Tips – From Abbie Johnson Taylor: How I Revise Short Fiction #WednesdayWords #Inspiration

Good morning, Patty’s Worlds Friends and Followers.

Today, over in Abbie’s corner of the world, Sponsoring Member Abbie Johnson Taylor shares some incredible writing tips.

Let’s learn with Abbie.

How I Revise Short Fiction #WednesdayWords #Inspiration

Since May is Short Story Month, and I recently released a short story collection, I’m doing something different today. Last week, I, along with others in my writing group, Behind Our Eyes, participated in a panel discussion on revising short fiction. The facilitator asked a series of questions, which we answered, then opened the discussion to questions from the audience.

Below are the questions emailed to panelists before the meeting, along with my answers. Not all questions were asked during the meeting, in the interest of time, but I answered them all here.

Read Abbie’s answers at the URL below.

https://abbiescorner.wordpress.com/2025/05/14/how-i-revise-short-fiction-wednesdaywords-inspiration/

Here’s more on Abbie and her latest release…

Living Vicariously in Wyoming

A collection of short stories by Abbie Johnson Taylor, C 2025 / 177 pages in print.

In e–book, paperback, and hardcover formats on Amazon and in e–book on Smashwords.

This is the author’s seventh published book.

For details, see Amazon or her website: https://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com/

Synopsis:

 As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

 In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

 The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

Description of the cover for blind and visually impaired readers (by Leonore Dvorkin, editor):

David Dvorkin, of DLD Books, somewhat manipulated the photo and designed the cover. The striking scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The rather forbidding foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the amazing pink that one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs just above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover. The cover image was primarily chosen for how it evokes rural Wyoming, but it also happens to match the setting at the end of the story “Heaven Help Me.”