A Novelist Writes a Short Story by Marilyn Levinson

I just finished writing my short story! You might think this isn't exciting news coming from someone who has written over twenty novels, but believe me, it is. Writing a short story is quite different from writing a novel, and not just because of the difference in length. The plot is singular and more focused and should, I believe, end on a surprising note.

Like many fiction writers, I started out writing short stories. To be honest, they were never very short, which is probably why I ended up becoming a novelist. But I'd never written a mystery short story before! The idea of writing one first came to mind some years ago when I was sitting around the hotel lobby at a Malice conference. Barb Goffman was there, and the subject came around to writing short stories. "Write one," she said. "One day," I said.

The idea must have taken hold a year or two ago because I found myself reading short stories as well as listening to panels and webinars about the craft of writing them. And then, lo and behold, friends who were editing an anthology asked me to write a story. I said I would because I loved the theme. 

Once I got started, I found I couldn't stop writing. This isn't something I experience when I'm writing my novels. My usual routine is I write a sentence, stop to research something that has come up in the plot, and write a few more sentences. Then, before I can move on, I need to check to see what I've written about the character earlier in the manuscript or in a previous book. But writing my short story, I was compelled to continue writing, though I did stop a few times to do research along the way. Even though I hadn't decided how I was going to handle the ending, it all simply came together in a satisfactory way.

Why was this happening?

One major reason I think this may have occurred is when I'm writing a mystery novel, I'm working from the perspective of my sleuth. Of course I know who the murderer(s) is/are, but my sleuth certainly doesn't, and I need to have her account for every clue and piece of information she gathers that lead her to revealing the killer. 

But many short stories, mine included, are written from the murderer's point of view. Perhaps the protagonist doesn't mean to become a murderer, but he or she was wronged or tricked or deceived and the story is about his or her payback. What fun it was to set the scene of my unsuspecting protagonist, then have her take her revenge on those who wronged her! It was freeing to write such a story, which might account for how quickly it was finished.

Since short story writing is a new form for me, I asked my good friend and short story guru, Kaye George, to read it and tell me if it passed muster. She gave it her blessing. Now all I have to do is shorten it and come up with a title.

Have any of you ventured into writing other forms of fiction?