Here’s how to craft a winner short story

An aspiring writer who does not scan the environment to identify opportunities for selling his or her creative products is simply preparing for failure.

I have been thinking of the genre that is trending in modern times. For sure, the mother of all genres of literature is poetry. This is an art form that attempts to illuminate through the process of invocation. It is a genre that is most inherent to the self and pushes past the phenomena of event, personality and thought to the very centre of being.

In poetry, I find a margin of mystery that denies analysis. It leads to a special unveiling of our reality and place in the universe. It is borne out of an intense emotional charge and elevates that which is private to a vivid experience of communion. Unfortunately, this is one of the genres that are difficult to sell in modern times.

In terms of age, next to poetry is drama which has an ancient past. We are all aware of the Greek tragedy and the ancient African dramatic rituals that still run in the modern times. As opposed to these two genres, the novel is a young genre; a tiny infant indeed in comparison to poetry and drama, both of which seem to be about as old as humanity. 

The novel emerged in its recognizably modern form in Europe of the 18th century.  Crucial to its development are a number of factors including first the rise of literacy.

Indeed, the novel is essentially a written genre unlike poetry and drama which existed for centuries prior to the development of writing and even flourishes in oral cultures today. The novel is also a product of the invention of the printing press, the growth of market economy and more importantly, the rise of individualism and its very capitalistic ramifications.

But the world is changing rather rapidly. In very many ways, the world is shrinking. Due to modern information communication technology, we now talk about a global village.

The shrinking of the world has also impacted on the consumption of the written word. It is now possible to talk about the SMS generation.

These are young people who would rather read short forms than plough through a thousand plus page novel. I tested this recently in one of my classes by teaching David Maillu’s Broken Drum and Kamau Goro’s short story entitled When the Sun Goes Down.

LIKE PUNISHMENT TO MANY STUDENTS

Reading Maillu’s novel was like a punishment to many of my students. But Goro’s short story was very well received. This was further reflected in the end of semester examinations.

A number of factors have conspired to reposition the short story as the genre of the 21st century. What is, however, thrilling to me is that social media is now the platform for telling shot stories.  It has replaced the traditional fire place where children would gather to listen to grandmother’s stories. Short stories and folklore are now created and disseminated via the Internet and, therefore, the traditional grandmother has been replaced by a technology.

Twitterature that comes in the form of short poetic stories significantly explores and tests the amount of wisdom and ideas that one can package in 140 characters.

Do you now see the reason why the short story is the genre of the 21st century? Yes, but like any other genre, you must learn the art of writing it to succeed. I have always considered the writing of the short story a highly technical skill. Millions of short stories are written, but they end up in the dustbin of publishers. It is not just good enough to write a short story, but it must have something extra to make it stand out of the rest.

Common wisdom tells me that character building is the key to writing a good short story. A short story that stands out must have live characters.

These characters should walk off the pages of your story to the readers’ hearts. Your duty should be to bring these characters to life in a limited space of a short story.

The short story by its very nature is a highly economical genre. Single words or phrases are used to reveal the meaning in short stories.

This may involve originating one-liners to capture the essence of the story and painting the characters for what they are. The writer has to see her characters and let them talk to her in a natural way.

You will notice that well motivated characters easily enter your readers’ hearts. But more importantly, remember to control the pace of your story. Learn to use short crisp words and do not ramble on the pages. And yes, do not keep your reader reading your short story with the dictionary. This is a sign of immaturity.

Remember there is no room to explain everything in a short story. Sometimes, you have to simply show the resolution. Even when you invoke symbolism, always ask if it works, if not edit it out.

Since the short story is a genre that relies on the economy of words, do not clutter. Use few characters and limit names in your story. 

Your characters have to stand out as human beings with flaws. Build your story on a gradual upward swing toward a climax or epiphany depending on the direction you take. Best of luck.