Very short stories

[DanDraper]

I was curious if anyone reads those very short stories here on Lit? If so, are any of them good?

When I look through the new stories that are published here, I would see some that are between 1000 and 2000 words long, and some that are much less. I used try reading them, but never enjoyed it because the stories seemed rushed and ended too fast. It got me wondering if anyone here actually reads stories this short and do they enjoy it.

Also, why write such short stories?
It seems like some of these authors could spend some more time at least trying to make it longer to add more to the story.
I've have a few short stories published here, but not this short.

Anyone have there own thoughts on this topic?

 

[alohadave]

Starting tomorrow, for the month of February, you'll be able to read a bunch of stories that are only 750 words long.

 

[SimonDoom]

The best way to approach very short stories, such as the 750-word stories, is to put them in a separate category and evaluate them by their own standards. I don't find them as satisfying as erotica as stories that are somewhat longer, but the good ones in this bunch stand on their own terms. I've written some, and I've found it to be a rewarding challenge, and I also enjoy seeing how other authors have faced the challenge of trying to condense a full story into few words.

They tend not to do "well," by Literotica terms, because their scores tend to be lower. ALL of my 750-word stories have scores under 4.5, and are well below my overall average. But I've enjoyed writing them. And that's what matters.

 

[Djmac1031]

Other than the annual 750 Word Project where we intentionally write very short stories, most agree you need at least a few pages to develop a good story.

Exactly how long a "good story" should be is, of course, debatable.

I've written one page stories and 9 page stories and everything in between. To me, a good story has a beginning, middle, and end, regardless of length.

 

[StillStunned]

Sometimes the story doesn't warrant more words. I have one that's only 1.5k words that has nearly 200k views, and is rated 4.56 from 3.2k votes. One of my 750-worders has 20 reader comments from just 1k views. Readers appreciate a story that engages them without demanding too much time or energy.

With other stories, the beauty can lie in telling a vast tale in such a short space. It's taking "show v tell" to the extreme: not a skeleton on which the reader can hang their imagination, but a single bone that provides a hint of the whole body.

You won't get massively high scores, usually, but quite often you'll get a lot of engagement, one way or another.

 

[old_prof]

Starting tomorrow, for the month of February, you'll be able to read a bunch of stories that are only 750 words long.

alohadave beat me to mentioning tomorrow. 750 words in the minimum the site allows. Some of them are very good. I suggest @ElectricBlue 's series of 750's in Brooke Works at the Hardware Store if you want to see an old one before they arrive en masse in the next few days.

Also, why write such short stories?

I mostly write much longer stories. I have a 750 appearing tomorrow and Monday, but I also have a novel appearing tomorrow and another one probably next week or the week after. (No I'm not cranking out novels weekly or something, I've been working on both of them in parallel for months).

I write the 750's for a break or when I'm stalled on everything else. I'm more of a story teller than a writer, so writing them forces my to focus on the writing. They are forced to be more vignettes, no real story arc, minimal character development. It's like an after dinner mint for writing. It cleanses the palate. And I enjoy reading written ones like EB's.

 

[Trionyx]

It is a challenge to create a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end in 750 words. As such, these are frankly more for the writer than the reader and I believe this is why the scores tend to be lower.

One little exercise I did last year was to take a random 750 story and rewrite it to see if I could make it better. Usually, I couldn’t. BTW, I would never consider publishing these rewrites and they have all been deleted.

 

[Britva415]

The best way to approach very short stories, such as the 750-word stories, is to put them in a separate category and evaluate them by their own standards.

What are the criteria around what “best” means, to you? Based on the rest of your post, it seems like it has to do with achieving better scores, as an author?

That’s not what I’d regard as the best way to approach them as a reader. As a reader, I think the best way to approach them is to not approach them at all if you feel like you just don’t want to. @DanDraper gave them a chance and found he doesn’t like them. That’s valid.

 

[THBGato]

I'll read very short stories (or poetry). But then I don't much care about length. Wedding conversation by @Jalibar62 made me cry as hard as any 50,000 word slow burn on here.

I would say that very short stories are best when the writer focuses on a single complete scene - a story in real time, as it were. Less successful are stories where the writer tries to cram a lot of time into a short space. (Which is deeply hypocritical, as one of my own 750 efforts Coda takes place over 10 days.)

