how to make stories long

[katya]

This is like Earniel's thread about keeping stories short. I have the oposite problem. I go to write a short story and it's like, 3 paragraphs. I should really do a bit more details and things rather than progressing the story so fast. Does anyone know any good ways to do this (without being boring of course)? Thank you

[PippinTook]

In the name of Eru, yes! I have that same problem! It's awful! I can get the story line, but as far as making a story that is real reading material, I am shot. I don't have any advice, mainly because I need some!
-Pip

[Earniel]

As I said before, I have little problem with making stories long enough.

But IMO you can lenghten a story by adding more descriptions, and then I'm not talking about descriptions of pretty dresses but more descriptions of places and situations. Picture a scene from the story in your head and describe how it looks. The surroundings, the position of the characters involved and such. Add enough details so a reader can better picture the scene in his or her head.

Of course, you shouldn't get overdescriptive since too many discriptions can clog up and immobilise a good story. Practise is a good thing to determine for yourself which amount of descriptions is apropriate.

If you have your characters are making a trip or journey, let them take breaks to make a meal and such, let them have occasional discussions that are not inmediatly tied to the story line but that may give a better insight in their character. Don't focus on merely the topics tied to the plot.

Anyway, these are a few things I would use to lenghten a story. I hope they're of some help.

[macmico]

But IMO you can lenghten a story by adding more descriptions, and then I'm not talking about descriptions of pretty dresses but more descriptions of places and situations. Picture a scene from the story in your head and describe how it looks. The surroundings, the position of the characters involved and such. Add enough details so a reader can better picture the scene in his or her head.

this is good advice.

when writing and you have a plot, setting is very important. like earnial said picture your scene and work from there. remember description doesnt have to be what you see, write about all your senses- sight, smell, sound and touch. even if you get carried away and write too much you can easily scale down your descriptive passages without affecting the plot of your story. always better to cut things out at the end. hope thats been helpfull

[Elfmaster XK]

I agree with the advice already given most certainly, and would add this as a helper. Take your paragraph or sentence and then ask yourself questions about it. Ie. What more could you say? (and if you, Eärniel, have problems with length I suggest you don't think about this )

For example: In Shanghai the rooftops were perfect cover for the girl. She jumped carefully from one to the next, ducking behind chimneys and avoiding the glare of the moonlight until she reached the roof of the dock. Once there she opened up the metal grate and slid down onto the crates within.

A perfectly okay paragraph. But what more could you say? Why were they perfect cover? Because they were very close together and sloped in the right directions for her to walk on. Why was she hiding? Because the people in the street below were searching for her? Would she really just open the grate? No, she'd probably observe the scene first. It's then possible to go onto the crates being wooden, thus their texture on her bare feet, and what they contain and such.

I believe it's simply a case of being able to ask the right questions, because none of those give superfluous information like that the girl is 14 with black hair and grey eyes.

Hope that's helpful.

[Tessar]

Okay, take a look at this:

There was a guy named Steve. He stepped outside his house and saw his neighbor. "Hey Melinda!" he called and got into his car, revving the engine before racing off to his work.

Once at work he sat down and started doing his job. He was a computer coder. Next to him was his pretty co-worker, Samantha. It had never occurred to him how pretty she was before. But of course he had to work.

Steve's boss walked in and talked with Steve for a while before going back to his own office. Steve decided to take an early lunch. Pausing for a moment at the door, he turned and said "Samantha, would you like to have lunch with me?"

To his surprise, she turned around and said, "Yes I'd love to!"

Feeling very jittery, Steve lead Samantha down to his car, sharing information on his week end.

Okay that is, sort of, a short story (yes I wrote that so I can make fun of it later if I want to ). Now, we have gotten Steve's basic emotions across and the fact that he has a neighbor, car, beautiful co-worker, job, and a boss.

We went through a plot line (of sorts) and ended with them going to lunch.

But was that fulfilling? No! It leaves the reader starving for more information! Or at the very least something that wasn't written by a third grader ().


How could it be longer though?

Well for one thing, "There was a guy named Steve". Okay, that's nice. Who is Steve? What does he look like?

"He stepped outside and saw his neighbor." Okay, that's nice too, but again no detail. I could put in something about the state of his lawn, the paint starting to peel a little on his house, what his neighbor was doing, how well he knows his neighbor... It goes on and on.

Well I won't keep ripping the thing apart, but I'll just give a little example of how I could have made it longer.

Hurriedly slipping his car keys into his pocket, Steve Personality chugged down the last of his coffee and carefully put his 'I have issues' mug in the sink. Grabbing the mug that read 'I love my job' out of the cupboard, he couldn't help but grin to himself. It was a privet joke. Some times he took one mug to work, some times he would took the other.

