How complex are your short stories?

There's probably three or more definitions of complex in here atm What is it you are really asking about OP?

I hope it's okay to resurrect this thread...

Are we talking like the plot has several subplots kind of complex? or all the happenings are very deep and complex in a more psychological way (maybe they have deep meaning or bring up large veins of thought)?

In my opinion there is no space for complexity in short stories, so most of mine have a simple structure with a single thread. I am planning one that has multiple flashbacks as part of a very deliberate structure, but that is the exception to the rule.

Stijn Hommes said:

In my opinion there is no space for complexity in short stories, so most of mine have a simple structure with a single thread. I am planning one that has multiple flashbacks as part of a very deliberate structure, but that is the exception to the rule.

Click to expand...

I don't think complexity comes from structure, it comes from meaning. I suspect any good short story has more than one layer of meaning, even ones written very simply and to the point.

I have no idea if my short stories are complex or not. Maybe one of these days someone will tell me. I figure, being short, there's not much room for complexity.

I generally have about one subplot for every plot, and one character arc for every short story in the world.

Well, I'm a n00b here, so take anything I say with a grain of salt, but... well, all the short stories I've drafted (not many) I didn't go out of my way to make complex or simple or anything else.

I just thought of the story I wanted to tell. In one case it's a fairly simple short story about a boy who attends a funeral and learns he's the only one who can see the ghost. It goes into a little detail about it but in general it's straightforward because it didn't need to be complex.

Another short story I had an idea for was multi-layered and extremely complex. The character was many things at once, the worldbuilding was fairly complex for a short story, and there were several themes running throughout it... not because I wanted to make it complex, but because the story in my mind was complex.

Neither story is all that great, honestly, but those were my thoughts.

Summonere said:

I have no idea if my short stories are complex or not. Maybe one of these days someone will tell me. I figure, being short, there's not much room for complexity.

Click to expand...

There's room for all sorts of complexity in a one hundred word, or shorter, story. Complexity isn't about structure, or about length, it's about layers of meaning.

I try to make mine relatively complex, in that it gives me some satisfaction to see how much I can compress into a short form.

Whether that's as enjoyable for the readers as it is for me is another question entirely.

OJCade said:

I try to make mine relatively complex, in that it gives me some satisfaction to see how much I can compress into a short form.

Whether that's as enjoyable for the readers as it is for me is another question entirely.

Click to expand...

I think a really good short story is one readers can read just as enjoyably without seeing layers of meaning. The surface story is entertaining, and a pleasure to read, and if that's all the reader sees, well and good. But the layers are there, and some readers will see and enjoy them.

I've been thinking about this very thing since I do aim for literary journals--how to write more complex stories.

My stories tend to come as they come and I just let them be which is usually plot-driven and straightforward, a mere snapshot of something that happened. But there are a few that have turned out on the complex side. Still, even those few, after reading some pieces from top literary journals, I realize they're not that 'complex'--no nesting dolls there with weather, political climate and internal struggles and interpersonal relationships colliding.

I'm okay with that though. Someday a story might come to me that way, and if it doesn't, that's fine too. Like most said, there are markets for both types.

Complexity, as I see it, is a measure of how much thought you put into a story. I have an idea, I have a related idea, I start plotting a story. Other ideas coalesce around what I already have. I can't help it. People read a story and tell me I should turn it into a book. Too late, I'm working on another story.

I am not sure what complex means here, but I try to make my stories mean different things for different people. Maybe even add a little bit of unsolved questions just so to make the reader ponder the possibilities or the meanings behind them.

I like short stories that make me feel something and that discuss an issue about life without really mentioning it, just letting me figure it out from the contest. I try to achieve that and hope to succeed.

I think that the ability to integrate a lot into a story - be it themes, subplots etc - is something that comes with practice. I think when writer's get into trouble it's often because they try to force a story to be rich or complex or simple or what have you. I may be wrong about this (and if anyone disagrees I'd love to hear their take on it) but I have always figured that a story that integrates multiple themes etc grows into it organically.

That said, I'll admit that I'm not there yet, so that's pure conjecture on my part.