Here are my tips for writing short fiction (stories under 8,000 words).
Of course, with literature, there is no objective truth or perfect blueprint for writers.
My credentials for advising you are as follows:
- 10+ years in the short-fiction space
- Published over 100 stories in magazines, anthologies and on fiction sites
- Won or placed in half a dozen competitions
- Lead editor of 21 Futures - the home of freedom fiction.
I hope you find the tips useful for the upcoming Fiction Month.
Who knows, your story might claim part of the 200k sats prize fund.
Don’t let anything hold you back.
Get writing and keep improving!
21 Tips for Writing Short Fiction
- Do not write a compressed novel.
A protracted version of a hero’s journey can sound trite and simplistic in only a few thousand words.
Instead, start ‘in medias res’ and don’t end at the end.
Think about one moment of great change or epiphany.
Trust the reader to ‘write’ large sections of the story, especially what happens to the main character after the text has finished.
- Spend time developing your ideas.
Consider whether your take will stand out as unique.
Go for walks and mull over the plot.
Create a planning document to explore character profiles, the setting, themes and the scenes you’ll include.
Ask ‘what if?’ and go deeper with questions to get to the heart of the matter.
- Think about the structure of the story.
Short stories often play with chronology and different formats.
Check out these 8 short-story structures.
- Get to know your characters.
Make them three-dimensional by giving them contrast.
Maybe they like fistfights and petting kittens.
Show their desires, fears and flaws.
Complete a detailed profile for your main character, but remember that you don’t have to include everything in the story itself.
- Use description sparsely.
Nobody wants to wade through five paragraphs describing the antagonist’s downstairs toilet.
Still, add some key details about new characters, locations and important objects.
- Build conflict.
If there is not enough conflict, it’s not a story.
Ensure the main character has a serious problem to overcome.
Consider escalating the stakes with a ticking clock (a deadline for the character to solve their issue) or a gun (an object or character mentioned at the beginning which returns to cause chaos later).
- Write scenes, not summary.
Short stories can usually support between 1 and 10 scenes.
Plan accordingly.
If you don’t know the difference, read this explanation.
- Use dialogue sparingly.
You are not writing a screenplay.
Most published short stories use a maximum of 20% dialogue.
Use it to allow the reader to ‘listen in’. This helps build character voice and shows how their true desires are often at odds with what they say.
Build conflict and keep conversations brief.
- Don’t state the obvious.
Check the last sentence of each paragraph to see whether you have summarized matters to ensure the reader ‘gets it’.
These sentences should be cut.
- Make the reader work.
This falls into the ‘show, don’t tell’ category of advice.
Every time the reader makes a connection or understands something on their own, their enjoyment of the experience increases.
Readers are able to process time jumps and make correct assumptions on a huge variety of situations, as long as they are within their experience and the writer leaves them enough clues.
- Reduce adjectives
Use concrete realities rather than subjective descriptions.
Tears show sadness better than the word ‘sad’.
When describing, use objective adjectives.
E.g. ‘A weathered oak door’ creates a stronger mental image than ‘an old wooden door’.
- Remove adverbs
Quite, very, just, really, actually — these are redundant and should be removed for stronger prose.
Avoid ‘ly’ adverbs which modify verbs.
Instead, choose more specific verbs.
Not, ‘she said, quietly.’
Use, ‘she whispered.’
- Remove instances of the verb ‘to be’.
‘Be’ is a telling verb. Avoid it when aiming to show character motivation, emotion, and even in descriptions.
Here’s a post on how to do that.
- Limit your cast.
In a short story, between 2 and 4 characters makes sense.
You can explore them in enough detail.
This is not counting functional side characters (e.g. a shopkeeper).
- Develop your character’s voice.
Don’t write like you, the author, mimic the main character’s expression, worldview and frames of reference.
This is especially important in 1st person POV.
- Use sensory details.
Include colour, height, distance, light/dark, direction, texture, pain, temperature, smell, sound, and taste if appropriate.
This helps the reader experience the story directly (rather than filter the experience through the character).
Avoid using ‘filter’ verbs — see, feel, hear, smell, taste, think, realize, believe, know, understand.
- Be ruthless.
Reduce your text to the bare bones.
Cut sections which do not move the narrative forward. Especially consider cutting the first 25% and starting in the middle of the action (Chekhov recommended this)
Cut weak paragraphs.
Reduce sentences to their clearest and strongest (here’s how to do that).
- Focus on the ending.
Plan well and know where you are going.
Endings make the biggest difference to editors and judges, as many well-written stories don’t deliver a meaningful or unique conclusion.
Don’t be tempted to wrap everything up neatly. Endings that are too conclusive or perfect seem amateurish in short fiction. Again, it’s not like a novel or movie ending.
Be creative.
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Vary sentence structure, sentence length and pacing.
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Put it in ‘the drawer’.
Leave your story for at least 3 days before returning to edit it.
Detach yourself from your writing persona.
Try to read it with fresh eyes, as a reader would.
Edit hard, and use Grammarly as a proofreader, not a style guide.
Send to a trusted writing buddy if you can.
Take their feedback on board, and make the changes you want.
- Wait until it is ready.
Do you have a concrete answer for WHY a reader would love this?
Have you done everything you can to improve it?
Are you excited for your story to be published and find an audience?
If the answers are ‘YES’, you are ready.
I hope that’s not too much advice.
Really, following any of these tips will make your story better.
Just keep making the 1% improvements.
I’m happy to expand on any of these if you need more help.
Good luck with your writing!