Biggest Differences Between Writing Short Fiction and Long Fiction - Jonathan Blum

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In this Film Courage video interview Author and Instructor Jonathan Blum, discusses the structure of short stories compared to longer forms of storytelling like novels or novellas. In short stories, writers must make choices early on and convey essential information quickly. They need to create urgency from the beginning, firing the reader's imagination and setting up high-stakes questions. Jonathan emphasizes the importance of showing character traits and actions
Jonathan Blum grew up in Miami and graduated from UCLA and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He is the author of two books of fiction: The Usual Uncertainties (Rescue Press, 2019), a story collection, and Last Word (Rescue Press, 2013), a novella. Both were named one of the best books of the year by Iowa Public Radio, and The Usual Uncertainties was named one of the 15 Best Short Story Collections of 2019 by Electric Literature. Blum has twice appeared on KCRW's Bookworm. His short stories have been published in Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, Northwest Review, Playboy, and Shanxi Literature, among others. His short story, "The White Spot," which was published in Electric Literature with an introduction by Deborah Eisenberg, appears in the award-winning anthology The Best Peace Fiction (University of New Mexico Press, 2021). He has taught fiction writing at The University of Iowa, Drew University, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and is the recipient of a Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award, a Hawthornden Fellowship in Scotland, and a grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. He has also been a guest writer at the Tianjin Binhai New Area International Writing Program in China. He lives in Los Angeles.
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You may also like our previous video with Jonathan Blum - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZ_SY6ikaaqfn80

[@jamarwashington6419]

I find short stories to be easier because people are more forgiving about what it doesnt tell you as long as it does something. All you really need is a thorough introduction of the situation youre setting up, then feed the build up to the great plot of the scene & deliver that final scene. Boom, youre done whether you grant closure or not, long as the scene felt satisfying with meaningful plot. People will have questions but theyll understand why they werent answered as long as the outcome justifies them sitting through the scene. Long stories however can butter a person up for absolutely nothing & cause them to hate the time they invested as they hoped for many somethings that you never delivered while supplying all the setups as though you would. Even worst is if you leave them with questions you couldve answered within the extended time but chose not to deliver as you invested that time revealing mundane information they thought would come into play(but didnt). You give them so much more to judge & thus you must be that much more aware of your work. A single good scene at the end may not be enough for them to grade your work well(when that couldve just been a short story without all the fluff). Its not unlike how the 80s upward would have one hit wonder music artists who gave you a great single to push an entire album that is no where near as good as that one song causing them to resent buying the album & question if theyd support future work from them. That single was easier to sell & satisfy than the album not unlike short stories. They dont have to be that short neither....45 minutes is half a film but plenty of time for meaningful scenes & a satisfying plot without the junk.

[@5Gburn]

Great point about drawing out the story yet not delivering on the promise of the story. I wouldn't say short stories are easier, necessarily, though. The "thread count" has to be much more tightly woven. I've read short stories where 1/3 could've been cut out without missing any of the meaning/effect.

[@petergreen5337]

Well said and well REASONED.

[@eugenetswong]

I agree with you, and mostly with 5Gburn. When I critiqued a novel, it was painful to read, because the story kept telling about so many tiny details. It was at that time, that I came up with the advice to not describe the screws in a door knob. In other words, authors need to focus on the task at hand. If we are writing about Cinderella at the ball, then don't give us the backstory to how the door knob screws were manufactured in a foreign country by underpaid serfs.

[@DaltonKevinM]

I seem to be the unicorn in the corral. Short stories are effortless for me, but as soon as I go for length it all falls apart.

[@charlessmyth]

A short work is complete when it successfully conveys at least one emotional effect. A longer work has the potential, within its scope and range, to successfully convey more than one emotional effect. A major problem is that many longer works are not sound as a short work and are too often an attempt to stretch out a short work in the hope that something will stick.

[@shantytroyano5597]

1:51 Here, the phrase "Start fast, start strong" applies.

[@4EverILoveHalloween]

I think writing short fiction is a lot harder than writing long fiction because there's only so much you can do when it comes to rules of a specific word count to be considered short fiction. However, with long fiction one would have a lot more room with ease, without necessarily worrying about going over the word count. That's my only deal with short fiction.

[@jmacosta]

She was describing Bruce Wayne haha

[@subramanianramamoorthy3413]

He could be shown as Chief officer who achieves very high profit individually. So no one can question him. He is above all. All are scared of him But heends up in Jail for violating laws and making huge profits, like that

[@charlessmyth]

An important consideration for when a fiction, short or long, contains many major characters, is for the reader to not be hugely more aware of the details that apply to the characters than the characters of the fiction, or that aspect of dramatic irony, may -- for the reader -- contradict the actions and motivations that apply to the characters of the fiction and blow up the sense of versimitude of the story world and possibly the entire premise of the story. A case in point -- for me, of last weekend -- is Thunder Point, a fast-paced mystery, action, suspense, thriller, by Jack Higgins that I read half way through, and then terminated the read -- What are these clods doing this for ?? :-)

[@filmcourage]

Can you think of a 6-word novel?

[@MaxAbramson3]

That's barely a short logline. 6?

[@5Gburn]

I wrote this before now: "No. No, I don't want to."

[@jmacosta]

@@5GburnMuch short, such deep.

[@MaxAbramson3]

Sailing board midnight. Sicilian makes midnight run. 7 words seems to be the practical minimum.

[@grizzly228]

Killing them? Easy. The guilt? Eternal.