Short fiction plot issues

JonnyTheDean

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Somehow, whenever I write short stories, I hit a mental block where I worry that my story isn't enough of a story.

I get the fundamentals of narrative are the same as writing novels; the obstacles that get in the way of the protagonist reaching their goal is the plot.

The trouble is, when I try my hand at short stories, it always feels like I'm tacking things on rather than it feeling like a coherent narrative.

Any advice?
 

Curlz

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Don't try to explain everything, it's "short" story not "the full" story :snoopy:
 

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Yep. Read a LOT of short stories, in all sorts of genres, and all sorts of publications. It's only by reading that you'll get to grips properly with how the form works, and works well.

Short fiction is a very difficult form to master because every single error and misstep shows. There's nowhere to hide. But once you get the hang of it it's like magic. Such a great form to work in.
 

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Have you ever tried pantsing? Sometimes it's frowned upon but I think it's just as valuable as plotting. I think everybody uses both whether they like to admit it or not.

For me, it helps plots, characters, and setting form more organically. A vague idea for fiction, forms from memories based in reality. It also helps exercise the part of the brain that... for lack of a better word, "figures things out". I'll find myself in a pickle, right along with the characters, and figure a logical way out. It's a lot of fun and helps me avoid cliche's and predictability.


Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners sometimes say "Cook the beans! Cook the beans!"

Let them cook before you eat them.



PS - Does anyone know whether or not the period goes inside the quotation marks in "figures things out"? Same question goes for the question mark.
 
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tiggs

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+1 to all the suggestions for reading lots of shorts. There's no simple magic formula -- or at least, not one that I'm aware of.

PS - Does anyone know whether or not the period goes inside the quotation marks in "figures things out"? Same question goes for the question mark.
As far as I'm aware -- if it's "a quotation", then punctuation only goes inside if it's part of the thing being quoted.
 

AustinF

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+1 to all the suggestions for reading lots of shorts. There's no simple magic formula -- or at least, not one that I'm aware of.


As far as I'm aware -- if it's "a quotation", then punctuation only goes inside if it's part of the thing being quoted.

That's interesting. What about broken quotations like this: "He helped him," he said.

In that case the comma goes inside, but why? If "He helped him" isn't followed up by the second part of a sentence, doesn't that make it a stand alone sentence? At the same time, it seems weird to say "He helped him." He said.
 

stephenf

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Hi
There are plenty of really good writers that struggled to write good short stories. I have never been a fan of Hemingway's novels , but he was one of the best short story writers . Please have a look at some of his.
It is being able to reduce the stories to a small and restricted world . The drama of two people in a car . A hunter alone in his hut being intimidated by a bear . The novel is the bigger story , the short is an event on the porch .
 
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AustinF

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PS - I heard everyone recommends reading short stories. That's helpful, but at the end of the day you do have to write.

I recommend Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question". The audio-book is on YouTube and it's only about 30 minutes long.
 
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tiggs

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That's interesting. What about broken quotations like this: "He helped him," he said.

In that case the comma goes inside, but why? If "He helped him" isn't followed up by the second part of a sentence, doesn't that make it a stand alone sentence? At the same time, it seems weird to say "He helped him." He said.
That would be dialogue/speech. Dialogue's treated differently to a quotation. With a quote -- say -- Tolkien's "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." -- then I believe it gets copied verbatim, punctuation at the end, and all.

How-to on dialogue punctuation, here.


ETA: Changed link to something more relevant.
 
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L.E.N. Andov

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Any advice?

I always start with an ending. Isnt the outcome always the best first answer to "what happened?" Once I know what the ending is, then I just flip it to its opposite state- the beginning. Now I have two pieces of bread with which to make a sandwich. Its the middles that slow me down.

Don't be afraid to copy verbatim some of the short stories you read. Your objective is to experience what it's like to write the stuff that is great (to you) or stinkers (to you). It's kind of a backwards way of training your brain inside out. Just make sure you keep that stuff far away from anything you are producing. It's practice, not source material.

