Organize your thoughts and ideas by jotting them all down in a journal, because your memory is fallible and your creativity can often leave holes in your story. Write a summary of your short story, one sentence long. Make it descriptive and straight to the point. Think of the sentence as a 10 second selling tool or pitch, a hook that will sell your story to your readers. For this sentence, shorter is better, so try to write less than 15 words. Tie the big picture to the personal picture by telling the story of the character who has the most to lose and sharing what they want to gain. Read blurbs in magazines, on other book covers, in online media and on movie posters to get a feel for how to write a good blurb.
Develop characters in a time line. A short story can be any length, but most competitions have a cap of 6,000 words or less. Create a goal of 1,000 words a day and one hour of editing after you have finished your 1,000 words. Try following rules to complete your story within a week.
Expand each paragraph of your short story into a full page once your story has taken a structure. This is where you can begin making strategic decisions and gain insight into the story. New ideas will probably start to flood your brain, so taking notes or jotting things down in a journal are a good way to help develop ideas without inserting them straight in the story. Remember to stay organized, and begin to give your readers as much information as you possibly can as soon as possible. Inform your readers of everything that is going on. Resist holding anything back or trying to hide things for a big reveal later on. Your readers should have a complete understanding of the whole story; in a way that they are able to finish the story for themselves should the last paragraph be missing.
Create a checklist to review and edit your short story. Is your prose clear or evocative? Does the language give impact to the story? Is your description true to the characters and how you wrote him or her? Are you intrigued by the characters? Is your dialogue believable? Does the dialogue fit the characters? Does it sound like a real conversation when read aloud. Was the scene depicted as well as the characters in it or better? If not, why? Is the story line sustained through out the entire story? Does the plot or storyline flow? Is the story too complicated, does it need simplifying? Next, ask a friend to read your story over. Ask if they need anything explained or if the plot is working. If not maybe they can suggest how it could be restructured or point out holes that need to be filled.