Why I Like Short Stories

I love short stories. I know some people don't like them because there isn't enough character development, or subplots, or there's not enough time to get involved in the story, or whatever. I think a well-written short story can be brilliant and very entertaining. I also like to occasionally be able to consume a story in a short chunk of time rather than starting three different novels or something like that.

I've never really understood the inherent hostility toward the short form writing. Sure, they're not to everybody's taste, but the amount of venom in this Wet Asphalt post just boggles my mind. Some of my favourite authors have both novels and short stories to their credit, and some of them (Robert Reed, for example) clearly love the craft of writing a good, focused short story. I don't buy the attitude that those who write short stories are slumming or marketing whores keeping their names out in the public, or anything like that.

Those are extreme examples of criticism, though. What about those who just don't like reading them?

Short stories can make you think as a reader. Some people don't like that, of course. They want everything handed to them on a platter with no real nuance. This attempt to engage readers' minds can result in some great stories that end rather ambiguously, forcing the reader to make up his/her own mind about what the story might have meant.

You can't do that in a novel. If a 550-page novel ends on an ambiguous note, I would probably feel cheated unless it was extraordinarily well-done. A short story, though? One that may take 20-30 minutes to read? I'm a bit more forgiving. I may not like how the story ended, but I don't feel robbed of my time once I have finished.

The short story allows for far more experimentation in tone and style as well. Sure, there are varying degrees of success or failure in these experiments. Again, if it fails, you haven't invested huge amounts of time and energy in the story. This can allow writers to do all sorts of things with (and to) their characters, knowing that the character may never come back.

One of my favourite short stories is "Story Kit" by Kij Johnson (published in Eclipse Four, edited by Jonathan Strahan), and I really didn't like it when I started reading it. It starts talking about six different story types (as stated by author Damon Knight) and explores a female writer trying to craft a story about Dido (from the Aeneid). Interspersed with this is the writer's attempts to deal with the failure of her marriage. One becomes a metaphor for the other, and by the end of the story you're really engaged with the writer's dilemma and heartache. It's a fascinating story, and I don't think the style would fit anything other than a short story.

What about the often-given reason for not liking short stories? The "just when I'm getting involved in the story, it ends" reasoning? I think that's looking at things the wrong way. No short story should leave the reader hanging so that they're "just getting involved" in it as the story draws to a conclusion. The narrative arc of the story should take the reader on the journey so that he/she doesn't even notice the length until it comes to its natural endpoint. If you're left "wanting more" because you feel the story is incomplete, then that's a failure on the writer's part. (As opposed to the reader wanting more of that author's work, which is actually a good thing)

How about the "I like to get involved in a story and the characters and a short story doesn't allow me to do that"? The craft of a short story is much different than a novel, and a good writer will pack enough characterization (even if it is done in shorthand) that you feel that you know the characters well enough for this not to be an issue. Yes, you won't get as much detail of the character's background if it's not important to the story, but I would argue that it's the same thing in a novel. Even with greater length, if it's not necessary for me to know that the main character likes tuna fish sandwiches, then I would hope the author wouldn't feel the need to tell me this.

Short stories don't allow quite the number of twists and turns that a novel can give, but they can still turn on a dime and surprise the reader. Many short stories do have a twist at the end, or at least a change in direction that comes at a shock to the reader. There are no subplots in a short story either, but that's beside the point of what a short story is.

One of the principle reasons I've always loved short stories, though, is the time element. I can read a story and then set the book down again if I want. I won't be stuck in the middle of a narrative. They make great reading for bus trips or something like that where your time is limited. I love novels too, but short stories make a perfect snack in between lengthy tomes, something satisfying to cleanse the pallet.

And you just might find yourself thinking more than you had anticipated as well.

There are some great short stories available online if you want to sample. Lightspeed Magazine hosts many of their stories free for reading without a subscription if you want to dip your toe in. If you're not into SF, then maybe some of the more "literary" stories found at Fish Publishing might be more to your liking?

Whatever the case, give a few a try. Keep in mind that not every short story is good, so try not to read one and say "nope, not for me." Try a few before giving up on them.

You might find yourself with even more great stuff to read.

So what about you? Are you a short story fan or hater? Let me know in the comments.

Failure as a Driving Force

There is something that's universal. It happens to everybody, be it kids trying to walk for the first time to somebody running for President, and everything in between (and even beyond).

Yes, we all fail. In fact, we fail a lot. Life is full of little failures when we try and do something.

Some people let failure paralyze them. Sometimes it's not even failure, but the fear of failure that keeps us from moving forward. We come up with some brilliant idea that we want to try, but then we don't put it into action because we're afraid it might not succeed. Maybe it isn't as brilliant as we thought it was. Or maybe we just don't have the skill or expertise to pull it off.

When we think of failure, we often think of these big things. We don't realize that there are many days that are full of little failures. You tried to fix the squeaky hinge on the door but it was beyond your capability and you had to ask for help. You tried to fix the clogged drain. Maybe you tried to figure out on your own how to hide columns on an Excel spreadsheet but then finally had to ask somebody.

We all do it. Failure is a part of our lives.

