Thursday, January 29, 2009

Shorties!

Short stories are, in my opinion, an extremely underrated genre. They are quick to read when one does not have much time, generally have interesting plots, and tend to be quite philosophical and/or thought-provoking. A lot of action is squeezed into a small space- as a result, plots are usually fast-paced and don't lag. As an added bonus, short stories are often combined into one bigger book, along with other stories about similar topics. They are, in short (no pun intended) the instant gratification of the literary world.

What do you think about short stories? Are they fun to read, or do the ideas tend to be underdeveloped? How does reading short stories compare to reading novels? Any thoughts on writing short stories? Or any good ones you might have read?

Shortly yours,
Tay

4 comments:

Rickart said...

Ray Bradbury... you should read the collection called The Martian Chronicles (short stories that tell a larger story as well as a little tale) and a short story called The Fog Horn--My all time favorite short story!

Melia said...

I love short stories because I have a short attention span. I feel the same way about magazine articles and blog posts. Good ones drop you right in the middle of the action.

Love the blog. Well written and insightful. I'm adding you to my Google Reader now. :)

Anonymous said...

I prefer novels, personally. The plot and characters are more well-developed, and I enjoy it more:)

Trina said...

i prefer novels. i like toget get to know the characters pretty well, and that doesn't realy happen in short stories. also, i love rich, detailed plots with many sub-plots (harry potter, anyone?) which are completely unfeasible in short stories. my opinion is probably biased, though, because the majority of my short story experience has been in english class, and i can't say i exactly like my english teachers' taste. i prefer poetry.