How To Write A Great Short Story That Won’t Make People Hate You

Yes, I am posting yet another high-minded rant about writing.  If any of you have read my post on how to write blurbs for your books, then you’ll know that I like to show off how smart, amazing, handsome, brilliant, talented, and humble I am by sharing hard-learned lessons about writing which I hope other writers will then absorb and sing my praises about.

I recently agreed to be part of an anthology of short Science Fiction stories for a writer’s group I’m a part of on Facebook.  The anthology is called “A World of Worlds,” and its focus is on short stories of science fiction and fantasy that showcase worlds other than Earth.  It’s a cool concept, with each short story meant to detail the exploration, history, and epic goings on of strange and miraculous planets from the imagination of various types of writers.

My entry to this anthology is called “The Secret Signal.”  It is a sci-fi adventure with a strong mystery at its core.  It is also the shortest story I’ve ever written, since the word-count limit for the anthology is 6,000 words or less.  However, despite the limit on my genius, I felt I was able to turn in a story that was complete and fitting for the anthology, and I’m dang proud of it.  So proud of it, in fact, that I might add to it and create a novella that will eventually be published to stand on its own.

But I digress… the purpose of this essay is actually to talk about what makes a good short story (at least in my humble, yet expert, opinion).  I’ve had the privilege of some in my writer’s group critiquing my story and giving me some excellent feedback.  I’ve also had the opportunity to critique the stories of others.  Though each story I got to read was great in its own way, I found a number of common issues that I ran across in all of them that needed to be addressed (at least in my humble, yet expert, opion).

And these aren’t just issues with these particular authors.  I actually see these problems in full-length novels as well.  I don’t know if these common problems stem from a lack of “meta awareness” or a misunderstanding of narrative devices.  But they seem to exist A LOT, and I felt it was my duty as Mr. Smarty Pants of the Universe to address them.

Thus, I am sharing my guidelines to writing a great short story in this post.  This doesn’t mean your short story will be a Pulitzer Prize winner if you follow them.  It just means people won’t hate you for feeling they wasted their time reading your little missive.  I feel readers have too vast of a preference pool to really say “you must do this to get people to like your short,” but these concepts are general enough to please the widest audience possible, and also relate to stories outside of Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

So without further ado, here are 6 tips to writing a great short story:

1.  Short Stories Must Have A Purpose

When I worked in Hollywood, it was very hard to get noticed.  Unless you’d actually made a movie, people didn’t know who you were, and thus, it was hard to find a job.  Filmmakers coming out of film school would turn to short films as a method of crafting “calling cards” that could showcase their skills and get them work.

Calling Cards were essentially 5-15 minute movies that you could submit to producers to show your skills as a director.  The reason behind this is that Producers are too busy to sit through an entire feature length film from a nobody.  However, they would be willing to sit through something that was short as a way of giving you a chance to impress them.

I feel short stories are the same beast.  Many readers, especially on Amazon, Barns & Noble, etc., are shopping for feature-length novels (yet another reason why anthologies are a good idea, since a number of short stories adds up to a full novel).  In this respect, I see them very much like the Hollywood Producers.  They’re looking for something you might be able to offer them, you just need to convince them to take a chance.

Aside from the fact that writers may see short fiction as a literary exercise, I see it as more of a marketing exercise.  To me, a short story should be a “calling card” to get readers to want to check out an author’s larger body of work.  One just has to look at Hugh Howey, and how his short story WOOL spawned a hugely successful sci-fi series that catapulted him into bestseller territory.

If you look at WOOL as a case study for short fiction, you’ll see it does so many things right.  But the thing it did the most was tell readers that Hugh Howey was a great author deserving of their attention.  And in this respect, I feel every short story is meant to hook readers into wanting to read more of an author’s works.

All too often, we see writers who use short stories as a way to continue larger stories (“offshoots” I believe they’re called), or explore ideas and concepts that they’re unsure how to work into longer stories.  Many authors see short fiction as a waste of time, or too difficult because they don’t want to be restricted in how much they can write.

But a well crafted short story can be published on its own, in magazines and periodicals, and get far more exposure than a feature length novel of 200+ pages.  The reason for this is that they are quick to read.  Readers don’t have to commit a lot of time or energy to it.  If the story sucks, they shrug and move on.  If the story is amazing, they’re left breathless and wanting more, and will then seek out longer work.

The point here is, it is important to see every short story as a calling card that is meant to draw in new readers to an author’s fanbase.  Thus, all short stories need to be structured and written with the goal of engaging and wowing the reader, to encourage them to read other works.  I know some writers will disagree with this notion, claiming artistic integrity means the only goal should be to satisfy the author.  But to that I say – poo poo.

