how to write a research paper on a short story

Hannah Elizabeth Bowling
Dr. Travis Rozier
ENGL 203
14 June 2021

: Marital Conflict in “A Red Girl’s Reasoning”

In writing “A Red Girl’s Reasoning,” Johnson explores through Christie McDonald, a mixed-race young woman like herself. Like Christie, Johnson was both a part of and yet separate from Canadian middle-class society in the early 1900s because of her Indian heritage. Christie, unlike Johnson, marries a young white man named Charlie McDonald. In Charlie, though, Christie does not find mooring for her liminality.

At the beginning of “A Red Girl’s Reasoning,” Charlie is introduced to the reader in conversation with his father-in-law while waiting for Christie to appear. When Jimmy Robinson tells Charlie that he does not understand Indigenous people or their cultures , who has lived over twenty years in native lands, Charlie balks at this assessment: “But I’m just as fond of them” and “I get on with them too, now, don’t I?” are his cries in response (Johnson 1). This incident highlights Charlie’s insistence on always being correct, regardless of whether or not he is actually right or not. It also foreshadows how his insistence at always being right will later create marital conflict with his new bride.

He also becomes jealous; at the thought, instigated by Mrs. Stuart, that Joe does not love Christie nearly as much as she deserves, he confronts his brother about the matter. “I’ve never asked you yet what you thought of her, Joe,” he ponders with his brother (4). Unsatisfied with his brother’s answer of “I’m glad she loves you,” Charlie tells Joe that “If she hated you, you’d get out. If she loved you I’d you get out” (4). This scene, while seemingly a minor incident in the text, becomes alarming when coupled with Charlie’s discussion with Jimmy Robinson. Like everyone else in Ottawa, he perceives her as “a potent charm to acquire popularity” (3).

At the party, when confronted by numerous individuals as to the nature of her father and mother’s marriage, Christie admits that they were not married by a priest. Horrified by this lack of propriety and despite her clarification that “the marriage was performed by Indian rites,” guests like Captain Logan and Mrs. Stuart immediately begin to gossip at hints of impropriety in Christie and Charlie’s marriage itself (Johnson 6). “Poor old Charlie has always thought so much of honorable birth,” Captain Logan says, perhaps the most damning indictment of Charlie’s character in the short story (6). Charlie, who was not made privy to this information before his marriage, is beyond angry by this news. What he is angry about is not the information being withheld from him, though; instead, he is angry with Christie at ruining her, and therefore his, reputation.

Immediately after the disastrous party, Charlies skulks off by himself before returning home to confront Christie. At the sight of her, he cries “You have disgraced me; and, moreover, you have disgraced yourself and both your parents” (Johnson 7). When Christie throws in his face the fact that he “who [has] studied my race and their laws for years” accuses her of bastardry, Charlie is affronted: “Your father was a fool not to insist upon the law, and so was the priest” (6-7). Despite studying and understanding Indian culture for years and marrying an Indian woman, Charlie insists that Christie’s parents “live in more civilized times” and should therefore have had a Christian wedding with a priest in order to authorize their marriage (8). Ultimately, however, Christie wears down Charlie’s ignorant arguments until he cries “the trouble is they won’t keep their mouths shut” (8). Even in this moment of intense argument with Christie over a subject that ultimately proves the end of their marriage, Charlie cannot stop prioritizing the opinions of those in white Ottawan society. Because of her announcement, Charlie has been made a fool in front of his friends, colleagues, and the city writ-large, and his anger at this prompts him to announce “God knows” when Christie asks whether it would have made a difference when deciding to marry her (8).

He alienates Christie from white society by castigating her for her parents’ lack of “propriety” (by a white man’s standard) and refusing to recognize the validity of her people’s customs. Christie occupies a liminal space between being white and being Indigenous that cannot support Charlie’s racist attempts to capitalize on her beauty and appeal to society as the new “rage” for his own social gain. Through Christie, Pauline Johnson explores the fraught nature of being an Indian in a white man’s world, while through Charlie, Johnson exposes how white society commodifies the lives and cultures of Indigenous people during the early twentieth century.

Works Cited

Chris Casper
Faculty Librarian

Kevin Cigala
Faculty Librarian

(Paper concludes with a bibliography)

In a similar vein, resist the urge to call the Great Depression the “saddest chapter in American history,” or T.S. Eliot “the most famous modern poet.”

If your paper does not actually examine all chapters in American history, or all famous modern poets, such a vague claim adds nothing to your argument.

15 thoughts on “ Short Research Papers: How to Write Academic Essays ”

Hi, I was searching for some information on how to write quality academic paper when I came across your awesome article on Short Research Papers: How to Writer Academic Essays ( https://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/short-research-papers/ ) Great stuff!!! I especially like the way you recommend sticking to the 4 basics of writing academic essays. Very few students have mastered how to avoid distractions and focus on a single topic. Many students think that the broad, sweeping statements could give them better grades but they are wrong.

However, I came across a few links that didn’t seem to be working for you. Want me to forward you the short list I jotted down? Cheers Elias

I see some broken links in the comments, but otherwise I’m not sure what you mean.

I found the part about not using my personal opinion or generalities to be very helpful. I am currently writing a 2 page paper and was having a hard time keeping it short. Now I know why. Thanks. Stick to the facts.

This seem to be old but very relevant. Most of what you have stated are things my professor has stated during class trying to prepare us to write a short thesis reading this information verses hearing it was very helpful. You have done an awesome job! I just hope I can take this and apply it to my papers!

Great Post! Thank u!

Thank you for all your effort and help. You´ve taught me a number of things, especially on what college professors´ look for in assigning students short research papers. I am bookmarking your page, and using it as a reference.

Thank you kindly. YOU´VE HELPED A LOST STUDENT FIND HER WAY!

I appreaciate all the help your web site has given to me. I have referred to it many times. I think there may be a typo under the headline of AVOID GLITTERING GENERALITIES: “Throughout the ages, mankind has found many uses for salt. Ancient tribes used it preserve meat;” This is in no way a slight – I thought you might want to know. Please forgive me if I am incorrect. Thank you again – you rock!

You are right — I’ll fix it the next time I’m at my desktop. Thank you!

i would like to say thank you for your detailed information even though it takes time to read as well as we’ve got learnings out from it . even though it’s holiday next week our teacher assigned us to make a short research paper in accordance of our selected topic ! I’m hoping that we can make it cause if we can’t make it, right away, for sure we will get a grade’s that can drop our jaws ! :) ♥ tnx ! keep it up ! ♪♪

Sorry I have not done this for years

Hello I am the mother of a high school student that needs help doing a paper proposal for her senior project. Her topic is Photography. To be honest I have done this for years and I am trying to help, but i am completely lost. What can you recommend since she told me a little late and the paper is due tomorrow 11/11/11.

This page is designed for college students, but I am sure your daughter’s teacher has assigned readings that will guide your daughter through her homework.

Any paper that your daughter writes herself, even if it is late, will be a valuable learning experience — showing her the value of managing her time better for the next time, and preparing her for the day when she will have to tackle grown-up problems on her own.

I am having a hard time with my government essay. I am 55 taking a college course for the first time, and I barely passed high school. Last year I took this course wrote the essay, and did many things wrong. It was all in the typing. I had good story line, excellent site words, and good points of arguments. It wasn’t right on paper. My format is off. Where can I find and print a format. also I need to learn site words.

Most teachers will provide a model to follow. If it’s not already part of the assignment instructions, you could ask your prof. Better yet, bring a near-complete draft to your prof’s office hours, a few days before the due date, and ask for feedback. Your school probably has a writing center or tutoring center, too.

I would like to thank you for such detailed information. I am not a native speaker and I am doing a research paper;so, as you may think, it is really a hard job for me. A friend of mine who saw my draft of Lit. Rev asked me what type of citation format i was using, MLA or APA and I was puzzeled; then I decided to check the net and came across to this! It is being such a help Elsa

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

New Self-Paced Course: "Writing Funny" with Tonight Show writer Simon Taylor! Learn more »

The short story is a fiction writer’s laboratory: here is where you can experiment with characters, plots, and ideas without the heavy lifting of writing a novel. Learning how to write a short story is essential to mastering the art of storytelling . With far fewer words to worry about, storytellers can make many more mistakes—and strokes of genius!—through experimentation and the fun of fiction writing.

Nonetheless, the art of writing short stories is not easy to master. How do you tell a complete story in so few words? What does a story need to have in order to be successful? Whether you’re struggling with how to write a short story outline, or how to fully develop a character in so few words, this guide is your starting point.

Famous authors like Virginia Woolf, Haruki Murakami, and Agatha Christie have used the short story form to play with ideas before turning those stories into novels. Whether you want to master the elements of fiction, experiment with novel ideas, or simply have fun with storytelling, here’s everything you need on how to write a short story step by step.

How to Write a Short Story: Contents

The Core Elements of a Short Story

How to write a short story outline, how to write a short story step by step, how to write a short story: length and setting, how to write a short story: point of view, how to write a short story: protagonist, antagonist, motivation, how to write a short story: characters, how to write a short story: prose, how to write a short story: story structure, how to write a short story: capturing reader interest, where to read and submit short stories.

There’s no secret formula to writing a short story. However, a good short story will have most or all of the following elements:

• A protagonist with a certain desire or need. It is essential for the protagonist to want something they don’t have, otherwise they will not drive the story forward.
• A clear dilemma. We don’t need much backstory to see how the dilemma started; we’re primarily concerned with how the protagonist resolves it.
• A decision. What does the protagonist do to resolve their dilemma?
• A climax. In Freytag’s Pyramid , the climax of a story is when the tension reaches its peak, and the reader discovers the outcome of the protagonist’s decision(s).
• An outcome. How does the climax change the protagonist? Are they a different person? Do they have a different philosophy or outlook on life?

Of course, short stories also utilize the elements of fiction , such as a setting , plot , and point of view . It helps to study these elements and to understand their intricacies. But, when it comes to laying down the skeleton of a short story, the above elements are what you need to get started.

Note: a short story rarely, if ever, has subplots. The focus should be entirely on a single, central storyline. Subplots will either pull focus away from the main story, or else push the story into the territory of novellas and novels.

The shorter the story is, the fewer of these elements are essentials. If you’re interested in writing short-short stories, check out our guide on how to write flash fiction .

Some writers are “pantsers”—they “write by the seat of their pants,” making things up on the go with little more than an idea for a story. Other writers are “plotters,” meaning they decide the story’s structure in advance of writing it.

You don’t need a short story outline to write a good short story. But, if you’d like to give yourself some scaffolding before putting words on the page, this article answers the question of how to write a short story outline:

https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-story-outline

There are many ways to approach the short story craft, but this method is tried-and-tested for writers of all levels. Here’s how to write a short story step-by-step.

1. Start With an Idea

Often, generating an idea is the hardest part. You want to write, but what will you write about?

What’s more, it’s easy to start coming up with ideas and then dismissing them. You want to tell an authentic, original story, but everything you come up with has already been written, it seems.

Here are a few tips:

• Originality presents itself in your storytelling, not in your ideas. For example, the premise of both Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ostrovsky’s The Snow Maiden are very similar: two men and two women, in intertwining love triangles, sort out their feelings for each other amidst mischievous forest spirits, love potions, and friendship drama. The way each story is written makes them very distinct from one another, to the point where, unless it’s pointed out to you, you might not even notice the similarities.
• An idea is not a final draft. You will find that exploring the possibilities of your story will generate something far different than the idea you started out with. This is a good thing—it means you made the story your own!
• Experiment with genres and tropes. Even if you want to write literary fiction , pay attention to the narrative structures that drive genre stories, and practice your storytelling using those structures. Again, you will naturally make the story your own simply by playing with ideas.

If you’re struggling simply to find ideas, try out this prompt generator , or pull prompts from this Twitter .

2. Outline, OR Conceive Your Characters

If you plan to outline, do so once you’ve generated an idea. You can learn about how to write a short story outline earlier in this article.

If you don’t plan to outline, you should at least start with a character or characters. Certainly, you need a protagonist, but you should also think about any characters that aid or inhibit your protagonist’s journey.

When thinking about character development, ask the following questions:

• What is my character’s background? Where do they come from, how did they get here, where do they want to be?
• What does your character desire the most? This can be both material or conceptual, like “fitting in” or “being loved.”
• What is your character’s fatal flaw? In other words, what limitation prevents the protagonist from achieving their desire? Often, this flaw is a blind spot that directly counters their desire. For example, self hatred stands in the way of a protagonist searching for love.
• How does your character think and speak? Think of examples, both fictional and in the real world, who might resemble your character.

In short stories, there are rarely more characters than a protagonist, an antagonist (if relevant), and a small group of supporting characters. The more characters you include, the longer your story will be. Focus on making only one or two characters complex: it is absolutely okay to have the rest of the cast be flat characters that move the story along.

Learn more about character development here:

https://writers.com/character-development-definition

3. Write Scenes Around Conflict

Once you have an outline or some characters, start building scenes around conflict. Every part of your story, including the opening sentence, should in some way relate to the protagonist’s conflict.

Conflict is the lifeblood of storytelling: without it, the reader doesn’t have a clear reason to keep reading. Loveable characters are not enough, as the story has to give the reader something to root for.

Take, for example, Edgar Allan Poe’s classic short story The Cask of Amontillado . We start at the conflict: the narrator has been slighted by Fortunato, and plans to exact revenge. Every scene in the story builds tension and follows the protagonist as he exacts this revenge.

In your story, start writing scenes around conflict, and make sure each paragraph and piece of dialogue relates, in some way, to your protagonist’s unmet desires.

Read more about writing effective conflict here:

What is Conflict in a Story? Definition and Examples

4. Write Your First Draft

The scenes you build around conflict will eventually be stitched into a complete story. Make sure as the story progresses that each scene heightens the story’s tension, and that this tension remains unbroken until the climax resolves whether or not your protagonist meets their desires.

Don’t stress too hard on writing a perfect story. Rather, take Anne Lamott’s advice, and “write a shitty first draft.” The goal is not to pen a complete story at first draft; rather, it’s to set ideas down on paper. You are simply, as Shannon Hale suggests, “shoveling sand into a box so that later [you] can build castles.”

5. Step Away, Breathe, Revise

Whenever Stephen King finishes a novel, he puts it in a drawer and doesn’t think about it for 6 weeks. With short stories, you probably don’t need to take as long of a break. But, the idea itself is true: when you’ve finished your first draft, set it aside for a while. Let yourself come back to the story with fresh eyes, so that you can confidently revise, revise, revise .

In revision, you want to make sure each word has an essential place in the story, that each scene ramps up tension, and that each character is clearly defined. The culmination of these elements allows a story to explore complex themes and ideas, giving the reader something to think about after the story has ended.

6. Compare Against Our Short Story Checklist

Does your story have everything it needs to succeed? Compare it against this short story checklist, as written by our instructor Rosemary Tantra Bensko.

Below is a collection of practical short story writing tips by Writers.com instructor Rosemary Tantra Bensko . Each paragraph is its own checklist item: a core element of short story writing advice to follow unless you have clear reasons to the contrary. We hope it’s a helpful resource in your own writing.

Update 9/1/2020: We’ve now made a summary of Rosemary’s short story checklist available as a PDF download . Enjoy!

Click to download

Your short story is 1000 to 7500 words in length.

The story takes place in one time period, not spread out or with gaps other than to drive someplace, sleep, etc. If there are those gaps, there is a space between the paragraphs, the new paragraph beginning flush left, to indicate a new scene.

Each scene takes place in one location, or in continual transit, such as driving a truck or flying in a plane.

Unless it’s a very lengthy Romance story, in which there may be two Point of View (POV) characters, there is one POV character. If we are told what any character secretly thinks, it will only be the POV character. The degree to which we are privy to the unexpressed thoughts, memories and hopes of the POV character remains consistent throughout the story.

You avoid head-hopping by only having one POV character per scene, even in a Romance. You avoid straying into even brief moments of telling us what other characters think other than the POV character. You use words like “apparently,” “obviously,” or “supposedly” to suggest how non-POV-characters think rather than stating it.

Your short story has one clear protagonist who is usually the character changing most.

Your story has a clear antagonist, who generally makes the protagonist change by thwarting his goals.

(Possible exception to the two short story writing tips above: In some types of Mystery and Action stories, particularly in a series, etc., the protagonist doesn’t necessarily grow personally, but instead his change relates to understanding the antagonist enough to arrest or kill him.)

The protagonist changes with an Arc arising out of how he is stuck in his Flaw at the beginning of the story, which makes the reader bond with him as a human, and feel the pain of his problems he causes himself. (Or if it’s the non-personal growth type plot: he’s presented at the beginning of the story with a high-stakes problem that requires him to prevent or punish a crime.)

The protagonist usually is shown to Want something, because that’s what people normally do, defining their personalities and behavior patterns, pushing them onward from day to day. This may be obvious from the beginning of the story, though it may not become heightened until the Inciting Incident , which happens near the beginning of Act 1. The Want is usually something the reader sort of wants the character to succeed in, while at the same time, knows the Want is not in his authentic best interests. This mixed feeling in the reader creates tension.

The protagonist is usually shown to Need something valid and beneficial, but at first, he doesn’t recognize it, admit it, honor it, integrate it with his Want, or let the Want go so he can achieve the Need instead. Ideally, the Want and Need can be combined in a satisfying way toward the end for the sake of continuity of forward momentum of victoriously achieving the goals set out from the beginning. It’s the encounters with the antagonist that forcibly teach the protagonist to prioritize his Needs correctly and overcome his Flaw so he can defeat the obstacles put in his path.

The protagonist in a personal growth plot needs to change his Flaw/Want but like most people, doesn’t automatically do that when faced with the problem. He tries the easy way, which doesn’t work. Only when the Crisis takes him to a low point does he boldly change enough to become victorious over himself and the external situation. What he learns becomes the Theme.

Each scene shows its main character’s goal at its beginning, which aligns in a significant way with the protagonist’s overall goal for the story. The scene has a “charge,” showing either progress toward the goal or regression away from the goal by the ending. Most scenes end with a negative charge, because a story is about not obtaining one’s goals easily, until the end, in which the scene/s end with a positive charge.

The protagonist’s goal of the story becomes triggered until the Inciting Incident near the beginning, when something happens to shake up his life. This is the only major thing in the story that is allowed to be a random event that occurs to him.

Your characters speak differently from one another, and their dialogue suggests subtext, what they are really thinking but not saying: subtle passive-aggressive jibes, their underlying emotions, etc.

Your characters are not illustrative of ideas and beliefs you are pushing for, but come across as real people.

Your language is succinct, fresh and exciting, specific, colorful, avoiding clichés and platitudes. Sentence structures vary. In Genre stories, the language is simple, the symbolism is direct, and words are well-known, and sentences are relatively short. In Literary stories , you are freer to use more sophisticated ideas, words, sentence structures, styles , and underlying metaphors and implied motifs.

Your plot elements occur in the proper places according to classical Three Act Structure (or Freytag’s Pyramid ) so the reader feels he has vicariously gone through a harrowing trial with the protagonist and won, raising his sense of hope and possibility. Literary short stories may be more subtle, with lower stakes, experimenting beyond classical structures like the Hero’s Journey. They can be more like vignettes sometimes, or even slice-of-life, though these types are hard to place in publications.

In Genre stories, all the questions are answered, threads are tied up, problems are solved, though the results of carnage may be spread over the landscape. In Literary short stories, you are free to explore uncertainty, ambiguity, and inchoate, realistic endings that suggest multiple interpretations, and unresolved issues.

Some Literary stories may be nonrealistic, such as with Surrealism, Absurdism, New Wave Fabulism, Weird and Magical Realism . If this is what you write, they still need their own internal logic and they should not be bewildering as to the what the reader is meant to experience, whether it’s a nuanced, unnameable mood or a trip into the subconscious.

Literary stories may also go beyond any label other than Experimental. For example, a story could be a list of To Do items on a paper held by a magnet to a refrigerator for the housemate to read. The person writing the list may grow more passive-aggressive and manipulative as the list grows, and we learn about the relationship between the housemates through the implied threats and cajoling.

Your short story is suspenseful, meaning readers hope the protagonist will achieve his best goal, his Need, by the Climax battle against the antagonist.

Your story entertains. This is especially necessary for Genre short stories.

The story captivates readers at the very beginning with a Hook, which can be a puzzling mystery to solve, an amazing character’s or narrator’s Voice, an astounding location, humor, a startling image, or a world the reader wants to become immersed in.

Expository prose (telling, like an essay) takes up very, very little space in your short story, and it does not appear near the beginning. The story is in Narrative format instead, in which one action follows the next. You’ve removed every unnecessary instance of Expository prose and replaced it with showing Narrative. Distancing words like “used to,” “he would often,” “over the years, he,” “each morning, he” indicate that you are reporting on a lengthy time period, summing it up, rather than sticking to Narrative format, in which immediacy makes the story engaging.

You’ve earned the right to include Expository Backstory by making the reader yearn for knowing what happened in the past to solve a mystery. This can’t possibly happen at the beginning, obviously. Expository Backstory does not take place in the first pages of your story.

Your reader cares what happens and there are high stakes (especially important in Genre stories). Your reader worries until the end, when the protagonist survives, succeeds in his quest to help the community, gets the girl, solves or prevents the crime, achieves new scientific developments, takes over rule of his realm, etc.

Every sentence is compelling enough to urge the reader to read the next one—because he really, really wants to—instead of doing something else he could be doing. Your story is not going to be assigned to people to analyze in school like the ones you studied, so you have found a way from the beginning to intrigue strangers to want to spend their time with your words.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration or want to publish your own stories, you’ll find great literary journals for writers of all backgrounds at this article:

https://writers.com/short-story-submissions

Learn How to Write a Short Story at Writers.com

The short story takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master. Learn how to write a short story with Writers.com. Our upcoming fiction courses will give you the ropes to tell authentic, original short stories that captivate and entrance your readers.

Rosemary – Is there any chance you could add a little something to your checklist? I’d love to know the best places to submit our short stories for publication. Thanks so much.

Hi, Kim Hanson,

Some good places to find publications specific to your story are NewPages, Poets and Writers, Duotrope, and The Submission Grinder.

“ In Genre stories, all the questions are answered, threads are tied up, problems are solved, though the results of carnage may be spread over the landscape.”

Not just no but NO.

See for example the work of MacArthur Fellow Kelly Link.

[…] How to Write a Short Story: The Short Story Checklist […]

Thank you for these directions and tips. It’s very encouraging to someone like me, just NOW taking up writing.

[…] Writers.com. A great intro to writing. https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-short-story […]

Hello: I started to write seriously in the late 70’s. I loved to write in High School in the early 60’s but life got in the way. Around the 00’s many of the obstacles disappeared. Since then I have been writing more, and some of my work was vanilla transgender stories. Here in 2024 transgender stories have become tiresome because I really don’t have much in common with that mind set.

The glare of an editor that could potentially pay me is quite daunting, so I would like to start out unpaid to see where that goes. I am not sure if a writer’s agent would be a good fit for me. My work life was in the Trades, not as some sort of Academic. That alone causes timidity, but I did read about a fiction writer who had been a house painter.

This is my first effort to publish since the late 70’s. My pseudonym would perhaps include Ahabidah.

Gwen Boucher.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Literary Genres — Short Story

Essays on Short Story

Brief description of short story, importance of writing essays on this topic, tips on choosing a good topic, essay topics, concluding thought, the theme of sadie maude: exploring the livingest moments of life, lusus naturae analysis, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

Analysis of Conflict in Jhumpa Lahiri's "This Blessed House"

Darkness in the short stories of james joyce, description of an abandoned house: a short story, personal development of the main character in raymond's run, let us write you an essay from scratch.

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Bridging The Gap: Comparing "Letters from My Father" and "The Writer"

The effects of class and morality in 'the boarding house' by james joyce, the connection between art and history for julian barnes, analysis of the short story 'the storm' by kate chopin, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

Analysis of Anton Chekhov’s Short Story "Agafya"

Sister lilith by honorée fanonne jeffers: dismissal of patriarchal values, critical analysis of the lesson by toni cade bambara, our town by thornton wilder: the message to appreciate life, a brief history of perfume, my most embarrassing moment, "a man called horse" as transgression of the western genre, readers’ interpretation of barn burning by haruki murakami, gaze through the window: paralyses in joyce's "dubliners", feeling of imprisonment, blind devotion in james joyce’s "araby", life and death in "dubliners" by james joyce, epiphany in james joyce’s araby, already dead: the need for human interaction in butler’s "titanic victim speaks through waterbed", poe’s use of literary techniques in the tell-tale heart, main themes in kate chopin's 'the storm', the yellow wallpaper by charlotte perkins gilman: a woman’s plight, mrs. fullerton’s odd dominos of ambition, two-faced: characterization in bad haircut, analysis of setting in ‘’eveline’’ by james joyce, relevant topics.

• Gothic Fiction

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

• Translation

Academic writing style: Telling a story in your research paper

By charlesworth author services.

• Charlesworth Author Services
• 25 February, 2022

Academic writing can often be somewhat drab. Make no mistake – it isn’t supposed to entertain, it’s supposed to inform. However, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be engaging . Building your research paper around a narrative format can help the reader (from the editor who views your initial submission to the final reader) follow the ‘story’ of what you’re bringing across more easily, thus enabling them to absorb the information more readily. Here, we discuss the benefits of telling a story in your research paper and share some pointers for doing it well. 

Telling a story in your paper: Explained and exemplified

When we say ‘narrative’, we don’t necessarily mean ‘write in the style of your favourite author’. A narrative, in the context of academic writing, is a central thread that runs through each of your result pieces . The idea is to have a beginning, a middle and an end to your paper, thereby providing the reader with structure and a satisfying progression through the paper . 

Why is this important?

Consider the following example:

Western blot results suggested the presence of the protein of interest. Structural analysis confirmed the protein’s folded structure to include disulphide bonds. 

The above example is a matter-of-fact statement of results.

Now, consider this example:

To determine whether our protein of interest was present, a western blot was performed, suggesting its presence in the sample. Further structural analysis revealed the presence of disulphide bonds.

This example improves on the first statement by reframing it as a progression of events, giving the impression of a development occurring with every new piece of data generated , rather than a simple collection of data. By restructuring the information this way, the second example also ties the rationale into the sentence , giving the reader context for what they are about to read.

How to write your paper as a story: Basics

A complete illustration of writing your research paper as a story or narrative is beyond the scope of this article. So, here, we provide some basic tips.

What you need to do

You’ll need a beginning, a middle and an end . Oftentimes this can be a helpful way of structuring your paper when you are about to commence writing , as it can help you obtain an idea about the overall form that you think would be ideal for it.

