Writing an Effective Short Story

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Writing an Effective Short Story

• 5 Tips for Writing Your Story

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1. Have a clear theme.

• What is the underlying message or statement
  behind the words? This will leave more meaning
  in the minds of your readers.

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2. Cover a short time span.

• It may be one single event that proves pivotal in
  the life of the character, and that event will
  illustrate the theme.

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3. Dont have too many characters.

• Each new character will bring a new element to
  the story, and for a short story too many
  different dimensions (or directions) will water
  down the theme. Use only enough characters to
  effectively illustrate the theme.

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3. Know the character you do have.

• To help with the effectiveness of your writing,
  be sure to know your character as a whole person.
  The character interview sheet can help.

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4. Make every word count.

• There is no room for unnecessary extension in a
  short story. If a word is not working towards
  getting across the theme and moving the story
  along, delete it. A longer story is not
  necessarily better!

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5. Focus

• Your storys point is its theme. It's tempting to
  digress, but in a 'short' story you have to
  follow the straight and narrow.

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FOCUS!

• If you do not have focus, you end up with either
  the beginning of a novel or a group of ideas that
  dont add up to a meaningful story.

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FOCUS

• The best stories are the ones that follow a
  narrow subject line.

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• Short Story Writing Tips
• 1. Have a clear theme.
• Cover a short time span.
• 3. Dont have too many characters.
• 4. Make every word count.
• 5. FOCUS!

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One more thing

• No cliff hanger endings
• No It was just a dream endings