Nothing but blackened teeth? Eww . . . gross. Maybe someone should see a dentist. Oh, but wait, this isn’t a story about dentistry; it’s a horror novella set in modern-day Japan featuring the titular monster, a “Geisha” ghost with awful oral hygiene.
All kidding aside, newcomer Cassandra Khaw gets a big A+ for this assignment. But therein lies the problem: her story reads more like something she turned in for class, something to impress her stuffy English professor. Put another way: I’ve no doubt Khaw aced the vocabulary portion of her SATs. But the art of storytelling (see what I did there?) is an entirely different animal. Yes, your thesaurus and dictionary are valuable tools, but knowing how to engage readers, so they get excited about your next release, requires an entirely different set of skills. Skills not taught in school and not easily mastered.
You can listen to my rant below:
The Art of Storytelling 
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