Ah, Short Stories
I do love writing short stories, particularly because I can just toss them off relatively quickly and easily. So, probably the best part about them is: there’s a lot less planning to do. A lot!
But what do I, personally, think?
I firmly believe that a novel starts at something like 50,000 words. Although I will be the first to admit that a lot of my thoughts in this area are directly related to participating in NaNoWriMo.
Then it gets a bit trickier.
Novellas
So, evidently a novella is supposed to be somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 words. But where the 40,001 – 40,999 word pieces fit in is anybody’s guess! However, I imagine that it’s a question more of how complete a story is, versus a hard and fast word count. But I’m not 100% sure if I’m right.
And what is interesting (to me, at least) is that this does not seem to take into consideration chapters. But I don’t think short stories (usually) have chapters. Yet I am certain that novellas pretty much always will.
Flash Fiction
So, mainly because I really do not feel like creating yet another category, I am tossing my flash fiction together with the stuff that really belongs here. So apparently, flash is 500 words or fewer.
But if you thought I wasn’t planning my short stuff, well, the flash is really something I do not plan. And of course that much is totally all right.
Themes
So, do these stories really have any themes where you can categorize them in some manner? First of all, there are stories which I wrote for various iterations of The Longest Night Watch. As a result, you’ll see a number of stories where the underlying mood killer is Alzheimer’s disease.
Yet for other anthologies, there may be an LGBTQ+ element. In addition, there may be a cancer element for others.
But then there are those which I just plain wrote. Also, if you think you’re seeing some repetition, you’re not mistaken. Because I will be the first to admit that, sometimes, I just didn’t have gas in the tank.
So, I ended up cribbing from myself, heh.
But here are a few themes.
Personal Tragedy
For stories like Jared’s World Turned Upside Down or Mandy Goes to Aspen, the underlying elements are loss—lots of loss. With Jared, it’s the last day of his mother’s life. But with Mandy, it’s the big earthquake, which topples California into the Pacific.
Fatima’s Minnesota Wish is another such personal tragedy. Gentrification is, too.
Living With Aliens
I love the idea of human-alien romance, so I just had to write about it. The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque is one such tale. Another is the combination of Disaster With Place Cards and Designer Maroon (those will likely be combined one of these days).
But I also like the idea of alien children among us. This is My Child, Almost Shipwrecked, and The Student all reflect that.
History
Just like in The Real Hub of the Universe, I like a little history with my fiction. Stories like Aenor the Wanted, Vive André, and Saddle Up, Bank Teller! take the reader to another time, another place.
But speaking of time…
Time Travel
As I was writing the 2020 short stories, a character named Sharon Ensley caught hold of my mind and would not let go. So, she stars in 1960s Temporal Crimes (from 2023) and A Chance Encounter in Time.
She may or may not be the heroine of Front, Back, and Side Pages (even I don’t know yet).
School Daze
I tend to put students into difficult situations, and the theme of years of testing came up a few times. Testing, 1,2, Forever… and The Test reflect this (no surprise there, I suppose). But so does The Guitarist.
Prison Escapes
I am a big fan of World War II escape films, so it’s no wonder that they would sometimes be my go-to for a short story plot. Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan and Breakout… And Then What? are in this vein.
The Present Time
The Wine, the Music, and the Injury, and Julie’s Dollar are both from right now, more or less.
Post-Apocalypse
Not surprisingly, Alix’s Apocalypse, plus And the Band Played the Apocalypse are both in this group.
Of course, there are other little subcategories. I’m sure I’ll find them once I start really rereading these.
The Daily Prompt Short Stories
In 2020, I made an effort to write every single day. I took the alphabet and pulled a single prompt word out of thin air. The truth is, all the word had to do was start with the correct letter.
Then, once the 26 letters were out there, I had two choices. One was to just start over again. I did that after the last day of a quarter, no matter what.
But the other thing I would do was write chapters for them. As a result, I have a number of multiple chapter works.
But are they good enough to go to a publisher or an agent?
