An Amateur’s Guide to Writing a Good Short Story
Not every writer has the passion and time to write a long, thick-paged novel. Some people don't even care about writing at all but have to do it anyway for an upcoming English assignment. Whichever group you belong to, learning to write a good short story can effectively improve your skills in writing; not to mention, it can also give you a chance to indulge yourself in your myriads of thoughts and vivid imagination. Now, don't stress over it; if you're a writer who has been experiencing intense writer's block, this is the article for you!
1. Do not go into too much detail over your background:
Remember, you're not writing a novel; you're writing a short story. One of the most common mistakes writers, including myself, make in writing a short story is that they obsess over the background of the characters and setting. This is not a good choice to make, because it simply just takes up too much space. In fact, getting too detailed over your background can bore your readers out. To repress this, you need to make sure that you're simply "suggesting" these backgrounds, not writing a whole paragraph about them.
2. Understand the pace-difference between a novel and a short story:
We have always been taught about the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of a story. However, we need to understand that a short story is a little bit different from the normal structure of a novel. A short story is well-known for its rapid development and incentive conflicts. With this information, we need to understand that the conflict takes up a huge chunk of a short story. The exposition, rising action, falling action, and resolution are comparatively shorter, some even being of one sentence!
3. Start as close to the end as possible:
Again, this is a short story. You don't have time to go over the details of how things came to be in your story. Therefore, it is best for you to start your story as close to the end as possible so that you can start on your conflict almost as soon as you start writing. Examples of some introductions to short stories are:
"And then, after six years, she saw him again."
"It was love at first sight."
4. Keep your number of characters to a minimum:
Making sure that the characters are well melted into the story is a long and difficult process for writers to accomplish. Likewise, it would be much more effective for you to add one or two "well-developed" characters rather than adding a ton of them who are not properly described or have an iffy position in the story. Remember that you have limitations on the word count; you don't want to have uncertain characters in your story that readers cannot sympathize with.
5. Make your main character relatable:
The role of the protagonist is a very important part of a short story. Due to word limitations, it is important that you develop a relatable and loveable character in the fastest way possible. Readers will not read your story if the characters don't click with them in the beginning. Therefore, developing a character that is rooted by the audience is the most important factor in helping the readers reach the end of your story.
6. Include long dialogues between characters:
Finally, there's not a better way to start a conflict than making your characters speak with each other! It helps the readers learn more about the characters but also helps you avoid getting too detailed over the background of the story. Remember to not spend too much time writing time setting scenes because a short story needs characters to speak with each other to bring them to life! :)
Keeping these points in mind can definitely help you write your next short story in a more effective way than your last. I hope this article helped you understand more about the depths of writing a short story. Remember, there's no better way to organize your thoughts and endless scenarios than writing a short story on them! :)
- Irene A.