I’m almost finished with editing the 10 short stories. I’m finding that editing a collection of short stories is a lot different compared to editing a novel. With a novel, you’re focusing on the progression of the events from one chapter to the next. You’re making sure that the narrative ties together by the conclusion of the story. With a short story, you’re focusing on the cohesiveness of the plot itself. You’re checking to see if you’ve conveyed what you needed to in a short amount of time/space.
With each short story, I felt like I was exploring a new scenario. A good analogy would be like visiting different rooms/galleries of a museum.
Because the short stories are linear, I had to plan the sequence of events as I would with a novel. The interesting thing about this collection is that it feels like a series of vignettes while something larger is happening. It’s definitely a neat experience.
Fallton Havenstonne 