Writing Short Stories and Getting Them Published

1. Consider undertaking a short writing course. This will help you with the technical aspects of writing. The thing editors love!

2. Construct a plot. The plot draws the reader into the characters' lives and helps the reader understand the choices that the characters make. If an author writes, "The king died and then the queen died," there is no plot for a story. But by writing, "The king died and then the queen died of grief," the writer has provided a plot line for a story.

3. Determine the point of view. Who is telling story? Is it in the first person, third person (narrator) or from an objective point of view? Does it change throughout the story?

4. Create your characters. Be alert to your characters in the same way you are when you meet someone. Give careful consideration to their actions, what they say and how they say it, how they relate to other characters and how other characters respond to them.

5 Describe your setting. Setting is created by language. How many or how few details you write is up to you. Many authors leave a lot of these details up to the reader's imagination.

6. Let it set. Always consider your first attempt as a draft. Even when you have rewritten it over and over again and you are happy with it, leave it for a day or two, longer if you can stand it, and re-read it again.

7. Listen to your instincts. If when you have finished it, it doesn't feel right, then it probably isn't. Leave it awhile, and if you are still not sure, get someone's whose opinion you trust to read it.

8. Do your homework. When you are ready to send it off for publication, get the current details of the editor/publisher. Include a covering letter, a brief synopsis outlining the nature of your story, a brief biography and a copy of your story. Don't send your only copy.

9 .Be flexible. If a publication expresses interest in running your story, but requests changes, do it. That way you will be considered viable and asked to submit more work.

10. Get some kudos. Submit your story to a literary competition. The Australian Writer's Marketplace 2001lists more than 260 in Australia alone. Win this book by folllowing the link below.


- Camilla Fiorini