Writing & Selling Short Stories & Personal Essays

by Windy Lynn Harris

  —JOLENE MCILWAIN

  TEN TIPS ON PRESENTING YOUR THEME

  Theme is not cut and dry, and it shouldn’t be overly obvious. If you’re working on a theme involving sacrifice, you don’t want to have all of your characters making a sacrifice in every scene. Theme works best when it’s subtle.

  Since themes can contain messages and morals, make a conscious effort not to force your personal beliefs and values on your readers. Most readers don’t like writing that preaches at them. In fact, some themes work best when they work as questions and the reader gets to experience contrary viewpoints. For example, we all accept that stealing is wrong, but we feel differently when a starving child steals a loaf of bread.

  Theme and subtext are powerful allies. Find places where your characters can have hidden agendas that illuminate your theme, or use subtext in your dialogue to deliver your message.

  When it comes to themes, raise questions but don’t feel the need to answer them. Leave the reader some room for his own interpretation.

  Use symbolism to convey your theme when you can. If, for instance, your symbol is an object, you’re pointing the reader toward your theme whenever it appears in your story.

  Characters sometimes voice the theme early in a story or essay.

  Characters themselves can embody your theme. The things they do can suggest your central theme.

  Your theme can be implied in your title.

  Weave your theme into the main conflict of the story for maximum impact.

  Your readers don’t need to think about theme to enjoy your story. They’ll get a sense of your overall meaning, even if they aren’t searching for it.

  EXERCISE: DISCOVER YOUR THEME

  You may see one clear theme emerge in your early drafts, or you might find that a handful of themes pop up. Identifying these themes will help you understand your work better and allow you to make smart editing choices.

  For this exercise, select one of your unpolished pieces of writing. Sleuth out possible themes lurking in the prose by thinking about these questions:

  What was your original purpose for writing this essay or story?

  What does the main character’s arc say about human nature?

  Is there a particular phrase or sentence that resonates strongly?

  What happens in the pivotal scene?

  Are there repeated symbols anywhere in your piece? What do these symbols mean to you?

  What does the main character’s epiphany reveal?

  What are the longest passages about?

  What does the main conflict tell you about society?

  Is there a lesson to be learned from this piece?

  What can you do to clarify the piece’s meaning?

  List as many themes as you’d like. There’s no limit; you’re just examining your prose. Later, when you’re ready to begin your next draft, circle the three themes that you think most closely relate to your essay or story’s main point. Use those themes to guide you toward one idea that unifies your entire piece.

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  CRAFTING A SHORT STORY

  Short stories can be written in any form. They can be funny, scary, dialogue-filled, or sparse. They can fit into a popular genre (such as science fiction, horror, romance, mystery) or no category at all. Published short stories today—in any flavor—contain compelling characters, interesting plots, meaningful settings, significant themes, and literary voice delivered through strong scenes. Studying each of these elements is crucial to writing a publishable short story.

  ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A GREAT SHORT STORY

  There are five key elements that must be purposefully braided together to create a solid story: character, setting, plot, conflict, and theme. You might start working on your short story by thinking of a unique character or an unusual setting. Perhaps you will see the plot in your head before you write, but you may begin your story without knowing anything up front. Any approach is fine, as long as your last draft includes these five essential elements. Let’s take a closer look at each of them:

  CHARACTER: A great focus character is someone interesting enough to watch for the length of the story. Your main character can be quirky or quiet but never boring. Maybe she says hilarious things or lies for no reason. Let your readers see inside her and identify her motivations.

  SETTING: Your story’s time and place must be more than window-dressing. Have your characters walk through a world that amplifies the theme and mood of your story. For example, the weather might change along with the main character’s challenges, or you might set your story in a cubicle-filled office to reflect the main character’s feelings of being boxed in.

  PLOT: The series of events that take place in your story must relate to a central conflict. If you’re writing about two neighbors who are both vying to seduce the hunky new UPS guy, let your readers see their specific attempts at this in real time, starting with small actions and building to bigger moments as the story unfolds.

  CONFLICT: The struggle between two people or things in your story (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. society) is a wonderful thing for readers to experience. They’re nosey. Conflict keeps them turning the pages, wondering how the plot will escalate and what the consequences will be for the characters. Dish out conflict bit by bit, and build to a climax. Let readers worry, and then make them worry even more.

  THEME: The central idea doesn’t need to be revealed explicitly anywhere for readers to pick up on it. Your theme can shine through in small moments between characters or during elaborate car chases. It is the purposeful way you tell the story’s events that will broadcast your theme.

