So it's been a long while. I've worked long hours, had a two week holiday and have procrastinated the tedious line edits of my Isaiah project.
I have also been reflecting on the short story. It is truly a different creature than the novel and has left me befuddled. How can I take a reader to an exciting, life changing moment in a character's life in less than 5,000 words? Where's the build-up? Where's the reason to care or the understanding of a foreign world?
Then I realized something. Consider television, not the short comedies, but the 40 minutes(ish) dramas. In their series premier it is their job to draw the viewers into the characters and world in a very short time. The script has probably been attacked and torn down to a minimal amount of pages and yet successful premieres happen every fall. Some of them in worlds completely foreign to us.
How do these writers pull their viewers in so quickly? They do have the advantage of pictures to describe a place when a short story must use words. They also have actors who can breathe life into dialogue and the short story has basic words. Simple words.
And that's the key. Simple. Yes, each character is a complex individual with enthralling stories, pain deep enough to make bullies weep, and passion that burns away doubt. And each fantastical world is brilliant, beautiful, intricate, and highly developed. It is a writer's joy, but it is not necessary for the reader.
As a writer, I must learn when to let the complexities that impassion me sit out for awhile. There might be a place for them, but it's not in every story. Especially the short story.
By the end of the first line, the reader must be in love with the main character - whether that is pity, humor, awe or some other over the top emotion. It must be the first line. Once the reader is in love with the character toss bits and pieces of the pivotal aspects of his/her personality in the midst of some action/tension. While you're at it, through a few hints in of the fantastical world you're dragging your character through - make a passing remark about space aliens or magic. The reader needs to know very quickly this world she's in is not the one she knows so well.
Bring the character to a vital, life-changing situation where a choice must be made. This must be a difficult, gut wrenching choice that chalanges the character's very being and yet it must be resolved in just a few lines. The meat of the short story is the gaining of knowledge for the character to make the choice. This should be done with tension in every paragraph, if not every line. The reader should feel the struggle of the choice as well as the outward tensions (life's in danger, family threatened, the end of the known world...). And you have 5,000 words.
5,000 words to make the readers fall in love with a character, burn with questions, feel the internal and external battle, bring the character to a point of no return and watch him/her jump. Then walk away.
I once thought this was impossible for me. I still don't find it easy, but I began to watch shows with a different eye. What are the points in an episode where I feel for the character(s)? When do I want to cry, scream, hit something? Why? What happened that evoked such emotion? Write it down. Describe with the best of your ability and then do it again and again and again. Write it until you have evoked the same depths of emotion the television show did. Then shorten it.
And now I've tried my hand at a short story. Shy of 5,000 words by only 5 words. I used a world I built for another story, a world I've been refining for three years, but I used brand new characters, a new era, and a new battle. Then I chose the moment in time when my main character was given the opportunity to change her life and be a part of the war tearing apart her world. An easy choice for her, but a harder choice for the one she must accompany. After running for her life, being rescued, coming face-to-face with a new enemy and saving a life, she must talk her way into a chance for a new life. This is the moment she's been waiting for and I have a bit of build up to get her there because both she and her companion must realize it is necessary. Also, after she reaches this point, it takes less than 100 words to resolve it.
Of course, I've fallen in love with my main character and her companion and want to write entire novels about them, but I am forcing myself to consider a series of short stories. I must refine my writing, tighten it. Also, I need to get my name into print if I'm ever going to sell one of my books and the short story is the best way.
I do see the short story as a grand tool for improving my novel writing as well, though. If I can evoke the depth of emotions and tell a riviting story in 5,000 words then I need to make each section of 5000 words in my novel just as riveting and deep. Ideally, this will help me see where the fat in my novels are and how to make them much more... everything. Could the short story be my catalyst to new and better writing? Perhaps. Time will tell.
I have also been reflecting on the short story. It is truly a different creature than the novel and has left me befuddled. How can I take a reader to an exciting, life changing moment in a character's life in less than 5,000 words? Where's the build-up? Where's the reason to care or the understanding of a foreign world?
Then I realized something. Consider television, not the short comedies, but the 40 minutes(ish) dramas. In their series premier it is their job to draw the viewers into the characters and world in a very short time. The script has probably been attacked and torn down to a minimal amount of pages and yet successful premieres happen every fall. Some of them in worlds completely foreign to us.
How do these writers pull their viewers in so quickly? They do have the advantage of pictures to describe a place when a short story must use words. They also have actors who can breathe life into dialogue and the short story has basic words. Simple words.
And that's the key. Simple. Yes, each character is a complex individual with enthralling stories, pain deep enough to make bullies weep, and passion that burns away doubt. And each fantastical world is brilliant, beautiful, intricate, and highly developed. It is a writer's joy, but it is not necessary for the reader.
As a writer, I must learn when to let the complexities that impassion me sit out for awhile. There might be a place for them, but it's not in every story. Especially the short story.
By the end of the first line, the reader must be in love with the main character - whether that is pity, humor, awe or some other over the top emotion. It must be the first line. Once the reader is in love with the character toss bits and pieces of the pivotal aspects of his/her personality in the midst of some action/tension. While you're at it, through a few hints in of the fantastical world you're dragging your character through - make a passing remark about space aliens or magic. The reader needs to know very quickly this world she's in is not the one she knows so well.
Bring the character to a vital, life-changing situation where a choice must be made. This must be a difficult, gut wrenching choice that chalanges the character's very being and yet it must be resolved in just a few lines. The meat of the short story is the gaining of knowledge for the character to make the choice. This should be done with tension in every paragraph, if not every line. The reader should feel the struggle of the choice as well as the outward tensions (life's in danger, family threatened, the end of the known world...). And you have 5,000 words.
5,000 words to make the readers fall in love with a character, burn with questions, feel the internal and external battle, bring the character to a point of no return and watch him/her jump. Then walk away.
I once thought this was impossible for me. I still don't find it easy, but I began to watch shows with a different eye. What are the points in an episode where I feel for the character(s)? When do I want to cry, scream, hit something? Why? What happened that evoked such emotion? Write it down. Describe with the best of your ability and then do it again and again and again. Write it until you have evoked the same depths of emotion the television show did. Then shorten it.
And now I've tried my hand at a short story. Shy of 5,000 words by only 5 words. I used a world I built for another story, a world I've been refining for three years, but I used brand new characters, a new era, and a new battle. Then I chose the moment in time when my main character was given the opportunity to change her life and be a part of the war tearing apart her world. An easy choice for her, but a harder choice for the one she must accompany. After running for her life, being rescued, coming face-to-face with a new enemy and saving a life, she must talk her way into a chance for a new life. This is the moment she's been waiting for and I have a bit of build up to get her there because both she and her companion must realize it is necessary. Also, after she reaches this point, it takes less than 100 words to resolve it.
Of course, I've fallen in love with my main character and her companion and want to write entire novels about them, but I am forcing myself to consider a series of short stories. I must refine my writing, tighten it. Also, I need to get my name into print if I'm ever going to sell one of my books and the short story is the best way.
I do see the short story as a grand tool for improving my novel writing as well, though. If I can evoke the depth of emotions and tell a riviting story in 5,000 words then I need to make each section of 5000 words in my novel just as riveting and deep. Ideally, this will help me see where the fat in my novels are and how to make them much more... everything. Could the short story be my catalyst to new and better writing? Perhaps. Time will tell.
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