Download ppt - Writing an Effective Short Story 5 Tips for Writing Your Story

Writing an Effective Short Story

5 Tips for Writing Your Story

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1. Have a clear theme.

• What is the underlying message or statement behind the words? This will leave more meaning in the minds of your readers.

2. Cover a short time span.

• It may be one single event that proves pivotal in the life of the character, and that event will illustrate the theme.

3. Don’t have too many characters.

• Each new character will bring a new element to the story, and for a short story too many different dimensions (or directions) will water down the theme. Use only enough characters to effectively illustrate the theme.

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3. Know the character you do have.

• To help with the effectiveness of your writing, be sure to know your character as a whole person. The character interview sheet can help.



4. Make every word count

.

• There is no room for unnecessary extension in a short story. If a word is not working towards getting across the theme and moving the story along, delete it. A longer story is not necessarily better!

5. Focus

• Your story’s point is its theme. It's tempting to digress, but in a 'short' story you have to follow the straight and narrow.

FOCUS!

• If you do not have focus, you end up with either the beginning of a novel or a group of ideas that don’t add up to a meaningful story.

FOCUS

The best stories are the ones that follow a narrow subject line.

Short Story Writing Tips

1. Have a clear theme.

2. Cover a short time span.

3. Don’t have too many characters.

4. Make every word count.

5. FOCUS!

One more thing…

• No cliff hanger endings

• No “It was just a dream” endings