Writing a short story

I'm a ruthless planner. Once I've let an idea ruminate (either by thinking about it for a few days or by sitting and writing a stream of consciousness piece of work) then I pin it down into what I want it to say. What is the message? Where does the beginning, middle, and end fit in? What do I want the audience to know about the characters? After I've done that it's much easier to take the story where I want it to go and to end where I need it to.

why not write the story see how far it goes, don't worry how long to start off, just let it go and run with it, then when you have the story, with or without a cliffhanger, and I agree sometimes they are exactly what is needed, if you need to see in a film a good cliffhanger watch the original Italian Job. Anyway back to the original part of my waffle... when you have everything you need in there go over it and over it condense, remove words and even some sentences that you don't need and sometimes you will have to drop a nice phrase or idea that really doesn't help, or move the story along. I hate that part! but I think Nicholas's idea of setting a target word count and maybe a time scale to work to which will, or should help focus your creative juices. Regards Paul

The story needs to be suited to being a short story. I wouldn't try and cut something done just so that it fits into the category of being a short story. It is what it is, and will become what it is meant to be.

Personally, I try and keep short stories even shorter than I want them to be, because I know as I write it I will develop new ideas and it is likely to grow.

I also agree with Nicholas and it is often good to leave stories on a cliff hanger. Ideally you want the reader to go away after reading it and still have the story in their mind, so cliff hangers are ideal for that.

Hopefully this is of some use to you. Good Luck!