 Horror/Scary: December 02, 2015 Issue [#7347] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Writing Great Short Stories Edited by: LJPC - the tortoise  
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This newsletter offers tips on writing short stories.
Sage Quotes:
“Like some kind of particularly tenacious vampire the short story refuses to die, and seems at this point in time to be a wonderful length for our generation.”
~ Neil Gaiman, author American Gods, Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book
“I've never written poetry. I'm not a poet, but I think the nearest you get is either the short story or the novella, in that you can't waste a word. There is no hiding place: everything's got to be seen to relate, and the prose counts.”
~ Susan Hill, author The Woman in Black, The Battle for Gullywith
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Short Story Writing
Now that writers can self-publish, many are publishing their short stories on Amazon. Even famous authors like Koontz are putting out short stories and novellas now. It’s a booming business.
However, I’ve read a number of published short stories recently and been thoroughly disappointed with many.
Why?
Because they aren’t short stories. They are vignettes or character sketches. The writing doesn’t tell a cohesive story with beginning, middle, and end.
For instance, one recent story had two aliens beaming down to Earth’s lifeless surface. They talked about how the humans should have taken better care of their planet. Then they beamed away again.
Seriously, that was it. Just a bit of setting descriptions, some dialog, and an obvious message to the reader about conservation.
No plot. No character development. No conflict. No tension. No satisfying or clever ending.
It was awful.  And I’ve read many more just like that.
What to Write
Unless the short story is very short flash fiction (under 500 words), it should contain the same 5 classic story elements as a novel:
 Introduction of setting and character(s)
 Crisis/Problem
 Conflict/Complications (that block the solution to the problem)
 Climax
 Resolution
What Not to Write
A short story is not a vignette or character sketch.
Vignette: short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment and gives a general impression about a character, idea, setting, or object. No emphasis is placed on story structure or plot development.
Character sketch: An essay that informs the reader about a character’s personality traits, appearance, actions, inner thoughts, or accomplishments in order to “get to know” the person on a deep level, but not through a plot or story line.
A short story has a plot and story development. The character has a goal or a problem, there are things standing in the way of him solving it, and at the end he’ll reach the goal after a struggle (or he will try and fail).
Advice From the Pros
In addition to having the 5 classic story elements mentioned in the beginning, here are some suggestions for how to write a great short story.
Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Tips to Writing a Short Story:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them–in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
(from: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/kurt-vonneguts-8-tips-o...)
7 Tips from David Farland (Winner International Writers of the Future Gold Award for best short story of the year, multi-published with Bantam books, winner of the Philip K. Dick Memorial Special Award):
1. Keep to one or two viewpoint characters. The more characters that you introduce, the more complex their relationships become, the longer your tale will stretch. Developing several well-rounded characters adds a lot to your word count.
2. Plan on a handful of scenes, at most. A movie or book will often have between 70 and 100 scenes, and in each one, you have to describe the locations. So when describing your short story world, look for ways to keep it intriguing without spending pages and pages on description.
3. Every story needs to have a protagonist, in a setting, with a significant conflict. In a short story, make that one significant conflict your main focus, and don’t go looking at too many secondary conflicts. Two or three minor conflicts suffice. Algis Budrys, a fantastic writer and a longtime critic for the Chicago Sun Times, used to say that a short story should focus on the single most important incident in your character’s life.
4. Start in the middle of action. Most authors will try to build toward a main conflict, but in a short story you should get to the middle of it as soon as possible.
5. Just as you can truncate the opening of a short story, you can also truncate the end…the tone implies the ending.
6. Look for a powerful conclusion, one that is emotionally moving or intellectually stimulating. That’s the centerpiece for your tale—the reason for its existence.
7. When you’re done, trim it back. Cut every single excess syllable in the story so long as it doesn’t adversely affect your plot, your characters’ voices, or the tone of the story.
(from: https://mystorydoctor.com/How-to-Write-a-Short-Story/)
** This is my 53rd -- and last -- newsletter. I've enjoyed writing them over the past 4 years, and I loved when people sent comments. My professional life needs more time and attention, so I need to step away. Thanks very much for your support over the years!  **
Let the horror bleed onto the pages with every word!
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Here are some great contests on WDC to submit your short stories!
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To my delight, some writers took the time to comment on my last newsletter: "Are Your Characters Boring?" Thank you!
Comments listed in the order they were received.
Taniuska writes: Writing those unique character description is a lot of hard work... but when done, they're superb. I find people watching helps me a lot:)
It is a lot more work to think up unusual descriptions, but that’s why they pay us the big bucks. 
Indelible Ink  writes: Great advice on the topic in your last newsletter, Laura, when you pose the question, "Are Your Characters Boring?" Let me answer that by noting that whenever I suffer from occasional insomnia, I simply crack open one of my stories and, before you know it, I'm fast asleep.
So, see, there is a place (yawn) in the universe for my (yawn) work.
Oh, c’mon. I’ve read your work and never found it boring! 
GaelicQueen  writes: Although it has taken me 3 years of reading, reviewing and writing on WDC I can see where my writing has improved, but there is still much to do. My bad habit: switching of verb tenses within paragraph. 
All of us learn little by little and have certain weaknesses. But if you know what they are, you can concentrate on improving. Thanks for replying to the newsletter!
Vampyr14 writes: Great examples. I always try to find something unique in a character, or a unique way to describe them, but this is a good reminder.
Thanks! I worked hard trying to write good examples. (I should work as hard when I’m writing for myself! )
Jale DeCrittare writes: Excellent newsletter. I believe you just re-awakened my brain.
Thanks very much! I’m glad it was helpful to you. 
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