I keep making posts about short fics, and I'm going to continue doing so because on every short fic post I make, I get people who love short fics but I also get authors who feel guilty because they don't write "full fics" or "complete stories"
Short fics are complete. Short fics are full stories. There are more tales in the world than just novels. There are more ways of sharing your idea than creating an entire world to go along with it.
You can tell a complete story in 100 words. You can call a fic complete and full and fleshed out, even without all of the context or history or world building in your brain.
Your readers have imaginations, just like you do. Have faith that they'll be able to fill in any blanks on their own. Trust that they'll enjoy what you put out, even if it's short.
Stop measuring yourself with a ruler that doesn't even matter. If you want to write a long fic, that's wonderful. I wish you well.
But if you don't want to write novels, please stop apologizing for that. You have nothing to feel bad about. Be proud that you can capture a moment or a feeling or an idea in just a few words. Not everyone can do that.
100% agree
We wrote flash fiction in our short story club today. It was a blast. Each one was a full, complete story.
None of them were over 500 words, and the lowest was 286. We could've gone even shorter with different parameters or if we'd tried. You can accomplish a lot in 100 words.
It's ok to write short stuff. I gravitate to short stories for fanfiction because that's what I have time for. Novels are exhausting and not everyone gels well with the writing process for them. That's ok. Different people write differently, and you'll have different lengths you like for different things! It's great!
