A month ago, I signed a contract to write a short story for
an anthology. At the time, I thought, “No problem. I can whip out a short.” After
all, I’ve written lots of short stories. Then, I sat down to write
it. And it wasn’t as easy as I thought.
When you’ve been writing novels for a long time, the short
story skills get rusty. A writing friend who also is in the anthology was
having a similar problem. She’d started two short stories only to have them
crash and burn.
The problem is the scope and complexity. With a novel, the
author introduces layers of complexity—tensions, minor characters, hints of character
development, subplots, etc. Short stories only have hints of these elements.
Some not at all. Or they focus on one aspect of these elements. Mentally, I
knew this. But I couldn’t get it to work on paper. Every idea I came up with
was too convoluted for a short story with a maximum of 5000 words. The plots
couldn’t be resolved in the space, and the settings and characters couldn’t be
developed. I knew that if I wrote what I had in mind, I’d end up with a
glorified plot sketch. And I (and my readers) didn’t want that.
So I talked with a friend. She’s been a published writer for
years and years. And she’s done it all—novels (sequels and stand alones),
novellas, short stories, etc. I said, “Help.” She told me, “Remember a short
story (particularly of that length) is a single scene.” I wish I could say that
it was a lightning bolt that struck my mind. It wasn’t. But I began to ruminate
on what she said.
I realized I was doing too much. Everything in the short needs
to revolve around a single writing goal. In my mind, my short story had three
settings, several plot points, and too many characters. I realized that my
first setting was only a starting place. A place where my characters would
start from on their journey—it would have to be cut. I’m in the midst of trying
to cut the second setting. A single scene, I keep telling myself.
After taking apart the settings, I cut all but one plot
point. My characters needed a single goal. Everything needs to flow from that
goal. If it doesn’t, it needs to be cut. (Remember the writer’s mantra, “Kill
your darlings.")
But setting and plot trimming weren’t enough. Once I trimmed
those, I realized that I needed to dump three of the six characters that
inhabited my story. I’m sure some of my readers will miss seeing their favorite
characters in the short story (my short uses the characters from my Screwing Up Time novel), but that’s the
way it is with a short story.
Now the story is beginning to feel manageable. Of course, I
haven’t put pen to paper yet. But in theory, the story feels doable.
What about you? What helps you focus your writing goals for
a short story? I’d love to hear your suggestions.
