Using short stories to improve your writing skills

TravelHat · Jan 14, 2017

Although I have written many factual articles over the years, I am new at writing fiction, and loving it. We will see if this holds true after my 100th rejection slip party.

I have plotted out a first novel, which I think is pretty good, and have tested it with a few writers who like it as well. Being a project manager for much of my career, the planning part comes easy for me. However, as I am writing out my scenes, I feel that I lack the skills to actually tell the story like I envision it in my mind.

Therefore, here is what I am doing to help me grow as a writer.

Writing short stories to improve my skills and my confidence. As a side benefit, after I have a few successes under my belt, I might actually have some name recognition which would make pitching a novel easier. Funny thing is, I am enjoying writing the shorts, and it might be a long time before I go for the big one.
Reading everything I can about writing, and trying to implement as much as I can in my own work.
Reading other short stories and novels with a critical eye towards the writing style, e.g. what worked for me, and what didn't -- and why. This has opened up a new world for me in developing my own style. I guess it is kind of like re-watching a movie, trying to judge camera shots, pacing and dialogue parts of the storytelling.
Joined a local writers group.
Planning to attend a writers conference.

OK, I would love to hear from some of you more established and skilled writers. Is this a good strategy? What worked for you? Any additional advice for me and probably others in the same situation?

Thanks
Michael

stephenf · Jan 14, 2017

Hi
Your approach looks sound . I really like short stories and the fact you can write one reasonably quickly is a plus. The skills involved in writing short stories are different to writing novels . There are lots good novelist that can't manage to write a good short story . If your ambition is to write novels , I suggest you start to write them from the beginning . I think it is a good idea to alternate, books on writing and fiction . It is interesting to see the theory in the practice.
I also think writing critiques can be useful . There are a number of sites , like this one, were writers are posting their work . You can also submit reviews of published books .

TravelHat · Jan 14, 2017

stephenf said:
Hi
Your approach looks sound . I really like short stories and the fact you can write one reasonably quickly is a plus. The skills involved in writing short storys are different to writing novels . There are lots good novelist that can't manage to write good short story . If your ambition is to write novels , I sugest you start to write them from the beginning . I think it is a good idea to alternate, books on writing and fiction . It is interesting to see the theory in the practice.
I also think writing cretque can be useful . There are a number of sites , like this one, were writers are posting their work . You can also sbmit reviews of published books .

stephenf

I do understand that Short stories and novels are very different. I am more thinking of some of the raw basics of writing, e.g. handling dialogue, showing vs telling, being visual in my writing, even just handling the basics of characterization. In fact, the first short I wrote, I started it basically practicing how to handle dialogue. In the end, I thought it came out pretty well as a full blown story, but my purpose was clear.

I will also probably use the critique area once I am beyond my 50 posts.

Thank you very much for your thoughts.
Michael

Old Hack · Jan 15, 2017

TravelHat said:
I will also probably use the critique area once I am beyond my 50 posts.

Here's a better idea: use it NOW.

You need fifty posts to start a thread there but there's nothing stopping you from offering help to others: and it's by critiquing the work of others that you learn most easily how to improve your own work.

TravelHat · Jan 15, 2017

Old Hack said:
Here's a better idea: use it NOW.

You need fifty posts to start a thread there but there's nothing stopping you from offering help to others: and it's by critiquing the work of others that you learn most easily how to improve your own work.

Thank you, I will check it out. I thought things were password protected, but didn't look too deeply about how it worked. These forums are huge.

Old Hack · Jan 15, 2017

SYW is password-protected but that's to stop Google from indexing it all. The password for most of it is "vista".

TravelHat · Jan 15, 2017

Cool, thanks

Polenth · Jan 15, 2017

I found short stories helped with my writing a lot. I've never really got the thing of viewing shorts and novels as so totally different you couldn't possibly learn skills from one that will help with the other. I don't suddenly become a different writer when the length changes.

Where I do find them different is organisation. The longer a story gets, the more work it takes to organise the project, which is why a novel takes me a lot longer to write than the same word count of shorts. But I approach things like writing dialogue in the same way regardless of length.

cmhbob · Jan 15, 2017

I also think shorts will help my overall writing. I'm taking a class in short fiction this semester at school. The instructor said in the syllabus that she's aiming for literary fiction more than genre fiction, saying "instruction in literary fiction can benefit any writer, so you are not limited to writing in a particular genre." I'm really excited about this class. Text is "Writing Fiction," and we'll also be reading Heirlooms by Rachel Hall.

