"Short stories are designed to deliver their impact in as few pages as possible. A tremendous amount is left out, and a good short story writer learns to include only the most essential information." - Orson Scott Card

Can "the most essential information" not include characters' names? Which I didn't have in my last short story? It was all "my brother" and "my mother" and "I." Though I DID come up with names after I wrote the stupid thing. Tony and Ross, I think? Erm... Yeah. The mother I never gave a name to, though. Not really any point, I guess.

How long was that story? 4959 words, for the first draft. 4939 words for the edited version I tried doing, but I never finished. I don't know if I ever will. We'll have to see, I guess. (I say that a lot. Huh.)

I have this... plan. It was MEANT for this summer, but I was lazy and didn't do it. What is it? To write a short story weekly. I'm actually on a deadline here, so I really need to start ASAP. First week of December is the latest I can go (and that includes editing said stories.) And considering November is a down time for me in short story writing (NaNoWriMo), I only really have 8 weeks, which equals 8 stories. Plus another two, plus one more if I decide to include that one... (And I MAY enlist help for editing!) This is a very special project. *glances around* I'm sure she wouldn't snoop, so... This is a present for my mom. (Okay, okay, SHUT UP about the cheesiness of it all!) Self-published book of my short stories. The plus two are ones I wrote for school (and will be appropriately labeled as such, so the distinct difference in quality is explained) and the plus one is my brother story. But I don't think I'll add that one, because... That's a little more awkward for me. "Here, mom, some short stories your daughter wrote? What? Oh, yes, that one is about incestuous brothers. Yup." ......... Awkward. And that is the almost 5000 word one I just mentioned.

I suppose I'll be a little more adept at writing short stories, and having them ACTUALLY be short, as Mr. Orson Scott Card says (as well as many others) they should be, after this. Hopefully. As long as I stick to my work. And you can bully me about it. 9 to 11 stories sounds sufficient, right? Not bad at all, I'd say.

I actually have three other stories that are finished, but I don't think I want to put them in. One is a really odd, somewhat convoluted, tale about a house, another is just about a few kisses, which is cheesy as hell, and the third... Actually, I could use the third. With a little bit of reworking...

Looking at the quotation again, I believe the best method, according to Card, is to dive right into the story. Pretend that the reader knows the world, knows the people, knows everything. This doesn't mean it's without details and characterization and such. It just means that those present happen to be "the most essential information." I HAVE read some spectacular longish short stories, however. So, if the author is good, I don't think that length really is an issue. Maybe I'll experiment. Have a few longer ones, have a few shorter ones... That makes this more of a practice test than anything, doesn't it?

Well, we'll see how it goes. (I really DO say that a lot. I'm really a laissez-faire type of person, aren't I?)

As for Orson Scott Card... I haven't read any of his short stories. I read Ender's Game and I enjoyed it, although I couldn't stand how Ender turned out at the end. I hear Ender's Shadow is really good, however? *raises eyebrow* I don't know if I'll ever get to reading it, but hey.


(You know, it's really sad when you read one manga volume that isn't billed as BL [though it IS billed as sexy] and it turns out to be hotter than the four volumes of another series that is billed as BL. *sighs* Oh, only two kisses, one not even shown, and the other not actually a kiss.... What kind of romance is THAT?! The trying-to-be-subtle one, I guess. Honestly, I was more interested in the possible budding romance between one minorish character and an extremely minor character... Actually, I had a bit of similar bad luck with a book I read recently. The characters in love were SO hesitant about their affections, and when they finally started acting on them, they were still too restrained and acted like lost, confused, love-sick puppies, and they couldn't hold my interest for long.. Though they had been that before admitting to the emotions anyway...)