Internet zines seem to spring up like Medusa's snakes, no doubt due to how little it costs to read. Perhaps when someone figures out a business model that works for the internet, we'll all be rich.Personally, I think the short is enjoying a new revival. Maybe it's even on the verge of enjoying the kind of popularity it had back in the late '40s and '50s. via the internet. I don't know what it is about novels ( I'm working on my second) but they seem more tiresome to me. That might be because I try for the same accuracy in them I strive for in a short. Don't know,but when you consider I've taken over a year to write some shorts, Manila Envelope took three or four, it's no wonder The Apple Lady took four years to write. Either way to me,it's writing for writing's sake. No dreams of cash involved.
I always used to think until then, our goal had to be novels.
Mind you, I can only judge against unsold novels, but as to which is better or easier to write, I'd say it depends on what the story is you're trying to tell and how cognizant one is of how the process works. I wrote 1-1/2 manuscripts before I was 15. Ignorance is bliss, and just because I was trying to prove I could, it stayed fun. I knew nothing, and what I wrote was crap. Hundreds of pages, practically worthless.
Then, I went through a period where I wrote only shorts. They were also fun, because I still didn't know what I was doing, but they became less and less crap as I wrote.
I wrote another novel manuscript 4 years ago. It's not crap, but it was hard to write.
Since then, I wrote shorts. Each one was more difficult to write, because I constantly had to gauge each section by how well it could sell, rather than whatever I wanted it to say. But then I wrote a Nightwatch, which I knew I would never sell, and against the logic I knew, it was still harder yet.
Concern over the process of writing sellable writing gummed up my brain, and stopped the writing. It took the fun away.
Then, I just happened to be sitting at my computer and "Another Sarah" poured itself out. Likewise, several others I've got in storage. I wanted to write again. I'm even kicking around the idea of writing another novel ms.
Where I'm going with all this is, short or novel, all depends on how compelling it is for you to tell the story.
If your novel drags, change the story until you can't stand to keep it inside. Clean it up afterwards and then change your outline to match what it was. Shorts not fun anymore? Tell a different kind or in a different way. Stretch yourself.
Those lessons you've learned about how to make a story sellable don't go away, but instead become a background process, editing and shaping while you're creating.
So, if you want to write a short, write one. If you want to write a novel, do it. Combine it by making each chapter a story in itself, but have them advance the overarching plot. Or write shorts until you start one that can't just be a short and make that a novel. But write it because it's the story you want to tell.
Do anything it takes. Just keep writing!
Nate
