IMPORTANT FOR THOSE WHO ARE GOING TO DO THE WRITE UP.
1. Choose a point of view
Point of view is the narration of the story from the perspective of first, second, or third person. As a writer, you need to determine who is going to tell the story and how much information is available for the narrator to reveal in the short story. The narrator can be directly involved in the action subjectively, or the narrator might only report the action objectively.
- First Person. The story is told from the view of "I." The narrator is either the protagonist (main character) and directly affected by unfolding events, or the narrator is a secondary character telling the story revolving around the protagonist. This is a good choice for beginning writers because it is the easiest to write.
- Second Person. The story is told directly to "you", with the reader as a participant in the action.
- Third Person. The story tells what "he", "she," or "it" does. The third-person narrator's perspective can be limited (telling the story from one character's viewpoint) or omniscient (where the narrator knows everything about all of the characters).
2. Write a catchy first paragraph
The first sentence of your narrative should catch your reader's attention with the unusual, the unexpected, an action, or a conflict. Begin with tension and immediacy. Remember that short stories need to start close to their end. Example:
- "Sometimes I feel like I'm an illiterate!" A very irritated and frustrated Aditi said while shutting her laptop. Her worst nightmare, the writer's block, seemed to be visiting her frequently these days. She had just finished a rather gruelling battle with the block for a couple of hours; but as usual, she had to give up. On the opposite side, empty boxes of Chinese fried rice littered her dining table.
- Watson rushed over to Sherlock who was peacefully relishing his cigar while reading the newspaper in his armchair. Much to Watson's surprise, Sherlock still didn't give away his tranquil demeanour even after seeing him out of breath and in shock.
- She's just a normal girl. She has good grades and great friends that she trusts to no end. She has always taken a great liking to the myths. Only, what happens when she gets found by a real life version of her favourite myths; vampires?
3. Write meaningful dialogue
Dialogue is what your characters say to each other (or to themselves).
Each speaker gets his/her own paragraph, and the paragraph includes whatever you wish to say about what the character is doing when speaking.
Instead of:
"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" A voice came from behind her. A silhouette was all she could see when she turned around."Are you lost in the woods, my dear?" Another voice taunted.
Separate all different dialogues like this:
"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" A voice came from behind her. A silhouette was all she could see when she turned around."Are you lost in the woods, my dear?" Another voice taunted.
4. Use setting and context
Setting includes the time, location, context, and atmosphere where the plot takes place.
- Remember to combine setting with characterization and plot.
- Include enough detail to let your readers picture the scene but only details that actually add something to the story.
- Use two or more senses in your descriptions of setting.
- Rather than feeding your readers information substitute descriptive details so your reader can experience the setting the way your characters do.
Example:
Try and get your readers to imagine the setting and see what your characters are seeing.
- "There's a possibility that he got into a brawl with the culprit while trying to save himself. A deep wound on the back of his head which could have been caused by the fall and some scratches on his wrists; seems like there was no clear attempt of murder. But, the question still remains; what did he have that the culprit wanted?" Sherlock studied the body again in silence while Watson was trying to look for more evidence to why the victim got into a brawl in the first place.
5. Set up the plot
Plot is what happens, the story line, the action.
Brainstorming. If you are having trouble deciding on a plot, try brainstorming. Suppose you have a protagonist whose husband comes home one day and says he doesn't love her any more and he is leaving. What are actions that can result from this situation?
- She becomes a workaholic.
- Their children are unhappy.
- Their children want to live with their dad.
- She moves to another city.
- She gets a new job.
- They sell the house.
- She meets a psychiatrist and falls in love.
The next step is to select one action from the list and brainstorm another list from that particular action.
6. Build to a climax
This is the turning point of the story-the most exciting or dramatic moment. This should lead to the end of the story.
Examples:
- Elegant, is the correct word for it. Aditi smiled as she looked at the glittery golden envelope with a silver transparent ribbon tied around it. She carefully took the envelope and pulled the ribbon, opening the envelope; she revealed a cream coloured piece of paper and a smaller white envelope fell out. Her eyes widened in shock as she read what written inside.
- "You're trying to tell me that the culprit is the birthday girl?" Watson asked with a perplexed expression. "But why would the birthday girl steal her own cake?"He finished off while they walked into the building and spoke to the receptionist
I hope these points help you all in writing the piece.
