: Re: How to start writing short stories? I wish to write short stories based on the experiences I have from my life. Also, I love writing inspirational stories. But somehow, when I start to write

@BetL639

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You don’t have to write in a seamless flow. You don’t even have to write a first draft that flows seamlessly. It may take a number of rewrites before you have a story you are happy with.

Also, you can’t necessarily sit down and write for 4 hours or 8 hours if you haven’t already been doing that regularly. Writing works the same as any other exercise: you have to do a little each day and build up to where you can do as much as you want to. Try and write for 5 minutes a day. Then next week, try to write for 10 minutes per day, and the week after, for 15 minutes per day, and so on until you are writing for 4 hours a day or however long you would like to write. As you go, your body will adapt and you’ll get better at it. Same as lifting weights or doing yoga. It takes some time to adjust.

A really good tip is to read as many short stories as you can. The length of stories, the way they begin-middle-end, the tone and voice they use, and other characteristics will rub off on you and inform your writing. If you are writing short stories, there is nothing better than to be a student of short stories, to really dive into the form and experience as many examples of it as you can.

One of my favorite writing tips comes from Kurt Vonnegut: “start as close to the end as you can.” That is even more important in short stories than in novels. A great short story is not the same story from a novel just shrunken down — it is just the end of the novel. A novel is like meat and potatoes and rice and salad, but a short story is just the meat. You get right to it.

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