3 Wways to Mmake Yyour Sshort Tstories Sstand Forma&ed: Centered

Oout!

So you’re an up and coming genre fiction writer, and you desperately wantd to

get published. I know the feeling. If you just want to see your words in print, sShort

stories are seem like a great place to start. After all, they’re mMuch less time than a

novel and you just want to see your words in print. MOr maybe short stories are

already your thing. Maybe yYou’ve been writing them for years,s, maybe just as a

hobby, and that has allowedbut you to’ve developed your craft. You want to get your

work out there, but you’re not very confident that publishers will ever notice you.

During college, I worked forat a journal that published short fiction, specifically

speculative and fantasy fiction. Every year my coworkers and Iwe read thousands of

manuscripts from writers all over the world. I always provided authors with feedback

for authors whether we invited them to publish with us or not, a. And now I’m going to

level with you:. Most of the manuscripts we get are mediocre at best. But there were a

few key elements that made some stories stand out where others didn’t. So let’s talk

about these three ways you can make your writing stand out enough to finally get, and

get it past the slush room and into print.

1. Explore the Nnuances of the Mmoral

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a story that first appeared to have

an interesting premise and compelling characters, only to be disappointed when it then

ended up being really preachy. Theme is hard. But applying it effectively in your

writing puts you way above the beginners. “Nature good,; technology bad” seems to be

a popularfavorite theme, i. If it can eventhat really counts as a theme. There are’s a few

main ways to prevent yourself fromget getting stuck inout of this rut.

A. You Ddon’t Nneed an Eexplicit Mmoral in your story but if you do have Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

one... Not everything has to be an expressed direct allegory or fable. Even if

you have a theme, you don’t have to address it as a “moral of the story.”

Sometimes pushing that notion out of your head is enough to get you writing

a more natural story.

B. The conflict can just be a simple good vs evil scenarioo. I But if this is the Commented [EN1]:
Commented [EN2]: Why does this go from subheading A
to subheading C? Also, could you capitalize and shorten you
case, be sure toyou have to specjustify which side is which. There are’s so headings to make them more heading-like?
Commented [EN3]: Ignore the first part of the previous
many storytelling shorthands for the dichotomy, but this is one thing I often comment; I made a mistake.
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
see novice writers struggle with. I once read a manuscript where a noble and Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

good knight made some really inconsequential choice and I mean

inconsequential. The potential negative outcomes of a possible wrong choiceif

he chose werewrong was never made clear. And yetThen he was’s celebrated

as a hero for not doing the trivial wrong thing. It’s one thing when Percival

was was told that the fisher king could have been saved if only he had asked

what the grail and bleeding lance wereere, the fisher king would be saved. Commented [EN4]: So, I rearranged some of this, but I'm
still not sure what you're trying to say in this sentence.
Could just be me, though.
There are’s consequences, and theyit plays off Percival’s own flaws. This Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
 story had the potential to be an Arthurian-esque tale, but it fell flat. To help

you express an raise the stakes in your story, aAnswer a few questions: What

makes the bad guy bad? What makes the good guy good? Is their conflict

thematically relevant? How is the theme demonstrated through the conflict?

C. Less Iis Mmore e. In fact, readers might be better persuaded to your way of Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

thinking if you aren’t as overt. There are two effective ways toof getting a Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
personsomeone to like someone. Let’s use the example of encouraging a Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

friend to date someone. You can either subtly compliment the potential suitor

and note how the couple could be compatible. Or you can insult the guy you

want her to like in such an over- the- top manner that your friend feels she Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
has to step in to defend him, and unintentionally developings affection for Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
him in the process. People don’t like it when you tell them what to think, so Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

much so that they’ll often do the opposite out of spite. Let’s bring this back to Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

short fiction. So I was reviewing a story out of our slush pile with the classic

“tTech is bad; teenagers are dumb” message, and. I couldn’t get over how I Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt

ended the story feeling like the antagonist was in the right. The teenage

antagonist was just as much of a piece of work as our elderly protagonist, if

not worse. But something had gone so wrong in the exploration of the theme

that it made it easier for the reader towould easily side with the “wrong” Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
Forma&ed: Font: Pala.no Linotype, 12 pt
person.
 D. Make your characters learn. On top of beating the audience over the head

with the theme, the aforementioned story had another thematic problem. The

protagonist didn’t learn anything. She was always in the right. Now, there’s

nothing wrong with a static protagonist, if they’re done right. But we live in

an age of fan fiction. The internet is saturated with self-righteous,

overpowered heroes. And people hate them. It gets even worse in stories that

pushing a hard message. People trust characters they can relate to, and will

more naturally gravitate towardfollow a character who still has something to

learn. Maybe the protagonist doesn’t change. Maybe she just gets more

determined in her ideals. But maybe her ideals were called into question, or

she overcame a weakness or obstacle keeping her from completely living her

ideals. Commented [EN5]: I feel like this paragraph needs a

concluding sentence.

