For the past two months, I have been reading a lot of short stories and thinking even more about the Art of the Short Story.

It really began with a conversation I had with Sue. She pointed out to me that my habit of regularly abandoning novels amounted essentially to creating my own short stories or novellas, depending on how much time I had spent with the work. She also reminded me of how I have often said that I like short stories because they really show how good or bad a writer really is.

Since I am now working 45 days ahead here at ClimbingSky, this time spent thinking about and reading short stories has not yet been reflected here. Beginning with the new year, that is changing, since in my mind I am calling 2025 for myself, “The Year of the Short Story.”

Let’s begin with defining what a short story is. The best definition I have come across yet for defining what I mean when I think about or talk about the literary instance of short story comes from James Cooper Lawrence’s 1917 book, A Theory of the Short Story:

[a] short story is a brief tale which can be told or read at one sitting. (Lawrence, James Cooper. A Theory of the Short Story)

I like Lawrence’s definition because it simple and highlights why I prefer the term “short story” to the more modern term, short fiction. At the heart of a short story should be a tale, a min-plot, some action happening. A good short story is just that, a story. It is one of the reasons that Modernist did not necessarily write good short-stories even though they were great writers.

I also like the fact that Lawrence’s definition flows naturally from Edgar Allan Poe’s understanding of the short story:

The ordinary novel is objectionable from its length…. As it cannot be read at one sitting, it deprives itself, of course, of the immense force derivable from totality. Worldly interests intervening during the pauses of perusal modify, annul, or contract, in a greater or less degree, the impressions of the book. But simply cessation in reading would have itself be sufficient to destroy the true unity. In the brief tale, however, the author is enabled to carry out the fullness of his intention, be it what it may. During the hour of perusal the soul of the reader is at the writer’s control. There are no external or extrinsic influences — resulting from weariness or interruption. (Lawrence, James Cooper. A Theory of the Short Story .)

Beginning tomorrow, I will be reviewing short stories here at ClimbingSky, a new thing for me.

I hope you enjoy!