Short stories vs longer ones

[FrancesScott]

I don’t mean what readers prefer. I mean what you like to write. This comes to mind as I’ve generally viewed myself as a short story writer, here and elsewhere. But I just published a short novella (20,000 words). It made me think about this area.

I’ve mostly focused on doing a lot with a little in what I have submitted here. I find that challenge interesting. What is your preferred approach?

Replies similar to, “The story will take as long to tell as it needs,” are not really addressing the question. You could choose to tell the same story in 10,000 words or 100,000 words. Which do you normally choose and why?

 

[SmilingLez]

As a minimalistic free verse poet, I prefer writing flash fiction and vignettes. I take it as a challenge to write a complete well written story in under 1,000 words.

As a reader, I also prefer short stories that I can finish on my coffee break.

I am currently writing an April fool's Lesbian flash fiction story

 

[FrancesScott]

I am working on an April fool's Lesbian flash fiction story

I would read that.

 

[StillStunned]

My stories usually tell themselves in 7-10k words. I don't get very profound.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I can't say I choose. I tend to get an idea and start writing, letting the story take me where it wants to go and use as many words as it wants. Three of mine have wandered over 40K words which technically qualify as (short)novels. Of the rest, a third are novellas. The rest are short stories.

 

[crookedletter]

Replies similar to, “The story will take as long to tell as it needs,” are not really addressing the question. You could choose to tell the same story in 10,000 words or 100,000 words. Which do you normally choose and why?

...

The story will take as long to tell as it needs.

It might be annoying answer, but the truth is I don't particularly care how long a story will be. I've set out to jot some things down that might be a flash fiction piece that turn into novel-length projects. I've had what I thought were big ideas that I might want to flesh out into a novel, then I write a few thousand words, and... oh, it's over.

I take it as kind of a point of pride -- whether warranted or not -- that I write a range of things. I'm working on a 300+ page novel that has no sex at all; I have very short stroker WIPs. I have everything in between. Some are serious, some are goofy, some are short, some are long.

So, short answer, I don't "normally" choose anything in particular. My only "preference" is to write as well as I can.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Interesting!

As a minimalistic free verse poet, I prefer writing flash fiction and vignettes. I take it as a challenge to write a complete well written story in under 1,000 words.

As a reader, I also prefer short stories that I can finish on my coffee break.

I am currently writing an April fool's Lesbian flash fiction story

What I prefer, actually, I like to work on everything from flash to novellas.

I don’t mean what readers prefer. I mean what you like to write. This comes to mind as I’ve generally viewed myself as a short story writer, here and elsewhere. But I just published a short novella (20,000 words). It made me think about this area.

I’ve mostly focused on doing a lot with a little in what I have submitted here. I find that challenge interesting. What is your preferred approach?

Replies similar to, “The story will take as long to tell as it needs,” are not really addressing the question. You could choose to tell the same story in 10,000 words or 100,000 words. Which do you normally choose and why?

 

[FrancesScott]

It might be annoying answer

It’s not annoying, just not informative.

What you are saying is you don’t have any real focus in your writing. That’s not meant to be pejorative, it’s a perfectly reasonable approach. But I was asking more about those people who focus on either short stories or long stories why that is the case. Obviously this question doesn’t apply to you. And that’s fine.

 

[FrancesScott]

My stories usually tell themselves in 7-10k words. I don't get very profound.

You can be profound in 7 - 10k words in my opinion. You can also be vapid in 200,000 words.

 

[THBGato]

I sometimes wish I could tell my stories more quickly. The one I'm working on at the minute was originally intended as a 750 word challenge entry. Current word count is 20,061. It's maybe two-thirds done.

Basically, if the story takes place in a single time period - one evening, say - I can maybe get it told in less than 7,000 words. But if it's over a longer period of time, the story stretches. Forty took place over several years and ran to 80,000.

 

[dirk2024]

My stories range from 1900 to 19k words. My guess at this point would put the ideal range in the 12k to 15k range.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I'm a pulp writer. I try to cut as much fat as I can. I prefer to keep my novels between 50K to 85K, and I'm more comfortable writing stories that don't go beyond 6K because they then start to feel endless... unless I'm writing them through tiny chapters.

Ever since I did my first nanonovel ten years ago, I've fallen in love with the structure, and I'm glad I used it for No Heroes In Love. I prefer to write with density and verticality instead of expanding. Limits are good, and words are on a budget. There's only so much fat you can cut before you start cutting on to the meat itself.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

The story is as long as it needs to be. I don't really care how long the story ends up. However, the novel lengths are more satisfying to finish and look back on. They tend to be better because there is just more in them.

 

[StillStunned]

You can be profound in 7 - 10k words in my opinion. You can also be vapid in 200,000 words.

Perhaps it would be better to say then that I prefer my stories to be focused. Prolonged character explorations bore me. Complicated plots bore me. Melodrama bores me.

I'm easily bored.

 

[old_prof]

I seem to be comfortable now with three different lengths: 15-20K short novella or novello by some accounts. It lets me tell a minimally interesting story and have some level of self discovery in the MC.

30K: full novella This gives enough room for a real character arc with interesting supporting characters.

50K+ full novel. I have written 3 so far (2@60K, 1@120K) and I'm working on my third now, This is where I want to spend most of my time now. Assuming the plot bunny is big enough to justify it.

