Weeks ago I was asked to do an article on short stories, specifically. What makes a short story great? And how is it different from writing a novel?
To be honest, writing a novel and writing a short story are very similar in many ways, and most of the techniques I've written about on my blog apply: creating complex characters, writing great dialogue, utilizing subtext, including hooks . . .
Sure, there are some exceptions, as always. You can find famous short stories that don't really have complex characters, for example, but often such stories are really short stories--maybe by today's standard, considered flash fiction. Here is a famous flash fiction story:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn
Does that really tell us much about the complexity of the characters? Not really. But it does still have great subtext.
So keep in mind that there are always exceptions when it comes to writing, but they are just that, exceptions.
So let's got started.
