There is a widely-believed myth that short stories are kind of easy-for-idiots versions of novels - easier and faster to write because they are shorter in length. A frequently suggested solution to my writer's block is to take a step back and write short stories for a while, until I refine my 'voice' and can get into the serious business of writing novels.
I'm not a short story writer. The short story is a particular aesthetic form with conventions, cliches and genius-requirements of its very own, quite distinct from novel writing. An easy way to distinguish the two is that short stories tend to be denser in meaning, and less dense than poetry. Bottom line: it takes a particular kind of writer to master the short story.
Of course I believe that we no more really live in an age that appreciates the short story any more than we are in an age in which poetry is the literature of the day. I wonder why that is. Even people who read widely tend to avoid anthologies of short stories.
When I was in school and frequented libraries I loved one kind of short story, the horror. I devoured anthologies of short horror tales, some classics like the American gothics of Edgar Allen Poe, but more often the more modern tales. I think horror tales are particularly suited to the short story form. Not because they ought to finish quickly, but because there is a kind of formula to the effect of the uncanny that roughly follows the strict, tricky limitations of the short story. When I read horror anthologies I read them for their cleverness, not for their scariness. Many good ones were written for children. Some excellent ones even made me laugh. The best horror tales made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with sheer delight in their ingenuity, their wit and elegance, and these are are qualities highly important for good short story writing. They require a great deal of intelligence to enable one to work with creativity and style within the strictness of the form.
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I also like short stories, and the truth is they also require quite a bit of story telling in a short space of time, so I do not think they are necessarily easier to write. The luxury however is that there can be plotholes that do not have to be explained, which gives the short story an air of mystery.
I like short stories that leave you wanting more and wondering how things happened, it gives your imagination a playground. I also used to read alot of those anthologies, mostly horror and sci-fi. I don't know if there are fantasy ones. Fantasy usually needs this vast template and background. I know Terry Pratchett has written a few tidbits, but they usually have discworld references, and sort of companion pieces.
Are fairytales considered short stories though?
Are fairy tales short stories? A tricky question, but I would have to say no, not because fairy tales and short stories can't share the same characteristics, but because they are defined by different things.
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