Novel Short story to Novel

I have written several short stories not for publication. I don't care about selling books, but I like my stories, and I write them to share free.. I cannot write a novel; they all turn out 9 or 10 pages. If I add words , the stories are more boring , and I don't know how to add the correct additions. How would you make a good short story into a good novel?

 

I think the first question is: why would you make a good short story into a good novel?

If you answer that and decide it's a good idea, you can look at some other examples, I suppose. Hyperion, by Dan Simmons, sprang from a short story called "Remembering Siri," which forms the latter part of the novel.

I think Ender's Game was a short story. Arthur C. Clarke had one (maybe that formed the basis for 2001?). Asimov's Nightfall was based on a shorter work. There are quite a few examples in SF/F.

Read some short stories and corresponding novels and see how people have done it successfully.

 

^^ that.

If you want to write a good novel, I'd suggest not trying to add stuff to turn a short story into one, but rather look at novels you enjoy and see how they're constructed, how much detail they go into, how many plot threads they manage and so on. Then take the ideas from your short story and see how they can fit that form. What other characters are interesting that you could explore more? What other complications could happen?

But also, don't feel you have to write a novel. Maybe this isn't you, but I think a lot of people try to write novels because it's what writers do. Writers don't just do that. Writers write, it doesn't matter how long their stories are. One form is not inherently better than another. Personally I only write shorts these days. I tried novel writing back when I thought it was what writers did, and dear sweet Jesus it was dull.

 

Now if the story is good as a short story, it shouldn't need to become a novel. It's good just as is. However, if you can EXPAND a short story into a longer format or play into interesting core concepts within the short form then it just might work.

A great example of this is the short film Whiplash, which became the feature film Whiplash. The scene between J.K Simmons and the drummer where he throws a chair at him was the entire short film, but there was enough context there for it to be extrapolated out to a much longer storyline. They didn't just take that one scene and stretch it.

 

A novel is a series of short stories, but with the same characters and a big overall plot. Not only do I wish you good luck, but better luck than I had in your writings.

 

Add more events, more things happening to the characters, subplots and stuff. "How John crossed the road in order to get icecream from the shop across the street" can be a short story. But then you can make that into a novel by expanding it and telling us more about John's day and his life altogether. Why John crossed the road to get icecream? Maybe he had a girlfriend with him, waiting on a bench in the park. Why was she waiting there? Maybe they argued over what they'll have for dinner. Why did they argue? Maybe their relationship was on the rocks. Why was it on the rocks. Maybe the girlfriend is cheating with his best friend. Cue some scenes about girlfriend, and some more scenes to show John's relationship with that friend. Then back to John crossing the road. Maybe he never gets to the icecream shop. Maybe he meets an old friend from school, a female one. Ooops, John just got a new girlfriend and they just eloped, right there and then. And maybe they went to the Carribean on vacation but then got abducted by the Carribean pirates. The story can go on and on and turn into a novel.

 

A short story starts around a plot idea. A long story starts around personal chemistry that keeps writing itself, because the most logical result becomes interesting every time. Think of memorable people in your own life.

Practice writing longer arcs by just wriring whatever crap comes out of your head and stick with it. Start with an idea that doesn't make sense at all and try to give it depth and realism afterwards, to make it unique, train you in rescuing derailed plots and actually finish something long. You'll learn to spot consumable resources in character development, which you're probably burning too fast. Learn to manage multiple arcs and start a new one right before the previous one ends to avoid fillers.

Just revealed four exciting things in the same sentence?
Can it be four exciting chapters with more depth?

That backstory, can it be the start of the story...

 

Ender's Game started as a short story and if you can get your hands on the original short, that's a great way to see how it expanded in to a book. The short is really a tiny version of the book (and movie) including the twist in the end.

 

Most of my short stories started out ambitiously as novels, but when I struggled setting the scene and fleshing out my characters, they became short stories.

 

You have to take a different storytelling approach when dealing with novels and when dealing with short stories. You can't really tell the same story and in the same way and your approach needs to be different. It's a completely different structure, not one in the same just at different lengths.

 

Erm, you'll still need to have a beginning, middle and an end, the same "three-act structure" a novel uses in order to have a satisfying short story. A setup, a confrontation and a resolution. Some authors try to get away and skip the resolution, which readers tend to dislike immensly, "Oh, what was all that about, I thought something was going to happen but nothing did!"

 

Beginning, middle and end.. YES. But I don't work with any three-act structure and I've had short stories published in some pretty prestigious places (though not many). And my goal with both short stories and my novel in progress is not so much to have the typically thought of resolution. I like loose ends and there are ways to make that work. With my first big publication, some friends and family were like, "What happens next? Why does it end there?" Well, that's where I thought it should end. And the publisher of this big-time magazine agreed when he said to me that the story had the perfect ending. I see writing as more of an art than anything that needs to follow a certain structure of any kind.

Now, with novel I'm making it up as I go not really knowing where I'm going with it, but it is progressing and I like where it's going. Honestly, I'm not even sure what the three-act structure is so I doubt I'm following that or ever have. I guess from what you say I would have to respond by saying I don't think following the cookie-cutter rule is right for me or all writers. I don't do setup. I start in story. Confrontation can happen subtly or not, but I don't feel like there is any real setup needed for it. And confrontation is sort of the ongoing thread of any story. I wouldn't say there is a certain place for it. I think it should be everywhere. And the resolutions I write are never the end of a story, but I believe I go far enough without spelling it out. I imagine my novel ending will be somewhat like that. Still, I understand there is a big difference between the two forms. I think it probably takes a lot of reading of both to fully be able to grasp either and understand the difference between the two.

I would have a hard time turning one of my short stories into a novel. I've thought about it and somewhat tried. But, for me, it was better to have a fresh start. I did take one of my characters from an unsuccessful short story and put her in my novel, but she's not the MC and the short story isn't really part of this new story in my novel.

Everyone always talks about breaking the rules. I tend to follow most so-called writing rules, but I never really heard much about a three-act structure or that I needed to follow such a thing when I was studying writing. I guess that's the one rule I must break the most. So far so good for me. But for all you rule breakers out there, why follow something like a three-act structure?