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How to Tell a Story in 500 Words: The Art of Short Story Writing
There was a time when stories like the Iliad and the Odyssey were told in great length, as were our great epics, the Ramayan and the Mahabharata. Life meandered along at a leisurely pace and a story could be embellished according to the storyteller’s imagination. Today, due to paucity of time, and the vast reading material accessible to the reader, a story has to grab the eyeballs, and do it quickly!
What makes a good story? There are various factors, and each goes into weaving a tapestry that is strikingly effective. It was Alex Keegan who delightfully defined the short story as “something which could be read in one sitting and brought a singular illumination to the reader, sudden and golden like sunlight cracking through heavy cloud”.
What are the guidelines to be followed to make your writing effective? The first step is to keep your audience in mind, and start with a quote or an illustration that catches their attention. The story must flow easily, with a slim beginning, a meaty middle and finally, a climax or a denouement that thrills and entertains. This is often known as ‘the twist in the tale’. It must be remembered that, in a short story, as in a miniature painting, the details must be sharp and eye-catching.
It is here the mood is set for the theme of the story. The main character is introduced and the stage prepared for the audience to involve themselves in the tale. Writing style is all important and it should be lucid, precise and appealing. Characterization is an art, as the writer breathes life and fleshes out characters that seem familiar. The short story covers a single event over a short span of time. The number of characters is restricted to not more than three to restrict dilution of the plot.
The plot now thickens and the reader is hooked on to it as the tension mounts. Short sentences that convey a sense of breathlessness often add to the pace, and the reader begins to empathize with the predicament of the character involved. This is mainly possible when the themes chosen are directly related to those in life – love, danger, fear, loneliness, etc. A good story answers questions subtly, acting on the reader’s imagination, maybe leaving a moral hanging in the air.
Dialogue is a vital building block in characterization. A character should speak in character, and the dialogue should be effective enough to take the story onward, and not be used as a filler that has no relevance. It should be light yet dramatic, crisp and enjoyable. Every character should start a dialogue in a new line so that the reader can differentiate one from the other. Great dialogue can propel the reader right into the mind of the writer. It can create suspense to speed up the action, and in doing so, hook the reader further on to the story. One essential rule is that where it is possible to reveal something, do so. Often actions speak louder than words, and engage the reader more efficiently.
What makes up the composition of a short story? The beginning sets the foundation stone for the structure. The reader is taken in through the door, and there on, he is swept along with the protagonist towards a certain conflict or a problem being faced. The protagonist flounders awhile, but then regains his pace and sets out to solve the conflict, and almost always overcomes it. This is the middle of the story, which sees rising action, moving towards a crescendo, or a denouement. This is where the writer can actually inspire, if he avoids being preachy.
The writer’s style is tested as he uses words and sentences that are mean and lean, creating the framework of the tale effectively. There is no scope for redundant usages, longwinded sentences, archaic phrases and even overused conjunctions like ‘and’ and ‘that’. Instead, the language used is dynamic, with specific words instead of nouns qualified with adjectives. Vivid metaphors and similes add to the sensory effect, leaving the reader with word pictures in his mind. Action verbs are used instead of the ‘is’ form, along with colorful nouns that need no padding. Words of one syllable make better readable copy than long sentences and flowery language.
Finally, the end or the resolution is in sight; the loose ends are brought together and tied up in a way that is satisfying, even if it does not always end ‘happily ever after!’ It is now that the writer goes back to check what he has written. He revises the copy, editing ruthlessly as he slashes away at the frills and ensures that what remains is fluent, coherent and unified. He verifies his facts for accuracy and clarity. A spelling check is a must as a piece of slovenly writing remains just that. Punctuation is all important, as Lynne Truss has proved in her best seller ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’. A final reading reveals if the story is a logical one with each sentence flowing into the next and comes to a level headed conclusion. When a word limit is specified, every word has to count, and be counted, and it is the writer’s skill that makes his prose shine brightly or glow dully with a matte finish. A 500 word article must be just that, and the final reading should ensure that the limit is not crossed. It was Edgar Allen Poe, the master story teller, who said that “The short story should have a single and unique effect and that every word, every sentence should matter”.
Thus, to sum up, a short story must have the following elements to be effective:
h. A specific audience that needs to be targeted
i. A setting where the action takes place
j. The mood which is set by the writer
k. A time span that covers one event effectively
l. A plot that holds the interest of the reader
m. Vivid characterization
n. Snappy dialogues that bring out the characters
o. A writing style that grips
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating. Similarly, the proof of a good short story is that it keeps its readers suspended till the last word, thereby ending in a cliffhanger of a tale.
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