What Is A Short Story? + 5 Writing Exercises To Get You Started
Sage Kay
Writer, reader, outfit repeater.
If you’re looking to be a writer, you’re likely all too familiar with novels—hundreds of page long pieces that follow complex plots and a wide cast of characters. While most writers dream of making a living off of publishing these stories, massive projects can feel overwhelming for those that are new to the game. If this describes you, it’s your lucky day.
What if I told you that there are shorter forms of narrative fiction that are not only easier to grasp because of their shorter nature, but can help you develop the skills necessary to write a novel in the future?
This convenient medium of writing exists in short stories.
Short stories are (you’ll never guess) shorter narrative pieces that have all the core elements of a novel (plot, themes, characters, setting, etc.) with a fraction of the word count. They offer an opportunity to tell a story with less of the legwork and all of the narrative goodness. Now, though they are significantly shorter, there is still much to master in the realm of short stories. But first, the basics.
What is a short story?
A short story is a brief work of fiction that typically focuses on a single incident, character, or theme. It is a narrative form that aims to convey a complete story within a limited word count or page length. Short stories often have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and they aim to captivate readers with concise storytelling, vivid descriptions, and effective use of language.
What are the 8 elements of a short story?
While short stories rely on brevity to exist, they still need to work as standalone narratives, which means incorporating the traditional story elements. Here are eight elements you should include in a short story:
1. Plot
While short stories can encompass a wide range of plots, they typically have a more limited scope and focus on a single event. You've only got a little bit of space to tell a big enough story to be worth your readers' time. This is one of the biggest challenge of writing short stories!
2. Conflict
If plot is the engine of your story, conflict is the motor oil (I know nothing about cars). It slicks up the plot and gets things moving. You could have a grasp of every character that’s going to be included in your story—their personalities, past, and motivation—as well as a stellar setting that perfectly sets the stage for your characters to thrive in this narrative masterpiece, but without conflict, you’ll find your story quickly sputtering to a stop. So, what sets this story in motion? What action, event, or moment sparks the beginning of your tale? Once you find this, you’ll have a direction for the story and will be that much closer to its ending.
3. Theme
The theme of a short story refers to its underlying message, central idea, or main concept. It is the broader meaning or insight that the story conveys to the reader. Themes are basically The Point of the story, when you really stop to examine it.
Common themes in short stories include love and relationships, self-identity and discovery, loss and grief, moral dilemmas, the general human condition.
In a short piece, it's usually better to tackle something very real and poignant. The smaller the story, the bigger the emotion it needs to bring.
4. Setting
Finally, an easy step. Be specific when determining your setting. Consider not only the physical aspects of setting like what country or geographical location, but the era, weather, and time of day the scene(s) happen.
Setting can add a lot to a story: A horror story could look a lot different when set in a blooming spring field in the middle of the day versus that same field at midnight. Choose a setting that best serves your goals.
5. Character
Characters are usually Step One for short stories. They will drive the piece and are often the most impactful element. Try to build a complex, realistic character in the small space you have. They should have some flaw or some struggle to overcome (or fail to overcome) by the end of the story. Unless you're doing something stylistic with the story, your character should be likable, empathetic, or at least relatable in some aspect to help your reader connect with them quickly.
6. Point-of-view
Point-of-view (or POV if you’re one of the cool kids) is often overlooked because, when done correctly, it blends into the narrative of your story. It directly affects how your reader reads the story by providing a place for them to base their viewing experience on.
First-person POV, which utilizes "I" pronouns for the main character, reads as someone telling a story about something that happened to them and places the reader directly into the mind of the character they’re following. The sentence "I walked to the store and thought about what my mother said this morning" tells the reader exactly what the character is doing and thinking about and provides a much closer view of what the character is experiencing.
Limited third-person POV provides a perspective that is further from the main character than first-person. You’re often still following a single character, but the character is referenced by name and with he/she/they or other pronouns. This way, the reader is like an outsider watching the actions of another person.
Omniscient third-person POV uses the same pronouns as limited third, but the narrator knows everything of the universe. It can hop into any character's head, know anything of the past, present, or future, and there is no information in the story's universe that is off limits.
Second-person POV is rarely used in fiction. It utilizes the pronoun "you," creating a sense of helplessness as the reader is targeted and controlled as a character in the story. You'll see this most often in choose-your-own-adventure stories, and in stylistic stories where the writer wants the audience to feel uncomfortable.
