How to Write a Short Story?

    First things first, you need an IDEA. Okay, now that you have an idea of what you want to write, how do you actually do it? Well, there are two types of writers. You are either a pantser or a plotter. 

PANTSER: 

   Pantser is a person who writes a story not knowing anything about the story besides the general idea that represents (in my case) for example like a skeleton of the story. 

   In my personal experience, I would always have that basic, general idea, and I would just start writing. While progressing, ideas just come to your mind as if you knew all along what you are going to write. 

PLOTTER: 

  A plotter is a person who ahead plans out the story they want to write. Plotters usually have an outline - planner, if I may say, with everything that they want to happen in the story they want to write. For example, you have an idea for a short story; then you plan for your story a tight range of word count. In that range, you plan every aspect of the story and every aspect of the character. 

  How to know if you are a PANTSER or a PLOTTER? 

Don't worry! You don't need to know before you start. Then, you may ask - well how to start then? - When an idea comes to your mind you just need to focus on that idea and think about it. The pantser-plotter thing will come naturally to you. If you feel like you can't write without knowing what you want to write, you may try plotting! My suggestion is just to try, and you will see for your self. 

  There are some great videos on youtube by editors you can check to find a bit more information on PANTSER vs PLOTTER way of writing. 

  Short stories can be between 1000 and 3000 words. I would say you can go a bit higher, like up to 5000 words. So keep that in mind when writing! Writing a short story may seem easy, but I would not bet on that! It can be hard when you have a lot to say, and still want to keep it short, and when you don't have much inspiration but you still want it to be more than a 1000 words. 

    My best advice is to try and fail. By trying you are progressing. No one was born knowing everything! The beautiful side of writing is that every writer is a different story! What works for me, may not work for you! And that is okay. Just try! That is all, if you love it, and if you persevere, everything can happen! 

    How to come up with an idea? 

   

  If you can't think of an idea, and you want to write something now, there is a great web site for you! Reedsy Prompts has a wide range of prompts (one sentence ideas) for you! (The link to their web site https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/ )

  I've recently discovered this site, and I can assure you that is AMAZING! Every week, there are contests for which you don't need a fee to enter - it is FREE. Every week there is a theme, alongside the theme, there are five prompts - you can choose one of them and submit your story. You can even submit more than one story! (meaning that for every prompt you can write up to one story). If they pick you as a winner, you get a price of 50 dollars! Pretty amazing, right? 

  For the guidelines, you can check - https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/faq/

If you are interested in reading some of my stories, you can click on this link - https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/nancy-drayce/

  That concludes today's topic. If you want more information on how to write, please make sure to let me know down in the comment section!