Blog Archives

How to Write a Short Story

9/15/2017

Writing short stories is both difficult and easy. They are easy because you can keep it simple, just a few characters, one problem, and an overarching theme that runs through the whole thing.

However, they are difficult because of those same constraints.

What are the main considerations when writing a short story?

Plot Structure, or the way the story is arranged:

the setup
the obstacle
the turning point
the resolution/outcome

The Set-up: You must have a good hook. In some cases, the first line is the clincher, but especially in a short story, by the end of the first page, you must have your reader hooked and ready to be enthralled.

The theme, or the core of the plot, an idea-thread that runs through a story from the opening pages to the end. Theme binds the four primary elements of characters, conversations, actions, and reactions. Theme is independent of the setting or genre.

Word Count: Many times, publications and anthologies will have strict limits on the wordcount, such as no more than 4,000 or less than 2,000.

When you are new to writing short stories, limiting the background information and sticking to the theme and is the most difficult part of the task. In my own early drafts, I often have a lot of information that doesn’t advance the story. Background information on the sidekicks is not needed, nor is any background on the setting unless the setting is a core plot point.

In a short story, you must take one idea and riff on it until you reach the end, and if you are offered a theme to write to, you at least have a framework on which to hang your plot.

Wikipedia, the fount of all knowledge, describes theme as:

The most common contemporary understanding of theme is an idea or point that is central to a story, which can often be summed in a single word (e.g. love, death, betrayal). Typical examples of themes of this type are: conflict between the individual and society; coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; and the dangers of unchecked ambition. A theme may be exemplified by the actions, utterances, or thoughts of a character in a novel. An example of this would be the theme loneliness in John Steinbeck‘s Of Mice and Men, wherein many of the characters seem to be lonely. It may differ from the thesis—the text’s or author’s implied worldview.

Often, we can visualize a complex theme, but we can’t explain it. If we can’t explain it, how do we show it? Consider the theme of “grief.” It is a common emotion that can play out against any backdrop, sci-fi or reality based, where there are humans interacting on an emotional level.

Perhaps you have an idea for a story about a woman who has just lost her husband to a preventable accident. Her grief is the main theme. When you learn the accident that killed him was preventable, you know the subtheme: anger. The protagonist’s goal in this story is to prevent such accidents from happening again–perhaps she must battle a corporation or take on a government agency. Rage is the motivator that forces her to wake up each day and take on the Goliaths, but at the root of the story, it is her grief that is the driving force behind her subsequent actions.

Grief is an extremely complex experience, as anyone who has ever suffered the loss of a loved one will tell you.

It is a fundamental emotion, chaotic and weighing heavy in the heart of one who grieves.
It is experienced in many identifiable stages with elements of loneliness, anger, guilt, and deep suffering.
It is sometimes accompanied by thoughts of suicide.

Everything your character sees and experiences in the opening scenes underscores and represents her sense of loss and inspires the accompanying emotions of anger, futility, and depression. As her story progresses and she begins to live despite her loss, she will still be affected on many levels and to a certain extent, driven by those complex emotions. While she is interacting with others who are happy and who believe she has gotten past her pain, you can employ subtle allegories and symbolism to paint the deeper picture of her mental state to show how she is deeply depressed and possibly suicidal.

Once your protagonist has beaten the enemy, what is her reaction? Without the battle to sustain her rage, does she learn to accept her loss begin to find happiness? Or does she allow herself to spiral into ever worsening depression?

When writing short stories,

we keep the cast of characters to a minimum
we keep the setting narrow: one place, one environment, be it a cruise ship, a restaurant, or a gas station—the setting cannot be epic in scale.
We introduce no side quests.

Let’s say you want to write a story that can be no longer than 2,000 words. You know have an idea, but when you sit down and begin writing, you find you have too much story for only 2,000 words.

You need to map it out.

Short-stories are just like novels, in that they follow the story arc. If you know what theme you must write to and you have an idea for a plot, you can make the story arc work for you. The following illustration is a visual guide to help you when mapping out your short story:

______________________________________________________________

Credits:
Wikipedia contributors, “Theme (narrative),” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theme_(narrative)&oldid=765573400 (accessed June 20, 2017).

The Short Story Arc, graphic by Connie J. Jasperson ©2015 All Rights Reserved, used by permission.
Connie J. Jasperson is an author and blogger and can be found blogging regularly at Life in the Realm of Fantasy.

0 Comments

Formatting Your Manuscript

9/1/2017

0 Comments

Your book is finished. It has been beta read, edited, re-edited, and proofed. It’s time to finish the process and get that book out the door and in the hands of your readers. However, before you can hit the final button, you must complete a two-part process:

Formatting the Manuscript
Reading and proofing the galleys

Step one, formatting the manuscript, sounds like a formidable process. Many of us have heard horror stories, and perhaps we have struggled to get a manuscript to upload to CreateSpace, Kindle or Smashwords properly.

It doesn’t have to be that way anymore, as the publishing world is full of relatively simple, easy to use programs for formatting and many people who are professional formatters. Some programs are free, and others do have a cost associated with them. Some have a learning curve, and others are shockingly easy to use.

