How to Write A Creative Short Story

This story be good and original.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Writing implement
• Paper OR
• Computer/Typewriter

1. Take a walk. Around your house, the block, the neighborhood. Wherever you happened to be. It will surely give you a fresh mindset, and might spark an idea. When you get back write down anything that you feel like.

2. Write about what you know. This doesn't mean your story has to be biographical. It just means the main theme should be something you are well-versed with and can depict accurately. Make a list of memories or aspects of your life that you are familiar with. This may also spark an idea

3. Free-write. Start writing. Anything, literally. It does not have to make grammatical sense but it can. Do this long enough, and something might sprout.

4. Look over your free-write, your what-you-know, and the notes from your walk. Take random words from each one and stick them together. Do they create a good idea?

5. Now it is time do develop a structure for your story. Figure out what general feel you want for your story: Comedic, Romantic, Dark and disturbing, Thrilling, Science Fiction/Fantasy...A good question to ask yourself, is what do YOU like to read. It will be significantly enjoyable if you like what you are writing. Write down your chosen theme.

6. After you have figured out your genre, decide on your message. This will often include deciding how your story is going to end. The ending of a good short story should be both surprising and inevitable. Write down the basic idea of your message.

7. Now start thinking about characters and plot structure. Is there a protagonist? Do we follow multiple characters? Figure out what plot graph works with your message and genre. A plot graph is a picture that shows the direction of your story. Does it start high and go down, low and then up, up down up, down up down? Take into account any length restrictions you have set for yourself, but usually length shouldn't matter. Write down a character list and a potential plot direction.

8. START WRITING YOUR STORY. Though the first seven steps should act as an outline for your story, nothing is set in stone. If after the first sentence your story is taken in a totally different direction = THAT'S OKAY. Go ahead!

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't like your story when it is finished, go back to step 7 and modify your characters/plot. If you still don't like it, go back to step 6, and so on.
• A fun way to develop your characters is to base them on real people that you know. Developing characters is hard in a short story, but sometimes lack of development drives the story.
• Don't be afraid to base ideas off of other books or short stories you've read.
• It is often a bad idea (depending on how long your story is) to write a story all in one sitting. Your structure will probably get muddled and confusing if you are too deep into your work. At least get up and walk around in between stopping points.
• A short story is different from a book. Do not get caught up with one small idea for two pages and forget about your plot. A good short story gets the point across in as few words as possible.
• Plagiarism is stupid. Don't do it.

[scorpioswan]

on 5/30/2009 These are really helpful tips. Thanks!