What is your QUESTION!

Just finished another short story. Gads. How many is that? I dunno. Lots.

This one is called A Dog Named Scat and I didn't quite get the ending snippage I wanted, which means a future re-write before I submit it.

What's the problem with Scat? Its story question is the problem.

See, I like stories with a big QUESTION about them.

A mystery.

A certain pull that keeps the reader turning pages. A what the hell happens! tingle on the back of their neck.

Suspense. I don't care what the question is, it just needs to be a question.

Will they survive? Will she leave? Will he win?

What's going on with Grandpa and the dog? That's my Scat question.

And the answer to that question is simple and predictable, even though I tried to upend the reader there at the last with some topsy-turvy writing.

So, later I'll go back a re-write Scat. This is the second time I've written that story. The first time I got the first scene and a rough draft. The second time I nailed the story, but not with the umph I want.

Now don't say, Third time's a charm or I swear by all things Holy I will reach through that computer screen and smack you. Not in writing it ain't. Fifteenth or twentieth time is the charm.

And that's if you're doing it right.

Gutpunch. Savvy. Witty. I need all that in my writing.

And a question. What is the QUESTION? I need my question.

For Scat, and for EVERY story I write, every chapter, page, paragraph and sentence, the question is this: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

So I ask you, my fellow knuckers: WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION? And what is your goal with that question?

My goal is that Holy Grail of questions, the Reader Question, the big RQ. Dear Reader hits those two words (THE END) well before they are ready and responds with: Dude, what happens next?

- Eric