what makes a good short story?
Tue, 2015-12-22 11:34
#1
what makes a good short story?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/20/the-tennis-church-sophie-ha...
Obviously there are no right or wrong answers. Just interested. What are your thoughts? I've offered the example from above because I read it and it's in the public domain.
The million quid question and a good one. I see this at two levels - as a reader and writer. Can't separate the two and that's because I am in the early stages of learning about fiction. Can't make the two meet although they do. A good short smashes up the emotions with humour or some other vital thing. It sticks in your head, haunts you, you re read it until you know full sentences. Imagery needs to make me surprised, give a nod. Trust. In the shape and structure. Original or it sucks. Detail imperative. Technically, I don't care about a story if it has wooden dialogue, complex plot. Oh god knows. I need to write more to answer this with any competence. Ha. Do you like the short example, Celt?
I thought the story was ok-ish. The kind of thing I wouldn't mind reading if I was waiting to go into the dentists. It didn't have that WOW factor. I guess a short should leave you feeling a better (or worse) person. And I didn't like the way half way through the story we find the narrator is a cop through a sleepy-headed phone call. It came out of nowhere, which if it's a word or image is a good thing, but as a plot device emmmm.