I'm afraid I can't offer much more on what you should put between the bread tho. I hope you find that practicing End, Flip, Middle is something you can stick in your toolbox.

(A)
 

AustinF

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Maybe this will help you, maybe it won't but...

I used to look up articles and videos about how to write stories, but I'm finding that it's not that helpful. The most helpful thing, for me, has been to mind the words I write. Mindfulness. When you pour over a sentence enough times, a story emerges on its own.

Try this...

"There sat a man with a book"

Now ask yourself questions about this sentence. Who is the man? What is the book? Where is he?

Then break those down into more questions.

Who is the man? How old is he? What does he look like?
What is the book? Why is he reading it? Does he read a lot?
Where is he? What's the weather like? Are there people around?

I might think... hmm... he's old. So then I'd write,

"An old man sat with a book."

And then I'd think, "Awh that's bland."

Then I'd look at my questions and think... "what does the book look like?"

Then I'd write:

"There saw an old man with a tattered yellow book."

You get the idea.

As it develops, you'll find yourself immersed in the character, his situation, his desires, how he relates to the environment. Or maybe you're more of a world builder and you build an environment that relates to the people.

Anyway, that's a process I find helpful for me, hope it help you too.
 
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blacbird

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Somehow, whenever I write short stories, I hit a mental block where I worry that my story isn't enough of a story.

I get the fundamentals of narrative are the same as writing novels; the obstacles that get in the way of the protagonist reaching their goal is the plot.

The trouble is, when I try my hand at short stories, it always feels like I'm tacking things on rather than it feeling like a coherent narrative.

Any advice?

Short fiction often isn't long on "plot". It is often centered upon situation, characters, and incident. Some of the greatest short story writers ever (notably Anton Chekhov) had very little in the way of plot. For a more modern example, look at Ray Bradbury, certainly one of the finest American short story writers ever. Read "The Dwarf", "The Lake", "The One Who Waits", "There Will Come Soft Rains", "Uncle Einar", "Homecoming", etc.

caw
 

JonnyTheDean

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Thanks for the replies, chaps!

Regards the actual plotting of the story, I think the issue is that without the room for a lot of character development and so on, the "middle" always just seems to be treading water - like they're just extra bits I've tacked on so that the ending doesn't come too easily, and in the second paragraph. It's that sense of progress that seems to be missing, and I can't for the life of me work out how to restore it without the short story becoming a novella.
 

The Urban Spaceman

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Regards the actual plotting of the story, I think the issue is that without the room for a lot of character development and so on...

Like blacbird said, a lot of short fiction is situational. You don't need to show some huge personal growth or development of a character. Think of it this way: your characters are already developed. They are fully rounded human beings. All you have to do is pick which bits of them you want to reveal to your readers.

I can (and frequently do) tell a story in a hundred words or less, and very creative writers can do it in three sentences, or the space of a Tweet. Yes, it's hard, but you have to read and read and read. Study how others do it. How they make so much happen with so few words. And you have to...

the "middle" always just seems to be treading water

...completely abandon everything you know about the beginning-middle-end story structure. Even though most fiction, even short fiction, will have a beginning, middle and end, sometimes it can be harder to see in short fiction because you don't always have the same conflict-reaction-resolution themes to play around with over a longer period of time. Sometimes the story is a snapshot of the character's life, and the underlying themes/lessons are implied rather than explicitly stated.

- like they're just extra bits I've tacked on so that the ending doesn't come too easily, and in the second paragraph.

You may be struggling with how you are defining "ending." Short fiction does not necessarily have a wrapped-up ending like longer fiction.

This evening, I went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of whisky, but they'd completely sold out. Miffed about my impending sobriety, I dodged the checkout queue and caught the early bus home. Five minutes after I got on the bus, a drunk-driver ploughed his Golf into the bus shelter. Had I still been there, I would've been killed instantly. I could still do with a stiff drink, but I'm not quite so disappointed about how my evening turned out.

It's that sense of progress that seems to be missing, and I can't for the life of me work out how to restore it without the short story becoming a novella.

