Like I said above, I had a wee aha! moment this past month. I realized my problem is intimacy.
Intimacy of setting, intimacy of conflict, intimacy of time. I always aim Too Big. I write novels, I think in the scope of novels. Even novellas are hard for me! So I've always known, in theory, that my brain aimed Too Big.
But it wasn't until I thought of this word -- intimacy -- that it all clicked for me.
Intimate setting, intimate conflict, intimate time passage.
It'd not that you can't have a huge setting or a huge conflict or a huge scope of time in a short story, but at least one of the three elements needs to shoot small.
For example, let's say I want to write a short story about a planet that's about to get hit by a comet--what does preparation for that moment look like? Setting = big. Conflict = big. So I'm gonna have to adjust time.
To do that, I decide to pick one moment: as the comet is visible in the sky about to hit. Now I can show that moment from any number of characters -- a scientist who didn't make it off planet in time. A woman holding her son while she sprints for the last shuttle to escape. Heck, I could do both and have them intersect. But time is short, and the conflict is immediate.
This might all seem very obvious to you, but it has always been my problem. And finding that one word -- intimacy -- has completely unlocked something in my novel-writing brain.
Maybe it will for you too.
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