Sandscript in Short

This is National Short Story Week, not to be confused with International Short Story Day or International Short Story Week..... For many writers every day is short story day, we are either writing one, reading one out at a writers' group, sending one off to a competition, or listening to one on the radio while cooking or washing the dishes.
When I was in junior school, an accident on my bicycle led to a rare stay in bed. A neighbour lent me Grimms’ Fairy Tales, which I read from cover to cover. The first volume was published in 1812 containing 86 stories, a second volume followed in 1815 with another 70. Eventually the seventh edition contained 211 tales. So short stories are not new; does a traditional tale passed down over the years become a short story once written down?
There are much older stories than those of the Brothers Grimm. ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ or The Arabian Nights’ has a complex history, ancient tales collected, stories within stories. Many people will know the parables of Jesus without even realising where they came from. Even if they do not know the stories, expressions such as ‘Good Samaritan’ or ‘Prodigal Son’ will be familiar. A good story has a problem that needs to be solved, a dilemma resolved or a character who discovers something new about himself and other people. If the tale is told in a simple or memorable way it will not be forgotten. Though I’m sure most writers would not expect their stories to last a couple of thousand years.
My two anthologies ‘Dark and Milk’ and ‘Hallows and Heretics’ do not contain as many stories as you will find in Arabian Nights or the Grimm Brothers and they probably won’t last hundreds of years, but they will last for your coffee break. You can also read new stories regularly on my website.

http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk/chapter...