The Writing For Success short story competition requires you to write a very short story—the word limit is just 900 words. Here are some tips to help you make every word count.

1. The opening paragraph is the most important one in a short story. Use it to hook your readers and draw them into the ongoing drama of your story.

2. In the opening lines, you have to do the following:

   • Set the scene

   • Introduce the main character

   • Reveal the main character’s mood, approximate age, his/her goal or problem

   • Show that something interesting is about to happen

3. Begin with a character and let this person take you where they want to go—then when the story is written, edit, shape and tighten your prose.

4. Decide whose story this is. Choose one viewpoint and stick to it.

5. Don’t force your characters to speak words that sound out of character or engage in actions that don’t suit their personality.

6. Avoid detailed descriptions of sett
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   on requires you to write a very short story—the word limit is just 900 words. Here are some tips to help you make every word count.
   1. The opening paragraph is the most important one in a short story. Use it to hook your readers and draw them into the ongoing drama of your story.

   2. In the opening lines, you have to do the following:

      • Set the scene

      • Introduce the main character

      • Reveal the main character’s mood, approximate age, his/her goal or problem

      • Show that something interesting is about to happen

   3. Begin with a character and let this person take you where they want to go—then when the story is written, edit, shape and tighten your prose.

   4. Decide whose story this is. Choose one viewpoint and stick to it.

   5. Don’t force your characters to speak words that sound out of character or engage in actions that don’t suit their personality.

   6. Avoid detailed descriptions of set
      Google 2006 and Jagger's Aftermath
      Starting this past fall (2005) Google launched a major update to their search algorithm which shook up the search engine optimization (SEO) community and millions of website rankings. The update has been named Jagger and is apparently finished.The keywords that people used to find your site with in Google may not be producing as many visits any more because the Jagger changes caused your rankings to plummet. Of course many people have seen their rankings stay the same or
      raw them into the ongoing drama of your story.

   7. In the opening lines, you have to do the following:

      • Set the scene

      • Introduce the main character

      • Reveal the main character’s mood, approximate age, his/her goal or problem

      • Show that something interesting is about to happen

   8. Begin with a character and let this person take you where they want to go—then when the story is written, edit, shape and tighten your prose.

   9. Decide whose story this is. Choose one viewpoint and stick to it.

   10. Don’t force your characters to speak words that sound out of character or engage in actions that don’t suit their personality.

   11. Avoid detailed descriptions of set
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       goal or problem

   12. Show that something interesting is about to happen

   13. Begin with a character and let this person take you where they want to go—then when the story is written, edit, shape and tighten your prose.

   14. Decide whose story this is. Choose one viewpoint and stick to it.

   15. Don’t force your characters to speak words that sound out of character or engage in actions that don’t suit their personality.

   16. Avoid detailed descriptions of set
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       Decide whose story this is. Choose one viewpoint and stick to it.

   17. Don’t force your characters to speak words that sound out of character or engage in actions that don’t suit their personality.

   18. Avoid detailed descriptions of setting — give the reader a quick ‘snapshot’. A few powerful words or phrases can do a lot of work.

   19. Use the same approach to describe the character’s appearance. Choose words that trigger the reader’s imagination and let him/her fill in the gaps — e.g. “She had a loose-limbed, healthy outdoor look about her”.

   20. Try to avoid plots that hinge on a coincidence or a misunderstanding that could be cleared up if the characters would just talk to each other. (You have to be a very good writer to pull this off so the reader is satisfied.)

   21. Very short stories are a bit like jokes: they build up to a twist or a punchline. The difficult part is playing fair with the reader in having all the clues there, without making the outcome too obvious.

   22. Show that your character has grown or changed in some way—she has a new understanding of people or of herself; she has learned a lesson; she has changed her attitude. NOTE: If your character ‘comes to realise’ some