Category Archives: Writing short stories

Let’s take a look at a story beginning!

Copyright © 2025 Jerry Dunne First, we will look at a badly written short story beginning and point out its major craftsmanship flaws. Then we will look at the piece rewritten up to a suitable standard of craftsmanship and point … Continue reading

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The short story’s storytelling elements

Copyright © 2014 Jerry Dunne Here we examine the short story’s storytelling elements and the restrictions placed on them in comparison to those of longer pieces of fiction. The main storytelling elements consist of character, point of view (POV), plot, … Continue reading

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The story’s 3-act plot arc structure

Copyright © 2023 Jerry Dunne The plot isn’t a series of events that move forward in a random way. The events are connected by cause and effect and have a very definite structure to them. In this way, the plot … Continue reading

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The storytelling elements of the short story and the shorter play have much in common. So how might this be an advantage for the writer?

Copyright © 2017 Jerry Dunne Introduction The length of the short story discussed here is not much more than 10, 000 words and the length of the shorter play not beyond a 90-minute performance and often shorter. Here I show … Continue reading

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How to develop original short story ideas from a saying

Copyright © 2012 Jerry Dunne A good saying often expresses wisdom or truth in a witty or ironic way. Usually, the first clause of the saying sets the reader up for an expectation that is not met in the second … Continue reading

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How to develop credible and insightful short story ideas from a fable

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne A fable is a short pithy tale consisting of characters that are usually animals, though plants, inanimate objects or natural forces are also used. The characters are anthropomorphized (given human characteristics) and act as props … Continue reading

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