Thanks for great advice, not just in this post but on a regular basis.

True, getting them published is not the easiest thing–definitely not if you expect actual payment. But they can be good for exposure. And they’re something to work on when you’re taking a break from the novel writing, either because you’re blocked or you need to force yourself away from the novel between edits.

It’s pretty cool seeing stuff you’ve written actually published, either online or in print, while you’re waiting to find a home for your novel. Rejections from agents and publishers can be discouraging. Getting acceptance letters for short stuff is a nice little confidence booster.

Alright, I’ll shut up now :).

However, I agree that this is pretty much bunk. #1 certainly isn’t true anymore, and I have my doubt of #2 ever being true. Maybe it was “failing faster” but no one wanted to say that out loud.

On the flip side, what Kat says about short stories being less forgiving of over-writing and forcing a tighter focus in your craft. So, sure writing short stories (whether you want to bother trying to publish or not) can help build novel-writing skills. Just like novel-writing can help develop short story writing skills (i.e. needing to sustain an entire novel’s worth if interest make deep characterization extremely important, as one random example). Poetry can help all other forms of writing as well with its extreme emphasis on word selection and imagery.

So any form of writing focuses on particular aspects that can carry over to the others.

That being said, I think writing in a medium that doesn’t interest you probably cancels out any benefit you might have gained. So write what you want and what the story demands.

Maybe if there is a weak area in your skill set, do some practice in a format that emphasizes that area - especially if you do it for skill-building/fun rather than as something necessarily aimed at publication.

There are a lot of things you can learn by writing short stories. Just think. You can create 20 5k stories in the time it takes to create a 100k novel. That means 20 3-act structures you’ve developed. You’ve probably had to think about dozens of characters. But one of the biggest learnings is self-editing. You can write the story in a week, and do 4-5 revisions the next week. That’s a lot of time spent on improving your writing from a wholistic sense early on.

There are other benefits to consider. You don’t have to stick to a single genre. The feeling of accomplishment with completing a written work. And most of all, there is less risk when experimenting with your author’s voice because you won’t have six months invested in a project.

I do believe computers make this advice less necessary today than say 35 years ago when people were still using typewriters. Back then a re-write meant re-typing an entire manuscript instead of highlight, delete and update. But the benefits of writing shorts are still there and tangible if you just look for them.

I learned that every good idea does not a novel make, and when the inspirations came for the novels in progress now, they had nothing to do with those old adolescent ideas. However, I kept all those ideas in a notebook, and I have discovered that the concepts behind them could be translated into current work - not as the basis, but as backstory or subplots or even character development. The thinking and dreaming process is never wasted.

I think Randy is right - just write.

Short Stories and Novels are different types of writing and require different skills. The creative writing classes I took in college were aggravating to me because I never wanted to write such short tales. I always ended up just writing the first handful of chapters of a longer idea in my head and then reworking it to have a conclusion while still leaving in the hooks to the rest of the tale.

My teacher said I should write for television…

What a spot-on analogy! lol, nice one.

Please, Neil, if you have never been interested in writing short stories, then for heaven’s sake don’t begin your exploration of the writing process - which will be filled with challenges enough, without the additional burden of personal aversion - by writing a short story. Why?

First, because it isn’t as easy as you think - not to write a good one, anyway. Plenty try, that’s true, and there is something to be said for trying ANY kind of writing insofar as you will actually be putting words down, but having said that, you might just as well try journal writing or personal narrative. Or haiku perhaps, if it’s brevity you have in mind.

But Neil, what if you ARE a novel writer? (And this is a quite different species, really, one that thrives on taking the long view and has the temperament to deal with the years of commitment a novel generally demands). You did say that this is your “end goal.” Why then not begin as you mean to go on - by writing a novel? This, far more than sullenly assailing the short story, will tell you whether or not you are a novel writer.

I know that for myself personally, I had to try novel writing first (and more than once, I might add) before discovering I was definitely a short story writer. But at least I attacked novel writing with enthusiasm, believing at the time that it was what I really wanted to do.

And just a side note on Luke’s comment, “You can create 20 5k stories in the time it takes to create a 100k novel.” Well, maybe YOU can Luke, and that’s great. But for me, a single well-crafted short story can take up to a year to write and edit. Using the math in Luke’s formula it would take me twenty years to write a novel. Now I’m not saying it wouldn’t; I’m just saying math formulas of this type (you know, like, write x number of pages each day and you’ll be this or that within this or that amount of time) have never been helpful to me in discovering the kind of writer I needed to be.

Go with your deepest desire, Neil. Write a novel. Fail. Try again. And again. Keep trying until you find out what it is that satisfactorily complements your need to write. Go Niel, go!

There is some crossover skills when writing short stories to prepare for writing novels, but the notion that the former will ensure you can do that latter better doesn’t necessarily follow.

One thing to be aware of first is that some ideas are only short story appropriate. Second, thinking that writing a short story and then expanding it into a novel doesn’t seem likely to work. Yes, some of the characters and the setting can be carried over, but not not likely the plot. The short story and novel structures are too different.

I’m in agreement then with much that has been posted before I popped in to read and comment. In the end, write short stories if you have an idea worthy of the effort, but if your heart and desire isn’t in it, going straight on to novels insead. Nothing wrong with that.

Also, these stories often involve the characters meeting for the first time or otherwise interacting. For example, “The Home”* tells how Granish met Karina when they were in their teens. In “The Pick,”* Granish and Shylocke have teamed up as bounty hunters (after meeting in “Pursuit”) and track the elusive cat burglar known as “the Pick.” It’s Karina.

*Title still in the works.

Will it confuse readers to have characters who were the main chars in 1st person stories appear in third person stories?