The Initial Sickness
So, you're going to write the next great American short story. You've got the idea, you've spent the time to think about it in the shower or in the car and now you're ready to sit down and write it out. You open up the word processing program of your choice and sit there staring at the blank screen for a few minutes. Heck, maybe you even type a few sentences. Then, thankfully, the phone rings and you can leave it alone for awhile, because let's face it, the idea you had wasn't that great anyway. Besides, who would read it?
Now, let's say you're at the second stage, where you've actually written down several pages, but you go back and read it and decide it is junk after comparing it to the short stories of Frederick Busch, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London, William Faulkner or Raymond Carver. You shut down the computer pledging never again to take up the pen, because you're just not good enough.
Maybe, like me, you're one of those exceptionally demented people who get through the first two stages of denial, self-flagellation and pain and decide that you can't get along without putting words to paper and trying your best to make it readable. Maybe you get sick to your stomach or experience blinding headaches or excruciating bowel pains if you go longer than a couple of days without writing a couple of thousand words. If that is the case, then these suggestions are a few that helped me learn to start the process.
On Becoming a Convincing Liar or Learning to Write a Short Story
A short story or any work of fiction is essentially a well rehearsed and well executed lie. If done well, the reader or as I call it the “mark” will be so taken in by your lying ways that they will be transported to the setting you have written about, like or dislike your characters as you decide and eventually come to understand the point about which you are writing. But, let's not pull any punches or lie to ourselves, any good lie is at least ninety percent truth. So, the first thing we need to do is come up with the lie.
1. Come Up With A Good Idea That Is Both Plausible And Reliable
By plausible, I mean that the idea must appear to be at least in the realm of possibility. Now, does that mean that your story can't have ghosts, angels, UFO's, aliens or any other thing that is not part of standard "reality"? Nope. It can have anything in it that you wish, but the characters and the plot of your story must appear to be plausible to the average reader. So, your angels can't suddenly appear to someone and chop their heads off if earlier in the story that same angel was benign and helpful. Unless of course something happened to that angel to make him or her that way, which leads to the second part of this piece of advice.
Most people like stories where they can rely on the characters to act in a way that is consistent within the story. That is, a character can change within the story, but it must be in response to events that happen within the story itself or that are explained as having happened at some other place and time. It is confusing to the reader to have our detective from the first part of the story who is a hard core smoker to suddenly refuse to smoke halfway through without explaining why. In the short story, of course, this will be much less of a problem than in the longer forms of writing. But, it is something of which to be aware.
2. Write What You Know
This piece of advice is given in every writing class and every writing seminar that I've ever attended and from talking to other authors it is given everywhere. There is a reason for it, but I think it bears explaining.
You want to write about events, places and people with which you are familiar. That doesn't mean that you can't write about Mars or the Arctic, but you will want to populate those places with people and things that you know. Most readers want to know what YOU think about the human condition, which is why every author is different. So, by all means, write your short story set in Brazil when you are a house husband in Nebraska, but do the research to make it believable and populate it with people and things you know.
3. Make A Map
Some authors start off by writing a complete outline of a story before they put a single word to paper. They know each point in the process. Others, like me, write down a couple of key points and make sure that they are working to hit those points, but don't have the whole outline. Either way or in any way that you choose, it is best to have some idea of where you want the story to go ahead of time.
