Why Writing Short Stories Will Not Help You Write Your Novel

Let’s face it, novels can be daunting. Even short little novellas average about 30,000 words. And if you’ve never written a novel before, that’s a lot of words.

The current advice is to start by writing short stories. But speaking as someone who’s done it, I’m going to tell you the truth about that piece of advice.

It doesn’t work.

Short stories have as much in common with novels as brain surgery has with psychiatry. True, they both ‘fix’ the brain, but in radically different ways.

And short stories have very little in common with novels.

A novel’s strength lies in the richness of the characters, the complexity of the plot, and the descriptiveness of the world.

All a short story has in common with that is the descriptiveness in the world and that’s it. A short story is all about effective pacing and tension delivered in the shortest amount of time possible. There’s no time for long timelines, complex plots or even overly complex characters.

I made this mistake when I first set my mind to start writing professionally.

I wrote dozens of short stories thinking those would help me write my eventual novel. Only, they didn’t.

Novels have more words. And while that sounds like an oversimplification, that’s really the nut of it. More words means more space and time given to every part of the book. It means highs and lows like a Busch Gardens roller coaster, not just one long assent and drop like the Tower of Terror.

So should you start with short stories?

Well, that is entirely up to you. If you want to write a short story go ahead and write a short story.

But don't write them with the intention that they're going to help you get through your novel. Only writing a novel, and taking courses on novels helps you get through your novel.

And if you'd like to learn more about writing novels, check out the link below for my list of courses.