I hear from quite a few would-be novelists who are working on short stories first, as a way to grow their skills and confidence before tackling a novel. Others use short stories as a way to take a break between novel drafts, keeping up a writing practice while letting their novel "rest" for a while.
This can be a really helpful approach. Here's why:
Seven Advantages of Writing Short Stories
Short stories have some distinct advantages, for writers, compared with working on a novel.
#1: Short Stories Don't Take Long to Finish Writing
I think for many of us, the reason we turn to short stories is to get the satisfaction of completing something! If you've spent months (or perhaps years) working on a novel, writing a story that you can finish within the space of a week or two can be
incredibly rewarding.
#2: Short Stories Have More Competitions Available
While there aren't a lot of markets (anthologies, magazines, etc) that publish short stories, compared with novels, there are a lot of short story competitions. If you feel motivated by a
deadline and perhaps a topic/theme, then writing short stories for competitions can be a great fit.
#3: Short Stories Let You Try Out Ideas and Techniques on a Smaller Scale
Perhaps you're thinking about writing a novel with a massive plot twist, or using an unusual
style (like writing in the second person). Short stories let you try things out, so you can see how they work in a complete story ... without committing to writing a whole novel in the same way.
#4: Short Stories Help You Master Story Structure, Pacing, Etc
On the
surface, short stories might seem very different from novels ... but most will break down to a similar structure (inciting event near the start, turning point in the middle, climax near the end, etc). Short stories are a great training ground for mastering structure, pacing, characterisation, dialogue, and more.
#5: Short Stories Prompt You to Pay Close Attention to Each
Word
In a novel, readers may well not notice a few clumsy sentences or some unintentional repetition. With a short story, every word counts ... and this can prompt you, as the author, to pay attention and really focus on making the best word choices as you edit.
#6: Short Stories Are Easier to Get Feedback On
One of the fastest ways to grow as a writer is to get direct feedback on your work: that could be from a beta reader, a fellow writer, an editor, etc. It's a much easier "ask" to get someone to read a short story than a whole novel. (Of course, you can share an excerpt from a novel, but even then,
people may prefer to read a complete story than a random chapter.)
#7: Short Stories Can be a Much Easier Fit for Some Seasons of Life
As well as turning to short stories as novel preparation, or to fill in time between novel drafts, many writers will use short
stories as a way to keep writing when life is particularly busy. If you're working longer hours than usual, your kids are off school over the summer, you're caring for a family member who's unwell, or if anything at all is disrupting life, it might feel a lot easier to tackle short stories than to keep having to start and stop on a novel.
Those are
all the advantages: what about the drawbacks?
I think the main issue with writing short stories as a would-be novelist is that any writing time spent on short stories is time you're not spending on a novel.
If you're working up towards writing a novel, it's a good
idea to use short stories as a means to deliberately practice elements of writing that you're less sure about. You could write a dialogue-heavy short story, for instance, or create a story that involve a subplot.
And, of course, some people simply don't enjoy writing short stories much. They feel best suited to novels ... and that's fine too. You absolutely don't have to write short
stories in order to be a successful novelist.
Whether you experiment with writing a single short story, or you create a whole collection of stories, I hope you have fun with them. :-)
Happy writing,
Ali
P.S. New to short story writing or want a refresher? I've been putting together a course, Zero to Story, that takes you through all the key elements of stories, before guiding you through the process of writing a piece of flash fiction then a full short story. Look out for more news on that next week.
