No one likes Short Stories!

I would first like to say that I love short stories. I've read almost all the stories by Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, etc....

But for the past year or so, I finally started to notice that not many people read short stories. Of course it should have been obvious to me sooner. Most of the books in libraries and bookstores have been novels. I guess I was just blind.

But I really do love short stories, and I don't understand why they aren't more in demand. When you walk down the street or drive in your car, you see all those people rushing to their destinations. Life seems so busy. You'd think more people would prefer to read something that takes up less of their time.

But here's the truth:

Not many people like short stories.

So I asked the all knowing (yet sometimes misleading) internet on why this is. And this is what the people of the internet had to say:

Reasons why people LIKE short stories:

-Novels are too long

-I'm too busy

Reasons why people DON'T LIKE short stories:

-Loves to see how a character will develop in a novel

-Novels have more complex plotting

-I can curl up with a novel and read for hours

-Short Stories are too short. They leave me feeling unsatisfied

-Novels are a great way to escape from the world

-I like to touch Harry Potter's face on the cover of Rowling's novels

-etc....

These are just some of the reasons why people prefer novels over short stories. I guess I can see their point. But it doesn't mean that I have to like it.

Anyway, thank you all for reading my rant about the dying art of short stories. But before you go, I would like you to answer two important questions in the comments below:

1) What would you rather read? Short Stories or Novels?

2) Think of your favorite author. If he or she wrote a short story, would you read it?

(In my research, I noticed that some people will read a short story by their favorite authors, even if they don't like reading short stories in general)

Thank you for your answers!

Sincerely,

John Smith

P.S. - I'm at the library, and someone's phone started to ring. It played a song from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". ...Awesome!

Shakespeare Undead

Shakespeare Undead is a novel written by Lori Handeland.

If I were to summarize this novel in one sentence, it would be:

This is a story about a vampire, named William Shakespeare, who falls in love with a human, named Kate,.... while they both fight off an army of zombies in 16th century London.

No matter how it sounds, this is a romantic tale. William Shakespeare is a vampire, one of the undead. And Kate is a chasseur, a huntress who kills zombies and vampires and anything else supernatural. The two meet when they travel the streets of London at night, hunting for zombies which started to appear in the city.

Together they must defeat the zombies and find the necromancer that is summoning the army. Meanwhile, Shakespeare must try to keep his undead secret from Kate, or she'll chop off his head when she finds out. That's going to hurt a lot more than just being kicked in the nuts.

This is a great tale full of romance, sex, blood, zombies, and Queen Elizabeth. How can you not want to read this book?

P.S. - Throughout the book, there have been scenes that vaguely implies that Shakespeare will continue to live on and write other works in the 20th century, such as The Wizard of Oz, The Sixth Sense, Star Wars, etc....

Happy New Year!

Hey there blog readers,

Happy New Year!

I can't believe a whole year went by.

Let's see. I started this blog in April 2010, so it's been 8 months since I started writing my novel. And I still didn't even finish writing the rough draft yet.

So this is my New Years resolution. The next time I write a New Years post on my blog (for 2012), I will have a novel accepted by a publisher.

So wish me luck everybody.

Happy New Year to you all,

John Smith

P.S. - I just realized that today is 1/1/11