 The Top Ten Reasons Why We Love The Short Story
Number 10. Story Certainly short stories do not have exclusive rights to the magic of Story. Movies, novels, plays, and picture books use Story too – as does the world of art, dance and music. Ever listen to a country song? It’s all about Story. But in a Top Ten List Of Why We Love Short Stories I would be remiss if I didn’t say that first and foremost, what we love about the short story is that it is the golden nugget of Story. 9. Journey What is the chief end of the short story? To take us on a journey and return us home before supper. All story forms take the reader for a ride, but only in the journey of something as brief as the short story can you recall the beginning, middle and end of the experience with equal delight. 8. Drama If done well, the brevity of the journey naturally begets higher drama. And as drama is at the heart of all good stories, short stories are rife with it. It should be remembered here, that high drama is not always synonymous with fast action; there are slower stories so packed with drama that you hold your breath as tightly as you hold the page. 7. Twists Closely related to the drama of the short story is the closing twist, typical of this length. The payoff in a longer genre usually comes with a certain amount of expectation, but in a short story, especially a short short story, the twist at the end is often the very thing we await. 6. Symbolism Symbolism is another quality of fiction not exclusive to short stories. But again, because of the compact nature of this genre, the symbolism is often more tangible. It is not uncommon to linger over the symbolism in a short story long after the final word is read. 5. Intensity The absolute intensity of this genre is one of my favorite characteristics. With great anticipation we settle in like a fanatic – short story in hand – eager to begin the raucous ride we know will follow. 4. Language Perhaps my favorite truth about short stories is that its language is unsurpassed in the world of Story. With a poet’s tongue and a playwright’s passion, the language in a short story delights us in a way that no other genre can. 3. Rhythm Akin to the poetic precision of the language in the short story is the rhythm of its phrasing that reminds us of the power of music. Like the movement of verse and chorus in a ballad, the rhythm of this genre flows measure by measure. 2. Connection History tells us that mankind has long told stories around the communal campfire because stories connect us to ourselves and to the world around us. I think it can be argued that the compressed experience of the short story makes this connection as immediate as it comes. And the Number One Reason is: Length At long last, so to speak, we come to length. Nearly every other element has touched on the influence of length in this genre and therefore we come to the number one reason why we love the short story: its length. We live in a day and age when time is in demand and attention is not. If the near future resembles the recent past, the short story may well be the enormous little genre of the future. I hope so. Next Week: Authors and Collections I Love
These days Stacy Barton is primarily a short story author and playwright. Her debut collection of short stories, Surviving Nashville, was released in 2007. Her stories and poetry have appeared in a variety of literary magazines including Potomac Review, Relief, Ruminate and Stonework and her fifth stage play, an adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales, premiered in Orlando, Florida in 2006. In addition to short stories, plays, and poetry, Stacy is the author of a children's picture book and an animated short film. She is currently a free-lance scriptwriter for the Disney Company. Visit her at www.stacybarton.com
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