One-shot stories are close to the opposite of long epic tales and serial books. Just a single short story disconnected in plot from everything else, its characters and events entirely contained in a tale that takes probably an hour to read at very most. Written and done, their brevity can both be burdensome and freeing. The difficulty of creating emotional investment in 1000 words, but the ease of knowing that you don't need to carry the story past the horizon. Do you like writing and reading one-shot stories? Have you tried and not met your own standards, or perhaps you found a writing trick you want to share? Is it easier for you to write something short and entirely contained, or is that a stressful concept for you?
I've only finished and published one (here on LV actually), is only like 440 words tho and a parody so is in no way meant to be taken serious. I have found myself enjoying one-shots before as for writing them well I'm not sure is what I'm best at since I've only managed to write one.
No... I cannot, and most likely will not, write a one-shot story. I plan for tales as long as thirty chapters, though I usually only reach twenty. I once tried to make a one-shot, but ended up breaking that into four chapters, tearing it well away from what a one-shot is. I can't write them, and it's very unlikely I will. I don't mind reading them, though. I find them... interesting.
I don't mind one shots at all. I mainly use them just to play with groups of characters I love and practice writing in a world I may do a longer story in.
Most of what I've written so far have been one-shots. They're nice for exploring very specific moments in a character's life.
One-shots are a good way to use ideas that just can't make it into a full-scale story/something you don't want to extend. I find them a good break for when my mind is busy making stupid decisions and begging me to write them.
I love writing one-shots, and reading them as well. When it comes to fanfiction, I love reading and writing hurt/comfort stories that focus on the relationship between two (or more) people, and I think that one-shots are a great way to get this. In real life, hurt/comfort situations aren't usually epic or long and drawn out, they're short, and simple, and to the point, and one-shot fanfiction (at least of this genre) are pretty much the same way. My advice to others when it comes to writing one-shots is to just focus on one situation or event that you want to focus on, and then just write it out. And don't worry if you don't resolve everything by the end, that's okay. Open endings can be kinda fun sometimes.
I usually like planning and writing large-scale fics, but I recently wrote a Pokémon one-shot based on an episode from the anime and it turned out to be my finest piece of writing to date. There's something quite satisfying about a story that is quite compact and self-contained. It leaves me free to move on to the next thing in a way that a massive WIP doesn't!
I like to read them occasionally, but I'm not very good at writing one shots. I tend to add too many details to my stories and they just go too long to ever fit into one. Usually whenever I try to write something like that, it's more for practice to test out a concept I have for a larger scale story. It's more a part of the process than the end result.
I dont really write one-shot stories often. Ig, till this date, I've only written 2-3 one shots. It is somewhat difficult to write the entire thing on your mind, with required details, for me. And my one shot stories are a bit long. I do enjoy reading one shots tho.
I can't write for my life. I can come up with ideas but I can't fully produce a story on my own. Role playing is different, even when creating one. You don't always know what will happen next because someone else has their own choices to make, but you can always put a slight influence that they don't have to follow. That's why instead of writing on LV I just try to stick to Roleplaying.
I tend to avoid short stories, not because I dislike them or anything, but because I love building complexity into my worlds. What I love beyond anything in writing, is making new, complex worlds and playing with new characters in that world, fleshing out the characters, plot points, and lore of the world I developed. That's just not conducive to a short story format. Usually my work would feel empty or confusing without the full picture of the world that I've developed and if I were to try to fit the world in, then it wouldn't be short anymore.
I practically write only short-stories, or one-chapters that I haven't published and that I left aside. It's not because I prefer them, but because I find myself split between many ideas and stories and it's really hard for me to focus on just one, so writing a one-shot is a way for me to actually finish a piece. That said, I'm working through it and trying to write longer, connected, stories, which I love.
I wrote two 20 page one-shots as a kid, and learnt some of the challenges that came with them: It was too easy to ruin the pacing. Both stories were crammed with events that barely lasted a few paragraphs. By skimming over everything, nothing that happened had any weight or build up. I mentioned this on another thread, but my characters lacked depth. They all had one trait, and that was solely to create conflict or force development. I’ve thought about remaking these stories before, but I’d have to change just about every detail to make it work. At this point, I’d rather just try writing some more short stories (Even though it’s been 6 years since I tried writing one).