Young Writers Society

First of all, I apologize if there has already been a post like this or if I have posted in the wrong forum.

And now to my question . There is this writing competition I want to enter, where you have to write a story in no more than 750 words. I was wondering how this is possible?

I have had a look at the short stories here, and while a lot of them are brilliant, they seems to be composed of just one single scene? Is this normal for a short story? How do I write a story with a plot-line, a beginning, middle and end in just 750 words?

For me that is just not enough words to fit a story in. I have written what you call a "slice of life" before, where yor start the story mid scene and give the reader a brief peek at a character's life. This is also just a scene from a story, for example, a car crash, or a woman coming home to find her house has been burgled. Does this count as a short story?

I'd appreciate any help, thanks for reading!

Short stories are normally stories which you can read in one sitting so it is short and tends to focus on one scene. Because many scenes tend to make you write more details so that it flows easier.

But it is not impossible for one to write a story in 750 words on the dot.

I think your 'slice of life' piece would be considered a short story as long as it tells a situation and a solution smoothly.

Hope this helped.

No, a scene from a larger story doesn't count as a short story!

A short story can be just one scene, but any conflict introduced should be resolved by the end. There should be a plot, characters, description. Everything you'd find in a longer story but just one, single conflict is usually enough.

Like there's a short story by Douglas Adams that revolves entirely around two men and one pack of... biscuits I think it is. Anyway, the conflict is that the first man (Douglas himself) thinks the other guy is stealing his packet of biscuits but then the resolution is that a he's leaving the airport cafeteria, he finds that his own pack are in his bag so he was stealing the other guy's.

It makes for a hilarious twist ending and I remember it really well because it was short, concise and very well written.

I can't actually find it anywhere online to link you, but here's a 250 word piece that I wrote to show it can be done in an even smaller number of words:

work.php?id=86860

Ernest Hemingway once wrote a six word short story. "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." So anything is possible.

I have a workshop professor who likes to say that a story is a story so long as it feels like a complete, finished piece. If it carries a complete arch of action, then it's a story! Doesn't matter if it's 50 words or 5,000.