Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Long on Short Fiction


Yesterday at Falen Formulates Fiction, I learned the short story I entered in Sarah Ahiers's 100 Followers Contest won third place! I was thrilled -- thanks, Sarah!

I encourage anyone who has never written a short story to give it a try. Writing shorts is an excellent way to experiment with your craft. We grow as writers when we challenge ourselves, step outside our writing comfort zones. However, embarking on a lengthy project with a complicated plot and large cast of characters may overwhelm an author who's writing out of her box. A short only deals with one significant moment in time, so whether you've never written from the omniscient viewpoint, or you want to attempt speculative fiction, the short story format is the perfect platform to try it out.

In the "short" category, there are a few formats to choose from:

Flash Fiction

This is the shortest of the shorts. There's no definitive definition for flash fiction, but most agree a story under 1,000 words is flash. Despite its brevity, flash fiction still must have a clear beginning, strong middle, and definite end. It should include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Otherwise it is not flash fiction, but rather a vignette or scene.

Read this excellent article to better understand Flash Fiction.


Short Story

A short story is said to be a story you can read in one sitting. Again, the length of this format is debated and often comes down to the submission guidelines of each contest, magazine, or anthology. The most adhered to definition of a modern short story is one which has no more than 20,000 words and no less than 1,000.

This detailed article explains how to write a short story.


[Update: Thanks to Lindsay Duncan @ Unicorn Ramblings for pointing out that there is another format nestled in here between short story and novella. The Novelette is a category of short fiction said to have a word count between 7,500 and 17,499 words (according to Wikipedia) However, the same article points out that "The terms novelette and novelettish can also be derogatory, suggesting fiction which is 'trite, feeble or sentimental'."

When I checked online dictionaries, I found in Free Online Dictionary that the first definition of a novelette is "an extended narrative or short story," while the second definition is "a novel that is regarded as being slight, trivial, or sentimental." (HERE) And on YourDictionary.com the single definition for novelette is "a short novel, sometimes, specif., one regarded as inferior in quality, banal, overly commercial, etc." (HERE) Thanks, Lindsay, for your comment that led to this research!]


Novella

A novella is a renegade literary form in that it characterizes both a short story and a novel. Like a short story, a novella has a somewhat concise plot. The time frame is generally compact, and the reader often knows little about what happened before or after the time period of the story. A novella also mimics a novel because the story is organized in chapter-like segments and enjoys the freedom to explore its characters and plot in greater depth than does a short story. It typically is said to have between 17,500 words and 40,000.

Examples of famous novellas include John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.


Have you ever written a short story? What's your favorite platform for experimenting with your craft?

40 comments:

Unknown said...

Holy Cow Nicole that's amazing!!!! I thought your story was fantastic and I was honored to have been able to read a part of it! How exciting!

I actually was listening to one of my meditation tapes this morning and a path they had described for me had made me think of a story. I knew it couldn't be a full fledged novel but the idea of a short story popped into my head and I had forgotten about it until you had just mentioned writing one! Must be a sign!

Anne Gallagher said...

I did write a short story, my first in fact won Honorable Mention over at the Literary Lab's Genre Wars contest. It was quite exciting.

I too, entered Falen's contest and am excited to see who won. I loved your story Nicole, that twist was so great!!! Made me believe in humanity again.

Summer Frey said...

I love writing short stories and poetry, too. Both help me hone my novel-writing, and open my mind up to different ways of writing that I think translate well into novel form.

The best thing about short stories is that they make the perfect platform to express those random ideas we sometimes get that aren't worth fleshing out into a novel. One of my (in my mind) best shorts came from the random thought, "What if someone lived in a hotel room?"

I loved your entry to Sarah's contest. Can't wait to see the winner!

Christine Danek said...

I have never written a short story but I would try. I experiment by just writing short blurbs for longer stories but I would definately try writing a short story. This is a great post.
BTW-loved your story. Congrats on your win!

JE said...

Congrats on the the third place!

Since I write romance, I can write all sorts of lengths. Single Title: 70-100k (ish)
Catalog: 50K
Novellas: 20-50K
Briefs or something like that: 10K

I've written one in all categories and I've learned, the shorter the story, the harder to right. I'm long-winded though, so it may just be me. :-)

Christina Farley said...

What a great blog. It's well laid out. Thanks for the contest link love! I have written a number of short stories for magazines and they are hard to write!

Matthew MacNish said...

I've never written any of these categories as an adult but I remember writing short stories and flash fiction a lot when I was in school.

Not sure it would be the same now. I think I'll have to experiment with this kind of thing again - see how it feels.

BTW Nicole, thanks for coming back and fixing your follow, I really appreciate it!

Christi Goddard said...

