Notes from Practical Short Story Writing Three Conflicts ... - CIBACS

Three Conflicts, Three Laws
Notes from Practical Short Story Writing
• All stories must tell of a struggle, or conflict.
Man against man
Man against circumstances, or nature
Man against himself
• Make your ideas hit somebody—hard
• All conflicts must be of vital importance to the characters involved
• The consequences of failure in their struggle must be disastrous
• Everyday consequences are important to ordinary people
Ways to get started
Form a word to an idea (30-31)
Word association (31-33)
Expanding a theme (33-34)
Inversion (35-36)
Ideas from Pictures (36-38)
All in the Day’s Work (38)
Key is observation all the time = notebook
Ch 3 – Plotting
Basic Plotting (42-44)
Situation
Incident One
Reaction
Incident Two
Reaction
Frustration
Reaction/Resolution
Dramatic Scenes (48-50)
Paint a vivid picture – show, don’t tell
Create an air of anticipation
Have Emotional Reversal
Generate an urge to know what will happen next
Technique – One
Where to Begin and Why
Usually begin at a dramatic high point, generally a character’s
reaction stage

Within the first page or two of your story you should have:
1. introduced the main character
2. hinted at the problem
3. set the scene
4. established the mood
5. cast your narrative hook
The first four of these must blend in with narrative and dialogue.
The last one must stand out to grab your reader’s attention and
hold it.
Viewpoint
Single major character
Single minor character
Ranconteur – story teller
Omniscient – should still identify with one character most of the time
Reader must know who the main character is. Don’t hop around.
To decide who the viewpoint character will be, ask, “Whose problem
is it?”
If the characters whose problem it is are not likable, you may choose
another character as the observer to hold the point of view.
Usually don’t use Omniscient for short stories
Characterization – indirect vs. direct
Know the main character intimately and sketch the minor ones
Model characters on people you know or have met
Methods of character presentation:
Direct Description (blend and keep to a minimum)
Dominant trait (slightly exaggerated)
Appearance (don’t overdo weird things)
Dialogue
Actions – movements and gestures (creative verbs)
Thoughts and emotions
Surroundings and others’ reactions (stereotyping)
Dialogue
Be alert to nuances of speech
Don’t use (out)dated dialogue
Use the correct dialect for each character (but sparingly)
Functions – advance the story, characterize, provide info.,
convey emotions

Use a balanced mix of narrative and dialogue
Be clear and not ambiguous
Use different words for “said”
(See examples on page 80-81 for creating dialogue)
Compare voices with similes and physical reactions
Use “with ____” instead of “said”
Motivation – know your characters so you’ll know how they will
and will not act in given situations
Flashback – almost always necessary at some stage in a story because you
usually begin with the character in a mess (dramatic high point); avoid
confusing the reader; recall only the incidents that have a direct bearing on
the story
Handling Flashbacks
The “tell me”
Song to memory
A forgotten name
Tense – use past perfect until you can distinguish and then use past
Transition – moving from place to place and scene to scene; don’t confuse
the reader and try to offer hints about where the characters are headed; can
use a gap in the page or standard words and phrases (later that evening);
emotion; focus on objects; natural elements