When size DOES matter
There are times when it's gotta be long, languid and luxurious. Times when it's gotta be short, sharp, and shamelessly sweet.
But I'm not talking about the hero's equipment here...I'm talking about the story itself.
Stories usually tell me how long they "want" to be. Some of them want to be epics like "The Thorn Birds." Others are best told in vignette form because to make them longer would blunt the force of their impact with too much exposition. We've all got friends who can't tell a joke to save their lives. Those friends who explain the punch lines. Sometimes more than once.
An author friend of mine shakes her head when I tell her, "This one feels like it'll be about 30,000 words." Or "I've only got a 10,000 word limit, I've got to keep it short." She writes novels almost exclusively. And while I've written novels, often a story only offers that tiny glimpse through a keyhole, just that little bit you can see when you kneel down to spy and not the rest of the room opening out on either side. That's when I know I'm writing a short piece.
How do I keep a story short?
There are a few tricks I use, but the one that's most effective for me is that keyhole analogy I mentioned, so that's the topic of this post.
The first thing the keyhole gives a writer is FOCUS.
When you kneel at the keyhole to spy, you expect to see something secret, something private. You may be confused because you can't see everything all at once; maybe a character is out of view. This is also the most difficult aspect of any short piece: distilling the story down to its most basic essence, and deciding which piece of the story to tell. Which 10 percent of the iceberg is showing above water? That's the short story. You can ignore all the backstory, the "How did we get to this moment?" explanations. You may need a little, but keep it short, and don't tell it all at once at the start of the story. Start the story very close to the main action, or even in the middle of it. That helps with the opening hook. At the moment, I'm writing a short piece about a woman escaping an abusive relationship by stealing a car. Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire! But it's more effective to start the story at the moment of the theft than it is to go over all the ground leading to that crucial decision. She can tell that backstory to the hero once she meets him. Perhaps over a little pillow talk.
The second aspect of the keyhole is BREVITY.
When you're writing, sometimes it's difficult to keep in mind that you don't always NEED to tell the whole story. Maybe down the road the pair get married, have a few pets and buy a farm so they can raise organic radishes. Ho-hum, does your reader care? Perhaps, if you're writing a family saga. But not if you're writing an Amber Kiss, for example. Keep your eye on that single rich scene you can see through the keyhole. Maybe it's nothing more than an invitingly turned-down bed at sunset, with floor-to-ceiling windows and floating sheer drapery behind it, and the story is that crystalline moment the heroine first decides that THIS man is the one for her. Does it matter that they met over broccoli in the produce department of their neighborhood supermarket? Nope. Don't go into more detail. You don't need it for that one focused vision. Everything you write in that story MUST contribute to that single vision. If it doesn't, CUT IT.
The last aspect of the keyhole is TRUST.
Trust your readers. Given the barest of sketches, a reader can fill in the rest of the story for herself. And with a short piece, the reader knows that all the explanation won't be there. They are OK with that, believe me. A short story is designed to do just the one thing: its small, precisely-tuned job. When your readers are done with your short piece you want them to feel the way one chocolate truffle from an expert chocolatier can: pleased, if not completely sated. You want them to feel something like, "Oh, I could have eaten another one, but this one was wonderful." Trust them to understand that one truffle is a treat, but three truffles will cause a tummy ache. Trust your readers to kneel at the keyhole, watch the unfolding of that small, perfect scene, and walk away happy.
And that's it! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Nina
Crossposted to Nina's LiveJournal Account
Amber Heat Authors blog
Nina's blog
But I'm not talking about the hero's equipment here...I'm talking about the story itself.
Stories usually tell me how long they "want" to be. Some of them want to be epics like "The Thorn Birds." Others are best told in vignette form because to make them longer would blunt the force of their impact with too much exposition. We've all got friends who can't tell a joke to save their lives. Those friends who explain the punch lines. Sometimes more than once.
