Writing My First Story - Is a Short Story the Way to Go?

[SFScoot]

After decades of procrastinating and needlessly fearing of failure, I began writing my first story. My original intent was to write something short, maybe like 20 to 30 pages. However, I can see this story taking a much longer path.

Is it best for a first-time writer to write a short story and then build towards something that could be considered book-length?

 

[Ihe]

Write the length your story needs to be told well. Don't worry about word count too much in your first draft. You can add/remove once it's complete.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Up to you. I started with a trilogy. Do what your passion is

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I agree with Jo.

You shouldn't fear failure. Making mistakes is how we learn. Just so long as you realize that bringing your work up to the quality you would wish is going to take a lot of time and a lot of work, whether you put that work into writing many, many short stories or a novel or even a trilogy. And since it is going to take a lot of time and effort, you are most likely to stick with it if you write something you feel excited about. That is what is going to keep you going until you're in so deep that your investment in the writing is greater than your fears.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Write what wants to be written. Short stories are an art form of their own, not necessarily a training ground for novels.

 

[Vaz]

This^

Dusty is spot on (or would that be stripes?) Write whatever comes and don't get caught up about the legnth of a piece.

Enjoy the journey. Don't worry about the destination.

v

 

[Venusian Broon]

For the first time writer: The one advantage of writing a short story is that you are more likely to finish it. The longer the project the more you will have to invest to get to the end.

However, I agree with everyone that you should go the distance with what you feel should be the correct length....but I got a much bigger boost in my confidence in actually finishing a project and having something (lots of things, actually - I got quite quick at knocking them out eventually) 'complete'.

Also a lot of my first ideas were 'pants' and it was good to push them out and leave them in the limbo that is my short story phase .

 

[Shorewalker]

The story, and the characters that inhabit it, will tell you how long it needs to be.

At this point, I would also not bother at all with what is 'right' in terms of your progress. The key at this stage is simply to put pen to paper, as it's habit-forming. You'll make many self-discoveries the more words you produce and somewhere down the road, you'll start to refine your craft.

 

[J Riff]

Yes, write something, and don't count the words. Then do a word count, you might be surprised. Sometimes it's more than you thought, or a lot less, an interesting side effect. If your short story runs on, it could finish as a novella, which is cool.

 

[janeoreilly]

I agree with everyone else - the most important thing at this stage is just to sit down, write it, and finish it. Turn the word count off if that helps. Don't worry about publishing or marketability or any of that. Just focus on getting a first draft of the story finished. I think the first thing I ever wrote was 100K but I did that purely to see if I could (and it was absolutely terrible, but it gave me the confidence to keep going). Since then I've written everything from 5K short stories through to 120K novels but regardless of length, getting a complete draft is always the most important thing.

 

[night_wrtr]

Like others have said, just sitting down to write is the best first step. While I agree with the above posts, short stories have helped me tremendously. As @TheDustyZebra mentioned, they are not the same art, but it has allowed me to finish multiple stories. My novel WIP has been in the works for years and I recently tore it all down and restarted with a new draft, so here we go again. This is why I would offer up writing a few shorts as well if you can manage it. It will teach you how to finish, which is a big deal. Beginnings, middles, and by the gods, how to end a story. Endings are my nemesis.

Beyond that, shorts can help with structure and developing a coherent story. It is a more manageable wordcount, which means you could probably read through it more than once in a day, making it easier to spot gaps or inconsistencies. This also helps when looking at character, description and setting. Making sure you have all the pieces of a story as well as building the conflict to tie them together.

 

[tinkerdan]

I echo the sentiments from above: the story can be as long as it wants to be and you should get started and finished before you decide which way you want to go.

Then edit it to the size you decide. And while you're at it start checking grammar, spelling and punctuation.

There is nothing in the process that will take you too far astray; because you need to learn to go through the process diligently every time you write and every time you complete a piece.

For some: short stories can be the most difficult because we often are wordy and have trouble editing the work down to size.

 

[The Big Peat]

While echoing all of the above, if you are still unsure where your passion lies and have a number of ideas of varying length and would welcome help deciding based on practicalities -

I think there's a lot to be said for doing a few short stories as a new writer. You're more likely to finish and get a confidence boost, you can practice beginnings and endings, you're more likely to finish and get to do a close edit. Plus if you've got a lot of ideas and are unsure which to do, the more short stories you do, the more likely you are to hit that idea where you're "Yes! This is the one."