{"id":9609,"date":"2015-05-16T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T17:10:24","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T21:10:24","slug":"7-tips-on-how-to-give-your-shorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/7-tips-on-how-to-give-your-shorts\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Tips on How to Give Your Shorts Stories the Power of a Tornado, A Guest Post by Cassia Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CassiaGuestPost-1.png\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nThis week is a very special post, because one of my good writing buddies Cassia Taylor is guest posting for us today! I&#8217;m so excited! I&#8217;ve been trying to get her here forever. Since I don&#8217;t specialize in short stories, I&#8217;ve gotten my lovely friend to write on that. I hope you enjoy her tips! On to the post!<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Among the writers I\u2019ve met, not many who write short stories. Usually it has something to do with not being able to make a story short. As writers, we\u2019re in love with developing our own unique world and exploring backstories of characters. We love having subplots and battles and confronting side characters that will become important later and it\u2019s hard to cram all of that into a few pages.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nIt took me a lot of time and effort to get to the point where I could shrink an idea so it didn\u2019t runaway on me and become its own trilogy. Now that I\u2019ve gotten there, I can say with certainty that knowing how to write a great short story will help you with your other writing endeavors.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nBefore we begin, I\u2019d like to answer the inevitable question: word count. Ideally your short story should be under 7,500 words. Any more and you might as well be writing a novelette. (up to 17,500 words) If you\u2019re writing a short story to get published though, I would recommend capping it at half of that (taking into consideration the magazine limit as well). I\u2019ve learned that most magazines pay per word so the shorter your story, the less they have the pay you and the more likely they are to accept your work. If you\u2019re just writing for fun, go all out!&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nNow let\u2019s get onto the good stuff!<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">1.) Short Stories are like Tornadoes, Novels are like Hurricanes &#8211;<\/span> <\/span>This is my way of seeing the differences and similarities between the two mediums. A short story will roar past you all at once, covering specific thematic areas. It throws you into chaos suddenly but briefly. When it\u2019s over you\u2019re left wondering what in the world that storm was and where it came from. Then you look back on its path and think about the \u2018damage\u2019 it\u2019s done.<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nA novel takes longer to get through\u2014just like a hurricane, it\u2019s quite large. However just like the tornado, you will look back on the storm when it passes and observe the after effects of it.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nWhen you put the two storms side by side, the hurricane covers a much larger area whereas the tornado had one path and did its damage in a more concentrated area.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nMake sense? Great! Let\u2019s move on.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">2.) Know Your Theme Before You Write &#8211;<\/span> <\/span>What are you going to tell the world? What questions do you want the readers to ask? Like a novel or poetry, this is your chance to express your worldview and opinion on a topic.<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nIn short stories, the theme is incredibly important because every element of the story must surround that one central idea. In a novel you can explore many different themes and sub-themes but not with shorts. You must know what you will focus on while you write.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nOnce you choose your topic, I suggest you figure out your ending. Your ending will dictate exactly what you\u2019re trying to say about your chosen topic. Since the ending is the reader\u2019s last taste of your opinion, you need to finish the story correctly. If you don\u2019t, the reader may make a conclusion that you didn\u2019t intended for them to make. Think carefully about this one.<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">3.) Assume Your Readers are Detectives &#8211; <\/span>You don\u2019t have a lot of words to deal with so you can\u2019t afford to space out your backstory like you would in your novel. (And that definitely means no dumping either.)<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nInstead, drop the slightest hints. You do these things in novels too but in shorts, these things don\u2019t ever need to be explained fully. Based on the other evidence you give, your reader should be able to piece it together without even delving too much into interior monologue. You should know the backstory inside and out but your readers might never get to and that\u2019s okay.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">4.) Keep Your Characters and Settings to a Minimum &#8211;<\/span> <\/span>Too much of either will overwhelm your reader and take away from your message. While I was in Florida for the Florida Christian Writer\u2019s Conference, I attended a workshop where I was told that a good reference is one character for every 300-500 words. I wrote a short that\u2019s 700 words, has one setting and two characters and guess what? A magazine picked it up!<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nWhile you want your story to be complex, adding characters and settings isn\u2019t the best way to do that. You want to add depth, not breadth to you story.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">5.) You Don&#8217;t Have to Name Your Characters &#8211;<\/span> Not a lot of people know this one so I want to address it. In our novels, naming characters is important because we have a lot of them and we also spend a lot of time with them so naturally we want to know who they are. When it comes to short stories though, we can afford to leave out names. For one, we don\u2019t have as many of them, and for two, we don\u2019t spend a lot of time with them either so there\u2019s not as much of a urge to know their name.<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nWhen I think about the shorts I\u2019ve writing, I think 98% of my protagonists are nameless. Wait, what? Why?&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nI find this has a very meaningful effect. By leaving your protagonist nameless you give the reader the opportunity to insert himself or herself into the position of the character. Especially when you write in first person, you let them be the protagonist. Your theme suddenly will become more relevant to your reader because the story now seems like it\u2019s about them.