The Easy Way To Write: Short Story Writing
Rob Parnell
Language: English
Pages: 49
ISBN: 2:00101494
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Self-published by online writing coach Rob Parnell. Provides some good tips. Book contents follow.
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE: MINDSET
Mental Preparation , Time Management, Belief, Goal setting
PART TWO: THE BASICS
Inspiration, Subject Matter, Genre, Scope, Getting Ideas
PART THREE: CONSTRUCTION TIME
The 7-Step Story Generator , Characters, Interactions, Story , Setting, The 5-Point Plot Structure ,
Style and Tone, Point Of View, Tense, Plotting, The Twist, Building a Template , The ‘1-2-3-Bang’ Theory
and Other Stories
PART FOUR: WRITING YOUR STORY
The Opening Paragraph , Fast Writing, Second Draft, Editing, Formatting , Polishing - The Final Edit
PART FIVE: SUBMITTING YOUR WORK
Presentation is the Key, Introduction Letter, Rejection, Rights & Payment, Good Examples of Short Stories,
Conclusion
difference to a story. Take a look at the same passage in the present tense, I stand on the edge of the cliff, staring out to sea. I notice a boat, gray and indistinct on the distant horizon. I wonder idly where it’s bound. I remember Jane, how I hurt her recently and how much I regret it. Odd how such a little change can throw the scene into a new light, don’t you think? The classic way to tell stories is ‘immediate’ past tense. This has become the norm. It’s so common that readers take it
your story. Without a good opening, you’re dead in the water. And yet good openings are hard to get right. That’s why it’s worth spending time on them, even when you have the story completed. Always go back to the beginning and ask yourself if it’s strong enough. Your opening should be intriguing. It should place a question in the reader’s mind at once, even if it’s, ‘What’s going on?’ The ‘real’ start of a story is also one of the most difficult things to identify. The standard advice is
authors I have worked with over the years, as well as my own experiences of getting stories into print. © Rob Parnell Page 5 The Easy Way to Write Short Stories That Sell Whilst there may never be a precise formula to getting published, there is a sure fire way of being taken seriously by editors and publishers. Believe it or not, editors are fairly predictable. They’re basically looking for the same things in a good short story. * Excellent presentation. * An interesting mind at work * A
imagery, in your scene construction and choice of dialogue, right down to the symmetry of each paragraph. When you’re sure you’ve got the sense right, see if you can’t cut out some more words. You’ll find you can generally strip away 15-20% of all the words in your story to make the whole thing tighter and less verbose. Take out lines that don’t push the story forward. Remember another golden rule: There was no story ever written that did not benefit from being shorter! Even by just a few
story. Strip down the adverbs. Remove the passive. Be bold. Formatting If you haven’t done so already, format the document. Use double space and with an inch and a half on either side and at the top and bottom. Left justify the text. Center the title. Put page numbers at the top right hand corner along with your name and story title (shortened if necessary). 12 point Times New Roman or Courier are the industry standard fonts. Don’t try to do clever things with the fonts. They’re not