Rachelle Ayala's Reviews > A Christmas Creek Caper

Mimi Barbour challenged members of her group to write a short story for a Christmas set. 5000 to 7000 word limit. Now, I'm a longish type of writer. My first book was over 170,000 words, but lately, I've written a few novellas that are 20,000 to 40,000 in length.

5000 to 7000 seemed like an impossibility when my chapters could be 3000 words. So, I quickly did some research on how to write a short story, reading How to Write Short Stories And Use Them to Further Your Writing Career. The takeaway is, you only have room for a single character's point of view and you must have a shattering moment or twist/irony where the main character's world is never the same again.

Since A Christmas Creek Caper is a romance, the shattering moment comes near the end, but before I picked my characters, I had no clue what it would be. I'm not going to give it away, of course. I went back and re-read my Christmas Creek series of romances to look for a character who would have one big problem/issue that wasn't too hard to solve [short story, remember?] and could tie into a Christmas theme.

Sheriff Brad Wing turns out to be a great candidate. He's a stickler for rules and has had a crush on goodie-two-shoe Ivy Jolly since grade school. When he catches her speeding through town, he hardens his heart and gives her a real speeding ticket instead of issuing her a warning. Meanwhile, there's a porch bandit on the loose, stealing packages from the residents of his town and he has a job to do.

I wrote this story in a single day and surprised myself with the ending. It came out to just over 5000 words. I hope you enjoy it and read the rest of my Christmas Creek series, starting with Deck the Hearts, since all of the romances are light and cheerful with a touch of Christmas magic sprinkled in to get you ready for your own holiday delight.