Your opening should give the reader a person to focus on. In a short story, this person should turn up almost immediately; he should be integral to the story's main action; he should be an individual, not just a type. In a novel, the main character may take longer to appear: Anna Karenina doesn't show up in her own novel until chapter eighteen.

Related Quotes

The truth is, you have about three paragraphs in a short story, three pages in a novel, to capture that editor's attention enough for her to finish your story.

— Nancy Kress

AboutAttentionCapture

As a writer, you must know what promise your story or novel makes. Your reader will know.

— Nancy Kress

The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, 'How does it end?' Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don't like the ending, chances are they'll say they didn't like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works.

— Nancy Kress

AlsoCarryChances

A short story is one idea; a novel is a whole soup of them.

— Robert J. Sawyer

A short story is the shortest distance between two points; a novel is the scenic route.

— Robert J. Sawyer

BetweenDistanceNovel