novels only?

Really up to you. Novels can include a lot of different forms of writing. If you're uncomfortable out of the novel format, add poetry to your novel, write each chapter as though it were a stand alone short story that happens to tie in with the rest of the book.

There are no limits.

I only like to write novels, haikus, and the occasional randomly-formatted LONG poem. Mostly novels.

I only write novels. The novel; short story; poetry and drama are all art forms of their own. Just because you are a bestselling novelist doesn't make you the new Ernest Hemingway of short stories!

I like to write only novels and short stories.

Flash fiction, novels, short stories, but no poetry. Just depends on what type of story it is and how long it takes to get the entire story out.

Typically, unless I know it's going to be long, I just write until it's finished and then figure out what category it's going into.

Hey, there is no rule to force you to have to write everything. You don't have to force yourself to write short stories or anything else if you don't like to do it.

I myself, I've tried my hand in novels, short stories, short poetry, song lyrics, short scripts, articles for the school magazine, etc, in both Chinese and English.

However, that's just because I like to do those things, and seeing how my skills are progressing, I think in ten year's time only my novels and shorts will be of publishable quality. I don't force myself to write romance, for example, because I just don't like to write 'em.

For me, writing is like sport. Competitively, I've played rugby league, rugby union, soccer, aussie rules, tennis, cricket, soccer, squash, indoor soccer, indoor cricket, and dabbled in a few other sports along the way. For some reason most of the sports came naturally and I just enjoyed them all. Never really stuck to one long enough to play for my country, although I made a few State rep teams.

I'm relatvely new to writing. One novel to be published this year, one half-written to be published next year, and one short story that may be picked up for an antho. I only really know how to write a novel so far (although I'm still learning). So, I'll concentrate on the novel for the moment (thrillers in particular) but, won't say no just yet to another genre or another form of writing altogether. Play it by ear. Whatever works - works.

For me, being well-rounded when it comes to writing is about keeping the reader entertained, intrigued, awake; regardless of what you write.

JJ

I do novels and short stories. Started off with stories and while they don't come as easily as they used to, the finished piece is several billion times better than the crap I used to produce.

For me, novels only.

But I did write just about everything previously and intentionally stopped about three or four years ago. I've always wanted to write novels and fell into the saying of "Write short stories to help your novel." Except that it didn't; the two writing forms are so different that it's taken me four novels to unlearn short story habits.

I dropped the other forms because it just took time that I needed for the novel.

I've written mostly screenplays prior to starting my 1st novel last year. I only switched to writing a novel because I felt one of my screenplays would be much better suited to the novel form. So far I'm liking novel writing more than screenwriting, but I still plan to do both, depending on the story.

Write what YOU want to write. Don't worry about what others are doing.

Anything you can or do write only serves as practice. I'd guess most writers find inspiration in a number of ways, and strings of thought develop into different types of things: articles, essays, flash fiction, etc. It doesn't mean you have to market anything other than your novel-type work. And if it's the novel writing that trips your trigger, then that should be your focus.

I don't think you're shooting yourself in the foot by not pursuing those other avenues; my concern would be stunting any inspiration you have by telling yourself you'll only write novels. Does that make sense? I think what I mean is, what if a small inkling of thought or dream came your way but wasn't something that could be developed into a novel's theme? Does that mean you just let that thought go by the wayside? I'd want to get it down and see what it crafted into, whether a short story or non-fiction article on parenting. But that's me.

Really, it comes down to knowing yourself and your writing strengths. Follow your gut. Good luck!

Many people have suggested writing short stories but they don't seem to understand they're a different animal to novels.

I've only ever written novels with the aim of publication. Sometimes I write poems as well, but they're just for myself. Sometimes I post them here but I've never considered going all-out to make it as a poet; it's a sideline. Novels are my true passion.

Absolutely only write what you feel like writing. I mean, who has all that time to tinker around with genres and ideas that don't even resonate with us and we struggle to get through?

I write novels, because my mind works that way, but I'm also writing a non-fiction How To, because I really want to write this book and it's expertise I have in the field, not because I'm branching out for the sake of being a well-rounded writer. The How To is not something I struggle with; it's something I so enjoy doing. I don't write poetry, because it doesn't occur to me and I don't think about researching a bio on an obscure historical figure, because I don't feel the least bit compelled.

Ultimately, you have to want to write and write what you want.

I started out writing poetry. Loved writing it. Looked back on my poetry and noticed: it's drivel.

Wrote short stories. Flexed my (admittedly weak) "experimental" muscle. Let my head and ambitions grow exponentially.

Wrote my first novel. Made that summer, what with summer gym every week day for a month or so, more enjoyable. The End led to foolishly trying to make something of my novel by getting others to read it. Copy of said novel remains out of the trash/fire only to serve as a reminder of how far I've come and what not to do.

Tried writing poetry again. Even with more writing experience . . . still drivel.

Wrote a novella. Why? Too lazy to add the necessary meat to the story. Still a short story writer at heart, then, I guess.

