I just thing some people ‘get’ the ability to write good characters and for some that isn’t their strong suit. I also think that readers bring a lot of themselves to the experience and for me personally, I am often open to that connection and possibly even finder deeper connections with some characters than a ‘critic’ would see in the short story. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I am drawn to them.

The other is that you can just have this incredible experience in a few pages and then go on, in an anthology for example, to have another incredible experience with a completely different author all in the space of a small amount of reading time. I love that.

Yes, that is true. I often find myself just as engaged with characters in a short story as I do with characters in a novel.

I am also finding out that novella length short fiction is an excellent form for science fiction stories. Take All Seated On The Ground – it was the perfect length, and allowed me to get very involved in the characters’ lives. And a great story to boot!

I have to admit that I cannot understand people who don’t like short stories. The best short stories can be so very powerful, inspiring, funny, intriguing… and to do that in such a short space of words is an amazing gift. I have read short stories that found me every bit as engaged emotionally with the character as I have been with novels.

As always, great insights James and great fuel to my thinking process about why I like specific short stories that I come back to time and again.