Basics of Short Story Writing

Do you think that writing short stories is easy? Easier than novels – it is a short story, after all, it is much smaller, involves less writing and should be easier! Right? Wrong. Although in modern literature the position of short stories looks like something of a poor cousin to ‘real’ literature – that is, novels – the rarely stated truth is that writing a short story is generally much, much more difficult than writing a novel fifty times longer than it. It is an art which requires a lot of training and work put into it. Things to Do Beforehand Plan. Short stories are, well, short. You cannot afford to let yourself wander, you should know what, when and how to write. So, in order not to find yourself in a situation in which you realize at the last moment that you have forgotten something – make a clear-cut plan before you start writing; Choose a definite message – you are going to have one, right? Here, two things are to be remembered: first, avoid vagueness – a short text should have a concrete, clearly understandable message which doesn’t try to be ten things at the same time; and second, don’t make a mistake of stating it outright. The reader should be able to get it on his own. Define the narrator. There are three basic variants, and you should decide on one of them before setting about. First person – you tell the story as if you were its character. All-knowing third person – somebody outside the story, who knows everything that happens. Second person – when you address the reader and make him a character of the story. In the Process of Writing Little time, few characters. Short stories by definition are supposed to cover the events that happen in a short span of time with relatively few characters. Otherwise it will be spread too thin: you will not be able to pay enough attention to the things that happen and will fail to make your characters believable; Stick to the point – generally a short story should have only one plot line – if there are more, you may find yourself incapable of fully exploring each of them; Avoid purple prose – don’t make your wording too ornate. You should keep the story short, and nobody is going to be impressed by long rows of five-syllable adjectives both you and the reader only vaguely know the meaning of. And finally, one tip that is probably better than all the rest: if you want to learn writing short stories, read them. A lot. Pay attention to how they are structured, what makes them work. Try to understand what it is exactly that makes you like them.