Writing short stories is a great idea if you want to take risks and craft stories
that may not work for longer works of fiction. It could also serve an excellent
outlet to prepare yourself before writing your novel. However, writing short
stories that would stand out and make an impact can be tricky if you are not
used to it. You should consider following these writing tips and tricks to make
your work better:
Be sadist
As the writer, you know your characters extremely well. You know what would
challenge them and break them. Put them in those situations and highlight
how their personalities and beliefs change as they overcome each one of
those, to show your readers that your characters are multidimensional.
Figure out what the conflict is and build around it
One of the keys to crafting a good story is creating a compelling conflict.
The plot and structure of your story is built around the conflict, so it should be
established right after the main characters are introduced. It should also have
a definite purpose, such as challenging the main characters and forcing them
to change their values in order for them to grow and develop.
Write as much as you can
If you really want to be a better writer, you need to write as often as you can.
Establish writing habits by blocking time off your calendar and try writing a
flash fiction or poem everyday to gain a lot of experience quickly. You can
even post your works on online platforms, as suggested by Sarah Baylor on
her article evaluating poetry sites.
Practice writing with a story structure
A structure acts as the framework of your story. Creating one before writing,
gives you an order in which you should tell your story and controls how you
should write its major elements, including the plot, characters, settings, and
theme. It makes writing a lot easier and helps you spot plot holes. It also
allows you to see if your main characters have solid arcs that properly
showcases their development.
There are many kinds of story structure you could follow. One of them is the
hero’s journey. It is a 17 stage structure that is loosely broken into 3
arcs—departure, initiation, and return—that is ideal for fantasy or science
fiction stories. It starts off with the main character leaving his or her ordinary
world to go off on an adventure to an unknown one and ends with him or her
going back to the place where his or her journey began.
Another ideal story structure is the Story Circle. It is a story structure devised
by Dan Harmon, the creator of the animated series Rick and Morty. It is
loosely based on the hero’s journey, but it is more focused on the character’s
development rather than his or her adventure, making it easier to apply to a
wider range of short stories.
Practice writing from different points of views
A short story needs to have a strong point of view to capture the attention of
readers quickly. Right from the start, you should know what it is you want to
say with your story and what you want people to feel or think as they read it.
In order to develop a strong point of view, you can practice writing in first
person, second person and third person. This would change your writing style
and help you figure out the best way to write your story.
Read often
According to Stephen King, if you want to be a writer, you must do two things
above all others: read a lot and write a lot. This is because a well-read writer
tends to have better vocabulary and eye for detail than others. He or she
could easily spot awkward phrasing and grammatical and spelling errors,
because he or she is used to analyzing words.
If you do not have time to read longer fiction, you can read short stories on
different websites.
Post stories online and get feedback
With the increase of technology and online writing platforms, getting critiques
and feedback is easy nowadays. You can post your short stories to various
websites, such as Commaful and Wattpad, so that readers and other writers
from all over the world could read your work and give you helpful comments.
Wrapping Up
Having the ability to write great short stories is a powerful skill to have because it allows you to share your message to others through just a limited
number of words. As Neil Gaiman says, “Short stories are tiny windows into
other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They’re journeys you can
make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.”
