So several months ago Ellen asked me to blog about writing short, and I did, but I thought I’d revisit the topic with a more concrete example, using my current project Night Music.
Night Music will be 12K finished. I don’t like how the chapters are breaking currently, so I’m going to rearrange it at 6 chapters of 2K each. That’s more organization than structure, but it’s a beginning point.
I use the 3-act plot structure, which means I need to organize the first 4K (2 chapters) to introduce the main characters, the central conflict, the setting, and so on. Establish who and what the story is about, where and when it takes place. The next 4K will develop the characters and the conflict introduced in the first act and lead to a reversal. The final 4K will include final conflict and resolution and wind up all the threads to conclude the story.
With a story of this length you really only need one major reversal, but I like to end chapters on a turning point, which keeps the tension high and the pages turning. So. When I go to put a project together I will have this kind of map of the final product, what goes in which act, average chapter length so I can pace it to move towards a turning point, average length of each act so I can pace each piece of the puzzle.
When I finish each act, I read over and do my fixes and brush it up, flesh out anything that needs more detail, more impact. After I finish the second act, I’ll go back over the first two acts, and then through the whole when I finish the third act. This is a good way to make sure that no important points from the first act fail to develop in the second or resolve in the third and it means when I’m done, I’m really done. I’ll do a final read-through and make any fixes I spot, but I’m essentially done when I reach the end.
That’s more process than structure, but I thought I’d throw it in there. Also, since I tend to write out of order I’ll often discover something in the second act I should have introduced or built up in the first act and I’ll have to go back and layer that in.
In a story of this length the conflict can’t be anything too complicated to fully resolve. If you’re contemplating starting a short story or novella, make sure the idea isn’t something on the scale of Star Wars or there’ll be trouble when you try to make it fit the length. Another trick is to keep the cast of characters tight and scaled down. Protagonist, antagonist, ally, for instance. A romance needs a hero and heroine, and any additions need to be few and given little space. Otherwise it’ll be very hard to contain the story to the short length.
Structure is pretty important in something this short because there’s no room to get off-track. I think structure is always important, but it really, really shows in a short piece.
With my structure laid out, I like to have my playlist to work to. For Night Music, my playlist is: Behind the Walls of Sleep, The Smithereens, Possum Kingdom, The Toadies, and A Little Night Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
And that’s how I write short. Not much different from how I write long, except I’ll be done a lot faster.
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