Stories are an essential part of life; we’ve been telling them for millions of years but how do you write a really great story? Stories are a sequence of events, inextricably linked by cause and effect. Stories can be true or they can be fictional but all stories must have a start, a middle and an end. There should be at least two characters, although many have been told with just one, and there should be an event or two to give the story a point of interest.

There are three main types of the written story:

One - Short Stories

Short stories tend to be fictional and less than 20,000 words. A typical short story will be somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 words and they tend to be published in anthologies, magazines, and newspapers. To write a short story, you need:

One main character and a few others;

A short time frame, maybe a few days or a couple of weeks;

One plot, no subplots unless it is towards the longer word count end.

Writing a Good Short Story

You need a beginning, a middle, and an end.

In the beginning, you introduce your characters, particularly the main one, and the problem or event the story is based around.

In the middle, you develop your plot and the action; your main character will face issues and challenges.

In the end, your main character will either triumph or fail; whichever it is, it must be a conclusive ending, no hanging threads.

Even in the shortest of stories, there must be something happening because this is what will hold your readers. Your main character should be a different person by the end, having overcome a fear, learned a truth, anything that means they have grown as a person.

Two - Novels

Novels are a minimum of 60,000 words – 20,000 to 60,000 is considered a novella. Typically, a novel is usually between 80,000 and 150,000 although that will depend on the genre. The structure of a novel is much the same as the short story but you have a bigger scope to play with.

You will have at least two main characters, supported by a larger cast of other characters. The time frame is longer, in some cases covering multiple generations and centuries. There will be one main plot and several different subplots.

Novels are more popular, not just with the readers but with full-time authors too.

How to Write a Novel

Be prepared because novels are much harder than a short story. Many authors can knock out a short story without even thinking about it but a novel requires a great deal more planning. However you plan it, you must make sure that:

Your plot is sufficient to meet your target word count;

Your main character is likable – short stories can get away with boring characters but a novel can’t; your readers are stuck with your character for a considerable time and they must be able to identify with them;

Your plot escalates as the story goes on. You need to build it up before it can come to an end, with things getting considerably worse for the characters before they can triumph.