Short stories

[sarillia]

Anyone have any tips for writing short stories that may be different from tips for writing longer forms? I'm much more familiar with novels but I'd like to try to submit some short stories for open calls that look interesting.

Comments

[inkdust]

I'd love some short story tips too. Any idea I have, my brain automatically starts envisioning the long run.

[lunabee34]

I would think of writing a short story in terms of limiting what you're writing in scope. When I assign my students narratives (which are personal narratives about their own experiences, but I think the assignment parameters apply here), I tell them that they can only write about an event or situation that took place over the course of a weekend at most and the smaller unit of time they can cover in their essay, the stronger the essay will be. I always have students who want to write about how an illness messed up their senior year, for example. And I tell them they have to pick one representative moment that encapsulates how that illness affected them because their essays are too short to try to cover too much time. Trying to cover their whole senior year means that most of their essays will be exposition rather than scene and will consequently be less vibrant and less interesting.

When I write short stories, I always think about writing something that takes place over a short amount of time. I focus on dialogue a great deal; I think short stories are wonderful places for dialogue to shine. And if I find that I'm starting to write too much exposition like, "And this carried on for the next three weeks," then I try to rein in the time frame some.

I hope this helps.

I agree with agilebrit's advice that limiting characters and limiting conflict is also a good way to contain a story.

[lunabee34]

Also, I meant to reply to the top post. :) Not ignoring you, OP.

[inkdust]

That seems like a good way to go about it. Funny enough I'm pretty good with personal narrative essay types, focusing on a single moment, and I'm pretty good running with flash fiction prompts, but I feel stuck at either 1-2 pages or 300.

[lunabee34]

My main issue is sustaining plot. Most of what I write in any genre falls between the 2500-7000 word range. This works great for the personal essay, the academic article, and fanfic--not so much for that novel it would be awesome I could write. LOL I just don't think I have a novel in me. Maybe a collection of short stories or personal essays but not a novel. Which deeply saddens me.

[sarillia]

If you ever want to try to flesh out an idea into a novel I could try to help. I'm good at following through the implications of previous events and coming up with ways that various characters can react and intersect and complicate things further.

[lunabee34]

You are so sweet. Thank you. :)

I can barely find time to breathe right now LOL so that's far away on the agenda for me if ever, but I will hit you up should that change.

[inkdust]

That could be. But you never know - the right idea might come along. The length is definitely daunting. I do okay with long-range plot points, but building the in-between parts is always tough. Pacing, arc. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the fear of it being too much to handle.

[lunabee34]

I struggle with all that stuff too. Maybe we'll surprise ourselves one day. :)

[sarillia]

This makes sense and I think I can manage it. Thanks.

[lunabee34]

No problem!

[agilebrit]

Basically, what I do is concentrate on one character with one problem and keep side plots and characters to a minimum.

The basic formula goes: Each character adds at least 500 words to the story, merely by existing. The thing I'm working on right now originally had seven characters running around in it--it's part of a series of stories and all those characters exist in the series, though they're not usually all in every story. That was completely untenable, so I excised two of them by the simple expedient of sending them out of town for the duration.

One of the remaining five is minor to this one, but I don't really have a good way of getting rid of him. The villain is, of course, necessary. And the two other characters have significant roles to play.

It comes down to paring out extraneous characters and situations, in the end. I also keep description to a minimum.

[sarillia]

This is definitely a good thing for me to keep in mind. I have a habit of getting too interested in minor characters.

[serria]

That's a good question. As already said, I'd imagine that a short story should be more narrow in scope. But you don't want it to feel like a weaker story, either. I think the world, the atmosphere and the characters should be just as developed, but you have to use fewer words to express them to the audience.

I would probably recommend having an idea of what you want to happen in your story before you write, just to have a rough plan of how long it will be. You'll probably not want to have more than two or three "real" leading characters, depending on the length.

Maybe look at your favorite short stories and see what they do that you like, how many characters they have, what kind of detail they use and how long they are?

[sarillia]

I probably should study the form more. I do have some short stories that I really like and I could dissect them.

[caecilia]

In addition to what everyone else said, read a lot of short stories. Get some anthologies. There are some free magazines online like dailysciencefiction.com, Nightmare and Lightspeed. There are probably ones for literary fiction too. I'm kind of a visual person so reading short comics before I start writing helps. I think the short story is closer to poetry than to a novel (I think some famous writer said this actually). You don't have room for any filler or sidestories. Everything has to count and there should be a sense of rhythm to it.

Can I ask what open calls you've been considering?

[sarillia]

I definitely should read more short stories. I have some favorites but I haven't read nearly as many as I've read novels.

I'm looking at this one for fairy tale retellings which will be closing soon. And these would be a bit longer than short stories but still definitely not novels, but I'm thinking I can make some of my stories work for Spectrums here. Then there's Storm Moon Press. Be sure to look at all the imprints.