Showdown: Long form vs short form

One thing I have noticed over my years practising with different forms of writing is that, for a lot of people, being a writer is equated with writing books. I, personally, do not write books, as you might have already gleaned from certain previous posts. I think that it’s important to remember that there are a lot of different types of writing, all of which are equally valuable and interesting. It’s also important to remember that different types of writing come with completely different conventions and require their own skill sets. Being good at poetry does not in itself make you just as good at writing short stories, nor will being able to write brilliant essays prepare you for playwriting. On the other hand, if you struggle with writing novels like I do, there are a whole host of other types of writing you can try!

In a series of reflection posts over the next several months, we're going to explore what makes different forms of writing distinct from each other, and what is needed to excel at them. We’ll do this by pitting opposites against each other: long-form and short-form texts, fiction and non-fiction, prose and verse, and texts that are and are not written to be performed. This can help you more easily narrow down what you, specifically, enjoy most.

It’s vital to know before embarking on a project what sort of scope you’re writing to. Even if you’re a dedicated pantser and don’t know exactly how many thousands of words you’ll end up with, you ought to at least have a sense of whether you’ll end up with a full book or a short piece of a dozen pages or less.

The main thing that sets long and shorts forms apart from each other is, naturally, length. But even something as simple as “how long is this going to be” comes with a lot of factors to consider, such as pacing, flow of information, structure, and writing style. So how do you know what to plan for? Let's investigate.