.png)
Okay, last week we covered series writing. This week is for the opposite end of the spectrum writers. This one's for the folks like me who love to write short.
What is your ideal length for a short story? How do you make sure that you're able to get one full story in that length?
Rosemary Claire Smith: The bulk of my published fiction consists of short stories. They were where I began my writerly journey. I still love them and just finished one yesterday. I don’t have an ideal length, but the ones that garnered the most attention are the longer ones: 8,000-14,000 words. I love the challenge of flash fiction and find the 1,000-word limit great inducement for cutting every extraneous word and sentence. Those left are expected to do double and triple duty.
Sheela Leyh: I know that it's more than 1000 words. Anything 1000 words or less gives me a major headache to write. I do write poetry from time to time. I do comb through my words for more impact when writing shorter.
John Morgan 'Bat' Neal: The most recent story I have written is 806 words. It doesn't need one word more.
Mari Hersh-Tudor: Went to Penguicon, a great one for writers. One of the panels was about How To Keep Your Short Story from Turning Into A Novel. Some of my notes from the panel were:
- The formula is 1/4 setup, 1/2 meat, 1/4 wrap/ twist
- Stay on task, make a plan, and stick to it
- Give yourself a word count and stick to it
- Make every word count
- Short stories do not have subplots,
- Don’t write to cut down, write light to add later,
- No backstory, use efficient descriptions,
- Economy like poetry
Jessica Nettles: I don't have an ideal length. Each story has a way of finding its length. I know that sounds metaphysical, but that's how it works in my world. Sometimes, I am writing to a specific word count, and I work hard to get to that word count and make the story work in that frame. That's good exercise for me. Other times, I'm writing for me, so I can go as I feel like going and let the story find its way.
