Once More Curious About the Writing Habits of My Friends' List

[queenoftheskies]

How many of you write short stories regularly?

I want to write short stories and I'm trying to train myself to do so. I'm trying to learn to take small events that have a beginning, a middle, and an end...and won't take 150,000 words to write. :)

But, as many of you have probably guessed from my word count meters, my thoughts usually come in epic proportions.

When I sit down and actually try to think of short story ideas, what usually comes to me are over-used, trite ideas, though they might be told from a different perspective and with different characters. I don't want to write those types of stories.

But, today, I started getting some ideas that perhaps fit into a smaller scale. Which is good. I can use them for practice.

The problem--I guess it's a problem--is that these ideas fall into the universe in which I'm writing my novels. Some of them probably wouldn't be a problem in that I haven't introduced some of these characters and details of the universe are unnecessary for these particular ideas I'd like to develop.

However, these characters will be used later.

Here's my first question. How many--if any--of you use the same characters/universes when you write novels and short stories both? How many of you have had work published in both? Or, had one published in one form and plan to publish in the other? What do you think are the pros and the cons of writing both novels and short stories that link/feed into one another?

My second question is about how you folks write short stories. Do you generally find yourself starting and finishing a short story at one session? Or, do you write what you have of it and finish it at a later date? If you finish at a later date, do you have a better understanding for your story? Or have you lost the feel for it? I don't know if this is important or not. I'm just curious.

I'm going to write short stories this afternoon. Wish me luck. :)

Comments

[dragonmyst.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to learn to take small events that have a beginning, a middle, and an end...and won't take 150,000 words to write. :)

I so hear you there!!! The short that I just finished is the first of several short stories that, when put together could be an epic...

Yes I think in grandois scale too :)

Hmm ... tricky.

[merebrillante.livejournal.com]

Lots of questions you've got there. Let me see which ones I can answer. I've been writing nothing but short stories for the past two or three years, and just today started on a novel. Two of the three POV characters in this novel are taken from short stories I've already written. How much of their actions as detailed in the short stories will be included in the novel is yet to be seen.

However, an Asimov's from a few months ago published a novella (or novelette maybe) by Ian McDonald entitled "The Little Goddess." I've not read his novel, River of Gods, but I'm told that much of the content of "The Little Goddess" probably came from the novel's backstory and/or worldbuilding notes. So I think it's safe to say it's been done before.

Come to think of it, I know it's been done before. Stephen King wrote a short story entitled "Jerusalem's Lot" several years before Salem's Lot. The short story featured none of the characters that appeared in the novel, but as I recall, it is essentially the story of how the town of Salem's Lot became accursed lo these many years ago.

As for how I write short stories, it generally takes me several days to write one. I don't plot. I sit down and start writing and figure out where I'm going along the way. I'm sure most of the people who crit my stories on OWW could've told you that. But letting the story simmer in my head is more productive for me than pre-plotting, doing timelines, graphing maps, and filling out character bio forms. I also make up recipes as I go, so that even though I may cook the same dish over and over again, it never turns out exactly the same as it did the last time. Makes life more exciting that way.

Good luck!

[dragonmyst.livejournal.com]

oh, yeah, good luck! :P I hit send tooo soon

[wistling.livejournal.com]

I'll skip the first question for lack of anything interesting to say right now...but I can answer the second. I do write short stories, but trying to get them done in a single session is impossible for the kinds of shorts I write. I always take several sessions to get the story just right. I may be able to finish flash pieces in a single session, but with normal length short stories, taking time is better.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I still identifiy myself as a short story writer, so, even though I've written a novel, I can't speak about novels very much. It usually takes me about three days to write a first draft of a short piece, then a week to work it over, then time on OWW, then another week to polish it before sending it out.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I've written short stories about characters who started out in a novel, and thrown characters who first appeared in short stories into a novel when I had a spot where I could use them. And there are connections between characters in different stories that I know about but never mention because there was no good place to mention it.

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

I wrote two novels before I ever attempted a short story. Like you, all my ideas are big, sprawling epics. But I decided, about a year and a half ago, that I really ought to give short stories a go. For one thing, they don't take as long to write, and they come back much sooner after you submit them!

