What Makes a Great Short Story? by K A Servian

This week we have NZ author K A Servian visiting with us. She has a new book, A Pivotal Right ~Book 2 in Shaking the Tree series. Here she talks about 'Short Stories'.

An overwhelming urge to create led Kathy to pursue qualifications in both fashion design and screen-printing which were followed by a twenty-year career in the fashion and applied arts industries.

She then discovered a love of teaching and began passing on the skills she'd accumulated over the years—design, pattern-making, sewing, Art Clay Silver, screen-printing and machine embroidery to name a few. 

Kathy’s first novel, Peak Hill, was a finalist in the Romance Writers of New Zealand Pacific Hearts Full Manuscript contest in 2016.

Her second novel, Throwing Light, was published in February 2017.

The Moral Compass is her third novel and the first in a historical series set predominantly in colonial New Zealand.

Having recently completed a diploma in advanced creative writing, Kathy fits writing around teaching sewing and being a wife and mother.

K. A. Servian on the web:

Website       Facebook     Twitter     Instagram    Author Page  

I recently won my first short story competition (Romance Writers of NZ Chapter Short Story Contest) with a story called Seeing Him Again for the First Time. I’ve written a few short stories in my time and they are difficult to write well. Therefore, to have one recognised as being worthy of a win is something I’m very proud of.  Maybe it means I’ve finally worked out that elusive something that makes a good short story—or maybe I was just lucky.

Short stories are divisive.  Some people love them, and others either hate or just don’t ‘get’ the purpose of them. I fall into the former camp—there is nothing I love more than a great short story. It drags you in, makes you think, and stays with you afterwards. Of the hundreds I have read only a dozen or so stick in my mind as being ‘perfect.’

For me, a good short story has a great opening line, a strong theme, a beginning, a middle, and an end (as opposed to being simply a ‘slice of life’ that goes nowhere). The story must be intriguing preferably include a twist and/or revelation that makes me go ‘wow, I didn’t see that coming.’ 

Roald Dahl is a master of the short story. I grew up reading his kids’ books before graduating onto his short story collections such as Kiss, Kiss and Switch Bitch after being intrigued by the 1970s TV series Tales of the Unexpected (yes, I am that old). Dahl’s stories are a little bit twisted and always have a sting in their tail and that, I believe, is the main key to a successful short story—the ending must be unexpected. 

Because of their length, short stories are the perfect medium to experiment with genre, setting, style, character and theme. You can try all sorts of ideas without having to invest too much time into something that may or may not work. They can also be a great way to stimulate ideas that may (or may not) lead to a longer work.

If you’re new to short story writing and don’t know where to start, I’d recommend reading as many short stories as you can get your hands on. Save the ones you like. Read them again and have a good think about what draws you to them.

Fortunately, there are lots of places online where you can read short stories for free.  One of the best sites is East of the Web: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/indexframe.html. This site has hundreds of contemporary stories in all genres and also includes classic tales by authors such as O Henry, Edith Wharton, Henry James, and Arthur Conan Doyle. One of my favourite short stories is on this site. It’s written by Henry Fish and is titled Death by Scrabble.  It’s the tale of a husband and wife playing scrabble and opens with the line “It is a hot day and I hate my wife.”  This fantastic first line leads to a story with a great twist. You can read it here: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DeatScra.shtml

Other stories that have spoken to me are The Silk by Joy Cowley (subtle, sad and achingly beautiful), Pawn Broken by Eleanor Catton (has elements of her Booker prize winner The Luminaries) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10620511

 A Fool about Money by Ngaio Marsh (Clever, funny and has a great twist), and Royal Jelly (so creepy) by Roald Dahl

You can also check out a couple of my short stories here: https://kaservian.com/short-stories/

What are your favorite short stories ad why do you love them?

A Pivotal Right: (Shaking the Tree Book 2)

Florence struggled for breath as she stared in the face of a ghost. "Jack?"

Twenty years after being forced apart Jack and Florence have been offered a second chance at love. But can they find their way back to each other through all the misunderstandings, guilt and pain?

And what of their daughter, Viola? Her plan to become a doctor is based on the belief she has inherited her gift for medicine from Emile, the man she believed was her father. How will she reconcile her future with the discovery that she is Jack's child?

A Pivotal Right is the second book in the Shaking the Tree series set in colonial New Zealand. It continues the story of Jack and Florence begun in The Moral Compass.

Buy on:

Amazon Kindle             Amazon Paperback

Amazon UK                  Amazon Aust