Monday 17 October 2016

How To Win In Submit Short Stories Competition

By Peter Wilson


Learning how to write a novel begins with writing short stories. This is because they do not require as much time and space as the novels do. A typical story is between 200 to 6000 words while a novel is more than this. The more time you spend on a piece of prose, the more you deviate from the short story concept. It should not take you more than 50 hours to submit short stories for a competition.

It is good to start up with a premise. A premise can be anything to give the reader an overview of what the story is about. The premise should comprise few sentences to describe a basic point or lesson that the story intends to give. You may say one or two things about the evil of corruption or the benefits of hard work. By the time your story ends, it is important that everything in it agrees with the premise.

Writing requires some tools for those ideas to flow. These tools include a table, chair, pens, books, dictionaries and jotters. Your sitting posture should be good to prevent early fatigue. Try to organize your ideas before sitting down but do not be too apprehensive about it since you can always edit.

Sometimes, the main points that make the story superb are not gotten when the writer sits down to start. Instead, the main inspiration can be gotten when you are doing something odd and least prepared to start narrating. This makes it needful to always be with a jotter and pen so that you can always put down those ideas when they come.

Another step is to develop your characters. The characters should have their specific roles to play in the novel. The underlying premise of a character should be consistent so that the reader would not have any problem in following the story.

A small story should not take more than two plots. In fact, with just one plot, the narrator has a better chance of grabbing the prize over someone with two or more plots. Also, the events should not occur within a wide time frame. It is better to write for a season, a month or a year.

The person who tells the story is also important. There are three people who can tell the story you have written: the first person, the second person and the third person. The first person is the narrator himself as he uses the word 'I'. This is an easier form of writing but the writer may have the challenge of explaining hidden facts about his characters. A second person narration includes the reader as a part of the characters as he reads the word 'you' while in the third person, 'he' 'she' and 'it'are the most frequent words.

Writing a short story may be difficult especially if it is the first time. The best way to encourage yourself to do this is by writing a catchy first sentence and paragraph. The first paragraph should not be the summary. Just think of something that can arouse the reader's interest and propel him to go on without stopping.




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