Switching Gears, From Novel to Short Stories

Short stories are harder to write than novels.  It’s a completely different mindset and style, and if you’ve been writing novel scenes and then suddenly try to write a short story … your short story will be 30,000 words before you realize it.

If you ever do want to tackle it, think of it like this.  Try to write a story within the structure of poem (a cinquain or a string of two or three haiku).  Then use that as your outline for the short story.  Shoot for 4000 words or less.

It can be very Zen, and after a while the challenge will be like doing a really fun puzzle.  "How can I fit the story into this little box?"  By paring it down to only the very essential parts.  Nothing more.

- Quoting myself from a comment I left to a writer
friend on her blog, which I thought I’d share
with everyone else