Sometimes, when I’m editing a short story for someone, I
look up at the end and say, “Hey…that wasn’t a short story.”
Sure, the page count was right. There were characters and
plot. But something was missing.
Like about 98,000 words.
A lot of times, people who have invested a lot of time in
creating an imaginary world with lots of complex characters decide they want to
write a short story about it.
But they don’t usually write a short story. They write an
excerpt. Maybe it’s a really good excerpt, but short stories should be able to
stand alone.
How can you tell if you’ve done this? Here are some common
features of novels-disguised-as-short-stories.
- They have a ton of backstory. This can be on the characters or the world itself. If you find yourself writing three paragraphs on how a certain kind of yak acquired magical powers in their hair, or if you want to tell us the family lineage of your heroine and how the various family relationships have affected her, you’re writing a novel.
- People who read it say things like, “I can’t wait to read the rest of this.” That’s a compliment on your writing, because it means they enjoyed it. However, it also means the story doesn’t stand alone.
- The ending isn’t really an ending. Since it’s part of a longer chain of events in your mind, most of the time, there are conflicts introduced that are never resolved. And the reader ends the last paragraph and says, “That’s it?”
My advice? If you’re going to write a novel, just write it.
Don’t try to cram it into a short story. It’s a scary and intimidating thing to
start out on, but it will be worth it in the end.
But if you still really want to use characters from a
potential novel, just to try out your ideas, make sure you focus on one moment
of time. Try to answer one specific question about your characters or your
world (“What happened that made him decided to join the group working for the
Black Market?” “How did the two sweethearts meet?” “When did he know he wanted
to be an artist?”) That way, the short story will feel like a scene…but one
with a definite conclusion that will satisfy the reader.
If you’re still wondering how to tell if your idea is a
short story or a novel, think about it in terms of Pixar movies and animated
shorts. Monsters Inc. is about two
monsters who accidentally let a supposedly toxic child into their world, and,
while trying to return her to her home, come to care about her and
simultaneously uncover a corporate conspiracy. “For the Birds” is about how an
awkward, loveable bird teaches a judgmental flock a lesson. One is complex,
with many subplots and characters, while the other is simpler and has one
central focus.
Each one is brilliant at telling the story it does, but
imagine what would happen if the animators had tried to stretch the bird story
into a two-hour movie or cram Mike and Sulley’s adventure into a three-minute
slot.
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