William Ogden Haynes

Youthful Indiscretions: Short Stories William Ogden Haynes

Publisher Marketing: In 2013 the author published Uncommon Pursuits which was a book containing fifty poems and five short stories. The poetry and short stories had all appeared in either print or electronic magazines and the fiction got almost as many positive comments from editors and readers as the poetry. Thus, the present book follows that success focusing exclusively on short fiction. The title of this book, Youthful Indiscretions, suggests that the characters in the short stories are relatively young and indiscreet. Although many people might assume that the indiscretions are sexual in nature, none of the stories focus on sexuality. Indiscretion can probably best be understood by talking about discretion. Discretion is the power to decide or act according to one's own judgment. It is the quality of being discreet and behaving in such a way as to avoid social embarrassment or distress. Synonyms associated with discretion often include judgment, wisdom, discrimination and sense. The choices made by the characters in these stories sometimes had a negative impact on their lives and in other cases it ended up being a positive influence. The stories have in common the fact that each is a vignette of a character in childhood or young adulthood. Several of the stories come from the author's own experiences and others tell the tales of people he knew growing up. Still others involve purely fictional characters. The stories are about people from different economic backgrounds and occupations. They involve boys, girls, men and women. But in all the stories, the protagonist is in an uncomfortable situation for which he or she must find a resolution. In most cases these youthful indiscretions were life-changing experiences. Most readers will find that some of the characters and locales remind them of themselves or people they knew growing up. Enjoy!