Mette Berg

“I’ve always wanted to write a novel.” Ever heard anyone say that? Ever thought it yourself? Lots of people like to write and wish they wrote more. Lack of time, knowhow, and faith in ability are among the top reason holding people back. It’s all valid reasons. I’ll be the first to admit that I’d never imagined it would take me five years, several writers courses and countless rewrites to finish my first novel. But nothing should keep someone from writing, even if they’re not interested in spending every free moment for years learning and perfecting the craft. A novel might just not be the right place to start. To most readers today, novels are the only way we read fiction, which I find is a great shame, since it leaves out vast amounts of pleasurable reading found in poetry and short stories. And since we don’t read these medias, creating them seems even more distant. I wish I had discovered short stories long before I did both as a reader and as a writer.
I’ve made this blog because I’d like to focus on the last part, writing short stories. I’d like to show you how easy it is, and how much fun it can be. A little basic knowledge and a few tricks can take you far. It doesn’t have to take up more time than what you would otherwise spend on word puzzles, colouring books, phone games, or whatever your preferred dawdling is. And since a big part of the process happens in your head, it can easily be done while you’re sitting on the bus, or even driving to and from work. Writing short stories also has a great advantage over colouring books and word puzzles, because it never gets boring. You’re always working on something new, and it’s created inside you; it’s uniquely yours.
If you need more encouragement, there are numerous contests for short stories, and prizes go as high as $ 20,000 (though most of them are in the $ 500 – 1,000 range), I’ll be sure to list a few as we go along.
In the following weeks, I’ll show you how to create a hundred-word story, and what add to a thousand-word story. These first two posts are a run through of the basics for writing stories. We’ll use it as we move on to other subjects like making up and telling your own stories for kids, using writing for little mind games, finding new ideas, making outlines and other aspects of writing. I hope you’ll play along and have fun at the Playground of Writing.