Sample Chapter from

Cracking the Short Story Market

COOKING UP A WINNER
Writinggoodshortstoriesisn'tdifficult.Infact,it'swithineveryone'sgraspifyouknowthe
righttechniques.
Basically,fictionwritingisamechanicalprocessthatanyonecanmaster.True,youneedthat
sparkofcreativitythegemofaquirkyideatogetyoustarted.Butafterthat,actually
turningtheideaintoasaleablepieceofproseismerelyaquestionoffollowingbasicrules.
Sticktothemandyoucan'tgofarwrong.
Ialwaysdrawaparallelwithcookery.Finisheddishescanlookamazingespeciallyifatop
chefhaslavishedtimeandeffortonthem.Butalthoughthecolours,tastes,texturesand
shapesallblendtogethertoprovideatreatforthesenses,thechefhasn'tusedsorceryor
paranormalskillstocreatethefeast.Allhe'sdoneisuseordinaryingredientsplusalittle
experienceandeasilycopiedcookingtechniques.
Givenarecipeandaccesstothesameingredients,mostcompetentcookscouldrecreate
thesamedish.Itmaynotlookquiteasappealingthefirsttimeyoumakeitbutafterafew
attemptsmostcookswouldhaveapassableversionthattastedandsmeltgreat.
Thesameistrueforshortstorywriting.Youmaynotbeabletorecreateeverynuanceofthe
hauntingproseofhighlyexperiencedwritersthatonlycomeswithyearsofpracticebut
there'snoreasonwhyyoucan'twriteshortstoriesthataretechnicallycompetent,containing
alltherightingredientsinthecorrectamountsandinthecorrectorder.
InlaterchaptersIshallbelookingatalltheindividualingredientsandtechniquesinsome
detail,butfornowbywayofintroductionlet'slookbrieflyatthenecessaryfacetsofa
grippingyarn.Usingthisquickandeasyrecipeyoushouldbeabletorustleupatastyshort
story.Evenifyouarealreadyturningoutacceptabletales,this13pointchecklistwillenable
youtopolishandimproveyourprose.
Solet'sgetcooking...
Agoodshortstoryhas:

Asinglenarrativethread.Becausethespaceinashortstoryissolimited
perhapsaslittleas850wordsthereisn'ttimetoexplorethestoriesofseveral
differentcharactersorlookathowyourmaincharacterreactsinaseriesofdifferent
environments.
Sticktoonestorylineanddon'tdeviatefromit:Helenplotsrevengeagainstthe
womanwhostoleherjobCynthiadecideswhethertokeepthepurseshefoundin
thestreetGaryfacesuptohisarchrivalinamotorbikeracetothedeath.
Ifyoufindyourselfwideningyourplotlinemaybelookingatthelivesofallthe
competitorsinGary'sbikeracethenyou'restartingtowriteanovel.Anythingover
4,000wordsisdifficulttosell.Anythingover6,000wordsisreallyanovella.

Ashorttimescale.Ashortstoryislikeasnapshotit'samomentfrozenintime.It
examineshowacharacterdealswitheventsataparticularlytryingortraumatic
periodofhislife.Itisn'thislifestory,oracharacterstudy,orachronicleofhis
variousadventures.
Allthebestshortstoriesaretightlyfocusedonestorylinecoveringnomorethana
fewdays.Themostgrippingyarnsrecounteventshappeningtoyourheroinafew

crucialhours.

Onlyonemood,paceandstyle.Ashortstoryshouldhavethesamefeel
throughout.Itshouldn'tstartasanemotionallypackedtaleofgriefthensuddenly
switchtoknockaboutcomedy.
Itshouldn'tspeedupandslowdownerraticallyorswitchfromatightlywrittenstory
withshort,punchysentencesandsimplevocabularytoaflowing,languorouspiece
ofproseoozingbaroqueexpressionsandoverblownimagery.Themomentyou
changegearorthevoiceyouuse,yougivethereaderajolt.

Briefdescriptions.Ashortstoryisn'ttheplacetoshowoffyourdescriptiveskills.
Longdescriptionskillthepaceanddivertthereader'sattentionfromtheplot.
Youshouldalwaysaimtogetthemaximumeffectwiththeminimumnumberof
words.Youmaywanttospendapagedescribingeveryaspectofanoldwoman's
appearancebuttheonlyusefulinformationyou'llhavegiventhereaderisthatthe
womanwaselderly.Youcouldachievethesameeffectinsixwords:Ethelhadsalt
andpeppercurls.

Minimumbackgroundinformation. We'reonlygoingtospendfiveminutesorso
withthecharactersofashortstorynotmarrythemorlettheminvestourlife
savingssoit'snotnecessarytoknoweverythingaboutthem.
Onlygivethebackgroundinformationthatisrelevanttotheplot.Ifthestoryisabout
howJohncopeswiththebreakupofhismarriage,thefactthathetooksixattempts
togethis100metresswimmingbadgeorthatheisallergictobananasisofno
importance.
Thetrickistomaintainagoodbalancebetweenkeepinginformationtightandgiving
enoughrelevantfactsaboutacharactersothatthereadercanvisualisehim.In
chapterfivewe'lllookatsometechniquesformakingcharacterscomeacrossas
real,living,threedimensionalindividualsandnotjuststereotypes.

