{"id":1061,"date":"2021-01-17T15:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-17T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2021-02-05T15:33:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:33:51","slug":"writing-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/writing-short-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Expert Tips On Writing Short Stories in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Writing short stories is a <strong>great place to start.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing short stories is a great place to start if you are interested in long-form writing in the future. By reviewing expert short story writers &#8211; we bring you a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to write a short story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t underestimate its complexity just because it\u2019s called short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The warmup is important<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As it is with any other activity, a good warmup is essential &#8211; it prevents fatigue and could give you that last push of creativity to finish your short story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best way to get your creative muscles up to scratch is to use <strong>freewriting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is freewriting? Freewriting is a technique that even the biggest names in the field of short story writing use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Try it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Set a timer for ten minutes&nbsp;<\/li><li>Open a dictionary at random and pick three words<\/li><li>Keep writing for 10 minutes about what might link these words<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>No editing is allowed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That serves as a prompt and might provide you with a starting point for your story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Looping<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If one-time freewriting wasn\u2019t enough, no worries &#8211; try a technique called looping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Try to find a word or a phrase that excites you even a little bit, from your previous&nbsp;freewriting and make that a prompt for your next freewrite.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Repeat this three to four times until you find something that tickles your imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[BONUS TIP #1]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Go to the park, mall, or caf\u00e9 or just take the bus or metro for an hour to give yourself time to watch other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who are they?&nbsp;What are their stories?<br>Could that inspire you?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Boiling point<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>All great short stories have a turning point where the main conflict takes part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The character is hoping for A to happen but B happens instead. The boiling point&nbsp;between A and B might be a decision, dilemma, or insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\u2019t necessarily need to be a dramatic event. It can be something emotional or even subtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Short stories are typically based around just one pivotal point, in contrast to novels &#8211;&nbsp;where we have lots of turning points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Be a doer, not a dreamer<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t spend too much time trying to plan out your story to perfection before starting&nbsp;to write, concentrate instead on writing, revising, and rewriting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That formula will help your story emerge. Too much thinking has a negative impact on your creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[BONUS TIP #2]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Need inspiration during Covid-19 times? In case you are not allowed to go outside,&nbsp;looking at images or short videos of people could do the trick. Focus on the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>It takes two to tango, or in this case to bring life to your short story<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dialogues are key for making your characters come alive, just make sure to get straight into the conversation &#8211; don\u2019t spend too much time on scene-setting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put them in the same room and make them do something together, make sure that the differences in their personalities are clearly visible to your readers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Add conflicts and arguments &#8211; everyone loves conflicts and arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Your characters\u00b4 motivation must be crystal clear<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Try creating a mind map of your character to understand what makes them do things the way they do.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Visualizing by writing your character\u2019s name on a piece of paper and writing down questions like what\u2019s going on inside their head? What do they look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do they want? How do they think? &#8211; usually works like a charm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[BONUS TIP #3]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use LivingWriter and create story elements for each of your characters. Instead of using papers and index cards, you can write down your questions in each character&#8217;s notes sections or make your own!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out how Story Elements work on LivingWriter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wEr_fHTyIfg\" class=\"rank-math-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Make World-Building easy with LivingWriter Story Elements\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wEr_fHTyIfg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Less is more<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of short story writers make a rookie mistake by trying to squeeze too much information into the first draft.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t be one of them. Focus instead on cutting everything that is non-essential, we&#8217;re writing short stories remember? Not a novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sharpening the blade<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people are saying that it can take up to one year to hone their short story to perfection. That just confirms what we mentioned earlier &#8211; just because the short&nbsp;story is short, it doesn\u2019t mean that it is easy to write.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patience is the key, but when you get it just right it is indeed a very satisfying\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Livingwriter.com<\/a> and select the template that suits you best to get started as&nbsp;quickly as possible writing short stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"702\" src=\"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/template-1024x702.png\" alt=\"livingwriter.com\" class=\"wp-image-1065\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/template-1024x702.png 1024w, https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/template-300x206.png 300w, https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/template-768x527.png 768w, https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/template.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Writing short stories is a great place to start. Writing short stories is a great place to start if you are interested [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23,22,21,17],"views":3719,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1182,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions\/1182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}