Dear budding authors. The rules are different... · 7:57pm May 2nd, 2015
...for short stories and novels/serials.
I know, I know, some of you here are rolling your eyes and saying: "Well, duh! Come on, D, where's your two-line review of the new episode?" But! Sadly, I've found a trend with short-story writers here who suddenly decide to write a longer story, or worse, offer to "edit" for others who are while giving the completely opposite advice than they should. This also goes for some 'reviewers' who go out their way to tell authors of short stories that they should have "included a lot more background story" into it. Guys. They're not novels. If the information given gives you enough to connect with the character quickly, I hate to say it, but you don't need to know their damn life-story and add 5k words of non-relevant-to-the-story stuff.
Here's the bottom line: short stories are limited in scope. That means that you have to have stuff happen quickly. You can have some background info, but it's not there to be explored in depth. You only use the amount needed to move your story for the short period of time needed for it to reach its conclusion. A short story is NOT an epic. This is tricky, because you need to give all the relevant info to the reader. It's easier in short stories to start in media res than in novels, since you can focus on things happening for that short period of time and then the story is done. Over. Finito. Kaput.*
As for novel-length or serialized stories... there's a lot of stuff going on there that doesn't happen in short stories: Sub-plots for one. Character development over a longer period of time. Exploration of the past. Exploration of the future. Character arcs. Story arcs. The characters need motivation beyond the immediate resolution of the current problem. A novel or serialized story gives you the chance to actually build up on back-story to your hearts content, ideally not crammed down into a single moment of boredom.
Don't write a long story as if it were a short one, only with more words. That doesn't give you a result that will work out for your story and you will only end up with moments of: "Uh... where do I go now?" or worse, stagnated stories.
Each type works in different ways. They both have strengths over the other and it's up to you to decide what you write. Just be aware that what works for one, won't always work for the others.
Peace!
*Note: Because, Kaput! is such an awesome word.
Also, today's episode was okay.
And here's the second line for consistency.
I like to think that's why "Chance of Cider" did so well. Short, sweet and to the point.
Yeah, I have some trouble with that divide myself. A really good short story makes you want more background and detail, but would be ruined if the author actually tried to cram that stuff in.
Wanderer, this would require people to know what they're writing, and have some idea of what it's actually about. Next you're going to tell me that in a long story you should have some idea of the main plot and actually end the story when it's finished, or that tacking "what happens next" onto a short story is not a good way to start a novel.
Everyone knows that the way to write a fanfic is to start typing whatever story pops into your head and just keep adding to it until you have a million followers. People who point out places you missed the chance to add 10,000 words that have nothing to do with your plot are only trying to help you in that goal.
Yay consistency!
Consistency is great!
3037934 I know right? What was I thinking?
3037898 Indeed, and finding the balance is not an easy task either! Whoever thinks simply that writing good short stories is easier is not trying. And whoever thinks aimlessly having stuff happening makes a novel clearly has no clue how to write a book.
The opposite of that was the criticism I got five minutes after jumping into IRC. Hey, it's going to be a long story. Don't be greedy on the snippets of plot I'm trying to hand out here.
Example of story with little background: Redline. A whole bunch of characters with little more than a short description, because we all know the entire purpose of the film is the visuals and gotta go fast.
I always love our little talks, D.
„Kaputt“ is written with 2 ts – and it has more the meaning of “broken”, than of “end” (just saying
)
3039150 Kaput! Maybe the double 't' one is more correct but I guess in English it works either way. And also, I know it means broken, hence my note on it
Continuity!
I've always thought of short stories as being exercises in efficiency and optimization. You still need to give life and depth to your characters, but because you have limited space you need to slip those details into other sentences that are already pulling their own weight in the story. If you plot a few points on a curve the reader will be happy to extrapolate the rest. I think that once you learn to be very efficient, you can still make a short story seem very full.
3038201 So...What do you do when you have enough content written down to make a novel-sized story or novella, but could also shrink into a short story? Do you just go with what feels right, or what?
3203932 Can you boil down the story with all its content and all you want to say down to about 20k words max? If not, stick to the novella/novel size.