Creating Short Fiction
A Short Story is a Writing Form With its own Structure and Format
To get the editors to sit up and pay attention to the short story, impress them with a well-structured story that contains the essential elements of a good, really good, story: Characters, Conflict, Crisis, and Change. There are other elements of a short story that add to the readability and believability of your short story like theme, setting, viewpoint, and plot, but this article will deal with the essential elements, called the ‘Four C’s’ by writer Nick Dawes in his blog post on structuring short stories.
Characters
Understand the CHARACTERS. A good short story will have at least one main character around whom the action, or plot swirls. It does not have to be someone the reader likes, but is does need to be someone the reader can identify with, or believe. Additional characters in the story must also play a role, even if it is a small one. Just sticking characters in to the story with no real purpose is not necessary in a short story. To learn how to develop the characters, read this article, How to Write a Character Sketch for a Fiction Story.
Conflict
The main character will be dealing with some kind of CONFLICT, either involving him or herself and other characters, or within his or her own life. The conflict, again, must be something the reader will identify with and believe. Conflict does not have to be violent, sometimes it works to have the conflict be simply a decision that needs to be made. A conflict can be emotional, mental, or physical, but it must be realistic within the framework of the story.
Crisis
When the conflict reaches the high point, this is called the CRISIS. This is where the main character has to make a decision or resolve something or make something happen. The other characters will likely play a role in this part of the story, especially if the conflict is external. The CRISIS is the turning point in the story. The character will make the decision or perform the action which leads to the fourth step: CHANGE.
Change
CHANGE happens when CRISIS is resolved. The CHANGE will take the reader through the CRISIS, which was caused or affected by the CONFLICT. It all started with the CHARACTER or characters, who influenced, or created the CHANGE. Tie it all together in a logical fashion, add in the detail to make it believable and the result is a short story.
Writing a Short Story
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