Writing the Short Story
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Yep, she can't write short stories...
Short story collections
Crawling Between Heaven and Earth (Dark Regions, September 2002, ISBN 1-888993-29-4). Contains the following new stories:
"Ariadne's Skein"
"Crawling Between Heaven and Earth"
"The Green Bay Tree"
"Thy Vain Worlds"
Wings (Dark Regions, May 2008, ISBN 978-1-888993-60-8, ebook ASIN B00E91QT4C)
Here Be Dragons (Goldport Press, May 2015, ebook only)
Dragon Blood (Goldport Press, October 2016, ISBN 978-1-63011-020-8)
So Little and So Light (Goldport Press, July 2018, ebook only)
Short stories
"Thirst" (as by Sarah Marques de Almeida Hoyt) in Bloodsongs #4 (Bambada Press, Autumn 1995)
"Plaudit Cives" in Absolute Magnitude, Summer 1998 (DNA Publications)
"Not for Thee the Glow" in Pirate Writings #18 (DNA Publications, Summer 1999)
"Like Dreams of Waking" in Dark Regions/Horror Magazine, Summer 1999 (Dark Regions Press)
"Elvis Died for Your Sins" in Weird Tales, Spring 2000 (DNA Publications, April 2000)
"If I Lose Thee..." with Rebecca Lickiss in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds III (Pocket Books, May 2000, ISBN 0-671-03652-1), Grand Prize Winner
"Another George" in Dark Regions #15 (Dark Regions Press, Winter/Spring 2000)
"Songs" in Weird Tales, Spring 2001 (DNA Publications/Terminus)
"Dear John" in Absolute Magnitude, Summer 2001 (DNA Publications)
"The Blood Like Wine" in Dreams of Decadence #15 (DNA Publications, Autumn 2001)
"Trafalgar Square" in Analog, November 2001 (Dell Magazines)
"The Play and the Thing" in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination #22 (DNA Publications, Winter 2001)
"For Whose Dear Sake" in Dreams of Decadence #17 (DNA Publications, Summer 2002)
"The Muse's Darling" in Apprentice Fantastic (DAW, November 2002, ISBN 0-7564-0093-7)
"Never Look Back" in Weird Tales, Winter 2002 (DNA Publications/Terminus)
"Traveling, Traveling" in Analog, July/August 2003 (Dell Magazines)
"The Blonde" in Book of Final Flesh (Eden Studios, July 15, 2003, ISBN 1-891153-78-1)
"The Play Is the Thing" in The DNA Helix (DNA Publications/Wildside Press, July 2003, ISBN 1-59224-197-2)
"Wings" in Paradox #3 (Paradox Publications, Autumn 2003)
"What She Left Behind" in Asimov's, March 2004 (Dell Magazines)
"Yellow Tide Foam" in Faerie Tales (DAW, May 2004, ISBN 0-7564-0182-8)
"Ganymede" in Oceans of the Mind #12 (Trantor Publications, Summer 2004)
"After the Sabines" in Amazing Stories, March 2005 (Paizo Publishing)
"Eighty Letters, Plus One" with Kevin J. Anderson in The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures (Carroll & Graf, March 2005, ISBN 0-7867-1495-6)
"Sugarbush Soul" in Absolute Magnitude, Spring 2005 (DNA Publications)
"Wait Until the War Is Over" in Gateways (DAW, June 2005, ISBN 0-7564-0285-9)
"Sea of Darkness" in The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, Volume 3 (Constable & Robinson, June 2005, ISBN 978-1845290047)
"Unnatural History" in Bedlam's Edge (Baen, August 2005, ISBN 1-4165-0893-7)
"Fox Fire" in Illuminated Manuscripts (Double Dragon eBooks, August 2005, ebook only)
"Something Worse Hereafter" in All Hell Breaking Loose (DAW, October 2005, ISBN 0-7564-0289-1)
"Touch" in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination #26 (DNA Publications, October 2005)
