Short Stories

Short stories and I have a quintessential love/hate relationship. On one hand, short stories seem to be the only writing projects I can ever finish. However, short stories require--in my opinion--the most masterfully crafted plots of any kind of writing. And my plots are neither masterful or crafted. My "short" stories turn into the plot of a 500-page epic crammed into 10 pages. As a grossly verbose writer with mind that thinks in massive categories, I find that most short stories turn into torture sessions.

I bear full admiration for those capable of crafting an ingenious short story plot. And every author of short stories has a sort of trademark. O'Henry always twists his story around for a surprise ending. Hemingway can make a thought-provoking moment out of an almost non-existent plot. Bradbury tends to beat readers over the head with the "moral of the story", but can make up for it all simply by his wonderous prose style. Reading all of these authors truly inspires me to take another shot at the short story, until I start searching my brain for a plot and find either too much or not enough but never the "just right".

This month I have an opportunity to practice with the Patrick Henry College homeschool short story contest. Participants are given only a theme--"Joy in Pain"--and a fairly gentle word limit. After a week of wracking my brain and alternately being inspired/discouraged by reading as much great short fiction as I can find, I think I finally have the glimmerings of a plot idea. So this afternoon I plan to try my hand at one of the most difficult types of writing out there. Perhaps after I finish, I'll share my attempt here to see what anyone thinks.

By the way, pretty soon I'll be updating my Media Corner with some Christmas themes (yay!). Late November, and all of December make up my absolute favorite time of the year. However, it has thus far stubborly refused to snow a flake in our part of Colorado, which I find extremely depressing...