How to Write Short Stories: Why readers love short stories
I assume that you’re reading this book because you love reading short stories, so think of one that remains with you and consider why it still takes up space in your brain. What lingers? What keeps you coming back to short stories as a reader?
Here are some of the reasons that might come up.
Escape into a world within a limited time
A short story is a wonderful way to escape or dream or imagine within a limited timeframe. You can read a full story during a lunch break or before bed, knowing that it will leave you with something to think about afterwards. Audio has also made this kind of escape even more accessible, as a short story of 9,000 words easily fits into an hour’s commute, or an even shorter time if you listen at 1.3x speed or faster.
Experimentation without commitment
Short stories allow a reader to sample a genre without the time or money a full-length novel demands. A crime reader might try science fiction or romance, or an epic fantasy reader might dip into literary horror. The cost of the experiment is so low that curiosity wins, and sometimes, on the strength of one story, a reader might try other works by the author.
The gratification of completion
Humans like to finish things, and there’s a real satisfaction in starting and ending something in one sitting. The loop is closed, the story complete, and when we all have stacks of books on the To Read list and a never-ending To Do list, closing the book on a story can be gratifying.
There’s freedom in short stories, too, especially if you are reading an anthology or a collection. If you like a story, keep reading. If not, jump to the next with no guilt, as it’s only a few pages. Many of us hate to stop reading a book midway through, so it’s lovely to be able to skip on so easily, and there’s always something in such a selection of stories that will grab the imagination. You just have to find it.
Seasonal or themed enjoyment
Some stories are tied to a particular theme or a time of year, and readers return to them as part of an annual ritual, which can also bring communities of readers together. A winter holiday romance anthology, or a collection of folk horror for Halloween gives readers something to share and discuss at the same time each year, whether that’s through a book club, an online group, or a gift between friends. Reading is often a solitary pleasure, but a themed collection can turn it into a shared event.
The theme doesn’t have to be seasonal, either. A collection built around a single place, or question, or idea promises the reader a particular feeling, and if they love that feeling, they’ll come looking for more.
The twist, or a question, or a feeling that stays with you
When I was young, maybe eleven or twelve, I read Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected for the first time. I think I must have been allowed to borrow it at the library because his other books were for kids, but the short stories were pretty dark.
I still remember the chubby baby growing into something strange in “Royal Jelly,” and the housewife feeding a policeman roasted meat in “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Neither story ties off the ending with a neat bow, but each leaves the reader with questions and an unsettling feeling.
As a reader of short fiction, I love to be surprised, delighted, or unsettled, and I want to still be thinking about the story the next day.
I don’t want a neat ending in a short story, even though that’s what I want in a novel. I hate cliffhangers in novels, and I never write them, but that unresolved feeling is exactly what I want in a short story, so that’s what I write too.
So before you write a single word, pay attention to what you love as a reader. Consider a story that surprised you. An ending that refused to conform to expectations. A question that still echoes in your mind.
Questions:
- What do you love as a reader of short stories?
- Consider a short story that still remains with you. What elements particularly resonated with you and why?
