I deleted a submitted story today. Part 1, which was submitted, was three short paragraphs long, and there was only the promise of something to happen. It was hardly an introduction to the story; it certainly didn't qualify as a chapter. Write a few pages, at least, before submitting your story.

A good story is whatever length it needs to be....

One of the best stories on the Archive, "Evenin' Dearie," (http://www.eunuch.org/Alpha/X/ea_1130_evenin_.htm) by Kortpeel, prints out at just over a page. A very short story should be posted all at once. Anything longer does need, as Slammr says, enough for a true first chapter that sets the scene and gives hints of where it is headed.

Hopefully, it will be added to (and completed) within a reasonable time as well. Too many longer stories have been left uncompleted, whether "Nero," which was abandoned for lack of feedback to the author or "Tribes," which has remained unfinished since Androboy's untimely death from his continuing health problems.

I'm still waiting for Sander to complete the next chapter of "The Holy Nutters." Hint.....

.

The guidelines state 5 paragraphs, which in itself is a bit short to make a plot - also a requirement.

I write short stories (as you can find on my website. I link to it on the "About Me" page). There is a relatively new medium that the internet people "discovered." They call it FLASH FICTION. It's really just a very short form and it's not new. This short story is a few years old. It will explain short forms much better than I could:

The Little Girl and the Wolf

by James Thurber

(http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/quo ... nicba.html)

One afternoon a big wolf waited in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did come along and she was carrying a basket of food. "Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?" asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf asked her where her grandmother lived and the little girl told him and he disappeared into the wood.

When the little girl opened the door of her grandmother's house she saw that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She had approached no nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she saw that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in a nightcap a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin Coolidge. So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead.

(Moral: It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.)

All told, this is under 200 words. But look at what it does. It has a point. It states a message. It is complete from beginning to end. We understand the characters involved. It even has a plot (satirizing morality stories and fables).

Now that's a short form standard. It's not just 200 or 500 or 1000 words without purpose. It's not Beavis and Butthead giggling at dirty words. It's a little tiny story with a touch of humor and a purpose. It's even got a synopsis: Little Red Riding Hood is retold with a modern twist.

Some of Kafka's great stories are no longer than Thurber's. Borges crafted small masterpieces, as have others. Parables, fables, etc., are often short, and have been essential parts of literature. Think of Aesop. Quality and quantity are not the same.

bobover3 (imported) wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:42 pm Some of Kafka's great stories are no longer than Thurber's. Borges crafted small masterpieces, as have others. Parables, fables, etc., are often short, and have been essential parts of literature. Think of Aesop. Quality and quantity are not the same.

That's true, but in this case, it wasn't a complete story

Slammr (imported) wrote: Sun May 30, 2010 10:35 am . It was hardly an introduction to

a story. Nothing had happened;

Slammr (imported) wrote: Sun May 30, 2010 10:35 am there was only the promise of something.

My point was, if someone is writing a story in segments, the first segment should be more than three short paragraphs. I was assuming this story would be several pages long. If a story is submitted in segments, the first segment should be, at least, a chapter long.

This is not to find fault. I love the stories on this site. Hemingway is credited with writing a story capturing the elements of good story telling in just 6 words. His story. " For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."

This technique could be used to tell a story in 6 words that we readers of EA would understand. For sale. Jockstrap and used scalpel.

As a writer, columnist and author of minor works you've never heard of I enjoy doing 6 word story exercises, writing flash fiction and short humor poems for contests and publication in odd places just to keep my chops up.

Please keep writing those interesting stories for this wonderful site. Even though it's very difficult, I try to keep my little something up by reading those works. Have fun.

You make some valid points, turtle, but I think most of the readers here are looking for something a bit longer.

Paolo wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:21 pm You make some valid points, turtle, but I think most of the readers here are looking for something a bit longer.

But, they might not find it because of the scalpel...