A Brief Shout-Out to Short Stories

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I wish I had a link to give you, but I can't find anything, so I guess I'm going to have to go by myself.

I hope I haven't delivered a clickbait title, but I feel that short stories don't get a lot of love around here. I know I haven't really given much attention to them in the Recommended Reading. I just need to find the right collection.

I love short stories. I guess I prefer novels in general, but nothing beats a well-told short story. It's a form going back to oral storytelling - not to say that novels (and serial storytelling) didn't appear out of there, but old campfire tales are basically just short stories. Besides, some stories are better suited for short format, and some authors have made a living out of it. A lot of times in genre fiction, it seems, short stories will often be the preferred format for starting out before moving on to the novel. After all, it might be best to see if you can master short form before you take on longer material, though I wouldn't say that it's a universal truth - some people could possible leap right into novel writing and succeed.

If there's anything I would like anyone to get out of this, it would be to read more short stories. Even if you prefer novels, seek out the shorter stuff - there's an art to doing them, and some of the great writers are masters of the form. You may even learn something that will prove beneficial to novel writing. Sure, there are weaknesses, but that applies to every format as well. Sometimes, a novel is just too great a commitment; a story can be told succinctly and effectively within a small space.

So let's discuss it some. What are some of your favorite short stories? Who are some of your favorite short story writers? What do you want to get out of a short story?