Ingredients Needed to Cook a Good Short Story

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To hold the reader’s attention your hero must face a crisis or dilemma that demands his immediate and full attention. Overcoming it should be tricky or awkward. Not overcoming it will have serious repercussions. There is a strong likelihood he will fail. And the solution he devices has to be unexpected and ingenious.

In short a short story must have a plot that is strong enough to sustain interest. There must be incidents - a chain of events. There must be a crisis to be resolved. There must be a drama and actions to follow!

A common error is to confuse the basic set-up of the story – the opening crisis or situation – with the plot. The plot is what happens from there – how the events unfold.

A good basic structure looks like this: Introduction – main character faces a worrying conflict/problem/dilemma, Middle – in flashback we learn of the background and events that led up to the conflict and Ending – the conflict is satisfactorily resolved.

Another workable structure is to have a hero who has a goal he desperately needs to achieve – and then put obstacles in his way.

There is No Right or Wrong Way to Plot a Story

• Fiction writers should realize that there is no right or wrong way to plot a story – just different ways. As long as your tale holds the reader’s attention, entertains and delights, then the method you use to achieve this end is as valid and effective as anyone else’s.
• Some fiction writers do all the hard work in their heads, mulling over ideas, developing them, trying out different permutations until they come up with a workable storyline and then rush to write them as swiftly as possible.
• To add the flavor a story should show conflict which is about anything or anyone that upsets the smooth-running of your main character’s life. It can be internal such as a crisis of faith, a fear to be overcome or a problem created by a flaw in the character’s own personality.
• Good drama looks at what happens when the extraordinary occurs. It shows how people feel the unusual and unexpected circumstances. Aim for a nail-biting finish. Keep the readers holding his breath until the last word.
• The more you place your hero in jeopardy the stronger the tension. Tingling anticipation and dread will hold readers glued.

Make Your Stories Light, Positive and Up-beat

Readers want to be taken out of themselves for a few minutes, whisked off to a world where exciting and intriguing things happen. They want their fiction to be different – more Technicolor than real life. They read to escape drudgery and dullness, so always try for setting and plots that break away from the commonplace and mundane.

• The plot is the most important factor in a short story and nothing – but nothing should hold it up or challenge it for the reader’s attention. See also if you can have a circular or return ticket plotline where the story brings you back to the point at which the narrative started.
• Also readers can get enough depression at home with red bills, ringing phones, noisy neighbors, demanding kids and grumpy spouses. They don’t need or want to read a depressing tale, so make your stories light, positive and up-beat.
• Another way of plotting is the shaggy dog story. The writer builds up conflict, piles on suspense and then unexpectedly produces a comic punch line. Always try to deal with topics in a way that leaves the reader feeling uplifted and full of hope.
• Have storylines that show characters taking charge of their own destiny and standing up for themselves. There is no such thing as an original plotline so it’s important that you find a new treatment that will make a storyline crackle with originality.
• Keep the readers guessing. The more choices your hero has, the less predictable the storyline becomes. And having a simple theme to your story is great but don’t set out to give it a moral. You’ll end up a sermon or a piece of propaganda!

Another way of dreaming up plots is to look at proverbs and well known sayings and investigate what associations they spark in your mind.

To Live a Normal Life is Everyone's Dream

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Nobody could oppose God conviction, what He had said was final. When He created man, it had been for His love to nourish man’s heart. He had created him according to His will and had taught him to appreciate the beauty to all His creations. Is it fair to see men controlling everything?

Somewhere in 1971, in my home province Samar, Philippines, I would always remember the place where my grandpa and I got used to live in a small village. It was approximately nine to 10 km away from the proper town of Guiuan. To get there, you had to have motors cycles. It would take you 45 minutes to one hour or by a long walk, which was a good exercise.

The folks were friendly and would welcome you with their sweet smiles. Around the village, you could see mountains with green virgin forest – a jump-off point for treks. The villagers were religious people. They had a primary and elementary school where the kids used to love studying. They had a catholic church where there was mass every Sunday. They had a village hall for parties. They had a play ground for children. I really missed the village, a congenial place to live in and to enjoy.

To see Grandpa was Exciting and Memorable

It was summer, the classes were closed for the children to enjoy the summer. I turned eleven. During that summer, I had always used to visit grandpa’s place, which was 3 km away from our home. Grandpa was a widower. He had two sons. One was my father. My grandpa was 65 years old. He used to live in a hut, built of nipa woven leaves and scraped bamboo poles. It was surrounded by a bamboo fence. Surrounding his nipa hut was a vegetable plantation. At the back of his nipa hut was a big mango tree where he got used to sit with his old rocking chair that was made from narra tree. 

That morning to see grandpa was exciting and memorable. At his age of 65, nobody could tell he was that dirty old man. He was strong and still could lift up a 50kls of rice. He could be strong to rule over the villagers: they called him “captain”. Grandpa was a religious man. He always loved and used to preach the words of God in the village.

