Writing Short Stories

Writing short stories is probably the first thing that all writers should do before progressing on to more lengthy and deeper work like a novel for example.

Look at the way children learn and write to begin with, their first work is nearly always short and to the point.

Yes admittedly this is mainly due to their limited vocabulary and short attention span.

But nevertheless this is still the best way to learn how to write better work yourself.

Writing short stories can help you to form parts of longer work or it can be a skill and a lifetimes work in itself.

Think of it as a novel in miniature. You still need to draw up a story board or a sketch of the outline of your work which contains an introduction, a theme, main characters and/or storyline and a conclusion. It can help you to plot and plan for work on a grander scale if at first you master smaller projects and then move on to grander pieces of work.

Do you think that Sir Christopher Wren's first project was St Paul’s cathedral... not likely?

He will have made his mistakes and done a lot of practice on much smaller projects to begin with.

What about Mozart, was his very first work his 40th symphony? No you've guessed it, it certainly wasn't.

So when writing short stories, begin as you would if you were going to be writing a book. The difference is that you won't have to fill 300+ pages in order to complete your work, this can be achieved using much fewer. Although this doesn't necessarily mean that it is any easier to write good short stories.

In fact the shorter story requires a different set of skills. You have to be able to get to the point very quickly but still in an entertaining and creative way. What some writers may accomplish in a chapter you have to do in a couple of pages and still make it appealing.

What many writers do is create a few short stories which go to make up one long story a novel. Your stories don't need to be attached or linked in this way though. Use them for honing your skills or as a finished product in its own right.

Whether you're writing short stories or a full novel, you'll still need to go through the same process. Create a framework in your mind, set time aside each day for writing and get your ideas and thoughts written down and then edit and correct it all later.

It's often a very good idea to leave any short stories once you've written them and then return to it the next day with a view to improving and refining it further. In fact the finished product may require you to do many of these edits, just as a sculptor chips and files away until the perfect piece is completed, so your writing should be worked on until it's just right, so don't expect to get it right first time.

Just write... once you have something to work with you can then polish it up in to something you'd like others to read.

If you are struggling for inspiration just use some of the writing prompts or creative writing exercises that you can find on this site. Here are the links to take a look at creative writing prompts and creative writing exercises.

Don't just stare at a blank screen or page, this can be demoralising and is very difficult to overcome by wishing it to happen. Instead why not take some time off to write about how you're feeling, the weather the strange woman you passed in the street today... anything, just start writing.

If writing short stories really isn't happening for you one day you could just work on the plot or the general idea. Why not use the time to write the description of your main characters, that way you're still staying true to your goals or describe in clear, vivid details one of the places that feature in the story.

Stick at it though, you'll find some days that you're full of great ideas and others you'll have no chance of writing short stories no matter how long you keep going.