Questions tagged [short-story]

Use this tag for questions about short stories. Do not use this tag for questions about novellas, flash fiction, or other types of short fiction.

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Am I legally allowed to expand someone else's short story into a novel?

For years I told a short story in my kindergarten classroom. It was written and freely shared by the writer. I rewrote the short story (2-3 pages) into a middle grade chapter book, expanding the plot, ...
HRWriter's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
897 views

How do you know if your story is too complicated or just complicated enough?

I've been working on my current story for almost a year. It's a great story but at times it seems really complicated. How complicated is too complicated in a story?
Kexin Hooper's user avatar
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1 answer
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What is the proper formatting of type and quote marks when the main character talks aloud to himself, to someone else, or has internal dialogue?

I am authoring a novel. The main character interacts with others in oral conversation and will also have internal dialogue with himself, during the same conversation. Or he will talk aloud to an ...
abluepelican's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
68 views

How do you do worldbuilding for many worlds in a collection of short stories when you have multiple worlds, and multiple alternate histories?

How do you do worldbuilding for many worlds in a collection of short stories when you have multiple worlds, and multiple alternate histories? Say you're writing a collection of short stories, and ...
Sayaman's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
205 views

Can a 17 year old take NSFW Commissions? [closed]

As a 17 year old, am I allowed to write NSFW for commissions? If so, how extreme? Actual s*x, blowjobs, tits, etc lol, what would be allowed?
Liri's user avatar
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1 vote
5 answers
193 views

Short stories to practice writing

I’m writing a novel. I am planning the plot in detail and doing worldbuilding. In the meantime, I would like to write some short stories to practice writing itself (style, pacing, emotion, ...
Marina's user avatar
  • 223
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

I want to write a short story without naming the places the characters visit

How can I write a short story without naming the places characters visit? Example: If the main character visits a restaurant then I want to show it to the the reader without naming the restaurant.
tony's user avatar
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4 answers
149 views

What factors can be used to make a villain more relatable to readers?

In situations where a character is an irredeemable and unrepentant villain (pedophile) but is just a regular everyman character in every other respect (he looks, acts, and speaking in an unremarkable ...
Aaargh Zombies's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

How can we use ChatGPT to write stories? [closed]

If I have an idea for the plot of the story, what is the best way that I can use ChatGPT to make it write stories for me? Edit. To everyone who has spent time answering with few assumptions (including ...
MouseNag's user avatar
  • 169
2 votes
3 answers
146 views

How to write from the POV of a cell?

For science, my teacher wants us to write a children's book from the pov of a cell after a character gets hurt. I already wrote about a mouse breaking her ankle from ballet, but I now need to write ...
andi's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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How to write a character losing time

Stuff happens -blackout- More stuff happens This is both how the character is supposed to experience time, and how it's written so far. But it has a number of problems. The biggest ones are: It looks ...
jordynfinity's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
96 views

Complex cardiac surgery story

I will be writing a short story with the title as "Complex cardiac surgery". Can this story written later converted to a documentary movie with the end user audience as MBBS (Medical) ...
Prashant Akerkar's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
83 views

In a collection of stories with multiple worlds, how do you cue your readers as to what world your story takes place?

In a collection of stories with multiple worlds, how do you cue your readers as to what world your story takes place? Let's say I have a collection of short stories, there are 1,000 science fiction ...
Sayaman's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
170 views

Is there a website to generate short stories from prompts?

Is there a website that can take prompts/context & create short stories?
MouseNag's user avatar
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2 votes
5 answers
241 views

Can you write a short story that's only an exposition for worldbuilding?

Can you write a short story that's only an exposition for worldbuilding? Let's say that you have a collection of science fiction short stories. In order to have strong worldbuilding, is it possible to ...
Sayaman's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
68 views

How should you tell reader in what world your story takes place if you are writing a collection of short novels taking place in different world?

How should you tell reader in what world your story takes place if you are writing a collection of short novels taking place in different world? Is it a problem if in some situations it's almost ...
Sayaman's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
70 views

How to decide on the ending of a story?

