How Writing and Submitting Short Stories Improved My Novel
By Arthur Klepchukov | January 16, 2019 |
Photo by Aftab Uzzaman
If you’re writing a novel and are nowhere near the end, why spend time on short stories? Doesn’t that distraction delay getting to the end of the current draft, a moment that always feels months away? I thought so once. One year, I wouldn’t let myself touch any other project until I’d worked on my novel every day. This lasted five months until I revisited “The End.” Again.
Why should a novel writer devote precious writing time to short stories? After five novel drafts, two years of submitting shorter fiction, and seven publications, here are my reasons.
Do Something With All Those Ideas
Not every idea deserves a novel. And there’s something cathartic about expressing an idea soon after inspiration strikes. I’m not holding my breath and suffocating the idea because I have to focus elsewhere. As powerful as some ideas feel in the moment, most are quite happy as short stories or flash fiction or poems, or being expressed at all. I now tend to start each idea in the shortest possible form. I only expand the word count if my gut and reader feedback suggest there’s more to say. In the meantime, I grow my list of stories and drafts, not only my list of ideas.
Understand the Impact of Every Edit
An effective edit rarely moves me in the same way as what inspired the story. Revising a longer work can be a dreary process because it’s difficult to grasp the impact of my efforts. This is not the case with flash fiction. Try changing a word in a 100-word story, swap sentences in 250 words, or drop a paragraph among only 1,000 words. You’ll notice an immediate impact on the entire piece. This inspires me toward better revisions by reminding me how powerful each change can be.
Feel A Sense of Completion More Often
Novel drafts take months or years to write. Short story drafts can take weeks. Flash fiction, anything under 1,000 words, can be even briefer. I’m not saying shorter work is easier to write, or requires any less thoughtful revision. But the satisfaction of reaching the end of a draft will happen sooner with shorter fiction. This can prevent listlessness after always having the same answer for “what are you working on?”
Practice Finding Comps
I read every market to which I submit. If I want a literary journal to publish my story, I not only follow their submission guidelines, but I prove I’ve engaged with what they’ve published. I do so by including the stories I read and liked in my cover letter to the editor. If they overlap with my subject matter or appeal to a similar audience, all the better.
In practice, this is akin to finding comparative titles, or comps, for a novel and citing them in your query letter. Prove that you’re thoughtful and have an understanding of the market.
Strengthen Your Query Letters
Every market where I’ve submitted short fiction requires a cover letter. Writing cover letters has taught me how to address editors, present myself, discuss my work, and highlight my accomplishments. This builds confidence in writing and revising query letters to literary agents. Growing my publication history also strengthens my credibility for the next stage of my writing journey.
Give More Than One Story A Chance
I no longer believe I have to withhold myself from other creative work to finish an ambitious project like a novel draft. Novels do take intense focus and persistence, but the reasons above led me to a new strategy.
I’m currently working on a novel during the weekdays and shorter projects on the weekend. This means that by default, the hardest thing gets the bulk of my time. Sometimes, my weekends are writing-free and the stories have to wait, but I’m always making progress.
Though my novel may take a while before it’s ready, all those shorter pieces are out there, being submitted, rejected, accepted, and in any case, read. Don’t withhold your words from the world because your magnum opus isn’t ready.
What’s been your experience juggling short and long projects?
Do you avoid multiple ongoing things at all cost?
How has one form of writing informed another?
This post originally appeared on The Spun Yard blog. The Spun Yarn offers a quick, thorough way for authors to get feedback on their novels. Based on an author’s needs, we match their manuscript with three readers from our diverse network around the U.S. Each reader answers specific questions throughout their read and provides quantitative scores. The Spun Yarn crafts a customized manuscript report that focuses on reader consensus and offers actionable editorial suggestions for revision. Learn more at https://thespunyarn.com.
