Don't get me wrong. I don't have any problem with the novel, even if it is an epic extending over five generations of family history, several wars, countless tragedies and countless hundreds of pages of print. It worked for Tolkien, Tolstoy and numerous others spinners of lengthy yarns.
Personally, am quite hopelessly ADD (not that there's anything wrong with that) and that precludes me reading, never mind writing such tomes.
My big brother encouraged me to read the Hobbit when I was young. I lasted about four pages.
Now imagine having to keep track of every detail in a book spanning several hundred pages. I for one would lose track by the time I wrote page 15.
But the short story is like a perfect visit with relatives, in and out in 30 minutes. Everything you need; action, humour, drama, joy, heartbreak is laid out frugally so the reader can move on to the next adventure without having to scroll back and find out who that character they swear they've never heard of is.
When i write a short story, i don't plan it's length. I just write until i see I either paint myself into a corner and need to abort, or i am pretty sure i am pretty sure the reader has been satisfied with the journey.
I am often told that i should add on, continue the story. Usually I decline, because that's as far as I can take this boat load of characters. We're at the shore and it's time to disembark. Often i leave my readers hanging a bit, but I'm convinced in every case, their imagination will carry them the rest of the way.
So, long live the heavy weight novel, it has it's place on the bookshelves of literature.
But let's praise the short story for it's ability to take the reader from here to there and back again, but at warp speed.
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