How do you write the perfect short story?
Firstly, you need to concentrate on your protagonist. What is their goal? The story will be about the protagonist trying to achieve their goal. Of course there must be conflict and then there will be resolution, but before you can think in terms of plot, think about your main character. Who are they? What are they trying to achieve? You have to make the reader care for them and in doing so you will gain their attention. Without a strong protagonist you don’t have a story.
Think about your first paragraph; you need to quickly gain the reader’s attention and this is done from the very first sentence. A good starting point is to begin with tension. As a short story writer, you don’t have the luxury of a vast word count so the action needs to be fast paced to reel your readers in quickly. You don’t have a few chapters to do this, so start with a punch.
Characters are everything for the short story writer so pay a lot of attention to your characters. One good way is to create a list of all of your character’s strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, physical attributes, work, and anything and everything really in order for them to appear as a rounded character. They need to be believable, so put the effort in; if you feel like you know them then the reader will do too.
Point of view also needs to be carefully considered; you need to decide who will be narrating the story. Will it be in first, second, or third person? How much information will be shared with the reader? Will they merely report or be actively involved? This needs to be decided upon before you start to write so that there is consistency.
Plot is the backbone of the story, so basically it is the story line where all the action takes place. There will be a time line of events but during the telling of the story these events can be stopped, retold, you can go forwards and backwards, and at the end there will be resolution. As long as you have a clear time line to work with you can then write the plot.
As already mentioned, you need to carefully consider conflict, crisis and resolution. Conflict is what makes your story interesting. Conflict is tension and this occurs between the protagonist and other characters or other outside influences to the plot.
The plot needs to build to a crisis which is the turning point of the story, the most dramatic moment. This is pivotal in ensuring your story’s success. So this could be when the protagonist’s partner leaves them or there is a car crash.
Finally, the conflict needs to be resolved. This can be more difficult in short story fiction as the resolution needs to happen quickly and it is sometimes difficult to provide a complete resolution. The best thing to do is to show that characters are beginning to change their ways.
But most importantly, just remember to have fun while writing.
Collect stories from everyone you meet. Keep the amazing, the unusual, the strange, the irrational stories you hear and use them for your own purposes. Study them for the underlying meaning and apply them to your understanding of the human condition.
Read, read, read. Read a LOT of Chekhov. Then re-read it. Read Raymond Carver, Earnest Hemingway, Alice Munro, and Tobias Wolff. If you don’t have time to read all of these authors, stick to Chekhov. He will teach you more than any writing teacher or workshop ever could.
