How to Write a Short Story. Part 2: Depth and Resonance
Summary
- Craft stories with layered themes that create coherence and meaning.
- Use point of view and voice to shape emotional connection and perspective.
- Create lasting impact through subtle emotional cues and resonant endings.
A good short story stays with you not just because of what happens, but because of what it means. Beneath plot and character lies something deeper: an emotional thread, a perspective, a question. This second layer is the story’s inner gravity. It’s what gives it lasting impact.
Theme: What It’s Really About
Theme isn’t a message. It’s not what you tell the reader, but what the story explores. It can be a question (“What does it cost to be safe?”), a tension (control vs. chaos), or an emotion (envy, tenderness, fear).
You don’t need to name the theme outright but you should feel it clearly as you write. Let it shape the tone, the decisions, and the kinds of images or metaphors that appear. A strong theme makes a story coherent, even if it moves subtly.
Point of View: Who’s Telling This, and How Close Are We?
Point of view isn’t just a technical choice. It’s what controls how much the reader sees and understands. Are we inside the character’s skin, or watching from across the room? First person can pull us close, but risks narrowing perspective. A close third lets us feel emotion and thought directly. A distant third can create irony or objectivity.
It’s also important whose voice it is: a child narrator, a bitter observer, or a dry omniscient tone. Each changes the emotional charge. Let voice emerge from the character’s worldview, not just from style.
Emotional Impact: Techniques for Resonance
Readers remember how a story made them feel. That feeling often comes from restraint, not excess. Show the emotion through action, detail, silence.
Instead of “he was heartbroken,” show him folding the same letter three times before throwing it away. Let the reader sense the emotion rather than being told about it.
Symbol, repetition, and contrast can amplify emotion without forcing it. When something from earlier reappears in a new form at the end, it deepens the sense of change.
Most of all, be honest. If a moment is quiet, let it be quiet. If it’s sharp, don’t soften it. Authenticity resonates more than drama.
Endings: Closure, Ambiguity, and What Lingers
A good ending doesn’t explain everything. It reveals something. The best ones feel like turning a light on in a dark room—not solving the mystery, but showing its shape.
There are many ways to end a story.
A full circle: the final image echoes the opening, now changed.
A reversal: something unexpected but fitting shifts the meaning.
A question: something unresolved, but emotionally charged, lingers.
Maybe a character understands what they’ve lost. Maybe they act, finally, on what they’ve been avoiding. Maybe nothing changes, but the stillness feels different now. The point isn’t to explain. It’s to leave the reader with a feeling that stays.
How to Write a Short Story. Part 3: Precision and Submission »