Why? Because giving a reader the details upfront is one way to let them know whether they want to read on. Newspaper articles include the entirety of the story as close to the opening of the article as possible. This is why short stories, unlike novels, usually focus on one aspect of a character’s life, or one aspect of a problem/relationship in a character’s life. And they need to resolve problems quickly. To tell a complete story on a smaller scale, they have to cut their stories down to the bone, excluding all fatty detail. Whereas novelists decide the length of their books, short story writers have to work within the confines of the word limit they're given. That means they both need to have these elements: inciting incident, rising action (progressive complications), climax, and falling action. And, no matter the length, they need to tell a story. They need to be coherent, grammatically correct, and have proper spelling. Novels and short stories share some common characteristics. Understand that a short story is not the same as a novel So how do you go about writing a short story that will be accepted by a publication or website? Here are my top ten tips for writing a great short story. In fact, you can earn more money per word writing short stories than you can publishing a novel. Short stories are in demand by magazines, newspapers, blogs, and anthologies, and many of these publications pay authors for short stories.
If so, writing short stories might be for you. Or maybe you do write novels but want to try something different. Not every writer has the passion and time to write a novel. Guest post by Willie Handler, author of two satirical novels, The Road Ahead and Loved Mars Hated The Food.