Notes on Short Story Writing

[Cute_Kitten]

I have a notebook that's a hodge-podge of notes on various aspects of writing.

[WBDaddy]

I'm pretty much right on board with all of that.

[Zinaya]

Very good notes/pointers! Having experience of both novels and short stories, I'd recommend the short story format to any aspiring author because:

* It is not too long to leave you out of ideas half-way through. You are more likely to finish it, finish it in style and doing so inside a few days to a week as opposed to the many months to years required of a novel. Because of this you will acquire the art & techniques of writing much quicker.

* There is only one character you need to develop, the others can be mere sketches as long as they have the traits necessary for your main character to react to and interact with them in the way you, the author, want her/him to do.

Another very useful trick is to lie down on your bed, turn out or dim down the lights, then play through the scene you want to write inside your mind! That way, you get the dialogue "for free" and if the scene does not pan out the way you want, you can make the necessary changes and play through it once again. Once you're satisfied, write it down immediately! You'll be surprised by how much this trick improves the quality of your output! (There are other areas that benefit from the application of this technique as well, hem-hem!