Steve liked personal jokes, and just jokes in general. He had always been the 'kid who knew the answer to that riddle so don't-even-ask' in high school. Of course his red hair had always gotten him teased, 'Apple head' being the preferred name instead of carrot top, but he didn't mind too much. They were probably just jealous of his blue eyes and sparkling personality.

Laughing to himself, Steve checked his pockets again to make sure he had his keys, and then hurried out the door. He wasn't late for work, but traffic might be bad seeing how today was Christmas Eve. Which reminded him that he might want to do a little shopping before tomorrow.

As he turned to lock his front door, Steve noticed his neighbor Melinda was out on her front lawn weeding. Again. Her black hair was held in a neat bun that spoke of precision and utter dedication, and from the way she attacked the weeds with her bare hands, claws some might call them, she was not a woman to be tampered with. At least not if you were a weed.

Wishing he could keep his own weed riddled, over grown yard as neat as Melinda's, Steve waved and called a cheery "G'morning! Nice outside for this close to Christmas isn't it?"

Looking up from the weed she was currently slaying, Melinda beamed a smile with teeth so white it almost hurt. "Good morning Steve!" she called out, wiping her sap and dirt covered hands off with a floral towel near her. "Yes it is nice out. Hell, I'm wearing shorts! No white Christmas for us this year either, I suppose."

Laughing, Steve unlocked and opened the door of his Firebird. He loved cars. Even more than that, he loved Firebirds. Convertibles were all well and good, but he had ALWAYS wanted a Firebird.

Sliding into the leather covered front seat, Steve turned the key and closed his eyes to savor the engine’s deep, beautiful rumble. He really shouldn't do it today... he was going to get addicted.

Sighing to himself at his own weakness, Steve revved the engine. The sound fairly sent a thrill up his spine.

Okay, I don't have to energy to write more right now, plus this is just an example, but do you see how I took those first two paragraphs and made them something like seven or eight? I added detail, I told who the people were.

Steve is a joker with red hair and blue eyes, who has a thing for Firebirds.

Melinda is a precise woman with black hair who is friendly, seems to know Steve, HATES weeds, and has a strangely white smile.

So anyways, hopefully that will be helpful.

I totally agree with what EX and Erin said.

[katya]

Two paragraphs into seven or eight? More like two sentences inot seven or eight paragraphs. Thanks for the advice everyone! Maybe I'll go write a story now. (wait a second, I have no idea for a story. I'll think of one, don't worry)

[Nurvingiel]

I really enjoyed your example Tessar, ever feel like posting the complete story for us?

The only piece of advice I could possibly add is to practice writing. Your skills at description, knowing what to write, etc. will improve the more stories you write. Don't worry about the length - sometimes a short story is interesting and fullfilling as it is.

[Tessar]

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
I really enjoyed your example Tessar, ever feel like posting the complete story for us?

The complete story?! That was just an example .

Ahhhh well, we'll see .

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
I really enjoyed your example Tessar, ever feel like posting the complete story for us?

The only piece of advice I could possibly add is to practice writing. Your skills at description, knowing what to write, etc. will improve the more stories you write. Don't worry about the length - sometimes a short story is interesting and fullfilling as it is.

Very good advice, Nurvingiel.

I might add that reading also is a significant aid. Reading and practice writing are two key things for helping improve skill. Length can often come naturally, with that improvement.

[Rosie Gamgee]

Oh, yeah, post the rest of it. It was just getting interesting. Really good example, btw. I suffer from the too-short-and-terribly-dull syndrome a LOT. This helps. Cool.

[Celebrinth Elentavari]

Ooh! This is great! I always have stories that are too short. *sigh* These are great tips. Thanks for dicussing it in a place I could find it.

[Lady Ravyn]

those are all good tips! my problem though, is that when i try conversations that don't directly partain to the story, they always end up being inane ramblings. so, as another tip, if you try that, be careful about what your characters are saying.

[Nurvingiel]

I also have trouble having my conversations some how relevant to the plot. I'm not too worried about fleshing out my story though, it will come with time as I get more and more ideas.

[katya]

Hey, these tips are working. My story is going to be really long, I think. It's just that I keep writing on and on about silly things. My character goes clothes shopping and is there for a quarter of the story so far. It's hardly relevant to the plot. Oh well! It's working. So thanks a lot, everyone! Tessar, I had a dream that I was in a bookstore and found a book you wrote. It was funyn because for author it just said "Tessar". It was good though.