How to Write Short Stories: Appendix 2 - Questions

You can download this list at:

1.1 Why readers love short stories

What do you love as a reader of short stories?
Consider a short story that still remains with you. What elements particularly resonated with you and why?

Why do you write short stories, or want to write them?
Are there ideas, genres, or topics you’ve always wanted to explore without committing to a full-length novel?
How might short stories fit into your author business?

Are you aiming for a certain length of story or are you just writing it and seeing how it turns out?
Do your ideas feel small enough to be contained in a short story or expansive enough that you need many more words to explore them?
Does your potential story idea include a concrete change between the beginning and the end?

Where do you find your story seeds? How can you make time to tune into your curiosity and discover more of them?
How are you saving your story seeds?
Can you open up time to revisit your seeds and see what might take root as a story?

Are you getting your words done? How can you improve your process if you’re not happy with it?
Take a story you’ve drafted: how much can you cut from the beginning and still have it make sense?
Is your ending working? How can you improve it?
How can you experiment more with your shorts to deepen your writing craft?
How can you improve your editing process?

As a reader, do you love author’s notes? What do you like them to include?
For whatever story you’re working on, what are the elements you could include in an author’s note?
If readers want to do further reading on the topics of your short story, do you have sources from your own research you could share?
How could you connect with readers on a personal level through your author’s note?

Is self-publishing the right choice for your story?
Ebook, audio, and/or print: what formats do you want to explore?
Have you labelled your story clearly as a short, so the reader knows what they are getting?
How will you price your story, and how could you use bundling or a collection later?
Which story could you give away free to introduce readers to your work or grow your newsletter mailing list?
Could a subscription model work well for you if you have a big enough platform or backlist?

Would your short stories work well in audio?
How will you handle the narration?
How and where will you distribute the audio?
Is there a fiction podcast that’s a good fit for your story?
Have you licensed the audio rights already or are they yours to use as you like?

What do you want to achieve with your short story?
What kinds of magazines or anthologies do you already read or listen to? Which might be a good fit for your own stories?
Which opportunities will be most worthwhile for your own work or career?
How could you network within your genre and build up authentic relationships over time?

What are the different ways that you can license a short story?
What suits you in terms of how you want to publish?
Have you thoroughly read and considered the rights involved in any contract you have been offered?

How can you find anthologies you might like to write for?
What kind of themes excite you?
If you are considering an anthology opportunity, are the terms fair, and do the rights revert to you within a reasonable period?
Which readers will this anthology put you in front of, and are they a good fit for you?
Do you already have a story that fits, or would you be writing to the theme from scratch?
Do you have the time and energy to write a new story, or is this an opportunity you need to let pass by?
Does your author bio point new readers towards your wider work?

Why do you want to produce a collection?
What’s the thread or the theme that links your stories? Could you leave some stories out and/or write some new ones to enhance the theme?
Which stories will headline or anchor the collection, and which ones are deep cuts?
How will you edit the collection?
If this collection is for your super fans, what would make the physical book something they might treasure?

How can you position your short stories as part of your wider author marketing ecosystem?
Which of your existing characters or story worlds could spin off a short story?
Where could your next story create a new doorway — a playlist, an anthology, a podcast?

Which of your stories might make the best entry point to your paid work? Or what could you write specifically for this reason?
If you already have a lead magnet, does it match the genre and voice of the books you want readers to buy next?
Does every story you publish end with a clear call to action?
Are you building your email list in a sustainable way for the long term?

How could you focus on the experience of your short story rather than its length in your marketing materials?
How could you use free pricing as a marketing tool?
Could any of your shorts work in audio, and would a Spotify or YouTube playlist help readers find them?
Which marketing assets that you would make for a novel could you make for your short?
How could you turn your marketing into an event, like a Kickstarter campaign, that enables a broader spectrum of marketing options?

Where’s your line in the sand around AI usage? What tasks can you happily hand over to an AI tool and which will you retain?
How can you use AI tools more effectively in the areas you want to outsource?
If you’re submitting to any professional paying market or contest, have you checked its guidelines on AI?
Whether you use AI tools or not, how can you double down on being human?