A short story has little room for a slow start, a sprawling cast or an ending that postpones the real resolution. That constraint can help you decide what belongs on the page. The ten considerations below move from choosing a manageable idea through drafting and editing to the consequences of a character’s actions. They are ways to test whether each part serves the whole, rather than a formula every story must follow. A brief exercise at the end lets you try two of them in a fresh draft.
1. Use the theme as a starting point
If you are writing to a set theme, let it influence the story rather than adding a token reference after the draft is finished. The theme might suggest a conflict, an atmosphere or a choice the character faces. It can give a small idea direction without dictating every event. Read the assignment before drafting, then check the finished story against its theme, word limit and other requirements. A piece can work well on its own and still fail to answer the particular brief it was written for. If the connection is difficult to find, reconsider the idea before expanding it.
2. Choose a story that fits the space
A short story is not a compressed novel. An epic fantasy may be difficult to tell in fewer than 1,500 words because the setting, history and conflicts all demand space. Likewise, the full life of a 103-year-old could overwhelm a brief piece. An unexpected detour on the way home from the supermarket, however, may offer a manageable event with a beginning, complication and outcome. Look for a moment that can carry a complete story within the available word count, rather than trying to recount everything that led up to it. You can imply a larger life without telling all of it.
3. Make the structure easy to follow
It is possible to fit two time periods, five scene changes and three point-of-view characters into 1,500 words. Whether those shifts help the reader is another question. With so little space to establish each element, a complicated structure can make the central action hard to follow. Check the transitions between scenes and make it clear whose perspective the reader is in. A new character, setting or twist should change what happens, not merely add information. Because you already know what the draft means, consider asking another reader where they felt lost. Their questions may show which transitions need attention.
4. Give the opening line a purpose
The first sentence offers a chance to establish a voice and give readers a reason to continue. It might introduce a surprising fact, an unsettled situation or a question the story will explore. An opening need not announce the entire plot, but it should belong to this story rather than serving as a general preface. After drafting, return to the first line and ask whether it points towards the tension that follows. If the story only begins several sentences later, consider opening there instead. A striking sentence is most useful when the next one develops its promise.
5. Reach the action early
In a 1,500-word story, several paragraphs of scene-setting or pages of backstory can leave little room for the events themselves. One possible starting point is the moment when ‘normal’ ends: the first sign of trouble, the indication that today will differ from yesterday, or the incident that sets the plot moving. Readers can learn about the ordinary world as the character responds. That does not mean description is forbidden. Choose details that help us understand the disturbance, then allow the action to reveal what matters about the place and its people. The opening can establish context while something is already happening.
6. Give the character something to pursue
A goal gives the character a reason to act. It may be as modest as a glass of water or another hour of sleep, or as urgent as one more day with a terminally ill grandfather. The size of the goal matters less than what the character does to reach it and what stands in the way. Their decisions help readers understand why this particular episode matters. Even a quiet story can gain direction when a desire shapes its events.
It can also help to distinguish what a character wants from what they need. Getting the thing they pursue may not make them happy; it might expose a different problem or have consequences they did not expect. You need not explain that difference at the outset. Let the gap between desire and outcome shape the choices the character makes.
7. Cut words that do not carry the story
If a draft runs 500 words over its limit, look for material that explains too much without affecting the present action. Keep what gives readers the information they need, but question passages that repeat, delay or decorate an established point. Three useful places to examine are:
- Backstory: You may need to know a character’s history to write them, but readers may need only part of it. Draft freely, then remove history that slows the immediate story. If a past event is essential, revealing it when another character needs to know can also move the plot forward.
- Description: Keep details that clarify the setting, character or conflict. Otherwise, ask whether the space would be better used elsewhere. The colour of someone’s bins probably does not matter unless, for example, painters are interfering with the neighbourhood waste collection route.
- Adverbs: Examine them rather than deleting every one. Stephen King writes, ‘The road to hell is paved with adverbs.’ Where an adverb repeats what the verb already conveys or makes a sentence cumbersome, a more precise verb or simpler sentence may save space.
The aim is not to make the prose bare. It is to give the story’s important actions, details and revelations room to register. Check each cut in context so that the reader still has enough information to understand what changes.
8. Bring the character to a choice
As complications accumulate, the stakes and risks can rise until the character faces a difficult decision. That choice gives the climax its focus: the character must decide how to respond rather than simply wait for events, or for someone else, to decide for them. The dilemma will be stronger if the available options have different costs. Then the character’s action tells readers something about their priorities. Follow the choice through to its consequences; otherwise, a promising build-up can feel incomplete just when the story reaches its most important moment. The decision should connect to the goal the character has been pursuing.
9. Let the choice change something
A character might take a risk and succeed, or take the same risk and fail. Either outcome can work if the decision leaves a meaningful difference by the end. The change may affect a relationship, a situation or the character’s understanding of what they wanted. Ask what is no longer quite as it was at the start. If the answer is unclear, the consequences of the decision may need more space on the page.
Dream sequences need particular care here. If the main plot turns out to have happened only in a dream, its apparent consequences may vanish when the character wakes. A dream or daydream can still matter if it changes something in the waking world, such as a decision the character now makes. Otherwise, readers may struggle to see what the events have achieved.
10. Give the ending enough room
Even if the first 1,450 words of a 1,500-word story hold together, a closing line cannot always do the remaining work alone. Consider what resolves the central conflict and which loose ends need attention. The ending can retain some uncertainty without leaving the main action unfinished. A surprising climax can be especially effective when, looking back, readers can see how the earlier choices led to it.
A short story should stand on its own, rather than stop where the first chapter of a longer work might stop. Once the character has faced the central decision, allow space for its result to become clear. In revision, read the ending alongside the opening: does the final situation answer the question the story first raised, and does it show what has changed? Not every detail needs explaining, but the central conflict needs an outcome.
Practice: a fifteen-minute draft
For the next fifteen minutes, draft a short story on the theme ‘haunted’. Focus particularly on the opening line and on reaching the action early. Decide what first disrupts the character’s ordinary day, then begin close to that moment. When the time is up, look at whether the opening leads naturally into the conflict. You can use the other considerations as a checklist for a later draft, rather than trying to solve every structural question at once. Notice what your opening leaves the character wanting or needing to do.