I need some help writing a short story?

Question

I’m entering the Seventeen short story contest but I really need some help. I actually don’t know how to write a short story. I’m more of a novel writer, although short stories are shortened versions of novels. But I don’t care, I need some help. I want my story to be on a love triangle, a foreign Spanish boy comes to a school and everyone loves him. But one girl actually falls in love with him. And it’s his best friend.

How can I make this work? Can anyone help me?

Answer 1

Just think of ideas that you like .... and have confident in yourselfs!! so when it is on the day of the contest , dont be nervous.. just read out your story and read it clearly and loudly ..i surely wish that you will win the competition.

maybe i try my best to help you but i m not good enough `sorry` EXAMPLE:

There was a spanish boy coming to Ouran high school.Everyone like

him.A girl was helping him with lauguages.Soon,she felt a heavy heartbeat everytime when she think about him.She felt nervous because she love the boy she had been helping very much. She was looking at her childhood pictures when she saw the spanish boy on her picture. She must have then realise the spanish boy was her friend. The next day, when she saw the spanish boy, she decided to tell him that she love him. They soon became a love team and they live in happiness.

``````WISH YOU LUCK WITH THE COMPETITION`````

Answer 2

I think you already have in mind what you want for the plot so just back the story up in details and start from there. You can always wrap it up fast when you want using your imagination since its a short story unlike a 100,000 word novel.

Answer 3

     Sorry, love, you've lost me a bit.  The girl who falls in love with him is his best friend?  Short stories really aren't shortened versions of novels.  They're completely different.  Generally with the short story, you must 'write tight.'  You don't have anything like the space a novel gives you for description, so you have to make every word count.

Good luck

Mike B

Answer 4

Short stories are often harder to write because you can only focus on one simple problem or else it gets way to "crowded" in a sense.

But here's what I wrote for writing short stories:

http://www.advicenators.com/talkaboutmet...

Please do not reproduce it for any reasons.

Answer 5

1. Economy of words. Watch phrases that begin with gerunds http://www.mcrw.com/lovenotes/participia... , avoid including I(she, he)  felt..., I (she he)heard..., I (she, he) reached and grabbed, I began to, I started to. Get rid of unneeded prepositions (sat down, stood up, rose up, fell down, walked over, etc) sat, stood, rose, and walked works fine in most cases.

2. Concentrate on one story-line and one character.  You don't' need a bunch of back story on secondary characters.

3. Brevity and modesty. You don't' need to replace understood, simple words like legs with ambulatory devices, or cars with wheeled vehicles. The tried and true, as far as words go, is best.

Answer 6

Well, what I would do is that I would try to keep lesser detail out of the story. Yet, don't get me mistaken, small things like, what he looks like and what some others look like IS important and you SHOULD put that in, but for example, lot's of detail on a teacher isn't really necessary unless the teacher is in on the plot.

What you should do: I know it may pain you to hear this, but I found writing easy with it, write a outline of your story. Place all of the main ideas, and events in there as a time line sort of thing, or just howerver your brain sees it, then, when you have to write, you won't draw a blank when you want to write but cant (I get those sometimes myself)

Don't feel afraid if you start writing and you get some better ideas than what you had in your outline and start to venture a little away from it, it IS an outline, not the story itself and should be seen as more of a "guildline"

Just remember, alway make a type of "circle" sort to speak, so that you allway come back to the outline so you won't miss sight of your story's plot.