So the first one I wrote was pretty awful--sprawling, and trite, which I knew before I started but I figured I had to start somewhere. I've got...let me see...about ten completed, though four of those have to be revised, because I wrote them during Clarion West and you don't get much time to revise in that setting. However, my ability to actually write short stories has been improving with the practice.

I suppose if I had eight hours a day free and clear I might be able to do a short story at one sitting, but generally that's not the way my mind works. I work two or three hours and then break, and it can take me anywhere from three days to a week to bang out a first draft of a short story. Then that needs lots and lots of polishing and revising. Right now I'm re-writing one of my Clarion stories, and I've been working on it for two and a half weeks. It's very slow and picky work.

The majority of my short stories are set in the same universe as my novels, but they don't have the same characters. I think this is actually pretty common, and I wouldn't worry about it. Disclaimer--I've sold nothing yet. However. Gordon VanGelder was one of the instructors at CW, and he actually advised me to consider writing novellas that would then connect together to make a novel, which could theoretically be sold as a fix-up. They would have to be complete in themselves, so that a reader wouldn't feel cheated coming to the end, or have any trouble picking up if they started on, say, novella number two, which would be a trick, but the fact that he advised it tells me that it's something he considers feasible.

In any case, I think you should write the short stories that most attract you, and then send them out. :)

short vs long

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

I rarely think short. The only short stories I've sold have been to themed anthologies. Only two of those in novel universes. In the DAW anniversary anthology I wrote a kind of prologue to my first book THE GLASS DRAGON. Actually picked up some new readers from that. They purchased the anthology for the big name authors and as a collectors item. Read my story then went out and bought the books. The other tie is was for my Merlin's Descendants series. Each one of these books involves a different generation, often a different century. So the short story fit in the universe but not with any one of the books. It won't be out until next spring so I have no idea how it will feed into the books.

I've written a couple of short stories that haven't sold. I'm now finding a place for some of the concepts in my new series that I just sold. Not going to bother trying to sell those stories until after the books are written and release.

When I get an idea for a short story I almost have to write the bulk of it in one session. Otherwise I lose the momentum and that sense of it being encapsulated into one short piece rather than just part of a 200,000 word novel.

Phyl

[ts5000.livejournal.com]

Interesting questions. As for question one - when I write a short story I usually have a theme and a word count to word toward. The challenge it to tell a story or a scene that captures the attention of the reader and have a good setting, believable characters, tension, climax and concluding paragraph. It is hard to do at first if you are used to pacing yourself for a novel, but with practice you will get it. It can be a lot of fun. And no, I purposely do not use characters from an established novel/universe. The temptation to write a new scene for them will lead into more than a short story. *g*
Question two - When I write a short story I let the ideas germinate in my mind for a day, a week, or however long my deadline is. Then I will sit down and write it in one session. I will give myself a week before it is due for submission so I can spend the revising and polishing.

Hope this helps. Best of luck writing short stories.

[ex-roanoke414.livejournal.com]

I start out with many ideas for short stories (and I have a notebook full of them)...but they ALWAYS become novels in progress. I can't seem to grasp the concept of briefness...I'm long winded and detailed. It would be nice to be able to sit down for a couple hours and write and complete a short story. Maybe I'd actually get something finished for once.

I used to not write short stories

[shadowhelm.livejournal.com]

But the thing is that eventually I do come up with short enough plots to make a short story.

I've sold 2 short stories with the same character as the novel.

It's all over the board for me as to whether I write a short story in one sitting or not.

[ammepyre.livejournal.com]

I wrote short stories before I wrote novels, although now that I'm into novels my shorts have a tendency to want to grow bigger - especially if I take a break in the middle of writing them. In fact, if I take a break in a short story - I rarely go back to it. I've probably close to 60-some half-finished stories in my writing folder and scattered about in notebooks around the house.

I've tried writing short stories based on worlds I'm developing or writing in - but it rarely works out right for me. I think it has something to do with me being such a linear (even if I am an organic writer) writer. I have to do scenes in order.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

I've written short stories. Unless they're part of my spy series (amateur published, written with continuing storylines like soap operas), they're torture for me to write. I've never really submitted any. I've accepted that I'm a natural novelist and am leaving it at that. I just can't be brief.

[mistri.livejournal.com]

I have an awkward relationship with short stories. I want to write them, because I enjoy having things to submit while I'm working on a novel or two. However, I think I'm more a novel writer by nature and I often struggle to finish short stories.