 

[Trionyx]

I would say that very short stories are best when the writer focuses on a single complete scene - a story in real time, as it were. Less successful are stories where the writer tries to cram a lot of time into a short space. (Which is deeply hypocritical, as one of my own 750 efforts Coda takes place over 10 days.)

I tend to agree, but having said that, my highest scoring 750-er Candy Hearts - 750 Words took place over eight days.

 

[NotWise]

Stories written for the 750-word event are writer's challenges more than anything. Readers may want to avoid them.

More generally, very short stories are usually teases or they depend on nuance and inference to tell a story. Readers may not enjoy them unless the tease catches their imagination or they can appreciate the writing.

Personally, I like flash fiction and very short stories like @StillStunned's writing prompts. I like seeing writer's skills on display, and with short works I don't need to waste much time to find out when they aren't.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think @SimonDoom has said it best The 750-word challenge is just that, a technical and artistic challenge to the writer. They shouldn't be judged by the same standard is stories whose length affords the luxury of far more detail. Still, some of them are not bad; it's worth while checking them out. In any case, there's little time lost if you find you don't like one.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I would differentiate between the 750-word submissions, which are purposely written to be short and concise, from either stories that are abbreviated due to a lack of relevant content (for what ever reason), or chapters of a larger work.

I have three submissions here that are between 1K and 2K words. Two are in the "How-To" category, so I don't consider them stories. The last one was an exercise several years ago and that one continues to hover around a red H, sometime having it, and then losing it again for a few weeks.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I was curious if anyone reads those very short stories here on Lit? If so, are any of them good?

When I look through the new stories that are published here, I would see some that are between 1000 and 2000 words long, and some that are much less. I used try reading them, but never enjoyed it because the stories seemed rushed and ended too fast. It got me wondering if anyone here actually reads stories this short and do they enjoy it.

Also, why write such short stories?
It seems like some of these authors could spend some more time at least trying to make it longer to add more to the story.
I've have a few short stories published here, but not this short.

Anyone have there own thoughts on this topic?

Plenty of thoughts.

There is no consensus about the number of words required for something to be considered a "short story" here. So, I'll just use what people commonly call a short story here, let's say, anywhere between 750 and 2k words, even if I disagree with such a classification. I'd call such stories scenes or vignettes, not stories.

Anyway, this is what I see as common reasons for authors to publish such stories:


1. Padding their story file. It's always flattering when you have more stories filed under your pen name, right? And the easiest way to achieve that is to publish the shortest stories allowed. It gets you there faster. Personally, I couldn't be farther from this kind of thinking.

2. Inability to write anything beyond that number of words. This isn't an uncommon reason for publishing such stories. I've seen plenty of authors on Lit who can't seem to go beyond a single scene or vignette, for whom the development of something more substantial is quite difficult.

3. The desire to participate in various "fun" 750-word challenges. There was a time when those challenges and events were more numerous, but thank god, that's not the case anymore.

4. The authors' desire to challenge themselves and see if they can create a compelling story with so few words. Many AH authors fit under #3 and #4.

5. A true preference towards such very short stories, one that's not caused by a lack of ability. This one is the rarest, in my opinion.


Now, when it comes to quality, yeah, the situation isn't great. You'll likely find some good, even fantastic, short stories, but my impression is that the overall quality of those stories is really bad, considerably below the quality of the average regular story. Lit could definitely do without such stories, in my opinion.

 

[THBGato]

I publish the word count of my stories on my author bio page, as I know some readers prefer longer stories (while others are put off by them). I have a huge range. 750 word stories aside, mine range from 1,800 to 87,000 stories, with everything in between.

I don't know if readers find that helpful or not.

Interestingly, one of my most commented on stories is only 3,200 words long. 43 comments. Very chuffed with that.

 

[lovecraft68]

The reception to the 750 word stories here are below the site average in score and views in whatever category they are placed. They are for the most part self indulgent fluff.

The fact that due to the event the site is flooded with these does them no favors as people get tired of 'oh, here's another one of these things' some in the event will post quite a few of them as they're great for making a story file look more impressive than they are.

This happened back in the last couple of years of the original survivor contest, people putting out low word count-and low quality-crap to get points for as many categories as possible while filling the new story list with these things and pissing readers off by making them have to wade through these things to find actual stories.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I was curious if anyone reads those very short stories here on Lit? If so, are any of them good?


Also, why write such short stories?


Anyone have there own thoughts on this topic?

I ONLY read shorter ones. Anything over 5 K, I skip

Attention span. I don't have one.