Back to novels. Churned a couple out in a row. Returned from my hell of self deprecation back to my hell of insane ambition. Gave another novel the same treatment as first. Noticeable improvement over the first, but many problems continued over from the first to it. Colorful balloon popped by AW and I fell back down to earth. Head now smaller, I did something new: rewrote instead of just minor, surface editing. Got enough positive feedback to not be entirely disheartened as I was when AW first brought me back to earth.

Wrote shorts. Stephen King said it's a craft that takes practice. I was out of practice, so I thought I'd hone my blade again. Better than my novels, yet still showcasing many of the drawbacks of my novels. Even out of practice, I am more of a short story writer than a novelist, yet my focus keeps moving towards novels for the simple reason that there's a bigger market and my ideas are novels in scope, even though I struggle at times realizing that scope completely, resulting in short, skeleton first drafts that need to be beefed up big time.

Moral of the story: write in other forms only if you are well versed and talented when it comes to that particular form or if you wish to learn more about yourself as a writer through experiences with other forms, as I did.

It is possible to make a living writing novels exclusively - just as much as it's possible to make a living being a poet, exclusively, or a short story writer exclusively. Don't think you have to write something else "for money" while you get better at writing novels...any type of creative writing is hard to make a living in.

On the other hand, lots of writers do freelance or write for magazines as they write their fiction. It's an option, but you don't have to do it. I have to echo the others - just write what you love, forget what everyone else says.

-Feathers

I wouldn't worry about it, it's like saying cos you can rap you should be good at opera too.

I can really only write novels. I have *forced* myself to write a few short stories (and quite like two of them) but flipping 'eck, was it a struggle. And as for poetry, I could never! I pretty much hate it actually, in all forms. Wierd, I know. Except for a handful of poems I do like, I never give it a second thought. Stick to what you are good at!

Clare

Try a variety of formats, and stick with ones you like to write.

In the end, having novels written isn't going to make the final difference in getting short stories (or other types of writing) published.

In the end, having short stories written is going to make the final difference in getting a novel published.

In the end, the writing is going to be what gets your work published. The writing comes through practice.

Thank you for posting this thread, and thanks to all the people who answered the OP. I would give advice on this thread, except that I really needed the advice more than I was able to give any.

For years I've tried to branch out so that I could be what some here have called a 'well-rounded writer,' but I find that I do not enjoy the majority of the formats I've written in. Still, I continued to write them because I felt like I had to in order to be a good writer.

Now, seeing what the majority of the posters here have said, I realize I can give myself permission to write what I want to write, instead of thinking I have to write other stuff in order to be good at what I do.

Honestly speaking, I like fiction, but not much else. Novels, specifically, are what I've always wanted to specialize in. Now I realize I have the permission to do just that.

Thank you all kindly.

*Smiles at Schaffer* Good for you.

For the longest time I only wanted to write novel length. In the last couple of years, I've shrunk my stories to shorts. For me, going from 100K to 17K is short. For my latest, I went to under 10K and first person POV! That was weird. I always wrote third person POV, but this short screamed to be written like someone looking back on a past event. It's only been recently that I've been comfortable with this, and only because I've been blogging for a couple years now (from my own first person POV ).

I've heard it said that short stories are good for improving novel writing, because they teach you to jump into the story and the characters immediately, instead of taking the time to develop the characters. And you finish more short stories in the same time to finish one novel--quicker learning. I don't know if it's true or not for everyone.

The moral is to do what you want to do. Don't force yourself to do anything else. It's good to try other things, but if you're not comfortable with other formats and/or genres, it'll come through in the writing. You have to really love an idea to make it work, imho.

I've tried to force myself to write short stories. I just fail at them. On the surface, you wouldn't think they'd be that different from novels. But you would be sadly mistaken.

I do novels. But I did write a short (25k) story for some friends that wasn't supposed to be aimed at publication, but I liked the characters enough that it's undergoing its final steps before hitting SYW. I think that's probably as low as i could comfortably go, and I secretly wish to write a novel about those two characters. Love em to death! <3

I think most writers you find on the shelves are novels-only types, although I could be very severely wrong. I work in short stories just to get experiance with the publishing world, but I'm not very successful with them and generally don't enjoy them as much. Don't write short stories if you don't enjoy doing it; you're better off perfecting the craft you do enjoy.

alyssalynne said:

I've written mostly screenplays prior to starting my 1st novel last year. I only switched to writing a novel because I felt one of my screenplays would be much better suited to the novel form. So far I'm liking novel writing more than screenwriting, but I still plan to do both, depending on the story.

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Likewise, I started writing screemplays, once in a while dipping into short stories just to break the routine. Only decided to start at novels when writing a screenplay that had characters that ''deserved'' to be explored more in a novel.
If you feel comfortable writing novels, and if you feel happy about the quaility, there is no reason to deviate.

If it's not broken, don't try to fix it.