The components of a short story

Writing short stories can be fun and highly rewarding for any writer, and is often a welcome break from writing longer fiction. However, there are still components that must be met.

The most important aspect of any work of fiction is character. Building likable and believable main and supporting characters shouldn’t be overlooked because you’re writing a short story.

You should spend a lot of time on your protagonist, as he will need to keep your readers’ interest until the end. You will need to develop and establish his personality, including any physical attributes that he may refer to from time to time. This is because the more your readers know about your main character, the more they will care about what happens to them. Your supporting characters also need to be compelling, as they are there to move the story forward and teach the reader something about the main character.

Once you’ve established your characters, another crucial element of a short story is the plot. It is essential that you give your main character an obstacle or conflict, something that he or she needs to overcome in order to achieve what he or she wants. It is during the course of the story that we see how your main character accomplishes this.

In a short story, the plot is usually a single goal or outcome that the protagonist wants to solve. This can be an emotional roadblock or internal conflict, such as getting over the death of a loved one. Or the obstacle may be more practical, like a story about moving house or passing your driving test.

A good plot should be intriguing and believable, and should not disappoint the reader in the end by being too predictable or unrealistic. Due to the limited number of words in a typical short story compared to a novel, your writing should be concise but lively and entertaining. Obviously, the longer the short story, the more you can develop the story and incorporate techniques like cliffhangers.

Another component of the story is the setting or location. To make your story more believable, it’s important to set your story in a real or fictional city or country. You want your reader to be able to imagine where the events of your story are taking place, thereby deepening the authenticity of your storytelling.