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How To Write Short Short Stories

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Naimila Iakina Malaga
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56 views18 pages

How To Write Short Short Stories

Uploaded by

Naimila Iakina Malaga
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HOW TO WRITE SHORT

SHORT STORIES
SHORT SHORT STORIES

- "flash fiction"
- These stories can be as short as a few
paragraphs or even a few lines.
- It's like a magic trick, packing a
whole story into such a small space.
- How do you pull this off?
BEGINNING AND THE END

- To start with, it's helpful to think about


what makes a story a story. Even if your
story is extremely short, you want it to feel
complete and satisfying.

- The character's situation. For example, at


the beginning of the story, is trying to
escape a burning building. At the end, he
reaches safety.
BEGINNING AND THE END

The character's perspective on the


situation. For example, at the beginning
of the story, the character believes his
son is in good terms with his new wife
as he is. At the end, he realizes that he is
hiding feelings of rejections.
BEGINNING AND THE END

- The reader's understanding of the


situation. For example, the
beginning of the story seems to
take place at an idyllic vacation
resort. At the end, the reader
realizes that the resort is haunted
and everyone working there is a
ghost.
- The story takes readers from Point A
(the character in the burning building,
the character secure in his happy
marriage, the character relaxing in a
lovely resort) to Point B (the character
safe from the fire, the character
rethinking his marriage, the discovery
that the resort is haunted).
START LATE IN THE STORY

- Ultra-fast and still feel satisfied.

- In an ultra-short story, there


isn't time for a lot of
introduction. You have to jump
right into the action.
- In the story about the haunted resort,
you probably wouldn't show the
character booking his trip, packing his
suitcases, dozing on the plane... You
might start when he is checking into the
hotel, admiring the beautiful lobby and
at the same time noticing something a
bit odd about the receptionist's
behavior...
- In the story about the character
escaping the burning building, you
might start with him crawling down a
hallway with flames all around him.
- In the story about the character
realizing that his son is troubled, you
might start the moment before this
realization.
Consider starting just before the story
climax -- the most exciting or pivotal
point in the story -- so that you can
give it the attention it deserves.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT DETAILS

- If you want to create the effect of a detailed


picture, but you don't have room for a lot of
details, you have to choose your details
carefully.
- Choose details that suggest a larger picture. If
you say mention food-encrusted plates piled on
the kitchen counter and a slice of week-old
pizza congealing on the kitchen floor -- readers
will imagine that the rest of the kitchen is dirty
too.
Choose details that create a certain feeling.
If you want to give readers a creepy
feeling about the haunted resort, you might
focus on details that hint that are
unnerving or hint that something isn't right
-- e.g., the staff don't make eye contact; the
flowers in the hotel lobby are all dead; the
chandelier casts too many shadows...
STAY FOCUSED
- What are you trying to accomplish in
your story?
- What is the central change that occurs
between the story's beginning and its
end?
- What feeling do you want to produce in
your readers?
- In a very short story, there's no space for
IMPLY MORE THAN YOU SHOW.

- You want to give readers a sense of a world


that continues outside the frame of the story.
You can use a hint or a gesture or a symbol to
represent what goes on outside of that frame.
- For example, after your character's daughter
tells him his new wife rejects her, maybe he
promises to change, to pay more attention to
her needs. She hesitates for a moment, and
then gives her father a tight hug.
- The reader doesn't get to see how they fix
their relationship -- there isn't room for that in
the story. But the daughter's gesture suggests
that she is willing to try.
- In an unhappier version of this story, the
daughter might respond to the character's
promises by quietly leaving the room. That
gesture suggests a different path for the father
and daughter after the story's end.

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