How to Write a Short Story in 5

Steps

Short stories are to novels what TV episodes are to movies. Short stories are
a form of narrative writing that has all the same elements as novels—plot,
character development, point of view, story structure, theme—but are
delivered in fewer words. For many writers, short stories are a less daunting
way to dive into creative writing than attempting to write a novel. This doesn’t
mean writing short fiction is easy—it, like every other kind of writing, comes
with its own unique challenges.

If you’re wondering how to write a short story, we’re here to help. We’ve got
tips for everything from coming up with short story ideas to fleshing out a plot
to getting your work published in literary magazines.

Write with originality

What is a short story?

A short story is a short, self-contained work of fiction that generally falls

between 1,000 and 10,000 words.

Because of this length constraint, short stories tend to be less complex than
longer works—in certain ways. In a short story, you can build a world, but not
to the extent you can build a world in a (longer) novel. Similarly, you can have
multiple fleshed-out characters, but you can’t give every character a full
backstory and meaningful character arc like you can in a lengthier work.
Generally, long, intricate plots with multiple subplots are better suited to novel-
length works than a short story.

Don’t take this to mean your short story’s theme can’t be as deep as a longer
work’s theme. You don’t need an extensive world with a complex magical
system and an entire cast of three-dimensional characters to express a theme
effectively. While short stories have fewer words, simpler settings, and smaller
casts than novels, they can have just as much of an impact on readers. If
you’re looking to read a powerful short story and see how other authors
communicate substantive themes in just a few thousand words, check out
these famous, impactful works:

 The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

 “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes

 “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin

How long should a short story be?

Like we said in the previous section, short stories typically contain between
1,000 and 10,000 words. Stories longer than 10,000 (but shorter than 40,000)
words are generally considered novellas. You might even come across the
term novelette to refer to a story between 7,500 and 17,000 words. Once you
hit about 50,000 words, you’re in novel territory (and you’ve won
NaNoWriMo!)

Stories that clock in under 1,000 words are known as flash fiction and stories
of 500 words or fewer are considered microfiction.

There’s really no limit to how short a story can be, though. Consider
Hemingway’s famous six-word story:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

In just six words, Hemingway evokes an entire scene and the backstory that
led to that scene. This is an extreme example of a short story, and it relies on
the reader extrapolating meaning from the words, but because it does so
successfully, it counts as a short story.

What’s in a short story?

Every short story has these five elements:

 Character

 Plot
  Theme

 Conflict

 Setting

Characters are the people (or animals, aliens, mythical creatures, or sentient
objects) who do the action in your story. Your protagonist is the character
who undergoes some kind of change (or lack thereof) as a result of the story’s
main conflict. Your antagonist is the character (or something abstract)
attempting to prevent the protagonist’s change. To clarify, the antagonist
doesn’t have to be a person—it could be the protagonist’s environment, their
society, or even an aspect of themselves.

Plot is the series of events that illustrate the story’s conflict. When you’re
writing a short story, it’s generally best to start your plot as close to the end as
possible. In other words, if your story is about an alien who visits Earth and
then retreats, horrified, back to her spaceship, start your story just as she’s
approaching Earth or just as she’s touching down. You can build up a
backstory later through tools like dialogue, flashbacks, and the protagonist’s
actions. With a short story, you don’t have space for a lengthy exposition, so
drop your readers right into the action.

A short story’s theme is its central message. This is the point the author
wants readers to take away from their work.

Conflict is the action that drives the story’s plot. It’s the obstacle the
protagonist has to overcome or the goal they’re attempting to reach. A conflict
can be internal, like our example alien setting out to prove to herself that she
can manage a mission to Earth on her own, or it can be external, like the
protagonist striving to prove to her society that Earth is a worthwhile planet
with which to establish a relationship.

Setting is the time and place where a story’s action occurs. For example, our
alien story’s setting might be Nevada in 1955.

How to write a short story

Mine your imagination

Just like every other type of writing, a short story starts with brainstorming. In
fact, the process for writing a short story is the same writing process you use for
other kinds of writing, like essays and presentations.

Ask yourself this: What do I want my short story to be about? Jot that down.
Do you already have a clear idea of who your characters are or the setting
they’ll inhabit? Or are you starting with a theme you want to convey, and now
you need to develop a story to express that theme?

