I hear tons of Authors talk about how when they were young the made themselves sit down and write one short story per week for...forever. I've tried writing short stories, I really have. I just can't for the love of my Characters have so little happen to them. See, here's the thing with my characters, I spend a lot of time modeling them, and talking with them, and thinking about them. Maybe you don't do that with short stories but I'll just say it feels wrong, It's like a one Night Stand.We spend all this time with our Manuscripts to a point where if feels like we're dating them. Right now I feel like I'm married to mine, and I'd feel bad moving around so much. (OMG I totally date like that too, ha who said you need a life for Life Lessons).I suppose if we're going to compare this dating thing to writing we may as well go all in.
When you're young, you shouldn't be in these deep relationships where you spend all this time. You're still growing, and finding out what you like and don't like in people The same goes with books. When we're young we need to write stories, and write a lot of em to know what we like to write, how we like to write it, and all that junk. Eventually We'll get "Married" to a full length book, but for now It shouldn't be my main goal.
Wow when I wrote this I didn't think I would be making this huge discovery *FacePalm*. I think I'm going to try harder with writing short stories. First I should probably start reading some short stories (Anybody got any haha) then writing them. I think I'll probably keep going with my manuscript for now, but I think after this one I'll tuck it in the vault for six months. September I'm going to devote all my writing to short stories, this is a time between when I should be done with my second Manuscript, and before my first comes out of the vault.
Anyone got any tips when It comes to short story writing and how it's different from writing novels? I love the support you guys, and I'll see ya next time :) DFTBA
The difference between short stories and novels has everything to do with essentials vs. embellishments. In a good short story nothing is there that doesn't propel the story forward. Novels, by contrast are full of needless detail. Not all of the detail is needless, of course, but do we really need a description of the wallpaper or the fabric used on a chair or what breed of dog someone is walking? Perhaps. Perhaps not. If the answer is "not," then you may be writing a novel. Short stories are more restrictive and require more discipline than writing a novel. I've read many a novel where the author was mostly showing off his/her vast vocabulary or his/her academic acumen. I feel, however, that in good writing, the language is invisible in a sense. You "get" the story without noticing the language through which it's given to you. Occasionally the bloated approach works (Lawrence Durrell). Mostly it does not.
ReplyDeletehmm., It seems like in short stories the author leaves more for the Reader to make up. While in Novels it's all about the Author doing all the work to paint a picture in your head. Thanks for the advice, :)
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