I feel that since you typically have less time (words) to tell your story in short fiction, your character and scene descriptions need to be so much tighter, which will give you better writing no matter the format (or genre).

Old Hack · Jan 15, 2017

cmhbob said:
I feel that since you typically have less time (words) to tell your story in short fiction, your character and scene descriptions need to be so much tighter, which will give you better writing no matter the format (or genre).

I agree. You can get away with much more in a novel-length piece than in a short. Writing that tight is really difficult!

TravelHat · Jan 15, 2017

Polenth said:
I found short stories helped with my writing a lot. I've never really got the thing of viewing shorts and novels as so totally different you couldn't possibly learn skills from one that will help with the other. I don't suddenly become a different writer when the length changes.

Where I do find them different is organisation. The longer a story gets, the more work it takes to organise the project, which is why a novel takes me a lot longer to write than the same word count of shorts. But I approach things like writing dialogue in the same way regardless of length.

Thanks Polenth.

That is what I am finding as well.

For example, I find that I put a lot of serious time and effort plotting out my potential novel, with a lot of detail, before I started writing anything.
-- However --
For a short story, it usually flows from a setting (gee, I would like to write a story at a colony on Titan,) to situation (a body was found floating in the methane sea,) to characters (a hard boiled detective) to a plot (the detective discovers a secret group of alien "spys" trying to infiltrate the settlement). Viola, a murder mystery wrapped up in a covert alien invasion.

Wow, I like it, maybe I will start writing it now.

I know this is kind of backwards from many other short story writers, but I guess that is the way my strange mental processes work.

Michael

TravelHat · Jan 15, 2017

cmhbob said:
I also think shorts will help my overall writing. I'm taking a class in short fiction this semester at school. The instructor said in the syllabus that she's aiming for literary fiction more than genre fiction, saying "instruction in literary fiction can benefit any writer, so you are not limited to writing in a particular genre." I'm really excited about this class. Text is "Writing Fiction," and we'll also be reading Heirlooms by Rachel Hall.

I feel that since you typically have less time (words) to tell your story in short fiction, your character and scene descriptions need to be so much tighter, which will give you better writing no matter the format (or genre).

Good Luck on your class - sounds fun. The only creative writing class I have taken was in High School, and that was probably years before you were born.

CathleenT · Jan 15, 2017

Speaking only from my experience, I've found it enormously helpful to practice my craft with short stories. My default draft writing tends to be too wordy, so it was an obvious prescription (at least to me).

However, I've found it an incredible way to try out new ideas and styles (epistolary, huh? Cool--I want to try that). I can find out if something is a good fit before investing a novel-length effort for it.

And also, I've found that I can often write with only a mental outline, which is nice mental vacation from the rigors of novel outlining. If it wanders off track, I'm not so invested that I'm annoyed at starting over.

TravelHat · Jan 15, 2017

CathleenT said:
Speaking only from my experience, I've found it enormously helpful to practice my craft with short stories. My default draft writing tends to be too wordy, so it was an obvious prescription (at least to me).

However, I've found it an incredible way to try out new ideas and styles (epistolary, huh? Cool--I want to try that). I can find out if something is a good fit before investing a novel-length effort for it.

And also, I've found that I can often write with only a mental outline, which is nice mental vacation from the rigors of novel outlining. If it wanders off track, I'm not so invested that I'm annoyed at starting over.

Thank you for the solid advice, it definitely resonates with me,

Plus, I had to look up the word "epistolary." I learned a new word today.

Michael

cmhbob · Jan 15, 2017

TravelHat said:
Good Luck on your class - sounds fun. The only creative writing class I have taken was in High School, and that was probably years before you were born.

I'm old enough to have visited East Germany as a 16-year-old, 7 years before reunification.

But I'll take the compliment.

DragonHeart · Jan 16, 2017

I'm using short stories to hone my story development, writing and editing process. I think it's a solid way to go about it. The lessons I learn from writing shorter works definitely transfers to the longer ones. It's also a great way to experiment with different things without the huge time investment from a novel.

While I do think short stories and novels do require different skills to an extent, I don't think they're mutually exclusive either.

In the end, it's all practice that will make your writing stronger.

Joseph Schmol · Jan 16, 2017

TravelHat said:
Although I have written many factual articles over the years, I am new at writing fiction, and loving it. We will see if this holds true after my 100th rejection slip party.

