posted
I know this has been discussed many times before, but what goes into a short story? How does one go about writing one? What are the important things to remember?
The reason why I ask is simply because I have never really tried writing short stories, always novels, unless you count a 97 word story I wrote when I was 7 a short story.
I just thought it would be fun to begin writing short stories for a while to see if I can get my name in print with them before I try with a novel.
posted
A begining, A conclusion, and something in between.......
For some people, writing short is easy, for some, it is tough.
I had such a difficulty in writing short, that I ended up taking a summer and writing pieces targeted to four pages single spaced. I actually accomplished it only once, and that story needs a couple more scenes, but still, It was within my target.
My real problem was coming to an end. these stories helped. It was not too long after that I wrote my first novel with an ending.
Later, one short story I wrote was one page single spaced, It simply was discription of a world with monsterous animals, animal eating trees. The story ended with eagle sized creatures slamming against metal bars and a punch line. "Those are misquitos, they get big around here."
Anyway, I have problems writing short. I post free-to-use science fiction and fantasy story ideas on some other boards, and they generally run one or two pages long. I have had some run 3 pages. I generally end up with some 60 single spaced pages of these ideas a month, posting one a day. These are just DESCRIPTIONS of what the story is about. Likely only a tenth of them could be finished up by doubling their page count. Most, though, would be novels or novelettes if written properly. You can see that I definately do have a problem writing short.
To the best of my knowledge, though, a short story tends to be one incident. It could be the act of deciding what to do when your space ship arrives at a robotic space station and you learn that you left the keys to the space station at the home base. YOu just cover the arrival, the discussion of options with attempts, and then the final decision. It could be the first moments of an alien invasion, as the aliens realize they are actually the size of a fly to us. One is dealing more with a single incident, begining and conclusion, rather than a whole series of events.
Hopefully, some successful writers can give you a better idea of how to write short.
posted
The same thing that goes into a novel...just more concise.
I have trouble getting the energy to get very far on a novel. Been six years since I completed my last novel, and that took five years. Every effort since then has died on me, except the one I'm working on now. (Seventy-five hundred words without sign of stopping.) I envy people who can turn out a novel.
Of course the energy for short stories has been kind of low. Since I, ahem, gave up Internet Fan Fiction to go back to Real Writing, I've only been able to turn out five or six short stories, only two of which satisfied me enough to submit anywhere. (I'm on a roll right now, turning out one short story and a novel beginning, but that's only lasted for two weeks.)
posted
We at Liberty Hall have a [free] proven method for getting people writing, keeping them writing, and getting them to write concisely. Our method has resulted in the creation of over 1200 short stories since April '05.
There are other ways, perhaps equally good, out 'there' as well.
You draw cards, and based on what you get, tell a story. You need Setting, Problem, Character(s), and Resolution. For example, you might have The Dangerous Widgets Factory The Interdimensional Gateway Is Closing! The Bleary-Eyed Waitress, The Mischievous Children, The Sentient Broccoli The Earth Was Totally Destroyed
posted
On the fiction spectrum, short stories are closer to poetry than they are to novels. You need a solid plot and good characterization, just like a novel. Unlike a novel, where you can afford to have loose writing in spots, short stories require much more precision. Like poetry, your words are limited and you have to convey information and meaning as succinctly as possible. That's why many people have such a hard time writing them. They are less forgiving to the writer than novels are. Writing short stories will definitely help novel writers.
As an added bonus, there are a lot more options for selling a short story than a novel. If you have a few short story sales under your belt, agents and editors will take you a bit more seriously.
quote:what goes into a short story? How does one go about writing one? What are the important things to remember?
Some rules I've figured out the hard way: #1 - Just because it's short doesn't mean you can neglect planning. Get a solid idea. Sketch out your characters. Outline. Planning beforehand will *always* improve your story - just don't be afraid to add little ideas during the actual writing, when they come to you. #2 - Don't use elements that are too big. In a short story, you're limited to a few scenes. Plots where things happen over a long span of time are often not workable. Too many characters or settings will make the story a cluttered mess. Too many plot points will make the story feel too compressed. Don't try to squish a novel into 7000 words.
If you're the sort of person who tends to come up with big, complex novel-sized ideas, it can seem hard to think of any that will make a good short. There are a few good starting points though. #1 - Take one or two complex characters and put them in a difficult situation where they have to make a choice. Show them working on solving the problem, then making the choice. The story ends with the consequences of that choice. #2 - Take one or two interesting ideas (a type of magic, a future technology, an alternate historical event, etc.) and have the character(s) explore them to a logical (or possibly unexpected) outcome. Or you can use the ideas to create an interesting setting and look at what sorts of decisions characters within it would have to make, or what sort of problems might they encounter. The story ends when the characters reach the outcome or the characters solve the problem (or fail). #3 - Come up with a couple characters that have conflicting goals. For one to succeed, the other must fail. When one of the characters succeeds, the story ends with the consequences of their success and failure.
These are just a few off the top of my head. There are plenty of ways to create a short story, and when you write a few you'll begin to figure out what your own preferences are.
The most important thing you can do to write good short stories is to read good short stories. Get anthologies from the library. Subscribe to at least one magazine you like. Grab copies of others at the bookstore when you have some spare time. Personally, I have a subscription to F+SF and I am buying every copy of IGMS. Last month I read Best of SF 9 and 10. This month I bought a copy of Glimmertrain, Asimov's and Analog.
Read as wide a variety of stories and magazines as possible. If you find a story that really wows you, go back through it with a critical eye and study its structure. Find that parts that had you mesmerized and try to figure out why they had such an amazing effect. Books on writing are helpful for some things, but reading actual fiction is how you really learn the tools of the trade in a powerful, hands-on way.
OSCs advice to read history and biography is also wise. You never know what little things will end up in a story, or give you inspiration for one. Got some spare lunch time at work? Spend a half an hour reading random wikipedia articles.
When you finish a story, you'll obviously need to do some revision, and it is important. But don't go overboard. Do some spot editing and one or two revisions, then send it out and start another story. Writing a whole new story will help you improve much faster than an extra five revisions on the current one. Coming up with ideas that fast may be hard at first, but they more ideas you put onto paper, the more ideas you will get. Soon, it will be impossible to write stories as fast as the ideas come to you.
This is all advice that has helped me improve. Hopefully some of it is helpful for you as well.
[This message has been edited by authorsjourney (edited August 15, 2006).]
posted
I'm pretty much incapable of writing short fiction so take this advice with a grain of salt... But recently I've been reading a lot of collections, just because that seems to be where a lot of innovation in the genres is coming from. And it SEEMS to me that short stories are (like poetry) more concerned with tone and feeling than longer pieces. It's not that plot isn't important, it's just not AS important.
posted
Short story writing can be fun, but you can't write one unless you read them. If you want to learn how to write a short story, read some short stories. Go the the bookstore or local library and get a short story collection in whatever genre you want to write in, and study how the stories are put together. There are plenty of short story collections for SF, mystery, and fantasy.
Dan Simmons in his Writing Well series on his website recommends starting to learn by writing short fiction. He thinks, I think acurately, that most starting writers are drawn to the novel format because that is what they read. I think learning how to put together a good short story is invaluable to learning how to write any type of fiction. Some writer are more fit to the writing long fiction than short fiction, but you'll never know unless you try both.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
