D.A. Fletcher

1. Have you focused on just one protagonist?

A short story should have just one protagonist whose viewpoint the reader will occupy. A story may be told by several narrators, or through more than one point-of-view (pov), but one protagonist must clearly predominate to sustain the reader’s engagement in the story.

2. Do you bring on the protagonist quickly?

The main character should appear in the first 400 words of a short story or no later than page one. Readers bond with the first strong character they meet. It’s important that the first person they meet is not a bit-player who subsequently disappears.

3. Is conflict introduced almost at once?

The protagonist should be involved in one or more meaningful conflicts almost at once. The conflict(s) may be physical, emotional or psychological, but they must represent two or more forces opposed within the protagonist’s mind.

4. Does your protagonist change?

The conflict must change the principal protagonist in some way; s/he should be a different person at the end of the story. Stories presented as a serial may appeal because the reader knows the protagonist will not change their character from story to story. But s/he must still arrive at the end the story having learned something significantly new about themselves or human nature.

5. Is there a single underlying theme?

Theme is the underlying significance of the plot. A short story should have just one prevailing theme, and a single master plot. All sub-plots, if any, and ensuing conflicts should support that theme. The French scholar Georges Polti said there were only 36 master plots in all the stories of the world.