From the Writers Couch

Ingrid McCarthy

In my spring column, I wrote about what to consider if you’re planning to write a memoir. But writing a memoir may not be what you’ve got in mind. You have a story buzzing around your head that you wish to tell, perhaps turn it into a novel, and you feel intimidated because you’ve never written prose fiction of any length before

Don’t let that discourage you. The important thing is that you have a story, a plot, something fascinating to tell With that in mind and as an exercise to get rolling and hone your skills, I suggest you start by turning your idea into a short story, which should contain your fully developed theme

It should be a story that can be read in one sitting usually between 20 minutes to an hour. There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1,000 to 7,500 words. Aim for about 2,500 words or more and try not to think about style. To quote Judy Blume, author of Are you there God?

It’s Margaret: “There are no hard and fast rules for writing, and no secret tricks, because what works for one person doesn’t always work for another. "