Auctoritee: A Collection of Short Stories

By Kayla Rose Scott

Auctoritee is a collection of short stories that all explore love. Readers typically read about love in a way that results in a happy ending. Sadly, this is not always the case. In this collection, each story explores a different aspect of love, none of which end with "happily ever after".

Follow each character as they discover the reality of what love really is and what it can entail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469110448

Kayla Rose Scott

About the Author Kayla Rose Scott is currently pursuing her passion for writing poetry and short fiction while working towards a degree in education after receiving an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts. She spends all of her summers on the beaches of Fire Island squishing her toes into the sand, collecting shells, and reading. She is also a spirited supporter of animal rescues and has recently taken up knitting. She lives on Long Island with her family and beloved pets. Cover Design by Emily Sherman, B.A. in Studio Art from Tulane University. She currently lives in New Orleans, working mainly in blown and cast glass as well as pen & ink.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Kayla Scott.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4691-9854-5

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4691-1044-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

115172

Contents

Foreword

Mutual Understanding

You Make Me Feel So . . .

Shared Company

Art of Staying Still

Foreword

At the beginning of the semester I thought of myself as a good writer. Now, looking back, I see that my writing has grown more mature and a lot stronger. Writing this chapbook over the course of seven months has led to much trial and error. Each story had its own process and series of revisions, which led to me finding my own writing process.

The first story, Mutual Understanding, was the last story I wrote for the project. I originally started writing it as a way to try and move past the writer’s block I was experiencing with another story. By the time I wrote the first half, I knew it was already stronger than the original story was ever going to be. I had grown more comfortable with the use of dialogue, as well as the art of showing not telling.

Through each revision, the individual characters took on more of their own personality, and shaped the story into what could be a real situation. While the story does not end on a definitive note, I felt it was the appropriate way to end it, leaving the reader with enough information to come to their own conclusion.

You Make Me Feel So, was one of the original stories to be considered for the chapbook. It was also one of the last stories to be finished. This one took many different versions, and revisions of specific sections, before it was strong enough for me to feel satisfied with it. This story really helped me learn how to use dialogue as a way of moving the story forward, instead of summarization. Even after having to revisit this story week after week, to make a few changes here, alter this conversation there, and add more to this character’s dynamic, I never got sick of the story.

Shared Company is probably the story I’m most impressed with myself for writing. The first draft that I wrote consisted of two pages, and I had no idea where I was going to take it. After the first few semi-developed drafts, I ended up having to write each character a back story, before I could move forward. Once I had the back stories, I had a better understanding of who my characters were and how they would interact with each other.

While The Art of Staying Still is the final piece in the collection, it was the first story to be completed. Because it was the first story, it took the most work to perfect. It started out as a monologue, but through many workshops became the story it is now, with character development that follows the proper narrative arc. Upon finishing it I was so proud that I sent out a mass email to share the final product. The positive and encouraging feedback I got in return is what gave me the motivation to give each story the proper amount of attention.

While I enjoyed writing this chapbook to get a final project, the process and experience is what has mattered most. I learned that as a writer, I need to follow my own process, which this independent study has helped me figure out. I can’t just sit down and write a story with dialogue. I need to outline the story in the form of a summarization before I can move forward. Once I have a summarization I can go back and develop the story section by section. This has been a learning experience that will carry over to and improve everything I write from here on out.

Mutual