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| Arup Roy, Lecturer in English Language & Literature, Kanchkura University College |
A short story belongs to a fictitious form of writing and a short story is very short in comparison with a novella, novel, or epic novel. The length of a short story runs anywhere from 100 to 15000 words, a novella from around 30000 to 60000 words, a novel from 60000 to 100000 words, and an epic novel from 120000 to 220000 words. However, the length is not the only difference. Unlike other forms of fictitious writing, a short story deals with a very important part of a character’s otherwise whole life. It means writing a great short story doesn’t require coping up a character’s full life story.
So, if you want to develop a new character, you can write a short story to reach an understanding of a person’s intentions or actions, or personality. Therefore, a young writer can start his writing career with a short story. Keep in mind that, sometimes, a short story may be developed into a novel. By the way, some writers love following short story format though some others do not like it because they do not like any kind of confinement for any creative work.
As a short story is a very short one, readers can finish it very quickly and enjoy a sense of accomplishment. Readers are not supposed to be afraid of starting a short story because they never feel that they cannot finish it. So, the best way of starting to read a new author or a new series of writing is to read a short story.
One of the most important questions is how can we write a short story effectively? The answers are many. I love to follow the following process. Through this process, you can collect the basic information in response to all the w/h questions. Then you can arrange the collected information into a plot which must have a beginning, middle, and end. A plot moves forward by the actions of the characters. The author can present the characters directly (from the first-person point of view) by telling how they are or he can present them indirectly (from the third-person point of view) engaging them in actions. And these actions must be driven by a certain purpose, a theme, and certain value.
There are definitely many ways to follow for writing a short story. But, the following one seems to be very convincing and helpful for me. Through the following process, you can collect information in response to the w/h questions and then divide the plot into a few sections. Look at the mental map shown below:
A mental Map
Responding to these w/h questions
will help you get involved in the story. Let’s see how we can plan in
response to these w/h questions:1. Collecting information regarding the story "A Bear and Two Friends"
What.......Two friends walking through jungle..................
2. When...................last year (past)/once upon a time...............................................
3. Where.................in a large Jungle......beautiful...........dangerous...........................................
4. Why....................to enjoy scenic beauty/to enjoy their summer vacation.................................................
5. How.....................walking aimlessly and comfortably................................................
Who..................... Rohan and Rohit......bosom friend........nature lover...........................
Here, your main task is to collect as much information as you can. You have to gather as much information as you can about the subject matter; You have to select your settings and time; You have to develop your characters in detail; you have to find out the definite purpose of your story: you have to develop and resolve a conflict. This is how you can involve yourself in the story. After collecting as much information as you can, you should start dividing this information into a plot ensuring the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Here, I am going to divide a short story named "A Bear and Two Friends" into five parts.
- On a summer vacation, two friends were walking aimlessly in a large and dark jungle to see the animal life closely. But, suddenly they got lost and understood a danger coming ahead
- promised not to leave each other in danger
- breaking promise his friend fled away leaving alone in danger
- his presence of wit he befooled the bear and saved his own life
- realized a friend in need is a friend indeed
The collected information will surely help you see the whole story. Now, it is time to write your first draft as quickly as possible. Then, check whether you have provided enough details; you should also check whether your sentences are logically connected to develop a unified idea. Finally, of course, you should closely look at your spelling and syntactic error. Let's make our first draft.
First Draft
Once upon a time, there were two bosom friends named Rohan and Rohit. They used to live in a city. But they were very fond of nature. One day, on a summer vacation, they decided to observe animal life closely. So, they went to a large forest. When they went to the forest, they became amazed to see its vastness. They started walking through the jungle. They became delighted to see the scenic beauty and various kinds of animals. They captured these animals and beautiful scenery through the lenses of their cameras. The sight and sound of the forest simply kept them spellbound. However, it was a dangerous forest too because it was full of dangerous animals too such as lions, tigers, bears, poisonous snakes, and spiders. By the way, the two friends, out of joy and wonder, found themselves lost in the forest. They understood that there was danger coming ahead. "I am so scared", Rohit said to Rohan. "I wish we could avoid entering into the deep forest."
They talked to each other and made promised they would not leave each other at the time. After a while, they saw to their horror that a bear was approaching them. They became so scared that they could not understand what to do. Rohan knew how to climb a tree. So, he flew away leaving Rohit alone in danger and he climbed up a tree and saved himself. But Rohit finding no option talk to himself, "Bear does not eat a dead man; so, if I pretend to be a dead man, it will not eat me." Then he laid down holding his breath for a while. Bear came close to him and smelt all over his body and thought him a dead man and left him without hurting him. Rohan saw it and got down from the tree and went to him and asked him, "What did the bear whisper to you?" His friend said that the bear gave him a great lesson: "Never trust a friend who leaves his friend in danger." These words made Roham feel ashamed and said sorry to Rohit and went away silently.
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