I outline novels, but find it hard to think of a beginning, middle and end for short pieces. I either write tiny stories that I can see in my mind all at once, or ones that just go on and on because I can't seem to get to the end. There are several unfinished on my hard drive that I just can't seem to resolve. Consequently, I prefer to write a short story in one go if possible (or focus on just that story for a few days in a row), but I don't necessarily forget them if I leave them alone for a while.

I'm not sure if writing shorts is a good thing for me - it takes time away from my novel writing and I do find them difficult. But for now I'll keep at it...

[tunskit.livejournal.com]

I don't write short stories because there isn't a market for them, really. No money, so they aren't worth the time. What can I say? I'm a talent whore! LOL.

Actually.......

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

all I write are short stories since I write only on vacations (I teach) and want to give my readers a story with a defined beginning, middle and end. However, if you cut/paste my stories together, they form an overall longer story. Here's the link if you want to read the sequence http://www.livejournal.com/users/dracschick/113299.html#cutid1

Usually I write my stories in up to three sittings. Sometimes I do finish it all in one looong sitting. Sometimes stories can 'mutate' or change however, I do make notes before a story http://www.livejournal.com/users/dracschick/113851.html so therefore, I can keep the 'original' idea even if I go away for awhile.

good luck with your short story writing!

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Patricia C. Wrede has said quite a bit about novel length vs. short story on rec.arts.sf.composition. Very rough summary of one aspect: Someone who's a natural novel writer will keep coming up with subplots. A natural short story writer will keep to the main plot.

Note: An idea of epic proportions can be used for a short story. See, for example: Isaac Asimov "Nightfall" (note: the short story, most certainly not the expanded version), Anne McCaffrey "The Ship Who Sang" (probably most easily found as the first part of the fixup novel of that name), Eric Frank Russell "And Then There Were None," Henry Kuttner "The Twonky".

Using characters both in novels and in short stories: There's a series of anothologies whose pitch is -"The worlds and characters you know from these authors' beloved novels, now available in short stories."- Offhand, I'd say there's no problem.

Except, of course, for the usual problems of maintaining consistency between stories.

[(Anonymous)]

It varies.
Over the last three weeks I've written four short stories. Two of those were in a single sitting, one in four sittings and one took about six or seven sittings.
It depends on the story, really.
I always have a short story on the go, even if I'm writing a book. I think at times I get bored of the book idea and I use the short stories as a break to keep things interesting.
I've never used a short story idea for a book, but I've set two short stories in the same universe with one minor character in common.
Two things tho':
A short story (or indeed any story) need not have a start, middle and end.
A writer need not write a short story (or long fiction for that matter).
Like I said, it depends. :)

Tade

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm still thinking about your characters question!

I try to write short stories regularly, but right now I'm not really writing regularly at all, unless you count the writing games we play each Friday which generally result in something approahing flashfic. I'm going to have to try harder to write more often.

[storytellersjem.livejournal.com]

Per my profile, I made 2nd place on a short story for the Jack London Contest. That got me an invitation to their conference and some money.

That said, I focus on novels or screenplays b/c they're arguably long shots and, well, from what I hear, short stories don't let you make a living. And, if I'm going to take a long shot regardless, I'll pick one that can get me dividends later down the road.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Good questions... I am writing both, though as you know, my novels are on the back burner at the moment. But in thinking about your question, I would almost think that you'd have to separate your shorts from your longs. I think that if you set your shorts in the same universe as some of your novels, you might be tempted to expand storylines because on some levels you already associate those characters and those worlds with these sprawling epics. My advice, if you want to write shorts, is to create them outside of those known universes. Create new world and new characters apart from those that you already know. I think that if you start a short story with a clean slate, it might be easier to not let it expand out of control. That's just my opinion though. Short stories use different muscles than novels and I think it's defintely possible to do both and do both well, it's just a matter of getting those different muscles into game shape.

As for whether I can finish a short in one sitting or not? Sometimes. But sometimes it will take me a few days (or weeks) to finish out a short. I just figure it will be finished when it's finished. :-)

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, java_fiend, I'm still waiting for that sci-fi short of yours. Startin' to feel like a jilted bride here...:)

Tade

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

I'm still pondering this. I'll write an actual post with content when I think of a way to flesh out my thoughts.