  Short Stories
This week: Benefit of Brevity Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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Greetings! I am one of the editors for the Short Stories Newsletter, and I hope to share some of my thoughts on writing short stories, and perhaps about writing in general. I suggest you treat these not as pearls of wisdom dropped from on high, but rather musings of a fellow writer, written to inspire, provoke or stimulate your personal muse. I welcome your thoughts, feedback and suggestions.
~ Ben Langhinrichs |
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Benefit of Brevity
Every short story writer should have it engraved on a plaque over their desk, if not into there cerebral cortex, that a short story is not simply a novel chopped down to a few pages. There are both burdens and benefits of the shorter form. Among the burdens are less room to develop characters, less time to develop a plot and fewer chances to engage the reader. Among the benefits are increased focus on every word and sentence, greater chance of maintaining attention from beginning to end, and a reduced need to develop the world view.
Wait! What is that last item all about?
If you are writing a novel about a distant alien world or the remote past or future or a fantasy vision of our world if it had trolls and giants and glass cats, you must spend a considerable time working through the implications of that world. If you posit a planet where all the animals are immobile and the ground is sentient, you have to find ways to make that believable. If you write a trilogy about angsty vampires and werewolves, you have to make at least a weak effort to develop a culture where those creatures are encompassed.
But with a short story, the onus is on the reader for much of the development. You can suggest a world in a few words, or a past or future or fantasy, and the reader has a chance to imagine all the parts you leave out.
For example, the following is one of my shortest published works, printed in the Drabble magazine #16:
To Reach the Liquid Sky
Fendoria was impenetrable. Thun Pedori flexed his antennae with pride, and gazed at the glorious tubes which soared skyward. Travel between the pods had never been so safe.
A sudden movement caught his eye. Swarming Nakai rammed the transparent tunnels with awesome blows, but the tubes simply flexed and stretched. They ripped and tore at the fabric with fearsome jaws, but could not breach the impermeable material. Pedori laughed. No more would his people need fear the Nakai.
Two moons later, his laughter died with him when the Nakai learned to twist the tubes into knots, trapping the helpless Fenri.
One hundred words, but I have given a glimpse of a world far different than our own. If I wrote a novel about this, I would need to develop that world, decide on rules of action and interaction, political boundaries, scientific limits, and so on. I'd also need to make believable characters, define character arcs, and otherwise build an edifice in words that would stand up to the reader's scrutiny.
A short story may contain more or less world building, more or less character definition, more or less plot, but by its very nature, it is allowed to suggest where a novel would need to describe.
Brevity as a bonus.
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Feedback from readers
The newsletter these readers were responding to is
"Are we there yet? When to end." by Ben Langhinrichs
Knowing when to end your story is as important as knowing when to start it. (Short Stories Newsletter - November 30, 2010)
LJPC - the tortoise  Hi Ben!
You've brought to light a very important part of the writing process - how to wrap it all up at the end. I've read novels that have been awesome, but seemed to go a bit astray at the end. Either they were anti-climactic or were over too quickly after the resolution. I guess those novelists didn't have a very good crit group.  I'm lucky I do!
-- Laura
Gidget65 Thank You.
elda  I hope can write more
st.ifa i have about seven collection of sonnets. how do i publish them for free.
Try out Smashwords.com
scribbler I always tell myself to end a story, before you regret not ended it earlier.
billwilcox Yeah, Ben...endings have to be good, but every ending I have ever read leaves me wanting more. It is a sad thing, endings, like saying goodbye.
DRSmith  Good day, Mr. Ben... it was good to see a newsie on "endings"... as in my view, it's as critical a segment as an opening hook, pace/theme,and climax whereby the reader should be let down gently to ponder and remember a satsifying read. (beat's a cig, eh?) Can't tell you how many times I've seen pieces that leaves one feeling empty, as if reading an excerpt with no purpose. Hence, my fellow WDC'ers, take heed of Ben's timely and well delivered effort. The end.
Doug Rainbow My challenge is to foreshadow or prepare the reader for the ending without prematurely revealing it. If you must write to a formula then try to disguise the formula.
Mark Bouton offers Invalid Item with the comment: I wrote this not too long ago. I've received some nice reviews so I thought I would submit it for the short story newsletter. Enjoy!
BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful  offers Triple Danger with the comment: There is always a story to find.
A.T.B: It'sWhatWeDo offers Invalid Item with the comment: When "Evergreen" was finally finished, I realized that it actually wasn't. The rules for shortstories leave me cringing at a forced end or worse, sounding as if I set the stage for a new story. It took 3 1/2 weeks to write, and I'd say most of that was rewriting my last paragraph.
Luckily, it won, and I'm still humbled - it's an odd one - but even more-so, I'm lucky to have some unbelievably talented authors as friends here at WDC...friends that aren't afraid to call me at 6am and say, "Alright, that's it, it's perfect, now shut up and let the story close itself out, for once..."
Otherwise, I think I'd still be working on that ending. Ask around, tap your favorite authors here - tap complete strangers, even - because we're too often invested in a work to know when to let go. Just be sure to thank them...everyday, twice.
Great NL Ben, congrats on NaNoDone(!), thanks and best always. ~Drew
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Short Stories: December 28, 2010 Issue [#4158]
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