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

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

For short stories I'm a "taker-outer"--I throw words at the page (screen) and in later drafts I carve a coherent story out of it.

For novels I'm I "putter-inner"--I put down all sorts of stuff in a great hurry to get to the end, and then I go back and fill in.

They don't feel very different to me, but I know I like writing novels more.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

They don't feel very different to me, but I know I like writing novels more.

Yeah.

I've heard Elizabeth Moon and others talk about 'natural length', the length of story you're most at home with, that comes most naturally to you. My natural length is the novel, 120,000+ words. I think of a scene, or garner an impression, and as I work it over it sprouts all over the place. I'm not sure that I could manage a Michnerian multigenerational saga, but I might have a few fantasy chock blocks in me.

The short work is a scene, a chapter. Maybe a little more, but not much.