1.

Know your character

2. Make an outline
3. Start with something odd
4. Finish your draft (finish it fast, like in an hour or so)
5. Edit the short story
6. Choose a title
7. Get feedback
8. Practice short stories
9. Write one story per day, for 30 days (one shouldn’t take more than an hour)
10. Core message/ theme
11. Write a satisfying ending

How to write a dialogue:

1. Cut dialogue to the bone. Make it as short as possible

2. Use dialogue to reveal backstory. Don’t make one character reveal all the info in the
dialogue. Make each member of the dialogue reveal it bit by bit, since most likely
both know about this backstory and don’t need to describe the whole event to get
what they are talking about.
3. Use dialogue to reveal character.
4. Be subtle. (subtext, sidestepping, silence)
Subtext: Character A and character B have an exchange and they say one thing but
use it as a metaphor for something else.
Sidestepping: Character A ask question, character B tells something not directly
connected to the story, revealing new perspective character A hasn’t seen before.
Character A has sudden realization.
Silence: character A asks a question, character B does something else. Writer
mustn’t write that “character B remained silent”. It is better to show it through
something else.
5. Read your dialogue aloud.
6. Create a 'Make My Day' moment.

Writing insane character:

1. Introduce inner conflict
2. Character deeply affects others. Nice to add the loved ones. Example: Jinx and Vi,
Silco.
3. Show signs of real mental disorder
4. Behavioral quirks
5. There was a reason for mental illness, usually they are connected to triggers
6. Climax

Writing healing arc:

1. Becoming self – aware. Acknowledging her problems.
2. Creating small achievable goals.
3. Adopting good habits. Finding new ways to cope. Leading healthy lifestyle: eating
well, sleeping well, improving hygiene, exercising.
4. Add a bit of a setback. MC should meet some hardships in a way of improvement to
show how hard it is. Eventually MC should still get better.
5. Add some characters who help MC on her journey. Her support like family or mental
health professional.
6. Adopt humor.
7. Make MC have one big goal. Something they want to change for.