  Structuring Your Short Story

  The basic recipe of a short story looks like this: A protagonist has a goal or desire. Conflict brings about a change or epiphany in that protagonist, and the ending alters the protagonist’s character and/or life. More simply, a short story has a goal, a problem, and a conclusion.

  Lucky for us, there are hundreds of ways to convey story structure in short fiction. You can include flashbacks or go backwards in time through the entire piece. You can tell your story from any point of view, including animals and inanimate objects, or you can be an omniscient observer. You can be a reliable narrator or an unreliable one. Anything goes; don’t hold back. Your challenge in a short story is to give readers a sense of complexity, even if your story is only one-hundred words long.

  Tension and conflict overlap in a short story, but they are two separate tools at your disposal. Conflict is the tangible problem your character is trying to solve, and tension is the delicious way you dole out information about your character dealing with that conflict. Tension is a cocktail of anticipation, uncertainty, and reader investment.

  To heighten the tension throughout, vary your sentence length. Use purposeful dialogue to express unease, and minimize exposition (action-only passages exude tension).

  Short stories don’t require the same kind of wrap-up that novels do. Yes, you need a purposefully written ending, but don’t limit yourself. Anything goes here, too. Your conclusion should release the tension in an interesting way, and create a mood that lingers with your readers. The conflict may or may not be resolved.

  “Well-written short stories begin as close to the climax as thematically possible. The art is in the immediacy—how that first line, or hook, draws you in. The tension of the moment makes the hair on your neck stand up. You keep reading because you know something is coming. You are worried, and the characters are worried, too. Then, boom. Not every climax is a direct lightning strike, however. Sometimes it is a quiet or ambiguous moment that leaves you wondering. You see the strike in the distance or watch it dance across the sky. Then after you finish reading, you’re still counting the seconds—one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi—and you wait for the distant crack of thunder. If your writing does not have that urgency, find the exact moment before the lightning hits in your story and linger there. Make your characters and readers worri
ed. Make them look up to the sky and wonder what is coming.”

  —BRIANNE M. KOHL

  How to Begin Writing Your Short Story

  Every great short story revolves around a compelling character. Readers want a hint at what your character looks like, but don’t stop there. Your audience needs to know what this main character wants and needs. They also need to know what is at stake for this person if he doesn’t achieve his goal. Will your main character lose his loved one? A job? The chance to visit Rio?

  Show this person’s nervous habits, his posture, or the way he walks. Make every detail matter to this person’s overall character. Tell your readers something about the character’s physical appearance that reflects who he is as a person.

  The following exercise is intended to get you thinking about characters and their desires:

  Imagine a character you might like to use in your story. Write down five things that you know about this person: a like, a dislike, a hope, a fear, and his profession.

  Now let’s think about this character’s desires. What is your character’s goal right now? Perhaps he wants the cute girl from the bakery to go on a date with him, or maybe he wants to be accepted into Harvard. Maybe your character wants both of those things. Think of five things this character could desire right now. Whatever it is, big or small, jot it down.

  Take a look at your list of five character wants. Beside each character goal, write a few sentences that reveal what would happen if the character doesn’t get what he wants—and be specific. For example, if your character wants to date the bakery girl, perhaps the stakes are pretty high. Maybe he’s got a bet with a friend about dating her. Maybe if he fails to get her to go on a date with him, he will have to shave his chest live on YouTube. Each one of the goals you’ve given this character should have interesting consequences. Be creative, and most importantly, be specific.

  Take a look at your list of characters and their desires. Any of these can be the spark for a terrific short story. Choose the one you like best, and begin.

  Characters usually have agendas. The main character’s agenda is the one your readers will learn the most about, but most characters will enter a scene with their own goals in mind. Use this same exercise to flesh out the desires of the other characters in your story.

  “Bear in mind that as you develop as a writer, as you learn about the craft, you will have more resources to draw on, greater skill when it comes to getting that idea, that story, that moment in time on the page. It always falls short—what I hold in my imagination and how I see it—well, it’s never quite there [on the page] exactly as I see it. But then your reader[s] comes along, and they bring their imagination, their life experience to your words, and in a sense they create something with your text. And so the dance begins again …”

  —LISA FUGARD

  TEN TIPS FOR WRITING A COMPELLING SHORT STORY

  Write about a character worth watching. He can be gruff or sweet but never dull. Your main character must be worthy of the spotlight you’re shining on him. Deepen your characterization by revealing more than his physical appearance. Sprinkle in some hints about who he is through his furniture choices, the way he talks to strangers, or the way he selects produce.

  Begin late. End early. The best short stories employ precision and economy. Include only a part of your character’s long journey. Give hints about her “before” and maybe even her “after,” but tell the here-and-now of your character’s story.

