Steps to write a short story

 Steps to write a short story 

  1. Find your key emotion or theme you want to write about. This is the feeling or emotion you want to give to your readers, and what all the elements in your short story will work together to achieve. What kind of story do you want to tell—and why?

  2. Start your story with a strong visual snapshot. Because of the restrictions of the short story format, you won’t have a lot of room for exposition. To get around this, consider starting your story in media writerly practice that means opening in the middle of the action and filling in details later. This takes you straight to your important scene.

  3. Build your story, remembering that you only have a certain number of words. Don’t waste time and space. Everything in the short story needs to be vital. Read and re-read every sentence and ask yourself: does it really need to be there? Does it serve the higher purpose of illuminating your story’s mood? As Edgar Allan Poe once said: “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build toward it.”

  4. Write a strong ending. Everything has been building up to this key moment. When writing the ending of your short story, focus on the mood you’re trying to create and ask yourself: what would be the most satisfying way for the ending to capture this mood? Remember, a short story is still a story, which means the plot has to make sense, and nothing should be too obvious. Does the ending follow naturally from where the story began? Does it make sense?

  5. Reread and edit if required. Spend some time away from your story, and go back later with a pair of fresh eyes. Once again, keep in mind the key mood you’re trying to express. Read your short story back at least three times, paying attention to how plot, characters, dialogue, scenes and settings all work together toward one common goal. Note any inconsistencies and fix them—or get rid of them. Strike anything which feels superfluous or slows down the pace


How to generate short stories ideas 

Answer any of the questions below as briefly as possible, writing down your first response. Then set a timer for 60 seconds. Use one of your answers to write the opening of a short story—one paragraph or more.

Then, reset the timer for 30 minutes and finish the story. You don’t have much time, so just keep writing. Don’t worry about craft or structure. Write until the timer stops. And remember this advice: you can start a short story at any point in the nnarrative.


What was the most embarrassing thing you’ve    experienced in the past few years?

When was the last time you cried, and what caused it?

What shocked you so much you were speechless?

What was the very best or worst moment of your childhood?

Have you fantasized about revenge recently? Against whom?

Pretend you’re on your deathbed, looking back at your life—who did you love the most? Be brutally honest.




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