How much information is revealed about the main character’s thoughts is up to the author, but the choice between these POV options will provide an entirely different tone and feel of the story, so choose wisely!
7. Tense
Tense will go unnoticed when done correctly. In fact, it should go unnoticed (for the most part). Tense refers to what point in time the story is being told from. The two most common tenses are past and present.
Present tense is happening as it is read. A sentence could sound something like, "As I scramble for the gun in my pocket, the beast leaps toward me." This tense, especially when used in combination with first person POV, provides the closest narrative experience for the reader. They are reading from the direct POV of the main character as the events of the story are occurring, which allows for complete immersion in the story. It can also give your story a feeling of urgency as the events haven’t already happened but need to be reacted to in that moment.
Past tense stories are told after the events of the story have already taken place. It’ll likely read as someone recounting something that happened to them in the past. It may sound something like, "By the time he reached the knife, I had already lifted the rifle to my eye and centered his head in the scope." Writing in this tense is most common, but feel free to break from the mold!
Whichever tense you choose to write in for your story, be sure to stay within the temporal bounds of that tense. Switching between past and present tense will leave your readers confused, and they likely won’t want to continue reading.
8. Tone
Tone is another one of those trickier elements that isn’t so easy to nail down. One way to establish tone is through word choice.
Essentially, tone clues in the reader to how they should feel about what is happening in the story. In a horror story, you’ll likely employ descriptions that are meant to instill a feeling of uneasiness or discomfort. You may describe the stillness of the air, the shifting shadows of far-off darkness, or the grotesque texture of an especially gruesome scene. In romance, you may focus on fluttering hearts and butterflies in your character's stomach. Tone helps the reader get into the mood of the story and adds a layer of depth to your narrative.
There are several elements in storytelling that every narrative needs to include, and short stories are no exception. If you include the above elements, you’re sure to craft a story that is just as engaging as a novel.
How short should a short story be?
Generally, short stories should be short enough to read in one sitting. You can consider this the golden rule of short stories, as there’s no true minimum or maximum when it comes to word counts. Because there’s also truly no cutoff that limits what can be done in "one sitting" some have said that short stories can be anywhere below 10,000 words. Because this is such a wide range, however, there are subtypes of short stories that can help you find exactly where your story fits within this count: micro fiction and flash fiction.
What is micro fiction?
Micro fiction is a story shorter than a hundred words. Generally, it's made to be as short as possible, so every word counts.
When your story is this short, it can be difficult to include every necessary element of a story, but it is possible. One of the best known examples of micro fiction is by an unattributed author: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." This micro fiction is a mere six words, yet packs in a ton of emotional devastation. Although there may not be any specific characters or conflict happening directly in the story, you get a sense of each of the necessary elements because of what the words imply. Sure, it may just be about a pair of ugly baby shoes that the parents got from a baby shower and wanted to get rid of, but where’s the tragedy in that?
What is flash fiction?
Flash fiction is a short story between 100 and 1,000 words. Though this still seems limiting in terms of room for narrative freedom, you can pack plenty of story into 100 to 1,000 words.
This type of short fiction is best known for the type of ending that lingers with you. Because of how short they are, it can be extremely difficult to write a flash fiction that provides enough detail without being too wordy and strong enough conflict, characterization, and theme use that an impactful ending is possible at all.
In fact, an impactful ending is mostly all you can do with a flash fiction. Very short stories often rely on some sort of twist ending to pack enough punch to be worth a reader's time.
5 short story exercises
Here are five exercises to help you practice writing compelling narratives in condensed spaces.
1. Write a story in 500 words. Now, try to write that same story in 100 words.
2. Take a scene or story and rewrite it with no adverbs or adjectives. This can help you hone verbs and nouns that are effective enough on their own, thus cutting your word count.
3. Write a "fanfiction" short story set in the universe of your favorite book, movie, or video game. Focus the story on a memorable element that has stuck with you.
4. Write a story set in just one room with just one character.
5. Write a "sequel" short story to show what happens after another story ends.
Short stories are a broad genre that can be every bit as difficult to write as novels—they just require slightly different skills. Lucky for you, a super helpful writer just laid out exactly what short stories are and what you need to include to write a good one. Happy writing!
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