Also, try not to simply retell your entire process chronologically, but rather in terms of rationale . For example…

One piece of data led you to another question, which would in turn have directed you towards interrogating yet another aspect, and so on.

This leads the reader through your process and will help them to understand why you progressed the way you did .

What you need to avoid

It is not uncommon to have to reappraise your data when the time comes to write your paper. However, be aware that using a narrative structure and voice could lead you to omit certain experiments because they might not fit with the ‘story’ . There are cases where this is fine, because perhaps a specific experiment or method isn’t particularly relevant. However, be aware that there can be a fine line between this and ‘cherry picking data’ , which can be regarded as misconduct and/or an unethical practice .

Also try to avoid using too many personal pronouns . There are instances, disciplines and journals in which this may be acceptable. Just ensure that your writing does not start coming across as too informal or even unprofessional, and that you still adhere to the overall tone of your chosen journal.

Integrating a narrative structure into your paper is a stylistic choice that can help your reader follow your thought processes and make sense of your overall progression, from forming the hypothesis through to testing that hypothesis. The more you are able to engage your audience using your writing and tools like this, the more they will engage with your work , which is the ultimate goal of publication .

Charlesworth Author Services , a trusted brand supporting the world’s leading academic publishers, institutions and authors since 1928. 

To know more about our services, visit: Our Services

Visit our new Researcher Education Portal that offers articles and webinars covering all aspects of your research to publication journey! And sign up for our newsletter on the Portal to stay updated on all essential researcher knowledge and information!

Register now: Researcher Education Portal

Maximise your publication success with Charlesworth Author Services.

Share with your colleagues

Scientific Editing Services

Sign up – stay updated.

We use cookies to offer you a personalized experience. By continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.

How to Write a Short Story: 5 Major Steps from Start to Finish

by Sarah Gribble | 81 comments

Start Your Story TODAY! We’re teaching a new LIVE workshop this week to help you start your next book. Learn more and sign up here.

Do you want to learn how to write a short story ? Maybe you'd like to try writing a short story instead of a novel-length work, or maybe you're hoping to get more writing practice without the lengthy time commitment that a novel requires.

The reality of writing stories? Not every short story writer wants to write a novel, but every novelist can benefit from writing short stories. However, short stories and novels are different—so naturally, how you write them has its differences, too.

Short stories are often a fiction writer’s first introduction to writing, but they can be frustrating to write and difficult to master. How do you fit everything that makes a great story into something so short?

And then, once you do finish a short story you’re proud of, what do you do with it?

That's what we'll cover in this article, along with additional resources I'll link to that will help you get started step-by-step with shorts.

Short Stories Made Me a Better Writer

I fell into writing short stories when I first started writing.

I'd written a book , and it was terrible. But it opened up my mind and I kept having all these story ideas I just had to get out.

Before long, I had dozens of stories and within about two years, I had around three dozen of them published traditionally. That first book went nowhere, by the way. But my short stories surely did.

And I learned a whole lot about the writing craft because I spent so much time practicing writing with my short stories. This is why, whether you want to make money as a short story writer or experiment writing them, I think writing short stories is important for every writer who wants to become a novelist.

But how do you write a short story? And what do you do afterwards? I hope that by sharing my personal experiences and suggestions, I can help you write your own short stories with confidence.

Why Should You Write Short Stories?

I get a lot of pushback when I suggest new writers should write short stories.

Everyone wants to write a book. (Okay, maybe not everyone, but if you ask a hundred people if they’d like to write one, I’d bet seventy-something of them would say yes.) Anthologies and short story collections don’t make a ton of money because no one really wants to read them. So why waste time writing short stories when books are what people read ?

There are three main reasons you should be a short story writer:

1. Training

Short stories help you hone your writing skills .

Short stories are often only one scene and about one character. That’s a level of focus you can’t have in a novel. Writing short stories forces you to focus on writing clearly and concisely while still making a scene entertaining.

You’re working with the basic level of structure here (a scene) and learning to perfect it .

Short stories are a place to experiment with your creative process, to play with character development techniques, to dabble in different kinds of writing styles. 

And you're learning what a finished story feels like. So many aspiring novelists have only half-done drafts in drawers. A short is training yourself to finish.

2. Building contacts and readers

Most writers I know do not want to hear this, but this whole writing thing is the same as any other industry: if you want to make it, you better network.

When my first book, Surviving Death , was released, I had hundreds of people on my launch team. How? I’d had about three dozen short stories published traditionally by that time. I’d gathered a readership base, and not only that, I’d become acquainted with some fellow writers in my genre along the way. And those people were more than willing to help me get the word out about my book.

You want loyal readers and you want friends in the industry. And the way to get those is to continuously be writing.

Writing is like working out. If you take a ton of time off, you’re going to hurt when you get back into it.

It’s a little difficult to be working on a novel all the time. Most writers have one or two in them a year, and those aren’t written without a bit of a break in between.

Short story writing helps you keep up your writing habit , or develop one, and they make for a nice break in between larger projects.

I always write short stories between novels, and even between drafts of my novels. It keeps me going and puts use to all the random story ideas I had while working on the larger project. I've found over the years that keeping up the writing habit is the only way to actually keep yourself in “writer mode.”

All the cool kids are doing it. Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood . . . Google your favorite writers and they probably have a short story collection or two out there. Most successful authors have cut their teeth on short stories.

What is a Short Story?

Now that you know why you should be writing short stories, let’s talk about what a short story is. This might seem obvious, but it’s a question I’ve gotten a lot. A short story is short, right? Essentially, yes. But how short is short?

You can Google how long a short story is and get a bunch of different answers. There are a lot of different editors out there running a lot of different anthologies, magazines, ezines, podcasts, you name it. They all have slightly different definitions of what a short story is because they all have slightly different needs when it comes to providing content on their platform and meeting the expectations of their audiences.

A podcast, for instance, often wants a story to take up about thirty minutes of airtime. They know how long it takes their producers to read a story, so that thirty minutes means they’re looking for a very specific word count. An ezine might aim for a certain estimated reading time. A magazine or anthology might have a certain number of pages they’re trying to fill.

Everyone has a different definition of how short a short story is, so for the purpose of this series, I’m going to be broad in my definition of a short story.

What qualifies as a short story?

A short story word count normally falls somewhere between 1,000 words and 10,000 words. If you’re over ten thousand, you’re running into novelette territory, though some publications consider up to 20,000 words to be a short story. If you’re under a thousand words, you’re looking at flash fiction.

The sweet spot is between 2,000 and 5,000 words. The majority of short stories I’ve had published were between 2,500 words and 3,500 words.

That’s not a lot of words, and you’ve got a lot to fit in—backstory, world-building, a character arc—in that tiny amount of space. (A book, by the way, is normally 60,000 to 90,000 words or longer. Big difference.)

A short story is one to three scenes. That’s it. Think of it as a “slice of life,” as in someone peeked into your life for maybe an hour or two and this is what they saw.

You’re not going to flesh out every detail about your characters. (I normally don’t even know the last names of my short story characters, and it doesn’t matter.) You’re not trying to build a Tolkien-level world. You don’t need to worry about subplots.

To focus your writing, think of a short story as a short series of events happening to a single character. The rest of the cast of characters should be small.

How to Write a Short Story: The Short Version

Throughout this blog series, I’ll take a deep dive into the process of writing short stories. If you’re looking for the fast answer, here it is:

• Write the story in one sitting.
• Take a break.
• Edit with a mind for brevity.
• Get feedback and do a final edit.

Write the story in one sitting

For the most part, short stories are meant to be read in one sitting, so it makes sense that you should write them in one sitting.

Obviously, if you’re in the 10K range, that’s probably going to take more than one writing session, but a 2,500-word short story can easily be written in one sitting. This might seem a little daunting, but you’ll find your enthusiasm will drive you to the ending and your story will flow better for it.

You’re not aiming for prize-winning writing during this stage. You’re aiming to get the basic story out of your head and on paper.

Forget about grammar . Forget about beautiful prose. Forget about even making a ton of sense.

You’re not worrying about word count at this stage, either. Don’t research and don’t pause over trying to find the exact right word. Don't agonize over the perfect story title.

Just get the basic story out. You can’t edit a blank page.

Take a break

Don’t immediately begin the editing process. After you’ve written anything, books included, you need to take a step back . Your brain needs to shift from “writer mode” to “reader mode.” With a short story, I normally recommend a three-day break.

If you have research to do, this is the time to do it, though I highly recommend not thinking about your story at all.

The further away you can get from it, the better you’ll edit.

Edit with a mind for brevity

Now that you’ve had a break, you’re ready to come back with a vengeance. This is the part where you “kill your darlings” and have absolutely no mercy for the story you produced less than a week ago. The second draft is where you get critical.

Remember we’re writing a short story here, not a novel. You don’t have time to go into each and every detail about your characters’ lives. You don’t have time for B-plots, a ton of characters, or Stephen King-level droning on.

Short stories should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, though. They’re short, but they’re still stories.

As you edit , ask yourself if each bit of backstory, world building, and anything else is something your reader needs to know. If they do, do they need to know it right at that moment? If they don’t, cut it.

Get feedback

If this is your first time letting other people see your writing, this can be a scary step. No one wants to be given criticism. But getting feedback is the most important step in the writing process next to writing.

The more eyes you can get on a piece of writing, the better.

I highly recommend getting feedback from someone who knows about writing, not your mother or your best friend. People we love are great, but they love you and won’t give you honest feedback. If you want praise, go to them. If you want to grow as a writer, join a writing community and get feedback from other writers.

When you’ve gotten some feedback from a handful of people, make any changes you deem necessary and do a final edit for smaller issues like grammar and punctuation.

Here at The Write Practice, we’re huge fans of publishing your work . In fact, we don’t quite consider a story finished until it’s published.

Whether you’re going the traditional route and submitting your short story to anthologies and magazines, or you’re more into self- publishing , don’t let your story languish on your computer. Get it out into the world so you can build your reader base.

And it’s pretty cool getting to say you’re a published author.

That’s the short version of how to go about writing short stories. Throughout this series, I’ll be taking a more in-depth look at different elements of these steps. Stick with me throughout the series, and you’ll have a short story of your own ready to publish by the end.

A Preview of My How to Write a Short Story Series

My goal in this blog series is to walk you through the process of writing a short story from start to finish and then point you in the right direction for getting that story published.

By the end of this series, you’ll have a story ready to submit to publishers and a plan for how to submit.

Below is a list of topics I’ll be covering during this blog series. Keep coming back as these topics are updated over the coming months.

How to Come up With Ideas For Short Stories

Creative writing is like a muscle: use it or lose it. Coming up with ideas is part of the development of that muscle. In this post , I’ll go over how to train your mind to put out ideas consistently.

How to Plan a Short Story (Without Really Planning It)

Short stories often don’t require extensive planning. They’re short, after all. But a little bit of outlining can help. Don’t worry, I’m mostly a pantser! I promise this won’t be an intense method of planning. It will, however, give you a start with the elements of story structure—and motivation to get you to finish (and publish) your story. Read this article to see how a little planning can go a long way toward writing a successful story.

What You Need in a Short Story/Elements of a Short Story

One of the biggest mistakes I see from new writers is their short stories aren’t actually stories. They're often missing a climax, don't have an ending, or just ramble on in a stream-of-consciousness way without any story structure. In this article , I’ll show you what you need to make sure your short is a complete story.

Writing Strategies for Short Stories

The writing process varies from person to person, and often from project to project. In this blog , I’ll talk about different writing strategies you can use to write short stories.

How to Edit a Short Story

Editing is my least favorite part of writing. It’s overwhelming and often tedious. I’ll talk about short story editing strategies to take the confusion out of the process, and ensure you can edit with confidence.Learn how to confidently edit your story here .

Writing a Better Short Story

Short stories are their own art form, mainly because of the small word count. In this post, I’ll discuss ways to write a better short, including fitting everything you want and need into that tiny word count.

Weaving backstory and worldbuilding into your story without overdoing it. Remember, you don't need every detail about the world or a character's life in a short story—but the setting shouldn't be ignored. How your protagonist interacts with it should be significant and interesting.

How to Submit a Short Story to Publications

There are plenty of literary magazines, ezines, anthologies, etc. out there that accept short stories for publication (and you can self-publish your stories, too). In this article, I’ll demystify the submission process so you can submit your own stories to publications and start getting your work out there. You'll see your work in a short story anthology soon after using the tips in this article !

Professionalism in the Writing Industry

Emotions can run high when you put your work out there for others to see. In this article, I’ll talk about what’s expected of you in this profession and how to maintain professionalism so that you don't shoot yourself in the foot when you approach publishers, editors, and agents.

Write, Write, Write!

As you follow this series, I challenge you to begin writing at least one short story a week. I'll be giving you in-depth tips on creating a compelling story as we go along, but for now, I want you to write. That habit is the hardest thing to start and the hardest thing to keep up.

You may not use all the stories you're going to write over the next months. You may hate them and never want them to see the light of day. But you can't get better if you don't practice. Start practicing now.

As Ray Bradbury says:

“Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”

When it comes to writing short stories, what do you find most challenging? Let me know in the comments .

For today’s practice, let’s just take on Step #1 (and begin tackling the challenge I laid down a moment ago): Write the basic story idea, the gist of the premise, as you’d tell it to a friend. Don’t think about it too much, and don’t worry about going into detail. Just write.

Write for fifteen minutes .

When your time is up, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop. And after you post, please be sure to give feedback to your fellow writers.

Happy writing!

Sarah Gribble

Sarah Gribble is the author of dozens of short stories that explore uncomfortable situations, basic fears, and the general awe and fascination of the unknown. She just released Surviving Death , her first novel, and is currently working on her next book.

Follow her on Instagram or join her email list for free scares.

Work with Sarah Gribble?

Bestselling author with over five years of coaching experience. Sarah Gribble specializes in working with Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction, and Thriller books. Sound like a good fit for you?

81 Comments

! ! ! JACKPOT ! ! !

I mean it! Finally, after months and months of reading literally hundreds of blog posts and comments, I find that you have addressed the writing of short stories in a manner that is direct, practical, and clear.

It is not my intention to write TGAN. It never was.

I hope, rather, to entertain with short stories drawn from the experiences of my living. This post has illuminated a clear path through the (often valuable, genuinely valid, but – for me, anyway – not-directly-relevant) facts, experiences and anecdotes of other writers and would-be practitioners of the art that all seem focused on novel-length work.

I would encourage you to entertain the possibility of more posts on the art form and production of short stories.

Wow, Bob. That’s so good to hear.

Speaking of short story articles, have you read my book Let’s Write a Short Story? You might enjoy it! Check out letswriteashortstory.com.

The picture on how to write a short story is pretty much how I wrote my first one and have started my second. I had my first one critiqued, then revised it to the critters suggestions (they made perfect sense) and my story has improved considerably. I thought I was being lame on how I came to write them, but I see now, I accidentally stumbled on the formula for writing. Thanks Joe. I’m writing easier now.

Love that, Susan. Like Neil said, there is no formula. You have to write the story the way it wants to be written. But I find that I need structure to keep myself motivated and moving, so this process usually helps me stay focused. Glad you’re finding the writing process easier!

This is such a great post, Joe! I used to be primarily a short story writer but have been working on a novel for so long I feel as though I can’t remember how short stories work – but this brought it all back, and in a much better more clear cut manner than my old ways! I used to meander through a short story like a blind woman in the dark until I bumped into the ending – but I had a lot more time on my hands to do such meandering than I do now, so I’ll definitely give this technique a try!

I’ve done the same, Dana. However haltingly and messy my process has been, though, it usually follows this rough pattern I listed above. Has that been true for you as well?

I was always a “pantser” for stories, and would start with a concept or opening scene, and then feel my way through. It could take weeks to get a first draft. Then I’d edit. The first step of yours blew me away, the idea of writing a “story” without any pressure to make it great, to just get to the gist of it, is pretty brilliant. I often put so much pressure on myself to get it right on the page that it slows me down. I’m already at work (in my head) on part 1 of a story I’ve been meaning to rewrite, and I feel very confident about it thanks to your advice 🙂

There is nothing wrong with pantsing it! I would be labeled a “pantser” but as I tell every one, it only looks that way. Outlines form around character so quickly in my head, it seems to be unplanned, but that is not true. I always have an outline, I just don’t spend a lot of time on it. The important thing is to write to end before doing any re-writing!

I’ve never been a big fan of writing short stories. They’ve always seemed like “a good start on a novel-length story”.

But your outline for writing a short story has me rethinking that philosophy. I may just give it a try.

Thanks for a new idea on a Saturday morning!

DO IT! And let me know how it goes, Carrie. 🙂

Agreed! ….on a Saturday afternoon! Fabulous tips to try. Thanks, Joe.

Short stories are an important marketing tool for all writers. And so is flash fiction. Lee Goldberg, creator/head writer for Monk and several other TV mystery series, writes short stories and novels using the Monk character. I hate the TV show Monk, but loved the short story Mr. Monk and The Seventeen Steps in the Dec 2010 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I plan to read some of novels. Lee Goldberg is an excellent writer. The stories and novels support the TV series and the TV series supports the short stories and novel.

If you plan to traditionally publish, published short stories can get you a better agent and open door that may otherwise stay shut.

If you plan to self-publish, free short stories using your characters can be a good way to turn non-fans in customers for your wears. Think on them as test for readers–but don’t think it while you are writing the story.

I play to use this strategy to publish my Old West book series.

Wow, this is a very creepy story, Tom! You should work on it!

Reading this post made me reflect on my own writing routine. I tend to do steps 1-5 in one sitting, pumping out ~2,500-3,500 words in an hour, which is usually all I have for a short story. It’s the editing that definitely takes up the most time. I give it a day before going back and seeing how I can optimize the plot and the finer details.

The number one motivating factor for me to finish writing is my initial interest and excitement of the original idea for the story itself. A wasted story is such a shame, after all.

Impressive Patrick. I could do Steps 1-3 in one sitting, but breaking it into scenes, and especially the research, take me a lot of time.

Scrivener is a great tool for breaking it into workable chances. My second most favorite thing about it!

Agreed Cynthia! Have you seen my review of it? https://thewritepractice.com/scrivener

I had the exact same experience! I need to learn about the word count goals. My favorite feature is the ability to move scenes around and then read it as one long document without actually moving anything.

I am new at it, but look forward to learning more! Great review!

How to write short story? For me he only way is to order it on custom essay writing services reviews pa . To write something you need to be creative person, and it’s not about me 🙁

Love this post! Your first point, write the entire story, is great piece of advice. I say this all this time, “Write the story from beginning to end before doing any re-writing!”

Research being the #5 is great! I don’t find many other writer’s agreeing with on this. They will insist on doing the research upfront. I will see them a year later and ask how the project is going and the answer will be, “I’m still doing research.” I call it The Blackhole of Research and many writers get sucked it. I fell into it once myself when working on a play based on Shakespeare’s Sonnets. I got caught up it wanting to know if Shakespeare wrote the sonnets or not. I never wrote the play. The research thoroughly obscured what I believe would have been an interesting musical. For my series of novel set in the old west, I’m using a time line of events with scant details. I found I need this for the storytelling. But that is it.

I agree with you 100% about Scrivener. It has a bit of learning curve, but is worth it. I started to using it on my last story and now am using it to edit my novel. You can rearrange your scenes any way you want and then read is if it was a continuous document, but without changing the original order of scenes. Valuable in the editing process. It made me happy!

The Only Story They’ll Ever Read. This is excellent advice. It is where many talented writer’s fail.

How I Write Short Stories It takes me about 30 hours to do a draft of a story and then three times that to edit. If I have a real deadline (Not the self imposed kind) I can write it in 8 hours or less and edit it in 12.

I have learned that all I have to do is start writing and a story will emerge. Every time I do a writing prompt, I end up with a story. Every time I write for practice or to take a break from another project, I end up with a story. They are not always good.

Something unusual about me. I hate writing first drafts and love, love, love re-writing them.

How is that “unusual?” I know lots of people who enjoy rewriting over first drafts…? (There’s always someone who believes their “strange” in their habits. You must be from a small town or something lol

Once again, Joe, you cut through all the garbage that’s usually out there about writing to make the process simple. I especially like the idea of doing research after fleshing out the story. I was doing research before starting and I drove myself into a sticky mess. Thank you for pointing out the obvious – even though it wasn’t obvious to me.

I was alone, sitting next to a window on a commercial flight paid for by another who I was convinced cared little for my well being while offering an all expense paid year in a foreign land, no strings attached accept the one holding the sword of Damocles.

One thing I would add, and it’s the best practice I’ve picked up over the years, is to start with the ending. So for number #3, I would suggest come up with both the open and close and fill in the rest.

Thank you so much for this post. It finally got me started on a short story I have been wanting to write for more than a year. Writing down the basic story helped me see the story first.

Thank You… the guide is helpful. Our Lecturer gave an assignment she obliged that we must write a short story in our Journal but i think with your guide i’m going to make it great in the procedure of writing my short story…Thank Alot.

Thank you for this guide! My son is in eighth grade and assigned to write a short story in his honors English class. He’s very analytical and excelling in science and math. He does well in English but this short story has him flummoxed. He keeps saying he doesn’t know how to write a story, which is perplexing because throughout elementary school he wrote long, imaginative stories well above his grade level.

He desperately wants to write this short story but It’s as if his analytical mind has blocked access to his imagination and creativity. What served him well as a child has been squashed by puberty and the inevitable march to maturity. Oh, the sadness.

I just have a feeling though your guide will provide the structure he’s seeking and reopen the pathway to his creativity. It’s still there. We see it all the time. Your guide is organized around the process with time frames to boot! What more could an analytical mind want.

Thank you so much for this post. Sometimes the story gets lost while spending time researching. I always believed the story benefited from a little brewing time before taking on a life outside of my mind. I see now that I’ve been missing out on the valuable steps that can take place once the story is down and the transformation that can take place to form a short story. Your advice is elegant in it’s simplicity.

Great post, but I have one question though to the numer 5.

What am I supposed to research? Research for what? I just don’t understand this.

To me you research for different things. Location and setting of the storiy, maybe it in La Havana, Cuba you should know they speak Spanish, they were in a economy regression so the building are not painted. Maybe one character has some type of illness (PTSD, Lupus, etc.) You would have to know how would that influence how they act, are perceive or look in a story. If he has PTSD he may have flashback’s, or deprecion, ect.

Maybe is a historical fiction you need to know how people acted in that time, what they wore, what was happening, etc.

It give you a better understanding of what is happening. So what you write is believed or make senses.

Thanks for breaking this process down into simple steps! I naturally tend to sit down and spill out the whole story but often don’t know where to go from there. Your post gives me guidelines on how to approach the editing process that I know my work needs.

The best part is your distinction between “the story” and “the short story”. Knowing that makes it so much easier to write that first draft – without agonizing over a sloppy beginning or the overly vague details that require more research.

What a great way to get into your writing with the confidence that you’ll know how to make it better later!

Wow! You make it sound soo easy. Got a load of stories at different stages and feel I should try your steps.

Thanks, Mwai Gichimu http://www.creativeheritage.org

I didn’t realize until fairly recently that short stories were . . . well, so short. I typically write fanfiction that would be consider more of a novella at least 40,000 words. I actually don’t like reading short stories less than 7 chapters and/or 10,000 words. I don’t know I just like more meat on my books than the typical 7 chapter deal.

A Day in the Life of the Samurai.

It was an ordinary day — in the life of the samurai, that is. Samurai and heir to the Hagi residential, Kento Kadesheke, was engaged in a duel with his well recognized, self esteemed master.

“Dodge,” commanded his brain as he curled into a ball and escaped a fatal blow by what marked his people, the sword. Then he leapt up and swished his sword here and there, in defence. Next, he went all-out in a sword batting contest with his master. This gave his time to regain his breath. Now, as many know, the more experienced mostly comes on top, so was the case here. Tired and impatient, Kento tried to disarm his master and opponent. His master expected it and dodged it, not so long before launching a barrage of sword hits, disarming Kento.

Per the rules, disarms end battles, so Kento bowed and fetched his sword. He asked “What did I do wrong, milord,” His master smiled and gently said ” Nothing but thou were a bit impatient,” he added “I can see quick and great improvement,” Now all of this was said in Japanese, but I daren’t mention in imagined sesquipedalophobia

The importance of step six cannot be overstated. I think a second pair of eyes is essential for editing. For example, this non-sentence is from Joe’s promo for his book: http://letswriteashortstory.com/why-short-stories/ “Even more importantly, to practice deliberately have to put your writing skills to the test.” See what I mean?

“Run Isola!”

Isola’s mother yelled over the wind. Isola’s heart was pounding, and she felt as if she might faint. Her brown hair whipped fast, stinging her face. Her mother was rushing her into the safe house. They prepared it a month before when they heard about the Vortex Storm. The name was fitting because there was a big whirl of dark, ravenous clouds. They seemed to eat the whole sky.

“Where is Will and Dad?” Isola asked. “I thought they were coming with us!”

“I am going to get them,” Isola’s mother answered. “Just go and get there before you get hurt!”

She turned and went back to the house while Gloria went toward the safe house.

The wind was so strong, Isola felt as if it would lift her and pick her off her feet. Debris flew everywhere. Other people in her neighborhood were gathering belongings, children, pets, and driving away to the community safe house. Isola was tempted to follow them.

Isola finally made it to the safe house. Its interior was located underground and the door were made of steel. Underground Isola knew there were also steel bars to support the roof the steel ceiling. The lock on the door was located inside. Her father was a construction worker so getting the materials to build it was easy. Isola’s mind flashed back to the time her father stayed up for weeks at a time making sure everything was secure. When she asked if she could help or see what he was working on, he simply told her that it wasn’t time yet. Whatever that meant.

Isola began to open the door, when she heard familiar voices behind her.

“Isola! Watch out!”

Relief comforted her heart for a moment. It was Will’s voice, and he was okay. He’s head popped out around the corner. His brown curly hair waving on his face in the harsh wind. But, that relief was replaced with panic when she saw a big massive tree branch about to fall. On her.

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to build a safe house by a tree Isola thought. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to build a safe house, period.

That was all Isola had time to think about before the tree branch fell, and she was forced back by some invisible force. It felt like a hand grabbing her. She stumbled backwards and bumped into something.

Or someone.

“Isola, what are you crazy? You just stand there watching it fall on you, and do absolutely nothing while the branch almost crushes you!”

She turned around to the look to who was speaking to her. And a concerned, upset, face was peering down back at her. Her father. Despite her father scolding at her, she was relieved to see he was okay. Her mother came running in after them.

