There are many bad reasons to focus on short fiction and one really good one…and both present their own problems. Stick with me as I show you how to adapt your writing to short fiction OR expand your short stories into novels.
Bad Reasons to Write Short Stories
Short stories are great for your career, they say. Start with short fiction, they say, to
- Build your publication credits
- Help new audiences find you
- Let editors know you’re serious
- Raise your profile by winning contests
- Keep your novel fans happy in between books
The problem is not everyone loves short stories. I’m talking about readers and writers, here.
Writing short, while undeniably a useful skill, just isn’t something everyone loves. Maybe you’re in that group.
The bigger problem for you is that the mythical ‘they’ who tell you short stories are a great tool in your toolbox aren’t wrong.
But don’t worry, I’m going to explain some of the reasons you find it hard to write short, and I’m going to show you some techniques for stopping your story’s attempt to become an epic 14-part novel series.
Good Reasons To Keep It Short
If you love short fiction, that comes with its own set of problems:
- Nobody has made a living selling short fiction since 1959. (OK, I made up that date, but do you know anyone your age who has earned a decent hourly wage for a short story?)
- The majority of readers read novels, not short fiction.
- When you show a story to your fellow writers, 98% of them say “this would be a great first chapter” or “I really want to know more.”
- You feel like you ought to be writing novels (because that’s what most people read and buy), but the thought is terrifying: like the difference between the fun of decorating a single room vs. committing to building a whole house with underfloor heating, a solarium, and a bathroom for every guest. You have no idea how to get started and you’re not even sure you want to.
- When you try to ‘add words’ you get the feeling you’re just adding words, not actually adding to the story.
Fear not: in this article I’m going to show you some of the ways short stories and novels differ so that, no matter which one you’re trying to build, you can read the blueprints and create something that stands on its own.
Divided By A Common Language
I’m from the UK but I’ve lived in the US my entire adult life. There’s a funny-not-funny line about the two countries being divided by a common language.
(In Britain, ‘momentarily’ means ‘for a moment’ whereas in the US it can also mean ‘in a moment’. Next time you’re on a plane, watch the faces of your British companions as the American pilot blithely announces that “we’ll be in the air momentarily”…)
Short fiction and novels (or even book-length memoir) are similarly bifurcated.
We use the same ingredients, and some of the same techniques to tell stories that entertain readers. But we do it in different ways, depending on whether or not we’re writing novels or short fiction. And we don’t talk about those differences enough.
Guidepost 1: Consider The Reader
This January I decided to read at least one short story every day to catch up on some of the best of last year’s writing. It was a dizzying experience but one I enjoyed.
At the same time my husband decided to get back to reading more fiction and plunged into a novel which he dutifully finished and rated: “hmmm”. He passed it on to me to see what I thought.
I enjoyed it, and I think I know why we reacted differently to it.
Coming off a month of reading short fiction, I was very comfortable with the novel’s fractured timelines and puzzle-like structure. Coming back to fiction after a break, my husband found it harder to get invested in the story as it jumped around. (In retrospect, he probably should have picked something more linear.)
Novel readers, in general, want to be immersed in the world of the novel, to be swept away by it. A novel is a languid soak in a deep, bubble bath with an endless supply of hot water and somebody else on hand to watch your kids.
People don’t read short stories for that. They read for the gaps, for the puzzle, for the quick, emotional hit. A short story is a bracing, polar bear plunge that leaves you intellectually invigorated (and probably a little bit smug).
Readers come to short and long looking for a different experience.
You, as the writer, must remember which experience you’re trying to create.
Tips:
For novelists writing short: you’re probably telling us too much. Try lopping off the opening paragraph (or two) of your story. Then do the same with the end. Jump around in time with no transitions and see what happens. Leave entire characters off the page.
For short story writers trying to go long: Slow down and let your gaze linger on your characters and their setting. Immerse us in key moments. Don’t keep pushing the plot. Play with paragraphs that link one scene to the next (thematically or to demonstrate the time-jump)
Guidepost 2: Omikase vs Rodizio
When you enter a Japanese restaurant and choose the omikase option, a waiter brings you plate after plate of tiny, exquisitely crafted taste explosions, all constructed so that each selection’s component ingredients compliment or heighten the others.
If I took you to my local Brazilian steakhouse for a rodizio-style meal, and you’d help yourself to whatever you like from a ‘market table’ groaning with salad items and cold cuts, then flag down passing gauchos who’d slice meat from giant skewers and drop them onto your plate until you beg them to stop.
(Can you tell I’m missing eating out?)
Omikase is a highly-curated taste experience. Rodizio is a glutton’s paradise…but still with some structure imposed by the author of the experience (market table, then meats, then if you haven’t yet exploded, dessert and coffee.)
Short stories — and I bet you can see where I’m going with this—are the omikase in my metaphor. Every detail has to count, be highly flavored, and complement all the other parts of the story (character, theme, tone). Readers, famously, will notice the gun on the mantlepiece and if you haven’t used it by the end, your story will feel unsatisfying.
