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queenoftheskiesHow 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. :)
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. :)
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Hmm ... tricky.
Date: 2005-10-01 07:09 pm (UTC)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!