A.W. Lambert

It’s true to say that if I had been asked to write a compendium of short stories I would have declined. The reason being that to write a single short story, a good short story, much to many people’s surprise, is very difficult indeed. To take on writing twenty five? Well, like I said I would have declined the offer. But a short story; a couple of thousand words, if you consider yourself an author, how difficult can it be?

I can only speak for myself, of course, and I’m sure there are those of you, those whose forte is the short story genre, who might disagree, but I find it very difficult. And in my case it’s because of the strict discipline required. Sure, I’ve had a number of novels published, each running from ninety to a hundred thousand words, and at the beginning of each I have, without exception, relished the challenge ahead. The beginning, the middle and end, to me anyway, seem to roll naturally into place and there’s always time and space to breathe.

Not so the short story; this is a completely different animal. Sure there’s still the beginning, the middle and the end, but now, taking that two thousand word short story again, they have to be fitted into something like a fiftieth of that space. The freedom and natural breathing space of a hundred thousand words is no more and it takes a different mindset, a different way of thinking, of putting things together, to make a good job of it. And to me it always engendered a feeling of panic. Stupid? I agree, but fewer words seemed like less time and with less time I needed to be much more tightly focussed, more disciplined. I have to be honest; with regard to my writing I do not do tight discipline very well.

So then, how did I come to put together twenty five short stories? Well I have to confess it took me almost twenty years and it was never my intention to amalgamate the stories into a compendium anyway. It was just that, like so many others, when I started writing seriously, a full length novel seemed a daunting, even unachievable prospect. Short stories had to be easier, right?

Keen as mustard, I enrolled on a creative writing course with The Writers Bureau and subscribed to as many writing papers and magazines as I could. In doing so I was faced with any number of short story competitions. Now, the beauty of such competitions is that you are invariably given a theme or topic, maybe even just the first or last line to get you underway, together with a specific word count. So you don’t start with that frightening blank page, there is at least something to give you a lead in. But even then I struggled and it was only because I loved the writing process so much, was utterly determined to succeed at some level that I doggedly pushed on.

Over the years I submitted many stories, at first without success, finding it almost impossible to condense anything meaningful into what I saw as a ridiculously few words. But slowly it came and I began to achieve short listings and finally some notable successes. I also found that I was able to use the same technique in newspaper and magazine articles, both of which also demanded specific word counts.

That difficult time, the learning process, I believe contributed greatly to the skills required for creative writing, even promoting the confidence to tackle those hundred thousand words. However, short story writing isn’t for everyone and however much I believe I benefitted from it in those early days, it isn’t for me.

So how did ‘Take a Break’ come about? It was just after the publication of my thriller ‘Shadows’ - also published by Rogue Phoenix - when I was indeed taking a break before starting my next novel. I was clearing out old files when I came across some forty or more short stories written over the years. Intrigued, I sat and re-read one. And then another. And then.... Well, a month or so later, after being totally engrossed in a number of restructures and rewrites, I found myself with twenty five stories that I thought might just be worth something. An enquiry and not very hopeful submission to Christine at Rogue and I have to admit to my surprise ‘Take a Break’ came into being.

The truth is, full length thrillers is my passion and though you should never say never, I can’t see myself indulging in short story writing again. I find it too difficult, not as rewarding and certainly not as comfortable as full length work. As I said before, I like room to breathe.

Thinking back some years, however, I do remember something said by one of my tutors. It was that whatever you write never, ever, dispose of it. In my case that was very good advice.

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