How short are we talking? I can point you to some great sources for drabbles (100 words) or flash fiction (up to 2000 words). If you're looking for something a little longer, there are plenty of short story anthologies out there covering a wide range of different genres and subjects. The more you read, the better your understanding will become, and this will help you to write.
 

Joscco

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I'm new to writing short stories, but I try to write about things that I've experienced or know about. Then, I "fictionalize it" and put in enough subtext to make whoever is reading it "feel something" when they try to interpret the story. It's the old iceberg theory of writing, but I think there's a lot to be said for it.
 

JonnyTheDean

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Like blacbird said, a lot of short fiction is situational. You don't need to show some huge personal growth or development of a character. Think of it this way: your characters are already developed. They are fully rounded human beings. All you have to do is pick which bits of them you want to reveal to your readers.

I can (and frequently do) tell a story in a hundred words or less, and very creative writers can do it in three sentences, or the space of a Tweet. Yes, it's hard, but you have to read and read and read. Study how others do it. How they make so much happen with so few words. And you have to...



...completely abandon everything you know about the beginning-middle-end story structure. Even though most fiction, even short fiction, will have a beginning, middle and end, sometimes it can be harder to see in short fiction because you don't always have the same conflict-reaction-resolution themes to play around with over a longer period of time. Sometimes the story is a snapshot of the character's life, and the underlying themes/lessons are implied rather than explicitly stated.



You may be struggling with how you are defining "ending." Short fiction does not necessarily have a wrapped-up ending like longer fiction.

This evening, I went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of whisky, but they'd completely sold out. Miffed about my impending sobriety, I dodged the checkout queue and caught the early bus home. Five minutes after I got on the bus, a drunk-driver ploughed his Golf into the bus shelter. Had I still been there, I would've been killed instantly. I could still do with a stiff drink, but I'm not quite so disappointed about how my evening turned out.



How short are we talking? I can point you to some great sources for drabbles (100 words) or flash fiction (up to 2000 words). If you're looking for something a little longer, there are plenty of short story anthologies out there covering a wide range of different genres and subjects. The more you read, the better your understanding will become, and this will help you to write.
Thanks for the advice.

I have actually had a couple of short pieces published - and paid at pro rate. I've had a few drabbles published by SpeckLit, for example, which only accepts entries of 100 words exactly. A "snapshot", in that sense, I don't really struggle too much.

Somehow it's the longer pieces, 1-2k words, where I struggle to make it short by stripping out everything unnecessary, but simultaneously struggle to make the events flow in a way that doesn't just make it read like I'm adding extra stuff in the middle to delay the resolution.
 

The Urban Spaceman

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Thanks for the advice.

I have actually had a couple of short pieces published - and paid at pro rate. I've had a few drabbles published by SpeckLit, for example, which only accepts entries of 100 words exactly. A "snapshot", in that sense, I don't really struggle too much.

Somehow it's the longer pieces, 1-2k words, where I struggle to make it short by stripping out everything unnecessary, but simultaneously struggle to make the events flow in a way that doesn't just make it read like I'm adding extra stuff in the middle to delay the resolution.

It may be something you can only get better at by reading a lot and practise practise practise! That, or resign yourself to the fact that short fiction isn't for you, and write novels instead. ;)
 

Lady Ice

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Hi
There are plenty of really good writers that struggled to write good short stories. I have never been a fan of Hemingway's novels , but he was one of the best short story writers . Please have a look at some of his.
It is being able to reduce the stories to a small and restricted world . The drama of two people in a car . A hunter alone in his hut being intimidated by a bear . The novel is the bigger story , the short is an event on the porch .

This is a really good description of the difference between the two forms.

In a sense, we all tell short stories quite often. Anecdotes are short stories (as long as you don't pick a rambly one). Try to remember an interesting anecdote that you've told or been told then write it down.

To use a recent popular example, 'Cat Person' is a good example of an anecdote (fictionalised but based on a true experience). It's a small event, an observation, rather than lots of stories or one really big story.