It's no secret to anyone that telling stories is an art in itself. Long novels, such as The Miserables, by Victor Hugo or The Karamazov brothers, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, have gone down in the annals of literature as true masterpieces. But there are stories that, starting from a few short lines, are capable of portraying complete lives, including all their complexity.
“How could this be possible?” some will ask, since it is inevitable to think of it as a feat worthy of geniuses. And if: Well-written short stories are—nothing more and nothing less—little drops of brilliance. linguistics. Some of the most notable authors in carrying out this genre have been Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar and the young Santiago González Pedraza.
What is a short story
Short stories—especially when talking specifically about the literary short story—are short, structured narratives that aim to tell a fictional story using language. Genres such as legend, fable, story, novel and epic fall within this resource. This form of text builds its characters, spaces, times and purposes from the beginning.
The short story can use one or more narrative voices, and It requires great mastery so that there is no loss of meaning, given the conciseness of the text. Likewise, unrestricted use of imagination and creativity is made in pursuit of presenting stories that may even be based on reality. On the other hand, the structure will always depend on the author, as well as the type of work.
Main characteristics of the short story
To distinguish a short story from many others, it is necessary to understand what its most distinctive features are, which are made up of the following points:
The number of words
Seems obvious, right? However, it is necessary to clarify that, for a story to be considered “brief”, The number of words written in it should not exceed 1700 words. This type of text requires that the sentences be written creatively and succinctly. Using short sentences helps situations develop quickly.
Another way to check the length of a short story
One way to know how short a story is is through the number of pages. In this sense, The text should not be more than five pages long. because, if so, we would be talking about a story itself. An example of this could be The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe, which, depending on the edition, only has four pages, or less.
The presentation of conflict
In a short story, the conflict of the plot must be presented from the beginning, and develops as the story progresses. Furthermore, this deployment must involve all the characters quickly, so that the connections are triggered to the same extent, with the aim of obtaining a rhythmic outcome for each of the actors.
How many characters does a short story have?
For the author's convenience—and as a matter of consistency— It is necessary that the plot does not cover more than three or four characters. The reason is very simple: the inclusion of too many actors could distract the reader from the true function of the story: telling a story. In the case of this type of text, the events themselves matter more than the protagonists.
An intense start
En general, It is recommended that short stories begin as intensely as possible, with a sentence or paragraph that invites action from the beginning. Likewise, the outcome is characterized by emerging in an unexpected way, or with an event that conveys a great impact to the reader. In short, a short story should not be predictable or have fillers.
The type of language used in a short story
Containing so few words, many authors prefer to use rather cultured language, rich, offering the reader the opportunity to discover new words and become familiar with a lexicon that moves him to research. In contrast, there are still writers who focus on more native ways, even opting for the use of slang.
Parts of a short story
Theme
It refers to the fundamental basis of the story, which functions as the central focus of the work. By having a specific theme, The dialogues, actions, conflicts and objects of the characters will be aligned under the same nuance, which fills any story with verisimilitude and coherence.
Argument
Many times, it is easy to confuse the argument with the theme, but both have completely different conceptions. For example, In a short horror story, suspense is the theme, while the plot is the desire of a serial killer to attack two lovers in a cabin in the woods. In other words: the plot determines all the events associated with the plot.
Conflict
This is the greatest point of interest for every reader. It is usually presented as a problem that the protagonists must solve, which ends up giving meaning to the very existence of the story. Similarly, It is common for the conflict to never be resolved, thereby ensuring that the short story in question has an open ending, something widely used in mystery stories.
Characters
A curiosity about characters in short stories is that they can be represented through characters, animals or objects. To a greater extent, They tend to stand out more for their actions and dialogues than for their appearance, Therefore, as far as the latter is concerned, the author can choose to make a brief description of his characters, or do without it at all.
Examples of some of the best short story books
- Tales, by Anton Chekhov;
- New York Stories, by O. Henry;
- Complete stories, by Edith Wharton;
- Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury;
- Manual for cleaning women, by Lucia Berlin;
- The artificial black and other writings, by Flannery O'connor;
- All fires the fire, Julio Cortazar;
- I tell them alls, by Raymond Carver;
- Felicidad, by Mary Lavin;
- Same place, same things, by Tim Gautreaux;
- binocular vision, by Edith Pearlman;
- The Burning Plain, by Juan Rulfo;
- Extraordinary stories, by Roald Dahl;
- Reginald, by Saki;
- The love of the owls, by José Jiménez Lozano.