The Town of Odyssey

Short stories are extremely stupid. I like books; big, long 400+ page books that end in semi/total cliffhangers and don't actually end until you read at least one other 400+ page book. Once I was introduced to the wonders of chapter books I have never wanted to go back.
So when I tell people that my fantasy job is to be a writer, I mean that my fantasy job is to make people read a story that covers 800+ pages. I DO NOT MEAN THAT I WANT TO WRITE A STORY THAT IS 8 PAGES OR LESS. I cannot love short stories the way I LOVE my full length books, and trying to write them makes me want to smack my head against a wall-- a very thick, very hard wall.
I don’t care about my stupid characters. My stupid characters don’t matter, it’s the stupid story that’s important and your stupid rules about my stupid characters are getting in the way of my stupid story. If you’re going to make me go minimalist with my story then let my just kill of some of those stupid, unnecessary people from the very beginning so that I can get on with the point of the story.
Besides, why would you want to get attached anyway. What is the point of giving a short story character a name, when you know you’re not going to keep them. You take them in, name them, feed them, play with them, and then they die. (living happily ever after is just a positive way of saying, “They were happy until the day they died and now they’re dead.” ) This is the reason parents don’t want their kids to have dogs, why does it seem like a good idea in the literary world?!?!?!?

Okay, I'm done now. I just felt the need to clue everyone in on my feelings about short stories. I feel much better now that my tantrum is over, and I can begin to appreciate the irony of the fact that right after I said "Short stories are extremely stupid," I thought "I don't not like them Sam I am." The genius of Doctor Seuss is the acception to the rule.

Short stories have their place in literature. They're not meant to have characters that you get too attached to, they're more about leaving a certain lasting emotion or message via a short transcript.

That's true. However, since the characters aren't, in some ways, that important to the story they tend to annoy me. I tend, on the rare occassions when I have written a short story, to have just one character. I rely more on the emotional elements in the setting to tell the story than on a real description of the character and his actions. If I'm allowed to do that, then I can write a pretting good little story, but when i'm forced to introduce more characters I feel like they detract and destract too much.

What's your opinion on short films?

Eh, I haven't really seen many short films. (And I've never had to try to create one, so I don't have any bad feeling attached to them in that way. The main reason I don't like short stories is because of how frustrating I find them to write.) Most of the short films I've seen are ment to be funny, so the whole thing comes across like a long joke.

Pirate Oriana wrote:Eh, I haven't really seen many short films. (And I've never had to try to create one, so I don't have any bad feeling attached to them in that way. The main reason I don't like short stories is because of how frustrating I find them to write.) Most of the short films I've seen are ment to be funny, so the whole thing comes across like a long joke.

I guessing the only short films you've seen are Pixar shorts:p Pretty much every short that i've seen, Pixar excluded, has not been a comedy. I don't really get the short story hate though, there have been many beautifully written short stories written...

Yeah, I don't REALLY hate short stories in general. I just haven't really read any that I've fallen in love with, and I don't like to write them. My brain just works better with longer stories.

Read O. Henry stories. They're short stories which, while not perfect, are pretty good.