Short Fiction

If I was to ever be asked what the advantage of writing a short fiction story has over the longer novel length, my response would not be ease of publication. It also would not be to get your name out. Nor would it be to practice your craft. While all of these may be valid points, none of these would be my number one reason. So what would be? The number one reason is that short fiction avoids the long desert walk.

What is the “long desert walk?” When you write long fiction the hardest part is the middle. You may have carefully plotted out the entire novel, scene by scene or you may just have an idea of what you want to do with your story. Either way, the beginning and the end are well formed in your mind. But, the middle ground—the wide open desert –is not so easily formed. Writing the middle of a novel is as tedious and straining as walking across the desert. Without the right supplies and motivation, you will “die” in the middle of either.

The short fiction story avoids this. Of course, it has a middle section to the story. The compactness of the short story, the need to drive on and keep the “journey” short makes the walk across the middle little more than a skip. Short fiction is a sprint compared to the longer journey of a novel. In a sprint you don’t have time to wonder “how much further” until you get to the finish line. You just run and run for the finish is not far around the bend.

Short fiction has difficulties in writing that are different from writing longer fiction. Both will consume the energy of the writer, with the difference being that the writer will not spend so much of his energy trudging across the sand dunes of the desert walk.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for more on the articles, blogs, novels, poems, and short stories I write.