Why Mastering The Art of the Short Story Can Make You a Better Novelist
February 2020 Gimme Five: Why Mastering The Art of the Short Story Can Make You a Better Novelist
Julie Tollefson seems to have cracked the code on short stories. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies as well as Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. This month, Julie shares five reasons why everyone should try their hand at a short story.
1) There’s a prompt—Suffering from a case of writer's block in your manuscript? Anthologies often provide a prompt which can get your creative juices flowing in directions you might not have considered if you were just facing a blank page.
“I think about short stories when I’m stuck in a long piece or need inspiration," Julie said. "A novel is a long-term commitment, but a short story is more of a flirtation.”
The theme of the 2019 Bouchercon anthology was “Denim, Diamonds, and Death,” which inspired Julie to write a story using a trip she and her husband had taken twenty years ago as the setting. She didn’t try to be too on the nose with the theme (i.e., no diamond heist with denim as the critical clue), but instead incorporated the night sky as diamonds and threw in a flash of denim as metaphor for character development. It worked, and her story “In the Rough,” was selected for the collection.
2) There’s a finish line—Novels can take years to complete, and sometimes it’s hard to feel you’re making real progress. With short stories, Julie says she was able to prove to herself that she could finish a project. She says she’s a slow writer, but in a month, Julie can complete a short story, a tangible accomplishment compared to slogging through the first draft of a novel.
Having a deadline is also helpful. Julie says she might be tempted to polish a work forever, but if there’s a submission deadline, it forces her to call it complete, at least for the time being. If a story receives several rejections, Julie will look at it again and often sees where to improve it.
“Things change when I see something after having been away. There’s always something to improve. I’m never done.”
3) They create distance—We all see our work more clearly when we’ve had some distance. Julie says taking time away from her manuscript to write short stories allowed her to see it with fresh eyes. She’s more energized and, occasionally, relieved to be back working on the long form. After writing a short story in first person present tense—something Julie had been wanting to try but unwilling to attempt in a full-length manuscript—she came back to her work in progress feeling like writing third person past tense was a breeze.
4) They teach economy—By their nature, short stories demand that writers be economical in their writing. Every word needs to drive the story forward, and there’s no room for scenes or descriptions that aren’t doing work.
“Writing short stories has made my craft better. When I’m revising my manuscripts, I’ve learned to be really brutal, cutting all the words that needed to be written, but don’t need to be read.”
5) They get published— Getting your story out into the world is one of the reasons we write, but selling a novel is a long journey with no guarantees. With short stories, it can still be a long haul, but writers can increase their chances simply by writing and submitting more work. Check the Short Mystery Fiction Society's list of markets.
Julie continues to write short stories and long form. The opening pages of her first novel won the 2016 MWA Midwest Holton Award, and she and her agent are currently polishing the full manuscript.
J.C. Moore is the author of the Maggie White Mysteries, debuting May 2020 with Murder in the Piazza from Level Best Books. Her short fiction has appeared in Mystery Weekly, and she is the editor of the Mystery Writers of America Midwest newsletter.