Writing Short Stories - An Information Resources Guide for Aspiring Writers

Introduction

Writing short stories is a great way to express yourself. A well-written story can have a huge impact on someone. It can move them, inspire them or make them look at the world in a completely different way.

Too many people who dream of being a writer never actually write anything. Those who do get that far are often unsure about how to improve their work, and ultimately how to get it published. If being a writer is your dream, this guide will help you to make it a reality.

Our guide is split into six sections. Each section focuses on an activity that you might be looking for help with: getting started, researching a story, planning a story, improving your writing, entering competitions and getting published.

1. Getting Started

This section includes advice and inspiration.

The resources in advice focus on the basic skills that you need to start writing short stories. Skills like characterisation and structuring a plot are vital if you’re just getting started. For the more experienced, returning to those basic principles can be a good way to refresh your creativity.

The inspiration section contains resources that will help you to come up with new story ideas. You could also try browsing the next section. Our story research resources might spark some ideas.

2. Researching a Story

Research is an important but often overlooked part of the short story writing process. It helps to give your stories an air of authenticity, and it can help to inspire you. You won’t necessarily want to research the background to every story that you write. However you really don’t want to spend days carefully crafting a deeply moving story only to have some philistine rip it to shreds because of some tiny historical or technical inaccuracy.

This guide can’t possibly contain every type of resource that a writer might want to help them research a story. The possibilities of fiction are truly limitless. We hope that the resources in this section will give you a useful starting point for your background research. They include history texts, myths, information about other planets, plans for time travel and so much more.

Our research resources are split into history, myths, and science.

3. Planning a story

Different writers have very different ideas about planning. Some of them advocate working out every detail in advance, while others prefer to leap in and see where the story takes them. The vast majority are somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, but it is a very individual thing.

Turn to this section for advice on key story planning tasks: naming characters, creating worlds and inventing languages.

4. Improving your writing

There is a wide range of resources available that will help you to become a better short story writer. Constantly striving to improve the quality of your work is the only way to get the most out of writing. This section includes courses, retreats, guides, magazines and online communities. They will help you to find the support that you need in order to progress as a short story writer.

5. Getting Published

Writing short stories for their own sake can be enjoyable but most writers feel the need to share their work. People often mistakenly think that getting published is the hardest part of being a short story writer. In fact there are a many ways that you can share your work with a wider audience.

The resources in this section will help you to get published. It includes advice on how to go about submitting your work to potential publishers. There are set professional standards for details like how to set out your story. The procedure isn’t always clear at first, but our resources will make it all very simple for you.

You will also find several different publishers. We have tried to include a wide range in every sense. Our selection covers a variety of genres, forms and media. We have included paying and non-paying markets. We can’t claim that this is a comprehensive list. It will give you a picture of the markets that are out there, but there are many more. With that in mind we have included other guides to short story publishers. Every magazine or website caters to slightly different tastes. If you’ve written a good quality story, then there is a place for it out there somewhere.


1. Getting Started


Advice


Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

Widely regarded as a classic, this guide to becoming a writer is aimed at people who are just setting out on that journey. Doreathea Brande has unusual but interesting ideas about how to develop what she calls a “writer’s personality”.

Brande, Dorothea, (1981), Becoming a Writer, Jeremy P Tarcher


Creative Writing for Dummies by Maggie Hammand

This guide ambitiously tries to cover every almost aspect of creative writing. It’s a reliable guide to all of the core concepts that you will need to master. It also includes useful tips and helpful writing exercises. Like all of the books in the popular ‘for Dummies’ series this is very much aimed at beginners.

Hammand, Maggie (2009). Creative Writing for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons


Short Story Writing – Advice from a creative writing tutor

This site contains useful advice from a creative writing tutor, Ian Mackean. He provides guidance on all of the basic principles of short story writing.

http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/index.html

Inspiration

Creative writing prompts

Suggestions for possible story ideas. They can be an opening line, a situation a character or something more obscure. This site has over three hundred. Pick a number and a prompt will appear.

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/


Dragon Writing Prompts

This blog is a collection of writing prompts. The photo prompts are particularly clever. The focus is on fantasy and science fiction but other genres are also catered for.

http://dragonwritingprompts.blogsome.com/


What If? – Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Ann Bernays and Pamela Painter

This book contains a range of different writing exercises. The focus is on helping you to use your own life experiences as raw material for your writing.

Bernays, Ann & Painter, Pamela (1991), What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, HarperCollins


Seventh Sanctum – Story Generators

This collection of story generators will give you more detail than the other writing prompts that we’ve recommended. The system randomly combines different phrases to come up with a story idea. You can pick a genre. There are also character generators and setting generators.

