5 Tips for Writing a Powerful Short Story by Shelley Weiner

17/7/2014

Early last week, I was contacted by Emily Furniss, who was the publicist for Roopa Farooki's novel, The Good Children, which sparked a lively discussion here on Annecdotal about obedience. Emily invited me to host a post on writing tips as part of a blog tour she was arranging. Of course I was game; I'd enjoyed hosting Janet Watson writing about her memoir and Tom Vowler's Laws for a Literary Life.

The blog tour is an excellent way of discovering new blogs and, because I've got some nominations languishing in the virtual cupboard waiting to be appropriately dispensed, I'm awarding each of the four non-commercial blogs partaking in this tour the honourable title of Versatile Blogger. (Only 6 more nominations to go, then.) Do pop over to their blogs to see whether you agree with me about their versatility.

Regarding my role in the current tour, by sheer coincidence, I already knew the writer I'd be hosting: Shelley Weiner helped me excise two superfluous point of view characters from my novel, Sugar and Snails – a painful but necessary amputation.

So, without further ado, it's over to Shelley and her tips on writing a powerful short story.

(Incidentally, I have no connection with the Faber Academy.)

It is a commonly held fallacy that short stories are somehow easier to write than novels – and certainly they’re, well, shorter. But that’s about it. A perfect piece of short fiction is as hard to achieve as a finely wrought item of jewellery. It demands precision, supreme control, and a good strong tale at its heart.

Here, to get you started, are five essential tips:

Know every character in your story. What does each one of them want? What will they do in order to get it?
Be ruthless. Make something happen to your main character that will put him or her to the test. This will help your reader to care about the outcome, which is vital.
Make your opening as close as possible to the ending. Constricting the time frame can strengthen your tale.
Write your story as though it’s a letter to a friend who shares your sensibilities – and your sense of humour. It’s a trick to make your story more engaging and to help with the flow.
Every word counts; every sentence should advance the story. Don’t waste a single comma or distract your reader’s attention with an ill-conceived metaphor or an irrelevant piece of purple prose.

Thank you, Shelley.

Shelley Weiner is an acclaimed novelist, short-story writer, journalist and creative writing tutor at Faber Academy. Her summer course ‘The 5 Day Short Story’ begins on 4 August. To view the summer programme visit www.faberacademy.co.uk @FaberAcademy

I wonder what my blog readers think about these tips? And I wonder whether my own short fiction meets these criteria? Let the discussion begin!

And, if you're new to this blog, do take the time to mosey around my other posts on reading, writing and snippets of psychology and consider signing up for regular updates via the sidebar.

12 Comments

Quanie Miller link

21/7/2014 08:05:16 am

I enjoyed this post! Short stories are definitely tricky to write. The writer only has a limited amount of time to wrap things up (hopefully, in a satisfying way) so there's not as much leeway for hemming and hawing like one might have in a novel. I also find that short stories always leave something lingering for the reader. Some truth or reflection about life that the reader is left to ponder after the story is over. Okay, I've rambled enough. Thanks for sharing, Anne and Shelley!

Annecdotist

22/7/2014 02:37:48 am

Thanks for rambling with us, Quanie, and glad you enjoyed the post.

Norah Colvin link

22/7/2014 09:39:39 pm

How wonderful to be included in this tour Anne. I agree with Shelley's tips - important and concise. It is good to have the recommendation for a few more blogs to check out, so thanks for that as well.

Annecdotist

24/7/2014 06:19:17 am

Thanks, Norah, I've enjoyed being part of the tour and the new connections I've made.

Irene Waters link

23/7/2014 02:16:35 am

Great tips and the last three really pertain to the short story as I think that you need to do the first two in any writing. Still a good reminder. Anne I think you do it very well in your flashes.

Annecdotist

24/7/2014 06:21:14 am

Good point, Irene, it can sometimes be hard to tease out which aspects of good writing are specific to that particular modality, as we found in our ongoing discussion of fiction versus memoir …

Tui Snider @TuiSnider link

23/7/2014 10:03:46 am

I was lured here via #WWWBlogs on Twitter. Enjoyed the short story tips, especially #4. I even find that my writing improves when I envision writing it as a letter to one friend in particular!

Annecdotist

24/7/2014 06:22:42 am

So glad we managed to lure you here, Tui. Would be interested to hear more of your experience of writing as if it's a letter to a friend. That was a new one on me. But which friend? How does one choose?

Catie

25/7/2014 12:31:05 pm

Great tips, short and concise. I have to admit I've never thought of #4, I'll have to try it next time. May I just add that not everything in the story needs to be explicitly stated, in most cases there isn't even room for that. You have to leave a lot of it for the readers to deduce on their own by giving them subtle hints.
I've also noticed that the best short stories are idea-driven, instead of character-driven. The characters usually don't have enough room to develop or grow on the reader, but the ideas in some of them are mind blowing.

Annecdotist

26/7/2014 11:21:30 am

Thanks for commenting, Catie, and I totally agree that it's often preferable not to spell things out.
As for your other point, I agree that short stories can be idea-driven and there may not be space for a character to develop, but we shouldn't use this as an excuse not to get a proper sense of our characters as if they were real people.
But maybe you can think of counterexamples? A useful point to ponder..

Catie

26/7/2014 09:04:35 pm

An author has to know his characters, there's no arguing that. I think it was Umberto Eco that said that, when he wrote The Name of the Rose, he imagined the names of every single monk in the monastery, whether they appeared in the book or not. But not all made it into the book, only those that were relevant to the story.

If you're writing an idea-driven story, you don't want a strongly developed character to overpower that idea. If you want to write a story that talks about, I don't know, racial discrimination, you don't want the reader to talk about the story like "It's about a girl that kicks ass. Oh yeah, there's also something about discrimination in there." Doesn't mean that you can't write a story about a character that learns that racial discrimination is wrong, but that's a different type of story. It helps a lot if you know what type of story you're writing. A great example is Orwell's Animal Farm. Most characters are not even meant to feel as real people, but are simply representations of social classes or certain types of people: sheep are followers, horses are working class, dogs are soldiers... They're stereotypes, cardboard cut-outs, and as such they serve the story perfectly. There's no character growth, horses don't become pigs, sheep don't become dogs. Something like that would defeat the purpose of the story. In Fahrenheit 451, you don't need a strong character to make an emotional connection to the reader, the reader is emotionally impacted by the idea that books are being burned. Doesn't mean that Bradbury hasn't given a great deal of though about the characters, which is evident from his 50th edition introduction.

Everyone is so hyped about character growth, but if you stop and take a better look, some of the most popular characters don't change at all throughout the length of the story. Some of the best short stories I've read were almost anecdotal, very much like a good joke. It's the punchline that matters, nobody cares about the Rabbi, Priest, or Minister's life story. Heck, they don't even have names.

Annecdotist

27/7/2014 04:02:32 am

Thanks for this elaboration, Catie. Your point is making me reassess my own writing and what I want to achieve.
I suppose some writers are more interested in character than others and that's okay.
I'm with you on challenging the "how to write" orthodoxy. My thing is the oversimplification of character motivation which I've written about here http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/learning-from-7-debut-novelists-about-character-motivation
and will be elaborating on soon when I come to review the new novel by Alison Moore – it's called He Wants but there's nothing straightforward about what her characters want and, like many of us at some point in our lives, they want something they don't dare name.
I like your ideas and hope to keep in touch.

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5 Tips for Writing a Powerful Short Story by Shelley Weiner

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