Comments on: How I write a short story, part one: getting started http://salvatorefalco.com/2009/03/26/how-i-write-a-short-story-part-one-getting-started/ Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:03:47 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: How I write a short story part 2: Planning http://salvatorefalco.com/2009/03/26/how-i-write-a-short-story-part-one-getting-started/comment-page-1/#comment-608 How I write a short story part 2: Planning Fri, 01 May 2009 11:51:26 +0000 http://salvatorefalco.com/?p=222#comment-608 [...] “Getting an idea” is the first step in writing a short story, but the next stage is more  difficult: planning the story. Planning takes a lot of effort and time, but it’s worth it. Writing without a plan usually ends in, at best, a couple of pages that don’t go anywhere. At worst, I create a long, rambling draft that absorbs dozens of hours and makes me feel like a failure. An outline is crucial. To create one, I rely on a description of short story structure that I discovered last year: “A situation, a complication, a climax, and a denouement.” This simple definition changed the way I thought about short stories. [...] [...] “Getting an idea” is the first step in writing a short story, but the next stage is more  difficult: planning the story. Planning takes a lot of effort and time, but it’s worth it. Writing without a plan usually ends in, at best, a couple of pages that don’t go anywhere. At worst, I create a long, rambling draft that absorbs dozens of hours and makes me feel like a failure. An outline is crucial. To create one, I rely on a description of short story structure that I discovered last year: “A situation, a complication, a climax, and a denouement.” This simple definition changed the way I thought about short stories. [...]

]]> By: Sam http://salvatorefalco.com/2009/03/26/how-i-write-a-short-story-part-one-getting-started/comment-page-1/#comment-604 Sam Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:15:30 +0000 http://salvatorefalco.com/?p=222#comment-604 Terry -- that has always been my problem, too, and I'm starting to get a grip on it. I'll probably talk about that in my next post. Kaye -- I do! I do like twisty endings! I'll have to try that. BTW, I loved your story in the debut issue of Crooked. Terry — that has always been my problem, too, and I’m starting to get a grip on it. I’ll probably talk about that in my next post.

Kaye — I do! I do like twisty endings! I’ll have to try that. BTW, I loved your story in the debut issue of Crooked.

]]> By: Terry Odell http://salvatorefalco.com/2009/03/26/how-i-write-a-short-story-part-one-getting-started/comment-page-1/#comment-603 Terry Odell Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:00:49 +0000 http://salvatorefalco.com/?p=222#comment-603 That sounds SO much more professional than, "Well, I had this line I was just dying to use in a story someday." Not to mention I admire anyone who can write short to begin with. My attempts at short stories usually end up being a beginning, a middle, more middle, yet more middle. They're supposed to reach a conclusion, but that's the hard part. That sounds SO much more professional than, “Well, I had this line I was just dying to use in a story someday.”

Not to mention I admire anyone who can write short to begin with. My attempts at short stories usually end up being a beginning, a middle, more middle, yet more middle. They’re supposed to reach a conclusion, but that’s the hard part.

]]> By: Kaye George http://salvatorefalco.com/2009/03/26/how-i-write-a-short-story-part-one-getting-started/comment-page-1/#comment-602 Kaye George Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:52:53 +0000 http://salvatorefalco.com/?p=222#comment-602 Sam, one thing that sometimes works for me: I take a story to its logical conclusion in my initial conception, then avoid that conclusion when I write it, to give a twist at the end. If I can manage it, I like a double twist. That's the kind of story I enjoy, an O. Henry-type thing. If you don't like twisty stories, this won't work for you! -Kaye Sam, one thing that sometimes works for me: I take a story to its logical conclusion in my initial conception, then avoid that conclusion when I write it, to give a twist at the end. If I can manage it, I like a double twist. That’s the kind of story I enjoy, an O. Henry-type thing. If you don’t like twisty stories, this won’t work for you!
-Kaye

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