Writing Short Stories

Distilled from decades of teaching and practice, 'Creating Short Fiction' offers no-nonsense advise on structure, pacing, dialogue, getting ideas, and much more.

How does one translate experience into fiction? Here at last is specific and practical guidance on the art, craft, and business of writing short stories. Comprehensive yet concise, William H. Phillips offers indispensable advice on exploring sources, galvanizing the imagination, studying stories, and then writing them. Drawing on years of classroom experience, the author provides guidance for several types of writers: beginners, writers with works in progress, those seeking other writers for critiques, and students in introductory and intermediate writing courses. A special section features three original stories by former students of the author. Accompanying materials on development offer keen insights into the writer's craft. Using proven, group-tested materials, Writing Short Stories furnishes all the essentials needed to produce effective short fiction—from simple guidelines to sample journal entries, from exercises to strategies—not to mention a healthy and welcome dollop of encouragement and inspiration.

Write It Short, Sell It Now Short stories and personal essays have never been hotter--or more crucial for a successful writing career. Earning bylines in magazines and literary journals is a terrific way to get noticed and earn future opportunities in both short- and long-form writing. Writing & Selling Short Stories & Personal Essays capitalizes on the popularity of these genres by instructing on the two key steps to publishing short works: crafting excellent pieces and successfully submitting them. You'll learn how to: • Develop different craft elements--including point of view, character, dialogue, scene writing, and more--specifically for short stories and essays. • Recognize the qualities of excellent short works, using examples from recently published stories and essays in major journals. • Understand the business of writing short, from categorizing your work and meeting submission guidelines to networking and submitting to writing contests. • Master the five-step process for submitting and selling like a pro. Featuring advice and examples from a multitude of published authors, Writing & Selling Short Stories & Personal Essays is a must-have for any writer's bookshelf.

Writing Short Stories: A Writers' and Artists' Companion is an essential guide to writing short fiction successfully. PART 1 explores the nature and history of the form, personal reflections by the editors, and help getting started with ideas, planning and research. PART 2 includes tips by leading short story writers, including: Alison Moore, Jane Rogers, Edith Pearlman, David Vann, Anthony Doerr, Vanessa Gebbie, Alexander MacLeod, Adam Thorpe and Elspeth Sandys. PART 3 contains practical advice - from shaping plots and exploring your characters to beating writers' block, rewriting and publishing your stories.

This new edition of Writing Short Stories has been updated throughout to include new and revised exercises, up-to-date coverage of emerging technologies and a new glossary of key terms and techniques. Ailsa Cox, a published short-story writer, guides the reader through the key aspects of the craft, provides a variety of case studies and examples of how others have approached the genre and sets a series of engaging exercises to help hone your skills. This inspiring book is the ideal guide for those new to the genre or for anyone wanting to improve their technique.

Literary Talks on Writing Short Stories is ideal for those new to the short story genre or for anyone who wishes to improve their writing technique. Collins provides a practical approach and addresses you directly, in a desire effort to impress upon your mind the fundamental requisites of the short story. You will learn: - What is a Short Story? - Making the Short Story Interesting - The Plot - Method of Narration - The Introduction - The Story Proper - Conclusion and Climax - The Writer's Attitude of Mind - And much, much more... This book allows you to discover the ease of short story writing and the techniques by which your ideas may be converted into a short story. This book represents an entirely new chapter in the art of short story writing. Even the experienced writer may find some helpful information and improved method in these literary talks. Eureka F. Collins is an award-winning author, short story writer, inspirational speaker, founder and director of the Living To Be With God (LV2BWGOD) Network (www.LivingToBeWithGod.Net), publisher of the network's newsletter, and the Vice President of Education for a Toastmasters Club. She is the author of the highly acclaimed nonfiction works Strong Winds Change Lives and Love Matters Most. Collins is known for writing inspirational articles and short stories that have a twist to them. Several of her short stories have been featured in three popular anthologies, as well as on FaithWriters.com. Her contributions and style has guided hundreds of writers to knowing the what, how, and why of the short story. Collins' motivating efforts toward inspiring others can be summed up in her own words: "For me, it's about writers helping writers " She resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her husband and their son. For more information, visit www.EurekaFCollins.com.

The Art of Brevity gathers fresh ideas about the theory and writing of short fiction from around the globe to produce an international, inclusive exploration of the steadily growing field of short story studies. Though Anglo-American scholars have served as the primary developers of contemporary short story theory since the field's inception in the 1960s, this volume adds the contributions of scholars living in other parts of the world. Such Anglo-American pioneers as Mary Rohrberger, Charles May, Susan Lohafer, and John Gerlach join with short fiction scholars at universities in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Canada to build academic bridges and expand the field, geographically as well as conceptually. Contributors to the volume weave together themes of time, space, compression, mystery, reader response, and narrative closure. They discuss writers as varied as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Sarah Orne Jewett, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Mavis Gallant, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, and Robert Olen Butler. the nineteenth-century queer short story, and contemporary Danish short shorts.

