Short Story Writing

Learn to Write Short Stories

COURSE STRUCTURE

LESSON 1 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SHORT STORIES?
A notebook or two
Short stories defined
The history of short stories
Different types of short stories
Choosing a genre
Useful Terminology
Literary fiction
Children’s literature
Examples of CVC words commonly used in early readers
Short Stories in the Classroom
The increasing popularity of short stories
Lesson 1 additional reading
Types of story openings
Distinctive Voice
Tense
Action or dialogue
Background information
Introduce the main character
Common elements to all stories
Tension
Literary devices
Authorial Voice
What is creative writing
How does creative writing differ
Information and creativity
Types of story openings
Distinctive voice
Tense
Action or dialogue
Background information
Main character
Common story elements
Tension
Literary devices
Authorial voice

LESSON 2 STRUCTURING A SHORT STORY
Strategies for creating story ideas
Remember - Always, always keep a notebook handy to write down your ideas.
Free Writing
Role play
Brainstorming techniques
What if?
Developing Characters
Building characters
How is a character created?
Setting descriptions
Word building
Science fiction
Image boards
Planning a short story
Connecting characters
Using/adapting existing story structures, worlds or characters

LESSON 3 WRITING MICROFICTION AND FLASH FICTION
Writing flash fiction
Chat Fiction
Writing Micro Fiction
Sudden Fiction
Vignette
Plots
Memoir
Biographies
Reflective Stories
Historical
Sense of Place
Opinionated Stories
Dramatic stories

LESSON 4 WRITING FAN FICTION
Fan fiction’s popularity
Tropes
How to plot a fan fiction story
Bob and Ellie’s Story
Constructing timelines

LESSON 5 WRITING SHORT STORIES, NOVELLAS AND NOVELLETTES
Plot Devices
Writing Novellas and novelettes
Advice for writing great stories
Opening Lines
The Unexpected
Engaging readers
Last Lines

LESSON 6 GETTING YOUR WORK PUBLISHED
Editing
Competitions
Social media
Writing platforms
Self-publishing
Anthologies
Consistency
Publisher specifications
Consistency

Final Assessment

Learn How Create a Short Story

Before writing a story, an author needs to have an idea.  Some authors may come up with lots of ideas, whilst others may struggle to pull them together.  

Remember - Always, always keep a notebook handy to write down your ideas.

 If possible, have more than one notebook, so that there is always somewhere to write down ideas. There is nothing worse than having an amazing idea, then forgetting it when you come to write it down.  

If a story idea comes to you –

• Write it in a notebook
  
• Make a note on your phone or computer
  
• Email the idea to yourself
•  Send yourself a voice mail

A story idea does not have to be the full story, it can just be a sentence or a quick thought that the author can build upon to develop the story.  There are many other other methods for developing story ideas that you can learn about through this course - from brainstorming and free writing techniques through to more systematic and considered approaches such as building a plot, then building characters to fit the plot.