A questions for short story writers

[ksmith]

...especially if you write novels as well...

Do you sit down and start that first paragraph, that first scene, is your approach different depending on whether it's part of a novel or a shorter work?

I'm about 4-5 pages into Incident, and I find myself weighing every word and trying to fit every hint and shade into the first few paragraphs. This is going to be a longer short work, 10K or more, so I have a little room to maneuver. And I want to allude to Jani's backstory and meanwhile, the plot itself is happening.

Just wondering.

Comments

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

I'd cast another vote for "just write." I write my short fiction the same way I do my long fiction - I open a word processing file for it, and I type in my ideas. I do *try* to remember my word-length goals, so that I can head myself off at the pass if I start to add a 10K-word subplot.

But, otherwise, the process is the same for me. I don't put more weight on the short fiction words - that weight gets added when I'm editing for space (as I almost always am.)

Does this help? Are you looking for other opinions/information?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Does this help? Are you looking for other opinions/information?


I was looking for...impressions, I guess. Whether there's something in the backbrain that says, this is shorter/longer, so you need to approach it *this* way. You need to define it *this* way. *This* is enough description.

I used to draw, and there was a difference in how I had to approach gesture drawing--very quick sketches where my eye never left the subject/model and which were completed in a few seconds--and a full-fledged composition. A gesture drawing could develop into a fuller work, but you really couldn't backtrack. At least, I couldn't.

I guess what concerns me now is that I may be fully developing this itty bitty corner over here and not paying enough attention to the rest of the piece. Which may be premature. I think my problem is that I'm writing a story featuring a character about whom I've already written 4 1/2 books. I know what she became, and in this story set 15 years earlier, I need to set this up. And I think I may be trying to do it too quickly.

As everyone has said, I just need to write the thing. I have a bare bones plot, and an end. A few high/low points. I just need to slap clay on the frame.

[dandyfunk.livejournal.com]

I was looking for...impressions, I guess. Whether there's something in the backbrain that says, this is shorter/longer, so you need to approach it *this* way. You need to define it *this* way. *This* is enough description.

As a writer of 60 short stories and 3 novels (all unsold, alas), I'd say for a short story you really don't have the space to muck around. No room for extra characters, and you can't have a scene that doesn't show character, plot and background. Heck, I think it was Bob Silverberg that said you can't have a sentence that doesn't do all three. Also, things have to get going fast. Chase your character up a tree on the first page, then throw rocks at them.

If you're looking for guidance, check out some of you favorite short stories. How did the writers of those stories do it?