Start your brainstorming session with the elements you already have, then
flesh out your story idea from there. Write down your setting, your characters,
the conflict they face, and any key plot points you have in mind. You can fill in
details later; right now, the goal is to have some rough data to use for your
outline.

Don’t move on to outlining until you’ve defined your story’s conflict. Without a
conflict, you don’t have a story. Although all of the five elements listed above
are necessary for writing a great short story, conflict is the one that drives your
plot, shapes your characters, and enables you to express your theme.

The next step in writing short fiction is outlining your story.

When you outline your story, you organize the notes from your brainstorming
session into a coherent skeleton of your finished story. Outlining your story is
a key part of prewriting because it’s where you develop your story’s
framework and sketch out how each scene follows the previous scene to
advance the plot. This stage is where you determine any plot twists or big
reveals and fit them into the story’s sequence.

Next, it’s time to write.

Don’t worry about grammatical mistakes—you’ll fix them later.

Don’t worry about your narration or dialogue being extraneous or not making
complete sense—you’ll fix that later too. Right now, you’re working on a rough
draft. Just get that story out of your imagination and onto the page without
being self-conscious about it.

Keep that first draft as tight as possible. You’re writing a short story, after all,
so be economical with your words. Keep these tips in mind as you write:

 You don’t need to explain everything. Give enough explanation so the

reader understands what’s happening in a scene; don’t slow them down
with paragraphs of backstory and exposition.

 Keep the ending in mind. As you write, determine whether each

sentence ultimately progresses the plot. If it doesn’t, either cut it or
rework it so it does progress the plot.
  Listen to how people speak. Then, write dialogue that sounds like real
conversations. These conversations won’t necessarily be grammatically
correct, but they will make your characters sound the way people
naturally speak.

Once you have a finished first draft, let it rest. If you have the luxury of waiting
a day or so to come back and read what you wrote, do that. That way, you
can read your writing again with fresh eyes, which makes it easier to spot
inconsistencies and plot holes.

Then it’s time to edit. Read your writing again and note any places where you
can make the writing more descriptive, more concise, more engaging, or
simply more logical. At this stage, it can be very helpful to work with readers’
feedback. If you’re comfortable sharing your work and receiving constructive
criticism, share your rough draft with friends and family—and, if possible, with
other writers—and let their feedback guide the revisions you make.

Move past creative blocks

So you’ve got writer’s block.

Writer’s block can strike at any point in the writing process. You might have a
great idea for a short story, then find yourself struggling as you try to
brainstorm ways to transform that idea into a narrative. Or you might have no
problem brainstorming and creating a coherent outline, but then feel like
you’re running into a wall as you try to write linear scenes and craft realistic
dialogue that advances the plot. Or maybe you aren’t stuck in the sense that
you don’t know what to write, but you’re having a hard time determining
the most effective way to write it.

It happens to every writer.

Because writer’s block is such a universal condition, we gathered up a few

helpful tips you can use to defeat writer’s block and write effective, engaging
scenes:

Give a writing prompt a shot

If getting started is what’s giving you a hard time, consider using a writing
prompt. A writing prompt is like kindling for your short story. They’re generally

brief, at just a sentence or two, and describe scenarios writers flesh out into
full-fledged stories. Run a web search for “writing prompts” and you’ll find a
ton. You can even tailor your search to a specific genre, like “horror writing
prompts” or “romantic comedy writing prompts.”

Skip the scene and work backward

When a particular scene is what’s making it difficult to move forward, skip it.
There’s no rule that says you have to write your short story in order. Just
move ahead to the next scene that you can write, and then when you’re
finished, revisit the challenging one. In many cases, it’s easier to write a scene
once you know what happens after it.

Sprint
We’ve talked about writing sprints before. They’re a great way to make yourself
write faster. When it comes to busting through that brick wall of writer’s block,

sprinting can put you into a mindset where you’re writing words, any words,
just to reach the word count goal you set. You probably won’t craft publishable
prose this way, but you’ll likely find creative ways through the difficult scenes
that you can build on later.

Where to distribute your short story

If you’re like most authors, one of your goals is to publish your story.

There are two main ways to do that: traditional publishing and self-publishing.

