Please give me good pointers on writing a short story!!!!?

Question

I am going to start writing short stories to my school paper and I need tips.

Answer 1

stick to what you know,,,, keep it to the point ,,,, dont go off at a tangent,,,,,, draw up a plan of characters first oh and the plot of course

Answer 2

At some point in writing each story--earlier is better--write the premise for the piece, the main idea of the story.

Usually the premise can be just one sentence, and it does not need to be included in the story, but it's good to put it on paper so that you'll have a solid understanding of what you are doing while you write the story. If the story evolves into something different that you like better, you can write a new premise sentence and go with that.

Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, a short story doesn't have the space to make lots of points. Decide what the point of your story is and make sure the writing is getting the job done.

Answer 3

Journalism or actual short stories?

Journalism answers the W5 questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how much $.

A short story, on the other hand, refers to a very compact, formal genre best studied by reading the masters - Chekhov http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2463#2463 and others helpfully collected and discussed here: http://www.classicshorts.com/.

The distinguishing feature of the short story - and probably the most difficult to achieve - is the denouement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denouement. It precedes the conclusion, where the author kind of sums it all up, if you get my meaning. The denouement is usually some sort of unexpected sour note reminding us of an aspect of human weakness. It's a very tough form to master. The New Yorker magazine runs a new short story every issue - with limited success.

Here are a few favorites in no particular order: William Trevor http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2197#2197 (keep scrolling for more titles and excerpts) and James Joyce http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2940#2940. In Canada, Alice Munro rules the short story roost. In American fiction, I'm esp fond of John Steinbeck's short story cycle, The Pastures of Heaven http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2748#2748, in which short stories are linked by a common theme.

Because this is a school paper, however, you may wish to take professional advice from the greatest literary success the world has known, Charles Dickens, who had 'em lined up on the docks at Boston harbor waiting to find out whether Little Nell lived or died in the final segment of his serialized novel, The Old Curiosity Shop http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=1889#1889. Serialize your work and you will develop a following PLUS you may be able to re-publish the stuff as a complete work at the end of the school year. Start a website, too, like the Harry Potter site. If it all works, a publisher may find YOU.

Here are a couple of amateur works that contain all the requisite elements of a short story to get you going: http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?t=1841.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Are you talking about fiction or non fiction? If you are taking about fiction, start with a central idea an make an outline of all of the things you want to happen. When I write short stories, I think about a one hour TV show and pretend that I am writing for a TV show.

Answer 5

i find it is always easiest to write about something you know. pick a topic you know loads about, or something that happened to you in the past.
it is also easy to write about a character if it is based on someone that you know well.. you can write about their personality and their appearance.
again, with the setting, describe somewhere you know well.

also remember, your story doesnt need to end if you are just writing a short story, it could be an interesting extract from a story...

good luck and happy writing!

Answer 6

Hi, before you could be able to write a shot story, you will first lean how to summarize a story , to create an idea and to make a point out from a summarized story.

Answer 7

What do you want to know? I took a short story (fiction) writer's course and can help you some. But I need to know what exactly you need to know. You may email me from my profile.

Answer 8

Write tight (don't go into a lot of detail, a short story is SHORT). Show the reader don't tell him/her (use dialog and description to show whats going on.) Don't get flowery in your descriptions--be brief.

Example of tell: Sally went to the spice cabinet. The phone rang just as she reached of the pepper, making it drop to the floor. Harley the cat, was covered with black pepper, and began sneezing... Sally laughed.

Example of showing: "Where the heck is that pepper I just got," Sally said. Harley, her yellow cat was the only one listening while he rubber her ankles. "It's not your supper, you silly."

"Got it!" Sally reached for the box, seeing that she had not closed it the last time she used it. On her tip toes, she had her fingers around it box--and the phone rang. Sally jumped, she was off balance and the box went flying.

Gad, she thought. I'm going to have quite a mess to clean up. Someone sneezed.

"What? Who?" Sally looked down. Harley was still at her feet, but covered with black pepper. Sally began to laugh as she picked her poor cat up. "I'm so sorry, Harley, but you do look funny."

Answer 9

well you can write about anything approprite that u like a lot like a sport a tv show or u could just make up a puzzle for readers to solve

Answer 10

Make an outline with the basic point you want to make in each paragraph, then fill in with relevant sentences. Make sure you have an openning paragraph and end.