lovetoread
hello daddy
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Could someone tell me how short is too short, when it comes to a story?
Thanks.
Thanks.
The length of a story
- Thread starter lovetoread
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Couture
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Well I would say it would be around . . . oh you said story;-)
How does that saying go? It's not the size of the ship, but the motion of the ocean that counts. Or at least that's what the captains of the small ships say.
Anyway, there is no magic length of a story. The perfect length is how long it takes you to receive the desired effect. If your goal is to make the reader orgasm, think, cry, feel etc. and they do it, then your story was the correct length.
Cheers
Couture
How does that saying go? It's not the size of the ship, but the motion of the ocean that counts. Or at least that's what the captains of the small ships say.
Anyway, there is no magic length of a story. The perfect length is how long it takes you to receive the desired effect. If your goal is to make the reader orgasm, think, cry, feel etc. and they do it, then your story was the correct length.
Cheers
Couture
daughter
Dreamer
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I agree
I agree Couture.
I am a fan of Flash fiction and a new genre coined, Shorts. Flash fiction has a word count as few as 100 words and usually no more than 250 words. Shorts are autiobiographical but they contain the elements associated with other creative writing. Word count runs 100 words to 1200 words.
With fewer word count though, a writer must be conscious of maximizing the power of each word. No room for verbage. I had a professor tell me that not only must a writer include details, but the right details. If a character's physical appearance does not impact the affect of the read, don't waste a reader's time describing his wardrobe. Conversely, if a writer wants the focus on a particular detail or character than greater detail should be given to the item in question.
When I read, and even more when I study a work, I ask why a writer includes or omits particular information. I operate from the premise that the author's actions are always deliberate. When I discuss a work with a writer, I expect him to have a reason for what he does in his writing.
Peace,
daughter
I agree Couture.
I am a fan of Flash fiction and a new genre coined, Shorts. Flash fiction has a word count as few as 100 words and usually no more than 250 words. Shorts are autiobiographical but they contain the elements associated with other creative writing. Word count runs 100 words to 1200 words.
With fewer word count though, a writer must be conscious of maximizing the power of each word. No room for verbage. I had a professor tell me that not only must a writer include details, but the right details. If a character's physical appearance does not impact the affect of the read, don't waste a reader's time describing his wardrobe. Conversely, if a writer wants the focus on a particular detail or character than greater detail should be given to the item in question.
When I read, and even more when I study a work, I ask why a writer includes or omits particular information. I operate from the premise that the author's actions are always deliberate. When I discuss a work with a writer, I expect him to have a reason for what he does in his writing.
Peace,
daughter
Mickie
Not Really Here
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In other words, just write your story. If it's complete, according to you, the author, then try to fit it into a category of length (short story, novella, novel, flash fiction, and I'm sure there are more). The categories are there mainly so we can warn the reader how long the story is.
I don't have much to do with flash fiction -- in fact, I can't help but think it's almost impossible to tell a complete story in so few words. But then, I write novels.
Mickie
I don't have much to do with flash fiction -- in fact, I can't help but think it's almost impossible to tell a complete story in so few words. But then, I write novels.
Mickie
daughter
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Mickie--
You aren't trashing something without having read any, are you?
Is a short story less complete or engaging than a novel? I thought in another thread someone said literature was anything well-written and entertaining.
Flash fiction doesn't attempt to do what can be done in a novel. I will argue that it is complete with a beginning, middle, end. The characters are engaging and the writing is challenging. The fact that you have little space to accomplish what others pull off in several hundred pages is something worth praise not condemnation.
Flash fiction is akin to poetry in that the writer attempts to present a complete picture in a distilled format. I have a collection of shorts by accomplished writers, and I have read Flash Fiction by writers who are your peers.
Peace,
daughter
You aren't trashing something without having read any, are you?
Is a short story less complete or engaging than a novel? I thought in another thread someone said literature was anything well-written and entertaining.
