For short stories, the same applies except it is even more important. Find my chapter on effective first sentences. You have to jump straight into the story. In a short story, there isn't time for boring backstory and random things your protagonist is doing. One of the most important parts of your story is having a good first sentence/paragraph.

You need to realize that before you start typing. They are written to get a message across. Plus, if you don't have any idea why you are writing a story, just that you want to, you ruin the entire point of writing a short story. The reason is that if you screw up something in your short story you've basically ruined the entire story because it is short. You may wing it on your novels and pick up the broken pieces and smooth over the rough edges after it's done, but you can't do that with a short story. Every published short story out there that you have read and loved? All of them were planned. I hope you'll take my thoughts to heart.įor some reason, a lot of people work on this illusion that because short stories are shorter than a novel, they don't have to plot it out beforehand. The reason I tell you this is so you get that I know what makes a good short story and what doesn't.

I love to analyse things and short stories are the most interesting, in my opinion. So I can honestly say that I truly believe every word in this chapter and I know what I'm talking about when I give you my advice. I love to read them and I love to write them. The first thing you should know about me is that I love short stories.

Best short stories to write about