Example story idea:
“The story is about a humble cab driver who hates a particular alien species. It takes place in a large city on a toxic planet. The story begins with the discovery of a lost item, climaxes with someone borrowing money, and ends with someone pretending to be someone else. The question of when a machine becomes human is a major part of the story.”

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/about.php


They Fight Crime

This service randomly generates pairs of crime fighters. The surreal crime fighting teams might give you an idea for a story.

Example crime fighter pairing:
“He’s a sword-wielding Republican librarian possessed of the uncanny powers of an insect. She’s a radical tempestuous traffic warden prone to fits of savage, blood-crazed rage. They fight crime!”

http://www.theyfightcrime.org/


2. Researching a Story

Libraries

Public libraries are the best place to go if you want to research a story. They have a range of resources on almost any topic that you might be interested in. They also have experienced staff who will be able to help you with your research.

If you are lucky enough to have access to an academic library then their resources will also be very useful.

This site will help you to find your local public library.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/YourlocalcouncilandCouncilTax/YourCommunity/DG_4018790

History

BBC History – website & documentaries

The BBC History website contains an array of historical information. It also provides information about, and access to historical documentaries. Many BBC history documentaries are also available on DVD.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/

British History Online

This is a digital library, which contains documents that will help you to deepen your understanding of British history. Its collection includes original historical material and more recent documents.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/


British Museum

Researching an historical short story isn’t just about checking your facts and your dates. You want to try to get an idea what it was like to live in the past. The British Museum’s collection of historical artefacts might help you to do that.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/


National Archives

The British government’s official archives contain documents going back over a thousand years. Many of their records are available on their website, which also features educational information about British history. Information like the census records might help you to build up a picture of life in past decades.

Some resources are only accessible if you visit the archives in person. You might also find seeing the originals helpful on a creative level.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/


Myths

A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts by Carey Miller

This is a thorough and detailed dictionary of monsters and mysterious beasts from all over the world. Some of the creatures are well known, while others will probably be new to you. Even entries about the better-known beasts often reveal new aspects of their myths.

Miller, Carey, (1974), A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts, Pan Books Ltd, London


Encyclopedia Mythica

This is an online encyclopaedia of world mythology. It is a useful reference guide to the world’s heroes, monsters and gods. It’s particularly good for looking up more obscure mythological references.

http://www.pantheon.org/


The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

This is a popular but controversial book about world mythology. Joseph Campbell argues that all myths share the same underlying pattern, what he calls the monomyth or the hero cycle. He has been criticised for downplaying differences between cultures. Interesting for short story writers because many writers have used his ideas as a framework for their own stories. Most famously George Lucas used it to give him the pattern for Star Wars.

Campbell, Joseph (1993) The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Fontana Press, London


Oxford Dictionary of World Mythology

This dictionary manages to provide a comprehensive reference guide to world mythology. Usefully split into world regions, it also includes an overview of the historical development of mythology in each area.

Cotterell, Arthur (1997), Oxford Dictionary of World Mythology, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Science


Ad Astra – Journal of the National Space Society

Ad Astra is the journal of the National Space Society, an organisation that campaigns for human expansion into space. It features articles that discuss the future potential of space exploration and colonisation.

Subscribers receive a print copy in the post. Older issues are archived on the society’s website. You can access them if you register.

http://www.nss.org/adastra/


Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life by David Lambert

Dinosaurs are perennially popular with readers, especially younger ones and those who love a good scare. If you want scientific accuracy in your dinosaur story this is a very useful reference book. It includes illustrations and details that might help you to describe these beasts effectively in your writing.

Lambert, David (2001) Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life, Dorling Kindersley

NASA

NASA’s website contains a wealth of information about space exploration. It includes details of current missions and future plans. Possible future technology is also discussed.

http://www.nasa.gov/


Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum contains collections that reveal a great deal about the natural world. Their dinosaur exhibits are very impressive. Other exhibits might also be useful for short story writers. What about the dramatic potential of natural disasters, or the creepiness of bugs?

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/


SETI – Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

If you’re interested in writing science fiction then you might want to consider the arguments for or against the existence of alien life. You also might want to research what humanity is doing in order to find a definitive answer. In both cases the SETI website is a good place to start.

http://www.seti.org/


Space

A wide ranging website about space. Includes more speculative ideas about the future exploration and colonisation of space.

http://www.space.com/


Time Travel – A Writer’s Guide to the Real Science of Plausible Time Travel by Paul J Nahin

Specifically aimed at fiction writers, this book exists to help you make your time travel stories seem scientifically plausible. It outlines real scientific ideas about the possibility of one day travelling through time.