I write flash fiction all the time when I have a little voice with a short plot that wants me to share it. It helps me to keep writing when I'm stuck on my WIP.

Lindsey Duncan said...

Congrats on the place!

I love short stories. They're delicious.

I write short fiction in all lengths. It's a lot of fun and stretches different writing muscles.

If you want to get really picky, "short story" stops at 7,500 words and novelette picks up ... but there seems to be debate on the dividing line between novelette and novella.

Jaydee Morgan said...

I started with short stories and now have progressed on to attempting novels. To be quite honest, my writing style tends to favor novellas but that's such a hard sell.

Lydia Kang said...

Hey Nicole,
Nice to meet you and thanks for following my blog!
I haven't ventured into the short story realm yet. But this is great post, I'm bookmarking it for the future.
And congrats!

Lola Sharp said...

I wrote a bunch of short stories in college, but not since.
I am definitely a novel length writer. (you know how verbose I am) However, I do still write essays once in a while.

BUT, I think writing a couple Flash pieces would be a good exercise in paring down my writing to its barest essential shape. In flash, clearly EVERY word must count, or perish.

Happy Humpday, Nic!
Love,
Lola

Unknown said...

Jen~ Ooh, I hope you write that short! I love when inspiration hits me like that :)

Piedmont~ Congrats on your Genre War HM -- right on! Practicing writing from the point of view of a man (which I am clearly not) is one of my favorite short story exercises!

Summer~ Yes, shorts satisfy the storyteller in us when there isn't a big tale to tell. On the flip side, it's exciting to write a short story and then expand it into a novel. Thanks for liking my story, btw!!

Christine~ Blurbs, scenes and vignettes are excellent tools for trying out new approaches to writing, especially for auditioning ideas for a novel-in-progress. Hey, congrats again on your 100 Followers!

HEY EVERYONE! Enter Christine's Contest TODAY!!

Justine~ It's not just you! The number one skill short story writing teaches you is concise wording -- painting the story canvas with high impact verbs and modifiers and cutting out unnecessary verbiage -- which is tough to do without losing the tone or voice of the piece. Great point!

Christina~ Shorts are arguably harder than longer works! Thanks for visiting :))

Matthew~ It is a great exercise and I learn something about the craft each time I pen a new short.

Christi~ Yes! Shorts are a great distraction when the WiP gets stuck but you want to keep the inspiration flowing. Hey, congrats on winning Falen's contest!!!!!!

Lindsay~ Thanks so much for your comment. I've amended my post to include the novelette. Thanks, sista!

Jaydee~ We're on the same path! My portfolio is full of short fiction, but I'm working through my first novel now!

Lydia~ Thanks for the follow! I love writing shorts so I hope you'll give it a try!!

Unknown said...

Hey Lola! That's it exactly, every single word has to pull a lot of weight or it must be cut. But honestly, even in novels your word choices should pack a huge punch so the narrative is dynamic at all times, even in the "quieter" moments. That's what keeps the readers engaged and turning pages. Great comment!

Julie Dao said...

Congrats Nicole!! :) That's great news! I don't write short stories very often because mine are always too wordy or too full of ideas to be within one neat package less than 50,000 words. I'm going to try it again someday soon, though. It's good to step out of the comfort zone!

Portia said...

That's awesome news! Congrats on your short story!

I don't often have ideas for short stories (mostly they seem to trend toward longer pieces), but I have written some when inspiration strikes.

Angie Paxton said...

Nicole,I just popped over from Diary of A Virgin Novelist. congrats on third place! Though I didn't enter I followed that contest and I really liked your story. Shorts aren't my forte, but I get an idea every once in awhile that I try to work into a short and it usually gets much too wordy.

Pat Tillett said...

I think it's important to remember that shorts are an artform unto themselves. They don't have to lead to something else...

At least that's what I tell myslef, being to A.D.D. to every actually finish a novel.

Lisa K. said...

Congratulations on the contest win! I love short stories. Though I'm concentrating on my novel efforts these days, my roots are in short story writing. It's a great, often overlooked form.

Hannah said...

I like writing short pieces all the time! I loves it. It's like a snack between meals (WIP)!

If you are interested, I post them on my "other" blog.

I too loved your entry!!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations on winning in Falen's contest. And thanks for the definitions, too!

Sarah Ahiers said...

i spent my whole college career writing shorts. They're so fun!

Warren Baldwin said...

I'm not a novel writer, but I do write, and I am interested in learning more about writing short stories. Your comments in this post are helpful, and the links are great, too.

On my blog (Family Fountain) I have a section on the lower right hand column entitled "Writing Helps" where I link blog posts on writing. Would you mind if I linked this post there?

I linked here from Rosslyn Elliot's blog where I read one of your comments. And as a personal plug - she reviewed my book "Roaring Lions, Cracking Rocks" a post or two back.

