This week: Short Stories and Poems Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Short Stories and Poems
Yes, I'm going to talk about poetry in the Short Story newsletter. Don't run away! It won't be painful, I promise. For those that read this newsletter for help and information about short stories, I thought I'd mention the poem. Some people really don't read poetry. They were exposed at an early age to 'required reading' of epic poems and decided they disliked poetry forever. If you're one of those people, I'm going to ask you to give poetry another try.
Poems tell a story. They do! It's in a different manner, but there are similarities. They evoke emotion, they describe a scene or a person, they might even have a happy ending! Fictional prose is pretty standard and characters are generally not explored deeply in short stories. We fill in the blanks with our imagination and enjoy the story.
We do the same for poems, don't we? The difference is poems don't always follow grammatical rules, and words can be used for their sound versus simple purpose. Clearly, poetry is organized differently, but it still has a beginning and an end. The context is condensed, every word having a purpose. The reader might have to unpack the meaning and reread to get every detail from the work.
The late Harry  coined the term "storoem". His explanation in a blog entry , "My love for poetry sprang from my reading the poetry of Poe, Tennyson,and Frost, all of which are noted for rhyming poetry. Therefore, when I started writing poetry, I wrote rhyming verse, not getting into writing free-verse until later. (One valuable website for writing rhyming poetry that I discovered early-on is RhymeZone, where you can get suggestions for rhyming words to complete your endrhymes.)
Some poetry critics strongly believe all poetry should be short and concise, usually concentrating on one specific item. I have never thought this. Sometimes I like for my poems to tell a complete story. From when I initially started writing poetry, I would tell a more complete story, but in doing so I used various poetic techniques, such as stanzas (usually quatrains), end-rhymed lines, enjambment,alliteration, imagery, extended metaphor, etc. not usually found in prose.
My lines tended to be longer than most poems typically have,and I did not usually employ a set syllable count. The end result was that my poems resembled prose or narrative poems, I used more poetic techniques than one finds in a typical prose poem and they were longer, less purely poetic lines than a typical narrative poem.
Readers would ask me what I call my poetry. I started out calling my style a story-poem, and eventually I coined a new term “storoem” (stor- plus -oem)."
Grand idea, isn't it? If you want some excellent samples, take a look in Harry's portfolio. Even if you are not a poet, give poetry a try. Perhaps you don't write poetry, but think about giving the storoem a try. And as always, Write On!
This month's question: Have you used poetry to tell a short story? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback! |
Excerpt: And sometimes
the bravest “I love you”
is spoken inward,
when you finally choose yourself.
Excerpt: "Earth is being invaded by a new kind enemy and we need to prepare and join forces.”
Excerpt: “All her life, she just… watched. She never got angry, never got sad. She just had that same, placid little smile. It wasn’t natural.”
Excerpt: "What do you think?" the first one asks.
"I don't like it," the second one grumbles.
Excerpt: "It's not gonna hurt, is it?"
Excerpt: "That's the seventh call from this number," Hannah said. "And now this message!"
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Excerpt: The rain hammered the leaded windows of the manor like a relentless drumbeat as darkness swallowed the night. In a cluttered study—its surfaces strewn with crisp pages and stained inkwells—the celebrated mystery novelist Evelyn Blackwood lay silent and still. Her final manuscript, a labyrinth of cryptic clues and hidden confessions, rested open on an antique mahogany desk. The ink glistened in the low light, fresh and pulsating as though the very heartbeat of her story still lingered on the page.
Excerpt: In the real world, they said shoes didn’t fly, except when thrown. But then again, everyone forgets about the wings on a wingtip. Angelo was an old and battered one from days gone by.
Excerpt: "Whatcha lookin' for Gramps?"
"Huh? Oh, hey. I dunno. It was here a minute ago."
Excerpt: “I’m tired of copying you all the time. I want to have fun on my own!”
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This month's question: Have you used poetry to tell a short story? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Short Stories Newsletter (August 13, 2025)" question: What is your advice for writing a good short story?
A.D. Writes  : I have noticed that some very short romance and erotica stories get published that way. They are listed as a series but really, the books are just cut off in ways that they could have kept going because the first books aren't "finished" at the end. It cuts off in the middle of things. Would be nice if they would just combine them as a book instead of calling it a series. I try not to do that with my romance stories even if I want to do more than one book but none of mine are under 40k word count either.
Bilal Latif  : Cliffhangers can work if you have the skill to pull them off and they suit that particular story (e.g. the ending of Stephen King's short story 'The Moving Finger'). Though admittedly that's quite a big 'if'.
TheBusmanPoet  : I can write a short poem but short stories a bit out of my range...lol
Killer Quokka of County K🤦 :
Advice:
1) A good short story should be able to be read in one sitting (Edgar Allan Poe said that and it holds true).
2) Minimal characters. Don't need the entire Fellowship of the Ring in a 2500-worder.
3) Must end. Open endings are fine, but it still must feel like the conclusion is satisfying.
4) Don't info-dump. If 1500 words of a 2500 word story is world-building it becomes an essay.
Of course, rules are made to be broken, which is why this would be my advice (from someone with 98 traditionally published short stories out there in the world).
Mousethyme : Don't worry about the length of the story in the first draft; you can always add or delete later. Just let your muse run. Even short stories have most of the requirements of a good tale.
Notchur Goulfriend  : Whether they love it or hate it, make it so they read it until the end. Bonus if they remember it years later!
Joto-Kai : Start with a feeling. One at the beginning and one at he end. Know what that feeling comes from and make sure the reader feels these things.
To that end have the POV character feel that mood you start with, react to it, and then cause things so that the character ends with your end feel.
Now break it down so that every other paragraph is your POV reacting to something and every other paragraph is something reactng to your POV. Ideally the stuff in each sentence seems to be because of the one before and causing the next one.
When there is nothing left to do because the POV wins or gives up, that's game set and match.
Like a crossword it is easy to describe and harder to do.
Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful responses! Leger~
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Short Stories: September 10, 2025 Issue [#13336]
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