Let’s Write a Short Story!
Let's Write a Short Story!, by Joe Bunting

The book by Joe Bunting

Write your first short story, and get it published sooner.

A #1 Amazon bestseller in its category, rated 4.2 out of 5 by 557 readers.

Let’s Write a Short Story! is a short, practical book that takes you from an idea to a finished story, then shows you which magazines to send it to.

“It’s become the first resource I recommend to aspiring fiction writers.”

Keith Jennings, Georgia author and artist

Both on Amazon. The paperback is 100 pages, short enough to finish this week.

What’s inside

Seven chapters take you from your first idea to a story in a magazine.

  1. Let’s Get Started

    What a short story is, how long it should be, and why it’s the best place for a new writer to begin.

  2. Effective Story Writing Strategies

    Why the only thing that matters in your story is what your characters do.

  3. Write a Better Story

    How not to begin your story, and what to cut when you only have a few pages.

  4. Get Rid of Writer’s Block

    Why you get stuck, and how to start writing again when you can’t get going.

  5. Editing to Perfection

    How to edit your draft into a story you’re proud to send out.

  6. Submitting Your Short Story

    How to send your story to magazines, even when it feels like sitting naked on the subway.

  7. How to Get the Most Out of Your Stories

    How your published stories can build your readership better than a blog can.

Plus a list of literary magazines to send your story to, and a checklist for formatting it before you do.

What readers say

“Honesty time: I’d really given up on the idea that I could write short stories. I was a novelist, and that was that. Or so I thought until I read this book.”

Ruthanne Reid

“I’ve wanted to write a short story for a while, but wanting and writing are not the same. With Joe’s help, I just might do it.”

Jeff Goins, author of Wrecked

“This book focuses not just on how to craft a great short story, but how to position the writer to actually get published.”

Dan Blank, platform coach

“Makes me want to start a new story right now!”

C. S. Lakin, novelist, blogger, and writing coach

“By the time I finished the introduction, I was ready to write a short story.”

Rhonda Kline, The Write Spark

“It is the most practical resource for short fiction that I’ve ever seen.”

Jason Hague

“If I were alive, I would read this book.”

Ernest Hemingway, author
Get the paperback Get it for Kindle

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Read what more readers say

Read a page

Here’s a page from the book, on why short stories make you a better writer.

Let’s Write a Short Story!

How do you practice writing?

This was the question that led me to start The Write Practice in 2011. Learning experts like Geoffrey Colvin and Malcolm Gladwell say if you practice at a task deliberately, you will improve far more quickly than if you just perform the task for fun and with no forethought.

To practice writing deliberately you have to write finished pieces over and over again. Writing finished pieces can motivate you to persevere through the moments when writing itself is difficult.

You can write novels and publish novels to “test” yourself, but novels (obviously) take a lot longer to write than short stories. That’s why MFA writing programs across the country rely on short stories as deliberate practice for writing fiction.

If you want to get better at writing fiction, write and submit a lot of short stories.

Keep reading · Get it for Kindle

Try it now

Start a story today, and see where you could send it.

Today’s prompt

Tell the story of a scar, whether a physical scar or emotional one.

Write for 15 minutes, then come back for step two.

Flash fiction

See every magazine I recommend

Then follow the five steps.

  1. Read short stories.

    Real writers read, and as Stephen King said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”

    Find stories to read

  2. Summarize your short story.

    Before you begin writing, try a screenwriting trick known as loglines.

    Find your idea

  3. Write your short story.

    Just put pen to paper. Don’t worry about what comes out.

    How to write a great short story

  4. Rewrite and edit.

    All good writing is rewriting. Don’t give up now. You’re almost there.

    Format it for submission

  5. Submit!

    Finally, it’s time to send your baby out into the world. Don’t overthink it. Just do it.

    Where to send it
15 Days to Write and Submit a Short Story, by Joe Bunting

Free workbook

After only two weeks and a day, you will have written and submitted a short story.

The workbook takes you through 15 days, from finding your idea to pressing submit, one small step a day.

Almost there!

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A note from me

I didn’t always write short stories.

Like many of you, I tried to write novels. I tried to write one in high school and got bored ten pages into it. I tried to write one in college and got stuck after just a week. After college, I wrote fifty pages of one before I threw it away as garbage.

A few months later, I discovered writing short stories. I wrote this book so you could finish a whole story in under a week, get it into the world sooner, and start building a writing life that’s real, not just another fantasy.

Joe Bunting

Ready to write your story?

Get the paperback Get it for Kindle

Or get it from The Write Shop.