Short Story Principles“To be a person is to have a story to tell.”

Isak Dinesen

Narrative Structure1. Orientation: introduce setting and characters.

2. Complication: create tension and interest by introducing a conflict or problem. Conflict may be inner or external for main character(s).

3. Development of complication: gets worse/ consider options.

4. Climax or Crisis: the most exciting part - the turning point or the moment the reader has been waiting for. Often involves a decision, realisation or new understanding/ epiphany.

5. Resolution: conflict or problem resolved.

6. Evaluation: summarise what has been learnt/ outcomes.

Optional Ends to consider…

Re-orientation: conclusion may link to start, as in a cyclical plot.

Twist: may end with an unexpected twist or outcome.

Short Story Structure Tips – Limit Your Story

A novel can occur over millions of years and include a multitude of subplots, a variety of locations, and an army of supporting characters, but with a short story...

Begin as close to the conclusion as possible. The main events should occur in a relatively short period of time

(days or even minutes). You won’t be able to develop effectively more than 1 conflict or

plot, 2 or 3 main characters, and 1 or 2 settings. Start strong to grab your reader’s attention and drive towards a

sudden or unexpected resolution.

BUILD your character

Who is the character?Why is the character in the

story?What do they want?

Character Building

Find inspiration in real people. Think of the character traits of people you know (eg. someone you know may talk loudly, always drink coffee and wear a fob watch). Traits like these can combine to create an interesting character.

Know your character. Brainstorm more details about your character than you will be able to include in the story. This will make them believable and realistic.

Make your character flawed. Readers relate to characters with problems. No-one is perfect, so make sure that your characters have imperfections or insecurities. You don’t have to give them huge, bizarre issues (although you can!) and it may be wise to stick to things you know about (eg. loneliness, fear of heights, acne, social awkwardness, etc.)

- Brainstorm a Character -Make a list of the following to build your

character.

Name

Age

Job

Ethnicity

Appearance

Residence

Pets

Religion

Single/ Married?

Children?

Temperament

Favourite colour

Friends

Favourite Foods

Drinking patterns

Phobias

Faults

Strengths

Something hated?

Secrets?

Strong memories?

Illnesses?

Nervous gestures?

Favourite movie star

DEEPEN their struggles Your entire story pivots upon the struggle of your

main character and what they are trying to achieve, overcome or accomplish

Use both conflict and struggles Make the struggles more personal, emotionally

charged and difficult to overcome

ConflictConflict produces tension that makes your story begin.

Tension is created between the character(s) and internal or external forces. By balancing opposing forces, you keep readers glued to the page wondering how the story will end.

Possible conflicts include the protagonist against: another individual society nature God himself or herself

COMPLICATE their choices

Easy choices make weak

stories Accentuate

moments of decision and

illumination in your story

Preparation and Planning

Read some short stories in a similar genre to your idea. Take note of how characters and conflict are introduced and also the writing style. Can you notice any commonalities between stories?

Plan out plot events before you start writing. You may find it useful to draw a timeline of your story to keep the order of events clear and to troubleshoot any plot inconsistencies.

If you are not sure of how your plot will end, try brainstorming all possible outcomes to the conflict.

Plot Development Activity

Brainstorm all the possible outcomes to the following scenario.

The protagonist is a professional woman in her forties who has two teenage children. One day her husband comes home and says he doesn’t love her anymore and is leaving.

Narrative Perspective

Decide who will tell the story before you start writing. There are three main points of view from which to tell a story: first-person (“I”): a character in the story tells the story.

Keep in mind that first-person narrators can only tell what they know (which will be limited to what they see firsthand or are told by others).

second-person (“you”): the reader is made a character in the story

third-person (“he” or “she”): an outside narrator tells the story. They can either know everything and explore every character’s thoughts (omnipresent narrator), or be limited to only that which can be observed.

Write a Catchy First Paragraph

The first sentence of your short story should catch your reader’s attention with the unusual, the unexpected, an action, or a conflict. It should be intriguing and make the reader want to keep reading to find out more.

Play with sentence structure. Begin with tension and immediacy. Remember that short stories need to start close to their end.

I heard my neighbour through the wall.

ORThe neighbour behind us practiced scream therapy in his shower

nearly every day.

Which makes you want to keep reading?Why?

Write a Catchy First Paragraph

The neighbour behind us practiced scream therapy in his shower nearly every day.

Grabs the reader’s attention. Who is this guy who goes in his shower and screams every day? Why does he do that? What, exactly, is “scream therapy”?

The first time I heard him, I stood in the bathroom listening at our shared wall for ten minutes, debating the wisdom of calling the police. It was very different from living in the flat over middle-aged Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their two young sons in Duluth.

The rest of the paragraph introduces “I” and an internal conflict. It also introduces an intriguing past/ present setting.

Best Ways to StartDialogue or someone thinking to themselves is effective.

Orientation should always be emotive to engage the reader.

Begin with a ‘close-up’ of something and then bring the reader ‘out’ to a bigger picture.

Never start with just explanation or description. Try something stronger. Remember short stories do not usually have enough room for long winded background explanations or context. They need to go straight into the tension and conflict.

SettingSetting includes the time, location, context, and atmosphere.Include enough detail to let your readers picture the scene but only

details that actually add something to the story. Eg. do not describe Mary locking the front door, walking across the

yard, opening the garage door, putting air in her bicycle tires and getting on her bicycle when none of these details matter except that she rode out of the driveway without looking down the street!

Use two or more senses in your descriptions of setting.Rather than feed your readers information about the weather,

population statistics, or how far it is to the grocery store, substitute descriptive details so your reader can experience the location the way your characters do.

HINT at their emotions

Show emotion through action, dialogue and body language

“Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Little Detail Goes A Long Way

It is important not to give everything to your reader directly. Give them clues as to how your characters are feeling by using descriptions of dialogue or hinting with body language.

Why would your reader bother to think about what is going on if you carefully explain what each and every line means?

John sat up and took a deep breath, knowing that his confrontation with Mary had to come now, or it would never come at all. “Wh– where are you going?” he stammered nervously, staring at his Keds.

Does this example encourage readers to be curious about what is happening?

A Little Detail Goes A Long Way

John sat up and took a deep breath, knowing that his confrontation with Mary had to come now, or it would never come at all. “Wh– where are you going?” he stammered nervously, staring at his Keds.

John sat up. “Wh-where are you going?”

“Where are you going?” John stammered, staring at his Keds.

Deep breath. Now or never. “Where are you going?”

Less is often more! Try to infer or suggest rather than always explain.

Finally - DialogueEach speaker gets his/her own paragraph, and the paragraph

includes whatever you wish to say about what the character is doing when speaking.

“Where are you going?” John cracked his knuckles while he looked at the floor. “To the racetrack.” Mary edged toward the door, keeping her eyes on John’s bent head. “Not again,” John stood up, flexing his fingers. “We are already maxed out on our credit cards.”

The above paragraph is confusing, because it is not clear when one speech stops and the other starts.

Dialogue“Where are you going?” John cracked his knuckles while he looked

at the floor. “To the racetrack.” Mary edged toward the door, keeping her eyes on John’s bent head. “Not again,” John stood up, flexing his fingers. “We are already maxed out on our credit cards.”

“Where are you going?” John cracked his knuckles while he looked at the floor.

“To the racetrack.” Mary edged toward the door, keeping her eyes on John’s bent head.

“Not again,” John stood up, flexing his fingers. “We are already maxed out on our credit cards.”

SHOW their discoveries

A story is ‘transformation unveiled’ Steven James

Clarify their discoveries