The readings this week provided a good foundation for the the rest of the semester, describing and demonstrating short stories. In Brander Matthews’, The Philosophy of the Short-Story, he goes on about the difference between a short story and a novel; ‘a short story isn’t just a short novel or a chapter of a novel, it has to be precise’, and authors must be good at compression, one action, in one place, in one day. This is demonstrated in Roald Dahl’s, Lamb to the Slaughter. The characters remain within their town, predominantly in the house, there is one main action of Mary Maloney killing her husband, and this all occurs within one night.

Matthews’ details on how important it is in short stories to have a plan, this allows the writer to get straight to the point and be precise and concise without wasting time. As Matthew’s says, ‘construction of short stories must always be logical, adequate, harmonious’.

I found this rang true in Lamb to the Slaughter; there is a brief introduction before diving straight into the scene. I noticed that Dahl uses well-known archetypes for his characters, which allows the audience to understand the characters without having to describe them in as much detail.

I found it interesting that Matthew’s was convinced that one of the differences between short stories and novels is that novels generally always include a love story. I don’t think this is true, particularly in modern times where there a many stories which leave out a love story.

For my own short story I am going to use make sure I follow some of Matthew’s advice for short stories, including:

• Planning my story – one action, in one place, in one day.
• Choosing a good subject – Subject is very important in short story, ‘for those who think it doesn’t matter what you’re talking about only the way you say it shouldn’t write short stories’.
• Getting straight to the point, experimenting with how much I can get away with leaving out.