I've been writing a short story about a boy who accidentally killed his brother and went through a serious trauma that he even started taking drugs (knowing that he is only 12 y.o). In this story, I ...
Nour Fourti's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
509 views

Working backwards from "Delete the people, keep the math and jazz." (SciFi short story)

I'm a great lover and a modest consumer of the short story genre. But I've precious little experience writing fiction. A line just popped into my head while listening to music and working problem in ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 235
3 votes
2 answers
155 views

What do I need to keep in mind when writing a "pilot" episode for a series?

I've been working on a series. However, the series is very long and incomplete, so it's difficult to get feedback on it from others. So I’ve been considering writing a “pilot” episode. A short story ...
user2352714's user avatar
  • 4,685
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to write a character going insane

I am writing a short story for homework. The story is about a writer who has to write a narrative for a book fair she'll be attending as an honorary guest, but she can't come up with any ideas. In a ...
Croissant's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
6k views

My character surprised me with their behaviour while writing them, should I keep that behaviour or stick to how I had planned them?

I was doing some exploratory writing without much planning/thinking and one of the characters acted in a way I wasn't expecting! In the narrative the character (normally kind/warm) is under stress, ...
ProseFerret's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
2k views

How can I change scene without changing chapter?

I'm writing a short story/novelette (unfinished but at about 7k words) and I have 5 chapters already. I intend to add more content during a second or third pass. I've been using chapters to change ...
ProseFerret's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
107 views

I'm writing short stories in first-person view. How to include dialogue where there main character is not present?

I've started to write a book of short stories about a quirky nerdy guy and his growth into an adult man (see here for a description). I got a recommendation to use first-person narration. While about ...
Busspotter Penguin's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
311 views

Can you help me understand what a "lyrical short story" is?

What are the minimum requirements for a lyrical short story to be a story? If it is plotless what separates the lyrical short story from random chatter?
Cool Guy's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
612 views

What is the minimum requirement for a song to be considered a story?

I can't figure out if my songs are stories since they don't contain a climax, multiple characters, or a resolution. For example is this song a story? It lacks conflict and climax and resolution but it ...
Cool Guy's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
4k views

How can I avoid overusing "I" and "I'm" in a first person short story?

The story I'm writing uses 'I' and 'I'm' way too much, and it's really obvious. The problem is that I cannot find words to replace the two, and when I do, it always changes and bends what I'm trying ...
Rose's user avatar
  • 163
0 votes
2 answers
183 views

Which factors do we need to count to evaluate the standards of short story?

I like writing suspense-based short stories similar to this one on Wattpad, but I don’t know how to assess if my writing is good or meets the expectations of the suspense genre, or if my stories ...
Zain Ul Abidin's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
130 views

Writing scenes where everything goes absurdly wrong?

I'm writing a short story where a mysterious rich man has just died and his friends are gathering to find out his will. The dead man was quite eccentric and wanted to send them all on a wild goose ...
abrac's user avatar
  • 111
0 votes
3 answers
77 views

Need help with the correct wording: Platoon? Squad? Or something else? [closed]

I wrote a short story about a 6 men on a rescue mission to save a family during WWII. I originally called them a "platoon" and wrote about the main characters "platoon mates"; ...
Josh C. Jones's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
61 views

Writing a screenplay versus a short story

I've been writing short stories throughout my life, in a humorous style. Yet, these stories lack a literary quality, and the prose is rather plain. I'm debating whether to start writing screenplays ...
Eggman's user avatar
  • 195
0 votes
2 answers
101 views

Is it acceptable for a published short story to serve later as the prologue of a novel?

If I was to publish an original short story to get feedback for a concept and characters, would publishers find it distasteful if I then wanted to include the same text later as the prologue part of a ...
dhinson919's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
183 views

Moving story forward via conversation in first person

Background I wrote a few paragraphs of a story, again as an assignment a little while ago, but now I plan on completing it. But there is a problem while I am writing. Unlike other short stories that ...
Momobear's user avatar
  • 255
0 votes
2 answers
117 views

Stuck with writer's block; how can my young protagonist overcome depression due to sudden loss of sight? [closed]

I'm writing a short story in which my protagonist is a little boy. An unexpected event happens and makes his life upside down which is blindness. This latter causes him depression and now I don't know ...
Nour Fourti's user avatar
0 votes
4 answers
169 views

Asking about chapter's length

Is it okay if a short story's chapter's length is 450 words? If so, could you also have a chapter with 1000 or more words in the same story?
Nour Fourti's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
87 views

How can I expand my story to meet a minimum word count? [closed]

I'm writing a sinister story for school and it has to be 500-1000 words. But I only have 414 words and I don't know what else to add. This is how it looks so far. How can I expand this to meet the 500-...
Kaireen's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
119 views

How to switch between characters in a first person story?

