ELEMENTS OF A STORY UPGRADE

It made me really pay attention to what needed to be in a story versus what was unnecessary. That feedback changed me as a short story writer. I got it ramped up and then just…stopped. I’d tried to cultivate actually meant my story just…cut off. She was great and told me my writing was good and tight, but there was one major issue with my story.

ELEMENTS OF A STORY UPGRADE

I remember the first contest I entered (right here at The Write Practice!), I submitted a story that I thought was pretty decent, but didn’t really think would win.īut mainly I wanted the upgrade I’d purchased: feedback from the judge. In the movies it's where the screen goes to black and you’re left feeling goosebumps. I wanted to create that dun, dun, DUUUN!moment at the end of all of them. When I first started writing, I mainly worked on horror short stories. The Key to Compelling Stories: It's NOT Dun, Dun, DUUN! These story elements are what you should focus on when writing a short piece of fiction.

In this article, you'll learn what you need to make sure your short story is a complete story-with three famous short story examples. But all those elements must be there, and yes, they need to fit into a short word count. You might try to cut some of these things, and then all the sudden you don't have a character arc or a climax or an ending.Įvery story has basic elements a short story's basic elements are just more focused than a novel's. But that wouldn't be writing a short story. You might want to develop deep character backgrounds with a huge cast of characters, amazing settings, and have at least two subplots.

Writers like you struggle with this all the time. Do you need to apply certain elements of a short story in order for it to be great? If you plan to use a flashback scene, make sure it’s made very clear that we’ve moved into that mode.If you're new to short story writing, it can be intimidating to think of fitting everything you need in a story into a small word count. Also worth a mention are the epigraph the use of figures of speech such as metaphor, hyperbole, and simile and tone, the underlying feeling of the book – for example, positive, or reflective. Called ‘the writer’s tools’, these include humour, irony, and personification. There may be more than one theme, or one main theme with other, smaller themes threaded through it. So, what is the main storyline about? What is the feature of it that remains in your mind once you stop reading? This underpins everything else that’s going on. Like artists, no two authors express themselves in exactly the same way. The first person means using ‘I’ and me the second person, you and the third person – he or she. As Fiction Ed Shirley always says – before going ahead with your story, ask yourself whose story it is that you want to tell, then make sure it’s told from that perspective only. The setting also includes the season the climate the date and time and the era. It can be somewhere large and impersonal, like Outer space (Star Wars/Trek), a more intimate setting, such as a kitchen, or even somewhere imaginary, such as Narnia. It can be a place of residence, such as Hogwarts (Harry Potter), or a town or city, such as Oxford (Inspector Morse). Unless there’s a good basic story, it’ll be difficult for the characters to spring to life and the reader won’t want to keep reading. Your characters will help the plot move along naturally with realistic dialogue. A beginning, a middle, and an end, with a realistic storyline.

Real people, with likes, dislikes, funny little foibles, and habits. But they’ll all be memorable, credible, realistic, and interesting. Not all your characters will be likeable, not all of them will be like you, some of them may appear fleetingly, others may be seriously flawed. This is so important, because unless your reader feels something for the characters, they won’t care what happens to them, and they won’t read on. Sign up to our Weekly newsletter Subscribe to our magazine for more great content Did you know there are seven basic elements in every successful story?Ĭharacter.

Elements of a story