Fictional short stories provide writers and readers with a short but satisfying taste of creative imagination. There are those that enjoy reading and writing or even aspire to write fiction. This article provides the guiding steps to starting a short story, and finishing it.
All stories begin with an idea. Most people creative people have many ideas throughout the course of their daily lives. It is important to carry a notepad or recorder along with your person so that ideas can be written down, recorded, and ultimately remembered. Some ideas are useful, some not, but 100% of forgotten ideas are never used. So write your ideas down on paper. If you want to discard them later, then do that later but only after you’ve reread them. This suggestion goes for all stages of your short record writing process.
Plan. When you have some solid ideas, start an outline for your short story. You don’t have to know all the parts of your story initially, but start with what you have. Your plan will probably consist of some ideas you’ve been running around in your head and some that you have on paper. In your concept, be sure to include major and minor characters with some personality description, major region changes, and a basic introduction, middle, and conclusion. You needn’t draw out the exposition – conflict – rising action – climax – falling action – resolution chart that you learned in junior high, but it isn’t a abominable chart to follow if you need a backbone.
After a rough outline has been made, set to writing. Ideally, you don’t want to rush into the writing process, but there really is no tried and true method to writing an effective short story. Often, beginning writing will allow some foundations of your story to be laid. If you’re starting with the beginning (and you don’t have to), be sure to begin with an attention grabber in the first few lines or paragraphs. In short stories, readers want to be grasped immediately. Your writing should strive to do this. Be sure, of course, to also introduce sure aspects of your main character. Even in stories where the character’s identity is a mystery, certain personality traits are explored early on. Remember to expose and not tell. It is far more effective to describe the anger of a character through dialogue than to simply state that he or she is an angry person. You should also introduce some sort of complication early on in the story, depending on the length of your short story.
As you write you will likely have ideas about other sections of your short story. You should keep your outline handy and be sure to add to it whenever distinguished. Again, it would be unwise to forget great ideas because you forgot to write them down.
In beginning your story, remember the three basic modes of writing. There is narrative description, dialogue, introspection, and action. Avoid too much story description. Use dialogue and action to advance the story line and inform aspects of character. Introspection is the often-overlooked aspect. Certainly aim to incorporate this into your story, as certain aspects of your characters can be revealed from a different angle.
Stay tuned for tips on developing your story beyond the initial stages. Style, plot development, character development, and overall flow will be explored in more detail. Until then, get started on those stories!
