Story: Moving On

Story: "Moving On" by Valerie Kuhn Reid from the May 22, 2007 issue.

Tagline: Andrea had already decided it was time to get on with her life, when a face from her past helped her do just that...

What follows is an analysis of a Woman's World story with suggestions/observations for people who want to sell stories to WW, peppered with some personal opinion, too. :)

Reid gives us a good amount of backstory at the beginning, which, remember, is not necessarily a bad thing in a WW story. After that, Andrea reaches critical mass and takes action. Looking at the newspaper for something to do is the first step of her character arc. We get more backstory as she remembers Darren and her memories bring her back to the present. Then, she writes him a letter--step two of her character arc. Her final third step comes when she calls him and they make a date. It's difficult to have characters grow in 1000 words, but Reid manages it nicely.

Ahh, I am such a sucker for an old flame story. Maybe it's because I have an old flame that I'll never forget. This story, however, is unusual in that the characters never actively meet "on stage." We only meet Darren through Andrea's recollections. I thought that was a refreshing change, even if it slowed the pace a wee bit.

Best Part: "And since I'm never going to meet anyone in my den, I've got to start going out." This is funny, and I like that Andrea didn't need a friend, grandmother, or work buddy nudging her.

In My Humble Opinion: The ending seemed to shift so abruptly into an omniscient point of view that I was startled, and it didn't really sing either. Still, I give it...

Grade: B

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Deadline May 29, 2007