: Re: How to plan a short story for a given word count? Many short story competitions, at least in Israel, set a theme and a word count: up to 2500 words, 2000-5000 words, etc. I often find myself

I've found that short stories are almost, but not completely, totally different from novels. They share a lot of theory and they include words and normally the three-act structure.

However, in a novel you can go into a lot more detail than in a short story. Short stories introduce characters very quickly. Often this is done with characters that resonate very strongly with readers so that they don't have to be described with a large back story. In science fiction, some of these archetypes are the space cop, the scientist, the rogue, and the engineer. These (and others) can be described very quickly.

Characters are rarely given much of a description.

Likewise the setting is described with as few words as possible (but no fewer). If I was to describe a meadow filled with wildflowers, I wouldn't give them names.

I'm bad at short stories, though I'm writing some (to be read only by myself), as practice. But one way to master the art is to write stories with a limit of 1,000 words, or even 500 words. Entire stories can be written in much fewer words than this, but it gets more difficult the fewer words you have.

TL;DR The short story is not an extremely short novel. It is a type of literature that is totally different from a novel.

Load Full (0)

: This tag should be used for questions that are related to writing in a technical environment with a focus on architecture, such as when asking about how you could document a complex hierarchical

@Nimeshi163

Load Full 0 Comments

: This tag should be used for questions about different turning points in your writing, such as questions about how these can be executed or finding resources that inform you of ways to write

@Nimeshi163

Load Full 0 Comments

: This tag should be used for questions that refer to labels or titles that you give your characters in your work, such as when a character is never referred to by their name but for example

@Nimeshi163

Load Full 0 Comments

: This question should be used for questions about subtext, such as when asking questions about how or when to introduce subtext to your writing. A subtext in this context could mean the information

: Re: How to plan a short story for a given word count? Many short story competitions, at least in Israel, set a theme and a word count: up to 2500 words, 2000-5000 words, etc. I often find myself

More posts by @Nimeshi163

: This tag should be used for questions that are related to writing in a technical environment with a focus on architecture, such as when asking about how you could document a complex hierarchical

: This tag should be used for questions about different turning points in your writing, such as questions about how these can be executed or finding resources that inform you of ways to write

: This tag should be used for questions that refer to labels or titles that you give your characters in your work, such as when a character is never referred to by their name but for example

: This question should be used for questions about subtext, such as when asking questions about how or when to introduce subtext to your writing. A subtext in this context could mean the information

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top