Writing a Short Story

by John Greeves

Jonathan Carroll, an American fiction writer once said: “A short story is a sprint, a novel is a marathon. Sprinters have seconds to get from here to there and then they are finished. Marathoners have to carefully pace themselves so that they don't run out of energy (or in the case of the novelist ideas) because they have so far to run. To mix the metaphor, writing a short story is like having a short intense affair, whereas writing a novel is like a long rich marriage.” It’s a genre many writers embrace, especially earlier on, often thinking it an easier form than the actual novel. This is far from true, as mastery of a short story writing creates its own inherent challenges, where all the elements of characterization, setting, plot, conflict, action, point of view, not forgetting beginning and ending need to be carefully mapped out in a rich narrative from A to Z to engender credibility and belief to ultimately satisfy and transform the reader into the writer’s world.

Freytag Pyramid, and variants are often used as a model to show the structure of a short story.

In the classic story structure of the Freytag Pyramid, exposition is listed as the very first stage of the plot. Exposition is the necessary background to convey the key information to the reader early on and even later so that they can follow the plot. Within the initial exposition characters, setting, time, might appear as the ground work laid down to enable the action to follow. A simple story like Cinderella shows how this structure works. The early exposition creates a background to the recent marriage of her Cinderella’s father after her mothers death and the appearance of a new step mother and step sisters, which leads to Cinderella’s ill treatment.

The inciting incident in the story happens with the arrival of the invitation to the Prince’s ball and the events which follow gradually build to a climax as the action rises. Conflict exists in all stories and Cinderella is no different as she encounters and overcomes a number of obstacles that lie in her path. From the outset (first obstacle) she’s not dressed to go to the ball like her step sisters. This is resolved by the fairy god mother who provides her with a glamorous new ballgown and glass slippers. Then there’s problem of transport (second major obstacle and crisis) to attend the ball. This problem seems insurmountable until the pumpkin and mice are found and then transformed into a majestic horse and carriage. The story continues, but Cinderella is warned by her fairy godmother, that she must leave the palace before the clock strikes twelve. Putting a clock over events heightens tension. It’s a device used in films like Towering Inferno directed by John Guillermin or the submarine epic Das Boot that lies marooned at the bottom of the seabed while time passes. For Cinderella the climax of the story comes when the clock chimes twelve and she flees from the palace losing one of her glass shoes. How will she be found by the prince? (third obstacle) Falling action follows as the story starts to unwind towards the denouement (ending) and where resolution finally occurs when Cinders tries on the glass shoe...a perfect match in many senses, and one which leaves her free now to marry the handsome prince!

In theory, the Freytag’s structure sounds straight forward but many pitfalls do exist. You have to establish fully fleshed out characters (not too many), then something has to happen that will cause the status quo to change and create conflict (the plot) for instance in another story you might imagine a husband wanting to leave Britain for Australia with the family for a more prosper life, while his wife and grand parents don’t want to be separated from their loved ones. What obstacles will lie in wait for this family, what choices will be made and can a resolution really be found? For a story to be believable, the characters have to feel genuine and realistic. They need flaws as well as insecurities, problems and a hotchpotch of full-blooded emotions to be truly human and believable. Even the virtuous Cinderella might be accused of being too docile and too accepting of her down trodden role.