“Are you okay? What happened?” She turned to Isola’s father. “Mark.”

Mark put a hand on his wife’s arm. “Anna, she’s fine” He started toward the safe house again. “Let’s just hurry and all go inside-” Mark stopped.

“What? What is it?”

Isola followed to where he was staring. The tree branch was on top of the safe house. Blocking the only entrance inside.

Mark shook his head. Swore a few latin words. Anna shot daggers at him covering Will’s ears.

Will looked to me with eyes of confusion. I shrugged.

“Why are we going in here? Why don’t we go in with the other kids and adults?” Will asked.

Will spoke with an accent that his mom said came from his father. When he said ‘adults’ he pronounced it adoolts He pulled his mother’s hands off his ears.

“Will-” His father said will a warning tone in his voice.

“There is a branch on blocking the door. Besides, everybody else is going!” Will argued.

“They don’t want to go to the Community safe house, Will.” Isola told him.

“But, all my friends are there! I wanna go too!” Will whined.

“We have a safe house right here.” Anna said ignoring Will.

Isola made a motion to the safe house which was still stable, but had an impossible entrance. She opened her mouth to say something sarcastic but her mother must of saw the expression on her face because she held up her hand.

“That is enough Isola.” Her mother yelled over the wind. “You have been complaining about this the whole time, and show no appreciation for what your father is doing for you-”

“Dad what are you doing?” Will interrupted.

Gloria and her mom turned around to see what Will was talking about. Mark was pushing the branch-or at least trying to-off the entrance. Anna looked to Will and Isola.

“Come on, don’t just stand there, go help out your father!”

They didn’t need to be asked twice. They all went over and helped Mark push the branch. They pushed, pulled, lifted, but the branch didn’t move more than a couple of inches. But, even by then they were all tired and each second they stayed outside was each second to their death.

Mark reached through one of the openings of the branch and opened the door. “Will or Gloria, one of you can fit in here. Try to go through.”

Will crosses his arms. “No way! I want to go to the Community safe house. Besides you guys could lock us in there and go without us so you can go have fun.” Will stared at his mom and dad with accusing eyes. He had his jaw set in way that showed he wasn’t going to budge.

“Will” His father said angrily.

Isola started toward the entrance. “I’ll go, if you won’t go. Let’s just get in before we get hit by one of those meteorites.” She pointed to the sky. It was darker now blocking out so much sun, the light detectors triggered on the street lights for night time.

Isola started in, going feet first, having a little of a hard time getting in. When she felt her feet touch the ground she called up.

“Okay I’m in!”

There was no response. She looked up to see if anyone was looking in but she saw no one there.

“Mom? Dad?”

She heard something up there that sound like arguing, then panic, and then a moment of silence.

“Isola, are okay down there?” Her mom asked.

“Yeah, what are you guys waiting for?”

“We are going to the Community shelter.”

Isola didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.

“Isola, don’t worry you can wait down there-”

“Wait here? No!” Isola said shaking her head. “Bring me up with you guys.”

“The branch is stuck here, and plus we are running out of time, we are going to see if we can make it-”

Isola heard her father’s voice in the background. She only caught a few words and sentences like: ‘he said’ and ‘not good idea’ and ‘listen’

“I don’t care about what Jem thinks, we are leaving.” Isola heard her mom say.

And the door shut.

Isola heard screams outside. She heard some of Will’s screams, mixed with her mother’s, and other screams of children, frightened animals, and other people. She didn’t want to think about going out there. She knew she couldn’t. So, when the door shut Isola locked the door and went to the furthest corner of the room.

There were blankets, food, water, first aid items, and a radio there. The food and water was packed into four different black book bags. Looking at them made her feel anxious and worried. They’ll be okay. Everything is fine. She thought. When she still didn’t feel any better, she said out loud, “It’s okay. Everything is fine.” Even she knew the words sounded empty and unconvincing.

She wasn’t hungry at the moment. Fatigue washed over Isola so suddenly, that she felt dizzy. Grabbing her blanket from the corner she moved the rest of the items by the door. After, she walked to the corner, sat putting her knees up to her chin, and wrapped the blanket around herself, over her head and ears. She tried to huddle as far as she could into the corner. She wanted to be as far away from the screams as possible. Isola shivered. Though it wasn’t against the cold.

( For more or the rest of the story email me at [email protected] ) 🙂 Tell what you think.

This has been incrediably helpful! Making myself put off researching wasn’t something I would have thought would make a big difference but it really has.

I might be a bit late to the party…my 15 mins.

———- Hugh set the knife against his knee and started sawing through the skin.

As the pain coursed through his nerves, he lost his grip. “Damn bugs,” he hissed as his fingers failed to listen to his brain.

Laying his head against the cold metal of the bathtub, Hugh swore he could feel the lowjack implant in his spinal cord thrumming. A few moments later, the door opened on rusty hinges, allowing the light from the rest of the apartment in.

A falsetto voice spoke from the doorway. “Human, you have sustained an injury to your right knee. Medical personnel have been summoned.”

Hugh turned suddenly, knocking the knife to the floor. “Don’t you dare let those butchers in here!” Sitting up, he started to sob. “I’ve got nothing left for them to take.”

A six foot tall mechanical figure strode calmly into the room. “Human, I’m going to freeze you until the medical personnel arrive.” A green light started blinking in its eye socket. “Do not be alarmed, it is for your own safety.”

Hugh was half way out of the bathtub before the lowjack cut off any control he had over his body.

The android moved to the tub, and gingerly picked Hugh up, moving him through the spacious apartment to a chair by the front door.

“I will be in stasis until they arrive,” the android stated.

Hugh couldn’t detect any difference from a few moments ago. The android stood stone still, the only difference an irregular pattern to the blinking green light.

Waiting a full minute to ensure the thing wasn’t aware, Hugh tried moving his hand. The fingers twitched.

i have a short story , would it be too late to post here , i need some opinion

I opened my eyes to see a dark shadow in my bedroom, it looked like a figure of a man. I had been thinking a lot about my uncle Herbert who had died in the first world war ,l was stunned! Could he be the person on my bed? To stunned to talk to him l recalled speaking to a medium early on in the day about Herbert he came through and said he wondered what his life would have been like if he had lived he died aged 26 . I looked more closely at this figure on my bed then he said come on Pam get up!! We’re on holiday now!!! Pew!!!

Thanks for the great advice Joe Bunting. What I read, helps me know what’s ahead of me to be a writer. I love how you explained about it being hard to finish a story, when you are in the middle of the story. As to rowing a boat to an island. I’ve started stories, got to the middle and didn’t know where to go. Now I know that’s common to happen. I’ll close at this point and get started writing something that I wrote in High School that others loved. Thanks again for inspiring me with what you wrote.

Rick Olmsted

Nice blog here. I think this would be more helpful in my writing career. But if you really need a professional to write a children short story for you, I would recommend a gig I use on Fiverr https://www.fiverr.com/sophiebrown/write-kindle-children-bestseller-book-for-publishing

This is a great intro in short story writing! Usually the only writing I do is assignments and essays. I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a story for a while and this post provided great motivation. So here it is.. my first 15 minute attempt at putting ideas down in words.

The time had come to meet face to face with her biggest rival. She had never met her before but the stories were enough for her to realise the threat that she posed. The environment wasn’t one which forged the women together, to bond. It promoted rivalry. Only the fittest would survive the night and walk away with cash in the hand. Tonight was the same as every other night. It started out with the usual routine. She would meticulously apply her make up to accentuate her pale blue eyes. Her greatest asset, or at least that’s what they told her. The blackness of the eyeliner was unforgiving; no amount of it could cover up the turbulent storm brewing in her blue eyes. Her reflection showed no hint of the emotions she was trying to deny. Her hair was down around her shoulders, glistening from the heat in the room. The air was muggy despite it being a cool night. She looked around the room wondering how her life had brought her to be here in this moment. The walls were as red as bitten lips, that’s what they reminded her of. The other girls were getting impatient that she had taken so much time in the one mirror, which covered the wall above the alcove. There was barely enough room for all four of them to get ready in there. Bags of make up, shoes and dresses, if you could call them that, were scattered at their feet. The buzz of the dryer in the adjoining room reminded her that there was work to be done. Fresh sheets and towels needed to be put out in the rooms before the men arrived. This job gave her a reprieve from being in that suffocating red room. She left the girls to decide on the dresses they would wear tonight.

I was fine, good in fact, realizing that I was stuck in a rut of step 1, Telling my stories. I can do step two, even three. Now I’m lost at step four: I’m writing a short story, not a novel. I’m stopping here; lost my interest, for the moment.

Tara is unhappy with her life. She always has been. No one ever understood why. Tara comes from a great home, with a great family; yet she always seemed to be downtrodden and meloncholic. At 21 Tara isn’t even doing things that her peers enjoy. This should be the time in her life where fun, adventure and discovery are a must. Tara doesn’t follow crowds, has no real friends to speak of and is always quiet; except if called on in a class setting. John and lydia French, tara’s parents have sought help for her from many professionals, and none have been able to point out a diagnoses to fit tara’s personality flaws. There was a time once when tara was younger perhaps four or five when she was at summer camp. She showed light in her eye and a possibility of hope glimmered that maybe she had found her niche. The latter part of that camping trip showed the worst side of tara yet. It seemed she regressed even more than when she arrived. Fisher is a guy who grew up with tara and has know her and her family for many years. He has concocted this plan to attempt to court tara with these simple steps that he has been putting together to turn who he sees as the love of his life into a more loving and joyful human being. The first step was to be seen accidently by tara at more than one occation during her day. Of course it’s not accidental, he’s planned the whole thing, but in fisher’s mind maybe tara never got the attention she needed. On Saturdays tara frequents the same internet cafe near her University, then she goes running at a nearby park, following this she heads back to campus. Fisher was sure to be seen by tara in all but the last place her home, so as not to seem to creepy. He pb believes he may have saw tara grin or smirk once or maybe, he just wants to make her happy so badly that he imagined it. He did this for three saturdays, then finally askds tara to the movies. To his surprise tara says yes. Fisher is ecstatic. They schedule their date for the following week. Fisher picked tara up on time from her dorm and they stap for a street car meal before heading to the movies. He excorts her home and when he reaches in for a kiss tara scream can be heard throughout the city. Campus security arrives and tara is take

Sarah was shaking over the little table staring at her coffee. Her eyes looked as black s the liquid in the cup. She couldn’t speak, it was too much for her at the moment. Besides apart of maybe weak squick nothing else would come out from her mouth. She was so scared to go back home but she couldn’t stay in this coffee shop forever. Sarah didn’t have any idea what to do. She quit her job without finding the new one, all of her savings were gone already so she couldn’t really afford to move right now. But she also couldn’t face her landlord from hell and his crazy family. It was like the worst nightmare.

Sarah moved in to this house thinking it’s going to be a lovely place to live. She would share it with two friends and probably rent the third bedroom to another familiar face. At least that was the plan. The landlord was white with black hair and spoke good English. She assumed he was an English man. After seeing the place with her two mates they made the decision instantly. Paid cash for deposit to black haired man and received the keys. When asked for receipt he said he will provide it next time as he had no receipt book on him. Fair enough.

A few days later Sarah, Daniel and Becky lived together in the lovely semi-detached house with good sized garden. The trio opened some beers and decided to celebrate their new nest completely unaware of what is yet to come…

love your book! Keep on the good job

“Do you think Petraeus will like the red hood, or the blue hood?” Charlene aksed her brother, “or is the yellow one better? Hmm… the orange one is also very appealing. What do you think, Eustace?”

“I think you should just take one and go see him before it gets late, sister.” He sighed, annoyed.

The tall brunnette, turned around to face her brother. Why was she even asking him that kind of stuff anyway? He’s a boy, he wouldn’t care one bit. “If you are going to be such a ogre, why should I even ask?”

“I wish I could understand that too, you know.” he said, preparing himself for the trip. Lifting his simple dark brown hood from the floor, he sat down to fix his boots. “But I personally think I am not the best person to help you change the color of a piece of cloth, Charlene. It’s just a piece of cloth, you do not have to make such a big deal about it.”

She groaned angrily, while taking the red one.”I do not understand what is your probllem, really.”

“Guess what? Me neither.” he laughed as he ran through the door. Eustace could hear the angry blabbing of her sister, but decided to ignore.

(UGH IM SLOOOOOOOW!!!)

Wanted Child (FULL VERSION)

The siren’s screaming to the neighbors, waking them from their peaceful slumber. The red and blue lights blinding everyone who looks in its way. A little girl, not later of the age of 9, being carried out of a home in the arms of a police officer. Her crying silencing everything else to the man’s ears. The child clutching onto his navy-blue shirt, begging for the awful image out of her head. He looks at the girl in pain, wishing for a miracle to break through. He sighs and looks forward, his face a mask of pain. He looks around and spots a woman with her back turned to her, talking to one of the girl’s neighbors. He approaches her and acknowledges her. “Corrine,” he started. The woman turns around and lightly nods. “Chief Jacob Ray.” She states, concern written in her strained voice. She is a lawyer working on a case where she is defending a man who was framed for the murder of his brother. She might have been yelling at a court trial. She spoke, “What do you need? Poor child. She didn’t deserve to witness that.” She is right. She never deserved to witness such a horrible thing. “I need a blanket for her. And, also, give her water.” He looks down at her to see her asleep. He sighs and looks back at the woman. “She will stay with me until we find her a home.” She slightly widened her eyes, looking at Jacob confusedly. She replied, “Are you sure you can take care of a child? Jacob, you don’t have anyone else to help take care of this girl.”

She stopped when she heard the girl sighing. She looked at her with both pain and hope for her. Jacob also had hope. Hope that her life was going to change for the better and not for the worse. “I’ll go get the blanket and water.” He heard Corrine say. He didn’t acknowledge her, to let her know that he heard her. She sighed in content and walked away, yelling for a blanket and water. He looked down at her. Her blue eyes fluttered open, looking around. She looked up at him and smiled. She let go of her shirt and hugged him. His eyes widened slightly as she hugged him. His eyes slowly went back down as she started crying. He started shushing her, whispering that it is all over. That she doesn’t have to worry anymore. He was going to make sure of it. He was going to be on a hiatus to take care of her. A few moments later he hears a distant voice saying, “Here we go dear.” Corrine’s voice makes the girl look up. She sniffs and wipes her eyes, muttering a quick thank you while doing so. Corrine looks at the poor girl in despair and calmly says, “Drink. You must be thirsty.” Corrine holds a glass up, showing her that she has something for her to drink. The little girl nods, agreeing with the woman. Corrine gives the glass to her, holding it to her lips. The little girl drinks happily, sighing in content with the refreshing feeling, soothing her parched throat. Jacob asks, “So, what’s your name?” The girl stops drinking and looks at the man. She replies, “Elly, but my real name is Elizabeth. My parents used to call me “Elly”, but after their.” She stops, closing her eyes

This is all I have and I am writing 2 different versions. One is for a short story contest and one is for publishing (which is this one)

I love writing short stories. I believe what turns me on to the format is the fact that it makes for quick reading. At the same time, you can get so much out of it like you would a novel.

I do think I’ve been writing short stories the wrong way. It takes me a couple of weeks to get a story down. Most of it is due to time constraints. But I have tools to lessen that time. And I’m so worried about getting it right the first time that I miss the point of the process. It takes diligence and patience to write a great story.

I will take these tips to heart and work as hard as I can to write the best stories possible.

This story is about Rafa, a five-year-old boy born during the final years of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. His father, Duriel, is a Levite who serves the tabernacle. His mother, Ronit, has just died. His older sister, Miriam, is ten years old.

Duriel is a bitter, heartbroken man. His wife is dead. His firstborn is a girl, and his only son will never be a man, have a family, or serve the tabernacle. There will be no one to continue his lineage. He feels that God has ruined his life, and it angers him. He is often critical, unkind, and angry at home, especially with his young daughter, who is desperately and imperfectly performing her dead mother’s duties: cooking food, caring for the household, and tending Rafa.

Rafa has Down’s Syndrome. He doesn’t understand death and believes his mother has abandoned him. He thinks she’s hiding somewhere in the camp. He keeps running off to find her, which causes stress and anger for his family and his Levite relatives.

Miriam cooks the meals, cares for the household, and tends Rafa while her father is at the tabernacle. Miriam is also learning to spin and weave. Her grandmother, a former slave in Egypt, is a master weaver. She is going blind and feels a desperate urgency to teach her granddaughter everything she can before she can no longer see. Miriam is caught between her grandmother’s insistence that she spend her time weaving and keeping track of Rafa. Her friends complain that she’s always working and never has time for fun.

One night, after Duriel has lost his temper and spanked Rafa, Miriam comforts him in bed. She tells him that their mother lives with Adonai. Rafa’s father has impressed both his children that Adonai lives in the tabernacle, the place where Moses speaks with Adonai. Miriam falls asleep, but Rafa doesn’t. He now knows where his mother is, and he leaves the house to find her.

Rafa wanders through the camp, unsure of where to go. When he sees torchlight, he follows it to the tabernacle. The guards are not at the door. Rafa parts the curtains and looks inside. A man’s voice tells him to come in. When he enters the Holy of Holies, he sees a shining man, Adonai, sitting on the ark. The man holds out his arms, and Rafa comes running to him. The man puts Rafa on his lap and asks what he wants. Rafa says he wants his mother.

The man calls Ronit. She appears in a pillar of light. Laughing and crying for joy, she gathers Rafa into her arms, carries back into the light, and they both disappear.

Adonai summons Moses and Duriel. They both come to the tabernacle. Moses enters; Duriel stands outside the door. Adonai tells Moses how to handle the situation. Duriel is not to be punished because Rafa entered the tabernacle. Instead, Duriel is to be relieved of his work for one year to spend the time mourning for his wife and son, caring for his mother, and comforting his daughter, Miriam. If he humbles himself sufficiently, Adonai will receive his service again, give him a woman to love, and more children, including sons to carry on his family line.

When Moses comes out of the tabernacle, he carries Rafa’s body wrapped in a new woolen blanket. Duriel recognizes the blanket as something his wife was making when she died. It had lain unfinished in their tent since her death. He examines it. The blanket is now completely finished. Taking his son’s body in his arms, Duriel falls to his knees sobbing. Moses lays his hands on Duriel’s head and begins blessing him.

Suddenly, there was a strange noise outside. Clare tiptoed across the creaky floor. She looked from behind the curtains. Strange shadows lurked from the misty town. They were unlike anything she’s ever seen before. As tall as a telephone booth but the limbs were strange… the legs were lean while the arms were strong. Clare lit a torch and went downstairs to investigate. The door slowly creaked open and into the ghostly streets she went.

There was suddenly a crack of lightning, and behind her, were the shadows. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her but they were fast. She jumped into a nearby bush and waited. She saw the go into a tree. She decided to follow along. Pure curiosity powered her.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!….” She whispered screamed as she fell down a big hole.

She saw some vines in front of her. Her heart was racing. What was she going to see, a mystical land, an evil lair or the centre of the earth? She pushed aside the vines and thoughts and gaped at what she saw. Everything was unspeakable, she had to get out of this nightmare. Left was right, up was down, good was bad. She couldn’t breathe. Where was the exit? What is this place? Why did the men go here? Why? Why? Why?! She was trapped in her own thoughts and in the world.

She woke up. “It was too real..” She muttered.

Clare opened the curtains and screamed. Her heart was thumping hard and her brain was numb. Her eyes were frozen. Little did she know that this was just the beginning of mass terror and horror. Would she live or would she die? That is the question that remains unanswered…

Ignore this

The first time I noticed her was a rainy day. She was sitting in a chair and talked to herself. I was so curious about her who behaved strangely. I thought she was a weird person, but I wanna know her stories. I was sure she had a story, at least one. I said” Hi, you are beautiful.” She answered” My mom always says that, but she is gone.” “Where is she?” She said with a sweet smile” She is there. ” She pointed to her heart with small and thin hands.”In my heart and my dream.”

In a moment, I remembered that I was so jealous when I saw my friends and their mom hold hands. I understood this girl who missed her mom. But I thought her mom had a good reason to leave. We all have a reason when we make a choice. Sometimes we think only for ourselves. Sometimes we choose to sacrifice for love. Sometimes we are selfish. But no matter what decisions we have made, we still have hope and belief, and we have to.

I told the girl” Your mom lives happily. Your mom loves you.” She said” I always know that, but when will she be bak to see me ? I only wanna see her.” I said” She is already on her way to look for. She needs time.” The girl smiled like an angel.

But I lied to her, I have to.

She sought refuge in all except what she knew she could possibly thrive at. The fears, the shaky voice, the anger in her eyes and the misery in her soul. Nothing could begin to explain to the world how tortured and jaded her spirit had become. She never asked for this and loathed those who felt she could learn to live life differently.

How does one learn to live life? Is it in the way we were raised? Is it the choices we make? Is it how we perceive things? She was not raised like this. No one would make choices to feel like this and perception is reality, no? If her scars were on the outside instead of on the inside, she would be immediately raced to a hospital. The room would fill with doctors and nurses scurrying to make her lively. But the scars remained on the inside so the world did not see the wounds. The pain remained unseen and the rush for help was nowhere to be found.

Dying was the answer. Of course! She’d read the bubbly bullshit quotes about death being a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Who is to say it’s temporary? Cancer may be temporary. A patient may go into remission but no one judges them for feeling like death may be a better way. Why would she be judged? Demons are revolting things to handle and some, like the girl, simply cannot handle them alone. Would one allow their child to be tormented by another person, or would they help them? Why didn’t they help her? Why were her bullies not confronted?

This was a short short story I wrote that was submitted for a contest. It had to be 150 or less….

She could not explain the feeling she got when she saw him, and he touched her. Every time she tried, the words would just fall out in random order.

One day as they were laying on a blanket watching the drifting clouds, she looked at him and whispered, “I love you.” As he smiled he said, “I know you do,” his hand gripping hers tighter. “No, I mean I really love you. Do you remember when you were a kid and you would swing? The feeling you got in your tummy the higher you went,if there were a million pterodactyl-sized butterflies in there?” He rolled to his side and said, “Yes, that was the best feeling as a kid.” She smiled and said, “That’s the way I feel about you.” He reached over and sighed as he placed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “I love you.”

Short stories, to me, are the perfect literary form. The most amazing way to get across complex and critical concepts without bogging stories down with unnecessary melodrama. I’m actually looking at putting together an anthology-type short story periodical in the next few months. Anyone who’d be interested in being printed, maybe, shoot me a message nmoo651 (at) aucklanduni (dot) ac (dot) nz

It’s a dark night, unknown figure runs across the cold wet streets, flooded by intense rain. There’s a curfew, and this character is breaking it. Running across the stone alleyways and switching corners so swiftly is easy to mistake them for a shadow. Look. An officer. The figure expertly knocks them out by hitting when they are not looking, then hides the body Faster now, the hooded figure is speeding in the darkness, remember why they’re here. They have to escort a parcel across the country in a relay manner, and the figure is an amateur, and want to succeed they’re first true test. Everything’s going fine currently Until they slip. Makes a clanky noise as they fall and attracts numerous guards to their location, but before they can reach, hides in a crate. That was close. But his leg is hurt after the fall, and he is know limping, still needing to deliver his package to the other side of this county. Behind them by a couple 100 meters, a man of somewhat authority walks past. in his hand, a revolver. He enters the area where the figure knocked out an officer and hid him, and easily finds where the figure hid him, as he has dealt with his kind before. The figure creeps into an empty restaurant, where the server greets him happily. The figure asks for a map of this county, something they should have probably had earlier, but hey! They’re an amateur. The server in exchange asks for the figure’s name, to which they respond ‘Max’ after glancing at a Maximum Voltage sign. Max escapes by climbing onto the roof via ladder inside. authority guy returns, and hears Max above, and shoots server (NOO), and climbs up. He shoots max, and max almost falls off the tall building, saved by grabbing onto a gutter flowing with water. AG (authority guy) points gun “give me the parcel” Max puts it slowly into the gutter he’s holding on, and it drifts off. AG makes a break for it, trying to get the parcel before it falls, while max jumps off, landing on another ladder outside an adjacent building. When Ag opens the Parcel, he finds nothing (Ha ha!). Max continues to Victory! –Just a draft, and I apologize for any grammar mistakes.–

I found your “How to Write a Short Story from Start to Finish”, very useful. I represent a self-publishing company, Notion press and this information means a lot to our network of writers, to whom we will be sharing it. We also have similar useful content on our academy page. Please feel free to check out and get in touch with us. https://notionpress.com/academy/definitive-guide-on-how-to-write-a-novel/

A fish fought so hard not to know me. I fought harder to know him. We spent hours at our contest. When exhaustion had taken us both, we acquiesced. As he boarded the boat it was apparent his bravery and powerful fight was over and all I had to do was claim victory.

It was a victory that was sour to me. Something inside of my old self changed with meeting this fish. I loved that fish and our fight, it was just what I wanted. What was unexpected was the emotion of caring that poured out afterwards. I lack the skill of caring, not having any experience in how to care or being cared for will do that to a man. Hard life living without those things.

I held him gently in the water for what seemed like eternity, he got his strength back, thrashed and swam away.

goodby and hello, I said.

You have a great idea here, I think you can extend this idea into a short story. I like your style of writing, easy to understand.

This is rough idea I’ve been playing around with. Let me know what you think I can do to make it better. Thanks.

Ariala was led into the throne room of her own castle to face the man who had just taken over. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man in heavy metal armor. His long blonde hair was left to hang loosely around his body and his eyes were so dark that they seemed black to her.

“Hello Princess, we meet again.”

“I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you again Prince Demitri, but I was taught not to lie.”

“Charming as ever I see. Not to worry…I’ll change that little attitude of yours soon enough. For now…there’s something I want you to watch.”

Ariala watched as her father, the true King, was dragged into the room. He looked so battered and it broke her heart to see her father’s strength reduced to this. He had bruises covering his face and she was fairly certain one of his arms was broken.

“Why are you doing this? We have never done anything against your family or your kingdom…”

“You have not…true…but your father here has angered me greatly by denying me the one thing I wanted from him.”

“What might that be?”

“You, dear Ariala. I requested your hand in marriage…he refused.”

“So you decide that taking over my home is somehow going to make me want to marry you?”

“It doesn’t matter if you want it or not…I will marry you and you will do as you are told or suffer the consequences.”

“I will most certainly not be marrying you and nothing you can do to me will change my mind.”