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nWhen writing in third person, you can refer to your character as \u201cthe man\u201d or \u201cthe girl\u201d or \u201cthe old lady\u201d and it gives a more distant perspective. Depending on how you write it and what the story is about it can have one of two effects.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n1.  The character can be paralleled to anyone or even represent humanity as a whole.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n2.  The character is in the midst of a crisis of some sort and is unsure of who they are, how to move on, what a certain event means for them etc.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nIf you choose to name your character, keep it simple and be aware of the fact that some names may date your story. I personally try to stay away from alternate spellings or anything that sounds like it could be in a YA dystopia.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nIn my opinion, shorts should be about the character\u2019s journey and not the character itself; so for me, the characters\u2019 names in my shorts don\u2019t matter. (Wait until I name the characters in my novel though! I\u2019ll pull an all-nighter for that one.)&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">6.) You Have the Elements of Surprise So Use It Well! &#8211;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> <\/span>Unless a friend recommended a short story to you and told you the premise, you probably will pick up a short story not knowing what to expect. There\u2019s no back cover synopsis to tell you anything.<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nLike a tornado, they come a little more unexpectedly than a hurricane. Hurricanes are forecasted many days before just as novels have a back cover to tell you what they\u2019ll be like. However, use this power wisely. Confusing the reader is not what we want to do but the shock value has the potential to go up.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">7.) Short Stories are No Excuse to Be Lazy with Writing &#8211;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> <\/span>Yes, you have less words but that\u2019s no reason to make your story simple. Before I write a short story, I\u2019ll map out symbols, extended metaphors, archetypal elements, motifs, and setting elements that all relate back to the theme. Your short story should have the capability of delivering the same thematic message as a novel just in a different way.<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nIt\u2019s just like the tornado and hurricane analogy. Both leave an impact, just one covers more ground than other.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nSo there\u2019s my super short crash course on short stories. I could probably go on for a while but I\u2019ll refrain. If you have any questions though, feel free to ask away in the comments below. I\u2019ll be lurking on Tori\u2019s blog (sorry, Tori, I didn\u2019t ask permission to lurk) so that I can answer anything you want to know.<\/div>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nHave you written any short stories? Do you have further questions about short stories? What is a favorite short story you have read?<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/11253807_819199844835003_1937991576_n.jpg\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>Cassia Taylor<\/b> is the kind of person who wears jeans and zip-up hoodies in the summer but is stubborn to bring a jacket anywhere in the icy Canadian winters. She\u2019s an aspiring novelist who hopes to use her writing to share God\u2019s truth with the world. In the meantime, she writes for the faith\/life blog, \u201c9words\u201d, writes and films visual poetry and takes her camera outside to capture story through everyday life. Soon she is the be published in Imaginate and Splickety magazines for her poetry and short stories. You can find her on her blog <a href=\"http:\/\/dimensionsofmyuniverse.blogspot.ca\/\">Dimensions of My Universe<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Victoria here! Thank you so much to Cassia for guest posting! Be sure to check out her blog and leave her lots of wonderful comments!<\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">You May Also Like:<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2014\/05\/httpstoritorigraceblogspotcom201304reel.html\">The Psychology of Writing: Villain Motivation and the CANE Model: A Guest Post by Casey Lynn Covel<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/04\/reeling-in-your-reader-guest-post-by.html\">Reeling In Your Reader: A Guest Post by Lauren Claire<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/08\/nine-ways-to-meet-writer-friends-guest.html\">Nine Ways to Meet Writer Friends: A Guest Post by Lauren Claire<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/06\/do-you-lack-passion-in-your-writing.html\">Do You Lack Passion in Your Writing? A Guest Post by Lauren Claire<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2013\/05\/an-interview-with-author-bryan-davis.html\">An Interview with Author Bryan Davis<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week is a very special post, because one of my good writing buddies Cassia Taylor is guest posting for us today! I&#8217;m so excited! I&#8217;ve been trying to get her here forever. Since I don&#8217;t specialize in short stories, I&#8217;ve gotten my lovely friend to write on that. I hope you enjoy her tips! &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/7-tips-on-how-to-give-your-shorts\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 Tips on How to Give Your Shorts Stories the Power of a Tornado, A Guest Post by Cassia Taylor<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,54],"class_list":["post-9609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-guest-post","tag-writing-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>7 Tips on How to Give Your Shorts Stories the Power of a Tornado, A Guest Post by Cassia Taylor - Wanderer&#039;s Pen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/7-tips-on-how-to-give-your-shorts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Tips on How to Give Your Shorts Stories the Power of a Tornado, A Guest Post by Cassia Taylor - Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week is a very special post, because one of my good writing buddies Cassia Taylor is guest posting for us today! I&#8217;m so excited! I&#8217;ve been trying to get her here forever. Since I don&#8217;t specialize in short stories, I&#8217;ve gotten my lovely friend to write on that. 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