Short Story Writing | Page 4

ground of fact as he strays in the
unsubstantial realm of fantasy. In no one's writings is this better
exemplified than in Hawthorne's; not even in Poe's. There is a propriety
in Hawthorne's fantasy to which Poe could not attain. Hawthorne's
effects are moral where Poe's are merely physical. The situation and its
logical development and the effects to be got out of it are all Poe thinks
of. In Hawthorne the situation, however strange and weird, is only the
outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual struggle. Ethical
consequences are always worrying Hawthorne's soul; but Poe did not
know there were any ethics."[5]
The short story usually treats of the lighter and brighter side of life. It is
seldom in deadly earnest; it tends somewhat to superficiality; and it
prefers cleverness to profundity, in both conception and treatment.
Naturally, then, comedy rather than tragedy is its usual sphere; and
though the tale may end in gloom, it more frequently suggests a
possible tragedy in order to heighten the effect of the happy
denouement. For similar reasons the short story avoids the didactic tone,
either presenting its lesson in clever disguise, or limiting its moral
efforts to providing innocent amusement for an idle hour.
In the strife between realism and romanticism the short story adopts the
middle course, taking advantage of the better phases of both, but siding
with neither; for every life is subject to both influences, often at the
same time, and the short story aspires to present life as it is. "Without
true realism and genuine romanticism--actuality and ideals--good work
was never done, nor did any writer ever rise to be an author."[6] "No
worthy work of fiction may properly be labelled romantic, realistic or
symbolic, since every great work of art contains all these in some
proportion. Love and fighting are not necessarily romance; nor are
soup-kitchens and divorce courts necessarily realism.... Malice, futility
and ugliness--the dreadful monotony of existence--are not necessarily
real life; nor the tales of summer love and marriage ceremonies,
successful fightings, or sacrifice and chivalry necessarily romance."[7]
In its technique a short story demands the utmost care; it lacks the bulk
of the novel, which hides minor defects. It must have a definite form,

which shall be compact, and which shall have its parts properly
proportioned and related; and it must be wrought out in a workmanlike
manner. It requires extreme care from its conception to its completion,
when it must stand forth a perfect work of art; and yet it must reveal no
signs of the worker's tools, or of the pains by which it was achieved.
From what has been said it is evident that the short story is artificial,
and to a considerable degree unnatural. It could hardly be otherwise, for
it takes out of our complex lives a single person or a single incident and
treats that as if it were complete in itself. Such isolation is not known to
nature: There all things work together, and every man influences all
about him and is influenced by them. Yet this separation and exclusion
are required by the conventions of the short story; and after all, there is
always the feeling, if the characters are well handled, that they have
been living and will continue to live, though we have chanced to come
in contact with them for only a short time.
It is this isolation, this magnifying of one character or incident, that
constitutes the chief difference between the novel and the short story.[8]
In the novel we have a reproduction of a certain period of real life: all
the characters are there, with their complex lives and their varying
emotions; there are varied scenes, each one the stage of some particular
incident or semi-climax which carries the action on to the final chapter;
and there are persons and scenes and conversations which have no
reason for being there, except that just such trivial things are parts of
life. With the short story it is very different: that permits of but one
scene and incident, one or two real characters, with one predominant
emotion: all else is a detriment to the interest and success of the story.
A book may be called a novel even if it is composed of a series of
incidents, each complete in itself, which are bound together by a
slender thread of common characters; but a story cannot properly be
called a short one unless it has simplicity of plot, singleness of
character and climax, and freedom from extraneous matter. "In a short
story the starting point is an idea, a definite notion, an incident, a
surprising discovery; and this must have a definite significance, a
bearing on our view of life; also it must be applied to the development
of one