Don't give your idea away - short story or novel?

[John Dean]

Sometimes, I find myself telling a writing student that they ‘have given their idea’ away, by which I mean that the idea for a story is a really good one but that it has been wasted.

For instance, I worked with a writer with an idea for a crime short story, based on revenge, an old theme but one that was being presented in an original way. 

Although I liked the idea, the short story format meant that none of the characters were well drawn. I could not help thinking that in order to make the concept work, we needed to learn more details about each of the victims so that we could sympathise with them more.

I appreciated that a shorter piece did not permit much detail but I felt that in this case, it was required and if that meant it became a novel to do the story justice then so be it.

And yes, I know some of the most brilliant ideas have made terrific short stories, and that in the hands of a good writer, 2,000 words can be as effective as 65,000, if not more so.

But sometimes I do think that by choosing a shorter format for whatever reason, the potential for a truly great piece of storytelling is lost.