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| Photo credit: tosaytheleast in Flickr |
As you might have guessed, this is one of those posts.
This time, however, I’d like to hear from you guys. Because
while I have some ideas on the topic, I don’t really write all that many short
stories, and truth be told, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve written one
(which, come to think of it, should be remedied), but I suspect some of you
lovely readers are more recently acquainted with the short story writing
experience. So. Here we go.
The proposed question, as many of you astute readers
probably inferred from the title, was how to tell the difference between an
idea better suited for a short story than a novel.
I find this question to be particularly interesting because it’s been a long while since I’ve really even allowed myself to consider whether or not an idea would be appropriate for a short story—to me, it’s been more of a question of whether or not I could write an entire novel based on whatever premise rose from the depths of my mind, and those that failed the idea worthiness test of time were labeled unworthy and discarded and ignored. I kind of imagine Odin’s booming voice as he screams, “YOU ARE NOT WORTHY,” at Thor, but that’s beside the point.
I find this question to be particularly interesting because it’s been a long while since I’ve really even allowed myself to consider whether or not an idea would be appropriate for a short story—to me, it’s been more of a question of whether or not I could write an entire novel based on whatever premise rose from the depths of my mind, and those that failed the idea worthiness test of time were labeled unworthy and discarded and ignored. I kind of imagine Odin’s booming voice as he screams, “YOU ARE NOT WORTHY,” at Thor, but that’s beside the point.
Getting back to the question, though, once you’ve determined
whether your idea is worth writing about at all (again, the test of time is a
good indicator), a large part of the difference between short story ideas and
novel ideas is the scope.
You see, novel ideas have to be big—and I don’t mean that they have to have explosions and
ridiculously awesome action scenes—I just mean that while you’re working with
your new idea, you have to be able to develop enough nuances, subplots and
layers to sustain 80,000 (or however many) words. And sometimes, especially if
you’re a pantser, it’s a little hard to tell if your idea is going to survive
three hundred-some-odd pages or if you’re going to hit page fifteen and say,
“You know what? Maybe this idea isn’t worth a novel after all.” But the first
step in answering the question of whether or not your idea is enough to sustain
a novel, lies, I believe, in determining the scope of your idea.
Let’s take a look at an example.
The Hunger Games
is big. There’s no way Suzanne Collins would have been able to as effectively
fit all the setup, relationships, celebrity status of the tributes, horror of
the games, rebellion against the Capitol and repercussions thereof in fifteen
pages (and I don’t mean written in summary-like synopsis form, I mean written
as an actual story).
However, way before The
Hunger Games was the short story The
Lottery written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, which certainly has many
similarities to the beginning of The
Hunger Games (you can read it
for free online, if you’re interested).
The difference between the two? You guessed it—the scope of the idea.
While The Hunger Games
included various subplots (i.e.: the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle, among
others) as well as an in-depth look at the glamorization of the hunger games in
the Capitol that only made the brutality of the games (in my opinion) that much
more powerful in its effect on the reader, The
Lottery included set-up, foreshadowing, some characterization and, erm, the
results of the lottery (you’ll have to read it if you haven’t already to know
what I mean). The former was way too big to be shoved into a short story
format, while the latter fit very comfortable in a little over 3000 words.
So, in short, the main difference to me between a short
story and novel idea lies in the scope of the idea. If you think you can fit it
in fifteen pages, then it’s probably not worth dragging out into three hundred;
but on the other hand if you think it might be difficult to condense into a
shorter story without losing anything, you might want to consider writing a
novel (or at least a novella) instead.
Those are my thoughts, but how do you tell between a short story
and novel idea? Have you ever had a short story turn into a novel, or a novel
idea become a short story, instead?
I write flash fiction, short 3-6,000 word short stories, regular 15,000ish word short stories and 60,000+ word novels. In other words, most lengths.
ReplyDeleteHow do I tell which my idea will be? You said scope, and I agree - with a twist. To me, the question is, how deep do I want to go? I tend to know pretty quickly what size an idea feels to me. You talk (in the post you linked to) about a novel-worthy idea not leaving you alone, but even ideas that are not "novel length" ideas sometimes grab me and won't leave me alone. I guess that's why I write all lengths! I write about what has my attention captured at the moment. (I'm ADD. It's a blessing and a curse.)
If a kernel, as I like to call my story ideas, is like a 1-2 knockout punch, it's flash fiction or a short, short story. If I want to delve waist deep into a story and tell the bare bones, it's a short story. If I want to immerse myself in it, tell every facet, breathe the thing for the next six months, it's a novel.
And I never angst about length. See what comes. Let it flow. The story will guide you.
This makes me realize that it's been way too long since I wrote a short story, too. Much too long. Might be a lot of fun to take on something a little less enormous, for a change.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's a complexity thing. A short story generally explores one idea, concisely. One event, one situation, one plot thread, one character progression. A novel, to my mind, needs more than that — not necessarily too many more than that, but it's a piece that explores multiple steps of progression, a series of events, the interlocking and/or contrasting stories of multiple characters, or something else that requires a lot more space.
I love the way you explained this, Angel. How deeply you want to immerse yourself in the story sounds like a great indicator of just how long the story will be--as you put it, if you want to write a novel you really do have to completely dive into every facet of the story until you've completed it (and then repeat the process later when you're working on edits and rewrites).
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! :)
I'd sort of forgotten about writing short stories until time came to answer this question. Silly us.
ReplyDeleteBack to the actual question though, I think complexity is one of the defining factors. That's not to say that short stories can't be complex, but as you said, novels need more space to fully explore all of the plot threads and interweaving stories that create them.
