The Fiction and the Porky Pies

A short story is so much better than a rambling novel that can easily twist back on itself, of which most readers are not involved enough to notice. Novels are invariably skip read, flicked through and used as reading material on the toilet and on trains, buses and planes to pass the time. Short stories never get such short shrift!

Most authors started their careers with a good, clear and concise short story that captivates all who read it. Then one sunny day he/she unfortunately comes to the attention of a publisher who can distinctly hear the cash till go "ku-ching". And that is the start of the end. From a well written and deeply thought about short story emerges a novel that is packed with space fillers and written to the whims and under the pressures of the publisher, who only cares about year-end sales figures!

To read a short story, un-distractable time and silence is essential. To open the first page is to fall into a plot or event that is entwined with intricacy, to read the first page is to have fallen into a never-ending spiral of intrigue that does not end even after the last word has been read. Short stories are talked about afterwards in pubs, over the dinner table or on trains, buses or planes and they are not forgotten willingly.

Anyway, everybody knows that a good novel is in practice just a long short story.

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster at Seadolby.Com