How short is a short story? It can be measured in good terms if you are typing it in and using a computer. I generally have a benchmark of 4 A4 pages for a short story but it has to be a very tight four pages. I use the default page setting in Ms Word and do not change the margins except to add a single line header for the title and a single line footer for the page number. I choose to work in Times New Roman font at Size 11 Normal font.
I do not bring in sub-titles in the first draft in order to allow for a complete non-formatted short story to be completed. I give a 5-space indent to the first word of every para but do not provide any space to para breaks. This helps me use the entire writing space of the four A4 pages.
It is difficult to write up to four pages if one is a new writer and if one does not have the practice. You can improve as you go forward and it becomes somewhat easier in future attempts. The other problem is when the story does not want to end with the last paragraph of the 4th page. That's ok. If you typed in four pages, you have done a good starter's job. The story is out there and now you can work with it.
The tougher task begins in editing the text from the first to the second draft. You need to be careful here. Do not shorten the story in the second draft. Allow it to grow from the four A4 pages to five pages. This helps you to develop the characters and allows your principal character in the short story to appear real, plausible and believable and larger than the scope of the first draft.
Next =
(2) Does your short story have a beginning and an end?
Bharat Bhushan, 10 July 2021
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