CHECKLIST

by John M. Floyd

It’s probably safe to say that you, as a reader of this blog, enjoy reading short stories. But let’s say you also want to write short stories. (Maybe you’re a beginning writer, or even an established author of poetry or nonfiction or longer fiction and want to try something different.) The question is, how do you write a short story? What, exactly, does it require?

Well, the standard answers are easy to find: write what you know, don’t waste words, limit your points of view, show rather than tell, etc., etc. But the trouble with those answers is, they’re too standard. They’re no help.

The best advice I’ve heard on this subject came from mystery author Larry Beinhart. He once said that in order to write a publishable short story you must:

(1) be able to write a clear sentence,
(2) be able to organize your thoughts,
(3) know and love your field, and
(4) make the commitment.

I realize that’s still not very detailed guidance, but it makes sense, to me. Here’s what I think he meant by each of those points:

1. Write a clear sentence.

Let’s face it, we’re all educated and we’re all readers. There’s no excuse for not knowing or at least learning the basics of grammar and style. Editors have little patience with submissions riddled with errors in word usage and punctuation and sentence/paragraph construction. Do fiction writers occasionally break some of the style rules? Sure they do. But before breaking the rules — as JLW pointed out in his column earlier this week — you should know what they are.

2. Organize your thoughts.

To me, this also includes having a good idea or premise to begin with, but I believe the underlying meaning here is that writers must know how to “construct” a story — beginning, middle, end — and have a good feel for correct pacing and the building of tension and suspense. The best grammar/style writer will still fall short if he or she isn’t able to weave scenes together in a way that’s engaging and interesting to the reader.

3. Know and love your field.

If you want to write a certain kind of short story — a mystery/crime story, for instance — you should also enjoy reading that kind of story, and you should make it a point to read and study as many of them (and novels) in that genre as possible. Become familiar not only with what’s being published in that market now but with what’s been published in the past, and learn from it. If you’re serious about your task, this kind of research isn’t work anyway — it’s fun.

4. Make the commitment.

This, to me, means two things. First, commit to finishing the story once you’ve begun writing it. I can’t believe how many friends and students have told me they have unfinished stories and novels sitting in their file cabinets gathering dust. And second, commit to submitting it to an editor once it’s completed. As I’ve said before on this blog, I can’t promise you it will be published if you send it in, but I can promise you it won’t if you don’t.

And that’s it. I’m not trying to oversimplify here, because none of this is simple, but if you can meet those four requirements you’re well on your way to publishing short fiction. If you have no desire to write it, only to read it, don’t sweat any of this — but if you do harbor the sometimes-secret desire to write and publish, I’d urge you to try it. The best that can happen is that someone will recognize your talent and dedication and publish your story. And the worst that can happen?

The worst is not that you might never publish a word. In my opinion, the worst thing that could happen would be for you not to attempt it at all, and then wake up one morning ninety years old and wish you had given it a try.

Right?