I have plotted out a first novel, which I think is pretty good, and have tested it with a few writers who like it as well. Being a project manager for much of my career, the planning part comes easy for me. However, as I am writing out my scenes, I feel that I lack the skills to actually tell the story like I envision it in my mind.

Therefore, here is what I am doing to help me grow as a writer.

Writing short stories to improve my skills and my confidence. As a side benefit, after I have a few successes under my belt, I might actually have some name recognition which would make pitching a novel easier. Funny thing is, I am enjoying writing the shorts, and it might be a long time before I go for the big one.

Reading everything I can about writing, and trying to implement as much as I can in my own work.

Reading other short stories and novels with a critical eye towards the writing style, e.g. what worked for me, and what didn't -- and why. This has opened up a new world for me in developing my own style. I guess it is kind of like re-watching a movie, trying to judge camera shots, pacing and dialogue parts of the storytelling.

Joined a local writers group.

Planning to attend a writers conference.

OK, I would love to hear from some of you more established and skilled writers. Is this a good strategy? What worked for you? Any additional advice for me and probably others in the same situation?

Thanks
Michael

You have crafted a fine list. I have but one quibble, which I highlighted in bold text.

I have learned much from novels that didn't "work for me." I took the position that this failing was on me, the reader, and not the writer. Many readers choose the opposite position, which is certainly their right. But, to me, this seems limiting to one's potential as an artist, as a writer.

Best wishes.

Myrealana · Jan 16, 2017

I use short stories to remind myself that I can FINISH things.

Novels take for-freakin'-ever to write when you can only do 1000 words a day or so.

M Louise · Jan 16, 2017

There's some great short fiction to read online and that often prompts me to go and buy short-story collections from writers I like, or anthologies in which their fiction is featured. Every now and then the New Yorker gives readers access to brilliant stories from writers such as Alice Munro or Mavis Gallant. I check Longform fiction, personal websites (Nina Allan the UK SF writer, for example), ezines, reading groups on the micro-fictions/prose poems of Lydia Davis who put up scanned samples with permission. Project Gutenberg is great on older authors of the 19th and 20th centuries. I have found that studying short stories has helped me to write better short stories: structuring and developing a novel is different in many ways and for that I need to stay with reading novels.

I do think it is extremely hard to make money from short stories. When I was reading the letters of the poet and essayist Elizabeth Bishop, she mentioned how emerging writers in the 1950s depended on the substantial cheques from the New Yorker and many American writers were able to rely on regular publication in literary mags alongside generous grants in order to travel, study, write. That isn't possible now and many writers are lucky if they can get jobs teaching creative writing in academic institutes. Most younger writers now have to produce fiction after work hours in jobs that have nothing to do with writing. I'm not sure that is a bad thing, but it does mean disciplined time management.

TravelHat · Jan 21, 2017

DragonHeart said:
I'm using short stories to hone my story development, writing and editing process. I think it's a solid way to go about it. The lessons I learn from writing shorter works definitely transfers to the longer ones. It's also a great way to experiment with different things without the huge time investment from a novel.

While I do think short stories and novels do require different skills to an extent, I don't think they're mutually exclusive either.

In the end, it's all practice that will make your writing stronger.

Thanks
That is exactly what I am doing.

TravelHat · Jan 21, 2017

Joseph Schmol said:
You have crafted a fine list. I have but one quibble, which I highlighted in bold text.

I have learned much from novels that didn't "work for me." I took the position that this failing was on me, the reader, and not the writer. Many readers choose the opposite position, which is certainly their right. But, to me, this seems limiting to one's potential as an artist, as a writer.

Best wishes.

Joseph
I think I understand what you mean, but the "why" is the most important word of the phrase. To be perfectly honest, there are many short stories I read today, that don't work for me. I agree that understanding why is important, however at this moment, I can't imagine writing something that doesn't excite me (no matter how artistic).

Thanks
Michael

TravelHat · Jan 21, 2017

M Louise said:
There's some great short fiction to read online and that often prompts me to go and buy short-story collections from writers I like, or anthologies in which their fiction is featured. Every now and then the New Yorker gives readers access to brilliant stories from writers such as Alice Munro or Mavis Gallant. I check Longform fiction, personal websites (Nina Allan the UK SF writer, for example), ezines, reading groups on the micro-fictions/prose poems of Lydia Davis who put up scanned samples with permission. Project Gutenberg is great on older authors of the 19th and 20th centuries. I have found that studying short stories has helped me to write better short stories: structuring and developing a novel is different in many ways and for that I need to stay with reading novels.

