But that’s just not the case – and I’ll tell you why in just a minute.
If you want to learn how to write a short story, you’ll have to go through these main steps:
- Know your character
- Outline
- Start with something out of the ordinary
- Get your draft done as soon as possible
- Edit your short story
- Title your short story
- Get feedback about it
But before we dive into these exact methods for how to write a short story, let’s talk about why any and all writers should learn how to craft solid, captivating short stories, even if your end goal is to write full-length novels or even nonfiction.
Why All Writers Should Learn How to Write a Short Story Well
There’s a lot more to writing short stories than you may think. Just because they’re shorter in length doesn’t mean it takes any less skill to execute a good one.
In fact, being able to tell a full story in such a short amount of time arguably takes more skill than writing a full-length novel or nonfiction book.
That being said, why is it beneficial for all writers to learn how to write a short story?
#1 – You learn the skill of showing
When you only have a few pages to hook readers, paint a clear picture of the character, and tell a story, you end up mastering the skill of showing instead of telling.
The reason for this is because, in order to accomplish a successful and good short story, showing is a major part of that.
It’s far too difficult to write a great short story without showing the details and using strong verbs to paint a clear image of your character’s life.
Those skills will transfer into anything you write, automatically making it that much better.
#2 – You’ll strengthen individual chapters
No matter if you’re a fiction writer or if you prefer nonfiction, the idea here is the same.
A chapter is basically a short story that’s a part of a bigger whole. The same skills you apply to write a great short story will also help you write stronger chapters.
Why is writing good chapters important if there’s a whole book available for someone to read?
Because it hooks readers and keeps them turning that page.
And when readers look back on an entire book filled with incredible chapters, the entire book as a whole will be seen as being that much better.
#3 – It makes the story sections of your nonfiction book more captivating
Every nonfiction book has portions where stories must be told in order to get the point across.
This is what allows people to relate to you as an author, which pulls them in deeper and makes the core message of your book resonate with them more.
But if those stories are weak, not well-written, and lackluster, it’s unlikely someone will enjoy them as much.
It’s also likely that your message will get lost because the book doesn’t carry the same impact.
How long are short stories?
You already know that short stories are…shorter than your average novel but do they have any other difference?
Here’s a chart detailing the main differences between short stories, novels, novellas, and nonfiction works.
As you can see, the main difference is length, but that’s not all. When you write a short story, you’re only writing a very impactful snippet of your character’s otherwise full life.
You don’t have to unpack your entire character’s life story in a few hundred words in order to write a great short story.
How to Write a Short Story
If you’re ready to tackle this avenue of creative writing or you just want to learn how to write a short story to strengthen the overall quality of your book, here’s how you can do that.
#1 – Know your character
In order for a short story to be impactful, you have to know your character well. You only have a certain amount of time to show your readers who that person is and you can’t do that if you don’t even know who they are.
Think about it.
If you write a short story about your best friend, whom you’ve known for many years, versus writing one about someone you just met yesterday, you’ll be able to craft a much stronger story about your best friend because you know them so well.
The same goes for your fictional characters.
You don’t have to spend a ton of time on this, but know their history, age, personality, family life, friend life, love life, and other details that shape the way someone sees the world.
#2 – Outline
Thankfully, the outlining process for a short story is much easier than a full novel, but I do still advise creating one in order to have a cohesive flow throughout the story.
This is definitely useful for those of you who prefer outlining versus just writing by the seat of your pants.
Here’s what your outline should encompass for a short story:
- The point of view you’ll use
- How you’ll start the story
- How you’ll get from the beginning to the main issue
- What happens at the “climax” (yes, even short stories have one!)
- Resolution of the main issue
- The very end
Keep in mind that your short story can end very abruptly or you can flesh it out until there’s a satisfying ending.
This is really up to you as an author to decide.
#3 – Start with something out of the ordinary
In order to hook readers with a short story, you should start with something that’ll catch someone’s attention right off the bat.
Take Hannah Lee Kidder’s example from the video above. One of the short stories in her anthology, Little Birds, opens with a woman collecting roadkill.
Odd? Yes. Attention grabbing? You bet!
Because we’re automatically intrigued by the fact that people don’t normally go around collecting roadkill.
Now, you don’t have to start your short story with something as strange as that but you dowant to give your readers a sense of who your character is by depicting something differentright away that also has to do with the core focus of your short story.
Take this short story called The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, for example. This author starts with a very low money amount and then hits you with the fact that it’s Christmas the very next day.