In developing an idea, real life experience or “writing about what you know,” can give authenticity to what you seek. I remember attending a cremation service in Bathampton with a work colleague. We checked out the chapel number before we entered, but it turned out to be the wrong service. We had to stay, and see Queenie, a Lancashire lass on her way to her heavenly maker. After shaking hands and muttering our condolences we ran round the building and just had time to join the proper funeral party, who were now entering the same chapel. The organist gave me a wry smile and the basis for a short story. Short stories don’t have to be dramatic incidents like robbing the local bank (if they haven’t closed yours already), often the mundane can be made just as compelling. Setting is important just as other components are to a short story. However, a setting full of over populated adjectives and adjectives can kill your story dead. The reader needs to be drawn into the action, otherwise he or she will not read on. Kurt Vonnegut even suggests writers should aim to start their stories “as close to the end as possible.” Each scene should heighten the tension and the protagonist must face a series of obstacles to overcome. Try to show and not tell. In Hemingway's six word story he wrote “For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” there was no necessity for sub text or to spell it out. Writers often create the perfect beginning but give scant regard to the ending, which appears as an unconvincing after thought. Countless ways exist in ending your story and it doesn’t have to comply to a neat resolution. Life as we know is a messy business and not all problems are overcome. Think too about the way the events you relate in the story and the impact its made on the protagonist and other characters. Have they changed for the better or the worse and what difference has it made to the way in which they perceive their lives? In the short story The Last Leaf by American author O. Henry, a poor young woman called Johnsy is seriously ill with pneumonia. She believes that when the ivy vine on the wall outside her window loses all its leaves, she will also die. Her neighbour Behrman, an artist, tricks her by painting a leaf on the wall. Johnsy recovers, but (in a twist typical of O. Henry) Behrman, catches pneumonia while painting the leaf and dies.

Through the events Johnsy’s life-changing perceptions alter from utter defeat to hope and deliverance because of Behrman’s intervention.

Short Story Writing Tips

• Have a Story to tell.

• Begin with an arresting first paragraph. Work on your opening line.

• Don’t over-populate your story with characters. Develop your characters as if you know every thing about their life.

• Put your more lyrical language into the descriptive setting. Stories don’t take place in a void. Be careful of description and especially of adjectives and adverbs as these can kill the pace and make your writing appear to be too purple or clichéd.

• There is room for figurative language: personification, metaphors and similes, but use these forms carefully.

• Introduce the story line quickly to catch the reader’s interest. Avoid the long preamble into a story where the reader’s interest wanes.

• Ensure something happens in the story.

• Select your point of view.

Avoid cliché driven plots or wafer thin story lines. In most stories there is an obstacle for the central character to overcome. Sometimes the main character must pick from a number of choices. This causes conflict and arouses interest in the reader in the way the characters deal with these difficult choices or overcome their difficulties.

• At some point there is a resolution to the conflict of the story. Something must happen because of a series of actions or inactions by the characters in the story and there must be a resultant outcome.

• Ensure a balance of structure. The story may be too heavy with too much time spent on the build up so the climax or denouement is relegated to one sentence, leaving the reader bothered and bemused but sadly not bewitched. Often beginnings are well written but endings can be slight or inconsequential if they aren’t given enough thought.

• Your successful story whether crime, romance, science fiction – whatever its genre, must have one other ingredient. It must satisfy the readers, who must be left with its resonance, the feeling that they long to know what happened to the characters after you wrote the last words.

• If you’re telling a fast-moving story, say crime, then keep your paragraphs and sentences short. It’s a trick that sets pace and adds to the atmosphere you are conveying to the reader.

• Present your story well. Readers can be put off by bad formatting, lack of punctuation and poor spelling.

• Use dialogue, possible dialect and keep the characters moving. Some writers suggest this may be as much as a third.

• Make use of the vivid senses

• Sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. Too much focus is given to what we see.

• What about the sound scape around you, or the cold wind on your cheek?

• Avoid telling and try to show through your writing.

• Have a consistency of voice.

• Consider how the conflict is resolved (resolution). What is the climax/ turning point? Does the story follow a logical sequence of events?

• From whose point of view is the story written, first, second, third person? Is this consistent through out the story?

• Theme- What is the controlling or main idea in the study?

• Setting- Stories take place in a particular place, setting or time. This provides a backdrop to the story and provides a context in which the story can take place.

• Structure- Stories don’t have to be linear. Most how ever at a very basic level have a beginning, middle and an ending.

John Greeves originally hails from Lincolnshire. He believes in the power of poetry and writing to change people’s lives and the need for language to move and connect people to the modern world. Since retiring from Cardiff University, Greeves works as a freelance journalist who's interested in an eclectic range of topics.