Everything And Nothing: Small But Mighty

Hey everyone!  I've dubbed October the month for short stories and poetry, since I'm on the last leg of getting Everything And Nothing out there for you all.  Today, we're touching on short stories and why you might want to try your hand at writing them.

I was introduced to short stories through, admittedly, writing fanfiction years ago.  Early on in my college career, I took a short stories and poetry class.  Most of the work from that one was published in Everything I Never Said, with a few remnants being published in Everything And Nothing. Short stories are certainly fun to work on, but it takes a little practice to get started.

One thing that stuck with me from my college class: our professor always wanted us to be ambiguous.  He said that, if we're ambiguous or open-ended with our work, we'll appeal to a lot of people.  The intrigue is what makes a story stay with a reader once they've closed the book.  While this isn't always the case - sometimes readers abhor ambiguity and sometimes stories just aren't meant to be ambiguous - it's a good thought to keep in mind.

Short stories are best written with an impactful, emotional punch.  Remember, you don't have nearly the space to elaborate a full-length story, so you have to really pare down your writing to make sure you're only including information that propels the story.  It has to be moving in some way, shape, or form.  The professor for that class once told us that we should try to cut whatever we have written  - the word count, of course - in half.  It's a great way to practice your writing, whether or not you plan on publishing the story.  Being concise is important!

If you'd like to try your hand at short stories, whether for practice or for a future publication, here's a fun resource for you!  I happened upon THIS page awhile ago.