Who reads short fiction? Is it easier or harder to write?

Read and discuss classic short stories.
Post Reply
stanley
Posts: 84
Joined: 21 Oct 2015, 13:15
Bookshelf Size: 15
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-stanley.html
Latest Review: "Return to the Go-Go" by William Peskett

Re: Who reads short fiction? Is it easier or harder to write

Post by stanley »

as an amateur creator of fiction I find myself more often attempting short stories than novels. I don't think I do so because I find book length fiction so daunting, rather it is that some narratives just seem to have an appropriate length, whether long or short, to get the Job done. Comedy on the stage or screen is effective for taking the time to develop amusing characters through action and dialog with movement toward,(we hope,) a hilarious and possibly enlightening resolution. A joke on the other hand, if it's a pretty good one is amusing for the way it crystalizes in a few words some hypothetical situation and then brings it to a laugh with the punch line. Maybe short stories whether humorous or tragic compare to novels in a somewhat analogous way. When it's time for the short story to end, when it has achieved its affect, no attempts to stretch it out to novel length can succeed. Likewise a novel cannot work with out the room and scope of a whole world that the novelist must create.
Latest Review: "Return to the Go-Go" by William Peskett
User avatar
MaiaCer
Posts: 14
Joined: 11 Jan 2016, 18:25
Favorite Book: <a href="http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelve ... 51">Summer Lust</a>
Currently Reading: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Bookshelf Size: 13
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-maiacer.html
Latest Review: "The Eye of Ra" by Brian J. Davies

Post by MaiaCer »

I write both short stories and novels, and they each has their satisfaction. I have been traditionally published in both areas.
I just love to read and write. I am most happy with a book or a blank computer screen I can feel with words that paint images for me.
I have sallied forth into the realm of flash fiction, and I am enjoying the challenge. But I think I love the novel more. I love living in the world of the book for the month or more it takes me to write it.
Latest Review: "The Eye of Ra" by Brian J. Davies
User avatar
EPark
Posts: 8
Joined: 14 Jan 2016, 14:03
Bookshelf Size: 2
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-epark.html

Post by EPark »

Fran wrote:
taylorhudson310 wrote:Short stories of course are amazing to read but due to the fact that they're short you can't get as much detail from them as you would from a long novel.
I disagree ... a really good short story can give you an entire character & set of circumstances. In the best short stories every word counts but there are no superfluous words and a single sentence can encompass an entire character or atmosphere. If the quality of the writing is good enought the pausity of detail is not as issue. I have read short stories where one word can give you the entire essence of a character and I have read novels that haven't achieved that in an entire paragraph.
There is no margin of error in the short story that is why it is such a difficult genre to get right.
I think this is exactly why I find short stories so much harder than a full novel to write, my brain just doesn't want to condense in the way one must to make a coherent story from start to finish in such a brief format. I admire those who can make that story come to life so quickly, not an easy feat.
User avatar
pjswink
Posts: 35
Joined: 16 Jan 2016, 19:32
Favorite Author: John the Apostle
Bookshelf Size: 1
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-pjswink.html

Post by pjswink »

Short stories are indeed FASTER to write, because they are shorter than novels. However, GOOD short stories are (I think) much more difficult to write. They are like marathons that you have to boil down to fit into a 100 yard sprint.
User avatar
DarkestbeforeDawn
Posts: 157
Joined: 29 Dec 2015, 03:05
Currently Reading: The Idiot
Bookshelf Size: 15
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-darkestbeforedawn.html
Latest Review: "Padanaram Village" by Jack Burbank

Post by DarkestbeforeDawn »

Thanks for the list! You have some pretty great descriptions and it's very nice to pick and choose ones that I find interesting to me.
I honestly think that short fiction is easier to write. The story and the plot aren't bogged down by descriptions and the readers aren't expecting them because they know that short fiction is supposed to be succinct. I like writing short fiction because it reminds me of a written form of The Twilight Zone, where characters are introduced and the story is underway and a unique idea is still expressed in a short amount of time.
Latest Review: "Padanaram Village" by Jack Burbank
User avatar
skizarefun09
Posts: 30
Joined: 24 Jan 2016, 21:39
Currently Reading: The Five Love Languages for Singles
Bookshelf Size: 40
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-skizarefun09.html

Post by skizarefun09 »

The more time we put into something, the better it turns out. Editing and minimizing a work until it's quick, clear, precise and sweet takes a lot of effort. It's when we write a fiction of regular length and it becomes a short fiction because of how much stuff that we need to cut out when it gets hard.

Happy reading and writing~
User avatar
jandsmommy2611+
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 Jan 2016, 12:52
Currently Reading: Pride and Prejudice
Bookshelf Size: 32

Post by jandsmommy2611+ »

I wouldn't be so sure it's easier to write. I think now a days it's hard to come up with something that hasn't been covered before. Novels are getting quite repetitive now a days.
User avatar
Topcho
Posts: 126
Joined: 15 Sep 2015, 13:21
Favorite Author: J.R.R.Tolkien
Currently Reading: z2
Bookshelf Size: 853
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-topcho.html
Latest Review: "Sonar The Cyclone" by B Truly

Post by Topcho »

Yay, thanks for this list! It is really handy how the stories are separated in subgroups, now I will know where to search something to suit my tastes.

