One of my favourite people online, the splendid Diana Maus, has been making me think about this today. She was talking about a story I wrote for a competition and e-mailed to her for a little ‘thank you’. I don’t have enough money to buy some of her art (I almost didn’t link to it, as I’m scared you’ll buy it before I can save up for it, but it’s so good I have to share) but I do have words that I can give her in the mean time until the money situation improves.
Our e-mail conversation is making me think about what it takes to make a short story enjoyable. I’m not talking about golden rules of short story writing, or what constitutes a “well-written” piece – I’m talking about what a story has to do to make me happy when I read it.
Top of my list has to be the haunting factor. After reading a short story, do I think of it again a few hours, days or months later? One that comes to mind is “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury. That has been haunting me for over 15 years now. I love it. I go back to it, again and again.
Next on the list has to be the snapshot aspect – does the story take me somewhere else in just enough detail to gain a neat, contained view of a place or a moment? If the story doesn’t make pictures in my mind, it just doesn’t work for me; I’m too visually oriented.
Then there’s the good old twist. Not an essential quality, but I love it when a short story has been holding out on me and bats me on the forehead at the end.
Last on my entirely subjective and impossible to measure list is the shiver point. When I hear a piece of music that is ‘perfect’ for my taste, or I read a short story that presses all my buttons, I get a physical shiver that runs down my back and makes all the tiny hairs on my body stand on end. When I told a friend about how some music does that to me, he said “Oh – you mean the musical orgasm!” So I guess this quality should be called the short story orgasm. Hmmm. Maybe not, but hopefully you get what I mean.
Not all short stories that I love have all of these qualities, but the vast majority do. I’m finding that the stories that I write and am happy with have at least one or two of these qualities.
I asked people on Twitter about this (heavens to Betsy I never thought I’d be doing this!) and they gave such good answers I thought I’d put them here – then you know who you should be following over there 
@LordGU I sure like short stories with their twist in the last sentence. At least kind of that. You read, get a picture – and lose.
@kirstinbutler Language is def key for me w/ shorter fiction; I also like being left with some kind of truth about experience or life.
@TonyNoland Characters. Plot twists and artful language is nice, but it’s the people I care about. That, and puppies.
@RobertHruzek Suck me into the story and surprise me at the end! That’s what works for me.
So, in the style of the lovely Nathan Bransford: you tell me – what qualities do your favourite short stories have?
I’m still thinking, Emma, about how difficult it would be to see the results of every step you are about to take before you take them… I’d be immobilized. I couldn’t stop until I had found every possible outcome. Only then could I decide! Imagine what wearing the red blouse today instead of the green would do? If only… If only there were a way… Are you sure there’s not a way?
I think in your genre, a very important quality is believability. I believe in The Owner, if only because I secretly wish it to be true (though admittedly ghastly!) Belief must include wishes, right?
Diana’s last blog post..Goodnight You Moonlight Ladies
While I enjoy a good suspenseful story or something with a twist, there is something else which will get me everytime – show me something new.
Allow me to see life through another lens, connect with me, transport me or make me feel something I didn’t feel before I started it.
I think it’s… revealing something that is normally hidden from view. The extraordinary that lies behind the apparently ordinary and everyday. And, well… probably something dark
Joanna Young’s last blog post..When Should You Not Write? Guest Post by Alex Fayle
I dunno; now that I read my own comment, it almost says I like stories that, er, suck! Hopefully ya get my meanin’!
Another good quality if if they leave me craving for more… just one more page to tell me what’s gonna happen next. Then you know it’s got my attention!
Robert Hruzek’s last blog post..As the Wheel Turns
All these points are great. A haunting quality is especially good, for example The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Brrr.
I’m a massive fan of eccentricity and quirk too, so anything a bit odd or a skewed perspective would make it memorable for me. E.g. Miranda July’s short stories.
The great thing about short stories is they’re more of a drive-by shooting than an elaborate heist. You get plunged straight into the middle of an event, and then it’s gone, before you’ve had time to think. Only later do you reflect on it. The best ones keep you reflecting indefinitely. It’s s0 hard to pin it to tangible qualities, which is of course what you’re asking, so… I guess any story where you lose track of time and are immersed totally in its world has that (sorry to use this term) X factor. That’s a bit like answering “Some” to “How many would you like?” so apologies for vagueness!
Queenie’s last blog post..Fathers’ Day: the playlist
I’m willing to give anything a go.
A lot of the time I’m not quite sure why I like a story – I just do. When I read it again and start thinking like a crit I may come up with reasons. I like to go with my instincts, go with the flow and let things be.
When I write I honestly don’t plan. I just start writing about whatever takes my fancy like the sea or a flower or a smile – whatever – and it grows quite naturally fed by me.
I do like it when a writer thinks differently to the masses. I also like it when a writer displays courage.
Paisley’s last blog post..Women
These are great thoughts, thanks guys – you’ve certainly oiled some of my writing cogs.
@Diana – I love that it’s made you think so much! Plausibility is a huge bug bear for me when I watch TV or read anything – I have to actively switch that bit of my brain off to watch most things now.
@Paisley – I’m intrigued by your comment – how does a writer display courage? And I love hearing about how other people write short stories, so thanks for that insight.
@Queenie – thanks for mentioning those authors, I’ll go and seek them out.
@Joanna – I love dark too – most of what I write is dark. Hmmm, I wonder why?