Advice on doing shorter stories

[storyteller19]

What is your advice on doing shorter stories, about 1-3 lit pages.

I want to try and submit an entry for every contest this year along with some of the side events but my stories tend to go longer so I’m trying to treat this year as a way to practice shorter works.

 

[KeithD]

What sort of advice do you need? Sure, go ahead and do it. Different stories call for different lengths. Although I write varied lengths, I think most of mine are under 5,000 words, and thus two Lit. pages. And at 5,000 words, they are 1,500 more words than most maximum wordage allowed for the mainstream short story contests I enter.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Do it. One pagers not so much, but 2 - 3 pages will satisfy many. It's a good length, long enough to get some meat on your story's bones, short enough that you need a bit of discipline to stop it wandering off into something longer.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Set a word count limit for yourself. As Keith mentioned, outside of Lit, the publisher will give you the min-max word count - as in "Hey @storyteller19, I need a piece of short fiction at 4000 words, what do you have"?

So, pick an arbitrary word count and write to it.

One of the tricks in writing short to very short pieces of fiction is skip (or very sparingly address) one or two acts of the classic three act structure. Can you tell the story by telling the first act and implying the second or third? How about with just a second act? Or just a third act?

Outside of that - keep the exposition to minimum and just focus on the key plot points and reduce the complexity of the plot.

 

[storyteller19]

Set a word count limit for yourself. As Keith mentioned, outside of Lit, the publisher will give you the min-max word count - as in "Hey @storyteller19, I need a piece of short fiction at 4000 words, what do you have"?

So, pick an arbitrary word count and write to it.

One of the tricks in writing short to very short pieces of fiction is skip (or very sparingly address) one or two acts of the classic three act structure. Can you tell the story by telling the first act and implying the second or third? How about with just a second act? Or just a third act?

Outside of that - keep the exposition to minimum and just focus on the key plot points and reduce the complexity of the plot.

That’s a good idea on the word count limit. I did the 750 word challenge one year and enjoyed it but the story suffered from such a short length but 5-10 thousand limit sounds perfect.

 

[storyteller19]

What sort of advice do you need? Sure, go ahead and do it. Different stories call for different lengths. Although I write varied lengths, I think most of mine are under 5,000 words, and thus two Lit. pages. And at 5,000 words, they are 1,500 more words than most maximum wordage allowed for the mainstream short story contests I enter.

Things to try and avoid mostly. I love the building up between characters before they finally get together but am going to try and shorten my usual formula to work for shorter stories.

I usually like to drop hints on what will happen later/ potential sexual encounters between the characters, like if in the heat of the moment one character asks to be spanked and they like it a lot more then they thought they would. Sometimes these happen suddenly when writing so if I have an outline I reshape it to include that future scene where that hint is further explored.

 

[storyteller19]

Do it. One pagers not so much, but 2 - 3 pages will satisfy many. It's a good length, long enough to get some meat on your story's bones, short enough that you need a bit of discipline to stop it wandering off into something longer.

I think I am especially at risk to wander off into something longer. Might try to stick to an outline for once.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think I am especially at risk to wander off into something longer. Might try to stick to an outline for once.

Me being a pantser writer, I'd say having an outline might mean your plot is too complex already! After all, what can two people get up to in seven or eight thousand words, that needs an outline first?

 

[Ada Stuart]

Me being a pantser writer, I'd say having an outline might mean your plot is too complex already! After all, what can two people get up to in seven or eight thousand words, that needs an outline first?

Agree I'm also a pantser so short stories are always more difficult to write. But last year I finally managed to enter all the Lit contests by writing short stories. Lol, it only took me a decade to figure it out

I think the best solution is to think: "I'm only writing one scene." And if you have to add more details, just add an epilogue to sum up what needs to be included. Never more. Keep reminding yourself that it's "good enough".

Still, the tricky part is to ignore all those fancy ideas that keep bombarding you at that stage of the story. I usually solve it by writing down all those ideas for later, and sometimes I use those ideas to write a longer version that I publish on Amazon, etc.

 

[ofbuttons]

I'm a planner, and a short story writer. Most of my work doesn't get beyond 8k. I still find an outline useful! It's usually a list of beats I want to hit, with an end goal in sight, which helps me stay on task and keep the whole thing punchy and balanced. Obviously, editing is extremely important in terms of structure, but it'll be easier if you start with a solid framework if that's your style.

Definitely limiting the amount of scenes and set pieces helps. I don't really think you only need to have one, but feel free to have sort sections, half-page interludes, etc, different ways of breaking up your story that you might not think to in a longer piece.

And some final thoughts, the story should achieve one thing, one arc, with one person. There should be a simple status change between the beginning and the end. Write with the intent that someone is gonna read this in one sitting. Oh, and start when the story actually starts. When you finish your draft, go back and make sure the first 400 words or so are actually necessary. I will almost always cut or shrink them down to a sentence, because typically I am just clearing my throat/doing unnecessary set up to get my own head in the game, but the reader rarely needs it.

Hopefully, at least a couple of those tips were helpful!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Once again, I feel that I am the odd duck in the pond...

For my stories here, I write to the story's length and seldom even try to limit myself. It's my story, so when everything in my head is on the pages, that's when the story is complete. I have broken longer stories into smaller 2-3 page submission parts, but my readers voiced their preference for me to not do that so I stopped.

I have done the 'max words" thing when someone pays me to, but not when the objective is the therapeutic serenity of telling the story that I want to tell, with the character and plot development I feel is required.

Maybe my attention span is longer than some, but if it isn't something that I would want to read, then it isn't something that I am interested in writing. As a reader of others on Literotica, one of the factors that I use when selecting stories is their word count. I like to see that a more substantial investment has been put into the story before selecting it to read. (And, once again, if it is obviously an incomplete story, I give it a hard pass.)

I realize that a lot of readers come here seeking the shorter, under twenty-minute porn clip-type stories, but those aren't the readers that my stories appeal to, and I'm fine with that.

Writers should be able to write to what they feel are their strengths. Be the best at whatever makes you happy.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think it's fun to mix it up, writing stories of different lengths and different kinds, so I encourage you to write short stories. But if they are very short--well under 2 Lit pages or 7000 words--be prepared for them not to score as well as longer stories. It's unlikely you will win a contest with a very short story. But so what? I've written around 9 or so stories of around 750 words and thoroughly enjoyed doing so, even though none of them has a score of over 4.5.