“I was afraid you might be this way. Men…”

The soldiers holding her father up dropped him to the floor and pulled their swords, and she watched in horror as they ran their swords through her father’s body. As they pulled back she tried to go to his side but Demitri grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against his body causing her to lash out at him, kicking and hitting any part of him she could reach. He raised a hand to cradle the back of her neck and began squeezing gently, applying more and more pressure until she lost enough air to blackout. He handed her limp body to one of the castle’s royal guards.

“Take her to her chambers for now. Perhaps when she wakes she will be less unpleasent.”

The guard carried her to her bed and was soon joined by his Captain. “We need to get her out of here before it’s too late, Sir.”

“I know, and I have a plan for that. Do you remember John?”

“He’s the one that was always by her side when they were kids right?”

“Aye, that’s him.”

“What about him?”

“He’s the leader of a small band of mercenaries now…and they happen to be in the city below us right now.”

“You’re going to hire them to get her out of here?”

“No…I’m going to tell him that she’s in danger and I need him to help me get her away from this place as soon as possible. In the meantime…guard her door and let no one enter this room.”

“I will protect her, Sir…with my life is I must.”

“I’d rather it not come to that. I will be back as quickly as I can…hopefully with a plan.”

The Captain had faithfully served the Sky Kingdom’s royal family since he was a boy. His father had been the Captain of the Royal Guard at that time and he frequently followed the man to learn all he could from him…now his King was dead and his Princess was in danger. He kept the hood of his cloak up over his face as he slipped into the Queen’s Garden to meet with a man he never actually thought he’d see again.

“Why would the Captain of the Royal Guard want to meet with me in the middle of the night?”

He froze in mid-step as a soft baritone voice sounded out of the darkness, carefully lowering his hood to reveal his heavily greying hair. “Hello again, John. You seem to have done quite well for yourself, being the leader of a mercenary band now.”

“No thanks to you, of course…convincing the King to ship me off to be a squire to some low-level knight…that wasn’t very nice of you.” The man slid out of the shadows like he was a part of them. His jet black hair fell in a soft curtain to his shoulders while his bright blue eyes seemed to pierce the Captain like a spear.

“You were gettig too close to her. We couldn’t risk having her fall in love with someone of such low birth.”

“You mean because I was born a bastard right? What exactly do you want from me?”

“The Princess is in grave danger…and I am hoping you still care enough to help her.”

The man’s gaze sharpens at those words and his voice takes on a darker edge. “What kid of danger?”

“Sky Castle has been overtaken and the King has been killed…in front of her. The man responsible wants to force her to marry him to cement his new role here but she is defiant and I fear he will hurt herto get what he wants. I can get her out of the castle through one of the secret passages…but I cannot get her off the plateau without being caught. I am too well-known here.”

“If you can get her to the Royal Stable at midnight…my men and I can take care of her from that point.”

“Take her to Obsidian Castle in the North. Our allies there will help her.”

“I will take care of her, you have my word…whatever that’s worth to you.”

“When it comes to her…I know I can trust you to keep her safe. I will have her in the stable at midnight, her personal gryphon doesn’t have wings but it will follow her wherever she goes.”

“Wait…she still has that little guy? The blue panther with the bright little tail?”

“He’s not so little anymore…he’s quite large actually, and that tail is a thing of beauty. He’s one of the rare type that have no wings but he’s as loyal as they come…at least to her.”

“Good, she’ll need all the protection she can get. I will see you at midnight…stay safe Captain.”

“You as well, John.”

Later that night four men in dark cloaks were lurking in the shadows behind the Royal Stables, though one of them was clearly unable to remain still for long as the curly blonde begand shifting restlessly from one foot to the other. “Why are we hanging around here at this time of night anyway? This is boring.”

“I told you already. We’re here to help my childhood best friend escape from danger.”

“Right…but who is he?”

“You’ll see soon enough now stay still.”

“Gentlemen, good to see you made it here safely.”

“Same to you, Captain.”

“Wait…the Captain of the Royal Guard? HE’s your friend?”

“Of course not…don’t be ridiculous. The two of us can barely tolerate each other.”

“Wait…then who…?”

“John?”

“Hello again, Princess. Miss me?”

“John!” Ariala ran into the waiting arms of her friend, wrapping her arms around him and crying softly. “Why did you leave me?”

The dark haired man glared at the Captain before responding to her. “I was sent away little one…they wouldn’t let me go say goodbye to you. I thought they would tell you but it seems I was mistaken.”

“Captain? Is that true?”

“Yes, Princess…I’m afraid so.”

“Why?”

“You were getting too close…you father worried that you two would fall in love.”

Ariala took in a deep breath as she turned to face the Captain, planning to give him a piece of her mind, but the darker man placed a hand over her mouth with an amused smirk. “As much as I’d love to watch you verbally berate the man…I’m afraid we haven’t got the time right now. We have to get you out of here before they realize you’re gone.”

“I assume you have a plan already?”

“Of course…but first…” He snapped his fingers and her bright blue gryphon came out of his hiding spot, his tail fanning out in his happiness at seeing his favorite human. The princess wrapped her arms around the it’s neck and then laughed happily as John lifted her up onto it’s back. “You do realize I can do that on my own right?”

“I know…but it gave me an excuse to hold you for a moment.”

“You’ve never needed an excuse for that before, John.”

“Uh…John, perhaps we should get moving now?”

“Right you are my friend. Everyone mount up so we can get down the side of this plateau and down into the forest.”

The four men mounted their own gryphons. John had a hawk and panther gryphon, the curly blonde had a cheetah based gryphon, the auburn haired man ahd a lion and eagle gryphon, while the last man had a massive tiger based gryphon to bear his muscular body. Once they were all mounted they urged their gryphons over the stone wall around the castle grounds and began searching for the least treacherous path down the side of the plateau without going near the main road that led away from the castle. They ended up by the edge of the upper part of Queen’s Lake near the top of the waterfall that fell into the lower lake. “We’ll have to make our way down from here.”

“Can’t we just fly down?” The antsy blonde was, well, still antsy. The princess watched the man fidget every few minutes and constantly shift position. He reminded her of some of the village children withhow they had too much energyu to remain still for very long…most adult grew out of that but this one clearly hadn’t done so.

“We could…if we want to risk our gryphons breaking a wing trying to maneuver the dense branches with us on their backs.”

“Which we don’t…so we have to let them climb down this way.”

“Correct. You alright little one?”

“I’m fine…not the first time we’ve come down this way…remember?”

“How could I forget? You shoved me over the edge of the falls.”

“You were being a jerk…you deserved it.”

“I did…but it was still cold that day.”

“You lived.”

The other men all seemed to be amused at hearing about their leader’s childhood with her so she decided that she would share more stories once they were out of the danger zone. “I’ll tell you boys some more embarassing stories later.”

“You will not.”

“I will too…and you can’t stop me…you never could.”

“I’m a lot stronger now little one.”

“I can see that.”

The way her eyes roamed his figure left him feeling like she could see right through him and he heard more than one of his men snort softly in amusement as his face turned red. The princess gave them all a saucy little grin before mounting her gryphon.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten on it so far. Let me know what you think.

I have written short stories that I’ve worked on or kept in my keep file for up to 2 years. I didn’t know how to write a short story, but kept trying now I don’t think I could write another 300 page novel again if my life depended on it. However, I find my new love (Short Stories) thriller, horror difficult to sell to magazines or enter in competitions…I’m obsessed and won’t stop writing them!!!! Anyone know more about this Kindle Short Story Section?

I’ve been challenged (by a writing instructor) to write a short story of about 500 words or one full page. This seems a bit constraining to me, but I’d welcome any tips.

Morgan’s Fiasco

Our dinky rented room on the edge of Ohio U’s campus was really the basement level of an old frame house built into the side of a hill. Gabe, the rather eccentric old lady who owned the place lived above us in the rest of the house. We had our own entrance, so whatever went on in there was pretty much up to my roommate, Morgan, and me. One evening in the semi darkness of our room, I was trying to study by the dim light of a gooseneck lamp over our ancient second hand desk. George Shearing was issuing forth some soothing sounds on our 45 record player. Suddenly, Morgan, lying across the bottom bed of our double bunks, suddenly broke the silence by blurting out of nowhere, “We can fix that!” My muttered and obviously disinterested response was, “Hunh?” His convoluted answer increased in volume and conviction as he addressed the fact that our ceiling was made up of old, gray, tongue and grove wood slats. It was similar to many old porches built in the 1930’s, and was, indeed, rather ugly for a bedroom. His brilliant inspiration was that we could make up a huge batch of paper mache from strips of torn newspaper soaked in a mix of water and flour, and coat the ceiling it it. When it dried, we could roll on some of that fancy new Kem-Tone paint. “It’d lighten the place up – we’d have a great looking room at almost no cost,” he enthused. Dumb me. I went along with it, little guessing the horrific outcome of our folly. After a day’s hard work, and not getting too much paint or flour mix dripped around the room, it did look pretty good. At least it was brighter. The next night as I lay in my upper bunk trying to get to sleep, I could still smell the freshness of our beautiful new ceiling just a foot or so above my head. Suddenly I heard a funny noise close at hand. “Skritch, scratch, skritch . . .” My eyes popped wide open with the sudden realization of what I was hearing. Rats! There were rats attracted to the flour in our paper mache mix and they were between our ceiling and the floor above trying their best to get at it. I was off that bunk in a bound, pummeling and yelling incoherently at my hapless roommate who had no idea what it was all about. Needless to say, I spent a wakeful night trying to sleep on the floor, keeping one eye open in case of a “break through.” Some rat baits were set out next morning, and no further gnawing was heard for a couple days. But the worst was yet to come. Try to imagine the putrid aroma of one or more dead rats who met their demise in the confined space between the floors of our rooming house. It took weeks for the smell to dissipate, and just about that long for me to forgive Morgan’s creative genius.

I just got an idea – a spin off from my Fall Contest Short Story. But I’m afraid to write it here. I might expel all the “juice” and then not write it all out.

Oh, gosh! You had me quaking and looking over my shoulder. What visuals! What imagination! What suspense and…. horror! Good job. Did you do that all in just 15 minutes??? If so, I have no hope.

I can’t seriously take writing advice from a man that hasn’t yet grasped the situational spelling of your.

‘You don’t have to follow your scene list exactly, but they definitely help you work through your story, especially if your writing over multiple sittings.’

Those pesky grammar slip-ups happen to the best of us. It’s fixed now. Thanks for pointing it out!

“So they lived happily ever after,” finished Ms. Taslahm. Heather Giron yawned. The one thing that was worse than cleaning the poop of the old brown mare the school owned, a scrawny one that was called Marigold, was listening to Ms. Taslahm’s long, boring tales of this and that that were supposedly supposed to help them during life, like they had for A+ student from more than 100 years ago, Briar Rose, who later became Sleeping Beauty, or wishful Ella, who later became well-known Cinderella. Heather, really, didn’t see anything in her future that may lead her to a wonderful fortune and a story of her own. But that was okay. She didn’t exactly mind. It wasn’t as if she was expecting a wonderful fortune such as someone… Heather cast a side-glance at Savannah Rivers. Savannah Rivers was an annoying, pesky know-it-all of a girl. She had curly black hair and perfectly glossed lips. She had tanner, richer skin than most people in the village, and always wore beautiful, colorful gowns, a obvious contrast to Heather’s dull ones. Today, Savannah’s gown was a pale pink, and it matched her lip gloss and eyeshadow on her heavy lidded gray eyes. Noticing Heather watching her, Savannah smacked her lips and smiled the beautiful princess smile that all the boys fell for. She flashed it at Heather, who returned it with a big, exaggerated motion of someone flipping her hair, a.k.a. Savannah. Sincere Roque leaned over and laughed. Sincere Roque was one of Heather’s’ friends. He had a unique combination of eyes, 1 amber and 1 green. He loved acting. He had honey-colored hair and exactly 14 freckles…not that Heather noticed. Savannah shot them a frown then turned again, listening to Ms. Taslahm as she described the next task they were going to take. “After all, you never know when you’ll get your fortune, or your clue, that with the right knowledge can lead you write to your prince or your damsel in distress.” Kaden Kidd, Sincere’s best friend and ‘Prank Master in Training’ (as Sincere called it), raised his hand. Kaden’s family all had the same dark eyes and black, straight hair. Most of Kaden’s family, though, had pale, white skin, but Kaden had the opposite. He had bronze skin, which he was quite proud of. “Yes, Kaden.” Ms. Taslahm said with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. “Did you ever have a prince, or were you ever ad damsel in distress?” Ms. Taslahm narrowed her eyes. “Yes once…with another girl. The prince swooped in to save us, but he could only take one. He took the other girl, and Wizard Foaly’s henchman, Todd Fincher, had to save me. It was the worst day of my life.” Ms. Taslahm buried her face in her hands. Kaden snickered. “Isn’t that Old Todd from the Village Block. I thought he was Ms. Taslahm’s brother, not husband.” Now Heather had a question. Do you really have to be a damsel in distress to get a prince or a fortune? And do you hafta get a fortune? Can’t we just live like this? While she debated if she should ask the question or not, she stretched on her tree stump. Yes, tree stump. The villages’ school was so small and poor, that they couldn’t afford desks or chairs for everyone, proper lunch, or actual books so the students could read along with the teacher. All this was because of the School Overseer. He was a greedy old man, and whenever the payings came for the teachers and school, he often just took it himself. His office was a dream, and the only reason the teachers stayed teaching was because the loved and felt sorry for the kids. Heather just couldn’t see why. She felt sorry for herself now, and just thinking about it made the boring, fidgety ache come back. And a bit sorry for Ms. Taslahm. But she still tortured Heather everyday and night, and no matter what Ms. Taslahm did or feel was going to change that. Finally, Heather raised her hand, ignoring the snickers coming from Savannah’s side, and the fact that her ripped, tattered sleeve of one of her 5 dresses was growing short. “Yes?” Ms. Taslahm looked more than a bit annoyed. “Do you have to be a damsel in distress to get a prince and a fortune? And what’s so important about a fortune?” Silence settled around the class. Now Ms. Taslahm looked like she was going to go bonkers. “YES! YOU HAVE TO GET A PRINCE TO BE A PRINCESS AND TO GET A FORTUNE, AND YOU HAVE TO BE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS TO BE A PRINCESS! WHERE HAS YOUR HEAD BEEN THESE LAST TWO YEARS HEATHER GIRON! AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T GET A FORTUNE, GIRON! YOU END UP A SLAVE OR A TIRELESS WORKER, GETTING NO MONEY, WITH A LUNATIC OF A HUSBAND. YOU FALL OF THE TREE OF LIFE. YOU BECOME GOD’S LAUGHINGSTOCK! AND THEN YOU DIE!” Ms. Taslahm’s face became red and splotchy. Then, her voice softened. “I really hope you guys learn and listen to everything that I teach…it’ll help, a lot. Now, excuse me for a sec…” After Ms. Taslahm got out of hearing range, Sincere whooped and Kaden patted my back. “Congrats, Heather, you won. You made her blow big-time!” Dimly, Heather remembered the contest the boys and Heather had made. Whoever made their teacher ‘blow’, won. But that was by far the last thing on her mind. Is life really like that. You get a prince, you win, if not, you lose and perish…wow. Heather rubbed her temples as the full force of life slammed into her, and as she did, her strawberry blond hair swooped around her, covering her in what seemed like a safe, copper, veil, away and away from reality and, well, life. Away and away. (Comments, Suggestions?)

Life could be hard most of the times and it could be horrible. The worst thing about it though, is that people come and go. Living in the moment, we are all blissfully ignorant to the fact that maybe one day, the person in front of us could be a thousand miles away. We don’t usually think about it. What we usually think about is the future we could have with that one person together. We are hopeful that no matter what happens, we’ll always stay the same. We start building that perfect image of the future and how it would be with that one person beside us, but we always seem to forget that, in fact, people do come and go.

To me, it was great shock when that one person left me. I was very close to her: we were practically sisters. I had known her since we were kids. We grew up together; in fact, I can’t remember what my life was like before her. Both our parents believed that we are inseparable, and they made me believe it. What I didn’t know was the fact that they knew. They knew that one day she could leave me. They knew that in all honesty we weren’t inseparable. Most importantly, they knew that people come and go.

We were in the same middle school. We would go to school together and laugh along the way. She would pull me from my arm and drag to the school ground. Life was merrily moving on and we were mere kids living our lives. The last day of middle school – I remember it clearly- the sun was shining brightly in the sky. It was one of those hot, burning days. We were heading back from school, racing through the tree shades and laughing. Obviously, the excitement of the vacation hyped us up. If only I had paid attention at that time, I would’ve seen that my friend’s steps lacked their usual bounce and her smile lacked the usual sparkle. Thinking back to it again, I realized that her dreadlocks fell dead on her shoulders and gently swayed with the heat-filled wind. Her shoulders were slightly hunched with the weight of the news she had carried.

I was too excited to notice any of those little details, and I should’ve. We pranced all the way to our houses (we lived beside each other). As we were used to, we both ran through my front door as soon as it was opened. On the inside wasn’t what I expected. Mrs. and Mr. Sullivan were in the living room. It wasn’t something out of the ordinary though; they were always over at our house. Their faces, I will never forget the solemn look they had on their faces. Mom ushered me and Nancy into the house hurriedly. We both threw our bags next to the couch. There was tension in the air and I could feel it.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I sat on an armchair. The adults present all looked at one another sharing worried glances. Nancy walked slowly to her parent’s side and clasped her hands together. She sat at the edge of the couch with her head hung low and feet bouncing fast. She was nervous, I could tell.

“There’s something we need to discuss…” Mom moved her gaze towards Mrs. Sullivan motioning for her to start.

Mrs. Sullivan swallowed nervously and cleared her throat. “We know you and Nancy are such great, close friends,”

“And we know we’ve always dreamt of you two growing together,” Mr. Sullivan continued.

“But there are some times when things don’t always go the way we wanted them to,” my father laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked at him confused then turned to everyone.

“I don’t get where this is going.” My voice was shaky fearing what they could say.

“Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan have gotten a new job opportunity in France-”

“Well, that’s great! They’ve always wanted that!” I interrupted my mother and beamed at the Sullivans.

“Yeah, it is, honey, ” my mom smiled sadly, “but…”

“But what?”

“We’re going to France, Lee.” Nancy spoke for the first time. I was very proud of the Sullivan couple for finally reaching their goals. However, it took me a few seconds to actually comprehend what she had just said. Slowly, the smile was erased from my face.

“No…” One word. Only one word, but it was packed with emotions. Tears burned my eyes. I covered my mouth in shock as my gaze raced from person to another, searching for a sign that this isn’t true. This isn’t happening! But they all watched me with sad faces and guilt.

“No, this can’t be happening. This can’t be happening!” I got up to my feet with thoughts racing through my head. “What about our high school years together? We’ve always wanted to go to high school together! It is an experience that cannot be relived any time! What about the parties and sleepovers we were gonna have? Huh? How are we gonna do that now when we’re thousands of miles apart?”

“It wouldn’t be that bad, you know we can chat over the internet.” She tried saying weakly as the tears ran don her face.

“Chat over the internet? You and me both know that isn’t going to happen! Or have you forgotten about Cassandra?” She took in a sharp breath at Cassey’s mention. “You promised you won’t leave me the same way she has!”

“I don’t have a choice!” She was on her feet by now.

“Sure you do! You can stay here!”

“And leave my parents? Lee, you know I can’t live without them!”

“So that’s it? You’re actually going to leave me?” Both our eyes were bloodshot. The adults just sat there, barely holding their tears.

“I guess that’s it.” A second’s pause passed before we embraced each other. Our sobs were loud as we held onto each other. We slowly slid onto the ground; the adults soon joined us.

That moment I would never forget. The moment my best friend left me behind. It was the moment I realized how hard life could be. You truly never know someone’s value until they’re taken away from you. Even through the heartbreaks and break-ups I’ve went through in high school and college, nothing was worse or more painful than that one moment.

People come and go, that’s the way life is. They always leave an imprint of themselves behind, but their memories last long.

People will always come and will always go, but their memories will last long and strong.

The river was our life, yet it was our death. If it wasn’t for the current, and the water of the river, our crop fields would be nothing more than dry, dusty, useless plains. But the river was a deathtrap, after we would get a great harvest, the river would flood our small town, destroying houses, building, and lots of the crops. Livestock would die, and our villagers would be killed. As the main farmer, I tried to make a wall or a levee on the branch of the river that flows next to my lush crop field, but every time, the river would wash over, breaking the wall and destroying everything, I was determined not to let that happen. On July 2, just three months away from harvest, I got up at 5:00 AM, tired, and sleepy, being up 30 minutes earlier than usual. I’ve thought of moving to Italy or Israel, but even if I sold the crop field I wouldn’t make it, and the citizens here would die without me. I sighed, it was a hard life, but at least my wife and family was with me, well most of them. Last year My son moved to Greece, and my daughter, was killed by the flood. The grief follows me everywhere, my other kid is too young to remember them. I also fought with the guilt of my daughter’s death, if I just tried a little bit harder, got up a little bit earlier, I could have saved her, but I didn’t and now it’s too late. I sat there for a second and wiped a tear from my cheek, for her, I will stop the flood and make sure nobody else must suffer the pain and grief I have, NOBODY. I got up and got dressed. I looked in the mirror, and could barely recognize the man in it. I had calices, and wrinkles, and grey hair. My hair was messed up, my boots dirty, and my clothes ripped and torn, I don’t care how I look anymore, after her death, I quit caring about my looks, I just got up and left. Hygiene wasn’t a number one priority either, I barely brushed my teeth, and took a shower every one or two weeks. I didn’t care much for food either. Every morning I would get up, drink a cup of coffee, eat a slice of bread, and an egg. Then in the afternoon, I would retire to the house, my wife would cook something, then I’d drown my sorrows and burdens in whiskey. But to the current task, I was as determined as ever, and wasn’t going to waste any time. My servant would be tending to the farm all day, while I worked on the river. I grabbed a stale piece of bread, and shoved it in my mouth, barely noticing its terrible taste and its staleness. I skipped having a coffee or anything else. I went outside, the sun wasn’t up yet, but there was a faint red line the west, signaling that it was coming soon. I mounted my horse, and rode to the supply store. Once in town, I stopped at the store and bought tons of bricks, I paid for it, and left, determined to waste no time. By the time, I got back to the farm, the sun was up, and it was around 6:30. I had already wasted too much time. I went to the river and started putting the bricks together. I left a hole in the bottom, so the farm could still get water. I grew tired and tired, when eventually, after lugging a heavy brick, I fell, and I heard a crack. The pain was fierce, like I was getting stabbed with a million needles at once, and it kept going, the pain was sharp and searing, and it was in my back. I couldn’t move, I tried calling for help, but my mouth wouldn’t cooperate, I started seeing stars, and eventually, everything went black, and my head fell down hard, hurting more.

WIFES PERSPECTIVE

I asked the servant if he’d seen him, and he said, “I reckon I haven’t, seems a bit suspicious to me. Tell me if you have, he still owes me some money.” He started chuckling, but when he saw my solemn face, he quieted and got a somber look, “I hope you find him, good day ma’am.” He tipped his hat and kept milking a cow. I don’t know what to think, but eventually, I saw some bricks, then I saw a huge rock laying by it. When I realized, it wasn’t a rock, it was my husband! I nearly fainted, and choked back a sob, the pain of my daughter’s death became all too real again. I looked at him, he was breathing, but he wasn’t moving at all, his eyes were closed, he looked as if he was in another dimension and he looked like he was falling away, I gagged, and chocked back another sob. I ran up the hill and called for the servant to get the medic, and told him the situation, he complied, and I rushed back to my husband.

Everything was black, I was completely numb, and all feeling and heat went right out of my body, everything was cold, and I began to shiver inside my skin, then the memories came… I just exited the barn when I heard the screaming, it was oddly familiar, and I felt like I should know, the voice was tugging at me, when I remembered with a sickening nature, it was my daughter! I tried to run to her, at least my brain did, but my body wouldn’t comply. I was stuck there, helpless and my daughter screaming. What’s happening? I began to move when I heard the familiar gushing, the sound of the waves, and the river, it was flood season! Oh, no, my daughter, she must be there! I started sprinting, when I was stopped short. The gushing got louder, and louder, then BAM! The river exploded with an ear-cracking sound, like it did every year, except this year was different, the river noises were mixed with the screaming of my daughter, and I tried to run, but I was engulfed in water. I swam with all my might against the strong current to get to my daughter, but I couldn’t, I tried for a little bit, then, became tired, and couldn’t do anything, I had to use all my strength just to stay above water so I wouldn’t drown. I hoped that maybe the current would push my daughter to me, but I abandoned it when my daughter was pulled deep into the gushing, overflowing, imploding river, I then realized that this would be the end if I didn’t do something, so I swam as hard as I could, but after I moved a few feet, my arms burned, my legs roared with pain, and my body screamed for me to stop, but my brain told me to move forward, but I couldn’t, not one bit, my body shut down, and I couldn’t move, I sank to the bottom, and abdicated all hope of being able to rescue my daughter, Don’t worry, they’re going to find her, I just know it! The optimistic part of my brain said. But the rational part of my brain knew it wasn’t possible, and soon the rest of my mind agreed, and I felt defeated, like someone had come and took a huge chunk right out of my body and left it there. And I began to hope they wouldn’t save me either, so I could be with my daughter and live in eternal peace, then I could apologize that I wasn’t man enough to save her. I was at the bottom of the water, and I felt like paper, with no soul in me, and the water moved me, until I passed out.

The memories kept coming, one of my daughters funeral, one when my son left, one when me and my wife got married, and I let them come, until the second part of the daughter catastrophe came, then I began to fight, I didn’t want to see another atrocity, I wouldn’t let it happen, but the memory flood in anyways and I gave up.

I woke up, the water was gone, and the river was flowing like normal, I was accompanied by many medics, when one of them yelled, “He’s awake!” and they cheered, I would be cheering too, if I wasn’t the one about to die, almost nobody survived the flood, even if we recovered them, we could not get them to live, and some people would wake up, but die in the hospital. “We need to get him to the hospital immediately!” A medic with a white jacket and a red cross yelled, whom I assumed was the head medic. “No!” I yelled, and coughed up seawater, “My, daughter,” I got out and then the pain attacked me again. The doctor got a solemn look, and it looked like my wife choked back a sob, “I’m sorry to inform you of this, but we recovered your daughter and brought her back to life, but she was paralyzed, and soon died from a stroke.” I tried to be tough, but it wouldn’t happen, and began to sob, the doctor patted me on my back, and said, “I’m terribly sorry, but we are going to take you to the hospital, and our flood prevention donors are going to pay for her wedding and your medical bills.” I wanted to resist, I wanted to stop them from taking me to the hospital, I wanted to do something, anything, but it wouldn’t happen, and I let them take me, with the pain attacking me, fiercely, and I felt like I was imploding, I sighed, and fell asleep.

