Starting Short

"The townsfolk kept glaring angrily at Jack as they discussed what to do with 1200 pounds of rotting giant."
Goose Egg by Jim Phelps.

A few years ago I couldn't finish a single project. One of the reasons for this failure was that I was setting myself too big a target; expecting to write a fully rounded film script within the space of a couple of weekends. Not only does this impossible task break my one main writing mantra of 'Writing is rewriting', which I will address at a later date, but it was also a reminder that I expected too much from myself. This is where writing short stories became an invaluable part of developing my writing skills.

A short story can be any length from a few words (as above) to a few thousand. I am very impatient in that I want to see results soon after I have the initial idea. Writing short stories means that you are able to have a finished article in a much shorter space of time, even with multiple drafts. The story can always be elongated/adapted into the format of your choosing at a later time.

Though the short story has helped me with my confidence in my writing let me be clear that I do not see writing one as only a means to an end. Quite the contrary, it is a powerful art form in itself. A full scale novel has the time to set scenes and devote whole chapters to describing landscapes, sewing the seed of subplots and building up dramatic tension. A short story has only a few pages to hook the reader in, engage them and leave them wanting more. I would be proud to make a career from being a short story writer.

If you are keen to try writing a short story, there are a few elements I always keep in mind:

• The story should start in the middle of something. It's up to you to draw the reader in; to want to find out more.
• Keep the time frame of events short: there's no room for long drawn out quests, significant character growth or a detailed account of a week in the life of a tax adviser (and if that's your chosen subject I pray it's a comedy!).
• Don't have too many characters or locations. You haven't got that long to define too many elements.
• Make sure you know what you are trying to say.
• Make every word count.

Writing short stories has certainly improved the quality of my writing and the quantity of finished pieces on my hard-drive to satisfy my impatient self and assure me that I can finish a piece of writing. I've also found that working to a deadline helps and so I enter short story competitions on a regular basis, often specifically writing an entry for a contest. The benefit is you have a finished product you can look back on with the bonus of potentially winning a prize or getting published.

Below you will find a very useful website I use to enter any short story competitions. As you will see there are a diverse range of themes and word counts ranging between 5,000 words to 154 characters (a story told within one mobile phone text...an alternative activity when on the bus I find!). Entries to competitions can be free or sometimes stretch to only a few quid with some discounts on multiple submissions.

http://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htm

If you have any questions on writing short stories, drop me an email and I'll do my best to answer them. I'm also open to any requests on subject matters for future blogs.