Quick note: this awesome, free Writing a Short Story in 7 Days post contains one affiliate link which just means I’ll receive a small commission if you purchase from that link directly—but it’s at absolutely no cost to you!
A few weeks ago I attempted something I’d never done before: writing a short story. But the biggest feat of all? Doing it in 7 days.
I’d been wanting to write a short story for years but it was something I always put on the back burner— too busy, not feeling creative enough, didn’t have the right concept, etc etc (can you relate?). But as I’ve been transitioning off my urban fantasy romance series to work on Project Bronze, my enemies-to-lovers romantasy, one of my goals was to write a prequel that take places 5 years before the events in this new story.
You may be asking, well, why? Because writing a short story…
- Gets those creative wheels turning.
- Is way less pressure than writing a book.
- Can introduce readers to your writing (if you use the finished piece as a reader magnet).
Forest & Fawn is a community that pops up on my Instagram feed every now and then. They host retreats, bookish events, and writing contests. When I stumbled across the announcement for their next short story challenge and the theme was….romantasy…it was as if lightning struck.
Honestly, I didn’t care about the prizes or winning. I’d just been bumbling around in the research phase for too long. I had the bones of a story: pages of notes on the world-building, curated Pinterest boards, character worksheets. I needed something—permission, fate, a creative spark—to give me that push to actually start writing it.
So, I entered the challenge. I got 3 prompts, 2,000 words, and a week to do it.
Here’s a look at my process on how I successfully wrote a short story in 7 days:
Days 1 + 2: Research
I know it sounds outrageous to dedicate 2 of the 7 days purely to research, but I’m the kind of person that needs to sit with an idea before acting on it. Giving yourself the space, energy, and permission to brainstorm is truly what can set you up for success. This is the time to journal ideas, create Pinterest boards, watch inspiring movies, make a list of tropes, and fill out character worksheets.
One of my favorite resources is The Storyteller’s Workbook by Adrienne Young and Isabel Ibañez. I love the fillable world-building guide and character profiles.
Day 3: Outline
All stories need to have structure—even short ones. That means a beginning, a middle, and an end. Since I’m a discovery writer at heart (that’s a fancy way of saying I like to wing it), I thought outlining was going to be a painful process. But it wasn’t! Turns out, there are many different ways to plot.
To keep things simple (and to keep my brain from rebelling) I used Nigel Watt’s 8-Stage Plot Structure, which goes like this:
Act 1
- Stasis: everything’s fine and normal-ish
- Trigger: then something not normal happens (aka the inciting incident)
- The quest: causing the protagonist to act
Act 2
- Surpise(s): but things don’t go as expected (perhaps many things)
- Critical choice: forcing them to make a defining decision
Act 3
- Climax: they must face the consequences of their actions
- Reversal: but there’s a twist, a change, or an inner realization
- Resolution: and then everything is fine and normal-ish again—but it’s a new normal
Keep your points short and sweet: 1-2 sentences max. From there, you’ll want to jot down the core themes, tropes you want to focus on, and a one-sentence blurb.
Yes, the blurb—I know we all hate them but crafting it before the story can help guide you like a north star.
If the 8 beat format isn’t your jam, E.A. Deverell has this brilliant plot formula cheat sheet that has 11 different plot structures to choose from! And if you’re anti-outline, like I was, remember: an outline is there as a guide, your words aren’t written in stone. Stories are fluid and they can change.
Days 4 + 5: Write
My short story is told through the eyes of two different characters, both who get pretty equal amount of screen time. So, for me, the best way to go about this was to dedicate each day to writing one POV and aim for ~1,000 words each. I set aside 3-4 hours per day to get this done, but you can chunk it down into whatever works best for your schedule!
Of course, before I put my fingers to the keyboard, I went to Reddit for alllll the advice on writing a short story. Here are some of my favorite tips I mined from the forums:
- Don’t overcomplicate the plot—focus on one key conflict
- Keep rising action concise
- Aim for a climax that is immediate and impactful
- Brevity is key
- Let character actions and choices propel the story
- Start the story as close to the main action as possible
See a theme here? Successful short stories keep things moving. There’s simply no time for complicated plots. Humans connect to humans (or, er, human-like beings) not worlds or concepts.
Day 6: Edit
This is the part where you finesse sentences you may have fast-drafted, catch plot holes, refine the voice, fix grammar/spelling errors, and make every word shine.
If you have someone to look over your short story for you, even better! We’re so close to our own work it’s hard to catch those pesky inconsistencies. Take it from me—if I hadn’t had one of my trusted critique partners review my work in the final hour, I would’ve submitted it using the name of the world in Fourth Wing as the name of my own (I haven’t read FW so I had no idea!).
Day 7: Submit
Is it weird to give the submission process its own day? It probably seems so at first glance. But this is actually less about submitting and more like having a cushion for all those last minute changes. Don’t try and fool me—even with all the planning and plotting in the world, everyone make edits in the final hour. Those aha! moments never come when it’s convenient!
Day 8 → on: Bonus
Technically there is no day 8, but I used this challenge as a starting off point for my new series. Once the 7 days were up and everything was submitted I went back and added ~4,000 more words! I extended the scenes + added a new one, moved the climax, weaved in a little bit more lore and tweaked the resolution. That’s the beauty of a challenge like this—you can leave the story as is or you can continue to build it out.
I hope you enjoyed this post about writing a short story in 7 days! I’ll be sure to include the download link when it’s ready.
Please feel free to use my process if you’ve found it useful, and remember, you don’t need an official contest to write a short story. Just download some prompts, give yourself a word limit, and set a deadline.
Working on your author platform? Check out this post that covers 3 things every author website needs.
liked this post? leave a comment!