I woke up, finally away from the terrible memories, I attempted to sit up, but pain seared through me, and the pain engulfed me. I choked back a sob, the memories making the pain all too real again. I attempted to sit up again, when I realized I wasn’t where I was when I fell. I was in a hospital, the same one I was in when my daughter died, my first thought was that this was another memory, but I thought better of it when more pain seared through me. Then, I couldn’t move my right arm, or my left leg, and most of my body wasn’t responding, and it and the pain were threatening to engulf me. I tried to sit up, but all that happened was another searing pain, I cried out in agony. Then, the doctors came rushing to me. “I can’t move.” I managed to get out through gritted teeth, just with that little amount of talking, I felt tired, and more pain came. The doctor looked though some papers, then examined, me, and looked at a device, “Oh, dear.” He said, which made me feel a big scared. “What happened?” I managed again, the doctor looked at me, sighed, then talked, “When you were lugging that brick you fell, assuming because you were tired, and you landed on your arm wrong, which broke it, but when you fell, the brick fell on your back, breaking it, and,” he took a deep breath, then said, “making you paralyzed.” He left with a solemn look as I let that sink in, he had to be wrong, I tried to move, but couldn’t and tried to remain calm, but screamed inside my brain, fear, and pain attacked me, and me not being able to take it. I laid there, not knowing what to do or think, I was paralyzed, I’ll never be able to prevent the floods. I felt defeated, I surrendered, abdicating my chances of stopping the flood, and inside my mind, I was dying, I couldn’t take it, and pain seared through my body. Then, with a start, I awoke, and got ready to get to work.

Hi Everyone, Just getting started here and it looks like a wonderful spot to become a better writer. I like the forum setting also to exchange ideas and get input from others. Speaking of input, I have had a certain novel that I have wanted to write for a long time. I have a site and am starting to make a home for it and other works but it’s a sweeping storyline spanning years.I see my first lesson is to write a short story instead. I am not sure that I can pare this one down to a story in that amout of words and time.

So I would love some advice. Should I choose a subject from the list that was given to me or do a “partial ” story choosing a specific time frame, happening, or incident that could have a beginning and end derived from the book I want to write later? Thank you for any ideas and/or advice! Kathie

Gabriel García Marquez has a short story, “monologue of Isabel watching rain in Macondo”, which was originally part of a novel (like a chapter or something) but he decided he wasnt gonna use it, even tho he had already written it. So I’m guessing he wrote each chapter like a new short story, almost. His style is kinda difficult to copy, so maybe thats not a good example. Perhaps it doesnt really matter what you write, as long as you write it. Looking forward to reading some of your stuff, short or long 😀

This is my 15 minute writing practice. Usually, I do a lot more detail and something along the lines of romance, but for some reason I had a small idea of it having to do with a robotic girl and I just expanded onto it as I went along. I hope you like it! I’d like to know your thoughts on it too, what I did good and what I need to work on. If you have any interest in contacting me, just let me know. Thanks!

“When she was little, she never touched a Barbie doll like the other girls. She never thought about makeup. She was different. She read constantly. She learned to write stories at the age of 7. She could calculate the answers to basic Algebraic equations when she was 9. She didn’t just want to learn, it was as if she needed to learn. So that’s why I wasn’t surprised when the doctors told me she did.

Whenever I’d go over to her house and visit her, she’d be listening to music with her earbuds in while she did something like a puzzle on the floor. She’d never hear me walk in. But as soon as I asked her, say, maybe a mathematical question, all focus was on me and she’d be determined on getting the correct answer. She was strange. I never understood her ways or why she was the way she was, but I accepted it. I accepted her. I didn’t realize I’d be accepting an it.

I got the call on Wednesday morning around 3 A.M.. It was an officer from the police department. I was confused and scared. What could possibly be wrong? A million things. A million things could be wrong. I asked every question I could think of or manage to get out of my mouth, but all I could get for an answer from whoever it was on the other line was: “Come down here and see for yourself.” So I went down there to the police station. When I arrived I was wondering why we weren’t somewhere such as a hospital already. As I walked in, I knew why. For Lilith, we don’t need a hospital, we need a mechanic.

Lilith was sitting in a chair while uncertain medics, police officers, mechanics, and many others were surrounding her. At a distance her father was holding her mother in her arms as she cried, I’d expect him to, but he wasn’t. He was just staring at his daughter, a blank expression across his face. I ran over to them, only a few of the million questions I had, spilling out of my mouth. I couldn’t get a response from either.

I turned and barged into the crowd of people surrounding Lilith. “Lilith!” I screamed. No response from her, no movement, no words spoken, nothing. It’s as if there was a switch on her and it was turned off. I pushed through the crowds and they obliged, allowing me near her until I was on my knees crying as the wires that were strewn out of her knees lay twisted and coiled on the floor around me. What happened to her? What happened to my best friend?

To answer that question for you, the government persuaded her father that it was the right thing to do. That it’d be alright. That’d it’d be safe, for them to experiment on his daughter. They had a theory that if they somehow rearranged body parts and substituted wires and motors and such for things like organs and tissues, later in life the average human would be invincible. They’d be capable of learning anything. They’d be capable of learning everything. But Lilith, she learned everything already by the age of 19. What else was there for her to do? Her life goal was to do such and she’d done it. Her body was shutting down. She needed to know more, her robotic body needed it. Her mechanical mind needed stimulated by something.

Although she was mostly robotic, she was also partially human. She had one of the most humane things, emotion. And she was suffering as she grew weaker everyday. Literally dying to know more. As the robotic part of her began to give up, so did the human part. She gave up. She didn’t want to be just an experiment, and she definitely didn’t want to give any result to the scientists who thought this would be alright, that it was successful. So she let them know that it failed as she slashed through the wires and circuits inside her, turning off all parts of her, both motorized and mortal.”

I am currently working on a collection of short stories. It is in the beginning stages but the process is by far the most enjoyable part. I have about two thousand words completed so far. I roughly have spent about 5 hrs. The tips in this site have given me a clear path to creating a great story.I just want it to be able to relate to the reader grammatically. That’s my main concern but doing research is part of the journey.

Amazing tips. I have written a mystery novella with twist in the end. When I started it I intended it to be a short story but it got stretched to 46 pages of length. It’s available on my blog. You may check it and feedback will be highly appreciated http://neuriverse.blogspot.in/

Sarah, The most challenging part of writing a short story is having an idea from personal experience. Having a general idea of it as a slice of life. But what is the theme? You get a sort of theme in what you want the story to communicate. You write bits and pieces but the biggest challenge is making all fit together. Particularly you want a series of actions and you want the reader to think of the theme naturally occurring out of accumulated flow of the story. Larry B.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Submit Comment

Join over 450,000 readers who are saying YES to practice. You’ll also get a free copy of our eBook 14 Prompts :

Popular Resources

Best Resources for Writers Book Writing Tips & Guides Creativity & Inspiration Tips Writing Prompts Grammar & Vocab Resources Best Book Writing Software ProWritingAid Review Writing Teacher Resources Publisher Rocket Review Scrivener Review Gifts for Writers

Books By Our Writers

You've got it! Just us where to send your guide.

Enter your email to get our free 10-step guide to becoming a writer.

You've got it! Just us where to send your book.

Enter your first name and email to get our free book, 14 Prompts.

Want to Get Published?

Enter your email to get our free interactive checklist to writing and publishing a book.

Additional Resources

• A List of Writing Contests in 2022 | Exciting Prizes!
• Em Dash vs. En Dash vs. Hyphen: When to Use Which
• Book Proofreading 101: The Beginner’s Guide
• Screenplay Editing: Importance, Cost, & Self-Editing Tips
• Screenplay Proofreading: Importance, Process, & Cost
• Script Proofreading: Rates, Process, & Proofreading Tips
• Manuscript Proofreading | Definition, Process & Standard Rates
• 14 Punctuation Marks: Examples & Free Guide on How to Use
• Tips to Write Better if English Is Your Second Language
• Novel Proofreading | Definition, Significance & Standard Rates
• The Top 10 Literary Devices: Definitions & Examples
• Top 101 Bone-Chilling Horror Writing Prompts
• Top 10 Must-Try Writing Prompt Generators in 2024
• 100+ Creative Writing Prompts for Masterful Storytelling
• Best 101 Greatest Fictional Characters of All Time
• Top 10 eBook Creator Tools in 2024: Free & Paid
• 50 Timeless and Unforgettable Book Covers of All Time
• What Is Flash Fiction? Definition, Examples & Types
• Discover the Best Book Review Sites of 2024: Top 10 Picks
• 80 Enchanting Christmas Writing Prompts for Your Next Story

Your Guide to the Best eBook Readers in 2024

• Top 10 Book Review Clubs of 2024 to Share Literary Insights
• 2024’s Top 10 Self-Help Books for Better Living
• Writing Contests 2023: Cash Prizes, Free Entries, & More!
• Top 10 Book Writing Apps of 2024: Free & Paid!
• Top 10 Book Marketing Services of 2024: Features and Costs
• 10 Best Book Publishing Companies in 2024
• What Is a Book Teaser and How to Write It: Tips and Examples
• Audiobook vs. EBook vs. Paperback in 2024: (Pros & Cons)
• Top 10 Book Writing Software, Websites, and Tools in 2024
• How to Get a Literary Agent in 2024: The Complete Guide
• An Easy Guide to the Best Fonts & Font Sizes for Your Book
• Top 10 Book Promotion Services for 2024’s Authors
• Alpha Readers: Where to Find Them and Alpha vs. Beta Readers
• Author Branding 101: How to Build a Powerful Author Brand
• How to Write a Book Report | Steps, Examples & Free Template
• A Guide on How to Write a Book Synopsis: Steps and Examples
• How to Write a Book Review (Meaning, Tips & Examples)
• Book Title Generators: Top 10 Book Name Generators of 2024
• 50 Top Literary Agents in the USA for Authors in 2024
• Building an Author Website: The Ultimate Guide with Examples
• Top 10 Book Printing Services for Authors in 2024
• 10 Best Free Online Grammar Checkers: Features and Ratings
• How to Write a Poem: Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Poetry
• What Is a Poem? Poetry Definition, Elements, & Examples
• 2024’s 10 Best Paraphrasing Tools for All (Free & Paid)
• Top 10 AI Detector Tools in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• Top 10 Book Editing Software in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• What Is an Adverb? Definition, Types, Differences & Examples
• What Are Large Language Models and How They Work: Explained!
• What Is an Adjective? Definition, Usage & Examples
• Top 10 Hardcover Book Printing Services [2024 Update]
• 15 Types of Poems Everyone Should Know About
• 2024’s Top 10 Setting Generators to Create Unique Settings
• Different Types of Characters in Stories That Steal the Show
• Top 10 Screenplay & Scriptwriting Software (Free & Paid)
• 10 Best AI Text Generators of 2024: Pros, Cons, and Prices
• Top 10 Must-Try Character Name Generators in 2024
• How to Track Changes in Google Docs: A 7-Step Guide
• 10 Best AI Text Summarizers in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• 2024’s 10 Best Punctuation Checkers for Error-Free Text
• Top 10 AI Humanizers of 2024 [Free & Paid Tools]
• Top 10 AI Rewriters for Perfect Text in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• 10 Best Plot Generators for Powerful Storytelling in 2024
• 11 Best Story Structures for Writers (+ Examples!)
• Writing Contests 2024: Cash Prizes & Free Entries!

Pre-Publishing Steps

• Book Cover Design: An Introduction
• What is a Book Copyright Page?
• 8 Pre-Publishing Steps to Self-Publish Your Book
• 7 Essential Elements of a Book Cover Design
• How to Copyright Your Book in the US, UK, & India
• How to Format a Book in 2024: 7 Tips for Print & EBooks
• Beta Readers: Why You Should Know About Them in 2024
• How to Publish a Book in 2024: A Beginners’ Guide
• ISBN Guide 2024: What Is an ISBN and How to Get an ISBN

Self Publishing Guide

• How to Hire a Book Editor in 5 Practical Steps
• Self-Publishing Options for Writers
• How to Promote Your Book Using a Goodreads Author Page
• What Makes Typesetting a Pre-Publishing Essential for Every Author?
• 4 Online Publishing Platforms To Boost Your Readership
• How to Find the Perfect Book Editor for Your Manuscript
• Typesetting: An Introduction
• Quick Guide to Novel Editing (with a Self-Editing Checklist)
• Quick Guide to Book Editing [Complete Process & Standard Rates]
• 10 Best Self-Publishing Companies of 2024: Price & Royalties
• What Is Amazon Self-Publishing? Pros, Cons & Key Insights
• Manuscript Editing in 2024: Elevating Your Writing for Success
• Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: 2024 Guide
• How to Publish a Book on Amazon: 8 Easy Steps [2024 Update]
• 10 Best Book Cover Design Services of 2024: Price & Ratings
• A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing a Book in 2024
• Learn How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book in 2024
• What are Print-on-Demand Books? Cost and Process in 2024
• What Are the Standard Book Sizes for Publishing Your Book?
• Top 10 EBook Conversion Services for 2024’s Authors
• How to Copyright a Book in 2024 (Costs + Free Template)
• How to Market Your Book on Amazon to Maximize Sales in 2024

Traditional Publishing

• How to start your own online publishing company?
• 8 Tips To Write Appealing Query Letters
• How to Write a Query Letter (Examples + Free Template)

Writing Tips

• How to Create Depth in Characters
• Starting Your Book With a Bang: Ways to Catch Readers’ Attention
• How to Write a Powerful Plot in 12 Steps
• Research for Fiction Writers: A Complete Guide
• Short stories: Do’s and don’ts
• How to Write Dialogue: 7 Rules, 5 Tips & 65 Examples
• How to Write a Novel in Past Tense? 3 Steps & Examples
• What Are Foil and Stock Characters? Easy Examples from Harry Potter
• How To Write Better Letters In Your Novel
• On Being Tense About Tense: What Verb Tense To Write Your Novel In
• How To Create A Stellar Plot Outline
• How to Punctuate Dialogue in Fiction
• On Being Tense about Tense: Present Tense Narratives in Novels
• The Essential Guide to Worldbuilding [from Book Editors]
• What Is Point of View: 1st, 2nd & 3rd POV with Examples
• How to Create Powerful Conflict in Your Story | Useful Examples
• How to Write a Book: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Write a Short Story: 6 Steps & Examples
• How To Craft a Murder Mystery Story
• How to Write a Novel: 8 Steps to Help You Start Writing
• What Is a Stock Character? 150 Examples from 5 Genres
• How to Write a Children’s Book: An Easy Step-by-Step Guide
• Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey: Worksheet & Examples
• Novel Outline: A Proven Blueprint [+ Free Template!]
• Character Development: 7-Step Guide for Writers
• Foil Character: Definition, History, & Examples
• What Is NaNoWriMo? Top 7 Tips to Ace the Writing Marathon
• What Is the Setting of a Story? Meaning + 7 Expert Tips
• Theme of a Story | Meaning, Common Themes & Examples

5 Elements of a Short Story & 6 Stages of a Plot

• What Is a Blurb? Meaning, Examples & 10 Expert Tips
• What Is Show, Don’t Tell? (Meaning, Examples & 6 Tips)
• How to Write a Book Summary: Example, Tips, & Bonus Section
• How to Write a Book Description (Examples + Free Template)
• 10 Best Free AI Resume Builders to Create the Perfect CV
• A Complete Guide on How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume
• 10 Best AI Writer Tools Every Writer Should Know About
• 15 Best ATS-Friendly ChatGPT Prompts for Resumes in 2024
• How to Write a Book Title (15 Expert Tips + Examples)
• The 10 Best AI Story Generators: Features, Usage & Benefits
• 100 Novel and Book Ideas to Start Your Book Writing Journey
• Exploring Writing Styles: Meaning, Types, and Examples
• Mastering Professional Email Writing: Steps, Tips & Examples
• How to Write a Screenplay: Expert Tips, Steps, and Examples
• Business Proposal Guide: How to Write, Examples and Template
• Different Types of Resumes: Explained with Tips and Examples
• How to Create a Memorable Protagonist (7 Expert Tips)
• How to Write an Antagonist (Examples & 7 Expert Tips)

Writing for the Web: 7 Expert Tips for Web Content Writing

• What are the Parts of a Sentence? An Easy-to-Learn Guide
• How to Avoid AI Detection in 2024 (6 Proven Techniques!)
• How to Avoid Plagiarism in 2024 (10 Effective Strategies!)
• 10 Best Spell Checkers of 2024: Features, Accuracy & Ranking
• What Is Climax Of A Story & How To Craft A Gripping Climax
• What Is a Subject of a Sentence? Meaning, Examples & Types
• Object of a Sentence: Your Comprehensive Guide
• First-person Point of View: What Is It and Examples
• Second-person Point of View: What Is It and Examples

Still have questions? Leave a comment

Add Comment

Checklist: Dissertation Proposal

Enter your email id to get the downloadable right in your inbox!

Examples: Edited Papers

Need editing and proofreading services.

• Tags: Fiction Writing , Short Story , Writing Tips

Writers like Anton Chekhov, O. Henry, Alice Munro, and Tobias Wolff are all big names in the short story genre. How do these writers craft such remarkable stories? They are the true masters at combining the five elements of a short story: plot, character, setting, conflict, and theme.

These five elements make short stories the best starting point for novice writers. They’re short and fairly simple, so the writer gets a chance to focus on the plot, character, and theme. Short stories also offer writers the opportunity to see their writing flourish as a piece of fiction— a great confidence boost!

If you wish to write stories that are worthy of publishing, you must understand the characteristics of a short story. To help you get there, let’s take a careful look at these five short story elements.

How do the five elements of a short story work? How can you naturally inculcate them in your stories, and how can you tie them up to create one coherent whole?

Get a story editor to improve your writing! Get started

Here are the five key elements of a short story:

Let’s take a closer look at these elements and figure out how you should use them in a short story.

A simple way to define plot is to call it a sequence of events in your narrative. It is a cause-and-effect chain of events that has a beginning point, a climax, and a resolution.

Writers use the plot to map out their story before beginning their writing process. For fiction writing, this serves as a creative outline. So, an understanding of the plot is crucial to craft a compelling narrative and make it impactful.

The sequence of events in a plot is tied to the central conflict in a story. The plot develops as the protagonist struggles with their given problem, finds a solution, and eventually accepts the results.

Six succinct stages of a plot

1. Exposition: An introduction of characters, setting, and conflict, providing all the necessary background information.

2. Opening incident: The incident that leads the main character to conflict and begins the plot.

3. Rising action: The conflict develops and takes on newer, more complicated incidents, leading to the climax.

4. Climax: The conflict reaches a peak, which then leads to a change in the course of events, giving the reader a new understanding of the story either through an event or an insight.

5. Falling action: The conflict gets resolved and the action slows down.

6. Resolution: The conflict ends, leaving the reader fulfilled. 

Plot as a short story element

Often, plots in short stories are simple but end up delivering great suspense, followed by a grand moment of revelation. For this reason alone, the plot was once considered the most important of all the five elements of a short story.

Modern short stories are often focused on the nuances of character and setting, so the plot becomes secondary. However, a plot is the spine of any given narrative, so it still features first in our study of the short story elements!

Your prime goal as a writer of short stories is to blow your readers’ minds — wrench their guts — with the least words possible. An ideal short story is between 5,000–10,000 words in length. You must keep it short and creatively blunt.

Every paragraph, every sentence, and every word should lead the reader closer to the climax. Cut anything that doesn’t serve this purpose. Short stories give you a very small space to work with, so brevity becomes important.

Some techniques to add more kick to your story are creating suspense, foreshadowing, flashback, and a short story staple, the surprise ending.

#2 Character

Your characters are the people, animals, or other figures who appear in your stories. They perform actions and say dialogue to move the story along. Without characters, a story can’t exist.

Depending on how you see it, a character can be classified as either round or flat, dynamic or static, a protagonist or an antagonist . For a short story, well-rounded and dynamic characters will be your strength.

The easiest way to write interesting characters is to make sure that they have a flaw. Always keep in mind that in any story, perfect characters fall flat.

Writing characters for short stories

Be careful that you don’t put too much emphasis on character traits and backstory. Unlike novels, characters in a short story are only glimpsed at, rather than seen in the round.

You may say that characteristics of a short story are abbreviated versions of the same in novels. So, s hort stories will feature only two or three major characters, while novels can boast a dozen!

Short stories can be great character studies, but a good rule of thumb is to focus on dialogue and action.

Make the interaction between the characters dynamic. This includes what they do and say to each other, how they affect and influence each other, and how the effects of their actions keep the story going toward the climax and the subsequent resolution.

Ever felt transported to another world while reading a short story? That’s the work of a writer who can imagine and write a whole other world into being.

This element of a short story is crucial in making it real to the reader. The setting establishes a time, place, and environment in which the characters and events of the story are based.

Aspects of setting:

1. Time: A story is usually set in a time period. This includes the historical time of the story, its specific time frame, and even the time of the day when the events take place.

2. Place: Place is the geographical landscape, real or imaginary, where a particular story unfolds.

3. Environment: The environment of a story can include anything from weather conditions to the social, cultural, and political backdrop to a given story.

For example, Guy de Maupassant’s short story The Necklace takes place during the 19th century in the city of Paris and has the environmental backdrop of class difference in French society.

Like the main conflict of class difference in The Necklace , all other characteristics of a short story derive from its setting. When well-designed, this can also help set up the dominant emotional tone. Of course, it takes a significant amount of research to deliver a setting both beautifully and believably.

#4 Conflict

Conflict is closely linked to the theme of a narrative, as it motivates the characters and affects the plot. It usually surfaces when the protagonist (main character) faces an obstacle or hardship. Conflict forms “the heartbeat of a story”, so your story needs to have a defining conflict to impact the reader’s mind.

There are two main types of conflict: internal conflict and external conflict.

Types of conflict

1. Internal conflict is a person’s struggle with themselves. It takes place inside the psyche of a character, such as Hamlet’s conflicted state of mind about how to take revenge for his father’s murder.

2. External conflict takes place between different people or groups of people. It is possible to further divide this type of conflict based on who or what the protagonist(s) are struggling against. For example, the conflict in A G ame of Thrones is between kingdoms, but also between people and the supernatural elements of the fantasy world.

Regardless of the type of conflict you choose, making it believable will hold the reader’s attention. Various literary devices like mystery, causality, empathy, surprise, insight, universality, or simply high stakes for the character, all add a different dimension of conflict to the plot. Conflict drives your story and makes it interesting.

A theme is what children would call the moral of the story. It can be the subject of the story, or an idea that runs through it, or simply the message that is conveyed from the writer to the reader through the short story. The writer can use all the other characteristics of a short story to best articulate their theme into words.

A well-told story, the kind which gets published or made into a film, explains itself. For example, while reading O. Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi , you can easily understand that the story is about the value of love and sacrifice. In this way, theme is implied rather than stated explicitly, and it is up to the writer’s skill to best convey it through their writing.

For a short story, it is usually best to decide on a single, resonant theme and then build around it. This helps maintain brevity in your story and helps you grasp the reader’s attention.

Now that you know how to craft a brilliant short story, you can experiment and create memorable masterpieces. The next step after writing stories is to edit them. If editing is not your strength, you can consider taking our story editing services .

Here are some related articles that you might find interesting:

• Writing Contests 2023: Cash Prizes, Free Entries, & More!
• How to Write Dialogue: 7 Rules, 5 Tips & 65 Examples
• How to Write a Conclusion for an Essay (Examples Included!
• How to Write a Short Story: 6 Steps & Examples

Found this article helpful?

11 comments on “ 5 Elements of a Short Story & 6 Stages of a Plot ”

hi, thanks for this useful information on the elements of a story.

A good one. I am a teacher of English, and this is quite informative…

Hi, this article on short story elements is very informative. Thanks!

Wow, it’s amazing how you organize the ideas. It’s quite simple and clear. Thank you.

How amazing! This is simple and quite clear.

Helped a lot !

It’s wonderful for all

Your information is very useful. Thank you

thank you so much…. the explanation makes me easy to teach creative writing.

Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Your vs. You’re: When to Use Your and You’re

Your organization needs a technical editor: here’s why.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get carefully curated resources about writing, editing, and publishing in the comfort of your inbox.

How to Copyright Your Book?

If you’ve thought about copyrighting your book, you’re on the right path.

© 2024 All rights reserved

• Terms of service
• Privacy policy
• Partner with us
• Annual report
• Website content
• Marketing material
• Job Applicant
• Cover letter
• Resource Center
• Case studies

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

Taught by: Laura Mae Isaacman

So, you've decided to write a short story ! Many a published author got their starts from publishing short stories. It's the perfect medium for so many authors: succinct, clear, character-driven, and brief. Compared to the giant novel, it makes sense to say that a short story is easy to write and publish... right?

False. The art of a great short story requires a different set of writing skills altogether. And in this 10-part course, you'll not only find out what exactly those are—but also how to put them to good use while submitting to short story magazines.

Brought to you by:

Find out more on Laura’s Reedsy profile .

10-day writing and publishing courses

Learn in quick five-minute lessons

Lessons are sent to your inbox each morning

Continue learning

People who enjoyed this course also looked at the following:

Novel Writing 101

So you want to write a novel? In this 10-part course, novelist and ghostwriter Tom Bromley will show you how to plan and write your book.

Taught by Tom Bromley

Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine

This 10-part course will reveal researched-backed, actionable tips to help you face down your procrastination gremlins and find a solid writing routine.

Taught by Prolifiko

How to Write a Business Book

So you want to write a business book? In this free 10-part course, publishing partner Alison Jones will show you how to structure and write your book.

Taught by Alison Jones

How to Turn Your Cookbook Idea into a Reality

Bring your cookbook to life in this free course from Laura Gladwin, the editor behind books by Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adrià and Rene Redzepi.

Taught by Laura Gladwin

The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction

This free Reedsy Learning course explains the mistakes to avoid, the questions to ask yourself, and how to stay motivated when writing non-fiction.

Taught by Azul Terronez

The Ten Commandments of Writing YA Novels

Editor Kate Angelella reveals her 10 Commandments for Writing Young Adult fiction in this free course from Reedsy Learning.

Taught by Kate Angelella

NEW VIDEO COURSE

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing masterclass and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Short Story (Ultimate Guide + Templates)

Writing a short story is like crafting a tiny universe—every word counts. Over the past 20+ years, I’ve penned dozens of tales, each a unique journey.

