How Can You Get Stuck in a Short Story?

Kate Thornton · Aug 14, 2006

I'm writing away, got characters and a story, and the story - instead of sticking to the plot I dreamed up - goes off on a tangent!

Now what? The characters are going somewhere else and the original story seems too pat or contrived or unbelievable. What started out as a nice Christmas murder is now turning into (gasp!) something else!

Do you ever have something as short and sweet as a short story turn itself into an unusable vignette?

Robert Toy · Aug 14, 2006

I'll be the only honest one here...yes, often.

TheIT · Aug 14, 2006

Every short story I've tried to write except one has become the seed for a novel. I keep adding more and more complexity until it outgrows being a short story.

Siddow · Aug 14, 2006

All the time. I'm banging my head around a 20-something girl, her sick father, and a pair of Adidas running shoes right now.

Well, not RIGHT now. Right now, I'm avoiding it.

But your post sounds to me like you've FOUND the story. It's one of my writing credos: Follow the tangents!

In fact, I think I'll change my location right now...

Bubastes · Aug 14, 2006

Yes, far too often.

But I'd say "follow the story." Who knows what you'll get in the end?

MidnightMuse · Aug 14, 2006

That's exactly why I have yet to write a successful short ! I get long winded, the characters find other things to do, the main plot branches off into several sub plots, and before you know it the "short" has turned into another 140k monster.

Just let it go and see where it takes you -- nothing wrong with a full-length Christmas murder

LeftUnsaid · Aug 14, 2006

I agree with everyone else. Just go with it, listen to your characters cause they probably know more then you do. My novel started as a great short story that I absolutely loved, but after finding myself content with the piece I immediately started thinking, but what were they doing before this? And before I knew I had an entire book in my head that I was just dying to read. So, listen to your inner self and good luck. You'll probably meet some great people too, along the way in your writings.

Isanthe · Aug 14, 2006

I'm in the same boat. Generally I plan on getting two similar stories from one initial idea, because my first attempt will either not pan out or it will bear practically no resemblence to the story I wanted to tell. I don't have this trouble with longer works.

Flapdoodle · Aug 15, 2006

Kate Thornton said:
I'm writing away, got characters and a story, and the story - instead of sticking to the plot I dreamed up - goes off on a tangent!

Now what? The characters are going somewhere else and the original story seems too pat or contrived or unbelievable. What started out as a nice Christmas murder is now turning into (gasp!) something else!

Do you ever have something as short and sweet as a short story turn itself into an unusable vignette?

Every story I write ends up like this. Go with the flow.

Summonere · Aug 15, 2006

If the tangent is better than the original idea, go with it. The original idea needs only provide the spark that gets you going. Once you’re going, the story evolves as it needs to. If the tangent is, however, merely that, and only produces further tangents that don’t add up to a story, it’s very likely that the launch was off target to begin with. To paraphrase William Goldman, A problem in act four is almost always the result of a problem in act three, if not act two, or even one. Get the opening right, the rest should flap its wings and fly happily away.

chartreuse · Aug 16, 2006

I never start a short story until I know the ending. Sometimes the tone of the story turns out different than I imagined, and sometimes the path I take to get to the end is different than I thought it would be, but I personally have found that without knowing how the story is going to wrap up, I ALWAYS get stuck.

And because I don't want to spend as much time writing a short story as I would a novel, I don't find that to be acceptable.

Wesley Smith · Aug 29, 2006

chartreuse said:
I never start a short story until I know the ending. Sometimes the tone of the story turns out different than I imagined, and sometimes the path I take to get to the end is different than I thought it would be, but I personally have found that without knowing how the story is going to wrap up, I ALWAYS get stuck.

Quoted for truthiness.

And I wish I could say that I wasn't having the same problem because I planned ahead, but I didn't and I am.

But like Raymond Chandler said (or was it Mickey Spillaine?), when all else fails, bring in a man with a gun.

Of course, in my case, the man with the gun is actually the Sioux Trickster God, but so what?

Anthony Ravenscroft · Sep 2, 2006

Finish the story. Beat it until it stops twitching. Beat it more, just in case it's messing with you. Then take out your Bowie knife & cut off the good parts. Pack those together & move along.

