Writing Short Stories
Keep your short story simple
I am busy helping a group of entrepreneurs each to develop a chapter of a book that will be published later in the year. The group’s coach, Rob Goddard, approached me to mentor them through the writing. I was delighted to work on his bestselling book, “Suicide To Success”, a couple of years ago and I’m thrilled to be working with his team now.
He knows how the Authorship Mentor Programme (AMP) helps business writers find the story in everyday happenings and facts. Too many business articles and books lack an interesting storyline and AMP helps writers of all genres to develop their narrative writing skills by using tricks that fiction writers use to create great stories.
There are a lot of ‘compilation books’ written by business people who don’t know how to employ fictional techniques to make their writing gleam from the page. Unfortunately, for all their efforts, they usually end up abandoned by the reader after page 3.
This book will not be one of those …
My new gang of writers each has up to 5000 words to tell a story. It will focus on something that has happened to them that has led to their growth or understanding, either personally or business-wise over the last year.
That’s about the right length for the short story format. So, I’m helping each of them to find the ‘story’ of their last year and to write it in a way that will make the book another bestseller for Rob and his cohorts.
It occurred to me that you might like to know a bit more about how to apply the tricks of writing a short story to your own business article or book chapter, too, so here we go.
Once Upon a Tree …
“The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the dog’s mat - that’s a story.” - John le Carre
A short story doesn’t have the room for lengthy exposition and rambling backstories. It can be as short as just a couple of sentences and as long as several thousand words – but it should always be a complete piece of narrative, with a strong focus on setting, timeline and a limited number of characters.
Characters
If you’re working on a short story of up to 5000 words, I wouldn’t involve more than four characters. They have a way of tangling their stories up, confusing the plot and refusing to reveal as much of themselves as they should. In longer works, you have room to explore their personalities and make them believable for your reader. Some of the most memorable short stories only involve a single character.
Setting
Your short story setting should be pared back, too.
Intercontinental migrating, intergalactic planet-hopping and time traveling are best suited for longer forms of writing. There’s not a lot of leeway for moving about in a narrative of fewer than 5000 words.
Trying to tackle more than one setting in so few words will confuse your reader and tie you in knots as you’re writing. Rather, establish a single setting for your action, for example, a village, a conference centre, a rabbit hole or a deserted cottage. (pic of deserted cottage)
Timeline
Pacing your short story should be one of your first steps in structuring. Think about how long a period of time the action needs to take place. Ideally, it needs to happen over a fairly short timeline. Of course, you can use flashback and foreshadowing, but the action of the story itself needs to be contained. Stick to a day, a weekend or a week, rather than ten years, three generations or five centuries in the future.
Action
You guessed it … less is more. While it is impressive to have a complicated plot with several subplots and twist in the tale, your wordcount would be far more effectively used to cover one or two connected incidents. This will help to keep your reader focused and engaged.
While we’re on the subject of action in a short story, don’t fall into the trap of overdramatising. A story of novel-length can handle all sorts of swooning heroines and ends of the world; your short story, on the other hand, will prefer the more modest action of a character’s homelife, or even his state of mind.
The sort of scenarios that best suit a story of this length would be:
Two parents waiting to see the school principal
Two children having a swimming lesson
Two travellers stuck in a train in a tunnel
Two women buying the same garment at a shopping till
Two men with competing businesses at a networking meeting
The Element of Surprise
The most successful stories contain a moment of surprise for the reader and, very often, for the characters, too. A quirk, a miscommunication, a whim, a premonition – all of these could help you to bring about a magical, memorable twist in your narrative.
Don’t think that you have to include a twist or complicated conclusion, though. Anything that lifts an ordinary moment or character trait to an unusual one will do. If you can make your reader believe that something is going to happen only to have something else happen instead, you’ve written a winner.
Think of your short story as a photograph – a quick snapshot that reveals something surprising, rather than a full-length movie.
Early Short Story Drafting Checklist
When you’ve exhausted yourself wrangling with your characters and have just about persuaded them to behave the way you want them to, grab a drink of something rewarding and read through your first draft. Your story should show that you have:
Invented an ordinary occasion, setting and contained timeline and let the characters themselves create the drama.
Avoided stereotypes – made your characters believable and well-rounded, stick to a maximum of four.
Used just one setting.
Tried to mislead the reader with a whim, miscommunication or surprising event.
You’ll find more tips and tricks elsewhere on this blog, so read more. Better yet, drop me a line to let me know how you get on. I’m always happy to have a complimentary, no obligation chat about developing a writing project you’re working on. Message me to book a time. If you’d like more support from a good group, join AMPP* on Facebook.
Happy scribbling!
Jo C
