Comments on: Less is More: Aristotle and Four Simple Steps to Better Short Stories

By: Eric Cummings

Eric Cummings — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:05:18 +0000

Waiting for Godot is an excellent example. 2 characters, 1 place, no story.

By: Eric Cummings

Eric Cummings — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:04:44 +0000

Thank you giselle. I still get caught with this in my short stories, and I have to force myself to simplify, simplify, simplify.

By: Giselle

Giselle — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:50:34 +0000

Great post Eric. I keep on falling into the trap of too many characters, story lines and settings with my short stories. I appreciate your article and honestly the timing is perfect.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:48:51 +0000

Excellent. Thanks for the suggestions.
Like you, I tend to make things too complicated.
Less often is more.

I love the idea of short stories, or plays, being limited to one day or one location, like “Waiting for Godot.” You really can say a lot, sometimes more, with very little.

By: Eden

Eden — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:50:23 +0000

I was going to mention Carver, as well (although we’ve recently learned it wasn’t really him who did all that slicing and dicing — he still shaped many writers’ styles).
Great article and I love how everyone responded to it. Fabulous job!!!

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Again, completely agree. He’s a big influence on my own writing, since I studied some of his work in my Creative Writing MA. Certainly shows how you convey so much emotion and meaning with very few words.

By: Eric C

Eric C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:21:58 +0000

I think Carver shows how less is more in another aspect I didn’t cover, language.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:09:27 +0000

I completely agree with everything you’ve written here. I love writing short stories, and love reading them too. A well-crafted short story is a beautiful thing, complete and perfect.

I love “Hills Like White Elephants” – what a stunning story. Also pretty much anything by Raymond Carver, of course. Especially his story “Collectors”. There is something about that story that I just can’t put my finger on, and it blows me away because of it. I think that is one of the most powerful aspects of the short story – the things that go unwritten.

Thanks for a great article Eric.

By: Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:17:44 +0000

Eric C didn’t mention blog posts in this, but it is a genre that tight focused writing appeals to as well.

By: Redford

Redford — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:05:46 +0000

Great thoughts Eric C. I love the Aristotle tie in. It’s quite clever and it’s so true. Thanks!

By: Eric C

Eric C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:19:56 +0000

Thanks for the kind words.

By: Eric C

Eric C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:14:45 +0000

I love how you brought mystery into it. Totally agree.

By: Eric C

Eric C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:14:25 +0000

As an example, I think of Inglorious Basterds. Even though it is nominated for best picture, a lot of critics have pointed out that too many scenes are too long, and there is a lot of meandering.

I think this tip would apply to novels as well, but novels have room to grow thematically. Still, learning to cut our “precious darlings” we write is always the most useful skill.

By: Megan Wantz

Megan Wantz — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:52:52 +0000

Wow! I loved this. It’s simple and to the point. So easy to remember when writing. Nice!

By: Eric C

Eric C — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:19:50 +0000

I was trying to think of a Salinge short story!

The list is by no means exhaustive, maybe I have a follow up post I need to write…