I hear you ask.... WHY?
Well, as experts will tell you, short story writing improves your writing in general - especially novel writing - encouraging you to 'tighten up' and express yourself more efficiently and effectively.
Taking that logic one step further, modern poems tend to be short and concise, with complex ideas expressed through an economical use of words.
Therefore, using the poetry format to explore your short story idea forces you to condense your thoughts into fewer words.
Try this:
* Stage 1: Choose a 'prompt' for a short story
Ideas may be listed in blogs, or features and competitions on the web, or perhaps a news story on TV or in the newspaper - but write a poem to the brief instead of a story.
* Stage 2: Use your poem as the basis for a short story
Most of your ideas will have already been applied and explored in your poem. All you have to do is to transfer, translate or expand on them in prose.
Alternatively, as a quick-start into the process, select a poem already written (Stage 1) and, from that, write a short story based on the poem (Stage 2).
ADDED BONUS: So often your short story builds into a full novel before you know it.
Here's where I decided to use verse to improve short story writing
Check out 'The Runaway' in my free download section. This one will be perfect for me to practice what I preach, and use verse to improve short story writing.
EXTRA BONUS: Use this method as another solution to overcome writer's block.
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