Sarah Massey
Bio
Sarah is an animator and short film director at the birthplace of Route 66 Springfield, Missouri. A graduate of Drury University in the class of 2020, Sarah is published two fiction short stories in Drury’s Literary Magazine, Currents.
Stories (24/0)
Characters that Matter
Think of your story as a body: head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Plot is the skeleton. Characters are the muscles, nerves, and organs. The things that move the bones. You need both. Skeletons can’t move without muscles, and I don’t want to know how a body without bones would move. Thinking about it gives me the heebie-geebies. Anyway, muscles, nerves, and organs are what keep the body functional and healthy. Your story will suck if your characters suck. So how do you make characters that don’t suck?
By Sarah Massey22 days ago in Writers
Stakes of Success
You don't want your characters to be successful. I know it sounds mean, but hear me out. Success is cool, but struggles make for better stories. You’ve heard the saying, bad decisions make for good stories. It’s true. This next set of Pixar rules for storytelling is about causing trouble.
By Sarah Massey22 days ago in Writers
I Should be Attending my Wedding Right Now
… But instead, I’m enjoying my sweet, sweet liberty from a tyrant. My doctor appointment was at 2:30 pm in Jacksonville. A new doctor, and I was unsure about going. Not because of the doctor herself, but because of the weather. My first tornado warning since moving to Arkansas. It was just for a few counties, and would be for only an hour or so.
By Sarah Massey8 months ago in Chapters
- Top Story - August 2023
What They Don't Tell You About Being The Creative OneTop Story - August 2023
What they don’t tell you about being “The Creative One” is that everything you do is a copy of someone else. Your notebook is filled with snowflakes in bright pink, purple, and blue. Ever since you saw Frozen, it’s all you think about. Your pen draws each stroke like an ice skater glides across the rink. The geometric shapes and straight lines are soothing to draw, and it is more entertaining than listening to dry lectures. When you’re not drawing snowflakes, you’re writing Sherlock Holmes fiction. As you sit and listen to Dr. Davis drone on and on about something completely unrelated to Child Psychology, young John and Sherlock are adventuring through the streets of London with the newest addition to their team, a bloodhound pup named Toby.
By Sarah Massey9 months ago in Chapters
A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah Maas
There is no better way to spend a day than with a Sarah Maas book. I could just live in the world she has created. No fantasy info-dumping, or paragraph long descriptions. Only magic, and color, and wonder, with a good dash of humor throughout. I recommend it to everyone.
By Sarah Massey9 months ago in Critique
- Top Story - August 2023
How to Tell Any Story EverTop Story - August 2023
What if I told you I had the key to telling a great story no matter what? That no matter what characters, plot, and genre, your story would always turn out compelling, entertaining, and relatable? Would you want to know what it is?
By Sarah Massey9 months ago in Writers
The Summer I Learned Ukulele
Chapter One. First Day of Summer Two weeks. Two weeks until spring break. Two weeks until I can catch a break from math. Two weeks and it will be my birthday, and I'll finally get the ukulele of my dreams. Two weeks and I'll get to play her favorite song outside her window after her parents go to sleep. Just two weeks.
By Sarah Massey9 months ago in Chapters
My Latest Obsession with Faeries
If you can even get your hands on a copy of it, read it. All my local libraries have it on hold for the next year, which tells me it must be good. My sister picked it up from a librarian that described it (Poorly, on purpose) as follows, "Girl kills a wolf and then a guy that plays the fiddle follows her around forever." Silly as it may sound, the premise was intriguing to us both. Tis the exact kind of escape from reality that we both needed.
By Sarah Massey9 months ago in BookClub
The Midnight Society
When I was just thirteen years old, I had the idea for this story. It was full of corruption, espionage, world politics, and maybe just slightly too ambitious for a kid. But I loved writing it. The research for how political power works, types of governments and their function, cold wars and espionage was endlessly fascinating. Crafting plot twist after plot twist, betrayal after betrayal, characters so real I could almost see them sitting before me was what gave me my kick start into writing. It got complicated, and twisted, and I was horrible at keeping up with notes, so I lost the trail of the plot and the enthusiasm to continue it.
By Sarah Massey9 months ago in Critique