That said, I will still write it as long as it should be, but these seem to be sweet spots for the way I write.

 

[SugarStorm]

You could choose to tell the same story in 10,000 words or 100,000 words. Which do you normally choose and why?

I tend to build characters first and story second, and I have a weakness for slow-burn relationships. When you combine those two, staying under 10k words becomes very hard. Gods know I’ve tried.

Part of it is simply that I enjoy spending time with my characters. New scenes or bits of dialogue tend to appear once I understand how they exist together, and those moments are often where the relationship actually grows.

For me, slow-burn isn’t primarily about how long the relationship takes for the characters, it’s about how it feels for the reader. The reader needs time to sit with the tension, the almost-moments, the gradual shifts in trust and intimacy. You can get to know characters in 10k words, but letting a relationship unfold slowly while the reader experiences each step tends to demand more space.

Not that it can't be done, just that I'm not skilled enough to do it yet So I usually end up choosing the longer version, not because the plot requires it, but because the emotional experience I try to provide does. Add everything else on top of that and, boom, ~30k words.

 

[yowser]

My own feeling is that most short stories here (my own included) are too long in the sense that they could be pared down and be improved. Not counting some (overly) extended series, nothing of mine comes in much more than 16k. With the right, thoughtfully chosen words, you can do a lot with less.

My own sweet spot, which naturally depends on the nature of the story, (and a tale does tend to take longer if you are intent on serious character development) seems to be around 8-12k words.

 

[ronde]

For me it depends mostly upon the time frame encompassed by the story. If the story takes place over a couple days to a week, it'll probably end up somewhere between 2k and 10k words. If it spans longer, it might end up between 10k and 20k words. I've also written a couple novellas that were 48k and 56k words but the time span for those was several months or several years.

My shortest is 2,267 words and my longest is 56,727. My average story length is about 12k words.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

My own feeling is that most short stories here (my own included) are too long in the sense that they could be pared down and be improved. Not counting some (overly) extended series, nothing of mine comes in much more than 16k. With the right, thoughtfully chosen words, you can do a lot with less.

My own sweet spot, which naturally depends on the nature of the story, (and a tale does tend to take longer if you are intent on serious character development) seems to be around 8-12k words.

My problem here is that the barometer for short stories in the site is so broken that 25K is still considered a short story by some. The actual number might be lower.

A bigger problem is that most of those words have to be cut. I guess they are right when they say it's a short story, but they might just bury it in a bunch of Lorem Ipsum text with the amount of fat they put on it. It's the equivalent of making a tutorial for YouTube, with the instructions being five minutes, but the rest of the video before the instructions is 15 minutes of chit-chat nobody cares about.

 

[FrancesScott]

I sometimes wish I could tell my stories more quickly. The one I'm working on at the minute was originally intended as a 750 word challenge entry. Current word count is 20,061. It's maybe two-thirds done.

I normally am strict with myself. What does the story absolutely need? What can I leave to the readers’ imaginations? What is extraneous and can be left out? It’s not always something I achieve, but I aim for distilled down potency most of the time.

Even my longer stories (most of which aren’t here) would probably be longer still in the hands of another author. Then it would be boring if we were all the same.

 

[FrancesScott]

Perhaps it would be better to say then that I prefer my stories to be focused. Prolonged character explorations bore me. Complicated plots bore me. Melodrama bores me.

I'm easily bored.

Sorry, what did you say? I must have dropped off.

 

[AG31]

My stories are all recordings of fantasies, and, as such, are very short. My first of 11 was my longest (4 lit pages). My last was too short to publish here, although it can be found in Three Vignettes on Smashwords. It took me a while to absorb the fact that most writers that participate in AH are real writers, thinking up plots and developing characters. I'm a frustrated editor, I guess. I love to talk about writing, even if I don't do it any more.

 

[FrancesScott]

I tend to build characters first and story second, and I have a weakness for slow-burn relationships. When you combine those two, staying under 10k words becomes very hard. Gods know I’ve tried.

Part of it is simply that I enjoy spending time with my characters. New scenes or bits of dialogue tend to appear once I understand how they exist together, and those moments are often where the relationship actually grows.

For me, slow-burn isn’t primarily about how long the relationship takes for the characters, it’s about how it feels for the reader. The reader needs time to sit with the tension, the almost-moments, the gradual shifts in trust and intimacy. You can get to know characters in 10k words, but letting a relationship unfold slowly while the reader experiences each step tends to demand more space.

Not that it can't be done, just that I'm not skilled enough to do it yet So I usually end up choosing the longer version, not because the plot requires it, but because the emotional experience I try to provide does. Add everything else on top of that and, boom, ~30k words.

That’s interesting to me. I’m normally very much a bare bones author. Boil it down to the essentials. I leave gaps. Some people say they wished I’d filled them, others appreciate a swift shot of espresso rather than a more leisurely latte.

 

[FrancesScott]

My stories range from 1900 to 19k words. My guess at this point would put the ideal range in the 12k to 15k range.

Is that intentional or just how it ends up?

 

[dirk2024]

Is that intentional or just how it ends up?

I don't know if I've written enough stories yet to say. It seems like that's a natural length for me. I was surprised when my last story went 19k, but that's what I needed to complete the tale.