An author friend of mine shakes her head when I tell her, "This one feels like it'll be about 30,000 words." Or "I've only got a 10,000 word limit, I've got to keep it short." She writes novels almost exclusively. And while I've written novels, often a story only offers that tiny glimpse through a keyhole, just that little bit you can see when you kneel down to spy and not the rest of the room opening out on either side. That's when I know I'm writing a short piece.
How do I keep a story short?
There are a few tricks I use, but the one that's most effective for me is that keyhole analogy I mentioned, so that's the topic of this post.
The first thing the keyhole gives a writer is FOCUS.
When you kneel at the keyhole to spy, you expect to see something secret, something private. You may be confused because you can't see everything all at once; maybe a character is out of view. This is also the most difficult aspect of any short piece: distilling the story down to its most basic essence, and deciding which piece of the story to tell. Which 10 percent of the iceberg is showing above water? That's the short story. You can ignore all the backstory, the "How did we get to this moment?" explanations. You may need a little, but keep it short, and don't tell it all at once at the start of the story. Start the story very close to the main action, or even in the middle of it. That helps with the opening hook. At the moment, I'm writing a short piece about a woman escaping an abusive relationship by stealing a car. Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire! But it's more effective to start the story at the moment of the theft than it is to go over all the ground leading to that crucial decision. She can tell that backstory to the hero once she meets him. Perhaps over a little pillow talk.
The second aspect of the keyhole is BREVITY.
When you're writing, sometimes it's difficult to keep in mind that you don't always NEED to tell the whole story. Maybe down the road the pair get married, have a few pets and buy a farm so they can raise organic radishes. Ho-hum, does your reader care? Perhaps, if you're writing a family saga. But not if you're writing an Amber Kiss, for example. Keep your eye on that single rich scene you can see through the keyhole. Maybe it's nothing more than an invitingly turned-down bed at sunset, with floor-to-ceiling windows and floating sheer drapery behind it, and the story is that crystalline moment the heroine first decides that THIS man is the one for her. Does it matter that they met over broccoli in the produce department of their neighborhood supermarket? Nope. Don't go into more detail. You don't need it for that one focused vision. Everything you write in that story MUST contribute to that single vision. If it doesn't, CUT IT.
The last aspect of the keyhole is TRUST.
Trust your readers. Given the barest of sketches, a reader can fill in the rest of the story for herself. And with a short piece, the reader knows that all the explanation won't be there. They are OK with that, believe me. A short story is designed to do just the one thing: its small, precisely-tuned job. When your readers are done with your short piece you want them to feel the way one chocolate truffle from an expert chocolatier can: pleased, if not completely sated. You want them to feel something like, "Oh, I could have eaten another one, but this one was wonderful." Trust them to understand that one truffle is a treat, but three truffles will cause a tummy ache. Trust your readers to kneel at the keyhole, watch the unfolding of that small, perfect scene, and walk away happy.
And that's it! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Nina
Crossposted to Nina's LiveJournal Account
Amber Heat Authors blog
Nina's blog
posted by Nina Merrill at 6:33 AM
5 Comments:
Hi, Nina! I loved your post, today :-) I think you're right, some stories are meant to be short, and some do better longer. Of course, I have read stories that just seem too short, sometimes. But, I do love a good quickie ;-)
Wow, Nina, this is really, really a good insight! I still prefer novels to stories and still have problems in writing short without them reading like the synopsis of something much longer (wry grin) so your keyhole analogy really turned on the proverbial light bulb for me. Thank you!
Yep, you are soooo right! Reading is like making love; you do not want the same thing all the time!
I'm kind of a fan of the slow hand, but quickies have their place too!
Deirdre
Thanks, Ali and Deirdre! I'm glad the post was useful to you in some way!
Nina
As a reader, I love to read a variety of lengths! I go with my mood of what I want to read (genre, or author or even length, especially when done with a book in the early evening I might pick up a short story or i'd be up all night with these AQP books!
Extremely well said, Nina. :)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home