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As people may know, I write short stories.
I read non-fiction mainly, but if I am going to take a fiction book away somewhere, I like a collection of short stories.
I am not pretending to their class, but some of the best writers a best with short stories: Hemingway, James, O Henry, Graves, Poe.
I have not researched it, but I think that the crucial elements of a short story is characters in a situation.
"Hungover" is just that. In her comment Karen said: "Even as a short story this is woefully incomplete". Erin defended by saying "You're thinking it's Bella's story, but it isn't, it's the narrator's story." She is right to the extent that the shock of the change is his situation, which is why it is told from his point of view.
I generally avoid descriptive prose. I let the characters words and actions paint the picture. I write for a living - not fiction - clarity and brevity is what my clients expect.
But many of my stories end in a question mark, and that is what I like.
When I put a short story down I like to have a smile on my face and my mind awash with possibilities.
That is why I ended "Births Deaths and Marriages" with the witness. What will happen now?
The title to Erin's comment was "Tantalizing". My very objective.
Donna T said "You have me wondering how things will turn out for Bella and for her long time friends. “I definitely could if I knew you were backing me..." Seems like a plea for help and support. Will there be a follow up story?"
Siteseer said: "It would be easy to continue, but I get the feeling it's more likely that there would be a non connected story that starts in a situation similar to where this one ended." I think that is more my style, maybe even with these characters, but a stand alone story in a different situation, maybe a wedding, with the friends talking about how it all began.
The reason is that a short story is not a chapter, but a story in itself.
For any who don't know this genre, try looking for a collection by O Henry or Mark Twain, or even watching some of those short films on YouTube which are the same thing in visual form.
Anyway, it's what I do.
Maryanne
Comments
The Short Story
I have just posted "The Quarterback" which is just 2,000 words. Most of my short stories are between 2 and 3,000 words.
The previous one "All Grown Out" might have been my shortest at 1,400 words.
But I hope that in reading "The Quarterback" you feel that you know Freddy and Hannah, and feel that they belong together.
Do you?
Maryanne
I did
Freddy was looking for someone to love and didn't even know it. An essentially shy person, he could relate to Hannah on so many levels, it overcame his shyness. The precision of his thinking was endearing, he was not a brilliant man but a careful one. Hannah was sweet and sexy and just what Freddy needed.
Loved the story. It reminded me of my own Sledgehammer which had two Freds. :)
Writing a short story is entirely different than writing a novel. It's happened to me a few times that I started a novel and ended up writing a short story but generally the two things are so different.
You are one of the best short story writers we have. Please keep doing it. A novel may be a meal, but short stories nourish our souls in their own way.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I Remember Sledgehammer
The was the first story I edited for you. I can see the similarity between the two stories.
Both stories have two highly likeable characters who should fall in love.
BC is better since Maryanne arrived.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
my stories tend to be quite short
whether that's good or bad is a subject to opinion ...
Good
Especially with a twist ending.
-- Daphne Xu
No talent for short stories
I could no way write a story with 2,000 words or less. When I wrote "The Crush: Patty's Dilemma" it was supposed to be a "Short Story" per contest requirements. It's a good thing that no upper limit on word count was mentioned. Because it took me 6,300 words the tell a short story.
A story that should have been a short story, "I Should Have Seen it Coming," which I cranked out in a single sitting turned out to be 8900 words long. I really don't have a short story in me.
Most often, I need a minimum of 15,000 words to set the stage, develop the characters and bring it all to a resolution. More often than not, it takes closer to 20,000 words.
Though, I did manage one truly short story, a mere 603 words long. Though in truth, it wasn't a story. It was a plug for my other stories. The last 104 words were just a list of my other stories and if I'd published them, where they were available to be purchased.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
I like short shorts
Despite having just finished the second of two novels my specialty is really short stories. I know you have written a number of stories inspired by even shorter stories, the ones found in captions. Having written nearly 7000 of them I know how difficult it can be to convey an idea or story in 250 words or less. In fact when I first posted stories here I thought I was doing well if my stories approached a thousand words. Coming from the newspaper business brevity and clarity are two of the required tools. Don't fool yourself, it takes a lot of skill to write a short story and do it as well as you do. It is interesting that you take some of your ideas from captions and expand them while I often take long stories or books and contract them into captions.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
7000 Flashes?
(Faints)
-- Daphne Xu
Truly, I believe........
It is the quality of the work that matters, not the quantity.
Having said that, quantity has a quality all it’s own.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
short stories
Please keep them coming. A good short story is a joy to find and a pleasure to read.
Time is the longest distance to your destination.
Stalled
I'm stalled on my current long stories, of which numerous are in the line. Actually, I'm pretty much stalled in all my writing. Stalled or fiercely procrastinating on pretty much everything but playing with physics/math problems that I think up, playing a certain game, and (of course) checking things here.
I have managed to come up with a few flashes or shorts in the recent past. Also, I decided that the start of one of my long stories (that I'm still stalled on) was a nice short story, with a little revision. ("BB: A Boy's Visit", one of my more popular stories)
-- Daphne Xu
You can't please all of the people (etc)
I do see a problem that is only going to get worse with longer short stories.
That problem is the ever decreasing attention span of people not only for reading but just about everything these days.
The "I want it now and if I can't have it now then [redacted] you" generation.
I had the misfortune to be taken to the Cinema (the Movies for you left ponders) to see 1917. I thoroughly enjoyed it apart from the constant munching on snacks and people talking on their phones. People started walking out after less than 20 minutes. I heard the word 'boring' mentioned several times.
There was obviously not enough 'dead body count' before the end of the 1st reel to keep them entertained.
This gives us writers a challenge. How do we keep our readers engaged. Good writing on its own is not enough these days.
There is no easy answer to this.
We as writers just need to keep on doing our best and remember to get the story hook inside 1500 words if at all possible.
Keep on writing
Samantha
Indeed
The hook is the thing. Give them something in the prologue that makes them want to see what happens after that.
I have to admit that I've read stories that required me to slog through the first couple of chapters before I could get into the story line. I'm not talking about just stories here on Big Closet.
"The Hunger Games" was that way. I started reading it three times. It wasn't until my kids and grand-kids became enamored with it and discussed it heavily that I managed to get far enough into the store to be invested in the finding out the outcome.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Attention Span
I feel that I should apologize for not reading all the great TG stories out there.
I have developed a speed reading skill through work, which is really looking at the page and assessing the overall information and perhaps pulling out a few things that really speak out. I find that it is small passages that do this - some image created with just a few words, or a turn of phrase that is clever and meaningful.
I think that some small things are so beautiful. I am mindful of one of my favorite poems (Ezra Pound but I am not sure of the title, but here goes from memory): "As soft and cool as lily-of-the-valley she lay against me in the dawn". That's it! Does it affect you? If it does, that is art.
Maryanne
Thre is no need to apologise
for not reading all the stories poasted here.
There are so many posted here these days. The sad fact is that there a good number that just don't interest me in the slightest. Those in the Fantasy world are just one that I am simply not interested in reading. There are some others that frankly have been done to death and beyond.
My stories are all based on real life (ok, there have been a couple of exceptions) and real places. I'm writing a story now that is based upon a characher that is 60 years old. Makes a change from teenagers does it not? There is a story to tell in all sorts of places. It is up to us as authors to explore all possibilites, situations and ages and to make the tale interesting for everyone even if many people these days have the attention span of a flea.
Samantha
Author's Choice
By telling the story in present tense the author challenged readers to move out of their comfort zone.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)