How to Plan a Short Story by Focusing on One Element

Miacademy & MiaPrep Learning Channel

In this creative writing lesson, Justin guides students through the pre-writing phase of crafting a short story, introducing the concept of a "narrative focus" to overcome the intimidation of a blank page. The video emphasizes that because short stories are brief (typically 1,000 to 8,000 words), they require a unified approach where one element drives the others. Justin demonstrates how to choose one primary narrative element—character, setting, conflict, or plot—to serve as the foundation for the entire story plan.