I always think that short stories work best in a series of episodes - tiny chapters, really. So a good idea is to jot down your episodes before you start writing eg
Episode one Characters meet for work
Episode two An altercation by the coffee machine
Then once that is done you can see what to cut out, what to keep in, where it is lopsided etc.
There are some rules to bear in mind during the planning process:
The best stories are the ones that follow a fairly narrow subject line; too many plotlines and you end up with a novel
An effective short story often covers a very short time span (does not have to be, but most successful stories concentrate on one incident and follow it through
Don’t have too many characters. Each new character will bring a new dimension to the story, and too many diverse dimensions dilute the theme. Have only enough characters to effectively tell the story
Make every word count. There is no room for unnecessary expansion in a short story. If each word is not working towards putting across the story, delete it.
John Dean
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