New to short stories

[kristie911]

I've just started writing short stories after writing novels and I feel like I leave so much unsaid. I want to elaborate on backgrounds and finish it with a neat bow but I find that when I write shorts, things just hang at the end. I mean, I finish the story but not...Okay, that probably makes no sense, I know. It feels more like a scene than the whole picture. Like I could elaboate and turn it into a much longer story but then it defeats the whole idea of a short story. Is that just the nature of the short story beast? Or maybe you guys have no idea what I mean! :) Maybe I should just go to bed now...

[Mike Coombes]

I know what you mean, but the novel and the short story are different beasts.

A novel has a skeleton, flesh, muscle, skin, and you'll dress it up in clothes of your own making.

A short, by comparison, can be a snapshot, a single scene, an illustrative point, an anecdote... they have to exist within themselves and be self sufficient - it's not the same as just lifting a random chapter from a novel and calling it a short - but it should hint at what's outside it's boundaries; characters should have lives that exist before and after your story, not just during.

[AdamH]

Mike pretty much summed it all up in a nutshell. It's the difference of a snapshot in time versus a mural.

I had sort of a similar problem. My average story ended at about 10000 words. I found that most publications were looking for stories half that size. It was a challenge to figure out the mechanics on how to write them. So I did some research at my local book store that sells story magazines and read a few. After that, I realized that a short story isn't about the details like in a novel, it's about the story itself. Cut away all the detail that has no relevance in the slightest to the story. Now my short stories are actually short (between 4000-5000 range).

Still I find anything less than that a great challenge.