The Shroud Underground

This was asked on another list I belong to (short mystery fiction) and I was interested to see what you all would say too...

Which do you prefer to write -- novels or short stories? And why?

Short stories. I can turn them out anywhere between one day and one week. Getting a rejection is no big deal. It doesn't even sting. A novel, however, is different. I'm almost finished with my first, and I'm afraid to even query publishing companies about it or agents. I think the reason is the amount of time I've invested into the project. I know that getting a rejection for my novel (two years in the making) is going to hurt like a S.O.B. Also, the novel is a lot more personal to me. More words, more insight.

I'm with John. I'm about halfway through my novel, been on "break" for over six months, and getting back to it has been an uphill climb. Short stories, while not "easy," are easier. Emotionally and time-wise.

I have been mostly concentrating on longer work for the last few years - novellas and novels. I find it a little hard to adapt back to writing short fiction these days - in spite of the fact that I wrote nothing but short fiction for an awful lot of years.

It's a little like sprinting versus marathon running. They just aren't the same at all.

I'm currently working on a novel, or novella, it depends on how long it turns out to be (I just write as it comes out, I find it makes the story feel less forced). I love the short story though. It's an art form that really seems to get pushed aside by the broader base of the public, yet they still come to them for most of the "book to movie" ideas out there.

The short story is probably my favorite thing to write. My novel in fact started out as a few loosely connected short stories that just worked well when hooked up. It makes it feel a bit choppy and episodic, but I'm ironing it all out as I go. At least I hope I'm ironing it out.

But if you can't write a good short story, then you're going to have trouble writing a novel if you ask me.

I love that a short story can really refresh you as a writer if you're working on a larger story. During my chemotherapy it was incredibly hard to write at all, but when I was in the mood and felt well enough to, it would help to write a short story first just to get my brain freed up a bit and get me past the writer's block on my main story.

Great thread for my first post!

For me, they both have their ups and downs...but I'd probably say I enjoy the novel form a little more.

Short story ideas come in small concise packages. The seed which the story grows from is not some bottomless pit. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, even when I start on the first page. Characters do come to life, and scenes get intense, but for me, I can always see the ending just over the horizon. What I like so much about the short story form is it's got the same potential power as the novel form. I've been completely knocked out by short stories...to the point were I've had to set the book down and just go on a walk. (In the Hills, the Cities by Clive Barker--it left me stunned) As a writer, it's the challenge to capture lightening in a bottle and do it under 10k words, that's so much fun.

But novels. I've written a few of them that are unpublished. I feel like a novel starts off with a similar seed as the short story idea--except a novel seed is one big idea and a bunch of little ones, all which weave in and out of each other. There's nothing like writing for six hours strait, watching your ideas layering together in massive folds.

After writing that, I can't decide which one I like more. If you held a gun to my head, I'd probably say novels.

Since this thread got resurrected...

Ironically enough, I sold my first short story as a junior in college, (for ten bucks - gas money and Taco Bell. I was ecstatic), and then turned my nose into the air with a disdainful sniff and said, "That's nice, but I don't have time to write short stories. I'm going to be a NOVELIST, see."

Okay. Start throwing rotten vegetables in three, two, one....

Well...ha-ha on ME....ten years later, and all I'd managed to do was write one horribly bloated, hackneyed science fiction manuscript and spend six years straight on half of another one. It became very apparent that I had a large problem: I didn't know how to find that magical place where you write: "The End".

So, I shelved novels indefinitely. Read "On Writing" By Stephen King, decided to focus on writing itself. Got a few non-fiction - albeit non-paying at first - writing gigs. Then, I started writing short stories.

My first "short" story ended up lasting 10,000 words. Not so short. But I DID IT. I got to write "The End". I was finally able to finish something, and then refine a finished product several times over.

Short stories have actually helped me better envision novels. Steve's right, they're COMPLETELY different, but I just got so frustrated because I could never finish anything. Actually being able to finish something - and then eventually publish in better and better places - has changed my "career" completely.

I'm still not ready to write a novel of my own, (Hiram Grange is a novel/novella, and it's my story but in a Shroud-generated universe), because of my lifestyle right now: a rambunctious 4 and 2 year old and finishing grad school, so short stories are still the way to go for now - but I'm still learning so much about word economy and "power words", that I don't think I'm ready yet. I have a few more short stories in me, a novella I'd like to finish, and then I think I'll be ready.

My experience was a lot like Kevin's. I tried to write a novel first and started/quit too many times to remember. I also read King's book and started working on my writing. After I had written a dozen sort stories, I had one idea I assumed was a short because that's what I write.

After 15K it became obvious it would be at east a Novella. That story will be coming out from Shroud this spring (shameless plug). My second novella/novel was planned to be a novel and had ended up at around 55K. Not sure i have a longer one in me, but I am much more comfortable with the 50K length and have an idea for my 3rd already plotted out (Now I just need to time).

Before I was serious about writing--actually, I was moving towards a career as a video-game composer/sound designer--I was working on a fantasy novel. I got pretty deep into it. About 80k words until I stopped. I had a ton of short story ideas banging around my head while I was writing that novel, and even though I saw the ending...it was probably another 40-50k words away, and I just didn't the drive to finish it.

It felt SO good to dive into the short story format, and all those random ideas I had backed up over the 6months of writing the novel...they came pouring out into fun little stories.

I've written a 50k horror novella (expanding on a short story idea). My god. It was terrible. But like music...you learn the most from your worst tracks (or stories). It was still a very fun experience, and it was the first long piece I wrote after I changed the direction of my life towards writing. I got up every day at 5am and wrote till 10am till it was finished (somewhere around the 3-4 week mark)

Since, I've written few other novella's and quiet a bundle of short stories. Working on a new novel right now.

I feel like my biggest problem isn't finishing what I start--I do (for the most part) with both novels and short stories. My biggest problem is the mechanics of the stuff I do get out. My grammar and style are rough--usually leaving my ideas all banged up by the time they get on paper.

The only thing I've been writing, as of late, is a grant proposal. Dear God, how I pray it would be a short story.

Nathaniel Lambert wrote:The only thing I've been writing, as of late, is a grant proposal. Dear God, how I pray it would be a short story.

Wouldn't it be easier and faster to just rob a bank? And what's the down side? If you got caught, you wold have more time to write

Thanks for all the great posts gang.
I am a new writer. I have been writing small things for years but not serious projects like a book or even a short story.
I started over a year ago on my first novel. I am now on the 2nd draft and I have also started a handful of short stories.
I am finding it awkward working on short stories. I don't know why. I keep wondering, how in the hell am I going to fit this all in 5k words..lol

I am learning as I go..
Thanks again for the insight into your work.

-Tom Erb

Tom,

Try to write a 100-word story. Even if you never submit it anywhere, it is a good writing exercise to instill word discipline.

100 words exactly, with our with the title is up to you, but once you set the rules, stick to them.

Thanks for that great exercise! I am going to give it a shot..

I will repost when I finish it with my thoughts on the experience.

Thanks again.

-Tom

I wrote four crappy novels before I ever tried to write a short story. The last year I've been working on both. And at this point I'm enjoying both equally. They have their different rewards. I still have a ton to learn though. And it sucks because I'm a slow learner. LOL. But yeah, I prefer to write both.

Lee