"Driver's License" by Sky Acton

Sky Acton’s story “Driver’s License” has room for improvement. I liked the complex idea that Acton tried to get across on the page but I think that she assumed that the reader knew more that he or she did. I would gravitate to the side of trusting the reader usually, but in a story so bizarre I think it would help to know more about sex changes and transvestites and to go about the story in a more educational, informative way.

Foreshadowing in the paper was too strong at times. On Page 3 Anthony is saying goodnight to his daughter he said, “And the door clicked shut and hid away my remainder of what would soon be my past.” Letting the reader know that a change will occur later is far less enjoyable for the reader than to just experience the change for himself or herself. Foreshadowing can be used to allude to more specific details or something small that is going to happen, but to dramatically imply the rest of the story in one sentence is frustrating to the reader and poor form.

Another cop out to avoid would be having Anthony describe himself in the mirror. Granted, it’s hard to have a character describe themselves in the first person but in my opinion it is far worse to just have the character stare at themselves and talk about what they see. If the character has a defining feature, you could bring that up in the story – I liked what you did with the driver’s license, very sneaky – or you could have other characters comment on it or have the character in question simply talk realistically about something they like or hate about their appearance.

If this story is moved around a bit for clarification I think it could be even more interesting than it already is.