Short Story Writing Tips
I Creating Characters
‘Character is plot, plot is character.’ F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘Character is destiny.’ Heracleitus
Contrary to what most people do, you shouldn’t start by building a plot but building your characters. Should you start with a plot in mind, there is a risk of you forcing your characters to fit the plot, which would ruin any credibility they might have: they would appear less convincing.
Start with carefully building your character and the plot should come along. There is a chance for your character to feel conflicted at one point (because of a contrast between his upbringing and sense of ethics for example,…) and this conflict will most likely lead you to a plot.
Character + conflict = plot
1 or 2 characters should be enough: more would be too hard to deal with.
1/ Ask yourself the following questions (source: What if? Exercises for Fiction Writers, Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter)
a/ What do you know about your characters?
You must know as much as possible about them.
| Character’s name | |
| Character’s nickname | |
| Sex | |
| Age | |
| Looks | |
| Education | |
| Job/occupation | |
| Social status and money | |
| Family | |
| Diction, accent,… | |
| Relationships (friendship, love, family, hate..) | |
| Places (home, office, car,…) | |
| Hobbies | |
| Obsessions | |
| Beliefs | |
| Politics | |
| Sexual history | |
| Ambitions | |
| Religion | |
| Superstitions | |
| Fears | |
| Character flaws/weaknesses | |
| Character strengths | |
| Tastes in books, music,… | |
| Food preferences | |
| Talents |
Of course, those details don’t need to be included in your story, but you must keep them in mind when writing to bring your characters to life.
b/ What do your characters want?
This will likely help your conflict to emerge.
| What your characters want/hope/wish/need | |
| Their motives for wanting this | |
| Where in the story it is made clear to the reader | |
| How the reader learns about that desire: through dialogue? monologue? actions? interior thinking? | |
| What or who stands in the way of their achieving it | |
| What that desire sets in motion |
2/ Portraying your characters
You can portray your character either by telling or showing.
For example:
Clary was shy = telling (you inform the reader, plain and simple)
Clary stood there, fidgeting, chewing on her lips. Her face flushed as she felt the stranger’s heated stare on her. Unable to lift her eyes to him, she swallowed loudly and opened her mouth to speak but the words got stuck in her throat = showing (through the character’s actions/reactions you show the reader your character is shy)
My advice: SHOW, DON’T TELL!
Most of the time, telling is boring.
You can use different ways to ‘show’ your characters:
a/show him/her through appearance (see Clary’s example above)
b/ show him/her through a habitual or repeated action (rituals speak volumes about a person’s character)
c/ show him through a scene in a dialogue (words, tones, reactions to what people say convey a lot)
3/ Naming your character
Your character’s name should imply some of his/her traits (personality,…).
eg (don’t shoot me for this but it’s the best I came up with…): Bella Swan, Twilight: she’s the girl next door: awkward, shy, convinced she’s not pretty but plain. However, as she meets Edward, she will flourish and gain confidence = it reminds us of ‘the ugly duckling’ who is rejected because he’s different but ends up turning into a swan…
Well, you don’t have to choose a revealing name for your character but if you manage to pull it off, it might be great. However, you should be SUBTIL in doing so. If you’re too obvious it might ridicule your character and strip him/her of his credibility (except if it’s your purpose…)
LAST MINUTE ADVICE: you can create your characters using people you know (even yourself) and expand through imagination (so start watching people carefully from now on and take notes^^)
II Choosing the perspective/POV (=point of view)
1/ 1st person narrator: the scene is told by one of the characters in your story (usually the main character)
If you choose to use I, keep in mind the POV will be most likely subjective…since everything is told by your character, the way he/she sees things can be quite different from what really happened. Likewise, his/her opinions/vision might interfer with his/her way of telling the story.
It raises the issue of his/her reliability: can the reader trust him/her?
eg 1: he/she can be misled (eg: he/she doesn’t know everything, some parts of the puzzle are missing so he/she can’t make a proper judgement) see Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet doesn’t know of Wickam’s poor actions, so she misjudges Darcy
eg 2: he/she has a mental disorder and can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality – see Fight Club or American Psycho
eg 3: the narrator may want to deceive the reader on purpose – see The Murder of Roger Akroyd, Agatha Christie, the reader only learns at the very end that the narrator is the one who committed the murder
Well, there are many other reasons for a narrator to be unreliable so it would be tedious to list them all but I hope you can see my point.