Nahin, Paul (1997), A Writer’s Guide to the Real Science of Plausible Time Travel, Writer’s Digest Books


What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial Life by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart

This book explores the big questions about alien life. Is it likely that aliens exist? If they do exist what might they be like? This is a good place to start because the authors discuss the opinions of other influential writers. The also discuss the role of science fiction in these debates.

Cohen, Jack & Stewart, Ian (2002), What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial Life, Wiley


3. Planning a Story

Naming Characters

Baby Names

A site intended for doting parents but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be useful for you. If you’re finding it hard to think up a name for a character this site can help. It includes the meanings of names. That might be useful if you want to give a subtle clue about a character’s personality.

http://www.babynames.co.uk/


Random Name Generator

This site uses data from the US census to come up with a random name. It takes first names and second names and randomly slices them together. As you’d expect it lets you pick male or female. The really clever bit is that you can specify how obscure you would like the name to be.

http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm


Creating Worlds

Constructed Languages

This is an online index of artificially constructed languages. It includes languages that have been created purely for the purposes of fiction. Don’t panic, very few writers go this far. However if you do need to make up some aspects of a new language this might give you some ideas.

http://www.quetzal.com/


Magic World Builder

This article site gives detailed advice about creating your own fantasy world. It includes a 30-day world-building course that takes you through the whole process step by step.

http://www.web-writer.net/fantasy/


Spec Fic World – Resources

This online directory of world building resources will help you to create strange new worlds. It includes a range of useful websites that will help you to design various different elements of a fantasy or science fiction world. It also includes a bibliography of useful reference books.

http://www.specficworld.com/resources/world.aspx


4. Improving Your Writing


Courses

Arvon Foundation

“The Arvon Foundation runs residential creative writing courses which aim to challenge, inspire and transform your writing” (Arvon, 2010). Arvon foundation writing courses are aimed at writers of all levels of experience. Participlants often find the beautiful countryside settings inspiring. The opportunity to work with professional writers could also give you a boost.

These residential courses last for one week.

http://www.arvonfoundation.org/p1.html


City University – Short Story Writing

This course is one of several creative writing courses that are available at City University. This is a short evening course, which aims to help you develop “practical writing skills”. Students are encouraged “to gain confidence in exploring and developing their creativity” (City, 2010).

This course lasts for 10 weeks. There are 10 Weekly classes.

If you want to study fiction writing in greater depth City also offers a Masters in Creative Writing.

http://www.city.ac.uk/cae/cfa/writing/fiction/short_story.html


Open University – Creative Writing

Creative Writing (A215) is a level 2 course at the Open University. That means it would give you 60 points towards an OU degree. Studying from home makes your studies more flexible. This course covers various different aspects of creative writing. The activities are designed to “ignite and sustain the writing impulse” (OU, 2010).

This course lasts for 32 weeks. Students study in their own time with the support of a workbook and online tutorials.

You can go on to study a level 3 writing course. That module would also give you points towards a degree.

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/a215/index.html


Travel Quest – Specialist Travel Listings – Writing Retreats

Some writers found that having a few days away from the distractions of everyday life helps them to focus. Writing retreats offer that opportunity. They also offer professional tuition, and a chance to bond with fellow writers. This directory includes writing retreats all over the world. Perhaps a bit of sunshine would help you to write better?

http://www.travel-quest.co.uk/tqwrite.htm

Coursebooks

The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry by Julia Bell and Andrew Motion

This is one of the most respected creative writing coursebooks. Julia Bell and Andrew Motion both teach creative writing at the university of East Anglia. Their course has been very successful. In this book they outline the process that their students go through on that course. As the title suggests it also benefits from input from a large number of professional writers.

Bell, Julia & Motion, Andrew (2001) The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry, Macmillan Reference


Creative Writing – A workbook with readings by Linda Anderson Derek Neale

Please note that this is the coursebook for the Open University course mentioned above. Don’t buy it if you intend to take that course, you will be given a copy.

This book contains the activities and readings that OU students will use to guide them through their creative writing studies. It’s designed to inspire you and help you to develop as a writer.

Anderson, Linda & Neale, Derek (2005) Creative Writing – A workbook with readings by Linda Anderson Derek Neale, Routledge

Magazines

Writing Magazine

Writing Magazine is aimed at aspiring writers. It contains features like ‘how to’ guides and interviews with successful writers. The magazine also runs regular competitions.

Writing News

Writing News is Writing Magazine’s sister publication. It focuses more on keeping writers up to date with events in the publishing world.

