Essential Elements of Captivating Short Story Writing
Use it to further your writing career or jumpstart your novel.
Published in
4 min readMay 28, 2024
A short story can start anywhere. It can be the basis for pulp fiction, magazine stories, reader magnets, or even something to get you through a roadblock in your novel writing.
In the beginning, short stories were considered an art form. Look at Edgar Allan Poe. After time, they lost their luster. Then technology came along and changed everything.
In general, a short story is one thousand to seven thousand words.
What makes a short story great?
- Emotional impact
- Tightly focused
- Memorable
- One POV
A great short story is about the fallout from one, shattering moment.
The shattering moments:
- Hits a character hard at an emotional level
- Something happens
- Something changes
- An insight is gained