Here’s a quick answer to how to write a short story:

Write a short story by sparking an idea, outlining your plot, creating characters, setting the scene, and building conflict. Use dialogue for character depth, choose a consistent POV, and end with a satisfying resolution. Keep your prose clear, concise, and engaging.

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know — with examples!

What Is a Short Story?

Table of Contents

A short story is a brief narrative that typically focuses on a single plot, character, or theme. Unlike novels, short stories aim to deliver a powerful punch in a limited number of words.

They range from a few hundred to several thousand words, making them perfect for readers with limited time.

Key Features of a Short Story:

• Brevity: Short stories are concise, packing a lot of meaning into fewer words.
• Single Plot: They revolve around one main plot, unlike novels which can have multiple subplots.
• Limited Characters: Usually, there are fewer characters, allowing for deeper development within a short span.
• Focused Theme: They often explore a single theme or idea, providing a focused narrative.

Elements of a Short Story

Every great short story contains several essential elements.

These components work together to create a compelling narrative that engages readers from start to finish.

The plot is the backbone of your story. It’s the sequence of events that unfold, driving the narrative forward.

A strong plot will have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Focus on creating a narrative arc that builds tension and leads to a satisfying resolution. Think about what your characters want and what obstacles stand in their way.

Characters are the heart of your story.

They should be well-developed and relatable, even in a short format. Your protagonist should face challenges that drive the plot forward. Give your characters distinct voices and personalities to make them memorable. Remember, even minor characters can have a significant impact on the story.

The setting establishes the time and place of your story. It provides context and can greatly influence the mood and atmosphere.

Use vivid descriptions to paint a picture for your readers, making them feel immersed in the story. The setting can also reflect the internal state of your characters, adding depth to your narrative.

Conflict is what makes your story interesting. It can be internal (inside a character) or external (outside characters, with other characters, or even forces).

Without conflict, there’s no story. Identify the main conflict early and build your plot around it.

The resolution of the conflict should lead to character development or a change in the situation.

The theme is the underlying message or insight your story conveys.

It’s what readers take away from your narrative. Consider what you want your readers to learn or feel after reading your story. A strong theme will resonate and give your story a deeper meaning beyond the surface events.

Point of View (POV)

The POV determines from whose perspective the story is told. First person, second person, or third person—all offer different advantages and limitations. Choose the POV that best fits the story you want to tell.

Consistency in POV is crucial to avoid confusing your readers.

Dialogue brings your characters to life.

It should sound natural and reveal something about the characters or plot. Use dialogue to show rather than tell, letting characters’ words and interactions convey their personalities and emotions.

Be mindful of pacing—dialogue can speed up or slow down the narrative.

Your writing style is your unique voice. It includes word choice, sentence structure, and overall tone.

It’s what makes your writing distinctive.

Experiment with different styles to find what works best for you and your story. A consistent style helps create a cohesive and engaging narrative.

How to Write a Short Story (Blockbuster Blueprint)

Crafting a short story is a thrilling adventure, and with the right blueprint, you can create a compelling narrative that captivates readers.

Here’s your high-level overview for how to write a short story, from idea to final draft.

1. Spark the Idea (Idea Ignition)

Every story begins with a spark of inspiration. This could be a striking image, an intriguing character, or a compelling situation. Keep a journal to jot down ideas whenever they strike. Remember, the best ideas often come from the most unexpected places.

2. Frame the Blueprint (Plot Planning)

Once you have your idea, it’s time to outline your plot.

Think of this as designing the blueprint of your story. Outline the key events and structure them into a clear beginning, middle, and end. Use a plot diagram to visualize the rise and fall of action, ensuring your story has a satisfying arc.

3. Character Crafting (Hero Forge)

Characters are the heart of your story. Develop your protagonist and other key players with detailed profiles. What are their desires, fears, and motivations? Crafting multidimensional characters will make your story more relatable and engaging.

4. World Building (Setting the Stage)

Set the scene for your story. Whether it’s a bustling city, a quiet village, or an alien planet, your setting should be vivid and immersive. Use sensory details to transport your readers to the world you’ve created. The setting should complement and enhance the narrative.

5. Conflict Creation (Trouble Brewing)

Conflict is the engine of your story. It drives the plot and challenges your characters. Identify the central conflict early on and develop it throughout the story. This could be an internal struggle, a clash between characters, or an external obstacle.

6. Theme Weaving (Message in a Bottle)

Every great story has a deeper message. Determine the theme of your story—what do you want your readers to take away from it? Weave this theme subtly into your narrative, so it resonates without overshadowing the plot.

7. POV Selection (Narrative Lens)

Choose the perspective from which to tell your story. First person, second person, or third person—each offers different advantages. The POV will shape how readers connect with your characters and perceive the events.

8. Dialogue Design (Chatterbox)

Dialogue breathes life into your characters. Craft conversations that sound natural and reveal character traits and plot points. Good dialogue moves the story forward and provides insight into your characters’ minds.

9. Descriptive Detailing (Paint the Picture)

Use descriptive language to create vivid images in your readers’ minds. Focus on sensory details to make scenes come alive. Balanced description adds depth to your narrative without overwhelming the reader.

10. Scene Crafting (Moment Makers)

Identify and write the key scenes that form the backbone of your story. Each scene should have a purpose, whether it’s to advance the plot, develop characters, or highlight the theme. Ensure that every scene is engaging and drives the story forward.

11. The Grand Opening (First Impressions)

Your story’s beginning sets the tone and hooks your readers. Start with a compelling scene or intriguing line that draws readers in. Establish your setting, characters, and conflict early to build interest.

12. The Big Finish (Closing Curtain)

A strong ending leaves a lasting impression. Wrap up your plot and resolve the central conflict. The ending should be satisfying and resonate with the theme of your story.

13. Perfecting the Length (Word Count Wizardry)

Short stories have limited word count, so every word must count. Aim for conciseness and clarity. Edit ruthlessly to trim unnecessary words and tighten your prose.

14. Polishing the Draft (Final Flourish)

The final step is revising and editing. Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Refine your language and ensure consistency in tone and style. A polished draft elevates your story from good to great.

This blueprint sets the stage for a captivating short story. Next, we’ll dive deeper into each step, exploring techniques and tips to help you master the art of short story writing.

Watch this good video about how to write a short story:

Short Story Structure (5 Creative Templates/Story Beats)

Structuring your short story is crucial to maintaining reader engagement.

Here are five creative templates to help you organize your narrative effectively:

1. The Classic Three-Act Structure

Act 1: Setup – Introduce your characters, setting, and central conflict. Hook the reader with an intriguing opening.

Act 2: Confrontation – Develop the conflict and build tension. Your protagonist faces challenges and obstacles.

Act 3: Resolution – Resolve the conflict and wrap up loose ends. Provide a satisfying conclusion that resonates with the theme.

2. The Hero’s Journey

• The Ordinary World – Establish the protagonist’s normal life.
• The Call to Adventure – Something disrupts the status quo, prompting action.
• Crossing the Threshold – The protagonist enters a new, unknown world.
• Trials and Tribulations – The hero faces tests and gains allies.
• The Climax – The protagonist confronts the greatest challenge.
• The Return – The hero returns transformed, bringing newfound wisdom or change.

3. In Medias Res

• Begin in the Middle – Start your story in the midst of action, grabbing the reader’s attention.
• Flashback – Gradually reveal the events leading up to the present situation.
• Climax – Reach the story’s peak conflict.
• Resolution – Conclude by addressing the fallout and tying up loose ends.

4. The Kishōtenketsu Structure

• Introduction (Ki) – Introduce characters and setting without conflict.
• Development (Shō) – Develop the situation, showing normal life.
• Twist (Ten) – Introduce an unexpected twist or turn of events.
• Conclusion (Ketsu) – Resolve the twist, bringing the story to a satisfying close.

5. The Fichtean Curve

• Inciting Incident – Start with a conflict that propels the story.
• Rising Action – Build tension through a series of complications and crises.
• Climax – Reach the highest point of tension and conflict.
• Falling Action – Address the aftermath of the climax, resolving conflicts.
• Denouement – Tie up loose ends, providing closure for the reader.

These templates provide flexible frameworks for structuring your short story, ensuring a coherent and engaging narrative flow.

Checklist for Writing a Short Story (Based on The Fichtean Curve)

How to Come Up With Good Ideas for Short Stories

Generating ideas for short stories can be challenging, but with the right techniques, inspiration can strike at any moment.

Here are some methods to spark your creativity:

1. Observe the World Around You

Pay attention to your surroundings. Everyday situations and interactions can inspire compelling stories. Eavesdrop on conversations, notice peculiar behaviors, and observe how people react to different situations.

2. Tap into Personal Experiences

Reflect on your own life experiences. Personal anecdotes, memories, and emotions can provide a rich foundation for your stories. Authenticity often resonates with readers, making your stories more relatable.

3. Use Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are excellent tools for kickstarting your creativity. They provide a starting point and can lead to unexpected and exciting storylines. Challenge yourself with prompts that push you out of your comfort zone.

4. Explore “What If” Scenarios

Ask yourself “what if” questions to explore different possibilities. What if a character had a unique ability? What if a mundane event took a surprising turn? This approach can lead to imaginative and original stories.

5. Draw from Myths and Folklore

Myths, legends, and folklore are treasure troves of story ideas. Adapt and modernize these timeless tales, or use them as inspiration for your own unique narratives. This can add depth and universality to your stories.

6. Combine Genres

Mixing genres can create fresh and exciting stories. Combine elements of science fiction with romance, or blend mystery with fantasy. Genre mash-ups can lead to innovative and intriguing plots.

7. Freewriting

Set a timer and write continuously for a set period without worrying about grammar or coherence. Freewriting can help unlock hidden ideas and break through writer’s block. Let your thoughts flow and see where they take you.

8. Engage in Creative Activities

Engage in activities that stimulate your creativity, such as drawing, music, or even taking a walk. These activities can help clear your mind and make space for new ideas to emerge.

9. Read Widely

Read a variety of genres, authors, and styles. Exposure to different voices and perspectives can inspire new ideas and approaches to storytelling. Take note of what resonates with you and why.

10. Collaborate with Others

Discuss story ideas with friends, join writing groups, or participate in workshops. Collaboration can provide fresh perspectives and spark new ideas. Feedback from others can also help refine your concepts.

How to Write a Short Story Title

Crafting a short story title is a crucial step in the writing process.

A compelling title can grab a reader’s attention, hint at the story’s content, and set the tone for the narrative. Here’s how to write a short story title that stands out:

1. Reflect the Theme

Your title should encapsulate the essence of your story. Reflect on the central theme or message and try to convey it succinctly. For example, if your story explores the theme of sacrifice, a title like “The Price of Love” might resonate.

A thematic title gives readers a hint of what to expect and sets the stage for the narrative.

2. Evoke Emotion

A good title evokes an emotional response.

Think about the emotions you want your readers to feel and choose words that trigger those feelings. Titles like “Silent Tears” or “The Last Goodbye” immediately evoke a sense of melancholy or loss. Emotional resonance can make your title memorable and intriguing.

3. Be Specific and Unique

Avoid generic titles that could apply to any story.

Specificity adds uniqueness and intrigue. Instead of a broad title like “Adventure,” opt for something more detailed like “The Forgotten Temple.” This specificity not only piques interest but also gives a clearer indication of the story’s content.

4. Use Literary Devices

Incorporate literary devices such as alliteration, metaphors, or irony to add flair to your title.

Titles like “Whispers in the Wind” use alliteration to create a poetic rhythm, while “A Bitter Sweet Symphony” employs irony and juxtaposition. These techniques can make your title more engaging and memorable.

5. Keep It Short and Sweet

While it’s important to be descriptive, brevity is also key.

Aim for a title that is concise yet impactful. Long titles can be cumbersome and difficult to remember. Short, punchy titles like “Gone” or “Echoes” are often more effective.

6. Test Different Options

Don’t settle on the first title that comes to mind. Create a list of potential titles and test them out.

Share them with friends or writing groups to get feedback. Sometimes, an outside perspective can highlight the strengths or weaknesses of a title you might have overlooked.

7. Consider Your Audience

Think about who your readers are and what might appeal to them.

A title that works for a sci-fi audience might not be as effective for romance readers. Tailoring your title to your target audience can increase its appeal and relevance.

How to Craft a Short Story Outline

An outline is a roadmap for your short story.

It helps organize your thoughts, ensures a logical flow, and keeps you on track. Here’s how to write a short story outline that is comprehensive and compelling:

1. Start with a Summary

Begin with a brief summary of your story. This doesn’t have to be detailed, but it should capture the essence of the plot. Summarize the main conflict, key events, and the resolution. This overview will guide you as you flesh out the details.

2. Define Your Characters

Create profiles for your main characters. Include their names, physical descriptions, motivations, and key personality traits. Understanding your characters deeply will help you write consistent and believable interactions.

Consider how each character’s goals and conflicts will drive the story forward.

3. Establish the Setting

Outline the key settings of your story. Describe the time and place where your story unfolds. Consider how the setting influences the mood and tone. Details about the environment can also provide context for your characters’ actions and interactions.

4. Plot the Major Events

Identify the major events that form the backbone of your story.

Break down the plot into key scenes or chapters. Each event should build on the previous one, leading to the climax. Ensure that there’s a logical progression and that each event serves a purpose in advancing the plot or developing characters.

5. Develop the Conflict

Clearly define the central conflict of your story. This is the driving force behind the plot and what keeps readers engaged.

Outline how the conflict is introduced, escalated, and ultimately resolved.

Consider both external conflicts (between characters or forces) and internal conflicts (within a character).

6. Plan the Climax

The climax is the peak of your story’s tension. Outline the events leading up to the climax and detail how it unfolds. This is where the main conflict reaches its highest point. Ensure that the climax is impactful and provides a turning point in the narrative.

7. Outline the Resolution

Plan how you will resolve the conflict and wrap up the story. This doesn’t mean everything has to end neatly, but there should be a sense of closure. Detail the aftermath of the climax and how the characters and setting have changed.

8. Review and Adjust

Once you’ve completed your outline, review it for coherence and flow.

Make adjustments as needed to ensure a logical progression and that each element serves the story. An outline is a flexible tool—don’t be afraid to revise it as your story evolves.

How to Create an Original Premise for a Short Story

An original premise is the foundation of a compelling short story.

It’s what sets your story apart and grabs the reader’s attention. Here’s how to develop a unique and engaging premise that includes character, setting, conflict, consequences, and a ticking clock.

1. Start with a Question

Begin by asking a thought-provoking question that combines character, setting, and conflict.

For example, “What if a reclusive inventor living in a floating city discovers a plot to sink the entire city within 24 hours?”

This question sets up a character (reclusive inventor), a setting (floating city), a conflict (plot to sink the city), consequences (destruction of the city), and a ticking clock (24 hours).

2. Combine Familiar Elements in New Ways

Take elements from different genres or known stories and combine them in unexpected ways, ensuring you include all key components.

For instance, imagine a young botanist (character) on a desert planet (setting) who finds a rare plant that could save the dying ecosystem but only has three days to replicate its conditions (conflict and ticking clock).

The consequence is the planet’s survival or demise.

3. Draw from Real Life

Real-life events, experiences, and news stories can inspire original premises.

Look for interesting or unusual occurrences in the world around you and weave them into a complete premise.

For example, a journalist (character) in a war-torn country (setting) discovers a conspiracy that could end the war but only has 48 hours before their source is compromised (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

4. Focus on a Unique Character

Develop a character with unique traits, backgrounds, or abilities and create a premise around their journey.

Ensure the setting, conflict, and ticking clock are included.

For instance, a deaf musician (character) in a future metropolis (setting) uncovers a government plan to control citizens’ minds and must stop it before the next full moon (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

5. Explore Universal Themes with a Twist

Identify universal themes such as love, loss, or betrayal and explore them in a novel way, integrating all key components.

For example, a betrayed scientist (character) in a secret underwater lab (setting) has to find an antidote to a deadly virus released by their former partner before it spreads to the surface world in 48 hours (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

6. Use Setting as a Catalyst

Sometimes, a unique setting can be the basis for an original premise that includes character, conflict, consequences, and a ticking clock. Imagine a premise like this: a hacker (character) in a cyberpunk city (setting) discovers an AI plan to eradicate human governance and has 72 hours to stop it (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

7. Experiment with Genre

Play with different genres to find a unique angle, making sure to include all essential components.

Consider a supernatural premise: a ghost hunter (character) in a haunted Victorian mansion (setting) must exorcise a vengeful spirit before midnight on Halloween to save a trapped soul (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

8. Reflect on Personal Passions and Interests

Draw inspiration from your own passions and interests, and incorporate character, setting, conflict, consequences, and a ticking clock.

For example, if you’re passionate about space, create a story about an astronaut (character) on a distant planet (setting) who must repair their damaged ship before the planet’s deadly storm cycle begins in 24 hours (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

9. Brainstorm and Freewrite

Set aside time for brainstorming sessions that include all key elements.

Write down every idea, no matter how outlandish it seems.

For instance, a premise like a time-traveling historian (character) in medieval Europe (setting) who must prevent a critical assassination within 48 hours to save future timelines (conflict, consequences, and ticking clock).

10. Test and Refine

Once you have a few potential premises, test them out by ensuring they include character, setting, conflict, consequences, and a ticking clock.

Write a short summary or pitch for each idea and see how they hold up.

Refine your favorite ideas, adding depth and detail until you have a solid and original premise.

Creating an original premise is about combining creativity with curiosity.

By ensuring you include all essential components—character, setting, conflict, consequences, and a ticking clock—you can develop a foundation for a story that stands out and captivates readers.

How to Write the Setting in a Short Story

The setting of your short story provides the backdrop against which your narrative unfolds.

It’s more than just a physical location—it’s the atmosphere, the time period, and the world your characters inhabit.

Here’s how to craft a vivid and immersive setting:

1. Use Sensory Details

Engage all five senses to create a rich and immersive setting.

Don’t just describe what the place looks like—include sounds, smells, textures, and even tastes.

For example, if your story is set in a bustling market, describe the vibrant colors of the stalls, the cacophony of voices, the scent of spices in the air, the rough texture of wooden crates, and the taste of freshly baked bread samples.

2. Integrate the Setting with the Plot

The setting should influence the events of your story.

Use it to create obstacles or opportunities for your characters. For instance, a story set in a snowbound cabin might revolve around the characters’ struggle to survive and find warmth.

The setting becomes an active participant in the narrative, shaping the plot and the characters’ actions.

3. Reflect the Characters’ Emotions

Use the setting to mirror or contrast with the characters’ emotional states.

A character going through a turbulent time might find themselves in a stormy landscape, while a serene character might be surrounded by calm and peaceful scenery.

This technique can subtly enhance the emotional impact of your story.

4. Show the Passage of Time

Use the setting to indicate changes over time.

This can be done through the progression of seasons, changes in weather, or the transformation of a place.

For example, describing a garden blooming in spring and withering in autumn can symbolize the growth and decay of a relationship within your story.

5. Incorporate Historical and Cultural Context

If your story is set in a specific historical period or culture, include details that accurately reflect that context.

Research historical events, social norms, and cultural practices to add authenticity.

For example, a story set in Victorian England might include details about the fashion, architecture, and social etiquette of the time.

6. Use Unique and Unexpected Settings

Choose settings that are unique or have an unexpected twist.

Instead of a generic small town, place your story in a floating city or an underground labyrinth. Unique settings can make your story stand out and provide fresh challenges and opportunities for your characters.

7. Create a Map

For more complex settings, especially in fantasy or science fiction stories, creating a map can help you visualize and consistently describe the geography of your world.

A map can also provide inspiration for plot developments based on the terrain and locations within your setting.

If your short story is set in a haunted house, you might describe the creaky wooden floors that echo with every step, the musty smell of old furniture, the flickering candlelight casting eerie shadows, the cold drafts that make characters shiver, and the taste of dust in the air.

These details immerse the reader and make the setting come alive.

How to Build Short Story Characters

Characters are the driving force of your short story.

Well-developed characters can transform a simple plot into a compelling narrative. Here’s how to build memorable and engaging characters.

1. Develop Detailed Backgrounds

Even if you don’t include all the details in your story, knowing your characters’ backgrounds helps you write them more convincingly.

Consider their past experiences, family, education, and personal history. For example, a character who grew up in a strict household might have a different worldview than one who was raised with more freedom.

2. Define Clear Goals and Motivations

Understand what drives your characters.

What are their desires, fears, and goals? Clear motivations make characters’ actions more believable and their struggles more engaging. For instance, a character motivated by revenge will behave differently from one driven by love or ambition.

3. Create Flaws and Strengths

Nobody is perfect, and your characters shouldn’t be either.

Give them a mix of strengths and flaws to make them more relatable and realistic. A character who is brave but impulsive, or intelligent but socially awkward, can create interesting dynamics and conflicts.

4. Show Growth and Change

Characters should evolve throughout the story. They might learn from their experiences, overcome their flaws, or change their goals.

This growth can be a key part of your narrative arc.

For example, a selfish character might learn the value of empathy and selflessness by the end of the story.

5. Use Dialogue to Reveal Character

Dialogue is a powerful tool for character development.

How your characters speak— their tone, vocabulary, and speech patterns—can reveal a lot about their personality, background, and emotional state.

A character who uses formal language might be educated or reserved, while one with slang might be more casual or rebellious.

6. Show, Don’t Tell

Instead of directly stating a character’s traits, show them through actions and interactions. Rather than saying “John was brave,” show John stepping into a dangerous situation to help someone. This makes your characters’ traits more vivid and believable.

7. Create Conflicts and Relationships

Characters’ interactions with others can reveal their traits and create tension. Develop relationships—friendships, rivalries, romances—that add depth to your characters. Conflicts can arise from these relationships, driving the plot forward.

8. Give Them Unique Physical Traits and Habits

Distinctive physical features and habits can make characters more memorable.

A character might have a noticeable scar, a unique fashion sense, or a quirky habit like always carrying a notebook. These details add layers to their personality.

Consider a character named Maria, who is a dedicated scientist (strength) but is socially awkward (flaw). Her motivation is to discover a cure for a rare disease that affected her family (background and goal). Throughout the story, Maria learns to collaborate with others (growth), revealed through her hesitant yet determined dialogues and interactions.

How to Choose the POV for a Short Story

The point of view (POV) from which you tell your story can significantly impact how readers perceive and engage with it.

Here’s how to choose the best POV for your short story.

1. Understand the Types of POV

• First Person: The story is narrated by a character within the story, using “I” or “we.” This point of view lets us see what the narrator is thinking and feeling.
• Second Person: The narrator addresses the reader as “you,” making the reader a character in the story. This POV is less common but can create an immersive experience.
• Third Person Limited: The narrator is outside the story but focuses on the thoughts and experiences of a single character, using “he,” “she,” or “they.”
• Third Person Omniscient: The narrator knows everything about all the characters and events, providing a broad perspective.

2. Consider Your Story’s Needs

Think about what your story requires.

Do you need to delve deeply into one character’s mind, or do you want to show multiple perspectives?

A first-person POV can create a deep connection with the protagonist, while third person omniscient allows for a broader view of the world and multiple characters.

3. Match POV to Character Development

If character development is a key focus, a first person or third person limited POV might be more effective.

These POVs allow readers to closely follow a character’s internal journey and growth. For instance, a story about a personal transformation might benefit from first-person narration.

4. Consider the Level of Intimacy

Decide how close you want the reader to feel to the characters.

First person and second person POVs offer high intimacy, making readers feel like they are experiencing the events themselves. Third person limited offers moderate intimacy, while third person omniscient provides a more detached view.

5. Reflect on the Story’s Tone

The POV can influence the tone of your story.

First person can create a conversational and immediate tone, while third person can be more formal or distant.

Second person can add a unique, immersive tone, making readers feel directly involved.

6. Test Different POVs

Write a few scenes from your story using different POVs to see which feels most natural and effective. Sometimes, switching the POV can reveal new aspects of the story and characters that you hadn’t considered.

7. Think About Narrative Reliability

Consider whether you want your narrator to be reliable or unreliable.

First person narrators can be unreliable, adding layers of complexity and intrigue. An unreliable narrator might have biases, incomplete information, or personal motivations that color their narration.

8. Use POV Shifts Carefully

If you decide to use multiple POVs, ensure that shifts are clear and purposeful.

Each POV should add something unique to the story. Avoid confusing readers by clearly indicating whose perspective is being presented at any given time.

In a story about a detective solving a mystery, a first person POV can provide a deep dive into the detective’s thought process and personal stakes.

Alternatively, a third person omniscient POV can show the actions and thoughts of multiple characters, including suspects, creating a broader, more intricate web of suspense.

How to Write Short Story Dialogue

Dialogue is a powerful tool in short stories.

It brings characters to life, reveals their personalities, and advances the plot. Writing effective dialogue involves crafting realistic speech and using internal dialogue to deepen character development.

Let’s explore how to master short story dialogue.

1. Make It Realistic and Natural

Dialogue should sound like real speech but with purpose.

People often speak in fragments, use contractions, and interrupt each other. Mimic these patterns to make your dialogue more natural. Avoid overly formal or grammatically perfect speech unless it fits the character.

Tip: Read your dialogue out loud. If it sounds unnatural or stiff, revise it to sound more like everyday conversation.

2. Keep It Concise

In a short story, every word counts. Dialogue should be concise and to the point.

Avoid long-winded speeches or unnecessary small talk.

Each line of dialogue should either reveal something about the character or advance the plot.

Example: Instead of: “I was thinking that maybe we should consider going to the store because we’re out of milk and I noticed that you prefer having milk with your breakfast.” Use: “We’re out of milk. Let’s go to the store.”

3. Show Character Through Dialogue

Let your characters’ speech reveal their personalities, backgrounds, and relationships.

Different characters should have distinct voices, reflecting their unique traits and experiences. Pay attention to word choice, tone, and rhythm.

Example: A professor might say, “Indeed, the hypothesis was confirmed.” A teenager might say, “Yeah, totally nailed it.”

4. Use Subtext

Subtext is what characters mean but don’t say directly.

It adds depth and tension to dialogue. Characters might say one thing but mean another, revealing their true feelings or intentions subtly.

Example: Character A: “Nice job on the project.” Character B: “Thanks, considering the short deadline.”

5. Integrate Internal Dialogue

Internal dialogue reveals a character’s thoughts and emotions.

Use it to show their inner conflicts, doubts, and motivations. It can provide insight into their true feelings, especially when they’re not being honest in their speech.