Information about subscribing to either of these magazines can be found at:
http://www.writersnews.co.uk/main/wn.asp

4. Getting Published

Advice

Writers Digest

Writers Digest is essentially an online magazine about writing. It has lots of useful articles but its best feature is its excellent advice about how to get published.

http://www.writersdigest.com/

About.com: fiction writing – How to publish short stories

This site has lots of different ‘how to’ features for fiction writers. This particular section is a clear step-by-step guide to submitting a story. It covers issues like researching the market, formatting your stories correctly, tracking submissions and keeping rejection in perspective.

http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/thebusinessofwriting/tp/publish.htm

Publishers

Guides

Duotrope’s Digest

If you’re trying to get short stories published then Duotrope is a site that you will return to again and again. This online directory lists almost 3000 short story and poetry publications. It is regularly updated so that number is growing all the time. It allows you to refine your search in various different ways, i.e. genre, length, media etc.

http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx


Writers’ & Artists Yearbook 2010

A lot of successful writers credit this annual series with helping them to get published. It contains useful advice about various aspects of writing. It’s often advice written by grateful famous writers. However its most important feature is its huge directory of publishers. It includes useful information about the publishing habits of each magazine.

(2010)Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2010, A &C Black, London

Magazines & Ezines

Monsta Productions

The creative writing and film making ezine that I help to run. Obviously the best place on the Web to publish short stories.

http://www.monstapro.co.uk

Dream People

Dream People is an ezine which is trying to carve itself a niche as a place for avant-garde, experimental fiction.

Make sure you read the site before submitting. You’ll need to develop your own sense of what their stated genre preference actually means in practise.

Dream people accept stories of up 1000 words but that’s very much an upper limit. They prefer writers to stay below 500. Payment is in their words, ‘the price of a cheap vodka martini.’ That’s $5 per story.

http://www.dreampeople.org/


Everyday Fiction

As its name suggests everyday fiction publishes a new story every day. By necessity that means they have a fairly high acceptance rate, so this might be a good place to start. The word limit is 1000 but shorter stories are preferred. Payment is $3 per story.

http://www.everydayfiction.com/


Interzone

Interzone is an influential science fiction, speculative fiction and fantasy magazine. They are open mined about lengths but longer stories are harder to sell. Contact the magazine for information about payment.

http://ttapress.com/interzone/


London Magazine

London Magazine is a well-established magazine, which aims to keep Londoners informed about the arts and literature. They are interested in literary prose. Their word limit is 2000 – 5000. Payment is by arrangement.

http://www.thelondonmagazine.net

Space Westerns

The great thing about the proliferation of short story ezines is that every possible genre is covered by one of them. If you enjoy writing and space westerns then this site is meant for you. Space Westerns submission guideline say that their word limit is 7000. In practise they seem to publish stories in the 1000 to 2000 range. They pay 1 cent per word, up to a maximum of $50.

http://www.spacewesterns.com/

Thaumatrope

Thaumotrope is part of a growing movement in online fiction. Some people think they’ve seen the future and it’s short, very short. This is a twitter-based ezine, so stories are limited to a maximum of 140 characters. It is an interesting challenge for a writer. They are looking for fantasy or science fiction and they pay $1.40 per story.

http://thaumatrope.greententacles.com/
http://twitter.com/thaumatrope

References and Resources

Assignment URLs

The URL for this blog - http://beyondtheshelvesweknow.blogspot.com/
My City Website - http://www.student.city.ac.uk/%7Eabhp697/first.html
My Java Script Application - http://www.student.city.ac.uk/%7Eabhp697/javascript.html

Bibliography

Belkin, NJ, Oddy, R & Brooks H, ASK For Information Retrieval - Journal of Documentation (1982)

Boumphrey, F. and Harrison, M. (2000), XML for the Healthcare Executive.

Butterworth, Richard, DITA: Lecture 2 - Digital Representation
Butterworth, Richard, DITA: Lecture 3 - The Internet and the World Wide Web
Butterworth, Richard, DITA: Lecture 6 - Markup and Cascading Style Sheets
- The above lectures can be found on City University's Cityspace VLE at
http://www.city.ac.uk/cityspace

Chowdury, GG & Sudatta Chowdury, Introduction to Digital Libraries, 2003, London, Facet Publishing

Flanagan, D, Javascript: The Definitive Guide - Fourth Edition, Sebastopol, 2001, O'Reilly Media

Rosenfeld, L & Morville, P, Information architecture for the World Wide Web (2007) (3rd edition), Sebastopol, CA.: O'Reilly

Rutter, R. (2000) Sizzling HTML Jalfrezi
http://vzone.virgin.net/sizzling.jalfrezi/iniframe.htm

Webmonkey Tutorials - Accessible guides to creating your own website
Webmonkey, HTML
http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/Make_an_HTML_Document
Webmonkey, Javascript
http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/JavaScript_Tutorial

Webopedia: JPG vs GIF vs PNG
http://www.webopedia/didyouknow/internet/2002/jpg_gif_png.asp
Clear information about the three main graphics formats.