"Super Lamb Banana" in Time After Time (DAW, November 2005, ISBN 0-7564-0310-3)
"A Change of Heart" with Kate Paulk in Crossroads and Other Tales of Valdemar (DAW, December 2005, ISBN 0-7564-0325-1)
"Go Tell the Spartans" in Millennium 3001 (DAW, February 2006, ISBN 0-7564-0322-7)
"Stock Management" in Modern Magic (Fantasist Enterprises, April 2006, ISBN 0-9713608-4-7)
"Hot" in Slipstreams (DAW, May 2006, ISBN 0-7564-0357-X)
"Titan" in Children of Magic (DAW, June 2006, ISBN 0-7564-0361-8)
"Girl With the Golden Lute" in Weird Tales, May/June 2006 (Wildside Press / Terminus)
"With Unconfined Wings" in Cosmic Cocktails (DAW, December 2006, ISBN 0-7564-0398-7)
"The Blood of Dreams" in The Secret History of Vampires (DAW, April 2007, ISBN 978-0-7564-0410-9)
"Where Horse and Hero Fell" in Places to Be, People to Kill (DAW, June 2007, ISBN 978-0-7564-0417-8)
"But World Enough" in Fate Fantastic (DAW, October 2007, ISBN 978-0-7564-0440-6)
"Waiting for Juliette" in The Future We Wish We Had (DAW, December 2007, ISBN 978-0-7564-0441-3)
"Whom the Gods Love" in Transhuman: On the Edge of the Singularity (Baen, February 2008, ISBN 978-1-4165-5523-0)
"Scraps of Fog" in Jim Baen's Universe, April 2008 (Baen)
"Heart's Fire" in Enchantment Place (DAW, August 2008, ISBN 978-0-7564-0510-6)
"The Price of Gold" in Witch High (DAW, October 2008, ISBN 978-0-7564-0513-7)
"A Grain of Salt" in Better Off Undead (DAW, November 2008, ISBN 978-0-7564-0512-0)
"Heart, Home and Hearth" with Kate Paulk in Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar (DAW, December 2008, ISBN 978-0-7564-0528-1)
"Bit the Hand" in Space Sirens (Flying Pen Press, February 2009, ISBN 978-0-9818957-3-4)
"The Incident of the Inferno Grill" in Witch Way to the Mall (Baen, June 2009, ISBN 978-1-4391-3274-6)
"Created He Them" in Intelligent Design (DAW, September 2009, ISBN 978-0-7564-0568-7)
"The Case of the Driving Poodle" in Strip Mauled (Baen, October 2009, ISBN 978-1-4391-3320-0)
"Matters of the Heart" in Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar (DAW, December 2009, ISBN 978-0-7564-0580-9)
"In the Absence of Light" in Space Horrors (Flying Pen Press, October 2010, ISBN 978-0-9818957-6-5)
"A Matter of Blood" in Fangs for the Mammaries (Baen, October 2010, ISBN 978-1-4391-3392-7)
"Heart's Own" in Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar (DAW, December 2010, ISBN 978-0-7564-0633-2)
"Unawares " in The Wild Side (Baen, August 2011, ISBN 978-1-4391-3456-6)
"An Answer from the North" in Courts of the Fey (DAW, November 2011, ISBN 978-0-7564-0699-8)
"Heart's Place" in Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar (DAW, December 2011, ISBN 978-0-7564-0696-7)
"The Big Ship and the Wise Old Owl" in Going Interstellar (Baen, June 2012, ISBN 978-1-4516-3778-6)
"Angel in Flight" in A Cosmic Christmas (Baen, November 2012, ISBN 978-1-4516-3862-2)
"Dog's Body" in Baen Free Stories 2013 (Baen, March 2013, ISBN 978-1-62579-095-8)
"Dragons" in In Space No One Can Hear You Scream (Baen, October 2013, ISBN 978-1-4516-3941-4)
"Tarzan and the Martian Invaders" with Kevin J. Anderson in Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Baen, October 2013, ISBN 978-1-4516-3935-3)
"Shepherds and Wolves" in A Cosmic Christmas 2 You (Baen, November 2013, ISBN 978-1-4516-3942-1)
