Short Story Segue: Short Story Workbook Guide

Do you have a story burning inside of you? Well you should write a novel! …hang on. You have written a novel before, right? Or maybe a long research paper? Magazine article?? …For almost every skill a person can learn there is an expectation that it will take time and practice. There is an expectation that they will have to take baby steps until they have mastered the skill in question. But not writing— for some reason? How many times have you told someone you love to write stories only for them to tell you, “Wow, gee! You should write a novel!” As if there is no other significant goal of writing…Plus it unfortunately sets the would-be author up for abject failure to finish the text and then in turn to feel like a failure themselves. Some even quit entirely with the idea that “writing a novel is just too hard for me.” Well, friend, you haven't failed. Society's expectations have failed you. Does a brand new runner sign up to run a 5 mile competition with no training? Or how about a programmer? Do we expect them to be able to code a high level, fully functioning piece of software akin to the likes of Microsoft or Apple with beginner's level of coding knowledge? No and no! So why do we expect a writer who's experience most likely includes writing nonfiction 5 paragraph essays for grade school or term papers for college to be able to write a fiction narrative that spans on average 350-500 pages? It is a totally different skill set and level of endurance that must be conditioned over time and not expected to be thrown down in 2 weeks to a month's time. (It's true there are nonfiction narratives like biographies but the point still stands—) So as a way to bridge this problem for people who want to write a novel, but find themselves failing over and over again or feeling like they don't have the tools to start or continue what they've started— this book just might be the help you need! This guide is more heavily aimed at beginners who want to make the jump from school writing to novel writing. It can also help you have a framework for laying down a roadmap for your narratives. This takes advantage of the often overlooked tool of a short story or novella to help stretch your skills so that you can go on to finish those novels you've been dreaming about.