The following is a list of resources, most of which were posted in a thread in the NIWA Facebook chat room, others I have found elsewhere.

First, you can always hire a professional formatter. This is not cheap but should be otherwise pain free on your part. If you really want to pay someone else to do this, a formatter who has been recommended in the NIWA forums is:

Lia Wayward

Also, NIWA member, Madison Keller, was formatting ebooks, although I’m not sure if she still is.

The following services have been recommended in other forums, although I confess I know nothing about them personally, as I format my own books:

Heather Adkins – Cyberwitch Press
Paul Salvette @ BB eBooks
Jason Anderson @ Polgarus Studio
Guido Henkel
Rob Siders @ 52 Novels

                                                                        >>><<<

BUT you can easily do it yourself, which gives you far more control over the appearance of the finished product:

Jutoh: $39.00 US

From their website: “Easily create ebooks in Epub and Kindle formats: publish on any ebook distribution site, including Amazon's Kindle, Apple's iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, and more. Your readers can use Kindles, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, and phones, Macs, and PCs. You can also create PDFs suitable for sending to print-on-demand services.”

India Drummond has an excellent video on using Jutoh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3lvhRpJrIg

                                                                        >>><<<

Vellum:           Vellum Press    $249.99 Create Unlimited Ebooks + Paperbacks
                          Vellum Ebooks $199.99 Create Unlimited Ebooks
The downside of this program, besides the cost, is that it is only available for Mac, not PC.
From their website:
Use Vellum to get the most out of ebooks:

Assemble box sets of a series
Produce advance copies for early feedback
Connect with links to Facebook and Twitter
Add store links and help readers buy your next book
Generate ebooks for Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, and more

And with Vellum’s instant turnaround, you can do it all on your schedule.

>>><<<

Scrivener $40.00 US available for Mac or PC
From their website: “Compile your finished draft for printing or exporting to your favourite word processor for final formatting. Export to web or e-book formats for self-publishing. With support for footnotes and comments and the ability to reformat your work during compile, you can produce submission-ready novel manuscripts, work with academic standards, and much more.”

Many authors are Scrivener fanatics, and they would upset to not see their program of choice listed here.
>>><<<

Draft2Digital (Free, even if you choose not to distribute your books through them)
From their FAQ section on their website:
What file types can Draft2Digital convert?

The easiest and most popular format is a Word document. Upload your story in Word .doc or .docx format, and we'll convert it into an ebook. RTF should work fine, too. Anything Word can read, we can read.

What if I don't need conversion? Can I just upload a formatted epub?

If you already have an epub of your own, we'll accept that as well. We won't make any changes, but we'll gladly distribute it to all our digital stores for you.

What file types does Draft2Digital create?

Our conversion process creates a beautiful, high-quality epub for us to distribute to your choice of digital stores. You’ll also have access to a similarly beautiful .mobi and PDF.

Where's your style guide?

We don't have one. At Draft2Digital, our goal is to support your style guide.

If you don't have a style guide, or if you'd like some direction on creating a simple one, do these things:

Unless you already have one you like, skip the title page and copyright page. Don't even write them. Just give us the story, and let us do the technical parts.
Mark your chapter breaks with something distinctive, and be consistent. Make it centered and bold, or larger font, or use a Heading style. Do something to set apart your chapter titles, and we'll do our best to recognize them.

This all sounds great, but it's an automated system. What if there are problems with my book?

We've got you covered. After all, we're famous for our customer service. You can call our support line and talk to a real human being during our regular business hours, or send us an email any time.

What's it going to cost me to get a beautiful paperback?

Only the cost of the printed book. Just like our ebook formatting, we'll convert your manuscript into a professional-quality paperback with the check of a box, at no additional charge.
The generated paperback is one-size-fits-all, but we’re confident it will impress the majority of users. Just download the PDF we mentioned earlier and take a look. (If you have more complicated requirements or desire more hands-on control, we’ll still work with you at no charge, but the process will take longer.)

>>><<<

All the above resources are good and reliable. I personally use Draft2Digital for my ebooks and am considering trying them for my next paper book instead of using a formatted template. If I do, I will post on that experience.

I also distribute through Draft2Digital as well as Amazon, and as I mentioned, you are welcome to use their services to format your ms for booksellers they aren’t currently partnering with, such as Amazon for Kindle (which I do). They produce a great looking mobi file for you. If you choose to distribute only through Amazon, you are still welcome to use D2D’s formatting services at no cost.

Finally, remember I said publishing had two final steps, so no matter what service you use for formatting your book, always, ALWAYS continue on to the final step in the process before you publish.

Take the time to hand out those galleys and proof eBook copies to your support group or inner circle. Have them comb their copy for proofing and inadvertent formatting errors BEFORE you sign off and click ‘publish.’

____________________________________________________________
Connie J. Jasperson is an author and blogger and can be found blogging regularly at Life in the Realm of Fantasy.

0 Comments

How to Write a Short Story

Formatting Your Manuscript

Archives

Categories