Get right into the heart of the conflict.

In a short story (especially flash fiction) don’t waste time setting up your scene or sharing your hero’s musings. Pull your reader to the heart of the story’s conflict right away. – The Write Practice

Share only what’s critical to the moment.

This issue is most stereotypically associated with fantasy, but I’ve seen it across the board. There’s no need to give your reader buckets of backstory. Tell us what we need, right when we need it. Everything else should be cut. – The Write Practice

Find Your Key Emotion.

The revelation, the heart of the matter, the core meaning — all the same thing when it comes to short story writing. To pay homage to Fitzgerald, we’ll call this component the “key emotion.” The key emotion in your story is the feeling or impression you want to give your readers that will stick with them, possibly for the rest of their lives. – The Reedsy Blog

• • Despite the name, devising a key emotion is more complicated than simply picking an adjective out of thin air (“happy,” “sad,” “angry,” etc.). You need to focus on more than just the feeling — think about the context you will use to articulate it. What kind of story do you want to tell, and how will you tell it?
  • For example, you might know you want to write a sad story because despair is a powerful human emotion. But a sad story about a man losing his wedding ring is very different from a sad story about a family losing a child. The first might be a story of disillusionment with monogamy; the second deals with unimaginable loss and grief. Both of these fall under the umbrella of “sad stories,” but the nature of that sadness is distinct to each.
  • The most engaging key emotions come from real life, so you may already have one in mind. However, if you’re struggling to think of a key emotion for your short story, consider looking through some short story ideas or writing prompts for inspiration. You can also talk to friends, family, or a writers’ group to help you out. But no matter how you get there, get there you must if you want to write stories that are compelling and meaningful.

Start with a hook.

Having ruminated on your key emotion, you probably already have a good idea of how you want your story to unfold. Drafting is where you figure out how to communicate it: start to finish. – The Reedsy Blog

• • Writing a short story and its opening lines isn’t easy. You’ll want to strike the right tone, introduce the characters, and capture the reader’s attention all at once — and you need to do it quickly, because you don’t have much space!
  • One highly effective method for starting a short story is to write an opening hook: a sentence that immediately intrigues the reader. For example, in Mrs Dalloway (originally a short story), Virginia Woolf opens with the line, “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” The reader then wonders: who is Mrs. Dalloway, why is she buying flowers, and is it unusual that she would do so herself? Such questions prompt the reader to continue with interest, looking for answers.
  • Another means of hooking your reader is beginning your short story in medias res: in the middle of the action. According to Kurt Vonnegut, this form should “start as close to the end as possible,” and this strategy achieves exactly that.
  • Beginning in medias res also loosens the shackles of traditional story structure and allows you to write more freely. If this means your exposition ends up a little messy, that’s okay — you can always rework it later. The objective of drafting is just to get words down on the page.

Focus on character development.

In order for a short story to be impactful, you have to know your character well. Having good character development is essential in short stories, since your characters often drive the story. You only have a certain amount of time to show your readers who that person is and you can’t do that if you don’t even know who they are.

Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action.

– Open Culture

[Use]Clear, descriptive language that sets up the concept of the story quickly and without being superfluous.

– Masterclass

[Have] A strong point of view.

Know from the beginning what it is you want to say with your short story. Ask yourself: what do you want people to feel or think as they read your story? Make sure this point of view is clearly reflected throughout the story. – Masterclass