A short while ago, my good friend and writing buddy Dr Petra McNulty wrote a guest article for this Top Tips page. The subject was how to transition from writing the short story to writing a novel. You can read the article here.
Since it was posted, I've done a lot of thinking about the subject, because I've realised that I look at all this from a different angle. Rather than being the angle of the practitioner (because I don't write short stories), I approach the subject from the angle of the editor/coach. Below, I've added to Petra's excellent article to give an editor's-eye-view of how short stories differ from long fiction. I've listed the most obvious aspects to take on board if you're currently making the change between the two forms.
Things short stories can do:
Remain in the moment for longer, giving detailed and delicious descriptions to build atmosphere and setting;
Use a concentration of dialogue without necessarily intersecting it with light scene-setting description;
Use multiple POVs and head-hop between these characters;
Avoid standard punctuation in favour of something non-standard or entirely absent;
Use short chunks of text separated by a line or two space, before picking up in a new scene, often repeatedly;
Follow antagonists in the same way that film can, giving the story over to the bad guys;
Use chunks of exposition or ‘telling’ to unfold major elements of the story;
Use short segments of narrative which read as micro-scenes and don't necessarily dovetail into an overarching character narrative/the main thrust of the plot;
Avoid a solid conclusion in favour of something more suggestive than concrete.
By comparison, novels -
Set scenes economically so that the story can move at pace; they only build detailed and delicious descriptions at moments where everything can afford to slow right down (see my article ‘Love, Death and Magic’ for an explanation);
Use novelistic dialogue which is punchy and truncated, and mostly needs to be intersected with light scene-setting description (see my article on novelistic dialogue here);
Can't easily use random multiple POVs or head-hop between characters too frequently - in a novel, we need to be sure of our story leader and to remain connected with that person. See my article on POV here;
Use standard punctuation to keep things clear and easy for a reader;
Avoid too many short chunks of text separated by a line or two space, only changing scene when absolutely necessary;
Avoid following antagonists in the same way that film can, not giving the story over to the bad guys - readers invest so much mental energy in creating a ‘visual’ of the story in their minds, they want to spend time with characters they feel fully invested in;
Avoid chunks of exposition or ‘telling’ to unfold major elements of the story. Readers of long fiction prefer to have their story unfolded with lots of ‘showing’. If you aren't sure of the difference, see my article on ‘Showing and Telling’;
All scenes need a connectivity with the overarching character narrative/the main thrust of the plot;
Need a solid conclusion rather than something suggestive and perhaps not clear.
As an editor/coach, I can usually tell within two pages of a new MS whether the author started out as a short story specialist. Over the course of assessing hundreds of manuscripts, I've been able to think deeply about why this is, and to list (above) the most obvious elements relating to how short stories differ in style and execution from novels.
There will always, of course, be exceptions to the rule. Lisa Jewell's Don't Let Him In gives a considerable chunk of the narrative to a psychopathic character we can't possibly side with; Abigail Dean's Girl A ends with a scene which could be real or imagined - there's no firm conclusion to the story, which is unusual for long fiction.
So, how and why do these novels work? In Jewell's novel, we also follow several of the women who are being scammed by the bad guy, so we remain invested. In Dean's novel, we're so concerned by the welfare of the narrator that when the punchline is delivered, our priority is that she can see a way forward rather than expecting her to have all her problems solved.
Even though there are novels out there which break the rules, the vast majority don't. The pointers above are a useful checklist if you want to transition from short to long fiction.
July 2025