welp, /lit, I'm almost finished my novel but I can't get an agent because I haven't had very much published. I need to write some short stories and get them out there.
My problem is I have no idea what to write about. I find it easy to think of plots et al. for novels, but short stories are fucking difficult. What can I do to get the juices flowing? Are there any rules of thumb for short story writing that can help me formulate basic ideas that are both good and concise?
Just write it like you're writing a novel, but make it shorter.
>>7514329
good one kiddo
Writing an actual book is hard as fuck, but if you're smart and have good taste you can write a plot for a decent contemporary novel with little struggle.
Thinking of something small but effective is hard as fuck. It absolutely does not translate novel --> short story
>>7514335
>It absolutely does not translate novel --> short story
Aside from Borgesian philosophical essay-style stories, or po-mo Barthelme experiments, they pretty much are. Have you ever even read short stories before? They're just stories, like novels. You have characters, and you put them through a plot which has events. It's just that you have to be concise about the stories because they gotta be short. Learn how to convey a character's personality in simple gestures and dialogue, and learn how to make small events imply larger emotional implications and themes.
>>7514362
This is bad advice
The plot of the novel I mentioned above has easily 30 or 40 imperatively significant beats. There is no way I could condense it down to a short story.
Have you read short stories? They are very fucking different.
>>7514395
Come up with a story with less beats, then, or dimish them into little taps.
To get a better grasp of the art of the short story, I suggest you read a bunch of them.
I recommend Robert Sheckley (especially his collection 'The same to you doubled') and Christopher Fowler ('The Bureau of Lost Souls' and 'City Jitters').
Good luck anon. Anyone can bang out a novel, but short stories are a different kettle of fish.
lots of writers never wrote short stories and got their novels published. you don't have to do it.
>>7516107
You do in today's market. If you don't have a marketable name then you're persona non grata in the publishing world, no matter how good your writing is. Take Andy Weir - he sold 'The Martian' for a fucking mint, but only after he built his name and proved it was salable via Amazon self-publishing.
Of course OP could build his name on Twitter or something, but short stories are the traditional way of doing this.
>>7514325
Read some books about writing short stories. Orson Scott Card has some interesting things to say about structuring short stories in his disgustingly titled "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy."
>>7516145
Somewhere around 50% of people with published novels have never written a short story. Do you think publishers are going to throw away the next Harry Potter or 50 Shades because the author hasn't written a short story? Or do you think they're going to accept a turd of a novel because the author had some short stories published?
Okay OP, I'm bored with my own writing, so here are some ideas for epic plots.
A guys buys an old wooden box in a thrift shop. At home he realizes it sounds like there's a metal ball inside, but it's empty when he opens it. Shenanigans.
A deaf woman doesn't realize that her husband is having sex with her best friend in the neighboring room. (btw. you are now imagining the sounds a deaf woman makes in bed)
Due to a weird temporal loop, a soccer mom accidentally hits and kills her own son with her car, while racing to stop another woman from doing it.
In the future, self-driving cars will have trolly issues. How solve?
President realizes that that day with the play dough in second grade was actually the best time of his life.
An epidemic of fast working ankylosing spondylitis hits the world, and people are stuck in the position they had when they were hit. Our hero was busy with autofellatio.
>>7516662
>Do you think publishers are going to throw away the next Harry Potter or 50 Shades
Haha you actually think Harry Potter and 50 Shades were genuinely written and not constructed in a board room by a corporate marketing team?
>Or do you think they're going to accept a turd of a novel because the author had some short stories published?
To reiterate: Andy Weir 'The Martian'
>>7516743
implying 50 shades was not erotic twilight fanfic
