I love reading and writing short stories. I like to think of them as a snapshot in time, focussing on one event affecting the main character.
I'd like more time in which to read, which I suspect is the wish of most writers, but short stories give you a chance to read a complete tale in a short amount of time. I like the 1500 to 2000 words type of short story and these are the ones I write the most of, but flash fiction is something I've taken up comparatively recently.
I have some collections of short stories on my shelves (mainly by P.G. Wodehouse). One day I'd like at least one of my collections on that shelf.
As a writer, the other thing I like about short stories is I can write them reasonably quickly, submit them and generally know whether they're accepted or not before too long. If one place doesn't like a story, maybe somewhere else will.
Equally rejection means I get a chance to look at the story again. To date, every story where I took another look (and carried out another rewrite) improved it. I have had pieces rejected, rewrote the piece, re-submitted it to the place I had in mind for it and then had the story accepted. And knowing that rejection is never personal and it is a chance to review and improve the piece makes rejection much easier to handle. Given every writer needs to get used to rejection, this is no bad thing.
I'd like more time in which to read, which I suspect is the wish of most writers, but short stories give you a chance to read a complete tale in a short amount of time. I like the 1500 to 2000 words type of short story and these are the ones I write the most of, but flash fiction is something I've taken up comparatively recently.
I have some collections of short stories on my shelves (mainly by P.G. Wodehouse). One day I'd like at least one of my collections on that shelf.
As a writer, the other thing I like about short stories is I can write them reasonably quickly, submit them and generally know whether they're accepted or not before too long. If one place doesn't like a story, maybe somewhere else will.
Equally rejection means I get a chance to look at the story again. To date, every story where I took another look (and carried out another rewrite) improved it. I have had pieces rejected, rewrote the piece, re-submitted it to the place I had in mind for it and then had the story accepted. And knowing that rejection is never personal and it is a chance to review and improve the piece makes rejection much easier to handle. Given every writer needs to get used to rejection, this is no bad thing.
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