HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY OUTLINE | Secrets From A Short Story Writer | Outline For Beginners

what is up my fellow writers and readers I'm Sid and this is Sid the writer today we're going to be talking about how to write a short story outline this video is specifically for the people who need help outlining their short story plot because short stories are well so short plot ends up being really important because you don't have a very long time to tell an entire story now there are obviously many ways to outline a short story but I am just telling you the way that has worked for me if you'd like to see more content like this don't forget to Like and subscribe below and click the little notification bell so you don't miss any more writing tips and tricks alright let's get started when I'm first trying to come up with an idea for a short story the first thing I like to do is create my main character even though you don't have a lot of time to flush out a main character and a short story as you would in a novel you still have enough time to make them three-dimensional based on the traits that you give them so a trick that I like to use to make my short story main characters is character trait plus ironic contrast I'll explain what I mean by that if you've ever been in a writing course of any kind you've likely heard the terms person versus self person versus world and person versus person O's represent the kinds of problems that a character faces within a narrative of any kind whether it be a short story a play a novel etc I am making my main character for a short story I always like to give them one character trait and then one ironic contrast that is either another character trait of themselves a relationship that they have or something in their world around them using this trick we are going to build a story together say my character trait is that I want my main character to be a priest giving our main character and ironic contrast if it was a person versus self narrative would be something like a priest with a gambling addiction giving the main character and ironic contrast in a person versus person narrative would be something like a priest who has a son who does not believe in God and giving our character a character trait with an ironic trust and a person versus society or person versus world narrative would be a priest who gets offered money to commit a crime like to use ironic contrasts with these relationships because they automatically pose a problem and every narrative needs a problem that means solving one forward in our story let's use that first narrative structure let's use the priest who has a gambling addiction and I like to ask the question does this contrast pose a problem what kind of situations could this problem contribute to the situation that you get out of that question is what your problem is situation is your plot your situation has to be a concrete problem that involves other people of some kind some kind of interaction and your character has to have a goal attached to it our character is a priest with a gambling addiction situation that could arise out of this problem would be that maybe he spent some of the congregation money on his gambling and he lost it now if we think about a situation in which he would interact with another person regarding this problem maybe he was raising Congregation money for a specific congregation member to help with her sick husband that story wouldn't have time to go through the entire area of him raising the money and then going gambling and then coming back and everything like that but a short story would have enough time to cover maybe him going to lunch with this member of the congregation this woman and having to tell her at lunch that he has spent the money and he does not have it for her that gives us our setting of her story a family diner if you think about each individual character and short stories usually focus on two or three characters at the very most can give them interesting character contrasts as well they the priest is hung over because he was out gambling all night say that the member of the congregation is tired from taking care of her husband all night in this situation the priests goal is to admit his wrongdoing and admit to the congregation member that he spent the money too so he can be forgiven and absolved of guilt congregation members goal however has to be something different even though she's the secondary character she also needs a goal in this situation be an interesting contrast to give her the goal of trying to get the money but it would be even more interesting if maybe she was trying to get the money to spend on something completely different than her sick husband maybe her husband isn't sick at all the most important part of a short story is your transformation your character needs to have a transformation because your characters goal what they want and what your character needs intrinsically are different things by the end of your short story the main issue your main problem needs to be solved your issue solved or not solved did the main character get what they want or did they not get what they want by the end of the story your character also needs to undergo that transformation did they learn what they were supposed to how did this situation change them for better or for worse yeah I'd like to reiterate every single short story needs a transformation period this is what makes your story a story rather than a scene let's make our pinnacle moment in our short story the fact that the priest is about to admit his wrongdoing about spending the money but then the wife's sick husband walks into the restaurant to pick her up the priest obviously sees that he's not sick it's then obvious that this woman has been lying what this priest comes to realize is that he is not the only one lying in this situation everyone is a liar not just him even though he wanted to absolve his guilt and be a better person he decides and ultimately to not say anything about spending the money at fault no longer feels guilty because everyone is just like him though it is not a positive transformation on his part it is still a transformation the rest of that other character traits names situations the way that you write it can be written any way that you want and that my lovely people is how you out want a short story let me know in the comments down below if you're going to either use that outline for a short story or even use those specific plot points to write a short story about the gambling priest I would love to see people's different versions of this story since I used it as an example but haven't actually written that short story so I am trying to get to 100 subscribers currently so if you enjoyed this video or any of my other videos please subscribe below and tell your friends I hope all of you have a wonderful day and remember that you are loved and you are worthy of love bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Sydney Hegele

Views: 80,642

Keywords: authortube, short story, short story outline, how to write a short story, writing, how to write a short story outline, writer, creative writing, writing advice, outline example, story structure, writing tips, creative writing exercises, short stories, story outline, short fiction, short story writing, authortube tea, short story writing prompts, writing short stories youtube, writing short stories masterclass, authortube tips

Id: NNL-27idvik

Length: 7min 50sec (470 seconds)

Published: Sun May 03 2020