Short But Sweet: The Beauty of Short Stories

Novels transport readers to new worlds in 300+ pages. Movies take hours. Songs take minutes. A short story should take a sentence—at least every word needs to count.

Technically, short stories can be between 1,000 and 7,500 words. Anything under that is flash fiction (another topic for another day). Any story should capture your attention in the first sentence—maybe even the first word. So, this is even more important for shorties.

Beyond word count, a short story explores a single moment, setting, character. This snapshot is a lot easier to digest as a reader, but not necessarily easier to write.

I’ve never been one to slog through pages of description—as a reader or writer. So short stories have a greater appeal. They still have to be somewhat descriptive, just in less words. Picking out the important details is a practice in getting to the point, which I appreciate.

Many storytellers know the challenge of crafting the perfect pitch: a few sentences that capture the essence of the story. But mastering the art of concise, intriguing plots is one of the reasons why I love writing short stories. Here are a few others:

• Low risk, high reward. You don’t have to write an entire novel to tell a story. Targeting 1,000 words seems more doable than 30K.

• More likely to finish. Since it’s shorter, the finish line is within sight, making it more motivating to write.

• Mental break. Of course, I tend to have multiple projects percolating at the same time. So tackling a short story gives my brain a break from writing something longer/more complex.

• Test story concepts. Sometimes an idea will seem monumental, until I start writing it down. If it can be told in a few pages, cool, it’s a short story. If there’s more to tell, great, time to make it a novella or novel.

  
  

While some writers like to start with an outline, lately I’ve been testing some ideas with a short story. A fully formed scene usually unfolds faster for me than a beginning, middle, end. When an idea won’t leave me alone, it’s easier to get it out/shut it up in short story form and see where it goes. Sometimes it doesn’t go far. Other times, it develops into a world I didn’t originally imagine, and this is where the magic happens.

Some of my short stories can be found right here on this site! Some were inspired by prompts, others by persistent ideas. As of now, they're all happy being short stories. But maybe one day they'll yearn for something more...stay tuned.