Slice-of-life pieces don’t necessarily need to be set in colorful, fascinating settings. Maybe the main character doesn’t measurably change over the course of the piece, but the reader should be changed or affected by what he or she has read.Ĥ. Though slice-of-life pieces may be “quiet,” they still have to be interesting and worth the reader’s time. But the characters-their everyday desires, their disappointments, their emotional reactions to what’s going on (or not going on)-must be well-developed. A slice-of-life piece doesn’t necessarily have to feature obvious, gripping conflict or larger-than-life actors. Use your narrative to examine those small, ordinary, yet often powerful moments of daily life. However, keep in mind there are no rules that say you couldn’t do something wild-like write a slice of life about a dog, an alien, or a vampire.ģ. Realism tends to be the focus of most slice-of-life stories. Read slice-of-life pieces in literary journals to get a sense of the form before you take a stab at writing one.Ģ. A story where nothing much happens to an everyday, average person can be a recipe for disaster if you don’t know what you’re doing. Read some slice-of-life stories before writing one. Great slice of life can be transporting bad slice of life will be boring. If you’re thinking about writing slice of life for submission to a literary journal, consider these tips. Slice-of-life pieces are short (which editors love)…can encapsulate big ideas in small passages (also a win)…and often reflect the sensibilities of post-modern life (which many editors want to bring to the pages of their lit mags).īut writing a slice-of-life piece-whether fiction or nonfiction-isn’t easy in fact, making it look easy is one of the most challenging aspects of the exercise. So if slice-of-life prose features mundane characters, little or no plot or conflict, and no real conclusion-why are literary magazine editors so excited by these vignettes that they’re scooping the manuscripts up left and right? The story may have little plot progress and little character development, and often has no exposition, conflict, or dénouement, with an open ending.” “a storytelling technique that presents a seemingly arbitrary sample of a character’s life, which often lacks a coherent plot, conflict, or ending. According to Wikipedia, slice of life is: Editors of contemporary literary journals love slice-of-life vignettes.
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