Short Story Fundamentals: How to grab your reader

Ever since my creative writing class in High School, I have been facinated by the written word as an art form. Masterful art touches the soul. Ms. Flowers (great name for an art teacher, no?) taught me that there are so many methods of expression with art--charcoal, watercolors, oils, acrylics, pencil, ceramics, clay, bronze, stone. This list could go on for a long time.

Ms. Bowzer (awesome teacher) did the same for me in my writing class--novel, essay, metered poem, haiku, free-form, and many...