NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #19/NN_1992_19.iso/spool/misc/writing/2762

Text File | 1992-09-01 | 3.3 KB | 73 lines

Newsgroups: misc.writing
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From: [e-mail] (Fred Welden)
Subject: Re: short story writing vs. novel writing
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Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 17:56:33 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Christopher Mark Conn) writes:
|I've got a question for you experienced fiction writers:
|
|How important do you think it is to write short stories
|(and I'm thinking primarily of writing SF) before you
|tackle a novel?

I can't speak authoritatively about the special considerations of SF,
but in general I think there are two questions here:

1) Should you practice writing short stories to hone your skills before
tackling a novel?

2) Should you try to get short stories published before trying to get a
novel published?

The short answer to both is "before AND during."

I wrote quite a few short stories, essays, poems, and short plays before
successfully completing a novel.  I also started a few novels that never
saw completion while working on all that other stuff.  I think the short
stories were a big help because they gave me a feel for the size of an
idea--in other words, when an idea for a story strikes me now, I can say
with some confidence whether it is an idea for an exercise, a short
story, a very long story, or a novel.  The short stories also gave me
practice creating characters and writing descriptions, two parts of
my writing that I particularly pride myself on.  If you do not have the
discipline to set exercises for yourself, writing short stories seems
to me to be excellent practice for novel writing.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the short stories may not be
all that good as short stories, and that doesn't have strong implications
for the quality of any novel you may eventually write.  Some people are
better at short fiction than long, some the other way around.  I happen
to think that the longer the piece (the "bigger" the idea), the better
my writing gets.

As far as the publishing question goes, I think this varies from editor
to editor.  Some will undoubtedly be likelier to read your manuscript if
you have short story publishing credits that they consider significant.
That means, for example, they recognize the name of the journal that
published you, and it has a reputation for exercising some
discrimination.  Other editors will probably ignore your short story
credits completely.

Your biggest payoff from writing short stories before, and while, you
work on your novel is the feeling that you are getting somewhere with
your writing.  A novel takes a long time, and probably won't be accepted
for publication (face it, the odds are heavily against you, or any
first-time novelist).  I know it's a good feeling when you're bogged
down in mid-novel to be able to show your friends and loved ones a new
short piece you "whipped off." It's probably a great feeling to be able
to show them the piece in a real-live magazine or literary journal, but
I wouldn't know from personal experience, eternally unpublished as I am.

--
--Fred, or another blind 8th-century BC  |  [e-mail]
        Hellenic poet of the same name.  |