DIGITAL MEDIA GHOST
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About
Search

Short Stories or Novels? The Right Choice For You

5/19/2016

0 Comments

 
by Will Viharo

​When it comes to writing, you can either be a sprinter, or a long distance runner.
 
Naturally, you can also be both. The challenge is excelling equally in each field, equipped with separate, specific skills.
 
It can and has been done, many times, by many authors. Just make sure you’re properly trained for both, since each format is judged according to different rules. And remember, you're only racing with yourself...
Just like actors and musicians are sometimes limited – whether by talent or ambition – to particular types of roles and genres, writers can also be restricted per their own boundaries.
 
Pushing those boundaries is where the creative process comes in. But at a certain point, to quote Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, “A man has got to know his limitations.” That goes for women too, sorry.
 
Great authors from Mark Twain to Ernest Hemingway to Thomas Pynchon have managed to churn out stories of various lengths, all with an equal amount of excellence. But then they're all geniuses. You don't have to be a genius. You just have to get to know yourself, like they did.
 
Other celebrated authors specialized in a certain format, and stuck to it with great success. Edgar Allan Poe wrote poems and short stories, but nothing particularly lengthy. Jack Kerouac was primarily a novelist. Stephen King writes everything with complete command of his craft. And they are all equally lauded as masterful talents, deservedly so.
 
Sometimes a writer will create a piece that becomes an influential, enduring classic regardless of its length. Short stories like “Incident at Owl Creek” by Ambrose Bierce and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson etched indelible impressions in literary history. The late Harper Lee will always be known for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (the recent release of her unpublished first draft of that novel, Go Set a Watchman, notwithstanding).

It's not always the size that counts.
 
 Just Make Sure You Have Enough Gas...

When you embark on your own unique literary journey, you may be wondering whether you “should” just write short stories or “should” try your hand a novel.
 
Nowadays, since anyone can self-publish, you can produce work of any length, even a single short story, as an eBook. Novelettes and novellas were once considered very difficult to get published unless you had an established reputation like John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men), Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) or George Orwell (Animal Farm).
 
Those restrictions on length no longer matter. While most publishers consider anything under 50,000 words or so to be a “novella” (with novelettes typically clocking in at 20,000 words or less), with 65,000 words being the more acceptable standard, self-publishers and small presses no longer pay any attention to those outdated designations.
 
Many popular presses like the modern crime house All Due Respect regularly issue novellas (either one or two in the same release), so if you’re a sprinter, and you’d rather not self-publish, you may find a small publisher willing to give it a shot.
 
“Bizarro”  books are typically 40,000 words or so, sometimes less, sometimes a little more, but hardly ever coming in at over 100 pages in print. But that genre requires an incredibly vivid imagination, requiring outrageous plots and characters in order to satisfy an audience that demands outré fiction.
 
Also, there are many, many anthologies being published by small presses that are wide open to cold submissions, and since the process of writing, submitting, and getting a short story published doesn’t take nearly as long as a novel. And small presses aren’t as concerned with your previous output or sales records, unlike agents and bigger houses. They are simply looking for quality work.
 
But before you even start shopping for a publisher or DIY platform, you need to figure out whether you are more comfortable and adept as a short story writer, or you are really a novelist by nature. I once thought of myself mainly as a novelist, but lately I've been writing and publishing short stories, and I find it very satisfying. But I've been writing for a long time, and that's just me. The voyage of self-discovery never ends.
 
Short stories - which can range from "flash fiction"  at 1,000-1,500 words to roughly 5,000 on average - invariably require very tightly structured composition, regardless of the genre, since you’re aiming for limited attention spans, meaning the reader has most likely chosen this format for convenient, expedient consumption. It’s the entertainment equivalent of a snack – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be just as nourishing and filling as a longer work. It can still go down feeling like a satisfying meal in and of itself.
 
Novels, on the other hand, allow an author to indulge more creative experimentation and explanation. But even if you’re writing an epic, you never want to bore the reader with unnecessarily tedious details.
 
The difference is that any extraneous meandering in a short story will be much more apparent since your space is so much more limited.

It's a Jungle Out There. Or Maybe Just a Farm?
 
So ask yourself: what kind of “animal” is your story? Is it a panther pacing restlessly in a cage, or a tropical fish swimming blissfully in a jungle pool? Is it a pig sloshing around in a tiny pen, or a horse running free in a pasture?
 
The idea is to either give your story enough room to roam, or restrict it to a confined space, depending on the artistic agenda. In either case, you will need the strength and discipline to keep your narrative reined in accordingly.
 
A good editor will let you know when you’re wandering outside the perimeters. But an experienced author will gradually develop the instincts to realize when less is more, or not enough.
 
It’s simply a matter of practice. More or less.

PHOTO: EVAN P. CORDES
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Become a Ghostwriter!
    Picture
    Contribute to DMG
    Picture
    BECOME A GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
    Picture
    PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS BY GUEST POSTING
    Picture
    ARE YOU A GHOSTWRITER? WE WANT TO KNOW!
    Picture
    DO YOU HAVE A GHOSTWRITING BUSINESS?

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Agency Spotlight
    Business
    Digital Marketing
    Ghost In A Flash
    Ghostwriting
    Media Relations
    Privacy Concerns
    Social Sabotage
    Technology
    Writer Spotlight
    Writing

    Advertising Disclaimer

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Find your domain and create your site at Weebly.com!
Digital Media Strategy
Content Marketing
Law Firm Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Marketing
eBooks
Writing
Becoming a Ghostwriter
Blogging
Content Marketing
Ghostwriting Services
Guest Post Guidelines
Media Relations
Online Crisis Management
Personal Brand
Public Relations
Reputation Management
About
Our Team
Our Results
Testimonials
Contact Us
Locations:
New Orleans, LA
Nashville, TN

DMG University
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Cookie Policy
Digital Media Ghost  @2020
  • Publication
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About