Five Tips for Starting Your Short Story

Starting a short story is often the most difficult part because it is in the first few paragraphs that you establish the tone, pace and mood of the entire work. Starting your short story is a crucial point and should be handled with care. Novels allow the author some “wiggle-room” when it comes to capturing the reader’s attention because the story doesn’t really have to get going until page twenty. But with a short story, you have to follow the “grab-and-go” system of writing.

1. Place the protagonist in context.

If your short story is going to be dark, don’t start off by displaying your protagonist having a picnic on a sunny day. A short story must have a homogeneous undertone that reflects the theme of the story, and if you switch around too much during the course of a short story, you’re bound to confuse and even irritate your reader. Introduce your protagonist in such a way that your reader knows exactly what type of story he or she is about to read.

2. Introduce conflict right away.

Unlike novels, short stories must jump directly into the conflict that will drive the story forward to its very last sentence. You don’t have to state the conflict in the first few words, but you should begin by setting the scene for the “big event” that will set the story in motion. For example, if your short story is about a woman whose child is kidnapped from his cradle, you might want to begin with the woman putting her child to bed. Perhaps she even has a sense of “wrongness” — feel free to use creative license.

3. Establish the rules.

One of the biggest mistakes that a short story writer can make is failing to establish the rules of his or her fantasy world. What is acceptable and what isn’t? For example, if you’re writing a short story about characters on a faraway planet, your readers should know from the very beginning how life on that world works. The same is true for a romance or a thriller or a comedy — establish the rules for life in your characters’ world so that your plot can take off from the beginning without confusion.

4. Create a question to be answered at a later time.

There are two essential elements to characters and plot in a short story. The first is the desire, which is what the protagonist wants from life. It can be fully separate from the second element, which is need, and might have more to do with the main plot of your story. For example, let’s say your protagonist is frustrated by his job and feels that he is undervalued. His question might be, “How can I find happiness at work?” or “Should I find another job?” This is your opener. Once you’ve established that, he might face the conflict that drives the story, such as the discovery of corporate espionage on the part of his superiors. By the end of the story, he should have his answers.

5. Keep it simple.

The most important thing that you should remember when starting your short story is the need for simplicity. You don’t have the luxury of exploring back story or creating long-winded dialogue scenes as you would in a novel; short stories must be tightly wound and simplified as fully as possible. Concentrate on one or two plot points and only two or three conflicts that lead your story to its inevitable conclusion. If you start your short story with too much detail, you won’t be able to resolve everything by the end.