This week we will celebrate National Short Story Day on the 21st – the shortest day of the year! So grab a notebook and pen this winter solstice and enjoy some calm within the pre-Christmas chaos and write a short story. There are no hard and fast rules as to the length of a short story, they can be between 1000 – 4000 words long, anything shorter are typically called flash fiction. The definition is a story with a fully developed theme, but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel. A short story still requires a compelling beginning, middle and powerful end with a character’s arc within a setting, in addition to a plot, conflict and theme.

Short stories became popular in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s with such classics as Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Richard Cumberland’s The Poisoner of Montremos. Other famous authors have delved into writing short stories include Ernest Hemingway, Franz Kafka, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Leo Tolstoy and Stephen King.

Most of my short stories are the result of some sort of writing prompt and I have a large electronic folder full of them on my laptop. Maybe one day I will publish a collection of some of them.

Do you prefer to write short stories or novels?

What is your favourite short story?

I have a couple by Stephen King – Four Past Midnight and Different Seasons. Another was part of a film called Cat’s Eye. It was initially called The Ledge.