Everything has a story, the universe has its story, and humans have their story in their creation, pursuit, and death. The ant has its story, and the hoopoe has its story, and we have our own stories.
Everything around us has a story, and we live in a vast universe of stories. Different times, places, characters, and events.
That's why humans have been narrating stories since the first day of Adam, to remember, reflect, learn, and educate themselves.
The short story, is a literary genre that consists of a shorter narrative prose than a novel.
It aims to present an event within a short time period and a limited space, often to express a situation or aspect of life.
To fully understand the short story, we must first understand the art closest to it, which is the novel. The most important thing that the novel and the short story have in common is that they are narrative prose.
The differences between the short story and the novel:
Length:
This is an initial difference, and not a fundamental one because it is a result, not a cause.
The literary convention is close to settling on the maximum length of a short story being 30 pages and the minimum being five pages. A story that is less than five pages is called a "micro-story" or "flash fiction.
The length of a novel, of course, is more than forty pages and its ending is not predetermined.
Time and Place:
Time is a major difference between the novel and the short story.
The novel covers a whole sector of society and may include more than one social class, to depict events that take place over a relatively long period of time, "a month, a year, several years."
The modern artistic short story may portray a situation that lasts minutes, hours, or a whole day, and usually does not extend time-wise to match its counterpart in the novel.
Characters:
The novel portrays the lives of a group of people during a certain period of time, and it seeks to detail their physical, psychological, intellectual, economic, cultural abilities, living conditions, and behavior in various situations, and it follows the historical development of the main characters.
The short story is concerned with one character, or at most two characters, in a simple situation, and it does not delve into all the aspects related to the characters.
The events:
The broad vision of the novel results in multiple events in a composite form, some of which lead to others, rising from the simple to the complex. The characters participate, each according to their importance, in shaping and driving the novel's world.
The short story carries only one event and may suffice to depict a moment of inspiration resulting from an event that has already occurred or is expected to occur. The reader is not surprised if they finish the story without encountering an event.
The structure is the form:
Sometimes referred to as artistic architecture. The artistic architecture in the short story can be similar to the novel.
The short story begins its structure from the first word, which cannot be said about the novel.
The language :
In a novel, the author has enough space and room to choose long sentences to describe scenes such as the sea, sunset, and the sky, and to describe the psychological states of the characters and delve into their depths for two or more pages.
As for the short story, it is condensed to the maximum extent with no padding, repetition, and there is no room for the author to showcase their linguistic wealth.
Location:
The multiplicity and diversity of events and the change of times undoubtedly lead to the multiplicity of places in the novel, and their unlimitedness, which also leads to the fact that the location in the story is more specific and less diverse.
Style:
Style is the artistic technique and tactic that the storyteller uses to present their idea.
In the novel, the author needs artistic techniques that change with the subject, characters, and situations, in order to be able to express themselves and enter the vast and wide world.
In the short story, the storyteller may use one or two of those techniques and cannot use many techniques because they are related to a simple event.
Characteristics of the short story:
Principle of unity:
Everything in the short story is almost one. It consists of one idea that includes one event, one main character, and has one purpose and a logical ending that leaves the reader with one impression, mostly using one technique.
Principle of condensation:
Since the purpose and the means are one, it is necessary to head straight towards them with the first word in the story, and strong condensation is required to achieve the highest degree of success for the short story.
Drama and plot:
Drama in the short story means creating a sense of vitality and dynamism, even if there is no external conflict and there is only one character. The story should arouse in the reader, from the first word, a desire to explore and know what is happening and to eagerly anticipate reading the following lines.
The artistic style that merges all the elements of the story into a stunning aesthetic pattern, such as the hot beginning and lively character, internal conflict, acceptable and logical surprise. If there is no excitement in the story, it will have no readers.
Maher Daboul
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