23E76050 - Creativity in Marketing, Lecture, 1.11.2021-8.12.2021

Consider the following advice when planning and writing your story: 

1. It is encouraged to follow Aristotle’s famous principles of “unity of drama”: 1) unity of place, 2) unity of time, and 3) unity of action. In simpler terms, this means that the short story should aim at one unified plot over, say, one day, within one location, and focusing one particular and important activity. This is a not strict set of principles, and authors break this unity principle all the time. But for novices, it definitely helps. 

2. Conflict drives story. Remember: what does the character want, and what do they need? What is standing in the way of our character? 

3. Consider Edgar Allan Poe’s equally influential principle that short stories should aim at conveying one singular emotion or mood to their reader. 

4. Consider Robert A. Heinlein’s (somewhat controversial) claim that there are only three main types of fiction stories: 

a. “Boy meets girl” (or girl meets boy, girl meets girl etc.) 

i. boy-fails-to-meet-girl 

ii. boy-meets-girl-too-late 

iii. boy-meets-too-many-girls 

iv. boy-loses-girl 

v. boy-and-girl-renounce-love-for-higher-purpose. 

vi. Etc.

 b. “The little Tailor”

i. “Rags to riches” 

ii. Fall from grace 

iii. Rise and fall 

c. “Man learns a lesson” 

i. Man has opinion or worldview at the beginning of story, faces some “harsh truths” and is transformed as a result. 

ii. This is third form is particularly useful for short stories! 

5. Ponder on Robert A. Heinlein’s principles that he used in his short stories: 

a. The protagonist finds themselves in circumstances that create a problem for them. 

b. The protagonist’s new circumstances must be essential to the story. 

c. “The problem itself—the “plot”—must be a human problem. The human problem must be one that is created by, or indispensably affected by, the new conditions.” d. In coping with the problem, the protagonist is somehow transformed, and the story concludes when the transformation is complete. 

6. We strongly encourage you to collaborate outside of class with one or more of your peers: bounce ideas off one another, share drafts, make editing suggestions, offer encouragement. 

7. See Neil Gaiman’s 5 essential tips for short story writing in Appendix 3. 

8. See David Sedaris’s suggestions for how to plot a short story in Appendix 4. 

9. See David Sedaris’s suggestions for how to start a short story in Appendix 5.