Seven and a half tips on what makes a good short story from Sean Lusk
A short story is a very special, distinctive thing. Whereas a novel creates a complete world for the reader, with fully formed characters, a satisfying plot and an ending that, generally, brings the story to some sort of resolution, a short story works in a different way. You might think of it as a door opened just a crack, with us, the readers, peering in and seeing one half of a conversation, or the end of an argument, or a lover’s declaration being rejected, and not knowing exactly why. It is that act of imagination on the part of the reader that makes the short story so satisfying. We might be puzzled, shocked, amazed or amused, but we need to be moved.
That is not to say the short story is ‘tricksy’ or misleading, but it will almost always leave the reader with questions about why he said that, why she walked out at that moment, what the mule was doing in the back of that truck in the first place. In this way the short story grows in the reader’s mind after the last word has been read, and might keep on growing for hours, days. Perhaps forever. I know I think a lot about certain short stories even years after I last read them.
So here are seven and a half tips for the short story writer:
1. Short doesn’t just mean length: it means let your reader into your story at the last possible moment and kick them out as early as you can. Don’t make the mistake of trying to squeeze a life story into three or five thousand words by racing through it or scrunching it up. Find the moment that life changed and leave the reader wondering whether the change will stick.
2. Every word counts. There isn’t room for lengthy description of setting, or character background in a short story. The words your character(s) speak, the thoughts they think need to give us enough sense of their past to convey who they are, what they want, what they have lost or dread losing.
3. Think of the music of your words. In many ways a short story is closer in form to a poem than a novel. The rhythms and beats of your sentences really matter in a short story, as the shape of the language must do some of the work that might be done by whole chapters in a novel.
4. Control your point of view. Because you have little space to play with, you need to think carefully when switching from one character’s point of view to another’s. First person, close third person and the second person voice (the ‘you’ voice) all work well in a short story but mixing them up can make the reader queasy.
5. Dialogue can do a lot of work quickly in a short story but remember that your characters won’t speak in fully formed sentences, nor in the same way as each other. Read (good) plays or movie screenplays to practise your dialogue-writing skills.
6. Objects, even inconsequential ones like a coffee mug or a worn shoe can do a lot of work in a short story. And don’t forget that we have five senses – an unexpected smell or sound, the touch of a hand or the bitter taste of an unripe fruit can save a thousand words.
7. Read short stories – Grace Paley, Alice Munro, Sarah Hall, Raymond Carver. Don’t imitate but note how they capture voice, how they structure, what they leave unsaid – how little they need to say to make you understand every emotion.
And now for the ‘half a tip’ …make your title do its work for you. ‘Does what it says on the tin’ is the opposite of what you need to do with a short story title. It should be as intriguing as the story itself.
And write. Good luck!