The Best Short Story Writing Advice: 10 Top Tips
Not every author has the drive and time necessary to complete a novel. Or perhaps you already write novels but want to branch out. If yes, you might enjoy creating short stories.
Magazines, newspapers, blogs, and anthologies all need short stories, and many of these outlets pay authors for their work.
In actuality, publishing short stories pays more per word than publishing a novel.
So how exactly do you write a short tale that will be published in a magazine or on a website? Here are my top ten suggestions for crafting an outstanding short tale.
1. Recognize that a novel and a short story are not the same thing.
There are several similarities between novels and short tales. They must be grammatically sound, coherent, and spellchecked correctly. Additionally, they must tell a story, regardless of length.
Therefore, both of them must contain the following components: an initiating incident, rising action (increasing complexities), a climax, and falling action.
But the two formats are different.
Unlike novelists, who can choose the length of their works, short story writers are constrained by the word count allotted to them. They have to strip their stories of all fat information in order to deliver a complete story on a smaller scale. Additionally, problems must be solved immediately.
Due to this, short tales, as opposed to novels, frequently concentrate on a single facet of a character's life or a particular issue or connection in that character's life.
2. Begin as near to the conclusion as you can
Newspaper articles typically start as near to the beginning of the story as possible. Why? Because letting the reader know the specifics up front is one method to choose if they want to continue reading or not.
Effective short story writers also do this, honing their beginning sentences and paragraphs to make sure readers are hooked right away and continue reading.
So, immediately draw the reader into your story as it develops. Leave off the "before," "also related," and "quite fascinating thing that also applies to the life of my character" snapshots.
Make the storyline clear.
3. Maintain the tempo
Short stories need to move quickly. The tempo typically quickens as the hero gets closer to the decisive battle. A short narrative must get off to a fast start and plunge the reader into the action from page one because it usually begins close to the final confrontation.
Example:
"When I learned that Keith Cavernaugh had been killed last night, I couldn't believe it."
Fred nearly lost his rake. He replied, "I hadn't heard."
4. Minimize the number of characters.
A short narrative makes it challenging to properly build a vast cast of characters, and it is challenging for readers to keep track of them.
Three characters are all that are required for a short story: the protagonist, the antagonist, and the wrench or relationship character.
There must be someone for the reader to root for, someone to despise, and occasionally even someone who advances the character development of the protagonist or antagonist.
Even one character can be present in a short story. The main character in the Tom Hanks film Cast Away spends the majority of the film by himself. This is a great illustration of how you can develop a story using only one character.
5. Provide the reader with a protagonist.
Once more, every story need a protagonist. Making the reader care about that character is the trick. There are a few strategies you can use to make the reader feel more connected to your protagonist.
Give your main character a passion that the reader will likely identify with. Give your character the resolve to venture outside of their comfort zone. Give your character a flaw that they can only reveal to the reader.
Another effective strategy is to provide a window into your character's mind. This will give your character a genuine feeling, which will entice the reader.
6. Start a fight!
Every short story must focus on just one area of conflict. Typically, a short story needs no more than one.
The protagonist should have some sort of decision-making process or difficulty. There should be a healthy amount of tension surrounding that issue. Readers are kept interested and invested in your story through conflict and tension.
According to Kurt Vonnegut, writers ought to be sadists. Make your major characters experience awful things to demonstrate to readers their character. There is never too much tension in a short story.
7. Indicate a backstory but withhold details
You lack the room to fully develop a character's backstory. Therefore, if in doubt, omit it. Every word must be significant. It must be deleted if even one word seems superfluous.
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