Do you think novels or short stories are harder to write well? In many ways I think that a short story would be harder to write well since everything needs to be so perfectly organized and thought out. It seems like a novel can be much for forgiving in that regard. However, there is just more to a novel than a short story. Any way I look at it, it seems that a short story is much more difficult to have recognized than a novel. How true is that? Thanks,
I'd say short stories are harder to do well. As you say, the length of novels means that they are forgiving in ways that short stories are not: you can take time to develop complex characters, compelling plots, a strong sense of style. In a short story, not a single word can be wasted or misused. Everything has to be treated in a very utilitarian way, but you still need to be able to develop the style and interest that readers would expect from a longer form. I also think that short stories encourage more experimentation and creativity in form and structure and style. The novel is loaded with conventions and expectations that make it potentially very constraining, and the sheer amount of work that is required is often enough to dissuade writers from taking highly experimental or unusual approaches which may prove to be failures only after tens of thousands of words have been written. Short stories carry no such risk.
It really depends. If it's something like horror or suspense, I generally prefer short stories because they can maintain that tone throughout the entire story. I also like to lay in bed and read a novel that will keep me occupied for several days. As far as writing, I like both. Am working on one of each currently.
I find short stories hard because they're difficult for me to conceive. Every idea I have grows and turns into something much longer than a short story. I think my natural form might be the novella - much of what I write seems to wind up in the 20,000 to 40,000 word range. Holding something down to less than, say, 8000 words is nearly impossible for me. With a novel, I don't feel any restrictions at all. So, even though novels are more work, I think it's easier work.
Short Stories, Hands Down You have to be so much more concise with a short story. I've read plenty of great ones, but many more that were not great. Some of them, to me at least, are like a segment taken randomly from a longer story that do not stand up on their own. There doesn't seem to be any point to them, no beginning, middle, or end. Every word has to earn its place, justify its existence. I'm a rambler (as you may have noticed if you've read any of my posts), so I think the fact that I spent a few years working exclusively on short stories was very good training for me!
I say short stories as well. It's hard to get the perfect ending to a story. Often times writers will ramble on or will end the story too quickly. And as others have mentioned, there is less room for mistakes in a short story.
I have never written a novel but from what I have read, the process of writing a novel seems like a nightmare, like planning a huge wedding and making it happen. Short story to me is like a small wedding, a very private affair with very few guests. My stories have never crossed 2000 words. Also I like novels that employ the precision of short story writing. I am planning to write a novel, but the thought scares me.
As long as I redraft personally I just find it different. Like with a novel a short story requires work and redrafting. I can hammer out the basic story for a 3000 word short story in under an hour but then work to redrafts it a couple of times and edit takes about three hours. I have been trying to do one short story competition a month - just starting to get responses back and it's looking like I am doing OK - it's worth doing to get the judges critique sheets. That has improved my skills. A novel shouldn't ramble either I try to make nearly every paragraph count the same skills in editing it are used in a short story for me. Have noticed a big improvement in my short stories as I have worked through the editing of my novel.
I did short stories before novels in my creative writing class - still haven't done much on novels since this semester began - and though I've been writing novels (or, attempting to) all my life, pretty much, I feel like it was really after the short stories that I got any good at writing because they showed me how to look at each scene and make it do exactly what it was meant to do. I think learning short stories is essential to novels, unless you just don't have scene breaks or something, but novels really aren't essential to learning short stories. Not an easy/hard answer, but a which is most important.
I personally think short stories are harder to write well, mostly because I stink at endings, and writing short stories requires writing more endings. I don't think one is intrinsically harder than the other though; it's all about personal ability.
I would say both are tough, and it all depends upon the individual writer's abilities; his/her strengths and weaknesses. Some are more suited to one or the other. Some can successfully pull off both. Easy answer, I admit, but truthful. I'm in the process of writing a novel, and it is indeed a huge labor of love. Living inside your own creation for as long as it takes to finish a novel is a bit like temporary madness. You grow so close to your characters, your words, your stories, that you both love and hate them with a serious passion. The urge to throw an unfinished novel in the fire is overwhelming at times, especially when you're re-editing the same page for the fifth time, and still have half the damn book to write. Short stories require a different skill set, and they have their own challenges. As has been mentioned, short stories are far less forgiving; you're on a straight path and the pacing and development have to be dead-on. A novel can have a dud of a short chapter and survive. It's rare that a short story can survive a real structural mistake, since every one is so critical. It boils back down to the boring and general answer that neither one is objectively harder than the other. Certain aspects of an individual writer's talents and disposition can make one or the other more difficult.
exactly! there's no either/or... some people can write novels more easily, some short stories... it depends on the individual, not the medium...
I love writing short stories. You get the point across, you go into some depth with characters and you can write in a week or two if you plan it out right. A novel to me needs so much more planning, so many more words, characters, dialogue... all my weaknesses. I'm writing my first novel in four years. Its freaking me out! Lol.
I'm not sure... I find that a novel is much harder to write than a short story, if only because of the time involved. You can write a draft of a short story very quickly, in a day. Come back to it later, hammer out a couple of drafts, you can even overhaul the whole thing if you like your main idea, and you still haven't even filled up your week. A novel, while longer and more 'forgiving', needs to be just as good as a short story for a lot, lot longer. It needs more time to settle in a quiet desk drawer, out of thought, and it needs a lot more revision. I've written both, and my short stories have always been fast, and easy to revise. I don't think I'm going to get the same experience when I go to revise my novel.
I think it depends entirely on the individual for this. But personally, I find short stories easier to write well. As for novels, I haven't properly attempted one, or rather I attempted and after a few pages or so I gave up and haven't faced going back to it yet. I'm not really sure though, both novels and short stories are hard to write well, but I think you need to be able to write short stories well to be able to write novels well.
I don't know what you mean by this. Just because there are more words in a novel doesn't mean that there's more to it. Look at Mills and Boon for starters, they churn them out like McDonald's. Also what do you consider to be a short story and a novel? I think this question is just too broad.
