The Twilight Zone and the art of the short story

"You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!"

What a fantastic introduction.

I recently finished reading a book called "The Twilight Zone and the Original Stories."  This was a compilation of some of the original stories written by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Ambrose Bierce, and others, that were turned into Twilight Zone episodes.  Some of the stories were no more than six pages long, others upwards of 30.  The collection truly is remarkable, and reading the book got me to thinking about the art of the short story.

As an aspiring writer, I have dabbled with stories both long and short, and I can tell you that sometimes writing less is a whole lot tougher than writing more.  Think of all the things we say a good story should have; a beginning, a middle, and an end.  Not to mention fleshed out characters, a compelling plot, and a little bit of action (you know, like the actual story).  Those are a lot of elements to effectively weave together and ultimately end up with something that reads well and makes sense. 

And that is exactly what I loved about all the stories in the Twilight Zone book.  The authors who composed these stories created memorable characters in just a few short pages, brought the reader immediately into the action while still managing to work in adequate amounts of back story, and ultimately ended the story without the reader feeling like things had been rushed or details left out.

I enjoy reading short stories almost as much as full length novels.  I love to see how different authors handle the challenge because it is, in my opinion, a challenge to keep a story confined and not let it run wild.  I have found that the longer I work on a story the greater the possibility that it will run off on tangents that aren't crucial to the overall plot.  I probably have a handful of 30+ page stories that could be condensed down to half their size. 

I often wonder if most authors make a concious decision to write short stories, or if that is something that isn't determined until knee-deep in the editing process.  Kind of like the question about which came first, the chicken or the egg.  

Stephen King (yes, I will take any opportunity to talk about my love of his work), is one of the best short story writers alive today.  Let's not even bother focusing on the raging success of every one of his full length novels, I'm talking specifically about the short story collections.  The man can write short fiction just as effectively as he can write a 1,000 page novel, and he can do it without sacrificing any of the above mentioned traits which all good stories posess

It truly amazes me how an entire story (or at least the most important part of a story) can be communicated in such a condensed way.  I think this is what makes short fiction so exciting to read, the fact that you more or less have to be brought right into the thick of the story at the very beginning, and there isn't a whole lot of time to waste with meaningless details and unnecessary scenes.  True, no story whether long or short should bother with these things, but we all know that doesn't always happen. 

All this rambling does in a way relate to a situation I am currently facing with a story I have been working on all month.  I'm lost somewhere in the middle, not sure what direction my characters will head next, or what my ultimate outcome for the story will be.  Part of me is chomping at the bit to start over, right in the middle, and flush the story out to an exhilerating ending, while another part of me wants to complete the 100 page compilation (seriously, if I keep dragging it along the way I have been this thing will probably be over 100 pages before an ending is reached), and then go through and figure out if there's really a story in there amongst all the character dialogue and attempted plot twists. 

Regardless of what happens with this current tale, I am making a concious decision to dedicate myself to the short story.  Challenging?  Perhaps.  Effective?  Most definitely.  Time to summon my inner Stephen King.....