This is out of the ordinary because many readers understand that having such little money (scraped up money, at that) right before Christmas isn’t typical. It’s odd – and also hits their emotions right away.
#4 – Get the draft done ASAP
Done is better than perfect. We’ve all heard or read these words time and time again – and that’s because they’re important; they’re true.
This is especially the case when it comes to short stories. Once you have your outline and know how to start writing, drafting the short story in full comes next.
Don’t worry about editing or polishing the story up in any way right now. After all, you can’t possibly make good edits until you know what the story looks like in full.
That would be like matching your earrings to your pants without first having the full outfit put together. You don’t know if those earrings work well with it until you see what else you’ll be wearing.
It’s the same for writing. Focus on getting your draft done so you can move on to the next step.
#5 – Edit your short story
Editing is where the real magic happens when it comes to writing. We all have this idea in our minds that we’ll get it perfectthe first time and that’s just not how writing works.
Most of the time, your first draft is just the bare bones of what’s to come.
Think of the actual writing as the wooden structure of a house and the editing as the drywall, paint, windows, light fixtures, doors, and anything else that’ll make the house complete.
These are a few things to keep an eye out for when editing your short story:
- Point of view consistency
- Tense consistency
- Weak verbs (replace them with our list of strong verbs found right here!)
- Showing versus telling (readers need you to showmore!)
- Stronger imagery
- Spelling/grammar/dialogue
The editing process for short stories is pretty much the same for novels. The only difference is that short stories tend to focus more on imagery and exposition than they do full character and plot development.
#6 – Title it!
This can be one of the most difficult things for any book, let alone a story that’s only a few hundred to a few thousand words.
The good news? Short story titles are a little less important than titles for novels. They can also be very abstract.
What you want to think of when titling your short story is this:
- What’s the overarching theme?
- What is something unique about the story?
- What sounds intriguing but not explanatory?
These questions will help you develop a title that not only makes sense, but is also intriguing enough to pull readers in while staying true to what the story is about.
#7 – Get feedback
No matter how experienced (or inexperienced) you are as a writer, you need feedback.
In order to learn and improve and ensure your message is coming across as desired, you need someone else’s fresh eyes on it.
The simple fact is, we’re too close to our writing.
It’s impossible to read your story with a critical eye when you’re the one who came up with and wrote it in the first place.
Allowing others to read your work and offer feedback is one of the best ways to improve and make sure your story is exactly how you want it.
Short Story Ideas
Now that you know how to write a short story, it’s time to put these new skills to the test with some short story ideas guaranteed to produce something interesting and intriguing.
Here are some short story ideas to take your writing to the next level:
- Your character opens the mailbox to find their biggest fear inside.
- After a devastating fall, your character is learning the hardships of healing after an accident.
- Your character accidentally insults their company’s CEO – right before a big promotion.
- Your character lost a child years ago but lives as if it just happened the day before.
- Your character’s village wise woman tells the story of how magic was lost due to abuse.
- Your character lives in a space pod traveling space, and they’re also claustrophobic.
- Ash floated from the mountaintop and awoke your character from their night’s sleep.
- Your character hasn’t eaten in days and stumbles upon real berries, and so does a starving bear.
- When your character’s heart is broken, they must find a way to heal it – any way.
- Your character is an orphaned 7-year-old who hears voices.
Your Next Steps
Now you know how to write a short story! But how do you go from having all this knowledge in your brain to actually writing a short story worth reading?
We’ve got those next steps for you.
#1 – Free Training
Learning how to write a short story is only the first step toward becoming a published author – and we have the rest of them for you.
With your FREE training, we can help you understand what it takes to write a book, how to do it with intrigue, and show you HOW to self-publish it so the maximum number of people can enjoy it.Just click the button below to TAKE ACTION on your dream – and let’s do this together.
#2 – Download some writing prompts
Not everyone can come up with a story idea off the top of their head. And as you learn how to write a short story, you might come up with a few but if you don’t, we’ve got you covered.
We have a master list of over 200 fiction writing prompts just waiting for someone to bring them to life.
Download yours right here and get started on your short story!
#3 – Start the outline!
If you went ahead and got your list of prompts, or if you already have an idea of your own, start your outline!
Get that main idea down and start thinking creatively about how you can begin your short story in a way that sucks readers in.
Then you can focus on the main event that ties everything together before finalizing how you want the story to end.
Do you have any other tips for learning how to write a short story? What do you love most about this avenue of writing? Comment down below!
Credit: Bella Rose Pope (self-publishingschool.com)