So I've been reading a lot of short horror stories in the lead up to Halloween. At the risk of reducing the subtleties of written language, I'm going to suggest that there's three elements every good short story needs: concept, character and conclusion.
A killer concept is essential for a successful short story. In 'What Maisie Knew', David Liss imagines a world where zombies not only exist but, depressingly, have been commodified and forced into domestic slavery. This particular short story packs a punch as it explores the incredibly bleak implications of this concept. In 'The Gray Room', Tim Waggoner imagines an experience so completely awe inspiring that leaves people willing to do anything to experience it again. In 'Flesh Without Blood', Nadia Bulkin imagines fitness fanatics taking their obsession to occult extremes.
Character and narrative are obviously inseparable. But what role does character play in a short story given that the form typically eschews the development and character arcs typically associated with longer works? The character becomes a lens through which the reader experiences a story. In the case of horror, they lead readers into a world of the horrific and macabre. Given the length of this form, it seems writers are more willing to experiment with unreliable and unlikeable narrators that might not be suited to longer words. 'What Maisie Knew' features a particularly repugnant, sociopathic protagonist. In 'Flesh Without Blood', Bulkin gradually reveals that her protagonist has more in common with his obsessive sister than he might first acknowledge.
And, of course, this leads to one of the most important aspects of a short story: the conclusion, the final coup de grâce, the emotional sucker punch that has become a hallmark of the form. Given his predilection for this sort of ending, I rather suspect that M Night Shyamalan read far too many short stories as a child. In the short stories that I've read most recently—'What Maisie Knew', 'Flesh Without Blood', 'The Gray Room' and 'Head on the Door'—all feature endings that surprise, disturb and satisfy in equal measure.
Short stories: concept, character, conclusion. As I've been learning, a short story that gets these three ingredients right is bound to satisfy.