I’ve been thinking about writing short stories, about what I learned that led to some success as mentioned in Tuesday’s post and about what I can share with you.
So this is what I’ve come up with: my top ten pieces of advice for writing short stories. I hope you find them thought provoking and ultimately I hope you find them useful in your own writing
- Read the best, read plenty and ask how do they work, what is it that makes them good? – Don’t be afraid to emulate the best but always…
- Be true to yourself as a writer – don’t write what you think you should write, write what’s important to you.
- Give yourself room to write into your story. I’ve just written a short story that begins on page 3. I often hunt a story in this way: through the writing itself. So pages one and two will go – don’t be afraid of that, start where it’s hot.
- Give your reader room – in a short story there should be as much if not more below surface than above – think of icebergs – let your readers discover the story for themselves.
- Pay attention to everything but especially the beginning. You really don’t have much time to engage your reader (especially if you are entering competitions where readers have piles of stories to get through.) A good first sentence is crucial.
- People are everything, your characters must live; we must care about them. To achieve this you will need to know more about them than appears on the page. Names are often my way in to character, if I get the right name the rest comes more easily.
- Don’t tie up the end too neatly – leave room for possibilities, leave some questions unanswered. Going out quietly but leaving your reader with a strong visual image is a good way to end.
- Don’t feel you have to be tricksy or clever or come up with a twist – above all your story should be genuine – a small slice of life, a glimpse of a world. However if you have a unique and unusual idea or a talent for comedy – go for it!
- Try not to overthink the story but let it stew in your head and grow organically on the page, mix ideas up, put improbable things together, see what happens – play!
- Finally – let your stories rest if you can and for as long as possible. Forget them, come back to them and edit with a fresh eye. I often edit a story many times. Remember every word counts, there is no room for tired language in a short story.
Good luck with the stories – do let me know what you think of my ideas – which do you think is the most important of the ten? What’s your top ten tip?
For me, advice note number 7 is always crucial! GW
It really good to get your reader’s perspective and I think you’re right a short story just has so many possibilities that things have to remain open. Of course for the writer that can mean a novel looms…
‘Being true to yourself, and write what you want to write not what you think you should write’ really sings out to me. I have created unnecessary difficulties by trying to stretch my writing into the form of the conventional novel when my work polishes up best in a shorter medium.
Hi Warren – nice to hear from you, sorry my reply is late but I’ve been away at the Bristol Short Story Awards (more of that on my blog tomorrow) I really sympathise with what you say. I think there are times when we all make the mistake of writing what we think is required, or will be successful, or what agents want to see instead of what suits us best as writers. I hope you are still writing and that maybe soon we will read some of your short stories! – you should certainly get them into competitions where you can. I met a number of other shortlisted writers in Bristol who were really excited as this was the first time they were about to see their work in print.
Hi Avril,
yes, two short novels, a collection of stories and a collection of poems are about ready to be let out into the light. Only my instinct is to box it all away, write a full length novel and send it out to one agent at a time. I wonder now with the explosion of ‘e’ publishing et al it may do just as well to hold hard and fast to the traditional route in hope of the big prize.
I enjoy your postings.
W.
I don’t think you should box anything away – it can’t work for you if it’s not out there! I think you’re right – you should always try the traditional route and try for an agent or publisher. If you get this far and get some positive feedback even if you don’t get a publishing deal then you can think of e publishing. Good luck !