Random Thought #3 for March 8

This one less random. 

I wrote a short story for my writers group and to ultimately send to a contest. Two people returned it. One hated the ending. The other loved it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I understand why the one, a woman, hated the ending. The man, who loved it, likes dark fiction.

 I confess my short stories are dark. My colleague reminded me, the *originator of the short story was pretty dark. I think short stories by their very nature tend toward the dark; if they end happy, they are more comic or anecdotal but not literary. I think that a novel gives you the opportunity to tell a complete story, and it can end with hope after struggle. The short story is about the struggle. It can’t tell the whole story. A short story is, quite literally (and literarily) a slice of life. A novel is the whole pie.

I do write short stories, and they are very much the “epiphany” type. But I feel I can’t really explore a character fully.

The crucifixion is a short story. The gospel of John is a novel. That’s the difference.

*Edgar Allen Poe