"Around the Bend" in Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera for a New Age (Every Day Publishing, December 2013, ISBN 978-0-9881257-5-9)
"From Out the Fire" in "The Baen Big Book of Monsters" (Baen, October 2014, ISBN 978-1-4767-3699-0)
"And Not to Yield" in Five by Five 3: Target Zone (WordFire Press, November 2014, ISBN 978-1-61475-248-6)
"Dreamcatcher" in Shared Nightmares (Cold Fusion Media, November 2014, ISBN 978-0-692-34270-1)
"Rising Above" in Shattered Shields (Baen, November 2014, ISBN 978-1-4767-3701-0)
"So Little and So Light" in As Time Goes By (Baen, February 2015, ISBN 978-1-4767-8052-8)
"Calling the Mom Squad" in Chicks and Balances (Baen, July 2015, ISBN 978-1-4767-8063-4)
"Who Goes Boing?" in Future Wars ... and Other Punchlines (Baen, September 2015, ISBN 978-1-4767-8080-1)
"A Cog in Time" in Onward, Drake! (Baen, October 2015, ISBN 978-1-4767-8096-2)
"On Edge" in Mission: Tomorrow (Baen, November 2015, ISBN 978-1-4767-8094-8)
"Her Sister's Keeper" in Worst Contact (Baen, January 2016, ISBN 978-1-4767-8098-6)
"Do No Harm" in Black Tide Rising (Baen, June 2016, ISBN 978-1-4767-8151-8)
"And Your Little Dog, Too" in Things from Outer Space (Baen, October 2016, ISBN 978-1-4767-8166-2)
"Flight to Egypt" in Forbidden Thoughts (Superversive Press, January 2017, ISBN 978-0-9945163-7-4)
"Tic Toc" in If This Goes Wrong... (Baen, January 2017, ISBN 978-1-4767-8202-7)
"Freeman's Stand" in Rocket's Red Glare (Rough Edges Press, May 2017, ISBN 978-1-5466-7053-7)
"Dry Gulch Dragon" in Straight Outta Tombstone (Baen, July 2017, ISBN 978-1-4814-8269-1)
"Hunter Born" in Monster Hunter Files (Baen, October 2017, ISBN 978-1-4814-8275-2)
"Home Front" with Jeff Greason in Space Pioneers (Baen, November 2018, ISBN 978-1-4814-8360-5)
"Father Avenir and the Fire Demons of Yellowstone" with Kevin J. Anderson in Baen Books: Free Stories 2018 (Baen, 2018)
"Storming the Tower of Babel" in Voices of the Fall (Baen, March 2019, ISBN 978-1-4814-8382-7)
"Honey Fall" in Noir Fatale (Baen, May 2019, ISBN 978-1-4814-8397-1) -
I think it's a little looser than what the author is saying; the advice here makes for a good shorthand, but that's not the only way to do it.
The main thing is to know the nature of the idea you're working with. Different ideas naturally lend themselves to novels, novellas, short stories or flash, depending on what you're focusing on and the length you need to map out the territory.
That's why it's so important to experiment with different forms—to understand their nature so that when ideas come along, you have a good idea of which form would be most appropriate.
Except no one reads short stories anymore. Which is fine, because the Bradbury trick of a novel-as-short-story-collection is still effective.
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I also disagree somewhat with finding songwriting analogues. Sure, not a bad idea, but they're closer to narrative poems in that the listener has a bigger part to play in connecting the dots. Better still in my opinion would be short films.
There should be no fat in the thing. Unless the director wasted your time, every second is either spent advancing the action, or world-building that's essential to understanding the plot. Pay attention especially to how to shift in between these two, and occasionally mix them together.
"Love, Death & Robots" on Netflix is as close as you can get to a masterclass on this.
