Showing posts with label short stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short stories. Show all posts

Thursday, August 03, 2006

To Make a Short Story Long

Many writers overwrite. I’m not one of them. One of my struggles is making a story long enough. If you fall into the same camp, here are a few tips I’ve found to make a short story (or book) long:

1. Look for places where you’ve summarized a scene. Dramatize it instead.

2. Look for scenes where a character has a lot of interior monologue. Bring in a second character for them to talk with.

3. Look for time gaps. What happens in them that you could make into a scene?

4. Add another character. Perhaps someone your main character doesn’t want to see, or wasn’t expecting to see.

5. Add a subplot. Are there any existing characters you could give scenes? Maybe your villain?