Im writing a short story and it suppose to be 500 words, how or what can I do to keep it short?

Question

I always write over 500 words and well every time I try to fix it up it doesn't make sense.

Im writing a ss about a young girl in the war who is trapped under a tree from a bomb falling and she goes unconcious, while she lay there dying she starts imagining the fairies has come to her.

In other words the fairies is a form of death.

Problem is I can't keep it short.

Answer 1

well, you should write down the details that you really want to be in the story, and make sure to fit those in. and give yourself limited writing space, so you will always know exactly how much space you have to finish up your story, tie up loose ends.

hope it works out!

Answer 2

EDIT Write it as short as possible.  Keep the rough draft under 700 words.  There are always a lot of extra words.  Most people can lose half their word count just by a good, aggressive edit.

For example, here's your paragraph edited:

My ss is about a girl trapped and knocked unconscious by an enemy bomb.  Seriously injured, she sees fairies who lure her toward death.

You don't necessarily have to lose content to reduce word count.  Good luck!

Answer 3

Make the plot simple. Maybe just write a story of a "moment". For example just write about the moment when a bully picked on you. It started with you meeting him/her, then started to fight with her, then you got a bruise or something and you run away ( or another ending if you like ). End of the story.

For your idea: how about start with the girl already trapped beneath the tree, no need to show how she get there. It is not important. If there is something before that must be said ( like the war ) then just tell it. Whats important is her vision. Then make her drift to unconsciousness. Then start your visions of fairies taunting her to join them or something. Then the ending: she die, she awakened, someone helped her, etc.

Also describe only what is needed to describe. Example don't describe the tree fully. Don't tell that it is a so-and-so tree, that it is 100 years old, etc. what is the need for those? What is important to describe is the fairy. Make it full as it can and don't overdo. It is a form or symbol of death so make the fairy resemble death in some ways. Black wings? ( black is often used as a symbol of death ) Silent? ( making her mysterious, death is mysterious after all ) etc.

Answer 4

Try not to add to much detail. And take out all the un needed stuff, like what type of fairies, people will just assume what they look like; a small female in a dress with a magical stick. Try to take out some of the adverbs if they aren't needed. keep your sentences short and simple. (Don't say what type of tree it was, just say a big tree, or something like that, you don't even need to say big, people will assume that it was big; at least big enough to knock her out)

I don't know how helpful that was, but good luck with your paper.