Why I Like Short Stories

I love short stories. I know some people don't like them because there isn't enough character development, or subplots, or there's not enough time to get involved in the story, or whatever. I think a well-written short story can be brilliant and very entertaining. I also like to occasionally be able to consume a story in a short chunk of time rather than starting three different novels or something like that.

I've never really understood the inherent hostility toward the short form writing. Sure, they're not to everybody's taste, but the amount of venom in this Wet Asphalt post just boggles my mind. Some of my favourite authors have both novels and short stories to their credit, and some of them (Robert Reed, for example) clearly love the craft of writing a good, focused short story. I don't buy the attitude that those who write short stories are slumming or marketing whores keeping their names out in the public, or anything like that.

Those are extreme examples of criticism, though. What about those who just don't like reading them?

Short stories can make you think as a reader. Some people don't like that, of course. They want everything handed to them on a platter with no real nuance. This attempt to engage readers' minds can result in some great stories that end rather ambiguously, forcing the reader to make up his/her own mind about what the story might have meant.

You can't do that in a novel. If a 550-page novel ends on an ambiguous note, I would probably feel cheated unless it was extraordinarily well-done. A short story, though? One that may take 20-30 minutes to read? I'm a bit more forgiving. I may not like how the story ended, but I don't feel robbed of my time once I have finished.

The short story allows for far more experimentation in tone and style as well. Sure, there are varying degrees of success or failure in these experiments. Again, if it fails, you haven't invested huge amounts of time and energy in the story. This can allow writers to do all sorts of things with (and to) their characters, knowing that the character may never come back.

One of my favourite short stories is "Story Kit" by Kij Johnson (published in Eclipse Four, edited by Jonathan Strahan), and I really didn't like it when I started reading it. It starts talking about six different story types (as stated by author Damon Knight) and explores a female writer trying to craft a story about Dido (from the Aeneid). Interspersed with this is the writer's attempts to deal with the failure of her marriage. One becomes a metaphor for the other, and by the end of the story you're really engaged with the writer's dilemma and heartache. It's a fascinating story, and I don't think the style would fit anything other than a short story.

What about the often-given reason for not liking short stories? The "just when I'm getting involved in the story, it ends" reasoning? I think that's looking at things the wrong way. No short story should leave the reader hanging so that they're "just getting involved" in it as the story draws to a conclusion. The narrative arc of the story should take the reader on the journey so that he/she doesn't even notice the length until it comes to its natural endpoint. If you're left "wanting more" because you feel the story is incomplete, then that's a failure on the writer's part. (As opposed to the reader wanting more of that author's work, which is actually a good thing)

How about the "I like to get involved in a story and the characters and a short story doesn't allow me to do that"? The craft of a short story is much different than a novel, and a good writer will pack enough characterization (even if it is done in shorthand) that you feel that you know the characters well enough for this not to be an issue. Yes, you won't get as much detail of the character's background if it's not important to the story, but I would argue that it's the same thing in a novel. Even with greater length, if it's not necessary for me to know that the main character likes tuna fish sandwiches, then I would hope the author wouldn't feel the need to tell me this.

Short stories don't allow quite the number of twists and turns that a novel can give, but they can still turn on a dime and surprise the reader. Many short stories do have a twist at the end, or at least a change in direction that comes at a shock to the reader. There are no subplots in a short story either, but that's beside the point of what a short story is.

One of the principle reasons I've always loved short stories, though, is the time element. I can read a story and then set the book down again if I want. I won't be stuck in the middle of a narrative. They make great reading for bus trips or something like that where your time is limited. I love novels too, but short stories make a perfect snack in between lengthy tomes, something satisfying to cleanse the pallet.

And you just might find yourself thinking more than you had anticipated as well.

There are some great short stories available online if you want to sample. Lightspeed Magazine hosts many of their stories free for reading without a subscription if you want to dip your toe in. If you're not into SF, then maybe some of the more "literary" stories found at Fish Publishing might be more to your liking?

Whatever the case, give a few a try. Keep in mind that not every short story is good, so try not to read one and say "nope, not for me." Try a few before giving up on them.

You might find yourself with even more great stuff to read.

So what about you? Are you a short story fan or hater? Let me know in the comments.

Failure as a Driving Force

There is something that's universal. It happens to everybody, be it kids trying to walk for the first time to somebody running for President, and everything in between (and even beyond).

Yes, we all fail. In fact, we fail a lot. Life is full of little failures when we try and do something.

Some people let failure paralyze them. Sometimes it's not even failure, but the fear of failure that keeps us from moving forward. We come up with some brilliant idea that we want to try, but then we don't put it into action because we're afraid it might not succeed. Maybe it isn't as brilliant as we thought it was. Or maybe we just don't have the skill or expertise to pull it off.

When we think of failure, we often think of these big things. We don't realize that there are many days that are full of little failures. You tried to fix the squeaky hinge on the door but it was beyond your capability and you had to ask for help. You tried to fix the clogged drain. Maybe you tried to figure out on your own how to hide columns on an Excel spreadsheet but then finally had to ask somebody.