In the short fiction world, traditional publishing generally means having your
work published in a literary magazine. There are thousands of literary
magazines currently being published around the world, each with a unique
combination of editorial focus, publishing schedule, submission process,
acceptance rate, and payment for authors.

Some literary magazines accept nearly every story they receive. Others select
very few—as in, a single-digit percentage of the stories submitted—to publish.
You can find literary magazines and contests through resources such as Poets
& Writers, Duotrope, and Writer’s Digest.

If you’ve got a collection of short stories that together are approximately book-
length, you can also query agents to have your work published that way. A
few well-known short story collections include The Things They Carried by
Tim O’Brien and A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin.
The other way to publish your work is self-publishing. With self-publishing, you
don’t need to have your work greenlit by a magazine editor or a publishing
house. Although that hurdle isn’t present, self-publishing can be a complex
process. As a self-published author, you’re responsible
for everything, including these elements:

 Your story’s cover art

 Professional editing

 Formatting

 Marketing

Whether self-publishing is the right route for your story depends on your goals
for the story. If you’re looking to have your work featured in a widely circulated
magazine, guaranteeing that thousands of people (or more!) read it, traditional
publishing is the way to go. If your priority is to simply get your work out there,
or if you want total control of every part of building your platform as an author,
self-publishing can be the perfect choice.

Popular self-publishing platforms include Kindle Direct

Publishing, CreateSpace, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble Press. Each has a

unique publishing process and royalty rate for authors.

You can also self-publish your short story on your blog. Blogs are personal (and
professional) outlets for writing, and if you’ve got a story to tell and don’t want
to go through the process of getting it published or going the “traditional” self-
publishing route, you can create a blog and publish your work there.
Finding a writing community

For many authors, being part of a writing community is a key part of staying in
regular writing practice and striving to grow as a writer. Writing communities
exist online and offline, with some existing as simply places for writers to
connect with each other and others offering up more structure, like a regular
critique schedule. There are also writing communities built around writing
challenges like NYC Midnight and NaNoWriMo.

If you think you’d benefit from being part of a writing community, find one that
fits what you’re looking for—or start one yourself! You can find writing
communities on social media and through websites like meetup.com. Other
places to look for writing groups are local libraries and bookstores and if
you’re a student, your university. Being part of a writing community can help
you get your work published in two ways:

 You can have other authors read and critique your work, giving you
direction that will help you make it stronger when you revise.

 Other writers can connect you with literary magazines, contests, and
agents to potentially work with. If they’ve been published, they can also
answer your questions and give you writer-to-writer advice on what to
do (and what not to do) when you’re trying to publish your work.

Tell your story with confidence

We all have stories inside us. Writing your story is what makes you an author,
and even the most accomplished authors need help catching grammar
mistakes and other issues in their writing. That’s what makes Grammarly an
ideal writing assistant. Write what’s in your heart and on your mind, then when
it’s time to edit, Grammarly will catch any mistakes you might have missed,
flag wording that isn’t clear, and suggest the right tone for telling your tale.

TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY?

1. Understand that a short story is not

the same as a novel
Novels and short stories share some common characteristics. They need to be coherent,
grammatically correct, and have proper spelling. And, no matter the length, they need
to tell a story.

That means they both need to have these elements: inciting incident, rising action
(progressive complications), climax, and falling action.

Still, the two formats differ.

Whereas novelists decide the length of their books, short story writers have to work
within the confines of the word limit they're given. To tell a complete story on a
smaller scale, they have to cut their stories down to the bone, excluding all fatty detail.
And they need to resolve problems quickly.

This is why short stories, unlike novels, usually focus on one aspect of a character’s life,
or one aspect of a problem/relationship in a character’s life.

2. Start as close to the end as possible

Newspaper articles include the entirety of the story as close to the opening of the
article as possible. Why? Because giving a reader the details upfront is one way to let
them know whether they want to read on.

Good short story writers do this as well, sharpening their opening lines and paragraphs to
ensure readers are pulled in off the bat, and keep reading.

So, get the reader right into your unfolding story. Bypass the “before” and the “also
related” and the “vaguely interesting thing that is also true of my character’s life”
snapshots.

Make the plot obvious.

3. Keep up the pace

A fast pace is essential for short stories. Normally, the pace increases as the hero
approaches the final conflict. Since a short story starts close to the final conflict, it
needs to hit the ground running and catapult the reader headlong into the action from
page one.

