What's the concept to a good short story?
I'm struggling to get my head around writing a good short story. I make a plan for a whole story and my first chapter is usually successful but after that I can't seem to progress with the plot at all. How much info and description is ample and how much is too much? How much speech should I be using? Any tips?
I'm struggling to get my head around writing a good short story. I make a plan for a whole story and my first chapter is usually successful but after that I can't seem to progress with the plot at all. How much info and description is ample and how much is too much? How much speech should I be using? Any tips?
1 Answer
Key word is SHORT story, so you need to make it direct and to the point.
Explanation:
Basically, you need to pack as much detail as you can into the story. Speech is necessary for most stories so make sure to include it, but don't overwhelm your reader with excessive amounts of it.
Description wise, make it detailed, but not too extreme. For example, "The girl was tall and thin with a beautiful complexion and a lovely smile" makes the reader picture the girl. But in the story saying "The girl was tall and thin with a beautiful complexion and a lovely smile that glistened in the sun and amazing straw colored hair that reminded me of spun gold..." that is WAY excessive.
Try giving yourself a word count, eg only 500 words. and then whittle it down as you go.
Hope this helps!!
