There are so many genres of fiction writing (poetry, novella, novel and drama - they are not in any particular order), and all have their place in the literary hall of fame. This article will deal with one of my favourite,s which is the short story. As you all know, I love to write and I am in the process of writing and completing my first (co-authored) novel. However, I cut my teeth ( I think that is how the expression goes) by writing short stories. They just seem to come easier and I think that I know the reason for this. Having fewer words means that you have to cut to the chase and develop things quickly from the character to the plot. So this means that the story is more direct yet is less detailed. What this article will do is introduce you to the world of the short story as well as its place in past and modern literature.
So what is a short story?
To give it its proper definition, a short story is a type of fictional writing that is narrative prose usually in the first or third person. They are very closely related to anecdotes and, as mentioned previously, are more to the point. The story develops and concludes very quickly. Most of them are published in a book as part of a collection, rather than individually. There are conflicting arguments as to how many words make up a short story, and part of this confusion comes from the fragmentation of this type of prose into different genres. This means that the actual length depends on what the author wants (or what the story actually needs in terms of development) and the guidelines set which are determined by the market the story is aimed at. These guidelines vary depending on what the publishers say.
The problem with determining what a short story is (as opposed to a novella or other longer forms of written material) are shown clearly when it comes to length. One of the classic definitions of a short story is one that can be read in one sitting. However, there are other definitions which state that a short story has to be between 7,000 and 9,000 words. Furthermore (and adding more confusion), the term short story nowadays refers to fictional writing that is no less than 1,000 and no more than 20,000. Anything less than 1,000 is known as "short short fiction" or sometimes "flash fiction" (but more on that in a later article).
Characteristics of a short story
The main characteristic of short story is that, because of its length, it tends to focus one event at one particular point in time with a small number or characters. When writing longer genres of fiction, there is an introduction (otherwise known as the exposition) of the setting, characters and plot; there is the event that gives rise to the future conflict in the novel (known as the complication); the crisis (where the main characters decide and commit to doing something about the problem); the climax (steady on readers, this is the point where the interest of the reader is at its highest); where the conflict is sorted out (also referred to as the resolution) and the moral of the story.
Due to the length of the short stories, it is very rare to find them following this pattern. In fact some of them have no pattern or literary structure at all. Sometimes they may have a beginning, but it is somewhat abrupt because the story starts in the middle of the action. The stories do have a climax, crisis/turning point. However, the end of a sort story is sometimes very quick or left open-ended. Sometimes there is a moral and sometimes there is not, it depends on the author and what they are trying to achieve. I find that the short stories that I write are very open-ended. I do not know why that is, it’s just the way that I write. Maybe it’s because I am thinking of returning later on and making it into a novel or maybe I like capturing the imagination of the reader and getting them involved by imagining the end scenarios . . . who knows? I certainly don’t.
So what’s the story behind short stories?
Well, I am not going to bore you too much going into a long -winded history of them. I mean this article is about the SHORT story right? So lets keep it that way - short and sweet, concise and neat. They started when people sat around fires and told stories (or fables - which are like parables which are stories with a strong moral message). It is only in the 14th century (in Europe anyway; the Romans as per usual stole a march on us) that the tradition of writing them down began. One of the most famous collections of short stories in European history was Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
In the 19th century, what we know today (although, like I said it is subject to debate and individual interpretation) as the short story started to emerge. Early examples included the Brothers Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1824-26) with the USA getting in on the act with Charles Brocken Brown and his most famous work The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ; and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The post-war era saw a boom in these types of stories with different issues being tackled in them from the life of an African-American showcased in the work James Baldwin’s Going to Meet The Man to the legacy of the Vietnam war dealt with in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. So the short story has come a long way and, with it, a whole array of talent.
This article would not be complete without a list of some of the well-known short story writers so here goes (see how many people recognise):
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Guy de Maupassant
- P.G. Wodehouse
- Ernest Hemmingway
- F.Scott Fitzgerald
Of course, there are many more because this area has a long and illustrious history, so that that listing them all would be impossible. So in order to go outside the Factoidz box, here is a little homework for you. Your mission–should you choose to accept it–is to find one work for each of the listed authors and reply back about it in the "comments" section of this article. There are no prizes or anything like that, I just thought it would provide a bit of light entertainment after a hard day.
Have fun and keep watching . . . .