Example:

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard that Keith Cavernaugh got murdered last night.”

Fred almost dropped his rake. “I hadn’t heard,” he said.

4. Keep the number of characters

small
It’s difficult to properly develop a larger number of characters in a short story, and it's
hard for a reader to keep track of them.

A short story only needs three characters – a protagonist, antagonist, and what is
referred to as a wrench or relationship character.The reader needs someone to cheer
on, someone to hate, and, occasionally, someone who serves to advance the character
arc for either the protagonist or antagonist.
A short story can even have as few as one character. In the Tom Hanks film Cast
Away, the main character is alone for most of the movie. This is a great example of
how you can build a story with just a single character.

5. Give the reader someone to root for

Again, every story needs a protagonist. The trick is to make the reader care about that
character. There are a few techniques to strengthen the connection between your
protagonist and the reader.

Give your main character a passion, hopefully one that will be shared by the reader.
Give your character determination that brings them out of their comfort zone. Give
your character a weakness, one that is only shared with the reader.

A glimpse into your character’s psyche is another good approach. This will make your
character feel real and go on to draw in the reader.

6. Create conflict!
Every short story needs to have a single point of conflict. As a rule, no more than one
is required for a short story.

The character should have either a dilemma, a revelation, or be faced with a decision
of some kind. Surrounding that conflict should be a good dose of tension. Conflict and
tension keep readers engaged and invested in your story.

Kurt Vonnegut suggests that writers should be sadists. Make bad things happen to
your main characters to show readers what they are made of. A short story can never
have too much tension.

7. Suggest a backstory but don’t

elaborate
You don’t have the space to flesh out a character’s backstory. So, if in doubt, leave it
out. Every sentence must count. If even one word seems extraneous, it has to go.
Even though you may not describe much of the backstory on paper, you need to have
it worked out in your head. You need to understand a character’s motivation to write a
compelling story.

Instead, draw in your readers with tight dialogue, tension, and by engaging their
senses.

On that note...

8. Appeal to the five senses

Don't restrict your readers to only the visual experience of your story. Transport
them into your world by letting them touch, smell, taste and hear it. This is what
we mean when we say, "Show, don't tell." Invite your readers to explore the full
breadth of what your world has to offer, as if they were really there.

The dense fog engulfs your character and she can no longer make out the path
through the woods.

The smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen pulls him from his sleep.

The fan blades thwack the air and keep her from drifting to sleep.

9. Dialogue should bring your story to

life
Don’t spend too much time setting scenes because a short story needs to come to a
relatively quick conclusion. Good dialogue can make the characters, and therefore
the story, come to life.

When putting characters in a scene, give them something to do, like washing dishes.
But then focus on the dialogue to advance the story and set up conflict.

There’s no better way to build drama than through tight dialogue. I always try to read
my dialogue out loud. If it doesn’t feel real, or if it seems out of character, I have a
problem.
Example:

“Come quick! Jack is trapped in the mineshaft.”

“I can’t help rescue Jack. I’m claustrophobic.”

“That mineshaft floods in wet weather. If this storm breaks, Jack will drown.”

10. Edit until it hurts

No matter how good a writer thinks their story is, it can be made more concise and
compelling. To be a good writer, one needs to be a ruthless editor.

Some ways to do that...

 Combine characters where possible.

 Delete transitory scenes and get right to the meat of the story.
 Show, remember, don’t tell.
 Get rid of repetitive words.
 Toss out unnecessary adverbs and adjectives.
 Make every sentence count.

This is the time to look at the backstory and decide how much of it is critical to the
story. Remember, just because short stories are short, they aren't necessarily easier to
write.

----------------------------------------

Check out short story anthologies includingRaconteur Magazine for examples of how to
apply these tips well. Reading is always a great way to learn how to write.

In sum, keep it spare. Limit plot lines, the number of characters, the amount of
backstory provided, and whittle down your conflict to just one event.

And remember, as with all things, practice makes perfect.

So, commit to your craft. Write a 500 to a 1,000-word story every month. Once you
get the hang of that, try to churn one out every two weeks. And then every week. And
then every day.

Soon, you’ll be able to create short stories with ease, and you’ll have trained yourself
to write consistently, too.

Just don’t forget to edit!

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