As a writer and editor of short fiction, I often see new short-story writers trying to do too much in too little space. While longer fiction forms, such as novels, provide numerous opportunities for exploring subjects from multiple angles, the short story is best served by a narrower focus. That’s not to say that a short story writer can’t incorporate multiple storytelling elements, like plot, character, setting, dialogue, etc. Of course, they can! Rather, one should utilize them to spotlight one of the “WH-questions,” (i.e., who, what, when, where, why, and how), setting that interrogative at their story’s heart.
Many of you may be familiar with WH-questions from learning journalism basics in school. These queries provide the skeleton for articles, features, profile pieces, etc. They are as follows:
- Who: Who’s the story about?
- What: What’s happening in the story?
- When: When is the story taking place?
- Where: Where does the story take place?
- Why: Why is it important that readers know this story?
- How: How did the events come to pass?
While the news typically requires answers for all six questions, the short story provides more leeway. Indeed, some of the most effective short stories find authors selecting one (or possibly two) queries to focus on when crafting narratives. By narrowing to these one to two primary questions and layering on elements, motifs, and styles as means of providing answers, authors maximize the effectiveness of their short-story writing.
Consider the stories featuring Arthur Conan Doyle’s world-famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Narrated by the investigator’s confidante, John Watson, the Holmes stories focus on the question of “How?” Through Watson, Doyle reveals not only how the crime of the story was committed, but also how Holmes is able to deduce the perpetrator(s) of said crime. Every element builds toward these revelations. Doyle, via Watson, provides readers with some clues—enough that one might come close to guessing a solution. However, it’s through Holmes’s hyper-observational, logical mind that we learn the full solution in triumphant fashion at story’s end.
“How?” as the central question of mystery is perhaps the clearest example of using WH-questions in short stories. But other genres also lend themselves to one or two questions. Horror stories often focus on “What?” as in: What is the threat/monster/evil plaguing the protagonist? Literary fiction, which tends to focus on character over plot, is rife with tales focused on “Who?”
Note: while short-story writers can (and should) ask these primary questions in their stories, they are not obligated to answer them. Flannery O’Connor’s chilling tale “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” explores the “Why?” behind the title. Through the dialogue of the grandmother and the murderous Misfit, O’Connor explores this question of why society is changing, why the world no longer conforms to the expectations of older generations, etc. But the bleak ending doesn’t provide definitive answers.
Think about the story you want to write. What question is at its heart? Are you using the elements of fiction to spotlight it? Are you attempting to answer or at least present the question in such a way that leaves readers with that query on their mind? Doing so is a great way to refine your story, making it the best that it can be.
Patrick Barb
The Short Story Expert
Patrick Barb is an author of weird, dark, and spooky stories, hailing from the southern United States and currently living (and trying not to freeze to death) with his wife, two kids, and a naughty (but lovable) puppy in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As a writer, his short fiction appears in Best Horror of the Year Vol. 16, Nightscript, Diabolical Plots, and Cosmic Horror Monthly, among other publications. His longer works include the novellas Gargantuana’s Ghost, Turn, and The Nut House, the novelettes Helicopter Parenting in the Age of Drone Warfare and “So Quiet, So White” in Split Scream Vol. 3, and his dark fiction collections The Children’s Horror and Pre-Approved for Haunting. Barb is an active member and trustee of the Horror Writers Association and a full member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
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