In this 1938 Writer's Digest article, Leon Byrne emphasizes the importance of learning and getting back to the fundamentals of craft, particularly when writing short stories (though we find his advice applicable to novels as well).

Even if you’re focused on writing a novel, writing short stories can be a wonderful creativity tool to help you strengthen elements of your fiction, experiment with characters and simply stay loose.

You’ve probably been taught that short stories follow the time-revered rule: Limit your story to a specific time, place, event, interaction, or character’s evolution. I say, do the opposite. Here's how.

BY ANNE R. ALLEN Bite-sized fiction has moved mainstream, and today’s readers are more eager than ever to “read short.” Here’s why writing little stories is paying off in a big way.