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Video Recording – Paul Stansbury – Writing the Short Story

Paul Stansbury provided a very informative talk to our chapter on Saturday, on writing the short story. Due to technical difficulties, though the video of the zoom call worked, we only got attendees on screen – no video of Paul talking. So I added a still picture of Paul through most of the video. The audio is fine. On behalf of the entire video and web team here at DRS, we apologize for any inconvenience.

Paul Stansbury is a lifelong native of Kentucky. He is the author of the five volume Inversion short story collection, Down By the Creek – Ripples and Reflections, and Under the Faerie Moon, an illustrated poetry collection. Over one hundred forty of his stories and poems have been published in print anthologies as well as online publications. He is a Kentucky Monthly Penned winner. His short play, Nana Toby, was selected for the Festival of New Plays at Union Commonwealth University. He is Scheduling Coordinator for The Jeanne Penn Lane Celebration of Kentucky Writers. He is the owner of Sheppard Press. Now retired, he lives in Danville, Kentucky.

Email Paul Stansbury: pstansburywriter@gmail.com

Follow Paul Stansbury on Facebook: Paul Stansbury Author

Website: https://www.paulstansbury.com

 

DRS Speaker: Paul Stansbury – Writing the Short Story November 8

Paul Stansbury is a lifelong native of Kentucky. He is the author of Inversion-Not Your Ordinary Stories; Inversion II-Creatures, Fairies, and Haints, Oh My; Inversion III-The Lighter Shades of Greys; Inversion IV-Another Infusion of Speculative Fiction; and Down by the Creek-Ripples and Reflections. Over one-hundred and thirty of his works have been published. His speculative fiction stories have appeared in a number of print anthologies as well as a variety of online publications.

Paul is also a poet, a Kentucky Monthly Penned winner, and the Scheduling Coordinator for The Jeanne Penn Lane Celebration of Kentucky Writers. His short play, Nana Toby, was selected for the Union Commonwealth University of New Plays. He is the owner of Sheppard Press.

Paul will speak to us about short story writing. Be sure to read the Sci-Fi short story he has provided. He will use it to illustrate his points. It will be sent as a separate email attachment.

Chapter Meeting Details

  • DateNovember 8, 2025
  • Time

Business Meeting: 11:30 am

Guest Speaker:  Noon

 

This meeting will be zoom only. Please use the following link to register. 

Zoom Registration Link

 

 

 

DRS Chapter Meeting – October 11 at 11:30am ** Zoom Only

Reading Like a Writer Book Club

This month the Scoundrels will be discussing When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland. Henry has already done his homework! Hopefully you all have had a chance to read the book. Scroll down to the very end of this post to see who the killer is!

Elaine and Bev will lead the book discussion in which they’ll focus on the writing and craft issues

All writing consists of a series of choices. As we read Cicadas, we’ll examine Cleveland’s choices in structuring the story she wanted to tell.

Just to get you started, here are a few thoughts that occurred to us on a second read:

  • Bev thought she’d identified the killer by around page 68. Wrong! The author led us right down the garden path.
  • Cleveland starts the book with a first-person scene in the killer’s head and continues to work these in. Would the book work as well if she’d left these out?
  • The crimes involve a present-day murder and a cold case murder. Different characters focus on separate investigations that are deftly woven together to reach a climax. How did this structure affect your reading experience?
  • Set in the Deep South, the novel uses racial issues not just as background but to drive the plot and increase tension. How do you feel Cleveland handled these themes?
  • Does the romantic subplot detract from or add to the tension?

Date: October 11, 2025

Time: 11:30 am EST

Location:  This meeting will be zoom only

Zoom Registration Link

 

 

The Killer is . . . . are you kidding? I’m not going to tell you who the real killer is. Read the book!

Member News

Meet Frances Gossen

I can’t remember the first time I used writing as a form of creative expression, but by the time I entered middle school, I had already discovered an easy love of poetry. Perhaps it was the influence of my early years as a theater kid and young love affair with Shakespeare, but using descriptive language to encapsulate intense to me, unnoticed to others experiences greatly appealed to me.

I still remember some of those early works: seeing an otter off the docks of Prince Edward Island, the sensation of waking up from a dream. The way letters, syllables, syntax, and stanzas could express patterns of beautiful meaning fascinated me as did the idea of treating language as an equation not to cheapen but expand understanding.

Unsurprisingly, I went on to obtain an English degree from Boston University where I spent two years as chief poetic editor for Clarion literary magazine and worked as an copy editor for Pen and Anvil press both before and after graduation. My writing grew as well as I began to experiment more with prose and fiction, especially world building.

In my late teens, I developed my first fantasy world, which now has its own phonetic alphabet, detailed trade routes, five distinct cultural traditions, and three storylines that will eventually become series, although I’m only about one hundred scattered pages into the first book.

During my twenties, I completed my first collection of poetry, Conversations about the Weather, as well as early drafts of a collection of short stories tentatively called Rose’a’sharn, which explored the line between magical realism and fantasy. Currently, I’m developing a new collection of science fiction shorts as a fun experiment in a different kind of world building, and particularly to work on dialogue and concise storytelling. Regardless of the project, I always have more ideas and inspiration than time to write them down.

— Frances Gossen