Sometimes in that summer, I had mingled with the villagers for my grandpa’s preaching. He had preached that man would always stand in his nature, in his heart and all his control especially in times of troubles. His preaching was well remembered by the villagers. It had taken us couple of hours for meditations and listening to his preaching before we left for home.

Uncle George had Grown Differently

Uncle George was a math’s professor in a private school in Tacloban, a neighboring province of Samar. He was 30 year old at that time, a bachelor and he also had managed a fast food chain business. Uncle George was 5’8” tall, dark skinned and handsome. When you saw him, you could tell he was really a man in nature for a woman to feel, to touch and to enjoy. But he was gay. I was thinking what would be part of the possibility for Uncle George to live according to my grandpa’s preaching. Some feminine feelings and desires drove him.

At fifteen, Uncle George had discovered that he had grown differently. He had thought and believed it was just a part of growing up. The changes that were taking place inside him were strangely confusing and desirable for a while. He had tried to live a normal life but he had fumbled helplessly. The more he tried to change, the more obvious became his femininity. At other times he had challenged the Lord, for creating him that way – a man living the life of a woman! It was maybe the reason why grandpa had abandoned him!

I would remember that summer, when I asked my grandpa about Uncle George. I could see his face blushed and his voice roared, telling me “Forgets your Uncle, to me he is dead!” I was terrified to hear what he had said to me! It had confused me about his attitude. He’s a religious man, who always loved and used to preach people the words of God but he had never loved his son!

Uncle George was a human. He has been created in God’s own image. Yeah. He was living differently among others. He would have hearts to love and understanding. Would you ignore this person because of his differences? Would you care for him?

Grandpa Died with Hate in his Heart

My grandpa had died in 1985. He was 79 years old and I had known he was a righteous man especially for the villagers. Yet, he had left me feeling confused about his preaching. He had missed the truth, that God had created man for his love, love that would nourish man’s heart and minds to appreciate all His creations. He had died with hate in his heart. His blessings and forgiveness for Uncle George had been closed and locked. But it had kept me remembering the way he was. I missed my grandpa.

Uncle George already retired. He is still a bachelor. He is happy with his life. He said, “Life is the most precious thing that God bestowed upon us. No matter what you are or who you are you have to appreciate it. Know your limitations and enjoy life as prescribed by heaven – that way you fulfill God’s objective.”  

The Crucial Elements of Characterization

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Published on AuthSpot, Apr 13, 2011 Category – Short Stories

There are dozens of different techniques for creating stunning and memorable characters or individuals when writing short stories. But whatever ingenous tricks you may dream up, all use the two most important elements of characterization - putting over (1) how someone looks and (2) how he acts and thinks. In other words, it is his appearance and personality. The ideas I injected in this article are taken from my personal journal when I took up my creative writing course with The Writers Bureau in Manchester, London in 1999 by mail.

If your interest is to write short story (fiction) you would have to accept it that in a short story you have not got the space for long, involved, descriptions of your characters. The reader is only going to be in their company for a little while – just as long as it takes for the central drama to unfold and be resolved. So you need to find shortcut ways of telling what your cast looks like. The most effective shortcuts are names, unusual features and mannerisms.

To read my previous articles on this topic about Cracking The Short Story just visit the following links and you can even download them if you wished to: (1) Ingredients Needed for Your Story, (2) Finding Story Ideas, (3) Plotting Your Story.

In addition of what I am feeding you now – you may consider the following 22 good points for your short story characterization. Here they are:

(1) It’s the characters in stories “the people” that we care about, not the setting, the building, the landscape or the weather.

(2) A fiction writer has to make sure that his characters are strong and believable. He can’t get away with vague outlines.

(3) Characters don’t have to be realistic to be believable but they have to be fully-rounded individuals.

(4) Even if they are aliens or goblins they must still have personalities, likes and dislikes, faults and good points, motivations and goals.

(5) In a short story you need to describe your characters quickly. The best shortcuts are names, mannerisms and unusual features.

(6) Character names are vital. Everyone needs a name. You can’t expect a reader to feel empathy for an anonymous figure.

(7) You can suggest a great deal about a person’s age and background by the name he or she has.

(8) Unless a name is exactly right for the setting, era and genre, it will seem odd and risks destroying the suspension of disbelief.

(9) Know when a name feels right – short, strong names for powerful characters; long, fussy names for officious or pompous individuals.

(10) A safe bet for a name that won’t date or seem out of period is to go for Biblical names like – Ruth, Mark, Daniel, Luke, Rachel and etc.

(11) Pick names that are distinctive and as different as possible from each other. Don’t let the reader mix up characters in his head.

(12) Stick to describing the basics (age, sex, height, build and etc) as swiftly as possible.

(13) Readers are interested in what makes someone look different from other people. Only tell the reader about unusual features.

(14) When describing a person, you can suggest his personality and individuality through his mannerisms.

(15) Dialogue is another powerful way of suggesting character. Every utterance provides information about an individual background.