I do think it is extremely hard to make money from short stories. When I was reading the letters of the poet and essayist Elizabeth Bishop, she mentioned how emerging writers in the 1950s depended on the substantial cheques from the New Yorker and many American writers were able to rely on regular publication in literary mags alongside generous grants in order to travel, study, write. That isn't possible now and many writers are lucky if they can get jobs teaching creative writing in academic institutes. Most younger writers now have to produce fiction after work hours in jobs that have nothing to do with writing. I'm not sure that is a bad thing, but it does mean disciplined time management.

You are so correct, and I thank God that I am not relying on writing to make a living, or I would have starved long ago.

spottedgeckgo · Jan 27, 2017

Writing short can definitely help your writing, but so can writing long. If you are in a habit of writing the story to the end, then editing it several times, etc. You can even go through the submission process. If you want to use your experience with shorts as a doorway to novel writing, then try to mimic the behavior of writing novels. If you are nitpicking every sentence in a flash piece as you write it, that might not be the right skill, unless you have a 2 year attention span while drafting a novel.

Writing flash (using the same method) is a way of gaining editing skills quickly. Scratch out a first draft of any story, then cut half the words from it. You may end up thumbing a thesaurus the whole time, but it will teach you to tighten up your sentences, and that skill will be passed on to your drafts. Your vocabulary will get better, and you will be able to find those space saving verbs quicker while drafting your novel. You will also be able to pack in more side plots and twists.

When you finish the tightening exercise, go through and double the length by adding sub plots. Make your short story the original draft length by adding more description and feeling, and weaving another thread into it. Doing this exercise will teach you to make your writing more dense, and you will start to learn how to weave, rather than just following a single plot line.

Short stories and flash fiction are excellent for developing these skills, but don't trim the story out and make it vague while cutting. Don't fluff it up while expanding. You'll learn a balance.

All that said, if you have a solid outline, I would just mark some writing time off on your daily schedule, say an hour every day, and start drafting. Stories that are well researched and laid out ahead of time practically write themselves. Once it's completed, you can go through several editing passes the way you would with a short. Brevity just makes the process faster. You will become a better writer by finishing a novel draft. You'll become better with each editing pass. And you will see your progress every time you turn back to page one.

L. OBrien · Jan 27, 2017

Short stories are definitely good for finding your voice, though (as it's already been mentioned) they do have some major differences from novels. If you have a novel idea that you're excited about, I would say that there's some value in working on that in addition to continuing to write short stories. Even if it doesn't turn out perfectly, you'll learn a lot from it.

Another thing that really helped me figure out plotting and character development was trying to write a serialized novella. It was short enough that I could finish it in a reasonable amount of time, and the focus on serialization meant that each installment had to accomplish something, so I really had to think about the arc of the plot and how I was constructing each scene.

Also, to pick up on something above: you mentioned that you didn't feel like it was important to understand why things don't work for you. I would argue. It's actually really useful to figure out why things don't work (or at least, it has been for me) since it helps you get a better sense of the underlying story structure and to identify elements that might be causing trouble in your own work--essentially, the same reason why critiquing other people's stories is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a writer.

TravelHat · Jan 27, 2017

L. OBrien said:
Also, to pick up on something above: you mentioned that you didn't feel like it was important to understand why things don't work for you. I would argue. It's actually really useful to figure out why things don't work (or at least, it has been for me) since it helps you get a better sense of the underlying story structure and to identify elements that might be causing trouble in your own work--essentially, the same reason why critiquing other people's stories is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a writer.

Thanks
Actually I did say in my OP that I will reading to find out "what worked for me, and what didn't -- and why." I just said that I doubt I will be writing things that don't work for me, even if the style seems popular.

Your and everyone's advice is very helpful.

Using short stories to improve your writing skills

Forever learning

Forever learning

Such a nasty woman

Forever learning

Such a nasty woman

Forever learning

Mushroom

Did...did I do that?

Such a nasty woman

Forever learning

Forever learning

I write

Forever learning

Did...did I do that?

Oerba Yun Fang

shaken & stirred

I aim to misbehave

Forever learning

Forever learning

Forever learning

Da Gecko

Forever learning