A short story is not just “a little novel”. In other words, short stories – despite their misleading name – are not about length. Rather, compared to novels, short stories are a different format altogether, with unique requirements and different dynamics. The trick in understanding how to write a short story lies precisely in comprehending these requirements and dynamics.
As I often say, fiction is not about telling a story but about instigating an emotional response. It’s about affect, not plot. Short stories aren’t different regarding that. However, what differs is the way there.
To put it simply, a novel with a word count of 80,000 words or more has a certain flexibility in its expansion. In other words, although narrative pace and the overall balance are something to keep an eye on, a novel is more forgiving in terms of digressions.
This is certainly not the case with a short story.
As a result, the way to learning how to write a short story that “delivers” passes through structure and the associated intent. We’ll look at these in more detail in this post, together with examples that can show you how to pack the optimal power in your short stories.
