The Short Story Rediscovered by Neil McGowan

I’ve been enjoying myself with short stories recently. It’s how I (and I suspect a lot of other writers) first started. I’ve not really written much in the short form over the last few years, though, preferring to concentrate on the books.

However, I was in the pub few weeks back and was discussing writing-related matters with a couple of friends. One of them casually tossed out a suggestion to write about the current raft of AI and smart gadgets.

(Slight aside here – why is it always non-writers who come out with such lofty suggestions but no comprehension of the technicalities? The words were something along the lines of, ‘You should write a short story about it, bet it’d sell dead easy and wouldn’t take long. Easy money for you.’)

So, I politely made noises of ‘possibly’ whilst thinking, ‘Not on your nelly.’ I considered pointing out the time involved in first outlining a story, then researching things, followed by a revised outline to fix all the impossibilities in the first version. Follow that with three of four drafts of even a couple of thousand words and it begins to add up. Even on a roll, that’s a good week’s work for me, when fitting it around the day job; realistically, it’s probably double that at least. And then there’s the selling – I’ve sold stories to magazines in the past, as have a lot of writers. And there’s the nub – there are still a lot of writers, but the markets for publication seem to be growing smaller. Places I’ve submitted to in the past are no longer in circulation; other places have very specific criteria around both the submission and the author; yet others have decided to demand outrageous rights granting (Looking at you, a well-know woman’s periodical in the UK – all publication rights, in perpetuity? Really.)

That’s how I left it, with a vague promise to think about it. The idea did appeal, as it would fit into the plot of the YA book I’m currently planning, but there was no real inclination to write a stand-alone story about it. And there the matter rested.

Until I got a horrendous toothache (can’t complain too much, as it’s the first time I’ve ever suffered with toothache in almost fifty years, but it wasn’t pleasant – and it took almost a week before I could get an emergency appointment).

This meant sleepless nights, and shorter-than-usual attention span. I found it almost impossible to work on the book, but I still had the urge to write. So I began to think about the short story idea again, and knocked out an unplanned draft over a couple of evenings.

It wasn’t brilliant, but what it did do was let me rediscover the joy of creating a short story again. I’d forgotten how satisfying it can be to work within such tight constraints, where every word has to earn its place, and character has to be sketched and filled in just enough to bring them to life. Moreover, I spotted the kernel of a decent story in there.

The other thing I noticed was how fresh it felt – instead of living with the characters for months, it was just a quick dance for a week or two, with no time for things to get stale.

I’m back to the book this week, but my writing feels fresher, somehow, as if the act of writing a short story has exercised some long-dormant muscles. I’m letting the second draft of the short story sit for a couple of weeks before final revisions. Will I submit it? Not sure – I like it, but not sure it’s commercially viable (and it’s surprisingly anti-technology for a senior IT trainer). Will I write more of them? Absolutely. I’m treating it more like the warm-up you do before exercise – essential to preforming at one’s best, but not often seen as part of the main event. Who knows, if I write enough and they’re reasonable, I may collect them.

The next idea revolves around dentists. I’ve written about them before (and it was nasty – even had a horror magazine reject it as too gross) but I think the time is right to tackle them with a little more nuance...