Ten Tips for Writing the Short Story

1. Know your characters well.

2. Give your major character a major problem to solve.

3. Continually complicate the problem until the climax of your story.

4. Cause your main character to grow by the end of the story.

5. Minimize narrative to only that which moves your story forward.

6. Give attention to detail to make your story come to life.

7. Choose a setting that will enhance your character.

8. Use dialogue to convey emotion.

9. Stay in point of view (POV).

10. Paint word pictures by thinking of yourself as a camera.

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