At the weekend I was at a talk hosted by some excellent crime writers at the Newcastle Writers Festival.
The discussion touched on the question of how short story writing skills and novel writing skills overlap. As usual, the point was raised that short stories ‘train’ you for novels, even though the skill set is quite different. Again, as usual, the merit of the short story in its own right, rather than as a lesser entity or poor relative of the novel, was highlighted.
What is strangely overlooked is which particular skill that short stories help with. Novels and short stories need completely different plotting and characterization, as well as different emphasis and rhythms. What they both require, but is much more obvious in a short story, is the lack of waffle and nonsense. Short stories are excellent for learning to Cut The Crap. People think they have ‘room’ to get out of doing CTC on their novels – they’re mistaken. Every word has to count, just as much as if you’re writing a 500 worder. That is the specific skill short stories are so good at honing. Long live the short story and the crapless book.
What are your Crap Cutting techniques? How drastic have you gone?
The discussion touched on the question of how short story writing skills and novel writing skills overlap. As usual, the point was raised that short stories ‘train’ you for novels, even though the skill set is quite different. Again, as usual, the merit of the short story in its own right, rather than as a lesser entity or poor relative of the novel, was highlighted.
What is strangely overlooked is which particular skill that short stories help with. Novels and short stories need completely different plotting and characterization, as well as different emphasis and rhythms. What they both require, but is much more obvious in a short story, is the lack of waffle and nonsense. Short stories are excellent for learning to Cut The Crap. People think they have ‘room’ to get out of doing CTC on their novels – they’re mistaken. Every word has to count, just as much as if you’re writing a 500 worder. That is the specific skill short stories are so good at honing. Long live the short story and the crapless book.
What are your Crap Cutting techniques? How drastic have you gone?