win
The commenters sitting around the table respond to each other and to the author. They bat the ideas around in the mishmash of hundreds of comments in the comments section.
After the story airs for a couple of weeks, my job with people reblogging and pushing it on social media is to pull the comments into something that follows in a natural sequence.
I list the attendees and link to one of their posts, and they have one more link to a different post on their first comment.
What Do You Have to Lose?
I can’t see any way that you will lose with submitting a story or leaving comments on one of the featured stories.
All you have to do is send me an unpublished story – one that hasn’t been published on your blog or used in a writing contest. If you like, you can use outcrops of a longer novel you’ve written if that part was never published. You can write the beginning, middle or end of a sequel to a book you’ve already written.
Word-count is 500-1,000 words, and in that time, you need to develop a setting, beginning, middle, and end to a plot and develop the characters. If you are accustomed to writing a piece of flash fiction for the Carrot Ranch 99-word flash fiction challenge, you shouldn’t have a problem in meeting the restrictions of 1,000 words.
Readers will have to do more than skim the story, or they might have to come back and re-read it. This is a fun but somewhat scholarly discussion.
Why This Guest Post?
The monthly Story Chat event is 100% dependent on readers and authors.
If no one submits a story, Story Chat dies. If the story is published on Always Write and nobody reads or comments on it, Story Chat dies. As the Story Chat event host, my only job is to give you a venue to have a deep discussion about a great story. If that doesn’t happen, then the event dies.
If there are ways to improve it to draw in more authors and commenters, deepen the discussion, lighten the discussion, change Story Chat in any way to meet your needs, please leave a comment for me on this post. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
We have two more Story Chats scheduled. Our May Story Chat author is Anne Stormont, a Scottish friend of mine with a short story romance with all the adventure you could cram into 1,000 words. I loved it, and I think you will too.
Don’t be put off if you don’t care for a particular genre. I don’t like horror stories, but Hugh sent me a horror story right out of the shoot, and wow, what a great story it was. If you haven’t read it, it’s fabulous, and so was the discussion.
We have Australian writer, Debbie Harris, from Deb’s World for our June Story Chat. The stories come in two weeks or more ahead of publication so that I can check for edits and provide illustrations if desired.
Some authors prefer no illustrations, so I give them an option now. I do not change spellings of English, American or Australian words.
Submit and Schedule Now
If you would like or have been thinking of submitting a story, procrastinate no longer. Submit your story by contacting me via the following link – Always Write Contact.
And if you have any questions about the Story Chat feature, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section.
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Marsha Ingrao is a retired educator and wife of a retired realtor. Her all-consuming hobby is blogging which she says has changed her life.
Marsha’s friends live all over the world. In November 2020, she and her husband, Vince, sold everything and retired to the mile-high desert of Prescott, AZ.
They live less than five miles from the Granite Dells, four lakes, and hundreds of trails with their dog, Kalev, and two cats, Moji and Nutter Butter. Vince’s sister went with them and lives close by.
Masha says that every day is a new adventure.
Connect with Marsha
Do you have any questions or comments for Marsha? Leave them in the comments section. She’d be delighted to hear from you.
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Hugh's Views & News 
I’m going to bottle Jim, and keep him next to my computer. He’s always so kind and complimentary. I’m going to do the same with Hugh, and let him out of his genie bottle to proofread all my messy manuscripts. Vince got tired after about one. Since I am mildly dyslexic, I miss more than I should typing, but he combs his posts with a fine tooth comb. So I’ll have two bottled wonderful people sitting next to me on my desk, one who says everything is wonderful and one says everything is rife with errors. Thank you Jim for being such a kind follower. It’s always an honor to chat with you.
Is this for fiction only, or does non-fiction, essay writing qualify?
Thanks for sharing this post. Michele
Hi Msomerville, This brings up a great point. Story Chat is for fiction only, however, if we could think of an engaging name for non-fiction essays, and do a pilot, that would be fun. It takes me a lot of time to engage with people, build the story visuals, and created the second post. I couldn’t do more than one a month – ever along with other responsibilities. If you leave me a message on my contact page, we can discuss the possibilities by email. I’ve had a lot of support from my authors for Story Chat, so it takes a bit to get it started. 🙂
I was lucky enough to get a go. Please support her in this excellent platform. And well done Hugh for providing some more oxygen.
Thanks, Geoff. We don’t want Story Chat to go into a surgical situation, though! 🙂
Fair enough…!!
Thanks for highlighting Marsha’s Story Chat series Hugh. It’s a great way to get stories out there and to share our thoughts. I’m honoured to be Marsha’s first Australian author next month and have written my story, ready to send it off to her for her thoughts 🙂
Hi Deb, Thanks for joining in here. I messed up, you’re my first female Australian. Doug created a “perfect mini-planet” so real, I thought he was in the U.S. LOL!
No problem Marsha, I’m happy to be involved regardless 🙂
Thanks, Debbie. I’m excited to welcome you to the Story Chat friends.
What a wonderful concept. Why have I never heard of Story Chat? Love what you are doing here, Marsha.
I’m glad you are promoting Marsha’s Story Chat. I was sad to read that she was considering retiring the series. Hopefully your post will breath new life into it.
Hi Janis, It’s not that I want to retire the series, but it is for authors. I wrote the second story to get it started, but Story Chat needs stories to continue. At the time I talked to Hugh, I had nothing for June or after. So rather than waiting for it to die, he asked me to write a guest post as a proactive step. I love the series.
So great to see Marsha and this idea promoted on your blog, Hugh! She works very hard to post and promote relevant writing and photography challenges and brings her journalism flair to everything she writes. Plus she is my dear friend and I’m happy to see her blog grow in popularity!
Awww Story Chat has meant so much to me, but it’s not about me. Hugh birthed it with his “People Under the Stairs” Story. I had no idea the event would be as popular as it was and I got used to having three or four stories in the hopper ready to go. I call it an event because there is no challenge involved. It’s purely authors interacting with their readers. I think all of us grow from the discussions.
what a great way to get feedback on your writing. and I enjoy following Marsha’s blog…