Wow, that was depressing. Isn't this supposed to be an inspirational post?

Yes it is.

The thing is, failure can be, and often is, a driving force in our lives, forcing us to improve our minds, our bodies, or even just our everyday life skills.

How to tell you're a writer

I recently finished Con & Conjure, a book by Lisa Shearin, and decided to look up her blog since I haven't done so in a while. She's a fantasy writer, and that series is about an elf named Raine Benares who has basically been getting into a lot of trouble.

But this isn't a blog about Shearin or her books (that may come later).

Instead, it's inspired by one of her blog posts, where she talks about November being NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a challenge where you are supposed to write 50,000 words in a month.

Right now, there's no way I can do that, but in her post talking about her plans for it, she linked to a wonderful post on the Writability blog.

The post, entitled "Ten Indisputable Signs that You're a Writer," gives...well, ten signs that you are a writer. I guess, going by this post, I am a writer! As long as you don't have to meet *all* of the criteria listed, anyway.

Let's see how I measure up.

Nighttime Brains

For some reason, my brain just seem to love the night. Do you find that your brain starts to get more active the later it gets? Sometimes, my brain is lying in wait for me to try and go to sleep, and then it springs on top of me with thoughts, images, or "hey, what do you think you should do about those bagels that are rotting in the fridge?" questions. Or "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if you appeared on the Talk Radar podcast? Do you think it would go like this?" Meanwhile, I'm trying desperately to shut it up so I can get some sleep.

Some of our best thinking is done at night, the later the better.

Unless there are alcoholic beverages involved, though in some cases that makes the brain go into overload and it's just the content that spews out of it that probably shouldn't be repeated.

One way not to get published

You're an aspiring writer, sending out manuscripts, stories, outlines, samples, whatever to many literary agents, publishing houses, and the like. You want to get published! So what's the best way to do that?

I know! Let's go online and badmouth everybody in the industry, many of them by name! That's got to impress enough people to get you published, doesn't it?

If I hadn't read a few of the posts on this blog, I wouldn't have believed it. Titled "Tales From a Rejection Queen," it's a blog that explores the miseries of constantly submitting your written work and then getting it soundly rejected all the time.

I honestly don't know if it's a joke or not.

Writing Style - Parentheses

As a long-time book reviewer and relatively recent blogger, not to mention an aspiring writer in other fashions, one thing that I've often thought about is my writing style.

One of my favourite nonfiction writers is Jonah Goldberg, from National Review. Not only is he a great Conservative (now I'll watch over half my readership tune out), but he's also an excellent writer, nerd, and all around cool guy. He'll talk politics, but he'll also talk True Blood, Star Trek, and the latest in Volcano Lancing.

Why do I bring Jonah up in a post about writing styles?

The Process of Writing (or "It's Not Going to Write Itself!")

One of my favourite writing comments, and I can't quote it exactly, basically says that once you've submitted a story or a manuscript in an attempt to get it published, you are no longer an "aspiring" author, but an "unpublished" one. Given that reasoning, I am now an "unpublished" author since I sent around a story a couple of years ago to a few magazines. Nobody wanted it, but that's the furthest I've ever gotten along in the process.

Sometimes I wonder if I have what it takes?

My main problem is just sitting down and doing the writing. I've heard that something like 80% of writing is the hard work of actually getting the words down on paper. I'm not sure of the exact figure, but it's something like that. Anyway, that's my main problem: sitting down at the computer and banging out the words. I don't have any problem banging out blog posts and reviews (ok, some days the motivation just isn't there, but I know they will eventually get done). But for some reason, actually sitting down and getting the words on the screen for a story just doesn't happen.

I am a font of ideas; I just don't develop them. Maybe that's because the idea isn't worth developing? I don't know. My trip to Ohio this summer really inspired a story that sounded in my mind like it would be a great one. The night before we left Ohio, I couldn't sleep because I wanted to get all of the concepts that were going through my head down in my notes on my iPhone (have I told you yet that I love my iPhone?). The general plot, characters, the idea behind the story. It's all there. It kept me up late into the night telling my wife about all of this fabulous stuff that was occurring to me (thankfully, she was going to be up anyway so I wasn't actually keeping her up). I was so excited!!!

I get home, and I haven't done a thing with them. They're still on my phone, and the ideas still percolate in my mind, but they sit there unused and unaddressed. I keep swearing that I'm going to sit down and write the damned thing, and I keep envisioning what the reactions of my family and friends would be to this wonderful story that I would produce, but that's never going to happen if I don't actually sit down and write, is it?

Another thing I've heard about writing is that writers have a burning need to get the stories and concepts that they think about out there. It may just be for themselves and they'll never publish it, but they have that fiery "need" that just must be quenched.

So does the fact that I am not all-consumed by this need mean that I'll never produce anything?

Anyway, writing this post has enabled me to walk my mind through a few things, which I guess is one reason we write these things, right? I mean, the ultimate goal is for it to be interesting to our readers, but sometimes we have to be selfish and use it for our own ends.

And then we publish it and see if it will help anybody else. I hope it does (both help me and anybody else).