We all do it. Failure is a part of our lives.

Wow, that was depressing. Isn't this supposed to be an inspirational post?

Yes it is.

The thing is, failure can be, and often is, a driving force in our lives, forcing us to improve our minds, our bodies, or even just our everyday life skills.

Had to ask about hiding columns on your spreadsheet? Maybe learning that taught you how to figure out other things in Excel without help. Through failure, you learn things about yourself, what you can and can't do, and maybe what you can teach yourself or have others teach you how to do. Maybe that failure inspires you to learn more about the subject so you don't have to ask for help again.

The best failures inspire us to do better, to be better. They open up new avenues to explore, new thought processes to implement. They make us better people.

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted and Facebooked (wow, that's become a verb now?) a quote from a great post on the Inkpunks blog by Andrew Romine, called "Failure: You're Doing it Right." The quote was this:

"I throw myself at failure and hope I miss."

I think that's a wonderful quote, because it acknowledges that failure is always a possibility. But it's not something to be frightened of.

The entire post is well-worth reading.

Andrew lists three things to keep in mind when you find that the fear of failure is keeping you paralyzed. One of those is that failure can actually be a good way to discover your strengths.

"Sometimes failing at something is the only way to discover what you’re really good at. This is a less intuitive (and perhaps less pleasant) aspect of failure, but still a very important one. You have to be willing to put in long hours in any career or craft to get good at it. In those hundreds or thousands of hours of writing, drawing, puppetry, or even accounting, you’ll find your strengths and weaknesses. You’ll discover where your passion really lies."

I found this post really inspiring.

I love to write, but I have found myself falling into lazy funks that have kept me from actually producing anything. This blog went dormant for three months, and for weeks at a time even before that. I still haven't produced more than one story that I've actually submitted to a magazine for publication.

A big part of that is fear of failure. There's also the "why would anybody care what I think about something" feeling too, but it's more than that. It's the "why keep doing something that nobody's ever going to read?" trap as well.

That kind of thinking is poisonous, and while it has held me back from doing things, it hasn't held me back from the dream of doing them. I still feel inspired when I talk to writers such as Sandra Wickham (a writer and contributor to the Inkpunks blog and also one of my favourite Twitter follows who I had the pleasure of talking to again at V-Con this year) or other writers who I follow on Twitter or read their blogs.

When I came out of V-Con this year, I truly did feel inspired by all of the author and publisher panels that I attended, and the wonderful conversation I had with Connie Willis (an excellent SF author who was the guest of honour).

But then I got home and that same old fear hit.

It's something I'm really working hard to get over, and I think re-starting this blog and keeping it going as I have this month is a good start.

Posts like Andrew's help too.

I encourage you to check out the post because, while it's mainly about writing, it can be inspiring for anybody who finds themselves paralyzed by that same failure fear, even if it's not writing-related.

And check out the rest of the Inkpunks blog too if you're a writer. There's some good stuff there.

How to tell you're a writer

I recently finished Con & Conjure, a book by Lisa Shearin, and decided to look up her blog since I haven't done so in a while. She's a fantasy writer, and that series is about an elf named Raine Benares who has basically been getting into a lot of trouble.

But this isn't a blog about Shearin or her books (that may come later).

Instead, it's inspired by one of her blog posts, where she talks about November being NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a challenge where you are supposed to write 50,000 words in a month.

Right now, there's no way I can do that, but in her post talking about her plans for it, she linked to a wonderful post on the Writability blog.

The post, entitled "Ten Indisputable Signs that You're a Writer," gives...well, ten signs that you are a writer. I guess, going by this post, I am a writer! As long as you don't have to meet *all* of the criteria listed, anyway.

Let's see how I measure up.

1) You constantly edit

Guilty as charged, at least to an extent. I find myself editing everything from the book I'm reading to the news crawl underneath the talking heads on the news networks. And inevitably I notice a funny misspelling. (1/1)

2) You're highly observant

Ok, I can't necessarily say that I am (just ask the wife, who has seen me not notice something that's right in front of me). I also don't file them away in a "I could write about this later" folder in my head. However, when I *do* notice things or events or people, I do find myself occasionally wondering how I could work that into a story.

So maybe give me half a point? (1.5/2)

3) You often ask "how could I describe this?"

No, I don't really do this at all, at least not consistently. If I'm out in a rainstorm, I'm typically just trying to stay dry or get to where I'm going. I'm not really thinking how I would describe the rain drumming onto my umbrella. (1.5/3)

4) You have a hyperactive imagination

Guilty! My imagination is on overdrive, and I sometimes think if I could just get some order to the ideas constantly speeding through my head, I might actually be able to develop one of them. My problem is that I can't switch it off, and it often becomes a blur. (2.5/4)

5) You feel inspired after reading a good book

That's definitely true, though I have yet to harness that inspiration. I also feel inspired when I hear others talk about their writing craft. That's one of the things I loved about V-Con this year. So many great panels and getting to talk to a plethora of writers.

