My alter-ego is working on a new story for a competition – the Insecure Writers’ Support Group‘s Annual Anthology. It’s science fiction with a theme of “Dark Matter.”
When writing a short story, you need to keep things far tighter than with a novel, but you still use the same three-point plot line (beginning, climax, end). I like to start either with a great beginning line — or a great ending one. I then work my way around either forward or backward until I meet up with that line.
Every word counts in a short story, so no tangents or long descriptions. Keep everything tightly focused on the character and action. Try to paint your word pictures with as few words as possible. Dialogue helps — you can get a lot in with just a few words there.
Be sure you follow Freytag’s Pyramid too — ramp up the tension until the climax, then close quickly. I’ll let you know if the story makes it into the anthology.
I do have another Devon Day & the Sweetwater Kid story coming out in November. The anthology is called Under Western Stars — I’ll get you a link as soon as it’s on sale.