A Template for Writing Short Stories

Here is a template that I made for myself. The inspiration came from Stephen Pressfield’s book ‘Nobody wants to read your shit’.

I think the template is pretty self explanatory. But I’ll try and talk about some of the terms that you may find alien. If you still have questions,  feel free to ask them in the comment box.

Theme is the overarching message of the story. Is it good vs evil? Justice vs Injustice? Discipline vs serendipity? Heroism vs villainy? Love vs ego? The options are endless. You get to chose what theme your story will embody. But there has to be a theme and it has to have an opposing counter theme.

Your hero shall embody the theme. Whereas, the main villain should embody the counter theme.

Climax is when these two forces clash. Stephen Pressfield urges his readers to solve the climax first and then write the rest of the story.

Inciting incident is what starts the story. Maybe hero meets villain or hero gets shunned by someone she loves- it will be unique to your theme.

Narrative device is one of the harder things to master. It asks the following questions-

Who is talking to the reader? Is the reader getting a first-person view? Or is the reader getting a 3^rd person view from someone related to the protagonist or the writer herself? Is the story being told in past tense? Is the narrator stoic or biased?

OCEAN is an acronym for the big five personality traits. The characters in your story will need unique personalities and everything they do should stem from that. The big five traits are- Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Characters generally will be high in one trait while low in others.

All character should have some kind of flaw. This will make them more humane and relatable.

Characters should also have some kind of agenda and goals that they yearn to fulfill.

The last part of the template is just the ‘Heroes journey’. This is to help you with structuring the story properly.

Tests are situations where your characters’ will have to make a difficult choice. This is crucial for character development.

Here’s the template:

(Click here to download it in MS WORD)

 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Theme:

Concept:

Climax:

Inciting Incident:

Narrative Device:

OCEAN:

Flaw:

Goal:

Test:

 

1. Hero Starts in Ordinary world:
2. Hero receives call to Adventure
3. Hero rejects call:
4. Hero meets mentor. Mentor gives hero courage to accept call
5. Hero crosses threshold enters special world
6. Hero encounters enemies and allies, undergoes ordeal that will serve as his initiation
7. Hero confronts villain, acquires treasure.
8. The Road back. Hero escapes special world, trying to “get home”
9. Villain pursue Hero. Hero must fight/ escape again
10. Hero returns home with treasure, reintegrates into ordinary world, but now as a changed person, thanks to his ordeal and experiences on his journey.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

‘Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit’ is here to teach you writing

I have been reading the book ‘Nobody wants to read your shit’. Little to my surprise, Stephen Pressfield has written an incredible book, again.

He goes in length about how to write an ad content, how to write for Hollywood as well as how to write fiction and nonfiction.

Maybe you are already familiar with the idea of a hero’s journey. Most resources about writing a story focuses on this one idea. But Stephen goes further than that. He talks about themes, counter themes, how to write characters, Inciting incident, climaxes, jeopardy, content, text/subtext and a lot more!

Here are some of the suggestions that I found helpful:

Tell the story in pictures

A very important part of writing a story is making it a series of pictures. By pictures I mean portraying the scene happening in real time. No body likes long talks or expositions. That’s why even movies bring us to flash backs instead of just talking about things that happened.

Every character must represent something greater than himself

The hero needs to embody the theme. But not from the start. He will learn it from all the experiences he gets in the story. Thus his character will be developed and he will get ready for a face off against the villain.

The villain himself should embody the counter theme. His character will be developed in the second act. The more dangerous and powerful he is shown to be, the more impactful the climax will be.

Jeopardy

The hero needs to go through severe jeopardy. A lot of trouble should be on his way throughout the story to get him on the verge of a psychotic break.

Solve the climax first

Pressfield also suggests to start writing the end of the story first. He advises to solve the climax first and then write around that.

Having said all that, I’d like to add my two cents. I think the most important part of writing a story is to a block all distractions while writing and actually sitting down everyday to write something.

That’s how Stephen Pressfield does it.

That’s how Stephen King does it.

That’s how Neil Gaiman Does it.

If you can’t make yourself write daily then your writing won’t improve overtime. The ideas that we as humans have discovered about a proper story, wont just come naturally to you. You have to practice it day after day after day. You have to embody the spirit of a sculptor who keeps putting in work carving and chiseling away.

To make sure you sit down to do the things important to you, read this.