story structure

I wrote down something for a student a couple of days ago that might have some interest to a broader audience.  Really just thinking aloud:Most successful short stories can be summed up in one sentence.  (That's not because they're simple, but because they have some unifying quality.)  That leads to a three-step process.1.  Try to sum up your story in one sentence.2.  Write down which parts of your story are not in that summary.3.  Rewrite both story and Step 1 until Step 2 is a null set.Not as brainless as it might seem.  A lot of stories don't work because the writer goes off on tangents that don't really add to the story – but once they're written down, they're hard to get rid of.  Be merciless.  The unity is more important than the decorations, no matter how pretty the decorations are.

Joe