Fourcharactersorless.Therejustisn'tthetimeorspaceinashortstorytomeet
anarmyofnewfacesandmemorisejustwhoeachpersonisandtheirrelationshipto
othercharacters.Thinkhowdifficultitistorememberallthenamesofpeopleyou
areintroducedtoataparty.That'stheproblemthereaderhasifyoupopulateyour
storieswithahugecastofplayers.
Twoisanidealnumberofcharactersforamagazineshortstorythatallowsyouto
usedialogueastheytalkandreacttoeachother.Threeisgreatforeternaltriangle
tales,butfourisreallythelimit.

Nosubplots,hiddenmoralsorsubtext.Keepitsimple.Tellthetaleinthemost
directformpossibleanddon'ttrytobetoocleverorerudite.Theplotisofparamount
importancesodon'tallowanythingtointerferewiththeswiftandsmoothtellingofthe
narrative.
Itmaybethatyourwritingspeaksonseveraldifferentlevelsandrevealsallsortsof
truthstothereader.Ifthathappens,thengreat.Butdon'taimforitdeliberately.Letit
happennaturally.Don'tgiveyourworkamessage.Don'tusesymbolism.Don'tset
outtobeallmeaningfulanddeepthechancesareyou'llendupwithasignificant
talethatnoonewantstoread.

Nolengthyrunuporwinddown.Themostcommonreasonwhyshortstoriesfail
tograbthereaderisthatwriterswastethosepreciousfirstfewsentencesinsetting
thescene.
Insteadofgettingthestoryoffandrunning,theyholdeverythingupbyhavingan

unnecessarydescriptionoftheweather,orthetownwherethestoryistakingplace,
orthemaincharacter'smood,orhisappearance,orhisfamilyhistory.Getintothe
plotrightfromthefirstsentence.
Also,knowwhenyourstoryisover.Enditasswiftlyaspossibleafterthemain
character'scrisisisresolved.Don'tletitdriftonaimlesslyforseveralextrasentences
untilitrunsoutofpuff.Justlikeagoodjoke,ashortstoryshouldhaveapunchline.

Tautandpunchydialogue.There'slittlepointhavinganenticingtitleandan
attentiongrabbingintroifeverytimeyourmaincharacterspeakshesendsyour
readertosleep.Dialoguehastobefastpaced,excitinganddramatic.
Dialogueisagreatwaytoinjectemotionintoastory.Ithelpsbuildmoodand
tension.Aimforsoundbitesnatchesofspeechwhichreallybringyourcharactersto
lifenotmundanechitchat.
Don'tevenconsiderhavingastorythatdoesn'tcontaindialogue.It'llbeaguaranteed
turnoff.

Asfewpointsofviewaspossible.Ashortstorytellswhathappenswhenthe
maincharacterfacesacertainsetofevents.Weshouldviewthoseeventsthrough
hiseyesandhiseyesonly.
Don'tstartviewingtheactionfromanothercharacter'sperspective.Aswellasbeing
potentiallyconfusing,itdistancesthereaderfromtheherobreakingtheempathy
link.Whenastoryworkswell,itusuallyhasasingleviewpoint,withthereader
imagininghimselfasthehero.Onlyswitchviewpointswhenitisabsolutelyvitalto
theplotandneverhavemorethanoneviewpointswitchperstory.

Amaincharacterfacinguptoaconflict.Conflictisanythingthatupsetsthe
smoothrunningofthemaincharacter'slife.Maybeabillarrivesoutofthebluethat
hecan'tpay.Maybehedoesn'tgetthepromotionhewascountingon.Maybehis
flingwithhissecretaryhasbeendiscoveredbyablackmailer.
Whatevertheconflictislowkeyorhighlydramaticitmustputyourmain
characteronthespot.Itmustworryhim.Dealingwiththeconflictshouldforcehim
intoactinginextremeorunusualwaysandshouldposeamoralorphysicaldilemma.
Heisfacedwithharddecisions.

Theplotstartingatthepointofconflict.Asthisconflictisthebasisofthestory,
theplotshouldbeginwhenthemaincharacterfaceshisdilemmashouldhetellhis
wifeabouttheaffairorluretheblackmailerintoatrap?
Itshouldendwhenthedecisionhasbeentakenandthethreathasbeenneutralized.
Forexample,theblackmailerisdeadorhasbeenboughtoff.Or,theaffairismade
publicandthemaincharacterresolvestofacehiswife'swrath.Whenthecrisisis
over,soisthestory.

Thecharacterresolvinghisownconflicts.Goodfictionisabouthowhuman
beingsreacttochallengeaboutordinarypeopleinextraordinarycircumstances.
Makeyourmaincharactersolvehisownproblemsespeciallyifitforceshimtobe
ingeniousandovercomesomeofhisfears.Don'tlethimoffthehookbyhavinga
luckytwistoffaterescuehimfromhisimpendingdoom.

Exercises
Pickthreedifferenttypesofshortstoriesandreadthroughthemtakingnoteofallthe
"ingredients".(Youcouldlookatatypicalromancestoryinawomen'smagazine,atwistin

thetailstory,ahorrorstory,aneroticstory...justtrytolookatthreedifferenttypes.)Study
howthewritersconstructedtheirtales.
Havetheyusedalltheingredientslistedinthischapter?Seeifthey'vebrokentheserules.If
so,askyourselfifyouthinktheygotawaywithit.Ifnot,trytosaywhytheyfailedandsuggest
whatwouldimprovethestories.Haveagoatrewritingthetaleswithyourimprovements.
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