Start with Short Stories?

Recently, someone asked online: "Would it help an aspiring novelist to start with writing short stories?" My answer is yes and no. Short story writing can help in some ways but in other it may not, it may even hinder novel writing.

Advantages of Short Story Writing

Short stories have a number of elements which they may help a novelist. This includes practicing to write concisely and practicing to write different genres, character types, settings, etc. Short stories can assist with writing in general such as how to describe emotions and actions within different scenarios with different characters.

Disadvantages of Short Stories

Writing short stories is its own entity. Novels are not short, short stories are not long. Novel writing includes detailed setting creation (especially in the case of fantasy writing), drawn out plots and sub plots, well-formed characters with strong motives, personalities, and background stories. When writing short stories you may not have the available word count to permit for such detail and instead are required to 'cut to the chase'. Writing short stories may actually hinder in your ability to write novels as you may find it difficult to compose longer pieces and invent plots which are not predictable or which contain multiple sub plots and concepts.

I recommend to any aspiring novelist to write what their heart desires. If their ideas transform into short stories or novels it doesn't matter. Short stories can also be a selling point for novelists trying to sell their work since they take less commitment from a reader. There is no quick way to learn how to become a novelist, it comes with practice, and the best way to practice novel writing is to write novels.

Scarlett Van Dijk

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