If you are fascinated by the writings of Poe, Chekov, Tolstoy, Joyce, or Maupassant and have developed a deep desire to pen such stories before publishing a book on Amazon– then there are multiple ways to ace the skill. You can also become a good storyteller by honing a certain skill set that begins with creating a gripping plot followed by character development and spinning a great storyline.
Explore some hands-on ideas from celebrated short story writers to improve their skills—
Start with developing an idea
It can be a recent event that has engrossed you or created ripples in your peaceful mind for quite some time. Along with your creativity, you can develop an idea about the story that you can spin in the next chapter. Development of the story is a significant episode based on which, the further characters will be exposed and developed. It’s the idea of your storyline, following which the book cover maker will fabricate the front, spiral and back cover of the book and the blurb published at the back of the cover will come out from that idea.
Develop your primary protagonists
As you develop the plot, ask yourself- what the story is all about. Who are the main characters taking the story in a newer direction? What do these characters want? And finally, what exactly is stopping them from achieving what they want? These are some questions that you need to clarify in the first place and in the process you start developing the characters.
Authors writing stories for kids; prefer working with childrens illustrators who take an equal part in creating the book. The illustrators in children’s books and for the mangas and comics for adults contribute more than the author when it comes to developing the characters. The visual portrayal of the characters draws a direct impact on readers.
So, create your main characters and the supporting characters with believable backstories, values, personalities and the circumstances that are leading them to do certain acts.
Create the first draft & rewrite it if needed
After the first draft is ready, scan it and rewrite some portions where needed. Even if you have hired an expert to design a book cover, share blurbs for a second opinion from the readers. Fortunately, if some of them are writers, you can get some honest opinions and make certain changes to improve the readability of the short stories.