[coffee]
Arthur Klepchukov was born between Black Seas, Virginian Beaches, and San Franciscan waves. He adores trains, swing sets, and music that tears him outta time. Read Art’s words in Glimmer Train, The Best American Mystery Stories 2019, The Common, Necessary Fiction, and more at ArsenalOfWords.com
I started off writing short stories to regain/learn fiction writing skills. I loved it for all the reasons you list. It also was a big confidence builder because I was able to be published in some rather obscure places/publications and even got paid for one of my stories. I could say I was a paid author!
I’ve since written two novels and I’ve tried at different times to return to short stories, again, for all the reasons you mention above. I haven’t felt confident enough to submit any of the stories I’ve written, or to spend the time editing to a better version, but writing the stories has still been helpful. I continue to write, explore storytelling and play with words and creativity, which can only make me a better writer in the long run. :)
I also feel I’ll keep writing shorts regardless. Happy writing!
Arthur, great post. I agree with you on all points and also a magazine evangelist because it’s borne so many wonderful outcomes, not to mention, book contracts as well.
I probably read my literary journals and short stories than novels or books at this point :)
Thanks for the interesting essay. Note that it works for nonfiction writing, as well. I periodically get stuck on the historical biography I’m writing; not writer’s block, but writer’s slowdown. That’s when I revive the creative juices by taking time out to craft a short article or an essay for a magazine I used to edit and continue to contribute to in Kathmandu. Often, what I write for the magazine is derived from materials I have collected for the biography. It works by stimulating my mind. Then I return to the biography with a fresh perspective.
That’s great to know Don. Keep sharing your knowledge, long and short! When my longer fiction is a slog, a short story or flash piece is just the ticket to feel reinvigorated about writing.
These are all the same reasons that I write short stories and flash fiction, too, although it’s taken me a while to get to the first one. For a long time, I’ve been saving up ideas that I put in the “novels” or “novellas” column, but lately I’ve been thinking that if I can make good short stories from them, that would be even better. And faster!
Another reason not mentioned here is that I write flash fiction to have something to post on my blog and share with readers (for free) while I’m working on getting longer pieces revised, submitted, etc. I also find that these micro pieces written in response to photo challenges often inspire new ideas that end up becoming longer stories. And as you say, nothing teaches you word-by-word editing better than a teeny tiny word limit.
I love getting to watch an idea come to life sooner. You can always make a short story into something more.
Keep up both flash and short fiction. You never know what’ll inspire what :)
Thank you for your article, Arthur.
I’ve always written short and long. I have submitted my short stories to journals–with some success. But now I mainly publish them on my blog.
Why?
I send out a lot of manuscripts. Though I am getting used to all the emotional highs and lows. Preparing submissions is still draining.
And
I need to feel that someone is publishing my work on a regular basis. I am. Bi-product: a self-powering rush.
Reaching this goal in 2018 helped me make submitting second nature: https://lithub.com/why-you-should-aim-for-100-rejections-a-year/
The last three years, I’ve been writing short stories between novels. As you say, some ideas are better written short — they don’t support a full-length novel. I write series, and find that shorts are a good way to follow two or three series characters and leave the rest of the cast behind. And shorts can also be a great way to give readers something to connect with while they’re waiting for the next novel. And that sense of completion is potent.
Great idea! I might do the same for my non-series novel if I’m sad about saying goodbye to the characters :)
Thanks to Story-a-Day May, I fell in love with writing short stories. Another thing I like about them, is that I find asking people to read my short stories and give feedback a lot easier than asking people to read my novel. It’s a way to get to know other writers, learn how to take criticism, and have some of my writing issues pointed out before handing someone my manuscript.
And to get said criticism in a much timelier manner than novels :)
A few years ago I took a break from my novels to write short stories and the experience has been invaluable. To a certain extent I learned that I had not developed all the skills I needed to tell a story. I believe my writing has improved considerably simply due to my continued focus on short fiction and nonfiction.
I’ve also found stories a great way to practice different storytelling skills and approaches in less time than committing to a new novel-length project.