Many people think that because a short story is only a few thousand words, they’re a lot easier to write. The reality is very different.
Short stories are perhaps one of the hardest types of fiction to write. In just a small window you have to introduce us to the characters, reveal their wants and desires, and nail a satisfying plot.
There’s a real skill to writing short stories and below, we take a look at 5 of the very best tips to help you master the craft.
1. Spend Time Getting To Know Your Characters
One of the most important aspects of writing a short story is the characters. We don’t have many words to play around with, so it’s necessary to show the reader just enough about the key characters to get them interested.
However, knowing what’s important can only come if you spend time getting to know who your characters are.
One helpful method of doing this is to complete a questionnaire. Ask yourself questions about how the character looks, about their background, and about their psychological state of mind. Think about the things they want in life, the things they’re afraid of, and how this all combines to create that individual.
With all of these things defined, you can weave them naturally into your story.
2. Think About Theme
If you’re struggling to nail down a structure for your story, it can help to base it around a theme.
Some writers struggle with theme. It’s an element of writing that isn’t well explained by many teachers of the craft. In short, the theme is what the story is about. For example, Romeo and Juliet is about how love can transcend death, it’s that powerful.
The story is your means of proving the theme, of exploring the points, kind of like the arguments supporting an essay.
So if you write your story with your theme in mind, it can keep you focused and can help you work out what plot points could take place.
3. Key Writing Tip: Draft First, Edit Later
When it comes to writing tips, one of the most important you can follow is to focus on completing your first draft before you start editing.
Some writers describe themselves as perfectionists. They strive to get things right before moving on. However, if you follow this path you may find that you never get to the end of that first run-through.
When it comes to short stories, the task of editing is a lot more manageable. You should therefore resist all temptation to go back until you’ve gotten to the end.
It’s important to tell yourself the story first, and once you have that down, you can begin to tie all of the pieces together in a nice, satisfying way.
4. When Editing, Focus On Major Parts First
With your story drafted, next comes the editing.
It’s always wise to leave your story for a week or so, enough time for you to put it out of your mind and to distance yourself from it. This makes it easier to spot mistakes and come at things with a more critical eye.
When you edit your draft, you first want to look at the most important elements of your story. This includes character, plot, and theme. Look at whether each aspect has been properly covered, that the necessary pieces are all there to make up the bigger puzzle.
For example, if your character goes through a plot point and the outcome doesn’t quite tie in with who they are or where you want the story to go, you can zoom in and rewrite it. In Lord of the Rings, for example, the story would have been very different if Frodo did not escape from the Rangers of Gondor.
Once you’ve edited the key aspects of the story, you can turn to the nitty gritty—the line by line edits like removing adjectives, replacing adverbs and tweaking sentence structure.
5. Read And Review As Many Times As You Can
One of the most important aspects of editing is to read over your story as many times as you can mentally muster.
The good thing with short stories is that they don’t take that long to read over—the shorter the better.
Each time, you want to look out for any potential errors, like typos, spelling mistakes or formatting issues.
It can also help to read your story aloud when you review it. In doing this you can detect any jarring words or sentences and make changes.
And lastly, once you’re happy with what you’ve produced, you can seek the feedback of others. Friends and family are always good starting points, but sometimes the analysis they provide can be a bit general and less reliable because you know them. If you can, work with other writers and get feedback from them.
In Summary
If you’re looking to try your hand at writing an interesting short story, you’ll find a greater chance of success if you follow advice like we’ve covered in this guide.
The most important tip of all is to finish your first draft, to get to the end. Once you have a story written, you can edit it and make it sing. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect the first time, no story ever is.
When it comes to editing, focus on the key elements of your story first. Only then should you dive into things like spelling and grammar.
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