Writing Short Stories

 

I think of myself as more of a writer of novels than short stories. I find books easier to plot. I’m pretty much a plantser (cross between plotter and pantser) when I’m writing a book, but I transform into a full-fledged plotter for short stories. I just have to understand in fairly great detail where I’m going with a short story before I can start writing it.

I’ve written half a dozen short stories over the years, all crime related, all of them eventually published online, but haven’t attempted one in many years. I know other writers who can work on a novel and a short story at the same time, but that’s not me. I’m a slow writer when it comes to books and an even slower one for a short story. Or so it seems.

I recently decided to try my hand once again at writing a short story or two when I saw a call for submissions to a Malice Domestic anthology. It took me quite awhile to come up with characters and a plot, but I managed to finish it the other day. So I’m doing my Snoopy happy dance in my head.

When I first started writing short stories years ago, I read a lot of how-to books on writing them, though I don’t recall finding one that specifically addressed crime/mystery stories. If anyone knows of one, let me know. My favorite of these books is Jack Bickham’s Writing the Short Story from 1998. I still reference it on occasion.

I think one of the best ways to learn how to write a short story is to take one that is similar to the kind you want to write and analyze it. I enjoy picking apart a story and seeing what makes it tick. For some reason, analyzing things makes me feel calm. I know, I’m a bit odd.

My advice for anyone who wants to write anything is to read, read, read the kind of books or stories that you want to write, then analyze some that you think are particularly well done. You’ll learn a lot by doing both. Then, of course, just keep on writing and submitting and writing and submitting...