 Short Stories: August 10, 2011 Issue [#4554] |
  Short Stories
This week: Streamlined Storytelling Edited by: Jeff  
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"Short fiction seems more targeted - hand grenades of ideas, if you will.
When they work, they hit, they explode, and you never forget them.
Long fiction feels more like atmosphere: it's a lot smokier and less defined."
-- Paolo Bacigalupi
Random Writing Trivia of the Week: Theodor Seuss Geisl (better known as Dr. Seuss) also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, as a political cartoonist, and in the animation department of the U.S. Army during World War II where he wrote a movie that later went on to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary. His birthday (March 12) was chosen as the annual date for National Read Across America Day. But perhaps most interestingly, the majority of his readers mispronounce his name, assuming it rhymes with "juice." Seuss himself has indicated that the correct pronunciation of his name, according to his German heritage, is "soice" (rhymes with "voice").
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STREAMLINED STORYTELLING
When it comes to longer written works like novels, stage plays, or screenplays, much discussion and debate is made about the importance of the subplots; those minor storylines that occur parallel to the main narrative that's being presented. In an action movie, you've got the hero searching for a treasure, but there's also that undercurrent of a love story with the female lead. In a mystery novel, you've got the murder to solve, but the protagonist often has something else going on in their personal life that requires some attention. In longer works of fiction, these subplots are virtually required into order to flesh out the story and give it a fully-developed sense of depth. But what is one to do when they're trying to write a short story; a tale which, by definition is limited in the number of words you can write?
The most effective short stories are the ones that focus on the main narrative. There just isn't enough space to explore a character's personal and professional life, or to go into great depth about backstory, nuanced personality traits, or extravagant detail about every little thing. By necessity, short stories need to be streamlined and focus on only the most important information to present to the audience. The easiest way to do that is to make sure that your short stories focus on the main theme, main storyline, and main characters and don't deviate too much from this focus.
Longer works are an ideal medium for exploration. You can develop and investigate all the nuances of a character, or delve into all the mysteries of a place or an event until every last secret and bit of information has been unearthed. But short story writers should be on a mission, with something to accomplish, something to say, something to express... and they should attempt to get that across as efficiently as possible.
If a short story deviates from that efficiency and begins to explore tangents and facets of the story that are unrelated to the main narrative, it can quickly become unwieldy and exceed the word limit set by contest or submission guidelines. Focusing on the main story and presenting that in a streamlined, focused manner can help you stay on target with your writing goals.
The best way I know to effectively plan writing a short story (or anything where you're restricted by a word or page count) is to break down the story into smaller components that you can use as milestones to make sure you're on track with your goals. Standard three-act structure typically yields a first act used to introduce the conflict and provide exposition for the characters, settings, or anything else that's necessary to set up. The second act is for rising action and conflict, and the third act is where you resolve that conflict and bring the story to an end. Structurally speaking, the first act accounts for about 25% of the space in a story... the second act accounts for about 50%... and the third act is the remaining 25%. In other words, by the time you're a quarter of the way into your story, you should be done setting things up. By the time you're three-quarters of the way into your story, you should be looking to wrap things up.
The best part about this general structure is that you can apply it to any word count. Writing a 100,000-word novel? That means you should be done with the setup by 25,000 words, writing about 50,000 words of rising action and conflict, then looking to resolve things and bring the story to a close from words 75,000-100,000. How about a Writing.Com official contest entry? Those stories usually have a 2,000-word limit... so by applying the same formula, you should be done setting up your story after 500 words, looking for about 1000 words of rising action and conflict, then using the remaining 500 words to wrap things up. What about a 1000-word Writer's Cramp entry? 250 words to set up, 500 words to build the conflict, and 250 words to resolve it. 
Looking at the number of words you have to work with, even for a 2000-word story... there's not a lot of space to set up complex, intricate webs of narrative or character relations. Short stories most often hinge on one central issue, which is explored and resolved within the allotted span of words. With a little planning, and a little structuring, you can provide yourself with the guidelines necessary to make sure your story stays on track and gets resolved in a timely manner. If you're halfway into your story and you're still describing the setting and the characters... your short story might not be short enough. 
Until next time,
-- Jeff
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Who is your favorite short story author (either on this site or elsewhere)?
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This week, I would encourage you to check out the following short stories:
Matt pressed his palm against the window pane and let his forehead kiss the glass. Outside, an immaculate shroud of snow enfolded the night-shadowed avenue. Flakes, silent and inevitable, wafted through the streetlight's pearly halo. when he tilted his head, icy facets glittered in pastel rainbows across the drifts.
She pulled up her sleeve and said "See this? This is what my daddy does." She pointed to two bruises on her right arm. She pulled up her shirt to reveal her stomach. "See this one? That one was from my brother. These three are from my daddy." The one she said was from her brother was a bite mark.
Grandpa held little Marcie's hand as they walked along the creek bank. It was a warm summer day and many turtles lay sunning on the rocks and logs that lay in the rippling creek. The cold blooded creatures loved to soak up the warm summer sun. "Grandpa, where do turtles come from?" asked Marcie as she watched wary turtles splash into the cool creek. "Well now Honey, let's go up to the house and see if Grandma will fix us a big glass of iced lemonade and I'll see if I can tell you how turtles came to be all over the world," said Grandpa.
How do you explain Before, to someone who has only known After? It is not something I’ve ever faced. Yet here I am, with The Child, unsure if she even hears me as I try to describe the world before The Rains. Even now they pursue us. We are unsafe here. Unsafe anywhere, truth be told, but I won’t tell her that. I just tell her that we must keep moving; that we have somewhere to go.
I ran my finger around the rim of the glass and glanced around the room for some familiar faces on the dance floor. I waved at my girl friend and her date who where having a blast with the Macarena. “Hi.” I voice behind me greeted. I turned around. "Shriver.” The surprise in my voice was evident. “Do you want to dance.” He said, not asked, said. If he was this awkward just asking to dance with me, then I can’t imagine the depth of embarrassment I’d receive on that floor. “I’m okay; go ahead.” I gently waved off the idea as if they were cobwebs in my way. He didn’t go ahead to the dance floor, but disappeared to the other side of the gym.
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