Stringing Words - Discussion Forum: Short Stories?

Short Stories?
Rinelle	#1 Posted on 08-02-2010 08:09
Site Admin Posts: 368 Joined: 21.03.09	How would you define a short story? Purely based on length, or is there some other criteria it needs to meet? Does this change depending on what genre you're writing for?


misaditas	#2 Posted on 08-02-2010 10:57
Site Admin Posts: 740 Joined: 20.03.09	It's defined on length, but it needs to be a complete tale - with a beginning, middle and end. Also, different publishers have different lengths, so you have to do your research. The bonus is most accept email subs, which saves time and money. It's hard work, and to make money you need a lot of subs on the go at once, but I know people that do it and find it very rewarding. Website \| Blogspot \| Twitter "If you take the shackles off your imagination, you can go anywhere with science fiction. It's not earthbound. There are no conventions, other than the ones you want to break, and that's why it's so exciting." ~ Lani Tupu


Rinelle	#3 Posted on 09-02-2010 01:02
Site Admin Posts: 368 Joined: 21.03.09	That's what I would have thought, but there seems to be this new definition that includes it being an imcomplete story, where the reader is left guessing? Like a snippet out of a story.


eiie	#4 Posted on 09-02-2010 07:58
Veteran Member Posts: 864 Joined: 21.03.09	Rinelle wrote: That's what I would have thought, but there seems to be this new definition that includes it being an imcomplete story, where the reader is left guessing? Like a snippet out of a story. yeah. Unfortunately you're right. There is such a thing out there right now and it makes me frustrated. That said a novel excerpt published as an excerpt (and not a preview of a purchase) sshould be able to stand alone without any additional info needed to make the story make sense there is a trend in literary short stories (and I'm seeing it in other genres too except for romances which pretty much stick with the ackowledgement of he new relationship as their ending) to have a really sucky ending that doesn't satisfy. I recently read an article that tried to trace this back to checkov. With chekcov I'd just say that the story has no denoument, but what I'm seeing now are stories that dissolve more than they resolve. There's also a tendency toward the"slice of life" story which is more about spending X amt of te with a character than it is about a beginning middle end. I've tried to write these stories and it's obvious that I don't understand whAt makes those endings work because my endings will always suck. Other advice on short stories that is easier to say than implent: "a story is the realization of longing. Once the longing / yearning has been realized the story is done". And "a story must move inexorably toward a conclusion that is both inevitable and surprising. "


Rinelle	#5 Posted on 09-02-2010 09:35
Site Admin Posts: 368 Joined: 21.03.09	Thanks Eiie. You've just verbalised what I feel it's about. They leave me feeling frustrated too.


Elizabeth Twist	#6 Posted on 09-02-2010 18:41
Veteran Member Posts: 709 Joined: 15.04.09	I must have missed this trend. I've been reading genre shorts almost exclusively for a really long time. You were talking about this a while ago, eiie, and expressing some of the same frustrations about it. Do either of you have an example handy? Something published online somewhere? I'd like to see what it's all about. http://elizabetht...ogspot.com


eiie	#7 Posted on 10-02-2010 00:32
Veteran Member Posts: 864 Joined: 21.03.09	I haven't read "The Bone Game" but everything else by Charles D'Ambrosia that I've read falls into the category http://www.newyor...fi_fiction and this piece is available on line. Actually a lot of the fiction that the New Yorker publishes fit this definition (most of which is available online for free). Paul Auster's Oracle Night comes to mind as a book that does the same thing. Essentially, at the beginning of the novel the MC is a crippled writer living with a wife who might have been cheating on him with his good friend while the writer was in the hospital. We NEVER find out if there was any cheating ... a potential problem faces the marriage, faces the friendship, faces the friend's son, the wife might be pregnant ... but don't worry the friend and his son die before the end of the novel and the wife miscarries. SO at the end we have a crippled writer living with a wife who might have been cheating on him ... the only difference between the end and the beginning is that the writer lost his toaster to a burglar. Worst. Book. Ever. Edited by eiie on 10-02-2010 05:41


Rinelle	#8 Posted on 10-02-2010 00:53
Site Admin Posts: 368 Joined: 21.03.09	LOL Eiie. That does sound like it's a contender for the worst book ever.


Elizabeth Twist	#9 Posted on 10-02-2010 03:34
Veteran Member Posts: 709 Joined: 15.04.09	eiie wrote: ... the only difference between the end and the beginning is that the writer lost his toaster to a burglar. Seriously, y'all, this thread is reminding me that I really dislike most recent literary fiction. Holy heck. http://elizabetht...ogspot.com

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