Month: February 2021

Whether a story is written in the past tense or the present tense, it gives the flow of the story a particular momentum. For example, a sentence such as, “Susan runs down the street to catch the bus,” has a different flow to it than “Susan ran down the street to catch the bus.” The former has more drive and energy to it, since it reads as if we’re experiencing the moment with the character.

But there are drawbacks to the present tense. The present tense cannot read like a recollection of a scene. It reads more like a play-by-play account of what is happening, kind of like a sport’s commentator describing a play as it is happening. As a result, the narration cannot be told in hindsight, which would allow the reader to know what would happen later. Rather, the advantage with present tense is that we, the reader, are discovering/learning about the events at the same time the characters are.

Past tense writing has more of an autobiographical effect to it, where the scenes are described like memories or musings. The tension happens not from the action that is taking place, but because of what we’re about to discover as the plot progresses.

Both present tense and past tense can be used effectively depending on the narrative of the story. I usually write in the past tense since I prefer to tell a story that has already happened, rather than one that is happening in the moment.

One exciting aspect about writing is sprinkling in details. Usually on the first draft, the story is bare-bones with just the main ideas laid out. It not until the second or third draft when the details get sprinkled in. They could be about the character’s appearance, personality, history, or about the environment they’re living in.

The details give authenticity to the characters and the world, making them believable and coherent. The details must be important, however. They cannot be random, such as the character’s shoe size or the brandname clothes they wear. They must be details that are pertinent to the narrative, or details that reveal something about the character’s thoughts, actions, or motives.

One example could be a character who is heroic and brave, yet, they are afraid of their own mortality. Another could be someone who is on the verge of bankruptcy, yet, they present themselves as confident and successful. Knowing these details give us an insight into who the characters are. We know what they’re going through, what their struggles are.

Details are especially important for science fiction and fantasy stories, which are layered with descriptions about the scenery as well as how things function in a futuristic or magical world. When we read stories that are layered with details, they expand our imagination, as well as bring us closer to being in those worlds.

How many words should authors write each day?

This is one of those things where the answer is open ended. Some authors have their own criteria for how many words should be written each day. They might have a certain number, but in the end, is it for us?

In our own case, we must factor in our circumstances. How many hours in the day do we have to write? Do we have other obligations that limit our time to write? Are we writing at night after a long day of work? All of these factors play an important part in our writing goals.

When writing short stories, I usually have a word count goal. It might be 1,000 words, 2,000 words, 3,000 words, etc. It depends on what my writing goal is. Is my focus right now on writing a novel, a novella, or a lot of short stories?

Regardless of what my goal is, here is my experience with word count. If I am writing a story and the word count exceeds my word count limit, then I won’t trim it down if the story is better off being longer. Likewise, I won’t expand on a story if it is better off being shorter than what the word count limit is.

I’m more focused on whether the story is good or not based on what is there. When we edit it a story, we find out what the story needs: what parts need to be changed, removed, or expanded. We might even discover that it needs to be rewritten altogether.

In the end, word count, and even chapter count, are just goals that help motivate me to write. They’re there so that I don’t ignore my writing goals and leave writing in the dust. Besides, writing is the most important thing.

I was writing a short story and had planned for it to end on a cliffhanger. Once I finished the story, I went back to edit it, but then realized that the story needed to continue–that there was a lot more potential for the plot and the characters.

So I added a couple of sentences to the ending to see how that would work, but I still wasn’t satisfied with it. I added another scene, but felt like it had to keep going. Before I knew it, I was writing several scenes and exploring the characters more thoroughly.

I continued writing the story until I reached a satisfying conclusion. It was an unusual process, since I had planned for it to end on a cliffhanger. Yet, here was a story which shouldn’t have been limited by one.

Some stories can end on a cliffhanger because their strength lies in the climax of the story. But other stories need time to evolve, and need more depth and history to the characters, as well as development to the plot. Essentially, each story needs to have its own kind of ending.

One of my writing goals this year is to complete at least 20 short stories. I’ve been writing more of them recently, and enjoy creating vignettes and scenes that are either extraordinary, strange, or surreal.

My other goal is to write a novel. Last year, my goal was to write four novels, but this year, because I’m focusing on short stories instead, I will limit myself to one novel. But we will see. Who knows what great novel-length concept grabs me in the coming months.

The length of each short story will vary–according to how much depth is needed to complete each one. When an idea jumps out at you, you have to write it before the idea wanes.

When I write a story, I often wonder how long it needs to be. In other words, how many words does it need to be?

When writing a novel, I know it has to be at least 40,000 words minimum. For a short story, it can be 1,000 words, 2,000 words, etc. The word limit for a story is just the fencing for the concept and narrative. But that fence can expand depending on how much yardage is needed to complete the garden, so to speak.

I often go over the limit of what I set for myself. If I am aiming for a 40,000 word novel, the story will often exceed it. The same holds true for short stories. For the story itself is organic and evolving.