I would like to enjoy short stories, I really would, but they just don’t grab me most of the time. Even when they are written by authors whose novels I’ve loved, I’ve found most short stories dull or unsatisfying. I can’t recall ever having seen an example of it going the other way: loving a short story and hating a novel by the same author. I guess it’s just preference. If I’m liking a story, I want a large dose of it! Also, in my humble opinion, short stories are actually harder to write. You really notice it more if it is clumsy or things about it don’t work.
If you’ve ever read the works of, say, Robert Jordan or Ayn Rand then you know that longer =! better (at least in the realm of literature). If the author can get the point across in 50 pages then it’s stupid to write 500.
I used to have a thing against reading short stories, primarily for your same “large dose” reason, but I’ve really gotten into them in the last several years. Michael Chabon, one of my favorite novelists, has a couple of short-story collections – A Model World and Werewolves In Their Youth – that I really enjoyed. Short stories are a way for writers to explore ideas that may be quite good, but not really worthy of a novel-length work (not that that’s kept some writers from stringing out a great short-story-quality idea into a mediocre novel).
With a few exceptions, I don’t think I’ve liked Stephen King’s novels nearly as much as some of his short stories and collections of the same.
While both are capable of writing great novels, I love reading and re-reading both Edith Wharton’s and Henry James’ shorter fiction (particularly their ghost stories); I’m not so much into their longer works.
I also agree that short stories are probably harder to write. A good short story can have a great impact with much less time invested in its reading – much more bang for the buck, so to speak, than a good novel.
From a writer’s point of view, there are big differences in how you tackle the two.
Short stories usually stick with a single idea, and a small number of characters, and conciseness is important. Every word in a short story should be essential; from critiquing, I see many who go off on tangents. In addition, the characters are quickly sketched – they can have depth, but rarely have as much to them as you can have in a novel.
Novels are much more leisurely. You can spend more time developing characters, and add subplots.
I like the unpopular (with publishers) format of novella.
Especially for things like mysteries.
All of Conan Doyle’s best stories were short, and his novels (A Study In Scarlet, Hound Of the Baskervilles) were just too long to stretch the material.
That’s all they’re meant to be, and some writers work well in one but not in the other. Hemingway’s minimalist style works better in short novels and short stories than in his longer works, for example.
But there’s nothing wrong with admitting that the shorts don’t work for you.
Both, for me. What’s weird is that with some writers, I’ll read an entire collection at once, but with others, I’ll read one and have to stop for awhile. I don’t know why that is.
Some of the one-at-a-times are Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, William Gay, Flannery O’Connor.
The gimme-all-you got-right-now include Stephen King, Ron Hansen, Bob Leman, Clive Barker and lately, James Morrow.
I like re-reading short stories more than novels too. I rarely re-read an entire book, but short stories lend themselves to this, I think.
I can’t say that one group is more meaty than the other, but maybe that’s part of it. I need time to digest before moving on to more.
The short story, I agree, works well for mysteries. For a satisfying mystery story, you need a good mystery with a good solution, and not too much extraneous padding and futzing around between the two.
I’m surprised that series of short stories, based around the same character(s) and/or setting, aren’t more popular. The Sherlock Holmes stories are a good example. As with a TV series. once you’re familiar with the basic premise, you don’t need to spend time getting to know the character or format; you can plunge right in to the actual story.
I think short stories based on known characters *are *pretty popular. I see a lot of collections where authors are writing short stories based on characters from their universe.
I prefer novels, in most cases the longer the better. A multi-book saga is heaven. I go through books quickly and I’m always disappointed when they’re done, because that means I have to look for something else to read.
I like longer novels…between 200 and 700 pages is the general area I like. But I do like short stories for a number of reasons
Easy to pick up, read, and put down.
Introduces you to new authors.
Like someone else said, a short story is merely a kiss.
That being said, the best short stories tend to be horror because you can quickly impart the mood or the visual. Then probably sci-fi for the same reason. Standard fiction short stories tend to suck. Comedy is OK but I honestly don’t read a lot of comedy.
And I have to disagree on Ender’s game. I loved the novel. However I’m with you on Minority Report…I don’t think it was made into a novel but the short story was way better than the loooooong movie.
I was always a novel guy. When time got tighter, I started doing some short stories. Particularly those by Roger Zelazny. I haven’t done any for a while, but sometimes it is nice to have something wrap up quickly.
There’s more to the difference between a novel and a short than the length. Good novels are character-driven or event-driven: You can write a novel about a person growing up, for instance, or about the fighting of a war. Good short stories, however, are idea-driven. You might have a mystery story about a novel way to commit a crime, for instance, or about a fancy new weapon that turns the tide of a war. It’s possible to write a good idea-driven novel, or a character-driven short story, but it’s very difficult and rare: An entire novel about a concept will tend to drag, and there’s seldom enough room in a short story to properly develop a character.
Because science fiction and mysteries tend to be idea-driven more than other genres, they are perhaps better suited for the short story format. But it’s still possible to have a good story in either format, in any genre.
Also, in my humble opinion, short stories are actually harder to write. You really notice it more if it is clumsy or things about it don’t work.
They were thoroughly popular in the heyday of pulp fiction. Or are you referring to modern writers of short stories?