What makes short stories different from novels? Aside from length?
And what can novelists learn from the short story form?
n this episode, I’m breaking down 3 structural elements of short stories, along with an example of how it’s done.
If you’re writing short stories, you’ll learn how to organize and shape your material.
And if you’re writing a novel or memoir, you’re going to get tons of value from this, too.
Because we’ll be talking about how to structure, articulate, and build conflict as an organizing structure.
This will help you shape chapters and scenes. Most important, this episode will help you learn the economy of language. So you can write any story with more elegance, shape, and potency.
Whether you aspire to write short stories, or novels, you’ll learn how to use repetition and variation to amplify your stories conflict and theme.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Episode at a glance:
[01:00] Learn the difference between short stories and novels, and what novelists can learn from short stories.
[04:00] What is a short story? I’ll share the simplest definition I learned from Doug Glover.
[04:47] Why conflict is often an overblown concept and how to simplify it.
[06:49] Learn how to set up your story by introducing your characters, their situation, and introducing the conflict.
[11:07] Trap your characters together using Anne Lamott’s stuck elevator technique.
[13:50] The rule of three. Learn how to use repetition and variation to build and amplify conflict.
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