  Veer into the unexpected. Don’t stop yourself from writing that idea that sounds a little kooky. Let your story lead you wherever it may go. You can edit later, but don’t dilute your story now by editing out potentially interesting bits.

  Explore something small in fascinating detail. Give your character an unusual trait that matters to the story, and let readers wonder about it as the plot unfolds. For instance, if you give your main character yellow stains on the cuff of her sleeves in the first paragraph and you elaborately describe those stains, your readers are going to notice. They’re going to watch for clues about why those stains are there, so make sure you provide some along the way.

  Layer to amplify meaning. Deepen important ideas throughout your story by restating them in slightly related ways. If the main character is lonely because his wife left him, you might find a subtle way to reflect or enhance his loneliness in his environment (maybe he sees two birds on a branch—one bird pecks the other and flies off), his wardrobe (he loses his shirt buttons one by one over the course of his day), or even his lunch order (his favorite menu item has been banned by the health department).

  Write compelling scenes. Scenes are those fly-on-the-wall moments in your story where the action is happening right now. Strong scenes engage your readers, so you should rely mostly on scene writing in short stories. When you change characters or time of day, keep your transitions short. Give just enough information to your readers to settle them into the new scene.

  Use specific words, and choose them with purpose. Tighten up your prose by using strong adjectives. Instead of writing, “James and Amy were still feeling hostility toward each other at the beginning of the trial,” you could write, “James and Amy locked squint-eyes from across the aisle.”

  Study the craft of fiction with fervent dedication. Practice and study, and then practice some more. Not only will craft knowledge make your short stories better; it will actually make writing easier by boosting your confidence.

  Everything matters in a short story. Every sentence, every image, and every piece of dialogue in a good short story has a purpose. That’s something we aspire to achieve when writing longer fiction, too, but novels are long enough to get away with beauty for beauty’s sake. In short stories, that beauty needs to mean something. Every word of a short story must drive the narrative to its conclusion.

  Read. If you want to write publishable short stories, you must read and study published short stories. Read short stories from at least three separate resources. One should be a collection of contemporary standouts (The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses or The Best American Short Stories—both publish an annual edition), another should be a collection of stories from masterful short-story writers of the past (The Art of the Short Story or The Best American Short Stories of the Century, for example), and one should be a stack of recently published literary magazines.

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  CRAFTING A PERSONAL ESSAY

  Personal essays are characterized by their sense of intimacy and conversational tone. A personal essay is the author expressing his intimate thoughts and feelings. This can be very difficult, especially when you’re revealing something painful, but don’t shy away from telling your personal truth. Your audience reads essays because they want to feel a sense of connection with others. When you write from a place of vulnerability, readers see themselves in your situation and understand that their own experiences are universal. They feel less alone. So, be vulnerable on this writing journey. Strip right down to your truest self, and tell your readers what you want to say.

  The good news is that you have the freedom to sound like yourself when you write an essay, so use this opportunity for an honest exploration of self. Let your natural voice shine through. Be angry, sorry, shocked, amazed. Be funny or wry. Ponder. Wonder. Examine.

  “The personal essay connects writer to reader, soul to soul.”

  —SUSAN POHLMAN

  ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A GREAT PERSONAL ESSAY

  When writing a personal essay, you must go beyond something you’d write in a journal or what you’d say at a cocktail party. Personal essays are not a factual retelling of an event from your life but an examination of an event in your life. There’s an enormous difference between those two things. Consider these five essential elements of a great personal essay:

  THE AUTHOR’S PRESENCE: Speak your truth in a conversational tone. To build a successful essay, you must write about the event(s) and how you feel about what happened. You don’t have to be reasonable or
rational in your essay. You don’t even have to be nice. Don’t edit your true feelings out of the piece because you are concerned what people will think of you. Be brave, and speak your mind. It may take several drafts to get to the heart of what you want to say.

  A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE WRITER AND A LARGER WORLDVIEW: An essay is based on something that happened in your life, but your prose should offer a larger truth as well. Personal essays must resonate with readers. Think about what you want readers to take away from your piece. Do you want to inspire them to take action against injustice? Do you want them to understand why caring for your dying husband was an honor and not a burden? Do you want them to feel the powerful vibrations you experienced on your meditation retreat? Readers can experience all of these moments through your words. Connect your personal reflection to a universal truth about life.

  SELF-EXPLORATION: There is an appealing intimacy created by vulnerability, so don’t hold back. Tell your story. Make sure to stop and react along the way. Your readers will explore their own feelings right along with yours.