For Writers: A Short Story A Week?

 Reading the first sentence of Emily Harstone's An Argument for Short Stories (Authors Publish) shocked me. My mind went reeling trying to think of when there would be time.

Then I read further, and see why the essay started with the Bradbury quote:

I can tell that right now, particularly among younger writers, but older ones as well, the general opinion is not in favor of short stories.

However, as a writer who is improving and growing, the point is not to have the most readers, but to produce the best writing you can. The point is to learn.

For me writing a short story is a powerful thing. You can write one all at once or in a few days, so it is much more manageable than a novel in terms of time. Like Bradbury says, you could write 52 in a year and learn a lot from that process; even writing 25 can teach a writer a lot of lessons.

The great thing about a short story is that it is self-contained. It can teach you so much about plot and character development in a short period of time. It is much harder to write a fully contained plot and well-developed characters in three thousand words, instead of in three hundred pages. Writers who are serious about improving their craft should write short stories, because you can learn so much about how plot actually works, when writing in a condensed form.

I do not think I have the talent for the short story. Which is just me excusing me from trying to write them

A memory came to me of something I read about Eric Clapton, how he went off for six months and woodshedded his playing. You're thinking this must have been at the start of his career. Nope. It was after The Cream and before Derek and the Dominoes. Certainly it was after his "Clapton is God" days. Same idea - practice and try out different styles.

Now, I will want to see what I can do after tonight's dinner. Go write.

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