A wise film professor of mine once told me that a movie no one ever sees isn’t a movie, it’s an exercise.  I feel the same is true about books.  Books no one ever reads aren’t really books, they’re exercises in writing.  If your short story does not get you more readers, followers, and fans, then it is simply a writing exercise and not professional literature.

So make sure when you sit down to write your short story, you do everything in your power to make it SO FREAKING GOOD, that readers will eagerly want to read other things you’ve written.

2.  All Short Stories Must Be Self-Contained

I’m aware that there is a certain school of thought among writers that it’s okay to have serialized short stories.  Or short stories which only tell part of a tale.  However, I’m of the belief that short stories must be episodic if they are to be effective.  What I mean by this is that they must be “self-contained.”

I always approach my writings from the viewpoint that nobody cares about my stories, and thus I have to bust my butt to make the stories so good, people can’t help but care about them.  However, it seems I’m in the minority here.  Too many authors make the mistake of thinking their readers see their work as they do, that the reader cares about the same thing they care about.

This is wrong.

Readers don’t give a shit.  They want to be entertained, they don’t care about the minutia of an author’s high-minded opinions of their work.  An author may think that it’s okay to end a short story in the middle of a plot thread because he knows he’s going to write a sequel to it, but the reader doesn’t know that, and they will simply dismiss the short story as being “bad” because the ending was unsatisfying, and so they don’t bother to continue reading the author’s next offering to find out what happens.

Authors will also take for granted that their short stories, set in the world of longer novels with already established characters, will be familiar to the reader.  They assume a level of familiarity that may not be present in readers who are unfamiliar with the longer works, and thus alienate readers of their short fiction.

I’m a big believer in “lowest common denominator” writing.  When I say this I don’t mean writers should dumb down their stories.  Rather, I believe they should write for the reader who is most unfamiliar with their work, and make their stories accessible to the broadest possible audience.  This is crucial in writing a short story, because you need to ensure as many people as possible will enjoy your “calling card” to encourage them to want to read more.

If you look at the “Dunk & Egg” short stories that George R.R. Martin writes, you’ll see what I’m talking about.  These are short stories set in his “Game of Thrones” universe, taking place 100 years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire, and following the adventures of a Hedge Knight and his squire.  Though these are “offshoots” of his much more epic series, they stand on their own.  You don’t need to have read any of the Game Of Thrones novels to understand the world, the people in it, or the events you are reading about.  Sure, it helps.  But someone unfamiliar with the larger series could read this and get pulled into Martin’s larger body of work easily.

When I say that shorts should be “self-contained,” I mean they should be able to stand on their own merit.  They should have a beginning, middle, and an end, and feel like a complete story has been told.  This isn’t to say you can’t end on a cliffhanger, just that the ending must be satisfying to the reader.  If you look at WOOL once again, the ending of the original short was a massive cliffhanger/twist, but it was a satisfying enough ending that the reader didn’t feel cheated, and the story stood on its own.  There was no need to continue the story to explain the ending.  However, the story was so strong, demand inspired the author to expand upon it, leading to a larger series.

Thus, it is important to not only have a plot that is resolved in your short story, but also a full character arc as well.  We’ll discuss these more in a bit.  Just know that your short story shouldn’t be a “slice of pie.”  It should be the “whole enchilada.”

3.  Keep It Simple, Stupid

Too many authors try to accomplish too much in their short fiction.  As all us writers know, sometimes it’s easy to get swept away with our imagination.  I know I suffer from this as well.  We want to fill in every detail we can – even if those details aren’t necessary to the over-all story.

I don’t find it uncommon to read short fiction LOADED with needless backstory that does nothing to further the plot or the characters of the story.  When I’m reading for critiques, I’ll often delete paragraphs and paragraphs of needless description that’s more there to show off the author’s writing than it is to make the story enjoyable for the reader.  Heck, I’ve even seen pages full of writing that could be cut out of stories and not missed.  (Try telling that to the writer, though.  Owch.  Let them keep their precious snowflake if it’s that important to them.)

I feel the biggest sin a writer can commit, especially in short fiction, is to bore the reader.  A bored reader sets aside the story and never finishes it.  And if they do finish it, they suffer through doing so, and are ultimately turned off by the writer, thus failing the whole purpose of having written the short to begin with.

With this in mind, here are the rules of thumb I use to try and keep my short stories flowing, engaging, and most of all NOT BORING.

