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Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

Concerning the Upstairs Bathroom, by Kiera Lesley Read it here in about 15 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… This story is written in the form of a letter from a house seller to its purchaser. As such, it’s written as direct address to the reader (‘you’), using semi-formal estate agent type language (‘I’m…

Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

What the Dead Birds Taught Me, by Laura Blackwell Read it here in about 20 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… The story begins in medias res, immediately drawing the reader into a strange textworld where the narrator has the power to reanimate the dead using her own blood and words written in a…

Short story analysis

A short story for Halloween

The Little Angel’s Exhumation, by Mariana Enriquez (translated by Joel Streicker) Read it here in about 10 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… Enriquez includes enough details to make the setting and characters of grandma, the narrator, and the narrator’s father feel real, but pulls back from writing realism by using a non-emotive first-person…

My writing

How I wrote it

My short story ‘Death in the Dolomites’ was read by Clareine Cronin at this year’s Liars’ League ‘Women & Girls’ storytelling event – you can read, watch, or listen to the story here. I began writing this story in response to the Liar’s League call for submissions for Agatha Christie-inspired stories, to commemorate the 50th…

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About Me

My name is Mina Ma. I’m an English teacher, and a writer of short stories and short creative nonfiction.

I blog about short stories (etc.), because analysing what other writers do helps my own writing.

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