Eh, maybe. But more likely, I will cannibalize them for something longer.
The same is true for daily prompt stories from 2023, although I almost always took the daily prompts and turned them into novella chapters. Also, there are some short stories on the list from 2020 that should probably be combined into novellas.
As for 2024, I didn’t follow the alphabet much. So, for the most part, I just wrote what I wanted to.
For 2021 and 2023, I mainly spent the last quarter on NaNo. But in 2024, I spent part of the last quarter on 30Day50k. And I spent the last weeks on finishing some older stuff.
And don’t get me started on the stuff I never really finished. So, should I take the plunge and complete them? Or just leave ’em hangin’? I think, if I am going to write a blog post about them, then eventually I will have to bite the bullet and finish them. Or kill them with fire.
At this point in time, hell if I know. Yet. But the more promising ones? I will probably finish those.
Short Stories Are the Short Trips
I think if you can view creativity as a car, then the short hops are right here. The novels, of course, are the lengthy trips.
Novellas are somewhere in between, like when you drive for a few hours and hang around somewhere (like a beach, maybe) but you don’t stay overnight. Flash, I would say, is the really short hops. So, those are kind of like running errands.
But what’s the gas in the tank?
So, it’s imagination. Prompts. Also 30Day50k, God love it. Observations. Plus all the other things which just push me to write.
At last, it’s time to turn the key.
Want More of my Short Stories?
If my short stories resonate with you, then check out my other articles about everything from a job interview for a role hunting demons to the rambling mind of an Alzheimer’s patient who thinks the care home is evidence she’s been abducted by aliens.
Short Stories ~ Reviews (A-C)
So it’s true, I do seem to start a lot of stories with A or An, eh?
• 1960s Temporal Crimes
† A Celebration
• A Chance Encounter in Time
† A Crime in Time
• A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults
† A Hot Time in the Alien Town
• A Kitten
† A Life in Maps
• A Path Not Taken … Much
† A Place
† A School for Scavengers
• A Show for the Galaxy
† A Touch of Gray Hair
• A Trip
† A True Believer in Skepticism
• A Tumble in a Tomb
† Aenor the Wanted
• African Escape|
† Alien Allies
• Alien Justice
† Alix’s Apocalypse
• All My Aliens
† Almost Shipwrecked
• AM/FM Ghosts
† And the Band Played the Apocalypse
• And the Horse You Rode in On
† … And the Walls Came Tumbling Down Again
• Appealing
† Art Has All Sorts of Effects
And then…
• Babel 2.0
† Back, Front, and Side Pages
• Beacon: A Light Shines in Gloucester
† Beauty is Only Earth Deep
† Bet on Marnie {Enigman Cave prequel}
• Beware
† The Bleeper
• Blue Card
† The Boy in the Band
• Breakout… and Then What?
† The Bride
• Brown Eyes are the Law
† Building Trust
• Buzz
also, these…
† Camp
• Canada Saves the World
• Canaries
† Candy
• Captive
† Caring for Carole
• Carney Crash Canyon
† The Cause
• Cave Canem and Cave
† Chains
• Chip
† Clay
• Coincidence
† Color and War
• Complications
† Coping
• Courage
† Courier to the Soviets
• The Court
† The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque
• The Crossing
† Cultural Exchange
• Cynthia
Short Story Reviews (D-G)
So, here’s another group.
† Darkness into Light
• Daybreak
† Designer Maroon
• Dinosaurs
† Disaster with Place Cards
• The Dish
† Dominick and Angela
• Dragon for sale, cheap
† The Dust Between Our Stars {Obolonk prequel}
• The East Side of the Universe {Real Hub Prequel}
† Easy
• Eight Nights
† Enchantment Street
• The End
† The Escape Violinist
• Examination
And then…
† Failure
• Fatima’s Minnesota Wish
† Feathers
• The Field Gleaner
† First Real Job
• Flooding
† The Forest
• Fragments
† Freedom
• Freedom of Choice
† Freshly Baked Bread
• Frozen Assets
† Frozen Fortress
† The Future Has No Foundation
And then…
• Gentrification
† Getting Over It
• Glad All Over the Galaxy
† Glass
• The Great Cleanup
† Guilty of Imperfection
• The Guitarist
† Guinea Pigs
Short Stories ~ Reviews (H-L)
Also, this smaller bunch.
