{"id":3514,"date":"2013-06-23T08:02:39","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T07:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=3514"},"modified":"2013-06-23T08:02:39","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T07:02:39","slug":"short-and-oh-so-sweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=3514","title":{"rendered":"Short and oh so sweet\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

This week I have been taking a break from the two \u2013 yes, I know \u2013 two novels I am writing to write a short story.<\/p>\n

I haven’t done any shorts for a while \u2013 and had almost forgotten what fun they are.<\/p>\n

I got my first break as a writer of fiction by writing short stories and they taught me so much that I thought I might share with you\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
My first fiction success..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a successful career as a journalist \u2013 I thought writing fiction would be easy \u2013 but I was so wrong. My first attempts at writing novels were not so good (and will never never see the light of day).<\/p>\n

So I decided I would try my hand at short stories. At first, I played around with some sci fi and fantasy \u2013 but didn’t sell any of them. Then, inspired by a holiday in a beautiful part of Wales \u2013 I wrote a short story that could be classified as women’s fiction. And immediately sold it to a magazine.<\/p>\n

There followed a series of stories (which you can read here<\/a>) for various magazines. I learned so much writing those stories. The rejections told me what didn’t work. The acceptances told me what did. And the editors who asked for changes and then bought the reworked stories taught me the value of a good editor. There are people who turn up their noses at magazines like the People’s Friend and My Weekly. Not me. \u00a0Those magazines gave me a solid grounding in my art.<\/p>\n

A lot of people think a short story must be easier than a novel, because there are far fewer words. Well, I admit it doesn’t take as long to write \u2013 but you still have to have all the same elements as a novel. You just don’t have as much space to develop them.<\/p>\n

Just as a novel must have characters and settings and plot \u2013 so does a short story. There must be conflict and resolution. The characters must somehow develop and change in the space of a few pages (or less \u2013 my shortest published story is less than 1,000 words). Think of it as a double espresso rather than a long flat.<\/p>\n

\"Possibly<\/a>In a novel you have chapters to allow your reader to get to know and love your characters. In a short story, a few paragraphs.<\/p>\n

So the secret is \u2013 don’t waste a single word. Not even one. Consider each word, each sentence carefully. If the sentence does not directly contribute to the forward movement of the story \u2013 you can probably take it out.<\/p>\n

Don’t clutter up you short story with too many characters. There isn\u2019t time for the reader to get to know them. Focus on your key characters \u2013 that’s who your reader needs to care about. If the other character doesn’t directly affect the story \u2013 you can probably take them out. If they are necessary \u2013 but have only a short appearance \u2013 the waitress serving that coffee \u2013 don’t give them a name. Too many names can make it hard for the reader to focus on your key characters.<\/p>\n

While setting is great and important \u2013 don’t give too much description. If they walk into a crowded trendy caf\u00e9, you don\u2019t need to describe the d\u00e9cor, or the other customers, or the menu unless it is relevant to your character’s story. You need to find a way to capture the setting in just a few words.<\/p>\n

Think of the short story as the climax of the novel. The point of where change began may be off the page \u2013 it may have been before our story began. Or it might be in the first paragraph. We don’t have the space for a complex backstory. We need the here and now.<\/p>\n

And we must have something to lose. The worst thing I can say about a short story is that nothing happens. If the characters have nothing to lose, I won’t care for them. That’s funny \u2013 I have used the same argument when talking about characters in a novel…<\/p>\n

But that’s how it should be. It’s all storytelling \u2013 and it doesn’t matter if the story is 1,000 words or 1,000 pages long. It’s still a story. In a short story, it has to be condensed and intensified, but the aim is always to take the reader on an emotional journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This week I have been taking a break from the two \u2013 yes, I know \u2013 two novels I am writing to write a short story. I haven’t done any shorts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-UG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}