A Short Story Tutorial

Mary Robinette Kowal won the Best Novel Hugo award last year for The Calculating Stars, the first book in her Lady Astronaut series. She's written a few short stories as part of that series including, "Articulated Restraint", which Tor.com published last year. 

For her birthday, she's given a gift to her fans. She's published her notes and some of the drafts of the story to explain her train of thought when she was wriring. It's a short tutorial in how to write and edit a short story from an accomplished professional writer.

Today, I reached Level 51 Human and am spending it at my parents’ surrounded by writers on a mini-retreat. I’m going to do some serious cooking tonight, but meanwhile, I have a party favor to share with you.

I thought I’d show you the evolution of a story, from initial seed to published product. A lot of times, people compare their work in progress with someone else’s finished product. Don’t do that, even if the finished product is your own.

The story is Articulated Restraint, which came out last year.

Now, I’m going to suggest that you start this by reading the finished story and then we’ll jump back to the beginning. Why? Because I want you to see how many really cool ideas didn’t make it into the final version and how you totally don’t miss them at all.