Not easy to cut a story short!
Just finished reading ‘The Plot Thickens’. It is a collection of short stories by 11 mystery and suspense writers. Not a great read though! Except for one or two stories, the rest are average.
I have come to fascinate short stories only in the last few years. The more short stories I read, the more I realize why it is such a specialized art form. It can’t be too long, it can’t have too much of a monologue, it can’t have too many characters or too many events, it has to be going somewhere (more continuously than a novel) and most importantly (to me at least), it should have a brilliant twist in the end!
In my teens, I thought writing poems needed most skills when it came to writing; prose came easier. Then, over the years, the more I read, I realized writing non-fiction was easier than writing fiction novels. Now, I think writing fiction short stories is the toughest!
I think good novels and good short stories are like good meals and good desserts respectively. You can have enough of a good meal; you can never have enough of a good dessert!
I have come to fascinate short stories only in the last few years. The more short stories I read, the more I realize why it is such a specialized art form. It can’t be too long, it can’t have too much of a monologue, it can’t have too many characters or too many events, it has to be going somewhere (more continuously than a novel) and most importantly (to me at least), it should have a brilliant twist in the end!
In my teens, I thought writing poems needed most skills when it came to writing; prose came easier. Then, over the years, the more I read, I realized writing non-fiction was easier than writing fiction novels. Now, I think writing fiction short stories is the toughest!
I think good novels and good short stories are like good meals and good desserts respectively. You can have enough of a good meal; you can never have enough of a good dessert!
posted by Leziblogger at 9:04 PM
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