Top 10 reasons why you should write 25 short stories before you write a novel

Ed Hoch passed away on January 17th at the age of 77. For those who don’t recognize his name, Ed was one of the pre-eminent short story writers of all time. He wrote close to 1,000 short stories, most of them in the puzzle mystery genre. For over 35 years, he had at least one story in every issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. He was certainly one of only a handful of authors in recent years able to make a living strictly by selling short stories. Those who knew him found him to be a very kind, likable man. Having spoken to him briefly and seen him on panels at mystery conventions, I would add that he was quite informative as well.

I speak to a lot of aspiring writers, and I find that a majority of them want to write a novel (or are already writing one). In Ed’s honor, I thought I’d list my top ten reasons why short stories are a better choice - especially for a new writer.

10. Writing a novel can take a year or more. A short story can be written in a short time - a month, a week, maybe even a day. You can write a lot of short stories in the time it would take to write a novel.

9. The most important part of any great novel or short story is the characters. When you write a novel, you’re stuck a long, long time with a few characters. You may find you don’t like them. Or you may find they don’t work well for you. If you write short stories, you can invent new characters for every story. You can try a lot of different kinds of people. Or aliens, animals, even rocks that talk…

8. Every story and every novel need great openings. When you write a novel, you get one opening. You might end up rewriting your opening fifty times, and then throw it out in the end. When you write short stories, you can try a variety of different kinds of openings and see what you like and don’t like.

7. When you write a novel, you get one plot-line. If it doesn’t work, too bad. When you write a number of short stories, you can try a variety of different genres, different kinds of plots, and different resolutions.

6. If a short story isn’t working, you can just toss it into the trash without feeling you’ve wasted too much time and energy. If a novel isn’t working, it’s a lot of investment to throw away.

5. A short story can later grow into a novel if you find you really like the characters and see that the plot could grow. You might even use the original short story as a scene or chapter in your book.

5. Most people write to say something they feel is of importance, whether it’s about their faith, saving the environment, or encouraging everyone to practice safe sex. Because new writers often don’t know how to send a message without having it take over, some novels become very little more than propaganda. Writing a number of short stories, each with a tiny aspect of your message, will not only help you learn how to include a message in an acceptable way, but also help you find markets for your work and readers with similar interests.

4. Some people are natural short story writers. They have tons of ideas, like to work quickly and finish things up, and don’t have the patience to spend a lot of time on one thing. You can read what Ed said about why he wrote short stories here. On the flip side, some novels are really short stories with a whole lot of unnecessary padding. Better to learn how to trim and streamline than how to add unnecessary verbiage.

3. Unless you’re really, really famous, more people will read a short story in a magazine or on an internet site than will ever read your novel.

2. Writing a novel before you’ve written some short stories is like marrying the first person you date. Usually, it’s better to meet a few people before you make a commitment. Writing a number of short stories in a variety of genres will help you hone in on both what you enjoy and what you write best.

1. It’s possible to spend a great deal of time and energy writing a novel without learning a great deal about the craft of writing. Time and effort alone don’t equate with gaining skill.

God told me to write a book!

What you choose to write is, of course, between you and God. But one of the biggest mistakes I see new writers making is thinking that whatever is on their heart absolutely must be published as a book, and the sooner the better.

This is problematic for several reasons.

The main difficulty is that if you have little or no writing experience, you may simply not be ready to write the book yet. While there are a few people who’ve produced something really good on their first attempt, developing excellent writing skills normally involves a learning process. I’ve seen quite a few books and other things that “God told” someone to write that were - well, let’s just say they weren’t ready to be published and leave it at that.

Think about it. If I believe God is telling me to become a school teacher, I can’t just start walk into a classroom and start teaching - I have to first go to university and get a teaching degree of some sort. Or I may believe I should become a doctor, and I can just see myself helping people. But first, I have to go to medical school and then do an internship and a residency…

Writing a book is actually a very complicated undertaking; one that involves not only writing ability, but also organizational skills, knowledge of the market, understanding of the publishing industry, and the ability to promote oneself effectively.

So, while your ultimate goal may be to write a book, it’s a great idea to kickstart the process by joining writers’ organizations, reading books and blogs about writing, and then writing some short articles or stories on the topics that interest you. Ideally, you should have those articles critiqued, first by your peers and then by experts. Then send them out to editors of appropraite publications. As you do all this, you are slowly working yourself up to writing that book. Kind of like getting a degree.

Not only that, but creating articles out of some of the ideas for the book and selling them will actually make book editors more interested in you. And the articles can possibly be used later as chapters for your book.

The main thing is that you take your time and do a good job and not rush something into print that simply isn’t ready yet. Yes, there are all kinds of companies out there ready and willing to take your words and produce a book with your name on it. But after the initial burst of excitement, reality usually sets in, and you realize you’re in over your head. There are always people offering get rich quick schemes, too - but I hope you wouldn’t use them either.

There’s a second reason why you shouldn’t rush to write that book - I’ll talk about it tomorrow.

You can’t write in a vaccuum

I think the most difficult thing for me over my years of trying to become a writer has been having to deal with people. If I could only just write what’s in my heart and then give it away to all those who need it, life would be so much easier…

My very first meeting with a “real” editor was in a 15-minute appointment at a writing conference in 1979. It was so devastating that if I hadn’t previously booked another appointment with a second editor immediately after, I doubt if I’d have ever found the courage to talk to an editor again.

That first editor ripped into me for not knowing what I was doing, not having a concrete proposal ready, and not making good use of my time with her. I was clueless, true, but it was my first time at a conference, and I don’t think she had any reason to treat me the way she did. Fortunately, the second editor I talked to was Leslie Keylock, and he was wonderful. Restored my faith that there are some nice people out there - some even disguised as editors.

Time went by and I got a book contract. I was sailing. Until I began having problems with my editor over the sequel. I went to a conference where the editor was teaching a workshop on how to write fiction, thinking it would help me understand where he was coming from. In the course of the workshop, someone asked him if a woman could write from a male viewpoint. He said no. (Yes, that’s what I was doing - and doing very well, I might add. And I know many other women who do the same thing.) It was pretty clear to me there was a problem.

Then, in the middle of the workshop, he used an example of something a stupid beginner might do that you should never do. And guess what? It came from a proposal for an adult book that I had sent him. No, he didn’t use my name, so no one else knew it was mine. And he did apologize to me at lunch time after it dawned on him that it was my proposal.

You may be asking what terrible thing I had done? I had written a prologue in first person and then switched to 3rd person for the book. Yeah, I know. It’s done all the time now. I also used overture, first movement, etc. instead of prologue, first part. He implied that that was dumb. I’ve since seen that in several books.

What am I trying to say here? I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me. All this happened quite a few years ago. I’ve been over it for a good long time. I’m telling you about it to make the point that sometimes - okay, often - life isn’t fair. There will be people - editors, other writers, press agents, even family members - who will put you down or belittle you or become road blocks in your path. But that’s no reason to give up.

Writing isn’t a solitary occupation. You need people - to support you, teach you, and read what you write.

If you dream of being a writer, don’t let a few negative people stop you.