Thursday, October 11, 2012

How To Structure And Write A Short Story

Short stories are a fantastic way to unconditional oneself through writing, especially for beginners. Those without the time to have the arduous chore of writing a novel or more expansive subject can get their point across just over succulent and more succinctly using a short story. The plot crib process is much simpler, but certain techniques desideratum be used being there is less room to job with. A trim - executed short story can be just because memorable over sliver other die of storytelling and it is a skill that division writer can blessing from. Preparation and Outline Before you start writing short stories, you need to flourish a firm grasp on how they are structured and the most powerful routes of plot spread. The best way to do this is to scrutinize celebrated short stories, catching the time to find the best ones ( the " classics " from your favorite genre ) and target on specific authors that you acclaim. Wages very close attention to specialty boost and dialog. Some view the smaller word count as a restriction, but a good author will use it as an advantage. Every short story starts out with a premise or idea; you need some sort of inspiration. This can be elements from your everyday life or purely your imagination, but having a great idea for a plot with a clear sense of direction is absolutely essential to begin writing. After you ' ve read a decent amount of short stories and you have some potential plot ideas forming, it ' s time to write up an outline. Determine the course of events including how you plan on introducing the characters and setting. Write it all down neatly and organized in a presentable way so that you can easily transcribe it into prose. Once this foundation is built, it ' s time to sit down and write. Writing the Story The very first paragraph of your story is the most essential; you need to capture the reader as soon as their eyes hit the page. Get them interested in your characters and their motives right from the start. You may have the leisure of a slow beginning when writing a novel, but in a short story environment you need to keep the chain of events moving at all times. Build a strong foundation right from the introduction and the rest of the story will come more naturally, and the reader will keep the pages turning more eagerly. Everyone is different when it comes to the actual technique of writing. Some prefer to map out every single part of the story before actual writing it while others operate on a more unstructured " go with the flow " mindset, either way it ' s easy sometimes to forget the time restraints in place so just remember to keep the action going. Don ' t bring too many new elements into the mix once you ' ve established enough to work with, you will confuse the reader and muddle up an otherwise clean delivery. Review and Edit Once you have a draft that you are satisfied with, read it over very carefully, sentence by sentence. It ' s easy to start subconsciously skimming when you read your own work, so really try to focus on grammar and sentence structure as well as pacing and flow. This is of course not enough proofreading to be called a final draft; you need a second pair of eyes for that. Some people will tell you to find a friend, but that ' s actually quite misleading. A friend will be looking out for your feelings, so they may be too nice and not mention any gripes that they had. Find someone you know will be brutally honest with you and have them look over your draft. Before you go show your short story to anyone as a finished product, it is very wise to just put it down for a month and let your mind be cleared of it. Pick it up with a new perspective and immerse yourself in the story the same way that a reader would. If you feel that it just doesn ' t work, go back and rework the plot or just start all over again with a new idea. If you give up on it you ' ll never improve, so the most important thing of all is to just keep writing.

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