Writing Processes – Part 3: Short Stories

My obsession with Star Wars led to me devouring a lot of science fiction during my teenage years. I discovered a lot of the classic sf writers – Ray Bradbury; Frank Herbert; Arthur C Clarke; Isaac Asimov.

I've mentioned that up to this point, everything I wrote was novel length. It never occurred to me to write anything shorter. I would have an idea for a plot and there would be a definite beginning, middle and end. All the characters had to have full names, and life histories, and all of ...