Writing short stories

Short stories come in many forms. I don't know what officially makes a short story except that it's short and tells a complete story. (I can't give you an exact limit on words.) The first part of my second sentence isn't as important as the second half, though. You have to have a complete story. I've written one about walking to a store and back. It's short mostly because I just can't make it any longer.

Since you still have to have a start, a middle, and an end, there are two things you have to do with your short story. The first thing is to narrow the scope of the story. For instance, instead of a day in someone's life, perhaps just writing about an hour or a single event such as, well, going for a walk. You'll also have to choose details and words carefully. For instance, writing about every house along that walk will probably make your short story into a rather long one. Describing each in detail and telling about all of their occupants may give James Clavell something to worry about. There's nothing wrong with that, though. If that's what you want to do, go for it. Just don't call it a short story.

As for getting it published, that will come later. You first have to be able to write well. You can take classes to help with that and I recommend reading a lot to get an idea of what gets published. With the advent of free homepages, there's also Internet publishing. First, though, you must write.