Short Story Tips

Although coming from the horror field, these are editors speaking in Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason: Editors of the "Other Terrors" Anthology Talk Short Story Writing Tips, Their Love of Horror and Who You Should Be Reading:

As readers and editors, what do you look for in a short story? What makes it crackle and pop for you?

VINCE: I look for stories that stick the landing—I need the snap, the crackle, and the pop. So many stories have a fantastic premise that the writer ably develops, the tension escalates, the momentum surges…and then it falls flat in the third act. We see this a lot in modern horror films; I call this phenomenon the “third act fail.” Too many writers sacrifice the logical payoff—the one the reader has earned—for cleverness, some avant-garde machination that surrenders the pacing and tension for some big cerebral moment that brings the story to a crashing thud. 

RENA: Like Vince, I’m a sucker for a good ending, especially one that I didn’t see coming. There are a couple stories in Other Terrors that end the way I expected them to but then were ratcheted up a hundred notches at the end if that makes sense. 

I think the ending is the thing about the short story. I do not know if I have the knack but I keep trying.

sch 8/1/22