how can i spice up my short story? (1 Viewer)

[madamecabaret]

this year ive been through 3 plot lines, all scrapped because theyre too cliched and apparently have no plot line. my idea now has been going ok, im up to 3000 words in my draft, but i think i need more on style to make it interesting.

the people with A range short stories, what did you do stylistically to make your story more interesting? i feel like the markers are searching for genius writers, and my writing style probably isnt as experimental and wonderfully new age as they would like...

 

[alcalder]

One thing you can do to spice up your writing is add action and dialogue. Don't tell the reader what is happening, show them through action and words.

Lose a lot of adverbs (that can make it flow better).

Also, let the characters take you where they want to go. If you don't quite know your characters well enough for them to dictate to you what their reactions would be, then sit down and think about their motivations and back story. What is their history? What is their goal in life? What issues do they have at the moment? What sort of foibles? None of this has to appear in the story, but it is in your head (and I suppose your notebook that you hand in as well).

Great characters make a story FANTASTIC!

Then you just write. And then edit, and edit, and edit, and edit and edit and edit and edit and edit...

 

[kami]

To write a 'spicy' story simply write as yourself - don't try to learn other styles so as to display a brand of literary genius which doesn't exist. During English Extension 2, I spent alot of time trying to ape the style of Angela Carter and wrote a story with an interesting concept but which exhausted itself 1/3rd of the way through. Later on in university, I've realised that my strength is in charged humour and absurdity which is something I should have tried in Extension 2. Needless to say, I still did fairly well but I believe that it was mostly because of the Reflection Statement which was able to rip into all of that 'literary genius' as opposed to my mediocre story.

Once you've written something, in your own voice, it is then awfully easy to pick up the glaring errors (like showing and telling at the same time) and to have it workshopped. People will tell you what it is about your style that triggers a reaction in them and it will help you understand just what your voice is and how to refine it so that it gets that 'spice'. It is very hard to not appreciate a writer who has discovered and used their own voice intelligently (which doesn't mean a 'high' concept).

Finally, don't feel obligated to work within conventional structures. Stories can be made out of a single conversation with little to no other description and can also be made without a single piece of dialogue. Just go with it and don't just do something because you're supposed to. Doing something because you're 'supposed to' is the worst thing to do for a creative writer (though you'll have to in the industry anyway).