I’m a writer blog

Guidelines for writing Poems, Stories and Tales

Writing short stories in an original world setting ?

Asked by: Kathleen Contreras

What is a good setting for a short story?

This could be anything—a public building, a business, a famous landmark, a landscape, or someone’s house. Now choose two characters from your story and write a short paragraph describing how they might react to the setting. Explore different points of view of your chosen place.

How do you write an original short story?

The Top 10 Tips For Writing Great Short Stories

  1. Understand that a short story is not the same as a novel. …
  2. Start as close to the end as possible. …
  3. Keep up the pace. …
  4. Keep the number of characters small. …
  5. Give the reader someone to root for. …
  6. Create conflict! …
  7. Suggest a backstory but don’t elaborate. …
  8. Appeal to the five senses.

How do you introduce a fantasy world in a story?

Make a character introduce you to the setting.



Have a character experience something unusual in your world, have them learn something new. Even better, use it in a dialogue between characters. Move the story forward, while you sneak in some exciting and unusual world building.

What are the 3 types of setting?

The three types of setting are the elements of time, place, and environment (both physical and social). Each of these types contributes to building the setting of a story.

How do you start a story with a setting?

Setting the scene: 6 ways to introduce place in stories

  1. Try setting the scene by showing scale. …
  2. Show what is surprising or strange. …
  3. Introduce emotional qualities of place. …
  4. Give immersive details. …
  5. Establish time period or time-frame. …
  6. Show characters interacting with their surrounds.


How do I choose a setting for my story?

Physical location: A character’s immediate surroundings, like a room or a temple, can be important information to highlight. Physical environment: A story can be set in the natural world where characters are affected by weather conditions, climate, and other forces of nature.

What are the 7 steps to writing a short story?

Write a Short Story in 7 Easy Steps

  1. Identify the focus of your short story. …
  2. Start writing. …
  3. Write a compelling beginning. …
  4. Create a powerful ending. …
  5. Read your story out loud. …
  6. Edit and revise. …
  7. Ask for feedback.


How many pages is a short story?

At around 10 to 25 pages, that makes short stories much shorter than novels, with only a few approaching novella length. A piece of fiction shorter than 1,000 words is considered a “short short story” or “flash fiction,” and anything less than 300 words is rightfully called “microfiction.”

How do you write a 1000 word short story?

Focus on One Scene



Of course, you want the story to be its own self-contained story, but you won’t be able to flesh out a complex story world, a cast of characters, and a significant backstory in 1,000 words. Instead, your flash fiction story should focus on one scene, one moment in the life of your character.



What is a 6 word flash fiction?

A six-word story is an entire story told in six words. It is a short narrative that can have all of the emotional themes of longer stories—from funny to dramatic, sad to scary.

How long are short stories usually?

However, the word “short” can mean different things, but generally speaking, a short story can be anywhere from 1,000–15,000 words, but most publications only publish short stories between 3000–5,000 words. Anything less than 1000 words is categorized either as a flash fiction or a micro-fiction.

How many main characters are usually found in short stories?

Characterization. Characterization deals with how the characters in the story are described. In short stories there are usually fewer characters compared to a novel. They usually focus on one central character or protagonist.

What are the 7 elements of a story?

Did you know there are seven basic elements in every successful story?

  • Character. This is so important, because unless your reader feels something for the characters, they won’t care what happens to them, and they won’t read on. …
  • Plot. …
  • Setting. …
  • Point of View. …
  • Style. …
  • Theme. …
  • Literary Devices.




What’s the most exciting part of a story called?

A CLIMAX of the story is the most exciting part of the story in which the CONFLICT begins to turn around.

What are the 5 characteristics of a short story?

They are true masters at combining the five key elements that go into every great short story: character, setting, conflict, plot and theme. The ELLSA web-site uses one of these five key elements as the focus of each of the five on-line lessons in the Classics of American Literature section.

What is the most important element of a short story?

Character development is one of the most important literary elements. Developing a main character and secondary characters is a core part of a writer’s narrative process. Character affects the point of view of your story, especially if you decide to tell it in first-person as opposed to third-person.

What are the 3 types of short stories?

While there are many different short story styles, here we will consider three popular short story types: lyrical, flash fiction, and vignette.

What is typical of a short story?

short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes.



What are the 5 types of short stories?

With that in mind, here’s a list of short fiction forms and their definitions.

  • Novella. A work of fiction between 20,000 and 49,999 words is considered a novella. …
  • Novelette. A novelette falls in the range of 7,500 to 19,999 words. …
  • Short story. …
  • Flash fiction. …
  • Short Fiction Challenge.


How long should a collection of short stories be?

I think the thumb rule is 40,000 words totally. The reader who buys your collection will feel he/she has got his/her money’s worth if there are at least 40,000 words to read. At an average of 2500 words per story, that makes 16 stories.

How do you structure a short story collection?

Throughout the middle is also pretty difficult look at the content. And try to space it out in a way that flows. Well. So I like to spread it out so that anything. Similar. Isn't next to each other.



Can short stories have chapters?

Of course short stories can have chapters. Just like you can have a novel with no chapters at all. The only distinction between short stories, novellas, and novels is length. Whether you end up calling your chapters as parts or scenes, it’s the exact same thing.