Plot, plot, plot: but why?
You can plan a novel ahead of time or just sit down and see what happens. Letting yourself drift is a nice thing, but only a very small percentage of authors end up with a finished novel. Especially if it's the first novel. It starts so well, the first 20 or 30 pages just bubble up on paper, but then ... well ... somehow ... it doesn't go any further! Most of them then, Write an essay for me frustrated, put their project, which they started so optimistically, in the drawer and give up.
It doesn't have to be!
Our tip: plan first, then write. A plot is a course of action and you can define it beforehand. How detailed you do this is a matter of taste. You can determine the most important key data such as the central conflict, the introduction of the protagonists, the course of conflict management, and how the novel ends. But you can also plot in more detail and, for example, specify for each scene what should happen in it. Depending on your taste. Then all you have to do is write along with the plot, which looks like a safety railing. And already it works with the novel.
Tips and information on writing short stories!
Writing short stories and shortest stories is usually not the top priority of creative writers. Most have an autobiography or a fictional novel on their mind. Very few think primarily of a band with short stories. And if you want to publish in a large publishing house, a bestseller, even a million-seller, then you take the rather stony path with short stories.
Nevertheless, authors have always managed to be very successful with it! Think of Roal Dahl's “Küsschen, Küsschen” in every bookstore at the time, Write my essay online or of the highly acclaimed Judith Hermann with her volume “Sommerhaus, later”, not to mention the literary award winner Alice Munro!
In our opinion, artists should do what they want to do anyway and not primarily what the market demands. But aside from the fact that short stories are quite a wonderful and unique literary form of prose, there are a few really good reasons why short story writing can be useful. Especially for beginners, but also for authors who have already been published.
Reason 1: Try yourself creatively, write short stories now and then
The short form has many advantages, especially for beginners in creative writing. You can try out: different topics, styles, perspectives, tones, and so on. And that without committing to a long project, as happens when writing a novel. It is precise with short stories that you can fully express your creativity. And so, step by step, you will find your style and your writing preferences. In our weekend workshop on writing short stories, you can learn the most important things about structure and narrative techniques.
Reason 2: explore topics: write a short story or a novel?
There are topics that you have in your head, but they do not (yet) give a lot of perspectives. They wouldn't be enough for a novel, but they would be enough for a short story. It can also happen that you have an idea and first use it in a short story. Then you realize that the interest in it goes deeper, then you write a novel about it. Nabokov, for example, implemented the idea with Lolita both as a short story (The Magician) and as a novel (Lolita).
Reason 3: First possibility of publication!
In addition to the large trade publishers, there are also smaller ones, whose circulation figures are not that high, whose books are not right at the front on the tables in the entrance area of the bookstores. Small and medium-sized publishers have the advantage that they still dare to experiment. They often publish anthologies, which are collections of short stories by different authors. And they dare to include completely unknown authors in it. You can't thank these publishers enough that they dare this adventure again and again and thus open the door to the colorful world of publishing one step wide for newcomers.
So if you have finished writing a short / shortest story, keep an eye on the calls for proposals for anthologies. If the required topic and scope fit, submit your story. There are always tenders and sooner or later it will work out and you will have your first publication in your hands!
Reason 4: Receive an award for a short story!
Who doesn't dream of receiving a literary award! Many of these awards are for short stories and shortest stories.
What does it bring? Sometimes good money. The Brigitte Short Stories Prize, which was once endowed with 25,000 DM (!), Will not be forgotten. Unfortunately, there is, unfortunately not anymore. But now and then it is about 1,000 or 2,000 euros, sometimes there is only a book package, material prizes, a publication in an anthology, or an invitation to the award ceremony. No matter how attractive or highly endowed the price is, it is always worth gold!
Why? It increases your reputation as an author by leaps and bounds. You can write the price in your CV. If you ever deal with the press, for example at readings, you will notice that journalists are only too happy to take up this topic. There should be literary agents who only accept new authors if they have received at least one award. When submitting manuscripts to the publisher, it also gives you a clear lead over the other unknown authors.
In short: a prize is wonderful!
Before you send the text, take a look at our information on the standard page and on submitting a manuscript so that you can make a professional impression.
In our free newsletter, we keep you up to date on tenders for prizes and anthologies from all over the German-speaking area
Reason 5: Scholarship, stay as city clerk, island clerk, or similar.
Even with tenders for scholarships, which can include, for example, a stay in an idyllic house in an interesting city or region (so-called city clerk), a paid stay on an island (island clerk), or just a 6-month monthly blessing that anything and more can be gained with submitting a short story or brief story.
The same applies here: You have to do it!
Don't just dream about it, write the short story, revise it, format it in standard pages, compile the required documents, send it out. If it is not accepted, do not give up, My premium essay send it off again with the next suitable advertisement and sooner or later it will usually work!
