This is a great discussion.
I have been chewing on these statements all week, and I just don’t think I agree with it. There may be some genre-dependence here. I read primarily literary short stories, and I think in those, character development is often the primary point and primary driver. The idea that there is “no time” for character development in a short story is alien to me; character development is what these stories are for. To the extent there is plot, it is there to illuminate the character. In stories like this, the character isn’t a bonus; the character is the reason the story exists.
It isn’t always true. I have read literary short stories that are more plot-driven. So one can do either. But I think in a short story you can actually get away with less plot, because you don’t have to sustain reader’s interest for as long. So if whatever you have—scene, character, situation, whatever—is compelling for three thousand or five thousand words, you can be successful. It’s that quick burst of flavor I mentioned in my silly analogy to the chef’s appetizers—a quick burst of plot flavor will do in some cases, but so will a quick burst of character flavor, provided it’s intense enough to satisfy.
Here’s some more evidence that the necessity of character-development is genre dependent:
This isn’t really my experience of short stories at all, and I don’t think it’s what drives literary short stories. But I can see why someone might enjoy stories that deliver this kind of experience.
In one of my favorite short stories, Shirley Jackson’s “The Tooth”, a woman has a pained tooth removed at the dentist and in the fog of anesthesia afterward, loses her sense of her own identity. That’s what the story is about—this married young woman’s sense of who she is, what it means for her to be a self-actuated and independent person. There isn’t a mystery in the sense Earthling is describing here. There is plot; a woman getting amnesia is plot. And she meets up with a mysterious character who appears in other Shirley Jackson stories, and there’s plot in her interactions with him. But his function is as much symbolic as it is a literal driver of plot. The story isn’t about the woman’s interactions with this man; it’s about her identity.
I’ve gone back over a few other examples from stories I have read recently and discussed in the 2019 short story reading thread, and where I’m coming down is that the stories I like the best are about something in that larger sense. There is a plot in the sense that the character does something or has some experience that is out of the ordinary, but the primary driver of the story is what that experience means for the character and, in a layered way, what it means about the story’s theme.
For me, there’s no better way to learn to write anything than to analyze examples of it and try to understand how they do what they do. Don’t be self-conscious about doing this.
I agree with ElaineA’s observation that short stories are a form of their own. It’s why I started the short-story reading challenge in the first place, because I wanted to improve my understanding of the form, and learn to write it better. If you go look at the thread, you will see people discussing what worked or didn’t work in the hundreds of stories we’ve all read over the past year. If I may so, I think it’s a pretty rich source for this topic. Maybe you will join us in 2020?
What do you mean by "scope of change"? Are you talking about character development?
Because short stories don't deal much with character development. There's no time. Short stories are about plot, a short, quick, speedy plot. The more unexpected the ending, the better.
Yeah, definitely. But that "powerful scene or situation" is still part of the plot. A character might undergo character development, but it's a result of the action. So the plot is still the main thing. Character development is a bonus.
I have been chewing on these statements all week, and I just don’t think I agree with it. There may be some genre-dependence here. I read primarily literary short stories, and I think in those, character development is often the primary point and primary driver. The idea that there is “no time” for character development in a short story is alien to me; character development is what these stories are for. To the extent there is plot, it is there to illuminate the character. In stories like this, the character isn’t a bonus; the character is the reason the story exists.
It isn’t always true. I have read literary short stories that are more plot-driven. So one can do either. But I think in a short story you can actually get away with less plot, because you don’t have to sustain reader’s interest for as long. So if whatever you have—scene, character, situation, whatever—is compelling for three thousand or five thousand words, you can be successful. It’s that quick burst of flavor I mentioned in my silly analogy to the chef’s appetizers—a quick burst of plot flavor will do in some cases, but so will a quick burst of character flavor, provided it’s intense enough to satisfy.
Here’s some more evidence that the necessity of character-development is genre dependent:
I don't care much about character development in a short story. What I look for is some sort of question/mystery to keep me reading (what's in the box? Why did the narrator tell his wife he was going to work then went in the wrong direction and changed into overalls? So the narrator is buying a corpse... how did the person die?) and then a twist at the end.
This isn’t really my experience of short stories at all, and I don’t think it’s what drives literary short stories. But I can see why someone might enjoy stories that deliver this kind of experience.
In one of my favorite short stories, Shirley Jackson’s “The Tooth”, a woman has a pained tooth removed at the dentist and in the fog of anesthesia afterward, loses her sense of her own identity. That’s what the story is about—this married young woman’s sense of who she is, what it means for her to be a self-actuated and independent person. There isn’t a mystery in the sense Earthling is describing here. There is plot; a woman getting amnesia is plot. And she meets up with a mysterious character who appears in other Shirley Jackson stories, and there’s plot in her interactions with him. But his function is as much symbolic as it is a literal driver of plot. The story isn’t about the woman’s interactions with this man; it’s about her identity.
I’ve gone back over a few other examples from stories I have read recently and discussed in the 2019 short story reading thread, and where I’m coming down is that the stories I like the best are about something in that larger sense. There is a plot in the sense that the character does something or has some experience that is out of the ordinary, but the primary driver of the story is what that experience means for the character and, in a layered way, what it means about the story’s theme.
Giving this some more thought...
Maybe it's silly of me to try and pick apart stories and figure out how they work their magic. (If it really is strictly a gestalt thing, then it really is silly.)
For me, there’s no better way to learn to write anything than to analyze examples of it and try to understand how they do what they do. Don’t be self-conscious about doing this.
I agree with ElaineA’s observation that short stories are a form of their own. It’s why I started the short-story reading challenge in the first place, because I wanted to improve my understanding of the form, and learn to write it better. If you go look at the thread, you will see people discussing what worked or didn’t work in the hundreds of stories we’ve all read over the past year. If I may so, I think it’s a pretty rich source for this topic. Maybe you will join us in 2020?
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