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

Re: Yeah..

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm wondering if one goes in with a different mindset with short works because they're, well, short.

Maybe not.

Re: Yeah..

[jodi-davis.livejournal.com]

No - for me it's the same, beginning middle end. I mean, sometimes I do *know* what I'm working on, but I don't process it down... usually any *novel* length work starts out as a bit of prose kicking around itself. I can finish a whole shorty that way and then refine it - but if it starts to feel like a novel there is a time where I have to step away from the doodling and outline and consider for a while before diving back in.

So I guess the difference in process for me starts sometime after the initial blast of 6-15 pages.

JD