“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build toward it” – Edgar Allen Poe
Well, I’m still zoning in on the short story these days, what with being caught up in trying to create some sort of a collection, and I find little quotes like this very useful. Just like the short story itself – which doesn’t hang about in getting to the point – these morsels of advice from the literary greats just say it like it is.
We all know that every sentence counts rather more in a short story, when it could quite easily get lost in a novel, so every one of them must fit the mood – or the tone – of the tale.
Now, if you’re like me and you like to write with a loose idea of the story you want to create, but wait to see where the pen takes you, this could be a bit trickier. When you plot, plot, plot, you get to craft, craft, craft things like mood and atmosphere and so on. But I guess that’s where the editing comes in…
It makes me think, though – what’s the mood of each of the stories I’ve written so far?
Is there continuity – really? Does everything in those stories build towards creating that mood, making that mood, immersing the reader within that mood and making them ‘get’ what you want them to get from the story?
Hmm, we’ll see…