Many famous authors agree that writing short stories is much more complicated than writing a novel. Writing a short story you can’t miss anything, you don’t have the luxury to describe your character in 20 pages, you need to make readers understand everything about him or her in several sentences. To make this job easier for you, we’ve come up with several practical tips on how to deal with short story writing.
When writing a short story, stick to one point of view. This means that you are telling a story on behalf of only one character. Of course, any rule for writing a literary work can be successfully violated by an expert, but as long as you are not, follow this rule. This method will help you write in a more concise manner and make reading for your readers much easier.
Do not wait too long for the representation of the main character. Readers love the fact that they are familiar with the main character. In a short story, you can introduce your readers to the main character already on the first page.
Keep the backstory to a minimum. If your character, after all, needs the support of his former spouse, this is an interesting twist. But don’t waste two paragraphs on explaining why they are divorced and hate each other. Be brief. This can be achieved through the method of building a dialogue … “Oh, God. You are the last person I would like to see here. ” After that, the former spouse can say: “Oh yes, that was what I told myself when you appeared at the altar on our wedding day.” It is done. This is enough to build on this description of the development of their future relationships.
Use the minimum number of descriptions. Readers do not need to understand the environment in addition to its direct function. If this is a small restaurant, tell that this is an eatery and that your hero smells of gravy. The names and histories of the servants and their patrons are irrelevant unless they are related to the development of events in a short story.
Make the dialogues more concise. Many writers do not use dialogues at all. In short stories, and especially in fiction, less is more. Use as little as possible.
Keep developing your story. You have almost no opportunity to return to the past, use memories or complex combinations to guide the development of the storyline. Start with the fact that your hero is faced with a problem, and tell how he or he works to solve it.
Edit and proofread. Editing and proofreading lead you to success. When writing a story you may make mistakes, and it is only natural
because the brain can’t edit and be creative at the same time. Allocate enough time to proofreading. If you are not sure you have enough time to deal with the assignment before the submission date, buy a short story from a scholarly writing service (SmartWritingService), or at least order proofreading of your final draft.
Look for prompts to develop your creativity. There are lots of online groups, instagram pages, etc, that present potential writers with creative prompts to elaborate on. Don’t promise yourself to write a short story on every interesting prompt you find, you simply won’t have that amount of time. Promise yourself to at least think about the potential development of the plot for this or that prompt. This way you will make your creativity muscle more flexible.
Writing stories is fun and challenging. Follow our tips and minimize the latter part.
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