Novels have room for digressions, for trips to different parts of the story world, for characters and details that are just there to build up the atmosphere. Uncle John’s old rusty blunderbuss could hang over the fireplace of the hunting lodge from the opening scene to the end, and nobody would particularly care.
Because of the concentrated nature of short stories (and their details), readers can’t cope with too many. Choose carefully.
(As with every writing ‘rule’, there are of course exceptions. You absolutely can write a short story with crowd scenes and sub plots and an ensemble cast. It’s just…harder. All the tips in this article are intended to help you analyze problems you might be having, not to constrain you.)
Tips:
For novelists writing short: if your short stories keep getting longer and the middle of your story keeps receding into the distance, try telling us less. Cut characters. Cut locations. Cut explanations. Write a draft with as few named characters as possible, set it in one room (maybe two) and see how that goes.
For short story writers trying to go long: get comfortable adding characters. Create an ensemble. Let them move around their surroundings. Allow them to notice things, based on who they are, where they come from, and what nobody else in the scene is noticing. Consider the deeper implications of what they notice. Allow for interpersonal tensions. Let your ensemble move to a new location and explore it too. Remember: people who like novels want to be immersed in your world. And you can always edit for pacing later.
Guidepost #3: Scale & Shape
Bruce Holland Rogers says, “A novel invites the reader to explore an entire house down to snooping in the closets. A short story requires that the reader stand outside of an open window to observe what’s going on in a single room.” (Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Flash Fiction)
A novel can represent a character’s journey over a week or a whole life (or several generations if you’re writing family sagas).
Short fiction represents an intensely-meaningful moment in a character’s life (possibly on a single day). It’s the moment when your character changes or sees something in a new way, even for a moment. This moment is the fulcrum on which a short story turns. You can choose to show us as much or as little of the before and/or after as you like.
In a short story you build up the character enough to give us that emotional jolt (the polar bear plunge) and not much more.
This is why short stories can work in so many different forms:
- Narrative stories that are chronological
- Narratives told out of chronological order
- Letter extracts
- Lists
- Monologues
- Overheard conversations
Short stories are not mini-novels and do not have to be shaped like them. They don’t have to hold up the weight of a good idea for very long. They’re great for experimentation, trying out new styles, new voices, new forms.
Novels are great for exploring a big idea thoroughly.
Tips:
For novelists writing short: remember, you’re peering in the window of someone’s life, or looking in the keyhole, not exploring the whole house.
For short story writers trying to go long: to write in a more immersive style, remember you’re the invisible man investigating every nook and cranny of your characters’ lives. Feel free to open a few drawers and show us what you find.
Whether you’re a novelist trying to master short fiction, a short fiction writer who wants to write more and better stories, or a creative non-fiction writer who just wants to channel that short fiction emotional punch for your memoir, it’s worth building up your short fiction skills.
Are you a natural-novelist or an avowed short story writer? What do you struggle with most when switching styles?
About Julie Duffy
Julie Duffy is the founder and director of the creativity challenge StoryADay.org where she has blogged about the creative life and short stories since 2010. StoryADay is the host of annual short story writing challenges in May and September, year-round writing prompts, articles and community resources for creative inspiration. She regularly talks at writers’ groups and conferences about creativity and writing.
Julie, I love this post! Wonderful tips and insights to short story writing. I write both novels and short stories. I used to read a short story a week, now I read one per month. With my short fiction that has been published in magazines and journals, I convert them into Kindle Singles with a jazzy book cover and put them up on Amazon. And while sales are usually slim (most people are not really interested in buying a short story for .99 cents), I end up offering these Kindles for free. Then I get lots of downloads regularly and they function as promotional items for my novels (which I promote at the end of the short story). And with free short stories, you always have a few items to promote on social media to attract new readers. Thanks for promoting short stories! They have become quite fashionable again, especially flash fiction.
Love these promotion tips. Having short stories available as samples is a great strategy. And isn’t it satisfying to put a cover on something and put it out as a published item?
Thanks, Julie. My only published book, so far, is a collection of short stories. My first endeavors into writing were stories that I pitched to women’s magazines, a once hot market. Raising my children, it was good way to exercise my fiction muscle. When I had more time, I began writing novels and I have written three, all unpublished. But there is great material in all of them and so selections did appear in my: “A Mother’s Time Capsule”. Now reworking one of the novels, I just might take a break and see what material I might adopt for a contest. Writing short has it’s advantages and offers you a chance to come back to your longer endeavor with fresh eyes. Great post.
Thanks Beth,
And yes, it may not be entirely coincidental that I reignited my love affair with short fiction when my children were 5 & 7 years old!
This is a fantastic post. I have too many ideas so the short story is my natural state. I also enjoy experimenting and the short form allows me to do that so much more easily. But so many stories just don’t fit the short form. They need more space. And that’s how I became a reluctant novelist. I’m still learning…but I am enjoying the journey tremendously. Of course, the problem I face is the distraction of all the many beautiful moments that could become shorts.
As a reader too, I enjoy many forms and a novel that is a patchwork poses no problem to my brain, though it does take longer to be immersed in that story world. A recent one that I loved was Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story). Masterful–a patchwork of myths and memories and history with gaps for the reader to ponder, creating a unique whole. I want to put this book in everybody’s hands.
