After reading several short stories in English 237, I’ve started to really admire and respect short story writers. Writers like Hemingway, Updike, and Bausch are able to put so much information into a mere three pages. The defining characteristic of writing good short stories is being able to vividly, yet concisely, tell a story. After writing the first assignment on “searching for something lost”, I’ve discovered that that will be my biggest challenge in this class. I am not used to developing a plot in a few pages; I can’t seem to breathe life into my characters through only a few paragraphs. Also, from this initial assignment, I realized that short stories take a lot more planning than do long novels. Usually, the stories I like to write are of great length, so I can usually work on the plot and tweak it as I go. Oftentimes, the plot unravels itself as I am writing it; everything falls into place naturally. The best ideas I have are while I am writing, and the ideas usually blend in seamlessly to the rest of the story. However, with short stories, the plot is often extremely neat and trim, and superfluous details aren’t allowed. Thus, I am forced to plan out everything in advance—so that all the pieces of the puzzle fit together cohesively. With this procedure, I am not quite accustomed. Nevertheless, I have faith that I will improve through reading, analyzing, and writing practice short stories.
As a writer, I have a strong predilection for reading and writing stories that thoroughly develops a character, and I hope that I will be able to work this style into my short stories also. I am thinking of borrowing Elizabeth Strout’s structure in Olive Kitteridge—creating a novel by adjoining several short stories. This would allow the reader to really identify with, relate to, and feel for the characters in my story—and this, to me, will be extremely satisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment