I Sell My Dreams
What a short story is
Recognise the features of a short story.
A short story is a prose narrative of limited length. It arranges what its characters do and think into the pattern of a plot, which may be comic, tragic, romantic or satiric. Its central incident is chosen to show, as fully as possible, the main character's (the protagonist's) life and nature, and every detail helps the plot along.
Short stories vary a great deal in length: from really short ones of about five hundred words to longer, more complex works. The longer ones sit between the tightness of a short narrative and the wide spread of a novel.
They vary in theme too: they deal with fantasy, reality, alienation (feeling cut off from others) and the problem of choice in personal life.
This section of Kaleidoscope has three short stories and two long ones, by writers from five cultures.
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