Example: John said, “I’m fine.” Internally, he thought, “I’m falling apart, but I can’t let them see it.”

6. Use Dialogue Tags Sparingly

Dialogue tags (he said, she asked) are necessary to clarify who is speaking but should be used sparingly.

Overusing them can clutter your dialogue. Instead, use action beats to show who is speaking and add context.

Example: “Are you coming?” Jane asked. She glanced at her watch, tapping her foot impatiently. “Give me a minute,” Tom replied, tying his shoes.

7. Break Up Dialogue with Action

Avoid long blocks of dialogue.

Break it up with actions, descriptions, or internal thoughts to keep the narrative dynamic and engaging.

This also helps to set the scene and show characters’ emotions and reactions.

Example: “Do you think we’ll make it?” Sarah asked, looking out the window at the storm. “I hope so,” Mark said, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

How to Write Short Story Description

Description is essential in short stories for setting the scene, creating atmosphere, and developing characters.

Effective description balances narrative detail with action, making the story vivid without slowing the pace.

1. Use Vivid and Specific Details

Instead of general descriptions, use specific details to create a clear and vivid picture.

This helps readers visualize the scene and makes the setting and characters more memorable.

Example: General: The garden was beautiful. Specific: The garden was a riot of colors, with tulips, daffodils, and roses blooming in vibrant hues, their sweet scent mingling in the air.

2. Show, Don’t Tell

Show readers what’s happening through descriptive action rather than just telling them.

This technique makes the story more engaging and immersive.

Example: Telling: John was nervous. Showing: John’s hands trembled as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, his heart pounding in his chest.

3. Balance Narrative Description and Action

Too much narrative description can slow down your story. Balance it with action to keep the pace dynamic.

Use description to enhance action scenes and to provide context and atmosphere.

Example: Narrative: The abandoned house stood at the end of the street, its windows boarded up, and the paint peeling from the walls. Action: As they approached the abandoned house, Tim’s flashlight flickered over the boarded-up windows and the peeling paint, casting eerie shadows.

4. Use All Five Senses

Engage all five senses to create a rich and immersive experience.

Describe not only what characters see but also what they hear, smell, taste, and feel. Sensory details make the story more vivid and realistic.

Example: She entered the bakery, the warm scent of fresh bread and pastries enveloping her. The sound of clinking utensils and soft chatter filled the air as she brushed past the rough wooden counter.

5. Create Atmosphere and Mood

Description sets the tone and mood of your story. Use it to create atmosphere and evoke emotions.

The choice of words and details can make a setting feel eerie, joyful, tense, or peaceful.

Example: The forest was silent, the only sound the crunch of leaves underfoot. A thick fog curled around the trees, casting ghostly shapes in the dim light, sending a shiver down her spine.

6. Use Metaphors and Similes

Metaphors and similes can add depth and creativity to your descriptions.

They help readers understand and visualize the scene more vividly by comparing it to something familiar.

Example: The sun set like a fiery ball sinking into the ocean, painting the sky with shades of orange and pink.

7. Avoid Overloading with Adjectives

While adjectives are important, overloading your sentences with them can make your writing feel cluttered.

Choose the most impactful adjectives and use them sparingly for greater effect.

Example: Instead of: The old, creaky, dark, and dusty house stood ominously at the end of the long, narrow, deserted road. Use: The creaky, dusty house stood ominously at the end of the deserted road.

5 Pivotal Short Story Scenes

Certain scenes are pivotal in a short story, driving the plot and character development.

Here are five essential scenes, why they’re important, and how to write them.

1. The Inciting Incident

What it is: The event that sets the story in motion and disrupts the protagonist’s normal life.

Why it’s important: It introduces the central conflict and hooks the reader’s interest.

How to write it:

• Start with a bang—make it surprising or dramatic.
• Clearly show how this event changes the protagonist’s situation.
• Ensure it leads directly to the main plot of the story.

Example: A detective receives a mysterious letter hinting at a hidden treasure, launching a high-stakes adventure.

2. The Turning Point

What it is: A moment of significant change or decision that alters the course of the story.

Why it’s important: It deepens the conflict and propels the story towards the climax.

• Build tension leading up to this moment.
• Show the protagonist facing a difficult choice or discovering crucial information.
• Ensure the consequences of this moment are clear and impactful.

Example: The protagonist discovers a trusted friend is actually the antagonist, forcing them to rethink their strategy.

3. The Climax

What it is: The most intense and exciting part of the story, where the main conflict reaches its peak.

Why it’s important: It’s the turning point of the narrative and provides the emotional high point.

• Increase the stakes and tension.
• Focus on the protagonist’s actions and decisions.
• Make it clear that this is the decisive moment for resolving the conflict.

Example: In a sci-fi story, the protagonist confronts the alien invaders in a final battle to save humanity.

4. The Falling Action

What it is: The events that follow the climax and start to resolve the story’s conflicts.

Why it’s important: It provides a transition from the climax to the resolution, showing the aftermath and consequences.

• Show the immediate effects of the climax.
• Tie up loose ends and address remaining subplots.
• Prepare the reader for the story’s conclusion.

Example: After defeating the antagonist, the protagonist helps rebuild their community and reconcile with their friends.

5. The Resolution

What it is: The final part of the story where the conflict is resolved, and the story concludes.

Why it’s important: It provides closure and leaves the reader with a final impression.

• Ensure all major conflicts and questions are resolved.
• Reflect on the protagonist’s journey and growth.
• End with a strong, memorable line or image.

Example: The protagonist stands on a hill, looking out at the sunrise, hopeful for the future after overcoming their challenges.

How to Write the Beginning of a Short Story

The beginning of your short story is crucial—it sets the tone, introduces key elements, and hooks the reader.

Here’s how to craft an engaging opening.

1. Start with a Hook

Grab your reader’s attention from the first sentence. An intriguing or dramatic opening line can create immediate interest. Think of it as a promise to the reader that something exciting or important is about to happen.

Example: Instead of: “It was a sunny day in the city.” Use: “By the time John heard the explosion, it was already too late.”

2. Introduce the Main Character

Introduce your protagonist early on, providing just enough detail to make them interesting and relatable.

Readers should quickly understand who the story is about and begin to form a connection with the character.

Tip: Focus on a distinctive trait, action, or piece of dialogue to introduce your character memorably.

3. Set the Scene

Establish the setting to ground your readers in the story’s world.

Use vivid, sensory details to create a clear picture of the time and place. The setting should enhance the mood and give context to the unfolding events.

Example: “The alley reeked of stale beer and rotting food, dimly lit by a flickering streetlamp. Shadows danced on the graffiti-covered walls as Sam hurried through the narrow passage.”

4. Introduce the Conflict

Hint at or introduce the central conflict early on.

This sets the stage for the story’s main plot and engages readers by presenting a problem or tension that needs resolution.

Example: “Sara’s heart sank when she read the eviction notice—she had just seven days to come up with the money or lose her home.”

5. Use Active and Engaging Language

Choose strong, active verbs and vivid descriptions to make your writing dynamic and engaging.

Avoid passive constructions and unnecessary exposition.

Your goal is to draw readers in and make them want to keep reading.

Example: Instead of: “The car was driven by Mark.” Use: “Mark sped down the highway, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.”

6. Create a Sense of Urgency or Curiosity

Give readers a reason to keep turning the pages.

This can be a sense of urgency, curiosity, or suspense. Pose a question, introduce a mystery, or present an immediate challenge that compels the reader to find out what happens next.

Example: “Emily knew she shouldn’t open the door, but the knocking wouldn’t stop.”

7. Establish the Tone and Style

The beginning of your story should establish the tone and style that will carry through the rest of the narrative.

Whether it’s dark and suspenseful, light-hearted and humorous, or somber and reflective, make sure the tone is consistent from the start.

Example: For a humorous story: “Kevin’s day went from bad to worse when he accidentally sent his boss a picture of his cat wearing a party hat.”

How to Write the End of a Short Story

How your story ends is just as important as how it begins.

It provides closure and leaves a lasting impression on the reader. Below, I’ve shared some tips on how to write a short story

1. Resolve the Main Conflict

Ensure that the primary conflict introduced in the story is resolved. The resolution doesn’t have to be happy, but it should be satisfying and logical based on the story’s events.

This gives the narrative a sense of completeness.

Example: After a fierce battle, the protagonist defeats the antagonist, bringing peace to the village.

2. Show Character Growth

Reflect on how the protagonist has changed over the course of the story.

This can be a change in perspective, a learned lesson, or personal growth. Highlighting this evolution gives depth to your characters and adds meaning to the story.

Example: Initially selfish and isolated, the protagonist now values community and teamwork, illustrated by their final act of kindness.

3. Tie Up Loose Ends

Address any subplots or secondary characters that need resolution.

This doesn’t mean every question must be answered, but significant threads should be wrapped up.

Readers should feel that the story is complete.

Example: The protagonist reconciles with an estranged friend, or a mystery introduced early on is finally explained.

4. Create a Lasting Impression

End with a strong, memorable line or image that resonates with the reader.

This could be a poignant statement, a surprising twist, or a powerful visual that encapsulates the story’s theme.

Example: “The sun set over the horizon, casting a golden glow on the battlefield, as survivors began to rebuild what was lost.”

5. Consider the Theme

Ensure your ending reflects the story’s overall theme or message. This adds coherence and reinforces the narrative’s purpose. A thematic conclusion can leave readers with something to ponder.

Example: In a story about forgiveness, the protagonist forgives their adversary, underscoring the story’s message.

6. Avoid Clichés

Strive for originality in your ending.

Avoid common clichés or predictable outcomes that can diminish the impact of your story.

Aim for a conclusion that feels fresh and true to the narrative you’ve built.

Example: Instead of ending with the protagonist waking up and realizing it was all a dream, consider a more unique and meaningful twist.

7. Use Subtlety

Sometimes, a subtle, understated ending can be more powerful than a dramatic one.

Let readers draw their own conclusions or leave some aspects to their imagination. This can make the story more thought-provoking.

Example: The protagonist looks out the window, contemplating the journey ahead, leaving the reader to imagine their next steps.

8. Reflect on the Beginning

A great way to create a sense of cohesion is to reflect on the beginning of your story in the ending.

This can create a full-circle moment that emphasizes the protagonist’s journey and growth.

Example: If the story began with the protagonist feeling lost and aimless, it might end with them finding a clear purpose or direction.

By carefully crafting the beginning and ending of your short story, you create a compelling narrative that hooks readers from the start and leaves them satisfied by the end.

Short Story Length

The length of a short story can vary, but it generally falls within certain word count ranges.

Understanding these ranges and choosing the appropriate length for your story can help you meet readers’ and publishers’ expectations.

1. Flash Fiction

Word Count: 500 to 1,000 words

Characteristics: Flash fiction stories are extremely short, focusing on a single moment or scene. They require precise and concise writing, often leaving much to the reader’s imagination.

Usage: Ideal for quick reads and publications with strict word limits. Suitable for exploring a single idea or twist.

2. Short Stories

Word Count: 1,500 to 7,500 words

Characteristics: Most commonly recognized form of short story. Provides enough space for developing characters, setting, and plot while maintaining brevity.

Usage: Common in literary magazines, anthologies, and writing contests. Allows for more complex storytelling while remaining concise.

3. Novelettes

Word Count: 7,500 to 20,000 words

Characteristics: Longer than a traditional short story but shorter than a novella. Provides more room for detailed character development and intricate plots.

Usage: Suitable for stories that require more depth and exploration but don’t necessitate the length of a novella or novel.

4. Novellas

Word Count: 20,000 to 40,000 words

Characteristics: Offers substantial narrative length while still being shorter than a full-length novel. Allows for significant character arcs and detailed storytelling.

Usage: Ideal for standalone publications or serializations. Suitable for complex, layered narratives that need more development.

5. Choosing the Right Length

• Story Scope: Consider the complexity of your plot and the depth of character development needed. Larger scopes may require longer formats.
• Market Requirements: Check the word count requirements of the publication or contest you’re submitting to.
• Pacing and Detail: Shorter stories need tighter pacing and focused detail, while longer stories can explore subplots and richer settings.

Short Story Formatting

Proper formatting ensures your short story is professional and easy to read.

Adhering to standard formatting guidelines is crucial for submissions to publishers, contests, and literary magazines.

1. General Formatting Guidelines

• Font: Use a standard, readable font such as Times New Roman or Arial, size 12.
• Spacing: Double-space between lines to make room for notes and edits.
• Margins: Use one-inch margins on all sides of the page.
• Alignment: Line up your text on the left side, letting the right side be uneven.
• Indentation: Indent the first line of each paragraph by half an inch. Avoid using extra spaces between paragraphs.

2. Title Page

• Title: Center your story’s title about one-third down the page. Use bold or a slightly larger font size.
• Author Name: Place your name below the title, also centered.
• Contact Information: Include your contact details (address, email, phone number) in the upper left corner.
• Word Count: Include the word count in the upper right corner.

3. Page Headers

• Header: Use a header on each page that includes your last name, the story title (or a shortened version), and page number.
• Example: Smith / The Lost Treasure / 1

4. Dialogue Formatting

• Quotation Marks: Enclose dialogue in double quotation marks.
• Dialogue Tags: Use words like “said” or “asked” only a little, and put them outside the quotation marks.
• New Paragraphs: Start a new paragraph each time a different character speaks.

5. Scene Breaks

• Indicators: Use asterisks (***) or a single hashtag (#) centered on a line to indicate a scene break.
• Spacing: Add an extra line of space before and after the scene break indicator.

6. Submissions

• Digital: Follow specific submission guidelines provided by the publisher, which may include file format (e.g., .doc, .docx, .pdf).
• Print: Use high-quality white paper, print on one side only, and include a cover letter if required.

Example Layout:

The Lost Treasure

[Contact Information]

Word Count: 2,500

“It was a dark and stormy night,” Sarah said, her voice trembling.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Mike asked, glancing nervously at the towering shadows.

Good Short Story vs. Great Short Story (Table of Comparison)

Best Resources for Writing Short Stories

Mastering the craft of short story writing requires continuous learning and practice.

Here are some of the best resources that can help you hone your skills and elevate your storytelling.

Final Thoughts: How to Write a Short Story

Writing a short story is a journey of creativity and discovery. Each step you take brings you closer to crafting a narrative that resonates with readers. Keep experimenting, learning, and most importantly, writing. Here’s to your next great story!

Related Posts:

• How To Write A Fantasy Short Story (Ultimate Guide + Examples)
• How to Write a Sad Story: 33 Best Tips + Examples
• How To Write A Character Driven Story [17 Tips & Examples]
• 500 Things to Write About When You Are Fresh Out of Ideas
• How To Write a Superhero Story (Ultimate Guide + Examples)

Related Topics

• Short Story Writing Overview
• Types of Writers
• How to Become a Writer
• Author Overview
• Document Manager Overview
• Screenplay Writer Overview
• Technical Writer Career Path
• Technical Writer Interview Questions
• Technical Writer Salary
• Google Technical Writer Interview Questions
• How to Become a Technical Writer
• UX Writer Career Path
• Google UX Writer
• UX Writer vs Copywriter
• UX Writer Resume Examples
• UX Writer Interview Questions
• UX Writer Skills
• How to Become a UX Writer
• UX Writer Salary
• Google UX Writer Overview
• Google UX Writer Interview Questions
• Technical Writing Certifications
• Grant Writing Certifications
• UX Writing Certifications
• Proposal Writing Certifications
• Content Design Certifications
• Knowledge Management Certifications
• Medical Writing Certifications
• Grant Writing Classes
• Business Writing Courses
• Technical Writing Courses
• Content Design Overview
• Documentation Overview
• User Documentation
• Process Documentation
• Technical Documentation
• Software Documentation
• Knowledge Base Documentation
• Product Documentation
• Process Documentation Overview
• Process Documentation Templates
• Product Documentation Overview
• Software Documentation Overview
• Technical Documentation Overview
• User Documentation Overview
• Knowledge Management Overview
• Knowledge Base Overview
• Publishing on Amazon
• Amazon Authoring Page
• Self-Publishing on Amazon
• How to Publish
• How to Publish Your Own Book
• Document Management Software Overview
• Engineering Document Management Software
• Healthcare Document Management Software
• Financial Services Document Management Software
• Technical Documentation Software
• Knowledge Management Tools
• Knowledge Management Software
• HR Document Management Software
• Enterprise Document Management Software
• Knowledge Base Software
• Process Documentation Software
• Documentation Software
• Internal Knowledge Base Software
• Grammarly Premium Free Trial
• Grammarly for Word
• Scrivener Templates
• Scrivener Review
• How to Use Scrivener
• Ulysses vs Scrivener
• Character Development Templates
• Screenplay Format Templates
• Book Writing Templates
• API Writing Overview
• How to Write a Book
• Writing a Book for the First Time
• How to Write an Autobiography
• How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?
• Do You Underline Book Titles?
• Snowflake Method
• Book Title Generator
• How to Write Nonfiction Book
• How to Write a Children's Book
• How to Write a Memoir
• Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Book
• How to Write a Book Title
• How to Write a Book Introduction
• How to Write a Dedication in a Book
• How to Write a Book Synopsis
• Business Writing Examples
• Business Writing Skills
• Types of Business Writing
• Dialogue Writing Overview
• Grant Writing Overview
• Medical Writing Overview
• How to Write a Novel
• How to Write a Thriller Novel
• How to Write a Fantasy Novel
• How to Start a Novel
• How Many Chapters in a Novel?
• Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Novel
• Novel Ideas
• How to Plan a Novel
• How to Outline a Novel
• How to Write a Romance Novel
• Novel Structure
• How to Write a Mystery Novel
• Novel vs Book
• Round Character
• Flat Character
• How to Create a Character Profile
• Nanowrimo Overview
• How to Write 50,000 Words for Nanowrimo
• Camp Nanowrimo
• Nanowrimo YWP
• Nanowrimo Mistakes to Avoid
• Proposal Writing Overview
• Screenplay Overview
• How to Write a Screenplay
• Screenplay vs Script
• How to Structure a Screenplay
• How to Write a Screenplay Outline
• How to Format a Screenplay
• How to Write a Fight Scene
• How to Write Action Scenes
• How to Write a Monologue
• Technical Writing Overview
• UX Writing Overview
• Reddit Writing Prompts
• Romance Writing Prompts
• Flash Fiction Story Prompts
• Dialogue and Screenplay Writing Prompts
• Poetry Writing Prompts
• Tumblr Writing Prompts
• Creative Writing Prompts for Kids
• Creative Writing Prompts for Adults
• Fantasy Writing Prompts
• Horror Writing Prompts
• Book Writing Software
• Novel Writing Software
• Screenwriting Software
• ProWriting Aid
• Writing Tools
• Literature and Latte
• Hemingway App
• Final Draft
• Writing Apps
• Grammarly Premium
• Wattpad Inbox
• Microsoft OneNote
• Google Keep App
• Technical Writing Services
• Business Writing Services
• Content Writing Services
• Grant Writing Services
• SOP Writing Services
• Script Writing Services
• Proposal Writing Services
• Hire a Blog Writer
• Hire a Freelance Writer
• Hire a Proposal Writer
• Hire a Memoir Writer
• Hire a Speech Writer
• Hire a Business Plan Writer
• Hire a Script Writer
• Hire a Legal Writer
• Hire a Grant Writer
• Hire a Technical Writer
• Hire a Book Writer
• Hire a Ghost Writer

Home » Blog » How to Write a Short Story That Gets Read (In 7 Steps)

How to Write a Short Story That Gets Read (In 7 Steps)

Generate AI Short Story Instantly

Table of contents.

Interested in learning how to write a short story?

Short stories have a potent allure. They plunge readers into vibrant worlds, capture complex characters, and deliver impactful narratives, all within a brief space. However, learning to write a short story is as challenging as writing an entire novel.

How to Write a Short Story

This guide to short fiction writing begins with an overview of the art form, highlighting its challenges and appeal. We then delve into the essence of a short story, focusing on its defining characteristics.

The article progresses to cover creating compelling characters , which is essential for driving the story’s development.

Additionally, we provide practical advice on getting your short story published . Concluding the guide, we summarize the key strategies to write short stories and encourage writers to nurture their unique voices, supplemented by a list of resources for further exploration in short story writing.

Understanding the Essence of a Short Story

By its very nature, a short story is a brief but intense glimpse into a narrative, a concentrated form of storytelling that demands precision. Unlike novels, short stories tend to require a different set of writing skills and understanding.

Short Story Characteristics

Here are the key characteristics:

• Brevity and Focus: The most defining aspect of a short story is its length. A short story focuses on a singular theme, requiring every word to contribute meaningfully to the plot.
• Immediate Engagement: A short story must capture the reader’s attention quickly. The opening lines set the tone, introducing the conflict or presenting a unique perspective that hooks the reader.

Use Squibler’s AI tools to rewrite or distill your story ideas. Since Squibler AI specializes in fiction writing, tools such as Rewrite or Add Conflict are effective tools for creating both the first draft and the final version.

The Role of a Strong Opening

Next, let’s cover the role of a strong opening.

• Creating Intrigue: The opening of a short story should immediately intrigue the reader. The opening sentence sets the stage for what’s to come, whether through an intriguing situation or a compelling voice.
• Introducing Conflict: The early establishment of the conflict or central theme moves the story forward. This conflict doesn’t have to be dramatic but must be compelling enough to drive the whole story.

The Economy of Language

Third, let’s cover the economy of language.

• Precise Word Choice: Every word in a short story must serve a purpose. With limited space, choose words that convey the maximum meaning or emotion.
• Descriptive Efficiency: Descriptive passages must be efficient yet evocative. The challenge is to create vivid imagery and atmosphere without overloading the reader with details.

Focused Pacing

Next, let’s talk about focused pacing.

• Single-Threaded Plot: Most short stories follow a single-threaded plot. This focus allows for a more in-depth exploration of the central theme.
• Balanced Pacing: Pacing in a short story needs to be carefully balanced. It should be brisk enough to maintain engagement but also allow for the development of characters and plot.

Main Characters in a Short Story

Now, let’s talk about your main character.

• Depth over Breadth: Describing a particular character in a short story involves creating depth rather than breadth. A glimpse into the personality, motivation, or background can be more effective than a full-blown character analysis.
• Character as a Vehicle: Characters often act as vehicles for the larger theme of the story. Their actions and transformations are pivotal in conveying the story’s essence.

Squibler AI allows you to create your characters as Elements and use them to weave custom narratives. That way, your writing is unique to your story ideas. No bland AI writing.

The Significance of a Powerful Ending

Now, let’s go over creating a powerful ending for a great short story.

• Resonating Conclusion: A successful short story leaves a lasting impact with its conclusion. The ending should resonate with the reader, offering closure or leaving them pondering.
• The Twist or Revelation: Many short stories use a twist or revelation towards the end. This element is a powerful tool to surprise the reader and add depth to the story’s message.

Character Arc in Short Stories

Developing characters swiftly is a cornerstone of short story writing. In the short story format, writers must employ techniques that reveal character depth effectively.

First Impressions Matter

The initial introduction sets the stage for the reader’s perception. A character’s first appearance, action, or line of dialogue should be telling. It’s about creating an impression that hints at their deeper traits, whether through a unique habit, a striking dialogue, or a notable reaction to a situation. This technique allows the reader to connect with and understand the character immediately.

Show, Don’t Tell

“Show, don’t tell” remains a golden rule in short stories. This involves revealing character traits through actions and interactions rather than explicit descriptions. For instance, a character’s kindness can be shown through actions rather than simply stating they are kind. This approach engages readers more actively, encouraging them to infer and imagine the character’s nature.

Effective Use of Dialogue

Dialogue is a powerful tool. A character’s speech can reveal their background, personality, and emotional state. Even a short exchange provides significant insights into a main character’s life, making dialogue crucial in quick character development. You can show a lot in so few words! Here are a few tips:

Key Character Moments

Identify and craft key moments that reveal the essence of your character. These moments, whether a decision, a realization, or an action, should be pivotal in showing who the character is at their core.

Minimal Yet Meaningful Backstory

While extensive backstory is often not feasible in short stories, including minimal yet meaningful details adds depth to your characters and makes a short story a complete story. A brief mention of a past event, a short flashback, or a relevant anecdote can give readers a fuller understanding of the character’s motivations and history.

Building Plot Elements in Short Stories

Creating a focused plot is crucial in short story writing, where space is limited, and every element must contribute to a cohesive whole. This section explores constructing a plot that captures and retains the reader’s attention.

Establishing a Central Conflict

Every compelling short story revolves around a central conflict or problem. This conflict should be clear and engaging, whether internal, external, or both. The story’s driving force propels the narrative forward and maintains the reader’s interest. Introduce this conflict early to set the stage and give direction to your story.

If you’re stuck with creating an impactful conflict with an inciting incident, use Squibler’s Create Conflict tool to add drama to engage readers.

Streamlining the Story

A short story has no room for unnecessary subplots or extraneous characters. Focus on streamlining the narrative to ensure that every scene, character, and line of dialogue serves the central conflict or theme. This approach helps maintain a tight story structure where each element advances the plot.

Crafting a Strong Beginning

The opening of a short story should immediately draw the reader in – many writers stick to this strategy! It could start in the middle of an action, present a unique character, or introduce an intriguing scenario.

The goal is to pique the reader’s curiosity and set the tone for the rest of the story. A strong beginning not only captures attention but also establishes the stakes and tone of the narrative.

Developing Pacing and Tension

Pacing is key in a short story. Balance action moments with quieter, more introspective segments to allow readers to absorb the events. Build tension gradually towards the climax, ensuring the story progresses logically and keeps the reader engaged. The pace should complement the story’s tone and theme, enhancing its overall impact.

Crafting a Satisfying Conclusion

The conclusion of a short story should be satisfying and resonant, whether it offers a clear resolution or leaves the reader with something to ponder. It should tie together the main threads of the plot, address the central conflict, and leave a lasting impression. A well-crafted ending elevates the entire story.

Setting the Scene in Short Stories

The setting in a short story plays a crucial role, often acting as more than just a backdrop—it sets the tone, influences the mood, and even affects the plot and characters. In this section, we’ll explore how to establish settings in short stories.

Conveying Settings

When brevity is the key, it’s important to convey the setting concisely. Writers should use vivid and precise language to paint a clear picture of the setting in the reader’s mind without lengthy descriptions. A well-chosen detail tells more than paragraphs of description. For example, describing the faded paint on a childhood home conveys a sense of nostalgia.

Using Setting to Enhance the Mood

The setting is a powerful tool in establishing the story’s mood. For example, a story set in a bustling city conveys a sense of urgency or anonymity, while a story set in a secluded forest creates a mood of isolation or mystery. Selecting details that enhance the mood you want to convey is crucial.