I know you can switch between the 3rd and 1st and vice versa but how from one character to another both using the 1st person. I know chapter breaks would help but I only want to make a small story (1....
user716881's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
170 views

Not sure how to continue my story [closed]

I'm writing a story (I think a bit long to post here, but I could if someone would like), which is a metaphor for depression. In the story (from a 3rd person past-tense POV, if that's helpful), an ...
10GeV's user avatar
  • 161
1 vote
4 answers
133 views

Improving my story opening? [closed]

I'm writing a story about a woman driving cross-country in search of her childhood home. There, she discovers the small town has grown to a suburban sprawl, and she's surprised to find that she can no ...
10GeV's user avatar
  • 161
0 votes
1 answer
118 views

How can I make the premise of e.g. a short story more real?

As far as my motivation in writing goes, I have long been frustrated about historical fiction I’ve read where the main character is basically an American dressed up in a cloak and armor. The Caryatid: ...
Christos Hayward's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
69 views

Describing unrelated events in first person viewpoints

How can I describe a scene in a short story with the first-person point of view, when the main character isn't taking part in the action, or even viewing the event?
Nour Fourti's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
158 views

How can concurrent/dual dialogue be implemented in short story/fiction writing?

I am currently writing a short story that has two intertwined narratives told in inverse chronological order from each other. The two narratives meet/converge at the moment the protagonists receive ...
Brian Hinman's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
107 views

How to develop ideas?

I participated in a weekly challenge prompt app and many asked me to continue writing and to make it a book but I can't find a good idea to develop that short story.
Nour Fourti's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
115 views

Publishing of Collection of Short Stories

I have a collection of short stories--48 in total, a word count of 80,000 and 156 pages. Regarding publication, is such a collection likely to be too large? If I were to split it into two collections, ...
Bryan Smith's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
345 views

When writing science fiction or horror, how to prevent the villain from becoming less scary as they are fleshed out?

I'm trying to write a horror short story about a shape-shifter, but I have trouble keeping it from sounding like a science fiction story. The story starts out with a creepy tone, with a person close ...
sevensevens's user avatar
2 votes
7 answers
146 views

Misspelling and punctuation how to improve?

Love telling/writing stories except I am the absolute worst at both spelling along with punctuation. Normally I care less about these things because I can still read them although many people get ...
Anonymous's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
142 views

Formatting a story collection for submission to publishers

Anyone know of a definitive online resource on formatting a story collection for submission to publishers and agents? One knotty question in particular: does one use the title of the book throughout ...
qphrenic's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
50 views

Does this sentence make sense grammatically? Is there anything I can do to improve it? [closed]

"The meticulously placed masses of skin under her eyes were captured involuntarily by the customary light fixtures of the hospital ward, sufficiently polluted with the indistinct clamour of her ...
stephanie 's user avatar
3 votes
5 answers
693 views

How can I begin writing a short story?

I like to read short stories, novels, documentaries etc. I used to write a diary as well. I am interested in beginning to write a short story or some other form of creative writing. But I struggle to ...
GyL 209's user avatar
  • 39
1 vote
1 answer
869 views

Literary magazines that publish surreal/absurdist fiction?

Does anybody know of any literary magazines that publish surreal/absurdist fiction? I have a short story I'm looking to submit. The closest comparisons I can think of are A Clockwork Orange, Brave New ...
Aria K. 's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
79 views

Where can I find a beta reader for grammatical issues?

I’m looking forward to finding a beta reader to help getting me past my grammatical inaccuracies during my attempts at writing short stories. I’m not a native English speaker, so I found myself ...
user6545's user avatar

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