On Short Stories

Hello and welcome to my end-of-month newsletter blog post!

You can read last month’s newsletter here.

Following the very loose pattern I decided to set, these posts are a chance for me to update you on my writing projects and write a few words about something to do with stories.

You can probably guess what I plan to write about from this post’s title. Short stories are near and dear to my heart. I have such a fondness for them, and they often don’t get enough attention in my opinion.

If you haven’t picked up a collection of short stories before, I encourage you to give it a try. Here are a few reasons why:

1. They’re Short

Yes, I realize that’s a bit of a given. But hear me out. Depending on the genre you’re reading, a story is usually anywhere from 50-100k words. Short stories tend to be anywhere from 1-7.5k words. Some are shorter, others are longer, but that’s the general rule. As such, you as a reader, are getting a fully contained, enjoyable story that you can read in half an hour or less. For busy people without a lot of time to spare, the short story is an excellent choice.

2. They’re Complete

I mentioned above that short stories are fully contained. These aren’t excerpts from larger stories (though, sometimes they’re connected to larger stories), they’re able to stand on their own. From start to finish, you get a story that you can be sure will be resolved by the final sentence. There might be some element of mystery, but the conflict should be addressed so readers aren’t left with more questions than answers about what they just read.

3. They’re Packed with Emotion

I’ve read a few short stories that have more emotion packed into them than whole books. I believe this has to do with the brevity of short stories. Storytellers don’t have a lot of time to get readers invested in their characters. They can’t draw out character arcs over several chapters, they have to create that connection between reader and character almost instantly. There’s no better way to do that than by including elements all people can empathize with—whether that’s sadness, humor, anger, or some other emotional theme.

A Final Word

Short stories—and anthologies or collections by multiple authors—are great for so many reasons. I think one that I’m especially fond of is how they can introduce you to storytellers you’ve never read before. I’ve picked up several books by such authors because I enjoyed their short stories and decided I’d like to read more from them.

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The days just seem to fly by! Here’s a quick breakdown of my March:

• Aside from some short story writing and doing some outlining for upcoming projects, I took an extended break from drafting new writing projects. January and February were both super busy, so it was good to have a bit of a breather before I jump back into two new projects in April.
• Edits for the third book in the Rose & Ed series continue, we’re well over halfway through this round of edits! I’m also making progress on edits for A Librarian’s Tale, the third book in my whimsical fantasy series, Tales of Minz. I’m still aiming for a May 2025 release.
• I posted the third short story of the year, and I’ll post another in mid-April. Catch up on past stories here if you’re looking for a good chuckle.
• Expect some more Book Appreciation Posts over on The Reading Corner as well, once I get back to reading more in April.

Until next time,

Al