Integrating Setting with Plot

The setting should do more than just describe a location; it should interact with the plot and characters. It acts as an obstacle or a source of conflict. For instance, a challenging climate is a hurdle for characters to overcome, or a particular city shapes a character’s outlook and experiences. The setting should be integral to the story structure.

Symbolism and Thematic Elements

In some stories, the setting carries symbolic weight or contributes to the theme. A decaying house might symbolize the end of an era or a character’s mental state, while a busy street market could represent cultural diversity. By aligning the setting with the story’s themes, writers can add depth and layers to their short stories.

Temporal Settings

Besides geographical locations, a story’s time is set also impacts its overall effect. Historical settings offer a sense of authenticity and transport readers to a different time, while futuristic settings open up possibilities for exploring new story ideas and scenarios.

The era or period must complement the story’s themes and plot.

Engaging the Reader with Your Writing Style

The writing style in a novel or short story is not just a medium of storytelling; it’s an essential tool that shapes the reader’s experience and engagement.

This section will explore how to utilize writing style effectively to captivate readers.

Developing a Distinct Voice

A unique voice sets the tone of your story and distinguishes your writing. Whether conversational, formal, whimsical, or solemn, the voice should be consistent and reflect the nature of the story and characters.

For instance, first-person storytelling offers deep personal insights into a character’s thoughts and feelings, while a third-person omniscient voice provides a broader perspective.

Balancing Show and Tell

Finding the right balance between showing and telling is vital. “Showing” immerses readers in the story, allowing them to experience events and emotions through detailed description and action. “Telling,” on the other hand, conveys information and moves the plot forward.

In a short story, where every word counts, deciding when to show and when to tell impacts the pacing and reader engagement.

Crafting Compelling Dialogue

Dialogue in short stories must be purposeful. It should reveal character traits, advance the plot, or provide necessary information. Writing realistic and impactful dialogue involves giving each character a distinct voice and ensuring their conversations sound natural and relevant to the story’s context.

Avoiding unnecessary exposition in dialogue keeps it dynamic and engaging.

Utilizing Descriptive Language

When used effectively, descriptive language creates vivid imagery and evokes emotions. However, overuse or overly flowery descriptions slow down the pace.

The key is choosing the right words to create a clear and compelling picture in the reader’s mind without overwhelming them.

Experimenting with Literary Techniques

Don’t be afraid to experiment with literary techniques like metaphors, similes, alliteration, and varied sentence structure. These techniques add depth to your writing and help create a rhythmic flow. However, they should serve the story, not distract from it.

Using such devices should enhance, rather than complicate, the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the story.

Adapting Style to Story

Finally, adapt your writing style to suit the story you are telling. A suspenseful thriller might call for short, punchy sentences to build tension, while a more introspective story might benefit from a more flowing, descriptive style. The style should always complement the tone and pace of the story.

Editing and Refining Your Story

The editing phase is crucial in transforming a good short story into a great one. It involves refining your plot, enhancing clarity, and ensuring that every element serves the story’s purpose. It’s also important that your story has a satisfying ending.

This section will guide you through editing and refining your short story to achieve its fullest potential in the final draft.

First Pass: Structural Edits

Let’s go over the initial steps:

• Assessing the Plot: Begin by evaluating the plot’s structure. Ensure that the story flows logically, that each scene transitions smoothly, and that the climax and resolution are satisfying. Look for any plot holes or inconsistencies and address them.
• Character Consistency: Check that your characters remain consistent throughout the story. Their actions and dialogues should align with their established traits and development.
• Pacing: Adjust the pacing to maintain reader interest. Identify any sections that drag and tighten them by removing unnecessary details or exposition.

Second Pass: Style and Voice

Next, let’s talk about the style and voice.

• Refining the Voice: Ensure your voice is consistent and appropriate for the story. Adjust it for tone and style to match the story’s mood and setting.
• Dialogue Polish: Refine the dialogue to make it more realistic and impactful. Each character’s speech should be distinct and contribute to the story’s progression.

Third Pass: Language and Grammar

The third step is checking language and grammar.

• Clarity and Readability: Focus on sentence structure and word choice. Ensure clarity in your writing, avoiding overly complex sentences or ambiguous phrasing.
• Grammar and Syntax: Correct any grammatical errors and check for proper syntax. Pay attention to punctuation, as it affects the flow and readability of the story.
• Eliminating Redundancies: Remove redundant words or phrases to keep readers engaged. Each word should add value to the story.

Final Review: Feedback and Final Touches

Finally, wrap it up with gathering feedback.

• Seeking Feedback: Once you’ve made revisions, seek feedback from trusted readers or writing groups. Fresh eyes catch issues you may have overlooked and provide valuable perspectives.
• Incorporating Feedback: Evaluate the feedback critically and decide which suggestions align with your vision for the story. Make the necessary changes based on this input.

Short Story Writing Tools

Don’t be afraid to seek assistance when the writing gets tricky. Writing a great short story usually requires help.

The help comes from a fellow short-story writer, writing workshops, or using writing software to guide you and help you start writing. There are many options for this, but here are two that will help you create the best short story possible.

Squibler is perfect for writing short stories.

Squibler offers an abundance of organizational tools that will make your life easier.

These include:

• Plot generator
• Generate scenes
• Create elements
• Polish dialogues
• Create engaging descriptions
• Generate characters
• Generate character development
• Generate original visuals
• Free templates
• A place for notes and research
• A place for your outline – no matter how detailed
• Chapter and scene organization

These AI tools come in handy when writing a short story. Depending on the style and genre of your story, you may need to do a lot of research despite the shorter length.

Grammarly is there to help you through the editing process. Once it scans your work, it will pick out the spelling and grammatical errors. In addition to pointing out your errors, it tells you how to fix them.

These can be small things like an unnecessary comma or a missing period. But a lot of little things add up.

Grammarly is free to use and can be integrated with:

• Microsoft Word
• Google Docs
• Chrome Browser

Grammarly is an effective editing tool for all types of writers . It cleans up your work fast. This saves you time, improves your craft, and helps you remain professional and polished.

For an enhanced editing experience, Grammarly offers a premium upgrade that provides you with additional, more advanced checks.

Getting Your Short Story Out There

After the hard work of writing and refining the first draft of your short story, the next step is sharing it with the world. This final section offers guidance on how to get your short story published and read by an audience.

Exploring Publication Options

Literary Magazines and Journals: Research literary magazines and journals that publish short stories. Consider print and online publications, and target those that align with your story’s genre and style. Pay attention to their submission guidelines and deadlines.

Online Platforms: Leverage the power of the internet. Websites like Wattpad, Medium, or your blog can be excellent platforms to publish your work and reach a wide audience. These platforms also allow for direct reader engagement and feedback.

Entering Writing Contests

Writing Competitions: Participating in short story competitions can provide exposure and credibility. Look for contests that cater to your genre and offer publication opportunities as part of their prize.

Building an Online Presence

Social Media and Author Websites: Create an online presence through social media platforms and an author website. These can be powerful tools for promoting your work, connecting with readers, and building a community of followers.

Networking in the Writing Community

Join Writing Groups and Workshops: Engage with local or online writing communities. Networking with other writers can provide collaboration, feedback, and support opportunities.

Attend Literary Events: Participate in literary events, readings, or book fairs. These events can offer networking opportunities and expose you to publishers and other industry professionals.

Sources Of Inspiration: Classic Short Stories

For aspiring short story writers, classic short stories serve as a wellspring of inspiration. These timeless works, penned by craft masters, offer various styles, themes, and techniques to learn from.

Reading classics provides a deeper understanding of the short story form and sparks creativity in your own short stories and writing.

There are many classic, well-known short stories by famous authors . Some short story examples that are expertly written and deeply meaningful:

• “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
• “Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman
• “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
• “The Signal-Man” by Charles Dickens
• “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner 
• “Miss Temptation” by Kurt Vonnegut 
• “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway

These short tales have gone down in history for their ingenuity. They did a fantastic job setting the atmosphere, bringing their character to life , and awing the reader.

Here are the most frequently asked questions about how to write a short story.

How many words should a short story have?

A short story ranges from 1,000 to 7,500 words. However, this varies, with some stories being as brief as 500 words or as long as 10,000 words.

What is the importance of internal logic in a short story?

Internal logic refers to the consistency and believability of the story’s world. Maintaining it is key to ensuring that the story remains credible and engaging to the reader, even if it delves into fantastical or surreal elements.

What is a key element in a short story or flash fiction?

A key element in a short story is its focused narrative. Unlike a novel, which explores multiple themes and subplots, a short story typically revolves around a single idea or central theme.

How is rising action used in a short story?

It builds tension and complicates the plot as it progresses towards the climax. It’s crucial for escalating the stakes and deepening the reader’s investment.

What differentiates a short story from a novel?

The main difference lies in length and scope. A novel offers a broader exploration of themes, characters, and plots, often spanning tens of thousands of words, whereas a short story provides a more concentrated plot.

How do you develop an idea into a short story?

Define the main conflict or theme to develop an idea into a short story. You can even use your own life examples. Then, create compelling characters and a setting that supports your fiction. Outline a plot that makes sense. This includes rising action, a climax, and a resolution, ensuring each element contributes to the central idea.

Related Posts

Published in Short Story Writing

Join 5000+ Technical Writers

Get our #1 industry rated weekly technical writing reads newsletter.

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

• A Research Guide
• Writing Guide
• Assignment Writing
• How to Write a Short Story - A Simplified Guide

How to Write a Short Story – A Simplified Guide

What is a short story – definition, how to start a short story.

•  Sufficient time

Now let’s get into the steps to write short story

• Put down your basic story
• Identify your protagonist
• Start with a catchy first line
• Learn from the opening of a film which usually invites the audience to the scene
• Start with a surprise
• Make sure your first line is clear
• Establish a voice for the story
• Try to summarize your story in that first line
• Split your story into scenes
•    It gives the story a structure
•    Enables you to understand the different parts of the story and the ones that need a lot of work
•   Has a conflict and tension
•  Has a crisis or climax
•  Has a resolution

Standard short story structure

• Rising action

Short Story Ideas You May Find Interesting

• A story of an orphan who went through a hard childhood but later made it in life.
• A story of a ghost – talk of a middle-aged woman who encounters a ghost.
• What happens when a group of children discovers a dead body – many good writers tend to face death one on one. Tell your audience the experiences of these children.
• Tells a story about your scar, this can be either an emotional or a physical scar. A good writer is one with the ability to remember each and every scar.
• A story of a woman deeply in love with a man but ends up crushed after she goes through a break up with the fiancé.
• A story about a long journey that ends up being a disaster. Many people go through journeys in which they wish to reach their destination but end up being delayed by some occurrences. Lord of the Rings is built on this.
•  A story of a poor kid who runs into a big fortune that changes the trajectory of his life.
• What happens when one gets into the path of a psychopath? How do they escape?
• A poor boy meets a rich girl, parents don’t support such kind of relationship, and how does it end?
• What is your deepest fear? This should be your main weapon. Instead of running from it, write about it.

By clicking "Log In", you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We'll occasionally send you account related and promo emails.

Sign Up for your FREE account

Graduate Student Resource Center

Supporting Graduate Students' Academic and Professional Success

Storytelling in Science: Writing for Different Audiences & Making Your Research Memorable

As graduate students, we often find ourselves immersed (and maybe even siloed) in our niche topics. However, the ability to convey our research to a broader audience is crucial—not only for public understanding but also for securing funding, influencing policy, and advancing our careers! This blog will explore various strategies and tools to help you become a more effective science communicator, ensuring your research has the impact it deserves.

[ Image Description: Spongebob from Spongebob Squarepants at a desk preparing to write with the text “Prepare to be written!”]

Get started by knowing your audience Knowing your audience is the first and most crucial step in communicating your work. Who are they? Is there a certain tone or etiquette expected from them? What are they hoping to get out of your presentation? We communicate research and science to many audiences: classrooms full of undergraduate students, panels of grant reviewers, dissertation committees, journal editors, policymakers, public audiences, and more. Each audience will come in with a different expectation and goal–thus, it is important to tailor your communications accordingly to be engaging, clear, and accessible. For example, technical, field-related jargon might be more appropriate for a dissertation committee or presentation at scientific conferences–but less so for policymakers or public audiences (lest it alienate the listener). Getting some information about your audience and their potential expectations is always a good idea before you begin crafting your story. ( TIP: regardless of audience-specific expectations, we should always aim to be clear, concise, and use relatable examples to help illustrate our points.)

Crafting your narrative Humans are storytellers–and listeners! We connect with stories on an emotional level, which can make the information conveyed in stories more memorable. Think about the fables we use to teach children morals, the stories about our lives that shape our personalities and our behaviors, or even the stories you enjoy listening to most in podcasts or on TikTok–what do they all have in common? Most have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Setting the stage with a compelling introduction can help hook the reader/listener in–so it’s important to frame your project or research question in ways that are interesting, compelling, and relatable for an audience ( what is your topic and why is it important to research this topic? ). Once hooked, you prime the audience to take in the information in the middle ( what you did along the way such as methods and analyses ). And finally, a stirring exposition paves the way for a big finish and ending ( what you found and what it means ). 

[ Image Description: Michael Scott from The Office television show leaning forward and placing his face between his hands in keen interest with a caption saying “Go Ahead”] [ Caption: What you want your audience to look like after you’ve hooked them in]

Tools to make an impact In addition to being storytellers (and listeners), humans are also multimodal learners. Conveying information through multiple modalities (e.g., visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) is often more engaging and better for understanding and retention compared to unimodal information. To better ensure your research has the impact you desire, consider adding visual examples via pictures, figures, and graphics to your talk to help illustrate your points. When discussing abstract scientific concepts, examples or images can bridge theory and the real world. Examples can ground your research in relatable scenarios, helping your audience see the relevance of your work for themselves. In addition, relatable examples tap into an audience’s emotions–which can help engage an audience. Emotional connections (e.g., highlighting the impact of an illness, the outcome of a significant historical event, or the emotions felt while performing a certain act oneself) can help audiences resonate with the work and drive home its importance, making it more likely that your audience will support, share, and remember it. Suppose your work doesn’t have many emotion-evoking examples. In that case, you can try to pepper in some humor (e.g., memes, funny anecdotes, jokes, etc.) because positive emotions can also be effective memory retention tools!

In addition to images and examples, think about what your information looks like to an audience. It may seem like minor concerns, but font style, color use, text spacing, and PowerPoint animations can all impact how your information is received. My recommendations are to: 

• Use only 1 - 2 font styles across the entire product (if the product is text like a paper or a grant proposal, just one font is best)
• Do a you-pick-two between BOLDNESS , ITALICS , and UNDERLINES because all three in the same product can feel overwhelming
• Stick to a set color scheme that is applied relatively consistently throughout (and check your visuals/graphs for color blindness accessibility !)
• If presenting with a verbal element, balance what is conveyed in text versus as speech–and do NOT just read out what is on the slides (most people can read faster than you will be talking, and will finish the slide before you)
• Finally, researchers and scientists LOVE a good graph, but remember to tailor your figures to the audience (e.g., a plot of a three-way interaction may be something a researcher-heavy audience can understand, but likely not a lay audience) and to walk your audiences through graphs so that they do not zone out while you are talking

[ Image Description:  Hand holding a smartphone with icons of different social media apps popping up]

Translation across different media platforms Finally, different platforms offer unique opportunities for sharing your work, each catering to distinct audiences and communication styles. TikTok, reels, and other video-based social media platforms provide opportunities for “bite-sized” science–short, sweet, and meant to make viewers return for more. YouTube videos and podcasts, on the other hand, offer opportunities for deep dives into a topic as well as discussion with others about the information–you might consider joining existing science podcasts as a guest (FUN FACT: UCR has its own grad-student run science podcast ) or starting your own series focused on your field of expertise. Lastly, blogs and popular psych articles are a great way to reach a broader audience who might not have a scientific background. When writing for platforms like blogs, magazines, or news outlets, aim to simplify the language without diluting the science. Focus on the storytelling, use examples and analogies to explain complex concepts, and highlight the broader implications of your research. 

Whether you're aiming to inform, inspire, or influence, effective science communication is key to making your research memorable and meaningful!

How To Summarize A Story

How to Summarize a Story | A Complete Guide

Published on: Aug 19, 2024

Last updated on: Aug 18, 2024

People also read

Have you ever read a great story and wished you could tell your friends about it quickly without missing the best parts?

Summarizing a story is a handy skill that allows you to share the main idea and key events without all the extra details. Whether you need to do a book report for school or just want to tell a friend about an awesome story you read, knowing how to summarize can make things easier and more fun.

In this blog, we’ll learn the steps on how to summarize a story in English. We'll break down the process into simple actions, like identifying the main idea and focusing on the most important parts. 

By the end, you’ll be able to summarize any story with confidence. Let’s dive in!

What is the Summary of a Story?

A summary of a story is a brief and concise version of the original tale that captures its main points and essential elements. 

Instead of recounting every detail, a summary focuses on the core aspects such as the plot, key characters, main events, and the overall message or theme of the story.

A good summary should give the reader a clear idea of what it's about and why it's interesting, all without spoiling the ending or getting lost in too many details.

Key Elements of a Story

To create a great summary, it's important to understand the key elements that make up a story. Here are the main components you should focus on:

Steps to Prepare for Summarizing a Story 

Before start writing a summary of a story, it's essential to prepare effectively. Here’s how you can get ready to create a concise and accurate summary:

• Read the Story Thoroughly: Begin by reading the story carefully from start to finish. This ensures you understand all the details and variations, which are crucial for an accurate summary.
• Take Notes: As you read, note down important points, key events, and notable quotes. Highlight sections that reveal the main plot, major characters, and the story's resolution.
• Identify Key Elements: Determine the essential components of the story—plot, characters, setting, conflict, resolution, and theme. Understanding these elements will help you focus on what’s most important in your summary.
• Highlight Main Ideas: Look for the central idea or message of the story. This will be the backbone of your summary and should reflect the core of the story.
• Organize Your Thoughts: Arrange your notes and observations in a logical order. This helps in structuring your summary so it flows smoothly from beginning to end.

How to Write a Summary of a Story 

After doing the necessary preparation, follow these steps to craft an effective summary: 

Step #1: Start with a Strong Opening 

Begin your summary with a sentence that introduces the story's title, author, and main idea.

For example, "In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, a miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge learns the true meaning of Christmas through supernatural visits from three spirits."

Step #2: Outline the Main Plot 

Briefly describe the key events of the story. Focus on the main sequence of events, including the beginning, major turning points, and the conclusion. 

Keep it concise—highlight only the essential parts.

Step #3: Introduce Key Characters 

Mention the main characters and their roles in the story. Include the protagonist, antagonist, and any other significant figures. 

For example, "Ebenezer Scrooge is the protagonist who transforms, while the ghosts serve as guides to reveal his shortcomings and potential redemption."

Step #4: Explain the Setting 

Briefly describe the setting, including the location and period. This helps readers understand the context of the story. 

For example, "The story is set in Victorian London during the Christmas season, highlighting the contrasts between Scrooge’s cold, lonely home and the warmth of Christmas festivities."

Step #5: Discuss the Conflict 

Summarize the main conflict or problem that drives the story. Explain the struggle faced by the protagonist and how it affects the overall plot.

For example, "The main conflict is Scrooge’s internal struggle with his greed and lack of compassion, which affects his relationships and his view of life."

Step #6: Conclude with the Resolution

Describe how the conflict is resolved and what happens at the end of the story. This gives a complete picture of the story’s outcome. 

For example, "Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with a renewed spirit of generosity and kindness, making amends with those he has wronged and embracing the true spirit of Christmas."

Step #7: Summarize the Theme

Briefly mention the underlying message or theme of the story. This adds depth to your summary and helps readers grasp the story’s broader meaning.

For example, "The theme of A Christmas Caro l revolves around redemption and the transformative power of compassion and generosity."

Step #8: Keep It Concise 

Aim for conciseness. Your summary should be short but comprehensive, capturing the essence of the story without unnecessary details.

So, following the outlined steps, the complete summary of A Christmas Carol is as follows:

Do's and Don'ts of Writing a Summary of a Story

To help you craft an effective summary, here are some important tips on how to summarize a story and some mistakes to avoid:

How To Summarize A Story - Examples 

To illustrate these summarization techniques, here are some examples of how to summarize a story based on classic children's stories:

Little Red Riding Hood (Summary of Story for Kids)

Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Summary of Story for 4th Grade)

The Tortoise and the Hare (Summary of Story for 5th Grade)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Summary of a Storybook)

All in all, summarizing a story is a crucial skill that helps you convey the main points clearly and concisely. Remember to use your own words, keep it brief, and stay objective. 

With these techniques, you’ll be able to summarize stories accurately and engagingly for any audience.

But if you want AI to help you summarize your stories, you can always try our Summarizer for free! 

MyEssayWriter.ai offers a range of other tools as well including AI essay writer - free essay maker . 

So, why wait? Explore the website today! 

Caleb S. (Mass Literature and Linguistics, Masters)

Caleb S. is an accomplished author with over five years of experience and a Master's degree from Oxford University. He excels in various writing forms, including articles, press releases, blog posts, and whitepapers. As a valued author at MyEssayWriter.ai, Caleb assists students and professionals by providing practical tips on research, citation, sentence structure, and style enhancement.

On This Page On This Page

Get Access to Advanced Features with our Affordable Plans

Complimentary Trial

Continue for Free

OFFER ENDS Today

Access to all Tools

No Credit Card needed

Quota: 1500 Words (6 pages)

Offer ends in: 03hr 19m 8s

For Monthly Usage

$ 9.99 /month

Up to 2500 words/month

Access to all features

AI Essay Writer

AI Essay Outliner

Go Big Monthly!

$ 14.99 /month

Up to 100,000 words/month

Access to all existing tools

50% off on custom essay orders

500 credits for plagiarism check

Top Annual Savings!

Advanced (4 Months FREE )

$ 99.99 /year

OFFER ENDS Soon

Unlimited essays

12 Months for the price of 8

Access to all upcoming tools

Get started for free

Please enter a valid Name

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid Phone Number

Please enter atleast five characters

Please enter a valid Password

Show Password

Already have an account? Sign In here.

Please enter your email address

Forgot Password?

Don’t have an account? Sign Up

Verify Your Account

Enter the verification codes to confirm your identity.

Code sent to [email protected]

Send again in seconds

Code sent to +1 302 385 6690

Claim Free Essay

Your first custom essay order on our website is FREE!

What makes a story successful? Researchers have figured out a way to predict it

• Search Search

Narrative reversals, or changes in fortune that take characters from heights to depths and vice versa, are a good predictor for how successful a movie, TV show or book will be, Northeastern marketing researchers say.

• Copy Link Link Copied!

There are very few universal truths about humanity, but one thing is for certain: We love stories.

Whether it’s movies, TV shows, books, political campaigns or even advertisements, people are constantly being told or telling stories every day. Entire industries are built around storytelling and understanding which stories connect with people the most.

It’s why a group of researchers at Northeastern University have tried to crack the code and answer one question: What makes a story successful?

“If you watch ‘Mad Men,’ you see it’s more of an art form, having an inspiration of how to tell a beautiful story and everything falls in place and it just magically works,” says Yakov Bart , a professor of marketing at Northeastern. “But lately a lot of people have been thinking maybe it’s not just art –– maybe there’s some science to this as well.”

By applying advanced quantitative analysis and statistical techniques to tens of thousands of movies, TV shows, books and even fundraising pitches, the researchers found one core element of storytelling that helped predict a story’s success with audiences: narrative reversals. 

Most people are familiar with what a narrative reversal is, even if they don’t know it by name. Something is going well for a character –– Romeo falls in love with Juliet –– only for something bad to happen to that character –– Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, is enraged and tries to kill Romeo. Or a character is down in the dumps and has a positive experience that changes things for the better.

Featured Stories

Northeastern’s Oakland Opportunity Scholarships are life-changing for Bay Area high school graduates

Tips, tricks and useful links Northeastern students need to know for a smooth off-campus move-in

Math can be intimidating — unless your professor is Solomon Jekel

Northeastern’s Network Science Institute in London is hosting international conference returning to UK for first time in 15 years

“We develop a way, using these advanced text analysis techniques, to quantify and try to measure the frequency and intensity of narrative reversals across a wide set of storytelling contexts,” says Samsun Knight, a research affiliate at Northeastern’s DATA Initiative and published author. “We show that this does indeed predict which stories tend to be more successful. This holds even if you look in a given TV show which episodes are more successful.”

Using a collection of 30,000 texts, which included TV shows, movies, books and fundraising pitches, the researchers analyzed them based on how positive or negative the language in a given section was. Based on that, they were able to measure how well things are going for the characters in a given story and when that situation changed, or reversed.

They counted the number of reversals that took place in each story, also measuring the frequency and intensity of each reversal and discovered it’s a fairly accurate predictor of how well a story will connect with people. In this case, that meant a movie or TV show’s audience rating on IMDb, how frequently people downloaded a book and how much money a fundraising pitch earned.

“It’s not the sole determiner of how successful a story is, but we were impressed with its consistency and the fact that it’s so simple,” Matt Rocklage , an assistant professor of marketing at Northeastern says. “The more of those reversals there are, the more successful these stories are, and the bigger these reversals are, the more successful these stories are.”

Knight says this research isn’t meant to create a formula for writers to tell their stories, but he hopes it can help writers avoid easy pitfalls when charting their story.

“In the most intuitive sense, people tend not to respond to places where nothing is getting better and nothing is getting worse,” Knight says. “You don’t want these sags in your story. … I love Samuel Beckett –– there are exceptions to every rule –– but broadly speaking, this type of unit of narrative propulsion tends to be exceptionally important. Leon Katz, a prominent dramaturg at the Yale School of Drama, called such narrative reversals the ‘formal unit’ of plot. In the same way that paragraphs are constructed out of sentences, a plot will tend to be structured out of reversals.”

Beyond people who are intent on writing the next Oscar-winning screenplay or bestselling novel, Knight says this research highlights how narrative reversals can be a useful tool in more practical contexts too. For those writing a cover letter to apply to their dream job or working up a fundraising pitch to sell people on their business concept, “tell it like a story,” reversals and all, Knight says.

“Tell us where the reversal came in where now you’re actually needing to ask for help or tell us where things could maybe come back up if you were to receive that help,” Knight says. “Structuring your communications with this rule of thumb in mind might help get your point across and just engage people more successfully.”

Arts & Entertainment

Recent Stories