12 Common Mistakes New Short Story Writers Make (and How to Fix Them)
Most short stories fail for ordinary reasons. The idea is strong, the opening image vivid, the voice promising—then a scene drifts, a character waits, an ending arrives without pressure. The good news is that these are craft problems, not talent problems. They can be spotted and repaired. Here are twelve mistakes that appear again and again in new work, grouped by where they usually show up, with fixes you can apply in your next revision.
Plot mistakes that drain momentum
1. Starting the story too early
If the first page shows an alarm clock, a commute and a character settling at a desk, the story probably begins later. Cut until you reach the first moment something cannot return to normal. A woman preparing for a party is warm-up; the letter arriving under the door is a story. Open there, then weave in only the backstory the scene needs.
2. A want without an obstacle
A character may want love, escape, forgiveness or a promotion, but if nothing stands in the way, scenes have no pressure. Make the want concrete: not “be happy” but “get her sister to attend the wedding”. Then give it opposition. The obstacle can be another person, a rule, a fear, a deadline. Pressure reveals character.
3. Coincidence solving the problem
A stranger appears with the missing key; a memory surfaces at exactly the right time. Coincidence that creates trouble is useful. Coincidence that removes trouble feels cheap. If you need a rescue, plant the means earlier and let your protagonist do the rescuing. Planting does not mean announcing; a detail mentioned in passing can do the work.
Character mistakes that make readers shrug
4. The passive protagonist
Things happen to them. They nod, wait, worry, react. Fix this by forcing a choice before the scene ends. It need not be heroic. It can be petty, wrong or cowardly, but it must cost something. A character who chooses is a character readers will follow.
5. Supporting characters as furniture
The best friend only listens. The partner only argues. The boss only blocks. Give every named character a contradictory detail and a private want. Even one line helps: a best friend listens while repotting a dying plant and glancing at the door. Suddenly they are a person, not a prop. Names alone do not create people.
6. Backstory dumped in a lump
A paragraph explaining a childhood before the present scene has begun is usually a pause, not a story. Ration backstory. Reveal it when pressure makes it relevant. A memory should change how we understand the current action, not postpone it.
Dialogue mistakes that sound like typing
7. Characters say exactly what they mean
“I am angry because you forgot our anniversary” is clear, but it leaves nothing for the reader to do. Real speech deflects, accuses, jokes and hides. Let subtext carry the tension. “You bought the wrong cake,” she says, scraping icing into the bin. We understand the argument without being told.
8. Every voice sounds the same
If all characters use the same rhythm, vocabulary and jokes, dialogue becomes a single voice wearing different names. Read speeches aloud. Give each person a verbal habit: short sentences, qualifiers, questions, avoidance, bluntness. Syntax and attitude matter more than phonetic accents.
9. Dialogue repeating what we have seen
A scene shows a slammed door, then someone says, “I’m furious you slammed the door.” Cut the greeting, the admin and the recap. Start dialogue late, leave early. If the information is already visual or implied, do not state it again. Silence can be a line.
Pacing and description mistakes
10. Overwriting the moment
Three metaphors for moonlight and four adjectives for grief do not make a feeling stronger. They blur it. Choose one precise detail. Use concrete nouns and active verbs. “The kettle clicked off” can say more about a silent kitchen than a paragraph about oppressive stillness.
11. Scenes that do not turn
A scene can be beautifully written and still be static. By the end of it, something should have changed: knowledge, power, trust, danger or decision. If nothing turns, compress it into summary or cut it. A short story is not a series of lovely rooms; it is a route through them. Vary sentence length, too; short sentences speed up, longer ones slow down.
Ending mistakes that undo good work
12. The ending explains itself
Last paragraphs often tell us what to feel: “She realised she had finally let go.” That deflates the story. End on an image, an action or a line of dialogue that contains the change. Trust the reader to complete the circuit. A good ending feels surprising and inevitable. Test it by removing the final explanation. If the story still works, keep it removed. Avoid the sudden moral or twist that invalidates earlier scenes.
A practical revision pass
Do not try to fix all twelve at once. Read the story three times, each for a different job. First for shape, then for scenes, then for sentences. A simple checklist can keep you honest:
- Summarise the plot in one sentence: someone wants something, but something stands in the way, so they act. If you cannot, the plot needs work.
- Mark every scene’s turn. If nothing changes, cut or merge it.
- Highlight the protagonist’s choices. If there are too few, add one earlier.
- Read dialogue aloud. Cut the first and last lines of each exchange.
- Check the ending. Remove the final explanation and see whether the image or action holds.
- Read once more for rhythm. Replace abstract nouns with concrete details.
When you share the story, ask specific questions: Where did you get bored? Where were you confused? Which moment felt true? Praise is pleasant, but useful notes help you revise. Keep old drafts, too; comparing them shows how far the work has moved. Revision is not polishing the same idea; it is re-seeing the story until the choices feel deliberate. The best short stories read as if they could not have gone any other way. That feeling is built, sentence by sentence.
Photo: jlxp / Pixabay
