How to Write Fiction

Fictional short stories provide writers and readers with a short but satisfying taste of creative imagination. There are those that enjoy reading and writing or even aspire to write fiction. This article provides the guiding steps to starting a short story, and finishing it.

All stories begin with an idea. Most people creative people have many ideas throughout the course of their daily lives. It is important to carry a notepad or recorder along with your person so that ideas can be written down, recorded, and ultimately remembered. Some ideas are useful, some not, but 100% of forgotten ideas are never used. So write your ideas down on paper. If you want to discard them later, then do that later but only after you've reread them. This suggestion goes for all stages of your short story writing process.

Plan. When you have some solid ideas, start an outline for your short story. You don't have to know all the parts of your story initially, but start with what you have. Your plan will probably consist of some ideas you've been running around in your head and some that you have on paper. In your plan, be sure to include major and minor characters with some personality description, major plot changes, and a basic introduction, middle, and conclusion. You needn't draw out the exposition - conflict - rising action - climax - falling action - resolution chart that you learned in junior high, but it isn't a bad chart to follow if you need a backbone.