short stories... huh?

Hi.
So I will shamelessy be the first to admit that my writing is simply mediocre. I know in order to improve this I have to practice writing short stories and the like. I can't. I can't get into writing short stories. Maybe it's because I don't know how or maybe I'm just stubborn. I would really appreciate any opinions or advice anyone has to offer. Thank-you.
Mel

Sometimes short stories can be even harder to write than a full length novel because, well, their short. You don't have as much time to develop characters and make really intricate plots. I think a good place to start would be with some of the contests here on YWS. There are a ton of them and new ones get added almost every week. Pick one or more than sound interesting/do-able to you and enter. Pretty much every contest wants a short story of some kind so maybe with the guidelines/topics they are going for you can get some ideas.

-Carly

You don't necessarily have to improve your writing with short stories. Most of what I wrote initially was the start of novels, which I never finished. Great for developing writing skills (style, dialogue, character etc), plot... not so much. But if you ask a lot of people here, that's also how they started.

If you mean your plots are mediocre, then this isn't a good way to go. Try plotting out the book beforehand, or letting the idea sit for a while before you write it (often, this is how subplots appear/develop). But if your style and dialogue are what needs work, then simply start writing whatever you like, and it will improve as you go along.

This isn't to say you shouldn't try to finish things; simply that if it's only style you're focussing on, you can pretty much write anything, because any piece of writing will improve that.