Story: A Real Christmas

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. :) If you truly want to learn, it's best to have a copy of the story in front of you. (And no, I don't get a kickback for pimping the magazine here!)

Story: "A Real Christmas" by Katharine Swartz from the December 11, 2007 issue.
Tagline: Alice realized that the holidays were just the right time to open her heart to love again.

In A Nutshell: Five years after the death of her husband, Alice decides to try to re-embrace the holiday season by taking her two kids to get a fresh Christmas tree. When she has difficulty, the tree farmer helps out and gets asked to dinner when he offers to also help her put the tree up.

Teaching Points:
1. Keep descriptions of characters to a minimum. They're not necessary in a WW story. In this tale, this is all we get:

A man with a friendly face approached us as we climbed out of the car.

2. Just as in full length novels, there should be a climax to your story, but usually it's subtle. Here it's when Alice realizes it's time to leave the Christmas tree farm.

Best Part: I liked seeing Alice grow as a character when she suggested that Rob join them for dinner that night.