(16) The way people speak reveals their background, up-bringing, the closeness of their relationships and the era in which the story is set.

(17) Once you identify what motivates your characters, you will know why they think and act as they do.

(18) The reader needs to understand your hero’s or villain’s motivations. What drives him is as important as a good description of his appearance.

(19) Often it’s the characters motivations that make your readers decide whether or not they like him.

(20) A person may not be evil but he may act in an evil way (completely out of character) if the right motivation is provided.

(21) Always make your characters real and different. Don’t use stereotypes. They insult the intelligence of the reader and reinforce prejudices.

(22) Using stereotypes is defensible only when you are using the reader’s own prejudices and lazy thinking against him. 

 

What Ingredients Needed to Cook a Good Entertaining and Profitable Short Story

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Published on AuthSpot, Apr 11, 2011 Category – Short Stories

In the late 1970s the short story was believed a dead genre. No one wrote or published short fiction anymore. But in the last forty years, short stories have enjoyed a stunning revival. Magazines are bulging with exciting new fiction and short story competitions popping up by the hundred. Now short story fiction is already a trend – not only for magazines, newspapers and books but also it had become a partly life of Internet. There are thousand of websites working so hard to attract fiction writers like Triond. This article will guide you some important points needed to enhance your short fiction writing capabilities. Bear with me.

Finished dishes can look amazing – especially if a top chef has lavished time and effort on them. But although the colors, tastes, textures and shapes all blend together to provide a treat for the senses, the chef has not used paranormal skills to create the feast. All he has done is use ordinary ingredients plus a little experience and easily following cooking techniques.

The same is true for short story writing. You may not be able to re-create every nuance of the haunting prose of highly experienced writers that only comes with years of practice – but there is no reason why you cannot write stories that are technically competent, containing all the right ingredients in the correct amounts and in the correct order.

In order to cook a good entertaining and profitable short story – one should need the following ingredients:

(1) You need a single narrative thread. Because the space in a short story is so limited perhaps as little as 850 words to 1,200 words – there is not time to explore the stories of several different characters or at how your main character reacts in a series of different environment. You would need to stick to one storyline and do not deviate from it.

(2) You need a short timescale. All the best short stories are tightly focused on one storyline covering no more than a few days. The most gripping yarns recounts events happening to your hero in a few crucial hours.

(3) You need only one mood, pace and style. A short story should have the same feel throughout. It should not start as an emotionally packed tale of grief then suddenly switch to knockabout comedy. It should not speed up and slow down erratically or switch from a tightly written story with short, punchy sentences and simple vocabulary to a flowing, languorous piece of prose oozing baroque expressions and overblown imagery.

(4) You need brief descriptions. A short story is not the place to show off your descriptive skills. Long descriptions kill the pace and divert the reader’s attention from the plot. Always aim to get the maximum effect with the minimum number of words.

(5) You need minimum background information. Only give the background information that is relevant to the plot. The trick is to maintain a good balance between keeping information tight and giving enough relevant facts about a character so that the reader can visualize him.

(6) You need at least four character or less. Think how difficult it is to remember all the names of people you are introduced to at a party. That is the problem the reader has if you populate your stories with a huge cast of characters. Two is an ideal that allows you to use dialogue as they talk and react to each other. Three is great for eternal triangle tales but four is really the limit.

(7) Avoid sub-plots, hidden morals or sub text. Keep it simple. Tell the story in the most direct form possible and do not try to be too clever or erudite. The plot is of paramount importance so do not allow anything to interfere with the swift and smooth telling of the narrative.

(8) Avoid lengthy run-up or wind-down. The most common reason why short stories fail to grab the reader is that some fiction writers waste those precious first few sentences in setting the scene. Instead of getting the story off and running, they hold everything up by having an unnecessary description of the weather or the town where the story is taking place or the main character’s mood, his appearance and his family. What you need is to get into the plot right from the first sentence.

(9) You need taut and punchy dialogue. There is little point having an enticing title and an attention-grabbing intro if every time your main character speaks he sends your reader to sleep. Dialogue has to be fast-paced, exciting and dramatic.

(10) You need as few points of view as possible. A short story tells what happens when the main character faces a certain set of events. View those events through his eyes and his eyes only. Don not start viewing the action from another character’s perspective. When a story works well, it usually has a single viewpoint with the reader imagining himself as the hero.

(11) In you story show it that the main character is facing up a conflict. Whatever the conflict is: low key or highly dramatic - it must put your main character on the plot. It must worry him. It should force him into acting in extreme or unusual ways and should pose a moral or physical dilemma.

(12) Your plot will start at the point of conflict. The plot should begin when the main player faces his dilemma and it should end when the decision has been taken and the threat has been neutralized by him.

(13) You fiction writer avoid resolving the conflict that is happening in your story by yourself. Let the character resolves his own conflicts. And do not let him off the hook by having a lucky twist of fate rescue him from his impending doom. A good fiction is about how human beings react to challenge – about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.