Short Story Writing Techniques

            When I read Train by Joy Williams, I really enjoyed her writing style and how minimalist it is. She writes about a mundane situation, letting the readers take a glimpse of two young girls on a train ride and, while there isn’t any particular plot, I enjoyed the well-developed characters and I like how she uses dialogue to reveal character. Effectively using dialogue to reveal a character’s personality and motives, gives readers a sense of freedom because the writer does not spoon feed them what they need to know.

            I also like how there was not much of a substantial plot in Train. This short story is about ten-year-old Danica who is traveling to Florida with her best friend, Jane Muirhead and her parents. In a short duration, readers see the strained relationship between Jane’s parents as well as the relationship between Danica and Jane. While they consider themselves both best friends, both of them have the ability to make the other person mad. In addition, they act older for their age. 

            I like how the story was set during a train ride because it does reveal little about the time that passes between the characters as well as giving the characters a chance to have an outlet to reveal who they are without any day-to-day worries or interruptions.

            Overall, I really liked the writing style of Williams because my favorite part as a reader, is reading about flawed and well-developed characters and I think she accomplishes that by effectively using dialogue.