Just as I noted that there’s a difference between blogging and writing a novel, there’s also a distinct difference between writing a short story and a novel. Both are far more involved than blogging, but each involves a different skillset.
Novels are meant to be engrossing. Much like a drive along a coastal highway,
sometimes the view is the point.
Although needing to be on point, novels can be more circuitous. This allows for greater character development
and more suspense as the plot develops.
Short stories, on the other hand, are like going to the
grocery store – you want to get there and back as quickly as possible. Readers don’t expect to get caught up for
days or weeks in the world created. The
world is considered mostly in place, and the story is augmented by the action
or characters. It’s kind of
in-your-face, and it rarely allows for folks to get fully engrossed. Writers must be much more precise.
Great writers can, of course, do both well, but that’s not
to say that a writer who is good at one is necessarily the master of the
other. Like any part of writing, it
takes practice to figure out each one, and that practice should be solely
devoted to that task at that time.
Trying to multi-task will lead to a half-assed attempt that will be lacking,
and the audience will notice.
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