Great post! For me, pretty much as soon as I sit down and try to plot or outline the story, I can guess at the length. I find my short stories are sparked by an idea or a scene that sizzles, but if I try to add too much more to the original idea, it fizzles.
ReplyDeleteMy novel ideas are the ones I can keep building, searching in, and exploring. They're the ideas that burn slowly, and if I throw a new plot point into the mix, it feels right and adds to the story.
I like your comparison of 'The Lottery" and "The Hunger Games", but you could take it even one step further and look at other books, like "The Running Man", that take the same idea and put it into one novel, instead of a short story or a trilogy. It's crazy to see the variety of ways that authors can express the same core themes, and each of them are entertaining.
Thank you, Nickie! I certainly would have considered comparing the two to "The Running Man," however, I've never read it. You're absolutely right about the way authors can write about the same themes in entirely different ways (and lengths). It's pretty incredible. :)
ReplyDeleteFor me, short stories have to have a clever idea that has the potential to become a novel, but they usually lack characters that I would want to write about for several chapters, and likewise lack layers (like you said). A novel must have lots of both to make it to the end. Great post, always love how well your thoughts are in tune with the writing process!
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion! And perfect timing, Ava!
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to write short stories for a while but have only done novels. I have no idea if an idea (lol) should be a novel or a short story. Sometimes I feel like I can only do one or the other. And if I'm already doing novels, I can't write short stories. So still confused!
To be honest, the scope thing doesn't seem to work for me! Maybe just sitting down, writing, and seeing what happens? Where the story ends? Maybe then I would know the difference?
I don't right that many short stories, but sometimes I have an idea that I know is right for one. Usually, as long as I don't immediately start writing, I can tell whether an idea is a novel or a story. Over the course of a few days, a novel starts to evolve in my head and naturally get subplots and new characters and all sorts of other stuff. Short stories tend not to.
ReplyDeleteAh! You should totally check out 'The Running Man'. Some of Stephen
ReplyDeleteKing's work is too creepy/weird for me to get through (i.e. 'Misery'),
but 'The Running Man' is not one of those.
For me, the short story is capturing a moment, a turning point but if I wanted to I could add to that to develop the novel. I'm working on one short story now that could be novel but since I'm capturing an experience i'm not delving into background/backstory or secondary characters. I think the two mediums are just different and the writer has to decide. There's no reason an idea can't be both.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Margaret! Another theme I've been seeing in the comments that's somewhat related to layers is passion--the ideas that you're really excited about and want to spend months creating are the ones that tend to become novels, while the ones that get you excited for a couple days or just not quite excited enough to spend an extended period of time creating it tend to be better off for short stories. Or at least, that's what I'm gathering from these answers thus far. And it makes sense to me. :)
ReplyDeleteOk. So this is embarrassing...but I haven't read any Stephen King yet. But I will! It's on my to-do list. Gah, I should get to that...
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, unless I deliberately planned to write a short story (i.e.: x and x will happen, and that's it), then the stories tended to dictate themselves. Granted, it's been a long time since I've written a short story (I suppose my ideas as of late have tended to dictate novel or nothing) but if you're a pantser, I don't see any harm in just trying out the idea and seeing where it leads.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean about novel ideas evolving over the course of a few days as you let them sit and it makes sense that the process would be different for short stories as they have significantly less substance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lesley!
ReplyDeleteI think as long as you're passionate about the idea, you're certainly right--an idea could easily be both. I like your comparison of capturing a moment versus discovering the full story behind (and after) the moment. That's a great way of looking at it.
ReplyDeleteAngel said everything I was going to say and more. :) Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI can normally tell after I develop the initial idea. I always brainstorm a bit to get the gist of where the story is going and what I want it to say. It's usually obvious by then if its too big for a short story or not.
ReplyDeleteHi! (I finally got to commenting on you blog) Thank you for this post!
ReplyDeleteI think that I'm not that experienced in writing to understand straight away whether the scope of my idea is big enough...
Sometimes it seems like I've thought of something huge and then it turns out to be not so big when I start writing. I guess this is something you learn with experience!
I think it's probably easier for outliners to determine the scope of their story quickly than it is for pantsers. Once you get a good idea as to what the story will be, the scope tends to be pretty clear. Although sometimes the initial idea is enough.
ReplyDeleteHi Toria! I think experience certainly helps (it tends to be useful in most fields). If you're not sure about the scope even after thinking about the idea for a while (and/or outlining) but you definitely want to write about it, I'd say just go for it and see what happens. Either way you'll come out with something when you've finished. :)
ReplyDeleteAgreed! It was a great response. ^_^
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic. I'm a non-fiction writer, but I still run into this issue. Right now I have a topic I've been kicking around for months and I'm wondering if the idea should just be a long essay or if it's something I could actually turn into a book. I certainly think the topic is book-worthy but the question is if it's a book that I could write. I'm not sure if I have the drive to do it and I wonder if it's because I'm not passionate enough about the topic or if I simply don't have the resilience to write a book, period. Sigh. Sorry for rambling in your comments section. Didn't mean to word vomit there...
ReplyDeleteNo worries, Javacia. If you've been thinking about it for months and you still aren't sure, I'd say to just try to start writing about your idea. I suspect once you do, you'll start to get a better idea about how long it's going to be.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck!
Makes sense to me too! Short story ideas are sort of like small candle flames. A novel is more like a fire :)
ReplyDeleteLove it! What a great comparison. ^_^
ReplyDelete