Tor opening for short fiction 1st October

If I had anything done that I thought was worthy, I would submit something but I don't at this time. Crazy payment too. I bet that is a tough market to crack.
 
Oooh, I have to keep an eye on this. I'm sure I have a few things around 5k I can go over again.

I think I must have done my maths wrong somehow though... 5000 words at 25p/word I make out to over a grando_O
 
Well, now. Poor little Teardrops, shoved to the side again. I've been thinking of writing the fuller story of my shrinky-killing maddo from the 300...

And I have a few ideas that I've been thinking of guest posting with.

Nice. Cheers, Kerry. :)
 
A 17.5k word limit? That's barely a chapter! I don't get out of bed for less than 100,000 words...:)

On a serious note though: I know a lot of writers work on short stories for various reasons, whether it be for fun, building a name through magazine publications, and probably plenty of other reasons. I've never been a great fan of short stories as a reader, and as a writer I just haven't had the enthusiasm for them. So I was wondering: is there anyone else out there who writes only full-length novels? Or am I something of a curiosity?
 
In general i never used to write them, then wrote a lot of shorts for my uni course I've just finished. But recently I've started thinking more about my projects, my ideas and sparks of inspiration, and it turns out a lot of my ideas for novels are only big enough for short or novella, so the short answer is I write what the story until it tells me it's fully grown, whether that is 1k or 100k... Even some of my challenge entries are complete in my mind with no desire to expand or transpose.
 
Gonk the Insane said:
A 17.5k word limit? That's barely a chapter! I don't get out of bed for less than 100,000 words...:)
Click to expand...

I used to think like that too, but recently for me, expanding into shorts (watch that waistline!) has proved a much better and more efficient way of improving technique, allowing new ideas to germinate and generally get better, than slaving over a hot epic for months on end.

There's always still room for the big stuff though, natch :)

EDIT: I couldn't see a closing date for submissions - did you see anything, @Kerrybuchanan ?
I'm assuming it's at least a month?
 
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Gonk the Insane said:
So I was wondering: is there anyone else out there who writes only full-length novels? Or am I something of a curiosity?
Click to expand...
I think shorts are a different skill set. Perhaps need different talent.
I enjoy a good clever short story and good anthologies. But prefer reading novels. Writing a short for me too much conjurers up school, I've written a few and decided I'd rather put the effort to Novellas and Novels.I've been asked why I don't enter the Workshop Challenges. Now you know.

The Classic SF & F authors often did shorts and cut their teeth on them because from 1930s to early 1950s it was easier to make some money from magazines etc than get published. I don't think that's true now. So many famous novels from Victorian Era till 1950s started as shorts and serials.
 
I write both and think the skills are pretty much the same - structure, clarity, great characters, a plot that interests. In fact, writing shorts, Inc flash fiction, is a great way to hone the writing skills (especially tight editing) for novels.

Edit - also , whilst pay is low, they are great for enhancing visibility. Being listed in Ellen Datlow's 2015 recs brings me (and the publisher - tickety boo) great recognition that I'd struggle to get elsewhere.
 
I couldn't see a closing date either. I assume they'll announce it after they open for submissions.

I agree with Jo that the same skills sets are used, but I think the two don't completely overlap. Writing a full scale novel requires deeper world-building and sub plots, all woven through with potentially a bigger cast of characters. It also needs serious stamina and determination.

When I'm feeling tired and low, I dive into short stories as a way to keep the head of story-steam from blowing, without the sustained concentration and commitment required for my novel.
 
Jo Zebedee said:
I write both and think the skills are pretty much the same
Click to expand...
Maybe your skills let you do both equally, I don't know, only having read one novel by you.

Excellent short stories (not short Novellas) are not the same species at all as novels. Lots of successful authors have said so, also so did the writing classes nearly 20 years ago.
 
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Perhaps you need to stretch your belief muscles a little. :) Don't you think the same skills are there, but scaled up in the novel form? Or you could say, the same skills are there but condensed in the short story form. :whistle:

Advice I was given recently by an acquaintance who is a professional editor (not someone on this site), was to practice short stories as much as I can, and try to get them published in respected places, because when I then submit my novel(s) they will be treated with more respect. I think that's good advice.
 
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Can we agree that writing shorts and longer work mightn't be the same experience for everyone, and leave it there? I don't want to be a spoil sport, but as soon as it looks like we're questioning what people say about themselves, it all starts getting messy and confused.
 
I love short stories; I get more excited when Stephen King releases a new anthology than I do when he releases a blockbuster novel. I also write lots and lots of short stories.

Shorts often have a lovely emotional return that leaves you with a sense of bittersweet melancholy, and short stories are far more permissive when it comes to open or interpreted endings. There's a beautiful one called All That You Love Will Be Carried Away where a traveling salesman who copies restroom graffiti into a little black book is contemplating suicide at a wintery windswept service station. He bases his decision on where the little notebook lands when he tosses it into a field next to the service station. It's hauntingly simple, unresolved and beautiful. You can be haunted and moved by novels but in a different, less melancholic way, I think. I try my hardest to impart that emotion into any challenge story I write.

At the moment I have two I could submit to this, so if they reject one, I'm going to send the other. :D

pH
 
I also love writing short stories, and that is what I primarily do, with a splattering of work on my book/s. Different strokes for different folks :)

And good luck Phyre!
 
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