Short stories

[sarillia]

Anyone have any tips for writing short stories that may be different from tips for writing longer forms? I'm much more familiar with novels but I'd like to try to submit some short stories for open calls that look interesting.

Comments

[caecilia]

In addition to what everyone else said, read a lot of short stories. Get some anthologies. There are some free magazines online like dailysciencefiction.com, Nightmare and Lightspeed. There are probably ones for literary fiction too. I'm kind of a visual person so reading short comics before I start writing helps. I think the short story is closer to poetry than to a novel (I think some famous writer said this actually). You don't have room for any filler or sidestories. Everything has to count and there should be a sense of rhythm to it.

Can I ask what open calls you've been considering?

[sarillia]

I definitely should read more short stories. I have some favorites but I haven't read nearly as many as I've read novels.

I'm looking at this one for fairy tale retellings which will be closing soon. And these would be a bit longer than short stories but still definitely not novels, but I'm thinking I can make some of my stories work for Spectrums here. Then there's Storm Moon Press. Be sure to look at all the imprints.