The writer who asked this question wanted to know how to write a short story that's fewer than 5,000 words, but I think my advice applies to any story—even novels.
Two things determine the length of a story: scope and style.
Let's take scope first. Scope is another way of describing the universe of your story. Some stuff makes it into the universe, and a lot of other stuff doesn't.
As you're brainstorming your story, you might find yourself saying, I want to write a story about [blank]. For me, that's usually the first clue about scope. If I want to write a story that spans one hundred years of intergalactic space conflict, I know right away that my story is going to be pretty big. On the other hand, if I want to write a story about a teen's first kiss, I know that I'm probably working within a narrow scope.
That said, scope is really about making a choice. You can write a short story about an intergalactic space war that spans one hundred years, you just have to choose a narrow focal point like a single character or event within that larger story. Alternatively, a first kiss might be the subject of an entire novel, but again you're making a choice to add context. The point is that if you're going to write a short story, you need to limit your scope.
Style is a broader category than scope, but for our purpose let's just say that style is how you write the story. As you might imagine, things like word choice and sentence structure play big role in determining the length of your story.
If you're struggling to hit a specific word count, you'll have to cut words. But cutting words is actually a good thing because fewer words means greater impact.
So, how do I make cuts?
First, I cut anything that's repetitive. You only need to give the reader a piece of information once.
Second, I cut anything that's irrelevant. You might have a great run of dialogue that's hilarious, or a beautiful description, but if it doesn't advance the story or speak to the theme, you don't need it.
Third, I challenge every single word. Often, writers fall into lazy patterns where we use words and phrases that are filler. By looking at every single word in the story and asking yourself if it needs to be there, you can cut the fat.
One final piece of advice. Cutting words can feel painful, but you're doing it for the readers. They bring their imaginations to the page, which means writers need to trust that their readers will take just the right amount of words and create worlds in their minds.
OK, one final-final piece of advice. Try writing micro-stories. Writing stories that are fewer than 1,000 words is a great way to hone your craft. I have several books of micro-stories (hint 😉), so feel free to check out Coffee Talk, Tuesdays with Telemarketers, Life Or Something Like It, and Along for the Ride.
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