Now it's up to me to do something with it. (3.5/5)

6) You often daydream about your WiP (Work in Progress)

The rare times I do have a WiP, I do find myself thinking about it a lot even when I can't actually be writing it. So I would say that's a definite yes (though I haven't been able to test it out *too* much). (4.5/6)

7) You feel guilty if you haven't written anything in a while

That's another one I'm guilty of. (see what I did there?) Yes, which is why it's been so hard to be away from this blog, not to mention actually writing stories. It's hard to stay away, but it's also hard to actually buckle down and do it. I have to get past that second part. If you can buckle down, then staying away from it becomes an easy thing to deal with. You just don't do it. (5.5/7)

8) Grammar jokes are funny

Yes, I do find grammar humour to be utterly hilarious. Much to my wife's chagrin sometimes, I think. I think that's why I'm such a fan of puns, too. (6.5/8)

9) You can't get enough books

Any who have seen my bookshelves know that's true. I have always loved books, always having one around at all times. The only time I've ever not been in the middle of a book is when I've finished one on a Saturday and the next book I wanted to read, I had left at work. Then I read a magazine or two until it's finally time to collect what I want to read.

There can never be too many books. (7.5/9)

10) You keep doing this writing thing

While I have my stops and starts, my writer's block, my laziness, my head is always thinking of something to write about. Even if I don't actually get it written. That's why this blog has been restarted twice, why I continue to look into short story courses and the like.

Because while I find it hard to keep going sometimes, I always feel so accomplished when I've been able to actually get something down on paper, or more exactly, on screen. That drive is always there, even if I deny it to myself. (8.5/10)

And that, my friends, is why I do believe I'm a writer.

What about you, my fellow writers. How do you fall in this "test"?

I'd love to know.

Nighttime Brains

For some reason, my brain just seem to love the night. Do you find that your brain starts to get more active the later it gets? Sometimes, my brain is lying in wait for me to try and go to sleep, and then it springs on top of me with thoughts, images, or "hey, what do you think you should do about those bagels that are rotting in the fridge?" questions. Or "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if you appeared on the Talk Radar podcast? Do you think it would go like this?" Meanwhile, I'm trying desperately to shut it up so I can get some sleep.

Some of our best thinking is done at night, the later the better.

Unless there are alcoholic beverages involved, though in some cases that makes the brain go into overload and it's just the content that spews out of it that probably shouldn't be repeated.

But anyway...

I find I do my best writing when it's late at night, the wife has gone to bed so I'm sitting basically alone in the dark, with the New Age music channel going on our TV's digital music channel (that may surprise some of you who missed the one music post I did on my music tastes mixed in with the 508 other posts on this blog). Sometimes I get introspective and the words just flow out of my head like a water cooler if you try to take a full jug off of it.

It's almost like my mind was buttoned up or something.

Hmmmmmm

But I can't just write anything at these times. I can occasionally force myself to write a review, or if I happen to be reading something interesting on a news site or something, I might be able to post about that.

No, my brain is not wired that way.

Instead, I start thinking (always a dangerous thing). I think about friends. I think about love. I think about the past, the future, or the present.

I think about inspiration, like my friend Dawn's post from the other day, In This Moment, where she talks about an inspiring quote, and then goes on for a long time about daily inspirations, how her brain works (maybe that's what inspired this post?), and other really fascinating stuff. I say "long" above, but that's only after I look at the post itself. While reading it, I sit entranced, and it doesn't feel long at all. I wish I could make a long post like that which didn't sound like I was rambling.

Or Lisa, the "Smiling Widow" who wrote the quote that's under my masthead above, and who writes the "Widow Lady" blog. A woman who's been through so much, has blogged about it and shared with her readers with the hope that it will help those going through a similar circumstance, yet who can also provide us with such funny stuff as today's post. And I wonder how I would get through something similar.

What-ifs seem to also invade the brain late at night. Most of them are something that I know will never happen, but they still come upon me. Sometimes they're worth blogging about, sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're not even worth thinking about, but try telling that to my brain.

It's stubborn and doesn't listen.

It's also late at night when the dreams come. Not the sleeping dreams, which I can never remember but often seem to wake me up disconcertingly. I'm talking about the dreams of the future, of what might be, or might never be.

Dreams that, with a little work, might come true. It's the work part, in the cold light of day where the dreams don't reside but where the reality of what it would take to make those dreams come true lurks instead, that seems so daunting. I imagine the results of something but am not willing to do what it takes to get to that result. Of course nothing happens, no matter what Rhonda Byrne says.

And so the dreams lay unclaimed. But that doesn't stop my nighttime brain from visualizing them again the next night.

It's that nighttime brain that's responsible for this post.

And look, rambling!

(Note: This blog was finished at 11:00 pm last night, but I'm scheduling it to post this morning because, let's face it, only a few people will read it if it posts this late at night. But it *is* the product of my nighttime brain, and hopefully I won't regret it by the time it posts)