Pros and Cons of Short/Long Form Storytelling

[cherrystark]

*For the purposes of this post, I am calling refering short stories, one shorts, novellas as short form storytelling and novels/multiple novel series as long form storytelling.

I am curious. Have you guys ever thought about the pros and cons between the different types of storytelling before deciding on the current format of your series?

For ex. With my initial story, I didn't have enough "plot" to write a full length novel and all the character growth my characters needs couldn't logically work in this adventure. Nowadays, if you want to consider yourself a writer, writing the big "novel" feels like the gold standard. Instead of scrapping my idea, I opted to write a novella length.

For Me:

Pros for Short Form: You are instantly emerged into the action.
Cons for Short Form: Not enough time to explore every "interesting" moment

Pros for Long Form: Readers can sit back and "soak" in the world.
Cons for Long Form: Character development can be rushed to fit into the novel time line. People fall in love overnight or because fighting champions in three pages.

[noenoh]

woah I love short stories cause they leave me a feeling to want to know more and impacted enough to be smiling (or crying) for what I read and knowing that was amazing as it is.
Its sad when people dont appreciate these short stories and forces the writers to extend it (some succesfully and others with poorly and frustrated).
So I think you can write what is important for you and let it out from the system and if later you feel in the need to write more, you can extend it.

(I speak spanish and I did grow reading famous writers that wrote short beautiful stories later compiled in a book. Some of these stories felt enough being shorts and other you felt it could have been explored just a bit more but they were ok like taht too idk how to explain. Their writing made them enough for themselves but also make readers imagination excited for self exploration as well)

I dont think taht pressure on writers for writing big novels is healthy but I understand its waht mostly editorials want (yes, editorials because the print production costs and so they had acostumed the public to read these longer books as a rule) but in the past it was different and people always loved reading stories, short or long, as long it is interesting. idk its my opinion as a reader.

[cherrystark]

I agree that the pressure to write big novels isn't healthy. If your idea is broad to develop into a full-length novel, then go ahead and write it. I've seen a lot of stories go way too long (imo) because they want to reach a novel length.

I like writing shorter stories because you can explore a bunch of different ideas and potential story arcs, which helps keep my creative juices flowing.

[noenoh]

exactly!
and for readers like me is a win, cause I like reading new stuff xD

[crowstories]

I love reading short stories, but I feel way more intimidated about writing them. I think I might be holding the form to some lofty standard that it doesn't need to be held to... Most of my favorites do an amazing job of distilling big ideas down into a succinct little package for maximum impact in a very deliberately structured piece. I'm not sure my brain is really organized enough to pull that off...

[AbelDraws]

Short stories, when well done, are great
They get to the point and send a message quickly, but there's not as much time to develop the characters or build up scenes.

Long stories require a lot more of investment and time, they can be slower paced, but there's more time for showing the character's personalities, world, building up scenes and giving the characters time to grow and experience things in more detail.

[HippieGhost]

For me it depends mostly on what I'm trying to do. Short works I find are a bit easier to jump into, and I like them because they keep readers from feeling overwhelmed by length, but you have the hazards of throwing too much at them at once on the other side, which is something you can prevent by easing into the details in a long format.

Most of my stories are short works, but I have a much longer story coming soon that will do more to establish the world I work with. The nice thing about the collection format that I chose is I have the freedom of variety at my side, so I'm hoping that will attract readers of both tastes.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I wish I could write short stories. ;_; Everything I create ends up being a huge sprawling saga that spans multiple books...i.e. a big commitment.

But I grew up on short stories, during my formative years as a writer (late teens). I read lots of them in my literature classes; I even stole a book full of them (which unfortunately didn't include my favorite short-story author, Borges...).

I do like the way I write, and full novels are more mainstream, but I also kinda wish I had that ability, to tell a good story in 20 pages or less. At the very least, it'd be great for contests.

[cherrystark]

I think having a collection of stories is important too @HippieGhost. That's how my series is formatted. Short stories also are great for developing a good writing portfolio.

I agree @AbelDraws, shorter stories are great when well done, but they take a lot of practice to be able to hit the high points. I don't fully agree with you that longer stories give you more time to develop things. I've learned that timing is critical in longer works. While writers need to be able to time their scenes correctly, you also have to keep in mind the time frame of the entire storyline. The main action of my example story took place over 3-4 days. There just wasn't time to adequately explore all the development that needed to happen

[cherrystark]

Maybe writing short stories can be something you do just for practice, if it's a skill you'd like to develop. It's a fun way (for me at least) to keep my skills sharp and recognize important moments.

[crowstories]

This thread inspired me to dig up a short story I wrote a few years ago between 12 and 2 AM one night... it's not great, but maybe I'll publish it as a one-off.

[HippieGhost]

Since we're on the subject of shorter works, I do have one dillema ahead of me for The Aphuanian Tales.

Most of my stories have been published all at once. Finding work, Brooders, and The Shopkeeper were released on a "Short story every two weeks" basis, but my most recent story had to be released weekly in parts, with part 3 of The Incredible Documentaries of Lady Forista releasing tomorrow.

One on hand, the weekly release garners more views, and allows for longer stories to be published. On the other, many of my readers enjoy being able to binge an entire story all at once.

Looking at the stories and how they compare, my question is what do you all think would be more fitting?

[crowstories]

I guess it probably depends on the story... for instance, the one I'm thinking of publishing is too long to be one episode, but the ending is the more interesting part, and I don't know that anybody would subscribe after reading just the beginning, so I'll probably publish the whole thing at once.

If your longer stories have more to grab readers from the start and can be split up in a way to pique interest for the next part then it might make more sense to space them out.

On a vaguely related note, I find the tapas character maximum frustrating, since I've never written anything specifically for this medium, and it messes up the way I pace my work to try and publish it here (I started publishing a novel a few months ago, but got too frustrated with trying to find good places to split up the chapters).

[HippieGhost]

I suppose I could do it on a case-by-case basis, the only issue I have there is with consistency.

[cherrystark]

I think it depends on the story to figure out the best way to release it. My novella length stories are 20+ chapters long, so stretching it out is better for me.

[crowstories]

I think I also failed to account for the fact that you're releasing your stories as an anthology, so you have actual subscribers who will come back to read each part, whereas I wouldn't expect subs on a one-off story even if people read and like it. So in your case, I'd probably just release them all one episode at a time.

[therosesword]

Having done audio drama for so long where the boss would walk in and say "I need a 22 page script by Wednesday" (and it was Monday) short form is something I've worked with forever, or so it seems. And, sometimes we'd need a "filler" piece for the radio that was 5 pages or maybe even just a thousand words. I like doing flash fiction so short form is special to me and yes, a little bit of a "my precious" to me too.

How do I do it? Haven't got a clue. I just sit down and do it. I concentrate on the subject of the story and give as precise as possible "details" that might fill in the back story. I'll spew a little for the first draft then shave words like a whittler shaving a stick and then I'll find a word to replace five, if I can. For people who need more of a back story on everything reading short stories must be a special kind of hell..

I tend to lean that way so my Bright Morn series is a surprise and it's fun. I never thought I could write long form. I'm still not sure.

I don't know that there are any pros or cons, at least for me. Each form is what it is, but that is how I tend to look at things, and don't compare them.