How to write a short story

 Short Story Rules: 




Come up with 2 - 4 characters only

Bob
Milley
Rustic 
Gladice

Less is More 

Complicated and too much: "The car drove all over the place 'stop the car!' Nancy tried to scream. Her husband held onto the steering wheel for dear life, beeping his horn and telling his wife to keep it shush.  The car stopped.  The CAR  stopped but kept honking as her husband snored onto the steering wheel sleeping and dribbling all over himself.

Uncomplicated and simple: "The car swerved 'stop the car!' Nancy tried to scream yet her husband held on tightly to the steering wheel beeping his horn answering his wife  "shush woman" just as the car stopped her husband's head hit the steering wheel making it beep all the while he had suddenly passed out.


Character Profile


Name: Bear 
Age: 17 
Personality: Grumpy, witty, loud.
Looks: Black long curly hair, brown eyes with Italian features.
Love Interest: Rosa 
Type of Character: Main

Plan Ahead

Free write: Journal the thoughts that immediately come to mind 
Dream Journaling
Mind maps
Rewrite and edit
research your topic
PowerPoints and apps 
Descriptive Writing 

Show and Don't Tell

Telling: "Nancy angrily slapped her husband across the head in order to wake him up."
Showing: "Nancy's face reddened when her hand stretched out palm facing down to slap her husband across his bald head simply to wake him up."






The Importance of Paragraphs:

Paragraph 1: Sight: Write what the character sees. 






"Nany stared straight ahead out the window where a landscape of greens, blues, and pinks escaped her. So pretty; she thought but when she turned her head all she could see was darkness, a deep dark gloom that sent chills throughout her body."  


Paragraph 2: Speech: Write what the character says. 




"Wow," Nancy felt her husband standing beside her. "We made it love." He said breathing the cold air to which only added the chills that sprung down her back. "It's going to rain, we better get back into the car." Nancy declared but her husband shook his head "we drove miles to hike through these incredible mountains only to turn back because of a little rain?"

Tip: In this paragraph, there was conflict rising between the characters. Conflict causes the drama that stories need in order to become entertaining.  If two characters wanted the same thing all the time and then the audience, readers, and watchers would surely fall asleep and get bored. 

Paragraph 3: Senses: Write what the character can see, smell, taste, hear and touch.




"Nancy could feel the first few drops of rainfall onto her hands, her face, and her legs. 'I can see the clouds forming into a storm' Her husband patronized her. But when Nancy opened her mouth only to taste the cold open air that warned that snow was on the way she decided to get back into the warm blue civic." 




Paragraph 4: Action: Write what the character does e.g. Fighting, dancing, or laughing. 



"Her husband Jeff got into the car and huffed 'it's going to snow love, let's go.' Nancy announced as if she were breaking the weather forecast. 'It's not going to snow, it looks more like a rainstorm.' But Nancy held her head up, crossed her arms, and didn't say a word. It was often they would fight like this like all married couples do but she felt like murdering him. And so she did. Later on, Nancy figured since there was no one else around she would just bury him in the mountains luckily they kept a spare shovel in the boot and so she slaved away digging a hole when the first few snowflakes began to fall. 'Hmm serves you right' Nancy grunted indifferently to her husband who now laid dead on the ground."



Paragraph 5: Write a surprise or a plot twist e.g. Pregnancy, death of a loved one, or a love confession.



"Nancy walked back to the car and got into the driver's side only to be greeted by a bloodied hand print on the window. It seemed that she had not checked his pulse before burying him and somehow he had crawled out from the ground to haunt her horrible mistake." 

Paragraph 6:  Conclusion or Cliff-hanger: Write an ending for the story that could either be the closing of it or by keeping it open with mystery. 






"Nancy got out of the car and tried to find her injured husband planning to tell the authorities that they had gotten mugged and that obviously he was delirious.  But she couldn't find where she put that shovel either until she felt it thump across the back of her head knocking her out cold. Jeff drove away in a rage shouting out the window 'stay away from me you mad woman!' Yet two weeks later they were back to their normal selves even joking about that one time they very nearly killed one another." 



And now it's your turn to try out these tips, tricks, and rules on how to write an eye-catching and engaging story, please comment below if you have any questions, need something verified or explained, or if you have your own tips or tricks. 


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Author: Rhiannon Nicholas 


 



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