Goal:

Is the goal to find the Holy Grail, kill an evil monster, rescue a fair maiden, or catch a rich wife? Other characters can have minor goals as well, but you’ll likely want to focus your efforts on the goals of one protagonist, and one main quest.

Journey:

Are you traveling across England, the North Sea, Italy, or venturing around the world? This is not just about describing places, but also establishing character, relationships, and purpose. Add weaknesses for your characters that can be exploited in the story, and can be used in the outcome to demonstrate change. If all you have to do is walk from your bedroom to the kitchen to get a bag of chips, it’s not exactly a quest. You need to at least venture to a supermarket at night with lots of snow and a carload of kids from Sussex chasing you, also looking for the last bag of chips.

Conflict/Obstacles/Tests:

This will often take place during the journey and through to the resolution. The conflict/obstacle can be man vs. man, man vs. self, or man vs. nature. The obstacles should be trying to DESTROY the quest, not just be there by chance. Maybe an antagonist is also questing for chips, or you decide chips are unhealthy and try to stop yourself, or the snow just won’t stop. Most obstacles in a quest are external, man vs. man conflicts with other people.

Suffering:

This may not be physical pain or even constitute anything all that bad. However, the best stories have points when all is seemingly lost. Do you lose a companion? Do you give a wedding ring away? Do you have the wrong sword for the job? This is where the antagonist is about to win and the journey is about to be a wasted effort. (And maybe the object desired IS lost at this point.)

Outcome:

The protagonist comes back and wins, reaching the goal. OR, the protagonist realizes a different goal, and reaches a new perspective. Either way, the characters should be changed: more powerful, more confident, a better perspective on life, or something to that effect. Do you get your bag of chips and decide to share with the kids from Sussex, or hold them up in the air and display a new-found confidence? The antagonist often changes here, as well—maybe to join forces, or perhaps to vow to avenge the defeat.

Other Musts:

You must use dialogue in your short story. Internal, external, or both.

You must develop characters—the audience needs to care about the characters.

You must show and not just tell. Don’t just say a character feels or looks angry…what does the person DO?

You must TELL A STORY