Article: Three Hundred Stories Later

Today marks the three-hundredth short story I’ve published, one per week, over the last (almost) six years. I haven’t missed a week yet, even when my son was born. I write extra stories ahead of time if there’s something coming up, like a trip, or indeed a pregnancy due date. A new story is published each Monday and sent out via email for free. You can also buy the full e-book compendium, if you like. There are 380,000 or so words in those stories collectively, and you can’t write that amount without learning a few things. For me, here they are. On ideas To carry a story, a single idea is enough: it’s both the logical minimum and probably also the ideal maximum. Stories can cope with perhaps two ideas before making sacrifices elsewhere, whether in pace, coherence, impact, or a dozen other things. With two ideas, a story can be very good; with one, it can be great. There’s no shortage of ideas, and in fact there can’t be a shortage. Having ideas is a state of mind, not an outcome. You…