Thanks,
Warren

Tana said...

I've cheated and altered my novels for contests. Is that sacreligious? I hope not. I have tried my hand at genuine shorts but to no avail. I think if I gave them a fair shot and a few edits I'd be pleased with them.

Rosslyn Elliott said...

Congrats on the award for your short story! I've written a few short stories, but they are their own discipline and craft. I'm in novel mode now, so my mind doesn't work that way anymore. Sometimes I wish it did! They're great fun.

Elana Johnson said...

What a great resource here for shorter fiction. I have written short stories and stuff like that. I'm no good at flash fiction, and most of my shorts turn into novels.

Where I'm really great with shorts? Taking a secondary character or a scene from a finished novel and using 10 pages to explain it/them. That's the kind of short fiction I like to write.

TAWNA FENSKE said...

Congratulations!

I was hooked on journalism throughout high school and college, and it wasn't until my senior year in college that I actually took a class on writing short stories. I was completely dumbfounded by the idea of MAKING THINGS UP after so long just reporting the facts.

Of course, it wasn't until more than five years later that I actually tried writing novels. And eight years after that before I sold one. Apparently I'm a slow learner.

Love the blog!
Tawna

DL Hammons said...

I've written three short stories, one I felt good enough about to submit to a few contests (results pending). Like somebody else pointed out, its an excellent way to learn how to write economically. :)

Unknown said...

Julie~ I always feel creative doors open when I step outside my comfort zone!

Portia~ The ability to see the large picture of a story is an enviable gift. I have to work harder than most to uncover the plot. :P

Angfla~ Thanks for the visit and the follow!

Pat~ So true!

Lisa~ My roots are in short fiction too. Transitioning to novels is quite an undertaking, for me!

Palindrome~ Looking forward to reading your shorts!

Alex~ Thank you!

Falen~ They are fun! I wish I'd begun writing on this level back in college...

Warren~ Thanks for visiting. And please, link away!

T.Anne~ As long as a story meets the criteria for a short, it doesn't matter where it originated from. I have judged writing competitions where people have submitted chapter one of a novel and called it a short story. Usually, that doesn't work. The two genres are just too different.

Rosslyn~ I'm in novel mode too. It's unfamiliar territory, but I'm making my way! Thanks for following :)

Elana~ I've done that too! In fact, I wanted to enter a short story contest and needed a prompt to get me started. I chose a non-POV character from a novella I was working on and wrote the short from her perspective. I placed second in the contest, and it turned out to be a great tool in understanding that character more.

Tawna~ I takes that long to find your stride in creative writing, doesn't it? Btw, I'm still cracking up at your post.

If anyone reading this hasn't visited Tawna's blog today, go now! Her post is hilarious!!

DL~ My fingers are crossed for your entries!

sarahjayne smythe said...

Great post, Nicole. Thanks for the links. :) I'm sending a couple of short stories out in the next couple of weeks so we'll see how that goes.

Emily Ann Benedict said...

Thanks for following my blog!
I actually just started experimenting with short fiction and novellas. I really enjoyed writing in the novella catagory. It gave me a chance to put a set of characters and story together that would have never made it to a full length novel.
Short stories, however, can be very hard. I am always right at the very edge of the world limit.
I love the design of your blog, btw.

Jemi Fraser said...

I don't write short fiction at this point. When I have more time on my hands I'd like to give it a try - but there's just not enough time to do it all :)

Congrats on the 3rd place - that's awesome!

Kimberly Franklin said...

Congrats Nicole! I've never tried writing short stories or anything. Right now I'm too busy with my novel.

Congrats again!!

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

i am so bad at short stuff - no PBs or short stories. I need novels :)

Hilary Wagner said...

Congrats on your win, Nicole! How exciting! Go you and your mad writing skilz!!! :)

xoxo -- Hilary

Melissa said...

I've written short fiction for forever. I love it and agree that it keeps the writing senses up. Thanks for this informative post.

Great going on your win!!

Warren Baldwin said...

This post is now linked.

Charmaine Clancy said...

I NEED to write short stories, I don't know why I get so scared to try them. I guess I like to ramble when I write, but I love reading shorts.

Talli Roland said...

I really enjoyed reading your story, Nicole. Congrats!

I haven't written a short story for ages, although I'd certainly like to. Maybe once I'm finished my current projects...

Wendy Ramer, Author said...

Nicole, I know this is an old post, but I'm hoping you still check comments...
You give a defintion of a modern short story as one which has no more than 20,000 words and no less than 1,000. I've read so much conflicting info on that front, but I like your defintiion best. It means my favorite unpublished story has potential as a short story (at 17,000 words) and not just a nasty novella ;-)