Guide to writing short stories on the Internet

Zan Azlee
New Straits Times
09-22-2003
Guide to writing short stories on the Internet
Byline: Zan Azlee
Edition: Computimes; 2*
Section: Outlook Web Watch
Column: Surfer's journal

A WHILE back, I wrote on the advantages of the Internet as a tool for budding writers to gain exposure and to publish their work. To think back, I might have gotten ahead of myself just a little bit. It might be more useful for budding writers to find tutorials and guides to improve and develop their writing. So, I have decided to share some writing tips obtain from the Internet, from my own search of ways to improve my writing.

One of the most common start-ups for writers is the short story. In Malaysia, many new novelists and scriptwriters gained a lot of exposure from this form of writing. Just take a look at how popular the Silverfish New Writings series (www.silverfishbooks.com) has been at attracting short stories from amateur writers.
A short story can be non-fiction or fiction, but is usually the latter. True to its name, it is short enough to be read in one sitting. Being a short story, one of the main problems is the lack of time to introduce your characters and to set up the scenes. So, the first advice would be to keep it simple and fast-paced.

When writing short stories, keep the number of characters in your story to a minimum. If you spend all your time introducing characters, your reader may lose interest and you may run out of time for all the action of your story. Make sure that all the characters you include are absolutely necessary to your story.

Before you start writing it is a good idea to briefly plan out your story. Make a list of possible characters and describe briefly what you want to happen in your story. In your plan, you should have an introduction paragraph that sets the scene and introduces your characters.

There should be a few paragraphs in the middle of your story, which will represent all the action happening. This should be the core of your story. And as for the conclusion, try to end by rounding all that has happen in order to bring it together.

Introduction. Your introduction should make an impact on your reader. It should be precise and present the characters and events clearly. It acts as a teaser to create just enough excitement that the reader would want to read on. However, do not reveal too much information in your introduction. Leave most of the information and action of your story for the middle of your story in the core part.

Core. The core of your story is where everything happens. This can be just a couple of paragraphs or several depending on the length of your story. Pace your story out over a few paragraphs and concentrate on what your story is about and try not to go off track on information that is not needed.

Keep it to the point and keep your reader interested. As you come towards the end of the core part of your story, start to finish the story up, or prepare it for the big conclusion.

Conclusion. Your conclusion should be one to two paragraphs and it should bring the whole story together. It should answer any questions raised in the core part of the story, and finish off the story. You can conclude your story with a bit of a twist or a surprise to keep the reader guessing or wondering what would be next.

However, it needs to bring a feeling of finality or closure to the reader as not to leave it hanging. That said, sometimes the best stories are the ones that leave you guessing, so have a little courage to create a bit of mystery in your conclusion but make sure the story feels finished and concluded.

When writing short stories, be precise and do not babble on about unnecessary things. Try to keep it simple and to the point. Try to keep the reader interested, intrigued or guessing.

Keep in mind that a short story does not allow you much time for detailed explanation, so describe your scenes well and with descriptive words.

Keep it direct and simple and try to avoid overusing big words and creating a story full of fancy language. It is also important that your story flows from one paragraph into the next without conjuring up an interrupted feel about it.

Writing fiction is easy and just about any one can do it. It is quick and doesn't take long to pull together a story with a few ideas.

If you feel stumped about what to write about, write about something you know and take it from there. Or else, surf the Internet for some helpful tips and guides. Some notable Web sites are Write@Writing.Com (www. writing.com), Writer's Write (www.writerswrite.com), Virtual Writer (www.virtualwriter.net), WritingCorner. Com (www. writingcorner.com), Writing Habits.Com (www.writing habits.com) and The Writer's Block (www.sff.net/people/ Lisa RC/).

(Copyright 2003)