When in doubt, cut it out:  Write your short as you normally would, then go back and be merciless in cutting out things that are not necessary to the plot.  You will be amazed at how much useless stuff you write that can be eliminated without hurting the over-all story.  Cut, cut, and cut some more.  The more you cut, the more you can fill out the important stuff as needed.  Eventually, you’ll be left with a tight and efficient narrative that’s a dream to read.

Say in one word what you’d normally say in 5:  All authors suffer from diarrhea of the keyboard.  See that whole paragraph you took to describe how majestic that sunrise was?  Yeah, simplify that to “The sun was rising” and the reader gets the same idea.  You can have as much purple prose as you want in a feature length novel, but in shorts, you just want to GET ON WITH IT.  The less description you have, the quicker and more powerfully the short reads.  It’s actually harder to write using less words, but it’s also far more poignant when you do.

Keep backstory limited to the essentials:  Short fiction is not the place to detail the entire history of the time, space, the universe, and everything in it.  Only tell us what we need to know to enjoy the plot of your story, and leave the rest unsaid.  If you look at Star Wars, there is one line when Obi Wan is talking to Luke that tells you a great deal about the history of that universe:  “You fought with my father in the Clone Wars?”

WTF are the Clone Wars?  Who knows?  WHO CARES!  All we know is that there was some big war which Obi Wan fought alongside Luke’s father.  That’s really all we need to know.  Could you imagine if the movie stopped there to flashback to the entirety of Episodes 1-3 before getting on with the plot?  Yet, writers seem to think doing that exact thing in their stories is a good idea!  *shudder*

Keep things short, simple, and limited to what we need to know as readers.  Trust me, your story will be stronger for it.

4.  Know Your Main Character, Make Them Active, And For The Love Of God – Give Them A Full Arc!

Short stories lend themselves to being character pieces, since you don’t have the space to typically focus on more than one character in great detail.  Yet, I see these glaring mistakes with short fiction all the time:

-The author doesn’t know who their main character is.

-The main character is way too passive.

-The main character doesn’t grow or change in the story.

It’s not uncommon to read a short story that starts with a focus on 1 character, and then midway through, shifts focus to an entirely different character, making you wonder WTF was the reason you just spent all that time reading about character 1 if character 2 is the one who’s gonna be driving the action forward?

Also, writers fall into the trap of just having things “happen” to their character.  Oh, the character has to go out into the dangerous planet for some reason?  Let’s have the character’s best friend suggest it and drag him out there against his better judgment!  Heaven forbid the main character should choose to go out into the dangerous landscape against the objections of his colleagues because he knows it’s the only way to save the day, and he’s willing to risk his life to do so!

Characters who take action to drive the story forward are always more interesting than characters who just “chance” into situations or are going along with another character because the plot dictates they should.  I read one short story where the main character literally was tied up and lectured to for 70% of the tale.  The main character literally did nothing but listen to other characters talk and decide his fate for him.  He didn’t even argue his case.  I wanted to tear my eyes out reading that thing because it was so freakin’ boring.

Take a look at your story and see who is driving the action in each scene.  If it’s a secondary character, ask yourself – “Is there a way my main character can be the one to drive this action forward?”  Always look at how you can craft your narrative so that your main character is the one propelling the story forward, as opposed to just being along for the ride.

But worst of all is when the character has no arc in the story.  Seeing characters change and grow is what makes stories engaging.  It’s what makes characters memorable.  That’s not to say characters MUST change, but they should be in a different place at the end of the tale than they were at the beginning.  The rogue must become the knight.  The whore must become the princess.  The killer must either meet justice or find redemption.  Whatever it may be, we must see a character complete a journey of some type.

In my short story, The Secret Signal, I tried to layer in an arc where my main character, Jax, is on a quest to find his father, who was the smartest man on Earth.  Jax had an inferiority complex concerning his father.  He was always trying to live up to the legend his father had created for himself.  Jax’s quest to discover what happened to his dad is secretly a struggle to prove he’s worthy of his father’s legacy.  Everything the character does in the story is motivated by his desire to prove to himself he’s a worthy son to such a legendary father.  Now, this doesn’t mean he succeeds, but even failure is an outcome that can end a character arc.

When writing short fiction, have a clear idea of who your main character is, what their arc will be, and make them active participants in the outcome of that arc.

5.  Make Things Easy For The Reader

I see this a lot with sci-fi and fantasy shorts – authors will use lingo, words, or whatever that make no sense at all.  Sure, they may be part of the “worldbuilding” they are using, but short stories are not the place to establish these things.  If the author is writing in a shared universe with a larger body, then they must make an effort to specifically explain the devices they are using, and limit the number of words that might confuse the reader.