W3 Guide to Cascading Style Sheets
http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/intro.html

Sperberg-McQueen, CM and Burnard, L (2004) Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), A Gentle Introduction to XML
http://www.tei-c.org/Guidelines/P4/html/SG.html

Zen Garden
http://www.csszengarden.com/
Inspiring examples of the use of Cascading Style Sheets

Images

Movieposter.com - Earth Vs the Flying Saucers movie poster
http://uk.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/20/b70-10170

Valentin, Nicolas - Oh Look, There is a Rainbow!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrian_valentin_murphy/354252383

Information Architectures

Information Architecture is the art of organising information in a way that makes it easy for people to use it. In a very real sense it is millenia old, that after all is exactly what Librarians have been trying to do since ancient times. The growth of the Web has given that task a new sense of importance and urgency. It has also given it a new name.

The rise of Information Architecture as a profession raises interesting questions for Librarians. It is arguably just Librarianship in an online environment. Why aren't Information Architects called Web Librarians? (They are sometimes but it isn't the most widely accepted label.) What does that suggest about the image that Librarianship has outside of our profession? On the other hand whatever the job title we should be able to convince people that the study of Library Science gives us the skills to create well organised and easy to use Information Architectures.

The name isn't arbitrary. It is a metaphor which says a lot about the goals and self image of the emerging field of Information Architecture. The idea is that a website needs to be planned and carefully designed in the same way that a conventional architect would design a house or an office building.

The needs of the users need to be carefully considered. No one would build a house without thinking about what it would be like to live in it.

In the past websites have often been allowed to grow slightly haphazardly or they have been designed by people who were focused on form rather than function. Information Architects would argue that that is the equivalent of building a house room by room or letting an interior decorator design it.

Moreville and Rosenfeld point out that bad information architecture puts off customers, wastes employee time and and damage's an organisation's brand image or reputation. (Moreville & Rosenfeld, 2007.)

It is very hard to overestimate the importance of Information Architecture, for businesses, public services, and for each one of us .

Client Side Programming

JavaScript is a programming language that is used for client side programming. This is a technique which speeds up online tasks by getting the client computer (i.e. the computer you are using) to do more of the work. Instead of repeatedly requesting information from the server your computer downloads the information it needs in one go. From your perspective this means that everything runs faster and smoother.

This week's task involved writing a JavaScript program. The aim was to create a program which would ask users if they were interested in news or sports. If they request 'news' they should then be asked which part of the UK they are interested in. If they specify 'sport' they are given a selection of sports to choose from. In all cases they should then be sent to the relevant section of the BBC website.

Information Retrieval

Information can be stored in a huge variety of different places and in a wide range of different forms. It isn't always easy to find the information that you want.

We all need to hone our Information Retrieval skills in order to operate successfully in a world that sometimes seems to be drowning in information; not all of it of very high quality, and very little of it directly relevant to a particular query.

Fortunately there are a lot of useful tools that we can use to make Information Retrieval easier.

From the users perspective Information Retrieval starts with an information need. The user realises (or at least vaguely thinks) that there is something they need to know. They have what Belkin, Oddy and Brooks call an "Anomalous State of Knowledge'. There is a gap in their understanding which needs to be filled.

Over the last few months there have been several times when I have had an information need related to my work on DITA. My usual first step has been to go back to my lecture notes and see if there is anything in them or the references which will meet my need.

The websites listed in the references are often an excellent starting point for a bit of browsing about a subject. Moving from site to site via hyperlinks can lead to interesting finds and it helps to give me an overview of a particular topic.

Search Engines like Google or Bing are obviously very helpful. I often use Google to locate additional resources to help me complete the lab tasks for this module.

When using search engines for in depth research it is best to use Boolean operators in order to make sure that you locate the most relevant resources. They use Boolean logic to improve the relevancy of the documents retrieved. They allow you to specify in more detail what kind of documents you are interested in. The three most important ones are AND, OR, NOT.

Technology makes finding information much easier. That said it does bring its own challenges. The most important one is not a technical issue. Each individual has to take responsibility for evaluating the quality of the information that they find.

Google will find thousands of documents for us. We can make sure that we phrase our search requests correctly and use Boolean Operators and similar techniques to improve the results that we find. Ultimately however it is up to us, the users, to evaluate the information, and to use it effectively.