500-word Short Story: How to Write?

The term ‘500-word story’ often seems fun. If you get excited about the story, you must be astonished at how to write a 500-word short story. Here are a few tips to get it done.

How to write significant detail in a 500-word short story

You can avoid the challenges of writing short stories if you create a short story checklist. After gathering the ideas in a plot comes the turn of writing your story. It is a way to nurture and develop one’s thoughts in a significant way.

500 word short story

Let’s learn how to create a readable short story, discover one technique for writing a good story, and find out what a famous writer thinks about short story writing.

Short Story for Note Taking

The note-taking for short story writing comprised of the details like:

  • the short stories that need characterization should have the short plot checklist
  • how many characters should be in a short story
  • how to write significant details in a story
  • contrived storytelling
  • scene breaks in short stories

“Writing a short story below 1000 words is not that easy. Many prominent writers started their careers as short story writers. Coming up with new ideas in a limited space could be difficult even for experienced writers.”

WHAT IS A SHORT STORY?

Every time, an important question arises after hearing the word ‘short story: what exactly does a short story mean, what is its origin of the short story and what should be the length of writing a short story?

The short stories should not be referred to as short nonfiction articles. Short stories are always considered fiction in the publishing industry. There are various types and sizes of short stories:

  • The traditional word count is 1,500 to 5000 words
  • The length of flash fiction is between 500 and 1,000 words
  • A micro-fiction is a short story of approximately five to 350 words

difference between short story and flash fiction

Do short stories of 5,000 words have a market?

A short story in the 1,500- to 3,000-word range sells easier and more frequently in some publications and contests.

The short story is often assumed as a fiction work that contains about 80,000 words and is faster than a novel, but this is not true. In reality, a short story should have 5,000 words but can go at 7000 words.

WHAT IS A 500-WORDS SHORT STORY CALLED?

Stories of less than 500 words are considered “micro-fictions.” One of the best examples of such micro-fiction is a six-word story written by Ernest Hemingway, which sounds like “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” The length of short stories written by different writers varies in every case.

That statement implied a great deal of emotion and a great deal of backstory.

It is an art to write a short story, despite the fact that it is much shorter than a novel. The purpose e of this guide is to provide you with a complete understanding of the topic.

TOOLS FOR WRITING A 500-WORD SHORT STORY

Some of the essential tools for writing a short story are as under:

  1. Plot for a short story
  2. Media Res
  3. Structure of a recognizable short story
  4. Development of sense of movement

TIPS FOR WRITING A “MICROFICTION”

Short story writing is an art where the impossible is made possible. The freedom of writing at length is limited in such cases. One of the most beautiful and frustrating aspects of deciding to write short stories is the freedom it brings to the writing process. There are several ways of writing a short story. The new beginners should have some understandable material to rely on. You can build the first story on some solid ground.

Here are some tips for writing a ‘micro-fiction’:

  1. To take a start for writing is the foremost step in writing a short story. Finding a place to write a story is the first step. It can be your car, kitchen, or even bus. Get start d with an inciting incident.
  2. Get rid of the critic inside you. Focus on our story. You can fix the punctuation mistakes later.
  3. Try to get the attention of your readers. The first line of your story should be attractive and punching.
  4. Don’t tell me what you are feeling. Show what the reader wants to read. ‘Alice fa e had tears in her eyes’ sounds better than ‘Alice was feeling sad.’
  5. It would help if you crafted the end skillfully. The reader should be left with an ending that makes an everlasting impression on him.

Recommended: How to Write a Tragedy? 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some of the Frequently Asked Questions to provide more information.

Question 1:What is a short story?

Answer: A short story is a collection of beautiful ideas and plots knitted in one place, which should not exceed 7,500 words.

Question 2: What is an example of a short story?

Answer: The short stories are between 1600 to 20,000 words. Crossing such limits would make it novel.

Question 3: Can you quote some names of best-ever short stories?

Answer: The answer to this is that although there is a long list of such stories, someone can consider the following as some of the best examples:

  • The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter
  • A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
  • The Dead by James Joyce
  • The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
  • The Swimmer by John Cheever

It has been discussed at the start that short story writing is a practical and challenging way of writing. Although there are numerous ways of writing a short story, you can follow some techniques to improve the stuff. One of the short story writers, Lorrie Moore, once said:

“A short story is a love affair, and a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.”

Question 4: What is the difference between short stories and flash fiction? 

Answer: The main difference between a short story and flash fiction is the length of the content. Short stories are usually longer than flash fiction. Short stories can have a word count of 1,000 or more, whereas flash fiction contains less than 500 words and is composed of punchy lines, to the point, and extreme brevity with the plot reduced to the essential elements. 

 

 

Leave a Comment