Short Story - Read this before you write one OR Three rules of great writing

For Sale: Baby shoes. Never Worn.

As short story goes this is one of the shortest. And one of the best. Don't go by my word. Ernst Hemingway, who penned it by the way, claimed to be his best. So, there you go.

The first rule in short story is - Make it as short as possible. But not any shorter.
The above story follows it to the hilt. It does not waste any words in describing the shoes or the seller or anything else. It goes for the jugular straight. You should try to keep the words to

a minimum as well.

The second one in short story is - Begin right at the beginning. Not a tad earlier
The story starts with the information about a sale. Not when the shoes were bought. Not when the unfortunate mishap hapenned, if it did happen. They are not the correct beginnings.

They may be, for some other story. But not this one. You should put the reader in the in the middle of the things right in the beginning. Don't go for a prologue where you ramble about

the weather.

The third one in short story is - Hold that punch till the end.
There is no story after 'Never worn'. A mediocre writer would have added some dead words at the end. But not hemingway. He knows when he has given all the details needed. From

then on he leaves the reader to wonder, to figure out. Try not to give away too much too early in your story. The reader will feel disappointed when he finishes the story. At the same

time be careful not to introduce an unexpected twist in the end just because you have to. Then the reader will feel insulted! The ending should take the reader by surprise, but at the

same time he should also feel that it was a probable ending. Not easy, isn't it? Who said it is?