Writing using your life story
A creative short story is a brief fictional narrative, usually written in prose and characterised by a single central theme, few characters, and a limited scope. Typically, these stories are shorter than novels, can be read in one sitting, and are aimed at evoking strong feelings from its readers. Creative short stories focus on one particular incident or a series of related incidents and drive towards unity of effect. Usually, creative short stories have around 1000 to 7500 words, though some can have up to 10, 000 words. These stories make use of literary devices to tell a story as in novels but to a lesser degree.
Features Of Creative Short Stories
- The setting of creative short stories is usually simplified and maybe introduced without full exposition.
- As creative short stories have a limited scope, even a single character or plot may never be fully developed.
- These stories focus on creating a distinct mood using literary devices such as metaphors, imagery, foreshadowing, tone, and sentence structure.
- More often, creative short stories follow a typical plot whereby the story begins with an exposition, followed by a complication which results in a crisis
Creative short story
ideas and tips
Are you ready to write a creative short story but don’t know what to write about? There are endless short story ideas and tips that will help you to get started. The following are some of the practical short story ideas.
1. Share A Story Behind Your Scars
Creative short stories are aimed at evoking strong feelings from the readers. Telling a story about a physical or emotional scar you’ve experienced at some point in your life can perfectly serve that purpose. Nearly every person has been wounded, whether physically or emotionally, so it’s easy to find an experience that would evoke a distinct mood. Think of those moments in your life when you were wounded and write a story, whether real or fictional.
2. Write About Your Job
If you love your job, it shouldn’t be hard to use it to create a nice story. Write about your best experiences at work, as well as unpleasant experiences. Also, you can write about colleagues who make your work interesting.
3. Talk About A Relationship That Didn’t Work
Whether it’s a friendship or romantic relationship or even a relationship with a family member, write about the good times and experiences you had with the person and the unfortunate end of the relationship.
4. Write About A Character Who Started Dirt Poor And Comes Into A Massive Fortune
This is one of the basic plots for creative short stories. Talk about an ambitious character from humble origins who comes into an unexpected fortune. You can add a unique twist whereby the same character destroys his/her life later on due to lack of self-discipline.
5. Read Lots Of Creative Short Stories
Imagine trying to compose a nice song without ever having listened to some of the best songs. You need to read lots of great creative short stories to figure out what you like about them. If you don’t read more often, you’re going to have a hard time writing one. Read newspaper articles and poems to get acquainted with the play of language.
6. People-Watch
This is another effective way to come up with creative short story ideas. Most creative short stories emanate from observing human nature. Simply watch people as they go about their business, and you’ll discover something interesting to write about.
Competition Time!
Are you a New Writer looking to get your story in print?
Are you a New Writer looking to get your story in print?
Now is your chance - join in the community
Hi 20:20 Short Story Competition
Hi 20:20 Short Story Competition
If you are an unpublished writer and you want your story to be published in a beautiful book, Check out our latest short story competition called...
Hi2020.co.uk
This is a chance 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：
Hi2020.co.uk
This is a chance 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 New Writers who have not yet had a chance to shine. Writers need to be aged 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 produced by Happy London Press. 20 winners will also be interviewed on-air by radio host Jonathan with Wycombe Sound 106.6fm, and a podcast of your story read by either yourself the author or an actor and then posted on our podcast station Anchor.fm/HappyLDNPress.
COMPETITION HAS BEEN EXTENDED, ENTRIES BY 20TH JULY.
LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS
SEE OUR HINTS AND TIPSSIGN UP FOR THE LATEST BUMBER ISSUE MAGAZINE
All their to help find your special talents as a New Writer
Now lets put your polished works of creative writing to good use and submit to Hi2020 Short Story Competition
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How to write a creative short story
Writing a creative short story is much easier than writing a novel. Here are the basic steps on how to write a creative short story.
1. Find Your Key Emotion, Develop A Theme
The key emotion in your creative short story is the mood you want to evoke in your readers. To convey your intended emotion, you must choose the right story and tell it in a manner that it will evoke the emotion. It could be a story about a poor man losing the love of his life to a wealthy man, a young man who embarks on a journey to strange lands to make a living, or the loss of a loved one. The most engaging key emotions come from real life. Your theme should be something the readership will resonate with. It could be fantasy, science-fiction, crime, love or struggle.
2. Develop Your Characters
Whether it is real or fictional characters, focus on character development by giving specific attention to appearance, action, speech, and thought. This will help to provide the readers with a visual understanding of the character.
3. Create The Outline Of Your Short Story
An outline should encompass the exposition, the point of view you’ll use, the beginning of the story, crisis/climax, and resolution of the crisis.
4. Write Your Draft
Try to write your creative short story in a single sitting, without interruptions and don’t worry about editing the story before you know what it looks like in full. Read through it once more to understand what kind of edits it needs going forward.
5. Edit The Story
The next step is to edit the story to fill in the plot gaps, remove unnecessary scenes, and ensure everything is consistent. Lastly, come up with a powerful title for your short story.
Write A Catchy First Paragraph
By
Kate Bishop
We have some excellent advice from Jerz Setonhill and HennekeIn today’s fast-moving world, the first sentence of your narrative should catch your reader’s attention with the unusual, the unexpected, an action, or a conflict.Begin with tension and immediacy. Remember that short stories need to start close to their end.Mystify your reader. Make the first sentence intriguing or somewhat open-endedDon't use deception to "lure" your reader. ... Its Like false advertising, leads to disappointment Be bold. Get to the point quickly Be creative. Surprise the reader You can Use humour if you are comfortable with it.
>> Available To Listen Now <<
Listen to our latest short story or writers tips on our podcast!
Anchor.fm/HappyLDNPress.
Each week we cover different topics. From a new story - read to you by the author - who can truly give the narrative the passion and nuances - their story deserves.
The patch looks a bit weird in blogger - but hop on over to our station and you will see the fabulous graphics. the artists have made for us.
Well known creative short story writers
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is an English author of novels, creative short stories, and comic books. His works include his first novel Good Omens and his series of Discworld novels. Gaiman went to Church of England schools, Ardingly College and Whitgift School in Croydon. He pursued journalism in the early 1980s, conducted interviews, and wrote book reviews and articles for many British magazines. He has also been involved in public performances, film & screenwriting, and radio, alongside writing.
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter was an English playwright and short story writer with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. Harold went to Hackney Downs School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He played many roles on stage and in radio, film, and television as an actor. He later worked as an associate director at the National Theatre in 1973. Harold continued to write plays and short stories alongside acting and directing a film.
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming was a renowned English author and journalist best known for his James Bond series of spy novels and many creative short stories. Ian went to Eton College and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He worked at Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division during World War II and moved through several jobs in journalism before he started writing in 1952.
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist and short-story writer well known for selling more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl went to Repton School and worked as a fighter pilot, diplomat, and intelligence officer. He published his first work in 1942, and many wrote many books and short stories throughout his adult life. Some of his works include The Smoker, A Piece of Cake, and Man from South.
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