This week: 30 Short Stories in 30 Days Edited by: Lilli  
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"A short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage.
A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film."
~ Lorrie Moore
"The great thing about a short story is that it doesn’t have to trawl through someone’s whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side."
~ Emma Donoghue
"A short story is a different thing altogether – a short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger."
~ Stephen King
"A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it."
~Edgar Allan Poe |
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Have you always wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo but 'novel writing' isn't your thing? Do you actually prefer writing short stories? Well, why not commit to writing a short story a day for the month of November?!
All of the same guidelines apply:
 1677 words a day will give you 50,000 words by month's end.
Just write, every day, without doing any editing until December!
Decide ahead of time whether the stories will follow a specific genre or be a variety.
At the end of the month, you'll have your own collection of short stories!
Alright...let's chat about what makes a short story a short story.
There are five key elements to every story: plot, setting, characters, point of view, and conflict.
1. Plot
The elements of the plot are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. This week we will take a closer look at each of these.
Exposition
The exposition gives the reader the background information they need to jump into the story. Whether you choose to jump right into the action, somewhere along the way your reader needs to get a crash course on your characters’ or setting’s history.
Exposition can be accomplished in a number of ways: flashbacks, dialogue, setting and character descriptions, and Point-of-View.
Rising Action
The rising action is the moments in your story that lead up to the climax — choices your main characters have made and the events happening that are at odds with your characters’ goals. This is where your story builds and your reader begins to invest in your characters.
This is likely going to be the longest section of your story. A lot happens between the start of the story and that moment, but often you’ll find yourself holding your breath and waiting to see what will happen. That is the power of rising action.
Climax
This is the primary turning point and what your story has been building towards. What are your main characters going to do? Will they succeed or fail? The main goal of the climax is to resolve the conflict, but whether that positively or negatively affects your character is up to you.
Falling Action
Now that the main conflict is resolved, it’s time to begin wrapping everything up. The falling action is a great time to tie up any loose ends while also giving your characters a chance to deal with the aftermath of the climax.
Resolution
It’s time to end the story! If you still have unanswered questions in your plot, answer them now. The resolution is also the time to show the next step in your characters’ lives. Do they live happily ever after? Is a new era dawning? Or do they just continue on with their ordinary existence with a new experience under their belt?
The resolution of one story can also be the start of another. You can introduce a new conflict or raise more questions for your reader. Wrap it up, then begin again!
2. Setting
The setting of your story is both the physical location and the point in time in which your plot takes place. For some stories (like fantasy or science fiction) setting is a huge part of the story. You can build a whole new world with its own languages and creatures. In this case, the setting almost acts as its own character in your tale.
3. Characters
The characters are the people, animals, beings, or personified objects driving your story. A story can have many characters or just one main character as the focus.
There are many different kinds of characters, but most stories include these two common types:
Protagonist and Antagonist.
The protagonist is typically the ‘good guy’ in your story — the one the reader is rooting for. This main character is super important and central to your plot. They are often trying to overcome the conflict while finding themselves at odds with our next character type.
The antagonist of your story doesn’t have to be a single person. It can be any character, group, or force that is at odds with your protagonist. This doesn’t mean they have to be ‘evil’ or the ‘bad guy’, but the antagonist is often pushing the conflict onto the protagonist.
4. Point of View
Point of view (or POV) describes the lens through which the story is being told. The POV you choose can help shape your entire story. There are several different POVs to consider, but the most common are first-person, second-person, and third-person.
5. Conflict
The conflict is the big problem of the story. What is your main character trying to overcome? That is the conflict. There are different types of conflicts you may choose to use, but the most common are character vs. self, character vs. character, character vs. nature, and character vs. society.
I know it's a lot of information, and this newsletter only lightly touches on each element. Writing is a process and we are always learning, always! Just keep at it and have fun!
 PS: If you decide to try a write a story a day, check out "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week!" for daily prompts! |
| | | Lily (13+)
Lily returns home and is having a hard time settling because of the secret on her chest.
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Short Stories: October 04, 2023 Issue [#12203]
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