For me, personally, the best essay ( article, publication… call it what you want) EVER, when it comes to writing in general, has been E.A. Poe’s “The philosophy of composition”… It was the first time that a writer lifted the veil and gave the audience a peak at the writing process… furthermore, it was the first time any writer attempted to lift the mysticism that is created around writers, and show that what we do is nothing more ( or less) than a whole lot of hard-work, and a lot of trial and error..

Almost everything that Poe wrote in “philosophy…” still stands, especially when it comes to the length of a written piece , and the effect you are trying to achieve..

What is my point???… well, your teachers, and everyone else, who told you that short stories are , sort of, apprentice work for “real” writing were completely mistaken. It often takes a lot more work, concentration and writing skill to create a decent story, than it would take for a novel- In a way, short stories are much more complex and demanding than novels… if for no other reason than because of the format: in a novel, you have all the time in the world to get your point through.. whereas, in a short story, you are limited by the “one sitting”- effect ( Read Poe-s philosophy of composition to get an idea of what I am talking about when I say “one sitting” )

When I was younger ( a long, long timne ago it seems) and still going to lectures at the University ( instead of holding them) , I remember some of my professors trying to explain to us that short stories are in fact ”mini-novels” ( all the elements are there, but they should all be compressed to fit into smaller space ) and to a point it is true… but, short stories also function in a universe of their own, and they should be viewed as something different than the prose you find in a novel.

I have seen quite a few writers struggle with this problem: They have the energy, the ideas, the will to work on short stories, but, due to peer pressure they keep concentrating on failed attempts to write a novel or two… even when they do manage to come up with a novel- it is usually much worse than their stories.

Thing is… ( for me at least) … that both writing as well as reading what others have written, are very personal experiences and no two people react the same towards the same sentence, nor will they describe the same event by using the same words. Thus, by giving more importance to novels, vs short stories, people tend to be unfair towards the writers of short stories who might have, in fact, given much more in their few pages, than the authors of novels managed to do in 100s of them…

So, forget everything that anyone else has told you, and go with yor gut.. we ( the writers) are nothing more than the means through which a story is channeled through towards the larger audiences, so, we should not attempt to influence the way the story comes out… IF it ( the story) says that it will end up a novel, then write it a a novel, but if the story says it is a “short-story”… then we shouldn't try to make it into something that it is not… if for no other reason than because it never works, so instead of one ( ore more) gopod short story, we end up with a bad novel…