• Halfway
† Handle
• The Hermit
† Hot Mess
• How Much?
† I Hate Promises
• I Trade this For My Life
… also
† I Used to be Cruel
• I Used to be Happy
† I’d Rather Have Plastic
• The Ides of the Secretarial Pool
† Impromptu Memorial
• In the Direction of Prejudice
† Interstellar Adoption
• The Interview
† Intolerable Behavior
• The Invaders
† Inventory
• It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere
Also, these…
† Jared’s World Turned Upside Down
• Jealousy
† Julie’s Dollar
• The Jungle
† Jurisdiction
• Just Married
† Justice
• Kelvin 505.928
† Killing Us Softly
• King Me
† The Landing
• The Lark
and then…
† The Last Patient
• The Law
† Leave Your Tone at the Message
• Leedie and the Shine
† Legendary
• The Little Farm
† The Lost Luggage of Time
• Loud
Short Stories ~ Reviews (M-O)
So, these are stories only starting with these three letters, but I certainly used them a lot!
† Make a Wish
• Mandy Goes to Aspen
† Marked
• Martin’s Choice
† Medals
• The Meeting
† Merciful
• The Messenger
† The Metuchen Mystery
• Mike’s Grades
† Mina’s Mission
• Miss Milky Way
† Modern Sonnet
• Money Changes Everything
† My Heroes
• The Myth of the Last Try
† Mythic
Also these…
• Naturalization
† Neighborly
• Never
† No Trip to Jupiter
• None of This is Real
† Nothing Good Ever Happens at 3 AM
• Nuremberg Redux
† Odessa
• Oh Little Town
† The Other
• Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan
† The Outside World
Short Story Reviews (P-R)
Also, this smaller grouping.
• The Panther
† The Path
• Peddler
† Personal Magic
• Pixies
† Placid
• The Playback
† Prom Night Was Never Like This
• Props
† Protection
And then these…
• Quack
† Quarrel
• Quartz
† Rage
• Recovery
† Rescued
• The Resurrection of Ditte
† The Ridge
• Rivalry
† Roommates
Short Stories ~ Reviews (S only)
So as you might imagine, there are a lot of short stories starting with the letter S.
• Saddle Up, Bank Teller!
† Sarah’s Invention
• Save Me
† Scavenger Hunt at Lanterman’s Mill
• Scratches
† The Seed
• Separated
† Shadow Puppets
• Shadows
† The Shimmering Wasteland
• Short, Sharp
† Side by Side
• Skating
† Small Acts of Defiance
• Snowy Allston
† Snub
• So Long
† Soul Rentals ‘R’ Us
• Soup
† Space Con
• Standards
† The Star
• Stellar Stowaway
† The Student
• Succession
† Sunshine
• Surprises
† Suspension of Disbelief
Short Stories ~ Reviews (T-Z)
Finally, the last bunch.
• Taste
† The Test
• Testing… 1, 2, Forever
† That’s Alien Entertainment!
• There is a Road
† They Must Be Angels… or Not…
• This is My Child
† Three Minutes Back in Time
• Time Stretching
† Treasures
• Truth in Advertising
† Turkeys
• Underfoot
† Unexpected Help
• The Unexpected Phenom
† Uninformed
• Verity
† The Village’s Death, and its Rebirth
• Vive André
Also these…
† Water
• Weeding
† What Did You Do in the War?
• What’s Your Story?
† The Wine, the Music, and the Injury
• The Witness
† Who Do We Blame for This?
• Wicked Ways
† Wilder Bloom
• Will’s Dog
† Worthy
Finally, these last few letters…
• You Never Know
† You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It
• Your Call is Very Important to Us
† Your Planet Smells Like Wet Dog
• Zeugma