What I Learned Writing Short Stories

You may have heard before that switching up formats — from novels to short stories, for example — can help you grow as a writer. The reason I’ve most often heard cited for this is that it teaches you to write more concisely. To say more with less. I whole-heartedly agree, but in my own short-story-writing adventure I learned much more than that.

It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve gotten serious about short stories. I tried my hand at a few when I was entering the Writers of the...