Things to write about in a story6/22/2023 There is a sense that they’ve come from the UK. In Midsummer Eve, the couple are in a beautiful resort on an unnamed tropical island. The relationship with the reader is very different between the two forms. It’s a risk because they might not, but you can be bolder. If I say, ‘this is how the world works’ in the short story, the reader accepts that. In short stories, no one expects that and so I don’t do it. They require some sort of greater logic for the machine. With long-form, the reader requires backstory and exposition. Short stories don’t need tons of exposition. It didn’t take me as long to write as a novel, but it took just as much work. I wanted the reader’s theory to evolve or change in some way with every page. I wanted every page to coax the reader into having theories about the story: Those were the two things I wanted to play with. They’re in a hotel, they get their drinks and all their food, but we begin to realise immediately that Terry is an awful human being and that there is something not quite right going on at the resort. My short story Midsummer Eve is based on a couple who are on a luxury all-inclusive vacation. The difference is that, with a short story, you choose which bits of that you’re going to relay to the reader – and that’s a lot harder to do. You have to know the entire world and all the characters’ backstories and what they would say if they were given the microphone, just as you would with a novel. When I write a short story, all the imaginative work that is required for a novel is also required for a short story. I don’t have that many novel ideas – maybe one every four or five years. When I have an idea, I know whether it’s a short story idea or novel idea. Everything on the page has to be precise and deliberate because everything relates to everything else. The intensity relies on brevity and concision. You’re in a different mood and a novel is with you through all of that.Ī short story is a completely different experience for me. You can read a bit on Monday, but when you pick it up again on Friday you’ve changed your mind about things. With a novel, you can get inside that world and live there and engage with the characters in different ways. The reason I love short stories as a reader is very different from the reason I love novels. Short stories are like an intricate watch: every element has to count and must relate to everything else in a very deliberate way.Īs such, my relationship to each form is different. There’s pleasure in redundancy, slowness, in repetition. I was advised to start with short stories, but I didn’t find it remotely useful because I’ve always found short fiction to be the most difficult form.Ī novel gives you room for a certain amount of bagginess and there is pleasure in that. When I started writing, I started by writing a novel. You can buy the whole collection from Black Shuck Books in paperback (£12) or ebook (£2). In the episode, we reference her short story, Midsummer Eve. This article is based on our conversation with novelist, short story writer, university lecturer and NCW tutor Jenn Ashworth, which featured on the Writing Life Podcast in October 2022. It also covers structure, pace and editing. This article will help you write compelling short stories with intriguing ideas, interesting characters, tight dialogue and satisfying endings. As such it demands different methods, skills and considerations. Short fiction is a discrete form with its own characteristics. But, as this article explores, short stories are both more and less than simply tiny novels. Short stories are not just a good training ground for new writers, they are a rich and rewarding artform in their own right.
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