short stories series

My short story series is being analyzed here. It's seems like it's generally a friendly thread with some smart folks, so you might want to take a look.

I do take issue with people claiming I say always or claim there are rules to writing. I'm not sure what I did to cause such defensiveness. I think people who really know me recognize I have some (not all!) strong opinions, but I'm not a person who sees absolutes in writing, or hell, in life. While there are people who will prove my opinions wrong, I wrote the posts to benefit the thousands (and I count myself among them!) of writers who are not finding the success they desire.

Short stories are a valid, time-tested path to novel writing success...

Stephen King
Kelly Link
Paulo Bacigalupi
Stuart Neville
Neil Gaiman
Isaac Asimov
L. Ron Hubbard
Barth Anderson
Kurt Vonnegut
Arthur C. Clark
Edgar Allen Poe

I just can't ignore all the wonderful, successful writers, especially in SF/F, who not only got their start in short fiction but still write it. And wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all sell 3 short stories and proceed into a best selling novel writing career?

I actually don't know how great that would be.

Thing is, short story writing took me by surprise. I really quite like it; to some degree I prefer it over novel writing. That's just me. But let me tell you, I loathed it at one time. Novelists write novels, I always thought. And then I started really studying the form and I realized it's a great way to shorten the novel writing learning curve. A means to an end, if that's what you're after, though I tend to be about the journey.

One thing has intrigued me. I'd like more thoughts on why people think short story writing and novel writing are so different, and especially why one can't inform the other. People like to spout off that they're so different, but I never hear why.

To my mind, they are closely linked. And of course, you're going to wonder why I think they're linked. I haven't ever really put it into words, so I suppose it's time I did. I'll think on it and post about it later this week. :)