How To Write
A Great Short Story
Learning to write short stories is a perfect way to set you up for a successful writing venture. It's the starting point for most successful writers.
Writing a story for the first time is not easy. You'll face hurdles, and encounter many questions as you try to write some fiction story of any length. If it's hugely knotty, have you imagined what it would be like when writing a lengthy tale？
As a new writer, you need to phase out meaning-less phrases off your writing style for you to sell.
A short story is a fictional work of prose that is longer than a fable and shorter than a novel. It’s fully developed to focus on one plot，a few characters and a central theme, unlike a novel that conveys multiple effects displayed in numerous plots and themes. Because of its length, it takes a single sitting to read it.
Most people often mistake short, non-fiction articles with short stories. In the world of publishing, short stories are pure fiction, and they come in different sizes：
- Traditional short stories: 1500-5000 words
- Flash fiction stories: 500-1000 words
- Microfiction short stories: Up to 500 words
The History Of Short Story Writing
The typical modern short story, which is a distinct form of art and different from folk tales and odes, came into existence in the 19th century.
Poetry was dominant among the early forms of literature. Four of 9 greek muses were assigned to poetry. Three of the remaining five representing comedy, tragedy and history were written in verse form. The remaining two covered dance and astronomy. This continued to reign for millennia. Messages in Chaucer’s tales and the epics of Dante, Milton, and Coleridge were conveyed in metered stanzas. Authors from other countries such as Don Juan Manuel and Boccaccio wrote short narrative fiction, however until the nineteenth century, drama and verse dominated English literature.
To do away with this tradition, storytellers had to do more than write fictional prose：publishing outlets were essential to them. The onset of technology in the 19th century made it possible for newspapers to expand in size. As a result, there was enough space for storytellers to publish their works. Most of the stories were brief, plotless, although artistic in describing events, people and places.
Various authors such as E.T.A. Hoffmann and Grimm Brothers published fables and fairy tales. Gift books arrived in the early 1800s, which enabled writers to sell their novels and short story collections. By this time, more collections were sold, making writing such a lucrative venture, attracting more writers to showcase their talents and abilities, which allowed the form to mature.
Focus on a single plot representing one character, and one crisis defined the art of the form of the short stories that had emerged. However, early short stories began to break from the constraint of a single-character sketch by adding a few characters in the plot of their stories to create more fascination. Writers often mixed many of these short stories in poetry, including deeper meanings and symbols like in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and the “Gold Bug.”
Publication technology and mail delivery services improved in the late 1800s, enabling the fast and extensive national magazine coverage. The short story writing venture flourished during this period allowing authors such as Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling to achieve celebrity status.
The nineteenth-century articles were mainly to popularise magazines to increase their sell out. Some of the populist genres they took on include melodrama, mystery and horror.
Competition Time!
Hi 20:20
If you are a published writer and you want your story to be published in a beautiful book, the hi2020-competition is here for you to showcase your skills. But first, you have to be a proven resident in one of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and London districts. The story must be original and of size between 1000 and 1500 words, written in English from among the following given topics：
- Adventure/travel
- Thriller/Dark
- Romance
- Science/Fantasy
- Young Writers (any subject) - for 11 to 18 yrs
The competition is aimed at finding the best short stories from writers between 11 and 100 years old regardless of gender, nationality, or background residing in one of the three above mentioned districts.
Twenty individual winners whose subjects will be chosen from 5 categories will be published on a beautifully illustrated book by Happy London Press. Also, the winners will have a radio interview with Wycombe Sound 106.6fm, who will record a podcast of their story on Anchor.fm/HappyLDNPress.
Winners will be announced on the Friday of 17th of July, 2020.
For more guidelines, please click below
What Makes A Great Short Story
Don’t break the rules; know what you need to do to write a thrilling story. Here are some excellent characteristics of a good story.
Theme
The theme is the lesson of your short story. Readers need to feel they have learnt something.
Plot
The plot is mostly something to do with the struggle which the main character encounters. It can be a conflict with another character, the current situation, or their feelings. The character should grow as they try solving their problem.
Story Structure
You should jump right into the action at the beginning of your story and wind it up so quickly in the end. You should either write the story in first person or third person.
Characters
You should know your characters well, way before you start writing your short story. This is to help you understand how to describe them. Also, readers should be able to feel something for your main character.
Setting
Set your story at a familiar place and time.
Style and Tone
Use the kind of language that would fit your story. Use actions and speech so that readers can quickly know what’s happening.
Thrillers & Mystery Stories
by author
Andrew Segal
An intriguing interactive experience, taking advantage of videos and soundbites to entertain you.
We thought isn't it about time to create a magazine that's not a magazine, but a lively and bright collections of facts, fiction and short stories, to inspire readers and writers.
Calling Short Story Lovers!
We love to provide opportunities for talented podcasters with authentic content. We have an opportunity for podcasters with great content. All you have to do is read three of our short stories and submit your recording to our contact page through the link below:
We hope you enjoyed the adventure, please do let us know which story you have enjoyed the most.
Valuable! This will help me a lot.
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