Flash fiction doesn't attempt to do what can be done in a novel. I will argue that it is complete with a beginning, middle, end. The characters are engaging and the writing is challenging. The fact that you have little space to accomplish what others pull off in several hundred pages is something worth praise not condemnation.
Flash fiction is akin to poetry in that the writer attempts to present a complete picture in a distilled format. I have a collection of shorts by accomplished writers, and I have read Flash Fiction by writers who are your peers.
Peace,
daughter
Ulyssa
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Nobody's trashing or flashing short shorts...
There are probably some excellent flash fiction writers out there--just as there are people who can say all they need to say within the confines of the short short. Mickie and I are not comfortable with that format. I usually need three to five thousand words to say what I want to say. Am I filling the story with unnecessary verbiage? Jeez, I hope not.
I recently wrote a piece for a short short story contest. I got the story written in a day and spent three days compacting it to less than 1500 words. Is it better for the compacting? I doubt it. I had to skip over a long period of time cutting it down to less than a paragraph for eleven years. Sure I could've said:
Eleven years later--
and that would have taken care of the word requirements--but certain incidents integral to the story took place in that time.
Am I unhappy with the finished product? No. But that's because I chose to limit myself to the word count specified. Would I do that again? Not for a while.
There are probably some excellent flash fiction writers out there--just as there are people who can say all they need to say within the confines of the short short. Mickie and I are not comfortable with that format. I usually need three to five thousand words to say what I want to say. Am I filling the story with unnecessary verbiage? Jeez, I hope not.
I recently wrote a piece for a short short story contest. I got the story written in a day and spent three days compacting it to less than 1500 words. Is it better for the compacting? I doubt it. I had to skip over a long period of time cutting it down to less than a paragraph for eleven years. Sure I could've said:
Eleven years later--
and that would have taken care of the word requirements--but certain incidents integral to the story took place in that time.
Am I unhappy with the finished product? No. But that's because I chose to limit myself to the word count specified. Would I do that again? Not for a while.
daughter
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Ulyssa--
Flash fiction is not cutting down a story to fit the word count. That makes as much sense as a woman squeezing into a dress size too small.
You entered the contest knowing the word limit, why did you edit a story that wasn't intended for that format? If the story needed to be longer why did you sacrifice something integral? Your preference is something that is longer. Why then would you cut down something to fit something you weren't interested in?
I wouldn't argue that a story of three to five thousand words is verbose. You're not comfortable with short stories. Some writers aren't interested in writing the next great American novel. Why compare the genres?
Peace,
daughter
Flash fiction is not cutting down a story to fit the word count. That makes as much sense as a woman squeezing into a dress size too small.
You entered the contest knowing the word limit, why did you edit a story that wasn't intended for that format? If the story needed to be longer why did you sacrifice something integral? Your preference is something that is longer. Why then would you cut down something to fit something you weren't interested in?
I wouldn't argue that a story of three to five thousand words is verbose. You're not comfortable with short stories. Some writers aren't interested in writing the next great American novel. Why compare the genres?
Peace,
daughter
Mickie
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I'm not condemning flash fiction, and I don't think Ulyssa is either. What I'm trying to say is that I, personally, cannot keep my stories in a compact format. There's no way I can figure out a story to tell in only a small amount of words. I'm too much into fleshing out characters, telling details, and getting into a complicated plotline. My style just wouldn't fit into flash fiction. I also enjoy reading longer work. Short stuff, including poetry, is too terse for me to enjoy. It's a personal thing, not a condemnation of the entire genre.
Comparing flash fiction to a novel is like comparing a chocolate chip to a hershey bar. Both are made of the same thing. Some people like a little, and some people want the whole thing.
Mickie
Comparing flash fiction to a novel is like comparing a chocolate chip to a hershey bar. Both are made of the same thing. Some people like a little, and some people want the whole thing.
