I feel that this topic is especially relevant when you have an absolutely great idea and you want to incorporate it into a plot—but you don’t have the time or ideas or brain space to put it into a full-length novel. Well, that’s my reason for starting this, anyway…

1. So my first question up for discussion is: are good ideas wasted on short stories because of the different target market for shorts, not enough time for detail, etc? Am I right, wrong, or just incredibly gorgeous?

2. New discussion point. As far as I can see, short stories are harder: you have to get a bunch of information, a few rounded characters, and a theme across to the reader in a small amount of time. And that doesn’t even allow for the plot development. But novels require more stamina, right? Is that the only thing that short stories have to offer for the writer: that they’re short? What do you think about this?

3. Agatha Christie used to write short stories and turn them into novels later. What do you think of this method? Do you think you’d do well at it?

4. What length do you prefer (or try to follow)? Is there a length that your stuff always ends up becoming? Are you annoyed or happy with it?

Yes? No? Fish? Unrelated tangents? Discuss?

I like short stories. I’m best at around 3000 words, sometimes 1500 words. I think they have a lot of merit, especially for beginning writers. With a short story, you’re forced to learn to be conscise and sparing with details, and you generally learn to get to the details and the actual story faster, without any wasted words or time. Applying that principle to a novel, of course, can be taken too far, but it’s definitely something some novelists (ahem, looking at you, Paolini!) should have learned or remembered.

I don’t really like moralistic short stories, as Jeni mentions, or stories with ‘twists’. I like short stories that are character driven and relationship-centred; slice-of-life stories that expoore emotions or that open up a new way of thinking.

One of the best short stoies I’ve ever read was such a story, features in the Best Australian Short Stories 2007 (ed. R Drewe): “Tender”, by Cate Kennedy. You can read it in Google Books… Oh wait, no you can’t. The pages it’s on have been mysteriously omitted. Darn. Anyway, it’s an excellent short story, because it delves into complex emotions with sensitivity and poignancy. There’s nothing that really happens plot-wise, it’s more of an introspection of the main character.

I often find that the best short stores don’t really have much of a plot; they focus on characters and interactions and emotions. Take “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez , for example. A couple capture an angel, charge admission to see him, and then when people loose interest, they let him fly away. It seems weird, but despite the lack of substanceplot-wise, it’s still a really intense story. Because it focuses on themes and emotions and minute details that act as metaphor and metonymy to the greater story, rather than wasting words on complex polot development or character development over time.

Which leads to my next point: In a novel, characters are free to develop and change through the course of the novel, because we as readers have the space to see the change occuring gradually. In short stories, however, there is often no character growth, because there’s not enough time or space for that kind of complex handling. Short stories are generally a tiny portion of a metaphysical larger story, painted in minute detail. It could be an instant, or a day, or even a few days. But there’s simply not enough room in a short story for the same kind of character treatment as a novel can have.

Short stories are very very difficult for me to write. There are some I enjoy reading, but I can never find a good topic to write about.

Not like my novel is much better, but at least I have an idea or two.