How to Write Stories People Will Love

Question 2: Writing short stories

SkylarzUniverse asks: "Any advice for writing one-shots?"

I have no idea why they're called "one-shots" in the Wattpad universe, but in the real world, they're called short stories, so that's what I'll call them.

Some people advise to use the same strategies used for novels, but on a smaller scale. I disagree. Short stories are a different breed from novels. You have a much smaller space in which to get your point across, so that is what I advise you to start with. Ask yourself: What is the point of my story? Is it a message or moral? Is it an unexpected plot twist? Is it a lingering image?

I have a few short stories posted here, so I'll use them as examples.

1. 7 Lessons in 7 (Glorious) Days

When I was on vacation, I wanted to write a short story using beautiful Cancun as the setting. However, a setting does not equal a plot. So I thought about what kind of ending I wanted. A girl goes on vacation with her parents... and then what? I decided I wanted a story where the parent actually ends up doing something cool, while still being a responsible parental figure. It wasn't something I saw often in stories.

With this in mind, I began writing. I didn't have a specific ending in mind yet, because my brain doesn't work that way, but I did have a vague idea for one. I also had a theme for this particular story, which was one lesson for every day of her vacation. This helped structure the story a bit. I was pleased with the end result, though I'll be the first to admit it isn't my best work. It was mostly a homage to my vacation in Mexico.

2. Sell Fish

This one began life simply as a title. I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to write a story called "Sell Fish", and it was about a guy being selfish? I liked the play on words, but it took me a long time to figure out a story involving fish and selfishness. I obviously wanted the story to give a "being selfish is bad" kind of message. It ended up being a fable where the selfish guy gets what he deserves. The reader pretty much knows this as they read, so it's no surprise something bad happens to him, however the mystery is what will happen to him?

In a case like this where the plot is fairly predictable, you want to find some other way to be unexpected. How does the bad man learn his lesson? Try to come up with unusual ideas. The theme I used may have been unoriginal, but the execution was not.

3. The Blue Men

I wrote this to submit to a contest being held by the Blue Man Group. For this one, I used a very alliterative style that I don't normally use. My goal was to convey images and sounds, because their shows are truly original feasts for the eyes and ears. My plot wasn't all that great, and I won nothing for this story, but I did accomplish the goal I set for it, which was to create something unusual that was fun to read aloud.

4. Leaving It Behind

This is the short story I am most proud of. I woke up with the story idea in my head, but not much else. The idea itself was not very original: girl tries to stay alive during a zombie apocalypse. So how did I turn an unoriginal idea into an original story? I decided on a plot twist. In this case, I had to be very specific so that I could craft the entire story around this plot twist. (There will be a future chapter here on plot twists, so look out for that.) I mingled her thoughts with the action in a way that created a sort of mystery about why she was thinking these things in a time like this.

I also made a conscious decision to not use the word "zombie" anywhere in the story. This helped to take away the unoriginal feel of the story idea. (I did add a "zombie" tag to the story though, so people searching for zombies could find it.)

Another thing I did was to make the main character talk to "you". It was an unusual choice, and a few of my readers felt confused why she was talking to them, but that also helped the story stand apart from the usual escape-from-zombies trope.

Then, in the end, I threw in the plot twist. It wasn't mind-blowing or anything, but the reader finally understood what the main character was agonizing about.

5. Dear Santa

This was my submission into Wattpad's "12 Days of Reading" holiday anthology. The only requirement was that it somehow relate to the holiday season. I thought, "What if a grown woman wrote to Santa Claus? Why would she do that? How would it turn out? How can I make the outcome a feel-good ending with a limited word count?" I then proceeded to write the story to answer those questions. Although my writing style is still that of a pantser (instead of a planner), having some guiding questions like this helped me stay focused.

Thanks for indulging me while I blathered about my little stories. You can find all of them on my profile. Each one had a different goal, and I thought they helped to illustrate what I was saying. When you start a short story, think about its purpose. Its message. Then craft your tale around that.