Short-story Quotes

When I started out in the early 1930s, there were a great many magazines that published short stories. Unfortunately, the short-story market has dwindled to almost nothing.

Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two, because the reader has made a different commitment.

A good short-story writer has an instinct for sketching in just enough background to ground the specific story.

My favorite short-story writer is John Cheever.