Mickie
SummerMagic
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Any fiction can be amazing to me
Flash Fiction is in the skill of the writer to me. Some writers can have you identifying and feeling with the characters in several lines. It's a skill that some people possess inherently.
Others are uncomfortable with having to squash their babies..... and to me thats what a character in a story is..... into such a short space.
I'm not a skilled writer, I write for fun. I prefer to analyse, which would explain my current english degree studies lol, but I wouldn't say I was good at it. But I DO know that I don't have a favourite 'genre' as yet.
Some short stories leave me gasping for more, wishing they weren't over. That could be because they're so good I simply don't want to let go.... or alternatively it could be because I don't feel enough about the characters to leave them just yet.
By the same token, I can read a full novel and still be left wondering about the motivation behind certain characters.
I don't think you can compare two very different styles of writing. It's like comparing a banana and a strawberry where the fact that they are both fruits is the only similarity.
Probably sounding a bit garbled now lol
Rach xx
Flash Fiction is in the skill of the writer to me. Some writers can have you identifying and feeling with the characters in several lines. It's a skill that some people possess inherently.
Others are uncomfortable with having to squash their babies..... and to me thats what a character in a story is..... into such a short space.
I'm not a skilled writer, I write for fun. I prefer to analyse, which would explain my current english degree studies lol, but I wouldn't say I was good at it. But I DO know that I don't have a favourite 'genre' as yet.
Some short stories leave me gasping for more, wishing they weren't over. That could be because they're so good I simply don't want to let go.... or alternatively it could be because I don't feel enough about the characters to leave them just yet.
By the same token, I can read a full novel and still be left wondering about the motivation behind certain characters.
I don't think you can compare two very different styles of writing. It's like comparing a banana and a strawberry where the fact that they are both fruits is the only similarity.
Probably sounding a bit garbled now lol
Rach xx
G
Guest
Guest
There is an annual competition in one of our English newspapers for stories exactly fifty words long. Some of them are good but, of course, none are pornographic and very few are erotic.
I can try to dig out a few examples if anyone is interested.
For ultra-short ultra-flash try the first entry on the Halloween competition announcement stream. (I would put in a link, but I don't know how!)
I can try to dig out a few examples if anyone is interested.
For ultra-short ultra-flash try the first entry on the Halloween competition announcement stream. (I would put in a link, but I don't know how!)
REDWAVE
Urban Jungle Dweller
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Too short?
I had a story rejected here at first because it was "too short." So I fleshed out the characters a little and resubmitted it, and it was put on then. From comments Laurel made (about readers complaining about stories being too short) I gather that what LE readers want is a story long enough to beat off to, but not so long that their wrists become sore.
Other than that, a story can be of any length and still be effective. Look at Mark Twain's "The War Prayer," for instance. Quite short, but very powerful story. At the opposite extreme, there's Marcel Proust and his labyrinthine "A la recherche du temps perdu" ("In search of lost time,"; often mistranslated as "Remembrance of Things Past").
Personally, since most people have such short attention spans today (mainly due to TV), I try to write concisely and keep my stories on the short side, but not too short. About one full LE page, or a little more-- that's the length I think is ideal.
Make Love, Not War!
I had a story rejected here at first because it was "too short." So I fleshed out the characters a little and resubmitted it, and it was put on then. From comments Laurel made (about readers complaining about stories being too short) I gather that what LE readers want is a story long enough to beat off to, but not so long that their wrists become sore.
Other than that, a story can be of any length and still be effective. Look at Mark Twain's "The War Prayer," for instance. Quite short, but very powerful story. At the opposite extreme, there's Marcel Proust and his labyrinthine "A la recherche du temps perdu" ("In search of lost time,"; often mistranslated as "Remembrance of Things Past").Personally, since most people have such short attention spans today (mainly due to TV), I try to write concisely and keep my stories on the short side, but not too short. About one full LE page, or a little more-- that's the length I think is ideal.
Make Love, Not War!
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