Oh excellent. Glad to hear it. I, too, consider myself a reluctant novelist but am coming to appreciate it!
Thanks for the recommendation. Always looking for new things to read!
What a great post. I’ve sort of felt these differences, but I certainly could not have articulated them so clearly and helpfully. Thank you.
As I understand it, that wonderful quote, “….one people, divided only by a common language…..” is from Mr. Winston Churchill, who, as you know, said a lot of other memorable things. I also loved the two meanings of momentarily.
I’m aspiring to novel writing. I’ve written some short fiction I liked, and you have persuaded me to try some more. Thank you again.
So glad it helped. Sometimes having a clear definition can help us overcome obstacles.
Yes, that does sound Churchillian, doesn’t it? (I should have looked up the source)
Hope you have fun playing with your shorts!
Julie:
I’ve never felt slighted for being a short-short writer. I’ve never even considered writing a novel. As you said, the scope and planning takes as long as the writing — not to mention the revisions, getting feedback from beta readers, finding an agent, promoting — with no more guarantee of success that with short fiction. Each type of writing can be rewarding and meaningful to both writer and reader in its own way. If there’s any advantage, it’s that it’s easier to workshop a short story than a novel and response times from editors are shorter.
That being said, your suggestions were right on.
Incidentally, I love the British English and the challenge for us Yanks in translating. My favorite substitution: “bonnet” and “boot” for “hood” and “trunk” as parts of the car. They both make sense, when you think about it. It took me a while to figure out why everyone wanted “bespoke” furniture and clothing, though.
Glad you haven’t felt slighted. I suspect the more people learn about short fiction the more they respect it ;)
I remember being confused by ‘bespoke’ as a kid too. Suits were talking?!
I started my writing career with a series of four novels because I accepted that was just the way it was done. I am happy with those novels, for the most part, but I have come to realize that the short form is my natural medium. I currently have four collections of short fiction out and no interest in working in the novel format again.
Markets for short fiction are cropping up all over, and while many of them don’t survive long, I think it’s clear that readers appreciate the short story format.
I love seeing all these short story fans commenting!
Congrats on your eight books!
Years ago, I had no interest in writing short stories, and I’d certainly heard that old line about writing stories to build up your credits and such. Then I decided on impulse to try that first Story-a-Day, and I discovered I love writing short stories! (For some reason, I didn’t love them in college when I wrote them for class.) I like going back and forth between novels and short stories, depending on my mood and what I want to explore.
Thanks for the post!
That’s hilarious, given how many short stories you’ve written (and had published) since then!
“[D]o you know anyone your age who has earned a decent hourly wage for a short story?”
If the definition of “a decent hourly wage” would include the neighborhood of $100 per hour (in my world, that’s a very nice neighborhood), then the answer is a resounding, “Yes, many.”
And that includes pretty much every writer I know who sells a short story to a magazine or anthology, then gets the rights back (usually 6 months after publication), puts the story out independently so it can keep earning more money.
Well that’s good news.
SFWA’s minimum professional rate threshold is 8 cents/word which means if you can write revise and market a 4K story in 3 hours then yes, you’re getting that $100/hr rate. Or if you have an established track record a writer can command a higher rate. (And I do understand that there’s a difference between beginners and professionals.)
Glad to hear you’re seeing evidence of plenty of well-paid placements. That’s encouraging.
Also, you make a good point about reprint payments. Love them!
As a long-time blogger moving into novels, I have to admit the jump was challenging. My structure habits are still hard to shake. I love packing a single sentence punchline into blogs, and it took some time to expand those into full chapters while retaining the same level of emotional punch for my readers.
One thing that is very fulfilling, though, is having the luxury of exploring characters and settings. Going long was therefore also a shift in moving from a very internal reactionary story-telling to an external exploratory one.
Thank you for the validation, because I love writing both!
Oh yes, giving yourself permission to explore the external stuff…that’s definitely a big difference. Glad you put it that way.
The four guideposts ring very true for me. I’ve written one novel, so far unpublished, and am about a third of the way through the crappy first draft of another novel, but as the pandemic dragged on I started focusing on short stories. This has been satisfying in several ways. I like producing something that can be published more quickly and easily than a novel. I like being able to anchor a piece around one moment or flash of insight or key interaction (the polar bear plunge)–and enjoy, in a masochistic way, the long process of figuring out how much to build around that center. I like creating characters that I only have to live with for a dozen pages instead of four hundred. I like the way surprises can pop up as they do in novels, but with less reverse engineering required to make them work. Writing short stories has been a way for me to learn more about establishing voice and setting in a more economical way, which I think will be helpful when I turn to novel-writing again. Thanks for the thought-provoking article!
You’re right: it is refreshing to be able to play with new characters knowing you can drop them. Especially when other areas of life require more dedication and effort!
And yes, I love the economy of language in short fiction and what it does for my longer writing. (I highly recommend getting some poetry reading done too, if you’re ever feeling uninspired)