There are many definitions of a short story. My favorite is “something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime.” Typically, stories under 10,000 words are considered short stories. But that’s just the word count. Short stories are not novels in their scope. If a novel is a house then the short story may be the cabinet. Despite that, short stories still say something, however narrow or small. This was the basis of our idea. Can we write a short story in 200 words with basic story structure and still say something? That is our daily challenge. We still work on novels, poems, and screenplays but once a day we craft a micro story. It’s like an athlete stretching before a run. We are exercising our creative muscle. Also, the endeavor is turning out to be research and development for our other work.
Here are some wonderful quotes by writers on the nature of the short story:
“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” – Ray Bradbury
“Short stories consume you faster. They’re connected to brevity. With the short story, you are up against mortality. I know how tough they are as a form, but they’re also a total joy.” – Ali Smith
“I would also suggest that any aspiring writer begin with short stories. These days, I meet far too many young writers who try to start off with a novel right off, or a trilogy, or even a nine-book series. That’s like starting in at rock climbing by tackling Mt. Everest. Short stories help you learn your craft.” – George R.R. Martin
“A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, ‘Hey, this is no time for sleeping! You can’t forget me, there’s still more to write!’ Impelled by that voice, I would find myself writing a novel. In this sense, too, my short stories and novels connect inside me in a very natural, organic way.” – Haruki Murakami
“A short story is confined to one mood, to which everything in the story pertains. Characters, setting, time, events, are all subject to the mood. And you can try more ephemeral, more fleeting things in a story – you can work more by suggestion – than in a novel. Less is resolved, more is suggested, perhaps.”
– Eudora Welty
“A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick – a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.” – Neil Gaiman
“The great thing about a short story is that it doesn’t have to trawl through someone’s whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.” – Emma Donoghue
“A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” – David Sedaris
“Short stories are fiction’s R & D department, and failed or less-than-conclusive experiments are not just to be expected but to be hoped for.” – Walter Kirn
“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” – Edgar Allan Poe
“Most stories we tell in real life are under 500 words. You’re at a party, everyone has a glass of wine, and suddenly you have the floor. You throw out your little story like a grenade. ‘Once I knew a guy who…’ And if you have any social graces at all, you probably keep it under 500. So my advice would be this: Don’t get all up in your head thinking short-short stories have to be poetry without the line breaks. Don’t put on your beret. Just tell a story, an actual story. Quick, while they’re still listening.” – Rebecca Makkai