2/ 3rd person narrator: offer the most objective view of a story because neither the narrator nor the reader are participants. Even in third-person narrative where subjective thoughts and feelings are known, they are generally contextualized by the thoughts and feelings of other characters.
Objective and Subjective narration: Objective third-person narration does not reveal anything internal about a character, reporting only what can be observed. Subjective narration uses the thoughts of a number of characters as a lens to relate and interpret events.
Omniscient and Limited: An omniscient narrator has access to all characters’ perspectives at all times, as well as all events and times. A limited or closed narrative voice uses the thoughts of only one character to experience the events in the story.
CONCLUSION:
eg: your story is about a divorce
The reader will have more access to the characters’ feelings and thoughts if you choose a 1st person narrator (likewise, how the story unfolds will depend on which character is telling it: it’s obvious the husband’s version will be different from the wife’s.)
If you choose a 3rd person narrator, the reader will have a bigger picture of the whole mess, since he will have access to more objective information
Well, in the end it’s up to you, depending on what you want to convey to the reader. Chances are a 1st narrator will get a stronger reaction from the reader (he is most likely to identify with the narrator or in some cases reject him/her) but then again there is no specific rules and it’s not always the case.
III Building the setting
1/ Like for the characters: show don’t tell. Make the reader understand your character is in the kitchen rather than just throwing around the word ‘kitchen’: if you mentioned where the scene is taking place, delete the information and reread to check if it’s still obvious to the reader. If not, it means you should make some changes to your paragraph
2/ When describing your character’s surroundings, rely on the 5 senses: what the place smells like,...
3/ The setting can echo your character’s feelings/ personality,..
eg: weather – your character is angry, there is a storm outside.
eg: home – your character is a neat freak/ has OCD (=obssessive compulsive disorder such as the need to wash your hands every 5 minutes), you can convey the idea by describing how spotless his/her flat is: no junk scattered on the floor,…or the opposite: he/she’s messy so there are dirty plates on the floor, empty take-out boxes on the couch,…
or your character has a cold personality and his/her flat mirrors it: impersonal, no family pictures
4/ Or the setting and characters can clash, which will lead to conflict.
eg: a neat freak in a messy flat
Again, show your character’s feelings and reactions through the description of the place
IV Starting your story
You can start your story:
– with a descriptive passage and slowly build your plot
eg: ‘The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.’ Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
– in medias res = in the middle of the action (with a dialogue for instance)
eg: ‘ »‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. » E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web.
or:« The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. » Ian Fleming, Casino Royale’
For a short story, I would recommand you to start in medias res since, well, short stories are supposed to be short so…you don’t have time to beat too much around the bush. Besides, starting in medias res pulls the reader right into the action.Then again, it’s your call, it depends what you have in mind for your story and what your purpose is (you may want to build suspense, tension to rise and surprise the reader with an un expected twist and choose a slow-paced story…).
What you must keep in mind is that your opening line will convey first impressions: first it may hint at how your story will unfold, provides information about the characters, plot, … then it is what will make the reader want to read your story… or not
In other words, your opening line must be powerful: try to catch the reader’s interest and arouse his curiosity so that he wants to read more.
V Building up your story
VI Ending your story
Well there is no specific rule: you don’t always need to end your story on a twist or cliffhanger. It’s not necessarily good to leave the reader with too many questions, quite the opposite, it may leave him frustrated. It’s just that you must see it as the last impression you leave on the reader.
You can ask yourself the following questions:
What did you want to convey through your story?
How do you want the reader to feel once he’s read your story? (wonder, confusion, sorrow, hope, confusion,…)
LAST MINUTE ADVICE: Always write the full beginning and the full ending of your story before developing its ‘body’. It will help you to organize your ideas and not forget where your story is leading (you can always go back to it later and make some changes). It’s so easy to get caught up in writing: the thing is if you do not know clearly where you’re going, your story might be inconsistent.
VII Choosing the title of your story
This is the last thing you do and not the first…
Try brainstorming : sit with a pencil and paper and write down as many words related to your story as you can.
eg: words related to your characters, the action, what you want the reader to feel,…visual words or more abstract words…
You should put them in a chart: nouns, verbs, adjectives,…
Then try to combine them and see whether some combinations would make a good title.
You should select a few titles and put them away, then go back to them later with a fresh eye…
As usual, this is a mere suggestion…
LAST MINUTE ADVICE: Your title shouldn’t give too much away…Why read the story if the title says it all?
Well those were just a few tips, some of them maybe more obvious than others…anyway I hope you didn’t fall asleep reading this…
