Rites of Passage

Начало книги

I like writing long stories (between around 7,500 words and 15,000 words). I find that they give a little more creative leeway than the short story; I can expand on the setting, the characters, and the actual story. There’s a bit more elbow room to explore ideas. Interestingly, I find that when I start a short story, I have no idea whether it will grow into a long story (though when I begin a novella, I know very well that it will reach the fifteen, sixteen thousand word mark and go well beyond). As I write what I think is going to be a short story, along the way it grows — either the characters demand a bit more room to develop, or the story requires more scenes in order to do justice to the plot. What I do notice about long stories is that the setting becomes more important to me than I initially realised; it almost becomes a character in its own right. This happened in three of the stories in this volume.

Читать дальше →