Arjan Tales

My writing blog, experiments, and lessons in writing.

Monday, June 06, 2005

How to write a short story in a week, Day 1

This is the last week of an eight week course I'm taking on the short story. The goal is to produce a short story every week. This is good advice for new writers, but can be an intimidating goal. This week I hope to get at least three hours a day on my eighth story. I also have to read and critique close to twenty stories by the end of the week, so I'll do my best. Here's the plan for Day One.
Write the first draft. I spent Sunday thinking about the topic, then a title jumped out at me, and a simple idea that gave the title context appeared, as well as the main character, one supporting character, and a source of conflict. Think of Sunday as Day Zero. Just thinking, letting the brain work stuff out, and sleeping before you put anything to paper. Monday, Day One: write the story down. If you hate yourself you can call it a vomit draft, but if you like yourself, call it a brainstorm draft. Throw in relatioships, background details, personal histories, anything, as long at it is germane to the story. If you have a sketch of a plot, follow it. Try for 3,000 to 5,000 words.

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