Five Parts to A Good Short Story

One of the panels I attended last weekend at the Killer Nashville writers conference was on writing and marketing short stories.  The panel was moderated by Claire Applewhite.  Claire is a writer from St. Louis whose work includes two mystery novels, The Wrong Side of Memphis and Crazy for You.

The short story panel was interesting to me because I really enjoy writing short stories and because I wanted to see if anything would be said that would help me sell my book of short stories, Lake of the Falls.  The answer to the second point was “no,” I didn’t learn anything that would help me with Lake of the Falls.  However, I did get some good information on writing short stories.

One thing I learned right off the bat is that the short story market is a tough market.  There are a lot of short story writers and the outlets for short stories are shrinking.  Several printed magazines have gone out of business, replaced by online ezines.  Unfortunately, many of the ezines have also gone out of business.

The ideal marketable short story is 2,000 – 5,000 words in length, with 3,000 or less being best.  Stories written in the first person sell best (although I never did hear a reason why).  A good way to make a little money and get your short story published is to enter contests.

One way I see of defining the difference between a short story and a novel (aside from the word count) is that the typical short story stays on an even keel.  The novel has ups and downs, but the short story has a straight line trejectory.  Often (especially in mystery/suspense/thriller-type of short stories), that trajectory is high energy and tense.

When writing a short story, it is good to include these five elements:

Situation — What is the situation the characters find themselves in?  Who are the characters?  What is the plot?  The situation is the circumstance the charcters find themselves in.  The actions the characters take to resolve the situation (the situation should be some sort of difficulty) makes up the plot.

Complication — There should be a complication in every short story.  The complication gives rise to the actions taken by the charcters. 

Climax — This is where the situation reaches it’s high point.  It is the most emotionally charged scene of the story.  The story reaches it’s peak.

Resolution — Follows the climax.  The situation that opened the story is resolved at this point in the story.  The resolution should be the result of action taken by the characters, not acts of God or other outside forces.

Anticlimax — Anything that happens after the resolution.  A way to tie up loose ends or comment on the situation or characters.  If the resolution and climax happen simultaneously, there is no need for the anticlimax.

Although these are five separate elements of a short story, they should not be too distingushable.  One element should flow smoothly into the next.  They should be intertwined and meld into one another.  The elements should not stand out too distinctly from one another.

Finally, to make your short story as powerful as it can be, craft a strong title.  The title plays an even more important role in a short story than it does in a novel.  It should reflect the story’s tone and content.  It should serve to pull the reader in and immediately set the tone for the story.

If you want to read a good short story, check out My Son by Louisville-based writer Robert McClure.  Robert was one of the people who sat on the short story panel at Killer Nashville.  This one short story attracted an agent to McClure and the movie rights were picked up by Sony Pictures.  Not bad for a few thousand words.

I’m currently working on a short story project that I hope to be able to announce in the next couple of months.  Stay tuned!