Moving to Longer Forms - John R. Little - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

Moving to Longer Forms

                My first short story was published in Cavalier magazine in 1982.  I was paid about $400, which, according to The Inflation Calculator, is about $950 in today’s dollars.  Not bad for a first sale!  For the next 25 years I published short stories exclusively.  It wasn’t until 2007 that I tackled anything longer.  That year, I published The Memory Tree and Placeholders, both much longer works.

                I had my aha moment then.  I realized I loved writing longer pieces.  The canvas is so much larger than a short story,  allowing me to live with my characters and not have to develop a whole new environment each time I sat down to write.  Longer works were much more satisfying to me, and apparently to my readers.

                Since 2007, I’ve published only a handful of short stories, mostly as favors to editors I like working with.  My love of writing has shifted completely to novellas and novels, and that’s exactly where I plan to stay.

                I couldn’t have written longer works without all that experience with shorts, so I still advise new writers to start that way, but it’s a wonderful feeling to immerse myself in long works that can live with me for many months. 

                John R. Little won the Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction for his book, Miranda.  He has also been nominated for the Stoker for both The Memory Tree and Ursa Major.  Upcoming books include By Insanity of Reason (a dark suspense novella co-authored with Lisa Morton), Little by Little (a short story collection), Secrets (a dark fantasy novella), and DarkNet (a dark suspense novel).  Check out his web site at www.johnrlittle.com