That's not meant at all facetiously.

If an idea cannot be contained in a short story, then don't try to. Actually, to be honest, I could probably cram a novel into 10,000 words. If it's a good story, then sell that one, & later on you can file off the serial numbers, forge new signatures, & turn it into a novel.

It never hurts to study the masters. I went & read the Black Mask stories of Raymond Chandler that later became his best novels. The writing style of the shorter works, even though I already knew the novels (& usually the movies) by rote, made my heart pound. Lately, I've been reading in the same manner the short stories of Greg Benford & Greg Bear that turned into full-length novels, & felt the same excited awe.

Generally, though, what makes a short story is its terseness, is the fact that you've got to get the reader involved in a few dozen words, & then too-soon deliver some sort of satisfactory denouement.

A novel gives you much more leeway to spread the story out & see what other interesting tributaries develop. A short story might be told in a flowery manner, but is (as Entwhistle said) about as subtle as a thrown mallet.

Josie · Sep 2, 2006

Follow that yellow brick road. :snoopy:

PeeDee · Sep 5, 2006

It happens to me sometimes, but rarely. With me, a short's a short and a novel's a novel. I've come to suspect that my natural and most comfortable field is actually the short story (this is no surprise, really) and so I know how to bring a short story in for a landing exactly how I wanted it. Sometimes, the story changes en route, but the most they have ever done in burgeon into a novella.

Kate Thornton · Sep 5, 2006

PEEDEE! You're back! I missed you!!!!!

PeeDee · Sep 5, 2006

Well hi.

Kristen King · Sep 5, 2006

I've been known to lop off the first 5 pages or so once I'm done because although they got me started, the story is totally different by the time I'm done.

Kristen

Kate Thornton · Sep 5, 2006

Kristin - what a great idea.

The Lady · Sep 5, 2006

You could always try writing two versions. One where you keep it in check and one where you let it go where it will. I reckon there's loads more in every story that just isn't told, so decide the bits you will tell in in the short version. I know the other bits keep clamouring at you, but promise them if they stay quite for a while, you'll write them into the novel later.

pdr · Sep 5, 2006

It's a pain isn't it?

It happens so rarely for me but I have just finished struggling with a short story I had a deadline for. It seemed a very simple idea and ideal for the market. Alas it grew like Topsy.

The advice most people have given does seem to work. I indulged the story for three days, then set all of it aside marked for my next novel. But I cut out the bare bones of that simple idea and forced myself to follow through to the bitter end even though my writerly instincts were crying out to expand.

The editor seems happy with the story even though I know it's only part of the tale.

If I'd had my druthters I'd have set it all aside for the next novel but I had an editor waiting.

PeeDee · Sep 5, 2006

"had an editor waiting" is one of the best solutions for a difficult short story, I think. If you don't have an editor waiting, invent one.

Jaycinth · Sep 8, 2006

TheIT said:
Every short story I've tried to write except one has become the seed for a novel. I keep adding more and more complexity until it outgrows being a short story.

BINGO!
me too.

Mark Lazer · Sep 9, 2006

From what I have heard, there's tons of shorts that turn into novellas or novels even.

PeeDee · Sep 9, 2006

Mark Lazer said:
From what I have heard, there's tons of shorts that turn into novellas or novels even.

Sometimes, the reason you thought the idea would fit into short-story form was simply because you were trying to start writing it before your brain had finished germinating the idea.

Having finished my novel (am still giddy about it) I sat down to write a short story that I had in my head, just a quick and relaxing break. Except...except that by the time I started writing it, I realized it's a four (or six) part serial story, I think. Or a novella. What can you do?

How Can You Get Stuck in a Short Story?

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

Robert Toy

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Siddow

I'm super! Thanks for asking

Bubastes

bananaed

MidnightMuse

Midnight Reading

LeftUnsaid

Isanthe

Flapdoodle

Summonere

chartreuse

Wesley Smith

Anthony Ravenscroft

Scribble, scribble, scribble

Josie

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Kristen King

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

The Lady

Critical Member

pdr

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Jaycinth

Your Cuddly Sociopathic

Mark Lazer

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?