tips for writing short stories
Tips for writing (in general)
Bonus: always be aware of ALL the senses – hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, feeling. When you go for a walk, have coffee with a friend, get in the habit of awareness. The many colours of a blue sky. The many colours of cement. Really – the more you work at being aware, the more easily you will detect all things and get realism into your writing. And the happier your reader will be. But beware of balance – a story with not senses is flat. A story with too much is boring.
- What does your protagonist want? What are the obstacles? What’s at risk? – Keep it chiseled.
- Know your purpose. What do you want to convey – morality, excitement. Tight.
- Setting may not be necessary. Use only what moves the story along.
- A non catchy first paragraph is a death sentence. Hit them with your best shot immediately. If your first paragraph is bad, the reader won’t continue. If the ending is bad, the reader will never read anything else you’ve written.
- Choose a Point of View, stick to it.
- No time for filler words.
- Take time for the senses.
- If your main character needs a cohort or a sounding board, don’t give her two.
- Your short stories are your children. They need discipline as well as love.
Tips for writing (in general)
- Be passionate about your story.
- Be respective of your readers’ intelligence. They will love you for it. Make the effort to be aware not to spoon feed them emotions and step by step plot sequences. Show them only enough of what’s going on and let them draw conclusions. Set them up to figure it out for themself what they feel, and the consequences. Ernest Hemingway’s iceberg theory – only show them the tip.
- Be cognisant of keeping your language simple. If they have to read a sentence twice to understand it, they will leave. This is where another reader, less familiar to the story can help. Seek advice. We know our stories so well, it’s hard to see it with fresh eyes.
- Read, read, read. Good bad and best.
- Write every day. Practice is a teacher you cannot live without. Yes, you need to learn through courses and reading great works, but you need practice. The writing doesn’t always have to have an end goal of publication. Think of an athlete. Consider how much practice he does before going to a competition. Or a singer – stage time vs rehearsal time.
- Develop the strength to cut what isn’t working for a particular piece. What you discard isn’t necessarily bad writing. Save it in another file for another story or poem. Even the most brilliant line will be just clutter to the reader if it doesn’t move the story forward significantly.
- Write to a person. Your readers are your friends. After all they buy your books. Know who you are writing to - ***specifically*** - research who your audience is. Then tell them your story. Knowing well help you decide what to leave in, what to leave out, how to phrase it. That way you will reach them. Broad generalizations are not attractive.
- Shakespeare said, “All writing is bad writing, rewritten. So, don’t let anybody tell you, you cannot write. Just keep writing over and over again and you will become a JK Rowling. There is always a chance because as she said, she rewrote every chapter of Harry Potter, vol 1, 50 times. SO NEVER GIVE UP.
- Always carry a notebook and pen. Even to bed.
- Your beta reader is your friend, even if you don’t take all their advice. And read your work out loud.
Bonus: always be aware of ALL the senses – hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, feeling. When you go for a walk, have coffee with a friend, get in the habit of awareness. The many colours of a blue sky. The many colours of cement. Really – the more you work at being aware, the more easily you will detect all things and get realism into your writing. And the happier your reader will be. But beware of balance – a story with not senses is flat. A story with too much is boring.