10 Second Tip: STUCK on a Short Story?
#2 of Writing Tips
Stuck on what to put in your short story? This is the list of things I check off when I create a short story:
10 Second Tip:
STUCK on a Short Story?
Stuck on what to put in your short story? This is the list of things I check off when I create a short story:
Do you have a Setting in mind?
Sci-fi
Historical
Modern day
Fantasy
Steam Punk
Other
Do you have ONE big main event for the story to focus on?
A battle
An escape
A love scene
An act of revenge
A sacrifice
A treasure to claim
A magic spell
A transformation
Do you know what you want to SAY with your story?
Love sucks.
Friendship is forever.
No good deed goes unpunished.
A snake can only ever be a snake.
Sometimes you have to take chances.
Magic makes things worse, not better.
Do you know where you want to END your story?
A wedding?
A funeral?
A bloody battlefield?
An empty street?
The bottom of an ocean?
Do you have your Three Central Characters ready?
Just to make things interesting, any one of these three could be the Hero, the Villain, or the Ally.
A main character that personifies what your story is trying to say?
A main character that personifies an opposing opinion of the same topic?
A buddy / friend/ love interest of one or both to personify Joe Normal stuck in the Middle?
Why did I mention Characters last?
Instead of making a story for my characters, I do the opposite. I make characters for my story.
Some people can come up with a cool character and then build a story around them. Sadly, I am not one of those. I can build a back-story just fine, but my back-stories are never good enough to be the Main Story. A back-story is how a character GOT his Issues. The main story is how they FIXED those Issues. See the difference?
Anyway... When I'm stuck on a story, I try thinking on these questions and often, they'll jog something loose.
Enjoy!
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Posted as a submission by popular request! (All two of you.)
DISCLAIMER: As with all advice, take what you can use and throw out the rest. As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.
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Ookami Kasumi