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| Courtesy: Google |
Brevity makes a “short” story. But a short story
is not just about length. As a genre, the short story is complex. Many other
aspects, along with length decide the genome of a short story. Some of these
elements are still unidentified. In fact, it is apt to say that those elements
that are identified crucial elements of a short story are few in number. Short
is just a metaphor, short stories are actually tall.
W. H Hudson and
many other scholars, suggest that length is the crucial aspect and a story that
you can read in single sitting is short story. If we take this as our measure, we
cannot hail Jonathan Livingston Seagull
by Richard Bach or The Old Man and the
Sea by Earnest Hemingway or The
Buddha and the Terrorist by Satish Kumar, a short story. The Old Man and the Sea might be a bit
longer, but consider Jonathan Livingston Seagull;
with all the photographs, that adorn the pages, it is just about fifty pages
long. Many of the short stories in Stephen King’s collection, Full Dark, No Stars are longer in
length, in fact longer than Jonathan Livingston
Seagull, usually called a novel.
What is, then, the
magic potion that delivers its spell in the making of a short story?
Let us remind
ourselves, once again, that there are only “major” elements to discuss. The minor
elements, still evade our attention, as they are all part of the subjectivity
of the author and the wiring of creativity inside our brains.
Creative writing
classes and ‘How-to’ guides often suggest many systematic steps in producing
literature. The problem with such a systematic, limited academic method is its side
effects—all the crap you write and all the crap you evaluate ‘wonderfully
artistic and deep’. Once you are into the struggle to create stories with flesh
and blood, stories that earn, you will know that the first thing you need to do
should be to unload the garbage, you accumulated as a student. Practical
experience makes you wiser and stronger. From my experience as a writer, I have
learnt my lessons and here are a few for your consideration—the three
cornerstones of short stories.
Voice
Terrain
and
Trigger
With this minimum
number of components, you can create a short story. As we have already seen,
the rest of the magic comes from within you, the writer. It is an alchemy, much
like how Sodium and Chlorine combines to give a product, very different in
quality and use from the two parent components—Sodium chloride; salt.
Next: What is Voice?
Anu Lal is the
author of the up-coming collection of short stories Wall of Colors and Other Stories. He lives in Kerala, South India. He blogs at The Indian Commentator
You can catch up with him in Facebook too.