2. Balance Wworld Bbuilding with Aaction

In a short story you’ve only got so many words. As cool as your world may be, when a

reader sits down to read a short story, they want just that: a story. Personally, I love

reading short stories and novellas off of my Kindle while on the treadmill. And I hate

running, so what I’m looking for is something engaging enough that I forget I’m

running. A compelling short story has that e power to do that, take us out of our own

world for a while. The thing is, excessive exposition cadoesn’t do that in the short story

format. You might be thinking, Hey, but if I want to get the reader into this world I need to
tell them about it. Well, tThere’s a time and place for thick world building, and that’s

called denseso leave it for dense fantasy novels. People love those. But in a short story

(and novels, if your if that wasn’t what the audience isn’t expecting it) you lose the

reader when you get bogg themed down in the details. Picture your reader wading

through a bogbog, just about drowning, and she goes, “I’m already halfway through.

When’s the story going to start?” It’s just like that scene in The Never Ending Story. And Forma&ed: Font: Italic

feeling its not worth it, she gives up. Maybe you’ve got something absolutely profound

at the end, but it doesn’t matter. Your poor reader has drowned in the metaphorical

exposition bog. Don’t murder your reader with world building. But that doesn’t mean Commented [EN6]: Haha, love it!

you have to scrap it completely.

Like I said before, novels are always an option. Short stories honestly aren’t for Forma&ed: Font: Not Bold

everyone. Bestselling acclaimed author Shannon Hale was rejected back in the day by

the very magazine I work at back in the day. Way before my time. And you know what

she did? She realized short stories were not her forte and started taking novels

seriously. And her novels are great. I, for one, could not get enough of her books as a

kid. I don’t know where I’d be today, if I would have ever been inspired to get into

creative writing or publishing. I am forever grateful to Leading Edge for crushing her

dreams of writing short stories. Ok, that sounds pretty, bad but you know what I mean.

A story has to have some kind of world building, especially in fantasy and

speculative fiction. So let’s say you’ve got your world here in your head already. And
you’ve got a killer story to tell there. What details impact the story and your protagonist

directly? You can do a lot with a little. Focus on the point of viewe (POV) character’s Commented [EN7]: If you'r going to bold or italicize
things, I'm not sure you should leave the punctuation out
ofthe party.
immediate surroundings, the technology he specifically uses, and the laws of the magic Forma&ed: Font: Bold

system that directly impact the plot.

3. Don’t Bbe Sso Sserious

So I’m going to shoot straight with you here. A lot of short stories that get submitted to

publications in the sci- fi and fantasy genres are too serious. And I’m not talking serious

political and social commentary. It’s more cynical teen angst and world- ending

calamities. Your protagonist doesn’t have to be a brat and the stakes don’t have to be

that high for your story to be taken seriously. On the contrary, the acquisitions editor in

the slush room is telling the friend next to them, “Look, we’ve got another edgy teen.”

Pro tip: Don’t be that kid, if you don’t want to. It’s not all fifteen15-year-olds who’ve

just discovered Nietzsche andwho are trapped by this way of thinking.

Ignore the cult of “realism.” We live in a culture that values realism over

everything. We complain when our superhero movies have to bright of color pallets

that are too bright, like the folks running around on screen aren’t supposed to be

mutants in spandex. But we can’t be afraid that some kid who watches Cinema Ssins

religiously is going gnitpick our plot holes. These folks would shred Shakespeare,

Sophocles, and Mary Shelly on plot wholes, shaky science and magic systems, and

unrealistic character actions if they’d ever pick up a book. As my grandmother says,

don’t let the turkeys get you down. If you want to write an epicgrand myth, a pretty

fairytale, or a whimsical story about a balloon factory, an android, and a scrappy

orphan, you do you. Brush that nagging edgelord off your shoulder and write.

Please, write fantasy (or any other genre) if that’s what you want to do. Seriously, a

lot of writers are afraid to write fantasy. The publication I worked with rarely got

fantasy manuscripts. Some find fantasy too difficult to write, or that whatever they can Forma&ed: Font: Not Bold

do will not beisn’t good enough. Others see sci- fi as the more prestigious, “serious”

genre. In truth, publications are dying to get their hands on good fantasy short stories.

People just aren’t writing them, dDespite the genre’s popularity, people just aren’t

writing it. But some of the best short genre fiction has been fantasy. There are’s so many

niche speculative and fantasy subgenres that you should totally write, if you want to.

You might actually have better odds at getting published because there’s such a high

demand and low supply. If you don’t want to write gritty, dystopian, cyberpunk or

authoritarian dystopian thrillers, don’t. Write space fantasy, kitschy folktales, orand

urban fantasy. Just write what you want.

Conclusion

Some parting advice:. Be patient. Sometimes you just have to wait for the right

publisher. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to get through the slush pile. Read

good writing, read about writing, and write about writing. I find that I make some of
my biggest breakthroughs when I journal about things I like in media I’ve seen and

explore how I can apply it.

So many short story manuscripts I’ve read are just a few tweaks from greatness,

or at least from being pretty good. And so many of them run into the same problems

and get lost in the crowd. But if you notice these problems, maybe with the help of a

writing group, mentor, or really honest friend, you can get better. One of the best ways

to see how far you’ve come is to submit your manuscript to a publication. There are so

many opportunities out there. And even if you don’t get your big break right off of the

bat, don’t give up. Commented [EN8]: This paper got better as it went on.
You really have gret advice, great encouragement, and an
adorable writer's voice.