Short Story Writer
Budget: £250 – £750 GBP
Your story needs:
A compelling, flawed, but also sympathetic-ish protagonist. Remember that no one likes perfect characters, and no one likes absolute monsters. Your protagonist needs to be somewhere in the middle.
A realistic, believable conflict. Don’t replicate the type of conflict you'd get from a TV show or a movie. Don’t make it overly-complicated, sentimental, or over-the-top. Remember that the best conflicts are ones that come from within the character.
At least one scene (but probably more!) that’s primarily conveyed through dialogue. Dialogue adds texture to a story, and is a good opportunity to showcase your characters’ personalities without you, the author, having to describe them for us
Stakes, obviously. We want to feel like we’ve been told a story that matters. Especially if things are wrapped up in a satisfying way, we want to have the feeling that things could have been lost, that serious consequences could have resulted
Your story should be at least 3-4 pages, or 900-ish words (double spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font, with 1 inch margins) but longer is fine.
Similar stories: “The Boy from Lam Kien”, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, "Bullet in the Brain", “In the Cemetery where Al Jolson is Buried” and “Miles City, Montana"
A compelling, flawed, but also sympathetic-ish protagonist. Remember that no one likes perfect characters, and no one likes absolute monsters. Your protagonist needs to be somewhere in the middle.
A realistic, believable conflict. Don’t replicate the type of conflict you'd get from a TV show or a movie. Don’t make it overly-complicated, sentimental, or over-the-top. Remember that the best conflicts are ones that come from within the character.
At least one scene (but probably more!) that’s primarily conveyed through dialogue. Dialogue adds texture to a story, and is a good opportunity to showcase your characters’ personalities without you, the author, having to describe them for us
Stakes, obviously. We want to feel like we’ve been told a story that matters. Especially if things are wrapped up in a satisfying way, we want to have the feeling that things could have been lost, that serious consequences could have resulted
Your story should be at least 3-4 pages, or 900-ish words (double spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font, with 1 inch margins) but longer is fine.
Similar stories: “The Boy from Lam Kien”, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, "Bullet in the Brain", “In the Cemetery where Al Jolson is Buried” and “Miles City, Montana"