I try to read more short fiction lately (those past 3 years), because as you say, it is under-appreciated. As for wether it is easier or harder to write, I'd say harder. It seems much harder to find the right balance of story, development, characters, and lenght.
Latest Review: "Sonar The Cyclone" by B Truly
User avatar
Tsveti-Slava Asenova
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2016, 03:04
Bookshelf Size: 2
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-tsveti-slava-asenova.html

Post by Tsveti-Slava Asenova »

First, thank you for this list of stories :)
Short stories are maybe suitable for people with very dynamic lifestyle and because of that most people think they are easy to read, in my opinion this depends on the story itself. There's a books that don't drawn the reader in their world but there's sentences from 6 words that can make you cry or motivate.
Writing is both easy and hard, depends on the author and his skills. It's easy on one hand because it can take less time to create less protagonist and backstory than for a novel and to be written but is also hard due to the fact the good short story should be full and completely developed idea with all needed to the reader to feel the flames in the burning building where the protagonist is , for example.
User avatar
DATo
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 5770
Joined: 31 Dec 2011, 07:54
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by DATo »

FNAWrite wrote:"Short Fiction would be harder to write as you need to include an unexpected twist at the end"

Sez who?
The Twist Ending

I agree. A twist is not a necessary component of a short story, but it seems to add a dimension to a short story that works better than a twist at the end of a novel - at least in my opinion.

Let me put it this way: a short story is like an antipasto or an hors d'oeuvre. It is a small but tasty meal in itself. A novel is more of a full dinner. The novelist has a lot of real estate upon which to build and, employing the previous analogy, the end result of a good dinner is the complementary manner in which all of the courses arrive at confluence.

The short story, in contrast, is a lone statement, and much like a tasty hors d'oeuvre for it to succeed its sole flavor must pack a punch. The twist is what one may call a special seasoning which adds that punch and if properly employed concentrates the satisfaction of the reader immediately.

All of my own short stories contain twists. For me that is the fun of writing a short story. My latest story, Moment Of Truth, (you can read it here in the short story section if you want to) was a particularly difficult piece to write but I think it succeeded. In this piece I had to constantly put myself into the shoes of the reader at each phase of the story and ask myself if the conclusion I was building toward was being properly paced, made sense, and was not in contradiction to what had been previously written.

As Fran mentioned in one of the other posts, a well written short story can be just as difficult to write as an entire novel. In the case of a short story with a twist the writer must pursue the challenge with the same dedication as writing a crossword puzzle - all of the pieces must fit perfectly for the twist to succeed.
“I just got out of the hospital. I was in a speed reading accident. I hit a book mark and flew across the room.”
― Steven Wright
User avatar
Kiarrapreston
Posts: 6
Joined: 15 Feb 2016, 17:23
Bookshelf Size: 2
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kiarrapreston.html

Post by Kiarrapreston »

I read the yellow wallpaper. I must admit I really enjoyed it considering I don't usually read short stories. I must admit the ending left me rather confused as to what happened but to me it appears as if she went crazy.
User avatar
Anitasg1
Posts: 11
Joined: 08 Mar 2016, 01:37
Currently Reading: Gone Girl
Bookshelf Size: 6
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-anitasg1.html

Post by Anitasg1 »

I find short stories and regular size novels are about the same thing in my opinion. To me, it is the quality of the story that matters to me. It is not how many words or pages that are in the story but the entertainment value in the story.
User avatar
victoria48
Posts: 94
Joined: 01 Apr 2016, 01:17
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by victoria48 »

I love short stories.
I find that a well written one puts you through emotiions on a quicker pace,like a quick fix.
User avatar
bonsai_fan89
Posts: 8
Joined: 01 Apr 2016, 10:24
Currently Reading: Low Life
Bookshelf Size: 6
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bonsai-fan89.html

Post by bonsai_fan89 »

Lydia Davis, who is known for her short stories (sometimes just a single line!) has written and spoken about this topic. For a long period of time she tried to write longer stories/novels, but the snippets she wrote here and there or as warm-ups or notes ended up being so perfectly concise that not much more embellishment was needed. Grace Paley is also in this camp, though I think she was much more of an editor and would write freely and then edit down her words, creating a lean, sharply focused story.
User avatar
Alexatheauthor
Posts: 25
Joined: 07 Sep 2015, 19:42
Currently Reading: The Girl On The Train
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reading Device: B00L89V1AA

Post by Alexatheauthor »

Wow, I recognize some favorites in this list! I definitely have a lot of reading to do!
Post Reply

Return to “Classical Short Reads”