Here’s the promised sidebar to the “Confessions of an Editor” article. Read that first. Then read this. This isn’t dated either. How to Write a Perfect, if Flawed, Short Story Kristine Kathryn Rusch So, how does one go from a group of three-year-olds screaming “Halleluiah Chorus” to singing the tenor solos in the Messiah on the stage at Carnegie Hall? Practice, my friends. Practice. And study. Learning to hear the flaws and to expect them, learning how to compensate, and learning how to avoid the obvious ones. Doing scales, day after day after day. Getting training, and listening to the opinions of others. Realizing that talent is not enough, arrogance is not enough. Talent and arrogance do not make art. Human beings make art. But enough of metaphor. … Read entire article »