Short Stories and Writing Novels

Many writers begin with the short story. I began with the novel and wrote my first in nine days. At that time in my life, it seemed the more I learned about writing, the clearer the benefits were to gain an audience by writing short stories instead of the novel.

There are clear commercial reasons for being an established short story writer, and the process teaches one to define characters, plots, themes, use of voice, and many other ingredients to get a story published.

My early experience with short stories was met, with millions more writers, with rejection. Rejection is a very important topic and the constant short story submissions ensures a mature perspective to rejection. Some publishers immediately accept, others deliberate, and others seem to take forever. The longest I have waited for a decision is two years. The story was accepted, but the magazine went down the tube. It is not the acceptances that make or a break a writer. It is how one deals with rejection.

It is no secret that the submission process is a long road. When you have hundreds of stories, keeping track of submissions turns into a substantial challenge, and one I avoided in its entirety due to illness.

Writing a short story and a novel, as close as they appear to be, are substantially different.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), as debilitating as it has been for the past few years, has put my priorities in place. I write short stories on an ad-hoc basis, but concentrate on the novel. They require different skills and mentalities. CFS gave me the opportunity to review what I wanted to achieve, and put in place strategies to achieve it. This includes writing as much as possible, and reading more about the craft through self-education and works of fiction (sometimes, the two are the same).

The time I used for short stories was effectively murdered, although I do write occasional stories under a thousand words. I will approach the short story in the future when more time is available. For now, I must focus on desired outcomes, and my desired outcome, is to have a career writing novels.

“Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby!”

--Henry Higgins
Pygmalion, by
George Bernard Shaw