: Re: How to create suspense in a very short story? I wrote a short story (900-1000 words) about a character presenting some election process and at the end, we learn that he got elected.

I have a few ideas:

Every word matters. Avoid adverbs, information dumps, and descriptive adjectives to the greatest extent possible.
Still make it a "play of three acts" but with the first act being a single paragraph describing the protagonist, the antagonist, and the problem to be overcome. To build suspense quickly, we need to know right away what the issues are.
Limit your cast of characters. I would say 3 or 4 tops. Your MC/protagonist, a sidekick, the antagonist, and a "mysterious stranger" who can affect the outcome (my thought is you can have one and no more than one additional characters presented no later than halfway through). Too few and there isn't enough conflict for drama, and too many and you have a novel.
The time frame is essential. The problem needs to be solved immediately ... or else.
Keep it simple! One problem gets solved.

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: Re: How to create suspense in a very short story? I wrote a short story (900-1000 words) about a character presenting some election process and at the end, we learn that he got elected.

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: Story Structure I gained a lot of momentum from the answers to my first question. I've read a couple of writing books and read a lot of articles online. Although I'm still quite 'green',

: How do existing covers compare to possible new ones? I have a fairly large collection of titles on Amazon, and I'm wondering whether I should by my own efforts replace them with covers I've

: I certainly like Lauren's answer, among others. But nobody has spoken specifically to dialogue, so I thought I'd add a bit to that. With narration, I don't like to add pauses in general,

: What are the pros/cons of writing in English in a non-English country? I live in a country that doesn't have English as its main language. I have two choices in writing, either write in my

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