What's Easier? Short Stories or Novels?

[Love Is Murder Conference]

I am working on my 6th draft of a short story for an anthology for which I was asked to contribute. While I am pretty new to the fiction writing world, I was surprised at how much harder it is to write a short story than it was to write my YA mystery novel or even my non-fiction librarian books.

Perhaps it is because I do not read that many short stories. I read anthologies by Chicago mystery writers, or edited by writers I like and know. I also read and review some teen collections. I like short stories; it is a great way to meet new writers or briefly revisit favorite characters. But all in all, I prefer novels.

So why was it so hard to write? In some ways, I think mysteries are inherently hard to capture in a short story, just like it is unrealistic that mysteries are solved as quickly as they are on TV shows like CSI. I have read many good short mysteries, but often they do not involve murders, but other crimes. Every plot outline I devised was complicated and sure to come in several hundred words over my limit.

In fact, my first draft was five hundred words over. Luckily, I have some writer friends and an agent who was willing to help me clean it up. All in all, I'd say it was a great exercise. I should make all my writing that lean and packed. Every sentence counts to forward the plot now, if not every word. In fact, I should probably edit my speech in the same way! Or even my life - do I need a lot of clutter and activities - do I spend a lot of time on things that do not forward my writing dream?

But that's another discussion...

November is Novel Writing Month. It seems to me that if I was able to get a short story in by deadline, I really have no excuse not to get a draft of another novel done by the Love is Murder conference in February! Did anyone sign up for NWM? On the NWM site you can sign up to commit to finishing a draft of a novel by the end of November if you are interested.

Also, I'd love to hear from you about the short story question. Do you find it harder or easier to write short fiction than novels?

What do you prefer to read?

Have a good writing week.

-Amy Alessio