I find the language in short-stories is more precise compared to a novella and especially compared to a long novel. I'm reading a Raymond Carver collection at the moment which I highly recommend.
Absolutely read short stories - always seems that technique is more important when length is reduced (taken to the extreme, like how haiku demands so much meaning in every word, since there's no room for any waste). I actually blogged about short stories a while ago, after Alive Munro won the Nobel for her collections (hang on, let me find it ... ah, here: http://www.simonpclark.com/2013/10/short-stories-are-good-thing.html)
I think some see short stories as somehow inferior to novels, but I'd disagree with that assessment - they're both forms that a good storyteller can learn to master, with time.
Adrian, I get your point about the comparison, but a short story generally has far fewer characters than say a novel (or chapter thereof) and they often don't have a beginning, middle and end, just a middle.
Essentially, good short stories have scant plotting and often little or no character development. Just a sequence of events or maybe a single event, that occurs to a character or characters, thereby changing them and/or their perceptions of something.
Rule 1: There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Except this one.
I like writing short stories because I can develop a single idea and that's useful. I also find flash fiction (depends who you ask, but generally 200-500 words) is a great help for editing and trimming work down.
I find the language in short-stories is more precise compared to a novella and especially compared to a long novel. I'm reading a Raymond Carver collection at the moment which I highly recommend.
Absolutely read short stories - always seems that technique is more important when length is reduced (taken to the extreme, like how haiku demands so much meaning in every word, since there's no room for any waste). I actually blogged about short stories a while ago, after Alive Munro won the Nobel for her collections (hang on, let me find it ... ah, here: http://www.simonpclark.com/2013/10/short-stories-are-good-thing.html)
I think some see short stories as somehow inferior to novels, but I'd disagree with that assessment - they're both forms that a good storyteller can learn to master, with time.
Adrian, I get your point about the comparison, but a short story generally has far fewer characters than say a novel (or chapter thereof) and they often don't have a beginning, middle and end, just a middle.
Essentially, good short stories have scant plotting and often little or no character development. Just a sequence of events or maybe a single event, that occurs to a character or characters, thereby changing them and/or their perceptions of something.
Rule 1: There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Except this one.
I like writing short stories because I can develop a single idea and that's useful. I also find flash fiction (depends who you ask, but generally 200-500 words) is a great help for editing and trimming work down.