“Never underestimate the reader’s imagination. It is more powerful than all your fine writing. True skill consists in inspiring, rather than in substituting yourself for it.”
David Lavender

Great advice, isn’t it? It’s from a recent issue of The Writer magazine, which spotlighted some sage advice Pulitzer Prize nominee David Lavender offered its readers back in the ’40s about writing short stories. A few still-timely tips:

Start with stakes, not plot: While it’s tempting to plunge your readers into the middle of your plot at a point of peak action, there’s often a major problem with this strategy: While the height of the conflict may be exciting, your readers don’t yet have a reason to care about your characters. And using flashbacks to reveal more about them isn’t a great solution, since it slows down the action.

Our boy David suggests another approach: Instead of using the opening of a story to set up the plot, use it to set up the stakes. Don’t start at a peak moment of conflict, start at the height of desire. “You need not worry about being dull if you can present within the first few hundred words a definite character in the grip of a definite emotion.”

Introduce motivation deftly: If setting up a boy-loves-girl tale, for example, says Lavender, “I must show the boy immediately engaged in wanting the girl. I must do it with unobtrusive little touches. I must bring it out through the way he acts and what he says, being at all times careful not to let the reader guess that he is having something explained to him.” It’s the old show, don’t tell: Readers don’t want to hear about desire, they want to see it in action and feel it.

As Nicki Porter, associate editor at The Writer sums up: “Find out what your characters want most of all and begin your story there. Cut to the heart of their desires and work outward into your plot. And resist the urge to tell your readers everything. Have faith in their ability to connect the dots.” Lots to ponder here as we all write on.