When the Wye Valley Creative Writers started we were lucky to have guidance and tutoring from an Irish writer and poet, Danny Gorman. He gave us many tips that have supported us throughout the years and made us able to constructively criticise and help improve each others work.
Here are our top 5 tips for writing stories (particularly short ones).
1. Show don’t tell
It is much better to describe to a reader how a character is feeling, then to tell them. Description draws readers in, helps them to feel empathy with the character, and involved in the situation. Consider, as a reader, which of the two sentences below you think is more interesting.
The lights went out; Steven was scared. He fumbled about on the bedside table for his torch but couldn’t find it. He felt a sense of dread wash over him. He drew his hand back under the covers and tucked them up around him so nothing could get in.
The lights went out. Steven pulled the covers up over his head and held his breath, listening. After a few seconds he reached one arm out and fumbled on the bedside table for the torch. His small hand darted back and fore across the table, faster and faster feeling just empty space. He drew his hand back under the covers and tucked them up around him so nothing could get in.
Which sentence helps you to feel more of the fear of a small child alone in the dark?
Techniques for showing rather than telling include:
Describing the body language of characters
Describing what is actually being felt (you cannot see fear but you can see goose pimples or hear a stammering voice).
Use dialogue – have the characters use their own language and voice to describe what they think, intend or feel. Sometimes it’s what they don’t say that is as important (see tip 5).
2. Consider the drama
A story should have action and drama. It is always good to start a story in the middle of some action. This doesn’t mean every story starting with a sword fight, even the most mundane actions can be used as a device to introduce a character and engage the reader in their concerns. An active start should raise questions; why did Mr X do that? What is Mrs Y going to do about? The reader wants answers; they are lured in by the drama and want to go on the journey with the characters.
3. Take the characters on a journey
A story, even a short story must go somewhere; the characters must metaphorically, at least, travel. A good plot will see the main characters in some form of conflict, emotional or physical and through the journey of the story this conflict will be resolved (this doesn’t just mean a happy ending!) or the character has somehow changed. The journey that the characters go on should not be predictable but their actions/reactions should be within character (unless there is a good reason otherwise).
4. Avoid Clichés
Clichés are a short cut to meaning, some common phrase that the reader has heard many times before. Because of this they don’t give a real sense of the scene, actions or feelings being described. A good description better equips the reader to imagine the scene and characters then a bland statement of for example an event which is ‘the tip of the iceberg’, or the character who is the ‘black sheep’ of the family.
The only time to use a cliché is in dialogue when it would naturally be used by that character.
5. Sometimes it’s not what you put in, it’s what you leave out
When writing a piece you can get carried away; there is a temptation to want to tell the reader everything, to create an elaborate back-story, to introduce varied characters. Often at the group we will listen to a story and suggest that the writer starts it somewhere in the middle. You have to be brave and consider does the reader really need to know this or am I just going to lose them. Action and pace can be reduced if too much is included, and without them the reader might not come along on the journey. We tend to find the best approach is to write everything down that you think you want to say then start to rationalise it.
