SHORT STORIES/ FLASH FICTION
SHORT STORIES/ FLASH FICTION
SHORT STORY:
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that
typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident
or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or
mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed
in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables and anecdotes in
various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed
in the early 19th century.
Definition
The short story is a crafted form in its own right.
Short stories make use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic components as in
a novel, but
typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from
the novel or novella/short novel, authors
generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques. The short story is sometimes referred to as
a genre.
Determining what exactly defines a short story has
been recurrently problematic. A classic definition of a short story is
that one should be able to read it in one sitting, a point most notably made
in Edgar Allan Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846). H.G. Wells described
the purpose of the short story as "The jolly art, of making something very
bright and moving; it may be horrible or pathetic or funny or profoundly
illuminating, having only this essential, that it should take from fifteen to
fifty minutes to read aloud." According to William Faulkner, a short
story is character driven and a writer's job is to "...trot along behind
him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he
says and does.”
Some authors have argued that a short story must
have a strict form. Somerset Maugham thought
that the short story "must have a definite design, which includes a point
of departure, a climax and a point of test; in other words, it must have
a plot". Hugh
Walpole had a similar view: "A story should be a story; a record of
things happening full of incidents, swift movements, unexpected development,
leading through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement."
This view of the short story as a finished product
of art is however opposed by Anton Chekov, who
thought that a story should have neither a beginning nor an end. It should just
be a "slice of life", presented suggestively. In his stories, Chekov
does not round off the end but leaves it to the readers to draw their own
conclusions.
SukumarAzhikode defined a short story as "a brief prose
narrative with an intense episodic or anecdotal effect". Flannery O'Conner emphasized the need to consider what is
exactly meant by the descriptor short. Short story writers may define
their works as part of the artistic and personal expression of the form. They
may also attempt to resist categorization by genre and fixed formation.
William Boyd, British author and short story writer has
said:[short stories] seem to answer something very deep in our nature as if,
for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some
essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of
our common, turbulent journey towards the grave and oblivion.
In the 1880s, the term "short story"
acquired its modern meaning – having initially referred to children's tales. During
the early to mid 20th century, the short story underwent expansive
experimentation which further hindered attempts to comprehensively provide a
definition. Longer stories that cannot be called novels are sometimes
considered "novellas" or
novelettes and, like short stories, may be collected into the more marketable
form of "collections", often containing previously unpublished
stories. Sometimes, authors who do not have the time or money to write a
novella or novel decide to write short stories instead, working out a deal with
a popular website or magazine to
publish them for profit. Around the world, the modern short story is
comparable to lyrics, dramas,
novels and essays – although examination of it as a major literary form remains
diminished.
Length
In terms of length, word count is
typically anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 for short stories, however some have
15,000 words and are still classed as short stories. Stories of fewer than
1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories",
or "flash fiction".Short stories have no set length. In terms
of word count, there is no official demarcation between an anecdote, a short
story, and a novel. Rather, the form's parameters are given by the rhetorical
and practical context in which a given story is produced and considered so that
what constitutes a short story may differ between genres, countries, eras, and
commentators.Like the novel, the short story's predominant shape reflects the
demands of the available markets for publication, and the evolution of the form
seems closely tied to the evolution of the publishing industry and the
submission guidelines of its constituent houses.
As a point of reference for the genre writer,
the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America define
short story length in the Nebula Awards for science fiction submission
guidelines as having a word count of fewer than 7,500 words.
Flash
fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers
character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined
by word count, include
the six-word story; the 280-character story
(also known as "twitterature"); the "dribble" (also known
as the "minisaga," 50 words); the "drabble"
(also known as "microfiction," 100 words);"sudden fiction"
(750 words); flash fiction (1,000 words); and "micro-story".Some
commentators have suggested that flash fiction possesses a unique literary
quality in its ability to hint at or imply a larger story.
History
Flash fiction has roots going back to prehistory,
recorded at origin of writing, including fables and parables, notably Aesop’s
Fables in the west, and Panchatantra and Jataka tales in India. Later examples
include the tales of Nasreddin, and Zen koans such
as The Gateless Gate. In the United States, early forms of flash
fiction can be found in the 19th century, notably in the figures of Walt Whitman, Ambrose Bierce,
and Kate
Chopin.
In the 1920s flash fiction was referred to as the
"short short story" and was associated with Cosmopolitan magazine; and in the 1930s, collected in
anthologies such as The American Short Short Story.Somerset Maugham was a notable proponent, with
his Cosmopolitans: Very Short Stories (1936) being an early
collection.
In Japan, flash fiction was popularized in the
post-war period particularly by Michio Tsuzuki In 2020 The Harry Ransom
Center at the University of Texas at Austin established the first curated
collection of flash fiction artifacts in the United States.
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