Short Stories

[Kleio]

I just have this absurd dislike for short stories. It's like a love/hate kind of thing. I love and hate them for the same reason. I hate how short they are and how they are so wrapped up in metaphors that I need to take an English Lit class to understand them. That is what I like about novels. They are long, filled with detail, dialogue, a solid build to the climax, cliffhangers, and god bless sagas and trilogies. Short stories are just too... short. It feels so crammed with allegories and metaphors that I don't even really get to enjoy it. It's over before it even starts. I wish I had the words to articulate how frustrating short stories are to me.

But enough about my incessant crying. What do you guys think about short stories?

[ghostthegreat]

Good short stories shouldn't be crammed with allegories and metaphors, they should just be a short piece about an incident in a character's life. For instance, if you read "The Brown Coast", it is just a story about a man who is separated from his wife and trying to fill an aquarium with fish from the sea. That's all. There is no grand allegory, it is merely a point in this man's life where something is beginning to change and the reader is able to witness it.

What kind of short stories have you been reading Castiel?

[AnimeIsGoodForYou]

i like creepy pastas those are good short stories

[Kleio]

Creepypasta is sometimes good, but I do love them.

I read weird things. I don't like things without meaning to them, so the man loosing his wife in an aquarium does not quite sound like my cup of tea. Some of my favorite short stories are Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (http://www.usfca.edu/jco/whereareyougoing/) and Tiger Mending (http://ireadashortstorytoday.com/aimee-bender-tiger-mending/). They are both really good. A while back I found this website (or Ace linked me to it) full of short stories, and I forget the title of the one of just read, but I was like "what is even going on whats the point why are the characters doing these things" and left me very unsatisfied.

[ghostthegreat]

Creepypasta is sometimes good, but I do love them.

I read weird things. I don't like things without meaning to them, so the man loosing his wife in an aquarium does not quite sound like my cup of tea. Some of my favorite short stories are Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (http://www.usfca.edu/jco/whereareyougoing/) and Tiger Mending (http://ireadashortstorytoday.com/aimee-bender-tiger-mending/). They are both really good. A while back I found this website (or Ace linked me to it) full of short stories, and I forget the title of the one of just read, but I was like "what is even going on whats the point why are the characters doing these things" and left me very unsatisfied.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Is a fantastic short story, of course Joyce Carol Oates is a great writer. You should check out A Worn Path by Eudora Welty. It's another great story and amazing writer, I think you would like it.

[Kleio]

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Is a fantastic short story, of course Joyce Carol Oates is a great writer. You should check out A Worn Path by Eudora Welty. It's another great story and amazing writer, I think you would like it.
I don't know what to do with myself after this. So many questions, not enough answers. I think I just want to eat pop corn and cry.

[Vaida]

Have you ever tried to read H.P. Lovecraft? He writes short stories and they're absolutely brilliant. Alot of authors have been inspired by his work, and he really is just outstanding when it comes to story-telling.

[Kleio]

Have you ever tried to read H.P. Lovecraft? He writes short stories and they're absolutely brilliant. Alot of authors have been inspired by his work, and he really is just outstanding when it comes to story-telling.

I have not, but I will certainly try to find some of his stories when I am done with A Song of Ice and Fire. My current obsession is an epic saga. x_x

[DeathBlade/13.666]

Personally, I like short stories. Quick and easy to read, not complicated with all sorts of fancy words to describe things in different contexts. I mean if you took out all the needlessly descriptive words out of The Tale of Two Cities, you wind up with a really short story. Now not all novels and such are like that, but for me I find short stories as quick tales that end right where they need to. Never getting drawn-out and boring. I mean, how many books have you read where it just seems like the author is trying to come up with every possible way to screw his/her main character over?

I tend to find Science-Fiction Short Stories more applicable to my tastes, though. My personal favorite is For the Birds by Isaac Asimov, though there's several others I highly enjoy. It's nice to have a world of imagination packed into an easily consumed story, rather than having to read 300-600 pages to get the same amount of imagery.

[Vaida]

I have not, but I will certainly try to find some of his stories when I am done with A Song of Ice and Fire. My current obsession is an epic saga. x_x
I understand that. Epic Sagas can be fun to read. And I hope you like his work, he's very good at creating atmosphere and creating imagery

[mouse_click]

i personally love short stories almost more than regular length ones. mostly because i have a short attention span. if i don't get immediately intrigued by the plot, or it takes too long to develop or the characters aren't likeable, etc. i find that doesn't interfere with short stories as much as long/regular length ones. plus, a short story usually inspires me with settings and plots that i can make my own RPG with without it being SUPER freakin obvious as to where it came from :P so i like to use them for inspiration without being limited by a history of a whole book (instead of a story of 12 pages) :3 but that's just how i feel ^_^ lol

[Knightsong]

Lovecraft's stories are amazingly well done and I agree that you should give them a try. I'm a writer and I have a hard time keeping my ideas and thoughts concise enough to keep the story short. I am working on a series of them that have a similar theme, and I'll share them with you when they're done. I like them if they're well done. In my opinion they should build a picture in your mind as you read them, a short story should carry you in its current. If you feel like an outsider to what's going on, the type of literature you're reading my might be for you, or you need to see it through to its end because sometimes they can pull everything together in a well crafted sentence.

[Kleio]

I don't usually have any problem putting myself in the story and visualizing the world, my problem is the shortness and I often like to lost in the story rather than really think about the characters and stuff. With short stories you have to analyze every word, because not one is wasted. That doesn't bother me really, I'm just lazy and i prefer novels and sagas because they get really deep and I have more than 12 pages of material to go on.

[DeathBlade/13.666]

I don't usually have any problem putting myself in the story and visualizing the world, my problem is the shortness and I often like to lost in the story rather than really think about the characters and stuff. With short stories you have to analyze every word, because not one is wasted. That doesn't bother me really, I'm just lazy and i prefer novels and sagas because they get really deep and I have more than 12 pages of material to go on.
Well think of it like I do. Books are translated into long movies and full shows (ie: Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Truth, and Game of Thrones), whereas short stories get translated into short films and episodes (John Steinbeck's Chrysanthemums). Thus the details are still there, but things aren't drawn out into a constant conflict of climax and resolution.

[RainyDayMan]

I only like Edgar Allen Poe's short Stories.

[Sympathy]

i'vebeen reading the hard copy of nightmares and dreamscapes by stephen king (again), if you like a cheap thrill that isn't bogged down by "allegories and metaphors", try this. almost every story in the book is of the horror or mystery variety, and stephen king is so artful in his craft that you find yourself knowing the characters within 50 pages as well as you might know some within 600 pages.

[Hayo]

I atually agree... I get so frustrated. I simply decided that I will not read them anymore ._.