I know that most (If any) literary agents will not represent short stories. Usually, short stories are limited to blog posts and, if the author is really lucky, they may end up in a magazine or in a book full of other short stories. Some people won’t consider a short story a true book.

I showed a coworker of mine at the lodge, who was curious about my writing style, my short story Eve and Adam. He absolutely loved it and admired the characters – he even shed a tear when reading the sad beginning. After he was finished singing its praises, he looked at me and asked, “Are you going to bulk it up into a novel, or just leave it as is?”

I think a lot of people won’t take your stories seriously enough if they are short. Novellas may be safe, but if you tell someone that you have written a 40 page story full of dark human emotions and horrifying sacrifice and sanity then you might get a skeptical reception.

I personally have always loved the idea of short stories and I enjoy reading them when I get a chance. I think it’s smart to create books filled with other short stories, but I also think that some works are better left published on their own. I feel that this is the case for Eve and Adam, as well as my other short story The Red Coat and the Red Head.

I know that there’s a market for shorter works, and I wonder if the best way to be noticed for them is to publish them in well-read magazines. I wonder if Amazon buyers see a book that’s less than 50 pages and they move on, unwilling to pay $0.99 for something that isn’t a novel. I’ll research into this further, because I want to know what type of market would be more interested in short stories. I am okay with publishing some on this blog, of course, but for others that require a lot of effort and emotion poured into them, I do want them to be purchased.

I think that if short stories are done in the right way, that they could increase in popularity and possibly even make a comeback. Some of the most famous writers, such as Woolf and Poe, published shorter works. As much as I love novels (I am working on one right, after all, and I cant find the time to read all of the novels on my “To Read” list), there’s something very poetic and satisfying about a good short story.

So, bloggers, what are your thoughts on short stories? Do you write them, read them, love them, or hate them? Do tell.

Picture credit: Photo by Enzo Muñoz from Pexels