La short literature it always has. However, it didn’t happen until in recent years that, thanks to social networks, genres like micro-story have awakened to a new golden age. Stories summarized in one or two paragraphs that open new doors in the literature that play on the reader’s imagination. Also in an aesthetic that tries to inspire a certain mystery but, above all, to make an impact. If you also apply these 5 tips for writing a short story, success is assured.

Please shorten

As its name suggests, the short story requires greater goodness than the story. Although genre proposals have become somewhat topical over time (with stories spanning multiple paragraphs), the nature of the short story is to tell a story as well in as few words as possible. Shortening also involves deleting the sentences, paraphrasing, and using short dialogues.

Associate a situation

The novel is characterized by extending an idea and adding it to other subplots, while the story is recreated by a specific situation. Another important thing that you need to learn about is character development. If the novel tells of the long life of a boy who wants to be an astronaut until he reaches the Moon, the story will cover the moment he arrives, or when he decides to fly to the stars. The micro-story fulfills the same function as the story, but with even fewer words. Is about to relate a situation less clearly .

Use an ellipsis

Ellipsis is a rhetorical figure consisting of deleting words from writing that are, in themselves, intelligible. An important ally when it comes to condensing a deeper story into a few paragraphs. The short story uses excellence, keeping a certain mystery through a narrative that summarizes the essence of that story, coming directly to its climax. For example, if two characters go back and separate for a lifetime to finally realize that they love each other, an “After too much tying and undressing, the knot has grown stronger” will suffice. For example.

Play with words

You may be looking to write a story about anger and find it hard to find the words in that story that summarize it. For that reason, or at least in my case, I can get an image, one that inspires the rest of the content alone: ​​what emotion does that image inspire in you? What history does it contain? Other times, one word may be enough to attract others by which to form the writing. For example, “light” attracts words like “fireflies”, “darkness”, “day” … Play with them all, because first of all, short stories always welcome metaphors.

A good title

Curfew, by Omar Lara

“Stay,” I told him.

And I touched him.

Finding the perfect title for our work often takes us much longer than writing the micro-story itself. However, many times the title can complement that story by adding more value or, even, after its meaning. For example, the wonderful “Curfew.” Did you dare buy us a micro-story?