 

[Erozetta]

Personally, sometimes all I want to write of a story is a vignette that captures the core interaction and my only goal is to get the idea out of my head.

I get really nice comments on my shorter stories like that.

 

[Trionyx]

Attention span. I don't have one.

I’m sorry, but what was your answer to the question?

 

[Statius]

Seems like a great exercise for a writer to hone in on and work on something specific about their writing. I wouldn't attempt it because I know my limitations and no way could I pull this off. Maybe you want to work on shorter but more vivid descriptions? Maybe you want to try a stream of consciousness narrative? Maybe you want to sharpen dialogue skills? Seems like a worth while experiment to me and a great exercise to do so without taking so much of your headspace or the time and effort it takes to try something new in a full blown story. That's what I would use the 750 word challenge for.

 

[AG31]

I was curious if anyone reads those very short stories here on Lit? If so, are any of them good?

When I look through the new stories that are published here, I would see some that are between 1000 and 2000 words long, and some that are much less. I used try reading them, but never enjoyed it because the stories seemed rushed and ended too fast. It got me wondering if anyone here actually reads stories this short and do they enjoy it.

Also, why write such short stories?
It seems like some of these authors could spend some more time at least trying to make it longer to add more to the story.
I've have a few short stories published here, but not this short.

Anyone have there own thoughts on this topic?

Since you asked! Check out my case for simple erotica.
No doubt it's not for everyone. Specifically, you have to not be looking for plot.

Coincidentally, here's a post I made this morning that's relevant.

 

[OralAllOver]

Here follows a very short poem (not mine):

Lice

Adam had 'em

 

[RocketGrunt]

750 word stories are flash fiction. Very short stories are things like:

* For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn

* Paramedics finished her text "...Love You."

* Unwanted boy grew into wanted man.

* It's over now. Surgery. Chemotherapy. Life.

It's a whole genre that is a form of non-rhyming poetry. I find that very short stories usually work better as tragedies than comedies, but your mileage may vary.

 

[AG31]

I suggest @ElectricBlue 's series of 750's in Brooke Works at the Hardware Store if you want to see an old one before they arrive en masse in the next few days.

Absolutely!! Some of the best bits of literature I've read anywhere. And erotic!

I'd call such stories scenes or vignettes, not stories.

Fair enough.

I publish the word count of my stories on my author bio page,

I've got a plan to submit revisions for each of my stories (haven't done it before except once, I think). The main reason is to update my tags. But I think I'm going to display the number of Lit pages in the author's comment at the top too. I've often wished that were available.

 

[Djmac1031]

Plenty of thoughts.

There is no consensus about the number of words required for something to be considered a "short story" here. So, I'll just use what people commonly call a short story here, let's say, anywhere between 750 and 2k words, even if I disagree with such a classification. I'd call such stories scenes or vignettes, not stories.

Anyway, this is what I see as common reasons for authors to publish such stories:


1. Padding their story file. It's always flattering when you have more stories filed under your pen name, right? And the easiest way to achieve that is to publish the shortest stories allowed. It gets you there faster. Personally, I couldn't be farther from this kind of thinking.

2. Inability to write anything beyond that number of words. This isn't an uncommon reason for publishing such stories. I've seen plenty of authors on Lit who can't seem to go beyond a single scene or vignette, for whom the development of something more substantial is quite difficult.

3. The desire to participate in various "fun" 750-word challenges. There was a time when those challenges and events were more numerous, but thank god, that's not the case anymore.

4. The authors' desire to challenge themselves and see if they can create a compelling story with so few words. Many AH authors fit under #3 and #4.

5. A true preference towards such very short stories, one that's not caused by a lack of ability. This one is the rarest, in my opinion.


Now, when it comes to quality, yeah, the situation isn't great. You'll likely find some good, even fantastic, short stories, but my impression is that the overall quality of those stories is really bad, considerably below the quality of the average regular story. Lit could definitely do without such stories, in my opinion.

My longest story here is seven LE pages.

Generally though, my stories average two to four LE pages.

Call them stories, vignettes, whatever, its what I write.

And yeah, the reason many are so short is because frankly, I'm not really a WRITER so much as a guy who tries to write.

Id love to write a novel. Or at the very least longer, more complex tales on a regular basis.

But I know my skill set, and my limitations. And so I write what works for me, ya know? And just hope people like them.

(BTW for clarity, I didn't take your comments as a negative attack or anything. Just pointing out another reason some of us write shorter stories.)