Tips on Keeping Short Stories from Becoming Long Stories

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  1. Enter scenes late and leave them early, particularly conversation scenes.
  2. Trust your readers to fill in details you don’t supply.
  3. Cut down the number of scenes.
  4. Cut down the number of characters.
  5. Cut down the number of subplots.
  6. Reduce the complexity of the main plot.
  7. Tell, don’t show, some of the story.
  8. Start the story closer to the end and just fill in the necessary backstory.