If you've ever felt that you had a story inside you - and wanted to know how to write and get it published, this book is for you. This book is intended for amateur and professional writers who may have lost their way. It guarantees inspiration, motivation, effective ways to counter writer's block and provides you with easy, step by step instructions on how to write a short story that will sell. Rob Parnell is the respected author of 28 books on writing. Over the last eleven years Rob has taught over 100,000 students and subscribers from all over the world. His website, The Easy Way to Write, is considered one of the best writer's sites online. In The Easy Way to Write Short Stories That Sell, Rob Parnell explains how the first and best way to progress in a writing career is to master the art of short story writing. Here's what he says: "I don't know about you but at school they told us short story writing was harder than novel writing. For a full time writer this statement is nonsense - but it does show how short story writing is respected and even regarded with some degree of awe. "The good news is that I can teach you the easy way to create a very publishable short story - and very quickly. "My short story writing course has been downloaded more than any other of my resources - something like 90,000 times in the last ten years. I've completely revised its contents and included an up-to-date listing of all the short story markets currently available to the aspiring short story writer." Here's what's included in this book: A thorough examining of the art and craft of short story writing - and how to easily make money writing short stories for publication. PART ONE: MINDSET We look at mental preparation and having the correct writer's mindset before we start. We examine time management, your self belief mechanisms, and goal setting. PART TWO: THE BASICS Here we ponder the nature of inspiration and originality. How to come up with ideas, characters and subject matter for your stories. We also discuss more specific writing issues like genre, scope, style and how to deal with them. PART THREE: Construction Time Here I introduce the 7-Step Story Generator, an easy way to come up with powerful short story ideas in less than ten minutes. In a whole new section I also show how to create instantly compelling characters. We delve in to character's agendas, their interactions, and the consequences of facing and overcoming obstacles. Plus, how to use the 5-Point Plot Structure, and create compelling stories through the use of proper style and tone, the correct point of view, tense, and the all important twist at the end of your stories. For fan fiction and romance writers I explain the '1-2-3-Bang' theory and other short story structures. PART FOUR: WRITING YOUR STORY Here we examine professional techniques like fast writing, self-editing, formatting and polishing the final edit. PART FIVE: Submitting Your Work Here we include information on how best to contact magazine and anthology editors online and off for best results.

A compilation of acclaimed short stories that each take place within a single scene

Wise advice on plot, character, and style from a legendary Esquire editor: “Every aspiring fiction writer ought to read this.” —Writer’s Digest Over the course of his long and colorful career as fiction editor for Esquire magazine, L. Rust Hills championed the early work of literary luminaries such as Norman Mailer, John Cheever, Don DeLillo, Raymond Carver, and E. Annie Proulx. His skill at identifying talent and understanding story made him a legend within the industry as an unparalleled editor of short fiction. Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular is a master class in writing—especially short story writing—from the master himself. Drawing on a lifetime of experience and success, this practical guide explains essential techniques of writing fiction—from developing character to crafting plots to effectively employing literary techniques. Clear and concise enough for any beginner but wise and powerful enough for any pro, Writing in General is a classic to be savored by both aspiring and seasoned writers.

An engaging and frank guide to writing the very short story, full of sound advice, exemplary models, and provocative exercises. The history of fiction has been dominated by the novel and the short story. But now a brave new genre has emerged: very brief fiction. FLASH! identifies the qualities that make for excellent flash fiction, demystifies the writing process, and guides writers by exercise and example through the world of the very short story. John Dufresne’s characteristic warmth, wit, and humor remind writers of the joy in the creative process, making this a perfect guide for any writer interested in trying a new form.

A dazzling new anthology of the very best very short fiction from around the world. What is a flash fiction called in other countries? In Latin America it is a micro, in Denmark kortprosa, in Bulgaria mikro razkaz. These short shorts, usually no more than 750 words, range from linear narratives to the more unusual: stories based on mathematical forms, a paragraph-length novel, a scientific report on volcanic fireflies that proliferate in nightclubs. Flash has always—and everywhere—been a form of experiment, of possibility. A new entry in the lauded Flash and Sudden Fiction anthologies, this collection includes 86 of the most beautiful, provocative, and moving narratives by authors from six continents, including best-selling writer Etgar Keret, Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah, Korean screenwriter Kim Young-ha, Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, and Argentinian “Queen of the Microstory” Ana María Shua, among many others. These brilliantly chosen stories challenge readers to widen their vision and celebrate both the local and the universal.

Veteran story-writer DeMarinis provides his thoughts on various aspects of writing--plot, character, point of view--and also on not writing, which he claims is part of every writer's life and should be accepted as such. DeMarinis illustrates his insights with numerous examples from many different kinds of short stories, and includes exercises for aspiring writers. - Publisher.

Not sure how to begin a short story? Let me help you! Whether you're a beginner or a published writer always looking for new ideas, this little book is for you! After a quick introduction to short stories and their elements, you'll find tips on short story writing and a list of 101 ideas for your next short story. I hope these writing ideas serve you as inspiration and starters for your writing. They are grouped in three categories situations, first sentence and last sentence. But that's only for clarity, you can use them anyway you like. Curious about my short stories? You can check some mini-stories here -> amazon.com/dp/B07VCW6PDV