Writing Fiction - 2

Novels or short stories, or...

Well clearly, novels contain a lot more words than short stories, so on that basis alone they should be more difficult and demanding to write. Certainly, we'd expect them to be more time-consuming. It's not necessarily quite so simple, though. Author Michael Legat, who's written both novels and short stories - and much more besides - says that the short story is one of the most difficult forms, not least because it must be precise and concise, and it must impact on the reader much more quickly. Most short stories still need a beginning, a middle and an end, too. And all in a very short space of time.

So, whatever is said about the demands of novel writing will apply almost equally to the short story. And in the end, honing a short story may demand just as much time as writing a novel. That said, some people will polish a novel to the point of obsession, while others will produce short stories at a quite alarming rate. Which situation is much the same, in my experience, as in poetry, but that's for another time.

So, by all means write both, although I'd be tempted to recommend you start with short stories because they are, despite what I've said, usually a bit quicker to write. They're also easier to research in greater numbers so you can assess the market and plan your assault upon it.

Which leads us to getting published, which will form part 3 …

Roy