The story is always in service to the characters, and is only as long or short, or neat or ragged as it needs to be.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A story is built on characters and reasons.
It's a luxury to be able to tell a long form story. I love novels, and I love to have a long relationship with characters.
I think the short story is a very underrated art form. We know that novels deserve respect.
Sadly, for those who are busy sawing off their feet to escape the trap of cliches, every story is chock full of them and sometimes depends on an especially hoary one.
Short stories are my favorite art form. A good one is compact and complete, a telling little slice of life, capturing a moment in time that - for the character - defines her, changes her, is the tipping point for all that will follow.
I think it's a short story writer's duty, as well as writing well about emotions and characters, to write story.
I'm good at description and imparting flow to a story, but I don't necessarily understand the value of long scenes.
One of the things I admire about longer stories is the way writers can work with dead time and slower, more idle moments - not only can they feel expansive, they feel lived-in; the unhurried pacing often makes the endings even more resonant and surprising for me.
You can have the greatest characters in the world and write beautifully, but if nothing's happening, the story falls on its face pretty quickly.
The short story is a very natural mode of storytelling; most stories can be told quickly. I always think of them as like a tightrope walk - every sentence is a step along the rope, and you can so easily misplace your step and break your neck.