For example:

“Tri’la’likaa grabbed the tabazooee knowing full well that her Preagenor would be flummoxed.”

Oh.  Dear.  Lord.  Kill me now.  That’s what I think when I see stuff like this in short stories.  Remember, write for the lowest common denominator and assume the reader has no prior exposure to your work.  Make names easy to read/pronounce, and take a bit of time to explain your lingo.  Also, please try and use words that are commonly familiar instead of words you need a dictionary to understand.  So something like:

“Trilaka grabbed ancient staff-like weapon known as the tabzsooee, knowing full well that her teacher – Preagenor Haith – would be confused by the action.”

See what I mean?  The second biggest sin a writer can commit in short fiction is being confusing.  DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR READERS.  Make things easy for them.  Write clearly and concisely, and take the time to explain yourself.  Never assume your reader is smart of paying close attention as they read.  Write as if they are not, and your readership is not only expanded, it is happy!

(As a personal note, I am vehemently against sci-fi/fantasy authors who create character names that involve an apostrophe.  Seriously.  I know it makes it alien to add the random apostrophe to a name, but for the love of all that is good and holy, you can make exotic names without them.  I feel main characters should never have apostrophes in their names, and those that do should never have more than one.   The reason for this is because it makes names hard to pronounce, and can trip up readers as they are going through your narrative, because they’re constantly trying to figure out how the name should be read.  My general rule of thumb is – keep names simple, and if a name has to be complicated, find a way to shorten it so that it is simple.  So if a character is tame Tral’frigah, have him referred to as Tral, etc.)

Even if your characters don’t recognize words us real people do, you should use them anyway for the sake of the reader.  For instance, if a simple character sees a spaceship for the first time, the character may not know what it is.  A writer might describe it as:

“Xaxon gazed at the strange bird hovering in the air, eyes protruding from its circular body, from which he could see miniature creatures in place of irises.”

For the reader’s sake, this could be written as:

“Xaxon gazed at the spaceship hovering in the air.  It was a shiny metal disk with circular windows all around, from which the aliens piloting it were looking out.  Of course, Xaxon, having never seen a spaceship before, believed it to be some type of strange bird.”

Always remember who you’re writing for.  It makes the story much more enjoyable for the reader.

6.  End Strong And Leave Them Wanting More

I’d argue that the most important part of a short story is the ending.  Your beginning and middle could suck, but a good ending will make the reader forget all that.  Again, I point to WOOL here.  It has a very strong narrative leading up to the end, but the twist at the end is so amazing, the reader is left feeling high and shocked and excited.  This ending is what really catapulted WOOL into the spotlight and got readers talking about it.

This is why plotting is so important.  I hold the belief that writers should know how their story is going to end before they start writing it.  If you don’t know your destination, it’s possible to get extremely lost during your journey.  I’ll often write my ending first before I even start my story, just so I know the ending will be strong, and what I should do to get there.

Too many authors don’t know how to finish their stories, so they’ll just “end them” abruptly.  Abrupt endings are death to readers.  They hate them.  It’s even worse if the endings are confusing, or use Deus Ex Machina.  Endings need to be satisfying, but I’d also argue they need to leave the reader wanting more, thus encouraging them to check out an author’s other works.

I feel cliffhangers are great endings for short stories, AS LONG AS the short story has a complete resolution.

In The Secret Signal, I end on a cliffhanger, but that cliffhanger gives closure to my main character’s arc.  So even though there is obviously still more to the story, the reader feels that they read a “complete tale” and won’t feel cheated at the end.

Thus, you can have a cliffhanger for your plot as long as your character arc is resolved.  Similarly, you can have a cliffhanger for your character arc, as long as your plot is resolved.  You can resolve both your plot and character arc if you wish, but it may not be as powerful as a cliffhanger.  And you should never leave both your plot and character arc unresolved.  That’s just bad writing, and readers will hate you for it.

Keep in mind, once a reader has reached your ending, they’ve invested themselves in your story.  If you do not pay off that investment, they will resent you for it.  This is why it is important to have a strong, satisfying ending that leaves the reader wanting more.

Conclusion

I’m wicked smart and you should all do as I say, and there will be world peace.

Actually, the real conclusion is that writers of short fiction should take as much care with their short stories as authors would with their feature novels.  Short stories should, at the end of the day, be entertaining reads.  You might not agree with my philosophy behind short fiction, but I stand by my advice regarding its writing.  I feel if an author follows these tips, their work will be strong, engaging, and most of all, fun to read.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments section.  I appreciate any and all feedback.