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Free Your Captive Fiction Writer
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Free Your Captive Fiction Writer by
Jean Goldstrom

Electric Works Publishing
Order from publisher
ISBN 1587230712
Reviewed by Nancy Mehl

Read our author interview


"You’re serious about writing fiction. You've read, read, read the kind of fiction you love. You've taken the how-to-write courses. You've joined a writer’s critique group. You've written some stories. You've maybe even placed some. But...there's something missing. Somehow, you feel like you haven't found your fiction voice. That’s it - there's a fiction writer trapped inside you who hasn't quite found the door to the outside, yet."
- From the introduction of Free Your Captive Fiction Writer


Jean Goldstrom looked into her heart to find a treasure chest full of life experiences and nuggets of writer’s wisdom, which she has beautifully fashioned into
Free Your Captive Fiction Writer.

This wonderful book doesn’t so much "teach" the art of writing fiction as it "shows" its readers just how it’s done. Jean shares the "story behind the story" for each of the superb short stories found in her book. The reader can experience the thoughts and feelings that opened up each tale. Jean’s insight into what will free the fiction writer within each of us gives us the key to find what was hiding inside all along.

The book includes fifteen short stories that will make you laugh out loud, cry quietly and remember them always. These are just a few: All the News That Fits – Which comes first, the news or the news event? The Street Shooter and the Death Angel – A news photographer encounters an angel of death. But this is not a typical photographer and not a typical angel. Puparazzi – What happens when a reporter from earth meets a reporter from outer space – with true "news-sniffing" abilities. How To Get Into Politics Without Really Trying – The real reason so many politicians seem to be "from another planet." The Last Edition – When a newspaper closes there’s no telling who will show up to say goodbye! A Bridge to Baker Street – How far will a reporter go to get a story?

Heaven, The Main Office – What if Heaven were run like a business? Or what if its inhabitants acted the way a typical family would? What if there was a Really Accountable Accounting Department? Heaven is turned upside down and Satan is on a rampage in this series of hilarious and often touching stories that will make Heaven seem much closer to home.

Moon Over Grayhund – Proves that the world’s worst (and scariest!) trip can make for a good story. What the Animals Said – An old tradition tells us that at midnight on Christmas Eve, animals can speak. What would they really say? Ghosts of Christmas Past – When ghosts visit an old woman in a nursing home; will they be good ghosts or bad ghosts? In a touching story that will stay in my heart and mind forever – Elizabeth is visited by the ghosts of her past. Sometimes the stories that are the hardest to write are the best. And finally: Whose Best Friend – A story that took thirty years to write, where the lines between people and animals cross and the question as to who is more human is hard to answer.

Free Your Captive Fiction Writer is mandatory reading for everyone who writes fiction, or wants to write fiction. Yet the stories nestled inside are for everyone. A must-have, an absolute keeper.


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